Almost~A~Movie » horror

Day of the Dead

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:03:24 +0000

Fans of George A. Romero’s dead films know that the third entry was a compromised vision. Romero’s early draft of Day of the Dead would have cost more money than he could raise, so he cut back. Wonder what could have been? Check it out:

Download screenplay

Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:03:56 +0000

At the tail end of Bubba-Ho-Tep, Bruce Campbell fans everywhere were teased with the words, “Elvis returns in Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires starring Sebastian Haff.” Will Bruce Campell actually return to the role of the King? (There have been rumors to the contrary.) And just who is Sebastian Haff, anyway? Word is that Stephen Romano has penned a screenplay, based on a story by Don Coscarelli and Joe R. Lansdale.

Keep your eyes on bubbanosferatu.com for future updates.

Phantasm’s End

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:57:01 +0000

by Roger Avary
The fans’ desire for this one almost guarantees it won’t be made. That and it’s reported to be too costly to film on a low budget. The fact that the script has never been distributed online could be a good sign, though.

I Am Legend

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:44:40 +0000

Everyone who has read Richard Matheson’s book wanted this movie done right. Previous versions featured Vincent Price (Last Man on Earth) and Chuck Heston (The Omega Man). This adaptation was in and out of development for awhile — Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached back before Will Smith took the role of John Neville. When Akiva Goldsman came on board as a writer, he went back to the Protosevich script and collaborated with him on a new draft. Hear a revealing interview with Goldsman on KCRW’s The Business.

I Am Legend by Mark Protosevich
I Am Legend by John Logan

Diamond Dead

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:41:21 +0000

by Brian Cooper and George Romero
While Romero was waiting for a greenlight on his 4th Dead movie, he started working on a totally different zombie movie involving an undead rock band. The project was put on hold when Land of the Dead went into production. Screenplay excerpts were once available at DiamondDead.com, but the site is no longer active.

Read a review of the script from UGO Screenwriter’s Voice.

Update 9/8/09: Diamond Dead is now a rock music show. See deadrockproductions.com for performance info.

They

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:35:56 +0000

by Brendan Hood
Rewrites, test screenings, and reshoots turned a promising spec script into a movie that no one wanted to see. Read the whole sad story at the Creature Corner. Script hosted by Joblo.com.

The Stand

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:33:48 +0000

by Rospo Pallenberg, novel by Stephen King
George Romero has worked with Stephen King many times over the years. They planned on doing a theatrical version of The Stand, but it didn’t happen. Romero’s producing partner, Richard P. Rubenstein, ended up doing the mini-series after they parted ways. Read the Pallenberg script and an in-depth (if biased) history of the project, courtesy of Subterranean Cinema.

Resident Evil

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:29:30 +0000

by George Romero
Romero got the shaft on this one. A German production company bought the rights to the video game and hired the zombie master to write and direct the adaptation. (Romero had already done some Japanese TV ads for the Resident Evil 2 video game.) According to Romero, the producers didn’t really have any idea what they wanted. It was like they didn’t understand the game’s inherent gore factor, because they shied away from his concept and started over with Paul Anderson.

Download screenplay

Freddy vs. Jason

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:59:21 +0000

New Line commissioned tons of scripts for this project. They spun their wheels for several years, and then produced a movie that was good, clean, mediocre fun. Sure, I liked it, but I think that had more to do with director Ronny Yu than the quality of the writing. Briggs’ script is notable for its reference to the Phantasm movies. (Look for the SILVER “PHANTASM” BALL near the end.)

Nightmare 13: Freddy meets Jason by Lewis Abernathy
Freddy vs. Jason by Peter Briggs
Jason vs. Freddy (1997) by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
Freddy vs. Jason (12/98) by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger
Freddy vs. Jason (2000) by Mark Protosevich

The Crow 3

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:55:05 +0000

I don’t know what the story is on “Resurrection,” but Zombie’s “2037″ would have been interesting. He was really frustrated when they dropped him… and I was equally frustrated when The Crow Salvation turned out to be such a boring retread.

Interestingly, I believe some elements from “2037″ were later used in the fourth Crow film.

The Crow 3: Resurrection by Steven E. de Souza
The Crow 2037 by Rob Zombie

The Thing 2

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:32:47 +0000

Treatment by Garry A. Piazza
I’m not crazy about this one. Leave The Thing alone. It had a great ambiguous ending that would be undercut by a sequel.

Download treatment

Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash

mike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:13:19 +0000

Treatment by Unknown
Bruce Campbell himself thought this movie probably wouldn’t work. How do you do each franchise justice? Personally, I think the Friday the 13th and Elm Street series interlock nicely, but tying in the Evil Dead continuity seems wrong. After this projected sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason was dropped, Bloody-Disgusting posted the treatment, but it has since been removed.

Recently, the concept was reworked into a comic book, available here.