It's fascinating because, for me personally, this movie is more sad than twisty. The twists aren't so much shocking as they are devastating emotionally. Yeah, maybe characters aren't flashy personality-wise, but they feel believable.

It's OK not to like something. It's OK to talk about why. But everything is framed as part of a culture war.

"Everyone says so-and-so is a masterpiece but it's really pretentious nothing. What's wrong with you, why do you like garbage?"

It's exhausting

All of this doesn't really matter because Art makes everything more fun

For me, the obvious answer is Art the Clown himself. He’s simply iconic in his screen presence, his looks, his antics. David Howard Thornton sells him perfectly. You just KNOW this character is special. And you can forgive flaws and overlook some tired slasher genre conventions.

(Terrifier 3 isn't in theaters here yet, so maybe it’s some kind of cinematic masterpiece, but I doubt it.)

Yeah, quite frustrating. But I learned that mutual respect and good relationships with your creative partners may be more important than their accomplishments and knowledge. (That DOP’s portfolio was hugely impressive, I have to say. I was somewhat humbled that he wanted to work with me.)

But in the middle of pre-production, the DOP and 1st AD decided they didn't like how minimalist the script was and tried to hijack the project to make it more bombastic.

Long story short, their movie fell apart, so none of us made anything out of it, haha.

My first script was supposed to be a student short about a woman who gets stranded on a forest road after her car dies. Then she gets into some shifty stranger's car and starts to suspect he might be the killer (he's not).

My film school mentor liked it and greenlit the short.

Thanks, I'll check it out!