PRIEST
By Cory Goodman
Based on the graphic novel by Min-Woo Hyung
115 pages
Yo El Mayimbe here. Happy Halloween! Feliz Dia de los Muertos. Anybody trick
or treating? I’m going to a cemetery in Hollywood later for some scary
festive fun.
Anyway, earlier last week in the news, a researcher has come up with some
simple math that sucks the life out of the vampire myth, proving that these
highly popular creatures can't exist. His logic? On Jan 1, 1600, the human population
was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one
person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month
later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the
original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to
feed on.
Bummer, huh? Well, at least vampires are alive and well in the movies. Case
in point? One of the hottest specs and writing samples from last year –
Cory Goodman’s PRIEST that starts shooting this month actually and is
being directed by Andrew Douglas (The Amityville Horror) with Gerard Butler
starring.
So what is the verdict? The script is hot! Screen Gems definitely has a winner
on their hands! After reading the garbage that was The Warriors, it was cool
to get bloody entertained with a good read. When you read so many bad scripts,
it is always the great ones that come along every now and then and lift your
spirits and get you excited all over again as a reader.
Now the vampire thing isn’t really my thing, I enjoyed the Blade films,
especially the first one, but vampires kind of got played out for me at least.
My colleagues ranted about how good this script was so of course I had to take
a peek. What Goodman did was put a different spin and an interesting take on
the whole vampire movie genre.
So what is the setup in Priest?
This is what is known: There has always been man and there have always been
vampires. Since the beginning, the two have been locked forever in combat. The
vampires were quicker, stronger and had the gift of flight. But man had the
sun. And so it went like this over many years. As man and vampire both evolved,
the wars became bloodier.
Then came THE PRIESTS.
Specially trained warriors in the art of vampire combat. They single-handedly
turned the tide for the humans. Over time the vampire threat faded. The once
fierce race now fatally diminished. A shadow of what they once were. The remaining
vampires were put into camps and by the decree of the High Clergy, the Priests
disbanded. The former warriors to be integrated as members of regular society.
The human race thrived in relative quiet. The vampire menace quickly forgotten
for other more modern threats and the few remaining Priests faded into quiet
obscurity.
So think of Priests as God’s shitkickers! They have large cross tattoos
across their faces – cutting across the eyes and down the center. Their
technique is otherworldly, combing the brutality of a Maori Warrior with the
grace of a Samurai.
Think of Mad Max as a vampire killer!
What is cool is that in the story is that, the vampire population is on the
endangered species list and protected by the federal government. The Priests
did too good a job. All occurrences of vampire disobedience and felonies are
strictly a Federal matter. There is the Vampire Protection Act, which states
it is forbidden for anyone to hunt vampires anymore! That alone is original.
In the opening, we meet AARON PACE and his wife SHANNON and their daughter
LUCY as they prepare to eat supper. A gang of vampire bikers kills Sharon and
kidnap Lucy. What is the significance? Lucy is the niece of our hero PRIEST
that we meet in the next scene as he roughs up a couple of factory workers who
try and take advantage of a girl. The Priest folds his hands into a prayer position
and says a prayer before he disables the gang. It’s what I call; let’s
show how badass our hero is in his first scene, in Joseph Campbell terms, I
guess the ordinary world scene. You seen the scene countless times, especially
in cop movies, but you know what? They’re effective and in Priest it works
quite well.
Our bad ass Priest goes visits his bosses – The Clergy who are a group
of monsignors all in there 70s. Priest wants his authority reinstated because
of what happened to his niece. The head monsignor ORELAS refuses because the
vampires are federally protected like I said earlier. Priest leaves. Later,
in a Soup Kitchen, FATHER KOEPPEN and a group of troopers in riot gear try to
detain our badass to stop him from going after his niece but he manages to escape.
He goes to storage, gets his badass bike, prays for forgiveness and for what
he is about to do and leaves for the wasteland.
Along the way, a 22-year-old SHERIFF HICKS and the last of the Priests - A
PRIESTESS, join our Priest in his journey to rescue Lucy and uncover the truth
behind the kidnapping.
It’s pretty simple, some vampire wants to upset the status quo and make
the vampire race the dominant species on the planet again but before they do,
they have to face off with PRIEST! The Priests have this ungodly speed in combat
and they can pretty much disarm you before you even know it. Take the gun out
of your hands kind of thing as you raise the gun to fire.
Like I said, a very effective kick ass vampire action movie that was well
written and well paced. I wasn’t surprised whatsoever when this was one
of last year’s biggest specs sales and now on the fast track to becoming
a real movie soon. A really short development history because of how well executed
the writing and storytelling was. Me personally, I dug Gerard Butler in The
Phantom of The Opera and can totally see him easing into what will be his biggest
profile role to date. Check this out for sure when it rolls sometime in 2008
and look for further developments from us on this as the movie gets made.
Happy Halloween everyone!
HASTA EL PROXIMO CAPITULO…
…YO SOY EL MAYIMBE!
Got a problem? email me.
