Making a Horror Movie about Zombie Werewolves, looking for feedback.

It's not a new idea. Zombie movies are the most bullshit, lazy idea around. Everyone thinks that by adding a new twist to them you'll create something unique. You won't.

Don't make a movie that will be described as "Shaun of the Dead meets The Howling!"... the world doesn't need it.

Also http://chud.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=42

a/s/l?

Yeah, I'd just say concentrate on making the story and the characters good. Zombie werewolves sound like, on a small budget, like they might be tough to pull off. Hell, on a big budget it would be tough. However, if you have great characters and put thought into the story, people won't get too distracted by the creature. See: Bubba Ho-Tep, for example. Good luck, sir.

Well, you definetely appear to have the right attitude. And you certainly aren't kidding about the difficulty of making movies. It's a lot of hard work. The key is to just keeping working at it. Always strive to improve on your ideas. You're not gonna hit the creative jackpot on your first try but like anything else, the more experience you have in doing it, the better you're gonna get. Good luck.

OK, serious response:

First, what Matchstick said. Does your script rely upon the strength of the characters and plotting or the strength of the concept? I take it from the plot description that the majority of the town folk are transformed into werewolves, correct? How many wolf suits would that require building? How many transformation effects? How many gore effects for the half-eaten werewolves? Does the 3D art on your site indicate that you'd wish to use CGI to accomplish the creature effects?

Here's the thing*, zombie hordes are relatively cheap to accomplish; recruit as many extras as you can, slap some blue paint on background zombies, and devise a few hero make-ups for any that will be front and center. Werewolf hordes, unless you want to dress up your community theater group and as many extras you can cull from your local mall in Paul Naschy make-up, would be a bit more expensive to accomplish, no? At least in a way that does the concept justice, right?

Instead of wasting another year on this story idea, how about developing other scripts? Stories that are character based, smaller in scope, and can be accomplished using what you have at your immediate disposal. Go rent Primer, or maybe you've already seen it. Think about how Carruth developed such an intriguing and new spin around the idea of time travel and only spent a fraction of the budget you'd need to properly pull off your idea. You've taken the concept of werewolves and applied a bigger is better approach to it. What's cooler than one werewolf? How about a hundred? That's not really innovative. Anybody could do that. Basically, keep brainstorming, keep writing. If this is the best idea you can come up with after expending so much thought and time in actually trying to come up with something new, then you need to exercise your imagination instead of wasting time soliciting for funding on the net. That may sound harsh, but it's as honest a response I can give you.

*trademark Andre Dellamorte

I guess the question I have to ask is why does this story need to be told? What is it specifically about fast mutating werewolves that you find interesting enough to put two years of your life aside to make a movie about them? And, why, as a viewer, should I want to watch it?

Answer those questions honestly and truthfully. But I'll tell you right now if the answer to any of those revolve around "Because they're/it's cool" then you will have a pretty shitty movie on your hands.

So I read your post, went to the site and read the synopsis. I then spent 10 minutes watching the trailer. There's one thing that really, really struck me while I was checking everything out, and that's this:

Man where the fuck are you paying $5.00 for a rental?

This is the truth, right here. Cool is great, but there has to be more there. I don't mean to imply that you don't have something more. But, it's up to you to really evaluate whether or not you think you have a story worth telling independent of the concept.

I hadn't read the synopsis on his site...

Are you Roland Emmerich, Tarantinoisgod? Are you related to him?

"Avoid locations with full moons"? As in, you believe if the moon is full in New York, it's simultaneously waning in London? Boy, talk about not doing your research...

Well, technically you can race the moon to make sure it's always day time.

I mean, it's like the reverse of Chronicles of Riddick.

Vin Diesel is scarier than a werewolf. Tied with a zombie werewolf though.

First of all, I think the idea actually does have some potential. Mixing zombies with werewolves isn't anything new, but could be a lot of fun of done rightly. Now that is the problem. How are you trying to archieve proper werewolf fx without money? CGI can't be done, looks too horrible in beginner hands (hell, it sometimes even looks like shit in 80m plus movies) and for masks and make-up, you'll need a real talent. Otherwise your werewolf looks like a bad Halloween costume.

May be too expensive for a starting pic.

Speaking actors, here's a great tip for you. Imagine all your characters sitting at a table, and then imagine all of them speaking with eachother. Would that be interesting to watch? Would all characters have something interesting? Would YOU watch a movie about those characters simply discussing things? If not, your characters aren't interesting enough yet. When their simple talks are entertaining enough, then you can bind them into a story.

Imagine Daniel Plainview and priest Eli at a table. Or Bale Batman and Ledger Joker. That's how it works.

Now what happens if the movie doesn't get finished? Do these people get their $5 back?