{"id":1203,"date":"2011-04-27T11:21:03","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T18:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hotnerdgirl.wordpress.com\/?p=1203"},"modified":"2024-02-27T09:47:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T09:47:31","slug":"sold-on-the-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/27\/sold-on-the-selling\/","title":{"rendered":"Sold on \u201cThe Selling\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between studying theatre and living in LA, I know a few people in that crazy little business of making motion pictures. Every once in a while I get treated to a preview of a film before it premiers. My favorites are the independent ones like Milk<\/em>\u00a0and Teary Sockets <\/em>that are dark, quirky, and downright entertaining to watch.<\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advanced screener of a new independent horror comedy called The Selling<\/em>\u00a0set to premier this Friday at the San Francisco International Film Festival. (MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!)<\/em><\/p>\n

[youtube:http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=g1A2kT1rsuA]<\/p>\n

The Selling is the brainchild of Gabriel Diani, a fellow San Francisco State University alumni (we’ve never met) who wrote, produced and starred in the film.\u00a0 It\u2019s directed by Emily Lou, also a San Francisco State University alumni (we’ve never met either) in her feature film directorial debut.<\/p>\n

Y\u2019all know I heart me some horror comedy.\u00a0 The Evil Dead series is quite possibly my very favorite campy horror film franchise of all time\u2026in fact, I know<\/a> it is and despite my fear of zombies, I allowed you guys to convince me to watch Zombieland<\/em> this past weekend.\u00a0 (Granted, I was still scared and still had nightmares BUT at least the nightmares were sort of funny this time.)<\/p>\n

Anyhooters, enough about me and my weirdness, I\u2019m actually super excited to tell you about The Selling<\/em> and I sincerely hope that you all manage to get your hands on a copy of it.\u00a0 First off, the animated opening credits are a great teaser and something totally unexpected.\u00a0 They made me chuckle more than once and how often can you say that about what is essentially a roll call?<\/p>\n

The film centers around Richard Scarry<\/a> (you know, like the children\u2019s book author) and Dave Ross, two real estate agents trying to make some quick cash by flipping a house sold to them by their beautiful but bitchy coworker Mary Best.\u00a0 They very quickly discover that the house is haunted by 12 ghosts that aren\u2019t exactly keen on having roommates (I can sympathize).<\/p>\n

Gabriel Diani as Richard Scarry in "The Selling"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Much of the cast will likely look familiar to you.\u00a0 That\u2019s because\u00a0many of them have\u00a0been featured in one or more TV shows or movies that you\u2019ve seen. Gabriel Diani is adorable as the protagonist Richard.\u00a0 He brings a genuine sweetness to his character.\u00a0 He can be a bit of a pushover but at least he\u2019s aware of it while it\u2019s happening.\u00a0 He\u2019s at his best when he\u2019s showing the house to potential buyers after he\u2019s accepted the presence of the ghosts inhabiting it.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Klein plays Dave, the best friend who gets them in this mess in the first place.\u00a0 Once the ghosts reveal themselves he refuses to go inside again until the climax.\u00a0 He displays excellent comedic timing and reacts to situations in ways that most\u00a0people would…but in funnier ways…if that makes sense.\u00a0 Janet Varney looks like a much prettier, much blonder version of Fairuza Balk.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure she\u2019s a very nice person in real life but in this movie she takes her role as self-serving mega bitch Mary Best quite seriously and I found her to be the most interesting character in the film.<\/p>\n

That closet seems to be very spacious....<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Etta Devine (if that is her real name then she seriously has some of the coolest parents ever) is quirky and cute as Ginger Sparks (ok, seriously, how did she get the best names both in real life AND in the movie??) a ghost habitat preservationist who attempts to help Richard and Dave\u2026mostly Richard\u2026by making out with him\u2026not that I can blame her.\u00a0 I relate to her because I can be a weepy, horny drunk as well.<\/p>\n

Nancy Lenehan plays Richard\u2019s Mom and she\u2019s probably my favorite character in the whole movie.\u00a0 Without giving too much away, there is a scene in the hospital between her and Richard that literally had me LMAO.\u00a0 The person you can\u2019t help but recognize is Brad Majors himself, Mr. Barry Bostwick. \u00a0He plays the Catholic priest, a staple in any movie featuring exorcisms.\u00a0 Father Jimmy doesn\u2019t carry his holy water in ounces, nope, he brings a liter of the stuff.\u00a0 What he does, he does big.<\/p>\n

Oh, and Buffy fans, recognize the guy at the beginning of the trailer who’s interested in buying the house?\u00a0 Yep, that’s Harry “Mayor of Sunnydale” Groener<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Emily Lou is a talented upcoming director.\u00a0 The way she frames her shots is fun and fantastical.\u00a0 At times it seems as though she simply set the camera on the floor and let it work its magic.\u00a0 Other times she chooses unique and unexpected angles that are surprising in their creativity.<\/p>\n

For an indie film the special effects are pretty amazing, especially when it comes to the ghosts.\u00a0 Many of the scares are intentionally predictable (closing the medicine cabinet and seeing a ghosts reflection) and aid in the film\u2019s comedy; however, I found myself genuinely scared a couple of times, something that doesn\u2019t usually happen with me during ghost movies (afraid of zombies, remember?)<\/p>\n

I keep finding myself wanting to talk about plot points because there were so many that I found amusing but I\u2019m trying to be very careful not to give away the movie.\u00a0 The hardest part is refraining from giving away some of the best lines in the film (and yes, I actually wrote them down).\u00a0 All I\u2019ll say is that I\u2019m totally stealing the \u201cSizzler voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever been to the movies with me you know that I stay and sit through the credits.\u00a0 There are two reasons for this.\u00a0 The first reason is that my stepdad is a Foley Artist<\/a> and I was taught that everyone who works on a movie deserves to be recognized for their hard work.\u00a0 Their faces may not be seen but their names should be.\u00a0 The second reason is that there are often little snippets during or at the end of the credits that are worth waiting for.\u00a0 Sadly, I\u2019m often the only person who sees them.\u00a0 If you get an opportunity to view The Selling<\/em> you\u2019ll want to stick around for the ending credits which are HI-larious.\u00a0 My favorite part?\u00a0 When Dave tries to open and eat potato chips in a completely silent hospital room.\u00a0 We have all been there and Ginger\u2019s reaction to his munching is classic.<\/p>\n

Sizzzzzzzler!<\/p>\n

Four out of five Sci-Fives!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between studying theatre and living in LA, I know a few people in that crazy little business of making motion pictures. Every once in a while I get treated to a preview of a film before it premiers. My favorites are the independent ones like Milk\u00a0and Teary Sockets that are dark, quirky, and downright entertaining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,11],"tags":[102,140,297,312,405,650,790,824,936,981,1114],"class_list":["post-1203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie","category-reviews","tag-barry-bostwick","tag-buffy-the-vampire-slayer","tag-emily-lou","tag-evil-dead","tag-harry-groener","tag-milk","tag-richard-scarry","tag-san-francico-international-film-festival","tag-teary-sockets","tag-the-selling","tag-zombieland"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}