Editorials
Adam Sandler Once Produced a Horror Movie … and It’s Not Bad
“Happy” and “Madison” are names that likely remind most of two of the biggest comedy hits from the ‘90s, Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. Put together, they equal the production house “Happy Madison” that Gilmore and Madison star Adam Sandler created and populated with his talented friends early in his career.
Besides Sandler’s own movies, Happy Madison has brought to the screen hits like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Joe Dirt and Grandma’s Boy. They have even moved outside of the comedy realm to dive into more dramatic leaning fare like Funny People and Reign Over Me. One other genre the studio dabbled in — but only once — was horror.
That’s right. Adam Sandler produced a horror movie.
2009’s The Shortcut, executive produced by Sandler, was conceived in 2008 as the first film in a potential line of horror movies from the new Happy Madison division, Scary Madison. The film, which stars a young Dave Franco and is directed by Nicholas Goossen of Grandma’s Boy fame, is about two brothers who move to a new town and come in contact with a rarely used shortcut that is rumored by locals to be haunted.
The Shortcut mostly went unnoticed when originally released and Happy Madison quickly abandoned the idea of pursuing horror films altogether, which is a shame because The Shortcut played with enough interesting ideas to suggest that Scary Madison had potential as a horror division worth paying attention to.
Mind you, The Shortcut definitely has its faults.
It’s easy to smell a troubled production from the start with this one. Large bits of film or script feel like they have been left behind and what’s left is a bare-bones, 85-minute horror movie that never quite reaches its full potential. Co-writer Dan Hannon had once revealed that the script was rewritten numerous times before production commenced and the film only ended up earning financial backing after agreeing to a PG-13 rating. Sigh.
Another major fault is with the acting. There are occasional highlights — mostly from the charismatic Franco — but the acting nearly all around can make this movie feel cheap and amateurish at times. However, there’s still enough here that anyone who hasn’t seen this film should really check it out.
The shortcut in question has a history tied to a killer kid and a rich family betrayed by their town and their own stature in the world. A group of kids in the modern day begin investigating some strange happenings on the shortcut and it leads to nothing good for them. This shortcut creates an incredibly interesting mythology that provides a compelling foundation.
The Shortcut packs a lot of surprises for being what it is. It feels like an episode of “The Twilight Zone” drawn out to feature length. If it had been cut down to be an episode of television, it actually probably would have worked much better. And The Shortcut has the heart and passion that only a film made by true fans can have. While parts of it feel compromised by the process of moving from script to screen, this is a wild ride that you would have once been blessed to find scrolling through cable channels after midnight while the rest of the world sleeps.
The Shortcut has time jumps, mythology, killer kids, and all kinds of surprises… everything a good supernatural mystery needs. Those elements don’t always come together, but the way they are blended here makes for a fun watch and shows that the film deserved a little more attention than it got upon initially being released onto the world.
If The Shortcut is any indication, the folks at Happy Madison are true horror fans who have an eye for good campfire stories. Who knows, maybe Adam Sandler and company will feel the horror bug bite them once again in the future. Personally speaking, I’d be here for it.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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