Joel Morris
@gralefrit.bsky.social
Writer & highwayman.
Ladybird, Cunk, Wipe, Be Funny Or Die, Framley, Candidate band, Comfort Blanket, Broken Veil etc
https://ko-fi.com/gralefrit
AGENTS, website, links, bio etc: www.gralefrit.co.uk
Ladybird, Cunk, Wipe, Be Funny Or Die, Framley, Candidate band, Comfort Blanket, Broken Veil etc
https://ko-fi.com/gralefrit
AGENTS, website, links, bio etc: www.gralefrit.co.uk
Reposted by Joel Morris
This is why it's so bizarre when people are like "How am I supposed to explain all this trans stuff to my children" because Enid fuckin' Blyton managed to do it in one page in NINETEEN FORTY TWO.
Get a grip, for gods sake.
Get a grip, for gods sake.
February 14, 2026 at 12:23 PM
This is why it's so bizarre when people are like "How am I supposed to explain all this trans stuff to my children" because Enid fuckin' Blyton managed to do it in one page in NINETEEN FORTY TWO.
Get a grip, for gods sake.
Get a grip, for gods sake.
Whereas real documentary making lets the story find itself in post. But how the hell do you pitch that?
You end up having to be an independently wealthy filmmaker with access to (something) but no need to be paid, while you find the story as you go.
It affects who gets to tell stories.
You end up having to be an independently wealthy filmmaker with access to (something) but no need to be paid, while you find the story as you go.
It affects who gets to tell stories.
February 14, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Whereas real documentary making lets the story find itself in post. But how the hell do you pitch that?
You end up having to be an independently wealthy filmmaker with access to (something) but no need to be paid, while you find the story as you go.
It affects who gets to tell stories.
You end up having to be an independently wealthy filmmaker with access to (something) but no need to be paid, while you find the story as you go.
It affects who gets to tell stories.
It’s less risky, and you can make a series out of it. Look at Kitchen Nightmares. The beats are written out beforehand, and the footage shaped to fit the curve of the planned action.
February 14, 2026 at 1:40 PM
It’s less risky, and you can make a series out of it. Look at Kitchen Nightmares. The beats are written out beforehand, and the footage shaped to fit the curve of the planned action.
A documentary maker mate told me the difference came when the pitch for the doc had to have the story beats in it. Molly Dineen etc would go, film, collect footage, and craft the story in the edit.
Constructed factual goes out looking for a story as pitched.
Constructed factual goes out looking for a story as pitched.
February 14, 2026 at 1:39 PM
A documentary maker mate told me the difference came when the pitch for the doc had to have the story beats in it. Molly Dineen etc would go, film, collect footage, and craft the story in the edit.
Constructed factual goes out looking for a story as pitched.
Constructed factual goes out looking for a story as pitched.
Yeah. I stopped before his credit. Idiot.
February 14, 2026 at 12:13 PM
Yeah. I stopped before his credit. Idiot.
(You know what is particularly wonderful about Event Horizon? It would be 2h20 nowadays. But cos it’s 1998, it clocks in at just over ninety minutes. Which is the right fucking length.)
February 14, 2026 at 12:09 PM
(You know what is particularly wonderful about Event Horizon? It would be 2h20 nowadays. But cos it’s 1998, it clocks in at just over ninety minutes. Which is the right fucking length.)
Fantastic! I’m just watching some Truffaut. I should be ill more often.
February 14, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Fantastic! I’m just watching some Truffaut. I should be ill more often.
Joely Richardson’s Liz Shaw is brilliant in this.
February 14, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Joely Richardson’s Liz Shaw is brilliant in this.
Fishburne as the post-McGann 1998 Hollywood Doctor is totally cool.
February 14, 2026 at 12:02 PM
Fishburne as the post-McGann 1998 Hollywood Doctor is totally cool.
Also: it’s about an hour and ten minutes long. No stronger recommendation. A pure B Movie.
February 14, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Also: it’s about an hour and ten minutes long. No stronger recommendation. A pure B Movie.
Can’t recommend IWWAZ enough. It’s the only film I know that’s about the actual myth of the Haitian Zombie, as a twisted allegory for slavery / guilt, rather than undead George Romero ones. It’s basically Jane Eyre with added voodoo. And a huge influence on Jordan Peele, no doubt. Shockingly good.
February 14, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Can’t recommend IWWAZ enough. It’s the only film I know that’s about the actual myth of the Haitian Zombie, as a twisted allegory for slavery / guilt, rather than undead George Romero ones. It’s basically Jane Eyre with added voodoo. And a huge influence on Jordan Peele, no doubt. Shockingly good.
I mean, John Wagner’s not interviewed in front of a psychopath’s library.
February 14, 2026 at 11:44 AM
I mean, John Wagner’s not interviewed in front of a psychopath’s library.
Cat People is on the iPlayer, as part of the BBC’s default catalogue of old RKO movies (with Citizen Kane) which means you also get the sequel and the absolutely brilliant and underrated I Walked With A Zombie.
February 14, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Cat People is on the iPlayer, as part of the BBC’s default catalogue of old RKO movies (with Citizen Kane) which means you also get the sequel and the absolutely brilliant and underrated I Walked With A Zombie.
I mean, it might be a filmmakers’ location. I don’t know…
February 14, 2026 at 10:44 AM
I mean, it might be a filmmakers’ location. I don’t know…
I love trains. I wish the government did.
February 14, 2026 at 10:43 AM
I love trains. I wish the government did.
Also, as railway boffin Christian Wolmar once said: screw HS2; don’t make trains faster, make them nicer. Nobody minds being on a train for an extra half hour if someone has invested in making the onboard WiFi work flawlessly. It’s an office on wheels. You can arrive whenever.
February 14, 2026 at 10:43 AM
Also, as railway boffin Christian Wolmar once said: screw HS2; don’t make trains faster, make them nicer. Nobody minds being on a train for an extra half hour if someone has invested in making the onboard WiFi work flawlessly. It’s an office on wheels. You can arrive whenever.
Also: books shelved in colour order. Red flag.
February 14, 2026 at 10:40 AM
Also: books shelved in colour order. Red flag.
I applauded in Smile 2 and actually shouted “Lewton Bus!” when they unleashed one. It’s got heritage bones.
February 14, 2026 at 10:38 AM
I applauded in Smile 2 and actually shouted “Lewton Bus!” when they unleashed one. It’s got heritage bones.
What impressed me with both of them is that they are trashy shockers, but the count of actual jump scares and big scenes is barely in double figures. It’s the same proportions as something like Cat People. It’s a classic horror movie, done with restraint, but also knowing when excess is needed.
February 14, 2026 at 10:37 AM
What impressed me with both of them is that they are trashy shockers, but the count of actual jump scares and big scenes is barely in double figures. It’s the same proportions as something like Cat People. It’s a classic horror movie, done with restraint, but also knowing when excess is needed.
I think companies pay to have those buttons added, like the Netflix one on remote controls. This will be a deal with X.
February 14, 2026 at 10:35 AM
I think companies pay to have those buttons added, like the Netflix one on remote controls. This will be a deal with X.
It’s about trauma, isn’t it? And the transmission of trauma. Which is really clever. And brutalisation. The second one is about a generation watching their hero get trampled and turned into a commodity, and normalising that abuse. They’ve got brains those films, not just guts.
February 14, 2026 at 9:35 AM
It’s about trauma, isn’t it? And the transmission of trauma. Which is really clever. And brutalisation. The second one is about a generation watching their hero get trampled and turned into a commodity, and normalising that abuse. They’ve got brains those films, not just guts.