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Day 4 Assignments
Reply to post your assignment.
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11 Replies
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What I learned doing this assignment is a quick way to establish a basic plot that can be elevated and changed later on as the story is fleshed out more. As noted, this format is easier to change outline points than go over 100 pages of script later on and try to make changes.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established – Christmas Eve – Krampus and Saint Nicholas try to check into the ski lodge without a reservation. The manger hassles them. He’s killed for his lack of customer service.
Connect with the characters – The ski resort guest meet up on the shuttle bus from the airport to the lodge.
The characters are warned not to do it. The sheriff warns the lodge staff and guest if they don’t leave now the Northeaster Blizzard will cut them off , snowed in for days.
Denial of Horror – Krampus and Saint Nicholas show up announcing the deadly white elephant gift exchange. It’s thought to be a cruel joke. Until…
Safety taken away – A guest – Mike – tries to leave the lodge to get help, opens the front door and tons drifted snow pours in. Saint Nicholas’s staff elongates across the room yanking the Mike around the neck and back inside. The lights flicker and power goes off. The ski lift down the mountain is dead.
Monster: The nature of the beast. – The gift exchange begins. The first guest opens their gift revealing the weapon of choice to be used on another guest of their choosing. Refusing will only mean self-imposed death.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Guest & staff try various places to hide & escape avoiding participating in the gift exchange. Krampus abducts guest – Ava – using torture blackmail to force the other guests to give up and come out of hiding – except Tina, she’s missing.
One of us killed – The gift exchange shifts from terror and torture to guest killing. Michael kills Tina – because she did not come out of hiding.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! – Krampus announces from this point out the gift exchange must result in death of the receiver. Then proceed to next round. No exceptions. Other guest can not interfere in the proceedings or be killed.
Full pursuit by the killer – Guest connive on ways to kill Krampus based on Reverend Gene’s knowledge of Pagans. The problem, Saint Nicholas has to go first. Nicholas is killed enraging Krampus.
Terrorized – Krampus proclaims no one shall survive now because of their act of treachery.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death – Guest are pared up for the next gift exchange round. Everyone got a gift now they can use on the other guest or staff. Keep going until one is left.
Hysteria – Staff and Guest are all over the lodge trying to kill or not be killed by others guest or staff. Survivors are whittled down in grizzly and terrifying ways as each gift specifies.
The thrilling escape from death – Ava escapes Saint Nicholas to roof top escape to the Ski Lift Shed. Finds a snow board and skies down the risky back country to safety.
Death returns to take one or more. – James and Michael are left arrived. Krampus kills James running him over with the snow groomer because Michael kill him with his gift.
Resolution Christmas Day – Krampus leaves with Michael riding away on the snow groomer.
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Claire’s Horror Plot
What I learned: This is fun. As I stop worrying about everything that I do not know and allow myself to just do the exercises and trust the process, more and more answers come to me. So much of the project is still unknown to me, but I am not letting that get in my way. I trust what I need to know will show up at the perfect time.
And I can change anything I want at any time. Nothing is set in stone. I’m already changing my characters and we only did that assignment yesterday. I’m shifting who is the main character and I’m changing their individual traits and their relationships as I see what fits best with my concept. I’ve also changed their names.
bold
CREATE YOUR PLOT.
1. Knowing your concept, fill in one or two sentences for each of the plot points.
CONCEPT: At an isolated farm, one by one, an evil ghost possesses the lesbian visitors and causes each to murder her own spouse. A timid psychology student must stop it before it possesses her or her wife.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
ATMOSPHERE OF EVIL ESTABLISHED
Prologue: 17<sup>th</sup> century Massachusetts. A Man burning a witch at the stake and a woman running through the woods to reach them and stop him.
CONNECT WITH THE CHARACTERS
We meet Diana and Maeve in their car. They are a loving couple. They stop on the road to help a woman who has a flat tire. Diana changes the tire and Maeve comforts the vulnerable woman.
Later they arrive at the farm and meet the other six women.
THE CHARACTERS ARE WARNED NOT TO DO IT.
Diana and Maeve tell the woman with the flat tire where they are going and she looks terrified. She tells them not to go. It’s dangerous. They think she means the old house is unsafe. No, it’s haunted. Forty years there was a murder suicide. A lesbian killed her lover and then killed herself.
DENIAL OF HORROR
They arrive at the house and tell the others. Sybil and Alison say nonsense. This place is beautiful. They invited the other six women to ask them to invest in their latest project, building a lesbian retreat on the land.
SAFETY TAKEN AWAY
No internet or cell phone service on the farm.
MONSTER: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST.
Another flashback to the 17<sup>th</sup> century where we find out more about the man who is killing a witch and the woman who is trying to stop it.
Weird things happening in the house. Seems haunted.
Caitlin says we should have a séance and ask who it is and what it wants. Sybil, her mentor in witchcraft says no. Caitlin says Sybil is afraid of her own power and defies Sybil. She holds the séance.
The spirit is an angry male and is possesses Caitlin.
Caitlin goes completely mad, acting like a lunatic and kills her lover, Libby. The rest of the women are horrified.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
ISOLATED / TRAPPED / ABDUCTED
Caitlin calms down and is completely horrified that she killed Libby. Wants to kill herself. They stop her and try to figure out what happened and what they should do. Call the police or no?
They decide to go for help, but the only bridge that takes them off the farm has collapsed.
Alison reveals she found stuff in the basement about the death of the two women in the 1980s, but did not want to spoil the weekend by telling them about it.
While Sybil and Alison try to console the inconsolable Caitlin, Maeve and Diana investigate the stuff in the basement.
They find a notebook left by the woman who killed her partner. She details how she was possessed by a man who killed his wife because she was a witch and had a female lover.
They are horrified. They hear screaming. The run upstairs to find Sybil is now possessed and kills her wife Alison.
Sybil goes completely mad and kills her wife Alison.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
Sybil comes out of it and is totally distressed that she killed Alison.
Maeve asks Sybil if she can remember anything from being possessed. She does not want to remember, too terrifying. Maeve asks her to try. We have to find a way to stop it.
She allows herself to remember. The spirit burnt his wife at the stake and now wants to force lesbians to kill their own loved ones. He finds great joy in the agony of the women who killed their lovers.
[Flashback to 17<sup>th</sup> century. The people we saw in the prologue. A woman runs in the woods. A man ties his wife to a stake. She begs him not to light the fire. Hang her r shoot her, please don’t burn me. He says you lay with another woman and lights the fire. His wife screams in agony. The other woman comes out of the woods and sees her burning and screams and runs to her. He grabs her and laughs with glee. She says, how can you laugh? She’s your wife. He smiles and says she is a witch and lay with you. Crying, the woman says she was not a witch. Then smiles and says, but I am and stabs him in the heart. As he dies, she curses him. His spirit will not be able to leave this farm.]
Maeve realizes it is possessing one woman in each couple and then killing that woman’s partner.
The four remaining women who were not either killed or possessed are totally freaked out. They look at each other. Regina, the comedian, gives her wife, Zora a creepy smile and Zora freaks out. Regina laughs. Only joking.
TERRORIZED
Regina and Zora go for a walk. Regina goes completely crazy and tries to attack Zora. Zora runs for her life. The other surviving women try to stop Regina. But she is terrifying and powerful. They cannot stop her and she murders Zora.
Caitlin is completely hysterical. Overwhelmed by the evil and bloodshed.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Maeve says we have to do something to prevent it from entering another woman. Sybil says to hold onto the power of love. How much you love your partner?
Maeve says no, how much you love your partner is what drives him crazy.
Maeve says just the power of love. They all meditate on the power of love.
FIGHT TO THE DEATH
Maeve starts to twitch uncontrollably. Diana is terrified. Sybil tells Maeve to hold on. She fights the spirit from within. Sybil does an exorcism.
HYSTERIA
The exorcism drives the spirit wild and Maeve does unnatural and terrifying things, like flying, vomiting bats, twisting her head around, etc. The spirit goes into Sybil and terrifies Diana and Maeve and laughs hysterically and jumps back into Maeve.
THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH
Maeve fights. She calls on the spirits of her mother and grandmother and great grandmother for help. She is able to get rid of the spirit.
They seem okay. They are happy. She is thrilled that she did not kill Maeve.
DEATH RETURNS TO TAKE ONE OR MORE.
The spirit possesses Diana and tries to kill Maeve. Maeve is totally freaked out. Does not want to hurt Diana but does not want to be killed.
Maeve runs back to the basement to read more about the spirit.
Flashback to the 17<sup>th</sup> century – the woman who was lovers with the man burning his wife is a witch. She kills him and curses his soul. He cannot leave the farm. He cannot go to heaven or hell
Maeve realizes she has to remove the curse. She can’t do it herself. She calls on the original witch to help her and she does.
Resolution
Five of them are still alive. They decide what to do.
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What I learned: How to put together a fairly detailed outline that allows for plenty of scares and deaths along the way. It helped me to flesh out the plot substantially.
Act 1 set up for horror
Atmosphere of Evil established
An extreme hiker walks through a very secluded area. He stops, looks up at the setting sun and sets up a camera on a tripod. He is clearly an extreme hiking vlogger and gives a report on his trip out here, literally hundreds of miles from the nearest living soul. He hears a noise that sounds like someone sniggering behind him. It freaks him out a bit, but he tries to look macho in front of the camera. Maybe I’m not alone! he says, trying to laugh it off. He walks towards the noise, after taking out a fairly large pocket knife. He steps onto something, which makes a slight clicking noise, then suddenly and swiftly, a huge mousetrap-style device whips onto him, pinning his body to the floor and decapitating him. His screams are cut off. After a few seconds, the body is dragged away by someone unseen.
Connect with the characters
We meet each set of couples one at a time, with jump scares in each scene. Celine and Bruno are first, they are having fairly raucous sex, but Bruno is the one who is into it, Celine is otherwise distracted. Time to go.
The next couple is Shania and Aubrey. They are also having sex, but it is quite dull. They have clearly been together for some time. Aubrey is complaining about the trip, he really doesn’t want to go. He tells her he is about to come and she says OK, let’s get it over with. There is a car horn and they both scramble up. I can’t believe Bruno is actually on time. They go down to the car and are both shocked to see Celine. Bruno jokes around, isn’t it great? Celine was able to come! Shania says that’s more than I can manage.
The last couple is Justin and Brittany. They are also having sex which is extremely amusing. They are both really into it. We’d better get going. Don’t worry, Bruno’s always late. They hear the car horn. Seriously? He looks out of the window and sees Celine. Shit. Neither are happy about this. Justin has a chat with Bruno, Bruno calms him down, it will be great. She’s over you man. She’s just using you to get to me, you know that right? With that body she can use me to get to anybody.
The characters are warned not to do it.
On the way to the remote cabin, they start to get very low on gas. Bruno pulls over to a house where a guy is watering his lawn. The guy nods at them and Bruno asks if he might have some gas going spare. The guy says are you serious? He points to the huge gasoline truck parked next to his house. Cool! They chat as he fills some gas into a barrel. Asks them where they’re heading. Let me give you some extra to take – you don’t want to run out of gas if you’re heading that way. Whatever you do, don’t leave the man road. And don’t go west. Why? People have disappeared out there. Strange things happen. One guy went there just a few weeks ago. Lost his reading glasses. Daisy Johnson headed out there to do some oil painting. Got a sunburn. Just stay away.
Denial of Horror
After the car crashes and Bruno disappears, the survivors hope that he’s just gone for help. But Justin takes a look at the tires and sees that they seem to be punctured. But when they look for what might have caused it, there’s nothing. Why would anyone do that? It must have just been an accident. Most of them know this is not the case but they are in some denial all the same – the alternative is too horrific to accept. Their denials are ridiculous.
Safety taken away
The car is a write-off and there is no cell phone service at all. They are completely lost and with no means of returning to civilization.
Monster: The nature of the beast
When Aubrey goes hunting for water, he almost gets killed in a fiendish trap. He excaspes with just a minor flesh wound, which makes him even more of a whining annoyance. The friends realize that they are being hunted, though Shania still won’t accept it.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
Justin, the erstwhile leader, decides to be all macho and go off in search of food. He has a harpoon gun and sets off looking for “a deer or something”. Brittany and Celine go with him, Shania stays with Aubrey.
One of us killed
Brittany and Celine are arguing behind Justin, Celine insinuating that Brittany stole Justin from her. Justin turns around, annoyed with all this bickering and asks them to shut up. As he turns around, he walks backwards, trips a wire and as he turns around, an axe swings down from the tree above him and splits his head in two. As he falls back, he fires the harpoon into the air. The two women stare at Justin for a moment, stunned, not believing what they’ve just seen. Suddenly, the harpoon comes back to earth, landing in Justin’s chest. The two women scream.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
The two women decide to leave Justin there and head back to the camp, after picking up his harpoon gun and wrenching the harpoon out of him. They are both horrified and Celine blames Brittany for everything, she just won’t stop bickering. Brittany brushes past a bush which sets off another trap but trips and falls just in time. Five arrows all whistle over her, all coming from different directions, missing her by inches. That was close. There is a scream behind her – Celine has been hit by an arrow – clean through her breast.
Terrorized
They get back to the camp and tell Shania and Aubrey about what happened. There is general panic, especially from Aubrey, while Shania tries to convince them these are probably just some animal traps set by hunters. Celine points to her breast arrow and asks if this looks like the work of a hunter.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death
They pull out Celine’s arrow and patch her up. They loot the car for anything that might protect them. Aubrey has a BB gun, Celine has a pair of tweezers, Brittany has the harpoon gun and a large hunting knife she found in Justin’s bag. Shania has a colt .45. They rest up for the night. A figure lurks in the camp, it could easily kill them but doesn’t. We only see its shadow. As it walks away, it snaps a twig. Quick as a flash, Brittany sits up and fires a few shots into the dark. There seem to be two cries of pain. “I got the bastard!” the others wake up really quickly. Aubrey limps back to the camp, having taken a bullet in the leg. He had gone behind a bush for a pee. But he did see a shadowy figure get shot. He didn’t go down, but he took a bullet.
Hysteria
In the morning, the campers decide to take the fight to this bastard. Armed as well as they can be, they follow the blood trail left by the killer. They trail dries up, but they see smoke and come to a very dilapidated house. Three small, ragged-looking children play in the yard with a gun. One of them waves it around and accidentally misses one of the other kids. “Don’t go shooting my other ear off, Annie!” she cries. At the sound of the gunshot, a young woman comes out of the house, angry and afraid, shouts at the kids to stop playing with guns. She stops when she sees the strangers. They ask if she has seen someone come by with a wound – they tell her they are being hunted. She shakes her head, but says there are a lot of hunters out these parts, but I ain’t seen nobody for weeks. They leave.
She goes inside where Lonnie is lying on the couch, while his brother sews up his arm. The sister, Vickie, is furious and accuses Lonnie of killing people. He claims they was carrion, honest. If they happen on my bear traps, then that’s not my fault. They have a big argument and Earl the older brother makes him swear he will stay away from them.
The thrilling escape from death
On the way back to the camp, two of the women fall into traps: Brittany and Celine. Shania prevents Celine from being killed, though she is maimed (again) and Brittany miraculously survives although her leg is snapped in two.
Death returns to take one or more.
Aubrey says fuck this and runs away, straight into another trap and instant death.
Resolution
Brittany has a plan. Later that evening, Lonnie comes along the track where they all got trapped and finds Aubrey still stuck in the trap, his face contorted in a bloody, comical mess. As he tries to drag Aubrey’s body away, he is shot by a bullet and the harpoon by the women who are all in hiding. He manages to get away, but is bleeding badly.
He leads them into some covered woods and Brittany almost falls into a trap, but teeters on the edge, trying not to fall in. Celine pushes her in. Shania shoots Celine, in the other breast, and she runs away. Shania helps Brittany out of the trap, who is unbelievably still alive, but this time with her arm snapped in two.
They come across Celine and Lonnie fighting. Lonnie is badly shot up with one arm useless, while Celine is bleeding from both breasts. Lonnie pulls out his machete and guts Celine.
He sees the other two women and comes after them. Brittany can’t do much but Shania shoots him twice before running out of bullets. Lonnie keeps coming and hits Shania, knocking her to the ground. He stands over her, raises his machete, about to deliver the final blow when she summons all her strength and kicks him in the balls. He falls to the floor, she kneels on her god leg, lifts up the machete and is about to plunge it into him when a gunshot goes off. It is Lonnie’s brother and sister, with crazy feral kids in tow. He won’t bother you no more, we’ll make sure of that. We’re not bad people. Lonnie just likes to bend the rules a little.
He tells them to follow a trail that will lead them to a main road. Shania, her head covered in blood and Brittany, limping on one good leg, slowly make their way to the road and finally manage to flag down a car. As they tell the driver what happened, a beaten-up pickup truck slowly drives in the other direction. They see the three siblings in the front and a very large freezer on the back.
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With this lesson I learned of a great, easy to use map for outlining a horror movie that helps make sure we hit all the dramatic points necessary to keep building tension and escalating the terror and death while revealing the monster.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established
A fire chief is trapped in a burning building trying to save a family, but he is unable to save them and must watch them die while he slowly burns to death.Connect with the characters
First day at the new office of Haven Development. The CEO welcomes everyone to the new office – the VP, Marketing Manager, Architect, Builder and Assistant.The characters are warned not to do it.
The Architect is concerned that certain elements of the building are not to spec with his plans.Denial of Horror
The Builder says everything is fine and ready. The Marketing Manager is skeptical but puts a positive spin on it.Safety taken away
The elevator is not working, and the stairwell was just painted, so they must stay in the office. The maintenance man gets to work on the elevator.Monster: The nature of the beast.
The security guard smells smoke, and discovers that the alarm system and communications have been charred. He joins the other characters to tell them about the problem and to evacuate.ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
They head down the painted stairway, but the fire breaks out and blocks their way. They try another stairwell, but it is also blocked. The elevator is still not functioning.One of us killed
The Builder suggests they climb through the air vent to get out, but no one will go with him. He goes alone and he gets trapped in the duct, where the fire slowly burns him to death and we see it’s “human” form for the first time. The duct collapses and his charred body falls to the ground for the others to see..MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
The janitor gets the elevator working and they all try to escape, but the fire burns the cable and the car halts. They manage to escape but the fire comes into the car and pulls the VP out of it to kill her. The rest of them escape onto the nearest floor.Terrorized
The fire now erupts into the hallway and they all flee to get away, one by one they are trapped and killed, the loner, the marketing director and then the CEO.ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the deathThe security guard manages to hold off the fire with a fire hose, but the water can’t kill it, and the fire burns him to a crisp – he is in so much pain that he shoots himself in the head.
Hysteria
The assistant has a breakdown, but the Janitor consoles her. They come up with a plan to defeat the fire creature.The thrilling escape from death
The janitor and assistant work together to defeat the fire just in time by creating a vacuum that deprives it of air.Death returns to take one or more.
But at the last minute, the fire flares up and kills the Janitor. The assistant is spared.Resolution
The fire marshal determines the building was built shoddily, and the same thing happened in a fire several years ago in which the fire chief perished.-
This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Gregg Guest.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by
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Madeleine Vessel’s Horror Plot
What I learned doing this assignment is I can make headway with my plot by using the plot track even if I don’t yet have all the answers. Still not sure how my story will resolve.
Create your plot.
1. Knowing your concept, fill in one or two sentences for each of the plot points.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: Story opens at a birthday party where twelve-year-old girls are playing with a ouija board and reading the answer to one girl’s question, “When will I die?”<div>
<div>Connect with the characters: Kathryn and Mallory are best friends. Kathryn comforts Mallory when she learns from the Ouija board that she will die before her next birthday, which is the next day.
Introduce Max, the ghostly antagonist, friends Kathryn and Mallory, old lady Setter, who owns the rickety, old house the girls shelter in, even though they’ve been warned by others not to go near that house.
Once inside the house, Kathryn and Mallory can’t get out. They blame it on wood swelling around the doors,But then, they meet Max, who is clearly a malevolent ghost, who wants to hold them in the house against their will.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
The girls are isolated and trapped in the house by Max. No lights turn on. They are in the dark until they find a way to light a candle. </div>
Mallory becomes ill. She’s afraid she will die in that horrible house and that her parents will never know what happened to her. “It’s all my fault!”
<div>
MIDPOINT: The ghost introduces himself and tells them they will die unless they can find his bones buried in the basement.
Under his threats, the girls start digging in the basement. Mallory gets weaker and weaker.</div><div>
</div><div>They find bones, but their discovery and the girls’ subsequent prayers over them doesn’t free Max.
Having failed to win his freedom, he loses his temper and rages around.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Mallory collapses. She’s struggling to stay alive. </div>
Max is confused. He believed he would be freed from his ghostly existence if he could find his bones. But then he realizes the bones are not his. Someone else is buried there.
Kathryn starts a conversation with Max. She tries to find out what happened to him.
Max stops threatening the girls and tells them what he knows. It feels like he’s going to befriend them, perhaps even unlock the doors of the house for them.
But then Mallory takes a turn for the worse. She gives up hope. Kathryn goes to comfort her.This causes the ghost to rage. He tells the girls they’ll never get out. He’s got a terrible fate in store for them.
Suddenly, other ghosts of other children come out of the woodwork. They are all raging, throwing things threatening.
Kathryn and Mallory huddle together terrified. But then a key turns in the lock of the front door. old lady Setter has returned early. All the doors unlock. Without old lady seeing her, Kathryn drags Mallory outside to safety and calls 911.
The ghosts of the boy and other children can be seen peering out the windows watching Kathryn and Mallory. When old lady Setter enters and turns on the lights, everything is put back to right. No one would know the girls were inside. But we know the ghosts of the boy and others are still there.
</div>
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MICAH’S HORROR PLOT
What I learned doing this assignment is sometimes you gotta hate-fuck your way through the beats or else you’ll never get anything done.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: Kay tells an amusing story as part of his standup that involves someone dying in a gruesome freak accident (we see this play out).
Connect with the characters: Barry arrives at the hotel to get his daughter; other guests come out to see what’s going on
The characters are warned not to do it: some people near to Barry are injured
Denial of Horror: Barry dismisses all the strange occurrences as freak accidents
Safety taken away: Garret’s pacemaker fails and he has a heart attack
Monster: The nature of the beast: a series of accidents prevent the characters from being able to leave
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: The elevator is broken and the stairs collapse
One of us killed: a freak accident kills Tulip
MIDPOINT — THE MONSTER IS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT
Full pursuit by the killer: accidents occur in rapid succession; Barry sees the Jinx in the mirror and realizes he’s the cause of it all
Terrorized: the range of the Jinx’s influence expands and the accidents become more intense
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: an earthquake hits and the building starts to collapse
Hysteria: Eve goes into labor; Barry locks himself in a room and attempts to kill himself
The thrilling escape from death: firefighters arrive to rescue the survivors via ladder; but there is no window in the room furthest from Barry, and so they must venture into the field of danger to be rescued.
Death returns to take one or more: June returns to save her father, thinking she can’t die so long as she’s with him. But the Jinx manages to separate them.
Resolution: Once
they make it outside, a flying piece of debris(?) comes flying at June. Barry
throws himself in front of the debris at the last second, sacrificing himself
for his daughter and defeating the Jinx. -
Julian’s Horror Plot
What I learned doing this assignment is what characters can be combined to streamline the plot.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: FLASHBACK to murder of Gold Miner and his family. His angry spirit torments his murderers until they die. Priest and local Shaman trap spirit inside the mine.<div>
Connect with the characters: Meet the campers (Family, young couple) before their campground is invaded by Internet Celeb and his followers that are going to spend the night in a haunted mine. Only a few of them are outdoorsy, most are city kids.
The characters are warned not to do it: Dad of the family learns what the group is there to do and warns against it. Abandoned mines are dangerous, and tells his kids to stay away from them.
Denial of Horror: When some start to consider the warning, Internet Celeb laughs and dares his followers to go with him or he will out them as scared babies.
Safety taken away: They open the mine, and toss aside the Talisman that was keeping the ghost trapped inside. An ominous noise and wind blast hits them when it is released.
Monster: The nature of the beast: Inside the mine, the group comes across the bones of the first victims of the Ghost Gold Miner.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: The entrance to the mine collapses, trapping everyone inside.</div>
One of us killed: Internet Celeb’s girlfriend is first to be attacked and murdered by ghost, sending everyone scattering through the mine.
<div>
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!: They realize ghost can kill them.
Full pursuit by the killer: The ghost chases people through mine and brutally kills several. </div><div>
Terrorized: Father realizes his kids are trapped inside mine with people getting murdered. / Internet Celeb barely escapes death by sacrificing others.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: Kids of the family fight back against the ghost and get hurt, but are still alive.</div>
Hysteria: The survivors group together, trapped in the furthest reaches of the mine, and discover the bones of what used to be the Gold Miner.
The thrilling escape from death: Father of family unblocks collapsed mine entrance and goes after kids. The group is able to escape.
Death returns to take one or more: The ghost is able to follow them outside, and all are pursued through the woods again, killing a few more.
Resolution: Kid remembers the Talisman on the mine entrance, and with Father’s help, puts it back and traps the ghost again.
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Kevin Mann’s Horror Plot<o:p></o:p>
What I learned doing this assignment is there is a set way to build suspense and get the audience involved with the characters. This way of plotting gives you a good foundation on which to build your script.<o:p></o:p>
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR<o:p></o:p>
Atmosphere of Evil established– Start in the middle of a salvation arena gauntlet. Two characters fight to the death, and one emerges.<div><o:p></o:p>
Connect with the characters– We introduce the characters as they all publicly pretend to go along with the government, but we find out that they are anti-government as they are all part of a dark web subversive group.
<o:p></o:p>The characters are warned not to do it.-Through the web group, they decide to meet IRL. One of the characters refuses to meet and warns the others it can only end badly.
<o:p></o:p>Denial of Horror-The remaining members are confident that they have been careful and that they will not be caught.
<o:p></o:p>Safety taken away– When they meet, Jessica follows her father unknowingly leading The Admonition’s Gestapo, who were alerted by an unknown character, to the meeting place.
<o:p></o:p>Monster: The nature of the beast.-The Gestapo traps them. We find out the two people from the first scene used to run the group and gave everyone else up.
<o:p></o:p>ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
<o:p></o:p>Isolated / Trapped / Abducted– They are all captured and taken to The Admonition’s headquarters.
<o:p></o:p>One of us killed-The character who did not attend the meet-up is dragged out and killed in front of everyone.
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MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!<o:p></o:p>
Full pursuit by the killer-Each of the group is given a chance to go straight to conversion therapy by a member of The Admonition.</div><div><o:p></o:p>
Terrorized-They are shown past salvation arena participants who end up being people that some of the group knew. They are forced to watch as these other people are killed in horrible ways
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ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR<o:p></o:p>
Fight to the death-The people in the group who do not choose to go straight into conversion are put into the salvation arena.</div>
Hysteria-The arena’s survivors are put into conversion therapy and fight to keep their identities.
<o:p></o:p>The thrilling escape from death-The characters who come out of therapy think they are safe.
<o:p></o:p>Death returns to take one or more.-One of the characters has not been converted, they slip up and are murdered.
<o:p></o:p>Resolution-One of the remaining characters is seen starting a new underground dark web group.
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Sie Khalil — Horror Plot — #4
What I Learned: I don’t like outlines. However, this work forced me to look at the whole overall picture and try to make it all make more sense. A string line filled with more continuity.
Concept: Two brothers seek revenge on the men that hurt/killed their father and force them to pay the ultimate price.
Act 1
Establish Evil: The horror comes from both sides: the hunted and the hunter. Two members of the KKK beat and hang a couple of young black men. While in the process, they are spotted by our two brother’s father. They shoot him as he tries to run off. He is left for dead. The two brothers spot a man hunting in the territory; they throw an axe that splits his head in half.
Connect Characters: Willy and Josh at home having dinner with their family. They seem like a well-adjusted happy family.
Characters Warned: The young eager Josh is trying to make a name for himself and is warned not to kill so close to home; it causes too much heat in their backyard.
Denial: Josh scoffs at the idea that they will be found out or that there would even be any consequences, since the sheriff is part of the clan.
Safety Taken Away: The bodies of the two young black men are cut down and in their place Mark’s body swings.
Nature of Beast: After Mark’s body is discovered, the clan go on the war path, falling right into the brothers’ trap.
Act 2
Isolated: The clan calls a meeting of all their members. They meet at their special place deep in the woods. It is there that the monster brothers strike.
Killed: As they leave the cabin to find Mark’s killer, Willy’s head is severed from his body in full view of his clan. They retreat in fear to the safety of their cabin.
Full Pursuit: One by one, each member of the clan is killed in a variety of horrible ways.
Terrorized: The terror they have inflicted comes back to bite them in the ass. Death comes calling and there is no chance for them to escape.
Act 3
Fight to Death: They set out to escape in pairs and fight their way back home. Blood soaks the forest.
Hysteria: Several end up back at the cabin after they try to escape. They devise another plan for escape.
Thrilling Escape: After everyone is killed and the only ones left are Josh and the sheriff, the brothers toy with them and force them back into the same area they found their father barely alive.
Resolution: Josh is forced to watch as the sheriff is sliced in half. Josh is hysterical. The brothers take his wallet and then point the way out of the forest. He begins to run, only to fall into a bear trap. Josh falls next to a sleeping bear. The bear opens his eyes. We pull away and hear the eye piercing screams as Josh is being eaten alive.
Wait: It’s not over. The brothers appear outside of Willy and Josh’s home.
The end.
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What I learned doing this assignment:
I learned that outlining a story gives the writer an objectivity that is often missing when the story is written sequentially. When writing sequentially, without an outline, the writer is more of an active participant in the story than its objective creator. If changes need to be made to the story, it’s harder for a passionate participant to make those changes than an unbiased, objective writer.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established.
A thunderstorm rages along the coast. Thunder booms as lightning streaks across the night sky. A sailboat capsizes by a reef. Its two occupants, knocked into the choppy water, swim wildly to the water’s edge. They reach craggy rocks and cling to them. Waves threaten to pull them back into the chaotic sea. They climb onto a rocky recess. Looking up, they smile in relief. A figure in a slicker and goggles stands over them. Their relief turns to horror. The wet blade of a raised axe glistens in a flash of lightning. The axe wheels repeatedly. The rocky incline becomes a lagoon of blood meshed with seaweed and body parts.
Connect with the characters.
Days later: A professor recaps an overnight assignment to a small group of graduate students in a cabin on a remote island. By eight o’clock the next morning, the students are to come to an agreement as a group as to which one of them has the most potential to be a murderer. During discussion, the students’ character traits and motivations are evident.
The characters are warned not to do it.
Although the professor claims that the assignment is a “fun” group effort for a pass or fail grade, the students are uneasy. Their gut instincts are at odds with the gruesomeness of the task, its overnight timing, and the isolated location.
Denial of Horror.
Eventually, the students shrug off any misgivings. They suppress their initial uneasiness, replacing it with boredom, exasperation, and complacency.
Safety taken away.
To help ensure focus on the assignment, the students must leave on the mainland all means of communication, such as cell phones, laptops, and tablets.
The assignment takes place overnight. Therefore, the students are deprived of sleep, daytime vision, and nature’s bright ambience. They’re forced into an unnatural state of wakefulness at a time when their bodies crave sleep.
The students discover that the emergency flares stored in a shed are missing and that their safety boat is scuttled.
Monster: The nature of the beast.
The first graduate student is butchered. Although traumatized by the mutilated body, the group rationalizes the death as a revenge killing by a spurned lover. The second death supports their suspicion that the jilted lover is the killer. The third and fourth deaths are explained away as red herrings done by the suspected killer to sabotage their accusation. The fifth death blows apart their reasoning. The reality of the horror sinks in. The killings are not crimes of passion or logic.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted.
Eight graduate students are isolated and trapped on a remote island at night. They have no means of escape and no way to seek help.
One of us killed.
The students rationalize the first four grisly killings. They’re convinced that one of them killed two students for revenge and then two others to distract the rest of them from their accusation. With this rationale in mind, the remaining students fear that all of them could become victims of the suspected killer. When this theory is shattered, their fright escalates into absolute terror.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer.
Camouflaged by shadows, bushes, trees and nightfall, the monster/villain stalks the victims one by one, then confronts and kills them mercilessly. Seen only by the victims (and audience), the killer hunts its prey while wielding an axe and wearing a blood-splattered slicker and goggles. At first sight of the killer, the victims know their fate. Despite frantic efforts to escape, they are doomed.
Terrorized.
The students initially suspect that a spurned lover killed two students for revenge and then two others to undermine the group’s accusation as to who the killer is. When their theory is disproved, the surviving students are petrified. They realize that they’re dealing with an unknown entity, a demonic maniac bent on butchering them. Convinced that they’re helpless to stop the slaughter, their fear escalates into unquenchable terror.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death.
Each confrontation with the killer concludes with the victim’s death. The killer wields an axe to butcher and then mutilate the victims. When there are three students left, two of them turn on each other, each suspecting the other of being the monster/villain. They battle fiercely. Both die at the hands of the other.
Hysteria
Hysteria permeates the events, first with two victims who die at the hands of the killer after their boat is capsized, then ratcheting up with each subsequent student-victim upon attack, then catapulting when the remaining members of the group realize that they are dealing with a demonic maniac bent on their slaughter, and finally sling-shotting to extreme terror when the true monster/villain is revealed to the last student.
The thrilling escape from death.
Upon the demise of the last two other students – after their fight to their deaths – the final remaining student collapses, numbed by the insane terror experienced by all. Not sure which of the two dead students was actually the killer, the last student staggers down the hillside, then stumbles across the missing emergency flares hidden in a rock’s crevice. The student lights one of the flares, and then heads toward the dock with plans to meet the emergency boat upon its arrival.
Death returns to take one or more.
On the way to the dock, in the early morning sunlight, the student meets up with the lighthouse keeper, who is preoccupied with untying his boat from a post in an inlet. The student, still in shock, is barely able to speak. The lighthouse keeper warmly explains that he saw the flare while he was on his way to the island to check on the group, which explains his fast arrival, but had accidentally bypassed the dock and disembarked in the inlet instead. After boarding the boat and heading for the mainland, the student, still traumatized, finally blurts out to the lighthouse keeper the overnight events. He tries to calm the student, then says he’ll get a sedative from the boat’s medicine cabinet.
While he’s gone, the student spots blood-stained goggles on the deck of the boat. This strikes the student as odd. The student rises and looks down into the galley of the boat. The lighthouse keeper, unaware that he’s being seen, is donning a blood-splattered slicker and reaching for a bloody axe. The student hides beside the doorway to the galley. When the lighthouse keeper ascends the stairs and reaches the top deck, the student slams him with an ore and, after a harrowing fight, knocks him off the boat into the water. The student grabs the dropped axe and wields it at the lighthouse keeper each time he tries to get back into the boat.
An hour later: A large boat, with the professor on board, approaches the lighthouse keeper’s boat in the middle of the bay. The student is seen wildly swinging the axe in erratic, frantic circles on the deck. The lighthouse keeper is nowhere to be seen.
Resolution.
One month later: In an asylum, a panel of doctors hypothesize on what had occurred on the island. They determine that the confined, bedridden student was not the killer of the other students. Instead, in the ensuing investigation, it had been learned that the missing lighthouse keeper had a mysterious past that had somehow infused itself with the lives of lost souls who had died on the reefs near the lighthouse, dead souls that were incensed by their tragic, premature deaths and that were insanely jealous of living beings. The doctors conjecture that the lighthouse keeper, presumed drowned, was likely the true killer. They agree that the traumatized student, upon complete recovery, should be released into the public again and is not a threat to anyone.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Kathryn Gerow.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by
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Tom Wilson’s Horror Plot
What I learned doing this assignment is it’s easy to get a bird’s eye view of the entire structure at once.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR
HORROR· Atmosphere of Evil established – Sanitation scientist says she’s never seen this before
· Connect with the characters – Two households connect but don’t admit each of them has been attacked by Monster
· The characters are warned not to do it – Scientist warns Mark who has a shotgun from what she’s seen, it’ll do no good.
· Denial of Horror – Each tells scientist they’re not sure it wasn’t just a dream
· Safety taken away – the rent-a-cop agency they all use abruptly closes closes down
· Monster: The nature of the beast – The “Detective” says the same thing happened here 20 years ago to the day—shows graphic photos.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
· Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Cops see no evidence they should protect them. Armed son in law moves in.
· One of us killed – Next morning son in law is found butchered
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than
we thought!· Full pursuit by the killer – Monster harvests the mail carrier leaving no trace. Cops will only issue a missing person alert.
· Terrorized – Group hides anywhere they can. Monster finds em and kills em.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
· Fight to the death – In 2 of the 3 homes the monster wins and kills everyone.
· Hysteria – There’s screaming, crying & shaking at all three locations
· The thrilling escape from death — over and over characters escape but then are caught and eaten
· Death returns to take one or more — All three lose yet another person
· Resolution — Lone survivor is traumatized for life
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Tom Wilson.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by
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