A quick one this week. Then, next week: a risk I took in 2022 and some recommendations of stuff I’ve enjoyed this year, which I used to really like doing as threads on Twitter, but that platform just isn’t so likable any more.
2022 is the 1982 of Horror
I’ve been thinking about something Cargill said in his 5 Questions in October:
What has me really excited is what is happening in horror. Hollywood doubled down on horror last year and the results are pouring into theaters this year. And it has been exciting. Genre-bending horror stories are not only opening almost every weekend, but they are doing incredibly well, often over-performing the very studio estimates that long doomed horror to basement. This year not one but two major studios attached Rated-R teaser trailers to their big four quadrant tent poles. That never happens. And in both cases, the movies over-performed tracking and became the weekend darlings that saw slimmer declines than usual in the weeks that followed. It is a banner year for horror, and Hollywood smells money… from original films, not IP. This is exciting for everyone in the genre space. And I am LOVING it.
I went looking for which movies Cargill meant, and I was both surprised and thrilled to find that of the ten top grossing horror films of 2022, seven are originals: Nope, Smile, The Black Phone, Barbarian, The Invitation, Prey for the Devil, and X. The number 9 film is a re-release of Jaws, and the number 4 film is the newest Scream, which is terrific and feels fresh. Most exciting to me: of these top ten grossing films, I can vouch for most of them being really good movies. The ones I have seen are inventive, risk-taking, singular, clever, well-acted, and human.
This is inspiring to me and should be to you, whatever genre you write in.
In the top grossing action movies, nine slots are eaten up by franchise movies (Top Gun, Marvel, DC, Jurassic Park) but squeaking in at number ten is Everything Everywhere All At Once, with The Woman King and The Norseman hanging on at 11 and 12. Again, these last three are inventive, singular films. And not only did they get made, but people saw them!
I am confident that an exec would love to read an innovative take on a romantic comedy or crime movie. They want to read fun, unusual material as much as we want to watch it.
For the Fences
I watched Barbarian when it came to HBOMax in October, and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a perfect model for the kinds of movies that, I think, will be selling in the next few years. It has some unorthodox formal aspects, but it’s pretty approachable story-wise. In fact, my wife, who doesn’t like horror movies, asked me to tell her the entire plot the morning after I watched it, and it all still works; she was rapt, scared, emotionally engaged. It tells well.
Barbarian’s set up is simple and immediately gripping. After that, it takes some big, dark, weird swings, but because that first act got us comfortable—we know that we’re in capable hands with writer/director Zach Cregger—we are on board for the ride.
It was designed to be made for about three million dollars and ended up costing just under five million. That is super affordable to most studios. It’s made about 40 million.
Despite this being “the year of the multi-verse,” I was so knocked out by Everything Everywhere All at Once that I immediately watched it a second time. There’s a reason that, despite it having been released in March, we’re still talking about it (and talking about it more than a lot of late-releasing Oscar wannabes). And there’s a reason it’s taken about 70 million at the box office off of a 25 million dollar budget.
It’s because it swings for the fences. Barbarian and Everything Everywhere didn’t have IP or even marquee names to coast off of. Neither do you. But you do have your imagination and the movie you want to see. Which is all Cregger and the Daniels and Ti West and Jordan Peele and any of these folks had when they sat down to write.
Be Weird But Wear Pants
I do think there’s a balance to be struck in these sorts of scripts. Your scripts still have to read like scripts. They have to be fun to read and show that you know the craft.
Having read the scripts for Barbarian, Everything Everywhere, Smile, and X, the writers show incredible confidence and mastery on the page. As when you watch their movies, you know pretty quickly that you can trust the writer, that they’ve given this thought and love and, yes, bled on the page. That they are writing the stories they want to see on the screen.
Stop guessing what the industry wants to read. The industry doesn’t know. As the same old franchises lose steam, the movies that get people excited are the ones that could only be made by the person making it. The movies that have a voice and point of view.
So get writing. Write something that can be made for $3 million. Write something that surprises you even as you write it. Take risks. Have fun.
Write the thing you want to see.
Tis the Etc
I will admit that I love holiday music. But I love some very specific holiday music. Too much of it sounds like children’s music, and that is not for me. Nor do I enjoy anything too religious, cloying, or slick. Add all of these caveats to my already pretty Nick Horby-esque musical parameters, and I wasn’t sure I could come up with a six-hour playlist for Little Dom’s of holiday music that I actually enjoy.
So, I just started compiling Christmas songs that I really love and could hear any time.
Obviously, this is the greatest Christmas song of all time. Even that dummy David Letterman knew it and had Darlene Love on his show every year to perform:
I think the first time I head “Christmas (Please Come Home)” was in Gremlins, which is my favorite Christmas movie.
I am also unabashedly a fan of Mariah Carey’s powerhouse Christmas anthem, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The only reason you don’t like it is because it’s so ubiquitous. Give it some space and another listen. It’s an all-time banger. The podcast Hit Parade, which is an exploration of Billboard’s pop chart, did a terrific episode on the song a few years ago. Click below:
In the end, I was able to put together a playlist that will take you through Christmas Day, six-and-a-half hours of holiday1 and generally wintery songs that I genuinely enjoy. You’ve got peaks and valleys here, the energy coming up for Elastica, Pixies, The Regrettes, and Girls Aloud (whose “I Wanna Kiss You So [Christmas in a Nutshell]” is an underrated pop confection), getting cheesy and nostalgic with the theme from Christmas Vacation and the Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” (a classic), before getting low with Otis Redding, Neil Diamond, and, well, Low. Sad Christmas songs are the best Christmas songs.
Hope you enjoy!
What are you favorite Christmas songs? What’s missing from my playlist? I’m always looking for great new stuff!
Yes, Virginia, “Eight Days a Week” counts as a Hanukkah song.
Enjoyed this post -- all great news! Needed this. And got the playlist going. :)
I’m a scrooge but I love the Peanuts song & The Nutcracker ballet.