And thats it. That is all I ever wrote down for Feartopia. Like I said, nowhere near as chaotic as Zombietopia. But plenty of potential. Maybe that should be done on the "Feartopia blog" though?

Feartopia

A spate of mysterious deaths in a small town lead locals to believe a serial killer is on the loose. As they investigate, several more deaths occur – including investigators dying in unusual circumstances. The catch is that there is no serial killer – the deaths are all just coincidence. Some are caused by investigators taking risks to try to solve the mystery. They will come up with a suspect, but then he (she?) will be the next to die – and the deaths will continue.

Someone with a skeleton in the closet decides to bury it, and use the “serial killer” as cover. Gets caught, actually kills the person who catches him, worries about becoming an actual serial killer, but gets killed himself while covering it up.

" but I do think a movie needs a reason to exist and that comes from what it reveals about people"

Based on this, then, I like the idea of people responding to a zombie attack by doing things that they would never normally do. The bored housewife discovering she has a talent for headshots, for example. Depending how far we stick our tongues into our cheeks, this could end up ironic, based on the fact that people are basically predictable, and that the aforementioned housewife is never going to discover her talent. Or it could end up a a celebration of the human condition (whatever the fuck that means). I'd like to reserve the right to decide what the film is supposed to mean until the last minute (and possibly to change my mind about it again afterwards).

I guess I'd rather be Roger Corman or Lloyd Kaufman, than Joel or Ethan Coen.


When you refer to wanting to make a movie that "lots of people will want to watch", do you mean lots of people, or LOTS OF PEOPLE? The big studios make movies that LOTS OF PEOPLE want to watch, that is why we end up with Lowest-Common-Denominator crap clogging up the screens. On the other hand, there are lots of people who like the sort of stuff Troma have been putting out for the last 25+ years. I won't deny that Troma have made some crap, but I like their style of crap. So do lots of other people - enough that Troma have managed to stay independent all this time. I personally would prefer to make a movie that Troma fans would want to watch, rather than one that LOTS OF PEOPLE will want to watch. You never know, between us we might be able to come up with something in between - something that (nearly) everyone will want to watch - rather than something that none of them will like (which is also a very real possibility!).

I have no problem with Feartopia being done first - I obviously have a lot to learn, and on that sort of thing have no problem with following your advice. Probably the first thing you will notice about my planning for Feartopia is that it is nowhere near as chaotic as Zombietopia.....

Okay, I figured the notes were the "wouldn't this be cool in a film" kind of thing. I know you say you don't want to make a movie with a message (neither do I) but I do think a movie needs a reason to exist and that comes from what it reveals about people. If the only thing driving a film is "we've got 17 buckets of blood left over from the last one" then what is produced is compelled to be deriviative and futile regardless of how the blood is thrown around. Bad Taste, for example (and remember that I haven't seen this for over a decade) makes a statement about greed and selfishness. It works as a film because viewers are able to make connections between the aliens hunger for fast food, their willingness to destroy humanity and things at are going on in the real world. Am I making sense on this?

So what kind of film do I want to make? I want to make a film that lots of people want to watch. I'd like to make people laugh, and I'd prefer not to make a film that gets a "yuk - what was the point of that" response when we post it on the internet. Debbie and I got talking about Feartopia in the car on the way home the other day and felt that could work quite well as a short film - what do you think of working on that idea as a first effort? I think that is probably a bit nearer my understanding of stuff, rather than the zombie thing. (SotD would be the only zombie film I've seen in the last 13 years or so.) How does that sound to you?

None of the ideas in this are sacred. All are expendable. Of course, if you throw them all out you have nothing, which defeats the point, but there are some silly ideas in that original thing that are just that - silly ideas, operating on the "wouldn't it be cool" principle. For instance, I intend to use Frenzal Rhomb for my second movie, not my first - I mean, come on, that would just be silly. I reckon I could probably get Franger Machine to be in the first one though - they are just like Frenzal Rhomb but cheaper, and I work with one of the guys in the band.....

re- the idea of a short film - no problem. Bad Taste started life as a short. Was shown to people with money, they liked it, and it became longer. Thus the world discovered that Peter Jackson was not just a cigarette. I have no problem with doing it short. I also understand and accept that I am not Peter Jackson. I think I'm more a Spielberg. (You know, Kevin Spielberg, the loser.)

When it comes to "what is the story about" I think we may diverge in our expectations. Its about Zombies. Other than that I'm open to suggestions. I'm not particularly interested in making a movie with a message - in fact I actually like the idea of making a movie with NO message, if such a thing were possible. What is Bad Taste about? Humans not liking aliens using humans as fast food. Beyond that, who cares? OK, there's a bit of "people overcoming challenges" and some irony in humans as prey not predators, but so what? Remember the bit where Derek falls over the cliff, and part of his brain falls out? How cool did that look! That is the feel I'm going for, rather than an in depth look at how humans respond under pressure. Well, unless we can put them under so much pressure that their heads explode, which will hopefully look awesome on screen!

So what is this story actually about (apart from Zombies) ? Ask me when we're done. Hopefully it will look cool.

OK, I never said it was a good document.... and I'd strongly recommend going to the bottom of the page and reading the first post here first. OK, the colour fell off in the cut/paste process, but that there is the full kablammo. I have worked on a theory of "no concept too stupid to keep", and I'm sure it shows. No doubt there are large chunks of that which will never get used. This could be one movie, half a movie, the start of a totally different movie, or if you have any faith in the system that created the "Friday the 13th" franchise, it could be 10 movies!

Thanataphobia (fear of death / the dead)

Or

Zombietopia – Zombies Fucking Everywhere, Man! And Holy Shit Vampires too!



Story:

Frank Cleaver – Serial killer(?) beaten to punch by zombies - goes into town to "go postal", but town is deserted....finally sees someone - takes them out at long range with a head-shot.(this doesn’t work unless he is the serial killer) Come around corner and we see it was a zombie about to attack some people.... Around the corner we see that it was actually just one of a heap of zombies



Frenzal Rhomb are on tour. They drive into Gladstone for a show – past the film crew making the zombie movie… (“great, everyone is making fucking zombie movies”). They pull up in town outside a business, planning to go inside and ask for directions to the stadium (for their show) (“I dunno why we play these shitty little holes – they give me the creeps”).




Ronnoc is a respected member of the community (mayor or leading businessman). The public don’t know that he is actually a vampire, planning on taking over the world with his army of zombies that he is about to unleash.


Character Details:

Frank Cleaver – local butcher in small town (thinking Gladstone… coming over the rise just before town, and seeing the town before you…). Pissed off about something - what? – Serious injustice, he isn’t really a bad bloke, despite being pretty scary – maybe the injustice can relate to the same incident which caused the zombies… or may have been caused by the zombies themselves – ie Ronnoc (Paul Robinson type) stealing his shop, closing the town down, and probably murdering his sister just to really piss him off….(Maybe not a wanna-be serial killer, but just out to kill Ronnoc?) Is his sister actually dead? Has she turned into a zombie?

Ronnoc – Paul Robinson type – senior member of community – business leader, or mayor, or both? Demon intent on taking over the world, starting with this town, with his army of zombies – he himself is not actually a zombie…. (maybe he should have really small horns, though? Or fangs?)



Locations:

Gladstone – farm (+ Simons), jail
Mundoora – smoke machine and full moon in main street.
Griffin building when they move out… upstairs would actually make a cool location from which to defend a small group from the zombies… make use of the fact that there is a police depot next door, for weapons etc.


Rationale:

Can zombiedom be cured? Maybe by killing Ronnoc?
Do we play by the established zombie rules, or do we merge zombies and vampires? Neither are real so how can our portrayal of them be wrong?
Just how dead do you have to be to become a zombie? Or is it a sickness of the living? (28 Days Later style – fatal or not though?) That will determine if it can be cured… Maybe there are two types…. The dead zombies and the living (sick) vampires…. those killed by the “vampires” become the zombies…. All of them, or just some? Which ones? Shouldn’t they become more vampires? Not sure about them being “vampires” – need to make sure Ronnoc is NOT Count Dracula…. (And Frank Cleaver isn’t Mungo McKay’s character in Undead…)
Fast or slow zombies? Probably slow, but vampires are fast… Actually, definitely slow zombies.
Weaknesses? Bullet to the head for the zombies…. Or is there actually a “cure?” Can we get away with bullet to the head for the vampires? Or does that become a point of suspense? Hero takes out one of the baddies with a headshot, thinks it’s a zombie, great, zombie goes down. But actually it’s a vampire, headshot is a pain but not fatal, vampire gets up and mad….



Random Concepts:

Children as zombies..... and blind zombies? Zombie animals? Vegetarian Zombies – eating store manikins….

Organised zombies? Hierarchy? A leader and a purpose? (Baron Samedi style) (Think Simsons Mutants - "Homega Man" - dressed fairly normally, but distinguishable.... ie a zombie uniform.... dark grey suit?)

Get Brett & Jeff (from “The Hot House”) as part of the zombie fodder.....

Drives past people making a zombie movie - "great, everyone is making fucking zombie movies" - Problem is some of the zombies on the movie are real....
People making the movie are the ones Frank saves when he comes into town… maybe 2nd unit.

“Ronnoc” – Human leader/creator/ruler of the zombies, a zombie himself, or the demon who caused them to become zombies?

Is this a stupid cartoon, or a serious horror movie which will hopefully be funny (ie Bad Taste or Braindead?) Should we always go for the gag? Or make 2 versions – one straight and one not?

Vampires control the zombies – using “specially designed” “Mindless-Control Collars” – these can be easily placed on the zombies because they are not interested in the vampires because they are also already dead! Provides excuse for mad scientist character.

Zombies ignore cricket game – so slow they think it is just more zombies…. Maybe it is?

FRENZAL RHOMB AS THE HEROES!!!!! (Or maybe Grinspoon?) Dope-smoking band drive into town for a show – wrong town, wrong night – night of the zombie attack! – are the zombies stoned as well????

Ronnoc as a man (Paul Robinson/Judd Nelson in Airheads type) or a child? Could shoot him in silhouette and from angles to hide the fact that he is a boy (with a demonic voice)- then reveal at an appropriate moment - maybe in the vein of Peter in Dawn Of The Dead with the kids in the hangar....

Zombie hookers - "baaaaalllllllsssssssss"

“Ned The Zombie” ? Ned Kelly as a Zombie….

A dog called Clive. What does a dog do? It barks. So a dog is a barker….. geddit?



Are there two stories here – one with Frank Cleaver vs. Ronnoc, the other with Frenzal Rhomb vs a bunch of zombies? This would allow for one to be set up as the comedy, the other as the gorefest. Probably need to write both as each, and offer Frenzal both options….




Frank’s brother-in-law Rory (?) (ie husband to the missing sister) is a new vampire, an underling (#2) to Ronnoc. They have raised all of the dead in the cemetery (to help in their plan to take over the town (or the world – maybe they have resurrected all of the dead everywhere?). They are wandering amongst the zombies (“We are perfectly safe among them. Are we not also living dead? Why should they take any more interest in us then, than in each other?”) tagging them with their mind control collars (special red crystal, as used in the reanimation ceremony). Rory complains about an extremely decomposed zombie “This one is too far gone, it isn’t working” and destroys its head with a single punch. Ronnoc tells him not to be concerned about the ones they cannot control, “They can add to the chaos out there. If they are not all doing what we want, it will make it harder for anyone else to figure out what it is that we do want the ones we can control to do”.
Towards the end, Rory decides to betray Ronnoc, after he has killed Rory’s wife. He has taken some of the crystals, and tells Ronnoc “I cannot do this any more – my heart isn’t in it”. Ronnoc says something smart like “If you insist” or “As you wish” and rips his heart out of his chest, and bites into it. The heart is shown to be full of crystals, which somehow kill Ronnoc – either a realization of what has happened followed by him exploding, or a slower, 24hr decaying process – maybe started by his fangs cracking on the crystals in the heart?. The reanimation ceremony will need to be set up to provide this scenario. This may or may not be the end of the movie – either this can result in all the zombies doing the same as Ronnoc, or it could be done halfway through the movie, which then leaves Frank and the other humans to battle the zombies – maybe the first half of the movie is them versus the vampires, the second half them versus the zombies. (Or is that the sequel?). Doing it about an hour in gives a nice “Oh, I’m glad that’s over” false ending, take a breath and jump back into the chaos.



Personnel/Contacts to tap:

Danielle….
Rike – special effects/art dept etc….
Doug/Peter/Jon for music
Eddie, Rowan & Jo
Matt for IT



Movies to watch for inspiration:

Bad Taste
Braindead
Shaun Of The Dead
All Romero series (Night, Dawn, Day, Land)
28 Days Later
Dellamore Dellamorte
Versus (Japanese zombie vs Yakuza movie!)
Guitar Wolf – Wild Zero
Evil Dead 1,2,3
Undead
Return Of The Living Dead
*Zombie Holocaust
House Of The Dead
Cabin Fever
Hellboy & Van Helsing (No zombies but demon/vampire link may be interesting)
Blade series
Frankenstein
*White Zombie
Rob Zombie movies….
*Corpse Bride

This blog is intended as a place where my brother and I can develop the zombie movie which is stuck inside me, screaming to get out (well, maybe just whimpering occasionally rather than screaming). But trust me, its in there. And it wants out.

Be warned. This is not going to be suitable for kids. Hell, it might not even be suitable for adults! There is bound to be some offensive language in here, and quite possibly some offensive concepts or other offensive content, but if you don't like it, you can just fuck off.

Some background to this.....

I have for a few years now been collecting ideas which would go into a zombie movie, in a fairly random order, in a single master Word document, which I called "Zombietopia". This is not necessarily the name of the movie, it just summed up the idea of a collection of concepts about zombies and how to film them. This is in no way a well-written document. At some point I tried to clarify it by adding colour, but I have no idea what each colour was supposed to be, so that really just served to make it look pretty. I have never made a movie, have never written a screenplay, have never tried to pitch my ideas to someone (hey, everyone knows that I want to make a zombie movie, but that is a far different thing to pitching it to someone seriously!). But I have watched a lot of movies. A lot of bad ones. And I liked them. And a lot of them I thought "I could do that". Hopefully Stu can provide some polish to my minimal skills (or some hungarian, I'm not fussed).

So I guess the best place to start will be to post the original document, uncut, uncensored, unedited even. I think I warned you it was rough?