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Lesson 5
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Tony J’s BLOODSTREAM: HORROR SITUATION TRACK
What I learned is that this is very hard. I learned how to track the ups and downs and I hope I am doing this right.
ACT 1 SET UP FOR HORROR
· ATMOSPHERE OF EVIL ESTABLISHED:
The Opening scene cuts between the two settings. The lone person reading a eulogy at a wake service at a funeral parlor then cut to a dead body, drained of blood and prune like in appearance, being dragged away by its leg from a group of 6-8 empty surgical type bondage chairs. The person reading the eulogy is dressed the same as the body being dragged. It’s the same person.
10 YEARS LATER:
· CONNECT WITH THE CHARACTERS:
HORROR SITUATION:
The elevator they normally use to go to the tenth floor stops on floor six and thereby forced off the elevator to an adjoining building’s bridge detour and have to take a different elevator. Things really become harry when after pressing the up button it takes them straight down to an unlit, seemingly unsafe garage level.
REACTION:
Each group member tries to hurry back to the elevator before the doors close but is apprehended by the monster.
HORROR SITUATION:
One of the group decides to try not getting back on the elevator and heads for the daylight he sees. A chase pursues and just as he thinks he’s made it to the entrance the Monster’s assistant grabs him.
REACTION:
The victim runs and tries to hide under a car. When he thinks the coast is clear he runs for the entrance screaming and yelling for help but is caught.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
· ISOLATED/TRAPPED/ABDUCTED:
Each group member awakes in turn to discover they are in a dungeon type basement strapped to medical procedure type chairs and cannot move. They discover each other and the surroundings and begin the hallucinations back and forth from the basement to the funeral parlor. The discoveries continue until the monster begins to make mistakes. The group notices that the hallucinations happen in two phases. The first phase has the group returning to find the eulogy speaker asleep or unconscious and after returning the second time the eulogy reader is missing and or replaced with a new captive.
HORROR SITUATION:
Everyone who is shackled is screaming for help and trying to break free from the chairs.
REACTION:
The clock buzzes and begins the first LSD type trip to the funeral parlor for the first wake ceremony. They all file into the parlor passing by the funeral director/ monster and closed coffin before sitting. One of the group members stands and walks to the front to speak kindly of the departed.
HORROR SITUATION:
The group returns from the funeral parlor setting to find that one person of the group is unconscious and the group is unaware of anything. NOTE: The group is unaware that they have been asleep and don’t remember anything from the wake service.
REACTION:
They try to wake the group member up to ask if she knows anything. She never wakes up.
HORROR SITUATION:
The group returns to the funeral parlor, unable to move or speak except for the speaker. They watch as the speaker leaves the parlor of her own free will however they are still unable to move.
REACTION:
As the group returns to the basement they notice that the speaker is no longer among them. Her chair is empty. DENIAL- Not everyone in the group remembers the person. There is some denial that the chair was occupied. TRY TO SOLVE- They try to devise a plan to figure out what happened to her.
Rinse and repeat a few times until there are only four group members remaining. Each time they notice a member asleep when everyone else is awake but still no answers.
HORROR SITUATION:
They begin to notice that the clock is also a timer. One of them figures out that they are losing time. They begin to realize that they are missing 15-20 minutes every half an hour and that somehow the group is getting smaller. They hear chopping from a different room in the basement.
REACTION:
They agree to pay more attention to the time and each other. They figure out the time sequence and one of them notices a shoelace is untied. How? One of them remembers images from the funeral parlor. They all agree that they are like in two different places. They scream when they hear monster assistant mutilating a corpse.
HORROR SITUATION:
One of them notices that he has a free hand during the wake at the funeral parlor and is shocked. Back at the basement the monster’s assistant is moving the chairs and accidentally loosens the wrist strap on one of them.
REACTION:
ESCAPE ATTEMPT- Back in the basement one of them is able to free his hands from the strap. He knows that this is at the halfway phase and now is the time to escape.
HORROR SITUATION:
The group returns in time to observe the monster’s assistant securing the loose member to his chair.
REACTION:
What the group now thinks is the actual monster in charge is exposed. The assistant hones in on one of the group and makes it obvious his feelings for him/her. The group later realizes that they have a weapon to use to their advantage. Too late the buzzer sounds. He’s unconscious again. When they return he is fully bound again. But something has changed. The assistant is standing in front of the love interest fascinated. She/he flirts in return.
HORROR SITUATION:
The real monster calls to his assistant and startles the group.
REACTION:
They are all confused and decide that this flirty thing is their way out. The assistant no longer hides himself behind the walls and curtain when the buzzer sounds. He presses the remote as they look. The partially freed member remembers more images from the funeral parlor and shares what he remembers.
HORROR SITUATION:
Because of the mistake with the wrist strap the monster makes a mistake with the LSD mix and forgets to include the LSD mix in two of the group member’s saline I.V. drip. One of the two secretly awake coughs slightly but enough to make the monster aware that something is wrong. The monster tries to figure out who is awake before the buzzer sounds. The buzzer sounds as the monster approaches one of them but has to forego it because of the buzzer.
REACTION:
The two members play possum and witness everything the monster and his assistant do during the 15-20 minute trip including the final death and removal of the speaker. The monster sinks his teeth into the victim’s neck and drains any remaining blood.
· MONSTER:
Not the monster but the monster’s assistant chopping off body parts from the body that we saw dragged away in the opening scene. NOTE: They reposition each group after each one is taken away. The person speaking at the wake is removed.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
· FIGHT TO THE DEATH:
The potion begins to lose its power over the group. No more trips to the funeral parlor. There are four remaining in the group.
HORROR SITUATION:
The straps begin to get loose enough for the two woke victims to free their hands and then their feet. One tries to free the wrist band on another but can’t. He wants to stay with the other one who is set on finding a way out.
REACTION:
The two left of the group members beg to be released but they are ignored. They both selfishly take off for what they think is freedom only to become lost and hunted in the monster’s house of horrors. It seems it’s every man for himself. They both find a basement window that leads to outside but the window is too high. Only one can escape.
HORROR SITUATION:
The monster and his assistant enter into the chair room and notice that two group members have escaped.
REACTION:
The monster takes off after them while the assistant inspects the two remaining members and scares them.
HORROR SITUATION:
One boosts the other to the window just as the monster finds them. He subdues the one and tries to subdue the other but he manages to scrape himself through the window. He turns to look back as the monster snaps the other’s neck.
REACTION:
The monster hears the doorbell ring to his house. The escaped group member watches from the bushes.
· HYSTERIA:
As they become free the other two still bound become hysterical, screaming, yelling for help, crying to be freed next.
The two decide to make a run for it hoping to find a way to escape.
THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH
· The now dead group member is returned to his chair so the others can see him. The doorbell rings again. The monster leaves the kill room to go answer the door but forgets to close the soundproof basement door. At the door is Detective Riley.
HORROR SITUATION:
Det. Riley has a conversation with the monster, now identified as Det. Davenport about his recent absence from work. Det. Riley acts like he ignores the screams for help coming from the basement.
REACTION:
Det. Riley decides to leave without drawing suspicion but the monster grabs him and breaks his neck killing him. The monster drags Det. Riley’s body to the basement to the chopping room.
HORROR SITUATION:
The escaped member calls the police from Det. Riley’s car but isn’t sure if the call went through.
REACTION:
The escaped member grabs a shot gun that contains ultra violet bullets. He crawls back and jumps down from the open basement window.
DEATH RETURNS TO TAKE ONE OR MORE
HORROR SITUATION:
The monster places Det. Riley’s body next to the female member. He releases the straps on her chair. He bights into her neck and kill her.
HORROR SITUATION:
The monster attempts to kill the second female in the same manner.
REACTION:
The monster assistant prevents the monster from killing her. They both fight. The monster kills his assistant by tearing his head from his shoulders.
HORROR SITUATION:
The monster goes for the girl again who has been trying to crawl away. He picks her up to bight her again.
REACTION:
We hear a loud shot gun blast from behind the monster. The monster drops the girl and turns toward his assailant just as he bursts into flames.
The two survivors walk up the stairs through the front door and are rescued by the police who arrive just in time.
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You did a great job with this. It’s very difficult to rough out an outline this quickly but the great thing is now you have the whole story and can fill in the details and make whatever changes are necessary to figure out what works and what needs to be changed.
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Brian G. Walsh’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned doing this assignment is that filling in the “Horror Situation Track” helps build an outline of the story, step-by-step.
I went over this multiple times, removing things and bringing them back and removing others. This is going to take a lot more work to complete a comprehensive outline, but that will come in the steps that follow.
TITLE: I AM LEGION
ACT 1 – SETUP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established:Minor earthquake rocks Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Kenny Marshall digs up a grave.
Horror Situation: Inside abandoned copper mine, walls falls, dust fills the air. In a hidden dugout behind a wall, a large coffin shakes. A dozen soft voices, blended together, whisper from inside the coffin.
Reaction – Fight: Deputy sees Marshall digging up the grave of Arnold Fanning and orders him to stop.
Horror Situation: The deputy cuffs Marshall, a quake sends them sprawling and opens the grave. The coffin is smashed open from inside. On his knees, the deputy crawls over and looks down into the grave. His eyes go wide. A hand seizes him by the throat and pulls him down into the grave.
Reaction: Fight: to no avail.
Connect with the characters: Military prisoner Raleigh Douglass in prison transfer area, cuffed to a chair. Guard watches TV newscast about the earthquake showing Raleigh’s ex-wife standing before the abandoned copper mine with a Sheriff’s Deputy, Christine Diamond, behind her. He asks for a tissue to wipe his nose. He coughs and spits his meds out into the tissue, which he tosses in the garbage. Guard tells Raleigh his escort has arrived to transport him for another psych evaluation. He asks if Raleigh is still seeing demons, laughs. Flashback: Raleigh fighting with Arnold Fanning and killing him in self-defense. Flashback: Raleigh dragging the coffin into the mine.
The characters are warned not to do it: On TV, Denise warns viewers to stay away from the mine because it has collapsed. Authorities will be checking the damage. Raleigh sees Christine enter the mine in the background of the TV broadcast. He tenses.
Denial of Horror: Lucas Cooper, Raleigh’s best friend, goes to check on the mine. Denise talks to him, surreptitiously recording him and asking him about Raleigh and how he used to hang out at the mine before he was sent to prison. She tells Cooper that Raleigh is crazy because of the stories he told. During transport from prison, Raleigh feigns a heart attack, overpowers his guards and steals the vehicle.
Safety taken away: Later that evening, retired Sheriff Knickerbocker is with current Sheriff Titus Reynolds when report of Raleigh’s escape comes in. Reynolds tells his deputies to issue a BOLO and put up roadblocks. He tells Deputy Sheriff Oak Harris to go straight to the mine Raleigh used to hang out at and watch. Don’t take any chances. Shoot to kill. Knickerbocker tells Harris not to shoot unless he has to, but Reynolds countermands that and reminds Knickerbocker that he is not sheriff anymore. Meanwhile, at the mine, after the news crew & deputy are gone, Lucas sneaks inside the mine. He is spotted by Denise, who watches the mine from afar through binoculars. She pulls out her cellphone. Inside the mine, Lucas goes to check on the coffin. He finds it but when he opens it the body is gone. He crawls in past the coffin and finds the dead body of Kenny Marshall.
Horror Situation: The vanished corpse.
Reaction: Terrified. Lucas runs out of the mine and is grabbed and pulled off his feet by Deputy Sheriff Oak Harris, who tells him he got the word that Raleigh had escaped and might be coming back here where he made all those crazy claims about demons. Oak drags Lucas back inside because he believes Raleigh is hiding in the mine and he intends to use Lucas as a human shield while he hunts down Raleigh.
Horror Situation: Being forced right back into the Lion’s Den. The corpse with a horde of demons trapped inside is loose and Oak is dragging Lucas right back inside the mine.
Reaction – Fight: Raleigh arrives, parks the vehicle out of sight of the road, then he searches for vehicle or foot tracks, but the area is a mess from TV and police visits. Hearing sirens, he goes inside the mine.
Monster: The nature of the beast: The corpse of the priest-exorcist seeks a way out of the mine. The trapped fallen angel spirits inside sniff for human vulnerability. It senses Lucas and Oak, calls out to their names.
Horror Situation: Nightmare of their death. Exposure of their guilt and vulnerability: the dead priest taunts them, luring them to their deaths.
Reaction: Oak follows the sound of the voices. He demands to know who is talking. Is that Raleigh playing a trick? When he finds him, he’s going to put him down like the rabid animal he is. The demons inside the priest know who Raleigh is: he’s the one who killed Arnold Fanning, preventing him from freeing them from their corpse-prison. They ask if Raleigh is there and say they have been waiting for him. That’s enough for Harris, he pistol-whips Lucas and leaves him as he goes off to follow the voices.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated: Cops arrive at mine, find deputy’s vehicle, but he doesn’t answer. They find the vehicle Raleigh stole. Denise joins them from her lookout area and tells them that Raleigh, Oak and Lucas are inside the mine. Two deputies remain outside, one to guard the mine entrance and the other to watch the road. The rest of the deputies go inside the mine.
Horror Situation: But one of them is gone. They can’t find her anywhere. We see the face of the deputy guarding the mine entrance: He is the one who was killed at the grave. His body is now possessed by the demon who had previously possessed Arnold Fanning. He checks his gun.
Reaction: Inside the mine, the deputies spread out to look for Raleigh and Oak.
Horror Situation: Each isolated deputy hears gunshots and a scream that is abruptly cut off.
Reaction: Deputies approach from different directions.
Horror Situation: One deputy falls through a hole in the ground. He calls for help. A hand reaches down and pulls him up. It is the corpse of the priest.
Character Death: The priest strangles the deputy and channels energy that bursts from the deputy’s eyes, mouth, ears and nostrils.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death – Oak and Raleigh find the priest standing over the deputy’s dead body. Oak is shocked. Raleigh tells him what’s going on but he doesn’t believe him. The priest walks slowly towards the deputy, who orders him to stop. The priest lunges at Oak but Raleigh trips him. He tries to drag Oak away but Oak punches Raleigh, knocking him down. Christine arrives, gun drawn. She shouts for Oak to look out. Oak turns: the priest’s hand grabs his face. Flames shoot out from Oak’s eyes, nose, ears and mouth.
Hysteria – There are dozens of demons imprisoned inside the priest’s body. As soon as his flesh rots enough they will be free to wreak havoc. They are some of the most powerful and important fallen angels capable of bringing untold death and terror.
The thrilling escape from death – Battling the priest inside an accelerating minecart, Raleigh & Christine push the corpse out into an open mine shaft. The priest’s body disappears. Lucas catches up to them with dynamite. Despite the danger of a cave-in, he looks down upon the priest’s still body at the bottom of the shaft, lights a stick and drops it. The mine rains down rocks and debris. They look back down the shaft to see the area covered in rocks and dirt.
Deputy Taylor finds them. Against Christine’s objections, he arrests Raleigh and Lucas. He cuffs Raleigh and asks Christine to cuff Lucas. She tells Taylor that what Raleigh said is true. There is a corpse with a horde of demons inside. Taylor wonders if she’s on drugs or just delusional from the cave-in. Taylor tells her to cuff Lucas or he’ll take her handcuffs and do it himself. She does but shares a knowing look with Lucas. She doesn’t secure the cuffs.
Deputy Knickerbocker finds Marshall’s dead body. He rolls him over. The cross is under his body. Knickerbocker picks it up, his jaw drops. Flashback: Raleigh cuffed by Knickerbocker. Raleigh tells him the only thing keeping those demons imprisoned is the cross that was blessed with a prayer to keep the demons inside and to keep the priest’s body incorruptible.
Horror Situation: Knickerbocker tucks the cross inside his shirt and goes in pursuit. He hears the sound of digging. He goes over to a hole in the ground. He sees hands reaching out from under a pile of rock and debris. A soft voice cries for help. Knickerbocker asks who it is. The hands dig faster. The priest’s head pops out from under the dirt. It sniffs the air, then calls Knickerbocker by name. It talks about a tragedy from his past. Knickerbocker stares, wide-eyed, as the priest rises from the debris. It lifts a huge boulder off itself with one hand and tosses it aside. Knickerbocker aims his gun . . . FLASHBACK . . . A handcuffed Raleigh telling him that the demons want the priest’s body destroyed so they will be free. Knickerbocker leans over for a closer look. The cross falls out from under his jacket and hits the priest. Multiple voices shriek in agony. The cross bounces off him and hits the dirt. The imprint of the cross has been burned into his outer cassock. The demons howl. Knickerbocker gets to his feet. The demon leaps up and grabs onto the edge of the hole.
Reaction: Knickerbocker stumbles away in full retreat. The demon hauls himself up, a dozen blended voices cursing softly, and gets to his feet. The demon pursues Knickerbocker, calling after him.
Knickerbocker runs into Taylor, Raleigh, Christine and Lucas. He tells them what happened. Taylor shakes his head, thinks Knickerbocker is an old fool and has probably gone senile. Raleigh tells him they must retrieve the cross but Taylor is dismissive. Knickerbocker agrees and tells them how the priest reacted when the cross hit him. The priest reaches them, calls out in its collective voice. Taylor is momentarily paralyzed. Knickerbocker tells him that the priest is going to kill them all Taylor orders the priest to stop, but he continues walking towards him. The priest sniffs Taylor, mentions Taylor’s personal guilt and tells Taylor he is going to kill him. Taylor strikes the priest with his nightstick. The priest seizes his wrist and makes him drop it, then grabs him by the neck and strangles him. Christine, Raleigh and Lucas try to intervene but the priest drops Taylor’s dead body. Knickerbocker tells them to come with him. They follow him to retrieve the cross, then go in pursuit of the priest. Knickerbocker falls behind and stops to rest, his age catching up with him.
They find the priest heading for the exit. They lure him to them. At the last second, Christine brandishes the cross and immobilize him. Christine holds it while Raleigh and Lucas try to drag the priest’s body away but it is incredibly heavy. They find an old wheel barrel, push him into it and drag it away. A minor quake knocks them down and Christine loses the cross. The priest crawls lightning-fast after Raleigh and grabs his ankle. Lucas jumps on the priest’s back but it rolls over and grabs him. Raleigh punches the priest to no effect. The priest lifts Lucas into the air with one hand and breaks his neck. Christine recovers the cross and shoves it right into the priest’s face. The collection of voices screams. The image of the cross is burned into his face. The priest slowly drops to his knees. Raleigh cries over Lucas’ body. Christine shouts for him to help. Raleigh drags the priest the rest of the way and hurls him into his old coffin. The voices plead for release, alternately threaten and entice with rewards. Raleigh is blinded by tears as he leans against a wall. Christine lays the cross on his chest with a sizzling sound. The priest’s eyes close.
Death returns to take one or more. – As Raleigh, Lucas and Christine exit the mine they are stopped by the possessed deputy. He cuffs Raleigh even though Christine tells him it’s not necessary. The deputy shoots Christine and Lucas, then drags Raleigh back inside so he can find the priest and release the demons. Raleigh tries to lead him astray, but the deputy sniffs the air and follows the scent. Raleigh asks why he hasn’t killed him if he can track the priest without him. The deputy says he needs Raleigh to do a job for him, then he will set him free. Raleigh knows what the job is.
Resolution – Retired Sheriff Knickerbocker blasts the deputy with a shotgun. He helps Raleigh out of the mine. Outside, Christine is being tended to by paramedics. She will live but Lucas is dead. Knickerbocker asks why the demon inside the deputy didn’t kill Raleigh. He tells him it requires a living human being to remove the cross. A corpse animated by a demon can’t do it.
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Barb’s Horror Situation Tracking
ACT 1
Atmosphere of Evil – staff find the rest of their friends brutally murdered by an inmate.
Horror Situation: They fins suspect popping eyeball into his mouth.
Reaction: Guard attacks him and they fight through the blooded hanging bodies.
Horror Situation: Doctor straps suspect into chair and starts to shave him to fry his brain.
Reaction: Suspect denies he did killing just wanted the credit. Police try to break in but doctor acts fast and fries the suspect’s brain.
Connect: All characters introduced on the bus tour 25 YEARS LATER.
Warned: by both bus driver and by the caretaker
Denial: the museum is closed so no one else there.
Safety taken away: caretaker took their cell phones so no calls can be made.
Horror Situation: Bloodied bodies fall after they trip a wire. Its a set-up prank before the serial killer displays.
Reaction: They are terrified and scatter, falling all over the place.
Horror Situation: Sandy and Charlie are making out and hear a scream. Someone is watching them…..A bloodied hand is seen meaning someone has been killed.
ACT 2
Isolated/trapped: they are locked in overnight until 7am with no cell phones but do have a walkie talkie, but Charlie hordes it since he paid for them to get in and then they split up in the vast building.
Horror Situation: A masked man with a drill comes at them.
Reaction: Merrick tackles him – its only Charlie pranking them. People are getting sick of the pranks.
One killed: Charlie is killed but no one believes it b/c his body is gone and murder site cleaned up. So they are sitting ducks not knowing.
Horror Situation: Taylor sees CHarlies body fall to the floor dead.
Reaction: He runs to find the others and tells them.
Horror Situation: By the time they follow Taylor back, Charlie’s body is gone and they thinks it yet another prank.
Horror Situation: As they walk away, a bloodied finger is hidden, so yes, another murder.
Horror Situation: Sandy goes looking for Charlie. Stuck in elevator. Tries to crawl out, then elevator moves and looks like Sandy will be crushed.
Reaction: She struggles and luckily it stops. She’s safe and continues her search.
Horror Situation: Sandy chased by person in black and with sword, and hides in a stove b/c she’s scared and it seems good. But the sword is placed in door handle blocking her escape and turned on. SHe’s roasted alive!
MIDPOINT – the killer is stealthy and fast and has the upper hand using weapons in the museum. The guests have no defense and are not all even believing there is a killer out there. They are sitting ducks with no real knowledge they need to go on the defense and try to get out of the building or band together. They keep wandering off looking for others and get themselves killed.
Horror Situation: They find the body of the missing girl, dead. Suicide or murder?
Reaction: They argue whether suicide or murder? Realize they should find everyone else and get out the there, so its sends everyone out to find the other missing people.
Full pursuit: the killer starts to murder people in two’s now and comes at them fast and relentlessly.
Horror Situation: Carson finds Sandy baked in the oven.
Reaction: Carson and Julie terrified run looking for a way out.
Horror Situation: Carson runs into a terrible trap that injures him and holds him trapped.
Reaction: Julie faints from all the blood.
Terrorized: some finally fully understand that there is a killer. Most thought people were exploring and the girl who committed suicide did just commit suicide.
Horror Situation: The Japanese couple are killed within seconds of each other while trying to escape from everyone else as they think someone in the group is the murderer.
Horror Situation: Sam is trapped in a jail cell, sprays with lighter fluid and set afire.
Horror Situation: Barb and Taylor find the room were the murders took place 25 years earlier
Reaction: They are stunned and need to exit and recover.
ACT 3
Horror Situation: Taylor and Barb find the brutally murdered Ozzy.
Reaction: They realize that there really is a killer and need to escape. Taylor and Barb discover a room that gives them information on the facility and almost figure out who the killers are, when the twins appears and confirm it
Horror Situation: One of the killers shoots Barb, who falls and seems dead. Then knocks out Taylor and they drag him off.
Hysteria: Moments of it since act 2, but here Barb is determined to save Tyler. He has some hysteria being strapped down on the table about to be lobotomized.
Horror: The twins are about to lobotomize Taylor.
Reaction: Barb and Julie attack.
Horror: fight to the death between the twins and Barb and Julie.
Escape of death: Barb, Taylor and friend do kill the twins and escape outside.
Death returns: while calling the police the caretaker sneaks up behind with a sword.
Horror Situation: The caretaker swings a big smile on his face.
Resolution: left open…. but it looks like at least one of them is dead.
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Brian King’s Horror Situation track
What I learned…It was hard to complete this assignment. No, super hard. But so is life, so is the biz and so is writing. Now shuddup, BK, and get to work. By completing the assignment, I gained valuable insights into what was good and lacking in the overall outline. A challenging task and I’m glad because it pushed me to overcome doubts and obstacles. I appreciated the thought-provoking questions it compelled me to answer.
Step 1: Generate 20 to 50 potential horror situations for your story. Here are some ideas:
A. Isolated Situations
Lost: The Hero/Daughter wanders around her mother’s closet, feeling disoriented and trapped.
Trapped: Locked inside her father’s lab, the Hero/Daughter desperately seeks a way out.
Shackled: Drugged and immobilized, the Hero/Daughter experiences a sensation akin to being buried alive.
Kidnapped: The Hero/Daughter is forcefully taken by her father, and rendered unconscious with a drug.
Being lured into danger: Haunted by a vision of her mother in the street, the Hero/Daughter unwittingly wanders into traffic, narrowly avoiding a collision with a car.
Forces of nature: ???
The only one who sees the monster: The Hero/Daughter perceives her father as a monster but struggles to make others believe her.
B. Pursued Situations
Attacked or chased: The Hero/Daughter is seized and subdued by her father’s assistant, Max.
Forced into a dangerous environment: The Hero/Daughter is enticed by her mother’s ghost, leading her into a graveyard.
Impending doom: Consumed by panic attacks, the Hero/Daughter becomes convinced that her life is on the verge of ending. Her agoraphobia intensifies.
No escape or their escape route has been cut off: ???
Monster approaching: The Hero/Daughter’s dreams are plagued by haunting visions of her mother being run over. In these dreams, her father ominously looms over her shoulder.
Monster trying to get to you: As psych ward orderlies approach, the world seems to close her
Out of the frying pan and into the fire: Boyfriend valiantly fights off a zombie but killed by her father.
C. Torture Situations / Injured, wounded, or debilitated: Agoraphobia and panic attacks debilitate the Hero/Daughter.
The Hero/Daughter surrounded by death at the mortuary.
Something inside our body: ???
Transformed into something else: The Hero/Daughter realizes her father intends to turn her into a zombie.
Physically tortured: Grief-induced fears drives her to seek relief through cutting.
D. Tormented Situations
Mentally tortured: Tormented by visions of her deceased mother.
Possessed: ???
Tricked: She sees apparitions, her mother, now suspect her father of deception.
Dilemma: Who to save? She faces the difficult choice -prioritize either her own well-being or someone else’s.
Friends in danger: Her boyfriend, therapist, and best friend find themselves in peril.
Another character loses it (hysterically): A conspiracy theorist warns her about father, gradually loses sanity. .
A character becomes a liability (physically): Max, the father’s assistant, mysteriously appears multiple times, instilling a sense of fear and paranoia in her.
E. Paranoia Situations
The group has been infiltrated: She’s unable to trust anyone, even those who offer their help.
Suspecting someone else is possessed: She suspects Max is a zombie.
Not knowing who is possessed: The fear of everyone conspiring against her.
Unknown motive: She questions why her father treats her so maliciously.
Internal conflict in the group: Therapist / father offer opposing treatments for her well-being.
Menacing Stranger: A private investigator pursuing her father raises suspicions about him to her.
A character refuses to act: The therapist refuses to assist her, insisting that she must help herself/ she exhibits signs of turning into a zombie.
F. Spooky Situations
Slimed: Body parts are discovered in her father’s basement and in the trash.
Doing something forbidden: ???
Fall through the floor: The Hero/Daughter stumbles upon a dead body in the mortuary.
Threatened: Outside is a nightmare for her (agoraphobia).
Face to face with the monster: She witnesses her father reanimating her deceased mother.
Can not see, speak, yell, or hear: She finds herself her senses are impaired-dense fog or underwater.
Environment changing around you: Her home transforms into a chamber of horrors-hidden chambers with preserved bodies and ancient artifacts that seem to come alive.
Trapped spirits, hall of mirrors, rotting flesh: Refrigeration failures, eerie encounters with spirits, a disorienting hall of mirrors, and decaying flesh.
G. Deceptive Situations
Walking into a trap: She stumbles upon her father’s hidden lab, unknowingly stepping into a trap.
Lured into horror: She takes Father’s treatment, falls into a coma but being rescued by boyfriend.
Helping a good person and being attacked: ???
Working w/someone, then they become the evil one: A survivor of her father’s experiments warns her about Father, only to turn on her and try and “eat her.”
Step 2: Determine which situations work best for your plot. Here are the ones I’ve
A. Isolated Situations
Trapped Locked in Father’s Lab
Shackled Drugged and unable to move, like She’s been buried alive
Being lured into danger; Visions her mother in the street, wanders into traffic to save her and nearly run over by a car
The only one who sees the monster Calls Father a monster, no one believes her.
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>B. Pursued Situations
Attacked or chased Grabbed and subdued by Father’s assistant, Max
Out of the frying pan and into the fire Her boyfriend fights off a zombie, only to be killed by her father.
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>C. Torture Situations
Injured, wounded, or debilitated Agoraphobia, panic attacks
Physically tortured Self-inflicted fears brought on by grief, and finds relief by cutting.
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>D. Tormented Situations
Tricked Sees apparitions, including her mother, tricked by Father.
Another character loses it (hysterical) Conspiracy theorist, who warns her about Father.
>Max always seems to be spying on her… paranoia or reason to be afraid.
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>E. Paranoia Situations
Suspecting someone else is possessed Suspects Max may be a zombie, townies (sees them wandering)
>She shows signs of turning into a zombie
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>F. Spooky Situations
Fall through the floor Stumbles into a dead body in the mortuary.
Face to face with the monster Sees father reanimating (her mother and others).
> She stumbles upon a hidden chamber with preserved bodies, including a reanimated corpse
>Ancient artifacts and objects collected by the family over generations seem to come alive, or not
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>G. Deceptive Situations
Walking into a trap Stumbles upon fathers lab
Lured into the horror Takes her father’s treatment, falls into a coma, rescued by the therapist
>A survivor of father’s experiment (PI?) tries to warn her/ she suspects he’s in cahoots w/Father
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ETC.
Hero / She experiences supernatural phenomena, ghostly apparitions, and eerie sounds, all initiated by her father, who wants to lure her to commit suicide to claim the will and continue his research, including impregnating her with a zombie baby—a vision becomes reality /
(If she is his stepdaughter how would that secret be kept from her all these years?)
Step 3: Assign a reaction (denial, solve it, hide, or fight) to the selected horror situations.
Denies she is her father’s stepdaughter until provided with proof.
Fights/denies the PI’s warning that he might be one of her father’s experiments.
Solves the mystery of the origin of zombies by uncovering her father’s lab.
Solves the mystery of her father’s possession of zombie artifacts.
Hides in a chamber only to discover a reanimated corpse within.
Denies she is turning into a zombie until it becomes impossible to hide from it.
Denies that her father is attempting to reanimate her mother until she confronts the truth.
Denies that her mother is alive until she comes face to face with her resurrected mother.
Attempts to solve her panic attacks and agoraphobia before it is too late, but the outcome remains uncertain.
Step 4: Incorporate horror situations and reactions into the plot, labeling them accordingly.
Prologue: The Atmosphere of Evil
Horror Situation: Witnessing her mother being struck by a speeding car.
Reaction: Panic attacks and agoraphobia.
Try to solve: Blaming herself for her mother’s death.
Hide in the mortuary: Engages in self-inflicted but distressingly real experiences.
Attempts to escape: Triggering panic whenever she tries to leave the house or mortuary.
Fight: Resorts to cutting to alleviate her pain.
Connection to characters: Her best friend is afraid to see her but wants to help despite feeling helpless.
Denial of horror: Refuses to believe rumors about her father’s experiments.
Safety taken away: Losing her mother’s advice and love.
Reaction: Experiences repeated visions of her mother’s accident.
Monster: Unidentified presence lurking in the house, accompanied by screams and disturbing visions.
Reaction: Pushes everyone away, including her best friend, boyfriend, and therapist.
Monster revealed: Discovers her father’s lab but denies what she sees, being labeled paranoid.
Act 2 – Point of No Return:
Isolation/Trapped/Abduction: Develops panic attacks
Horror Situation: Blaming herself for mother’s death.
Reaction: Agoraphobia.
Safety taken away: Loses her mother and best friend’s support, develops universal mistrust. .
Finds an ally: The boyfriend and therapist.
Reaction: Unable to trust them completely.
Disturbing Discoveries: Stumbles upon her father’s secret lab, a dungeon, discovers body parts.
Reaction: Denial.
Another Victim Falls: The zombie who tried to eat her is killed by Max
Reaction: Denies her father’s involvement, despite circulating rumors.
She sees Zombies:
Reaction: Denial and rationalization.
Midpoint: The Monster’s True Nature: Witnesses her father attempting to reanimate a corpse.
Reaction: Attempts to escape but can only reach the front door.
Horror Situation: Father murdered her mother.
Reaction: Confronts him and is subsequently drugged.
Sees mother roaming the mortuary, terrified yet intrigued, contemplating joining her on the other side.
Chased by the zombie Max.
Reaction: Fights back to escape.
Horror Situation: Caught and drugged, rendering her helpless.
Reaction: Fights for her life and manages to escape.
Act 3 – Full-On Horror:
Horror Situation: Boyfriend dies while rescuing her.
Reaction: She fights back.
Horror Situation: Disturbing Revelation: Father is a zombie seeking a cure for his condition.
Reaction: Escapes and gathers the courage to flee from the mortuary.
Horror Situation: Caught by Max.
Reaction: Fights but ultimately subdued.
Horror Situation: Raped by Max.
Reaction: Denial, questioning the reality of the situation.
Horror Situation: Nine months later, she gives birth to a human-zombie hybrid.
Reaction: Horrified by reality but compelled to love her own child.
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Sunil Pappu’s Horror Situation Track
“What I learned doing this assignment is…how easy it is to brainstorm more than 20 horror situations and their reactions to incorporate into my plot”.
4-ACT STRUCTURE: HORROR SITUATIONS & REACTIONS
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
• Atmosphere of Evil established: shops inside the mega mall are destroyed and lie derelict and desolate.
• Horror Situation – Impending doom: dead bodies are strewn around with eyes gouged out.
• Reaction – Denial: The kids play hide and seek.
• Connect with the characters: teenage twin boys play blindfolded with their younger sister in a dilapidated play area.
• Horror Situation – Lost: blindfolded Young sister trips into a TV showroom full of screens. Some are still intact and can dangerously attract the Detectors.
• Reaction – Escape: Blind son realizes where they are and grabs his sister to get her out of the store.
•Horror Situation – Unknown motive: The Detectors destroy the smartphones and TV shops trying to scan for information and retrieve recorded data
• Reaction – Denial: Twin Son tries to approach the Detectors with a baseball bat, but his father quickly blindfolds him and drags him away to safety.
• The characters are warned not to do it: teenage boy disagrees with his father that his girlfriend is dead and wants to call her
•Horror Situation<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> – Can not see (fog, being underwater), speak or yell, hear (too loud or too quiet): throughout we only see through the blindfold (POV shots), only time they can remove it during lighting storms and inside the darkroom
• Reaction – Escape: they escape from the Detectors by creating a safe corridor to walk in and count steps to each location.
•Horror Situation – Internal conflict in the group: twin son refuses to follow the rules of the family of no phones and using blindfolds.
• Reaction – Denial: Twin son steals a smartphone and hides it.
• Denial of Horror: he tricks his twin brother into hiding a smartphone for him.
•Horror Situation – Tricked: Twin brother tricks his blind twin into hiding a smartphone in the toilet by keeping it in a soap case.
• Reaction – Hide: Blind brother keeps the soap tray in the toilet.
• Safety taken away: teenage boy finds the smartphone in the restroom cubicle and turns it on.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – Doing something forbidden: twin son makes a phone call to check on his girlfriend
• Reaction – Denial: Twin son dials the number and attracts the Detector which scans his eyes.
• Monster: The nature of the beast: he tries calling his girlfriend on the smartphone in the bathroom cubicle, but he gets devoured by the Detectors.
•Horror Situation – Face to face with the monster: twin son is scanned and killed brutally;
• Reaction – Hide: blind son hides on top of the toilet in the next cubicle
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
• Isolated: cars with corpses pile up outside the mall on the streets, the father drags the batteries from the cars to the generator room to power up the heaters, the mother takes a bath in the tub; the surviving blind twin son feels guilty for surviving and shares a strained relationship with his dad.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Forces of nature: lighting is the only time they can escape without the Detectors sensing them
• Reaction – Escape: Father packs them into the car and drives out of the parking lot to the mobile tower where many detectors are waiting to get recharged
•Horror Situation – Walking into a trap: Father tries to fix the mobile tower while detectors are waiting there to get recharged
• Reaction – Try to solve it: Father tries to power up the mobile tower with car batteries but the cables are broken.
• Trapped: blind boy forgets his blindfold and meets the Detector, but it gets distracted and flees when he shines the infrared light sensor of his walker.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>A character refuses to take action: Blind son refuses to blindfold his eyes
• Reaction – Fight: Blind son swings his walker and uses his infrared sensor to detect the Detector
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The only one who sees the monster: blind twin son senses the Detectors before him trying to scan his blind eyes.
• Reaction – trying to solve it: he presses his walking stick infrared sensor. It gets distressed by the infrared light from the sensor in his walking stick.
•Horror Situation – Environment changing around you: mall becomes desolate, strewn will dead bodies with eyes gouged out. They lose their orientation when the storm destroys the mall and their safe corridor
• Reaction – Try to solve it: Blind son uses his walking sensor to identify a new path and recreates a safe zone.
• Abducted (Scapegoat): he finds a paint shop and brings black paint to create a lightproof dark room for their family meetings, he and his sister finish painting the dark room, but they need to test it; his sister sacrifices her pet hamster blindfolded in a darkened box, they place it in the darkroom and remove its blindfold and wait for the Detector to turn up, their black paint works.
• One of us killed (grieve for lost son): they hold their first family meeting and see each other; father and mother get their alone time to grieve for their lost twin son after 100 days.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Trapped: inside the darkroom with the Detector trying to scan father’s blindfolded eyes.
• Reaction – trying to solve it: Father tries to use the sunglasses to cover his eyes but goes blind before his blind son drives it away with his infrared sensor.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – A character becomes a liability (physically): Father is blinded by their reflection.
• Reaction – Hide: Father tries to hide from the Detector but gets trapped in a corner when his blind son distracts it.
• MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought: creatures climb onto mobile towers on the mall roof and hang out at night.
ACT 3 – ALL IN LOST
• Full pursuit by the killer: the blind boy protects his baby sister who loves playing games and during hide and seek she peeps from her blindfold and the Detector appears.
• Terrorized: the blind boy protects his sister using his infrared sensor to drive it away but drops the sensor and mistakenly kicks it off the floor trying to retrieve it; they hide behind a chandelier that reflects light and confuses the Detector.
ACT 4 — FULL OUT HORROR
• Fight to the death: Mother hears her daughter’s screams and removes her blindfold to sacrifice herself fighting the Detector to save the kids.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Forced into a dangerous environment: Mother steps in front of the kids to save them and removes her blindfold to fight the Detectors
• Reaction – Fight: Mother grabs a baseball bat and swings it at the Detectors and reaches for her gun to shoot it.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Dilemma: Who to save: Them or me? Or Person A versus Person B?: Mother decides to save her young girl
• Reaction – Fight: Mother grabs a baseball bat and throws a ball for her blind son to catch. They play ball and she hits the ball into the Detectors enormous eyes.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Face to face with the monster: mother to protect her remaining kids
• Reaction – Fight: Mother removes her blindfold to see the Detector and uses her gun to fire at but fails to destroy it.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Helping a good person and being attacked: Mother is attacked trying to save her kids
• Reaction – Fight: Mother grabs a steel rod and jams it into the eyes of the Detector after the infrared sensor weakens it
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>See another killed: young sister watches her mother get killed by the Detector even as her blind brother tries to cover her face.
• Reaction – Hide: Blind brother grabs her and hides behind the chandelier on the floor that reflects light and confuses the Detector
• Hysteria: Kids swing down the floor and the blind boy drives the showroom car blindfolded to their dad up the ramp. Losing his mother, he needs to mend his relationship with his dad to work together.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Attacked or chased: blind twin son and young sister chased through the mall corridors
• Reaction – Escape: blind son gets into a showroom car and drives through the mall to their father waiting outside the darkroom and almost crashes into him.
•Horror Situation – Out of the frying pan and into the fire: from the car chase to getting trapped inside the darkroom with a Detector
• Reaction – Hide: Father and kids remove their blindfolds in the safety of the darkroom not realizing they have company
• The thrilling escape from death: Dad locks themselves inside the dark room but the corner allows light in from a crack, the Detector enters the darkened storeroom, it’s a lens store with sunglasses shattered on the floor, the boy finds a magnifying glass and uses it to beam the infrared light into the Detector’s enormous eyes. The father has his shotgun ready.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Horror Situation – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Monster approaching: inside the darkroom, the Detectors enter through the cracks
• Reaction – Try to solve it: Blind son looks for a magnifying glass in the lens store
• Death returns to take one or more: The Detector’s eyes explode, and it collapses but rises again and this time the dad shoots it dead with his shotgun.
• Resolution: More creatures arrive, Dad reloads while son grabs more infrared pens, and younger sister points a walking stick with an infrared sensor like a gun.
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Frances Williams Horror Situation Track.
What I Learned doing this Assignment is how to add Horror Situations and the Character reactions to that situation.
Act 1
Atmodohere of Evil
A group of Scientists on an expedition unearth an Alien ship that has been buried for thousands of years
Horror Situation
Terrible screams come from inside of the cave
Reaction – Hide
They try to hide under a pile of Leaves from the Monster
Horror Situation + From nowhere a force descends upon the men ripping them from limb to limb.
The characters are warned not to go, the ground is sacred .
Denial of Horror- The group decides that the curse is an old folks tale.
Safety Taken Away – The route that leads to the main road is washed away.
Horror Situation – No Escape Route.
Reaction – Desperate, they try to run but trip and fall, some are injured
Reaction – Denial
They huddle together for safety purposes hoping for the best
Acr 2 – The Point of No Return
Isolated) Trapped/Abducted
They are Lost and Trapped, The Monster is approaching.
Horror Situation – One of them is missing, cant find them anywhere
Reaction – Dilemma, who is next. Who to save
Horror Situation – They hear screaming outside of the cave
Reaction – The men go to see what’s happening
Horror Situation – They come face to face with the Monster.
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Budinscak Horror Situation Track
Horror Situation Track
Day 5
What I learned doing this assignment is…
o Assembling the outline with salient components
o Not only does it help with the outline, it helps with my story
o A great checklist
Act 1 – Set Up For Horror
Atmosphere of Evil established:
Vicki, the Protagonist, is chased down a dark tunnel by an unseen pursuer. She stumbles, then passes out at the feet of a robotic animal.
Horror Situation: Pursued – Monster approaching/chasing
Reaction: Escape – Vicki flees before falling and passing out
Connect with the Characters:
Vicki, a rookie Forest Ranger, feels her way through her job. She’s new, a bit unsure, a little clumsy and an ardent animal lover.
The characters are warned not to do it:
The Commander and his men enter the tunnel armed to the teeth when a soldier issues the warning.
Horror Situation: Deceptive – Walking into a trap, lured into danger
Reaction: Denial – The Commander and his men believe they possess the necessary equipment
Denial of Horror:
Onsite management makes overtures to the Commander of an alien presence. He scoffs while his men brandish their special weapons. The Commander will make everything disappear by the end of the day, “No one will know we were ever here.”
Horror Situation: Tormented – A character loses it/becomes a liability
Reaction: Try to Solve It – the Commander has his marching orders
Safety taken away:
The Commander kills an employee loyal to the Site Ops Manager. They’re also the only person familiar with all the facility’s various accesses.
Monster – the nature of the beast:
Two soldiers search for their comrade and find pieces of his body. The onsite team reveals ‘prisoners’ and present their plan for elimination to the Commander.
Horror Situation: Spooky – Environment changing around them/face-to-face with monster.
Horror Situation: Paranoia – The group has been infiltrated
Reaction: Hide – the soldiers backtrack cautiously concealing their position
Act 2 – The Point of No Return
Isolated/Trapped/Abducted:
Cameras shut down, infrared sensors malfunction. No cell phones, internet’s down. The lights go out.
Horror Situation: Paranoia – Internal conflict in the group
Reaction: Escape – People search for escape routes
One of us is killed:
A soldier tasked with retrieving additional special armaments brings a robotic animal for an escort. Neither returns.
Midpoint – The Monster is worse than we thought
Full pursuit by the killer:
Vicki is captured and restrained.
Horror Situation: Torture – Mentally and physically tortured
Reaction: Escape – Instead of everyone for themselves, the prisoners work together
Terrorized:
Vicki escapes and frees the prisoners.
The Site Ops Manager (SOM) releases hi-tech ‘toys’ to hunt down escaped prisoners.
The monster is on a search and destroy mission of the Commander and his team.
Horror Situation: Tormented – one of them is an alien
Reaction: Fight – the SOM is willing to kill everyone until the alien reveals itself
Horror Situation: Pursued – the monster is trying to get them/killing them
Reaction: Escape – Prisoners escape SOM’s devices, soldiers evade monster stalking them
Act 3 – Full Out Horror
Fight to the death:
The prisoners try to stay ahead of the SOM’s drones and robots
Horror Situation: Isolation – Lost, trapped
Hysteria:
The SOM draws his gun and shoots animals. Vicki protectively wraps her body around a small animal. Vicki is shot and dies.
Horror Situation: Torture – See another killed
The thrilling escape from death:
An alien reveals itself and shares/sends part of itself to Vicki in the way of a mist – it revives her. Vicki is able to separate her spirit from her flesh/body. Her spirit seeks revenge.
Horror Situation: Spooky – face-to-face with the monster
Reaction: Fight – Vicki is revived by the alien… and enhanced
Horror Situation: Deceptive – Lured into the horror, working with someone then they become evil
Reaction: Fight – Vicki’s spirit self doles out justifiable violence and pain
Death returns to take one or more:
Vicki’s animal spirit devours the SOM and the drone pilot. The alien stops her from killing the Commander.
Resolution:
The alien rescues his comrade, they bring the Commander with them – he’s their food – and in a flash, they’re gone. ‘No one will know we were ever here.’
Vicki is a new person with distinct changes to her appearance, her walk, posture, how she carries herself – Vicki has a whole new attitude. She shows how she can separate her spirit from herself. Vicki promises to be the voice for all animals. She’s traveling around the region, coming to an area near you.
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Bill Curley Horror Situation Track. What I Learned. There now exists a myriad of combinations to express horror in my script. I feel like a painter with 50 new colors to choose from. While still constructing my screenplay here are a few possibilities. Opening Scene: Isolated. Warning. An Indian warrior and son approach a sacred burial site in 1674 Wisconsin. The father warns his son never to violate this large old growth forest and attached bog. Suddenly two giant size forest creatures appear. They are ” the guardians”. Inciting Incident: Isolated/ Attacked. A surveyor violates the ancient sacred area for a real estate development. He is Isolated and then attacked by a monster sized porcupine.When he staggers back to a construction trailer: Spooky/Monster. Several fellow workers see a man with giant quils lanced in his torso. This immediately creates Paronioa. Act 3i.e low point. Countless Wendigos, monsters of Native American lore invade a small Wisconsin town in revenge. Torture/ Witness Death. Spooky/ Monsters visible. My horror script ” The Bog” should have multiple combinations of what is seen in this lesson.
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Chuck Czech’s Horror Situation Track
Even though my story is pretty loose at this point, this exercise got me thinking about how to construct specific scenes to maximize horror and structure the plot. I’m feeling more confident about the story unfolding.
ACT 1
In a prologue from 1905, a trio of teenage girls who’ve ducked out of church are stalked and killed by a stranger who, at the moment of attack, reveals a demonic face.
Situation: Menacing Stranger
Reaction: Escape — The girls try to run but are overtaken by the killer.
In the present day, Kay places the record of the 1905 incident into a large map that records missing persons over many decades; she senses a pattern but can’t put her finger on it.
Situation: Unknown Motive — What’s behind these crimes that occur periodically through history?
Reaction: Denial — Kay’s colleague Cam gives her a hard time, saying this isn’t real police work.
At Kay’s urging, Becca disappears into the alternate universe of the World Between to uncover hidden evidence of crimes, and while there alone she discovers the corpse of a girl who went missing thirty years ago.
Situation: Doing something forbidden — Up to this point, Becca has only used her ability to escape from embarrassment and abuse; Kay pushes her to use it more constructively even though it’s a frightening prospect.
Reaction: Solve — The goal of both Kay and Becca is to solve the missing persons cases, so they plow on with their investigation regardless of the horror.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
The investigation leads Kay and Becca to a crowded roadhouse, and when Becca phases into the World Between, she’s able to detect significant demonic activity — which Kay cannot see, even though Becca says it’s surrounding her.
Situation: The only one who sees the monster — By using high-frequency transceivers, Becca can see and hear Kay, but Kay can only hear Becca — she’s blind to the demonic activity and is limited to what she can do.
Reaction: Solve — This scene paints a picture of a dark reality adjacent to ours, but they’ve committed themselves to get to the bottom of the crimes, so they plow on.
The Demon shows up and Becca witnesses its process of possessing an ordinary guy.
Situation: Face to face with the Monster — Becca is horrified by the Demon’s appearance but is determined not to flee; the Demon, for its part, doesn’t seem to notice or care about Becca.
Reaction: Hide — Seeing the monster for the first time, Becca keeps her distance. She’s able to witness an actual possession process, which in other movies happens offscreen.
Becca trails the Demon as it selects prey among the roadhouse patrons. When it corners an innocent young woman, Becca tries to intervene but is painfully rebuffed by the monster. She directs Kay, who’s still in the real world, to apprehend the possessed killer, but she is also overcome.
Situation: Helping a good person and being attacked
Reaction: Fight — Becca sees a bit of herself in the vulnerable victim, so she pushes herself to confront the Demon before it harms her.
The Demon (possessing the ordinary guy) trails the young woman, who has departed with her abusive boyfriend, and when it catches up with them, it kills them both.
Situation: Attacked
Reaction: Fight — The cocky, abusive boyfriend meets his match (and more) when trying to intimidate the demon-possessed killer.
Kay and Becca determine the Demon’s hideout is an abandoned church (the one from 1905) which is in the middle of nowhere. When Becca explores the World Between, she detects dozens of bodies from different decades buried underground, a sight that overwhelms her.
Situation: Being lured into danger
Reaction: Solve — I’m calling this “solve” because it’s part of their investigation, but the reaction would be more like “despair”: when Becca uncovers the gruesome results of the Demon’s work through the years, she’s overcome with emotion.
While exploring the church and grounds, Kay and Becca are separated. The possessed killer appears and chases Becca. Just as he grabs her, she escapes into the World Between — where she’s immediately chased by the Demon. This forces her back into the real world — right into the arms of the possessed killer. He assaults her.
Situation: Out of the frying pan
Reaction: Escape — This is a dark turn for Becca since her efforts to explore the World Between has led her into an inescapable encounter with pure evil. She tries using her ability, but it she can’t escape the Demon.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Hurt and angry, Becca quits the investigation and tries to heal at her childhood home miles away. Having given up on life, she takes on last look into the World Between, and while there she’s able to discern that the Demon’s next victim will be Kay’s daughter.
Situation: Friends in Danger
Reaction: Solve it — This is Becca’s low point and she’s ready to give up on life (either suicide or resigning herself to live with her dysfunctional family) but when she becomes aware that she knows the Demon’s next target she has to do something.
The Demon invades Kay’s home and goes after her daughter, killing a neighbor and wounding Kay’s ex-husband along the way. The Demon is ready to kill Kay too, but Becca arrives just in time to distract the possessed killer, allowing Kay to shoot him. In the struggle, Becca is wounded and later dies.
Situation: Attacked
Reaction: Fight — This is Becca’s moment of truth, when she risks everything for the sake of a loved one — an innocent girl who’s part of a family she never had.
With the killer now dead, the Demon possesses the ex-husband, who attacks Kay and their daughter; but Becca’s soul revives inside the World Between and attacks the Demon, forcing it to relinquish control of Mitch and flee back to the underworld.
Situation: Someone becomes the evil one — The audience is thinking the killer is dead and the Demon has no power in the scene, but Kay’s incorrigible ex is a convenient candidate for demon possession.
Reaction: Fight — Kay and Becca work together, one in this world and the other in the World Between, to dispatch a killer and end the Demon’s reign of terror; it’s the culmination of their journey together.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by Chuck Czech.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by
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DEB STENARD’S LESSON 5: THE HORROR SITUATIONS OUTLINE
WHAT I LEARNED FROM DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT IS:
To be honest, I did not have the whole story thought out in my head when I started this class. I had a slim idea. NOT SURE IF WHAT I WROTE DOWN IS WORKING. I didn’t finish this assignment, but studying and using these lessons will help me get this script in a workable order. It ain’t perfect, but it will help me go forward and learn to fix it.
ACT 1- SET UP FOR HORROR
ATMOSPHERE OF EVIL ESTABLISHED:
HORROR SITUATION: While hiking in the woods, a local hunter is attacked by a raccoon acting strangely.
REACTION – FIGHT – The local fights the animal with his bare hands, getting bit and scratched and bloodied. He finally kills the animal
HORROR SITUATION: Thinking he is safe, he turns, only to find a pack of animals, foaming at the mouth and out for blood.
CONNECT WITH THE CHARACTERS:
Billionaire Developer orders his second-in-command to get two young women from the company to accompany the two men on a weekend at
the new development before it is open to the public.
DECEPTIVE SITUATION- WALKING INTO A TRAP: One young woman convinces the other girl that it will be fine, these guys just want some fun. And if they have to “put out”, it could help their careers.
SAFETY TAKEN AWAY- Once they drive up to the new development, the highway behind them is closed due to wildfires.
HORROR SITUATION: TRAPPED with seemingly no means of escape/FORCES OF NATURE- Wild fires
REACTION: The women demand to leave the resort. The Billionaire says he has to complete his assessment. If things get really bad, he’s call for his private helicopter to rescue them.
SAFETY TAKEN AWAY: the encroaching fire destroys the cell tower, cutting off phone and internet access to the hotel.
HORROR SITUATION: PARANOIA SITUATION
REACTION: Denial and fear
After being stopped by al yokel deputy before driving up to the hotel, the group are warned that a local man is angry at the fence that was built around the development because it cuts off access to his family lands. The Billionaire hires the yokel to be the Security Guard for the weekend.
HORROR SITUATION: MEET THE MONSTER
The weird hunter from the first scene suddenly appears in front of the car, acting odd. His eyes roll in his head, and he drools. He demands the fence be taken down, screaming that the mere presence of a fence on the mountain is an insult, and the Billionaire and his hotel are an anathema to God. The car goes around him and drive into the resort.
HORROR SITUATION- NO ESCAPE OR THE ESCAPE ROUTE HAS BEEN CUT OFF:
REACTION: The men deny, and the women demand the Billionaire call in the helicopter.
They discover that the gate cannot be locked because the final code has not been loaded. They meet the Concierge, who tells them that something is wrong with the private cell tower and there is no phone or internet service.
HORROR SITUATION: TORTURE SITUATION
REACTION: ANOTEHR CHARACTER LOSES IT
They go exploring around the grounds.
They find a wolf hole- a pit trap with sharpened sticks in the bottom and in the pit is the electronic specialist who was supposed to add the code to lock the gate. He is very dead.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
ISOLATED/TRAPPED/ABDUCTED
After finding the dead man, the group wants to leave, but when they get to the gate, they find they are locked in. The Billionaire orders the local deputy to climb the fence and go for help.
ONE OF US IS KILLED –
While trying to climb the fence, the deputy is hit by an arrow from a crossbow and impales himself on the fence and dies. The group race back to the hotel and lock themselves in.
MIDPOINT: THE MONSTER IS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT!
FULL PURSUIT BY THE KILLER
The Concierge tries to take charge, because she has been at the hotel for weeks and knows all the nooks and crannies. But the Billionaire and his Second-in-Command refuse to let an old woman be in control.
The Concierge grabs the girls and takes them to a place of safety. The two men feel two against one is good odds, so they make plans to hunt the killer and they head to the kitchen to look for weapons.
TERRORIZED
The two men out of their depth. The second-in-Command tries to fight off the Killer but hasn’t got the strength to hold him off. The Billionaire runs away to leave the second-in-command to his fate. The Killer forces his head into a boiling hot fry-o-later..
ACT 3- FULL OUT HORROR
FIGHT TO THE DEATH-
The Billionaire stumbles through the hotel, trying to escape the killer.
He is found by the Concierge, who drags him into the safe room where she is hiding with the girls. The Billionaire wants to go to the woods, because he thinks they’ll have a better chance to get away down the mountain. He convinces the one of the girls to go with him by promising her money if they manage to escape.
HYSTERIA- The Billionaire and one girl try to leave. They are sneaking through the hotel, when the girl is grabbed from behind, not by the killer, but by the second-in-command, dying in excruciating pain from his burns. The girls has a panic attack. She grabs a (HEAVY OBJECT NOT SURE WHAT!) and beats the burned man to death with it. He dies and she is sobbing. The Billionaire tries to shut her up, but the killer stumbles upon to them and bites the girl in the throat to make her stop screaming. The Billionaire falls into the koi pond in the middle of the lobby. The sight of water causes the Killer to foam uncontrollably at the mouth and run away. The Billionaire runs back to the Concierge and the last girl and tells them what happened.
THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH-
The Concierge realizes that the killer is suffering from Rabies and probably doesn’t have long to live, since he is exhibiting symptoms of hydrophobia and hallucinations. The Concierge and the girl decide to set a fire and hope that the authorities will see it and come up to put it out. They grab anything burnable from the hotel and pile it in the driveway and set it on fire. They soon hear helicopters coming to check out the flames. The Billionaire is furious that the women are burning priceless works of art. He grabs a water hose and attempts to put the fire out. The killer appears from hiding, grabs the Billionaire and throws him into the bonfire.
DEATH RETURNS TO TAKE ONE MORE-
The Concierge turns the water full on to the Killer, which causes him to foam at the mouth and die.
The helicopters circle the fire and see the last girl attempting to throw the Killer’s body onto the fire to make sure he is dead. The authorities, not knowing what she is trying to do, shoot her and she falls into the fire with the killer.
RESOLUTION-
The Concierge is the only one left. She is leaving with the few belongings. She is heading for the police car waiting to drive her away. She hears a strange noise. She turns to see another raccoon lurching towards her, stiff gate and foaming at the mouth. She screams.
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Michelle’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned: I found dramatic situations that needed replacing.
ACT 1 – SET UP FOR HORROR
· Connect with the characters: Evelyn’s life before retreat
· Atmosphere of Evil established: Reunited friends play a deadly game of truth or dare.
· The characters are warned not to participate: Evelyn to sister
Horror Situation: Being lured into danger – drugs and truth or dare tower climb. Possessed friends fall to death, Evelyn’s sister falls climbing down.
Reaction: Denial by Third Friend and Evelyn
· The characters are warned not to go on retreat: Mother to Evelyn
· Denial of Horror: Evelyn assures leaving is safe even though sister returned deranged.
Horror Situation: Forces of nature – rainy car crash. Arguing parents’ car hit by train after dead daughter appears, killing both.
Reaction: Evelyn seeks solace at island retreat.
· Safety taken away: stripped of possessions and communication on arrival
· Monster, the nature of the beast: Pastor assigns survivability on arrival.
Horror Situation: Injured – Luke’s eyes are knife pierced for looking up.
Reaction: Denial, no one sees what happened.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
· Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: individuals isolated in powerless, remote lodging
Horror Situation: Injured – Sara whipped
Reaction: Denial, she isn’t following the rules.
Horror Situation: Injured – Roger partial scalp removal ripping taped mouth
Reaction: Denial, he isn’t following the rules.
Horror Situation: Injured – Sara’s face slashed
Reaction: Denial, she isn’t following the rules.
· One of us killed: Monster kills Luke.
Horror Situation: See another killed – Evelyn witnesses Luke’s death.
Reaction: Hidden but seen – Will she be next?
Horror Situation: Mental torture – Evelyn hiding in spider infested outhouse
Reaction: Hide
Horror Situation: Unknown motive – Jessel leads unbelievers to their deaths.
Reaction: Denial, no one sees what happened.
Horror Situation: Unknown motive – Roger and Evelyn beaten, Sara removed
Reaction: Denial, they aren’t following the rules.
· (another) One of us killed: Monster kills Sara.
Horror Situation: Doing something forbidden – Evelyn is witness to Sara’s ravage and rape.
Reaction: Hiding, will she be next.
Horror Situation: Doing something forbidden – Giles screams in Pastor Tim’s hut.
Reaction: Try to Solve it and Hiding
· (another) One of us killed: Monster kills Roger.
Horror Situation: Roger is maimed then killed fleeing for help.
Reaction: Hide
MIDPOINT – The monster is worse than we thought!
· Terrorized: Killing spree. Individuals fight for group survival then their own.
Horror Situation: Character loses it, hysteria – Monster kills at the campsite.
Reaction: Hide and flee, Evelyn is next.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
· Full pursuit by the killer: Monster takes killing spree on the road, pursuing Evelyn.
Horror Situation: Jungle chase
Reaction: Escape
Horror Situation: Character loses it, hysteria – Monster kills everyone at the retreat.
Reaction: Hide and flee, Evelyn is next.
· Full pursuit by the killer: Evelyn stumbles upon Sara. Maddock re-appears.
· Death returns to take one or more: Maddock kills Sara.
Horror Situation: A character becomes a liability – Maddock throws Sara off a cliff.
Reaction: Denial
· Hysteria: Maddock is in cahoots with Pastor and monster who join him.
Horror Situation: Kidnapped – Pastor takes Evelyn.
Reaction: Fight
· Death returns to take one or more: Monster kills Maddock.
Horror Situation: Walking into a trap – Monster kills Maddock.
Reaction: Fight
· Fight to the death: Pastor tries to drown Evelyn.
Horror Situation: Can not see – foggy lake, under water
Reaction: Fight
· The thrilling escape from death: Sister saves Evelyn, kills Pastor.
Horror Situation: Can not see – foggy, under water
Reaction: Fight
· Fight to the death: Sister kills monster.
Horror Situation: Jungle chase to the beach
Reaction: Fight
Horror Situation: Face to face with the monster on dinghy
Reaction: Fight
Horror Situation: Can not see – monster’s feet tangle in tossed anchor, goes overboard
Reaction: Fight
· Resolution: Sister makes it to main boat, crew secure dinghy.
Horror Situation: Impending doom – Monster uses rope to hoist back onto the dinghy.
Reaction: Denial – no one sees
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Act I
The last day before Winter Break. Most Students are on a field trip, and seniors were allowed to skip.
Connect with Characters: Protagonists are in a classroom. While other students are finishing their finals, they discuss one getting arrested for breaking and entering. The teacher makes an announcement saying “feel free to eat a snack but try to avoid causer of allergy (peanut butter). I would hate for anyone, especially one of the only ones who pays attention, to have a reaction on the last day of school.”
Atmosphere of Evil Established: It begins at a table where one person is trying to convince the others to try D&D, and see the Musical which they helped in. One person then leaves and joins a table where they are discussing rumors about serial killer. Starts out jokingly, and then it turns serious when someone tells that they actually saw them when walking home from soccer practice.
Reaction: The others laugh, while the speaker tries to defend themself.
Over the intercom, riders on bus 273 are called. One student at the table gets up and leaves, after the others realizing that was their bus, the others teasing them about the serial killer.
They go to the front office where they are asked about a strange weapon found on the bus.
A lockdown begins due to an ongoing investigation on the weapon, and what happened when it was fired.
Two administrators are walking the halls, and they split up when they get to a crossroads.
Situation: A teacher is chasing two kids.
Reaction: The students hide in a closet/locker/ whatever is big enough for two people until they go away, where they find the administrator’s dead body.
Act II
The previously unmentioned snowstorm intensifies
Situation: Two students are walking through the halls. The one following is grabbed first as the other enters a location.
Reaction: they fight to escape their grapple, loses, and is drained of their current enough to be put in an unconscious state until…
the other is attacked by the monster as they exit.
The monster carries them towards an abandoned classroom where they drain the unconscious student’s electricity, with their friend watching, taking the drained’s form.
The monster returns to the classroom, telling the other was kidnapped, spurring the others to act.
Situation: Mr. Sapientia, is killed by the villain, after closing the door he needed to get out, and pretending to warn him that something was coming.
Reaction: the others flee, and the kidnapped person stumbles out. leaving Sapientia’s drained body inside.
Midpoint
They head back to class. The monster can take the form of any of its victims. They don’t know who to trust. The seemingly innocent and traumatized rescued person plants seeds of betrayal in the group.
Reaction: Their relationships fracture and end up splitting up into groups of three or four.
Character 3 and 4 are walking through the halls. 4 can go a lot faster than 3, so he feels as if 3 is holding him back.
The bookish Sami and his neighbor Dee Baker, and his boyfriend the actor wander the halls, on edge, looking for anyone else.
The curious Student 12, intelligent 8, and the nondescript 10 look for clues about this killer.
The jock, and his two buddies wander around taking the opportunity to skip.
The cowardly class clown, and the law-abiding Jen Erick stay in the classroom.
Situation: As 3 and 4 pass by the classroom, they see a person approaching— character 9. Rather than staying quiet, 3, the innocent, says hello to 9 who is the doppelgänger in disguise. Character 4 now sees his friend as a liability, and doesn’t stop the monster from draining his friend’s energy.
Reaction: he flees down the hall, as his friend mutters some curses, and sarcastic comments at him.
Situation lured into trap: Student 12 finds some footprints leading down one area. 8 cautions them against it, but they go anyway.
Character Death: The sound of their death is heard offscreen. Others run, both trying to escape the doppelgänger, and trying to make it to the library. They run past the classroom and the characters in there hide.
Situation: they look for any books. Grabbing both fiction, and nonfiction (Exoplanets, the War of the Worlds…) they sit down and begin studying them. The doppelgänger enters and chases them through the otherwise abandoned library.
Reaction: they run away lobbing science fiction and nonfiction in the 520s.
Situation: 4 was fleeing the monster when he stumbles upon his crush, the popular 14, who is being attacked by three students. The popular kid rushes to her aid, and beats up the other kids. Then, the jock and his buddies arrive. The jock is holding the popular person’s corpse.
Reaction: They fight and lose to the doppelgänger who gleefully drains their energy.
Situation: In another part of the school, Dee and the actor are alone. Baker sees someone approaching, but it is the doppelgänger and they grab Dee and take them to a quieter location. Believing they cannot fight them, the actor rushes off to tell Sami instead, but saying they aren’t ready for a fight. They make plans to meet instead, and Sami goes to save his friend.
Act III
Situation: The villain is about to kill Dee when they hear footsteps approaching. It is Sami. He opens the door and find two Dees. One is a copy, but which. He asks both a question, first Dee, and the doppelgänger copies her answer. Then, he asks the villain first, and when they are distracted thinking, he pushes a bookcase on them. Then, he helps free Dee, who grabs the monster’s dagger.
Reaction: they run as the monster screams in anger, momentarily forgetting about Dee.
Situation: Characters 8 meets up with Dee and Sami. They exchange stories until they see a person walking down the halls.
Reaction: Dee tries to pick the lock, and unlocks it just in time. They rush inside slamming it on the monster. They look around, and see the bodies of the students that hid, and 8 determines the cause of death (being drained of electricity).
Situation: The door opens to the kitchen where there are maybe two other people. Dave and Mitch. Mitch is an excellent juggler, and can throw knives, but is afraid of nearly everything else, and Dave is a quiet mysterious sort of person. They see a figure at the far side of the cafeteria, charging to the lunch line.
Reaction: They close the gate, but the villain pulls one person’s body through just as it closes. Leaving them stuck. As the gate is propped up, they move it slightly more and then slip through.
Situation: The monster gets closer and closer to their newest victims.
Reaction: The students dig furiously through cabinets. One opens the freezer to inhibit their progress, and as the blast of cold air hits them. As they try to shift to escape they experience trouble, and only later can they make it through.
Dee, Sami and eight leave the kitchen, as they think they have an idea of possible retribution the monster may have. They make their way to the meeting place and, as they feared their friend is not there, finding only a note.
Situation:They go to the room where the monster said to meet. They see the monster interrogating the actor. When the villain notices them, they kill the actor, and give the characters the broken body.
Reaction: Sami is stunned at what happened.
They run to the cafeteria, grab some rope and race outside to the snow. As the villain charges out their skin begins to freeze, leaving them incapacitated. They emerge from their hiding spot to spread the peanut butter all over them hoping to cause an allergic reaction. It is working,
They take the actor’s form (also inheriting their allergies) and pursue the characters.
Wells, H. G. “The War of the Worlds” Pearson’s Magazine 1897
Summers, Michael and James S. Trefil “Exoplanets” Smithsonian 2017
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Susan’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned doing this assignment is that starting with a list of horror situations really helps to fill out the outline and see things from the characters’ points of view.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: Eight people are trapped in a dark room.
Horror Situation: The dark room moves and jostles, tipping the people so they are sliding across the floor. The ceiling is ripped off and the monster appears.
Reaction: One escapes by attacking the monster.
SUPERIMPOSE: TEN YEARS LATER
Connect with the characters: A colony is running out of food, but the leader-father forbids anyone from leaving the property. Later, the kids discuss different solutions, and Wilhelmina brings up the forbidden Cold Dead Place, goading Mick into proving his bravery.
Denial of Horror: Riled by Wilhelmina and Mick, the rest of them mock Gerald and head off. The two older sisters object, and reluctantly follow them, to ensure their safety.
Safety taken away: The group wanders into the Cold Dead Place, white shine everywhere, and uncovers a smorgasboard of food. They eat happily, and there’s enough food to bring back to the colony. As the group digests, Wilhelmina and Mick go to a dark recess for some romance.
Horror Situation: Laughing, Mick tackles her, and, as they roll around, they fall into a trap. They scream, and the two older sisters run to help.
Reaction: They are able to rescue them, though strips of flesh are left behind in the trap, and one loses a foot. But, while helping, one sister falls into the trap face-first and suffocates.
Monster: The nature of the beast. The monster has laid traps for them but is still unknown.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – The kids scream and run away. We gotta get out of here!
Horror Situation: But then Gerald screams that Ralph is missing, so they calm down and strategize how to find him. They are not leaving without him.
Reaction: They start searching and callin for Ralph, looking over their shoulders.
One of us killed – One doesn’t want to join the rescue group because he is too scared.
Horror Situation: Breaking away from the group, he crawls into a box to hide.
Reaction: An electric shock kills him instantly.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer – The group is lost, looking frantically for Ralph.
Horror Situation: The enter a room where people are being tortured. They describe the monster.
Reaction: The group tries to rescue someone from the torture chamber but ends of killing him by accident.
Terrorized – The group realizes that their bodies are getting weaker. One of them starts twitching. Dark bruises form on their bodies. Is the monster killing them from within?
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: They find the room where Ralph is held hostage and tortured.
Horror Situation: The group fights the monster.
Reaction: The monster beats some of them to death.
Hysteria – The group finds a death chamber that is used to kill people after they are tortured.
Horror Situation: The group retreats to figure out the next steps.
Reaction: Some of the group gives up and tries to go home.
The thrilling escape from death – Time is up for Ralph.
Horror Situation: The monster is bringing Ralph to the death chamber.
Reaction: The group is able to distract the monster enough so that Gerald takes Ralph’s place.
Death returns to take one or more. Gerald receives the respect from Mick (his older brother) that he has yearned for all his life.
Horror Situation: Ralph hesitates as the realization that Gerald just gave him his life sets in.
Reaction: The monster grabs at the chance and captures Ralph again.
Resolution – The monster’s child
enters the chamber, and the monster’s identity is revealed. -
What I learned doing this assignment is: My outline keeps getting tweaked as we proceed with the lessons.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
• Atmosphere of Evil established: A killer beheads a woman with an axe.
Horror Situation- Impending Doom: A CCTV collage showing bodies littered around an estate and inside a house. Some died, trapped in bear traps, some have been cut in half, some have limbs missing, etc.
Reaction-Escape: A woman shown dragging herself, leaving a bloody trail.
Horror Situation – Attacked or chased: A figure is slowly walking, following the bloody trail she’s leaving behind, cradling an axe. Only seen up to shoulder height.
Reaction- Hide: She crawls behind a thick clump of bushes and tries to conceal herself.
Horror Situation – Face to Face with the monster: The figure follows the bloody trail to her hiding spot and confronts her. It is wearing a cosplay helmet with devil’s horns.
Reaction – Bargain: She tries to bargain with the killer.
Horror Situation – Face to Face with the monster: The killer beheads her.
• Connect with the characters: After a bitter divorce, Laura celebrates with her friends.
Horror Situation- Impending Doom: Someone is taking photographs of Laura and her friends as they celebrate.
Horror Situation – Walking into a trap: Laura goes to a cabin in the woods she won in the divorce to unwind for a few days.
• The characters are warned not to do it: Adam warns her after the divorce negotiations that she shouldn’t celebrate too soon.
• Denial of Horror: Laura defiantly answers that her life is hers and she’ll in fact celebrate by going to the cabin Adam didn’t want her to have.
• Safety taken away: Laura experiences strange events in the cabin.
Horror Situation – Impending Doom: A note left on her windshield during a rest stop while she’s driving to the cabin – you will die.
Reaction – Denial: Laura thinks it’s a prank by a kid whose parents are also at the rest stop.
Horror Situation – Impending Doom: doors locked on their own, voices at night, strange notes scrawled on mirrors.
Reaction – Denial: Laura and her friends think it’s her stress making her imagine things.
• Monster: The nature of the beast: Laura and her friends drugged and abducted.
Horror situation – Walking into a trap: Laura’s friends decide to surprise her to lift her spirits. They land up at the cabin.
Horror Situation – Being lured into danger: The group is sent a mysterious invitation to dinner from a neighbor Laura has never seen.
• The characters are warned not to do it: The grocery store owner, who does a supply run to the cabin tells them that strange stuff is said to happen in the estate they got invited to dinner to. There are rumors that people disappeared there, so they shouldn’t go.
• Denial of Horror: The group overrides the grocery store owner’s advice and Laura’s objections and decides to go to dinner- the invite seems fun.
Horror Situation- Kidnapped: The group’s dinner is drugged and they pass out.
Horror Situation – Face to face with the monster: The killer in the devil’s helmet ties them all up in separate rooms while they are woozy and hazy.
Reaction – Denial: They think they’re hallucinating.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
• Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: Laura and the group are trapped in an unknown home in dark rooms.
Horror Situation – Cannot See: The rooms they are imprisoned in are pitch dark and they cannot hear anything except the ticking of a clock.
Horror Situation- Shackled: They’re all sitting in chairs they’re tied to.
Reaction – Try to Solve it: They try yelling out to each other, breaking their ties, breaking the chairs they’re bound to, etc.
• One of us killed: Paul is brutally killed by the masked figure while everyone is forced to watch on screens.
Horror Situation – See another killed: The killer turns a spotlight on each member of the group and accuses each one of them of cheating someone (boyfriend, husband, business partner, etc.). Emma – he accuses her of encouraging Laura to cheat on her husband by introducing her to Scott and then encouraging her to leave her husband for Scott. He then kills her husband Paul and gives her the choice of killing herself or escaping. When she escapes, she falls into a bear trap that slices off her leg, then other traps that leave her bloodied and dying. He then beheads her. All of this is streamed for the others to watch.
Reaction –
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! After watching Emma be killed, the group is given a choice – nominate the next person to die, or try escaping. Their fate is in their hands. They are allowed to be together in a large room and given two maps with all possible escape routes from the estate marked. They have an hour, and if they’re still on the estate by then, they all die.
Horror Situation – Dilemma: Who to save: The group has an hour to pick who will die next for their sins, or decide to escape.
Reaction – Denial: The group thinks that what’s happening is an elaborate prank by someone. Paul and Emma are not really dead.
Horror Situation – Internal conflict in the group: Disagreement and conflicts break out in the group on their course of action. The majority opinion is that they can break out of the house.
Reaction – Escape: They split up into groups and start exploring the routes.
Horror Situation – walking into a trap: The group presses on.
Horror Situation – Injured, wounded, or debilitated: They run into barb wire fences, thorny bushes. They are all bloodied and wounded. There seems to be no way off the estate.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Reaction – panic: they all come back to a central spot to regroup and start fighting amongst themselves.
Horror Situation – Threatened: They are warned over the PA system that they failed, so now they will all die.
Reaction – Internal conflict in the group: They start blaming each other for the situation and bickering.
• Terrorized: They hear the whir of a drone. A camera focuses on them. A countdown starts on the PA system.
Reaction – panic: They flee the spot.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Reaction – Escape: The group rushes to escape.
• Full pursuit by the killer: The killer is now actively hunting the group.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Reaction – Hide: They hide and plot to kill the killer.
• Fight to the death: The group members who are together (Vince, Jessica, Regan, Scott, Laura) try to fashion weapons (pitchforks from the barns, rocks, clubs, etc.) and traps (nooses, snares of some sort) and try to ambush the killer by letting one of them be spotted by a drone.
Horror Situation – Face to face with the monster: The group members succeed in luring and wounding the killer. They believe they’ve killed him.
Reaction – Escape: They compare the maps and see that there are actually only _x_ # of escape routes shown on it, whereas the killer mentioned x+1 ways out of the estate. They superimpose the maps and discover that there’s a tunnel running from the house on the estate to Laura’s cabin!
· The thrilling escape from death: The killer is stabbed by Laura and left for dead. The group tries to escape…
Horror Situation – Attacked or chased: The group starts heading back to the house as the countdown begins again on the PA system. The killer is not dead and they are still being chased. A drone catches up with them.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Reaction – Fight: Laura stabs the killer. They believe he’s dead.
• Hysteria: They cannot find the route back to the house and fall into more traps.
Horror Situation – Injured, wounded, or debilitated: One person is impaled on spikes in an animal pit.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Reaction – Escape: They keep trying to run back towards the house.
• Death returns to take one or more: The killer is not dead!
Horror Situation – Attacked or chased: The killer is still hunting them and has just killed Vince, which he announces on the PA system.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Reaction – Escape: Laura keeps running to the house.
Horror Situation – Dilemma: The killer announces that he will show Laura the way back, if she believes she can end it by killing him.
Reaction – Fight: Laura goes back to the house and fights the killer with ______ weapon, but he overpowers her.
• Resolution: Scott is still alive and turns up to rescue her. He shoves her into the tunnel and closes the door, setting the house on fire with him in it. Scott dies, is the killer dead too?
Horror Situation – Lured: Laura is back in the house.
Reaction – Fight: Scott incapacitates the killer and locks Laura out.
Horror Situation- No escape or their escape route has been cut off: Scott sacrifices himself.
The killer is dead.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Cliffhanger: An ad in the newspaper several days later – have you been cheated by anyone in your life? Will pay for the story.
Laura is being photographed.
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Marissa’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned doing this assignment: The script keeps changing with each assignment.
ACT 1 – SET UP THE HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: a demonic entity beheads an old woman.
Horror Situation: the windows open violently, and curtains dance wildly as a streak of light enters the room.
Reaction – HIDE: A woman wakes and crawls under the bed.
Connect with the Characters – a family of four is living an ordinary life. They receive news about the death of their grandmother. They set out for a road trip to attend the funeral on the opposite side of the country.
Characters are warned not to do it – the central character sees a woman in cover in blood on the drive. The husband warns maybe they shouldn’t go.
Denial of Horror – central character gets aggressive and defends her family. She declares she is mourning and takes the wheels drives the family.
Safety taken away – the wife now slightly unhinged loses her way. They wander into unknown terrority and get lost in the middle of nowhere. Family is scared and husband and wife argue as to who takes charge. Wife storms off into the unknown woods.
Horror Situation – wife is wandering alone in the woods. she gets lost and separates from the family.
Reaction – lost and confused they look for each other. the wife grows confused and thinks she sees the woman in white. she begins to walk faster and faster away from the direction of the white woman. she yells for her family. The husband hears the wife and tells the kids to stay in the car. He moves deeper into the woods calling after her. The wife and husband finally find each other. They run to the car, find it and get back on the road.
Horror situation – at the family funeral the family see a strange unknown woman. Wife hallucinates and sees her demonic face.
Reaction – They decide not to drive back to their home and move into their dead mother’s house near their living family.
MONSTER – NATURE OF THE BEAST – they discover teraphims (little idols) that conjure the demonic spirit into the home. Unknown to them, they are now cursed by the demonic spirit.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
Horror situation – Little girl (youngest child) mysteriously disappears.
Reaction – Try to solve it – they search for her: the house, the yard, call the extended family, the police.
One of us killed – the father wakes in the middle of the night to screams of his little girl. He runs to her bedroom to find her in the arms of a woman in white covered in blood. The little girl is holding the teraphim. He lunges for her and he is burned alive.
Horror situation – wife wakes and searches and finds her husband desacrated, and daughtered gone.
Reaction – try to solve it – the wife takes her son, packs, and tries to leave the house. The doors are locked.
MIDPOINT – the monster is worse than we thought.
Full pursuit by the killer – son finds teraphim and it conjures the white woman right to him.
Horror situation – mother looks for a safe room, but the house now begins to change form.
Reaction – mother finds window to jump out.
Terrorized – mother realizes that the idols are conjuring the white woman. how does she destroy the white woman
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: She burns the idols.
Horror situation – Idols don’t burn. White woman now seeks them out.
Reaction – fight – mother finds and looks in the bible to understand teraphim to destroy white woman. She tries to smash the idols with a hammer.
Horror situation – idols don’t break.
Reaction – lures – mother uses idols to lure, arms herself with cross, bible, and matches.
Pursued situation – there is no escape
Horror situation – mother and son find a window. Window is locked.
Reaction – mother smashes the window – Son jumps out.
Face to face with the Monster – White woman approaches mother and the mother burns herself and bible on fire.
Resolution – the son watches the house burn. Rescue team arrives and the son is taken to the hospital. He is saved.
Horror situation – he keeps the teraphim.
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Lesson 4: The Horror Plot Track
Subject Line:(Huey J. Williams) Horror Situation Track
What I Learned:
Its fun and not so difficult to create Horror Stories.
The Atmosphere of Evil-
A forest near a lake illuminated by a full moon, the sounds of desperate
HISSING, an injured WOLF GROWL, QUICK THUMPING HITTING THE GROUND, slithers
threw the bush in hot pursuit of a eight POINT BUCK. The Buck shrieks in
pain when he is captured, bones CRUNCHING, then forest goes silent, an SCREECH
OWL SHRIEKS, as he watches from a tree.
Dust, a Motorhome with the Group pulls up, stops to a sign that reads
“Black Forest, keep out”
ALDEN
Keep out, my Dad and I have spent many hunting
seasons here, we’ve captured some of the bigest
bucks in the region, perfect dear hunting.
ASHLEY
Ok, lets go home, I don’t feel like getting shot
with rock salt. Do you remember what happend when
we raided that cherry orchard last sumer.
CORY
It’s probably a prank, pay it no mind, we’re here
lets go camping.
CATE
Well, lets go home. Cory, you think everythings a
prank.
GRAM
Lets go for it, what do we have to loose, all they
can do is kick us out, if they find us.
ZOEY
Cate, I agree, I don’t like going to stange places
uninvited, especially in the woods. Its no telling
what we my find, or run into, there could be GHOSTS,
MONSTERS, maybe even a MAD KILLER.
Everyone in the motorhome starts laughing.
ALDEN
Cate chill out, I think you watch to much TV. Then
it’s settled!
They continue to the camp sight by the lake.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
The Group set up their tents near the lake and prepare for bed(Isolated)
Gram decides to go for a jog, his nightly routine, on his way back from
the run he notices the motor home is smoking.
The Group jumps into action putting out the electrical fire.(Trapped)
ASHLEY
Now we’re trapped out in the middle of nowhere,
what’s next, someone gets lost, or maybe killed.
ALDEN
Ashley, don’t be such a baby.
They put the fire out and return to their tents, lights out and all is
quiet.
CORY
I’ll fix the electrical problem in the morning.
Suddenly, there is a loud HISSIN followed by a SICK WOLF HOWL!
Everybody jumps out of bed.
EVERYBODY
What was that! What the hell was that!
Shad begins barking and groweling, then he runs out the tent in hot pursuit
into the woods after the Thingamajig.
Alden grabs his rifle and follows shad and tries to catch up into the woods…
Everyone in the camp, Ashley, Cory, Cate, Zoey, except for Gram are gathered
together in terror huging each other, when Alden returns with only Shad’s Tags
and some of his fur. Alden hugs Ashley almost in tears.
ALDEN
Shad is gone, all I found was his tages, and
fur scattered all over the ground.
GRAM
Shad was an excellent hunter, I bet he went out fighting.
ALDEN
Something very strange happened,
while I gathered Shads things, I fealt like
I was being watched by something hiding in the
bushes. I couldn’t see it but it was there
watching me. I kept my rifle ready as I left.
The Group hugs each other tighter as the terror chills their bones.
GRAM
Alden, how many extra guns did you bring?
ALDEN
The hand guns on me, my rifle, there is a hand
gun and rifle in the motorhome.
GRAM
I think we should leave the tents set up, but
everyone sleep in the motorhome tonight.
ALDEN
I agree.
The Group make their way into the motorhome and bed down for the night.
Zoey tries to make a call home on her cell phone, no signal.
ZOEY
There’s no signal out here, I can’t make a call,
now we’re really screwed. Gram if anything happens
to me, I’ll, I’ll, you better protect me.
GRAM
As long as you’re with me love, I’m your
Superman, you know that.
Gram, and Alden armed decides to share watch duty for the night.
The Thingamajig is watching the motorhome in the bushes.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
The Thingamajig enters the camp, checking the tents, then he goes to
the motorhome and peeps threw the bathroom window.
Zoey is in the bathroom bushing he teeth, when she spot the Thingamajig
big eyees enlarged face staring at her, she SCREAMS and runs out of
the bathroom.
ZOEY
There’s a monster out there, he’s peeping in
the bathroom window!
Zoey, Ashley, Cate begin SCREAMING as LOAD as they can!
The Thingamajig jumps on the motorhome HISSING, HOWLING LIKE AN INJURED WOLF,
shaking things up and it sounds like it’s saying FEED ME, FEED ME over and
over.
Alden, Gram, Cory, go into action each armed, they make their way out of the
motorhome they get their first look at the Thingamajig, and begin SHOOTING.
They make multiple hits, but it doesn’t kill it, as it runs away into the
darkness.
Alden, Gram, Cory are sweating, knees kocking, wide eyeed and they can’t believe
what they just saw.
GRAM
Lets not tell the Girls about this, not
just yet.
ALDEN
Ya right, they will for sure become hysterical,
but they must know. We have to come up with a
way to kill this Thingamajig, what ever it is.
CORY
It looked hungry, its either us or it, the
Thingamajig, that’s a good name for it.
That’s what it looks like a Thingamajig.
We learned something about it tonight,
bullets won’t kill it, mybe fire will.
Alden, Gram, Cory head back into the motorhome, they have some explaining to do
but it doesn’t go so well.
ALDEN
I wish I had a better way to tell you this,
but we are being hunted, by something we have
named the Thingamajig. We promise you, it will
be taken care of, we have a plan.
Later that evening the Thingamajig strikes again this time the all the Girls get a look
at it, as it raids the tents looking for their food.
Ashley, Cate, Zoey become hysterical, crying, sweating, Zoey soil herselves.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Alden, Gram, Cory fights the Thingamajig off with fire, (molotov cocktails), but not
before it grabs Gram.
Gram get to close to the Thingamajig, it grabs him and takes him away into the forest.
Alden and Cory follow Gram and the Thingamajig to it’s hideout.
The Thingamajig is half way done making a meal of Gram.
Alden and Cory bomb the Thingamajig with molotov cocktails setting refuge a blase.
The Thingamjig falls to the ground as it burns.
The Thingamajig rise and runs towards Alden, and Cory, they fire several shots, hitting it
then it falls and dies…
Alden and Cory take a close look of what’s left of Gram’s burned and half eaten body, they
bury Gram’s body before makeing their way back to the motorhome.
Ashley, Cate, Zoey stand at the motorhome happy to see Alden, and Cory, but Zoey begins
crying.
ZOEY
Where is Gram! Where is Gram!
CORY
He didn’t make it. The Thingamajig killed him,
we buried what was left of him.
Zoey burst into more tears, Ashley and Cate comfort her.
ALDEN
Grab your things, we’re leaving, we’ll hike
to the nearest main road, hitch-hike back to
town for help.
Together with Ashley, Cate, Zoey Alden and Cory hike their way out to the main road,
where they catch a ride back to town for help…
What appears as a falling star lights the sky, then lands near the lake.
CLOSE ON – Another Thingamajig sureys the forest…
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Wade Jehowski’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned in this assignment is my brain is most productive when I can compartmentalize different things. I’m an Eagle Scout and to help me, I searched out Merit Badges to denote each kill and action. I was thinking it would be fun to show the different Merit Badges throughout the movie to foreshadow what was going to happen. I was unable to download pictures of the Merit Badges, but thought it would
be a nice map for the audience.
Step 1 Merit Badge/Horror situations for your story
-Archery – Monster shoots multiple arrows at a victim running for his life, it’s a slow death – Reaction – The Group is together and running away, but the victim unfortunately is hit multiple times. They try to save him but a couple of the members are hit with arrows as well.
-Cooking – Scalding hot water death scene – this is scene where one of the campers is trying to find a weapon. Reaction – He is by himself in the Mess Hall.
-Climbing – a hanging scene with a repelling rope from a rock. Reaction – One of the group members goes missing and the rest of the crew is running from the “Monster”. They run into the dangling body.
-Swimming – A victim is drowned on the beach in an inch of water. Reaction – The remaining group members try to stop the “Monster” by stabbing him with knives that they got from the Mess Hall, but he is too powerful. They are jumping on top of him. The “Monster” uses bear spray and temporarily blind them.
-Chemistry – A victim is burnt to death with chemicals from the Groundskeeper shed.
-Metal Work – A blow torch is used to kill a victim
-Rifle Shooting – A victim is beaten to death with the butt of shotgun
-Forestry – A victim is forced to eat Poison Ivy
-Golf – A victim is forced against a tree and the “Monster” uses his belt and golf club to kill the victim. It’s tough to explain, I stole the idea from I believe Friday the 13th Part 5.
-Communication – One of the victims talks all of the time and the “Monster” tells him to “shut the fuck up” and strangles him.
Throughout these murders we occasionally see the “Monster” drag the bodies his hidden underground room. He puts the bodies in their own chair. We see an old family movie being played on a projector.
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<div>Joyce’s:</div>
wil:WRITING “CATCH-UP” HELPS. It makes you sort out the elements quickly.
ACT 1 — <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> Atmosphere of Evil established: An invitation to return to home town, but it is edged in black •Protagonist is puzzled and somewhat disturbed. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>A mysterious app signature shows up on phone and computer. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Her husband suggests that she go to home town and not make a big deal about it. He won’t go with her.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Connect with the characters: Yearbook staff on ten years ago all receive them.
• At the reception, the characters are warned not to do it: Principal speaks and warns not to go to old school. it is being renovated. Many insist. They go
a tour, but the staff members don’t leave.
•<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Denial of Horror: they search for damning yearbooks, find one with horrific picture of killing. Someone
playing a joke.
• Safety taken away: Janitor in boiler room is suspicious.
ACT 2
Separate and search for yearbooks.
Find one killed like a picture. He is favorite basketball player of their class. The moveable stands in the gym crash down on him. They try to release him, but the lights on on auxiliary and the automatic left isn’t working. They kick off a section of seats and discover his throat has been slashed.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> MIDPOINT
Full pursuit: They go two by two for safety. Pro goes with the class mascot. He finds his old tiger costume and puts it on. They search for hidden yearbooks.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Two others find a book. It has a picture of the mascot covered in blood. They run to find him. Pro loses sight of the mascot. Two scream when they find him lying in a pool of blood. They turn him over and his head rolls off inside the tiger head costume.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Three band together.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Another is attacked, an innocent victim, but monster is not finished and leaves. She is badly hurt in the library.
Terrorized, men go after the janitor.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ACT 3- FULL OUT
HORROR
• Monster: Kills janitor. The majorette blames Pro for the killings. She was editor of the yearbook and valeditorian. she won everything. majorette won’t stay with her. Instead, she runs to the band room. On a keyboard she sees her picture when she led the band, but she is all in red blood.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><b class=””>The drum sounds Theothers find her in the bandroom. she wears the drum major helmut, but the baton is embedded in her chest.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><b class=””>Monster kills any who are alone and leaves a picture.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><b class=””>Pro tries to hide with girl who is wounded.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><b class=””>Two plot to burn down the school. they go to Janitor’s supply room and find flammable materials. the fire is contained, at first. One goes toadd to the blaze. Monster kills each one.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><b class=””>ACT 4
Pro excapes with wounded friend. The Principal tries to stop them. She is sure he is the monster, but he is killed, too.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><b class=””>She calls husband and says she will come home when friend is out of danger. Friend dies.
<b class=”” style=”font-weight: bold;”>She slips away to go home. Sees husband making out with intgrior designer woman and drives back to home town. She sets fire to the building. Monster attacks her, but she fights. He leaves her unconscious.
Saved by firemen, she escapes.
Monster comes out of smoke holding a yearbook.
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Pete’s Horror Track Situations
TONGUES
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Spooky Situations: Doing something forbidden.
Atmosphere of Evil established: A fortune teller gives Rachel bad news about her future at her baby shower.
Connect with the characters: Cian, Rachel’s drunken husband, crashes the baby shower and tells everyone to get out.
The characters are warned not to do it: Rachel tells Cian about the fortune teller. He doesn’t believe that shite and doesn’t want Em filling her head with that nonsense.
Reaction:Denial
Denial of Horror: OBGYN: Rachel’s baby is dead according to the ultrasound, but she must carry it to term for her own safety.
Paranoia Situations: Menacing Stranger
Safety taken away: While stopped at a petrol station, Rachel’s attacked by woman brandishing a knife and her dead baby is cut from her womb – she has a vision of the Virgin Mary.
Reaction: Denial
Torture Situations: Injured, wounded or debilitated.
Deceptive Situations: Lured into horror.
A woman faking a pregnancy attacks Rachel and cuts the baby out of her womb and leaves her to bleed out.
Monster: The nature of the beast: With the help of her parish, Father Flynn, she decides to spend time with a convent of nuns who run a parental bereavement group.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated Situations: trapped/being lured into danger.
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: The Sisters of the First Miracle are a cloistered convent, so no visitors or mobile devices allowed!
Tormented situation: Possession
Rachel is demonically attacked – the sisters lay hands on her for healing. One sister speaks in a strange tongue. While the nuns touch her body, Rachel begins to levitate off her bed!
Em gets in a yelling match with the nun and cusses her out! The sister warns her to keep a civil tongue in her head.
Torture Situations: see another killed.
One of us killed: That night Em has a convulsion, swallows her tongue and chokes to death.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer: Father Flynn visits and shares the news of Em’s death. Rachel attempts to leave the convent, but Mother Superior locks her in her room.
Pursued Situations: no escape.
Reaction: Fight
Terrorized: Cops show up at the convent to do a welfare check on Rachel. The cops ask her if she’s being harmed. Cian is there and convinces a buddy detective to remove Rachel for her own good. Cian grabs her belongings, and they drive off into the night.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Reaction: Escape
Rachel is drawn back to the convent.
Pursued Situations: Impending doom.
Spooky Situations: Doing something forbidden.
Fight to the death: The Black Mass is in honor of Lilith the first wife of Adam!
Tormented situation: Possession
Hysteria: Rachel levitates upside down with her arms outstretched and her legs together. REVERSE STIGMATA!
Reaction: Fight
The thrilling escape from death: Father Flynn tries to interfere stop the witches’ Black Mass, but he too is dispatched in a horrible way.
Deceptive Situations: Walking into a trap.
Spooky Situations: Face to face with the monster.
Death returns to take one or more: The woman who attacked Rachel at the petrol station appears holding her dead baby. The baby starts to suckle, literally draining the life from Rachel.
Resolution: The soul of Lilith has been transferred to the stillborn baby and the sisters rejoice!
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What I learned doing this assignment is this outline method is effective in forming ideas into plot points.
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:
This is in the prologue. When Sara’s mother is killed.
Horror situation:Sara is the only one that see’s the monster, and she is kidnapped.
Reaction:Escape, Sara tries very hard to escape.
Connect with the characters:
We meet the James and John John, after we met Mr. Burns and his brother working for Mr. Hughmont.
Horror situation:Internal conflict the two brothers fight,working with someone then they become evil. The superintent becomes evil later.
Reaction:Try to solve it. Mr. Burns tries to explain the logic behind everything.
The characters are warned not to do it:
The priest will tell Mr. Burns it’s not his problem.
Horror situation:The priest is the only one that sees the moster and he warns Mr. Burns to not do anything.
Reaction:The priest’s reaction is to fight, and he tells Mr. Burns, stay away.
Denial of Horror:
John John denies that the new teacher was in town the day his old teacher was killed.
Horror situation: James is the only one to see the monster. He suspects MM is possessed.
Reaction:JamesTrys to solve it.
Safety taken away:
Miss M. becomes the new teacher, and Sara visits the superintendent and he kills his family and himself.
Horror situation:A character refuses to take action. Why does Mr. Burns kill his family and himself and not Sara.
Reaction:The superintendent tries to escape by killing his family. What does he know?
Monster: The nature of the beast:
John John has a vision and gets second sight by removing his eyes.
Horror situation:John John is mentally tortured, and possessed. The monster pursued him with her methods.
Reaction:John John tries to escape by seeing into the future. This act calms him.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted:
John John is isolated in the Asylum.James is isolated in that he knows something is wrong.
Horror situation: John John is trapped, shackled, possessed.
Reaction: Fights back. In the Asylum John John does try to fight back but he is drugged and shackled.
One of us killed:Erik Johnsen is found dead after he ran away from the schoolhouse.
Horror situation:He is trapped after running away from the schoolhouse to avoid a beating. He jumps from the frying pan into the fire.
Reaction:The is Eriks botched escape attemept.
,
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!:
The medical workers can shapeshift, The Sheriff and the Judge agree about sacrifices.
Horror situation:Many in the town and asylum have been infiltrated by her cult.
Reaction: James tries to solve it.
Full pursuit by the killer:
This is when Sara speaks to James that the Devil is smoking.
Reaction: James hide by being in a trance. The horror of it puts him in a trance.
Horror situation: Monster is trying to get to you.Sara is possesesed in someway. Unkown motive. Stalking James as he talks with Mr. Burns.
Reaction: Fight Mr. Burns sees Sara but tries to protect James and gives James a Bowie Knife.
Terrorized:James has a vision of the devil in his bedroom. The vision smiles and reads James thoughts.
Horror Situation:possessed, mentally tortured.
Reaction: James reaction is: try to solve it.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death:James fights against Miss Mapletree with help of Mr. Burns.
Horror situation:doing something forbidden, suspecting someone is possessed.environment changing around you.
Reaction:fight together they plan to fight against MM.
Hysteria:
James learns his parents are part of the plot, and that he will be given a harvest authority.
Horror situation:working with someone,then they become the evil one. they’ve been infiltarated.
Reaction:try to solve it.
The thrilling escape from death:
James survives her counter attack and claims she won him over.
Horror situation:face to face with the monter, tricked, no escape or their escape route has been cut off.
Reaction:Hide James has to accept what’s happening, and what he’s becoming.
Death returns to take one or more:
Maybe John Johns parents will be killed for the cult.
Horror situation: James parents kill John Johns parents in a sacrifice before the cult. working with someone, then they become the evil one.
Reaction:Try to understand it.
Resolution:James accepts his authority and walks downtown with his parents and Carrie. He sees what most don’t because he is one of them.
Horror situation: A character refuses to take action. The only one who see’s the monster. Mental torture. internal conflict.
Reaction: try to understand it.
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