conrad_johnson Girl Next Door

Damn I liked it! Really really liked it. It's original and entertaining. Great cinematography. Editing and music were first rate.

At first it sells you on this total B-movie teen slasher thing...and then you realize it's something else. I enjoyed the trip. My fave of the fest so far (having viewed 1/3 of the entrants at this point). Congrats!
 
Review | POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I watch the movies first time around strictly for enjoyment, second and third for review.

Hey peoples. Didn't know Lingo was behind this. What parts, if I missed it.

Script - I got confused. I'm beginning to think that I'm really stupid now. But I couldn't understand where the story was taking me. It started out with a hardcore sensual pre-murder scene, then went into something completely different. And then the ending told me it was all a dream, but she's still a murderer and ... oh the boyfriend's next! I can't say where exactly it falls short, I might have to re-watch a few more times. By the way- I do think I get it partially: She's relapsing having killed these people already, haunting dreams. I just don't know if it was sold the right way.

Direction - Nice frame-ups. The coverage worked well in a lot of scenes. Some fell apart, like the portions where she ran away. A good framing example would be her swinging the Axe down. The angle wasn't too low or too high, just about spot on.

Acting - It almost seemed like they were all playing tag or hide-and-go-seek. Especially when she gets the knife and starts poking at whom I will refer to as BONDAGE ZOMBIE. The shoestrings around his face and all, I bet those left marks. Seems our leading lady is good with phone conversations, though.

Cine/Lighting - Shot composition was okay, but what stood out the most was creative choice of lighting. In the beginning when she's standing in the doorway you can see rim lighting going on. (Edge? I always get those two confused.) And, going back to the Axe scene, she's well lit there too. Looked like a horror movie to me. I also like the rich colors in the shower scene, though it made the blood look too Kool-Aid at that part. Great lighting here.

Editing - The beginning was cut too quickly, perhaps. I wanted to see more of her standing in the door, establish that she was some sinister Girl Next Door before she came in and started her on-the-naked-body lap-dance/tease. I also think that the scene where BONDAGE ZOMBIE climbed over-top the girl next door played out too long. This is another reaon I say the actors seemed like they were playing a game of tag within the movie. I almost expected him to say "HA! I SCARED YOU!" through the shoe string mask. Otherwise, it's fine. A little tinkering.

Sound - This might be due to time constraints, but I noticed scattered choices of folley. Door shutting sounds, opening sounds, but no naked footsteps. Liked the Ambient horror score. Said it like three times in a few different threads, but I'm a fan of that style of score over strings and pianos. Just my preference as of late.

Special Effects - Plenty o'blood here. I have to go back to the head-in-the-door-crack scene. It's a great concept, but maybe gone about in a way that's not as effective as it could've been. Blood splatter on the Axe chops- Neat.

Scariest Moments - When he crawled up to the door. That's actually a funny moment too but if anyone ever crawled like that up to my door I'd be pretty upset.

Overall consensus - Great Visuals, great lighting. An overall visual success. Maybe a little recutting and sound sweetening in the final? Otherwise, I watched the entire thing without wondering when it was going to end. Great job everyone. Thanks for showcasing!
 
I lied. I wasn't responsible for all the good parts.

This was Joe's baby. He wrote the screenplay, and I went in and messed around with some dialogue when he was done. I assisted with directing, but he's the one who really had the vision and pulled it all together.

Since Joe's already gone to bed, I'll see if I can respond to your Q's about story. Joe, feel free to tell me to edit or dump this in the morning when you wake up if I got it all wrong...

Here's the way I look at the story. The viewer is led to believe that this is just your typical horror flick: house with a gruesome past, a young attractive male trying to scare a young attractive female with ghost stories, young attractive female runs around in her skivvies trying to escape the monsters, kills them all, gets herself to a safe place then engages in the requisite shower scene, then oops, she's not safe after all, then phew...it was all just a dream. At this point, the viewer is to groan "oh dear god, a "it was just a dream" cliche - what a cop out..." Only in this case, it wasn't all a dream. Our young attractive female has contributed to the gruesome history of her house, the evil man-hater that she is, she reflects upon herself in the bed, then kills her unsuspecting boyfriend. So that's how I read it.

And dominatrix killer #2 crawling up to the door? Definitely funny. Look at the first part of Joe's thread for an amusing BTS of the actor.
 
Lingothree said:
I lied. I wasn't responsible for all the good parts.

This was Joe's baby. He wrote the screenplay, and I went in and messed around with some dialogue when he was done. I assisted with directing, but he's the one who really had the vision and pulled it all together.

Since Joe's already gone to bed, I'll see if I can respond to your Q's about story. Joe, feel free to tell me to edit or dump this in the morning when you wake up if I got it all wrong...

Here's the way I look at the story. The viewer is led to believe that this is just your typical horror flick: house with a gruesome past, a young attractive male trying to scare a young attractive female with ghost stories, young attractive female runs around in her skivvies trying to escape the monsters, kills them all, gets herself to a safe place then engages in the requisite shower scene, then oops, she's not safe after all, then phew...it was all just a dream. At this point, the viewer is to groan "oh dear god, a "it was just a dream" cliche - what a cop out..." Only in this case, it wasn't all a dream. Our young attractive female has contributed to the gruesome history of her house, the evil man-hater that she is, she reflects upon herself in the bed, then kills her unsuspecting boyfriend. So that's how I read it.

And dominatrix killer #2 crawling up to the door? Definitely funny. Look at the first part of Joe's thread for an amusing BTS of the actor.
Click to expand...

Okay so I wasn't so far off. I got what it was about, then. Thanks for the explaination.
 
Ok really nice work here!

Great lighting and editing, Nikki you rock!

The dead guys crawling up on her were SICK, DISTURBING, SILENT HILL-ish and WOW!

A few objections though:
- when she whacks one the sound could be more realistic
- when she hits that dead guy's head she has a lot of blood splattered on her and I dont know if its realistic but since you did that, then in the axe scene she should have been drowning in blood after 10 i believe whacks she gave him
- the body afterwards should have been little pieces of meat, but the blood looked NICE!
- when she takes the shower its one of my favourite scenes, very well lit and the right angle but the blood that drips on her back doesnt look that good and its kinda not what you would expect because then we move up and she's pretty clean so you would expect more blood on her head and blood dont wash away that easily
- the story was nice as a basis but not really well delivered...I mean...I tried to put myself into her shoes...and I wouldnt act like that...there are these dead people crawling up on her, she kills one with an axe then she washes the blood off with soap? I would be running out of there and I wouldnt be taking a shower...wouldnt she call the cops? do something with the body? ok its a dream and all but something bothered me in all this

All in all it had perfect setup in terms of lights and camera work but you could use all this and refine the story a bit to make something REALLLYYYYY disturbing.

Oh, and I didnt see the end coming but you could have led me there with a more solid story and it wouldnt be bad.

Great work in the end! Looking for more of you!

ps. nikki rocks!
 
This was a lot of fun, really. The cinematography was great. Conrad, you are a really, really great DP. I do think your work is better in Lingothree's film, but it's the difference between AMAZING and SUPER-AMAZING. I guess it's just the choices.

I noticed here...is there a place where you project the shape of two ghosts on the wall, around the fireplace? Looks like it and it's very cool. Even if not intentional, very very cool.

What's outstanding is almost-camp sensibility, very much like Lingothree's. Amidst the horror, it's a lot of fun. I guess it's because you guys work together and just gravitated to similar tastes. Or maybe it's Minnesota...

Anyway, solid work all around. It's soooo great that you guys seem to have a little cabal there in Minn working together. We have something similar in NYC.
 
Freakin hilarious. Awesome job! So many clever devices.
The dialing scene... of course she dials 7 digits. Should've have made it 11- hell why not long distance. "Get over here!"

The door scene... Never get between a girl and her phone. Blood everywhere! Good stuff.

The washing hands shot.. smiled when she freaked about her shirt.




The bludgeoning scene... loved it. Totally Sissy Borden meets energizer bunny. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to cut it in the middle and then toss in a crossfade to indicate a time lapse- coulda been a very Sam Raimi moment.
 
VersuS said:
Ok really nice work here!

Great lighting and editing, Nikki you rock!

The dead guys crawling up on her were SICK, DISTURBING, SILENT HILL-ish and WOW!

A few objections though:
- when she whacks one the sound could be more realistic
- when she hits that dead guy's head she has a lot of blood splattered on her and I dont know if its realistic but since you did that, then in the axe scene she should have been drowning in blood after 10 i believe whacks she gave him
- the body afterwards should have been little pieces of meat, but the blood looked NICE!
- when she takes the shower its one of my favourite scenes, very well lit and the right angle but the blood that drips on her back doesnt look that good and its kinda not what you would expect because then we move up and she's pretty clean so you would expect more blood on her head and blood dont wash away that easily
- the story was nice as a basis but not really well delivered...I mean...I tried to put myself into her shoes...and I wouldnt act like that...there are these dead people crawling up on her, she kills one with an axe then she washes the blood off with soap? I would be running out of there and I wouldnt be taking a shower...wouldnt she call the cops? do something with the body? ok its a dream and all but something bothered me in all this

All in all it had perfect setup in terms of lights and camera work but you could use all this and refine the story a bit to make something REALLLYYYYY disturbing.

Oh, and I didnt see the end coming but you could have led me there with a more solid story and it wouldnt be bad.

Great work in the end! Looking for more of you!

ps. nikki rocks!
Click to expand...
Hey, I did the lighting for this!:)
Thanks for all of the nice comments.

The whacking of the dead guy didn't come out like I planned, good eye on that.

Also wanted the guy to be more mutilated, but alas, I'm not a makeup artist:crybaby:

Yeah, story wise, I'm not a writer either, but it was my first try, so I'm ok with it.
Very insightful post.:thumbup:
 
desperatecomfort said:
This was a lot of fun, really. The cinematography was great. Conrad, you are a really, really great DP. I do think your work is better in Lingothree's film, but it's the difference between AMAZING and SUPER-AMAZING. I guess it's just the choices.

I noticed here...is there a place where you project the shape of two ghosts on the wall, around the fireplace? Looks like it and it's very cool. Even if not intentional, very very cool.

What's outstanding is almost-camp sensibility, very much like Lingothree's. Amidst the horror, it's a lot of fun. I guess it's because you guys work together and just gravitated to similar tastes. Or maybe it's Minnesota...

Anyway, solid work all around. It's soooo great that you guys seem to have a little cabal there in Minn working together. We have something similar in NYC.
Click to expand...

Gosh, thank you, I feel like a blushing school girl.:kiss: It's a huge compliment coming from your team!

This is the first script-writing experience I've had, I probably will leave the writing up to Lingothree!:)
 
Ming said:
Freakin hilarious. Awesome job! So many clever devices.
The dialing scene... of course she dials 7 digits. Should've have made it 11- hell why not long distance. "Get over here!"

The door scene... Never get between a girl and her phone. Blood everywhere! Good stuff.

The washing hands shot.. smiled when she freaked about her shirt.




The bludgeoning scene... loved it. Totally Sissy Borden meets energizer bunny. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to cut it in the middle and then toss in a crossfade to indicate a time lapse- coulda been a very Sam Raimi moment.
Click to expand...

Thanks! i'm glad you like campyness as much as I do.:Drogar-Love(DBG):
 
i got confused with your collaboration with Nikki so....erm....whatever you did in each other's film you did great (how's that? - hahaha)

i know about how hard make up can be but i d rather you didnt show him than show him in one piece...you could easily avoid it and nobody would complain

and that goes for a lot of things i ve seen in these movies, people tend to show EVERYTHING even when they know that they cant deliver....guys if you cant then you dont, its not a bad thing to accept what you can and cannot do...you can then work more with your advantages
 
VersuS said:
i got confused with your collaboration with Nikki so....erm....whatever you did in each other's film you did great (how's that? - hahaha)

i know about how hard make up can be but i d rather you didnt show him than show him in one piece...you could easily avoid it and nobody would complain

and that goes for a lot of things i ve seen in these movies, people tend to show EVERYTHING even when they know that they cant deliver....guys if you cant then you dont, its not a bad thing to accept what you can and cannot do...you can then work more with your advantages
Click to expand...
You're right,

Thats why when we shot our second entry (Dear Jane) we got a makeup artist.:)
 
you should have done that the other way around coz now Nikki gets all the 'what a nice dead body' you have there..she fooled you conrad ;) hehehe (joking)
 
Great cinematography, editing, score, acting! I really enjoyed this film and I was hooked into the story. Well executed! I don't have anything negative to say about this film at all. I like the casting decisions as well; your female lead is wonderful I love the scene when she's on the phone with Elliot and telling him to come over because something wierd is happening, lol! It's so great! Jeff Bailey did a terrific job scoring this piece as well.
 
Mark Johnson said:
Loved the ending. Such a great shot with the feet in socks and then ... bam!!! COOOOOOOL!
Click to expand...

The ending made the movie for me and FREAKED ME OUT! It was the lack of sound...the tiptoe....so udden...so horrible!! brilliant!
 
cinematagrophy was really good in this one, the story was funny but didn't really do it for me.
 
Conrad,

You are one of my favorite directors on DVXuser. I thoroughly enjoyed your hero entry, but this one is superior in almost every way. Even though your hero entry had a great story, its look was kind of... run of the mill DVX. This time around it looked like a film.

I could go on and on about how much I love the red headed lead actress. There's just something very special about that young lady. Even in her smallest gestures I feel her communicating with her performance. I loved her in your hero short, but loved her even more here.

Why isn't this thread getting more buzz? It deserves it. You'll get very high marks from me.
 
Wow!

HOLY CRAP THAT WAS GOOD!!!

Here's how I see it . . .

BEST in female lead actress (damn that girl can ACT!)
BEST in boyfriend acting (small part, but very well-acted)
BEST in directing
BEST in writing
BEST in almost-naked-chick-in-horrorfest-short
BEST in unique, funny, yet still horror-ish approach to horror genre
BEST in cute girl feet shot walking fast and cute to kill someone
BEST in cutting just before the action in the final shot

Loved your lead--loved her, loved her, loved her! Huge kudos to her for stripping down for her art!

Damn, you're good!
 
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