Reel Horror

A Horror Maker's 'script to production' update: As things are beginning to heat up with the production of A Dish to Pass, Horror Makers caught up with writer Jennifer Shindledecker.  Jennifer's short script was the winner in Horror Maker's short script writing contest and once finished the film will be available for purchase.  A Dish to Pass just might make you not only give up eating meat, but you might just give up eating anything that has an...ah...should I say... an 'odd' texture.    Q: Jennifer, how did you start writing? A: I always wanted to be a writer since I was little.  And I always loved movies and films.  One day it occurred to me that I should combine the two.  I got some ideas for a character and a storyline and I just started writing.  It took about five years to finish it but I fell in-love with writing. Q: Is this short (A Dish to Pass) your first piece? A: No, actually I wrote a full-length screenplay but this is the first short that I wrote. Q: How scripts have you written? A: I've written two full-lengths and two shorts. Q: Are they all within the horror genre? A: Yes, but I have other ideas that I wanna play around with. Q: What is it about horror that attracts you? A: My grandfather and my aunt really introduced me to a lot of the horror stuff.  My grandpa had horror records that he would play for me when I was little and they used to scare me.  And later on, my aunt kinda introduced me to some of the horror movies, the classics, and it just kinda stuck with me.  My grandfather would play the records and they'd scare me to death.  One day he sat me down and taught me that there's nothing to be afraid of and it just stuck with me.  I was scared, but it was really fun at the same time.  It was something I always liked. Q: The other scripts that you've written, what are they like? A:  The first one that I wrote and it's probably my favorite, just probably because it's my first one and I worked really hard on it.  I always liked the slasher-genre, but I got tired of the masked man running around in the woods, it's been done so many times, so I took what I liked about a slasher movie and put a different ending to it.  It's more like A Dish to Pass in that sense that it's cannibals and not a slasher. Q: Do you pull from your dreams when you write a horror script? A: Not really.  I usually get inspired from a song or music.  Or somebody that I see on the streets who seems like they might have an interesting story or background and I kinda make it up in my head.  I go from there.  My nightmares are too weird to even understand. Q: But they might make in interesting script.  So you've never taken your nightmares and try to de-code them visually and put them into structured form? A: I haven't yet.  I might do it sometime, but I don't have that many anymore. Q: That's good. (both chuckle) Q: What inspired you to write A Dish to Pass? A: I like the stories of those people who just kind of snap one day, from the pressures and disappointments of life.  I wanted to explore that idea.  I also like to use ideas that people have grown to trust and won't normally give a second thought too.  Like in A Dish to Pass,  -- a church picnic is pretty innocent. Q: Now the cooking of a family member and serving that person, that is pretty gruesome.  What is that based on? A: I get into a zone when I'm writing. I'll know the character, I'll know the basic idea, and I'll sit down and this other part comes out and for some reason, that's what came out. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Q: So there's no family member that you're getting back at? A: No It's definitely not. Q: How is writing horror different from writing in other genres? A: It's a lot harder in some ways, because there are so many expectations.  It's got such a fan base, that people expect to be scared and if you can't deliver you don't really have much.  The expectations are higher when it comes to horror. Q: So you'd say that's the most difficult thing about writing in that genre, the scare factor? A: Yeah, trying to think of something new and fresh that would be scary, yet, believable. Q: So why do you think that we as a culture are attracted to that aspect?  Do you think we need to be scared, and real life can be scary, but why do you think that we need it in art? A: I think it's kind of, that rush you get when somebody jumps out at you at the movies, it's fun.  It's something that you can laugh at.  It's a thrill.  It's like the roller coaster.  People like those too. Q: What do you think of today's horror films?  What are your favorites?  Which ones scare you the most? A: If it wasn't for Rob Zombie, I'd say they are pretty lame. Some independent horror films have been really good, but Rob gave the genre the kick that it needed.  He took us back to the old 70's, where they were pretty gruesome and terrifying.  But all of these remakes that have been coming out are just kind of ridiculous.  They are an insult to the filmmakers who struggled so hard to make them.  They seem so rushed that they don't have any plot or character development. Q: What are your three favorites? A: The Evil Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and An American Werewolf in London. Q: Have you ran across many female writers who do horror? A: Not really.  It seems what might be frightening to a man is not the same as what might be frightening for a woman. Q: How so?  What do you think might frighten one group and not frighten the other? A: I guess we're the one's always getting killed -- Q: You're not kidding. So the safety issue -- A: Yeah, so I think that has a lot to do with it. In my movies I try to have both man and female characters in the same amount of trouble. I try to get a little more universal that way and not just the women running around half-naked and getting killed. Q: That's good. Q: What advice would you give a beginning writer in the horror genre? A: I would tell them to write about what scares them and not to be afraid of a constructive story and interesting characters. Because that's what I think is interesting in a film -- when you actually care about what's happening to the people on the screen.  That's what all the classics are. Also keep writing and try to make it fresh and original. Q: Good, okay.  How has the ReelHorror website been helpful? A: I go to that website everyday.  It's very helpful with the information that they have on there. I get a lot of my horror news information from that website. Q: Has Hitchcock been of an influence in any of your writings? A: I love him.  Actually my grandfather had a record that he used to play for me and it was narrated by Hitchcock, so it was kind of introduced to me at an early age.  It was definitely one of my favorites.  "Vertigo" and the others are all great movies. Q: Hitchcock was a person who used little 'slice n' dice,' (except for in Psycho) yet he had a tremendous impact on the viewer emotionally, whereas nowadays we're loaded with effects.  So besides the times -- it was certainly different times -- what made his films so special?  That he didn't need all of the mechanics. A: He just had a way of making suspense with the characters.  Like a movement they'll do, or the music or just implying things that are happening can be much more scarier than seeing it.  I've always  been a fan of movies like that.  Like The Haunting -- the original.  You hear what's going on, but you don't see anything.  You can just have your imagination run wild. That's an interesting way to write a film. Q: We've certainly gotten away from that in Hollywood.  Do you wanna take a stab, a play on words, do you want to take a stab as to why we've gotten away from the implications, the suspense, and using one's imagination.  Why is it so blunt now? A: It seems like Hollywood has a movie machine and they keep pushing these movies out.  They don't take the time.  It used to be where it took a few years to make a movie, and now they're done in a couple months. They think that the viewers just want to see blood and guts -- sometimes that's fun -- not every time.  I miss the days when you could go and see a scary movie and actually be scared.   I like the gory movies, but they don't necessarily scare me any more. Q: What are the future plans for your writing? A: I want to keep writing.  I love it.  It's my favorite thing in the world.  And I love writing movies, it's a lot of fun.  It's a lot of hard work too, but the end product pays off.    Thanks Jennifer and bon appetite!  Horror Makers will keep ya' posted on the developments of A Dish to Pass!