FrankenScript :: Lee Gabel's Screenwriting Journal/Blog

I have just finished a mammoth visual effects project that has kept me busy since mid-January. 139 days, most of them 12-16 hours a day, and seven days a week in the last two months. I am really bagged and burnt, but I can’t complain about the work. This project has allowed me to take [...]

The story took forever to get moving, and it felt like a movie-of-the-week. There wasn’t much tension or jeopardy, and some of the more interesting characters are wasted, replaced by long lingering shots of two teenagers staring into each other’s eyes. I found the paleness of the Cullen family almost comical, laughing out loud a [...]

Two books that I highly recommend are “Adventures in the Screen Trade” and “Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade”, both by William Goldman. The first is a little dated, but the advice, education and entertainment value alone make these books well worth a read. It’s fascinating to see how a [...]

For sheer terror and creepiness, this is in a class all its own. There are few things more terrifying than a home invasion when you’re stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to contact help. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to other horror films of late. Very sparse in plot (not [...]

Will Smith is always good, and I was entertained by this interesting take on super hero films. The twist in the middle is a little unbelievable, and used as a way to generate sympathy for an already unsympathetic character. The visual effects were a little self-conscious and that took me out of the story a [...]