Lesson 11

[Renee Miller]

Renee’s Level 2 Horror Emotions
What I learned doing this assignment is how to continue to weave in horror emotions and ratcheting up the horror as the story moves through the acts.
INT. LIBRARY – NIGHT
Dim emergency lights cast deep, stretching shadows. Edmund rifles through old books, flipping frantically through pages, scanning each one before tossing them aside. His breath is uneven, ragged.
WHISPERS (faint)
…find it, Edmund…You have to see…
Edmund freezes. His fingers tighten around the book’s brittle pages.
WHISPERS (closer)
…You’ve always run, Edmund…you left us…
The dim, red emergency lights flicker. His flashlight sputters. A gust of icy air slithers through the room. Edmund shudders. His hands tremble as he turns another page. The whispers grow louder.
WHISPERS
… Did you think we forgot?
He snaps the book shut.
Silence.
His chest rises and falls. He glances around, pulse pounding.
A shadow stretches unnaturally across the floor.
Then. The library warps around him.
HALLUCINATION – INT. LIGHTHOUSE – NIGHT
The wind howls outside the lighthouse. Wind rattles the windows as waves crash violently below. Teenage Edmund, stands at the top of the stairs, a lantern flickering in his hands.
Two shadows of his past stand below on the stairs – his friends. Their faces are pale, desperate.
FRIEND #1
Edmund, help us!
One of them reaches for him. The lantern sputters. Edmund steps back. Just like before. His friend screams as tendrils of darkness coil around him, twisting up his legs.
FRIEND #2
You left us.
The whispers merge with their voices – layered, overlapping.
FRIEND #1
You ran. You survived. We didn’t.
A hand stretches toward him. Pale. Trembling. Pleading.
FRIEND #1 (softly)
It’s okay, Edmund. Just take my hand.
Edmund reaches forward – hesitates.
His friend’s lips curl into an unnatural smile. The darkness EXPLODES, engulfing them.
END HALLUCINATION
INT. LIBRARY – NIGHT
The door bursts open. Stacy, Anthony, Rebecca, Jack, Patty, and Eliza storm inside.
They freeze. The library is normal. Edmund stands motionless. His arm outstretched.
STACY
Edmund?
He doesn’t react. His lips move, barely a whisper.
EDMUND (whispering)
I’m sorry. I should have –
The shadows erupt from the corners of the room. Tendrils snap around Edmund’s arms, legs, and throat. Edmund’s eyes clear as realization dawns on him.
EDMUND (gasping)
No! No!

The shadows pull Edmund in. His scream chokes off.

The room plunges into silence.

Then – The whispers don’t stop. Edmund’s voice joins them.

EDMUND (whispering)

You left us. You ran. You survived.

Panic erupts. Eliza backs away, hand over her mouth, shaking her head. Rebecca gasps, stumbling back nearly tripping over a fallen book.

REBECCA

This isn’t happening.

ANTHONY
Move!

They all turn and bolt for the door.

Stacy hesitates. Her eyes lock on Edmund’s flashlight – flickering weakly on the floor. And the book. Still open. Still whispering.

She snaps forward, scooping both up – the whirls, sprinting after the others.

Just as – the library doors slam shut.

The whispers linger. The flashlight dims. The shadows stretch.

[David Wickenden]

David Wickenden Level 2 Horror Emotion Scene Assignment #11
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
By allowing one type of emotion to build on the others, you can craft a well rounded group of emotions that run the gambit.

INT. BOARDROOM STORAGE – NIGHT

The group rush into a large boardroom, a massive table taking much of the room’;s center. The first soldiers sweep their rifles across the empty space, while the remaining members back into the room, weapons aimed outward.

WEBSETER
(fearful)
Fuck! He was skinned alive. What does that?

MIA
Pull if together, Junior. It's nothing we can put down.

ZURI
You’ve got that straight.

She caresses her rifle and plants a kiss on the stock.

ZURI
Just don’t get in the way when I light the fucker up.

Barrett pushes through them. He snarls at Webster.

BARRETT
Careful, boy. The General won’t be too pleased if his boy wets himself the first time he comes face to face with a tango.

He pushes Webster towards the back of the room.

BARRETT
Now make yourself useful and clear that storage room.

Webster skids to a stop, almost falling. He glares at the others, but they are already checking their equipment. He turns and looks over his shoulder and stares at the door to the storage area.
He makes a scene pulling his gear so that it hangs right. Puffing out his chest, he takes a long stride towards the room. He brings up his rifle at the ready, his finger already hovering over the trigger.
His lower lip quiver and his feet slow on their own accord. Eyes wide, he's panting through his nose. He looks back to see if any of the others have his back, but they are ignoring him.
Awkwardly, with the barrel of his rifle pressed against the door, he releases the latch. He pushes the door open, but it swings back at him. He is forced to use his hip to keep the door propped open.
He peers into the darkened room, the rifle visibly shaking. With his free hand, he reaches and flicks on the switch. He opens fire and empties his clip, strafing the room.
The others come running, rifles up. Barrett peers over Webster’s shoulder, into the room and sees nothing but shot-up supplies. Liquid drips from shelves, a mop slowly falls to one side.

BARRETT
(astounded)
God-damn-it, boy. Just what the fuck is wrong with you. You just killed a mop.

Barrett shakes his head in disbelief.

BARRETT
You were fuckin’ adopted, weren’t ya? No way the General had anything to do with bringing you into the world. No God-Damn way.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by  David Wickenden.

[Nick Walsh]

LESSON 11
Nick’s Level 2 Horror Emotion

What I learnt: You can move the audience profoundly with dread.

ACT 2

EXT. RIVER CROSSING – DAY
A huge, fallen redwood tree spans a hundred-foot gap from bank to bank over a raging river below. Joe, Frank, Gene, Lee, Manny, and Sammy approach it on their mountain bikes and stop by the fallen tree.
JOE
Whatdaya think?
LEE
Looks dangerous to me.
MANNY
Piece o’ cake.
GENE
Looks safe enough. You could ride two abreast across it.
SAMMY
Just don’t look down.
GENE
That’s what we’re looking for: Challenges, isn’t it?
JOE
Right.
LEE
I’d feel safer on the other side.
FRANK
Motorcycles would pay hell crossing here.
JOE
Good point. We will still be following the river.
SAMMY
Let me go first.
JOE
Okay, then. We cross here. Lead the way Sammy…and be careful.
Sammy climbs a steep berm and is on the huge log. He rears up on his bike, does a 360, and wheels on one wheel across the log with ease. He calls back to the others.
SAMMY
Nothing to it.
Gene, Joe, then Frank ride their bikes across. Lee walks his. Once Lee is across, Manny jumps onto the log with his bike, rears up and starts one-wheeling across.
A third of the way across he drops and raises up onto his front wheel and attempts a 360, but the bike is off balance and crashes. Manny tumbles into the river.
FRANK
Manny!
The boys stare aghast as the river current carries Manny swiftly away downstream. His head bobs in the galloping waves as his arms try to splash towards the bank. He vanishes around the bend.
SAMMY
Come on. Let’s go.
Sammy takes off on his bike along the riverbank, Frank hard on his tail. The rest following.
LATER – SAME DAY – RIVERBANK
Joe, Gene, Sammy, and Frank wait for Lee to catch up as they scan the length of the river. Sammy sees something. He steps down the rocky embankment and picks up Manny’s bike helmet wedged between two rocks. He climbs back up with it.
SAMMY
Manny’s helmet.
Frank takes it from him. He stares at it with dread and anticipatory grief.
FRANK
(to himself)
Manny, you fucking idiot.
JOE
As far as we know, he’s still okay. Keep checking the banks as we go.
Sammy takes off. The rest follow.
LATER – SAME DAY
Sammy, Frank, Joe, Gene, and Lee are looking over a log pile in the river. Suddenly, they hear SCREAMING echoing in the far distance. They look at each other alarmed and somewhat relieved.
FRANK
That’s Manny. He’s alive.
(shouts out)
MANNY! WE’RE COMING.
They jump back on their bikes and hurry towards the sound.
LATER – SAME DAY
Joe, Frank, Sammy, Gene, and Lee are gathered on a rocky riverbank. The screaming has stopped.
FRANK
MANNY! WHERE ARE YOU?
SAMMY
MANNY!…MANNY!
FRANK
Come on. We’ve got to be close.
They take off.
EXT. RIVERBANK – SAME DAY
Joe, Frank, Lee, Gene, and Sammy stare off in dread. A body hangs upside down from a tree branch. It is partially skinned from the waist to the shoulders and peeled over its head, like a bloody T-shirt half pulled over the head.
FRANK
NO. No, no, no….
He trembles with trepidation as he approaches it. The others stand back. They all know who it must be and dread finding out. Lee vomits.
Frank reaches out and lifts the skin from over the face. The eyes are empty bloody holes. He drops to his knees screaming.
FRANK
No…no..not Manny.
He curls up, sobbing.
MANNY
(moans)
Kill me.
Frank is startled.
FRANK
Manny. You’re alive.
The others approach.
MANNY
Frank…Kill me.
FRANK
What are you saying?
MANNY
Kill me. Please.
Frank stands slowly, looking like a mad man.
SAMMY
(sobbing)
What are we gonna do?
Joe comes up beside Frank, puts his arms around him. Frank weeps, then gives Joe a pathetic, lost look.
FRANK
Help me, Joe. You’re a vet. What would you do?
JOE
I-I’m sorry, Frank. His prospects for living much longer are not good. Skin is the largest and most important organ of the body. You can’t live without it. It protects you from dehydration and infections and contains your sensory nerves. He has none of that now, and won’t have. If an animal lost that much skin, we would put it down, if it wasn’t dead already. And without eyes…. The merciful thing would be to do as he says. I’m so sorry, Frank. I wish I could give you hope, but that’s the way it is. I don’t know what else I can do or say.
Frank nods silently. He walks over to his bike. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a Glock. He cocks it.
He pauses for a moment with eyes closed, mustering the courage, then opens them and walks determinedly over to Manny.
He kneels and puts the gun to Manny’s head.
MANNY
Thank you, brother.
Frank starts sobbing and trembling. He can’t do it, then…
BLAM!
Frank drops the smoking gun and collapses to the ground writhing with sobbing and screaming.

[Patricia Semler]

PAT’S LEVEL 2 HORROR EMOTION SCENE
What I learned doing this assignment is set up is just as
important as pay off to make the dread work.

INT. SOUTHERN MANSION – DRAWING ROOM – DAY
Bryan, Nat and Rusty carefully move shrouded furniture across
the room, away from where Johnny Ray and Mika are prodding a
wall for damage.

They rib each other with tales of hauntings, mostly straight
out of ghost hunter TV.

JOHNNY RAY
Ya’ll ought’a know better than to
tempt the devil.

NAT
And just how are we doing that?

Johnny Ray turns, entirely serious.

JOHNNY RAY
All your talk of ghosts and demons
and such. If’n Old Scratch got
nothing better to do he might give
and ear and bring up some hellfire.

MIKA
Excuse me, we have work to go, and
ghosts don’t answer to any Devil.

JOHNNY RAY
How about witches?

MIKA
Sorry, no. Anything you’ve heard
was lies made up by whatever church
was in control to keep the women
from challenging their authority.

JOHNNY RAY
I ain’t never seen a ghost. Sure
hope I never do, and ya’ll please
stop with the spook stories.

The last piece to move is a tall thin something on wheels.
Rusty tugs the cover off to reveal a magnificent ornate
mirror.

BRYAN
Whoa, would you look at this!
2.

Mika and Johnny Ray join the others to ogle their reflections
in the dark glass that seems to swallow light.

Nat lights up with mischief, elbows Bryan. They just have to
try. Bryan slips around behind without being noticed.

NAT
Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, bloody
Mary.

Dahlia walks in with a box of supplies.

Bryan rattles the mirror, making Johnny Ray and Mika jump.
Nothing appears in the glass as the boys laugh.

DAHLIA
Yeah, very funny. Back to work.

She chases the kids from the room, glances into the mirror as
she moves back to her project.

There’s a figure there. Faint. Far away.

Dahlia stops dead, scans the room. She’s alone and there’s no
other reflective surface.

Back to the mirror, it’s a woman, silhouetted, long dress,
long hair in braids, tending to something in a pot on a fire.

Dahlia’s weight shifts. A floor board creaks.

The mirror head snaps around, looks hard.

Dahlia shrinks back out of line of sight.

The face looms up so close, all Dahlia can see is one eye
peering into the room. A dark mean eye. A promise of menace.

Shaking she almost trips on the coverlet, grabs it up to
throw over the mirror frame.

Backing away, still shaking, she jumps when the door opens
and Franklin enters. He frowns at her.

FRANKLIN
You okay?

DAHLIA
Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. The kids were
playing games.

FRANKLIN
What’s this?
3.
He moves in to tug the coverlet.

DAHLIA
No. Don’t do —

Exposes the mirror. It’s back to normal. Franklin gives her a
quizzical look.

DAHLIA (CONT’D)
It’s antique. It should be
protected.

He throws the coverlet back in place.

Dahlia stares hard. Did the eye blink in the bottom corner
just before it was blinded?

FRANKLIN
Are you sure you’re all right?

DAHLIA
Yeah, of course. I guess my
imagination is getting the better
of me reading those old journals.

FRANKLIN
Well, take your mind off any ghost
stories and put this somewhere the
boys can’t get to it if its that
precious to you.

He looks into the box of supplies, pulls out boxes of roofing
nails and exits.

Dahlia doesn’t move, staring at the shrouded mirror. She
fingers a beaded bracelet on her left wrist, mouths a prayer.

It’s a long moment before she can bring herself to set hands
on the frame. A breeze flits through the room, raises
hackles. A whisper follows.

[Deborah Daughetee]

Debbie’s Horror Emotions II

I had so much fun writing this scene because these are the emotions I like working with most. The scene comes after we've already seen some versions of the monster but know the entire thing. It has murdered an entire room of men and one of Lilith's dancing girls.

I learned to take my time to build suspense in the scene. Thus, them having to wait for the monster to show up.

INT. RIVERBOAT – LILITH’S ROOM – NIGHT

A large pentagram lined with salt fills most of the floor. Candles flicker at the end of each point. Lilith is smudging herself when there is a knock on the door.

LILITH
Not now.

QUINN (V.O.)
I’m not leaving.

Lilith ignores him and continues smudging. The knocking starts up again and keeps going until annoyed, Lilith opens the door a crack.

Quinn sees the smoke from the smudge stick she has behind her back and smells the sage.

QUINN
Spellwork.

LILITH
I know how you feel about it so…

Lilith tries to close the door but Quinn pushes it open.

QUINN
You’re not going to try and call that thing.

LILITH
I’m going to find out what it wants before any more of my girls get killed.

Quinn bullies the door open.

QUINN
You’re not facing that thing alone.

LILITH
I don’t need your protection, Quinn. I have plenty of my own.

Quinn looks at the pentagram.

LILITH
And you think a gun is going to provide protection?

QUINN
Maybe not. But I’m not leaving and I’m going to have it in my hand.

They glare at each other for a moment, and then Lilith gives in.

LILITH
Fine. If you’re going to stay.

She begins smudging Quinn. He holds out his arms and accepts it. Lilith looks at him in surprise.

QUINN
My grandmother was a witchy woman.

LILITH
Hm.

She finishes and leads him to stand inside the pentagram.

QUINN
Are you sure this thing is going to protect us?

LILITH
You can’t be sure of anything when you are dealing with the supernatural.

QUINN
That’s reassuring.

LILITH
You can still leave.

Quinn doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t move. Lilith looks at him, and for the first time there is fear in her eyes.

LILITH
Ready?

QUINN
No.

Quinn pulls his gun, makes sure it is loaded and ready.

QUINN
Okay.

Lilith takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

QUINN
Try not to kill us.

LILITH
River deep and river wide,
Open your mouth, let none hide.
Dark tide turning, fog rolls in,
Call the one who dwells within.

Current twisting, hunger grows,
Wake the thing the river knows.
Not of land, not of air ,
Come from depths to face us here.

They stand there waiting. Lilith looks all around them, making sure there’s nothing behind. Quinn does the same.
There’s nothing. It lasts, and lasts, and lasts.

Then the door to the room shudders. Mud and water run in from the crack under the door. It stops at the edge of the pentagram as more and more of the stuff runs in. The monster rises up from the muck into a vaguely humanoid form that keeps changing and never quite settles into one shape.

Quinn and Lilith are terrified, but the pentagram holds, and the monster stands there, ostensibly looking at them, although it has no eyes.

Quinn nudges Lilith, and she focuses.

LILITH
Tell me your name.

The monster’s mouth (at least it could be a mouth) opens and the voices of many woman pour out at the same time.

WOMEN’S VOICES
Edna, Caroline, Ceclia, Luella, Elizabeth, Margaret.

The names go on and on, all tumbling over each other like a river tumbling rocks. It should be difficult to make out each one.

LILITH
Why are you here?

WOMEN’S VOICES
Death. Murder. Lies.

The monster starts toward the pentagram but hisses at the touch of the salt. Quinn raises his gun but Lilith puts a restraining hand on his wrist. Her hand is shaking, betraying her own fear.

The monster slides around the pentagram until it returns with its back to the door.

LILITH
What do you want?

WOMEN’S VOICES
Retribution, truth, reckoning, justice, cease, end.

Again, the words are all tumbling over each other and difficult to make out.

Suddenly, the door to the room flies open, and Jonas steps into the doorway, gun drawn, ready to take Lilith and put her with the rest of the girls below deck. He sees the monster and back peddles until he hits the back wall. The creature rushes forward and is on him before he can get off one shot.

It pulls away, and Jonas is left covered in leeches. Jonas stumbles into the room, reaching out to Lilith and Quinn, but falls just short of the pentagram.

The monster melts into a puddle and is gone.

The leeches swell as they drain all of the blood from Jonas. He becomes a desiccated corpse right there in front of them. Then the leeches fall off and begin to POP! Blood goes everywhere, including all over Lilith and Quinn.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by  Deborah Daughetee.

[Barry Barry Durbin Durbin]

Barry;s Fear, suspense, dread scene

What I learned is how to create dread by using a dilemma for to choose an action.

INT. ENCAMPMENT.LATER
No one is talking. Beth is sitting in the floor. From her POV, we see a closed door. She stands up and has her cell phone in her hand.

MEGHANN
What are you doing? Get down. We don’t want it to see us. Beth?

Beth ignores her and moves towards the door with laser focus.

CHAD
Where the fuck are you going? You’re gonna get us killed.

Beth still does not respond. She moves closer to the door. The others remain sitting. We hear scratching and thumping noises coming from the behind the door.

MEGHANN
What’s in there?

No one answers her. Beth stops short of the door. From her POV, we see the door knob. She slowly starts to reach for the door knob. She has an intense look in her face.

The others begin to stand up watching her. The noise behind the door continues.

ALEX
Wait a minute. Don’t do it. Get away.

Her hand is trembling as it nears the door knob. She slowly turns the knob.

MEGHANN
Beth, no!

Everyone is tense.

She slowly starts to turn the knob. BAM! A racoon busts through the door. Everyone jumps and screams. Beth drops her phone.

CHAD
What the hell man?

Beth picks up her phone.

BETH
(To the racoon)
Ugh, you little asshole.

Beth moans in frustration. She pushes the door open and shines her light inside the room and carefully peaks her head inside. She goes inside.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by  Barry Barry Durbin Durbin.