Editorials
20 Things We Learned from the ‘Storm Warning’ Commentary with Director Jamie Blanks
Australia has long been fertile ground for genre filmmakers, but they don’t often make the journey over to the bright lights of Hollywood. Jamie Blanks was still in his twenties when his short films garnered enough attention to do just that, and the result was a big hit with 1998’s American slasher, Urban Legend.
He chased it with the modest success of Valentine (2001) before returning home to Australia and making the entertainingly mean-spirited Storm Warning in 2007. It’s the tale of a couple whose relaxing day leaves them stuck out in a storm. Worse, they try to take shelter on a remote farm only to discover the three men who live there are less than hospitable.
Sadly, Blanks recently passed away far too young and with far too slim a filmography. He was a talented director, composer, editor, and writer, and a kind, friendly voice who was always happy to talk with fans and film lovers.
Now keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…
Storm Warning (2007)
Commentators: Jamie Blanks (director), Everett De Roche (writer), Karl von Muller (cinematographer), Robert Taylor (actor), Justin Dix (special effects/makeup supervisor), Robbie Perkins (production designer)
1. De Roche wrote the script nearly thirty years before it went into production. “So all those people saying ‘hey, it’s just like Wolf Creek,’ we were there thirty years ago, we just took our time getting the film distributed.”
2. The opening scene, an overhead of a car driving along the coast, was filmed from a helicopter – but they couldn’t afford a fancy rig, so they were stuck with one that could only tilt up or down. “Everything that the camera saw had to be literally framed by the pilot, so he was effectively our camera operator on those shots.”
3. Blanks has fond memories of the marina where they filmed, as it was the first time his son was on set, running around, and yelling “action!’ and “cut!” It’s a nice, throwaway anecdote on any other commentary, but it’s especially affecting in light of Blanks’ recent passing.
4. The film was shot in twenty-four days, with only six of them being on location. The rest were spent on a sound stage, and then Blanks had a year to work on post-production. He used that extended time to write the score three times before being happy with it.
5. The early scenes on the boat were meant to suggest an increasingly cloudy day as a storm approaches, but they were gifted with a perfect blue sky instead. Blanks says it actually worked to their advantage as they were able to use the blue sky as a giant blue screen and more easily comp in some CG clouds.
6. The brief tour through the mangroves around 11:45 was filmed on a tight schedule made even tighter when their camera boat began to sink. “I was really cross that day.”
7. There’s almost a strobing effect around 16:20 as Rob (Taylor) and Pia (Nadia Fares) walk through the brush at night, and it wasn’t intentional. It had something to do with the digital camera seeing too much detail and not knowing what to do with it, and they didn’t notice it until post-production, at which point they were unable to fix it.
8. The house, both interior and exterior (including the barn), was built on a sound stage in Melbourne.
9. Hugh Jackman visited the set for some reason?
10. The baby kangaroo is a practical effect, later augmented with digital effects, and it operated on battery power. Unfortunately, the joey’s remote control was set to operate on the same frequency as the crew’s radio headsets. The result was one very erratic creature.
11. De Roche mentions that the inspiration for the film is basically the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” What he doesn’t mention, but what should be celebrated, is that he’s a legendary writer of Australian genre films with a filmography that includes Patrick, Long Weekend, Road Games, Razorback, Fortress, Link, and more.
12. Some have questioned Pia’s “MacGuyver-esque” shift in the film’s back half, but an earlier sequence cut from the film actually showcased Pia’s skills as a metal sculptor.
13. Taylor talks about having to take his character on a journey of impotence and emasculation in the face of their aggressively masculine captors, but he adds, “In actuality, I’d squash those two like a couple of bugs.”
14. Brian Trenchard-Smith was attached early on to direct the film, but they weren’t able to get it going at the time. When Blanks told him he was actually going to make it, Trenchard-Smith’s only question was, “Is the Shanghai surprise still in it?” He’s referring to the anti-rape device designed to shred the invading member upon insertion.
15. “I felt a little hamstrung on my first couple of movies,” says Blanks, referring to how his first films were American studio pictures beholden to MPAA rules and nervous executives. He was happy to shake off those restraints here, though, and went full bore with the fish hook kill and additional violence – much of which was then trimmed for U.S. release.
16. Poppy’s (John Brumpton) bedroom was initially designed to include an electrified grid (powered by a car battery) over his bed and swastikas on the wall. Blanks saw it and felt it was going a bit too far. “These guys aren’t reprehensible enough, they’re also nazis?” “And Eli Roth fans,” suggests someone, only for Blanks to say, “We draw the line there, man.”
17. “I almost didn’t do this movie because of this scene,” says Blanks at 1:15:00 as Poppy’s attempted assault of Pia leaves his giblets sliced up and trapped in a can. It was his wife who convinced him it would be a strongly memorable sequence.
18. The dog attack was crafted through a combination of performance, sharp editing, and a puppet of a dog’s head operated “vigorously” by Dix upon Brumpton’s nether region.
19. Poppy’s disemboweled body is a prosthetic effect, obviously, and Brumpton was so put off by it that he refused to be on set during its use. That didn’t stop the team from using it as an iced beer holder during their wrap party.
20. They built the hovercraft from scratch. It would lift, but it wouldn’t actually move forward, meaning they had to tow it with hidden wires.
Quotes Without Context
“We’re not gonna make any airline sales for this movie.”
“Unfortunately… that was a completely CG-generated dope shed.”
“Native animals in Australia are difficult to get permission to work with.”
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a director fire a dog.”
“As gruesome as I wanted to make the film, there was something about that moment that I just couldn’t quite bring myself to leave in.”
“Anyway, back to the horse porn.”
“I can smell it when I see that screen.”
“Even we’re squirming watching this.”
“I really despise and hate rapists, I find them most despicable human scum on the face of the Earth, so the idea of ripping his dick off, having a dog devour him, and then running him over with a four-wheel drive speaks to my sense of justice.”
Keep up with more horror commentary breakdowns here.
Editorials
Tales from ‘Tales from the Crypt’: Exhuming The Final Season’s “A Slight Case of Murder” Episode
All good things must come to an end—yes, even Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996). That iconic horror show finally concluded after airing ninety-three episodes. As we all know, traditional anthologies aren’t too common to see on TV anymore, much less be that long, so this kind of endurance is even more impressive.
Now, I would be remiss to not bring up how very off that last season felt, in comparison to past ones. If not for the Crypt Keeper’s bookends, it was like a different show at that point. Essentially, it was when you assessed how much had changed. Producer Gilbert Adler was responsible for those divisive renovations; his moving production to England was an attempt to give Crypt “a shot in the arm”. What he instead did was create obstacles for both himself and the series. Some could be overcome, whereas others were less yielding.
Fans decry Season Seven, but in all fairness, Season Six wasn’t all roses, either. And like Six, Seven does have a few bright spots. The move to merry England couldn’t completely undo what we love about the series. Yes, there was a decline in gore; the dial had especially been turned down on those big, bloody conclusions we all love. It must be said, though, that the final season was hardly the only one to be gruesome-lite. Plenty of past episodes also did without copious amounts of the red stuff.
At the time, traveling abroad may not have been seen as a bad thing. The new season was off to a strong start, based on favorable reactions to the premiere. The Natasha Richardson-starring opener, “Fatal Caper” (Bob Hoskins, Colman deKay, A. L. Katz, Gilbert Adler), is as ridiculous as it is clever. However, it would soon become apparent that not everything to come in Season Seven was up to the same standards as that first episode. It was going to be a bumpy ride, to say the least.
Most will agree that the seventh season wasn’t a complete bust. The blood-soaked “Horror in the Night” (Russell Mulcahy, John Harrison) is atmospheric and trippy; there, a jewel thief (James Wilby) experiences a nightmarish evening while hiding out in a haunted hotel. Then there is what many consider to be the season’s standout, and perhaps even the last great episode of the series. In the gritty “Confession” (Peter Hewitt, Scott Nimerfro), a detective (Ciarán Hinds) suspects a screenwriter (Eddie Izzard) is behind a string of murders. Although it is a strange way to end things, “The Third Pig” (Bill Kopp, Pat Ventura) also has its admirers; this animated entry is a demented new spin on the classic fairytale “The Three Little Pigs“, as opposed to anything out of EC Comics‘ vault.
Another fine episode is “A Slight Case of Murder”, which I find a bit lighthearted for Tales from the Crypt. In spite of all the killing, of course. It also makes good use of the scenery change; an upside of the show’s relocation is the real estate. A Tudor-style home sits at the heart of this amusing episode, written and directed by Brian Helgeland (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, 976-EVIL). Cozy mystery lovers should be quite smitten with the story’s choice of venue.
A common complaint about Season Seven is its lack of star power. Gone were the days when anyone who was anyone in Hollywood stopped by and played a role. That said, it wasn’t as if the series was now just hiring nobodies off the street; the problem was that many American viewers weren’t as familiar with the new casts. “A Slight Case of Murder” was such a case, given how Francesca Annis, Elizabeth Spriggs, and Christopher Cazenove weren’t exactly household names in the States. Naturally, the English would have an easier time recognizing the leads of this and other Season Seven episodes.
“A Slight Case of Murder” is an example of a crabby author getting what’s coming to them. Generally speaking, the horror genre has never cared much for depictions of kind writers. And here, Annis plays that rather irritable novelist whose next bestseller is at risk of being published posthumously. After brilliantly insulting her neighbor, an aspiring author named Mrs. Trask (Spriggs), Sharon Bannister detects a prowler. She then takes no comfort knowing the intruder is just her ex (Cazenove). He’s not here to reminisce about old times.
The last page from “A Slight Case of Murder!”, as seen in EC Comics’ The Vault of Horror.
The episode, while amusing, feels like it belongs in another anthology. The one I’m thinking of, on account of the British actors and the story being centered around jealousy, is Tales of the Unexpected. That series, by the way, also eventually went overseas; some later episodes cast Americans and were set in the U.S. So, yes, “A Slight Case of Murder” isn’t a thing like classic Crypt, but it is awfully charming.
By now, no one should be shocked to learn that an episode of Tales from the Crypt is different from its basis. In fact, the “A Slight Case of Murder!” found in EC’s The Vault of Horror bears no resemblance to Helgeland’s adaptation. An old doctor returns to his hometown to solve a bunch of murders—the victims were all women. At each crime, there was no sign of a break-in, seeing as how the women’s doors and windows were locked from the inside. The sheriff says the only other way in, in one case, was a hot-air vent. He concludes no human could have fit through that, but the doctor suggests the culprit is “not an ordinary human”.
The doctor meets with the sheriff at an old house formerly known as the Bates Mansion. Yet before revealing the killer’s identity, the doctor tells a story about a local widow named Amelia Bates. After her newborn turned out to be—and I’m merely quoting writers Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein—a “misshapen monster”, Amelia asked the doctor to tell everyone her child was a stillborn. She kept that underdeveloped, slithering boy a secret from everyone; only the doctor knew.
Years later, that same child went on to murder a series of women. All of whom rejected his love. And who, pray tell, did that baby become? The town’s sheriff, that’s who! The last frame of the comic, one showing the sheriff’s hidden mechanical body, is so startling that it’s actually disappointing that Tales from the Crypt didn’t properly adapt this story. It would have fit in so well with the older seasons.
As they say in the biz, the show must go on—and Tales from the Crypt did just that, even when the quality had noticeably dropped. But like I always tell myself during the lesser episodes, any Crypt is still better than no Crypt.
Along with Seasons One through Six, Season Seven of Tales from the Crypt can be streamed on Shudder, starting on June 12.
A delightful shot from “A Slight Case of Murder” suggests Elizabeth Spriggs’ character, Mrs. Trask, is more devilish than she first seemed.
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