About This Blog

Welcome!

So you're probably wondering why you're here. No, not...I mean, why you're here, like, looking at this text, not...sorry, I didn't mean to get you into an existential funk.

Let's try this again: why are you looking at this blog? Probably because I emailed you and told you to look at my shiny, new blog, and you like me enough that you'd feel guilty if you didn't. BUT, if you happened to stumble across this blog, here's the deal: I'm a filmmaker for free and a dog walker for money (working on reversing those titles...or not reversing, just, like, getting paid to make movies. I don't plan to continue walking dogs for free...you know what? Shut up, you knew what I meant.)

I live in NYC and I love horror movies. And, frankly, this project is all about me! I want an excuse to really dissect the mechanics of some of my favorite (and least favorite) movies and figure out very specifically what works and doesn't work and why. And if that interests you, too, you're in the right place!

Every review I post will be filled with spoilers because, like I said, I really want to focus on breaking down the mechanics of a movie from start to finish rather than just talking about whether or not I liked it. That means I won't shy away from talking about something like how the first shot affects the way the ending works. So you've been warned! I'm gonna stay away from new movies so everyone has a chance to see the movie I'm talking about (and because, with the nature of the reviews, I want to see everything at least twice before I write about it). But, if you haven't seen a movie I'm writing about and that sort of thing doesn't bother you (spoilers, I mean), I'll generally try to provide enough context for you to follow the conversation without needing to have seen the movie.

So anyway...I'm not going to stick exclusively to horror movies, because I love movies from every genre, but horror will definitely be the focus. And I'm not necessarily going to talk exclusively about technical stuff, I'm just going to write about whatever it is that works or doesn't work for me in a particular movie; that could be the dialogue, the structure, the character development or lack thereof, the acting, the framing, the editing, whatever.

I'm also going to make a massive effort to not be a judgmental douche; the internet has plenty of those already. That doesn't mean I won't be negative, but I'll never write a movie off just because I didn't like it.

The intent here is to start a conversation about why movies work, so please leave comments if you feel so inclined! This blog will be a way for me to try to figure out what exactly works in a particular movie and, hopefully, help me (and you!) become a better filmmaker.