Zachary Leeman chats with Jack Reher about his new novel Rex’d: Welcome to Scholomance…
Jack Reher has graciously taken time to speak with us before about everything from how he became a screenwriter to the public release of his script for the PIN remake.
Now the writer finds himself filling some different shoes as a novelist. The work is titled Rex’d: Welcome to Scholomance and Reher had some interesting things to say about the throwback story to 80s genre films by everyone from Steven Spielberg to Joe Dante.
Check the conversation below out to get an idea about the book, its transition from script to novel and Reher’s fanboy love of everything 80s from Poltergeist to Gremlins.
Zachary Leeman: Tell me how Rex’d came together.
Jack Reher: Rex’d was originally a script I wrote. You know, it was at the tail end of last summer and after all the flicks and whatnot, I kept thinking that there just aren’t ANY cool genre kid’s flicks. There are only distinct tiers now… animated, YA, comic book films, horror films, R-rated comedies, and dramas. Now within those you can wiggle in the teen dramas, teen comedies, teen horror, and throw the rest of the crap in the kitchen sink. The independent films are a dime a dozen now, so many good ones, slipping through the cracks and landing on Netflix with little visibility. Yet we’re inundated with the behemoths like Amazing Spider-Man 2. And it flops. But back in the 80s, there were GEMS all the time. Smaller films with BIG concepts. GREMLINS. GHOSTBUSTERS. FERRIS BUELLER. FRIGHT NIGHT. Those four films right there cover the vast expanse of bad films we see today that have very little depth & substance to them. They were commentaries on society.
That’s where Rex’d came from. From inception to conception, the goal was to create a modern day 80’s throwback film that has heart and soul but set it in present day. Dealing with bullying. Loss of a parent. Transitioning to a new school, new friends, grief, first love, the intimidation of growing up-the future and then throwing in some monsters. Who doesn’t love classic monsters from literature? This is my nod to the old Amblin Films that Spielberg and Joe Dante used to make. FUN films that were scary and PG at the same time.
So I wrote the script. Got a few bites and people kept asking if it was based on a book…? It felt like that to them. So my manager pulled back on it, we shopped the concept to a publisher and they immediately signed on. Contracts being drawn up, awesome. But I’m not really a seasoned novelist… I had just gotten finished adapting Jon Bassoff’s critically acclaimed novel CORROSION for the screen that Mike Macari (The Ring, The Ring Two), Chris White (VHS: Viral, Small Town) are producing and I asked Jon if he’d be game to help steer the ship on adapting the script into a novel. A few weeks later, we had it done. The publisher quickly set the release date for August 18th 2014, right before Labor Day and back to school which was perfect timing. I guess now history with it is currently being written.
ZL: Is it hard to transition an idea from a potential film to a book?
JR: This is a tougher question because the blueprint for it was there with the feature screenplay. I think at one point, Bassoff was having me come up with more action and more scenes because we definitely had the leg room to stretch out and relax. The sense of urgency isn’t there. You can breathe a little. Not like with a script. But with Rex’d, what we’ve crafted is something unique. Jon and I discussed stuff we liked from the 80s. I keep saying he’s my brother from another mother. Like the old Choose Your Own Adventure Books. Loved those. Fast paced. Fun. Exciting. And the ORIGINAL Scooby Doo Mysteries.
ZL: What’s the story of Rex’d?
JR: Rex’d starts off at the top of the roller-coaster hill. It’s Halloween night. All hell is breaking loose in a sleepy little town called Scholomance (yes, a direct nod to Stoker’s Dracula) when a werewolf is attacking an ambulance on the way into the emergency bay of the hospital. The ER doc assigned that night is the dad of our protagonist, Rex, and in the middle of that opening chaos, he sees the werewolf scramble in after his son chasing him followed by a Dracula…
From there we flashback to earlier in the day. That morning to be exact where we meet Rex, waking up, seeing this kid in his yet to be unpacked home, still reeling from the loss of his mom, the transition to his new life in Scholomance and how he interacts with his dad. We get a real sense of this displaced soul, wanting a connection, mirroring what all of us do on a daily basis, trying to find a reason for his grief/loss and purpose in life. We track him at school that day, dealing with his unique cast of characters as teachers, many important literary referenced named-teachers/friends/towns people that will be crucial for further world building… Readers will understand this without spoiling it here… and then we come full circle to later that day/night when all hell breaks loose.
The book itself takes place over one day. Rex is fixated on his mother’s passing. He thinks there’s more to her death than meets the eye and WHY they are in that town… it has a little mystery. Rex and his best friend Macen along with their little posse are like the Hardy Monster Squad. In a good way. A scary way. Fun for adults, teens and kids. If you like The Breakfast Club and The Monster Squad, this is your mash.
ZL: You mention this book being influenced by 80s genre flicks aimed at teens and young adults. Go more into these influences for Rex’d.
JR: 80’s. 80’s. 80’s. Def Leopard. Ha. There you go. My ex-wife will love that. Def Leopard ROCKS. No but seriously, 80’s horror but the horror geared towards KIDS. I’m 36. I remember my folks saying ‘Hey look, it says here Poltergeist is produced by Steven Spielberg, director of E.T. and Indiana Jones… blah blah blah.” So me being six years old and watching the tree eat Robbie, then the clown dragging the kid under the bed… oh shit, that scared the crap out of me. But the film was PG. Gremlins same thing. But that was more fun scary. Dante killed it. Master stroke with that flick.
So with Rex’d, the goal was to create something FUN for KIDS and their PARENTS too without the boring, cliche, overdone YA template that we are becoming accustomed to lately. Hopefully, with all the easter eggs in there and all the literary references, it will get kids asking questions about Dracula, The Creature From the Black Lagoon – yeah, look out for Coach Reed in Rex’d, he loves making the kids swim laps… to the school psychologist – Dr. Victor Von…
I don’t want to spoil anymore.
ZL: What are the biggest reasons film fans, genre fans, etc. should read this book?
JR: If you like horror films, this is a total love letter to them. And if HALLOWEEN SEASON is your favorite, well, Rex’d takes place on this very holiday.
ZL: What are the hopes for the future of Rex’d? Sequels, film, etc.?
JR: Absolutely. Chris White (VHS: Viral, Small Town, Corrosion) is a producer on Rex’d. The script is currently out to a very, very, very shortlist of directors. This is a four-quadrant horror film. A freaking studio unicorn. This is the film that kids will be begging their parents to take them to.
ZL: What other projects do you have coming? What’s the status of movies like Endangered and Pin?
JR: Endangered’s title has been changed to GRIZZLY and the trailer is online. Billy Bob Thornton looks pretty badass in it. Not sure when it’s coming out yet. Go watch the trailer! PIN has lingered in development hell sadly. I just signed on to adapt IDW’s THE SHUNNED ONE based on Alan Robert’s new comic book for The Coalition Group – sister studio to Radical Pictures. And CORROSION is gearing up to shoot soon I hope. I just delivered a third draft based on the director’s notes and now they’re going out to cast. Right when I’m finished with The Shunned One, I’m re-teaming with Jon Bassoff to adapt his October release FACTORY TOWN which is getting a glowing reception right now from early reviews. The film will be wickedly dark.
You can purchase Rex’d: Welcome to Scholomance here.
Zachary Leeman
