BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE

[Hilasophy]

I'll bring this up when the movie is closer to its debut, but I was wondering if anyone on our prestigious board has heard any news about this film. I read the book this is based on when I was in Jr. High and have affection for the nostalgia the story conjures and hope the movie doesn't end up being completely awful.

imdb.com/title/tt0397044/

p.s. free flowing rants are encouraged as much as news on this topic.

[Spiderdancer]

hilasophy said:

p.s. free flowing rants are encouraged as much as news on this topic.

In that case, I have a freeflowing rant about werewolf fiction in general.

In packs of wolves, as I recall, the alpha male and female are generally more or less exclusive to one another. In werewolf books/movies, the female werewolves are almost always universally submissive and hypersexualized. This is if there even are any females (see Underworld).

It's about time there was a werewolf franchise with an interesting female protagonist. And, er, Death Valley will freeze over before I watch the Ginger Snaps movies. Wolfpacks are not one big continual orgy and it annoys me deeply when werewolves act more like dogs than wolves.

[kylerexpop]

it all depends on the balance.

agnes bruckner is very, very good. (acting!)

ehren kruger is very, very bad. (screenplay!)

if you've seen s.w.a.t. (and you should!), you already know what you need to know about olivier martinez. ("100 MILLION DOLLARS!")

i'm pretty sure i read through the book, once upon a time. possibly for free at barnes & noble. it sure seems like the concept is solid and interesting enough to survive any kind of artistic meddling on the cinematic creative level.

plus, the director is fairly hot in an interesting, modern "global community" kind of way. and that can't hurt, right?

[PoolMan]

Is it bad that I mentally followed "BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE" with the phrase "The San Francisco Treat!"?

[sarahbot]

captainkyle said:

if you've seen s.w.a.t. (and you should!), you already know what you need to know about olivier martinez. ("100 MILLION DOLLARS!")

Tee hee!

I seem to remember reading this book, but not clearly. I think I liked it though, but from what I remember I wouldn't be spending my money to make a movie out of it.

[Hilasophy]

captainkyle said:

it all depends on the balance.

Pros:
Good actress (at least it's not Jennifer Love Hewitt, like originally planned...yikes)
There are both male and female werewolves (ahem, Underworld)
Based on a (beloved...but not necessarily good) YA Fiction novel

Cons:
That Martinez guy
Screenplay
Is in Europe (please take no offense)
Based on a (beloved...but not necessarily good) YA Fiction novel

ah, I don't know. The balance is sketch. Maybe they should just scrap this one and start over...that's my pragmatic opinion.

[kylerexpop]

they definitely should just scrap it all and do something original.

BUT . . . i'm a little more optimistic about this one than you'd think. it SEEMS almost idiot-proof (famous last words) and i think the apparent positives about it overwhelm the negatives.

so, if nothing else, i think it could be a fun niche film. like "garden state" only with werewolves. i guess we'll find out.

[Hilasophy]

Oh I wish I had your optimism. Where does it come from? God I hope you're right about the niche thing. That would be so rad.

[kylerexpop]

at 3 in the morning, it comes from watching 'lost' and playing lego star wars 2 and weird songs ("i would do anything for love" by meatloaf) coming up on 'shuffle songs' on the ipod.

i think young adult books translate well to film, because they're a bit more stripped down and focused on the essentials of their story. whereas old adult books are more complex and full of details and ideas to justify paying $25 for a hardcover copy.

EXAMPLE: an old adult book "american psycho" becomes cultish yet confusing film that doesn't capture true essence of book, whereas a young adult book by s.e. hinton become a cherished film because its essence (blood, sweat, switchblades, and denim) is more easily captured.

see? no worries. let's get some films based on diane hoh's work off the ground now, yeah?

[Hilasophy]

You took the words right out of my digits. I totally agree about the simplicity of theme and plot. That's why I still enjoy reading the books I did in my adolesence. But I have to say, The Outsiders was a huge disappointment to me when I saw it after reading the book. The book was earthshattering to me and the movie was so-so. I'm reading The Rum Diary right now but I had planned on reading American Psycho...and who is this Diane Hoh, I'm going to look her up.

[kylerexpop]

let me spare everyone the effort of looking up diane hoh; a path that leads to disappointment and amazement over kyle's reading habits.

diane hoh is an author of the kind of young adult horror/suspense fiction that you used to see anywhere books were sold; the kind of slim paperbacks with names like "the waitress" or "the ice skater" or "blind date" in scary-looking font pressed in red foil, with a big central image of the item that most commonly asserts itself in your mind when you are given the term that comprises the title (ex: for "the ice skater" it'd be an ice skate, for "the waitress" a dinner plate and a receipt, "blind date" would be a nondescript figure walking through an open door with blinding light pouring through in a sinister way). often, that central item would have ominous drops of blood dripping/splattered all over it, in varying amounts (usually depending on the year of publication: the nineties were vicious!).

they were disposable, and arugably meant to be read once and forgotten. back in my day, we didn't have young adult fiction (at least in the horror genre) that used such things as "a distinct narrative voice" or "polished dialogue giving each character a personality" or "the laws of physics."

it was all 'goosebumps,' but for teenagers, with a little violence and a little blood. and no real sex, but more cuddling occurred than at a throwback rave party with free ecstasy and red bull.

diane hoh managed to stand out among the throngs. i think her purity of voice and effective delivery of both thrills and likeable characters helped render her more memorable than others. i remember loving christopher pike, but after reading a bunch i just soured on him; i enjoyed how quite a few of his books ended really, really badly for the protagonist, but i think he overextended himself and started to rely on series to make his way.

i'm killing time before lunch, so this is longer than i expected. here's the point: i think i can say from my old age perspective (27) that the young adult fiction i grew up with isn't going to be made in quality movies anytime soon, and rightfully so. but people in my generation who grew up on that stuff are now writing their own books for all audiences, including young adults, and making them more imaginative and more like "respectable" literature than ever thought viable before. to be honest, i think the billions that harry potter lady made really makes people enthusiastic. not that i blame them (see: kyle's own failed novels).

sorry to drag on. i think 'blood and chocolate' will be okay because it's from the upswing in the young adult publishing phase where there was actual thoughts put into the books, instead of spending all the effort on a cool cover so idiot kids like me reading the scholastic publishing catalog would order every r.l. stine-lookalke book they saw if there was a knife and/or "scary" image on the cover. don't snicker, 'lord of the rings' geeks! i know you've got piles of fantasy nonsense hidden under your beds!

finally: diane hoh did a big series of books (i think over 20 installments) of 'nightmare hall,' where various ever-changing characters at a small college dealt with mysteries and killers and ghosts and lab-borne monsters in each book, with occasional overlap. some are good, some are bad, but the second book in the series, "the roommate," is easily one of my favorite young adult horror books of all-time. very cool story with twists and turns, and i honestly did not see the ending coming. expertly done, diane hoh!

[Hilasophy]

Well I'm going to drag this on a little longer...Do Hoh's books have consistent characters (i.e. Buffy) or is it more like the Twilight Zone where there are just random stories?

I also need to recommend The Silver Kiss, but the same author as Blood and Chocolate. It's just as good but different. I think they're both kind of girly books but I've been wrong before. The Silver Kiss would be easier to turn into cinema than BandC so I hope they make it too if this one makes a profit.

[PoolMan]

captainkyle said:

to be honest, i think the billions that harry potter lady made really makes people enthusiastic.

Uh oh. Somebody distract Lissa before she reads this!

[Spiderdancer]

Heh heh. You know, I read something by her once in which she commented that her publisher had her use her initials so boy readers wouldn't be turned off by her books being written by a "girl." Apparently her publishers think small boys are not very smart, because seriously, is there one single sf/fantasy author out there using just initials who is actually male?

...Speaking as a C.J. Cherryh reader...

[kylerexpop]

i have no idea what poolman is talking about.

diane hoh books are all stand-alone stories with new characters every time. if you're looking for buffy-style characterizations and witticisms, you need to check comic books, because that's what joss whedon is writing now and for the immediate future.

hoh's stuff is more like disposable little stories you can (as i do) buy used for under a dollar at your better used bookstores, read at the beach, and give away to a kid (or throw at a car from a freeway overpass [warning: not recommended or condoned!]).

i'm pretty sure hoh is not the kind of author you're looking for. you're better off checking out user recommendations at amazon to see what people who really loved those two books you mentioned (which i'm going to look for at the library tonight: hooray!) also bought and enjoyed.

it's not vampires or werewolves or pleasant, but if you want an unknown author to look up in the horror genre, i strongly recommend s.k. epperson, especially the novel nightmare. the horror is all too real and bound up in the evil humanity is capable of, but epperson really captures it all in a very interesting way. but like i said, without vampires or werewolves.

ooh, i think i need to start a horror novel recommendation thread. i will!