With a budget bumping $240 million and technology that’s over 10 years in the making, James Cameron’s Avatar is primed to push Hollywood into a new dimension. The 3D tour de force is the first film of it’s kind, comprised of roughly 60% computer-generated elements and 40% live-action, all seamlessly melded together into a brilliant depth of field when seen through the lenses of polarized, stereoscopic, librarian-looking glasses. Entertainment pundits expect the movie to be the biggest blockbuster since, well, Cameron’s last biggest blockbuster (which happened to be the biggest blockbuster of all-time). Some say it may even save movie theaters from the internet. Avatar could herald the arrival of a revolutionized 3D film industry that studio execs have tried to make stick since the 50s.
Unless, of course, the internet also gets three dimensional.
While early tests on YouTube have been both interesting and headache-inducing, a new web series from Hank’s Beak Productions and starmaker, Svengali, and Hollywood hustler Ray Manzella hopes to make 3D on the internet entertaining. And lucrative.
13 Minutes to Midnight bills itself as throwback to the camp found in classic television horror titles like Vampira and Tales from the Crypt. I’d say the self-aware silliness and homegrown aesthetic makes it more of a low-budget, macabre-themed Mister Rogers and/or Clue that could, at any moment, break out into the kind of softcore you see on Skinemax. B-movie scream queen and co-writer Erika Smith stars as the host of a Halloween party that attracts the likes of Nightmara (Heather McDonald), Paranora (Elizabeth Killmond), Vampira (a tranny version of the original), an unfortunate whodunit incident, a Perez Hilton cameo, and lots of product placement.
