October 29, 2010

With SAW 3D, the seventh and final entry in the SAW franchise now playing in theaters, we thought it’d be fun and interesting to dig deep into the influences of co-writer Marcus Dunstan to discover what his foundations were as a filmmaker. Back when we spoke at length with Dunstan (who co-penned SAW IV-VII with writing partner Patrick Melton) for the launch of Massive Hysteria, we asked him to name-check the movies that most had an impact on him as a writer and director.

So the flicks mentioned below are the movies that made the mind behind the FEAST trilogy, THE COLLECTOR, SAW 4-7 and the upcoming PIRANHA sequel want to make movies in the first place; and it’s all in his own words! Read on! -Robg.

SUSPIRIA (1977) – “Literally the first movie I watched between my fingers as a youngster, huddled within an isolated Minnesota cabin. I was the only one up. It was an old Zenith TV with the wooden case and the perimeter created by the glow of that TV, it would go out a few feet and I was sitting right in it wrapped in a blanket. And this was a letter-boxed VHS tape of the first unedited version of Suspiria that Fangoria told me was coming out. And I watched it and that hissing soundtrack of that throaty whish mimicking Jesus Loves Me, this I know. Oh my gosh! Ultimately what the movie taught me was how horror could be beautiful. Because the cinematography was beautiful, the women were beautiful, the men were handsome, the dogs even look good. They do suffer extreme cruelty, but it was composed with an artist’s eye. Not an exploitive eye. It was stunning composition, brilliant use of color, exciting use of music and what a group, what a beautiful witches brew of lovely mayhem. That one sticks with me very well. That’d be an amazing 3D conversion, you’ve got everything you need going for it. Depth of field, brilliant colors, holy cow, that cries out for that experiment. It’s not shaky cam, it’s back to a day when the smooth gliding camera created the feeling of a predator selecting its next meal.”

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) – “I have a friend with one eye and the fact that he has a sci-fi icon to look up to is cooler than any Marvel concoction. It’s a tribute to how dry-ice-cool this film still is. I love this movie. The way this sci-fi Western with a kickin’ soundtrack personally infused with the fingerprints of the director and the hero that really is built on frustration. It would seem to be a reaction to other elements and things going on in the country. But it didn’t forget that it could also be scary, it didn’t forget that it could have exciting action and yet, a great sense of humor too. That’s a movie that’s comfort food. It’s such a terrific film. It’s a wonderful blend of so many different genres, and perfectly solid in it’s footing.”

THE THING (1982) – “Can’t get enough John Carpenter, because John Carpenter’s THE THING is the movie I have to watch every 6 months. A beautiful tale of isolation. The horror was perfectly calibrated. It’s a great story. It still holds up. I can just endlessly see how creative that film was and I keep picking up more and more from it on repeat viewings. I saw it when I was 11 and just knew it was going to be cool to grow a beard, but I had to wait another decade or so just to have the DNA to do such a thing. I didn’t know there was an original when I first saw it. When you get a remake like that, it’s worth it.”

BEING THERE (1979) – “It’s a Hal Ashby and Peter Sellers movie. Sellers plays Chance, the gardener, whose innocent observations of life are construed by anyone who hears them as poetic life-lessons. Ultimately the film culminates with this innocent gardener walking on water. What a warm film, a terrific film. It had a quote that stayed in my head for a number of years and that’s “Life is a state of mind”. This innocent movie with this very soft perfect heart. Couldn’t be more out of balance as the other selections that I’m talking about but it is just as influential on me. Once again a shining example of what you can do with a story and how you can push to inspire.”

THE CROW (1994) – “This one I’ve seen more than any other movie. I dressed up as THE CROW when I went to get my tickets and on subsequent Halloween’s in Iowa, you’d show up to a costume party as The Crow and there was always 3 other Crow’s, like Chunky Crow, Drunk Crow and Kegger Crow. So “the crows” would all be hanging out saying “that movie’s awesome man. Freakin’ SWEET soundtrack.” (Laughs) That movie was everything at the time. I had never seen a Rated R comic book graphic novel come to life that was born of such honest and real pain and frustration. The story is so tragic and brutal and yet it was propelled by rock and teases of the industrial. Joy Division covered by Nine Inch Nails. Sonic bliss! The comic would hint at it, but The Crow was the movie that stretched it a few panels further. You saw the pain and the violence a little bit more. It was exciting and ground breaking. Which of course means here comes that remake. (Laughs)”

SLAPSHOT (1977) – “George Roy Hill, talk about a director that could calibrate perfect relationships in films. They could be violent worlds and whatnot. SLAPSHOT’s the most violent comedy I think I’ve ever seen. Violent in how angry these people are. These aren’t people that get angry and say a curse word, they are throw-the-chair pissed! It sucks to be in their predicament, and they’re going to show ass, break teeth, rip your kids apart if they need to, to prove that they’ve still got it, that there’s still an element of dignity to their fight, their cause. And I think that also is a bit of a life lesson movie. You look at when that came out and things weren’t too happy in the country and here comes this movie about these beat up souls with dignity just going for it. It’s odd how movies teach us and help us gain confidence or perhaps a few new insights and feelings that we may have, or perhaps, we’ll learn it’s ok when we’re broken. Everybody is in some way.”

THE DEAD ZONE (1983) – “It’s beautiful décor with the campaign propaganda that Martin Sheen’s Greg Stillson has consisting of Norman Rockwell’s version of Americana. And yet, the hero couldn’t be more fragile and terrified of his own gift, and yet – The love story in that movie is so beautiful and when you get to the end of it and all he says is a simple goodbye to this woman that he should’ve had a life with. That character should’ve been in a nice little drama about a teacher that finds true love, but no. The horror movie came by and took his life away and traded him a deadly purpose. It’s almost like the penalty of being great at the terrifying. It’s an endlessly rewarding movie to go back to. Also, the Michael Kamen score was so sweeping. It’s so heartbreaking, yet perfect.”

THE CONTENDER (2000) – “A movie that I love to listen to, THE CONTENDER. Writer/director Rod Lurie’s tale of Joan Allen as she’s vice president elect and how her character is called upon the carpet but the question of her character is so vile in it’s asking that she elects in that moment to stand her ground and not answer it. And it culminates in a beautiful phrase that I’m going to butcher as I try to say it. The president asks her “You didn’t do it. Why wouldn’t you just say you didn’t do it and fight?” And she says, “It was not right to ask. That is the principle by which I was standing. And principles only define your character when you stand by then at times of inconvenience.” Words fly like bullets in that one. Exciting cast, great moments – great movie to listen to. It’s like eavesdropping on a couple of brilliant people as they fight. (Laughs)”

BLOW OUT (1981) – “That was the movie I loved watching over and over again and analyzing its use of silence. Ironically it is about the Soundman creating the damning picture. But the way that movie uses silence, there’s not a lot of dialogue other than in very key moments. It’s where the suspense and the music and the sound of movies are commented on. Not to mention, what a brilliant opening. At the time it came out, DePalma was being called one of the most deplorable sensationalists of violence and whatnot, and his opening is a total fake out with the poorly dressed, knife-holding slasher who stalks a scantly-clad woman, it gets to the big kill shot and she has terrible scream, and then it cuts to his movie and the character laughs at it. You haven’t seen anything yet. Then DePalma’s movie begins; a tightly coiled political-thriller with all the admiration for Italian suspense and Hitchcockian twists and Mr. DePalma’s very own beautiful stamp on world -wide suspicion.”

PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (1987) – “It’s just wonderful, again, a movie that could’ve just been a comedy and cast off in any direction, but you go through it, you laugh your ass off and it has moments of just pure heartbreak and ends with absolute warmth. It reminds me of home. Wherever I go, I can watch some guy struggling to get to Chicago and be OK.”

EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN (1987) – “That’s the movie where what I’m learning from now is that sequels can not only be so similar in plot, but radically different, and in some cases wildly better, but ultimately wholly original. EVIL DEAD 2 goes against the grain of every instinct of a sequel. You’d think they’d just put a new batch of kids in the cabin and kill ‘em. Nope. This is The Three Stooges, this is Tex Avery, this is wonderful comedy and sensational horror at the same time. Not to mention a wonderful brew of groundbreaking low-tech high-impact filmmaking. There is love punctuating every moment of that film. Its depiction of horror is like no other. It could sit on the same shelf as everything else. But it had an ax death and possession and the book written in blood and that deep voice of the narrator. It’s like “wow, this is taking me to a different place”, every time. EVIL DEAD 2 I’ve looked up to, often brought up in conversation, especially studio conversations. EVIL DEAD 2 is the one that stands the test of time.”

RUN LOLA RUN (1998) – “Talk about a story that’s 30 minutes long, yet reinvents itself two other times to be a beautiful whole experience. Style didn’t betray the motives of the movie at all, it enhanced it. For this it was really good. Sometimes style can take you out of a picture all together, but RUN LOLA RUN with its propulsive soundtrack, great acting and live or die by the seat of your pants adrenaline was wonderful.”

CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE (2009) – “I watched that 3 times in two days, so I thought if I’m doing that, I must really like it. It was during Comic-Con where I watched it three times, while I was at a place celebrating every new movie to come out; CRANK 2 transfixed me. Mind you, CRANK 2 and EVIL DEAD 2 are essentially the same plot, the same actor, etc, yet both refuse to be identical. They go for broke! I love the audacity! The creativity! It hits you like the last turn of a roller coaster. You think, this thing is not stopping for me! It’s up to me to keep up.”

Notable Mentions: NIXON, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, THE HUNTED, FIRST BLOOD, VICE SQUAD, DEEP RED, TENEBRE and FARGO.

“The only reason I was hesitant to mention FARGO is because it sounds like an easy one to put on, because everyone thinks it’s so great, but it is so great! (Laughs) Ya gotta mention it. I’m currently pulling references for future projects, things that I’m thinking about from movies that have been recently inspiring to me, in getting the perfect moment or a tone, would be TENEBRE, FIRST BLOOD and THE HUNTED.”

THE HUNTED: “watching two brilliant, Oscar winners give absolute physical performances. Captivating. Brutal. Bone-breaking adrenaline.”

VICE SQUAD: “It’s the perfect time capsule for 1980’s. “Did they really just do that?” Yes, they did! Well if for nothing else, the end credits song, “Neon Slime,” sung by Wings Hauser is worthy of mention in any interview or top list. This villain who is just so vile to slash this woman’s head, beats people with hangers, drags people around, etc. He’s boldly foul, and yet in the world of Vice Squad, HE’S the guy who gets the end credits song. (Laughs) That’s hilarious and so very wrong.”

DEEP RED: “The flashback sequence with all the holiday decorations is terrifically creepy. All colors are a bit muted save for the color red. The stark violence set against the beautiful holiday imagery doesn’t come off repulsive as much as fascinating. The two sensations pull on your eyes in such a great way.”

NIXON “is great. With NATURAL BORN KILLERS, there was the beginning of that filmmaking style which would combine the Super 8, the 16, the 35. It was teased at with JFK and then with NATURAL BORN KILLERS, it struck me like a creative explosion. NIXON pulled that technique back a bit and was the film where I think everything came together with that style and richly enhanced the tragic characters. Another terrific movie to listen to right after NIXON is ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. It celebrated some regular folks that were trying to do the right thing, held onto their character and dragged some demons into the light.”

“Thank goodness for tales so true!”