Day 4 Assignments

[Andy Silverman]

Turducken!

I learned that by following these steps I was able to lay out a plot that would increase tension and create horror situations and will make it easier to write the screenplay.

ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR

Atmosphere of Evil established – Overview of the Tomkins poultry farm – Secluded, seedy, barbed wire around the perimeter. Gravestones. Little girl with grubby clothes and dirty playing dolls on the porch.

Connect with the characters – Ellie, Raj, and Son. Black, Indian, and Korean sit in the car looking in at the free range birds. They discuss the situation and their lives.

The characters are warned not to do it.– They call to the office. Don’t go in. We’ll get a warrant and police backup.

Denial of Horror – JONAH A big angry man sends the girl inside. Comes out to the gate. Greets them warmly. They explain why they’re there. Come in. Do what you go to do. Raj says it can’t be that bad. There are three of us.

Safety taken away – They get out of the car and are let in to the compound. The gate closes behind them and locks.

Monster: Jonah brings them into the compound. Leads them to a barn. They go in. Jonah shoves them inside and locks the barn. Dead bodies hang on hooks in the barn faces clawed off. Turkey legs are stuffed in their mouths. Wishbones rammed in their eye sockets.

ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – They try phones but no coverage. They look around and see eggs incubating. They look for an escape. Son finds a storm door on the ground locked. This is the way out. He unlocks it. Goes in. Gets killed.

MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! – We hear horrible quacking/gobbling/clucking sounds coming from the storm door followed by Son’s screams of terror.

Full pursuit by the killer – The Turducken Man is unleashed- He bursts out of the barn and tears off into the house.

Terrorized – One by one the family in the house is killed by the monster until only Ellie, Raj and the little girl remain.

ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR

Fight to the death – Turducken man goes on a killing rampage.

Hysteria – No one knows where to run and hide. No one is safe

The thrilling escape from death – Turducken man catches Ellie. Hangs her on the hook. Leaves her there when Raj shoots the monster.

Death returns to take one or more. The monster is not dead It goes after Raj and tracks him down. Pecks and claws his face off.

Resolution. Ellie uses her butchering skills to cut the bird heads off of the body thus killing the monster.

[Brendan Riley]

2. In this assignment I learned that there are specific things each act needs to sell that horror genre. It’s also not rocket science.

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: We see a radio crackle to life as a song begins to play
over the muffle sounds of screams growing louder. Suddenly, we hear a
large thud and a hand fall into view – twitching as though the owner has
just suffered massive head trauma.

Connect with the characters: The family sits down for a midday lunch while listening
to the radio

The characters are warned not to do it: A neighbor comes to the door as people are evacuating,
suggesting the family not stay here over the lockdown. And that at the
very least they move over to their house where it is brighter and the air
is less “chilly”

Denial of Horror: Unable
to reliably move grandma and all the medical supplies she needs to have
with her, the family decides to stay. They cast off concerns that the house
itself has any problems, summing it up to the shadow cast by a large tree
in the yard. Plus, they don’t believe the lockdown will last very long or
be enforced.

Safety taken away: There
does end up being a lockdown enforcement patrol that prevents people from
leaving their houses.

Monster – The nature of the beast: One day when looking out at the tree in the front yard,
it becomes apparent that the shadow cast by the tree is far longer than
the sunlight would create. Upon finding the end of the shadow, they find a
small concrete marker in the yard with a dead rabbit laying just before
it.

ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: The lockdown goes on for weeks, with ration patrols
being the only way to receive more food or outside contact.

One of us killed: Grandma
dies, though the circumstances are suspicious

MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!

Terrorized: The youngest daughter is poisoned over dinner.
The son tries to go to get help and is shot by an officer accidently. The oldest
daughter tries to create order while the father beings a crusade to figure
out who could have done this. He begins speculating that they are being “eliminated”
causing further disarray

ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR

Fight to the death: The father comes to realize it is
his wife who is killing off family members, but too late as she drowns him
in one of his drunken stupors.

Hysteria: Constant moments of being trapped in small
spaces. Some moments of realize that they can’t bring themselves to hurt
mother.

The thrilling escape from death: The Caretaker and
Oldest Daughter try to find a place to hunker down in the house where they
will be safe from the mother. Mother falls through loose flooring in the
basement and dies.

Death returns to take one or more: An officer,
responding to the disturbance, is killed when inspecting the house for
survivors. This triggers a larger response from local law enforcement that
ultimately saves the oldest daughter. The caretaker is found dead.
Resolution: The oldest daughter finishes retelling her
story to local authorities with some inconsistencies towards the end.

[Tully Archer]

Tully (and her writing partner’s) Horror Plot

What I learned doing this assignment is that um yeah… wow. This is the formula. I’ve seen so many horror films and not actively analyzed them, but here they all are! LOL

Act One – Set Up For Horror

· Atmosphere of Evil Established

o Depending on my partner’s opinion… either we open on Erin being trapped by something non-threatening, like some clothes fall on her from her top shelf in her closet and it’s immediately light again, OR, we do opening credits over creepy shots of the hoarder mansion and the cat who is trapped for realsies under some garbage. (fear not – Erin will rescue that cat later!)

· Connect With The Characters

o Erin is a do-gooder. Heart of gold, possibly a little too forceful about it. We like her. We get that she probably thinks too simply about Morals.

· The Characters Are Warned Not To Do It

o She’s told that Sherrie is insane and her house is dangerous. But she’s already on a mission.

· Denial Of Horror

o Erin fears nothing when she knows she’s Right. So there’s mold everywhere. She’ll get masks! No turning back.

· Safety Taken Away

o Depending on my partner’s opinion…. I’m thinking a FAST injury. Like they’ve been there two minutes before someone looses a hand or something. I like violence. But it would be something that could easily be explained as a freak accident. She’s not deterred.

· Monster: The Nature Of The Beast

o I think given the shock of the last beat, this should be seeing more of Sherrie’s inner life – how it’s all about fear, fear of the ghost, and fear of something else… (we don’t know yet at this point, but – it’s the brother.)

Act Two – The Point Of No Return

· Isolated / Trapped / Abducted

o This might be revealing that Sherrie can’t leave?

· One Of Us Killed

o Much debate on this. Working on it. 😊

Midpoint – The Monster Is Worse Than We Thought!

· Full pursuit by the killer

o By now we understand the ghost is just pissed, angry, wanting to torture – but why?

· Terrorized

o This is when we’d have clarity that the brother is a serial killing psychopath and a danger to Erin and the others. And that he’s the reason for the ghosty season.

Act Three – Full Our Horror

· Fight To The Death

o We want this to be very literal. We want Erin to beat the shit out of the brother, a real fight sequence, now that she knows that’s what you do with Evil. You don’t bargain, you don’t share your rosy worldview, you kill it dead.

· Hysteria

o Not totally sure.

· The Thrilling Escape From Death

o Sure, brother is hard to kill.

· Death Returns To Take One Or More

o The ghost actually ends the brother. I think.

· Resolution

o Sherrie sets the place on fire, from sheer joy of freedom.

So….. we have a lot of work to do LOL!

[Christopher Grant]

Chris Grant’s Horror Plot

What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

I was wondering if the order matters here. Can these plot points be rearranged or must they always stay in the same order? My plot is still forming but this was an excellent guide. I found a lot of unexpected horror moments that really boost the surprise factor.

ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR

Atmosphere of Evil established – A fisherman steps off his boat into a dark perilous ocean. Before he does, he speaks a curse. The ocean starts to boil. He jumps into the ocean. Almost immediately he’s dragged under by some malevolent force. Other fisherman swim for their lives. They too are consumed by something under the water.<div>

Connect with the characters – Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village. He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood. His mother calls him to return to their village. His father and some of the other fisherman have disappeared. They believe his return to be a bad omen.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The characters are warned not to do it. – The fisherman in the village want to go back to sea and earn their living. But Cristian warns them about sea monsters that await. The sea is angry for some reason and they must find out why first.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Denial of Horror – The fisherman disregard Cristian. They want to head back out with the first tide.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Safety taken away – The next morning, a mutilated body appears in the sand. Cristian believes the ocean sent it with a message. “The Devil has Risen” – No one believes him but the next day, the tides return and the fishermen head back to the sea.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Monster: The nature of the beast. – A whale is attacked in the ocean in the nights. Some unseen force drags it under. It struggles, trying to get free. It lets off a monstrous scream that can be heard for miles. The fisherman can hear it as they leave port.

ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Cristian, intent on finding out what happened to his father, agrees to crew on a drug running fast boat. The smugglers promise to take him to the Isla Del Muertos where his father was last seen. Along the way they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets are everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life. They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.</div><div>

One of us killed – Cristian realizes the drug smugglers are preying on the fisherman. They want their boat motors and they are willing to kill them for them. They offer them an option, swim for shore or be shot and killed. The leader of the smugglers fires his machine gun to rile the sea monsters up to a feeding frenzy. Then he forces one of the fisherman into the sea. One of the fisherman jumps in the water and is immediately dragged down.

MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! The nets, full of dead animals, have attracted hordes of Humboldt Squid to feed. 4 to 5 feet in length, they are lightning fast pack hunters with an insatiable appetite. They’ll even cannibalize their own. The locals call them “The Red Devil”

Full pursuit by the killer – Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets. He realizes the drug smugglers forced his father and the other fisherman into the same fate. He vows to get revenge by rigging the boat to catch fire .</div><div>

Terrorized – Night falls. The smugglers try to start their boats but immediately cause a fire. Several of them are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid. In the inky black of night, they are all sinking fast.

ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR

Fight to the death – One by one the people on the boats must try to swim to the nearby island. None are able to escape the nets before the squid attack them. </div>

Hysteria – They drug dealer is willing to sacrifice his own men to protect the drugs. But he inadvertently causes the boats to separate and drift apart from the container of drugs they are transporting.

The thrilling escape from death – Cristian is forced into the water with the squid. He manages to distract them long enough to get to the floating crate full of cocaine that is drifting on the tide. One end of it bobs above the waves.

Death returns to take one or more. The drug smuggler runs out of bullets as his boat sinks into the horde of squid. He is torn to pieces.

Resolution – Cristian manages to climb aboard a container full of cocaine. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sun rise, cast adrift in a sea full of red. In the calm he drifts away from the nets and out to sea. The squid disappear to the deeper water and leave him cast adrift.

[Paul McGregor]

Day 4 Assignment

Paul’s Horror Plot Track.

2. What I learned from this assignment that these prompts really helped to fashion my story. Excellent way of preparing the outline. This is an early outline, needing a lot of fine-tuning.

<div>ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR</div><div>

</div>

Atmosphere of Evil established: About a hundred men stand in a ditch surrounded by women in bright green uniforms, armed with machine guns. Their death sentence is read out. Their crime: being men. They are massacred by the armed women, the Amazons.

Connect with the characters: Inside her house, a woman is sheltering her father, husband and young son in the cellar as she watches the Amazons going from house to house and dragging men away.

The characters are warned not to do it: Loudspeakers announce that any woman found harboring men will also be executed.

Denial of Horror: In the basement, the woman’s father and husband try to convince the boy that everything is find and that it’s just a game.

Safety taken away: The woman is forced to open her front door and let the Amazons in with dogs trained to smell testosterone.

Monster: The nature of the beast: Thinking it is indeed a game, the boy shouts, giving away their location. One Amazon opens the door to the cellar and the boy runs out. His grand-father runs after him to plea for the boy’s life in exchange for his. Both are executed on the front lawn. The female death squad promises to come back to take the woman away for her punishment.

<div>ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
</div><div>

Isolated
/ Trapped / Abducted: The surviving woman and her husband watch events on
TV. Decide they both have to flee. At night, inside their garage, they
load the car. Man hides in the trunk. At a road-block, amazons check
woman’s ID just as bus with sad and desperate-looking women drives past.
She’s told they are women who tried to protect their husbands or sons and
are to be executed. The amazon checking the woman’s ID returns towards the
car. As she tells the woman to get out of the car, her husband jumps out
and shoots the two amazons dead.

</div><div>

MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!

Full
pursuit by the killer: Driving to their hide-out, woman and husband see
men being executed and some bodies hanging from trees. At the hide-out,
they watch TV reports of statues of men being destroyed, books written by
men (including Shakespeare, the Bible) being burnt. Neighbors visit, a
woman and her two daughters. Teenage daughter proudly announces how she
followed her teacher’s instructions and revealed the whereabouts of her
father. He was found and executed and she feels she has contributed to
social progress.

Terrorized:
Also see the execution of women who tried to protect their husbands and
sons. Woman feels trapped: condemned to die if she protects her husband,
but can’t imagine life without him.

</div><div>

ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR

This is a very early outline, subject to change.

Fight
to the death: Woman and one of the Amazon’s cross paths. Amazon recognizes
woman and runs after her. Woman flees, scared for her life. Amazon catches
her. She fears immediate death, but Amazon whispers to her that some men
are in hiding. Takes her to the spot, then leaves her.

Hysteria:
Woman finds 100 or so men in hiding, but too famished and traumatized to
act. She inspires them to fight.

The
thrilling escape from death: A small group of the men launch attack on the
Amazons, kill some, capture others.

Death
returns to take one or more: Some men are killed, leaving only a small handful
of resistors. Woman gets her husband to join the group, but he is brutally
killed.

Resolution:
This makes her even more determined. She leads the remaining small group of
men and some women to take on the Amazons to overthrow the head of the
feminist state. Outcome unknown when the movie ends.

</div>

END

[Dan LoBrace]

Dan’s Horror Plot

What I learned doing the assignment is… there are many ways to bake a concept; you don’t have to fully develop the monster/horror before plotting out the story. In this case, writing a rough version of the plot helped me discover things about my monster.

ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR

Atmosphere of Evil established: Opening teaser of last victim of monster being killed

Connect with the characters: Meet the gang (Bailey, Aiden, Chuck, Heather, and Trevor). They are thrill seeking teens going to creepy abandoned warehouse to film stunts

The characters are warned not to do it: Jess, Bailey’s younger sister, tells them not to go

Denial of Horror: They go anyway.

Safety taken away: While doing a stunt, Bailey falls through the ground floor, and into the basement. Despite the bad fall, she gets up. She’s fine, save for some scrapes. Just then… she finds the dead victim from the opening scene.

Monster: Bailey hears echoes of the monster. Sees something standing in the darkness. It steps closer. Suddenly, SHE CAN’T MOVE. The rest of the group comes down. The thing goes away. But Bailey still can’t move.

ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: Bailey is now in a wheelchair, even though her legs aren’t broken. She’s having a tough time adjusting – this is her worst nightmare. Cops identified the victim they found; someone who went missing 5 years ago.

One of us killed: Aiden watches Bailey by themselves. (Her parents died in a car crash taking her back from gymnastics – she was trapped in the burning car with them and couldn’t move. An EMT had to pull her out.) Suddenly, a creepy scarecrow looking thing is in the backyard. Aiden goes out, locks eyes with it. It shifts his attention toward him, now his legs can’t move. It’s the monster! Bailey suddenly can walk again. She tries to call for help, but suddenly, the monster runs at Aiden. He then can’t move his arms. Then he can’t speak. Bailey comes back to find him dead.

MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought: He follows those who he starts to paralyze, needing to finish the job.

Full pursuit by the killer: The rest of the group comes together and as Bailey explains the creature is real, and is stalking them. The teen who was identified was reported to have lost the ability to walk and told her friends that there was something following her. The teen seemingly went out to the abandoned warehouse because she thought the monster would be trapped after it devoured her, since it can only move if it latches on to someone.

Terrorized: Heather and Trevor get stalked and killed by the monster while looking for it in the cornfields. Even with his legs paralyzed, Trevor almost manages to escape – but the monster copies his ability to jump far, and jumps far so that it gets into closer range, paralyzing Trevor completely, before devouring him.

ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR

Fight to the death: Bailey, Chuck, and Jess are pursued. They realize the monster flees when there’s a group of people: it can only paralyze and target one person at a time.

Hysteria: Even though they work together to trap it in their basement, the monster outsmarts the group and kills Chuck, then targets Jess. During this time, Bailey realizes that the monster’s body gets hurt if the person it has a “hold” of gets hurt in the same way. (Chuck’s arm gets cut up during his death scene, and the monster’s does as well, as if mirroring Chuck’s wound.)

The thrilling escape from death: Bailey distracts the monster and puts herself in its crosshairs. Now, she’s prepared to trap it, even without her legs. She uses all her strength and wits to get onto the second floor – only to jump off, intentionally breaking her legs. This makes the monster’s legs break. The girls then pull a trap door to their basement and lock the monster inside.

Death returns to take one or more: The monster locks eyes with Jess through cracks in the floor. She becomes paralyzed; it reaches up for her, tearing through the floor, but Bailey crawls inside and stabs the creature in the eyes repeatedly. It loses its hold on Jess, and falls into the basement, lifelessly.

Resolution: Bailey and Jess set the house on fire for good measure. They live to fight another day.

[Brandyn Cross]

What I learned was honestly that I’ve been setting up the plot correctly. I’ve been a firm believer in fully outlining before writing so much as a word of the draft. And, in this specific case, I had all the major plot points outlined pretty well, with one exception toward the end. Essentially the ‘survivor’ thinking he defeated the villain, only to discover that was not the case. All in all, I feel pretty good about that.

ACT 1: SET UP FOR HORROR

Atmosphere of Evil Established. Show the haunted house, creepy and isolated. Unexplained activity takes place within it.

Connect With the Characters: A new family moves into a home near the haunted house. Single mother (Laura), teenage daughter (16) (Alyssa), and preteen son (10) (Kodi).

The Characters are Warned Not to Do It: Alyssa meets neighborhood kids, who warn her about the neighborhood haunted house. They don’t seem anxious to befriend her.

Denial of Horror: Alyssa thinks it’s a baseless urban legend, and dismisses the kids’ belief in ghosts.

Safety Taken Away: Alyssa meets Charlotte, the only girl at school who seems interested in being her friend. However, no one else at school even seems aware of her existence. Charlotte befriends Alyssa and invites her to come to her house. To Alyssa’s surprise, Charlotte lives in the house rumored to be haunted. Alyssa comes in but changes her mind, as the house is dark and creepy, and doesn’t look like any living person actually lives there.

Monster: The Nature of the Beast: Alyssa hears strange noises in the house, and Charlotte seems to have disappeared. Alyssa calls to her, but senses movement in the shadows. She freaks and runs from the house. Charlotte looks out from a curtain-covered window. With her face behind curtains, her face seems distorted and sinister.

ACT 2: THE POINT OF NO RETURN:

Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: Despite feeling uneasy about her, Alyssa starts hanging out more and more with Charlotte, as she is the only kid around who seems interested in being her friend. Yet, also because no one else interacts with Charlotte (in a Sixth Sense type of way), Alyssa is isolated from interaction with any of her other peers. When she brings Charlotte to her house, Alyssa devotes more attention to Kodi than to Charlotte, as Alyssa is close to her little brother, and is protective of him. Charlotte’s expression shows she is jealous of the attention Alyssa pays to Kodi. Kodi is very wary of Charlotte. He senses something bad, but doesn’t know how to articulate it. He fears something really bad is going to happen.

One of Us Killed: Kodi and Alyssa are riding their bikes together and, as a car speeds by, Kodi’s bike inexplicably swerves into the road, and Kodi is hit directly by the speeding car. He is thrown a great distance in front of the car, which doesn’t slow down, and runs over Kodi, mangling his dead body as he is dragged under the still speeding car. Alyssa is horrified watching her beloved little brother killed in such a violent and gruesome way. Out of Alyssa’s sight, a distorbed image of Charlotte is seen watching from behind some bushes.

MIDPOINT: THE MONSTER IS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT:

Full Pursuit By the Killer: As Alyssa and Laura try to deal with Kodi’s death, Laura becomes the victim of several ‘near misses,’ leading both Laura and Alyssa to suspect something unseen, and evil, may have killed Kodi, and may now have its sights on Laura.

Terrorized: Meanwhile, Alyssa finds Charlotte more and more creepy, and wants to distance herself from Charlotte, regretting having become her friend. As she starts avoiding Charlotte, the weird attacks on Laura increase. Alyssa decides she needs to confront Charlotte directly, and tell her point blank that she doesn’t want to be her friend anymore.

ACT 3: FULL OUT HORROR:

Fight to Death: In a last all-out attack, Laura is killed as Alyssa tries to save her. The attack then ends, and we hear an eerie laughter. Alyssa goes to the haunted house and calls for Charlotte. Charlotte appears in her full ghostly terror, angrily accusing Charlotte of abandoning her, and unfriending her for no reason. Alyssa accuses her of killing Kodi and Laura, and says she’s going to kill Charlotte for it.

Hysteria: Charlotte then disappears and all hell breaks loose in the house. Alyssa freaks, trying to find Charlotte, who can vanish and reappear at will. Finally, Charlotte gets Alyssa trapped in the attic, where the only escape seems to be jumping to her death from the only window in the attic.

The Thrilling Escape From Death: Charlotte materializes physically, fully, to push Alyssa out the window, to her death. But Alyssa is able to grab a weapon of convenience from among the vast artifacts in the attic. She stabs Charlotte, then runs from the attic as Charlotte collapses, bleeding heavily from her wounds.

Death Returns to Take One or More: Alyssa bounds down the stairs, and to the front door, to escape the house. As she does, the door slams, and furniture is invisibly thrown in front of the door, creating a formidable barricade to the door. At that moment, Charlotte appears at the bottom of the stairs, wounded and bleeding, and insanely angry, vowing to kill Alyssa. As no one is left to kill, the return is simply the threat against Alyssa, and the final life or death battle begins.

Resolution: Just as it looks like Alyssa is going to lose the battle, she sees a sharp shard of wood sticking out from the stairs, and shoves Charlotte back, where she is impaled on the shard. She is still barely alive, but delirious, and can’t free herself from the shard of wood sticking clear through her body. In Charlotte’s weakened state, the furniture blocking the front door falls away on its own, clearing a path to the door. Alyssa tells Charlotte that this is for her mother, and her little brother Kodi, and that she should burn in hell. She says she’ll help her burn. Alyssa slowly walks away, casually setting fire to the house as she walks out the front door. The film closes with Alyssa slowly walking from the house as the fire rages behind her, completely engulfing the house, as Charlotte’s eerie, tortured screams echo in the night.

[Bob Onufer]

Bob’s Horror Plot.

What I learned doing this assignment is to segregate the various tracks of the horror story in order to bring clarity to each of the key areas.

Title: FRAT NIGHT

ACT 1 – SET UP FOR HORROR

· Atmosphere of Evil established: Monster seduces fraternity brother for a rendezvous and bludgeons him to death.

· Connect with the characters: Brothers shown interacting and planning their big party of the year.

· The characters are warned not to do it: Fraternity receives a call saying they should cancel all their parties or there could be consequences. Faculty advisor tells Social Chairman he should cancel the planned party given the mysterious death of the brother and subsequent phone call.

· Denial of Horror: At weekly meeting, brothers vote to proceed with the party considering the death unrelated and the call a prank.

· Safety taken away: While hanging party posters at a neighboring girls’ school, the social chairman is separated from the other brothers.

· Monster – The nature of the beast: The social chairman is pursued by the monster and manages to survive.

ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN

· Isolated /Trapped / Abducted: Monster confronts social chairman in chemistry lab for not cancelling party.

· One of us is killed: Faculty advisor is killed.

MIDPOINT – The monster is worse than we thought: Party night – the Monster seduces one of the brothers. While waiting for the seductress in a darkened room, he is met by the monster.

· Terrorized: The monster bludgeons the brother to death.

ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR

· Full pursuit by the killer: One by one, brothers are disappearing from the party.

· Fight to the death: Social chairman and rapist brother are nearly killed.

· The thrilling escape from death: Social chairman hides in a coffin (present as part of a fraternity ritual) to escape death.

· Hysteria: Power goes out in the basement party room. Panic ensues.

· Death returns to take one or more: Social chairman uses a fencing sword to ward off monster and accidentally kills another brother.

· Resolution: When brothers enter ritual room to confront monster, they find only the seductress whose sister was raped and the costume the monster wore. Seductress attacks the rapist brother and is bludgeoned by the group of brothers.

[Judith Watson]

Judith’s Horror Plot Track – Lesson 4

What I learned doing this assignment is I find it hard to stay on track of what the lesson is without trying to look for other things.

ACT 1 – SET UP THE HORROR

I will call her Jane. Jane is advised by her psychiatrist to take a vacation with her finance to get away from the city stress and noise and go spend a week or two in the country, woods.

Her shrink consuls her that she will just be a phone call away and Jane’s finance, Jake, will be there with her. Jane’s friend is concerned that she is going away, but Jane assures her that her shrink knows what she’s doing and Jake will be there.

Upon arrival, Jane discovers that the cabin they are staying in has no food and the caretaker failed to get all ready for them.

ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Things start going wrong as soon as Jane and Jake arrive at the cabin. Her cell phone is getting no reception. A strange man is fishing in the lake by the cabin.

Jane and Jake decide to go to the store and get supplies. When they return, they see the fisherman laying by the lake. Upon finding out what is going on, they find the man dead and his face bitten or something. They hear a wild boar and he rushes out from the trees. They escape into the house.

MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!

While hiding in the house, Jane and Jake hear the pig squealing. They look outside and see a person, with a horrifying mask, hacking the pig to death. When she is finished, she heads toward the cabin and bangs on their door.

ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR

Horrified, Jane goes into the bedroom and finds that the caretaker has been killed. Jake barricades everything as well as he can, and Jane helps. It grows silent.

Jane thinks the masked monster is gone, but Jake is not sure. His doubts, scare Jane and wonder if he is going to be able to help her fight off this monster. He is not reassuring, and she panics. Tries her useless phone. Screams at him. Searches for a weapon and finds one just as the banging on the door resumes.

Jane screams at the monster to go away. Jake just stands there and stares at her then opens the door and lets the monster in. He was in on it all along.

[Kim Jaspers]

Kim’s Horror Plot – Assignment #4

what I learned doing this assignment is: it’s a great template and my answers are likely to change as I work with the story elements.

ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR

Atmosphere of Evil established: Host Layne Bailey introduces the judges in the macabre cooking show competition. They were all contestants previously, and now they are severely maimed. We wonder, “is this connected to the experience of the present contestants?”
Connect with the characters: The judges have illustrious culinary backgrounds and are humanitarians and helpers in their communities.
The characters are warned not to do it: The audience screams at them to cut and run. One of the judges makes a comment, but they already know they’re toast. They’re committed. <div>

Denial of Horror: They must rationalize their participation in their minds because they already know they face a grim fate. They’ve seen the show. “If I could only win that money, my life would be better. I only have a 25% chance of dying in this competition. Rationalization, justification.

Safety taken away: They are on a closed set and ceremoniously shackled to their work stations. But they still have knives.

Monster: The lights go off, and when they come back on, we see Layne’s evil grin. He’s got boyish good looks and charm. He’s reliable and is a man of his word. In the fiendish of ways.

ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN: Isolated on the set and shackled to their workstations, they are as vulnerable as they can be.
One of us killed: Charlotte cuts herself in the first round, so the judges can’t eat the food. She loses a couple of fingers. The crew cauterizes her wounds with a brûlée torch, gives her a shot of morphine, and sends her back in.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!

Full pursuit by the killer: The contestants learn that Layne has orchestrated the problems that brought them to the show. They’re now convinced that the outcome of the competition will also be orchestrated.
He toys with them for dramatic effect and humor.

ACT 3 — FULL-OUT HORROR

Fight to the death: Each round sees the contestants fighting for their lives in the competition. After all is said and done, one of the four contestants is slated for death.

Hysteria: The contestants are forced to watch the fates of the others who lose the round. They become hysterical during the anticipation of the judging and as the penalties are executed. It manifests as screaming, trying to escape, frantic but fruitless bargaining, etc.

The thrilling escape from death: Daisy prevails in every round but watches her teammates get maimed. She loses a few fingers but is simultaneously relieved and traumatized.

Death returns to take one or more: Bonus round! They spin the wheel and win immunity or die.

Resolution: Daisy is alive and now rich, but her psyche is permanently altered. She now resents her husband for gambling and risking their lives. She gets her husband back from the cartel, and she asks Layne to kill him. He’s happy to oblige, and he contacts the cartel. Daisy wants to be a future judge on the show.

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• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by  Kim Jaspers.

[Lisandro Boccacci]

Lisandro Boccacci’s Horror Plot

What I learned doing this assignment is that I am able to see the main plot points from beginning to end… in a way become the road map for where the scenes need to go

ACT 1 – SET UP FOR HORROR

Atmosphere of Evil established – court room reviewing a police body cam… showing a police chase on foot ending one officer accidently shooting another officer and then catching up to the suspect and using violent force to subdue the person, causing extreme harm.

Connect with the characters – The 4 main characters meet the victim of this crime for dinner and celebrate his innocence and wining his lawsuit. here at the party, we get to learn a little about everyone’s personality through their actions and how they speak.

The characters are warned not to do it – The brother of one of the main characters is given a tip about where dirty cops work, and they are told by the guy who just won the court to lay low for a bit… because he knows cops can hold grudges.

Denial of horror – the leader of the group reassured them that as long as they have their cameras rolling and know their rights, that they have nothing to worry about.

Safety taken away – When they are surrounded by the police cars in a secluded area away from the city.

Monster: The nature of the beast – after the police have their fun and play their mind games with the main group in their car…the main monster, the ex-cop bent on revenge comes out… ready to play with no rules or laws stopping him…

ACT 2

Isolated/ trapped/ abducted – the ex-cop has his tow truck and drags the characters out into the field where there is no Wi-Fi and internet.

One of us Killed: one of the officers gets shot by accident and bleeds to death.

MIDPOINT – The monster is worse than we thought – He starts using mid-evil weapons to break and destroy their car. the weapons get more intense as the night progresses.

ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR

Fight to the death – a character gets pulled out and is forced to fight the ex-cop, another makes a run for it… a third goes out looking for the first character, and only one stays in the car. A few officers who have secured the perimeter fire back at the one trying to escape…

hysteria- the ex-cop uses a megaphone to let them know they are all going to die tonight. one by one… sending everyone in a panic.

Death returns to take one or more: one of the officers switches sides and begins to help them escape. ends up getting wounded badly and makes it out of the dead zone, no radio, no Wi-Fi, no internet, and manages to call for back up. Here the brother has an Asthma attack and dies from that.

resolution: back up arrives and police swarm the area and there is a shootout between good cops and bad cops. the ex-cop manages to escape the shootout, but the main guy has one last fight in order to save his girlfriend, but ends up getting seriously hurt in doing so…

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by  Lisandro Boccacci.