B'Twixt Now And Sunrise (aka Twixt) (2011)

A struggling supernatural fiction writer (Val Kilmer) arrives in an isolated small town as part of a book tour. It is there that he hears the local folklore of vampires and an infamous mass murder that occurred many years ago which he intends to use as inspiration for his next book. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (THE GODFATHER). This slipped under the radar film may be the least seen of Coppola's output. Outside of film festivals, Coppola's film was never theatrically released in the U.S. and its reviews were negative but it did play in Europe where it received favorable reviews especially in France. Cahiers Du Cinema named it the third best film of 2012. Coppola recut the film sometime later and his "director's cut" (he cut 8 minutes out of it and gave it a different ending) is the version I saw. I give it an A for style but a C (and I'm being generous here) for the botched narrative. The plot seemed to have so much potential but Coppola couldn't find a satisfying conclusion and it's ending is a real groaner (the original ending sounded much more interesting). Also, Bruce Dern as a wacky small town sheriff who writes thrillers seems out of place in this version. I did like Mihal Malaimare's (THE MASTER) evocative cinematography during the dream sequences which are shot in a silvery blue hue with only red standing out. I'll call it an interesting failure and leave it at that. With Elle Fanning, Ben Chaplin (as Edgar Allan Poe), Alden Ehrenreich, David Paymer and Joanne Whalley (Kilmer's ex-wife) as his money grubbing wife.