Dracula Presents: The Eleventh Annual Golden Stake Awards

Are you..... Netflix by mail?

You guys don't do Google rewards? I've got 60 bucks waiting to be spent. Combined with movie pass and when TMobile gives every few weeks for s free Vudu rental... I never have to actually spend money to rent movies.

Still only a 2-day wait most of the time for me.

So I'm the weird one.

The indie theater where I live has to wait for major theater chains to pass on movies before they get a chance to show em, so it's not uncommon that a film gets a small theatrical run around when it hits home video.

When's the top 10 thread, Drac?

Sorry for the delay

Best Original Screenplay

Unlike adapted screenplay, original screenplay was absolutely out of control this year with nearly all of the most acclaimed films of the year vying for it. Given that I had to make some tough choices for this category and really go with the movies who excel based on their writing above all else.

Lady Bird: Greta Gerwig is more experienced as a writer than as a director having co-written two movies with Noah Baumbach and a couple of movies during her mumblecore days, but this is the first time she’s worked solo and really brought her own undiluted writing to the screen. Writing about your adolescence is not exactly an original way of starting your journey as a writer but, unlike most people who write these coming of age movies Gerwig isn’t a twenty year old and she’s clearly had some time to really develop this vision and brings it to the screen in a very clear-eyed and witty way.

Mother!: Darren Aronofsky reportedly wrote mother! in five days over the course of a burst of inspiration, possibly while in a dark place. Though the film’s dialog isn’t bad by any means that’s not why it’s nominated here. Rather, this screenplay is here because of its wild concept and the lengths it goes to embed symbolism and to choreograph its various sequences. That big freakout towards the end must have been pretty hard to put into screenplay format without just sounding completely crazy.

Phantom Thread: The genesis of Phantom Thread was apparently not unlike the genesis of mother! in that its writer was struck by inspiration while in kind of a shitty mood. Allegedly the idea came to him when he was sick in bed one day and his wife (Maya Rudolph!) was caring for him and he was touched by how tender and loving she was being and that idea sort of got twisted into the decidedly messed up relationship at the center of his latest movie. Stories like that aside this is a pretty mysterious screenplay that will need to be pieced together over time.

The Square: Ruben Östlund’s The Square is a satire which uses the modern art world as a means of exploring modern class divides and the shallowness with which the intellectual class sometimes conducts itself. It’s Östlund follow-up to his film Force Majeure, which was also interested in breaking down the foibles of the upper class but this one is more direct and generally better realized. It’s the kind of screenplay that perhaps feels simple on the surface but reveals real depth as it goes on.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri: Before he became a filmmaker Martin McDonagh started his career as a playwright, so in many ways he came into the movie business with a fully developed voice. Consequently his films have a particularly stylized form of dialog and of the five nominees this is the one that does the most to impress you with the words coming out of the characters mouths. The screenplay is also dealing with some pretty heavy themes and not dealing with them in the easiest ways. Pretty impressive.

And the Golden Stake Goes To…

Or, PG Cooper, you could do what I did yesterday and just impulsively blind-buy Last Flag Flying.

Best Trailer

Trailers are wildly important to movies and I’ve always admired the way certain trailer editors are able to sell their movies in interesting and energetic ways. To be featured here a trailer can’t simply present cool images from the movie in a straightforward way, it has to be doing something a little special with them. Additionally, I’ll only be considering trailers to movies that came out in 2017 (regardless of when the trailer itself came out) and which I’ve seen.



I, Tonya (Red Band)

As a movie I, Tonya is kind of a hard sell. Most people don’t want anything more to do with this tabloid story and those who don’t already have an opinion about the original story likely just wouldn’t know what would be entertaining about a movie about a figure skating scandal. The trailer, set to Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” and Gun’s “Every 1’s a Winner” emphasizes the film’s energy as well as it’s dark and vulgar sense of humor and shows how this story can seem modern and funny.

Killing of a Sacred Deer (Teaser)

This teaser trailer to YL’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer does exactly what a trailer for such an unusual film should do. The trailer uses an odd moment from the film where a teenage girl sings Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” as it’s backing music along with some ominous horror movie music to present some of the film’s more tantalizing images and give a taste of its story without ever really coming out and explaining it. I also love the way it ends with that “so we can put it out, out, out…”

Logan (Red Band)

When making a trailer for an X-Men spinoff the first instinct would have been to focus in on the action elements and do everything one can to make it look like the movies that came before, but instead this trailer focus in on the things that make this spinoff different. Set to Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt,” a song choice that both emphasizes the characters’ pain and the film’s western tone, the trailer teases some of the better images from the film without giving away too much.

T2: Trainspotting

When the “choose life” monolog is revived and updated in this unlikely sequel to Trainspotting it’s not in the opening scene but is instead in a restaurant and spoken by a much less cocky middle aged man. For the trailer though they use this audio along with clips from the movie to recreate that iconic opening of the original film but to reflect how different this world and these people are. The electronic music underneath it all helps to give it a distinct flavor from that original movie too.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (Red Band)

This trailer for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Mssouri borders on being spoilery but it does to good a job of selling the movie to be ignored. Most trailers for a movie like this would have tried to smooth off the rough edges of a movie like this but this one leans into it, laying out the premise in an economic fashion and also establishing its tone and sense of humor very honestly. It also picks up a lot of energy when The Four Tops’ “Walk Away” kicks in and synchs certain moments like Dixon breaking the window quite well.

And the Golden Stake Goes to…

Yeah, the Logan traileris amazing.