The Voices

The characters of my next script are in my head and they won't shut up. Why won't the voices quiet themselves? Or, better, why won't they hop from my brain onto the page and write the awesome script I know they are meant for?

Recently, I mentioned to a friend that I've always wanted to write a great ghost story. A GREAT ghost story. Along the lines of A Christmas Carol, but less...lessony. At the end of my ghost story, you won't necessarily feel like you need to become a better person. But you WILL believe in ghosts. And you will turn on the light in the hall at night when you have to pee. And you won't vacation in old Italian Villas, or in Savannah, GA. You might still brave New Orleans, since you will probably be drunk and won't mind the ghosts so much. And if you wake up at 3 am for no apparent reason, you'll squeeze your eyes shut and pray to fall back to sleep.

On that cheerful note, here is a limited list containing some favorite ghost story films to queue up on Netflix if you're so inclined. In fact, you can see, living and breathing, in the flesh, the director, Guillermo del Toro, of the first two, EL ORFANATO and EL ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO, in person soon if you live in the Pacific NW--my dear friend and script mentor Warren Etheredge is interviewing him on September 30th at the world famous EMP in Seattle (see here for details on how to attend).

THE ORPHANAGE (EL ORFANATO, 2007)

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (EL ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO, 2001)

THE CHANGELING (1980)

THE CELEBRATION (1998)

AMITYVILLE HORROR (2005) -- believe it or not, this one really creeps me out as well as entertains me on several other levels

THE SHINING (1980) - duh

RINGU (1998) - and the American version, THE RING, aint too shabby either

What am I missing--I know they're out there. If you know of any, please comment!