Chad-38

As one of the screenwriters, this film surprised even me. It's beyond campy. What started out as a reprise of an old television show called "Space Patrol," turned into "Midnight Movie Massacre." It was an interesting transition to say the least. I wrote Space Patrol and by gosh it's in the movie... up on the screen in a theater where a bunch of folks go to watch it. Then a monster (from Mars as it turns out) lands on top of the theater and begins to eat the theater goers one at a time. I must say the film does look good. Some of the scenes go a bit far with the gags (and I do mean gags). All in all, though, it isn't too bad. I hope it will come back to haunt me one day as a screenwriter.

I stumbled across M while visiting Port Townsend, Washington, and sitting in my motel room. It was on a station that showed independent films and I had no idea what it was. It took me a while to figure out who I was looking at as the child killer. I had no idea this film was made in 1931, but it was fascinating to watch. The story was intense, but what amazed me was the camera work. This was light years before the motion-controlled cameras and computers, but Fritz Lang pulled off some shots that I have no idea how he did them. Once I got over the mechanics of the film I was hooked on the story. It was imaginative and down right spooky. I can understand why the star ended up in Hollywood.