by Frank & Margie Barron

As the skeletons and pumpkins start popping up around town, so do the horror movies at the neighborhood cineplex. It’s a reminder that Halloween is a great time for independent filmmakers, because many have gotten their start in the horror genre.

Low-budget indie films have always been a breeding ground for creative types who want to get their foot in the Hollywood door. And scary movies have been a great way to crash through that door and get noticed in the industry. Among the big names who went that route were Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme and James Cameron, all of whom worked for the godfather of indies and the master of low-budget horror films– Roger Corman.

Decades ago, the “B” movies told their stories with monsters in rubber masks and killers with ketchup on their knives. Nowadays, with CGI as available as your nearest laptop, the fright-films have gone crazy with effects.

But our friend Mick Garris (producer-director-screenwriter on many Stephen King productions), feels that technology has taken away some of the heart-pounding thrills and chills. Garris points out that if a digital creature is attacking a character, it may not scare audiences like it used to– when you know that the arm that was just ripped off was removed digitally.

So Garris warns young filmmakers that they have to take more care with their storytelling and character development to make the audiences really care about your characters, and feel a sense of danger. Technology should never over shadow a good scary story.

Share This

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.