Lights Out

In keeping with the vision I have for this blog, I've decided to write an entry focusing on an up-and-coming filmmaker whose creativity and do-it-yourself story inspires me.

David F. Sandberg is a Swedish director who, with his actress wife Lotta Losten, has made a series of short yet effective horror films. They can be found on his YouTube Channel under the moniker "Ponysmasher." One of these short films, "Lights Out," is the focus of this entry.

I discovered "Lights Out" a couple years back while I was aimlessly browsing YouTube for horror shorts. While not a horror fanatic I do enjoy a well-made horror movie, particularly if it is effectively scary. There is something that fascinates me about a truly creepy horror movie, especially one that manages it on a small budget. The first "Paranormal Activity" hit that chord with me, as does "Lights Out."

Plenty of horror films with big budgets fail to capture that genuine creepy atmosphere that this short nails so well. The short plays off fundamental fears, and I feel that the best horror movies often do the same.

I'm not the only one impressed by this short film. In fact, it went viral and has led to Sandberg being offered the chance to turn his film into a full length feature, produced by Hollywood director James Wan. The movie comes out next month. Now, based on the trailer it does seem a bit "Hollywoodized." In fact, I would be surprised if the movie is as creepy as the short film is. From what I can gather in the trailer, the movie gives the monster a back story. In my experience, the more I know about a monster the less scary it is. What makes the short version of "Lights Out" so terrifying is that we know nothing about the monster. We don't know its origin, its motivation, or what it does to its victims. Now, we also know nothing about the protagonist. But essentially the protagonist is a stand-in for ourselves. We have all been home alone, and we have all been spooked by strange shapes in the dark. What I fear for the feature length version is that much of this will be lost by over-explanation. However, it's possible that the movie will still be effective in its own way. Apparently James Wan has been impressed with Sandberg's performance thus far, as Sandberg is next lined up to direct "Annabelle 2," a sequel in a franchise which is also produced by Wan.

The most fascinating thing about Sandberg is how very rags-to-riches his story is. Before "Lights Out" exploded on the internet he was just a struggling filmmaker living with his wife in his native Sweden. Now the pair has moved to LA and he is making big-budget Hollywood movies, all because of a little low-budget short that he filmed in his own apartment.

I sincerely hope that the movie is well-received so Sandberg can continue making movies, which is clearly his passion.

David Bowie

Another overdue entry for a late, great rock star. First off, I admit that I am not as familiar with David Bowie's work as I am that of Scott Weiland. I started listening to Bowie much later, after I began delving deeper into the back catalog of rock music. The only album I own is his greatest hits, and I've only begun listening to his full albums over the past year, as many of them came up on the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die," which is a list I am gradually making my way through.

Even still, David Bowie holds a special place in my heart for several reasons, which I will discuss here.

My first exposure to David Bowie was not his musical works, but rather, as an actor in the movie "Labyrinth."

He played Jareth the goblin king in that movie, spending the entire film messing with a teenage Jennifer Connolly. The most memorable part for me was the song, "Magic Dance," particularly the first several lines, which became a long-standing inside joke between my cousin and me:

Jareth: "You remind me of the babe."
Goblin: "What babe?"
Jareth: "The babe with the power!"
Goblin: "What power?"
Jareth: "The power of voodoo."
Goblin: "Who do?"
Jareth: "You do. You remind me of the babe." (song commences)

If you haven't seen "Labyrinth," check it out, but be prepared for weirdness. It's full of Jim Henson puppets, with Connolly and Bowie being the only human actors (that I can recall).

Of course, David Bowie is most known for his music. The number of classic songs that he gifted us with during his long career is staggering. "Changes," "A Space Oddity", "Young Americans", "Modern Love," "Golden Years," "Fame", "Let's Dance", "Rebel Rebel" . . . the list goes on and on.

Being introduced to the music of an artist through a body of hits that already exists in its entirety is a much different experience from following the progression of an artist's career in real time (such as has been my experience with the band Incubus). It is easy to forget that the collection of songs are the result of years of progression, growth and change. This became apparent to me as I listened to several of Bowie's albums in chronological order this past year.

He started off as a teen-idol type of artist. Check this out:

Later on he became fascinated by the idea of performing as various characters, such as Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke.

He would go on to experiment with various musical styles, including music inspired by German "krautrock" during his so-called "Berlin trilogy" of albums. He continued to release music for the rest of his life. "Blackstar," his final album, was released just two days before he died last month.

Bowie's music, even though I began listening to it relatively recently, still has much personal significance to me. I associate it strongly with my first (and so far, only) romantic relationship. My ex and I discovered our shared appreciation for Bowie on our second date, and on several occasions we would sing along to Bowie songs in the car together. "Changes" on the freeway, "A Space Oddity" on Mulholland Drive. In addition, "Under Pressure" was our go-to karaoke song, with me always singing the Bowie part. Now that more than three years have passed since we parted ways, the pain of losing that relationship has diminished (though not disappeared, but does it ever?), so I feel like I can appreciate these memories once again.

David Bowie was, hands down, one of the most creative and interesting rock musicians of all time. I definitely plan to delve into his material even more now.

Top Secret!

I've been wanting to create a blog where I pay tribute to creativity in all its forms: movies, TV shows, music, art, video games, websites, performance, etc. The focus for now will be on those things that I hold particularly near and dear to my heart, especially (but not exclusively) if they are not widely known.

For this inaugural entry, I will discuss one of the movies that helped me develop my comic sensibilities.

Many people are familiar with the movie, "Airplane!" Directed by the comedy team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker and released in 1980, it is largely regarded as one of the best comedies ever.

Fewer people have heard of the ZAZ team's follow-up: "Top Secret!"


This poster is slightly misleading. I do not recall a scene with cows falling from the sky. The cow did wear boots, though. And Val Kilmer did shake it.

It amazes me that "Top Secret!" is not more well known. In my opinion, it is just as funny as "Airplane!" and even more original. I was surprised to find out recently that "Airplane!" is basically a comedic remake of a prior film, "Zero Hour!" "Top Secret!" on the other hand, is an unlikely combination of an Elvis-style musical and a Cold War spy film.

It is actually Val Kilmer's very first role. Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, an Elvis-like rock musician who is invited to East Germany to perform in an arts festival. Little does he know that the festival is really a front for a nefarious conspiracy, which he soon gets entangled in. But really, the plot is just a vehicle for the gags, and boy are there a lot of them. "Top Secret!" is the kind of comedy that reveals more and more upon repeat viewings. The movie has it all: cheesy puns, sight gags, parody, satire, and also some very inventive scenes.

Two scenes stand out. In the first, Nick and his love interest, Hillary, visit a Swedish book shop. The shop owner, played by Peter Cushing, speaks in Swedish, which sounds peculiarly like backwards English. The "backwards" theme continues through the scene, until it becomes apparent to the audience that the scene is actually being played backwards. This allows for some very clever sight gags as Nick and the shop owner put books away. At first it may seem that the decision to shoot the scene and play it in reverse is a very random choice. As it turns out, however, it was deliberately done to reference the fact that some English speakers think Swedish sounds like backwards English. In this way, the scene becomes even funnier when you learn the back story. I can't think of very many movie scenes that I can say that about!


Peter Cushing as the Swedish shop keeper

Another memorable scene in the movie parodies Western movies and the classic scenario of a brawl in a tavern. The "Top Secret!" twist? The tavern is at the bottom of a lake and the entire fight scene is filmed underwater.

There's something special about "Top Secret!" and other classic spoof movies that many recent entries in the genre fail to capture. The spoof has lost its luster with the glut of "Blank" Movies: "Date Movie", "Epic Movie", and the rest of their ilk. It seems the writers of modern day spoofs think that referencing pop culture and celebrities is what constitutes parody.

Anyone who is a fan of ZAZ's other work such as "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun!", as well as the movies of Mel Brooks, owes it to themselves to check out "Top Secret!"