We ask the question: Does scifi work without a fast pace, no intense action and no CGI effects?

Man From Earth is said to have been completed by Jerome Bixby on his deathbed. He is probably best know for either of two things: a writer on the original Star Trek series, or the Twilight Zone episode (It’s A Good Life), which was adapted by Rod Serling.

This film is a narrative based on a Professor John Oldman (David Less Smith) who unexpectedly resigns from the local university. As is with a close knit community, his friends and colleagues go around to his house to get an explanation of his sudden decision to resign. They are perturbed as to why he didn’t let them know sooner and as to why there is no ‘leaving get-together’. So, loaded with food and beer, they turn up and start the friendly ‘interrogation’.
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Southland Tales

From Richard Kelly, creator of (one of my favourite films) Donnie Darko.

“HAVE A NICE APOCALYPSE!” or “THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS, NOT WITH A WHIMPER BUT WITH A BANG!”

I watched the checkdisk, my brain went to mush. And I could quite easily imagine that is where the above quotes come from, the mushing and/exploding of the brain. As Richard Kelly apparently said, “You need to watch it twice to unlock its mysteries”. Yeah, no brainer really, it’s like a weird comic with so many strands and freaky things all at once it makes me think maybe he made it for his own amusement - a lets see how many ideas and effects and storylines and actors and other such things we can have in a large viewing timeframe-, and forgot there were people who were looking forward to it, to having to pay to watch it, to at least get some semblence of a cohesive story from watching it.

I’ll be putting myself through 2 hrs 25 minutes in the next day or so, and hopefully will be able to work out what the heck was going on.

By the way, the above doesn’t mean I dislike it, it’s just a lot for the five senses to take in. I think two of mine shutdown after about an hour and a half, so, once they’re bolstered up and recovered, I’ll re examine the film.

Until then, here’s some info to whet your appetite…
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Night Is Day : Full Feature

Fraser Coull at Silly Wee Films are to release the episodes of Night Is Day as a feature length edit.

The sci-fi/drama series follows the life of Jason Mackenzie, a young Glaswegian who is bestowed with the power of ancient lightening demi-gods, allowing him the power of foresight whenever he touches another human being.

However when he does, a charge of electrical energy transfers from his body into the person he touches. This can be fatal to both Jason and anyone he comes into contact with.

The feature length DVD is due for release in January. It will include a 50 minute behind the scenes documentary, outtakes from all 6 episodes, cast interviews, a photo gallery, promotional trailers and a music video for Transaudio’s “Frequencies” which is the official theme tune to the series.

Seeing the outcome of the editing will be interesting: will it be edited straight off as it is, sequentially, or will it be edited (as much as can be) across episodes…

You can get upto the minute information from the newly designed nightisday.com.

Watch episodes of Night Is Day.

Read other articles/reviews/background on Night Is Day.

A world where men and women carry magic in their blood, and spilling it can unleash terrible power

Near the start of its development, we reviewed episode one and episode two of BloodSpell.

It has now been edited together, and the entire story has been released as a feature film, available for free download.

BloodSpell has been four years (and one month) in the making. It’s a “punk fantasy” adventure
story, about a world where some people are infected with magic in their blood. When that blood is spilled, the magic comes out, to harm or heal.

These people have been forced into slums and magical hiding places by the Church of the Angels, who believes they must hunt the “Blooded” down and bring them to their Angelic master to be “cleansed”. The story starts when a young warrior monk in training with the Church discovers that he has magic in his blood, and has to flee into the world of the Blooded…
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