Genre: Horror (It’s billed as comedy, I didn’t laugh. It isn’t dramatic).
Premise: A news-caster, Karen, being hunted by a serial killer retreats to a colony, filled with weird creatures, and is pursued by a werewolf.
About: Sayles was hired to do a full rewrite of the script. He’d previously worked with director Joe Dante on Piranha, and created a script with satirical elements far from the novel’s original tone.
Writers: John Sayles (who I’ve previously called brilliant, and who has the special privilege of being the first writer to have two scripts reviewed on Hunting for Isla Fisher) and Terrences Winkles, who has many produced credits for films I’ve never heard of (Rage and Honor, Nightmare City 2025, and Scorpius Gigantus) adapted the novel from Gary Brander, who wrote The Howling and The Big Brain novels.
I have a lot of respect for John Sayles. The guy published in Atlantic Monthly in his early 20’s. Wrote some of the strongest structural scripts I’ve ever seen, and I hold a really special place in my heart for Seacaucus Seven. But, that being said, I’m going to go out on a limb here: Sayles fills empty for me a lot of the time. I guess he’s funny, but his stuff isn’t that funny. His characters never feel organic, but always just a little bit too wooden. The Howling and Night Skies aren’t bad scripts. Definitely not bad. But I’m not going to say they’re the best things I’ve ever read. And I wouldn’t call Sayles a genius if I knew just about these two films. The guy definitely has a good deal of talent, and he definitely is an expert at how he intertwines character with plot.
The Howling was ridiculously hard for me to follow. I’m not saying I didn’t get it. But Sayles writes in a matter that keeps drawing me out of the script. He jumps to screen descriptions very abruptly, which makes it hard to follow through with what people are saying. Nor does his sarcastic sense of humor play particularly well on the page (I think Sayles may understand people so much he instinctively know these scenes will work acted out), but The Howling was a really slow read. This is actually the closest I came to not wanting to finish a script. I did, though.
This isn’t exactly Sayles’ fault, but it deserves to be said. Plot-wise with the exception of the Werewolf’s introduction half the way into the second act, this thing was dull. A woman caught a serial killer. A woman went to a place filled with weird people. Night Skies had this same sort of problem, the scripts do a switch around where they aren’t really about serial killers or small town romance, but rather werewolves and aliens. And I guess, genre-wise that’s an interesting turn, but as a reader looking for a solid plot it can sometimes grow pretty frustrating. What’s weirder is I’ve seen the film, but remembering tuning out halfway through and not really paying attention.
So is this film a failure? I’d say in terms of Werewolf week it’s actually number 2 behind An American Werewolf in London. Generally, though Werewolf films seem to be a pretty lackluster affair. Never awful, but certainly far from great. The thing is, no script so far has had a unique take on the Werewolf legend. It’s always an after-thought, and a barely unapplied one. Werewolves are scary, and can be killed with silver bullets. Nobody’s looking inside at what make these things scary or unsettling. (Also, there were three big budget Werewolf films in 1983: The Howling, Wolfen, and American Werewolf in London…I’ll be reviewing the third of these tomorrow)
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
[X] - Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good
Isla Prospects: Karen’s really the headliner here. And definitely not an Isla role. She’s a very flat character, and I’m not that big a fan of her.
What I Learned: You don’t have to make really thick screen descriptions. I’m not saying Sayles is the model to craft your stuff after, but it teaches us to strip stuff down and look at the bare basics. Sayles doesn’t add on a lot of fluff to his scripts, and that can result in scripts that feel very breezy. Or boring, sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment