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Day 7 Assignments
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Bob’s Monster Reveal Track.
What I learned from this assignment is that some prior tracks come into better focus when adding the monster track.
A. Who is the monster; what is the terror.
COMPONENTS OF THE MONSTER
Powers: Secrecy, uses seduction and sex to lure male victims into situations where they are vulnerable. Operates in the dark and in disguise using surprise to kill her victims with a paddle representing the fraternity.
Limitations: Requires surprise to maintain the upper hand against victims who may be able to overtake her if confronted directly.
Weaknesses: Basically human. Can readily be defeated by common means if discovered.
Plan/Purpose/Appetite: Is seeking vengeance against those that raped her sister. This includes those who condoned the behavior or ignored it such as the college, faculty advisor, and fraternity officers.
Who or what the monster is: A student at a college whose sister was raped at a fraternity party.
B. MONSTER REVEAL
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.
DEMAND: Introduce violence and terror.
MONSTER REVEAL: When responding to the seductress, brother is met with violence.
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.
Character Death 1: Random brother who answers the phone.
Why: Makes the bad decision to meet the monster for sex.
How: Surprised, bludgeoned to death with fraternity paddle, thrown off 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 Nad, the 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. Nad is told to make it the biggest party ever.
DEMAND: Brothers try to figure out if the earlier brother’s death is related to the call to cancel the party.
MONSTER REVEAL: Brothers conclude there is no monster.
Safety taken away: While hanging party posters at a neighboring girls’ school, Nad is separated from the other brothers.
DEMAND: We need to understand the first death was not random but rather part of a plan.
MONSTER REVEAL: Monster, costumed. as in opening scene, pursues Nad in the dark.
Horror Situation: Nad is isolated and lost in an unfamiliar dormitory. The lights go out.
Reaction – Panic: Paranoid and lost, Nad runs down a maze of corridors in the dark.
Monster – The nature of the beast: Nad is pursued by the monster and manages to survive.
DEMAND: After seeing the monster, we need to convince others it is real.
MONSTER REVEAL: Nad swears he was being pursued; brothers continue to be in denial.
Horror Situation: Nad 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 Nad in chemistry lab for not cancelling party.
DEMAND: Escalate terror.
MONSTER REVEAL: Monster attempts to kill Nad.
Horror Situation: Nad is alone in the chemistry lab after class. The monster attacks him from out of nowhere.
Reaction – Escape: Nad manages to evade the monster, running into the faculty advisor in the hallway.
One of us is killed: Faculty advisor is killed.
DEMAND: Faculty advisor’s death increases terror and provides a clue to help us understand the monster’s motive.
MONSTER REVEAL: Monster leaves a party flyer on body after killing faculty advisor.
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.
Character Death 2: Faculty advisor.
Why: He represents the school’s indifference as to how the fraternities behave and treat women.
How: Surprised by seductress. Bludgeoned to death with fraternity paddle. (Paddle is hanging on wall – a gift from the fraternity). The monster (as the grim reaper) shows up after seductress leaves.
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.
DEMAND: Discover who might be the monster.
MONSTER REVEAL: Is the woman who seduced Uncle Barf related to the killings?
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 drunken brother perceives no danger.
Horror Situation: The brother is met by the monster. The monster bludgeons him to death.
Character Death 3: Uncle Barf.
Why: Character flaw causing him to make a wrong decision.
How: Lured away from the party and bludgeoned to death.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Full pursuit by the killer: One by one, brothers are disappearing from the party.
DEMAND: Escalate the terror; provide potential hope to solve mystery.
MONSTER REVEAL: Nad tries to determine if the manner in which the president is killed reveals anything about the monster.
Horror Situation: Brothers start to disappear from the party.
Reaction – Denial: Others at party assume the brothers that have left made a connection with a girl and have left for sex.
Character Death 4: Caesar, fraternity president.
Why: Assumed to set the moral agenda for the fraternity.
How: Sacrificed.
Horror Situation: Blago (the rapist brother) and Hawes (the moral brother) disappear.
Reaction – Try to solve it: Nad goes to basement coal room to look for missing brothers.
Fight to the death: Nad must pick who dies.
DEMAND: Need to pull together the reason for the presence of the monster.
MONSTER REVEAL: Nad suspects there is a reason he has been asked to pick between the two brothers.
Horror Situation: Blago and Hawes are tied up in basement coal room. Monster informs Nad he can save one of them.
Reaction – Fight: Nad manages to free Blago and Hawes.
The thrilling escape from death: Nad hides in a coffin (present as part of a fraternity ritual) to escape death.
DEMAND: Escalate danger.
MONSTER REVEAL: Monster decides to go after everyone to get its vengeance.
Horror Situation: After freeing Blago and Hawes, Nad returns to confront the monster.
Reaction – Hide: The monster gains the upper hand. Nad is hit by the monster and falls into a coffin. Nad hides in the coffin.
Apparent Death 1: Nad, after being hit, falls in coffin and hides with skeleton.
Why: Increase horror.
How: Attempted something that fails (confronting the monster).
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.
DEMAND: Create panic.
MONSTER REVEAL: Any and all brothers can be killed.
Character Death 5: Mort is killed.
Why: Innocent killed to increase horror.
How: Surprised and bludgeoned.
Character Death 6: Froggie is killed.
Why: Monster is lashing out.
How: Escape attempt leads into monster, and he is bludgeoned.
Death returns to take one or more: Nad uses a fencing sword to ward off monster and accidentally kills another partygoer.
DEMAND: Need to sacrifice others to stop the monster.
MONSTER REVEAL: Nad fights the monster causing it to flee.
Horror Situation: Monster continues to cause hysteria.
Reaction – Fight: Nad grabs a fencing sword and attacks monster. In the process, he accidentally kills Sue Weal, Froggie’s steady date, and causes a bloody injury on the monster’s arm. The monster flees.
Character Death 7: Sue Weal.
Why: Nad made a bad decision to wield a sword.
How: Nad charged blindly into action.
Resolution: When brothers enter the basement coal room to confront the monster, they find a set of hidden stairs leading back to the roof house seen in the opening murder. Once they get to the roof house, they find only the seductress whose sister was raped. The costume the monster wore is on the floor and she is apparently dead from the fencing sword wound. Nad confronts Blago noting the motivation for her attacks. The seductress awakens and attacks Blago. She is surrounded and bludgeoned by the group of brothers (not including Nad). As the lights come back on in the party room, a girl is asking where her sister is.
DEMAND: Nad figures out what drew the monster to the fraternity.
MONSTER REVEAL: This monster is killed but there is another monster in the making.
Character Death 8: Blago.
Why: Blago’s bad moral decision released the monster.
How: Uses skeleton to skewer Blago.
Character Death 9: The monster.
Why: Set the world right again.
How: Bludgeoned by the remaining brothers.
Horror Situation: Monster’s sister comes looking for her.
Reaction – Sequel: A new need for vengeance.
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Chris Grant’s Monster Reveal Track
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
My outline feels a bit jumbled but I’m still making consistent discoveries that are beggining to tie together.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
• Opening/prologue: Start the mystery of the monster by showing us the result of their violence.
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Unrelenting hunger when frenzied. Demand – Putting together the pieces
• 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.
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.
♣ Fight – Cristian’s father curses the drug smugglers as he is forced into the ocean.
♣ Death – Senor Cordova – Cristian’s father and first one killed.
♣ why – He will not give up his boat motor to the drug smugglers.
♣ how – He’s pushed into the sea and consumed by the squid.
♣ Surprised / blindsided
• 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.
o 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. Thrown into the monster – Senor Cordova is told to jump into the water.
♣ The fisherman are told to swim but the drug smuggler fires into the water to rile up the squid.
• During 1st Act: Foreshadowing as clues
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Conning – Convinces Cristian to make money on drug boat – Demand Solve Mystery
• 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.
o 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.
o Possessed – The dead body on the beach sits up from rigor mortis and sighs.
o Something inside our body – Crabs and worms eating the dead corpses.
o 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.
o Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
♣ Death – Fisherman 1 – In the boat with Senor Cordova. Washes up as a corpse on shore.
♣ Why – also sacrificed to the squid
♣ How – Unseen but generally consumed by the sea.
• 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.
o 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.
• 1st Act turning point: Characters are locked into horror
• 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.
o 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.
o 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.
♣ Death – Sea Animals –
♣ Why Caught in the nets
♣ How – Can’t free themselves and end up drowning.
♣ Back into it – Swimming underwater and getting caught in the ghost nets with no way to get out.
• 1st half of 2nd Act: The monster is present, but hidden
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Seems intelligent. Demand – Curiosity
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Causing people to work against their own best interests. – Demand – Discovery –
o Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Initially hesitant. Demand – Curiosity Smugglers Weaknesses – Fragile egos, guilt. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – Stupidity Demand Conflict
• 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.
o 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.
o 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.
o 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.
o 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.
o Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Being offered the chance to swim to shore or shot.
o See another killed – Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village are forced into the water and eaten.
o 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.
o Friends in danger – Cristian sees the people he has grown up with killed by the smugglers. He vows revenge for their actions.
o The group has been infiltrated – Cristian goes along with the drug smugglers in order to get his revenge.
♣ Death – Fisherman 2 – Forced into the water by the drug smugglers and told to swim for the island.
♣ Why – Given a choice to swim for their lives or be shot.
♣ How – Can’t escape the squid once they enter the water.
♣ Fisherman 3 – Shot and consumed by the squid
♣ Why – Won’t give up his motor
♣ How – Shot and falls into the water. At least he’s dead before the squid get to him.
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Purpose – Steal the boat engines from the fisherman and Deliver the drugs to the freighter offshore. Nobody cares if you come back. Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Can’t be stopped in the water. Demand – Terror
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Can attack from multiple angles. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Escapes easily – Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Extortion – Warns fisherman that their families are at risk if they don’t cooperate. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Weapons – machine guns used to rile up squid – Demand Putting together the pieces
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Murder – Sacrificing people to the squid. Demand – Terror
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
• Midpoint: Monster is worse than we thought
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Pack hunting at high speed. Demand – Putting the pieces together
o Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Can’t leave the water for very long. Demand – Conflict Smugglers Weaknesses – Stupidity Demand Conflict
• 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” 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.
o Trapped – The boats become entangled in the nets.
♣ Escape – Revving the boat engines to free them and making matters worse.
o 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.
♣ Escape attempt takes them into it – People shackled together in the water try to escape but get tangled up in the nets.
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o 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.
o Forced into a dangerous environment – Boats drifting amid a large mass of nets that catch the motors and cause them to overheat.
o Impending doom – Sinking boats, omens of approaching death, creatures swimming up from the dark to feed.
♣ Death – Drug Smuggler 1 – Rebels against shooting people and ends up in the water as a victim.
♣ Why – Freaks out and tries to stop the drug smugglers from killing people.
♣ How – Gets shot and wounded and ends up in the water as well.
♣ Give up – The main drug smuggler, who knows what kind of monster he’s become, goes down into the water knowing what’s about to happen.
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♣ Death – Drug Smuggler 2 – Boat catches fire and jumps into the water only to be consumed while burned.
♣ Why – Chaos caused by the first drug smuggler sets the boats on fire and burns the other drug smuggler alive.
♣ How – he ends up in the nets. Charge blindly into action – The drug smuggler who can’t take it anymore causes chaos when he refuses to kill others.
♣ Death Kidnapped Victim – Smuggled aboard drug dealers boat. Tries to frantically escape and doesn’t make it.
♣ Why – tries to escape and jumps right into the fire
♣ How – Squid attack and drag him into the depths.
♣ Attempt something that fails
♣ The kidnapped person tries to swim for his life not knowing what’s in the water.
2nd half of 2nd Act: Monster pursuing / attacking characters, delivering clues with each attack
o Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Flashlight in the eyes under water momentarily pushes them back. Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Limitations – All must submit to the higher authority or die. Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Limitations – Also afraid of the water.
o Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Can be fought off one-on-one but not in groups. Needs an anchor to pull. Demand – Terror
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – Panic Demand – Terror
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.
o 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.
o 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.
♣ Death Head Drug Smuggler – Goes down with the ship after he runs out of bullets and gets violently torn apart.
♣ Why – Won’t give up on the drugs in the crate and runs out of bullets as his boat is sinking.
♣ How – Completely dismembered by the squid. Betrayed – The main drug smuggler sacrifices his own men to survive.
3rd Act: Characters solve the puzzle and fight back, apparently killing monster
o Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Scared of light. – Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – need to stay with drug shipment or face death.
o Monster Reveal: Squid Appetite – Rising up from the depths of the sea to feed on the fresh dead. Like most predators, they prefer live or freshly dead prey. So there’s lots of half eaten dead corpses in the nets. Demand – Discovery
• 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 –
o 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 swims up to Cristian and 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 – Cristian 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.
• Lost – Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine.
♣ Escape – Cristian makes it to the trunk of cocaine but he’s set adrift on the ocean.
♣ Cristian Cordova – Sole Survivor
Resolution: Survivors live…but somehow, the monster is still alive for the sequel
o Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Disappear at sunrise. Demand – Discovery
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3. In this lesson I learned more about how to bring an audience along for solving the mystery of the monster/how important it is for the audience to feel like they are solving something
1. Create each part of this model:
A. Who is your monster and what is their terror?
Powers: Show people what hurts to see, inhabit the dead
Limitations: Cannot lie, cannot inhabit the living
Weaknesses: It lives in a book inside the house and
could be destroyed if the book were destroyed, it cannot go far beyond the
book without a host, even in a host it is frail, can be picked up on radio
Plan/Purpose/Appetite: Make people see the world the
way it sees the world and destroy the world the way it wishes it could
destroy itB. Sequence the reveals.
– Can force a re-animated body to kill
– Can be picked up on radio
– Has the power to show people what they fear to see
– Cannot go far beyond the book without a host
– Cannot inhabit the living/inhabits the dead
– Lives in a book inside the house
– Cannot lie
– Can be seen in windows
– Even in a host it is frail
– Make people see the world it sees the world
– Can be destroyed if the book is destroyed
C. Create Demand for each clue/reveal.
Terror: Can force a re-animated body to kill
Discovery: Can be picked up on radio
Discovery/Curiosity: Has the power to show people what they fear to see
Conflict: Cannot go far beyond the book without a host
Terror: Cannot inhabit the living/inhabits the dead
Discovery: Lives in a book inside the house
Putting The Pieces Together: Cannot lie
Discovery: Can be seen in windows
Figure Out Mystery: Even in a host it is frail
Figure Out Mystery: Make people see the world it sees the world
Figure Out Mystery: Can be destroyed if the book is destroyed
2. Lay that over your current outline and fill in each clue/reveal using the tag “Monster Reveal:.”
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
Worker:
Why: He figured out his work partner was possessed
How: Bludgeoned to death with a hammer by work
partnerMonster Reveal: Can force a re-animated body to kill
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
o Monster Reveal: Can be picked up on radio
The characters are warned not to do it: A neighbor comes to the door as people are evacuating,
suggesting the family not stay here over the lockdown. And that at the
very least they move over to their house where it is brighter and the air
is less “chilly.”
Denial of Horror: Unable
to reliably move grandma and all the medical supplies she needs to have
with her, the family decides to stay. They cast off concerns that the house
itself has any problems, summing it up to the shadow cast by a large tree
in the yard. Plus, they don’t believe the lockdown will last very long or
be enforced.Monster Reveal: Has the power to show people what they
fear to see (the mother sees the neighbor eyeing her husband during the conversation)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.
Mother Faints, hitting her head on the rock.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
o Horror Situation: Mother hits her head and “dies”
o Response – Try to solve it: Takes mother inside and tries to nurse her back
Mother:
Why: She needs to “die” for the monster to take hold
How: She faints in the presence of the monster and
hits her head on a rockMonster Reveal: Cannot go far beyond the book without
a host
Monster Reveal: Cannot inhabit the living/inhabits the
deadACT 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
Grandmother:
Why: She figures out that mother is possessed when
looking at her reflection in the mirror
How: Asphyxiation by way of her face being covered
with a pillow by motherMonster Reveal: Lives in a book inside the house (discovered
in home library)
Monster Reveal: Cannot lie (nothing grandma sees is
bad enough to make her unhappy)
Monster Reveal: Can be seen in windowsMIDPOINT: 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
Younger
Daughter:
Why: She won’t stop crying because she knows her
mother isn’t her mother anymore
How: Poisoning by mother
Son:
Why: The audience needs to see that there is no
escape
How: He is shot by armed patrol officersACT 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
Husband:
Why: He figures out that mother (his wife) killed
grandma and starts to figure out that she is possessed
How: Drowning by motherHysteria: 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 Older
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 (for real). Older Daughter is heavily wounded in the
process.o Horror Situation: Older and caretaker trapped inside the house with mother
o Response – Escape: Older and caretaker try to escape into a “saferoom”
o Monster Reveal: Make people see the world it sees the world (to understand it)
o Monster Reveal: Can be destroyed if the book is destroyed (attempted/failed)
Death returns to take one or more: The caretaker is killed
when the spirit jumps to the older daughter.Caretaker:
Why: She figures out that the possession has jumped
to the older daughter
How: Stabbing by older daughterResolution: The oldest daughter finishes retelling her
story to local authorities with some inconsistencies towards the end. -
What I learned was the seeming paradox that, at the same time, with each attack, in exposing the monster’s weaknesses and limitations you are also increasing the level of terror, as you are also upping the scale of violence and intensity of the attacks.
A: Who is your monster and what is their terror?
Powers: Being a ghost, the ability to apparate, and to kinetically move physical objects.
Limitations: The more intense the attack, and the more kinetic the movement of objects, the more physical the apparition.
Weaknesses: The more physical the apparition, the move subject to morality, injury and death or, in ghostly terms, the removal of its ability to interact with the physical world.
Plan/Purpose/Appetite: At the end of the day, the plan/purpose/appetite is also a weakness because, ultimately, it proves its undoing. The ghost was lonely and isolated in life and is even more so in death. The ghost longs for friendship and companionship, and will do anything, and kill anyone, she perceives as in the way of that desire.
B: Sequence the reveals.
Prologue/Opening
1: Demand: Charlotte dies in a double murder / suicide, where her father kills her mother and her, and commits suicide.
Monster Reveal: We see that Charlotte was from a highly dysfunctional family, devoid of any sense of love or belonging. And we find that Charlotte died as a teenager.
ACT 1
2: Demand: Alyssa investigates the haunted house next door, where she hears creaks and strange noises, but sees no evidence of anyone at the house.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte inhabits the house but, as yet, is not visible to the physical world.
3: Demand: Charlotte approaches Alyssa at school, but is completely ignored by all the other students.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte is able to show herself to her target, but no one else is aware of her, seemingly unable to see her.
4: Demand: Despite Charlotte trying to command Alyssa’s attention, she is wary of Charlotte, and is instead close to her mother, and even more so to her little brother, Kodi. Charlotte is visibly jealous of the attention Alyssa pays to Kodi.
5: Demand: Charlotte steers Kodi’s bike in front of a speeding car, causing him to be hit and killed by the car.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte is able to kinetically control physical objects and people. We also see the level of evil and murderous action she is capable of, and willing to take, to get what she wants.
ACT 2
6: Demand: Charlotte offers herself to Alyssa as comfort and a shoulder to cry on in the death of Kodi. But Alyssa shuns her offer, instead becoming closer to her mother, and to her best friend, who has come to town for Kodi’s funeral.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte becomes enraged at Alyssa’s continued distance. Where she had considered Kodi an inconvenience, her emotions have escalated to rage, making her even more unpredictable and dangerous.
7: Demand: Charlotte launches an attack against Alyssa’s mother, Laura, and her friends (best friend from out of town and her boyfriend, who came with her). In this initial attack, Laura is killed by falling debris.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte’s murderous rage in increasing, and she is now kinetically manipulating much heavier physical objects.
ACT 3
8: Demand: Alyssa, her best friend, and her boyfriend take the battle to Charlotte’s house, confronting her on her own turf and terms. Charlotte kills Alyssa’s best friend by setting her on fire, burning her to death.
Monster Reveal: There now seems no limits to Charlotte’s anger and revenge. She is also making her attack personal, modeling the killing of Alyssa’s best friend after the circumstances in which Charlotte, herself, died.
9: Demand: Charlotte kills the boyfriend by pushing him over the attic balcony, where he falls to the main floor, breaks through the floor, and falls to his death on the basement floor.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte is upping the personal nature of the attacks, as Charlotte herself died by falling from the attic window, to the ground.
10: Demand: Charlotte kinetically piles stacks of furniture at the front door, trapping Alyssa in the house as she tries to escape, forcing a direct, hand to hand battle to the death.
Monster Reveal: Charlotte is irrationally enrage at this point, and is almost entirely a physical entity now. Her need for vengeance is irrational to the point she is willing to risk her eternal soul in her need for revenge, allowing herself to be as physically vulnerable to ‘death’ as Alyssa.
11: Demand: Charlotte and Alyssa engage in hand to hand combat, ending with Alyssa shoving Charlotte into a shard of wood sticking from the staircase, which impales and traps Charlotte.
Monster Reveal: With Charlotte’s apparently mortal injury, her kinetic powers fade, and the stacks of furniture blocking the door fall away, allowing Alyssa to leave the house. Alyssa sets the house on fire, completing the recreation of Charlotte’s death. We are led to believe Charlotte has been destroyed, but it is left unconfirmed.
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I learned that each monster beat should reveal the monster’s powers or weaknesses and deliver clues on how to defeat it.
Turducken Monster
POWERS – Combined strength of turkey, duck chicken and human. Regenerates and gets stronger when one head is killed.
LIMITATIONS – It’s ungainly and does not move quickly.
WEAKNESSES – It’s afraid of loud noise and smoke.
PURPOSE – To kill all humans that eat meat.
SEQUENCE THE REVEALS –
Genetically altered egg discovered in supermarket-
Dead mutilated squirrels in barn
Something strong is below heavy storm door
Raj’s head ripped off.
We see the monster and what it’s capable of.
The monster can fly and has super night vision.
When one head is killed it loses strength
It regenerates head after a few minutes and gets stronger
It’s afraid of loud noises and smoke.
Uses claws and beaks to kill.
If all heads are removed before they can regenerate the monster will die.
DEMAND – Curiosity? Where are these strange eggs coming from?
MONSTER REVEAL – The Tomkins farm is responsible. What’s going on?
DEMAND – The farm has been cited before for an ecoli outbreak. The inspectors arrive there.
MONSTER REVEAL – Secluded location. Hateful racist farm family toting shotguns greet them
DEMAND – They are welcomed in. Something doesn’t seem right.
MONSTER REVEAL – Mutilated squirrels in the barn. Who’s killing them?
DEMAND – They are locked in the barn.
MONSTER REVEAL – Loud mysterious noises come from the storm door.
DEMAND – Thinking it’s a way out of the barn Son goes to investigate.
MONSTER REVEAL – Son’s head comes bouncing out of the storm door.
DEMAND – They slam the door shut.
MONSTER REVEAL – Something big and heavy bangs against it trying to get out. It’s powerful and strong. Superhuman.
DEMAND – Ellie and Raj escape from the barn. They head for the house in darkness.
MONSTER REVEAL – The monster can fly and flutters above them chasing them to the house.
DEMAND – Raj shoots at the monster. It hits the chicken head.
MONSTER REVEAL – Falls to the ground. Weakened. Is it dead?
DEMAND – Thinking they may have killed it. Jonah goes to check on it. The chicken head regenerates bigger than before and the monster kills Jonah.
DEMAND – They hole up in the house.
MONSTER REVEAL – The monster breaks in the door. We see it in its entirety.
DEMAND – The monster attacks Kurt.
MONSTER REVEAL – It kills with its poultry heads. The human head is unconscious. Is the human head the key to taking down the monster?
DEMAND – They try and wake up the human head by making noise.
MONSTER REVEAL – The monster is afraid of noise and backs away. But the human head remains unconscious.
DEMAND – They blare loud music.
MONSTER REVEAL – The monster retreats from the house.
DEMAND – With loud music blaring they discuss how to defeat the monster with the information they have gleaned.
MONSTER REVEAL -The monster cuts the power and the loud music stops.
DEMAND – The monster gets back in the house. Kills with a vengeance.
MONSTER REVEAL – They shoot off the turkey head. Then the Chicken head. The wounded creature flutters into the cellar.
DEMAND – If they kill the third head before the other two regenerate they can kill the beast.
MONSTER REVEAL – The monster can see in the dark and is able to stay hidden while it regenerates stronger.
DEMAND – The monster bursts out from the cellar. Ellie takes the little girl and runs to the barn. Raj stays and fights.
MONSTER REVEAL – Monster claws Raj’s face. Flies after Ellie and the girl.
DEMAND – They to the barn. Ellie puts the girl in the storm door.
MONSTER REVEAL – Monster grabs Ellie hangs her on meat hook.
DEMAND – Monster about to kill Ellie but Raj comes back and shoots the duck head. It backs away. Then Raj runs out of ammo.
MONSTER REVEAL – Monster attacks Raj. Kills him.
DEMAND – Ellie pulls a butcher’s knife from her clothes.
MONSTER REVEAL – Hacks the chicken head from the monster then the turkey head. The monster falls down dead. Human head wakes up.
DEMAND – Human wants to know if his granddaughter is safe?
MONSTER REVEAL – Weeps tears of joy when he rescues her from the cellar.
DEMAND – Ellie thrilled she saved the girl.
MONSTER REVEAL – A claw appears from the man and grabs the girl by the throat.
DEMAND – Ellie chops off the man’s head with an ax.
MONSTER REVEAL – Killing the monster for good. She incinerates him.
DEMAND – The police drive up to the house.
MONSTER REVEAL – The little girl grows a claw hand and quacks.
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Paul’s Monster Reveal Track
3. What I learned from this assignment was, like previous assignments, that it helped develop my story, create new characters and give it new twists. Still work in progress.
No Man’s Land / The Androphobes
1.
A. The visible monster is the female president of an island state (think: New Zealand) but there is a hidden monster inspiring and directing the visible monster.
– Powers:
Invisible monster: able to manipulate people’s thoughts and behavior.
Visible monster: dictatorial powers over the country and over the lives of its citizens.
– Limitations:
Invisible monster: has to work through other people who are not always reliable tools of its designs.
Visible monster: In control of one island state, but project can only work if adopted globally.
– Weaknesses:
Invisible monster: cannot stand the light of publicity and, if discovered, all its plans would come crushing down.
Visible monster: is secretly a nymphomaniac, and her hypocrisy spells her final doom.
– Plan/purpose/appetite:
Invisible monster: Plan: Kill all men, leaving only women. Purpose: Totally change the future of humanity. Appetite for power and manipulation.
Visible monster: Plan: Do what she has been brainwashed to do. Purpose: Exercise dictatorial power over her island state. Appetite for power and manipulation, but also for sex, (her downfall).
B.
Reveal: Young schoolgirl, Melanie, is being brainwashed.
Demand: She asks her mother, Carol, to help her with her homework. Her father says he’ll help, but she rejects his help. The homework: write an essay on why men are the enemy of humankind.
Reveal: Melanie is possessed.
Demand: She gets into a silly fight with her younger brother, Carl. Her face becomes demonic.
Reveal: Men are being marginalized.
Demand: Carol’s neighbor, Margie, turns up. Tells Carol she’s thrown her husband out. Carol shocked. Her husband was a good man. Margie promises to share a chat from her iPhone about men, the enemy of humankind.
Reveal: Margie is possessed, like Melanie. This is a virus.
Demand: As Margie talks enthusiastically about androphobe presidential candidate, Evily, we see the same violently angry look in her eye as Melanie when she was fighting with her brother.
Reveal: Ms Evily, an ardent androphobe, could be the next president.
Demand: In TV presidential candidates’ debate she talks about the evil role played by men in society. No direct threats, but sub-text is clear.
Reveal: From words to actions: the androphobe policy is being strictly implemented.
Demand: From her window, Carol, sees Amazons in green uniforms, dragging men from their homes and loading them onto trucks, like in the Holocaust.
Reveal: the androphobe policy has gone viral.
Demand: Carol calls her husband on his cell-phone. He is trying to escape from his office, after being attacked by female colleagues.
Reveal: Evily’s people have hijacked the internet.
Demand: A few surviving men, in a hide-out, try to get news out about the situation, but their internet fails.
Reveal: the androphobe’s control of information flow is total.
Demand: a group of people arriving from the mainland by ferry is detained. They had no knowledge of the situation. The women are taken aside for 3 hours of indoctrination, while their men-folk are executed.
Reveal: the androphobe virus is spreading.
Demand: men disappear from offices, homes, TV studios. Fate unknown but suspected.
Reveal: the androphobe policy knows no limits.
Demand: women are obliged to undergo pre-natal screening and males are aborted. No questions asked. Women willingly surrender their husbands, sons and fathers to the Amazons who go door-to-door with testosterone-sniffer dogs.
Reveal: The policy could go global.
Demand: Evily addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Gets loud applause. Male Secretary-General looks uncomfortable.
Reveal: Back home, opposition is being organized to Evily’s regime.
Demand: We see men looting a supermarket at night and taking food back to a hide-out in the woods.
Reveal (the biggest): Ms Evily is a nymphomaniac and a hypocrite. She keeps a male harem in her second home.
Demand: While in New York, Evily is driven to a secret location to hook up with male prostitutes.
Reveal: Evily, the monster, is not in control. She is being controlled by some unknown monster.
Demand: When some phone calls come through, Evily asks colleagues to leave the room.
Reveal: The person controlling Evily by meeting her need for men.
Demand: Emily makes desperate pleas to the person at the other end of the line.
Reveal: Evily is not as powerful as she thought.
Demand: Bodyguard discovers the men hidden in Evily’s second home. Sees through her boss’s hypocrisy.
Reveal: The androphobe regime will come crashing down.
Demand: The bodyguard links up with men in secret hide-out and begin to plot.
TO BE CONTINUED
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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.”
DEMAND: why does the shrink pretend to care about Jane.
MONSTER REVEAL: something if off about the shrink – she’s a drug addict.
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.
DEMAND: why is Jane’s friend concerned that the treatment won’t work
MONSTER REVEAL:
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.
DEMAND: why isn’t the cabin ready for Jane and Jake?
MONSTER REVEAL: the caretaker insists that she got the cabin ready for them and someone put in the spoiled food and mess things up.
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.
DEMAND: Jake sees an newspaper article in the store saying a psychiatrist is under investigation but he doesn’t tell Jane about it.
MONSTER REVEAL: Jake is protecting Jane to not upset her and get her anxious.
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.
DEMAND: Why and what or who killed the fisherman?
MONSTER REVEAL: The fisherman has some kind of sweetness on him that lured the pigs to him to kill him.
DEMAND: how did the sweetness get on the fisherman?
MONSTER REVEAL: some mysterious force is up to no good.
Character Death 1: the fisherman
Why: to scare the audience
How: by wild boar
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.
DEMAND: where did the boar come from?
MONSTER REVEAL: the monster set it up that when Jane looked to see what was wrong with the fisherman, she stepped into gooped placed in the dirt.
DEMAND: Jane wants to know what is going on.
MONSTER REVEAL: when she goes into the cabin to get her cell phone it is missing.
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 caretaker’s body.
Character Death 2: the caretaker
Why: to freak out the main character, Jane.
How: her throat is slashed
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.
Character death 3: the shrink
Why: Jane’s fiancé is crazy and out for revenge and wants no witnesses.
How: he kills her by twisting he neck and breaking her neck.
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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Dan’s Monster Reveal Track
What I learned doing the assignment is… how to make each monster reveal more impactful.
A. Who is your monster and what is their terror?
A demon trapped in a kaleidoscope.
Powers: Once it finds its new “nest” (e.g., a house), the demon can manipulate the realities of its victims and use their own fears and denials to isolate them from each other. Eventually, the people living in the same house won’t actually be interacting with each other; they’ll be interacting with the demon’s fake, nightmarish versions of each other.
Limitations: The demon is magically bound to the kaleidoscope, so it can’t escape. It has to pull its victims in. It also can’t do anything if the victim leaves the “nest” before it becomes too powerful.
Weaknesses: It uses mirrors to play with victims, so if those mirrors are destroyed, it becomes weaker, and its “distortions” disappear. It also doesn’t like to look at itself.
Plan/Purpose/Appetite: The demon will warp the realities of the victims so that they are slowly leaving this reality and entering “The Unreason,” which is essentially a hell space where they are fully detached from reality. In this space, they are now in the haunted kaleidoscope, where the demon will keep them and feed on their souls/energy.
B. Sequence the reveals
Reveal: Whatever this monster is, it’s capable of creating all kinds of horrors
Demand: Escalate terror
Reveal: The kaleidoscope seemingly brings a supernatural entity into the house, that hides in the cabinets
Demand: Escalate terror
Reveal: It can also seemingly possess people
Demand: Escalate terror
Reveal: The kaleidoscope is also seemingly making this family go insane
Demand: Escalate terror
Reveal: Kendal notices the mirrors in the house are growing bigger somehow, and more tiny ones are popping up on the walls
Demand: Create interest through discovery
Demand: What is really causing all these supernatural occurrences?
Reveal: There is seemingly a demonic entity hiding in the shadows of the home. The demon’s arms are wrapped around its torso and face, covering its eyes. It has a wide mouth, laughing like a hyena.
Demand: How is this affecting the lives of the family outside the home?
Reveal: The kaleidoscope is distorting time – Kendall learns that the family hasn’t left their house for almost a week
Demand: What is really going on in the house?
Reveal: The demon is causing everyone to go into deeper denial, and is creating hellish scenarios that fit their distorted narratives
Demand: How does this tie back to the kaleidoscope?
Reveal: Kendall learns that A demon is trapped inside the kaleidoscope. The previous owner of the kaleidoscope died, along with his whole family. The owner before that survived by fleeing the house, and never going back
Demand: Learn weaknesses and limitations of monster, creates interest by character putting together the pieces
Demand: What is the demon trying to do?
Reveal: The demon can lure its victims into its lair: the mirrors in the house are now doors that Nora and Jack are tricked into entering
Demand: What happens if other people enter the house?
Reveal: Kendall returns with Austin; but the house is normal and empty. Her parents nowhere to be found
Demand: Can Kendall’s parents be saved?
Reveal: Kendall goes through the maze in the home and realizes that the mirrors are causing the “distortions.” The mirrors can be smashed, which destroys a distortion.
Demand: Establishes weakness, creates interest by character putting together the pieces
Reveal: The demon moves its hands away from its eyes before taking a victim. Its eyes are kaleidoscopic. Nora’s face becomes kaleidoscopic, the demon devours her.
Demand: Escalates terror/violence
Demand: How can they save themselves?
Reveal: The demon chases Kendall and Jack through the mirror maze, and Kendall takes a mirror shard and stabs the demon, then redirects the mirrors with Jack so that the demon is trapped, and scared of itself. This buys the duo enough time to leave the maze and escape from the house.
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Kim’s Monster Track Assignment #7<div>
What I might have the “REVEAL” and “DEMAND” reversed? I understood it as revealing something in the monster then creating demand to know more?
1. WHO IS THE MONSTER? Cooking show competition host Layne Bailey.
Powers? Preys on weakness. Deceptive, superficially charming, and manipulative. Boyish good looks and glib speech.
Limitations? He’s human and doesn’t possess otherworldly or superpowers. He has the same limitations as his victims, except he’s got the control to manipulate them.
Weaknesses? He has a soft spot for mothers. Terrified of boiling water.
Plan/purpose/appetite? To get higher ratings exploiting the misfortunes of the contestants. Control validates and helps him overcome his trauma (his mother dumping boiling water on him as a toddler).
2. SEQUENCE REVEALS/CREATE DEMAND:
ACT I – THE SETUP
Reveal: Layne is kibitzing with the judges before the show begins. Rapport. Demand: Curiosity. What is Layne’s role? Seems nice. Is he as deadly as he appears on his cooking show?
Reveal: Layne introduces the judges, all prior contestants. They are all maimed. Demand: Curiosity. Why are all the judges maimed? Does Layne have anything to do with that?
Reveal: Layne introduces the contestants — all have huge problems they are trying to win money to solve. Demand: Discovery. Will they be able to solve their problems?
Reveal: Layne tells the contestants’ stories in a half-supportive and half-disparaging manner. Does he support them or want to see them fail and be maimed? Demand: Characters try to figure out the mystery. Pick this apart piece by piece to reveal his true motivations.
Reveal: Layne presents the rules of the competition. Demand: Terror. How can anyone go up against this and survive? Look what happened to the judges when they were contestants.
Reveal: THE CONFESSIONAL BOOTH – Layne sends each contestant in to say their goodbyes to loved ones. Demand: Curiosity. Are they going to die?
Reveal: Layne spins the Mystery Ingredient Wheel. They’re impossible to work with. Demand: Figure it out. How can anyone go up against this?
Reveal: Layne spins the Cooking Method Wheel. He becomes reactive when “boiling” shows up on the wheel. Demand: Put the pieces together. Why is Layne’s reaction so strong to boiling?
Reveal: Layne eats a banana and throws the peel on the floor. Demand: Put together pieces. Why would he sabotage them?
Reveal: Layne spins the Mystery Ingredients Wheel. Demand: Characters try to figure out the mystery. How can anyone go up against this?
Reveal: Layne spins the wheel of consequences. Demand: Terror. Horrible fates confront the losers.
Reveal: Layne allows them a chance to walk away but tells them they will receive no assistance with their life problems and can never apply to the show again. Demand: Conflict. Horrible fates confront the losers either way.
Reveal: Layne summons the armed guards. Demand: Terror: No turning back.
ACT II – THE POINT OF NO RETURN – Isolated, trapped, abducted.
Reveal: Layne shackles the contestants to their workstations. Demand: Terror. After what they’ve already heard about their potential fates, there’s no way this can end well for them.
Reveal: The judges reveal how that part of the competition felt for them — the fear of being shackled to their stoves. Demand: Escalating terror. What is in store?
Reveal: Layne gleefully starts the clock for the first round of play. Demand: Figure it out. The contestants need to move forward.
Reveal: The contestants rush to the pantry/fridge area and are choked by their too-short chains. They can’t get there. Demand: Terror. Why are they being held back? Torture.
Reveal: He loosens their chains so they can participate. Demand: Curiosity – Why is he doing this? Does he have empathy?
Reveal: He gleefully starts the clock for the competition and tells the contestants to begin. Demand: Curiosity – What’s in it for him?
Reveal: Charlotte slips on the banana peel and falls face-first in the fryer. Demand: Terror
Reveal: Layne gleefully toys with the contestants. He craves attention. Demand: Figure it out. Daisy notes it. She’s building a mental profile.
Reveal: Layne turns on the stove at Steve’s station and nearly asphyxiates him. Demand: Discovery – Why is he sabotaging?
Reveal: Layne is pissed at judge Dev when he calls Layne out for the gas thing. Layne forces Dev to eat ghost peppers until he has a cardiac arrest. Demand: Terror to hysteria.
Reveal:Finn cuts himself, and the judges can’t eat his food. Layne cuts off his finger, puts it on ice, and tells him, “win, you’ll get the finger back, and they can reattach it. Demand: terror
Reveal: Layne uses the brûlée torch to cauterize Finn’s wound. He gives Finn morphine and sends him back in. Demand: terror
Reveal: Daisy finds a note on the floor that indicates Layne has orchestrated the contestants’ real-life problems to get them into the competition. Demand: Characters figure it out.
ACT III – FULL-OUT HORROR
Reveal: Layne picks out a contestant for death. Demand: terror.
Reveal: Alejandra advocates for the remaining contestants, Layne kills her. Demand: Terror
Reveal: When Daisy and Finn lure Layne into their workstations and subdue him, their insubordination bus them a new challenge — SUDDEN DEATH COOK OFF. Only one will survive. Demand: Conflict
REVEAL: Instead of fighting each other, Daisy reveals what she’s figured out about Layne’s fears and weaknesses, and they turn the tables on him. DEMAND: Characters figure it out.
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Lisandro Boccacci’s Monster Reveal Track
What I learned doing this assignment is seeing how all the different elements come into play when it comes to hatching out the story…everything piece of the puzzle has a functioning purpose.
A. the monster is an ex cop who is now seeking revenge on the people that took his life away. His terror comes in from using excessive violent police force.
Powers: He is protected by a circle of police officers who are willing to look the other way to allow the ex cop get his revenge.
Limitations: He is human, so he is like everyone else. He power is in his trusty K9 and the officers that have created a perimeter around them.
Weakness: If his K9 gets taken out he is less threatening, and losing some of his officers, makes him lose his grip on the victims even more.
Plan: to act out his revenge on the victims and secretly has a live cam on all of them.
Purpose: to get back at people like them that force cops to lose their jobs or worse go to jail and does so by video tapping them getting abused and torched on a private website where he makes millions.
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,
Reaction: they have to stop the bleeding. the officer runs after the suspect and catches up to the 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.
Character Death 1 : Wrong place at the wrong time. The main officer has mistakenly shot at his partner.
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.
Monster Reveal: the ex-cop is in the worst of moods and gets in a fight with the other inmates. (He has a bad temper, and its revealed he is strong, and can fight multiple men at once.)
The characters are warned not to do it – 3 years later. 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.
Monster Reveal: The ex-cop, with a bandaged face is let out of prison. He makes it to hotel. uncovers his face, slowly but painfully…to reveal he is missing a nose… his face all cut up. he is seeing his face for the first time… his temper is out of control.
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…
Monster Reveal: The man in the pig mask and talking through a megaphone, with a K-9 by his side throws a couple of gas grenades and creates a fog around the car.
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 and the dog is let loose, viciously barking at them through the window.
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…shot by the driver… that officer drops his gun.. and the sister sees that.
Monster Reveal: He has complete command of the dog… uses it to keep the victims from running and uses it for defense. If the victims can eliminate the dog, they have a better chance at running.
Character Death 2: (The complainer) He left his perimeter guarding point, The officer headed towards where the gun fire was coming from and walked into a bullet.
reaction: they stay in the car; they discuss running and getting to an area with internet and cellphone access.
MIDPOINT – The monster is worse than we thought – He starts using his baton stick to break and destroy their car.
Monster Reveal: He argues with the other officers about the officer bleeding to death. They have to take him. Eventually he lets a couple of officers take him to a hospital. Which made the circle perimeter guarding the area smaller.. and the gun that was left behind… the sister still has an eye on it.
horror situation: the glass starts getting smashed by a police baton stick.
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 grabs the gun that was left behind by the shot officer, runs after her brother….the driver makes a run for it… the leader gets hand cuffed to the door…
horror situation: the younger brother gets tied by the neck and get pulled up off his feet.
reaction: the older sister finds him and fires at the ex cop and at the dog, they make a run for it into the darkness around them. She manages to cut 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.
Monster Reveal: he is in control even if the victims are out running about.
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-officer attacks them both electric shocker gun…
Monster Reveal: He is just using what normal officers have… the leader gets some what tazed but is strong enough to withstand it…
reaction: the sister grazes the ex cops face, breaking the mask. 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, the no radio, no Wi-Fi, no internet area 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.
Monster Reveal: takes off the mask.. still alive… but that bullet could of killed him. He has lost his temper. He picks up knife and runs after them.
horror situation: the younger brother chokes to death.
Character Death 3 : he was the cause for getting them to the set-up point. He dies from an asthma attack that was induced form being hung for a minute.
reaction: the leader tries to get to the younger brother but has to break the side mirror in order to come free.
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 chases down the girlfriend/sister, but the main guy has one last fight in order to save his girlfriend, but ends up getting seriously hurt in doing so… they reach the good officers and are escorted out of the area and into an ambulance, the driver although his skin is torn to shreds, he is fighting for his life in ambulance, and the brother is found dead. The ex cop manages to walk to his trailer… where he was running a live feed from multiple cameras to a website that is hitting 20millinon views.
horror situation: the leader has a faceoff 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.
Monster Revealed: face to face, both have knives… its a fair fight, the monster and the leader seem to be on the same level.
horror situation: one last final fight, knife fight.
reaction: fight to the death, the leader gets cut up, but manages to stab the ex-cop in the back… rendering him useless with his life hanging by a string.
Monster Reveal: He manages to get back to his trailer where he has a computer booth running multiple live cam feeds to a website.
End scene: the ex cop is checking his millions and watches the news… the survivors in the hospital alive. this makes the ex-cop furious.
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