Season of the Witch (1972)

Among other things it's capable of, art can do two things: it can be a statement by the artist about the world, and it can be a revealing look about the artist themselves. Season of the Witch, written and directed by George A. Romero, does both.

Season of the Witch is about Joan Mitchell (Jan White), a housewife approaching middle age. Her 19-year-old daughter is on the verge of moving out, and her husband Jack all but ignores her. When she learns a new neighbor is a practicing witch, Joan is intrigued and seeks to learn more about witchcraft and magic. She casts a spell to seduce her daughter's boyfriend, but as the line between fantasy and reality blurs, she becomes plagued by nightmares of a dark figure attacking her in her home.

Hardware

The future in the world of Hardware is metal and not just because the film features cameos by Iggy Pop as a radio D.J. named Angry Bob and Lemmy as a taximan who plays Motorhead for his passengers. 

Cities have been reduced to rusting wastelands of decaying buildings and infrastructure, mechanicals limbs are common enough to go unmentioned, and government-built robots with a mission to sterilize the human race will soon be deployed en masse. 

Meanwhile, the desert now called Earth shows few signs of life. Humans struggle to survive this harsh, unforgiving planet, everything looks dirty and crowded, and fragile flesh is prone to disease, disfigurement, and genetic malformities. In the looming battle between man and machines, the machines hold all the advantage.

Sinners

Sinners shares similar DNA to From Dusk Till Dawn. Both begin as slow-burn crime stories about a pair of brothers with a scheme before shifting gears to become violent, gory horror stories in which our main characters end up trapped in a bar, fighting for their lives as besieging vampires want in.

There are plenty of differences. From Dusk Till Dawn's big twist came out of nowhere - no buildup, no foreshadowing, etc. - and that was the movie's big joke. Plenty of people were disappointed a character-driven story about kidnappers and their hostages became a wild, campy action flick, but if you roll with it, it's a fun, cool exercise in style for its own sake.

Sinners has greater ambitions. The vampiric threat is suggested sooner and built up, so it doesn't come out of nowhere. More significantly, the movie makes a more concerted effort to thread its halves together, so the character work and thematic elements don't fall by the wayside. Instead, the vampire angle enriches rather than detracts from the serious drama of the earlier scenes.

The result is one of the best horror movies in recent years, one that makes me hope writer-director Ryan Coogler spends more time in the genre.

Lessons from seeing your play performed

On May 31, I attended Theatre Reset's Short Play Festival #5, which featured a performance of my play, "Water to Whine," and I had an absolute blast. I loved everything they did, the performances were great, and I was happily surprised, in more ways than one. All the plays were great, and I'm so happy I got to see them.

The experience reminded me of a few important lessons about writing scripts, whether for stage or film, and I feel like sharing them here.