Hey friends,
Another week, another trip out west. I’m writing this from El Paso - a wonderfully underrated Texas city that combines the cool cultural vibes of Austin with the old-world aesthetic of San Antonio.
The thing I like most about El Paso, though, is the dry heat. I grew up in South Texas and I absolutely love that dry, sneaky scorch of the desert sun. The humidity of Houston is the “reply guy” of the weather world. It overstays its welcome and is obtrusive in its presence in your life- the sweaty armpits it leaves behind are the equivalent of liking every Tweet you post. Dry heat, on the other hand, lurks in the background - slowly dehydrating you but having the good sense to not be annoying about it.
I love traveling. I love hotel rooms and rental cars and even sleeping on planes while slowly rocked by the gentle tug of turbulence. What I don’t love about traveling is being thrown off my routine. I’ve noticed that the Year of COVID left me a creature of habit. I have a very specific routine I stick to when I’m at home and, when I travel, I’m not able to do my morning exercise routine or go on my daily hikes or stay on my diet. I mean, I probably could do all of those things if I tried. Hotel rooms have workout rooms and just because I’m in a new city doesn’t mean I have to eat out every meal. But I’m a weak man and my self-control and willpower are directly tied to the very specific, regimented routines I keep in my daily life. When I deviate even a little from that routine, it becomes easier and easier to justify deviating a lot.
Here’s the thing, though - it’s OK. When I get back home, I’ll get back on my routine and I’ll resume my diet and my exercise and I’ll get back to the healthy habits I put in place last year. I’m OK with gaining a few pounds while on the road because I lost that weight before and I can lose it again.
WHERE’S WHERE WOLF
No major updates to share - except for the fact that I finished editing the third chapter of WHERE WOLF, VOL. 2 last night. I’m very happy with these first three chapters - the story is bigger and more ambitious in these first three chapters than almost the entirety of the first graphic novel. I can’t wait to share these pages with Debora Lancianese and see where she takes the material with her art. I’m waiting until I finish the entire book, though, before I start that process. If I learned anything from writing WHERE WOLF it’s that ideas can come at any stage in the writing process and I don’t want to box myself into a specific structure to the story until I know where, exactly, the entire story ends. More info to share soon.
STUFF I WATCHED THIS LAST WEEK:
The best thing I watched this last week was easily MALIGNANT, James Wan’s new horror film.
I haven’t been the biggest fan of Wan’s earlier films - SAW and INSIDIOUS did nothing for me and AQUAMAN felt overstuffed and undercooked. FURIOUS SEVEN is a lot of fun but it’s also just a single cog in a giant franchise machine, its parts almost completely indistinguishable from the rest of the series. I do really enjoy THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2 but, as much as I enjoy those films, what I really love is what Wan has done for the horror genre.
With his Atomic Monster production label, Wan has helped bring horror into the mainstream in a big way, creating huge franchises and films that have resonated with audiences of all ages and demographics. Wan's work in the horror movie genre feels similar to what Stephen King was doing in the ‘80s with his novels - cranking out hit after hit with what seems like effortless ease. Wan is making what I am sure will be a huge impact in pop culture with the work he’s doing today - future audiences are going to be obsessing over Wan’s films the same way today’s audiences hold stuff like the FRIDAY THE 13TH and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series close to their hearts.
MALIGNANT, Wan’s return to directing horror films after helming AQUAMAN, is big, bold, and - most importantly - weird. Without going too much into the story for fear of ruining it for others, MALIGNANT feels like a THE X-FILES episode turned up to 11 - full of wild ideas that shouldn’t make sense but succeed thanks to the sheer willpower of Wan’s imagination. It’s loud and audacious and full of stunning imagery - but most importantly it’s fun. As soon as you hear the remixed and repurposed version of The Pixies’ “Where is My Mind” used as the film’s main theme, you know exactly what type of horror film lies ahead of you. It’s like Babe Ruth calling his shots before he hits them.
I’ll never understand horror fans that don’t like fun in their scary movies. These killjoys want dour, beak films, and the moment something silly or purposefully funny happens they cry foul. Fuck that. Joe Dante once said that if horror fans don’t give audiences something to laugh at, they’ll find something to laugh at - especially as the film ages. Horror needs a release to balance the ratcheting up of tension. James Wan understands that - his films are the cinematic equivalent of the kind of haunts that get built-in church basements during the Halloween season - full of loud noises, scary masks, lots of dry ice, and a sense that - once the ride is over - everybody will be able to laugh about what they just experienced.
And, with MALIGNANT, laugh we did.