Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/29/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 03/10/10.
SCOTT MICHAEL WILSON
Books:
Monster Rally
Official Site: http://www.smichaelwilson.com/312.html
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: January 9, 2010.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 21.
Meeting Program: Talk by Genre Film Expert.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2010 Philip J De Parto:
The January 9, 2010 meeting of the Association was held at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Genre movie expert Scott Michael Wilson was the evening's speaker.
Both pre meeting events drew reasonably well, with a quartet in the basement to watch the anime offering, GUNSLINGER GIRL, while our guest joined the wide ranging Ice Nine discussion. Discussion topics included Trailers that Ruin Movies, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, and INGLORIOUS BASTARDS.
Scott Michael Wilson is a screenwriter, a blogger, a film reviewer, and an editor. He edited and contributed an article to MONSTER RALLY, a collection of essays about horror films. He is currently at work on PERFORMED BY LUGOSI, which will focus on eight horror films starring the actor and reprint the stories which were the source material for the films.
Mr Wilson is the co-producer (with Joey Guida) of the podcast Movie Sucktastic and the blog, This Movie Sucks! He has also written a number of unproduced screenplays.
Our guest was not particularly interested in movies until his teen years when he became a fan of horror flicks. This led him to foreign horror films, which led him to foreign films in general which in turn led him to mainstream movies and screen writing. He describes his first screenplay, APOCALYPTO, now in its tenth draft, as "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse meet the Marx Brothers." Another work, THE YARD SALE, is currently in pre production.
One of Mr Wilson's career turning points occurred while he was working at Metropolis Comics in Bloomfield, New Jersey when he was 15 years old. He and the owner got into a 4 hour discussion of horror themes in George Romero's DEAD movies. This led to writing articles about horror and eventually to his book work with his old boss from Metropolis who had started a small publishing house, Ideamen Productions.
Much of the talk focused on what constituted a bad movie, and an evaluation of current and classic films.
We moved into the Mirror Room after the break, arranged the chairs in a circle, and had Joey Guida join Scott Michael Wilson.
They talked about what makes a good movie and what makes a bad movie. A good movie is effective on its own terms. It might not be a film you are interested in seeing, but if accomplishes what the director was trying to do, it is on some level a good film. A bad film is one which does not accomplish what is trying to do.
Our guest mentioned some of the warning signs of a bad movie. Narration was one. Flashbacks were another. Turning to specific films, Wilson did not expect STAR TREK to be good, but wound up loving it. He had high hopes for TERMINATOR: SALVATION, but the hopes were dashed.
There was a lot of back and forth between Mr Wilson and Mr Guida about AVATAR and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. They both admired Paranormal for its use of implied horror, but differed on how badly it would hurt the SAW franchise and similar works. They approached AVATAR expecting a HEAVEN'S GATE. Although it is not a perfect film, they both enjoyed it.
2012 was a fun film. They particularly enjoyed having one character say to another "I feel that there's something coming between us" and then the ground opens. THE FIFTH ELEMENT is a bad film. The worst film of 2009 was CHILD BRIDE. GYMKATA is so bad that you have to rant every time you see it. Other random film comments: WATCHMEN had always been planned as a 3-1/2 hour film by the director, but the studio made him cut it. Costner had no luck with WATERWORLD. Hurricanes destroyed his sets every other week. Martin Scorsese saw Robert De Niro's TAXI DRIVER as a villain, but audiences embraced him.
There was a lot of interaction with the audience and many more films were discussed than those listed here. This meeting was a lot of fun.