“Dear David”: Director John McPhail on viral horror Maybe it's better if you don't think too hard about it

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Director John McPhail stops by to talk about his latest feature, DEAR DAVID, a horror-thriller based of a social media ghost story that went viral (by Buzzfeed comic artist Adam Ellis in 2017). We chat about what it was like to adapt a story with an unusual format from an unusual source,

After, Louis Howley joins Summer to discuss the movie more in depth, and address some of the issues we had with structure, pacing and figuring out what exactly was going on with that ending. Some of the shooting and effects and most of the acting were well done, but ultimately there was no complete story there for all those components to work with.

Either way, the story was missing a lot of the anticipation of a horror movie/ghost story, and also much of the fun. Simply, it was not a great example of an internet sensation adapted to film. Summer recommends the indie horror feature HEAD COUNT (and the interview with director Elle Callahan) for that particular niche.

Are there any modern ghost stories, horror stories or creepy pasta urban legends you’d like to see adapted into movies? Let us know! Send Summer an email, or leave a message in the comments below!

Chat with Summer on Twitter (@sliceofscifi) or Bluesky (@sliceofscifi.com)
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