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Day 5 Assignments
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Turducken!
I learned that various types of situations and deaths keep the story interesting and tense. And that reactions to the horror help drive the plot forward.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established – The inspectors have to inspect the poultry on a run down farm. <div>
HORROR SITUATION Jonah shoots gun at possum. Terribly close to the inspectors.
REACTION – Son calls his boss for advice. Raj yells at Jonah aggressively. Ellie jumps back in the car.
Connect with the characters – Ellie, Raj, and Son sit in the car contemplating next move. They discuss the situation and their lives.
The characters are warned not to do it.– They are told not to go in until they get police backup.
Denial of Horror –HORROR SITUATION – JONAH A big angry man sends the girl inside. Comes menacingly out to the gate then greets them warmly. Invites them in.
REACTION – They decide it’s safe to go in and inspect the poultry.
Safety taken away – They get out of the car and are let in to the compound.
HORROR SITUATION – The gate closes behind them and locks.
REACTION – They try the gate to get out it’s locked tight. Barbed wire everywhere. Ellie panics. Jonah explains it’s on a time lock Son and Raj calm Ellie down.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Monster: Jonah leads them to a barn. They go in. Jonah shoves them inside and locks the barn.
HORROR SITUATION – Dead bodies hang on hooks in the barn faces clawed off. Turkey legs are stuffed in their mouths. Wishbones rammed in their eye sockets. Are they next? –
REACTION – They freak and try to get out of the barn no luck.ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – </div><div>
HORROR SITUATION – Jonah laughs like a maniac outside.
REACTION – Raj says the police are on their way. Ellie cowers and covers her head. Son consoles her.
They try phones but no coverage. They look around and see odd colored eggs incubating. Son finds a storm door on the ground locked.HORROR SITUATION – Son climbs down in the storm door to see if it leads out. We hear clucking quacking and gobbling.
REACTION – Son laughs. Thinks it’s where the poultry spawn.
HORROR SITUATION – Son goes into the cellar. We hear screams and pained sounds. Then silence.
REACTION – Raj wants to go save him. Ellie says no and locks the storm door back up.
HORROR SITUATION – A body slams against the door just as she locks the door. The door bends but holds.
REACTION Both Raj and Ellie step away. Fear in their faces. They pile heavy things on the door.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer – KATE opens the barn door. Steps in. Apologizes for Jonah locking them in. Asks where Son is. They point to the storm door. Tell her he’s been killed. She laughs. No he’s okay. </div><div>
HORROR SITUATION – She goes to the storm door to open it.
REACTION – Trepidation. Is Son alive? Or is she unlocking the gates to hell.
Kate opens the door. They peek in.HORROR SITUATION – Son’s head is tossed out from the cellar. Kate runs.
REACTION – Raj and Ellie run too.
Terrorized – They run into the farmhouse. It’s a mess. LIBBY, and MARK glassy eyed watch TV. Kate takes Eva upstairs.
HORROR SITUATION – Turducken man comes out of the barn and heads toward the house.
REACTION – Raj shoots at it. Ellie runs upstairs with Kate and Eva.ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death – Turducken breaks into the house </div>
HORROR SITUATION – goes on a killing rampage. Seemingly kills Raj
REACTION- Chaos. Ellie grabs Eva and hides upstairs.
Hysteria –
HORROR SITUATION Monster track people down. Tears them apart-REACTION – Search for anywhere safe.
The thrilling escape from death – Ellie grabs Eva and runs out of the house to the barn.
HORROR SITUATION – Monster chases them.REACTION – they throw things and shoot at it but it doesn’t slow it down.
HORROR SITUATION- The run into the barn. Turducken breaks in
REACTION – Ellie shuts Eva in the cellar.
HORROR SITUATION Turducken man catches Ellie. Hangs her on the hook.
REACTION Ellie tries to fight back but it’s no use.
HORROR SITUATION – Monster binds her arms with baler wire. drools in her face.
REACTION Gives up. Accepts certain death
Raj burst into the barn. Shoots the monster. It backs off.
Raj takes Ellie off the hook. Frees her hands and gives her the knife to cut herself free.Death returns to take one or more.
HORROR SITUATION – Turducken Man claws Raj’s head off.
REACTION – Ellie charges the Turducken. Cuts off the duck head.
The monster recoils. She expertly carves off the chicken head and the turkey head. The man’s head is left now alone on the body. He thanks her for saving him and his grand daughter.
He goes in the cellar and reunites with Eva. Hugs her.Resolution.
HORROR SITUATION – Suddenly his hand turns into a turkey claw and he squeezes Eva’s throat.
REACTION – Ellie swings an ax and severs the man’s head off. The body spasms and walks around for a few seconds then falls to the ground dead.
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Bob’s Horror Situation Track.
What I learned doing this assignment is to utilize the prompts to create an abundance of horror situations.
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.
Horror Situation: Fraternity brother is lured into a dangerous situation by monster using the guise of a seductress.
Reaction – Denial: Fraternity brother agrees to rendezvous with “monster” in the roof house at the fraternity.
Horror Situation: When the fraternity brother enters the roof house, he is attacked by the monster, bludgeoned, and thrown off the roof.
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.
Horror Situation: The social chairman is isolated and lost in an unfamiliar dormitory. The lights go out.
Reaction – Panic: Paranoid and lost, the social chairman runs down a maze of corridors in the dark.
Monster – The nature of the beast: The social chairman is pursued by the monster and manages to survive.
Horror Situation: The social chairman is confused and frightened as he turns the corner.
Reaction – Denial: And runs into the other brothers who ridicule him.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: Monster confronts social chairman in chemistry lab for not cancelling party.
Horror Situation: The social chairman is alone in the chemistry lab after class. The monster attacks him from out of nowhere.
Reaction – Escape: The social chairman manages to evade the monster, running into the faculty advisor in the hallway.
One of us is killed: Faculty advisor is killed.
Horror Situation: Faculty advisor is alone in his office when the monster shows up.
Reaction – Fight: The monster kills the faculty advisor and leaves a party flyer on his body.
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.
Horror Situation: A girl at the party seduces a brother to meeting her in a basement room once used for coal storage.
Reaction – Denial: The brother perceives no danger.
Horror Situation: The brother is met by the monster. The monster bludgeons him to death.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Full pursuit by the killer: One by one, brothers are disappearing from the party.
Horror Situation: Brothers start to disappear from the party.
Reaction – Try to solve it: Several brothers, including the social chairman, try to determine where the brothers are going.
Fight to the death: Social chairman and rapist brother are nearly killed.
Horror Situation: Social chairman and rapist brother enter the coal storage room and find the monster killing another brother.
Reaction – Alarm: The somewhat tipsy brothers try to get a handle on what’s happening.
The thrilling escape from death: Social chairman hides in a coffin (present as part of a fraternity ritual) to escape death.
Horror Situation: The monster turns its attention on the two brothers.
Reaction – Hide: Brothers look for a place to hide. Social chairman hides in coffin.
Hysteria: Power goes out in the basement party room. Panic ensues.
Horror Situation: Music stops and lights go out in the party room.
Reaction – Escape: Everyone in party room runs for exits in the dark. A few are picked off by the monster.
Death returns to take one or more: Social chairman uses a fencing sword to ward off monster and accidentally kills another brother.
Horror Situation: Monster continues to kill brothers.
Reaction – Fight: Social chairman grabs a fencing sword and attacks monster. In the process, he accidentally kills one brother and causes a bloody injury on the monster’s arm. The monster flees.
Resolution: When brothers enter the basement coal room to confront the monster, they find only the seductress whose sister was raped. The costume the monster wore is on the floor and she is bleeding from the fencing sword wound. After noting the motivation for her attacks, the seductress attacks the rapist brother and is bludgeoned by the group of brothers. As the lights come on in the party room, a girl is asking where her sister is.
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2. In this assignment I learned that horror scripts utilize a horror situation/response exchange as one of the components to creating depth in a plot.
1. Build horror situations into your plot:
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.o Horror Situation: The worker’s partner turns on him and attacks him with a hammer
o Response – Fight: Worker tries to fight back. Dies
Connect with the characters: The family sits down for a midday lunch while listening
to the radioo Horror Situation: The radio keeps playing strange sounds and music that wasn’t selected
o Response – Denial: The family decides the radio is just old and throws it out
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.o Horror Situation: The family realizes that they are really locked down
o Response – Denial: The family believes there will always be an exception – it will be fine
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.o Horror Situation: The shadow of the tree seems to extend past a reasonable length and leads to a small marker
o Response – Try to solve it: The oldest daughter tries to understand what is causing the discrepancy
o Horror Situation: Dead animals start showing up in the yard
o Response – Denial: The family believes it must have been a fox
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 suspiciouso Horror Situation: Grandma dies a strange and painful sudden death
o Response – Denial: The family can’t possibly believe it is anything other than just her old age
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 disarrayo Horror Situation: Family witnesses the poisoning of the younger daughter
o Response – Try to solve it: The son goes to find help to fix the situation
o Horror Situation: Family witnesses their son getting shot by an officer when looking for help
o Response – Escape: Family retreats into the house to avoid the horrible scene
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.o Horror Situation: Father realizes wife is possessed
o Response – Fight: Father confronts his possessed wife
o Horror Situation: Father is trapped in a bathroom after confronting wife
o Response – Escape: Father tries to break the door down
o Horror Situation: The husband becomes trapped under water
o Response – Fight: He tries to fight, but drowns
Hysteria: Constant moments of being trapped in small
spaces. Some moments of realize that they can’t bring themselves to hurt
mother.o Horror Situation: Oldest and caretaker trapped inside the house with mother
o Response – Escape: Oldest and caretaker try to escape into a “saferoom”
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.o Horror Situation: Oldest and caretaker trapped inside the house with mother
o Response – Escape: Oldest and caretaker try to escape into a “saferoom”
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.o Horror Situation: Police helps older daughter escape, but older daughter becomes new host of the ghost
Response – Fight: Police tries to fight, diesResolution: The oldest daughter finishes retelling her
story to local authorities with some inconsistencies towards the end. -
I learned an easy means of identifying cohesive situations, and appropriate reactions, which you can easily see escalating as the story unfolds.
ACT 1: SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil Established: Dark, eerie Victorian-style house in a dark night. Screams echo from the house.
Horror Situation: Trapped: Inside, screams continue, but end with the sound of gunshots. Fire then quickly engulfs the house.
Response: Escape: Upstairs, a panicked teenage girl, whose face is never clearly seen, is forced to a window by the approaching flames. With no other options, she jumps from the window and lands on a picket fence. From outside, her dead body is impaled by a fence post. The fire dissipates, leaving the house unaffected by the fire. Just dark and creepy.
Connect With the Characters: A family consisting of a mother, Laura, teenage daughter (16) Alyssa, and preteen son (10) Kodi unload a moving truck in the house next to the mysterious house.
The Characters are Warned Not to Do It: A couple clique-ish neighborhood girls pass by as the family is moving in. They talk to Alyssa, laughing that she is moving in by the town’s haunted house. They’re dismissive of Alyssa, laughing at her as they leave.
Denial of Horror: Alyssa wanders to the allegedly haunted house, not believing the annoying girls, but wanting to get a look at the house for herself.
Horror Situation: Doing Something Forbidden; Threatened; Environment Changing Around You: Alyssa hears distant screams, while quick visions flash in her mind of the house burning.
Response: Denial: Alyssa closes her eyes. When she reopens them, the screams and visions of fire are gone. All that remains is the empty, eerie house. She shrugs the experience off, and returns to unloading the moving truck.
Horror Situation: Menacing Stranger: At school, Alyssa finds the kids are set in their cliques and have no interest in befriending the new kid in town. One girl, Charlotte, who just seems weird and strange, is the only kid interested in talking to her, but is the last person Alyssa wants for her first friend in town. Further, no one at school interacts with Charlotte at all, as thought they don’t even see her. But, to be polite, Alyssa accepts Charlotte’s friendly advances.
Charlotte invites Alyssa to walk home with her and, as it turns out, lives in the creepy house next door to Alyssa. Charlotte invites her inside, and Alyssa reluctantly accepts. The house is more eerie inside than outside, with cobwebs, and doesn’t look like it’s been lived in for years. Charlotte disappears within the house, and Alyssa hears strange noises, and just feels uncomfortable. She calls out for Charlotte, but she doesn’t respond.
Response: Escape: Alyssa is completely Freaked out, and runs from the house.
ACT 2: THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: As no kids befriend Alyssa, and none seem like they’re even aware of Charlotte, they start hanging out together. Yet, Alyssa still feels very wary of her.
Horror Situation: Unknown Motive; Helping a Good Person and Being Attacked: When Charlotte visits Alyssa’s house, she is jealous of the attention Alyssa pays to her little brother, Kodi.
Response: Alyssa: Denial: Kodi: Fight: Alyssa tries to appease Charlotte, despite her uneasiness with Charlotte. Kodi has a very empathic nature, and is completely repulsed by Charlotte, but doesn’t understand enough about why to articulate it to Alyssa. But he understands that Charlotte is a bad influence on Alyssa, and that their friendship needs to end.
One of Us is Killed; See Another Killed: Alyssa and Kodi ride bikes. Kodi swerves into the street for no apparent reason and is hit by a car, and killed.
Horror Situation: Alyssa’s little brother is killed in gruesome fashion in front of her eyes.
Response: Hysteria; Torment: She is irrationally traumatized initially. Nightmares of Kodi being killed keep her awake at night for the next few days.
Horror Situation: With Kodi no longer there to dominate Alyssa’s attention, Charlotte becomes clingy toward Alyssa in a very uncomfortable way.
Response: Hide; Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire: Alyssa wants to completely break off her friendship with Charlotte, which becomes easier when Alyssa’s best friend from her former town, and her boyfriend, visit Alyssa for Kodi’s funeral, and stay to help comfort Alyssa and her mother. For Charlotte, things are worse now than they were with Kodi alive, as Alyssa’s attention is completely taken up with her best friend, and Alyssa and Laura needing each other’s comfort.
MIDPOINT: THE MONSTER IS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT:
Horror Situation: Pursued; Tormented; Terrorized; Attacked or Chased; Mentally Tortured; Friends in Danger; Internal Conflict in the Group: Laura and Alyssa’s best friend face a few unexplained close calls.
Response: Alyssa: Hide; Denial: Boyfriend: Try to Solve It; Fight: The boyfriend wants to confront Charlotte, while Alyssa doesn’t want to provoke her, preferring to just ignore her, hoping she’ll just go away without any direct confrontation.
ACT 3: FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to Death: Feeling abandoned, Charlotte launches a no holds barred attack on Alyssa and Laura, possessing their house with Laura, Alyssa, her best friend and his boyfriend all inside.
Horror Situation: All hell breaks loose in the house as Charlotte launches an all out paranormal attack
Response: Fight: No one completely understands how they are being attacked, but try to fight back with whatever weapons of convenience they can find, learning with each attempt at defense what does or does not work against the unseen attacker.
Horror Situation: Laura is killed as all try to fight against Charlotte’s paranormal attack.
Response: Fight; Anger; Terror: Alyssa is traumatized by her mother’s death. Her best friend tries to comfort her: Her boyfriend is more pragmatic, not having the close relationship with either Alyssa or Laura that the others all have for each other. He snaps Alyssa to the present, where self-preservation overrides her grief, and they devise a plan of attack. Alyssa is now determined to avenge Kodi and Laura, and destroy Charlotte, and send her to hell where she belongs.
Horror Situation: Alyssa, her best friend and her boyfriend take their plan to Charlotte’s house, confronting the evil on its own turf.
Response: Fight: The three are determined, motivated by a desire for revenge.
Horror Situation: During the fight, Alyssa’s best friend and her boyfriend are both killed, leaving Alyssa on her own.
Response: Fight; Dogged Determination: With everyone she cares about dead, Alyssa has no more fear of death. She accepts the challenge as a fight to the death, determined to destroy the evil Charlotte, but no longer fearing her attacks, or death itself. She’s already been tortured to the point where there is nothing Charlotte can do to torment her further. She is now a machine, fueled entirely by rage and a need for vengeance.
The Thrilling Escape From Death:
Horror Situation: Charlotte appears in full, menacing physical reality as Alyssa is at the window the Charlotte fell from to her death.
Response: Fury: As it appears the only escape from Charlotte’s attack is mirroring Charlotte’s choice, and jumping from the window, she finds an unlikely weapon of convenience and attacks Charlotte, severely wounding her. She then runs down the stairs.
Death Returns to Take One or More:
Horror Situation: As Alyssa runs to the front door, it slams shut and heavy furniture spontaneously flies to the door, blocking Alyssa’s escape. She turns around to find Charlotte at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding but seething with anger.
Response: Fight: The final life or death battle begins.
Horror Situation: Charlotte is winning the battle, and is about to take the final strike against Alyssa, and kill her.
Response: Fight; Solve It: Just as Charlotte attempts the kill strike, Alyssa shoves her to the stairs, where she is impaled by a shard of wood sticking out from the stairs. In her weakened state, though not yet dead, the furniture falls away from the doorway, and the door opens.
Resolution: Alyssa slowly leaves the house. As she nears the door, she tells Charlotte, trapped by the stick impaling her, and dying, to burn in hell. She then says she’ll help her do that, and lights the house on fire. She slowly walks away from the house, engulfed in fire, Charlotte’s screams in the throes of death ringing through the night.
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Chris Grant’s Horror Situation
What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
It’s fun to discover just how the horror in this story gets progressively more terrifying. I’m definitely discovering some interesting ways to create new tension.
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.Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.Fight – Cristian’s father curses the drug smugglers as he is forced into the ocean.
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.
Trapped –The fisherman are trapped and set adrift at sea with no motors.
Mentally tortured – Cristian has been bullied and mistreated by the other fishermen in the village since he was a child. His complete mentality is based on his hatred for them.
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.
Threatened – The fisherman think Cristian is a bad omen and they threaten to beat him up outside the bar where they all drink. He provokes them and gets beat up by multiple people at once.
Possessed – The dead body on the beach sits up from rigor mortis and sighs.Something inside our body – Crabs and worms eating the dead corpses.
The only one who sees the monster – Cristian’s visions foretell of the monster to come. The corpse speaks to him when no one else does.
Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
Denial of Horror – The fisherman disregard Cristian. They want to head backout with the first tide.
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
§ Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
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.
Menacing Stranger – Drug smugglers that the Harbor Master introduces Cristian to are dubious at best. They aren’t from their village and are not friendly.
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.
Being lured into danger – The Harbor Master lures Cristian into traveling on his drug boat. He doesn’t know that the smugglers were responsible for his father.
Doing something forbidden – Cristian decides to get on the boat with the drug smugglers when his father’s boat is burned.
Denial – Cristian takes up this journey despite the warnings of danger.
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.
o Unknown motive – Drug smugglers who take Cristian out in the boat the first night seem to be good guys. They don’t believe he’s bad luck. But they aren’t really on his side. The only one who sees the monster – He sees the flying squid on the water when no one else does.
§ Denial – Cristian goes along with them because they offer him drugs.
o Walking into a trap – Arriving at the Isla Del Muertos, the smugglers meet up with another boat. These smugglers have guns. Cristian realizes that he’s been deceived. Cristian is trapped by the drug smugglers
o Lured into the horror – Cristian has to swim into the nets to try and free the boats. It’s like swimming through a graveyard of rotting animals of all kinds.
§ Escape – Cristian understands that the ghost nets are going to cause problems for the boats if they can’t see them coming.
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.
Kidnapped – Cristian is kidnapped by the drug smugglers. He finds out that almost everyone has been kidnapped and forced to work on their behalf.
Escape – Cristian realizes that he’s made a mistake and must solve this problem.
Dilemma: Who to save: Them or me? Or Person A versus Person B? Either be the person stealing the motor or be the person swimming for your life. Fisherman forced to prey on one another.
Working with someone, then they become the evil one – The dealers give the two men in the boats the guns. They don’t really want to shoot anyone but they must do so in order to survive themselves.
Tricked – Cristian has been tricked by the drug smugglers into stealing for them. The fisherman hate that he is the one who is trying to ruin them and try to fight him then and there. A struggle ensues and one of them is shot. The other is forced to jump into the water and swim for it.
Try to solve it – Cristian realizes this is how his father must have been killed.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Being offered the chance to swim to shore or shot.
See another killed – Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village are forced into the water and eaten.
Physically tortured – Watching someone get eaten, that first moment when you jump in the water and you can’t see what’s going on beneath the surface.
Fight – Much like Cristian’s father, Cristian wants to fight back against what’s happening but cannot. Friends in danger – Cristian sees the people he has grown up with killed by the smugglers. He vows revenge for their actions.
The group has been infiltrated – Cristian goes along with the drug smugglers in order to get his revenge.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
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 sees 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”
Tricked – Cristian 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.
o Shackled – Someone is shackled to the boat as it sinks. Cristian has to free himself and the others as they are dragged down by squid.
§ Escape – The prisoners must try to unshackle themselves from the sinking boat before they enter the water.
o Attacked or chased – forced to swim in a closed area with a horde of ravenous squid.
§ Fight – Once in the water, fighting against the squid that immediately try to swarm you.
o Monster approaching – Being chased underwater, swimming for your life against creatures that attack from every direction.
o Monster trying to get to you – Squid pulls you down and tries to smother you, others attack your limbs and pull in different directions.
§ Escape – Being dragged down until you drown.
Trapped – The boats become entangled in the nets. Escape – Revving the boat engines to free them and making matters worse.
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 dark of night, they are all sinking fast.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Catching fire on a burning boat or jumping into the ocean and being eaten.
Escape – The dilemma gets worse, as burning is no alternative to being eaten.
Forced into a dangerous environment – Boats drifting amid a large mass of nets that catch the motors and cause them to overheat.
Impending doom – Sinking boats, omens of approaching death, creatures swimming up from the dark to feed.
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.
Another character loses it (hysterical) – One of the other smugglers, a fisherman from a local village, can’t take it anymore. He attempts to sabotage the smugglers but ends up in the water as well.
Environment changing around you – Cristian discovers the ghost nets are full of dead bodies of fisherman who got caught and drowned.
Try to Solve it – Cristian realizes the only way out of the nets is to cut them loose so they can drift. He’ll have to jump in and cut them lose.
· 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.
o A character refuses to take action – Fisherman refuses to shoot another man and is shot himself.
o Internal conflict in the group – Fisherman who can’t take it anymore who end up in the water. Drug smugglers fight each other to survive.
§ Escape – Trapped in your own trap. The drug smugglers now have to battle each other to survive.
· 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.
o Slimed – Tentacles across your face, slimy fish guts, rotting animals in drift nets, an exploding whale full of sea worms, A rotting corpse on the beach being eaten by crabs.
o No escape or their escape route has been cut off – Trapped within the nets, the only way to get free is to swim down and release the nets under water.
o Injured, wounded, or debilitated – Cristian is cut and bleeding, but still must enter the water to cut the nets. As his bleeding worsens, he must swim as fast as he can through a startled bunch of squid.
§ Fight – Trying to fight off squid one by one as they attack.
· 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.
o Cannot see (fog, being underwater), speak or yell, hear (too loud or too quiet) The squid appear from the dark all around. They attack anything in the area. A shark attacks Cristian but the squid devour it, giving him the chance to get away.
o Face to face with the monster – Cristian dives into the water to free the nets. He has a flashlight that he turns on and off in the water. The squid get curious and start to approach. They feel him with their tentacles as he dives down to the bottom.
§ Hide – Diving down to the bottom to get away from the bloody mayhem.
§ Fight – Cristain fights a squid underwater and successfully frees himself.
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.
Escape – Cristian makes it to the trunk of cocaine but he’s set adrift on the ocean.
Lost – Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine.
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Assignment 5
Paul’s Horror Situation Track
2. What I learned from this assignment was that it forced me to think up as many horror situations as possible before even writing a line of script, ensuring that I have the raw material for when it comes time to write the script. And, as I think of horror scenes, my story takes shape. It’s like making sure you have all the bricks, before you start building the house. It’s a very helpful way of doing things.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: Young girl comes home from school. Shows parents her lesson about the horrors caused by men throughout history and how the world would be a better place if they were all eliminated. Parents try to laugh it off.
Horror situation: In a statement broadcast on TV, president announces the new policy: all men are to be rounded up and executed. Their crime? Being men. Calls on all women to do their “civic duty” and hand over fathers, husbands and sons.
Reaction – Denial: Men joke about the statement. Believe it’s a joke.
Horror Situation: Men in a bar are watching this on the TV and laughing, when suddenly the bar-maids, women in the bar and women who enter from the street, turn on them with cork-screws, kitchen knives and blunt instruments. The men are overwhelmed and lie dead on the floor. The women scream in unison: “Peace, love & harmony at last!”
Reaction – Escape: One man escapes and manages to get home.
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.
Horror Situation: Amazons going from house to house with dogs trained to track testosterone, and drag men away. Loudspeakers announce that any woman found harboring men will also be executed.
Reaction – Hide: A woman hides her father, husband and son in the cellar.
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.
Horror situation: Boy, believing it is a game, escapes through the cellar window and is quickly captured by the Amazons and prepared for execution.
Reaction – Fight: The boy’s mother runs out to defend her son.
The characters are warned not to do it: Loudspeakers announce that any woman found harboring men will also be executed.
Horror situation: The boy is murdered in front of her and she is threatened with execution if she is hiding any more men.
Reaction – Hide: She runs back inside her house.
Safety taken away: The woman is forced to open her front door and let the Amazons in.
Horror situation: Sniffer dogs get close to the cellar door where the woman’s husband and father are hiding.
Reaction – Try to solve it: The woman breaks down in tears over the loss of her son, but also distract attention from the dogs. She manages to touch a nerve in the Amazons’ heart and they withdrawer with their dogs.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
· Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: The woman, her father and husband decide they have to flee. At night, inside their garage, they load the car.
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.
Horror situation: – Neighbors visit woman. 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.
Reaction – Denial: Woman keeps her mouth shut. Waits for visitors to leaves. Once alone again, she breaks down emotionally.
Terrorized:
Horror situation: She sees the execution of women who tried to protect their husbands and sons.
Reaction – Try to solve it. Decides to do something. She must do everything to save the man she loves, but not lose her life in the process.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death:
Horror situation: Woman and one of the Amazon’s cross paths. Amazon recognizes woman and runs after her.
Reaction – Flight: Woman flees, scared for her life. Amazon catches her.
The thrilling escape from death: Woman 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: Helps organize a small group of the men to 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.
END
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Paul McGregor.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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Judith’s Horror Situation Track – L5 – Homework
What I learned doing this assignment is I was surprised to thinking in steps instead of the way I usually do things, is starting to make sense to me.
ACT 1 – SET UP THE HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: Jane is advised by her psychiatrist to take a vacation in the woods with her finance to get away from the city noise and stress to prove to herself that silence is no longer a problem for her.
Horror Situation: Jane’s shrink assures her that she will be only a phone call away and her finance, Jake will be with her. Jane leaves and the shrink goes to her desk, snorts some cocaine, and says, “Glad to get rid of that bitch for a couple of weeks.”
Reaction – Escape: she agrees to go on the “silence” trip to the cabin in the woods.
Horror Situation:
Connect with the characters: Jane’s friend is concerned and wonders if it’s not too soon to be trying this new technique.
Denial of Horror: Jane assures her friend that her shrink is the best and she trusts her.
Safety taken away: Upon arriving at the cabin, Jane discovers that the cabin they are staying in is not prepared. The food in the refrigerator is spoiled.
Horror Situation: the cabin is not ready for them: food spoiled in refrigerator and cabin is dirty. The caretaker swears that she got everything ready yesterday in anticipation of their arrival. She will go to the store and get supplies. The cabin and surrounding area are eerily quiet.
Reaction – Jane freaks out and wants to go home, but Jake talks her into giving it a try and they can get supplies at the store they passed on the way to the cabin.
Horror Situation: they start to leave for the store and a strange man is fishing in the lake by their house. His presence scares Jane. She hates the woods.
Reaction – Denial: Jake insists all will be okay. Trust me. We’ll get the groceries, and the caretaker will clean the cabin while we are gone.
Monster: Jake and Jane return from the store and see the fisherman laying by the lake.
Horror Situation: They check on him. He is dead and his face looks bitten.
Reaction: They try to call for help, but the phone gets no reception.
Horror Situation: They start to move the body to place him in the shed and they are attacked by a wild boar.
Reaction: They leave the body and try to get into the cabin, but the boar stops them and chases them into the woods.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: they are surrounded by other wild boars.
Horror Situation: The boars surround them. They look for a weapon and cannot find anything.
Reaction: they look at one another ready for the worse. when a horrible sound comes from nowhere and scares the boars away. They race back to the cabin and lock themselves in.
Horror Situation: the boars close in and are ready to attack when a horrible sound comes from out of nowhere and frightens away the boars.
Reaction: They race back to the cabin and lock themselves in.
Horror Situation:
Character Death: One of us is killed –
Horrible Situation: When they get back to the cabin, they find the caretaker dead.
Reaction: Jane freaks out. Jake calms her and covers the caretakers body.
MIDPOINT – THE MONSTER IS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT
Full pursuit by the killer: All is quiet. Jane settles down. Gets ahold of herself. She and Jake have a quiet evening.
Horror Situation: They hear the pig outside again snorting around the cabin when suddenly the snorting changes to squealing. When they look outside, they see a woman wearing a horrible mask, killing the pig.
Reaction: they board up the cabin.
Horror Situation: All gets quiet and then banging rattles the door.
Reaction: Jake assures Jane whatever that is won’t be able to get in.
Terrorized:
ACT 3 – FULL HOUR HORROR
Fight to the death: Jane and Jake arm themselves with items they find in the cabin.
Horror Situation: They hear the monster trying to get in through the windows, but to no avail.
Reaction: they stand ready to defend themselves.
Horror Situation: They think they are safe, when the banging and threatening sounds come from different places. Then suddenly stop. SILENCE.
Reaction: Jane freaks out starts singing and putting on any sounds she can find in the cabin. Jane sees that Jake is scared too. It freaks her out.
Hysteria: All power goes out. Jane completely freaks. Jake is not help. She tries to get his help, but he just stands there.
Horror Situation: Jake opens the door and the masked woman enters.
Reaction: Jane can’t believe what Jake has done. He just stands there.
Horror Situation: The masked woman takes off her mask and it is the shrink. Jake goes over and they kiss.
Reaction: Jane freaks out and runs into the bedroom and locks the door.
The thrilling escape from death: Jane escapes through the bedroom window.
Horror Situation: As she crawls out the window, she hears Jake and the shrink calling for her. They break the door down and see that she is gone.
Reaction: They chase after her, taunting her. They grow silent. Creep after her.
Horror Situation: Jane puts her hands over her ears in terror. She can’t make noise, they will find her. She can’t stand the silence; it freaks her out.
Reaction: she gets a hold of herself and looks for an escape.
Death returns to take one or more:
Horror Situation: she creeps through the woods, ever watchful, when she sees Jake kill the shrink. Jake tells her he knows she is near and next.
Reaction: terrified, she runs.
Horror Situation: Jake catches up to her, but instead of killing her, he hits her ears so hard that she can’t hear. She’s stuck in silence.
Reaction: she collapses to the ground. Jake picks her up and carries her to a hidden vehicle.
Resolution:
Horror Situation: We see Jane sitting alone in an asylum music blaring around her.
Reaction: She is completely unaware of any sound and sits staring out a window and blank look on her face.
Horror Situation:
Reaction:
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Kim’s Horror Situations for THE CUTTING BOARD – Assignment #5
What I learned from this assignment is: Have at lfiveast one horror situation and reaction every 5 or so pages to keep the audience tense, but counter those situations with intermittent releases to lull them into complacency.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Atmosphere of Evil established: Host Layne introduces the judges in the macabre culinary contest show. All were prior contestants.
Horror Situation #1: The judges are all maimed.
Reaction – solve it: Apprehension, curiosity, trepidation. If the judges are maimed, will the contestants also be injured in the competition?
Horror Situation #2: Layne announces the terrifying rules of the competition.
Reaction – panic: Daisy faints. She looks like she won’t hold up well.
Connect with the characters: Layne introduces the contestants and shares their backstories. We develop empathy for them.
Horror Situation #3: All the contestants’ stories are horrible. They’re desperate.
Reaction – fight: They’re ready to play to get out of their problems.
The characters are warned not to do it:
Horror Situation #4: The audience screams at the contestants. “Nooo, you’re going to die. Turn back now.”
Reaction – denial: No one leaves because they need the money too badly.
Denial of Horror: They must rationalize their participation because they already know they face a grim fate. They’ve seen the show — it’s number 1.
Horror Situation #5: Layne tells them, “This is your last opportunity to leave.” Once you go, you can not return and you will face your consequences.”
Reaction – denial: Hopeful they can turn their circumstances around, the contestants ignore the warning and decide to pris taken with the game.
Safety taken away: They are isolated on a closed set.
Horror Situation #6: The armed guards lock the doors.
Reaction – fight: Fear, dread.
Horror Situation #7: Each contestant goes into the CONFESSIONAL BOOTH.
Reaction – solve it (?): They say their goodbyes to loved ones.
Horror Situation #8: They see the spaces on the roulette wheel, their mystery ingredients and prep methods for the first round.
Reaction – solve it: They assess the situation to make their best plays.
Horror Situation #9: Horrible mystery ingredients and preparation methods.
Reaction – solve it: They must focus on their cooking performance.
Monster: The nature of the beast: Layne gleefully toys with them to get a rise from the audience, judges, and contestants. He feeds off the attention.
Horror Situation #10: The spin of the wheel reveals methods of consequence, including saws and sledgehammers. Layne is joyous.
Reaction – escape: They try to run, but they’re trapped.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted:
Horror Situation #11: Layne announces they can have a five-minute CHALLENGE to fthe equipmenting only what equipment is available to their workstations. If successful, they win some $$ (not enough) and can escape the competition.
Reaction – escape: They try to get the chains off to no avail.
Horror Situation #12: The judges share how that moment when they realized they couldn’t escape felt for them.
Reaction – denial, fight: Contestants must control their anxiety and fear to perform.
Horror Situation #13: Layne starts the clock for the first round of cooking.
Reaction – solve it: The contestants run to select their ingredients and devise their dishes.
Character Death: They’re maimed one by one.
Horror Situation #14: One contestant slips and falls face-first into the fryer.
Reaction: Hysteria.
Horror Situation #15: Daisy cuts herself. The judges can’t eat her plate of food.
Reaction – fight: She begs not to be “cut.”
Horror Situation #16: Layne chops off one of Daisy’s fingers.
Reaction – solve it: Charlotte and her competitors are terrified.
Horror Situation #17: Layne uses the Brûlée torch to cauterize her wounds.
Reaction: She’s in shock from the unbearable pain. They give her morphine and send her back in.
MIDPOINT – The monster is worse than we thought: The contestants discover that Layne has orchestrated the problems that brought them to the show.
Horror Situation #18: Daisy finds a sheet of paper that has fallen from Layne’s pocket. She learns that Layne has orchestrated their misfortunes. She shares this information with the remaining contestants between rounds.
Reaction – solve it: Duped and betrayed, they vow revenge against Layne.
Horror Situation #19: Contestants are convinced if Layne orchestrated the situations that brought them to the show, he has also orchestrated the outcome.
Reaction – solve it: Paranoia. They’re convinced Layne has also orchestrated the outcome of the competition.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: Each round sees the contestants fighting for their lives in the competition. At the end, one of the four contestants will die.
Horror Situation #20: A contestant is picked to die a gruesome death.
Reaction – escape: She tries to cut off her shackled foot.
Hysteria: Daisy and Finn watch in horror. They beg for her life to be spared.
Horror Situation #21: Alejandra is killed.
Reaction – solve it, fight: While they watch offstage, Finn and Daisy devise a plan to kill Layne and escape during the dessert round.
The thrilling escape from death:
Horror Situation #22: Daisy and Finn lure Layne into their workstation space, threaten him with knives, and demand the key to the shackles. He gives it to them, and they unchain themselves.
Reaction – escape: They try to escape but are quickly subdued.
Horror Situation #23: Their insubordination buys Daisy and Finn a new challenge — a “SUDDEN DEATH COOK OFF.”
Reaction – fight. Knowing one of them will die, they prepare to battle each other.
Horror Situation #24: A sympathetic judge unplugs the power, and the lights go out.
Reaction – fight: When the lights come back on, Daisy and Finn are standing there with knives on Layne.
Horror Situation #25: Kill the host.
Reaction – fight: Daisy and Finn kill Layne.
Horror Situation #26: They give her back her finger, which has been on ice.
Reaction – escape: The medics wheel Daisy off stage on a gurney.
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Dan’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned doing this assignment… is how many different horror situations there are! (I switched to a slightly more developed idea of mine since I don’t have as much bandwidth at the moment to fully bake a new idea from scratch)
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: opening teaser of last victim of demon being killed/trapped in nightmare
Horror Situation: Monster trying to get to you – we don’t know what’s happening exactly, but the demon is about to kill someone
Reaction – Escape (in this case, fail to escape…)
Connect with the characters: Teenage Kendall, her mother Nora, and father Jack are a fractured family who are all experiencing some level of denial after the baby/Kendall’s brother died in a preventable accident. We’re made to believe that Kendall was supposed to be looking after him at the time and got high. Kendall thinks her friend-turned-lover, Austin, laced her joint with something, which knocked her out that day and made her forget what happened.
Safety taken away: Kendall finds a kaleidoscope at a garage sale or something. It somehow follows her home and she uses it. The shapes on the kaleidoscope are so beautiful, almost impossible. Then she has a nightmare that the kaleidoscope releases a needle that goes through her eye.
Horror Situation: Internal conflict in the group – Nora thinks Kendall stole the kaleidoscope; it simply followed her home.
Reaction: Denial – Nora sticks to her own narrative, despite Kendall insisting it’s not true
Monster: Kendall and Nora each have a brush with something supernatural. Kendall sees an object hiding in the cabinets, and believes something is in the house. Meanwhile, Nora has a separate interaction with Kendall, where Kendall starts to act possessed.
Horror Situation: Unknown motive – We don’t know what’s going on here. Why is Kendall possessed in one scene and seemingly the protagonist in another? What did the kaleidoscope do?
Reaction: Denial – both try to brush off the strange encounters
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: It’s unclear what’s really going on, but the demon is isolating each of the characters into their own personal nightmares. Austin visits the house and Kendall thinks he’s trying to kill her. Nora sees Kendall eating what looks like baby limbs.
Horror Situation: See another killed – Nora sees “Kendall” eating babies
Reaction: Hide – Nora runs away from “Kendall,” tries to tell Jack but he’s caught up in his own supernatural play.
Meanwhile, Jack’s interactions with Nora and Kendall get weirder; they are happy all the time, and are starting to turn… plastic and doll-like?
Horror Situation: The only one who sees the monster – Each family member sees some form of the demon, but no one else believes them, because they’re already isolated
Reaction: Denial – they are too confused to realize what’s going on
One of us killed: Kendall accidentally kills the family dog, thinking it’s the supernatural entity in the house.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought: The demon trapped in the kaleidoscope temporarily reveals itself to Kendall – it is turning the house into a literal kaleidoscope of horrors, and trapping the family.
Full pursuit by the killer: Nora and Jack’s “nightmares” get more disturbing. Nora hears the crying of a baby and follows the sound. She thinks her baby is still alive.
Horror Situation: Being lured into danger – The demon lures Nora with the sounds of a crying baby
Reaction: Denial – Nora believes it’s really her baby
Meanwhile, Kendall manages to get out of the house. She learns that the kaleidoscope houses a demon that is basically warping the realities in the house, isolating each family member in their own personal hell, so it can trap them and feed on their souls.
Terrorized: Nora and Jack are pulled into the kaleidoscope realm. The house’s walls open up and a room of mirrors takes them.
Environment changing around you – The walls of the house become like mirrors
Reaction: Denial – they don’t even notice
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Horror Situation: Friends in danger – Kendall has to save her parents
Reaction: Try to solve it – Kendall goes back into the home
Fight to the death: Kendall follows the maze in the house to find her parents; she must face her own nightmare to get there, and learns that she wasn’t responsible for the baby’s death: it was Nora, who is in deep denial about it because she can’t deal with the truth.
Horror Situation: Trapped – Nora and Jack are trapped in their own “nightmares”
Reaction: Denial – They don’t realize these aren’t real
She locates Jack and snaps him out of it. They then find Nora but can’t snap her out of it.
Hysteria: The demon reveals itself and devours Nora.
Horror Situation: Face to face with the monster
Reaction: Escape
The thrilling escape from death: Kendall and Jack run out of the maze.
Horror situation: Attacked or chased – The demon tries to chase Kendall and Jack
Reaction: Fight
Death returns to take one or more: The demon tries to follow them, but they outsmart it. Kendall shatters the mirrors in the nightmare house, and they go back into their real house.
Resolution: Kendall and Jack leave their house, and go back into reality. They never enter the house again. The kaleidoscope eventually finds its way to an estate sale…
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Tully’s (And Her Writing Partner’s!) Horror Situation Track
What I learned doing this assignment is just how organized this can be. Which makes my INTJ heart very happy. 🙂
So I’m going to always be posting half-assignments, basically, since there’s a lag happening where I do the homework as best I can here and then have phone calls with my writing partner… that’s fine though, like the lessons are always saying, this is a layering process and it’ll all get sorted in the end. I am super excited about this project. 🙂
The Plot, To Begin With: ACT ONE.
Opener: Credits over shots of the house, pulling into a window where we can’t see in because there’s stuff all up against it, and we start to hear an old lady quietly weeping, and then the sound of a piece of furniture moving and then there’s a GASP and then the crying stops. HORROR SITUATION: Can hear the sounds of someone else panicking. REACTION: We don’t know, but she’s probably just frozen.
Set Up: Erin is driving somewhere, in black but we wouldn’t necessarily think it’s funeral attire, in a beat up old pro-environment car, and her mom is on the phone telling her not to go, but she’s being stubborn. They disagree fundamentally. Turns out? She’s going to a FUNERAL – a fancy one, where she very clearly doesn’t belong. HORROR SITUATION: I mean, probably a jump scare of some kind. Or some body horror, with a crazy old relative. Or overhearing something truly evil being said. REACTION: Denial, for sure. Explaining it away. Or just shaking it off.
Inciting Incident: Erin learns that there is a dear old forgotten relative named Sherrie who is in need of mental health assistance but who has been ABANDONED by her family – just like she was. HORROR SITUATION:
Debate: Don’t know.
First Act Turn: Erin is 100% stubbornly determined to help Sherrie, until she’s so good she too stands as an example of what this family is too stupid to value. HORROR SITUATION:
The Plot, To Begin With: ACT TWO.
Ten Minutes: Erin goes over there and offers to help. Sherrie seems super scared, but says yes. HORROR SITUATION: Could watch Sherrie react terrified to a sound. Could do some mysterious hoarder goo. Could hear something. REACTION: She’d still be doing some form of denial.
Twenty Minutes: Erin’s gathered her friends to come help and one of them is seriously injured. HORROR SITUATION: We could nearly take them out any which way. REACTIONS: The injured person would either do a hide or an escape? Erin will take charge, but won’t be able to control the one who saw something and is creeped out, or the couple who are just bored already of helping this old lady weirdo. She doubles down.
Thirty Minutes: Now Glenn’s getting himself all involved? And like some more shit happens?
Forty Minutes: Another scary thing?
Fifty Minutes: You may notice, we don’t know a lot.
Sixty Minutes: There’s a lot of tidbits but we have to put them in order.
Seventy Minutes: Stuff!
The Plot, To Begin With: ACT THREE.
Depends on too much we don’t know ROFL but we do know that Erin beats the shit out of Glenn, and then in wrap up Sherrie has moved in with her mother June.
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Lisandro Boccacci’s horror situation track
what I learned doing this assignment is how this step helps fell in the plot.
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.
Horror Situation: cop shoots other cop on accident. The officer slowly loses his energy. falling to the ground.
Reaction: (fights) The officer chases down suspect, fires at the suspect and hits him on the leg, and runs back to the officer screaming, “Officer down and I’m shot!”
Horror Situation: Starting to realize he shot his own partner.
Reaction : (fights )the officer calls for back up, and an ambulance… more shots are fired and the officer has no clue what is happening. More officers arrive and open vest of the office that has been shot
Horror Situation: …they notice a bullet got through the vest, bleeding from bellow his armpit,
<font face=”inherit”>Reaction: they have to stop the bleeding. the officer runs after the suspect and catches up to the </font>suspect and starts beating him to death.
Horror situation: the officer is beating suspect to death.
reaction: another officer has to step in to stop him.
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.
Horror situation: the lights shining in their faces, blinding them… and the dark figures surrounding them… officers screaming at them.
Reaction: they pull out their cell phones and cameras and start streaming live to capture any wrongdoing.
Horror situation: the officers begin to ask questions, see their ID, and threaten to arrest them for denying the request.
Reaction: They talk back to the officers… telling them they know the law, their is no sign at the park that says that there is a curfew.
Horror situation: the officers threaten them and continue to ask them to step out of the car.
Reaction: They refuse to get out of the car and stand their ground.
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…
Horror situation: the group knows something is up… when the officers stand back and the figure with pig mask shows up…
reaction: they start their car and try to drive away… but its too late… their car is hooked up to a tow truck.
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, but the ex cop has his own camera, and K-9 dog.
horror situation: they can’t escape and are now being dragged.
reaction: they keep live streaming, and they give out their location.
horror situation: the place they are dragged to, has no internet, no Wi-Fi, no cell service and all of their live feed gets cut.
reaction: the driver tells them to stay calm and pulls out a gun.
One of us Killed: one of the officers gets shot by accident and bleeds to death.
horror situation: the driver goes by himself to unhook the car… the K9 gets loose and starts tearing the driver apart.
reaction: the driver shoots back into the darkness … misses the dog
horror situation: the driver almost gets eaten alive by a dog, and he is out of bullets.
reaction: the group gets out of the car to help fight off the K9, the driver limps back into the car and locks everything once they are all inside the car.
horror situation: one of the officers guarding the perimeter falls over the hood of the car bleeding to death…
reaction: they stay in the car, they discuss running.
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.
horror situation: the glass starts getting smashed by old looking weapons.
reaction: they duck down into the car, shielding themselves form the glass.
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…
horror situation: the younger brother gets pulled out of the car…
reaction: they try to pull him back in the car…but the younger brother gets dragged out and pulled into the darkness…
horror situation: with the younger brother gone, they don’t know whether to run for it, stay put, or try to save him.
reaction: they argue about what to do…the sister runs after her brother….the driver makes a run for it… the leader stays in the car…
horror situation: the younger brother get tied by the neck and get pulled up off his feet.
reaction: the older sister finds him and cuts the rope down. and they make a run for it.
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, and sets his K9 loose again.
horror situation: the driver is being shot at from the officers that are securing the perimeter.
reaction : he has to run tree to tree… dogging bullets until the K9 attacks the driver again.
Horror situation: the younger brother gets an asthma attack…close to suffocating, needs his spray.
reaction: the older sister runs back to the car for the spray.
horror situation: the ex-office attacks them both with a chain saw…
reaction: they run for it with the spray.
horror situation: they can’t get to the younger brother.
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.
horror situation: the officers have lost control, things are getting out of hand, the night was just meant to scare them out of town.
reaction: one of the officers turns and decides to help the driver escape the dog by shooting it dead, and they make a run for it out of internet dead zone, able to call for back up.
horror situation: the younger brother chokes to death.
reaction: the leader tries to get to the younger brother but cant get passed the ex cop.
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…
horror situation: the leader has a face off with the ex cop
reaction: leader fights back in order to save themselves.
horror situation: deadly shootout between cops, bullets dispersing everywhere.
reaction: hiding in the forest from the bullets.
horror situation: one last final fight, knife fight.
<font face=”inherit”>reaction: fight to the death, the leader gets cut up, but manages to stab the ex cop in the back… </font>rendering<font face=”inherit”> him </font>useless<font face=”inherit”> and his life hanging by a string. </font>
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