Playing the critic.
I bought a couple of DVD's recently. A romantic little number called 'Bride of Chucky' and one I've been looking for, an alleged horror classic called 'The Evil Dead'.
'Bride of Chucky' is full of wonderful new ideas. The mirror scene is a masterpiece. The story even tips its hat to 'Hellraiser' at one point. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
'The Evil Dead' wasn't as good as I was led to believe. Trapping a character under a fallen bookshelf should really be limited to once per character per film. If one scene is devoted to a character giving his girfriend a specific item, then it must do something. It does do something in the end, but what it does bears no relation to what it is, and it's a very specific and unusual item. I must admit I was, more than once, left with a feeling of 'Oh, you could have used that to...'. I also had the feeling of 'When did you put that in your pocket? I thought the demon stopped you picking it up?'
There are many criticisms from a purely writerly standpoint. People don't heal within hours, blood loss affects stamina especially when you've been awake all day and all night, if you pick up a gun don't leave the shells behind, and if you're hiding bodies in shallow graves in the woods, don't mark them with a cross. These and many more errors marred the story but if you like your gore close-up and personal, well there's plenty of that. One for the bloodlusters. A nice ending too. Still I think that story could have been played so much better if it hadn't just concentrated on the gore. Many things were left unexplored, many potentially useful items were never used.
If you have to choose one of those films for the night, I recommend 'Bride of Chucky'. Murder with a sense of humour. Death with a chuckle. By the end of it you won't mind if Chucky and his bride kill you because you know they won't do it in a plain old ordinary way.
On the other hand, if you want ideas, films like 'The Evil Dead' are worth watching. See where they went wrong and expand on their missed opportunities in your own stories.
It's not stealing if they didn't use it.
