Worst Laid Plans | Film Adaptation

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My package for the Worst Laid Plans Kickstarter arrived! Just as soon as I popped the Blu-ray open, I put it right into our DVD player tray, kicked back, and pressed play.

Let’s dive in!

My Thoughts on the Worst Laid Plans Film Adaptation

I backed this project just as soon as I heard about it a while back. I was so excited to see their updates throughout the project and couldn’t wait to see what would come of things. I just knew it would be awesome! After all, the Worst Laid Plans anthology absolutely ruled! 

The goodies from the Kickstarter ruled! There was the BluRay of course, as well as a bumper sticker and a t-shirt that I am absolutely obsessed with!

Here are my thoughts on each segment:

Deep In The Heart – 

Deep In The Heart was based on the story by Waylon Jordan. In this tale, a family stops off at a place where caves can be explored. The tension is already thick before they go into the caves, and it only gets more intense from there! 

This was a story that was one of my favorites from the book, and I loved the adaptation as well! My gosh, Michael and Danny were PERFECT. I loved their instant chemistry. The mom, my heart broke for her immediately. The actor did such a great job looking haunted. And while I absolutely hated the dad, the actor did such a great job playing a douche. His body language and the looks he gave were brutal.

I thought the sets were really awesome! I especially enjoyed the practical effects. The scene with the arm was SO well done. 

Listening to the audio commentary later on, I LOVED hearing the writer and director, John Hale, talking about chatting with the author, Waylon Jordan, to make sure he stuck to the story well. 

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You’ve Been Saved – 

You’ve Been Saved was based on the story by S.E. Howard. 

Stopping in for lunch at a diner while on a road trip, a young girl bumps into our main character, knocking change out of his hand and secretly passing him a note that says “Help.” Our main character wants to go save her, but his friend he’s on the trip with thinks it’s just a trick. Our main character just can’t let it go and tries to help anyway. 

Ugh, the tension between Mary and Joe at the start! Then later, ALL the red flags… This only gets more and more creepy as it goes. The music chosen in this short makes this one especially eerie! 

Later, listening to the audio commentary hosted by Christopher G. Moore was so much fun. I loved learning more about many of the props! 

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Taylor Family Vacation ’93 – 

Taylor Family Vacation ’93 was based on the story by Jeremy Herbert. 

I loved that we see the family sitting in a hotel with the dad working on the camera right first thing before we jump between scenes with all of them and the clips filmed on the camera. That was a really neat touch! For anyone that gets motion sick easily though, be careful there! 

I couldn’t remember this story from my reading of the anthology. I knew we were building up to something, but my gosh, that ending hit me so darn hard this time around.

In the audio commentary, we had Jeremy Herbert, director and writer, Wolf Stahl, cowriter, and body double, and Morgan McLeod, the actor that played Dan Taylor in this short. 

SO cool that Jeremy Herbert was the writer and the director here. I loved learning about the settings where they filmed for this one! 

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The Special Features –

My two favorite special features were Teaser Trailer 1 and The Making of Deep In The Heart!

Teaser Trailer 1:
LOVED this! The music and the clip editing are just perfect.

The Making of Deep In The Heart:
THIS WAS SO COOL! I love getting a literal look at the behind-the-scenes. And the caves! What an awesome place to film. I loved seeing everyone’s reactions when getting to the caves for the first time. Hearing the actual dripping in the background of the scenes they were filming was so eerie!

Other special features included:

• Blooper Reel “You’ve Been Saved”
• Teaser Trailer 2
• Complete Home Video “Taylor Family Vacation ’93”
• Original Ending Montage with Restored HD Footage “Taylor Family Vacation ’93”
• Little Roman Pizza Commercial “Taylor Family Vacation ’93”
• Q&A Panel NYC Horror Film Festival
  

My Final Thoughts on the Worst Laid Plans Film Adaptation

This was such a blast to watch! The first short in the collection was my favorite. I loved it so much, as soon as it ended, I rewound and watched again immediately before continuing to the second short. Once I watched all three, I then rewatched with the audio commentary before diving into the other special features.

This was such a cool project! I’m so happy that I was able to donate to help make this a reality! If there’s a second round, I’m definitely here for it as I would love to see more of the shorts from the anthology adapted!

I highly recommend checking this out!

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