Shot of the Day #27: Not what you think...

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

Im still shaking.

No, its not from seeing the above film (which I do want to see), but as I was driving home from a test screening what could be one of the best horror movies of the new year from one of my absolute cinematic heroes (I seem to have a lot of those, sue me), seeing the title on the marquee just made me giggle. What do casual commuters think of the term "Donkey Punch" when they drive to or from work? Ooh that seems like a nice, polite slice of British filmmaking? if I like Merchant/Ivory, will I love this? If anything, the title sure is a grabber...

...but if anything, that otherwise dasterdly sexual act is how I felt (in a good way) after leaving the movie I saw tonight, which I'm not really at liberty to say here, I'll just let you figure it out with thinly veiled hints and such. But going into it tonight, thanks to my good friend Scott from Philly (YOU DA MAN DOOD!) who sent me the screening invite in Burbank, I had low expectations. This was directed by a director I practically grew up with, who shaped how I saw film, created film, appreciated a camera move or a well-placed sound effect. Sure, he's gone onto HUGE blockbusters and the occasional baseball flick or noirish thriller, but he'll always be "The Man" who made some of the most exciting and visceral genre films in history. When they announced he was going back to his roots with a low budget movie, what he called a "Spook-a-blast" (love that) I was excited, but at arm's length. How many of these great filmmakers claim to "come back" only to dissapoint? Plus, I wasn't going to get excited about the film yet till I was in the theater, since they had a strict 'no camera-phone" policy and because i could get the 911 call at any moment from Bri informing me "Plissken" is about to Escape From The Womb, I NEEDED to make sure I had the phone...just in case. Luckily, I stuffed the iphone into my shoe, and passed the security wand with no problemo...THEN I was excited. As we were all sitting there, somewhat giddy, "The Man" entered to whispers from the peanut gallery...and then sat down 3 rows in front of us WITH THE AUDIENCE! Pretty exciting stuff...

...and then the movie unfolded. All I can say is....FUCK YEAH!!!!! Seriously, this was one of the best times I've had in a theater in a LONG time and even if the print we saw looked like it was bit-torrented and had piss-poor temp effects, it was fucking AWESOME, and completely restored my faith in being scared in a theater. Seriously, I must have jumped 4 different times! It was fan-fucking-tastic, and we all looked at each other after the lights came up with huge shit-eating grins on our face. As Im writing this, I still have that grin on and I have a feeling it will be still there in the morning. It was that good. So good in fact...I felt like I was gleefully DONKEY PUNCHED by an old friend. Hence...the above picture's signifigance to this ramble.

After we left the theater, "The Man" was outside, pacing a bit, looking nervous. Been there, buddy. I actually went up to him, shook his hand and told him that it was a great movie and surprise to me, he actually recognized me from a few previous encounters (he helped me in the past on a few smaller projects) so it was thrilling to tell someone who had a hand in actually instilling the passion for moviemaking how much I loved his new movie, and he seemed genuinely touched, saying "Oh, you are FUNNY! Thanks!" I walked off then, smiling like a 12 year old girl who just got splashed with Jonas Brother sweat at a concert.

Great night for cinema, me thinks. Thank you, Mr. "The Man", for teaching me that there ARE still surprises up your sleeve. The teacher has schooled the student.

Joe