#nick antosca

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"The Quiet Boy" is available to read here

[gameofthunder66]

Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021) limited tv series

-(finished) watchin' Season 1 (limited series)- 8/19/2024- on Netflix- 2 [1/4] stars

76% Rotten Tomatoes

[cantsayidont]

March 2019 and August 2021. Two flavors of the L.A. apocalypse, part of a larger genre that also includes KISS ME DEADLY, REPO MAN, WILD PALMS, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and SOUTHLAND TALES.

NOW APOCALYPSE, which came and went in 2019, was created by Gregg Araki and cowritten with Karley Sciortino. It follows four sexually frustrated L.A. 20somethings: Ulysses (Avan Jogia), a stock Araki protagonist (mostly gay, perpetually baked, effortlessly hot) who's been suffering disturbing apocalyptic premonitions and weird visions; Carly (Kelli Berglund), his blond, white, mostly straight bestie, a struggling actress and part-time camgirl who I think is supposed to be Sciortino's self-insert; Ford (Beau Mirchoff), Uly's tragically straight aspiring screenwriter beefcake himbo roommate; and Ford's girlfriend Severine (Roxane Mesquida), an autistic French "astro-biological theorist" whose mysterious top-secret government project is probably connected to Uly's frightening visions.

Allegedly inspired by TWIN PEAKS, NOW APOCALYPSE feels more like a redress of Araki's 2010 film KABOOM. The surreal mystery aspects seem to be trying to make a point about the city's predatory appetite for hot, exploitable 20somethings (underscored by the return of Araki regular James Duval as a tormented homeless man), but if you're expecting the show to pay off or even pay much attention to its own mystery, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you're in it for the sexually fluid horniness (which occupies about 85 percent of the plot and most of Araki and Sciortino's apparent interest), the flashes of weird David Icke-style alien conspiracy nonsense are distracting, and Araki seems either oblivious to or unconcerned about the antisemitic roots of conspiracy theories about sinister "Reptilians." As a modern sex comedy, NOW APOCALYPSE is pretty good, although it's familiar territory for Araki (it's really similar to KABOOM and even NOWHERE) and lacks the bite of his '90s work. The part that ends up standing out is the unexpectedly sensitive treatment of Severine; Mesquida manages to make this abrasive woman (whose personality Carly likens to nail polish remover) seem like a real person, who's not without feelings despite her discomfort with emotional expression.

BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR, created by Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion based on a novel I haven't read, wants very much to be the love child of David Lynch and David Cronenberg: a surreal supernatural black comedy, set in the 1990s, about a driven young filmmaker named Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) who turns to witchcraft after she loses control of her unsettling short film to a sleazy producer whose contract she hasn't read carefully. A weird Boyle Heights mystic who calls herself Boro (Catherine Keener at her deadpan best) agrees to curse the producer for her, which has unexpected consequences, beginning with the fact that Lisa now vomits up kittens at regular intervals. Meanwhile, the embittered star of Lisa's short film (Siena Werber) resurfaces to reveal the horrifying events surrounding the making of that film, and some extremely weird things are happening at Lisa's new apartment.

BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR is frustrating because it almost works. It's full of interesting pieces (including a memorable if obviously derivative segue into Cronenberg-esque body horror) that don't quite add up and some spooky moments whose tension the story keeps failing to sustain. (While the showrunners have obviously seen MULHOLLAND DRIVE, their attempts to evoke a Lynchian nightmare-logic sense of incipient dread consistently fall flat.) The biggest issue is that the show can't make up its mind what kind of story it's trying to tell (is it a cautionary tale? a parable about the creative process?), which leaves the protagonist a cipher and many of the story threads going nowhere.

This is a common problem with modern media, especially in this generic vein: Deliberate ambiguity and creative indecision are not the same thing, and if a story lacks clear stakes and thematic direction, all the cool, creepy, intriguing bits in the world won't amount to much. Rosa Salazar tries very hard, but she's hampered by the writers' uncertainty about how we should feel about Lisa, and Manny Jacinto is wasted (literally) in a minor supporting role as her former boyfriend. The standout is Catherine Keener, whose flair for droll understatement makes Boro (who's both more and less than she appears to be) a memorable villain.

[occupationdinosaur]

🡒 🎥  CANDY •  Nick Antosca & Robin Veith • Opening Credits, 2022.

«There once was a little tree growing in the forest. And this tree wanted so badly to grow up and be the best tree it could be, so it did everything good little trees have always done. It drank water through its roots, and it grew.»

[deerinhorror]

I recently watched the 2021 film Antlers. For research. I thought it was just an average horror movie. The monster is worth watching - probably thanks to at least some involvement with producer Guillermo del Toro. The misty, moody ambiance of the Pacific Northwest is a character all its own. The acting is quality - everyone looks and acts appropriately haunted and haggard - even the children. But the story itself is weighted down by too much explanation for something that doesn’t need explaining.

I found out that the script was based off a short story by Nick Antosca called The Quiet Boy, which you can read in full at Guernica. I recommend it. It’s a strong short story and I think that’s why it didn’t translate well to a feature-length film. The changes made between the original story and the script serve only to fill time. In The Quiet Boy, the teacher is a Teach for America transplant to a small West Virginia town. That’s a strong premise for a horror story because it subverts all the idealism and good intentions found in a program like that. The naïve outsider thinks she can help - poor thing! The film makes the teacher a prodigal daughter, returning to her hometown with all the baggage of memory and family. This doesn’t strengthen the premise in any way, it just gives the characters something to talk about in between the horror scenes. 

The film also brings in an indigenous character to explain what’s going on. It is this character’s only purpose and is completely unnecessary to the plot. Both the short story and film are set in post-industrial towns with raging drug problems. In the short story, there is a sense that the monster is a manifestation of poverty, hunger, drug abuse, societal decay. But in the film, we are given an explanation based in indigenous culture, even though the film isn’t about indigenous people. My issue with this is, if they wanted to make a Wendigo film, then make a Wendigo film. Let there be Native characters. Let them do more than just explain their stories to the white people. Horror doesn’t always need explanation. The Quiet Boy is a stronger story because it never tries to explain why the monster is. It just is. And that’s terrifying enough. 

Another issue with both the original story and the film is that the teacher’s actions are not believable. No, no. I don’t mean when she drives up to a clearly fucked up house all by herself. I mean, when she invites a clearly emaciated student out for ice cream, just the two of them. First, get that child a real meal, he’s literally starving. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in the U.S. Teachers are not allowed to do things alone with students. Teachers are taught to keep the door open when speaking to a child in private on school grounds. And a teacher would never be allowed to take a student home for the night even if they had “no where else to go”. If the town is big enough for a hospital, it will have social workers. There will be a protocol. Now, I get that it’s important to the last act of the story (both the short story and the film) that the boy goes home with the teacher. This is something that would have actually benefitted from a little explanation. Just a line or two about how the town is so poor and fucked up that, even though it’s against all rules, they will let the teacher take the boy home, just this once. Because that error took me completely out of the story. I will believe in an antlered man before I believe that a teacher would act this way. 

[supermarcey]

Podcasters Of Horror Episode 27 – Channel Zero Season 3 'Butcher's Block' Deep Dive Discussion

Podcasters Of Horror Episode 27 – Channel Zero Season 3 'Butcher's Block' Deep Dive Discussion

Podcasters Of Horror Episode 27 Channel Zero Season 3 ‘Butcher’s Block’ Download HERE https://supermarcey.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/podcasters-of-horror-episode-27-e28093-channel-zero-season-3-e28098butchers-block-deep-dive-discussion.mp3 Welcome to this podcast series from The Super Network with Podcasters Of Horror! This podcast is all about horror anthologies from television and films and…

[cyberghostface]

40 Day Horror Movie Challenge

Day 24 - Favorite horror television show.

'Channel Zero' was a horror anthology show with each season being based off a different 'creepypasta'. The show was creepy and surreal with concepts and monsters I've never seen depicted before. Each season is worth seeing but "Butcher's Block" was the standout with a great performance from Rutger Hauer.

[vintagewarhol]

[madeofmovies]

"This bitch just puked a cat !"

Brand New Cherry Flavor. Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion. 2021

[oceanfloorfires]

I am literally running out of TV Media so I was like ok lol ill watch the Chucky show (which I didn't know existed??) as a half joke but then I was shocked to find that it's honestly quite good

And then I saw Nick Antosca in the credits and was like oh OK it all makes sense

[gameofthunder66]

Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021) miniseries

-(started) watchin' Season 1- 6/30/2024- on Netflix

[speedlimit15]

ppl keep recommending me shows that are written and/or directed by my middle school bf's older brother.

[dumbdomb]

second vaginal orifice cursed mutation STILL lives rent free in my mind btw

[lauralot89]

Moments in books/stories that terrified me:

"And the dollhouse looks at me." Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth - Grant Morrison

The scene where the wind is wrong in Northwest Passage - Barbara Roden

The dawning realization in The October Game - Ray Bradbury

The entirety of 1408 - Stephen King

"She was all over the kitchen floor." The Quiet Boy - Nick Antosca

"It's eternity in there." The Jaunt - Stephen King

When the interior/exterior house measurements finally line up, but then, the bookshelf in House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

"I see something!" The Enigma of Amigara Fault, Junji Ito

"It was when the jellyfish called you by name..." The Skeleton - Ray Bradbury

'"Ellen," it whispered. "I am coming up the stairs."' More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Alvin Schwartz

"We cannot do wrong; neither have we any disposition to do it, for we do not know what it is." The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain

I know there are others but I'm tired

[dalekofchaos]

Context for cancelled scripts