Ally Was Screaming | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jeremy Thomas |
Written by | Jeremy Thomas |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Dan Dumouchel |
Edited by |
|
Production company | Perfect Pictures Inc. [1] |
Distributed by | Pacific Northwest Pictures |
Release dates | |
Running time | 88 minutes [4] |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Ally was Screaming is a 2014 Canadian dark comedy-thriller film [1] [2] written and directed by Jeremy Thomas, as well as his second feature film. [4] The film explores the psychological and moral ramifications of "doing a bad thing in order to achieve a good result". [5] Two men (Charlie Carrick and Giacomo Baessato) grieving for their best friend (Arielle Rombough) discover her winning lottery ticket. The men try to figure out how they can keep it, at first fantasizing, then actually debating, and finally plotting to murder the executrix of Ally's estate, her sister (Camille Sullivan), who otherwise would allow the winnings to go to their dead friend's abusive husband.
Shot in Calgary, where it also had its premiere as the closing gala film at the Calgary International Film Festival, [2] the film features music performed by the Calgary Civic Symphony. It has received favourable reviews from critics.
Seth and Nole have just lost their best friend Ally in a house fire. She was in the process of breaking up with her abusive husband, who is serving time in prison. Her estate is being looked after by her older sister Casey, who will follow Ally's will exactly as written, which means everything goes to the estranged husband. Among Ally's effects, Seth and Nole find a lottery ticket worth $30 million. If they tell Casey about the ticket, the money will go to a wife-beater whom Ally was about to abandon rather than those more deserving - themselves, but also Ally's charity. They cannot pass it off as their own ticket, as it is covered in Ally's characteristic doodles. The solution is obvious: sacrifice one life, Casey's, to save thousands: "If we give a third of the money to an African charity, it'll be like we're saving 40,000 lives just for sacrificing one." Both agree that they cannot possibly commit murder, but find it amusing to consider the possibility, and how it could be done perfectly.
Seth and Nole start to scheme, jokingly at first, but eventually they "get real," concluding that murdering Casey is, paradoxically, the "right thing". Seeking unwitting permission from Casey herself, they ask her if she would give up her life if it meant saving thousands of other lives; she answers: "In a heartbeat." Accepting that they will live with the burden of guilt for sacrificing an innocent person, even for good reasons, for the rest of their lives, they come up with a plan so that Casey dies with little or no suffering, one of them distracting her with a story about Ally while the other moves in for the kill. As part of the plan, they invite her over regularly, entertaining and getting to know her as they did Ally. They practice and make a few aborted attempts, but each time the one who must do the deed fails to go through with it, unable to find it in himself to commit the murder. The longer it goes on, the more they get to know her, and the more difficult the task becomes.
From time to time, the pair also have to put up with Andrew, their overbearing boss, who owns a factory farm. He graphically describes the killing of terrified pigs, which upsets them, partly because they both eat meat. Later, when his farm has been the target of animal rights activists, he shares video of pigs in the slaughterhouse which horrifies them even more.
One day, Casey reveals that she is dying of ovarian cancer, so the pair think do not need to go through with the plan. But in fact, there is a time limit on turning in the lottery ticket, so it leaves them no better off. Moreover, it provides another justification as it turns the murder into a form of mercy killing: they can spare her a slow, agonizing death, killing her quickly, listening to her favourite piece of music, in the company of people who love her, her two new best friends. On the chosen night, everything having gone according to plan, at the last moment they try to give Casey (and themselves) a way out, telling her about the lottery ticket, pleading with her not to let it go to Ally's charity: "Is it possible that what is right isn't what you thought it was?" She considers, but seems unlikely to concede, her two friends and would-be murderers visibly conflicted and in emotional turmoil.
After a fade to black, it is revealed that Seth and Nole did not commit the murder, but the lottery winnings did go to Ally's charity. But as the pair mull things over in a restaurant, the vegan meal having been paid for by Andrew, they do not celebrate the turn of events as some kind of triumph of their own morality or ethics; rather: "We didn't do the right thing; the right thing happened to us."
Jeremy Thomas has remarked that a lot of films are about "how if you do good and you do right you will be rewarded with happiness", while those who do wrong, the "bad guys, will somehow get some sort of karmic punishment."
If I can boil Ally Was Screaming down to a concept that I found compelling enough to make a movie, it's that goodness is not rewarded by happiness. Some people might interpret that as saying "Well, why be good?" But goodness is still worth it. That's why, for me, it's also an optimistic movie. [6]
In an interview on the Calgary-based Why We See Movies podcast, [7] Thomas contrasts his film with John Houston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre : whereas that film is about how far greed may drive someone, Ally Was Screaming is different in that Seth and Nole's rationalizations of their actions are so good that "they might be right"; they make "a very compelling argument", one of them even says he will give away his entire share to charity, showing his own motivation is ultimately not selfish. When asked if this is like Robin Hood taking from the rich to give to the poor, Thomas answered: "In a way, yes," and asserted that the film "asks very difficult moral questions." Thomas went on to discuss his theory that audiences "read" movies on a meta level: they are interested in whether the film asserts something culturally, and the most interesting films ask about questions about where the culture is going. [7]
Thomas cites Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life as one of his favourite movies and claims to be the biggest collector of the film's memorabilia in Western Canada. He thinks about films such as this and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, films with a lot of character, when writing. [7] His older contemporary, Robert Cuffley, the executive producer of Ally Was Screaming, was a major inspiration for Thomas when he saw Cuffley's debut feature, Walk All Over Me , at the Calgary International Film Festival. [6]
The End , the last largely self-financed film made by Thomas and his first feature film, did well at film festivals and got "great" reviews, thereby earning the trust of producers for his next film. [7] Ally Was Screaming was produced with the assistance of the Government of Alberta, Alberta Media Fund, and the participation of Telefilm Canada. Additional support was provided through the Government of Canada film and video tax credit, and by the ACTRA membership. Finally, the filmmakers raised an additional US$6,080 through crowdfunding website Indiegogo. [8]
Working from a small budget, Thomas had to produce something "feasible", so he wrote a script that was purposefully introspective with a small number of characters. "What you don't have in spectacle, you have to have in sensibility, and you have to have in interesting ideas." [7] Unlike most writers, Thomas does not send a script out to be read; instead, he does a "test telling", sitting down with a potential producer, actor, or other interested party, and he reads it aloud, acting out the various parts, even playing music appropriate to the scene, as Walt Disney used to do when his films were in development. Thomas thinks screenplays are actually a poor blueprint for movies. By performing the scene, he is better able to get across his ideas than if he "cluttered up" the script with stage directions. [7]
Some fifty or more titles were suggested before Ally Was Screaming was finally accepted as the most compelling, despite how the title could make it "sound like an exploitative horror flick." One of the titles Jeremy Thomas suggested was Why Saints Look Sad and Devils Look Happy, from a line of dialogue between Nole and Seth. [6]
First day auditions for Ally Was Screaming were held in Vancouver on 19 September 2013 and in Calgary on 27 September 2013. [9] Thomas later said it was "unfortunate" that the actors chosen were all so "good-looking"; he had wanted "normal guys". [7]
As this was his first externally budgeted film, it was important to Telefilm Canada that the project had a "very strong" crew. To ensure this, Tom Benz was brought in as the production manager; he had been production manager for Brokeback Mountain . The result was "extremely intimidating" for Thomas, who felt that while he was "in charge" as the director, he was also the least experienced person on the set: "You can't bluff your way out of an experience like that, where the second camera assistant ... has been on more sets than the director. They were just patient with me." On the first day of filming, Thomas was so overwhelmed by the number of crew and the amount of equipment that when someone said "rollling", he looked around at the silent room and did not realize at first that he had to say "action" before anything else happened. [7]
Ally Was Screaming was shot mainly over two weeks in November 2013, using various locations in Calgary, including Arbour Lake, Mayland Heights and Crescent Heights. [6] Principal photography took place between 1 and 17 November, but due to exceessive snow in Calgary, some shots with Charlie Carrick and Giacomo Baessato had to be filmed in Vancouver on 29 November. [9] The pig factory farm footage was provided by PETA according to the film credits.
A director has the option of watching the action as it unfolds before his eyes or from a monitor. In the Why We See Movies interview, Thomas said he is very "pro-monitor" (as opposed to Quentin Tarrantino, who is against using the monitor), because "that is what the audience sees". Emulating Alfred Hitchcock, Thomas is also very strongly in favour of planning and storyboarding "to the frame", as opposed to "making it up" on the set. Of course, sometimes filming does not go exactly as planned and Thomas took advice from the "wise" Dan Dumouchel on matters of cinematography, and sometimes the actors would bring things up, as when Charlie Carrick decided his character should be sitting on a table rather than a couch in one scene, "because I want to be that intimate" with one of the performers, and Thomas could see that he was right. Other times, Thomas would have the scene shot two different ways and decide on it later. [7]
Ally Was Screaming had its premiere as the closing gala film at the Calgary International Film Festival, [2] at the Theatre Junction Grand. [6] According to Camille Sullivan, who was in attendance as a guest of the Festival, it was a "packed house and the movie got a great reception." [10] Not long after, it was screened of at the Whistler Film Festival at Village 8 Cinema on 5 December 2014. The film was selected as one of eight Canadian films for the fifth Beijing International Film Festival, which ran from 16 to 23 April 2015. [11]
In 2015, Pacific Northwest Pictures acquired the Canadian distribution rights to Ally Was Screaming, which was released in theatres on 6 November 2015 at Toronto's Carlton Theatre. Limited engagements followed at the Metro Film Society in Edmonton on 13 November and the Globe Cinema in Calgary on 16 November. [3] It played in Vancouver at the Rio Theatre on 7 February 2016. [12]
Ally Was Screaming is available for streaming on Netflix and iTunes. [13] [14]
Overall, reviews have been "very strong". [7] Eric Volmers calls Ally Was Screaming an "intriguing, expertly constructed morality tale," [6] while Adrian Mack says it "toys pretty expertly with your expectations right until its last shot." [12] Pia Chamberlain describes the film as by turns "hilariously funny and darkly suspenseful", a "sly, intelligent drama" that "sneaks up on you and won't let you go." [15]
Writing for The Globe and Mail , Brad Wheeler gives the film 3.5 stars out of 4. While the film is not a true thriller or dark comedy as billed, "it does raise important issues about human behaviour, in a subtly operatic way", finding the film's major flaw is that "the horrific solution Nole and Seth conceive of never seems honest to their characters. But the question they ask – "Is it possible that what's right isn't what you thought it was?" – is just the provocative ticket." [16] Chris Knight, writing for The National Post , assigns the film 3 stars out of 4, praising the actors "all around", and the "smart, talky screenplay ... we're never sure until the final scenes what the characters are going to do; clearly, neither are they. The suspense makes the 88-minute running time seem at least 20 minutes longer (in a good way), as laughs and horror balance on a knife edge." [4]
Norman Wilner also calls the film "talky," but suggests the film has "more circular conversations than might be strictly necessary, and a late plot twist that feels like Thomas just wants to complicate his thought experiment", but praises Sullivan, Carrick, and Baessato equally: "all three actors are solid and even if Ally Was Screaming occasionally feels like a short film that doesn't know when to stop, I was always curious to see what happened next." [5] Writing for Exclaim! , Robert Bell assigns the film 3 stars, calling it an "above-average Canadian feature". Aesthetically, it looks like an episode of Corner Gas as directed by Vincenzo Natali; less a noir than a psychological character drama about rationalizing abject behaviour, "adding a very shrewdly considered layer of dialogue about the motivations behind philanthropy."
What's crucial here, and reiterated throughout the many long discussions about how to handle the situation, is the way people rationalize and justify their self-serving behaviour. How these discussions and topics are addressed and analyzed is Ally Was Screaming's saving grace. The film's depiction of how its characters choose between the wishes of a dead friend and servicing their own short-and-long-term needs suggests that this low-key Canadian art film understands human nature well. [17]
The film struggles, however, in servicing the "basic demands of a story": Seth and Nole are interchangeable, while their abrasive, "borderline psychotic" boss is "such an over-the-top caricature that it's actually uncomfortable to watch." With a little more balance between the emotional and the intellectual, the film "could have been the incisive and ideologically challenging gem it wants to be. As it stands, it still inspires thought and discussion without alienating or patronizing, even if it's hard to feel invested otherwise." [17]
At test screenings, audiences enjoyed the fact that the two conspirators, Seth and Nole, seem like "nice guys". [7] There had been a debate among the crew as to whether such a pair of "nice guys" would actually do something criminal. Thomas, who took the view that they certainly could, takes the audience feedback and refers to his theory about "meta" reading by the audience: if the film had been about nice guys doing nice things, it would not get made because it would not be interesting; if, on the other hand, they had been "creeps" from the start, it would also be less interesting. Since they are established as nice guys from the start, the audience is left wondering if they will carry out their plan to the very end. [7]
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, Scream's plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott and her friends, who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer known as Ghostface.
Scary Movie is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, and Dave Sheridan, it follows a group of teenagers who accidentally hit a man with their car, dump his body in a lake, and swear to secrecy. A year later, someone wearing a Ghostface mask and robe begins hunting them one by one.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1985 Canadian made-for-television drama film based on the 1908 novel of the same name by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and is the first in a series of four films. The film stars Megan Follows in the title role of Anne Shirley and was produced and directed by Kevin Sullivan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was released theatrically in Iran, Israel, Europe, and Japan.
The Reflecting Skin is a 1990 British-Canadian dramatic horror film written and directed by Philip Ridley and starring Jeremy Cooper, Viggo Mortensen and Lindsay Duncan. Described by its director as a "mythical interpretation" of childhood, the film weaves elements of vampirism, surrealism, black comedy, symbolism, and religious zealotry throughout its narrative about the perceptions and fantasies of an impressionable young boy in 1950s America. The Reflecting Skin places the majority of its action outdoors around the dilapidated farms and in the wheat fields of Idaho shot in idyllic sunlight which belies the dark secrets of the characters and plot.
Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th is a 2000 American direct-to-video parody slasher film directed by John Blanchard. The film stars Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tom Arnold, Coolio and Shirley Jones. Several mid- and late 1990s teen horror films are parodied, as are slasher films from the 1970s and 1980s, including the Scream films, Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), as well as other films and television series outside of the horror genre. Although many different films are parodied, the film follows the plot of Scream (1996) very closely. It is often compared to Scary Movie, a commercially successful spoof from the same year, which had as a working title Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween.
Absolute Power is a 1997 American political action thriller film produced by, directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood as a master jewel thief who witnesses the killing of a woman by Secret Service agents. The screenplay by William Goldman is based on the 1996 novel Absolute Power by David Baldacci. Screened at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, the film also stars Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Judy Davis, Scott Glenn, Dennis Haysbert, and Richard Jenkins. It was also the last screen appearance of E. G. Marshall. The scenes in the museum were filmed in the Walters Art Museum, where Whitney is copying a painting of El Greco, "Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata"
While the City Sleeps is a 1956 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, John Drew Barrymore and Ida Lupino. Written by Casey Robinson, the newspaper drama was based on The Bloody Spur by Charles Einstein, which was inspired by the case of Chicago serial killer William Heirens. Five decades after the film's release, critic Dennis Schwartz wrote, "Fritz Lang ('M') directs his most under-appreciated great film, more a social commentary than a straight crime drama."
Cookie's Fortune is a 1999 American black comedy film directed by Robert Altman and starring Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Patricia Neal, Charles S. Dutton, and Chris O'Donnell. It follows a dysfunctional family in small-town Mississippi and their various responses to the suicide of their wealthy aunt, some of them turning criminal. Musicians Lyle Lovett and Ruby Wilson have minor supporting parts in the film.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a 1978 American historical comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starring Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana, Eddie Deezen, and Wendie Jo Sperber. Its storyline follows a disparate group of teenagers over the course of one day in New York City as they attempt to gain entry to the Beatles' first live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. The film also examines the mass hysteria surrounding the event, dubbed "Beatlemania" for the fervency of the group's fans. The film's title is derived from the Beatles' 1963 song of the same name.
Ghostface is a fictional identity that is adopted by the primary antagonists of the Scream franchise. The figure was originally created by Kevin Williamson, and is primarily mute in person but voiced over the phone by Roger L. Jackson, regardless of who is behind the mask. The disguise has been adopted by various characters in the movies and in the third season of the television series.
When Night is Falling is a 1995 Canadian drama film directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Pascale Bussières and Rachael Crawford. It was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.
The Calgary Fringe Festival is an annual Fringe theatre festival in Calgary, Alberta.
Terror in the Haunted House is a 1958 American horror film produced by William S. Edwards and directed by Harold Daniels. The movie stars Gerald Mohr, Cathy O'Donnell, William Ching, and John Qualen. Its plot follows newlywed Sheila, who moves with her husband Philp into a rural Florida mansion which she is horrified to discover was the subject of a recurring nightmare for which she sought psychiatric care in Switzerland. The house is the key to events that have haunted her husband's family for a generation, and Philip's intent is to use her mind to unlock the mystery.
Casey Becker is a fictional character from the Scream franchise, first appearing in the 1996 film Scream, as its false protagonist. The character was created by Kevin Williamson and originated by American actress Drew Barrymore. Casey was subsequently played by Heather Graham in Scream 2 for its movie-within-a-movie scenes. Casey and Steve Orth, her boyfriend, are the first characters to be killed in the franchise, in what has been called "one of the most famous scenes of all time."
Niall Matter is a Canadian actor.
Robert Cuffley is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He began with music videos, directing over 40 in all, before moving into short films, and later, drama.
Hit By Lightning is a 2014 Canadian-American black comedy film written and directed by Ricky Blitt and produced by Chantal Chamandy, as his directorial debut and her film producer debut. Filmed on locations in Ottawa and Los Angeles, the film stars Jon Cryer, Will Sasso, Stéphanie Szostak, and Jed Rees.
The Heretics is a 2017 Canadian body horror film directed by Chad Archibald and produced by Black Fawn Films and Breakthrough Entertainment. It is about a young woman who is kidnapped and transforms into a demon.
The End is a 2007 Canadian dark comedy thriller horror film written and directed by Jeremy Thomas, who also stars in the film. Thomas himself called his first feature a "lighthearted existential horror film", while four festival reviewers described it in neo-noir terms. Having won over critics, and an award from the Eugene International Film Festival, Thomas was able to attract investors for his next project, Ally Was Screaming.