Thanks a lot, Sam!

It would be also interesting to read people's thoughts on what they might like to hear a bit more about concerning (script)writing, though I already have a few more ideas for upcoming blog entires...

Thank you very much for your kind words.
Writing a script is huge fun, but also pretty time consuming. Prepare for having a way smaller time window for watching DVDs- for starters...

Thanks for the feedback!

It's fun writing this blog, but it's even better if somebody finds a few inspiring or useful points in it


Scriptwriting can be a lot of fun....and with the right preparations upfront, the stress-and frustration factor is so much lower too.

In that case you'd have to pick up one of the earlier DVD releases (which I intend to do on my next visit to Germany, my old German VHS won't live forever) as the latest version (in one of those fancy steelbooks) has an all new German dub, which - imho SADLY!- puts the old German "The hills people are aliens" version to rest, replacing it with a faithful translation....
Luckily, there should be still some of those older releases floating around....

Not quite, sadly.
Things looked somewhat more promising and relaxed when the conservatives took a break from government during the late 90's, early 00's, but for the last couple of years, German censorship has been on a straight way back to the 80's witchhunting tactics, only now they're even more after computer games than movies.
The only thing which could save German genre fans from those overly eager scissors would be a binding European rating for films and games....but somehow I can't see that happening any time soon.

"The Bloody Judge" has been hanging around on my shopping list for a good while now, I really should be doing something about that, as the German DVD seems to be quite cheap at he moment....


BTW: If you want to get a glimpse at the heights of the German dubbing madness, try the German trailer for "The Hills Have Eyes" on the ABUK disc! You might not understand a word- except for "ALIENS"- but you'll get an impression of the kind of powerhouse narration genre-flick trailers got during the best of times in Germany.
I just wish they'd still do trailers like that- plus the titles were hysterical: "Hügel der blutigen Augen" (as in "Hills of the bloody Eyes") sounds imho so much cooler than "The Hills Have Eyes"....

As far as German radio plays are concerned, there are countless titles of varying genres (with varying production values) available on CDs, even cassettes and downloads.
Numerous stations still play radio plays, but so far I've never heard of one, which is solely dedicated to radio plays- interesting thought though!
There's definetely a future for radio plays, as they combine the comfort of "being entertained", yet leave your imagination total freedom!
""Amazon.de" would be a good place to look around, so is youtube- at least for getting an impression.
Outside Germany, things are looking not nearly as good, as most countries didn't really have the same mainstream-boom in radio plays during the last 3 decades.
The best way to do an English language horror radio play outside the radio would be to do it - seriously!- as a tie-in merchandise product for "Shameless", may be even getting at least 1 cherished cult actor for a supporting role behind the mike to draw some more attention.
It could be sold via the "Shameless" homepage on CDs (or as a download).
It shouldn't be much longer than 1 hr, it could easily be just 35-45 mins for starters.
The future for radio play distribution will be the www, though collectors still prefer to get a CD with catchy sleeve into their hands...

How does that sound?

Thanks KPWNINJA

I think Alexandre Aja is one of the few modern genre directors, who seems to be really interested in using the possibilities of sound design and effects to enhance the mood of his movies. Particularly the farm assault in "Haute Tension" springs to mind when the "heroine" has to hide and the "killer" is slowly walking through the house in search of his victims. Every step, every breath, the noises in the house, dripping water etc seem to be carefully and thoughtfully arranged. I wish I could say that of more recent genre flicks.