David Moody's Blog, page 46

Mummified bodies and nuclear meltdowns

Just a few chapters left to go now in the free serialisation of STRAIGHT TO YOU at WATTPAD. The second of this week’s chapters is now available to read, and Steven begins to realise the full enormity of what’s happening to the world around him (hence the clickbait title of this post). Click here to read.

In other news, I’d like to make you aware of a great new edition of the THIS IS HORROR podcast wherein a load of great authors (and me) offer up their most valuable piece of writing advice. Listen here or click the graphic below.

Mummified bodies and nuclear meltdowns is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Your last phone call home

We’re on the last leg of STRAIGHT TO YOU now. Steven’s nearing either a). his destination, b). the impending apocalypse, or c). both. Post-apocalyptic movies and fiction are often filled with big, spectacular show-stopping moments, but it’s often the quieter, more personal scenes which affect me most. I remember feeling desperately sad when I wrote the chapter of the novel which has been posted over at WATTPAD today.

You’re hundreds of miles away, with no hope of ever getting back to the people you love that you’ve left behind. Imagine the pain of your last phone call home.

Your last phone call home is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Last Man on Earth

A couple of weeks ago I kicked off a retrospective look at I AM LEGEND by looking at Richard Matheson’s landmark book and promising to re-watch the three film adaptations which have been produced to date.

To my mind, this first adaptation – the Vincent Price starring LAST MAN ON EARTH from 1964 – is the best by a long shot, and that’s surprising given the increasing budgets and advances in technology used to make movies in the fifty-or-so years since it was made.

Or maybe it’s not surprising at all?

Maybe it makes perfect sense that a small, low-budget movie like this should come closest to matching the claustrophobic tone of Matheson’s book. Without the distraction of summer blockbuster state-of-the-art special effects, all we’re left to focus on is Vincent Price’s intense portrayal of Robert Morgan (confusingly re-named from Neville in this version of the story). When the world outside has shrunk to one man’s area of reach, why would we want to look any wider?

At this point I’d usually include a trailer, but LAST MAN ON EARTH is in the public domain (according to some sources), so I’ve embedded the entire movie below care of the Internet Archive.

There’s no question that this is the most faithful adaptation of Matheson’s novel, and that’s little surprise given that he worked on the screenplay (though he was apparently less than happy with subsequent rewrites so had his name removed from the credits). There had been earlier attempts made to film the book, including an aborted Hammer movie which might have tapped into their QUATERMASS success and could have been something quite wonderful.

The movie was filmed in Italy, with Rome standing in for Los Angeles, as part of a three picture deal reached with Price. Robert Morgan is a very different character in LAST MAN ON EARTH to the Robert Neville Richard Matheson created, and that suits Price’s portrayal. He’s much older here, and is a scientist, not a factory worker, with far more awareness of events than in Matheson’s novel.

LAST MAN ON EARTH is surprisingly grim at times, and the isolation and repetitive nature of Morgan’s daily routine is very well captured at the outset. However, it also feels stymied and forced because Morgan’s internal monologue is spelled out by way of an increasingly intrusive voiceover. That said, it works… initially.

In common with the novel and all three film adaptations, we take a trip down memory lane midway through the movie, with a long flashback sequence showing how the plague took hold of society and the effect in particular on Morgan and his family. It’s a necessary part of the story, of course, but it derails the pacing of the film and LAST MAN ON EARTH subsequently struggles to regain the momentum.

The film also suffers from being a product of its time, when censors and cinema audiences wouldn’t have entertained the true horror of the post-apocalyptic world Richard Matheson created. There are some shocks (most notably the return home of Morgan’s dead wife and the fire pit where he disposes of the vampires on a daily basis), but it all feels equally forced and stunted. Like Matheson’s novel, it loses its way a little at the end and deviates even further from the source text by having Morgan cure the woman survivor he finds. The handling of the final act and subsequent revelations undermines the powerful point that Matheson made, namely that Morgan/ Neville was the last of a dying breed, whose position had been usurped by a new race.

I think I’m probably being too hard on LAST MAN ON EARTH. As I said at the outset, of the three movie adaptations of I AM LEGEND it’s by far my favourite. For all its faults, it captures the bleak tone of Matheson’s novel and avoids the traps that THE OMEGA MAN and I AM LEGEND fall into (ie handsome leading actor must come out on top). It’s the relatively small scale of LAST MAN ON EARTH which makes it work, and I definitely recommend it. There’s no question that, like the novel, the film remains influential. You only have to watch the night-time attacks on Morgan’s house and look at the similarity with the farmhouse from George Romero’s original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD to appreciate just how deeply the DNA of LAST MAN ON EARTH and I AM LEGEND runs through the horror genre.

Next time, Charlton Heston in crushed velvet battling afro-sporting vampires in 1971’s THE OMEGA MAN. Wish me luck.

The Last Man on Earth is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

A blast from the past

It’s the first of the month, and that can only mean one thing – the release of the next YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE novella. This month we have a real blast from the past, as the brilliant SEAN T. PAGE takes us back to 1975 and a top-secret bunker in the middle of zombie-infested London. Sean is one of my all-time favourite zombie people and an expert in his field, and it’s a real honour to have him on board. 1975 is available now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and other sites worldwide for just 99c.

The Ark is a secret Ministry bunker hidden deep beneath the streets of London and humanity’s last hope for survival.

Sealed inside, a small team oversees 5,000 cryogenically frozen humans whilst the world above disintegrates.

But, as bunker fever spreads through the concrete walls of the Ark, those still awake begin to wonder if they’d be safer on the outside.

Random murders, claustrophobic violence and plastic mannequins… far too many plastic mannequins.

Polyester flares and the Osmonds aren’t the only things to be afraid of in 1975.

YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE has been an absolute blast so far. We’ll be announcing the winner of the Infected Books Pitch and Page competition shortly, and their novella will be released next month. Until then, here’s a reminder of all the releases to date…

A blast from the past is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Chapters 19 and 20 of Straight to You now available

STRAIGHT TO YOU chapter 19 is now available to read at WATTPAD. Steven has a little company to help him through this part of his increasingly testing journey. It’s midway through October, and the temperature’s at least 25 degrees higher than it should be. Things are getting tougher by the minute (and it’s looking like there probably aren’t too many minutes left…)

UPDATE 1 September: chapter 20, the second of this week’s chapters, has now been added to Wattpad. Read it here.

Chapters 19 and 20 of Straight to You now available is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Chapter 19 of Straight to You now available

STRAIGHT TO YOU chapter 19 is now available to read at WATTPAD. Steven has a little company to help him through this part of his increasingly testing journey. It’s midway through October, and the temperature’s at least 25 degrees higher than it should be. Things are getting tougher by the minute (and it’s looking like there probably aren’t too many minutes left…)

Chapter 19 of Straight to You now available is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Congratulations to my friends at SCREAM

Issue 38 of SCREAM MAGAZINE dropped through my door this week. As usual, it’s packed with loads of great stuff from new movies like Fede Alvarez’s DON’T BREATHE through to a feature on the kind of classy VHS flicks I watched in my formative years such as CREEPOZOIDS, FROGS and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD.

But the big news from SCREAM this month is that, after 6 years, they’ve secured a great distribution deal in the US. US readers can now pick up the mag from Barnes & Noble stores. I couldn’t be happier for Rich and the team.

To get your hands on a copy, visit www.screamhorrormag.com. You can also pick up the magazine in the UK from any branch of HMV, Forbidden Planet, or any of the newsagents listed here. SCREAM is available digitally as iSCREAM and you can follow the mag on Facebook and Twitter @ScreamHorrorMag.

Congratulations to my friends at SCREAM is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The crazy British weather

Two days ago I was writing about a heatwave. Today it’s been foggy all day and it’s now pouring with rain. The British summer is a truly bizarre thing at times.

And that’s what makes Steven Johnson’s plight all the more remarkable. It’s October in STRAIGHT TO YOU. It should be about 10 – 14 degrees centigrade and pretty wet, but it isn’t. It’s hotter than ever. The temperature’s in the high thirties and is climbing daily. The world is on the brink of oblivion…

Read the second of this week’s free STRAIGHT TO YOU chapters over at WATTPAD now.

The crazy British weather is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Heatwave reading

We’ve had a mini-heatwave here in the UK today (and by mini, I mean just that – one scorching day, then we’re back to normal tomorrow). Still, even a short blast of heat should be enough to get you in the mood for reading this week’s free STRAIGHT TO YOU chapters over at WATTPAD. Distance-wise, Steven’s about halfway through his journey now. He needs to get a move on if he wants to reach his wife on the other side of the country before all life on Earth is wiped out. It shouldn’t take him long in his car, now he’s got it back. Let’s hope nothing bad happens, eh?

 

Heatwave reading is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

One year to go

One of the major differences between traditional and independent publishing is timescales. Indie publishers tend to have very short lead times between a book being finished and being released. Traditional publishers, on the other hand, do not. So bear that in mind as I tell you that ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING, the fourth HATER novel, will be released by Thomas Dunne Books on 17 August 2017 (ie one year yesterday). I’ll share more details as soon as I’m able. There’s lots of HATER stuff going on behind the scenes. Lots of HATER stuff.

I know it’s going to be a long wait. Keep yourself busy by reading the free STRAIGHT TO YOU serialisation on WATTPAD. The second of this week’s chapters has just gone live.

One year to go is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER