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Day 7 Assignments
Reply to post your assignment.
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7 Replies
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What I learned was how to flesh out the monster’s abilities and MO and plot out the ways in which the monster is slowly revealed to the audience.
Who or what is the monster and what is its terror?
A cannibalistic hillbilly with a warped moral code whereby he can’t kill people and can only eat carrion. However, he causes their deaths by laying traps.
What are its powers? The ability to make and set very elaborate and deadly traps. He also knows the terrain like the back of his hand, so he is able to stay hidden for most of the film.
What are its limitations? His family’s code dictates that he does not kill people, so when he is attacked, he can only run. At first.
What are its weaknesses? He is human, not supernatural, so he can be shot and he does bleed. It’s hard to kill him but not impossible.
What is its Plan/Purpose/Appetite? To cause the characters to set his traps and thereby kill themselves so he can take them for food.
1 Demand – who is making the noise behind the hiker?
Monster reveal: when the hiker investigates, he walks into a double bear trap and is decapitated.
2 Demand: how did the car’s tires burst, leading it to career off the road?
Monster reveal: although there is nothing in the road now, the tires show that they were sliced open by something very sharp. Something was laid on the road and covered, which they ran over. Justin has disappeared, even though there is a LOT of blood on the car seat, so how could he have just gone for help when he was clearly really injured: there are no blood trails outside of the car either. Was he taken?
3 Demand: has Aubrey walked into a regular hunter’s trap?
Monster reveal: they take close look at it – it is very well made and fiendishly clever – none of them has seen a trap like this before. It looks designed to kill people, not animals.
4 Demand: what killed Bruno?
Monster reveal: Now it is undeniable: these traps have been laid to kill them – they are being hunted and the killer is nowhere to be seen.
5 Demand Are there more traps?
Monster reveal: Celine is hit by an arrow after Brittany sets off a trap but falls over, escaping death.
6 Demand: Why does the monster not kill them when he has the chance?
Monster reveal: The monster is human: Shania sees a shadow and shoots (also shooting Aubrey) and there is a trail of blood.
7 Demand: who is living in this ramshackle house?
Monster reveal: when the survivors find the house, we discover that the killer may be Lonnie, the brother of the two hillbillies living in this dilapidated and extremely religious house. The survivors don’t know this, the sister only talks to her older brother about Lonnie killing people. We now know the monster’s name, Lonnie and the fact that he is clearly an in-bred hillbilly with a weird Christ fixation and warped moral code (we learn that the family only eats carrion – so they are cannibals, but supposedly not murderers).
8 Demand: the survivors decide to turn the tables on their pursuer
Monster reveal: We finally see Lonnie, though it is dark, and we see only his shadow, which is extremely creepy. He is dressed like a ragged pianist, with top hat and tails and no shoes. He walks in a very menacing fashion, confident and dangerous, dragging a long hook, which he aims to use to pull Aubrey out of the pit.
9 Demand: We get to see the monster
Monster reveal: Lonnie has caught up with Celine and they are fighting, with both of them very injured it is hard for each of them to deal a final blow. The two other survivors finally see him, and he is hideous – he looks like an in-bred child in the face, but with a man’s body comically and hideously deformed.
10 Demand: the final confrontation
Monster reveal: Shania and Brittany face off against Lonnie, and Brittany is about to kill him when we discover that he is the brother of the people who live in the ramshackle house. They take him away and the women are allowed to escape.
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Subject line: (Your Name’s) Monster Reveal Track (place in first line)
“What I learned doing this assignment is creating a monster reveal track furthers the plot and makes the story more scary and more realistic. Action/reaction. I don’t have all the demands and reveals worked out yet but this is a start.
MONSTER REVEAL TRACK
Max is a ghost who is trapped in the house.
Powers: He can keep people under 13 trapped in the house. He can scare people by throwing things, shutting off lights, interfering with cellphone service.
Limitations: He can’t leave the house himself. He can’t use any of this powers against people thirteen years old and older.
He wants to leave the house and go to the afterlife, but he doesn’t know how to do that. His weakness is that he doesn’t know the secret of what it will take for him to leave.
His plan is to convince Kathryn and Mallory to dig up his bones, thinking that will release him.
Satan and his legion want to possess Kathryn.
Kathryn is a psychic. The minute she enters the house, she knows something evil is present
Powers: He can possess Kathryn if she lets down her guard.
Limitations: He cannot stand up against God or his angels.
Weaknesses: Crucifix, rosary, other religious articles. Prayer
DEMANDS AND REVEALS
Demand #1 – Dead boy found in the snow. How did he die?
Monster Clue/Reveal #1 – Newspapers declare it suicide. Boy had history of depression.
Demand #2 – Kathryn and Mallory pass by the site of the boy’s death on their way to a friend’s birthday party. Did he really die from suicide?
Monster Clue/Reveal #2 – Mallory finds a mobile phone she believes must have belonged to the boy. She pockets it to give to the boy’s family. Katheryn doesn’t like the look of the item. She tries to convince Mallory to leave it behind.
Demand #3 – At the birthday party, birthday girl’s mother gives the girls a Ouija Board to play with. It tells Mallory she will die before she’s 13, which is in a couple of days.
Monster Clue/Reveal #3 – To solve the problem, Kathryn spirits Mallory out of the house, praying the rosary as she goes.
Demand #4 – A light on the porch and one inside Old Lady Setter’s House welcomes the girls seeking shelter from a storm. They climb through a window which immediately locks behind them.
Monster Clue/Reveal #4 – To solve the problem, Kathryn looks for another exit. All the doors and windows are securely locked. Old Lady Setter’s antiques are well protected.
Demand #5 – The girls look over some of Old Lady Setter’s antiques. As Katheryn touches different ones, she sees tragedy tied to them.
Monster Clue/Reveal #5 – She takes out her rosary. The visions go away.
Demand #6 – The lights go out.
Monster Clue/Reveal #6 – To solve the problem, Katheryn checks the circuit breaker box. None of the circuit breakers are blown.
Demand #7 – Kathryn tries to phone home to tell her parents where she is, but there’s no phone service. Mallory doesn’t have phone service either.
Monster Clue/Reveal #7 – Whatever is in the house can effect phone service.
Demand #8 – In the bathroom, Kathryn sees the ghost of a boy who writes his name in the air. He’s Max. He beckons Kathryn to the basement door. Katheryn, asks Max who he is. He’s a wondering ghost who has sought shelter in the house after he was murdered. It was meant to be a temporary stay, but something evil there won’t let him back out.
Monster Clue/Reveal #8 – The lights turn on in the basement.
Demand #9 – In the basement, there’s a horrible stink. Mallory backtracks.
Monster Clue/Reveal #9 – Max following, Kathryn searches the basement. The stink is coming from a dark cloud, which suddenly dives into Kathryn.
Demand #10 – The monster, a demon, has possessed Kathryn.
Monster Clue/Reveal #10 – Mallory is all alone with a ghost and a demon-possessed friend. Now she has to find out what will get rid of the demon. She starts praying.
Demand #9 – Katheryn senses someone else in the house. Maybe, help has arrived.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established:
Demand #1 – Dead boy found in the snow. How did he die?
Monster Clue/Reveal #1 – Newspapers declare it suicide. Boy had history of depression.
Demand #2 – On the way to the birthday party, Kathryn and Mallory pass by the site of the boy’s death on their way to a friend’s birthday party. Did he really die from suicide?
Monster Clue/Reveal #2 – Mallory finds a mobile phone she believes must have belonged to the boy. She pockets it to give to the boy’s family. Katheryn doesn’t like the look of the item. She tries to convince Mallory to leave it behind.
A birthday party where twelve-year-old girls are given a Ouija Board to play with a Ouija Board.
Connect with the characters: Introduce Kathryn and Mallory
Horror Situation 1: At the birthday party, the birthday girl’s mother presents the girls with a Ouija Board to play with. Kathryn is forbidden by her Catholic faith to play with it. She urges Mallory not to join in.
Reaction: Denial: Mallory doesn’t believe in that taboo and refuses to heed Kathryn’s warning.
Horror Situation 2: All the girls except Kathryn are lured into playing with the Ouija Board.
Reaction: Solve it: Kathryn tries to solve the problem by calling on St. Michael the Archangel to defend them from evil.
Horror Situation 3: Mallory takes her turn at the Ouija Board. Mallory asks the Ouija Board, “When will I die?” The Board answers, “Before your 13<sup>th</sup> birthday.
Reaction: Mallory loses it.
Reaction: Kathryn tries to take care of Mallory by convincing what the Ouija Board is nonsense and by telling her they should leave. We’ll go together.
Demand #3 – At the birthday party, birthday girl’s mother gives the girls a Ouija Board to play with. It tells Mallory she will die before she’s 13, which is in a couple of days.
Monster Clue/Reveal #3 – To solve the problem, Kathryn spirits Mallory out of the house, praying the rosary as she goes.
Introduce Max, the ghost of a long-dead boy.
Introduce old lady Setter, who leaves the house with a suitcase.
Horror Situation 4: On their way home, the girls get caught in a heavy downpour of rain.
Reaction: Solve the problem. The girls look for shelter. They come to Old Lady Setter’s house.
Horror Situation 5: Though they girls have been warned not to go anywhere near Old Lady Setter’s house, the girls are lured into danger by the friendly light on the old house’s backdoor.
Reaction: Denial: At first, the girls take shelter on the porch, but when the wind blows rain into them they rationalize that it will be okay to enter the house. They seek and find an unlatched window with its bars open. They crawl through the window.
Demand #4 – A light on the porch and one inside Old Lady Setter’s House welcomes the girls seeking shelter from a storm. They climb through a window which immediately locks behind them.
Monster Clue/Reveal #4 – To solve the problem, Kathryn looks for another exit. All the doors and windows are securely locked. Old Lady Setter’s antiques are well protected.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Horror Situation 6: Once inside the house, the doors and barred windows lock, seemingly of their own accord. They are trapped. All escape routes seem cut off.
Demand #5 – The girls look over some of Old Lady Setter’s antiques. As Katheryn touches different ones, she sees tragedy tied to them.
Monster Clue/Reveal #5 – She takes out her rosary. The visions go away.
Demand #6 – The lights go out.
Monster Clue/Reveal #6 – To solve the problem, Katheryn checks the circuit breaker box. None of the circuit breakers are blown.
Horror Situation 7: The lights won’t turn on.
Reaction: Try to solve the problem. The girls take out their cellphones.
Horror Situation 8: The girls try to phone for help on their cellphones, but they don’t work either.
Demand #7 – Kathryn tries to phone home to tell her parents where she is, but there’s no phone service. Mallory doesn’t have phone service either.
Monster Clue/Reveal #7 – Whatever is in the house can effect phone service.
Reaction: The girls split up and try to find candles and matches.
Death #1. A M1917 doughboy helmet, used by U. S. soldiers in World War I. This one belonged to a soldier killed by a bullet to the chest at Argonne in France. He was 19 years old and unlucky enough to be caught up in the deadliest battle of the war.
Death #2. Steering wheel from a 1922 Sunbeam that crashed during a pick-up road race, killing the driver, an adventurer and risk-taker, who died at the age of 23.
Death #3. A 1920 Steinway piano, passed down in a family to a young female prodigy, who died in 1967 of a drug overdose at a college party. One bad choice, and she was dead.
Mallory sits down at the Steinway and starts to play.
Mallory needs to go to the restroom.
But then they realize that there is someone else in the house.
Demand #8 – In the bathroom, Kathryn sees the ghost of a boy who writes his name in the air. He’s Max. He beckons Kathryn to the basement door. Katheryn, asks Max who he is. He’s a wondering ghost who has sought shelter in the house after he was murdered. It was meant to be a temporary stay, but something evil there won’t let him back out.
Monster Clue/Reveal #8 – The lights turn on in the basement.
Horror Situation 9: Someone else in the house. Max appears in front of Mallory.
Reaction: Hysteria Loses it.
Kathryn comforts Mallory.
Max is wary of Kathryn. There is something about her he’s afraid of.
Horror Situation 11: Max tricks the girls into going down into the basement by telling them that the lights work down there.
Reaction: Try to solve the problem. The girls decide to trust Max. They go with him down into the basement and find that the lights are on.
Kathryn takes out her cellphone, but it’s still out of service.
He beckons Kathryn to the basement door. Katheryn, asks Max who he is. He’s a wondering ghost who has sought shelter in the house after he was murdered. It was meant to be a temporary stay, but something evil there won’t let him back out.
Demand #8 – In the bathroom, Kathryn sees the ghost of a boy who writes his name in the air. He’s Max. He beckons Kathryn to the basement door. Katheryn, asks Max who he is. He’s a wondering ghost who has sought shelter in the house after he was murdered. It was meant to be a temporary stay, but something evil there won’t let him back out.
Monster Clue/Reveal #8 – The lights turn on in the basement.
MIDPOINT: The ghost introduces himself and tells them they will die unless they can find his bones buried in the basement.
Horror Situation 12: Max tells the girls that he and they are trapped inside the house because his bones are buried in the basement. He tells them that if they dig up his bones, they will all be able to leave the house.
Reaction: Mallory can’t breathe in the basement. She refuses to dig.
Kathryn finds a tool and starts digging.
Horror Situation 13: Kathryn finds human bones.
Reaction: Mallory freaks out. She faints.
Kathryn keeps digging under Max’s supervision, but when she has dug up all the bones and she and Max try an upstairs door, they are still locked in.
Max is confused. He believed he would be freed from his ghostly existence if he could find his bones. But then he realizes the bones are not his. Someone else is buried there.
Turns out that the bones aren’t Max’s, and there are more ghosts in the house than him.
Reaction: Mallory falls ill. Kathryn comforts her. Tells her they need to find another way out.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Demand #9 – In the basement, there’s a horrible stink. Mallory Tries to leave.
Monster Clue/Reveal #9 – Max following, Kathryn searches the basement. The stink is coming from a dark cloud, which suddenly dives into Kathryn.
Demand #10 – The monster, a demon, has possessed Kathryn.
Monster Clue/Reveal #10 – Mallory is all alone with a ghost and a demon-possessed friend. Now she has to find out what will get rid of the demon. She starts praying.
Kathryn starts a conversation with Max. She tries to find out what happened to him.
Max stops threatening the girls and tells them what he knows.
Mallory remembers what the Ouija Board said and is convinced she’s going to die. She loses it believing that she will die without her parents ever finding her.
She lies down and refuses to cooperate with anything Kathryn and Max want her to do.
Max goes into a rage.
Max tells the girls they’ll never get out, and there’s a terrible fate in store for them.
Horror Situation 14: Other ghosts of other children appear out of the woodwork. They are all raging, throwing things, threatening. Kathryn and Mallory huddle together terrified.
Midnight chimes on a clock upstairs. It’s Kathryn’s 13<sup>th</sup> birthday.
The sound of locks opening reaches the girls in the basement.
Max tells the girls that Kathryn can leave because she’s reached her 13<sup>th</sup> birthday.
Dilemma: Does Kathryn leave without Mallory when she has the chance.
Kathryn decides to stay with Mallory, who seems like she’s at death’s door.
Now, the real monster appears. She’s Kathryn. Kathryn starts to choke Mallory, but then there’s a sound of a key in the front door. Old Lady Setter enters.
As if by magic, everything in the house is put to right.
Mrs. Setter doesn’t seem surprised to find Kathryn and Mallory in the house. She gives Mallory a box and tells her to give it to her mother.
The girls leave.
The ghosts of the boy and other children can be seen peering out the windows.
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Claire’s Monster Reveal Track
What I learned: This is so not perfect. There are things I want to fix, but I don’t have the time now. I will trust in the process and continue to move forward with the class and assignments. I’m just posting what I have.
1. Create each part of this model:
A. Who is your monster and what is their terror?
An evil spirit from the 17th century who killed women he believed to be witches and he believed to have had sex with other women.
Powers? – can move objects. Can possess people and other living things. Can impact the weather on the farm.
Limitations? – cannot leave the farm. Cannot overcome someone with a very strong spirit
Weaknesses? – an artifact of his wife, such as her picture or hairbrush, etc., can stop him
Plan/Purpose/Appetite? – Possess one member of each of the 4 lesbian couple and have her kill her partner, and then kill the rest.
B. Sequence the reveals.
Prologue – Flashback to the 17<sup>th</sup> century and we see him burning a woman at the stake as another woman runs to stop him.
Act One
Monster Reveal: Townswoman tells Maeve and Regina there was a murder suicide there in the 1980s and no one has lived there since.
Monster Reveal: Objects are moved around the house.
Monster Reveal: PP1 – during a séance the spirit possesses Caitlin
Act 2
Monster Reveal: The spirit possesses Caitlin and kills her lover Libby.
Monster Reveal: Maeve discovers information hidden in the attic that reveals the murdered suicide in the 1980s was instigated by an evil spirit who murdered his wife because she was a witch and had sex with a woman. Someone killed him.
Monster Reveal: MIDPOINT – the spirit possesses Sybil and kills her wife Alison.
Monster Reveal: Maeve figures out that it is possessing one member of a couple and causing that woman to kill her partner.
They must figure out how to stop it before it possesses another woman and kills her partner.
The surviving couples separate. Maeve and Zora go back to read more about who the spirit is and how to stop it.
Monster Reveal: They discover that it possessed some people over the years but could not possess everyone. Spiritually powerful people could fend it off. Also, it cannot leave the farm.
It possesses Diana and kills Zora.
Maeve says we should run off the farm, but it gets Maeve before she can escape.
She fights and gets rid of it.
It turns on Regina and then comes after Maeve. Maeve can’t get it out of Regina. She runs off the farm and tells everyone else to do the same.
She goes back and drags Regina off the farm and saves her.
C. Create Demand for each clue/reveal.
2. Lay that over your current outline and fill in each clue/reveal using the tag “Monster Reveal:.”
CONCEPT: At an isolated farm, one by one, an evil ghost possesses the lesbian visitors and causes each to murder her own spouse. A timid psychic must stop it before it possesses her or her wife.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
ATMOSPHERE OF EVIL ESTABLISHED
Prologue: 17<sup>th</sup> century Massachusetts. A Man burning a witch at the stake and a woman running through the woods to reach them and stop him.
Horror Situation: Friends in danger
Reaction: Try to solve it.
CONNECT WITH THE CHARACTERS
We meet Regina and Maeve in their car. They are a loving couple, Regina a stand up comedian and and Maeve a psychologist and psychic. They stop on the road to help a woman who has a flat tire. Regina changes the tire and Maeve comforts the vulnerable woman.
Later they arrive at the farm and meet the other six women.
THE CHARACTERS ARE WARNED NOT TO DO IT.
Regina and Maeve tell the woman with the flat tire where they are going, and she looks terrified. She tells them not to go. It’s dangerous. They think she means the old house is unsafe. No, it’s haunted. Forty years there was a murder suicide. A lesbian killed her lover and then killed herself. Regina laughs and makes a joke. Maeve chuckles nervously.
Monster Reveal: Townswoman tells Maeve and Regina there was a murder suicide there in the 1980s and no one has lived there since. But the ghost can’t leave the farm.
Horror Situation: Threatened
Reaction: Denial
DENIAL OF HORROR
Regina and Maeve arrive at the house and tell the others. Sybil and Alison say nonsense. This place is beautiful. They invited the other six women to ask them to invest in their latest project, building a lesbian retreat on the land.
Horror Situation: Threatened
Reaction: Denial
SAFETY TAKEN AWAY
No internet or cell phone service on the farm.
MONSTER: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST.
[NOT SURE IF THIS FLASHBACK NEEDS TO BE HERE]
Another flashback to the 17<sup>th</sup> century. A man kills a witch, his own wife, and another woman witnesses it.
Horror Situation: See another killed
Reaction: Fight/Try to solve it
Monster Reveal: Weird things happening in the house. Seems haunted.
Caitlin says we should have a séance and ask who the ghost is and what it wants. Sybil, her mentor in witchcraft says no. Caitlin says Sybil is afraid of her own power and defies Sybil. She asks Maeve to join her. Maeve says no. Caitlin accuses Maeve of being afraid of contradicting Sybil.
PP1: Caitlin holds the séance.
Horror Situation: Doing something forbidden.
Reaction: Try to solve it.
Monster Reveal: the evil spirit possesses Caitlin.
Character Death 1: Caitlin is possessed and Kills Libby
Why: Libby is too good
How: Caitlin strangles her
Character Death 2: Sybil is possessed and kills Alison
Why: Alison was dishonest
How: Sybil stabs her
Character Death 3: Zora is possessed and kills Diana
Why: Alison is an innocent
How: Zora chases her down and breaks her neck
The spirit is angry and possesses Caitlin.
Caitlin goes completely mad, acting like a lunatic and kills her lover, Libby. The rest of the women are horrified.
Horror Situation: Possession/See another killed
Reaction: Try to solve it
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
ISOLATED / TRAPPED / ABDUCTED
The spirit leaves Caitlin. She calms down and then is completely horrified that she killed Libby. Wants to kill herself. Sybil and Maeve stop Caitlin from killing herself.
Horror Situation: Mentally Tortured
Reaction: Escape (death)
The women try to figure out what happened and what they should do. Call the police or no?
They decide to go for help, but the only bridge that takes them off the farm has collapsed.
Horror Situation: Trapped/escape route cut off
Reaction: Try to solve it
Alison reveals she found stuff in the attic about the death of the two women in the 1980s, but did not want to spoil the weekend by telling them about it.
While Sybil, Alison and Zora try to console the inconsolable Caitlin, Maeve, Regina and Diana investigate the stuff in the attic.
Monster Reveal: They find a notebook left by the woman who killed her partner. She details how she was possessed by a man who killed his wife because she was a witch and had a female lover. Someone killed him. This woman believes he possessed her and caused her to kill her partner.
They are horrified. They hear screaming. They run to find Sybil is now possessed and kills her wife Alison. They run from possessed Sybil.
Horror Situation: See another killed/possessed
Reaction: Escape
Character Death 2: Sybil is possessed and kills Alison
Why: Alison was dishonest
How: Sybil stabs her
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
Sybil comes out of it and is totally distressed that she killed Alison. Maeve asks Sybil if she can remember anything from being possessed. She does not want to remember, too terrifying. Maeve asks her to try. We have to find a way to stop it.
She allows herself to remember. The spirit burnt his wife at the stake and now wants to force lesbians to kill their own loved ones. He finds great joy in the agony of the women who killed their lovers.
[Put another 17<sup>th</sup> century flashback here to see it dramatized. New reveal is that He kills his own wife because she was a witch and had a woman lover.]
Horror Situation: Mentally tortured
Reaction: Try to solve it
Monster Reveal: Maeve realizes the spirit is possessing one woman in each couple and then killing that woman’s partner. They must figure out how to stop it before it possesses someone else and kills her partner.
The four remaining women who were not either killed or possessed are totally freaked out. They look at each other. Regina, the comedian, gives Maeve a creepy smile and Maeve freaks out. Regina laughs. Only joking.
Horror Situation: Not knowing who is possessed
Reaction: Hide/Try and solve it (the women react differently)
TERRORIZED
The couples decide to separate. Regina and Diana go outside. Zora consoles Caitlin and Sybil. Maeve returns to the attic to read more of the journal.
Monster Reveal: She learns that over the years it has possessed some people
Maeve and Diana hear horrible screams from Regina. Maeve runs to Regina. Zora goes completely crazy and tries to attack Diana. Diana runs for her life.
Horror Situation: Attacked or chased
Reaction: Escape
Sybil and Caitlin run and hide. Maeve and Regina try to stop Zora. But she is terrifying and powerful. They cannot stop her and she murders Diana.
Horror Situation: See another killed
Reaction: Try to solve it/escape
Character Death 3: Zora is possessed and kills Diana
Why: Alison is an innocent
How: Zora chases her down and breaks her neck
Caitlin is completely hysterical. Overwhelmed by the evil and bloodshed. She tries to kill herself again. Maeve is able to stop her.
Horror Situation: Another character loses it
Reaction: Try to solve it
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Maeve says we have to do something to prevent it from entering another woman. She remembers that the woman they met said it could not leave the farm. She says we have to get off the farm.
They run.
FIGHT TO THE DEATH
Maeve starts to twitch uncontrollably. She becomes possessed. Regina is terrified and runs. Zora and Caitlin run. Sybil tells Maeve to hold on, to fight. She fights the spirit from within.
Horror Situation: Possessed
Reaction: Fight (Maeve and Sybil) and Escape (Zora, Caitlin and Diana)
HYSTERIA
The exorcism drives the spirit wild, and Maeve does unnatural and terrifying things, like flying, vomiting bats, twisting her head around, etc. The spirit goes into Sybil and terrifies Maeve and laughs hysterically and jumps back into Maeve.
THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH
Maeve fights. She calls on the spirits of her mother and grandmother and great grandmother for help. She is able to get rid of the spirit.
Horror Situation: Possessed
Reaction: fight
Maeve seems okay. She is thrilled that she did not kill Regina. They all continue to get off the farm.
DEATH RETURNS TO TAKE ONE OR MORE.
The spirit possesses Regina and tries to kill Maeve. Maeve is totally freaked out. Does not want to hurt Regina but does not want to be killed. Maeve runs.
Regina follows her and they struggle. Maeve gets away from her and runs with Regina following. As Regina is about to get her, she suddenly stops. She hits the boundary of the farm.
Maeve turns and observes Regina struggling to get through the invisible boundary. She begins to hurt herself. Maeve runs to her and Regina laughs with glee and begins to strangle Maeve. Maeve fights her and eventually pulls Regina through the boundary and the spirit leaves her body.
Horror Situation: Possessed
Reaction: fight
Flashback to the 17<sup>th</sup> century – the woman who was lovers with the man burning his wife is a witch. She kills him and curses his soul. He cannot leave the farm. He cannot go to heaven or hell
Resolution
Five of them are still alive. They decide what to do.
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MICAH’S MONSTER REVEAL TRACK
What I learned doing this assignment is to keep adding layers to the monster throughout the story in order to keep it interesting, and that every great horror movie is part mystery.
Monster: The Jinx, a malevolent spirit that possesses a host and causes misfortune in a radius around him/her.
Powers: cause misfortune to those in proximity to host including death and disaster, expand its field of influence over time
Limitations: cannot allow harm to come to host, is dispelled if host dies, cannot inflict harm beyond its range of influence
Plan/Appetite/Purpose: to cause as much misfortune, especially death, to as many people as possible
Atmosphere of Evil established: a boy follows his dog onto the property of an old hermit, and is nearly killed by a series of mishaps before one of the townsfolk shoots the hermit from afar.
MONSTER REVEAL: boy is warned not to go near the Hermit’s large, barren property. Hermit, in his home, is tormented by the presence of the wryneck bird. When the boy walks onto the property, everyone, including the hermit, becomes terrified and warn him to leave. A series of accidents place the boy in a mortal danger: his dog is led off by a rabbit, he breaks his leg in a gofer hole, wolves converge.
DEATH – HERMIT: shot by boy’s father from a distance
Why: establish the limitation of the Jinx’s powers, start the film off with a death
How: preventing a boy’s death
Connect with the characters: “Some people have all the luck montage” shows Felix’s poor luck throughout his life, including the end of his marriage, concluding with his being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He makes the deal with the Jinx. Later, he sees minor improvements as people experience accidents around him.
MONSTER REVEAL: Felix gets messages in fortune cookies saying he can give his bad luck to someone else, and to answer the door. There’s a tiny peck at the door. Felix answers it. There’s a wryneck bird outside. Felix makes a deal with the bird and it scratches his face, though a moment later the scratch is gone.
HORROR SITUATION: (Spooky) Felix’s ordeal with the wryneck. Felix looks at the fortunes again and sees that they’re all normal.
REACTION: (Denial) Felix believes that his tumor is making him hallucinate
The characters are warned not to do it: people near to Felix are injured
Denial of Horror: Felix dismisses all the strange occurrences as freak accidents
MONSTER REVEAL: There are a series of small accidents that establish that other people’s misfortunes are having a positive effect on Felix’s health. Additionally, it is established that the air is cold in a field around him, and that there is a limit to his field of influence.
Wife stops by to have divorce papers signed. She notes that it’s cold near Felix. Small accidents.
Felix leaves to see his doctor, and the mailman has a small accident.
Felix learns that his situation has slightly improved, and the doctor has a small accident. The doctor also notices it’s cold in his office.
Felix is speaking with neighbor who feels cold near Felix, though their partner on the other side of the fence doesn’t feel it. They witness a small boy nearly getting run over by his father backing out of the driveway, but the crisis is averted.
HORROR SITUATION: (Tormented) A car is about to back into a small boy in a driveway.
REACTION: (Solve It) Felix begins to react when the boy’s mother jumps behind the car and stops it.
Connect with the characters II: the various characters arrive at the hotel for their own reasons. Felix’s ex calls him to say she doesn’t know where June is. Felix checks the phone app and sees she’s gone to the hotel, and he fears she’s gone there with her older boyfriend.
MONSTER REVEAL: A much larger accident takes place when a big rig truck crashes, though no one is seriously hurt.
HORROR SITUATION: (Tortured) a big rig truck crashes near Felix on his way to the hotel, cutting off the intersection
REACTION: (Denial) Though startled, Felix does not believe it’s related to him
MONSTER REVEAL: The wryneck is seen outside the hotel as Felix enters.
MONSTER REVEAL: More misfortune’s occur as Felix moves through the hotel, such as the soda machine not working and Autumn and Pearl’s condemn breaking during sex.
Safety taken away: Mr. Lamb’s pacemaker fails and he has a heart attack
HORROR SITUATION: (Tortured) Mr. Lamb has a heart attack and the road is blocked off, preventing an ambulance from arriving
REACTION: (Solve It) the characters choose to carry Mr. Lamb outside
MONSTER REVEAL: The first death occurs.
DEATH – Alfred Lamb: pacemaker fails
Why: establish the lethal situation the characters are in
How: attempting to calm others
Monster: The nature of the beast: a series of accidents prevent the characters from being able to leave
MONSTER REVEAL: The characters become trapped in the hotel.
HORROR SITUATION: (Isolated) the elevator busts and the stairwell collapses, trapping everyone upstairs.
REACTION: (Solve It) characters call the police for help
MONSTER REVEAL: Characters note a drop in temperature around Felix.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted: The elevator is broken and the stairs are collapsed
HORROR SITUATION: (Isolated) the crashed big rig is preventing the fire truck from getting to the hotel
REACTION: (Solve It) The police drag it away with trucks, but it takes timeHORROR SITUATION: (Tormented) Felix witnesses his reflection start to become the Jinx
REACTION: (Hide) flees and tries to ignore what happened
One of us killed: June’s boyfriend Ivar is killed
DEATH – Ivar: trips and falls onto a sharp object
Why: establish the random/sudden nature of the Jinx; motivate characters to action
How: attempting to comfort June (getting her a blanket)
HORROR SITUATION: (Torment) June sees Ivar killed
REACTION: (Solve It) Felix comforts herHORROR SITUATION: (Trapped) the elevator has stopped working and the stairs have collapsed
REACTION: (Solve It) they open the elevator shaft to see if they can climb down
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) while Pearl and Nico are inside the car, the cable snaps
REACTION: (Escape) characters are pulled to safety just before they fall to their doom
HORROR SITUATION: (Spooky) Felix’s shadow twists and flops its head in front of everyone
REACTION: (Fight) Nico confronts Felix, thinking he’s deliberately harming everyone
MONSTER REVEAL: The characters note the cold surrounding Felix and that it only extends a certain distance.
MONSTER REVEAL: Throughout, the symptoms of Felix’s tumor (fatigue, difficulty speaking, headaches, nausea, imbalance) subside and he becomes stronger, quicker, and more focused.
MIDPOINT — THE MONSTER IS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT
Full pursuit by the killer: accidents occur in rapid succession
HORROR SITUATION: (Spooky) Felix sees the wryneck, which is chirping in a way that sounds like laughing
REACTION: (Fight) Felix attacks the bird and kills it, only to find it has teleported elsewhere and is still laughing at him
HORROR SITUATION: (Spooky) Pearl is unaware that his shoes have come untied as he’s walking near to the elevator
REACTION: (Solve It) Autumn notices and tells him to tie his shoes
MONSTER REVEAL: Characters begin noticing the cold even though Felix is at a distance.
MONSTER REVEAL: June chokes on a piece of food even that she is at a far distance from Felix.
Terrorized: the range of the Jinx’s influence expands and the accidents become more intense
HORROR SITUATION: (Isolated/Danger) Felix is keeping his distance from everyone, communicating via phone when June begins choking on a piece of food
REACTION: (Fight) Felix comes to his daughter’s rescue and performs the Heimlich maneuver on herHORROR SITUATION: (Spooky/Isolated) the power in the building goes out
REACTION: (Solve It) group searches for means of lighting the hallways, including computers and phones
HORROR SITUATION: (Torture) Dawn is covered in cockroaches and, in her hysteria, nearly back into the open elevator shaft
REACTION: (Solve It) Autumn calms her, has her step away from the shaft, and then removes the cockroaches
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) a melting candle ignites the bed sheet in Nico/Candyce’s room and a fire breaks out
REACTION: (Fight) grab the fire extinguisher; create bucket brigade
DEATH – Tulip: burnt dresser collapses and crushes
Why: surprise!
How: killed trying to prevent more death
HORROR SITUATION: (Torture) at a crucial moment, Pearl suffers an overdose from an earlier intake of cocaine laced with fentanyl.
REACTION: (Solve It) Dawn runs to get the naxolone from Pearl’s room
HORROR SITUATION: (Torture) the naxolone has fallen beneath the bed
REACTION: (Solve It) everyone scours the room until it is found
HORROR SITUATION: (Torture) Dawn trips while rushing it to Pearl and it slides toward open elevator
REACTION: (Solve It) Autumn grabs it just before it goes over the lip
DEATH – Pearl: drug overdose
Why: establish active pursuit of the Jinx through a lengthy race (also, drugs are bad, mm’kay?)
How: being reckless
DEATH – Autumn: Falls down open elevator shaft
Why: surprise again!!
How: panicking (or possibly) fighting with another character
HORROR SITUATION: (Paranoia) Nico retrieves Autumn’s gun and tries to shoot Felix
REACTION: (Escape/Fight) Summer stops her; Nico accidentally shoots herself in the legHORROR SITUATION: (Torture) a ricochet from the gun grazes the artery in June’s throat
REACTION: (Solve It) Dawn stops the bleedingACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: seeing his daughter nearly die, Felix takes up the gun; before he can make away with it, an earthquake hits and the building starts to collapse
HORROR SITUATION: an earthquake strikes and the structure of the building is compromised
REACTION: (Escape) everyone tries to avoid the destruction
DEATH – Dawn Weathers: falls through floor
Why: remove the only medical expert before Eve goes into labor
How: fleeing from danger
HORROR SITUATION: (Trapped) a portion of the ceiling caves in, preventing Felix from getting as far away from the others as he can
REACTION: (Solve It) everyone else moves to the furthest room in the building
HORROR SITUATION: (Tormented) Felix witnesses his reflection completely turn into the Jinx
REACTION: (Fight) Felix confronts the creature and learns about its motives and power
MONSTER REVEAL: Felix hears the Jinx’s voice in his head, learning that it wants to cause as much misfortune, suffering and death as possible. Felix has flashes of several historical accidents: the Great Fire of London, the Hindenburg Disaster, the Chernobyl meltdown, the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Hysteria: Candyce goes into labor; Felix locks himself in a room and attempts to kill himself; the Jinx prevents him and Felix ends up on the floor with a sprained back, unable to move
HORROR SITUATION: (Tormented) Candyce goes into labor
REACTION: (Escape) Candyce escapes from the building via police ladder
The thrilling escape from death: firefighters arrive to rescue the survivors via ladder; but there is no window in the room furthest from Felix, and so they must venture into the field of danger to be rescued.
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) survivors must get around the collapse in the floor to get to the fire ladder, including Candyce who is in labor
REACTION: (Solve It) they retrieve a shower rod; June makes it across, then she and firefighter use the rod to pull people to safety as they jump
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) The floor gives out beneath Candyce and she falls through the floor; June and firefight are nearly pulled down with her as the floor continues to collapse
REACTION: (Solve It) Nico leaps over the opening and helps pull everyone up
MONSTER REVEAL: June goes to retrieve her father, who is unable to move and tells her to leave him. He tells her it won’t let her die.
DEATH – Firefighter: slips and falls off the ladder as he’s helping others to safety.
Why: establish the danger of the ladder
How: trying to rescue others
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) it is raining when the survivors attempt to climb down the ladder, causing multiple slip and falls
REACTION: (Solve It) everyone moves cautiously, the firefighters and fellow survivors helping one another
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) lightning strikes a power line and the cable swings toward the ladder
REACTION: (Escape) characters leap from the ladder/try to avoid the swinging wire.
MONSTER REVEAL: June deduces that she can’t be harmed so long as she’s with her father, as the Jinx will protect him.
Death returns to take one or more: June returns to save her father. But the Jinx tries to separate them.
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) as June and Felix are about to climb down the fire ladder, lightning strikes the truck and the ladder falls
REACTION: (Escape) they look for another exit
HORROR SITUATION: (Pursued) as June and Felix attempt to escape, the building begins to collapse
REACTION: (Escape) they tie off a bed sheet to hand railing and climb down stairwell, escaping the building just as it collapses
Resolution: Once they make it outside, a flying piece of debris(?) comes flying at June. Felix throws himself in front of the debris at the last second, sacrificing himself for his daughter and defeating the Jinx.
DEATH – Felix Clover: sacrifices self to save daughter (killed by flying debris)
Why: redeem main character and stop the killings for good
How: self-sacrifice
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This lesson I learned that you need to have a plan to reveal the characteristics of the monster that builds suspense and pushes the story to its conclusion.
Assignment:
Who or what is the monster? The spirit of a dead fire chief that manifests in a corporeal form of fire.
Monster’s Terror:
Powers? Smoke, Fire, Speed, Surprise, Can Go Anywhere, Has a corporeal form, Can have Physical Interaction, exists even when not burning (spiritual transcendence),
Limitations? Cannot speak, Can’t go through fire retardants/fire doors
Weaknesses? Afraid of water, Needs oxygen to thrive/survive
Plan/Purpose/Appetite? Revenge on Corrupt and selfish peopleSequence & Demand of Reveals:
Smoke – curiosity
Fire – terrorCan’t burn retardants – discovery
Speed – terrorHas a corporeal form – terror
Surprise – curiosityCan Go Anywhere – terror
Can’t get through fire doors – putting things together
Can have Physical Interaction – terror
Afraid of water – discovery
Can exist even when extinguished – curiosity
Needs oxygen to survive – putting things togetherUpdated Outline with Monster Reveals:
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established
A fire chief is trapped in a burning building trying to save a family, but he is unable to save them and must watch them die while he slowly burns to death.Horror Situation: Fire is raging, a family is trapped.
Reaction – Try to Solve: The Fire Chief tries to rescue them
Horror Situation: The ceiling collapses and traps him. He watches the family die while he burns to death.
Character Death: Fire Chief
Why: The building is not safe
How: Ceiling collapse, burned to deathConnect with the characters
First day at the new office of Haven Development. The CEO welcomes everyone to the new office – the VP, Marketing Manager, Architect, Builder and Assistant.The characters are warned not to do it.
The Architect is concerned that certain elements of the building are not to spec with his plans.Denial of Horror
The Builder says everything is fine and ready. The Marketing Manager is skeptical but puts a positive spin on it.Safety taken away
The elevator is not working (shorted), and the stairwell door won’t open (Fused shut), so they must stay in the office. The mechanic gets to work on the elevator.Horror Situation: They are trapped in the office
Reaction: Try to solve problem- Mechanic tries to fix elevator, goes to machine room.
Monster: The nature of the beast.
The security guard smells smoke. He goes to check the alarm system in the machine room and discovers the mechanic and the alarm system and communications have been charred. He joins the other characters to tell them about the death and to evacuate.Horror Situation: Smoke coming into the office, electrocuted, charred mechanic and alarm system
Reaction: Panic, Escape.
Character Death: Terance Cornett, Mechanic
Why: He’s trying to save the others
How: Electrocuted
Monster Reveal: Smoke – curiosityACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
They get the stairway open, but the fire breaks out and blocks their way. They try another stairwell, but it is also blocked. The elevator is still not functioning.Horror Situation: Smoke fills the stairway
Reaction: They escape through another stairway
Monster Reveal: Speed – terrorHorror Situation: Flames erupt in the stairway
Reaction: They retreat to the elevator but it’s still not working. The janitor tries to solve and fix it.One of us killed
The Builder suggests they climb through the air vent to get out, but no one will go with him. He goes alone and he gets trapped in the duct, where the fire slowly burns him to death and we see it’s “human” form for the first time. The duct collapses and his charred body falls to the ground for the others to see..Horror Situation: Claustrophobia in air vent and legs catch on fire.
Reaction: Tries to fight and put out fire, but it spreads over his body
Monster Reveal: Can Go Anywhere – terrorHorror Situation: The fire has a face
Reaction: Denial, then death
Monster Reveal: Has a corporeal form – terrorHorror Situation: The body falls through the vent to the floor for everyone to see
Reaction: Confusion, since there is no fire
Character Death: Dmitir Pierno, Contractor
Why: He is a coward and tries to escape his own way
How: Trapped and burned from the bottom up
Monster Reveal: Surprise – curiosityMIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
The janitor gets the elevator working and they all try to escape, but the fire burns the cable and the car halts. They manage to escape but the fire comes into the car and pulls the VP out of it to kill her. The rest of them escape onto the nearest floor.Horror Situation: Elevator drops
Reaction: EscapeHorror Situation: VP pulled out of car by fire
Reaction: Denial, Escape
Character Death: Adrienne Tupper, SVP
Why: She is arrogant and thinks she knows what to do
How: Pulled from the elevator by the fire
Monster Reveal: Can have Physical Interaction – terrorTerrorized
The fire now erupts into the hallway and they all flee to get away, one by one they are trapped and killed, the loner, the marketing director and then the CEO.Horror Situation: Can’t find way out of hallway maze (Lost)
Reaction: Tries to find the way out, but gets hysterical and in denial
Character Death: Julian Fowler, Architect
Why: He is complicit with the poor design of the building
How: Cornered and trapped in the hallway and burnedHorror Situation: Wrapped up in fire hose (Trapped)
Reaction: Tries to use hose to fight fire, then tries to escape by cutting the hose
Character Death: Carina Hernandez, Marketing Director
Why: She lies about the safety of the buildings
How: Strangled with a fire hose and burned
Monster Reveal: Afraid of water – discoveryHorror Situation: The corrupt CEO is found out and given over to the fire (infiltrated)
Reaction: Try to solve by giving up the CEO
Character Death: Osmond Deighton, CEO
Why: Greedy and corrupt developer with no regard for safety
How: Locked in closet and left to die (false death)Horror Situation: Burned to a char and crawling to get away (injured)
Reaction: Fight/Escape
Monster Reveal: Can;t get through fire doors – putting things togetherACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death
The security guard manages to hold off the fire with a fire hose, but the water can’t kill it, and the fire burns him to a crisp – he is in so much pain that he shoots himself in the head.Horror Situation: Someone shoots themselves in the head to avoid painful death (see other killed)
Reaction: Fights but loses and has to escape by suicide
Character Death: Keelan Finn, Security Guard
Why: For trying to protect the others
How: Shoots himself in the head to end the pain of being charred
Monster Reveal: Fire charring – terrorHysteria
The assistant has a breakdown, but the Janitor consoles her. They come up with a plan to defeat the fire creature (with water)Horror Situation: Take refuge in a room, lock out the fire, but the fire is in there (out of frying pan into fire)
Reaction: Hide, denial/false safetyThe thrilling escape from death
The janitor and assistant work together to defeat the fire just in time by creating a vacuum that deprives it of air.Horror Situation: Room engulfed in flames (impending doom)
Reaction: Hiding in room, has to fight the flames? The CEO Returns to save them and dies by being blown out the window?
Horror Situation: Blown out window, fall to death
Reaction: Shock
Character Death: Osmond Deighton, CEO
Why: Redeems himself to fend off the monster
How: Blown out window and falls to death
Monster Reveal: Needs oxygen to survive – putting things togetherDeath returns to take one or more.
But at the last minute, the fire flares up and kills the Janitor. The assistant is spared.Horror Situation: Thinking the fire is out, but it flares back up to get them (tricked)
Reaction: denial that it is over, tries to fight the fire
Monster Reveal: Can exist even when extinguished – curiosityHorror Situation: Slowly burned while loved one watches (mentally tortured)
Reaction: fights/tries to escape
Character Death: Stanislav Zitnik
Why: For trying to save the assistant
How: Charred slowly in front of her
Monster Reveal: Can’t burn retardants – discoveryHorror Situation: Forced onto window ledge by fire (forced into danger)
Reaction: Tries to hide, denial, but it discoveredHorror Situation: Someone is about to be burned by the fire but is spared (face to face)
Reaction: hide, escapeResolution
The fire marshll determines the building was built shoddily, and the same thing happened in a fire several years ago in which the fire chief perished. -
Ed’s Monter Track Revealed.
What I learned doing this assignment is some of the monitor revealing I already wrote in to the plot outline. By writing the Monster Track helps identifying those scenes and why the scenes (demand) are needed or elevated. Not all the Monster reveals line up with the plot, they’re still some adjustments and that’s fine at this stage. I’ve learned how to better align the importance of monster revealing is to the over all story and how best to isolate and magnify those relationships.
(WITH MONSTER REVEALS INCLUDED)
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Monster Reveal: Young Ava curses the holiday, inadvertently summing the pair of monsters. Demand – Conflict , teenager and parents.
1- Atmosphere of Evil established – Krampus and Saint Nicholas try to check into the ski lodge without a reservation. The manger hassles them. He’s killed for his lack of customer service.
Monster Reveal: Krampus and Nicholas arrive ski lodge appearing as disarming eccentric gay couple on holiday. Demand – Curiosity, who are these guys?
Horror Situation – Menacing Stranger at the front desk. Not a normal guest for a ski lodge.
Reaction – Try to Solve It. Manager does his best to placate Krampus & Nicholas. They’re not there to be dismissed.
Monster Reveal: Ski Lodge manager’s indiscretion triggers Kampus and Nicholas evilness, is killed , body stuffed in freezer. Demand – Terror first insight into capabilities.
Horror Situation – Nicholas’s staff is also a deadly spear. Manager is shish kebab killed by it.
2- Connect with the characters – The ski resort guest, invited by anonymous invitation, meet up on the shuttle bus from the airport to the lodge. The characters are warned not to go. The sheriff warns the lodge staff and guest if they don’t leave now the Northeaster Blizzard will cut them off , snowed in for days.
Monster Reveal: Other guests meet up in shuttle bus. Bonding on ride up. Demand – Discovering who other guests are. Demand – Curiosity – why they were all invited by mysterious stranger.
Horror Situation – Environment Changing Around You -the blizzard is starting. The ride to the lodge is blinding the old driver, bus so close to the edge of the road. Steep cliffs inches away.
Horror Reaction – Denial, it’s vacation time, nothing bad going to happen. Drink and be merry, great weather for skiing.
Horror Situation – The tour guide falls out of the bus into a chasm – gone & probably dead!
3- Denial of Horror – Krampus and Saint Nicholas show up announcing the deadly white elephant gift exchange. It’s thought to be a cruel joke. Until…
Monster Reveal: Guest arrive, Krampus and Nicholas are charming life of the party. Demand – Curiosity, looks to be a fun weekend.
Monster Reveal: Guest express some doubt about the pair, something is off about them. Demand – Putting the pieces together. Somethings off.
Horror Situation – Lured into Horror. The gift exchange sounds fun until the deadly purpose of the gifts are revealed.
Monster Reveal: Krampus and Nicholas announce the gift exchange – curiosity and excitement builds. – Demand – discovery why they are there.
Monster Reveal: Exchange gifts time. Demand – curiosity – what’s in the gift and for what purpose.
Horror Reaction – Tricked. This is not how normal gift exchanges work. What’s the catch and why is this happening to them?
Horror Situation – Krampus reveals none of them are innocent and their terrible secrets shall be revealed before they die.
Monster Reveal: Krampus reveals a guest’s deep secret. Guest disavows it. Demand – Terror – knowledge of secrets – who else is worried?
4- Safety taken away – A guest – Mike – tries to leave the lodge to get help, opens the front door and tons drifted snow pours in. Saint Nicholas’s staff elongates yanking the Mike around the neck and back inside. The lights flicker and power goes off. The ski lift down the mountain is dead.
Monster Reveal: Guest tries to escape, stoped my Nicholas’s creative use of his staff hook. Strangled into compliance. Demand – discovery – Nicholas just as evil and Krampus.
Horror Situation – No escape / cut off – The guest, staff and Krampus are trapped inside the ski lodge until the blizzard clears.
Horror Reaction – Fight! The monster outnumbered, of course the other guest can over take them.
Horror Situation – Krampus demonstrates his no normal guest easily flinging a guest into the huge fireplace, setting them a-flame.
Monster Reveal: Reverend Gene declares he knows who these two are and what their history is.Demand – Figure out the mystery.
5- Monster: The nature of the beast. – The gift exchange begins. The first guest opens their gift revealing the weapon of choice to be used on another guest of their choosing. Refusing will only mean self-imposed death.
Monster Reveal: First guest opens gift. True intention of its use announced. Guests reject the idea of killing another guest. Demand – Terror-this can’t be happening.
Monster Reveal: Guest kills the other guest in front of the others – the true intentions of how they day will proceed revealed. Demand – putting the pieces together – this is how it’s going to be.
Horror Situation – Character refused to take action. No way the guest will use this instrument of death on another person.
Horror Reaction – Denial. This can’t be the purpose of a gift exchange. Too twisted.
Horror Situation – Krampus forces the person to use the instrument of death on themselves. Showing the others the gruesome consequences of non-conformity.
Monster Reveal: Guest reveals their secret – thinking this confession saves them – it does not. Demand – conflict – reveal terrible secret might save them?
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
6- Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Guest & staff try various places to hide & escape avoiding participating in the gift exchange. Krampus abducts guest – Ava – using torture blackmail to force the other guests to give up and come out of hiding – except Tina, she’s missing.
Monster Reveal: Next gift exchange , another killing fun for Krampus & Nicholas. Demand – terror, escalating. Foreshadows doom.
Horror Situation – Attacked or chased. Guest try to hide from the gift holder and their evil intentions.
Horror Reaction – Hide! Anywhere in the ski lodge is good place to get away. It’s part of the rules anyway, but eventually guest will be caught.
Horror Situation – Guest is caught and must return to the lobby and face their horrible death.
7- One of us killed – The gift exchange shifts from terror and torture to guest killing. Michael kills Tina – because she did not come out of hiding.
Horror Situation – See another killed. Fun and games are over and the first guest is killed by the first gift giver in the exchange.
Horror Reaction – Try to solve it. Another guest plead for mercy, plead for rationale. This is too terrible to be real.
Horror Situation – The guest is killed by another in front of the others, demonstrating what is in store for them. It’s not pretty.
8 – MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! – Krampus announces from this point out the gift exchange must result in death of the receiver. Then proceed to next round. No exceptions. Other guest can not interfere in the proceedings or be killed.
Monster Reveal: Reverened Gene, authority on Pegans and their weaknesses hatches plot to stop them. Demand – characters trying to figure it out.
Horror Situation – Working with someone, then become the evil one. Gifts are exchanged, you may trade with another, but you still got to kill someone with whatever gift a guest ends up with.
Horror Reaction – Fight! The monster is now use, and guest shall fight them as Krampus has designed to game to be played out.
Horror Situation – Two guest battle to the death using whatever gift it was they exchanged for.
9- Full pursuit by the killer – Guest connive on ways to kill Krampus based on Reverend Gene’s knowledge of Pagans. The problem, Saint Nicholas has to go first. Nicholas is killed enraging Krampus.
Monster Reveal: Nicholas is killed, wounding/weakening Krampus, also enraging him. Demand – putting pieces together – there might be a way to stop him.hope.
Horror Situation – Internal conflict with the group. Reverend Gene convinced he can defeat Krampus, worrying the others it will only make things worse.
Horror Reaction – Try to solve it. Perhaps if the gift giver 0 Nicholas is killed the exchange will end with his death.
Horror Situation – Nicholas is killed. That really get’s Krampus enraged.
10- Terrorized – Krampus proclaims no one shall survive now because of their act of treachery.
Horror Situation – Impending Doom. There was a chance for survival, now that is gone.
Horror Reaction – Escape. Blizzard or not there must be a way out of the ski lodge. One of the staff has an idea , but will need help.
Horror Situation – Everyone pick their gift and no more exchanges. It will be all out carnage.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
11- Fight to the death – Guest are pared up for the next gift exchange round. Everyone got a gift now they can use on the other guest or staff. Keep going until one is left.
Monster Reveal: Krampus distracted trying to stop guest from escaping, without a gift and participate she get’s free – weakness. Demand – discovery – there’s a way out.
Horror Situation – Dilemma – emotional attached characters now face horrible decisions for survival. Kill or be killed. Great for Krampus bad for the guests.
Horror Reaction – Fight. Got to fight to stay alive.
Horror Situation – Other guests are killed in horrible ways by the gifts selected. This narrows down the survivor combinations and raising the stakes not to mention the dilemmas faced.
12- Hysteria – Staff and Guest are all over the lodge trying to kill or not be killed by others guest or staff. Survivors are whittled down in grizzly and terrifying ways as each gift specifies.
Horror Situation – Another character loses it. Ava – to be specific.
Horror Reaction – Try to Solve it – Ave knows a way out because Susie, the ski instructor told her how to before she died.
Horror Situation – Ava father is killed calling her into action. Her mom, will hold off the threat for as long as she can.
13- The thrilling escape from death – Ava escapes Saint Nicholas to roof top escape to the Ski Lift Shed. Finds a snow board and skies down the risky back country to safety.
Monster Reveal: Guest tells another guest how to escape – Krampus selects that guest for trying to ruin the gift exchange. Demand – discovery – if not an exchange there is hope of delay/surviving.
Horror Situation – Helping a good person and being attacked. Ava’s mom, helps Ava escape, paying a high price.
Horror Reaction – Escape – Ava escapes to the ski lift shed
Horror Situation – Krampus sends another after her. Guest refuses to go. Setting up a deadly stand off.
Monster Reveal: Krampus attacked by guest, at his moment if weakness. Not killed but vulnerable. Demand – putting together the pieces.
14- Death returns to take one or more. – James and Michael are left arrived. Krampus kills James running him over with the snow groomer because Michael kill him with his gift.
Horror Situation – No escape or Escape has been cut off. Snow groomer taken over by guest Michael running over James with it.
Horror Reaction – Denial – James can’t believe Michael will go though with it.
Monster Reveal: Krampus – torn between which guest killed next. He selects a gift to decide, break the rules and ends the exchange. Demand – conflict, attraction to both guest but one must die.
Horror Situation – The snow groomer, driven my Michael runs over James tearing him to pieces. Snow turns to blood. Eeew.
Monster Reveal: Krampus uses the snow groomer (not a gift) to kill last guest. Demand – Discovery- gifts are not source of evil.
15- Resolution Christmas Day – Krampus leaves with Michael riding away on the snow groomer.
Horror Situation – Walking into a trap. Michael leaves with Krampus thinking he is safe.
Horror Reaction – Escape – leaving Krampus is better option than staying behind.
Monster Reveal: Krampus seduces guest by joining him his offer of power and evilness. Demand – Conflict – Is it worth it?
Horror Situation – Back at Krampus castle, Michael is given a gift, the implications for its use are not good.
Monster Reveal: Krampus has gift for tag along guest signaling he’s still as evil as ever.
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TO SERVE HUMANS Outline
A homeless man raises the new born Andrew. When the man dies, Andrew enters an orphanage.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Not adjusting well, Andrew has panic attacks. 3 mean boys bully him. He’s miserable.
Horror Situation – A man claims he’s his son, takes him out in the country and gives him a high voltage shock. Andrew is able to fly, has strange hallucinations and his skin is scaly like the creature from the Black Lagoon. When the man tries to harm him, Andrew accidently kills him and returns to the orphanage.
Reaction – When the 3 boys push him down some stairs.
Monster Reveal – He flies at them and kicks their butts.
Horror Situation – Led by M’Lord, Homeless cannibals case orphanage. Millicent wants to adopt.
She adopts Andrew, takes him to an abandoned building and cooks him to eat. Andrew crashes through a window to escape. She follows but cuts herself and bleeds out. He bakes her in the oven and makes the best meal he’s ever had. When cops surround the building, he flies away.
Detective Mabel finds his fingerprints and identifies Millicent’s burned hulk as Andrew’s body.
Character Death 1: Andrew
Why: Millicent’s body is identified as his.
How: He bakes her in an oven and eats her corpse.
Horror Situation – In disguise, Andrew adopts Betsy from the orphanage and barbecues her in an abandoned house across the state line near Yuma, Arizona. When a SWAT team raids the house, he hides in a bathroom.
Monster Reveal – When the cops break in, he’s disappeared.
Rooky cop Ethel finds a fishy scale in the toilet. She later becomes a crime scene forensics specialist. Outside he exits and sewer and gets away.
Character Death 2: Betsy
Why: Betsy laughed when he flubbed his first writing lesson
How: Barbecue
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Horror Situation – Disguised as a elderly woman, Andrew takes his newly adopted Clare into a random house. Later a housewife returns from shopping and finds “Millicent” giving Clare a bath in her kitchen sink. Still later, the husband returns from work.
Monster Reveal – In the sink he finds human bones. He runs screaming from the house. Cops arrive. A tiny Andrew climbs from a storm drain outside and returns to adult size.
Character Death 3: Clare
Why: Clare prick teased him
How: Butchers her in the sink
Midpoint: Homicide detective Mabel and forensics specialist Ethel meet at a homicide cop conference, compare crime scenes notes and find they point to a single killer—Andrew.
Horror Situation – Andrew plops latest adoptee David in a bathtub in a mansion, cuts the cake he just baked and serves him a slice.
Monster Reveal – After a few bites, David convulse, has a seizure. Andrew cuts him up and roasts him.
Character Death 4: David
Why: David was a meany to Andrew
How: Poisoned cake
Horror Situation – In another kitchen, Andrew jams Elizabeth’s hands down the garbage disposal and turns it on. A housewife arrives and surprises him in her kitchen.
Monster Reveal – He processes her hands the same way and places both women in a plastic bag.
Later on a bridge, he empties the bag. Their remains drop into the river.
Character Death 5: Elizabeth
Why: She’s one of the kids who humiliated Andrew in class
How: Garbage disposal
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
FIGHT TO THE DEATH
Horror Situation – Andrew tasers recently adopted Floyd on his way home from school.
Monster Reveal – He chains him to a loading dock at a closed factory, gets on a forklift and pulls the chair he wrapped around his waist until Floyd’s abdomen pops from his stomach. His spine snaps. His liver protrudes.
Character Death 6: Floyd
Why: Floyd led the mean boys who made Andrew’s life miserable
How: Ripped apart by a forklift
Mabel and Ethel enter the front and back doors simultaneously, guns drawn.
In his right hand, Andrew holds a barber’s razor to the throat of Tara, Mabel’s little girl.
HYSTERIA
Mabel takes careful aim.
Ethel yells, NO! He’ll kill Tara.
Mabel hesitates. Ethel shoots Andrew in his right shoulder. He drops the razor. Snatches a steak knife with his left hand, prick’s Tara’s neck, dares them to shoot because he’ll kill Tara.
THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH
Ethel aims and fires a bullet into M’Lord’s heart.
DEATH RETURNS TO TAKE ONE OR MORE.
Andrew reappears, throws a knife. It plunges into Ethel’s throat. She slumps to her knees. Bleeds out.
RESOLUTION
Mabel and Tara stand before Ethel’s gravestone in Rose Hills Cemetery.
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