Thursday, March 19, 2020

The Reckoning Of Darkness, Short Film, Review And Interview


The Reckoning of Darkness is a great proof of concept film. I could go into more detail about that part, but Christopher Kulikowski, the director, does a much better job of explaining his inspiration below. The look of the film was wonderful and captures the essence of the original story and reaches into the gaps to give us more.

I saw The Reckoning of Darkness at the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website).The film was nominated for Best Score and Best Production Design/Art Direction, along with winning for Best Costumes.

I would recommend this film for anyone who has read Frankenstein. This captures the feel Mary Shelley develops in her novel and gets back to the horror of what it might be to be questioning our existence and the ability of creating life.

TAGLINE: Some may recall that the story of Victor Frankenstein and his Creation ends in the frozen wastes of the Arctic, but few know what really happened on their fateful journey north.

SYNOPSIS: The Year 1818: Set on a remote island at the extreme north of the British Isles, a mysterious man named Victor washes ashore, seemingly the sole survivor of a shipwreck. He is restored to health by the local inhabitants but guards the secrets of his haunted past and of an evil which has found its way to this remote world, hell-bent on vengeance. So starts the dramatic and violent chain of events in which the tale of Victor's sinister experiments gradually emerges.

What was the inspiration for The Reckoning of Darkness?

There's essentially two parts to the inspiration and genesis of my proof of concept featurette.

First is my love for science fiction, horror and drama that goes back to my childhood and Mary Shelley's time-tested novel, Frankenstein, a narrative which captures all three genres mentioned above.

Second, back in 2004, I attended the performance of a play titled Victor, written by British playwright Alistair Faulkner and inspired by Mary Shelley's novel. Unlike most depictions of Frankenstein's creation, in this telling of the story (set on a remote island in the north Atlantic) Victor's creation is intelligent, has feelings of love, despair, hate and loneliness. I was completely captivated and moved by the performance and narrative of this play. In fact, I loved the take on this "Frankenstein" story so much that I secured the theatrical rights, wrote a feature length screenplay and adapted it all into a proof of concept short film and trailer.
 

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

What is exciting and hopefully upcoming (soon) for me, is to get the feature version of The Reckoning of Darkness off the ground. Currently, my energies are fully committed to bringing this "monster" to life. :-)

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

There were many films and TV programs that inspired me as a child to pursue a career in cinema, mostly shows/films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Dark Shadows, anything fantastical, but what really propelled me into making this a career vs a hobby was the discovery of my father's Bell & Howell 8mm crank camera. Once I had my hand of this amazing device and discovered all the magic of its capabilities, I was hooked. In short, I've been making films since the age of 11.
 

What would be your dream project?

Asking me about a dream project is like asking me what is my favorite song... there are many but for the time being, fully realizing and getting the feature version of "Reckoning..." off the ground would be a dream come true. Other "dream" projects would be to direct a Star Trek feature/TV series and a period thriller that I have in my screenplay arsenal titled Kingsbury Run.

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

When I'm not working/making a living, I enjoy the company of close friends, family, going to the movies, theater, symphony, traveling abroad, photography, writing, reading, motorcycling and fine dining and wine.

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

So many films come to mind as favorites, but I would say that William Wyler's 1959 classic, BEN HURis one of my top ten. The film is epic Hollywood at its best and a testament to the power and capabilities of cinema. To this day, the scale of the production and end result is truly is awe inspiring... (the chariot race for instance is unmatched spectacle). Yet with all the grand scale, lavish sets, majestic and beautiful music score, fine performances, the story is simple... one of family, love, revenge, redemption and faith. For me... this film sticks, endures and continues to captivate.

You can find out more about The Reckoning of Darkness on the following locations.


You can also watch the trailer on Vimeo (link).

I'm working at keeping my material free of subscription charges by supplementing costs by being an Amazon Associate and having advertising appear. I earn a fee when people make purchases of qualified products from Amazon when they enter the site from a link on Guild Master Gaming and when people click on an ad. If you do either, thank you.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

I have articles being published by others and you can find most of them on Guild Master Gaming on Facebookand Twitter(@GuildMstrGmng).


Posted by at