Home Invasion Movies?

[wingchun100]

Lately a couple friends and I thought it would be cool to film a short (or who knows, maybe even feature-length) home invasion movie. We are all into various martial arts, so it'd be cool to show people taking out attackers at various ranges of combat. While coming up with the plot, different people in the group would say, "Sounds too much like YOU'RE NEXT. Sounds too much like THE PURGE...too much like this, too much like that." Now my opinion is mixed on whether or not to even bother.

What do you folks think? Have home invasion movies gone the way of the zombie story, meaning the genre has been saturated lately?

 

[Buka]

First you need to write the screenplay. It should be about the people, not the plot. Character is key, plot is secondary.

The best way would be to not make the home invasion the focus of the film, make it secondary, then put that puppy in there and have a ball with it. One way would be to make one of the minor characters, say a teenager (boy or girl) save the day by being smarter and more cunning (out of necessity rather than being cool) utilizing things they learned in Martial Arts, then have dad, mom whoever, come up with the coup de grace.

You mentioned "whether or not to even bother". From reading you, you love to write. Bro, you GOTTA' write. It's a pain in the *** and one of the most frustrating things somebody can undertake, but when you got the bug you just have to write.

And as I'm sure you know, there's a zillion books on writing out there. I swear there are a lot of folks in the industry that only write books on writing (be it film or books) because they sell. But one you might want to check out is "On Writing" by Stephen King. It's half memoir about his life, then half on the art of writing. It's really good.

Go write, brother. And keep at it!

 

[wingchun100]

First you need to write the screenplay. It should be about the people, not the plot. Character is key, plot is secondary.

The best way would be to not make the home invasion the focus of the film, make it secondary, then put that puppy in there and have a ball with it. One way would be to make one of the minor characters, say a teenager (boy or girl) save the day by being smarter and more cunning (out of necessity rather than being cool) utilizing things they learned in Martial Arts, then have dad, mom whoever, come up with the coup de grace.

You mentioned "whether or not to even bother". From reading you, you love to write. Bro, you GOTTA' write. It's a pain in the *** and one of the most frustrating things somebody can undertake, but when you got the bug you just have to write.

And as I'm sure you know, there's a zillion books on writing out there. I swear there are a lot of folks in the industry that only write books on writing (be it film or books) because they sell. But one you might want to check out is "On Writing" by Stephen King. It's half memoir about his life, then half on the art of writing. It's really good.

Go write, brother. And keep at it!

Before I write the screenplay, I need that one little twist to separate it from other home invasion films. Luckily, I have been working on it all morning and have not one but TWO good twists. I will pay the same amount of attention I always do to characters when I start writing, but I just had to nail that twist first.

I read ON WRITING. It was a real eye opener on the act of whittling away and not having to be fancy. Then again, fancy isn't always bad. But when you are fancy for fancy's sake, people see right through it.

And you are right: I DO love writing, but that doesn't mean I expend my energy on every plot that comes to mind. Some are worth pursuing, some are not. This one is, provided we have the right twist. In movies like this, the twist is usually the difference, although it naturally helps having characters that people don't want to see die.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. If it actually goes anywhere (by that I mean if we actually film it), everyone here will definitely know.

 

[wingchun100]

First you need to write the screenplay. It should be about the people, not the plot. Character is key, plot is secondary.

The best way would be to not make the home invasion the focus of the film, make it secondary, then put that puppy in there and have a ball with it. One way would be to make one of the minor characters, say a teenager (boy or girl) save the day by being smarter and more cunning (out of necessity rather than being cool) utilizing things they learned in Martial Arts, then have dad, mom whoever, come up with the coup de grace.

You mentioned "whether or not to even bother". From reading you, you love to write. Bro, you GOTTA' write. It's a pain in the *** and one of the most frustrating things somebody can undertake, but when you got the bug you just have to write.

And as I'm sure you know, there's a zillion books on writing out there. I swear there are a lot of folks in the industry that only write books on writing (be it film or books) because they sell. But one you might want to check out is "On Writing" by Stephen King. It's half memoir about his life, then half on the art of writing. It's really good.

Go write, brother. And keep at it!

FYI I resolved just about every issue I had with the idea. The only thing that remains is how to choose the location. I can't write a story set in a mansion...because we won't have access to one. LOL


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[wingchun100]

A friend of mine saw me posting about this idea on Facebook and, to my surprise, she emailed me a link to historical locations in my area that could be possibly be used for this movie, as long as we have certain licenses in place. We have to strike a careful balance here: a home invasion movie will, by its very nature, be violent, but we have to keep that down to a minimum in order to avoid damaging a historical place.

In any event, I am not going to let this hamper the writing. First thing to do is to just write and let all the wild ideas fly. If it turns out any are impossible due to budget or other restrictions, then we will adjust as needed.

 

[Buka]

As for the violence, that can be tricky to shoot. But the threat of violence, be it through writing or editing, can be very powerful in story.

Go write, bro! Best of luck.

 

[wingchun100]

As for the violence, that can be tricky to shoot. But the threat of violence, be it through writing or editing, can be very powerful in story.

Go write, bro! Best of luck.

As tempted as I am to have the attacks occur in rooms where nearby items can become makeshift weapons, we may have to skimp on the gore and have the characters just simply beat the hell out of the assailants...with minimal bloodshed. Oh well. Maybe when we earn more money, we can upgrade. LOL