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Quint chats FROZEN and HATCHET 2 with director Adam Green!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the director of FROZEN, Mr. Adam Green, who is currently in the middle of shooting the follow-up to his love letter to ‘80s slashers HATCHET.
I very much enjoyed his new film, a bold step out of the tongue-in-cheek camp and into character driven suspense and got the chance to discuss the making of the movie with Mr. Green, who decided against using soundstages and greenscreens and instead shot in the real frigid cold, 50 feet off the ground as his trio of actors (Kevin Zegers, Emma Bell and Shawn Ashmore) are trapped on a ski lift, desperately trying to find a way out of their predicament before the weather, starvation, dehydration or worse causes their death.
It’s a cool chat that covers not only Frozen, but also some tidbits on the currently in production HATCHET 2. Enjoy!
Quint: I saw the flick at Butt-Numb-A-Thon and really dug it man. I think you have really knocked that one out of the park.
Adam Green: Thank you very much.
Quint: Did you stay for the whole thing?
Adam Green: We had to head back to the airport at like 6am, so I left right before KICK-ASS, so I missed KICK-ASS and AVATAR… So I got to see a couple of things, but unfortunately, the heavy hitters that I really wanted to catch, I had to miss.
Quint: That sucks, but at least you got some of the experience. I can’t imagine how nerve wracking it must have been watching one of your movies with that audience.
Adam Green: Yeah, that was my thing; nobody knows it’s going to play, a lot of the people don’t even know what it is or what it’s about. It’s not like Harry says what it is or what it’s about and then they played two funny trailers before it, so for the first 30 minutes everybody was just kind of laughing. Then the chair got stuck and the panic that you could feel rushed through the audience was just amazing. It was cool. That’s probably the only time in my life that I will be able to watch it with people who have no idea what’s coming, after Sundance everybody will know.
Quint: I think you are still going to be getting that kind of human reaction to the big moments, like the scene with Emma [Bell] with the pole, you know? There will be some things I’m sure Anchor Bay will put in the trailer, like the wolves...
Adam Green: They did put the wolves in the trailer.
Quint: There you go.
Adam Green: Yeah, and I was not into that, but that’s what they wanted to do, so the wolves are in the trailer. But one of the greatest things with a BNAT audience was when that happened, you keep thinking “This can’t possibly get any worse for these guys” and then it really gets so much worse. They are out there now and in the trailer, but the cool thing is in the trailer, you don’t really know how much.
Quint: That’s good. Let’s go back to the writing of the movie. It’s a fairly simple one-sentence plot description, but I think the heart of the film and the reason why it works is because we actually really like Emma, Shawn (Ashmore), and Kevin (Zegers) and like those characters. What I really particularly liked about these guys is they don’t really fit into any sort of horror formula or cliché and so I guess the question is all about that and your coming up with those characters.
Adam Green: Well, I think where I have seen movies fail, even other stuff that I have written that I never showed anybody, where I thought it failed, was that you can’t just take the idea and the set pieces and assume that now you have a movie. People need a lot more than that and with this I had the premise from the get go of sort of coming up with the idea with all of the horrible things that are going to happen to them, that all came pretty easily except for the research that had to go into it, because you have to be able to back the stuff up in a realistic survival movie. You can’t take too many liberties, but then when it came time for the characters, the first draft of it was very close to this. One of the things that the producers really pushed me to do was to make the dialogue much more personal and normally the producers try to take that out of it, like “You are too close to it… You have too much of yourself…”
They kept pushing me and the stories that they tell, like the ex girlfriend who is dating the guy that was making fun of him, how Lynch and Dan met each other, that’s all my life and so there was just different aspects of me in each of those characters and thankfully people are really responding like you did and saying “I really like them.” It would suck if people were like “Dude, this guy sucks. He’s such an asshole.” It’s like “Oh, no!”
It was a risky movie on every level. It was risky, because when you tell people the setup, instinctively they say “Great short film, no way are you going to pull that off for 90 minutes. How are you going to keep the tension going?” It was risky, because it was such a personal script and then it was risky, because nobody thought we would actually be able to shoot it or finish it when I said “It has to be done practically. I won’t use a soundstage. I won’t use a green screen.” Places didn’t want to insure the film; crew didn’t want to work on it… It was miserable and thank God it seems like its really paying off.
Quint: If you had an extra half a million in the budget for CGI breath, it wouldn’t of had the same effect. It’s funny… the production company is Bigger Boat and the logo was great… obviously coming from me as a JAWS fan, but it’s the same effect. Not to compare you with Spielberg, but in so much that JAWS has that great feeling of actually being there on the water. It was miserable to pull off, but it shows through in the final product. If you had just done a green screen, if you had cheated a lot, then the audience would have been clued in on that and I think that probably would also have kept them from connecting with the characters in the situation.
Adam Green: Yeah, I don’t think you can watch a survival film on a soundstage or a greenscreen, no matter how good the actors can try to make it seem like they are really uncomfortable for something like bitter cold like this and the stiffness of their bodies and the panic that they went through… Emma Bell had never been skiing in her life, so she was legitimately terrified. Interesting enough, the breath… There are certain scenes where they look like dragons, this breath is just coming out and then there are scenes where there’s no breath. When we would show people and they would come in the editing suite and we would show them clips, they would be like “It couldn’t have been that cold, you don’t see their breath.” To the contrary, in real life, the earlier that we would shoot in the evening, their breath was coming out in full force, but by midnight their body temperatures had dropped so far as if they were freezing to death, so there’s no breath at that point. It’s funny when you watch the movie, you can tell what point in the night we shot each scene, because if there are tons of breath it was early and if there’s no breath it was like five in the morning.
Quint: We’ve got to talk about how you got the trio of actors and how that worked. Did you audition or did you write kind of knowing who you were going to cast?
Adam Green: We auditioned and this was one of the greatest audition experiences that I will ever have, because once word was out in town that I was making my next movie and it was on a chair lift in the dead of winter overnight and it was all practical and we were shooting through storms and the whole thing, half of the Hollywood young actors went running for the hills. It’s sad, but most of the young generation of actors are into it because they want to be famous and want to be in US WEEKLY and they want twitter followers, they want to look pretty and go to premieres, but fucking really act and do a performance piece? Fuck that, they don’t want to do that, so instantly that made the caliber of actors we were seeing much better than what you would usually get, so everybody who came in knew what it was.
They realized that this was a huge chance, because it’s a movie that is going to rely on their acting and it was tremendous all of the people that came in how good they were, but Emma Bell is the best story out of it, because she was the very first person to come in and audition, not just for that part, just for the movie in general and when she walked out, I looked at the casting director and the producers and said “I’m good.” They said “You can’t hire the first person to walk in the door” and I said “Yeah, I want her.” Of course we still had to go through another four to five weeks and see everybody that the agents wanted to submit and Emma got the part and that’s probably never happened before. It’s great, especially because this is kind of like her first big thing and I’m really excited to be part of that in her career.
Quint: And it’s a tough role, too, because that character could be very unlikable if she didn’t play it with sincerity.
Adam Green: She was all over that from the get go. She’s like “I cry so much. I’m so vulnerable,” but she realized it had to be that way, because she doesn’t really know how to ski yet and she’s kind of there as the tagalong and she would be terrified, but I think we kind of weaved that line very well of stopping her from becoming annoying or “just shut up.”
Another interesting thing just about the acting is I gave each actor a completely different direction and back story than I gave the other one and they weren’t allowed to discuss it with each other. For instance, Kevin’s character, the back story for him was that he’s now realized he’s one way when he’s with his girlfriend, but a different person when he’s with his friend, so this is the day that he’s going to try to finally integrate the two and it’s not working and he’s probably going to break up with her.
For Emma, I said “You have been waiting so long to be integrated with his friends, this probably means that he’s the one and you guys are going to get married,” so when you watch the movie if you see it a second time, there’s really subtle shit going on between the two of them where the way he is speaking to her, she’s really hurt and confused by it sometimes and they are trying to figure each other out, but something that happened that we didn’t expect to happen is when he jumps, when he looked at her, it just happened you saw him fall in love with her and realize “No, I love you” and he jumped. That wasn’t the way we were planning on doing it.
Quint: That’s a really interesting way of having them work together and I think that that definitely adds to what we see on the screen.
Adam Green: It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can tell you that I can’t exactly bring that type of directing style to HATCHET 2, you know what I mean? (laughs) For this, it was great!
Quint: Let’s talk a little bit about Shawn, too, because his character is another one that… he is the jealous third wheel. He has to be likable and relatable, but he also gets pretty mean, like the scene where he yells at Emma. If you had gotten the chemistry wrong in that part. If you had cast that part wrong then I think all three of them would have tumbled and the movie with them.
Adam Green: One of the cool things about Shawn was that he and Kevin have actually been best friends for almost 20 years, so in real life Kevin was actually one of the people who suggested that we bring Shawn in to audition and you can’t beat them. Their chemistry is so real on screen, you really do believe that these guys have been friends for that long, because they have been. The scene that you were just referring to when Shaun and Emma get into the fight, to me that’s the peak of the film. That’s my favorite scene in the movie. I just love it, more so than the scary parts and the tension parts. To me, that’s when the movie is at its highest moment.
Quint: They pull it off. I just can’t tell you, as a horror fan… Sitting here as I’m doing this interview I have DAWN OF THE DEAD and THE THING and JAWS one sheets surrounding me and just as a horror fan that was the big pleasant surprise, because you know I like HATCHET a lot and I think it’s a lot of fun, but it’s a radically different type of movie and so…
Adam Green: Something I think I’ve sort of found is movies like SPIRAL and FROZEN have started to make some people appreciate HATCHET more, because they are starting to get how intentional is was. When you see that and you hadn’t seen any of my other work yet, people are like “This is either really smart or this guy is just a fucking idiot” and so most people thankfully got that that’s the way it was supposed to be, but now that I have been able to do other things and show like “No man, I really do know how to make a movie” I think that it’s helped HATCHET find a new audience, which is great.
Quint: Dude, I grew up on slashers… the JASON movies, MY BLOODY VALENTINE… all of that stuff was part of my daily routine. I think anybody who is a fan of 80’s slashers probably got what HATCHET was, at least that would be my assumption.
Adam Green: That’s all it was, literally looking at this decade of horror and being like “Okay, we are going to be remembered for remakes and torture and PG-13 stuff and like what happened to what I grew up on?” I just made what I wanted to see again and we had no idea it was going to capture such an audience and become the hit that it did and it’s tremendous that we are on the eve of the sequel now and who would have thought?
Quint: You’ve got one of my good friends in the movie, Mr. AJ Bowen.
Adam Green: Oh yeah dude! I love AJ. He was so great in THE SIGNAL and even in HOUSE OF THE DEVIL his part was small, but it’s one of the most memorable things about that movie and I can’t believe that more people aren’t hiring this guy yet, so I was really happy to get him.
Quint: I love that dude. Is his part fairly big Hatchet 2? Or are we going to get more of HOUSE OF THE DEVIL?
Adam Green: It’s bigger than HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, but it’s a HATCHET movie, so nobody can live too long. I don’t want to ruin anything, but this is like… I think in the first one there was like eight or seven on screen deaths. This one’s got sixteen or something, so people just get straight up fucked up really fucking fast. I’m trying to make… The first one was like my love letter to the genre that I grew up on and this one is really me trying to make what the fans of the first one want and that’s been the great thing with the powers that be, they are not forcing me to try to find a broader audience or cater to the people who didn’t like certain things about the first one. If you liked the first one, you are going to get that times ten. If you didn’t like the first one, eat a dick.
Quint: (laughs) Are you going to put that on a poster?
Adam Green: That would be a great slogan. “If you didn’t like the first one, eat a dick.” (laughs)
Quint: So do you have anything else lined up for after that? Are you working on anything or do you have anything you are eyeballing?
Adam Green: There’s a romantic comedy that I have that Chris Columbus is actually attached to produce, but this has been going on for a year and a half now and there just hasn’t been the right time to do it. Originally I thought I was actually making that next and then I wrote FROZEN and so many people wanted it and then that got pushed to the front. Then with HATCHET 2, I had passed on making HATCHET 2 several times, I just didn’t want to do it and now there’s been enough time and I have done other things, now I’m so excited to do it, but between promoting FROZEN worldwide for the next six to eight months and then HATCHET 2 and all of that… I’m actually getting married this summer and I would really like a week off, because I haven’t taken a vacation since 1998, so I’m really, really tired right now and I really just want to stop, especially after FROZEN.
When I was done with that, I was like “This is the most brutal shoot anyone has ever done, I’m going to go home for a month and just sit on the couch,” but instead I went right into editing, because I couldn’t wait, so hopefully I get a little bit of a break, but there’s a couple big studio sized things that are circling that I’m considering.
I’ve got to be careful what I take as my first studio thing, because doing things through my own production company independently, I’m very fortunate that I can make the movies I want, but it would be nice to finally have something that has a budget and a real supported release and not these releases that my films have had where if you read Ain’t It Cool News you know about it, but if not you are kinda shit out of luck, so I’m considering it, but unfortunately a lot of the stuff that I get called in for are remakes that I don’t believe in and I just can’t do it.
Quint: So, you definitely aren’t from the school of “Well if somebody is going to fuck it up, it better be somebody who will at least try to make a good movie” then?
Adam Green: To some extent, I would do that if there were a chance. I’m trying to think of the politically correct way to phrase this without pissing off a certain studio… Okay something that’s already been remade for instance, as an example, like FRIDAY THE 13TH. When you get a call, if they were like “Okay, we are going to remake FRIDAY THE 13TH, but no Jason…” You can’t even go to the school of “Someone’s going to fuck it up,” you just know that you are in for it.
Obviously, they didn’t do that with FRIDAY THE 13TH, but I’m just saying some of these upcoming ones, it’s shocking what their parameters are, because they admit to you on the phone call or in the meeting “We just want he title, because the fans will support the titles” and I keep saying this at every appearance I do, every public speaking thing, every convention, they only make these remakes because it’s what the fans support and the fans are the first to bitch and complain about it, but they are also the first to get in line, to see it twice, to buy the DVD and that’s why the genre is in the shitter right now and that’s why we only get remakes from the studios.
The only original horror, and obviously there are a few exceptions, but most of it is independently made and the independent movies and in this time period and climate, you don’t get wide theatrical releases for the most part. Thankfully PARANORMAL ACTIVITY defied those odds in a huge way, which was a big victory for all of us.
Quint: The studios aren’t about the long term, just because the execs switch out so quickly that they really don’t give a fuck about the long term, but you would think that somebody somewhere would realize that “Hey, if we just put a tiny bit of effort into this and we make a movie that the fans want to see, not just a movie that has a title that the fans like, that that means more than just one or two films. Look what happened with the CHAINSAW remakes, how that fizzled out after two movies where I don’t know… Those were actually probably not the most offensive of the remake ideas, but you know what I’m saying.
Adam Green: The first one I loved. I liked the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, John Carpenter’s THE THING is one of my favorite movies… Everyone thinks I’m anti-remake. I’m not at all. Some of the ones that are coming up are actually ones that I would of really been interested in until I spoke to the executives in charge and realized it’s not worth it. Thankfully I don’t need the money anymore. I can really pick and choose what I want to do and I just don’t want to be the guy that fucked up AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. I would kill myself.
To me, that was actually the inspiration for HATCHET. A lot of people instantly go to the FRIDAY THE 13TH thing, because of the slasher formula, but there are full shots from AMERICAN WEREWOLF that I lifted and the banter between the two friends walking off into the distance and talking about getting laid, literally shot for shot. That and FRIGHT NIGHT were the ones… they were super entertaining. It wasn’t about trying to disturb, it was just a good time, but because there was a slasher in the woods everyone is like “FRIDAY THE 13TH!” When you actually look at a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie, there’s really not that many similarities.
Speaking of that, one of the most interesting things about the screenings of FROZEN we have done have been the massive debate. Usually afterwards it’s pretty squashed, but beforehand when people are like “This is bullshit, because I could get out of that situation in two seconds.” Everyone is suddenly Spider Man or Indiana Jones. “What I would do is take my clothes and I would slide down the thing” and none of it’s possible, so what we’ve been joking about internally and… it’s actually becoming less of a joke, but to do an actual reality show where you take scenes from movies that everybody thinks they could get out of and “If you can get out of it, you get 100,000 dollars. If you hurt yourself or whatever, you don’t” and the whole time you are going through it and crying, because you want to go home, we post all of those message board things that you said about how easy it would be.
When you talk to Ashmore, ask him how easy it would have been to get off there, fifty feet in the air, the cable is razor sharp and forget the cold and that you can’t actually really move at all, but everybody is like “I’d just climb down that thing. I’d jump there’d be no problem” and obviously you see the movie and they try all of that and it doesn’t quite work out for them. It’s been really fun to kind of anonymously stand there with a hat and my sunglasses on just listening to everybody. Everybody is an action hero and how easily… and they have done it and gotten out of it before with no problem!
Another one is that this would never happen. Now this is based on the ski mountains where I grew up I Boston, many of them were so small and would only stay open on the weekend and that was really where the idea stemmed from, but when we were scouting different mountains I would always ask the security, the ski patrol, “Could this happen?” Their first answer was always “Absolutely not at our mountain.” Then I’d say, “but could it?” They would begrudgingly say, “Well, what happens in your script? Yeah, it could” Then they would say, but at their mountain they are much safer and they do all of this and they do that.
One of them, the mountain we just shot at, just put new safety precautions into place, because of the script and from what I’ve heard, the ski mountains at Park City are very upset that Sundance is showing it, because they are scared of it. That’s great, but I think that they are wrong, because you look at… Again, I’m not comparing myself to JAWS, but a movie about a shark in the water, everyone thought no one would go swimming again and tourism at Martha’s Vineyard went up 400%, because of that movie. I don’t think it’s going to keep people off of the slopes, but it would be cool if in a few years whenever you are on a chair lift and it stops, you kind of start laughing and looking at your friends saying “You remember that movie” and everyone says “Don’t talk about it.” That would be pretty cool.
Quint: Cool. All right, well I think that’s all about I got. I just have a request on the next movie, since Spooky Dan got a shout out in FROZEN, you need to name somebody Quint.
Adam Green: Hopefully the remake of JAWS is next and you automatically get that.
Quint: But there wont be any shark in it though. That’s the thing…
Adam Green: No shark… Well, a CG shark.
Quint: Might as well not be any shark then.
Adam Green: (laughs) Seriously, thank you for all of the support you guys continually give me, because it’s really all I have and I would be nothing without it, so thank you.
Quint: It's easy when you keep make movies that us horror nerds like.
Adam Green: I’ll keep trying my best, I promise.
Quint: All right, later on.
I give Green a lot of credit for his character work as a writer and as a director. That was a smart trick he played on the actors, giving them each different stories and not cluing the other in. Plus, he probably literally froze his balls off making this movie. That’s dedication.
Look for my chat with actor Shawn Ashmore, no stranger to ice balls, to hit very shortly!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Also keeping my hopes up for Bigger Boat. I sincerely hope they carry the torch Lionsgate dropped when Saw hit it big.
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I've been thinking about FROZEN over and over since BNAT... such a great film!! I hope it's a huge success at Sundance and beyond.
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even for an 80's aping lo-budget slashr film it sucked!
if this is missing the goofy sh*t then it might be worth a punt! -
I had a spec circulating about three teenagers who are trapped in the thing with all the multicolored balls in Chuck E Cheese, locked into it for the weekend. And then the rats come. Green, I'd be willing to rework it as a sequel to Frozen, same kind of story. And yeah I'm with you no fucking compromise or green screen. We will really shoot in a Chuck E Cheese, I don't give a fuck what kinda primadonna WB actor doesn't want to hear coin ops from the 80s blasting in their head while standing 1 foot deep in multicolored balls. Fucking pussies!
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like 10 years ago. i thought it would be awesome but nobody else would like it. well.... i guess that ship has sailed. hopefully nobody steals my zombies on a submarine idea...
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oops. hey, somebody else... go make another one of my ideas into a movie. fuckers.
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Hatchet 1 was total crap!...I vowed never to trust Harry's reviews again after that
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Just saying... it is boring, takes too many liberties and the actors are wooden and boringI mean, it's cool that they pulled that off without CGI or anything, but my amusement with the movie stops there.
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Jan 25, 2010 6:52:44 AM CST
The poster is gorgeous - a true iconic poster.
by the gospel according to bastardface
I wish more films would go for a simple iconic style in their one-sheets than the usual floating head surrounded by explosions.
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There are just too many suspensions of disbelief for me to take it seriously -- Even crappy ski areas have multiple ways to know that folks aren't stuck up on the lifts; three twentysomethings who don't bring their cell phones on the slopes?
If you can get past those, you'll enjoy it. I shook my head a lot during it, but I also enjoyed it a lot. -
Was the scene where they chopped up Mercedes McNabb. I was looking forward to this and it happens off screen and the dummy they used was really unconvincing. If you want to see Mercedes McNabb killed right, rent Dark Reel.
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I've got a new respect for this director. Thanks Quint.
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We put it in thinking it was going to be good fun horror. We made it about 10 minutes in before people got bored and could care less. Ended up swapping it out for a lesser Carpenter flick and it was like night and day. What a stinker.
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This is where it makes no sense:Why would the ski hill managers not notice the extra car in the parking lot and investigate? There is no indication in the entire movie that they are anywhere close to a city or could walk to the slopes, so basically you have to get over the most glaringly obvious plot hole I have seen in a long time
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What's a retarded maniac doing in the middle of the woods with a belt sander. And I guess he pays his electric bill as well.
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he's a big movie fan and seems like a nice guy. i also liked hatchet, spiral and his halloween shorts e.g. the tivo one and santa (funny shit)
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i think you missed the point there. also going by most of the negative comments...you lot also missed the point of the whole film. hatchet was perfect for what it wanted to do. maybe too perfect as you mongs didn't seem to get what green was doing
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Jan 25, 2010 11:51:10 AM CST
I want to see the FROZEN "Mythbusters" episode!
by the reluctant austinite
I saw "Frozen" at BNAT; Loved it. It really makes an audience squirm, not unlike "Paranormal Activity" in that respect. Adam is right about everyone in the audience suddenly envisioning themselves as Action Jackson meets McGuyver. I heard dozens of ways people think they would get themselves out that situation injury free. A couple of these ideas even came to me (tying coats together to make a rope, etc.). The girl should have certainly buttoned up her hood to prevent frostbite, but then you couldn't see the actors' faces and that's a director's nightmare. Anyway, I hope this movie hits the popular culture because it would make the best episode of "Mythbusters" ever! Yeah, even better than the JAWS episode!
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He was making a movie without caring if it made sense. The film really peaks when the older couple gets killed and never gets back to that level.
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my script, it was on this year's black list, just under the movie about the guy who falls in love with a manic pixie dream girl
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the only people who do that shit are DPs, camera operators, and James Cameron. Come on. Posers.
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Jan 25, 2010 12:21:47 PM CST
If you want to see a movie that doesn't make a lick of sense-
by the reluctant austinite
-see "Legion." Adam Green's movies seem like well thought out war strategies next next to that.
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Jan 25, 2010 1:01:30 PM CST
The best part of FROZEN was the Madonna soundtrack
by richard_gere_raped_my_gerbil
What d'you mean they didn't use that song?MISSED OPPORTUNITY, GREEN! MISSED FUCKING OPPORTUNITY!
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Not putting Christopher Walken in Legion.
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Jan 25, 2010 1:38:29 PM CST
I sent my friend the trailer for this before his ski trip.
by digitalbeachwar
The power actually went out for a while with people stranded on the ski lift! He was totally freaked!
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I heard Hatchet was a fun, throwback to 80's slasher flicks. No, it's just a shitty, amteurish movie. And he can claim that he made it cheesy on purpose all he wants. He's just trying to cover up that it's shit.
Frozen seems promising though. Sure, it's a remake of Open Water, but he's hoping we don't realize that *rolls eyes*. We'll see... -
Green actually did shoot some himself. Maybe not necessarily in that photo, but he was up there shooting on one of the rigs. He talked about it in another interview, and I'm sure he would have mentioned it here if Quint wasn't busy describing his office instead of asking about making the film.
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Don't give me that "It was PURPOSELY being retarded cause they're lampooning those kinds of movies" argument. It was boring as hell, and there was nothing in it I haven't seen a billion times before in a billion other lame horror movies that got touted as the next big thing. The only reason anybody even noticed that steaming pile was because of the clever logline about it being "Not based on a Japanese one" and so on. It didn't live up to the hype in any way, shape or form. And all the talk about how they used practical effects...oooooh...I'm so amazed that they used a shitty looking rubber head instead of shitty looking CGI. This guy sucks. He's the Leif Jonker of his generation.
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While I like HATCHET a lot, it reminded me of the theatrical going experience I had as a teen seeing the FRIDAY THE 13th sequels, his other 2 films, SPIRAL and FROZEN are far superior and show some true filmmaking craft. Anybody see SPIRAL? If not, you should check that out before critiquing his 1st movie. Green's the only horror director out there currently that has 3 completely different horror films under his belt.
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I like a lot of the things Green has to say, namely the use of "eat a dick" and his rational take on remakes and the state of the genre in general. that said, I just didn't like "Hatchet." i had a friend who knows Green and was close with the production(now I sound like JettL, rest in peace), and he hyped that thing to me for probably 8 months. "its the revival of American horror, its going to change your life, its going to jerk you off and then make you breakfast," etc etc. there was some good humor in it, but at its core it was lower than a lot of DTV horror films i've seen. the premise and backstory behind Crowley was about as generic and recycled as they get, there was no building of tension leading to the kills, the effects weren't anywhere near KNB level... it was just disappointing, and I don't really buy his claim that it was intentionally low-brow or cheesy as an homage to the genre. I honestly think it was just a pretty poor attempt at making a film, and "Spiral" kind of supported my theory on that(granted, that was only co-directed by Green, but it still sucked). I will still happily give "Frozen" my $10 and go in with an open mind, because I appreciate his enthusiasm for the genre. but my excitement is tempered at best.
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Just passed Titanic
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and liked it. and HATCHET
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Myth: A ski resort closes for the weekend. Reality: Yeah, because a business that is closed during the TWO BUSIEST DAYS OF THE WEEK is really going to be in business real long. BUSTED! Myth: Three riders are stuck on a shut down chairlift. Reality: No resort in the country shuts down any lift until the last rider reaches the top, that last rider is ALWAYS a member of the ski patrol, who checks the mountains for straglers on the way down before radioing in permission to shut down the lift. BUSTED!! This movie is an insult to every single patroller and lift operator in the US, and the son of a bitch who came up with it should post a written apology to those individuals before the opening credits roll.
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they cant get off the lift???
Surely you could just climb onto the cable above. -
Just boooooooring. Nothing redeemable.
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1. In the movie they are skiing on Sunday and the resort supposedly doesn't open until the following Friday2. IIRC in the movie a ski patrol guy does go down the lift, but the kids are let on after somebody had already or was already on their way down. I think. They would have let the entire thing run and had somebody go up and down the lift obviously, but that didn't happen.3. The lift operator told the guy who replaced him about the kids and to wait, but other kids came down first.What Mythbusters needs to address is this *SPOILERS*:a) Will a drop from a lift break your bones through your skinb) Will a FUCKING WOLF EAT YOU if you are helpless on the ground but still yelling and screamingc) Can you climb down a lift to the following towerd) Will a WOLF FOLLOW YOU DOWN THE HILL AND EAT YOU if you aren't helplesse) What are the procedures for closing down a slopef) Would somebody notice AN EXTRA CAR IN THE FUCKING PARKING LOTg) How many slopes actually close down for a weekh) Does this director have any chance at ever making a good movie?
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Will a wolf eat you if you are helpless but still yelling and screaming? Uhhh.... YES.
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*Spoilers* There has been no reported wolf attacks on humans (at least living humans) in recent history. It is inconsistent with historical records.And even then, the guy who isn't seriously injured is killed by wolves off-camera as he rolls down the hill to get help. I mean, it is rewarding to see that he died a horrible death but I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty stupid.
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Jan 26, 2010 12:57:16 PM CST
COrrection: They used an awesome-looking rubber head ...
by threeoranges
... in Hatchet instead of shitty-looking CGI. Plus it had Tony Todd.
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They tested whether you could use your jeans to create a makeshift zipline on a ski lift and it was busted.
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FIRST!
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FIRST!
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...I can't wait to see it... but the interview was really inspiring after I read it last night at the end of my 7-9 hr writing and drinking shift...Can't wait to see it.. . and HACHET 2
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It's 3:10 in the morning and I'm fucked up on White Wine and that chronic... I know white wine... Brandy and coffee makes me a fucking INSOMNIAC and I'm not writing Jesse James so what the fuck aih... I have been writing a WESTERN thou... AMERICAN fucking GANGSTER in the WEST... But I just wanted to say I a huge fan of ADAM GREEN's, YOURS and the Aint it cool crew... I'm not a twitter or Blogger don't have enough fucking time... And the old lady doesn't trust me cause of all the Strippers and clubs in my past but that another story... What I was trying to get at is Your interview inspired me... YOU and GREEN... What a fucking awesome name GREEN... Makes me want to SMOKE... what oh um... I've been trying to rewrite a screenplay that I've been passing off on everyone... I figured out how to rewrite it into two films... Which are homeages to every slasher and horror film I know... Only problem I have... Is what to name my SERIAL KILLER/ MONSTER... I was wondering if you HARRY or CAPONE could help me or anyone at aint it cool could... I rewrote the JASON: FRIDAY the 13th script to start out as an homeage to STEPHEN KING and MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE my favorite of his... The ROAD grater and the kid getting crushed is always playing over in my head like the wheel turning on the machine... maybe it's my fucking shit job... but I was wondering if you or someone could help me figure out a name... And thanks for your time THE ONE... The Vietnamese call me MONTANA... Some call me SMOKEY... others call me K Hjll... But I do have a list of names I was wondering if I could run by you or anyone I need to find the right name... I think you and everyone will like the names it's a matter of which one...
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www.thekhjllpitch.blogspot.com
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No... there is no ski patrol. The lift operator is paid off by these kids to provide them with free rides on the lift w/o a pass. Because they paid the guy off they asked him to let them on as the last people. The guy they paid off had to leave and let another guy in charge, telling him that he just let some kids on the lift and he should wait to shut it down until they come back. Right after the paid off guy leaves some other kids come down and the new guy shuts down the lift. There is no ski patrol going up the lift, or if there is (and that seems very unlikely in this movie) they got let on afterwardsOne great thing is that there is a guy with a snow machine combing the hill on Monday when the park doesn't open until Friday.I've spent way too much time addressing how dumb this movie is. The whole "it doesn't have to make sense it's a horror film" or "it's OK they took liberties" or "I thought it was really well done" arguments are stupid, but especially the "well, it holds your attention" is dumb. I can find a lot of other things that hold my attention just as much as this thing does and they don't cost $8 and involve half-ass acting and a premise that is just bad.
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just askin'
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You've actually worked at this particular ski resort I take it? That's the only way I can see you having such intimate knowledge of it's specific operating procedures. There's no chance at all someone was cutting corners or slacking off? Let me guess...there's laws about when the ski patrol goes up the lift, eh? God knows nothing ever goes wrong in the real world because someone fell asleep at the wheel or just plain fucked up.
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Might as well put that ass down cuz I don't give a fuck. Jerk off on every perceived flaw no matter how small all you want. Again, I'll have to assume you've now worked at every American ski resort ever. Why don't you Google 'trapped on ski lift' or 'stranded on ski lift' and see how often this scenario actually happens. Then you can come back and suck my dick you infantile half-wit.
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I had a similar event happen to me once. Was in a shopping mall when it closed and was trapped on an escalator with two other people.
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...Anythings possible...People leave there KIDS in the CAR all of the TIME...PEOPLE always for get to pick up their KIDS from school and practice...And thats blood a family member...
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...my friend and I got left up in a ROLLERCOASTER...
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They give him what would be the cost for 1 lift ticket. College kids trying to save money.
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This circumstance has happened more than once in Euprope somewhere in 2005 so I guess you do need to do some Googling. FYI have no intention of seeing this movie, and bottom feeding shit stains like you are occasionally annoying.
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Trolling would be constantly bashing a movie on the basis of an unsubstatiated and irrelevant arguement. Just because I don't intend on seeing it doesn't make you any less worthless.
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Can we all just agree that Hatchet sucked balls?
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How easy is it to shoot footage at night... The screenplay I wrote the entire set is already there but ost of the screenplay is at night...ROTH said night shooting is expensive on HOSTEL 2...I just watched El MARIACHI...SHOOTING set up and Special Effects would be easy...but I need to know how to shoot at night...To make it at the location wouldn't cost anything in fact their is room and board there and food...
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everyone in the screenplay is someone I know....
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..the greatest gore effects are usually off camera or you don't see the actually penetration of the skin it's more the sound that kills it....
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...What is the right camera....to use...
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...DEAD specimens would work to split some heads open...the rest I can come up with...Shit I could just kill something and use its insides....DIDn't they use a pig in TEXAS CHAINSAW or something else...Course I would kill something for the sake of killing it...I could go to any butcher shop...It is the midwest...Or I could just wait for DEER opener for the KILLS in the movie use DEER insides...Make it look real...
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the light Robert Rodriguez used look like the same lights my friends and Vietnemese used to grow Hydro...
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...What is the best way to shoot at night low budget style or what method did ADAM GREEN use on HACHETE...or will cmaera and lighting work... Someone stole the COPY of HACHETE I had...
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I can't beleive peopele would complain being in a MOVIE...Fuck it was 50 below here a week ago...Fuck I would have gave anything to play a part...I make some mean fucking COFFEE...
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...Shit all you would have to do Is change a couple of storyline points in my screenplay and it could be a SEQUEL to HATCHET... You could even change the story line of HATCHET and Victor Crowley... Have a different villain in each chapter of HORROR...a different mask...I have three different mask concepts...or if ADAM GREEN wanted to make another horror franchise....or anyone out there does....I come up with shit all the time like HOWARD HUGHES...
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...Everything you purchase for the film... from equipment, makeup, cloths, set peices, camera, and computer equipment if you leave them or donate them is a 100% tax write off...And they can use all of it because they dress up for the CAMPERS...The camp is CAMP COURAGE and it's a none profit organization I was a counselor there...When I was there I always envisioned FRIDAY the 13th but since I wrote it I incorporated the villain to reflect the camp and I've since added to the 130 page script so that two films could be shot simaltaniously...One part of the film at camp the other an homeage to horrors films inside of houses...With an homeage to MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE and AC/DC to kick it off...And introduce another of SATANS disciples... To stand next to VICTOR, MICHAEL, LEATHERFACE, FREDDY, CANDYMAN, PINHEAD.................
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can you get the same feel with Digital cameras...When I went on the Tour at Full Sail they had the only other Editing Equipment to paint all the film instead of the bleech effect on Film I think...Kind of like Dali painting over Picasso...
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I could draw out character place ment on every Shot or action in the FILM on 3 by 5...I just would need someone who can draw....Kind of hope the WESTERN I'm writing I could get it made into a Graphic Novel Above and Beyond anything else...
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...AKIRA said that some people just start to WRITE in life at certain times because the time was right at that POINT and TIME in life...PEDRO from work says I remind him of SAM PEKINPAH paranoid-KRAZY...PEDRO taught me the fundamentals and organizing and DIRECTORS and the History of the shift between DIRECTOR films and PRODUCERS...SYD FEILD taught me the FUNDEMENTALS of a STORY and the ACTION of a SCREENPLAY and WILLIAM GOLDMAN told me I am a WRITER that can’t spell worth a fuck and has unreadable handwriting…The most vivid thing in ADVENTURE IN THE SCREEN TRADE is a MINNESOTA country boy from the sticks of Stearns County Minnesota getting off a plane to see someone waiting with a sign and his name is on it with a nice stiff drink in the limbo to CALM his nerves…When I won tickets to see one of the BEST if not thee BEST horror film of last year I VOMITED never won anything…When I showed up to THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT I had do get a few DRINKS in me my HANDS were sweating I’ve never WON anything maybe that’s why I started or MAYBE it was because of FILM...I can write about anything that I think about over and over again enough….When I was 18- 23 I saw something that would make the writer of SCARFACE blush… GANGSTERS not WAR…I understand the HORRORS of WAR and the MEMORY TRAUMA that it induces into the psyche…I have a TRUE WAR STORY SCREENPLAY all outlined and on tape HUNTER style… I LOVE to WRITE HORROR and WESTERNS it’s in my BLOOD I just need a little guidance and another WRITER… THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE had two writers HALLOWEEN had two writers THE WILD BUNCH had two writer BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA had two… NATURAL BORN KILLERS had two… my favorite CABIN in the WOODS film of all time CABIN FEVER…OLDBOY…SHOGUN ASSASSIN…the story and screenplay can from two people FROM DUSK TILL DAWN the second half of THE GETAWAY…which I would love to write or see on BIG SCREEN…most of ALTMAN and PECKINPAH most of their films had two WRITERS…I like all FILMS I mean there’s always something in a film that you can take from it… Some movies are bad BUT the thing is they got MADE…Maybe be the reason I started is because it’s the only thing in LIFE my father thought I was going to do…And I want him to see my NAME in the CREDITS of a FILM before he dies…
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It’s his mouth showing threw his cheek. Fucking Awesome...My way of thinking about A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is that eventually FREDDY is like DRACULA FRANKENSTEIN and WOLFMAN in CINEMA history...ROBERT ENGLUND and WES CRAVEN created a monster that marked a time in history...Whats that saying,"And the show must go on." my film professor Ron Perrier would say
I have a terrifying nightmare in mind for the sequel. Very visceral, dark and scary images will be burn into the audiences conscience with a few social metaphors may be, it’s a nightmare I can use anything. Wish I could pitch it to the OWNERS of the rights who ever that is. Freddy is afavorite of mine. Got me over my fears as a kid he did. I use to have this reoccurring nightmares as a child. The last time I had the dream 7 years had passed I was 21 or 22. When I woke up I was too scared to go back to sleep that night.
I watched the making of A Nightmare on Elm Street. It's crazy how Wes Craven and my upbringing are the same or our fathers are the same. Except I had two fathers named Dave. My father Dave was a hard ass who I was always a little afraid of, like Wes said ,”a explosive temper.”He knew SONNY of the HELL ANGEL'S meet him in Colorado Springs in the 70's . My step-father David is a holy man with who was a born again Christian type started out Baptist and is now Presbyterian. No swearing very conservative and strict in the way of religion. All David does is preach about religion and god an going about your ways in the eyes of the lord. What a crazy coincidence. I’m not saying I’m Wes but maybe great minds think alike.
P.S. Do you know how I can get my hands on the screenplay A Nightmare on ELM STREET : DREAM LOVER BY: Peter Jackson, I’m really curious what his twist was on Elm Street....The first KILL I wrote in JASON : FRIDAY the 13th started at THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2oo9)...I thought about ALAN WES CRAVENS coinscience when he wrote it and what the statement of the film was lots of SUBTEXT es i think the word is.....then I thought about WATCHMAN by : ALAN MOORE and DAVE GIBBON...then it melted into OLIVER STONE'S W. BUSH getting what was it WAR GENERAL statis and attempted to TAKE over the W-O-R-L-D as RICHARD DREYFUSS proclaimed as DICK CHENEY...If I'm not mistaken HILTER was the last to ask for it...but say he got the power to move as he wished like NIXON in WATCHMEN and got elected into 5-10 terms and was the WORLD dictator and ROD STEIGER as JUAN MIRANDA let the "REVOLUTION" to over throw him because there are no superheroes...And he hires COLINSKI to hang him...who came back from the dead as JASON...
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JASON : FRIDAY the 13th
Chapter TITILES for my first draft...I'm going to write a HOUSE CHAPTER...A chapter in JARVIS'S life I created in the story of JASON:FRIDAY the 13th...and like I say you can aways edit out a scene but Motherfucking JASON feces came out a Lady's cookies not to mention lizard JASON...but BREATHING under water is about as easy as getting a fucking AGENT...
JASON : FRIDAY the 13th
CHAPTER TITLES
The Graveyard
Firday the 13th
The Serpent and The Rainbow
Hostel
Jason Lives
The Predator The Thing and The Lumberjacks
The Player
Dazed and Confused
Meatballs
They Can't Deport us All
Full Metal Jacket
The Death Curse
Son of a Preacher Man
The Final Chapter
FRIDAY the 13th part 2
Tombstones
George and Colinski
The Snake and the Gopher
Saw
The Shining Hatchet
FRIDAY the 13th part 3
Misery and a Mack Truck
The Catch of the Day or Paul Newman on a WINDY DAY
Pulp Bruce Lee Fiction,
Shaked and Baked
JASON takes Manhattan
Ghost
A New Beginging
The Joker and a Bong
Dressed to Kill
Old Girl
The Getaway
Jason Kill
Carrie -
An Irishman's Philosophy:
There are only two things to worry about,
Either you are well or you are sick.
If you are well, there is nothing to worry about.
But if you are sick, there are two things to worry about.
Either you will get well or you will die.
if you get well, there is nothing to worry about.
If you die, there are only two things to worry about:
Either you will go to Heaven or to Hell.
If you go to Heaven, there is nothing to worry about.
But if you go to Hell, you will be so DaMn busy shaking hands with friends, you won't have time to worry!
So, Why Worry? -
...I wrote all of the KILLS out yesterday or most of them...8 I think...I wrote the entire outline from beginning to the END...how it starts plot points and ENDS and scenes...well kills...Plus it's not a remake...Tommy was Salvini then I was Tommy right...I just think I can write it out better although I do like to make and invent masks...
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....FILMS and WRITING are my LIFE...We only get one it's impossible to get another.....Unless maybe you die or someone kills you and then you come back as a GHOST or Reincarnation really does happen...
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Hatchet was a PIECE OF SHIT.
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Very well shot and put together and acted but Joel David Moore plays SUCH a psycho it is completely ridiculous that Amber Tamblyn would warm to him. The end is also extremely predictable, and thus boring.
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Hatchet was one of the best experiences I ever had in a theater. Such fun. And "Jack Chop" and "Tiffany Problem" are both hilarious. Frozen is gonna own.
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ptzGhy wvUxEGB
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VhMZAhuk IIANtY
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