Fan Sequels

If you have known me any amount of time, you know that my favorite past time is film making. It is a creative medium that I have longed to do since I was 7 or 8 years old. I would be 17 before I finally had a camera of my own and was able to finally start practicing the craft I love so dear. I've made lots of shorts through the years. Some I proudly display at my page on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/mammothfilms) and there are others on aging VHS tapes that archived away in my closet forever, to be seen only upon the request of those who took part.

Of all the films I have ever made, the most viewed to date has been "Manos" The Grasp of Fate. This delightful short was a spoof/sequel of a real movie titled "Manos" The Hands of Fate. The original Manos ranks among the worst films ever made. It held the number one spot on the Internet Movie Database for a long time and at last check was still in the top ten. This movie is bad on all levels. It was a perfect target for the cult show Mystery Science Theater 3000. My friend Wes and I watched the infamous episode and thoroughly enjoyed the way Joel and the bots trashed the movie. As I joke I suggested he and I make a sequel to the film. After the initial chuckle, we realized this wasn't such a bad idea. In the course of only a day or two we created "Manos" The Grasp of Fate. The sequel was all in good fun and 100% comedy, where the original "Manos" was to be a horror film. To date, Mammoth's fan sequel has garnered 1,829 hits on youtube. Not bad for a short with no budget and no marketing.

This was not Mammoth's first fan sequel though. The first ever was Joshua Jones and the City of Stone. This film was Mammoth's own incarnation of the Indiana Jones series. In this film, we tried to more copy the successful formula of the original series. The film was primarily action with a hint of comedy here and there. Despite being aligned with a much more popular movie franchise, the Joshua Jones video has 374 views on youtube. This fan sequel took nearly a year to complete. Keep in mind, we had only a weekend here and there to work on it. There were also availability issues with the film's star. A sequel was planned and filming even commenced before his lack of availability killed the project.

Some in the film making community have chastised fan films and sequels as being unoriginal or simply rip offs of a more popular idea. I disagree (of course). Fan sequels and films are nothing but a fitting tribute to what inspired the film's creator to take part in the creative medium in the first place. Also, what better way for one to flex their creative muscle and talent in their early years of getting acquainted with the craft?

There may be yet another fan sequel in Mammoth Films future. The idea came to me just today. "Son of Death Wish", if made, will be a comedic play on the Charles Bronson franchise that went 4 movies too long. The original film was an interesting social commentary on crime, a victim's rights and the limited power of law enforcement. The second film was a weak follow up to the brilliant original. The third is a laugh riot, although that was not the intention of the film. The head villain says to Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) after he is angered by him, "Just for that I am going to kill a little old lady. Catch it on the six o'clock news." Yes, that is an actual line from the film! There are so many more like this that make the movie a great target for a comedic fan sequel. Deathwish 4 The Crackdown is a snooze fest with no redeeming qualities. Death Wish 5 was nothing more than kicking the decaying horse's carcass one more time. Should my friend and I pursue "Son of Death Wish" we will draw heavily from the third film, but be sure to include elements from the others as well.

I don't expect "Son of Death Wish" to see the success of either the Manos fan sequel or Joshua Jones. However, making these things is great fun. As I pick up the subtleties that fans of the original will know and remember the fun we had making the movie, I still laugh my ass off when I watch The Grasp of Fate. Maybe you will too. The link for it is below.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=574053DB35832A8B