Ah, movies. I hate to think how much time I've sat staring at a screen, and how much time I've wasted watching something just to think "God, that was awful." I very rarely turn anything off mid-way through, but I have been known to speed up the odd movie, and can recall the days of pirated video when you'd have to fast forward through the parts that were unwatchable due to static. Even when you could make out the action they'd often drop into black and white. I think that's why I've never been a fan of The Exorcist. The copy I borrowed in my school-days was so bad I could only make out half of it, if that, which kind of ruined the experience.
Having said that, I've also watched some great movies. I'm not one for watching something over and over again but certain "classics" fit in that category - Zulu, Spartacus, The Great Escape, though perhaps that's due to the fact they were shown at least once a year back in the days of only having three or four channels on the TV. Goodfella's, Leon, and Gladiator are more recent films which fall into the same "classic" category for me.
Here however I'm not thinking so much about favourites, but influences. So here goes, "Ten Movies That Have Influenced The Writing Of J.C.Michael (with honourable mentions to quite a few more)"
Having said that, I've also watched some great movies. I'm not one for watching something over and over again but certain "classics" fit in that category - Zulu, Spartacus, The Great Escape, though perhaps that's due to the fact they were shown at least once a year back in the days of only having three or four channels on the TV. Goodfella's, Leon, and Gladiator are more recent films which fall into the same "classic" category for me.
Here however I'm not thinking so much about favourites, but influences. So here goes, "Ten Movies That Have Influenced The Writing Of J.C.Michael (with honourable mentions to quite a few more)"
Fallen starring Denzel Washington stands out in the way that you never actually see the villain in his natural form. Not only is Denzel trying to catch a demon who can move from body to body by the slightest of touches, but he's also trying to catch a demon who is undeniably cool, most notably because of his habit of singing the Rolling Stones song "Time Is On My Side", an even better use of their music than "Sympathy for the Devil" in Interview with a Vampire. It's also a clever story, and a movie I often recommend.
Speaking of cool there's got to be a place for Blade on the list. There's a number of action movie / horror crossovers, including the ever growing Underworld and Resident Evil series, all of which have their merits, and downsides. Blade however is just a damn good movie. The whole Vampire mythology was brought bang up to date and, although 30 Days of Night and Daybreakers are also good, modern, vampire movies, as is the original Underworld, Blade has the edge for me.
Not really an influence so far as Discoredia goes but if I ever get around to writing the post-apocalyptic novel which I keep jotting down notes about then this will be a movie I look back on. Along with The Book of Eli, Stakeland conjures up just the sort of image I'd be looking to gave my world after... well after whatever happens to screw the world up in my novel.
It's a shame I can't include The Stand as another post-apocalyptic movie from which to draw influence, but as such a fan of the book the movie simply didn't do it justice. The same applies to IT, and, to be honest, most other movies based on Stephen King novels. Misery, The Shining, The Mist, and Apt Pupil come to mind as ones which actually hold their own cinematically. Movies like Maximum Overdrive don't.
It's a shame I can't include The Stand as another post-apocalyptic movie from which to draw influence, but as such a fan of the book the movie simply didn't do it justice. The same applies to IT, and, to be honest, most other movies based on Stephen King novels. Misery, The Shining, The Mist, and Apt Pupil come to mind as ones which actually hold their own cinematically. Movies like Maximum Overdrive don't.
We've got Demons on the list, and we've got vampires, so lets pick a zombie movie. I love 28 Days Later. The haunting music, and the fact that these are Zombies you'd have to run away from, rather than gently saunter off in the opposite direction, make this a far more effective premise than the old George Romero style Living Dead (although the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead was a lot of fun).
Without 28 Days Later I don't think we'd have The Walking Dead. Which would be a shame.
Without 28 Days Later I don't think we'd have The Walking Dead. Which would be a shame.
So far all of the horror has been of the pretty fantastical variety, a lot of monsters in fact. Orphan takes a different slant by working in the real world. Esther is the scariest little girl I've seen on film since I watched Hard Candy, a film to really make the males in the audience wince. It's rare that a movie actually surprises or shocks me, but this one did. There wasn't any extreme or gratuitous gore, that's better left to the Hostels and Saws of this world (then again I wouldn't put the first Saw into that category, that was a very clever movie), but it was certainly unsettling, and I found it to be very well done.
A bit of sci-fi now, but I'd still class The Terminator as a horror movie. Before Arnie became all one amusing one liners a la Commando and The Running Man (actually, that's another decent Stephen King based movie, just sod all like the book), and well before he descended into parody, he became the embodiment of the unstoppable killing machine. In some ways this was the monster of the future, remorseless, invincible, and unfeeling. It's an extremely dark film, and looks somewhat dated now, but along with Predator it's a modern classic that has had an undeniable impact on modern culture.
Demons - check, Vampires - check, Zombies - check, cybernetic organisms, erm, check. How about werewolves? No prizes for guessing that I'm not going for Twilight here, and I wasn't even that impressed by An American Werewolf back in the day, but Dog Soldiers is certainly a film that's well worth watching. The gore can be a bit over the top, but it's a fun film to watch, and it certainly doesn't take itself too seriously. Neil Marshall also directed The Descent and, since he's not just a Brit, but also from the North East of England, I can't help but wonder if he'd be interested in directing the movie version of Discoredia. Probably not, but it's a good answer to the staple interview question of "who would you like to direct and star in the movie of your novel."
No matter how tough any of the above monsters may be the ultimate bad guy must be Satan himself. Off the top of my head I'm struggling to think of a movie where Old Nick actually makes a serious appearance (Little Nicky and the South Park Movie don't really cut it). Devil? I'm not sure if that was The Devil, or a devil (but it's a good film). His son however, now he's certainly made his mark on cinema, a 666 shaped birthmark mark in fact. The Omen Trilogy were films I loved as a teenager, and even though it looks it's age I still think the original holds the upper hand over the re-make. The fact that Doctor Who was in it was a bonus.
Now I think of it there actually are a couple of reasonable movies with Damien's old man making an appearance. The Devils Advocate the pick of the bunch that I can think of so far.
Now I think of it there actually are a couple of reasonable movies with Damien's old man making an appearance. The Devils Advocate the pick of the bunch that I can think of so far.
Influences on Discoredia. I think all of the above have influenced my writing in some ways, even if it's just in the outline of future projects, but a direct influence on that particular book? If any movie has made an impression that's reflected in that novel it's this, From Dusk Till Dawn. From the outset it's a good movie, the dialogue is sharp, as you'd expect from Tarantino, and it doesn't hold back on the violence. Clooney is as cool as he's ever been, and likely ever will be, and Harvey Keitel must have held the title of "priest most suited to kicking vampire arse", at least until Paul Bettany's Priest came along. Satanico Pandemonium must also be one of the most alluring characters in modern horror. The second half of the movie is a pure fight for survival, with a side order of fun thrown into the mix. I wouldn't say that Discoredia is based on From Dusk Till Dawn, but there are undeniable similarities.
My guess is that most people reading this list will probably have seen the majority of, if not all, of these movies. They may not have seen Tobe Hoopers Lifeforce. I've included it because it has vampires which aren't vampires at all in the traditional sense, but rather creatures which feed on the spirit of their victims as opposed to their blood. It's also a movie I thoroughly enjoyed as a teenager and has the trivia bonus of having parts played by both Patrick Stewart, and Mick Jagger's brother.
So there you have it. Ten movies plus a few. There's quite a few more that I could have mentioned but haven't - The first few Nightmare on Elm Street's (so what if I enjoyed the third one the most, Freddy's one liners were at their best in that one), Evil Dead III - The Medieval Dead, The People Under The Stairs, Pan's Labyrinth, The Others. Did I mention I've watched a lot of movies?
So there you have it. Ten movies plus a few. There's quite a few more that I could have mentioned but haven't - The first few Nightmare on Elm Street's (so what if I enjoyed the third one the most, Freddy's one liners were at their best in that one), Evil Dead III - The Medieval Dead, The People Under The Stairs, Pan's Labyrinth, The Others. Did I mention I've watched a lot of movies?