Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Year of Horror

When the year started, we had no idea what lay ahead of us as wranglers. The Georgia legislature had enacted some very appealing tax incentives for film work in the state and we expected there would be a lot of movies this year, but without inside information there was no clue as to what kind of productions we’d see roll through.

Now, here we are at the beginning of the second quarter, and we’ve already wrangled four features in as many months, three of which fall into the genre of Horror. At first, I thought this was a fluke, just a coincidence. But then I got another call for ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ which is being reprised in Chicago.

I suppose the public always has a bit of blood lust. But, could it be that the arts are responding to the societal angst that seems to be at the forefront of every headline? Is the spirit of our age that horrific?

As a wrangler, we’re thrilled to be working on such interesting projects. Our animals are making appearances as ghostly visions and as counterpoint to man’s dehumanization in the face of terrifying consequences. We have been fortunate to work on films written by some of the masters of horror like George Romero, Wes Craven and John Carpenter. The experience has been memorable but I’m worried. How deep does this thirst for carnage run?

After last year’s election which resounded with calls for hope and change, one can only expect the arts to catch up and start mirroring the seeds of recovery and renewal that are now being sown. With any luck, we’ll start to see heroes again rather than monsters and villains. As we work through these long nights, trying to keep our animals warm and ready to perform, I keep reminding myself that it’s always darkest before the dawn.

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