Another Dimension – Writings from the Red Plane #1

Wading Through Philapocalypse

That Morning when I woke up it seemed the world had changed….

Those lyrics are from a Code Orange song called A Sliver off of their new album Underneath. Since it’s release on March 13th I haven’t stopped listening to it. I don’t think there’s been any other album I’ve listened to that much since Slipknot’s latest album, We Are Not Your Kind, which was released last year. Hell, I’m listening to it right now as I am typing this. While the album’s theme throughout is mainly based on how we act as a society in this digital age I can’t help but feel it fits in this new norm we as a species are currently living through.

Code Orange described their new album as the soundtrack to the end.

As I walked through the streets of Philadelphia it sure as hell felt like the end was coming. The moment COVID-19 began to spread and the number of the infected rapidly climbed each day, that feeling of dread spread just as fast. In a blink of an eye we were watching the devastation on the news, the next we are taking proper procedures to make sure we don’t get sick, then boom.. isolation. But I didn’t start working from home right away even though it seemed that quick. My full time job is an Office Assistant at a tax firm in center Philadelphia, so during all this madness we still had a job to do, we still had a deadline to meet for March and April 15th.

I know it sounds ridiculous. Why risk your life and others I could possibly infect for a job? I see it all over online, we need to stick it the man and say no! It’s not worth it! To be honest, I mostly agree. Especially, if a place of employment is not kind to their employees. But it’s not easy for some not to go to work. These are circumstances that are out of our control. We fear how this will affect us financially. We don’t want to see businesses and the economy suffer, but we also want businesses owners to take responsibility and care for their employees well being. Either way, the damage is already done. Now we are trying to patch up the holes desperately making sure this ship doesn’t sink.

I’m one of those people that decided to keep working at the office until I couldn’t anymore. The work needed to be done. I had the option not to go into the office if I didn’t feel comfortable. That was made clear once the shit really hit the fan. The office may have closed, but Admin were still needed and we began working shifts. Three days a week, I worked only three hours in the afternoon. That was last week. Now I am working from home. That’s how fast everything happened. It was only months ago the virus was devastating China, and now here we are – scrounging to get every bit of work done before we begin our new norm. Sitting at home constantly looking over at our phones every time an alert goes off when a press conference is being held, how many more have died, how many more are infected. Social Media continued it’s insanity with more political crap, unwanted opinions, crazy conspiracy theories, and people who don’t think this is real or don’t take it seriously enough. I’m sure I’m not the only who said this – Humans are more dangerous than COVID-19. With that thought in mind, despite Code Orange’s theme to their new album being something different than what’s happening now, I can’t help but think how relevant it really was.

That’s what it felt like every time I listened to that album when I went to work those days last week, walking through Philadelphia, a city that was normally busting with life. Less people walked the sidewalks, fewer cars drove the streets, it looked like more a weekend in the city than the madness of rush hour and hustle and bustle of the usual work day. It was haunting. I knew damn well I was putting myself at risk even though I kept my distance from people, even though I washed my hands constantly, and even after I’d wash them I’d used hand sanitizer for extra measures. I scanned papers. Hand sanitizer. Opened mail. Hand sanitizer. Before going to the bathroom I’d wash my hands. Then wash my hands again after going to the bathroom. The cycle was exhausting. Even though after I get the work done and leave the office, I was still on high alert. It wasn’t just making sure I don’t get sick was on my mind, but how this was affecting people who were a ticking time bomb. From the moment I left home to a few hours later when I get back I would be ready to defend myself just in case someone would try to mug me, or attack for some other reason dancing around in that person’s broken mind. I get home feeling exhausted, unable to write, only wanting to hang out with my wife, drink beer and binge watch something until two in the morning.

So why put myself through it even if I was allowed to stay home?Purpose. It may seem crazy but performing my job during these challenging times gave me a sense of purpose. Not that I never had that before, I’m a half glass full type of guy, and very passionate about the people and things in my life. I love my job, I am happy with the people I work for and with. So there’s that part of me, even though I don’t want to die from some stupid novel virus, or by some crazy person’s hand, in my mind I felt I would die doing something with a purpose. We all want to be a hero in our own post apocalyptic story, right?

For some reason, another lyric popped in my head from the Code Orange track, A Sliver- I’m a Sliver growing thinner, feeling smaller every day.

Because of this stress caused by things changing by the day, by the hour – I haven’t written anything since March 11th. I didn’t realize it had been that long until I finally wrote yesterday the 22nd, and input the numbers in my excel sheet. After my Sunday chat with author and mentor Armand Rosamilia and sharing writing sprints with the awesome community I am lucky to be a part of on Twitter, all that determination, fear and exhaustion the past 11 days was finally expelled into my writing. I am rejuvenated again. This has also inspired me to finally get my blog going.

I don’t mean for my first blog to be a little grim, but my reflection of the outside world these past couple of weeks called for it. That need to express my purpose had to come out one way or the other. Despite how long this road is going to be for all of us, I’m always going to continue being the positive, half glass full type of guy. Like many others, I still have hope after this is all over with.

My intent for this blog will be more on my journey as a new author and what everyone can expect from my creative works rather than focus on real world stuff. But the real world will bleed through, just like how the alternate dimension known as the Red Plane bled through Randy’s world in my first novella, Death Highway. It’s just how it is sometimes.

I am a horror author after all. (Insert evil laughing.)

Archives from the Abyss #3: Rec VS Quarantine

Originally published in issue #15 of SCARS magazine:

[REC] VS. QUARANTINE: DID THE REMAKE BEAT THE ORIGINAL?

By J.C. Walsh

What do you do when you’re trapped inside an old apartment complex, surrounded by savage, blood thirsty neighbors infected with a mysterious outbreak, and the only ones that can help are the cops, whose only plan is to barricade all doors and windows, vanquishing any hope of escape? YOU FILM IT.
Popular trend in the horror genre, shooting from the first person point of view throws the audience head on into the action, creating a rich intensity and a true sense of realism. Instead of watching a movie through the lens of a cameraman, you feel the immediacy of a documentary unfolding, with horrifying events.
In the Spanish film “Rec” (2007, but only recently released in the USA on DVD), directors Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza use the first person point of view to deliver their nerve shocker of a horror flick. When the movie starts, the story focuses on Angela and her cameraman Pedro, as they shoot a report based on the lives and jobs of firefighters. We watch as the duo tags along, interviewing the firefighters, where they eat and sleep. The first ten minutes of the film allows the audience to have a certain type of intimacy with the characters, personalizing them so they are liked and believable.
Anxious to see some action, Angela is ecstatic when the alarm sounds off and hurries with Pedro to stick with the Fire Unit assigned to them as they answer the distress call. After reaching the old apartment, two police officers are already on the scene, trying to keep the worried tenants under control. Based on the information given from police and the landlord, they find out that a woman has been screaming hysterically in her apartment. Angela and Pedro follow behind the firefighters to investigate the woman’s screams and document the hysteria, but get a reality shock of their own when the woman viciously attacks a police officer. From there, all hell breaks loose.The story unfolds in a frenzy. Everyone’s worst fear imaginable comes true when police and military trap them inside. Because the film took time into getting to know each character, we now get to see how each one will react in the desperate fight for survival as the people they know are changing one by one. Like zombies, those bitten become infected. Unlike zombies, the infection makes them disorientated, confused, and extremely ill; more life -like than the classic flesh eater. Once the infection is full blown, the only thing they know is to attack. As things worsen, Angela and Pedro try to uncover the cause behind what’s happening, while at the same time get every moment on film and stay alive.
“Rec” is full of surprises. Wherever the camera turns, you never know when something is going to jump out. It’s a great story, one that crosses the line between the power and freedom of the media versus the iron hand of authority. Part of “Rec”s terror is the looming possibility of, “What if this really did happen?”
Having this foreign masterpiece land in their lap, director/writer John Erick Dowdle and his brother writer/producer Drew Dowdle, filmed the U.S. remake, “Quarantine,” with the intent of not changing much of the story. Their version of the film is shot nearly frame by frame, only adding their own twist to the Americanized foreign film. Like “Rec,” the story follows Angela, now played by Jennifer Carpenter (“Dexter”), and her cameraman Scott, played by Steve Harris. The characters in the film spend a little more time at the fire station than the original, adding more depth with laughable scenes to allow the audience a false sense of relaxation before the horror strikes.
Straying away from the trend of American films remaking foreign horror films, watering them down, and slapping them with a PG-13 rating, the Dowdle brothers surpass it, packing “Quarantine” with more gore, and more behind the story without making it ridiculous, or erasing the realism of the original. They instead enhance it, finding ways to bringing forth a much scarier film. Particular scenes stick out for their creativity. For example, one of the infected trying to walk on a shattered ankle, not feeling any pain as the leg was literary caving in. Or when the camera was used to beat an infected person’s skull in, finally backing off with blood splattered across the lens. “Quarantine” also showed more of Scott, the cameraman. Giving a face to the man filming was a great form of character development, adding something special to the film.
In “Rec,” the movie didn’t explain much about the infection. Even though we discovered some of its origins towards the conclusion of the film, it still remained a frightening phenomena. “Quarantine” spent more time with what the infection was and how it was spread, and even though we were given an explanation (of a super rabies epidemic), the origin more-or-less remains a mystery. As an audience, we’re left with the dark fear of a situation unresolved.
The Dowdles change other scenes as well. They dig deeper into the extremes the military would go to keep people contained in the building, questioning whether they are using safe precautions or suffering from paranoia. Even though “Rec” was much faster paced, “Quarantine” slowed to allow the characters to act more freely, to struggle with their emotions during a frightening situation. This works well in the film, but tends to drag out the movie a bit, compared to the break neck intensity in the original. But once “Quarantine” reaches the “night vision” scene, it’s a much longer, suspense builder as you watch Angela move blindly in the darkness with something lurking near her – and the only ones that can see are the audience through the cameraman’s eyes. (Although the creature in “Rec” looks much more disturbing than the one portrayed in “Quarantine.”) Both films equal each other out in delivering their final scare when reaching the end of the film.
Unfortunately, while “Quarantine” stands out a little more than “Rec,” the superiority is not without controversy from some fans, disgusted at its recognition over “Rec,” which they feel was never given the attention it deserved in America. Ultimately, there is no hiding Hollywood stole an original idea, and without “Rec,” “Quarantine” would not exist. But I also believe that if “Quarantine” didn’t fall into the hands of such great directors as the Dowdles (who filmed the much waited Poughkeepsie Tapes), the movie wouldn’t be as good. Hopefully with “Rec 2” on the way, Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza will finally get the recognition they too deserve.
My advice to anyone who hasn’t seen neither films, watch “Rec” first. Then “Quarantine.” Appreciate who was the original creator of this great horror story, but keep an open mind and enjoy both films for the thrills and scares that both boldly deliver.