Well, the summer is at hand, and that means a season of movies coming out in the nice cool air-conditioned theatres but also on the internet and in stores too. I'm not really into direct-to-video movies like I'm not on made-for-TV ones, but there are exceptions. One exception, or what at least seems to be so far, is an upcoming remake of a science fiction classic. I'll talk about that in a bit. First, I want to pay tribute to another classic science fiction Film that’s anniversary is today. This day 70 years ago must've been a really exciting one for movie audiences. That's when the sci fi flick, "It Came from Outer Space", released in US theatres and was one of the first movies to be featured in 3D. Also, the script was originally written by science fiction/fantasy author Ray Bradbury! I also have a little of the latest on my upcoming book of short fiction, "Bad Apps"! 

70th Anniversary of 'It Came from Outer Space'

In 1953, the alien invasion craze in sci fi, especially in film, was coming to a high. One of the movies of that year that added to the craze was director Jack Arnold's "It Came from Outer Space". This was the time of special theatrical effects and 3D viewing. So, "It Came" was one of the science fiction horror films that took advantage of the new three-dimensional film technology. This new way of viewing big screen movies enhanced the terror in the audiences. An article at Horror Geek Life describes this using the example of a scene from the movie where a meteor flies toward the viewers, crashes and then “the explosion sends a shockwave through the audience. Everyone recoils in terror . . .”

The film’s synopsis is an amateur astronomer, John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson), and his fiance, Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush), witness a nearby meteor crash. John goes to check it out and discovers an alien spacecraft in the crater. However, before he can show proof of it to Ellen and the nearby town’s people, it gets buried by a landslide. No one in the town believes what he saw in the crater but soon their doubts are challenged when people go missing and others do not seem to be their normal selves. 

This movie, with a slight twist on the alien invasion plot of the time, was originally written by the world-famous science fiction author, Ray Bradbury. According to a Turner Movie Classics article, Bradbury submitted the detailed story idea to Universal and the company hired him to develop it into a longer treatment. However, he went as far as making it into a full screenplay, explains the article. According to an introduction Bradbury wrote for an anthology, Universal apparently saw him as overstepping his role and so, even though they accepted the screenplay, fired and replaced him with Harry Essex to make the final version. 

Even so, Ray Bradbury was much credited in the promotion of another science fiction film that released only a little more than a week later than “It Came”: "The Beast from 20,00 Fathoms". He had provided his pre-published short story, "The Fog Horn", for the development of this movie’s screenplay. Later Bradbury would go on to screen-write for a number of other films throughout his career. 

'The Invisible Man' Remake

June 13th will see the release of a remake of the Universal classic movie adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel, “The Invisible Man”. Unlike the 2020 remake, which was set in contemporary times, this one, titled "Fear the Invisible Man", is set in the period that the novel was written, the late 19th century. It looks like it's going to be more faithful to the book and, in doing so, to the original Universal film. Ironically, however, Universal isn't producing this one, indie studios Hanover Pictures is. 

Also, unlike the previous remake, this version will not be released in theatres but will release directly to video—namely online streaming, video-on-demand and DVD. So, sadly we can't experience the suspense and terror on the big screen in a dark theatre. However, the trailer seems to promise the quality features of a big screen film with its special effects, sets and acting. Check out the trailer below and see for yourself! 

Book in Progress

So I can speed up the process of writing my book of short fiction, “Bad Apps”, I’ve set a goal of pages-per-hour. Mondays through Thursdays, when I work at my day job, I normally only get a half-hour each day to work on the book. On Fridays and the weekends, I can put in several more hours. So, I’ve set a goal like this: while I work from the handwritten draft of a short story (I always write my first draft or two by hand for creativity reasons), I type in both it and revisions to be made that I note on it. I've set a goal for the equivalent of one typed page an hour. 

How I figure this goal of rate-per-page is by keeping in mind that two handwritten pages are roughly the equivalent to one typed page. So, that's a page an hour on Fridays and the weekends, and half a page a half hour during each of the other days of the week. Since I've been meeting my goal fairly easily, I'm going to try to stretch it to an equivalent of one-and-a-half typed pages an hour. Many people like to keep track by rate-per-word (for example, so many words an hour or day). However, because I work from a handwritten draft, that's a little tedious for me and so I'm sticking to rate-per-page.

For more detailed progress on "Bad Apps", subscribe to my newsletter, "Night Creatures" Call". If you sign up now, you'll be in time for the next edition which will be coming out within the next week. You may even get a free book if you do!

Be here Wednesday for another Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop! Have you seen the sci fi classic, "It Came from Outer Space"? Have you read anything by Ray Bradbury? Will you be watching "Fear the Invisible Man" when it releases June 13th?

Until next time . . .