I'm watching the tele last night, and the advertisement for "The Skeleton Key" comes on. It looks excellent to me, until I hear the announcer proclaim "With a twist so shocking...", and then proceeds to compare it to The Sixth Sense and The Other's. I am immediately pissed off. Doesn't a twist ending cease to be a twist ending once you're notified there's a twist ending? I understand the actual twist might be so hard to decipher that I may not guess it. But I will know a twist is coming, therefore, I mentally prepare for it. The problem I will have is towards the end, I will be taken out of the story, and put into the role of investigator, looking for clues for the real ending, and not the faux setup I am currently watching.
The fact that the studio deemed it necessary to announce there's a twist so shocking, frankly has me shocked. Don't they know the reason The Sixth Sense was so huge was word of mouth, and not telling anyone what to expect? Sure, they still haven't told me what to expect, exactly, only that the twist exists, but that's much too much. I want to be surprised that there is a twist ending in the first place. Now they are relying on the actual substance of the ending, but will it be strong enough to actually shock anyone, since we're expecting to be shocked? The only way to rectify this is to see the film and find out there was no twist whatsoever. Now that would be a brilliant.
I had two marathon writing sessions last night. I wrote 45 pages, which translated into 25 typed pages in Final Draft. I will have Dead Trends finished tonight, in 9 days time, at approximately 95-100 pages. How shitting awesome is that? 2 first drafts done in a months time! I think I've found my schedule for life.
Katie, if you're reading this, I won't blast Brian Eno's, "Here come the warm jets" anymore. :)
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Twisting My Last Nerve
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6 Comments:
I was still surprised by the ending in Sixth Sense even though I knew a twist was coming.
The Others I saw in Tokyo. I knew nothing about it and even though it was a bit of a Sense rip off I thought it was a cool movie.
everyone kept telling me there was a major plot twist in Million Dollar Baby...yep, and it twisted me right out of the chair to fling the remote at the tv and yell 'you bastards'
JDC-Totally agree. Every horror movie (you meant Secret Window, I presume?) in the last 5 years has been pitiful. All watered down rip offs of classic hardcore horror films.
Matt: I was surprised by the Sixth Sense ending too, but it's because I forgot about it. I didn't see it until about 6 monthds later. However, I can't absolutely say with 100% confidence that The Skeleton Key will not shock me now that I've been promised to be shocked. It just can't be as effective an ending now that I'm ready for something.
MQ-I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby yet, and didn't plan on it, but now I just may...:)
JDC--Lol. Okay. I just was assuming Secret Window since it blew big time, but my mistake. The Rear Window is okay. I don't put with Hitchcock's best.
No, it's not just because you or I are getting old. But hopefully The Devils Rejects, Haute Tension, and some B movies will switch the focus from jokey teen age romps to brutal 70's style horror. The tide has got to change at some point. Have you seen Malevolence? It's a throwback to early 80's slashers. Some would say homage, and others would say straight ripoff. I say it's pretty much Halloween and Friday the 13th, mixed with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And I enjoyed it, if only because it went back to basics. I wrote in my blog about it somewhere...
The scene where Leatherface slams the door after hanging the girl on a hook will haunt me to my grave.
You got that right! That is one of the most frightening moments in cinema. And lets not forget the chase at the end, either. My adrenaline pumps every time I watch it. It's the most instinctively scary thing I have ever seen.
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