Loose Inspiration
One thing about being a writer that can be both fun and slightly frustrating is trying to take advantage of the constant sources of inspiration out there. Often, the most vivid and effective inspiration comes from dreams. I mean, have you ever woken up from a dream and thought, That would make a great movie? Well, I had one of the strangest dreams last night, and as I was waking up, I thought to myself, That would make a great horror movie.
There are a couple things I should be clear about. First, the horror genre is probably the most reliable return on the dollar in the movie business. Anybody can make one, and everyone wants to. You don’t have to case stars, they don’t cost much money, and the kids love ‘em. Heck, every other weekend a new horror movie comes out and it’s a monster hit because, demographically speaking, most of the people that go to see movies love to be scared. Naturally, it’s a very attractive notion to write a known and wanted commodity.
Second, I don’t particularly care for horror movies. I can probably count on one hand the number of horror movies I really love, and one of them is The Exorcist. Granted, that’s not very fair because it’s a classic, but my point is I haven’t been overly impressed with all these horror flicks lately. I was underwhelmed by The Ring and didn’t bother to see the sequel, and I felt the same way about Saw. So, when I think something sounds like a good horror movie (even if I did come up with the idea) that’s saying a lot.
Here’s the rub. Even as I thought so lucidly in my half-asleep state that my strange dream would make a good story, by the time I was awake, it had completely slipped my mind. At first, I didn’t even remember I had a dream at all until I had that feeling like I forgot something. Then, it occurred to me that I needed to remember my dream, but by then I had almost completely forgotten it. I have a vague notion of it being about an ancient Indian curse and zombies and a possible big star cameo at the end. You know, usual stuff, but nothing that I thought would make it an interesting story. C’est la vie.
It’s strange how dreams come and go, how vivid they can be, how you can remember some and not others. Such is their nature, I suppose. I’m still trying to remember this one. It was pretty cool. And darn it, I bet I could’ve been a big hit, too.
Song of the Week:
“Sweet Dream” by Jethro Tull