Jordan Peele and friends invite us to their take on Candyman this year. I reviewed it this Halloween season, because the original Candyman (1992) scared me as a child. The atmosphere in that film felt oppressive (even though I didn’t know what that word was then) and it never let up. I remember directly after…
Read moreACT 3, SCENE 1 INT: AMED/LINDA HOME – NIGHT LINDA BUTLER comes running into the front door of the house. LINDA: Amed. Amed, where are you? The house is dark. LINDA turns on the light, but everything appears normal. In the distance, there are voices. She follows them into the LIVING ROOM, where…
Read moreTEASER BLACK SCREEN. HEAVY PANTING AND SNIFFLING. DIAL TONE and 3 LOUD BEEPS. DISPATCHER (O.S.): 911, what’s your emergency? A CHILD starts to cry. His voice is trembling. In the BACKGROUND, hysterical screaming and a crying baby. DISPATCHER (O.S.): Hello? 911, what’s your emergency? BOY (O.S.): Send help please….
Read moreACT 3, SCENE 1 INT: ASTRO CITY’S GANG UNIT HQ – INTERROGATION RM- AFTERNOON LOCO sits with his hands uncuffed and folded neatly across a table. His head is tilt over the back of the chair and staring up at the halogen lights. From HIS POV, in the brightness is The Goatman. Door opens, enters…
Read moreTEASER ACT 1, SCENE 1 INT: ASTRO CITY HIGH – CLASSROOM – AFTERNOON (CHOREOGRAPHED DANCE SEQUENCE) A diverse group of students sit together looking solemn and depressed. Among them is LEIGH SUAREZ. TEACHER (O.S.): Alright class! Free period! Suddenly the students come alive and break into an uplifting and hopeful dance, music should…
Read moreACT 5, SCENE 1 INT. REV’S HOME – NIGHT FOLLOW SHOT: REV walks through the front door in more pedestrian garb. He is SMILING and putting his stuff down. REV: I’m home. There was a line outside the office. They wouldn’t let me leave. I had to sneak out before Sister Netta’s group…
Read moreAct 4, SCENE 1 INT: RISE CHURCH – HALLWAY: AFTERNOON There is a line outside REV MAC’S DOOR. People are standing or sitting on benches patiently waiting to see him. Some are praying furiously and others are crying. On the closed door is REV MAC’S nameplate and his listed office hours. We hear OS SOBBING…
Read moreACT 3, SCENE 1 INT: RISE: AME CHURCH – BASEMENT/SOUP KITCHEN – DAY Focus on MAYOR APOSTOLOU has his face buried in his hands. He grunts in pain. A worker walks into the kitchen area and hands OMAR BUTLER a bottle of water. OMAR shoos the worker away so he and the MAYOR are alone…
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TEASER ACT 1, SCENE 1 INT: RISE: AME CHURCH – DAY There is a funeral at RISE, and the service is packed. Peace lilies adorn the church, and a coffin sits before an altar. SISTER NETTA is standing in front of the congregation with a choir behind her. SISTER is singing a beautiful hymn passionately….
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The Story: In Louisana’s South, at the height of the Civil War, black slaves serve and please their white Confederate masters or die by gun shot or the fire shed. However, all is not what is seems, as Eden plots her freedom. What I liked: First off kudos to black and queer writer/director Gerald Bush…
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