Anyone who follows the news closely– er, maybe that should be “Anyone who seeks out the news that only a few bother to report”, know about Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s “Articles of Impeachment for President George W. Bush” presented to the House on June 9th of this year. Rep Kucinich listed some 30-odd articles describing impeachable offenses committed by the president and vice president.
In the always passionate and insightful Mr. Gore Vidal‘s most recent article, he observes, “Although this is the most important motion made in Congress in the 21st century, it was also the most significant plea for a restoration of the republic, which had been swept to one side by the mad antics of a president bent on great crime. And as I listened with awe to Kucinich, I realized that no newspaper in the U.S., no broadcast or cable network, would pay much notice to the fact that a highly respected member of Congress was asking for the president and vice president to be tried for crimes which were carefully listed by Kucinich in his articles requesting impeachment… It is Le Monde, a French newspaper, that told a story the next day hardly touched by The New York Times or The Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal or, in fact, any other major American media outlet.”
About fifteen years ago, my then writing partner, Teal Minton, said to me, “You know that scene in ALIENS where we see everything that’s happening through the cameras in the guys’ helmets? We should do a whole horror film just like that.”
It was a great idea. We had many great ideas. This is one we should have acted on.
Today, handheld horror films are spreading like the plague. Starting with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and still going strong, these films are a running commentary – whether intentional or not – on our society’s obsession with and technology’s ability to record life as it happens in a way never available to us before. Even “reality” TV is an offspring of this relatively new potential. History will now be recorded and distorted in ways we never imagined before! And stories will be told in ways that are both viscerally exciting and, if done well, almost indistinguishable from real life events and how we experience them. And I’m referring to events that we are not personally a part of, but through the eye of the camera, we become both viewer and participant all at the same time.
Take the Hurricane Katrina disaster, for example. For the billions of people around the world who were not in New Orleans themselves, they experienced those horrific events through – not only the lens of a news camera – but through cell phone cameras, home digital cameras, camcorders, etc. Those events came streaming to us on the web as well as on our televisions. And as a result, the media was no longer able to control what we saw and what we didn’t. And technology has expanded swiftly since then. The current war in Iraq is another prime example as soldiers and other eye-witnesses upload their experiences for all to see. A new language is being written; a new way of sharing; a new way of living; a new way of experiencing.
This year’s CLOVERFIELD was another example of a familiar horror genre being adapted to this new language. A monster movie a la GODZILLA or 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH or, yes, ALIENS. But this time told through the lens of a “witness”, our visual narrator, our third eye.
George Romero, the director who single-handedly defined the rules of the contemporary zombie genre via NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, DAWN OF THE DEAD and many others to follow, has finally found his way to this new form of storytelling. But a little background first. Romero’s early film, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, changed my life. I saw it at a much too early age and was instantly traumatized. And addicted. Not to the blood and guts that became the primary focus of so many horror films to follow, but to the level of true primal horror Romero’s films tapped into. Never one to miss an opportunity for social commentary, Romero knew the strength of the genre and managed to use it to its fullest and most extreme.
Then came his recent Hollywood studio attempt at the genre, which resulted in the very un-scary and at times downright ridiculous LAND OF THE DEAD. With its awful digital zombies and overwrought action, the film drowned under the studio’s heavy hand, which apparently weighed down on Romero like an anchor.
But then he bounced back earlier this year with a super low-budget installment of the franchise titled DIARY OF THE DEAD. The film garnered mixed critical response, but I personally found it a welcome return to form for Romero. DIARY is scary, at times darkly funny (Romero’s wit is hard to suppress) and insightful as to the pros and cons of society’s newfound love of the digital recorder. Granted, Romero’s film is a little lacking in subtlety, but this I can forgive as it still posed interesting questions while scaring the pants off of me. Never before had I thought so much about the future of film and felt I might be witnessing the beginning of the end of storytelling as I’ve grown to know and love it. And then there’s the notion of being the detached voyeur; does witnessing these seemingly real events through a camera’s lens allow us to become part of what’s happening, or does it offer us a newfound detachment (i.e who are the real zombies?)? When we record something in our own lives, are we still experiencing it as people who are present, or are we there, but somehow disconnected as our experience is not through our own eyes, but through the comfortable familiarity of a camera lens?
Then there’s the recent Spanish zombie flick [REC], by directors, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. [REC] is still unavailable in the U.S., but is currently being remade – for American audiences too lazy to read subtitles – under the new name QUARANTINE. I was lucky enough to score a copy of [REC] and, though not the social commentary DIARY was, it’s one hell of a scary film and a new take on Romero’s style of zombie flick. In a “normal” movie, the director is outside the action. We know that we are being told the story by someone who was not actually there, someone who is not himself in any danger, but who can pick and choose what we see and what we don’t so as to allow us the best storytelling experience. While the reality is actually the same in films like DIARY OF THE DEAD, [REC], CLOVERFIELD and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the illusion is that no one is in control, that we are helpless viewers watching events unfold through the eyes of helpless participants.
[REC] had me covering my mouth in fear as I watched (yeah, I’m a big baby). And, just as I’d done only nights before after viewing DIARY, I asked myself what it is about this experience that I keep coming back to. I loved horror films as a kid, but I all but abandoned them as an adult. They ceased to scare me anymore. Slasher pics, torture porn, the last 20 years of horror films had slipped into a void more obsessed with the makeup and effects than with the psychological and social impact these films were capable of having. It’s one of the reasons I made THE PLAGUE, though, as many already know, that film was destroyed by its own producers who were simply not ready to make a horror film that tapped into real primal fears, and instead reverted back to what I think of as their safety zone of harmless, meaningless, ineffectual horror.
But thanks to some other filmmakers and some (oddly enough) less frightened producers, we are starting to see a trend emerge that still has a lot of unknown territory yet to explore. And hopefully I will continue to be moved to ask myself why I – and so many other audience members like me – feel it is somehow cathartic to experience helplessness, panic and terror, while also being artistically, socially and morally stimulated.
In his new article, Mr. Harris discusses the current dangers facing our cinematic heritage on Blu-ray discs via the removal of not only film grain (which is an inherent part of a film and a film’s look), but of important details lost in the removal of high frequency information through the use of DNR (Digital Noise Reduction).
And, as with so many things, this danger exists in large part due to a combination of fear and misinformation. But with a little education, Mr. Harris shows us that we can nip this problem in the bud and have a bright future of films on Blu-Ray disc that look more like the films as they were intended, and less like video games.
As an example of what NOT to do, Mr. Harris uses the most recent Blu-Ray release of the 1970 Academy Award-winning film, Patton.
“When people see things they don’t understand, they become frightened, and the concept of what [a film] is — or was — still eludes some people. We all tend to reduce or expand things to a level we understand, and it can be fatal to a film… if what someone understands is Petticoat Junction.”
Filmmaker/Editor Caren McCaleb’s continuing series of Youtube vlogs (under the moniker Eagle Crow Owl) on the nature of art are consistently thought-provoking, engaging, inspiring, weird, creative and, well… artistic. Here’s McCaleb’s latest vlog, “Hell In A Handbasket”:
To see the entire series and to learn more, go to:
And for those who are looking for something a bit less “out there”, but no less entertaining, check out Caren’s series on her daughter, Olive. These are no mere home videos, but an ongoing cinematic journey unto themselves:
I’mencouraging anyone who would like to see THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT released to DVD to not only sign our petition, but to e-mail, write, call or fax Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and let them know your thoughts and desires. And, as always, I ask that you do this with the utmost respect and consideration for the people you contact. Do NOT bombard them with e-mails or harass.
Respect and consideration at all times.
If there’s a big enough audience (and we already know there is!), the film will get released. Thanks again for all the incredible support!
I ask that your e-mails or phone messages be polite and to the point. Here’s an example (feel free to put it in your own words and show your own personal passion in seeing THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT released):
Dear________
I am writing to ask you to release THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT to DVD and Blu-Ray. The film, written by Hal Masonberg and Teal Minton and directed by Masonberg, was dramatically re-cut by the film’s producers and released as CLIVE BARKER’S THE PLAGUE, though it was not based on any Clive Barker material.
The producers’ cut of the film has all but run its course. But a grassroots campaign to get the Writers & Director’s cut of the film released (a campaign supported by the film’s cast & crew, as well as film journalists, authors, historians and fans) is well under way with a petition climbing quickly in signatures on a daily basis, a documentary titled SPREADING THE PLAGUE talking openly about what happened on this film and why the cast and crew want the director’s cut released, and a wealth of information about the background and history of this film.
There was also a three-page article on THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT in a recent issue of MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE (the #1 top-selling Indy film mag in the world).
Please take this request under advisement as there is a large, passionate audience of fans eager to see THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT released.
I am one of them.
And keep in mind, releasing this cut will also allow you to financially reinvigorate a film you already own.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Name Here
I thank you in advance for your support of me, this film and our campaign. It’s been a long road (10 years and counting!), but we’re getting close.
Thanks again,
Hal Masonberg
Writer/Director THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT
“I really think, this late in the day, that grassroots support for our movie could significantly improve our chances of reaching a much bigger audience…”
I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I read about this. We’ve heard jazz renditions of Grateful Dead tunes and other various interpretations over the years, but Lee Johnson‘s Symphony is no muzak rendition of these beloved songs. It is, in fact, something to truly marvel at.
“Lee Johnson has conducted and recorded with world class orchestras such as: The Russian National Orchestra, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Taliesin Orchestra, The London Session Orchestra, The American Rock Orchestra, The Cyberlin Philharmonia, among many others.
“He has composed six symphonies, numerous chamber works, four musicals, two operas, concerti, choral and vocal works, works for ballet theater, feature and experimental film, and hundreds of works for multimedia and interactive technologies.”
Great credits, but it still doesn’t mean the guy understands the music of the Dead, right? Maybe so, but it didn’t take long for this listener’s ears to realize that Mr. Johnson not only “gets” the Dead, but has expanded on them. Which is only appropriate as the Dead’s music was based in improvisation and experimentation.
Deadsymphony.com states:
“It was “China Doll” that opened the door for Lee Johnson, initiating his personal journey into the Dead, through an introduction by longtime fan and music producer, Mike Adams. Mike took the Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich loving composer and introduced him to American roots music, as exemplified, by the Grateful Dead. Each and every recording, score, and lyric that was experienced and studied helped to pass the genetic material of the Dead’s core essence into Lee’s creative compositional mind.”
And you can read Grateful Dead biographer Blair Jackson‘s review of this work here.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be performing this work in its entirety under the direction of Mr. Johnson himself at Baltimore’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on August 1st (which would have been Jerry Garcia’s 66th Birthday).
“The essence of the Dead’s music was improvisation, and the root of that is an attitude that says transformation is at the center of all art. Dead Symphony takes different fragments of the Dead’s music and reweaves them into a sparkling tapestry that satisfies a whole ‘nother realm of possibility.”
–Dennis McNally, Grateful Dead Historian and Publicist
Seems like today’s quite a PLAGUE day (check out my earlier post CLIVE BARKER’S KARMA? below).
Actress Dee Wallace was interviewed on the MOVIE GEEKS UNITED! radio show last night and was asked about THE PLAGUE (aka CLIVE BARKER’S THE PLAGUE), a film she was almost entirely cut out of in the released version. As always, Dee was eloquent and kind and spoke truthfully from her heart. And it is a wonderful and very big heart, indeed.
As the writer and director of the film and the head of the campaign to get the proper cut seen (that cut being known as THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT), I am always thankful to hear the film talked about in a public forum as my desire to see our cut released - and with it, Dee’s very powerful and moving performance – never wanes. Thanks also to the guys over at Movie Geeks United! for their ongoing support and for bringing us so many great shows.
Clive Barker, the famous author, filmmaker and painter’s second film as producer after THE PLAGUE under his Midnight Picture Show banner, is getting a VERY limited theatrical release before heading straight to DVD.
“Lionsgate is planning a limited 100 theater run of the Clive Barker adaptation on August 1st.
“This move fulfills Lionsgate’s contractual obligation with production entity Lakeshore to give it some sort of theatrical run. The plan is to subsequently release Meat Train quickly down the line (October?) for a DVD release.”
Here’s where the karma part steps in. Clive and his producing partner, Jorge Saralegui, were largely responsible for having the creative team removed from THE PLAGUE in post production. THE PLAGUE was based on an original screenplay and not on any Barker material. I should know. I was both the writer and director of THE PLAGUE (along with my writing partner, Teal Minton). After we struggled for eight years to get the film made, Barker and Saralegui kept us out of the editing room once our contracts expired and re-cut the film from scratch into exactly the kind of film we were making THE PLAGUE in opposition to. And for their efforts, THE PLAGUE (misleadingly retitled CLIVE BARKER’S THE PLAGUE) was released straight to DVD and became, in many fans’ opinions, an embarrassment for Clive’s new Midnight Picture Show label. Not a great introduction, to say the least. Now that Clive’s second film under his new banner is also going quickly to DVD, he’s decided to start a grassroots campaign to get the film a wider theatrical release! Sound familiar?
Enter a website called spreadingtheplague.com; a site dedicated to getting THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT released. This cut of the film is completely different from Clive’s frame-one re-cut. It is supported by the filmmakers, cast and crew, as well as noted film authors, journalists, film historians and Mr. Bill Butler, the magnificent DP of such films as JAWS, THE CONVERSATION, and FRAILTY (Mr. Butler was not invited by the producers to color-time his own work on THE PLAGUE). Is it possible that Clive’s name above the title and involvement in a film is, in fact, the very reason these films turn out the way they do?
Perhaps taking a closer look at Clive’s producing team, their past histories and reputations, might reveal something of importance and begin to answer this question.
In the meantime, please consider helping to support THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR’S CUT (and Clive’s karma) by going to spreadingtheplague.com to learn all about what happened on THE PLAGUE and to sign our petition (1235 signatures and counting). This is the cut of the film I’m guessing Clive and his people would prefer you never saw:
Here’s part of an interview I found and saved not long after being kicked off my own first feature, THE PLAGUE, which I wrote and directed. I wish I could remember where I got this from and as soon as I do, I’ll credit them. In the meantime, here’s the snippet of Paul Thomas Anderson (BOOGIE NIGHTS, MAGNOLIA, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE, THERE WILL BE BLOOD) discussing his horrifying experience on his first directorial feature, SYDNEY (aka HARD EIGHT), and how he survived and overcame. I guess I’m in good company:
Before you made Hard Eight I presume that this wasn’t the first script you wrote. How come you chose it to be your first one?
Yes I had only written maybe one or two other scripts that I didn’t really like that much and I liked this one and it seemed that I could do it. It seemed that I could make a movie which was small with only four characters in Reno, Nevada and that I could raise money for it. It was really all I had.
You had no choice!
Yeah but I really didn’t need any other choice. It was that movie that I wanted to make. I got very lucky on that movie just to start making it but I got in a lot of trouble when I made the movie. There were some producers that fired me actually after I… It was my movie. I mean I wrote it and directed it and then I found these guys to finance it and they were real criminals.
(Laughing)
I put the movie together. And they had all these ideas for cuts that I wouldn’t make. Some of them were actually good ideas but I was too arrogant to like see that they were good ideas and they were kind of dicks too. But they ended up taking the movie away from me. It was like this amazing lesson very early on where I was hit fucking repeatedly over and over again and I fought and I desperately tried to get the movie back and it was just a long, long battle. And eventually I got the movie back but there was a period where I did get beat up enough and where I was swimming in the darkest depression and I thought my career is over and I will never get another chance. But I pulled my self out of it somehow and the only way that I could get things going again is if I go to work again. So I went and got Boogie Nights made and the amazing thing in doing that was I went to get Boogie Nights made and that became kind of easy, getting money for it and at the same time I reinvestigated the fight to get my first movie back. And I got that movie back so I was in pre-production on Boogie Night while I was re-cutting and finishing off my first movie. And it was kind of a this great lesson that I learned just having gone in this really deep and dark depression where I couldn’t get out of my fucking bed and the only thing that I could do is just get up and attack, attack and attack. And I am happy that that happened. So it was kind of a great first lesson on my first movie. And I was able to learn right then and there all kinds of mistakes that I have made. All that arrogance where I wasn’t seeing anything and where they were right and I was just too blind to notice it. But I also learned that I was right on a lot of stuff and I should have fought for what I believed. So it’s just kind of a great lesson on my first movie.
This is a second great tip of the season. Beat depression by breaking it!
![[REC]](http://halmasonberg.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/rec.jpg)
Seems like today’s quite a PLAGUE day (check out my earlier post 
