Post Apocalyptic Home Alone

I have always been a big fan of the Vincent Price The Last Man on Earth, as well as Charlton Heston's The Omega Man, both of which were based on Richard Matheson's story I am Legend. The story is one of the primary sources for the Zombie Apocalypse genre in film and literature -- a genre that has a fairly basic premise, but seems to continually inspire inventive narratives. One might imagine that the genre would be completely played out by now, but with shows (based on comics) like The Walking Dead and films (and books) like Book of Eli and The Road it's pretty clear that the cannibal apocalypse genre still has a lot to offer.

If you want to get into an argument about how cannibal apocalypse films and zombie apocalypse films aren't the same thing, we can talk about distinctions without differences if you really want -- but I'd rather not.

Instead, I'd like to share a small clip that I think would make a wonderful addition to the genre. It's called "I Am Home Alone." I would have gone with "I Am Alone," but that's just me. It's a mash up of Home Alone and the more recent Will Smith I Am Legend. It's pretty enjoyable. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing a real version of this story.

"Classic Hollywood Versions" of Gen X Classic Films

Stefan Blitz, of the excellent Forces of Geek blog, posted a couple of youtube videos yesterday. The videos were mash ups of classic Hollywood films cut into "fantasy" trailers for films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Forrest Gump. In the fantasy versions, the starring role of Indiana Jones is played by Charlton Heston and Forrest Gump is portrayed by Jimmy Stewart. The concept alone is inspired, but what makes the clips work is Ivan Guerrero's dedication to detail. His use of scenes from Harvey and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as key moments in the life of Forrest Gump is brilliant, particularly the scene from Harvey which captures the "feel" of Forrest Gump to a T.

It doesn't matter if you are familiar with the works Ivan Guerrero uses in his Raiders clip, as he also tends to release a "clip by clip" comparison with notations describing the scene he selected, where it is from, and why. I don't know exactly were this falls within the copyright wars raging around the world now, but I will say this. This is exactly the kind of content that those who are reasonable on the copyleft are trying to protect. It also happens to be something that I think, especially with the "annotated" versions, could become a poster child for what could be considered fair use. At no time is Ivan trying to profit from, or dilute the value of, another IP, instead he is trying to share a love for Classic film and classic Gen-X films.

Here is the Raiders of the Lost Ark trailer.



Here's the Raider's trailer with annotations.