Posted Mar 6, 09 05:23 PM
Moments 2
One of my right-off-the-chute blogs hinted at my obsession – and I’m hardly going out on a limb to assume it’s yours, too – to squeeze entire reels of cinematic ferocity down to instances of pure pulp pow. No matter how potent or paltry the film, lightning can get etched on the brain with a single scene, shot, image, frame or line reading.
Truth in any form is a pearl. I love movies. If my life were to suddenly flash in front of eyes, it’d be a Ray Lovejoy-edited montage featuring an all-star cast, conducted by Bill Conti and the Academy Awards Orchestra.
Hey, I’m a visual dude. It’s wholly true: I randomly go through the average day re-experiencing favorite movie moments in my head. Some TV, too – sure. (Hmm. Do I owe SAG residuals for sensory recall?) And I don’t think I’m alone on this, either.
Rewind. Play. Rewind. Play. Remember Michael Clarke Duncan inThe Green Mile ,eloquently describing feelings floating around in his head like shards of glass? It’s a lot like that. Except my memory cells are equipped with rocker seating and Dolby Stereo. And the picture’s never out of focus.
For me, writing is all about zoning out… to zone in. Shut the curtains. Lose the lights. On, candle. On, iPod. On DVD. Not to get pseudo-metaphysical (maybe I’m a pseudo-intellectual for writing “pseudo-metaphysical”), but when I’m in that zone, I see two realities at once without closing my eyes. And those moments I spoke of in paragraph one? They get invoked.
Off of a spec horror script, I got a meeting somewhere between Beverly and Wilshire with a development exec who once asked, “So, I gotta ask. What were you watching in your DVD player when you were writing this script?”
“The Wizard of Oz. Dressed to Kill. Terms of Endearment. Damien – Omen II. The Little Mermaid.”
He busted a gut. My then-manager, sitting on the other cushion, looked at me like she had no idea who she represented.
But I was watching for moments, I explained. The only logical tangential relationship between the above titles was that each – horror or not – triggered my writing in its own wondrously horrific way.
Terms of Endearment – horrific? Inspiration knows its own needs. Relax, it’s to ground the drama. Get an audience/reader to believe your characters and they’ll go with you on any journey.
But let’s not relax. Let’s unearth some prime unconscience. Let’s talk some more moments.
Chiller fan DC Evans of Minneapolis, Minnesota cited the freak-out factor of the cave horror pic, The Descent. “The women are in complete black-out and the one… turns on the night vision camera. And there, standing behind one of the team, is this pale, hairless creature… The ‘jump scare’ was perfect!”
Andrea Ohnstad of Apache Junction, Arizona cites Jaws: “The moment when Chief Brody, chumming off the side of the boat, says, ‘Come down here and chum some of this sh*#.’ And heeeerrrreeee’s Bruce (the nickname for the mechanical shark). Stopped my heart the first time I saw it.”
Heart-stopping is a precious adjective. Definitely merited in that instance, but “heart-stopping” sets a high bar for usage. I’ll leave you with these heart-stopping “moments”:
Midway through William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist III (the only script star George C. Scott said that ever scared him while reading it), an unbroken shot, maybe two-and-a-half minutes long. A nurse at a night desk. A sound. She walks towards us, slowly inspecting a hospital room’s open door. She returns. The camera zooms in fast in the final split seconds to see a figure behind her, in a bed sheet, medical shears about to snap down. And if you think I just gave it away, YouTube it. Have you got a surprise coming to you…
Diabolique (1955). Don’t think an “older” film can mercilessly tighten the screws of modern film snob audiences? (Of course, I wouldn’t be talking about you, would I?) Henri-Georges Clouzot’s murder conspiracy gone wrong is one of the greatest thrillers – and movies -- ever made. Take that lone dark walk down the hallway towards the light coming out from under that open bathroom door and see if you don’t have a cardiac arrest, too.
You know it’s coming. The trailers and vein-pumped, white-eyed posters of David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981) don’t hide it. But when a blasé scientific demonstration is infiltrated by the sinister Michael Ironside, an experiment literally turns mind-blowing (thanks to make-up genius Dick Smith) in front of a shocked-awake audience.
Readers, got a horror movie moment that won’t stay out of your head? Email Mike@ChillerTV.com. Maybe we’ll share your darkest secrets in the light of day.
Posted by Mike Kalvoda at 05:23 PM