Patrick Rutigliano's Blog, page 6

I’m Back

After months of setbacks, The Last Look is finally roughed out. There’s still plenty of work to be done regarding beta-reading and editing, but it feels damn good to know I was able to pull this one from the brink. The pieces of the next book I’ve been wanting to write also clicked into place near the end of the process. Funny how things work out.

However, both the above tasks are going to have to wait a little bit as Wind Chill has been upgraded from novella to collection courtesy of Crystal Lake Publishing. Unfortunately, most of the backed up short stories I want to use are versions I was able to recover after my computer crashed. As a lot of the rewriting I did on them was lost, I have to get them all back up to snuff. I’ll also be putting them through my beta-reader extraordinaire, Ben Eads, to make sure you all get the best reading experience possible.

Finally, I’m going to be reducing my posts on this blog from two to one per week to further facilitate my writing, posting either a general update or article/review as I see fit. This may or may not be temporary depending on how things go.

In any case, I hope you all had an awesome Fourth.

A Brief Hiatus

Sorry, folks, but this is going to be my last post for a little while. I’m really getting into the grit of The Last Look now, and I need to be able to focus on it with as few distractions as possible. I’m giving myself until the end of the month to finish the rough draft and (hopefully) run it through a couple self-edits before hitting up my usual beta-readers. So, until July, I will bid you all a fond adieu.

Under the Radar – Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

Of all the horror anthologies that made it to the small screen, Tales from the Crypt is easily the most irreverent. The show touted A-list talent and made good use of its home on HBO to offer enough gore, profanity, and sex to warrant an R rating. And in 1995, Tales made the move to theaters.

Demon Knight opens with a car chase. Out of gas, the hunted man–Brayker–stops in the middle of the road to take potshots at the other vehicle. He barely manages to bail out before the ensuing collision.

While he finds refuge at a local boarding house, Brayker immediately comes under suspicion after a report of an attempted car theft. Worse, his pursuer–the Collector–has survived the crash without so much as a scratch. It’s all too easy to use his prey’s stolen vehicle to get the law on his side. The police allow the Collector to accompany them to Brayker’s doorstep only to point out both cars were stolen. The Collector takes the accusation in stride and goes on the attack. Brayker manages to force him from the building and creates a barrier around it using the very key the Collector has come to claim. However, the ward is fragile, and the Collector is all too happy to tempt the residents in exchange for their souls and a way back in…

Tales from the Crypt has always been about fun, and Demon Knight lives up that tradition. The film moves quickly and offers plenty of dark humor to liven things up along the way. William Sadler (Brayker) and Jada Pinkett Smith (Jeryline) offer good performances as the two leads, but Billy Zane completely steals the show as the demonic Collector. Zane plays the part with a charming sleaziness that’s almost endearing, and each temptation of the characters is memorable. The resulting effects in the movie are also a nice step up from the show, offering some nice makeup and prosthetic work on both the demons and the corrupted humans.

The story is admittedly a little on the basic side (the key the Collector seeks is the last of a set that will allow demonkind to reclaim the planet). However, the way it plays out provides a clever twist on zombie movie claustrophobia. There’s the usual mistrust in the boarding house, but the fact that the outside threat literally has no way in but through the victims’ weaknesses in character elevates the scenario into something more intersting.

Demon Knight’s script was actually penned a few years before the show ever aired and has no basis in any of the EC comics. Yet, the film’s tone is somehow a dead match for the better episodes of the series, giving viewers just the right combination of gore and black comedy. While it may not be a masterpiece, Demon Knight is unapologetically fun. And that’s what Tales from the Crypt has always been about.

Same Old

Not much of anything to report on today, really. I’m still hammering away at The Last Look and preparing Sunday’s installment of Under the Radar. Beyond that, I will hopefully have my laptop replaced soon as I’m getting rather tired of trying to work in the living room with an AC blowing right on me.

However, my publisher is giving away an ebook for free today. I actually beta-read one of the contributor’s entries, and it looks to be a pretty good guide on horror and working in the genre. You can go check it out here:

Horror 101: The Way Forward

Instead of our Scheduled Program…

Normally, this is where I shine a spotlight on horror media that’s either obscure or got an undeservedly bad rap. I had a title selected. I was ready to write about it. But then, I did something I rarely do, anymore: I went to a theater.

I saw Mad Max: Fury Road.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting going in–given the reviews, probably just an enjoyable return to form for George Miller and his franchise. Instead, what I got was the best damn action movie of the last couple decades. Great acting, gorgeous cinematography, amazing stunts. Really, I have damn near no complaints about this movie.

It’s that good. It’s playing now, and holy crap, this is a film that demands to be seen on a big screen.

So, this one time, I’m going to recommend a film a little outside the genre I usually cover (though, being post-apocalyptic, it’s a bit of a grey area) because this one deserves your hard-earned dollars. And if it does well enough, we’ll get even more down the line.

Still Movin’ Along

I’ve got some more progress going on The Last Look this week. I’m right about at the halfway mark, so I’m hoping to have the rough draft done in a few more weeks (provided no more catastrophes fall in my lap).

I’m a little unsure as to what to feature on Under the Radar this time around. There are a few contenders, but none of them are standing out quite enough yet. I’m sure I’ll have something picked out by Sunday, though.

Under the Radar – Night of 1,000 Wolves

Horror in comics has a rich history. Macabre illustrations and dark stories have always been a great combination. While superhero comics often meander decades beyond their prime, their horror cousins know how to keep things concise but satisfying. The anthologies of the 1950s remain classics for a reason. However, I feel that miniseries tend to be the ideal length for horror. And in three issues, Night of 1,000 Wolves does it par excellence.

Set in the Dark Ages, a brutal tragedy befalls Harrick Benjyon’s family. Forced to flee to safety by the same creatures that claimed his daughter, Harrick comes to learn the secrets of his ancestors and the price he was left to pay.

The first thing one notices in Wolves is the artwork. Dave Wachter’s illustrations are gorgeous, brought to full life by the skillful use of watercolors. He manages to elevate the titular wolves from recognizable animals to feral monsters, and the whole series has a great dynamic flow from panel to panel with each action sequence being a standout.

Bobby Curnow’s writing is also impressive. The seeds of a mystery are planted in the first issue and paid off in dramatic fashion by the last. The pacing is appropriately brisk, taking a breather only when the characters need one themselves.

Night of 1,000 Wolves reads like a satisfying three-course meal. As short as it is, there’s still just enough space to breathe life into the characters and lend the climax the emotion it deserves.

Back from Vacation

The little break was nice, but I’m happy to be back to work on The Last Look. The week is starting off well so far on wordage, but it’s a little tough working with a shared computer. Hopefully, I can get a replacement for the laptop soon or at least work out a good schedule. Other than that, I’ve already got a movie in mind for next week’s Under the Radar…

Under the Radar – The Host

Giant monster movies are all about spectacle. Buildings crashing down, a desperate military throwing everything they have at the threat, and maybe even a good old monster on monster brawl. But it often seems the size of the danger is in inverse proportion to the quality of the human characters. Scientists and military personnel are a dime a dozen, and often interchangeable from film to film (I’m looking at you, Japan). Cloverfield billed itself as THE giant monster movie that finally focused on the impact on its characters. The problem? They were all obnoxious as hell. That, and a film from South Korea preceded it and actually did the job right.

The Host opens with an American military pathologist ordering the illegal dumping of formaldehyde into the Han River. Years later, after a few glimpses into the creature’s development, the viewer is introduced to a single parent named Park Gang-du. Park is mildly handicapped–still to much of a child himself to be a good father. While helping out at his own father’s snack bar, he notices a crowd. A strange creature is dangling from a nearby bridge, and it isn’t long before the beast swims to land and begins rampaging through the onlookers. Seeking his daughter, Park arrives just in time to see the creature dragging her into the depths. His family isn’t even given a proper chance to mourn before the military abducts the survivors, citing an unknown virus as the reason for the quarantine. Awaiting his fate at the hospital, Park is stunned to find his daughter calling his phone…

The synopsis above describes half of why the film works. Immediately, the viewer is given an emotional connection to its protagonist (played excellently by Song Kang-ho) and his plight. But it’s the ensemble aspect of the movie that really sells it.

Park’s family are the only ones who believe his daughter is alive, and each one provides an element to a somewhat dysfunctional but loving family. Park is forced to step up and take responsibility for his daughter as a proper adult. His brother is a caustic, unemployed ex-activist and his sister is a professional archer with confidence issues. While these backgrounds are a bit unusual, the actors carry their roles so convincingly that each one of them becomes well rounded and believable. Even Park’s daughter proves to be quite likable in her few scenes. All this development makes the tension of each dangerous sequence incredibly high.

Despite a modest budget, the monster is a pretty impressive piece of work. Its body is a strange amalgam of fish and half-developed amphibian. The fact that it’s a twisted mishmash of normal animals blown up to the size of a truck actually makes it a good deal more unsettling than its larger counterparts. Its origin is also an interesting twist on the nuclear warning presented by so many kaiju films, providing a criticism of the American influence on South Korea instead.

The Host did very well critically and in overseas markets, but had a very short shelf life in the U.S. Nonetheless, it deserves every accolade. The Host is what every giant monster movie should look to for inspiration. There may be less devastation to ogle, but there’s a hell of a lot more heart.

A Brief Break

I have family visiting this week, so there isn’t going to be much work done on the writing front for a little while. However, I’ve already prepped the next installment of Under the Radar for Sunday. By Monday, I should be back on the horse again. Things in The Last Look are really getting interesting, and I’m eager to see where they go.