A Book By It's Cover

This is my poster, braced for judgement.

An untouched blog & a finished film.

So, it seems ironic in context that I haven't written in so long, considering that this was the way I was going to force myself to make my film. Ironically, I made it regardless, without apology and with immense obligation.

The film is done. 'Playing Murder' is officially on the docket for distribution.

Only time will tell what happens next.

The Steps to Creating a Killer.

If you have ever seen a horror film, ever, you know that the most important to any slasher flick is the murderous entity with the mask, machete in hand.  Below are the steps to create a killer in a way that even the film Cry Wolf would be jealous of.

 Setting

Everyone has heard the old adage "location, location, location," and yet, in no genre is this more true than in horror. After all, Jason wouldn't be Jason without Camp Crystal lake, nor Freddy without his Elm Street. To create the perfect killer, you must have the right setting. You can't kill off a random group of adolescents at a nursing home, it just doesn't fit the occasion properly. So imagine yourself as a mental realtor, scoping out the right property for your own demented masterpiece.


Weapon

To say that the weapon defines the man would be an understatement. You think of Michael Myers, but with out the butcher knife, he's nothing. Freddy and his claw, Jason and his machete, Ghostface and his hunting knife. Without the selection of your killer's weapon, your killer becomes something far worse than worthless. He becomes irrelevant.

Mask

 The mask is probably the most integral part of your killer's image. While the phallic imagery of a knife is never to be shortchanged, the real money is always on the mask.

Motive

Finally, this. The crowning achievement to any killer is not how or where, but WHY they kill. Regardless of whether it is simplistic like Jason's, unknown like Michael's, or fabricated brilliantly like Jigsaw's, the motive is the most critical of all the elements. Even through the time-line the typical killer creates, there's always time for a big reveal, assuming all loose ends are tied up and the writer has the correct level of thought.

Whether you intend to create the masked silent type or a deranged monlogue-er, these are all elements to the formula. And, in horror, we all know that the formula is crucial.

-B

Playing Murder-Trailer. [:

This is the trailer for my movie, soon to be released in 2012. Playing Murder is a twisted redefinition of a slasher film, proving that the slasher genre does not have to be linear and predictable. Thanks for watching. I'm interested in your feedback. [:

-Brandon Lee Bowden

Preperation,

When I look around, I don't see many people I would have deemed able to make a movie. In truth, we run a pizza place in the most off kilter way imagineable. And yet, my cast and crew are almost entirely assembled.

If I didn't think they were capable, I most definitely didn't see it in myself. Sure, when I look in the mirror I see a screenwriter, but what is that really? I'm a person who holes up in a dark room with the television blaring and the blue light of my laptop on my face for months at a time, trying to be the next Kevin Williamson. That, I see when I look in the mirror. Director, I do not.

Honestly, I've started this blog probably more for myself than for anyone reading it. I intend to use it to convince myself that I can be what I'm pretending to be. At the end of the day, we all wear masks. Some are parents, doctors, criminals. I am a screenwriter, and I'm going to force that director mask on my face, too.


All in all, my film is shooting November 1st, under my direction. So this damn thing had better fit.