In the vein of Idiocracy (2006), Atomic Zombies (2016) and The Poor Guy series weaves Horror through creative zest, humor, and passion. In these little to no budget pieces, the talent in irony deliverance is evident and calls for our attention. Follow along to learn more about this valuable Horror creator.
With all the creative outlets available to you, why movies?
Lots of reasons… I love seeing a creation start out as words or pictures on paper become a full video with music, dialogue, props, location, actors, etcetera.
Discussing the script!
When I was younger, I’d write down all these stories, then read them to the tape recorder (like, cassette) I had. The process usually involved doing voices and sound effects for a bunch of random characters, including re-occurring characters, like Dr. Gizmo. I’d also create voices for two toy dinosaurs I got from the dentist. They’d constantly break buildings made from Jenga blocks, and go to jail in Jenga blocks rearranged.
Later, someone in my neighborhood got a VHS camera that had to be connected to the wall for power, and we made a bunch of videos about skateboarding. We also recorded nonsensical “army” skits; we had a bunch of toy guns, used ketchup as blood, and moved slowly for dramatic slow-motion parts.
Eventually, I got a Hi8 camera, and made a bunch of videos with my action figures and LEGO‘s, part stop motion and part video. Finally, I got into asking friends and family to be in the videos (which worked out better than I was expecting) and then just used whatever resources we had to make whatever dumb ideas we had into short movies.
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Reviewing script
After I got a digital camera and some editing software, we made even more dumb ideas come to life with slightly more production value. At this point, I like that we can put a little more time into something and make it look better or we can do a stream-of-consciousness video for fun and have it finished in one day (like the Pizza, Pasta and Fried Zucchini Competition videos I did on YouTube).
Why Horror?
I was pretty sheltered when I was younger, but I would always fixate on any violence I could get a hold of. Some specific movie examples would be the VHS fast-forward version of the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) face-melt scene, the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) aging-to-death scene, and The Matrix (1999) Morpheus-getting-punched-whilst-tied-to-a-chair scene… You get the picture.
Time to shoot!
When I finally got into actual horror movies, I loved them. The jokes, the characters, the creators behind everything, and, of course, the gore. There is also a camaraderie amongst horror movie enthusiasts which doesn’t exist among any other genre of movie. Our scope of movie entertainment often extends to lower budgets and stranger storylines than the casual movie goer may enjoy. We are often rooting for the villain, and we are all aware that every one of us is a little sick in the head.
Tell me about your creative process. How does a video start? An idea, thought, message, scenario, etc.?
I always have a bunch of random sketches or notes that I’d like to incorporate into a video. With my webseries, Poor Guy, I often just voiced random conversations between the characters while I was working; by myself and outside all day. Once in a while I’d stumble into some kind of bit that I’d want to use in an episode. Thinking back, I probably looked like a crazy person talking to himself.
Gotta get that perfect angle!
I’d make a storyboard and comics of jokes or interactions, and when I had enough to use together, I’d turn them into a skit. We always have a fun time filming, which can add more jokes along the way. Sometimes they’re for the audience, sometimes they’re just for ourselves to laugh at later. Many on-the-spot jokes in Poor Guy ended up becoming recurring jokes throughout the series. Although Poor Guy isn’t suspenseful or a gore-fest, I tend to think of it in the horror genre. Maybe more Psychological Horror or a Dark Comedy. Either way, it draws a lot of inspiration from the Horror.
One of the nice things, which can also be one of the worst things, about YouTube is the ‘Comments’ section. It provides instant feedback, and a couple times I’ve used suggestions from them in videos. I even ended up getting some voice-over lines from a commenter, which turned out great (Hi AJ).
Duty calls!
Also, I try to only write stories that involve locations, props, and people I have access to. For Atomic Zombies, I designed and drew up a few pictures of a Mad Scientist, Dr. Gizmo, an evil Nazi version of the character I mentioned before. There’s also a friend I have who’s awesome at building props and costumes who was able to make a mask based off those few drawings.
I also have a friend who has an amazing studio, basically catered toward an old sci-fi lab, which was perfect for Atomic Zombies. It can be hard to film an apocalyptic wasteland near one of the biggest cities in the country, but as long as the camera is pointed away from traffic, we make it work. I have little to no musical talent, but luckily I know a couple people who are the opposite, and have put together some really awesome music for the weird videos I make.
Which piece are you most proud of, and why?
Atomic Zombies 2 is in production and looking pretty good, but I think my favorite finished video so far is the Poor Guy Christmas Special. I put it out after almost a full year of regular Poor Guy episodes, and it was about four times longer than most of them. It is based off a parody of A Christmas Carol that I had written years earlier. No Spoilers, but it was fun to bring back some characters we killed off earlier. I love stop motion, and since lots of Christmas specials are Rudolph-esque animations, I put some stop motion in my version.
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Meet Balaam!
The special also developed a character who turned into one of my favorites, named Balaam. A floating, talking deer head, who tries to help out Guy, played by ShadowBeatz (music sensation, who also created a Christmas rendition of the theme song), but rarely succeeds. Poor Guy Christmas Special introduces another one of my favorite characters, Tasha. She’s a ghost who calls herself a superhero, but seems to act more like an evil villain.
List any favorite movie creators or specific pieces, tell me how your work has been influenced by them.
If I had to pick just one, I’d say Robert Rodriguez. I’ve always enjoyed his movies, even Spy Kids. I love his story, how he started out with Bedhead (1991) and El Mariachi (1992).
Where can I find your work and the work of your helpers?
I’m very interested on your thoughts on this interview! Take a look at my previous interview with comic author, Jesse James Baer. Who should we interview next? Let me know in the comments below!
Youtube is a great place for those of us who like a spooky story. There we can find a mixture of true tales and cutting-edge fiction. These range everywhere from amateur footage to professionally crafted videos.Â
The channel launched in December 2014. Since its birth, there has been just one topic of discussion. The fey is not to be trusted, and in fact, is something to be feared.
Some of the stories on this channel are fiction. But some are claimed as first-hand accounts of dangerous interactions with fairies.
Now, whether or not we believe in fairies isn’t the point of this review. I am only here to talk about the level of entertainment to be found on this YouTube channel.
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A recent video titled Melsh Dick (don’t laugh) was a common fairy tale. A girl is lured away from her friends by a boy who claims to be her cousin. He doesn’t give her a name, they never do. Fortunately, the girl escapes. Others haven’t been so lucky.
A favorite video of mine, being a city dweller, was Urban Fairies. This video consisted of eight encounters with fairies in an urban setting. Many of these encounters are nice. There’s a beautiful swirl of lights seen out of an apartment window. A person is lured into a city park by a lovely young woman who might or might not have been human. And another person receives some personal and sage advice from what looks to be a homeless man while she’s out walking her dog. All of these stories were delightful, reminding us that magic can be found in any setting.
For creepier encounters, we turn to the video House Fairy Horrors. Warning, you might not be as thrilled about the Elf on a Shelf after this one.
In this video we hear the tale of a goblin that took over one room of a person’s house, chasing out anyone who tried to go in. A young child sings to scare sprites out of their home, only to have them hold a grudge and return years later. There’s even a shadow man who seems to encourage a vegan lifestyle.
Some of the videos have themes, like frost fairies or encounters with fairy royalty. Some are eerie tales plucked from Reddit, real life or imagined.
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Of course, the creepiest tales are those where people are lured into the forest by the fey. You’ll find several of these stories on Scary Fairy Godmother. It always seems to be in good fun, until one finds themselves lost.
These stories might not seem very scary to us. The tellers of these tales come away without a scratch after all. But consider this. The only time we’d hear about a fairy abduction is if it fails. We do not know what happens to the others, only that they’re not around to tell us.
How many people went missing in your town last year?
From what we can gather from these videos, we are never safe from the fey. They can reside in our homes, our cities, and our parks. They can even reach us in our dreams. What they want with us may vary. Perhaps it’s just to give us a scare. Maybe they enjoy playing tricks on us. Or maybe they’re vengeful, angry at the disrespect mankind has shown to the environment, and eager to punish us for our abuses. Whatever the reasons, it’s probably best if we steer clear.
The Scary Fairy Godmother YouTube channel is one with staying power. The fan base is small, but it’s growing. It’s a great one to throw on while your hands are busy, or if you just want a soothing voice to tell you a scary story. So if you’re a fan of the creepier side of life, do yourself a favor and check it out.Â
Sometimes life gets in the way. Maybe you watched the episodes the nights they came out, but then you got your stomach tattooed so you didn’t have the energy to type on your computer, and then you had to work nonstop for six days straight and housesit 20 miles out of town, and then you got into a hit-and-run car accident with your boyfriend (luckily you’re both okay but really very angry at the asshole that just drove away), etc. etc.. March has been a lot, but I finally rolled up my sleeves, made time for my computer and stopped procrastinating the job of writing my final review onHBO’s The Last of Us.
Here we will cover the final events of Joel and Ellie’s saga. Both episodes were directed by Ali Abassi and written by Craig Mazin and, in episode 9, Neil Druckmann. The adaptation continued to cover the story elements of the game, leaving out and/or changing most of the fighting and action scenes. This change is especially noticeable in episode 9, “Look for the Light,” but we’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s first do a recap of episode 8, “When We Are in Need.”
“When We Are in Need”
Ellie is on the hunt for food and comes across a deer, which she shoots down almost effortlessly. It is in this moment that she meets a preacher named David (Scott Shepherd) and his partner, James (Troy Baker, (Joel’s voice actor in the video games)). After a moment of hostility towards the stranger, Ellie agrees to give the deer to David in exchange for penicillin. Shortly after giving Joel the medication, Ellie has to leave again to deter David’s religious crew from hunting her and Joel. It turns out Joel killed a few of David’s men, and the preacher is out for revenge.
The religious group captures Ellie and puts her in a cell, where she discovers David has been feed them human remains. Meanwhile, Joel finally awakes and is stable enough to escape the house and search for Ellie. He tortures two men into disclosing her location, but he is almost too late. David places Ellie on a butcher block and is just about to chop her up when she narrowly escapes. The two fight until she finally has the advantage and takes him down, bludgeoning him to death with an insurmountable fury of vengeance.
“Look for the Light”
Episode 9 begins with a flashback of Ellie’s pregnant mother, Anna (Ashley Johnson, (Ellie’s voice actor in the video games). An infected bit Anna just moments before she gave birth to Ellie. Moments pass, and Marlene finds the two in a pool of blood. She is forced to take the baby and kill her friend. Fast forward 14 years, and Joel and Ellie are almost done with their journey. They finally made it to Utah. Ellie, still processing everything that happened with David, is sad and somber. Joel tries his best to cheer her up, but nothing seems to work.
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Suddenly, the youth sees something and runs off to get a better look. Joel chases her until he stops and stares in awe. The camera pans from him to Ellie inches away from a giraffe. She is her old self again, cracking jokes and asking a myriad of questions. Later on, when Joel reveals that he tried to kill himself after Sarah’s death, Ellie provides him as much comfort as she can. But the fact that Joel can trust her enough to reveal such a secret means is a comfort on its own. He asks Ellie to read some puns to lighten the mood, but his moment is interrupted when a group of Fireflies knock them out.
Joel wakes up in a hospital to see Marleen, who informs him that the doctors are preparing Ellie for surgery to remove the part of her brain that makes her immune. This procedure, however, will result in Ellie’s death. No matter how hard Joel fights, Marlene won’t budge. She instead has two Firefly soldiers escort Joel out of the hospital, but he kills them and everyone else until he finds the surgery room, where he murders the doctor in cold blood. He escapes with an unconscious Ellie and makes it as far as the parking garage until Marlene stops them. The camera cuts to Joel driving a car with Ellie in the backseat.
The End
Ellie wakes up and asks Joel what happens. While he lies to her that there is no cure, the camera flickers back to the parking garage scene with Marlene. He shoots her once. After listening to her begs and pleas, he kills her with a final shot.
The duo have to walk the last few miles to Tommy’s town. At the top of a waterfall, they get a spectacular view of their new home, their new futures. Before making the final trek, Ellie tells Joel about her past and how she saw her best friend die. This lead to watching Tess, Sam and Henry die because of the disease. The fact that they all had to go through such gruesome deaths, only for there not to be a cure, is too much for Ellie to handle. She makes Joel swear that he is telling the truth, and in a beat, he does.
Series Verdict
HBO’s The Last of Us is a remarkable video game adaptation that deserves all the high praise it has received the past few months. From the set design and effects to the filming, screenwriting and acting, the show is a peak example of how to do an adaptation well. It is heart-throbbing and terrifying.
A few issues with HBO’s adaptation is how much they excluded the game play scenes. Despite the world being filled with infected, they were rarely on screen. This is disappointing, especially because it increases the stakes and so much of Joel and Ellie’s relationship builds in these fight scenes. The biggest disappointment was in episode 9, in which the show completely cut out the game’s highway scene. Furthermore, there are numerous creative weapons the show could have included to illustrate Joel and Ellie’s means of survival, from molotov cocktails and nail bombs to the beloved shotgun and its shorty companion.
Despite these small quibbles, the show is arguably one of the best American video game adaptations out there. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were the perfect casting choices for Joel and Ellie, as was the casting for all the other characters.
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It will be exciting to see where Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin take The Last of Us 2. I hope they will include more gameplay (aka a little more violence), more screen time for infected, and some creative liberties with the original story while also sticking to the heart of it. We will just have to wait and see what they come up with. Until we meet again, don’t forgot to read about the other shows and games we’re loving here at HauntedMTL.
Let the Wrong One In is a 2021 horror comedy directed and written by Conor McMahon, starring Karl Rice, Eoin Duffy, and Anthony Head. This film is currently available per subscription to Amazon Prime (through Shudder) or Shudder directly.
Matt (Karl Rice) and Deco (Eoin Duffy) are estranged brothers, but when Deco finds himself strangely ill, he seeks his brother out. Through obvious signs and tropable behaviors, the brothers realize Deco is a vampire. What follows spirals into a plot of brotherly guilt, passive aggression, and bloody retribution.
Anthony Header as Henry
What I Like
With the titular reference to Let the Right One In, the idea interested me. After the trailer, I realized this film doesn’t relate to or parody the novel or film aside from being about vampires. As a fan of the franchise, it would have been interesting to find a subversion. However, the film can charm a viewer at certain points, receiving a few laughs from me.
Either Let the Wrong One In is a micro budget film or imitates such films. The special effects ensure you know this as intended, if perhaps out of necessity. If you can accept these points, the film might be an entertaining viewing experience.
The chemistry between the two leads is where the film shines. Both Karl Rice and Eoin Duffy feel like bickering brothers. With Deco’s performance as an addict, the film even ties into elements that family members of addicts know all too well.
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Anthony Head (of Buffy fame) also plays his campy and ridiculous vampire hunter role to perfection, even seeming competent in the profession despite the character being more of a joke. Anthony Head can chew a scene, becoming an easy highlight of the film.
I like how vampires are named vampires without the cliche attempt to figure out what they are. It seems to be a rare thing to see on film. When this standard of logic does appear, it helps me believe the characters a little more. Though Let the Wrong One In doesn’t care if you believe in its characters.
Eoin Duffy as Deco
Potential Trigger Warnings or Tired Tropes
The film is a collection of tropes wrapped around a campy and zany direction. I wouldn’t particularly say they are tired or are different enough to have a pass, but one goes into a film like this with these expectations. Don’t expect unique and refreshing subversions.
Addiction plays a role in the film, including the emotional manipulation addicts deploy to control others. The film doesn’t depict these elements effectively or abhorrently, existing as a plot point first and foremost. If this plotline upsets you, perhaps give this film a skip.
There is a point where implied violence occurs on an animal, but it certainly doesn’t take this idea too seriously. In fact, the creature gets a few shining moments. Still, I understand some get squirmy at this.
Karl Rice as Matt and Eoin Duffy as Deco
What I Dislike
Let the Wrong One In falls under the “so bad it’s good” category, though purposely done to be so. It’s a campy and dumb movie for those interested in passing the time. There is nothing wrong with satisfying this niche, but it’s not an enjoyable time for all.
The brotherly relationship should be the center of the film, which might have focused the film more. However, the film has a big bad that feels somewhat out of place and unnecessary. It also adds to the runtime, which isn’t long at 1 hour and 40 minutes. But it feels too long for this plot.
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Again, I wonder why Let the Right One In exists as the film’s namesake as it has no notable connection to the franchise, even in parody.
While I must admit that more jokes landed with me than I expected, most of the zany humor falls flops. This film seems to be a Shaun of the Dead clone but falls far from the other’s success, lacking the focus of its predecessor.
Zeth M. Martinez
Final Thoughts
As mentioned, if you want a horror comedy to turn your brain off to, Let the Wrong One In can certainly be that film. However, there are better examples to pull from. The lack of direction and comparisons to greater options makes this fall even further on the recommendation list. One additional point in the film’s favor is that you will likely know if the film is for you within the first few minutes of viewing. (1.5 / 5)
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