Lesson 12

[Hiram Taylor]

Hiram – Lesson 12

What I learned is how to make the ending horror completely a different twist from the rest of the horrors as it builds to the protagonist locked in a speeding truck with the monster. It has a surprise ending and sets up a sequel.
LESSON 12 – LEVEL 3 HORROR

INT. – DOBBS ROOM – CONTINOUS
The stranger’s room door magically opens.
He is afraid to come out now. Spooked by everything he heard. All is quiet now.
INT – VARIOUS LOCATION – CONTINOUS
Dobbs comes out and in a sequence of events he finds that everyone is dead. Silence. No more voice.
INT. – FRONT DOOR – CONTINOUS
He rushes to the front door but is locked. Mathias has the key to every door on his belt.
INT. CHAPEL – CONTINOUS
He goes into the chapel, sees Mathias body, and goes to him and reaches for the ring of key. Mathias hand grabs Dobbs’s hand and won’t let go. They struggle untl Mathias finally dies.
INT. – FRONT DOOR – CONTINOUS
Dobbs open the door to the outside.
EXT. – OUTSIDE MONASTARY – CONTINOUS
.The rain has stopped. He remembers the truck in the back where Brother Richard was carrying groceries when he first came through the woods. he gets to the truck.
INT. – TRUCK – CONTINOUS
He gets in. No key. He jimmy-rigs it, the motor starts. He is relieved.
Suddenly the passenger side door opens and after a few seconds closes. He becomes terrified realizing something is sitting next to him that he cannot see. Finally, the voice says drive.
He is scared but drives away.
He is confined in the truck with an unseen monster. The Stranger is sweating in fear. The radio dial turns on. The voice sings.
Total Fear.
They travel on a long road in the middle of nowhere. The Stranger finally asks the Voice, if he is going to kill him. The voice tells him that he hasn’t done anything to deserve death. They pass a female prison. The voice says “Stop here: The stranger pulls over, the door opens and closes. The stranger asks “Who are you.” The voice answers “Mindbender”
EXT. TRUCK – IN FRONT OF WOMEN’S PRISON – CONTINUOUS.
Dobbsr steps on the gas and races away.
The voice says “Okay Ladies, you ready for some confessions?” And laughs.

[Aaron Clow]

Aaron’s Level 3 Horror Emotion Scene

What I learned doing this assignment was… I don’t think this is actually the homework. I thought this scene would end up being the assignment, but I couldn’t figure out a way to fit all the elements in one scene and it didn’t end up where I thought it would. I will try this assignment again when I get to the scene AFTER this, which is after they put the extension cords together and get back outside with the monsters, and the cord gets cut, turning off the lights. I also learned I have no idea how to write non-dialog action in script form. Did the best I could, but I’m going to have to look up some film that’s not an auteur movie that has lots of description and not much dialog. Was thinking something like Furiosa, but I imagine that might only have a shooting script, but will check.

Overview of scene from outline leading to this scene:
The developer has sent a distress signal from the old mine, which was picked up at the police station. The police chief needs to track down the developer in the game preserve. He finds the environmentalist dead, shit is going sideways in the preserve. He finds the developer, is taking him in for murder of the environmentalist. They both confront the monster and battle it. The chief dies saving the developer, who then finds the chief’s daughter. They have to band together if they’re going to survive.

EXT – THE PRESERVE – NIGHT

The GATE opens. The Chief peers cautiously around it, rifle and flashlight drawn. It’s calm.

He leans his rifle up against the stone surround of the gate, closes and locks the gate, starts to walk down the narrowing path toward the darkness of the woods.

Sounds of someone’s running footsteps on the hard path. Frantic running. Tripping, falling, getting up and running again. Getting closer now. The Chief aims the rifle into the darkness, peering.

At the edge of the flashlight’s range, out of the darkness of the woods bolts JEFF – an athletic male, one of the campers – straight at the Chief. Eyes crazy.

CHIEF
Stop!

No hesitation from Jeff. Frustration on the Chief’s face – he doesn’t want to shoot.

CHIEF
JEFF! You STOP!

Still running – right into the Chief, knocking him over. Jeff scrambles to his feet, the Chief ready to repel the attack.

But Jeff runs for the gate.

JEFF
OPEN IT!!! OPEN THE GATE!!

He’s clawing at the gate, trying to crawl over it, frantic. He finds some footholds in the stone framework of the gate and starts climbing.

JEFF
(screaming while climbing)
OPEN IT!!!!

The Chief is stunned by what he’s watching, remembers his daughter is in there somewhere.

CHIEF
JEFF! Where is Sally??

Jeff is half screaming, half mumbling incoherently as he climbs.

CHIEF
JEFF!

Jeff drops out of sight over the wall with a THUMP. The Chief collects himself, enters the woodsy path, gun aimed. He turns on his flashlight. Another scream, somewhere far ahead of him. He turns the light off and listens.

Fifteen seconds of silence as the Chief looks around in the darkness, straining to hear something – anything. As his eyes adjust, he sees a reflection of dim red in some leaves at the top of a tree. He leaves the flashlight off and follows the path, trying to follow the source of the light, looking up at the canopy as he goes.

It’s still quiet. He moves on, stops when he hears/feels a low vibration. He squats down, feels the ground. It’s vibrating – a steady, low sound like a single low frequency. It stops. He gets up, moves on.

Ahead of the Chief, the white noise of a waterfall faintly emerges. He breaks from the forest into the pulsating, dim red glow of the radio tower beacon, which appears over a rock face with a waterfall. The water dumps into a pool, which leads to a stream, wandering off to the Chief’s left.

Floating face down in the stream is the environmentalist.

The Chief spots him, struggles to drag him out of the water. Pulls him onto the path, flips him over. He’s blue, eyes open, a look of agony on his face. 100% dead. The Chief gets up, moves with purpose now along the path toward the cave that leads to the mine. A dim light emerges from inside the cave.

CHIEF
COLE! Are you in there?

Nothing. He moves closer to the cave.

CHIEF
COLE!

Still nothing.

To the Chief’s left, a dim blob of grey light about five feet tall starts to shimmer. He shines the flashlight at it and it seems to dissolve and react to the light. As he shines it, another blob appears and shimmers behind him, the same size. He sees it out of the corner of his eye and whips the light around – the blob dissolves, and another forms where it did the first time.

The Chief starts backing toward the cave, shining the flashlight around in a circle, not giving the blobs enough time to materialize. The dim light from the cave entrance is a little closer now, and we hear a diesel generator running.

The Chief runs into the cave.

CHIEF
COLE!

The generator is here, near the entrance – it’s too loud. No wonder Cole couldn’t hear him. He’s going to have to go deeper.

The cave narrows, the Chief notices wires on the ground and follows them deeper into the mine, from the generator. He scans behind him for blobs. None. He goes on.

CHIEF
COLE!

Cole answers, from farther down the passageway.

COLE
Chief!

SALLY
DAD?

CHIEF
SALLY?

They meet in the dark passageway – Sally into her dad’s arms. Cole looks relieved.

CHIEF
Where are the others?

COLE
She’s the only one I found.

The Chief grabs his handcuffs off his belt, grabs Cole’s arm.

CHIEF
I found Miles. I’m taking you in, just until I get your story.

COLE
Chief. Really?

SALLY
Dad! No! Cole didn’t kill him.

CHIEF
How do you know?

SALLY
Because I killed him.

Stunned silence.

SALLY
I – I pushed him off the top of the waterfall. I thought he was attacking me.

CHIEF
Was he?

SALLY
I don’t think so? I’m not sure. I felt threatened, like he was going to kill me.

CHIEF
Let’s get out of here. You can tell me later.

COLE
We can’t go out there.

CHIEF
Why not?

COLE
We need to wait until daytime or find a way to bring more light with us.

CHIEF
Yeah, those things didn’t seem to like my flashlight.

COLE
And I don’t have another one. I found some extension cords, and we could get out with a light from the radio room if we have enough length. I think we’ll need to use some of this wire though.

Cole picks up the cords that lead from the generator to the radio room.

CHIEF
Shouldn’t be too difficult to rig something up if we can find some tools.

COLE
The radio room has tools.

CHIEF
Show me.

[Selma Ahmed]

Selma’s Level 3 Horror Emotion Scene

What I have learned is that it is very difficult to buildup to make these scenes the most frightening. Also, I have found that in order to make the emotions work, I have had to change the plot – which can only be a good thing.
EXT: PENDLE HILL – NIGHT
Martha scrambles upward, toward the top of Pendle hill, tries
not to be seen, falls over, grazes her knees.
She catches up to see Elizabeth dragging screaming Jenny
across the brambles, thorns, roughage.
JENNY
No!, Please don’t. Please. Please,
No!
Elisabeth and Jenny disappear over the summit. Silence.
Martha hurries.
MARTHA
(crying, whispers)
Jenny!
Jenny screams (O/S).
Martha hurries to reach the top.MARTHA (CONT’D)
(gasps)
Oh my God!
EXT: PENDLE HILL – NIGHT (CONT.)
Moments before sunrise ahead, Looming ahead are nine nooses
from which eight of the Pendle accused hang dead.
Elizabeth, holding struggling Jenny, stands before an empty
noose, Jenny whimpers, terrified.
ELIZABETH
Tis time. I will rise from the
embers and free mine soul from
damnation!
She begins to tie the noose around Jenny’s neck, starts to
squeeze it tight. Jenny struggles for breath.
Martha races out, surprises Elizabeth, pushing her to the
ground, away from the noose. Elizabeth looks toward the sun
breaking through the horizon.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D)ELIZABETH (CONT’D)
NO!
2.
Martha takes a rock, throws it at Elizabeth’s head. Elizabeth
laughs, but her form begins to look shadowy as the sun begins
its rise.
Elizabeth returns to the noose, holds up Jenny with one hand.
Martha screams, jumps on Elizabeth, attempts to strangle her.
Jenny falls to the ground.
Elizabeth takes Martha by the throat, and with a flint,
concealed in her cloak, stabs her. Martha falls to the
ground, bleeding. Jenny looks horrified.
MARTHA
(screams)
RUN!
Elizabeth turns, anguished, to see Jenny undoing the noose.
She runs toward Jenny.