Tips for the inevitable Sequel

Seeing how at some point down the road the remake will probably receive a loose sequel of some kind, weather it be theatrical or most likely direct to DVD/Blu-Ray, here are some tips...

1. Pace; The pacing in the movie I found terrible at times. In a movie like this the pacing should be like a snowball, in that it starts out small and grows big as it rolls down the hill. So in comparison what I mean is the pacing should yes be slow at the beginning when you do the whole introduction to characters and basic plot, but then it should never let up once the action/horror starts. Sure you'll need those few moments here and there after the carnage starts for the audience to breath. However, it should never get boring, or feel like it's dragging on.

2. Make-Up/Effects; Yes we understand that this kind of film will be working on a small limited budget, especially if it's direct to DVD/Blu-Ray. With that being said the film makers need to still be creative and stretch their budget as far as they can because the monsters in the remake either looked fairly generic and it was hard to distinguish which one was which, or they just looked like bad dollar store Halloween masks. Also for CGI, use it sparingly when you have to, try to use more practical effects. Only use CGI when you have to, because let's face it on a low budget direct to DVD/Blu-Ray movie the CGI is probably going to be terrible so the less you have to see it the better.

3. Violence & Gore; Personally I felt that the film makers were pulling their punches when it came to violence and gore in the remake. I felt it could have been more bloody, violent, and gory. Especially if you're making the film for direct to DVD/Blu-Ray. In that case you don't have to worry about the sensors as much and just make an Unrated/NC-17 horror film.

4. Sex & Nudity; On a film like this, especially one with a rinse and repeat plot, this does help put butts in the seat so to speak. In this kind of film sex and nudity is warranted, and expected. That was one of the problems I had with the remake, the sex and nudity seemed tame and light in comparison to the original film. The remake should have kicked it up a notch or two over the original, not back peddle and be tamer. Once again a sequel would most likely be direct to DVD/Blu-Ray so you can get away with more. Look to HBO, and Starz for examples on the subject. True Blood, a horror based show is filled with sex and nudity and does fairly well in ratings which translates to good season sales on DVD/Blu-Ray.

5. Cast; One thing the remake did well was have a good likable cast. That's something the sequel should follow suit in. The only foreseeable problem is getting Shannon Elizabeth back as Angela. Which in itself isn't a bad thing because you could probably find someone younger and lesser know for the role of Angela who would be cheaper and willing to do nudity. Clearly a lesser know/unknown cast would be the way to go for the sequel because you could thus save money on the cast, and the saved money could be fueled into the effects budget.