Hey everyone. I've been gone a while, but fear not, I haven't abandoned you. On the contrary I've been cooking up something dark and delicious for you guys. See, I haven't blogged for a couple months because I've been busting my ass on my first horror feature. Can't give any details yet, but what I can tell you is that it's a fun creature feature, and not my usual darker fair.
This week I want to talk about a thing that terrifies human beings so much that they can't even acknowledge it most of the time. When it approaches, we can't even look it in the eye. We're forced, cowed into looking at our shoes, mumbling pathetically, attempting half-hearted comforts to each other and pretending it's not even there. Something so awful and final and unavoidable that it paralyzes the mind. This most fearful thing inspires religions, causes wars, and drives us to survive harder than any other single component of existence.
Allow me to introduce my new horror step-brothers, Action, Gore and Laughter...
// More: Drew Daywalt on Mixing Horror and Comedy in 'Death Valley'
Hope's a funny thing. In horror, it's either the carrot we dangle at the end of a very long stick, or we remove it altogether. And in our real lives, as artists, it's the one thing we cling to for dear life. There's a bizarre irony to being a horror filmmaker. In the art we create, we take away the one thing that we hold to, almost desperately, in our actual lives.
Makes sense though, doesn't it? As a horror storyteller, you threaten the thing you hold dearest.
There's something to be said for being out of touch on something.
That is, to say, in this swirling ocean of pop culture that is America in the 21st century, it's impossible to be up on every TV show, movie, band, internet trend, etc. And in the process of choosing your entertainment a la carte, Chinese menu style - this movie, that TV series, this website - you inevitably let something cool fall through the cracks. Something that you'd love and something that would inspire you and entertain you, but that, simply put, you just don't have the time for.
Why in the name of God are Zombies still popular?
I'll tell you, but it's not pretty.
Hear that sound? That thrumming sound that seems to be underneath every news report, every environmental study, every economic report? That's the sound of the great machines grinding to a halt all around us... Or at least that's what it seems like it.
It's funny, the wares we peddle, as artists. And I'm not talking about oils and acrylics, film or video, TV or internet.... No, I'm not talking about the forms, formats or delivery systems... I'm talking about the drugs themselves, that we deal. The emotions. The spiritual engines that propel us mentally and emotionally through our life journey. See, it's always the emotion that drives the art, drives the artist to create, drives the passerby to stop and appreciate.
Werewolf fist fights, Vampire gun battles, Zombies tipping bloodmobiles. That's all I can think of right now.
Why?
Because as I write this, I'm also preparing to pack up and head down to Comicon 2011 in San Diego this weekend to help promote the MTV Horror comedy series DEATH VALLEY. I directed three of the episodes earlier this year and I'm looking forward to meeting up again with the team of producers and actors that I'd gotten so close to during production.
// More: When the Fans Run the Asylum: Directing DEATH VALLEY for MTV
I just did an interview with the very talented indie film blogger and horror fan Greg Hanks over at the Watcher's Council and he threw a question at me that really got me thinking. To paraphrase his question, he basically asked me if the fact that even a bad studio horror film can make a profit has lead to the current, disappointing state of affairs in the studio world of horror films?
I gave Greg a short answer there, but it kept gnawing at me and I wanted to further explore the concept here.
I was contacted recently by a production company, asking me if I'd ever do a horror film about bugs or spiders...
In a word, "No."
