Post Day 1 Assignment Here

[jaye Blohm]

“BEFORE I WAKE” HORROR CONVENTIONS

What I learned is that Horror must be “smart.” It has conventions that must be honored and victims need to be relentlessly terrorized. I enjoyed learning the distinction between the horror and thriller genres.

MY EXAMPLE:

Title / Concept: Before I Wake / A couple adopt an orphaned child whose dreams – and nightmares – manifest physically as he sleeps.
Terrorize the Characters: The Canker Man hunts down victims, whoever is in the house or building where Cody is sleeping. He is ruthless and persistent.
Isolation: A child’s dreamworld.
Death: 1: Movie opens with threat of death. A child sleeps and a man enters his bedroom with a gun.
Monster/Villain: A Child’s Nightmares
High Tension: 1: Movie opens with threat of death. A child sleeps and a man enters his bedroom with a gun. The music is tense, and the man contemplates. We have no idea what his next move will be.
2: A strange noise comes from down the hall… it sounds inhuman. Man closes the door and apologizes to the sleeping child whom he is about to shoot.
3: The bedroom door bursts open, and the man shoots into the hallway. Nothing there.
4: Jessie has flashbacks about her son drowning in the tub.
5: Little Cody tells Jessie that he doesn’t like to sleep because The Canker Man is always following him and ate his mother.
6: Butterflies come into the house while the family watches TV and the boy sleeps. A black butterfly lands on Jessie’s hand and bites her.
7: Music gets creepier to match the scene. As Jessie turns to go to the open doorway leading into the dark of night, there is a mysterious, subtle, yet obvious figure standing in the doorway behind her.
8: She closes the doors and the butterflies vanish into thin air.
9: Jessie, an insomniac, goes to the kitchen for some water. With the mysterious figure still fresh in our minds, we anticipate another sighting – and we get it. Another figure behind her appears. A creek… she turns to look but noting is there. Then the cupboard slams shut beside her. Deathly silence… and then another creek. Slowly turning corners… she investigates. Dark house, eyes squinting, the camera hyper-focusing us on the dark living room, music starting to come in. An image of something comes into focus. A high-pitched sound – her water glass breaks, startling her (and us). A look back at the living room, and the image is gone. And as she starts to compose herself, someone runs down the hall and around a corner.
10: Next night… another butterfly has arrived. And Mark and Jessie’s dead son, Sean, has appeared in the living room!
11: The next night, brings more butterflies, Christmas, and Sean again. But Mark calls Sean “Cody” and he turns to us, acknowledging. Then down the hall, more butterflies swarm, and form the image of a man, who enters Cody’s bedroom while he sleeps. He nears, and with a metallic, raspy voice whispers “I am always with you.” – – The Canker Man!
12: Bully, Tate, sneaks into the classroom while Cody has stayed in from recess and takes a nap at his desk. A butterfly flies in his face… so we know something is coming…. Then metallic, raspy sounds. Tate turns, and we see The Canker Man standing in the dark classroom. A girl enters, gasps, getting The Canker Man’s attention. He bends over backward to have a look; his creepy face pointing upward at her. He stands upright and charges Tate. We hear gruesome grunting and smothering, and we can assume that Tate is being eaten.
13: Cody reads a book by a flashlight and we hear a THUD. He looks under the bed… sits up… and Tate is behind him! He lets out a horrific screech!
14: Sean appears before Jessie, whispering in a terrifying loop: “I’m awake; this can’t be happening.”
15: Tate appears underneath Cody’s bed, grabs him, and pulls him under.
16: Cross cuts of Cody screaming “I’m awake!” and Sean whispering “I’m awake.” Then suddenly Sean vanishes, and Cody is screaming “NO!” from the other room.
17: Dr. gives Jessie a prescription for a children’s sleep aid. Not a tense scene in an of itself… but it sets the stage for what is to come.
18. The cops come by… want to question Cody. Mark mentions the cops to Jessie later and Cody is trying to distract; hits them with the unexpected question asking how Sean died.
19: Jessie puts sleep medication in Cody’s dessert… and she waits.
20: Bedtime. Cody yawns… gets sleepy. And he’s out. A drug-induced sleep — one likely not easy to wake from.
21: Jessie and Mark decide to go to bed. They turn, and we see the unsettled looks on their faces. Sean is back along with a Christmas tree. He looks dirty, and angry. He projectile vomits muck in Jessie’s face. His eyes roll back into his head. Black butterflies climb out of his mouth.
22: Mark runs upstairs to wake Cody. Can’t!
23: The Canter Man climbs out of a Christmas present under the tree. He lets out a screech, and black butterflies fly out of his mouth at Jessie.
24: Mark can’t wake Cody. Jessie appears in the bedroom. Says Cody won’t wake up for a while. The Canter Man has followed her upstairs.
25: Mark slaps Cody, who opens his eyes briefly. The Canter Man disappears. Cody’s eyes shut as the drugs pull him back to sleep. The Canter Man reappears. Jessie shuts the door and The Canter Man is banging on the other side.
26: The Canter Man bursts the door open, shattering it, and launching Jessie and Mark backward. He screech-roars.
27: Mark rushes The Canter Man, who easily overtakes him. Mark yells for Jessie to leave as the Canter Man is consuming him. She goes for Cody, but The Canter Man backhands her to the floor. She gets knocked out.
28: Jessie is awake. Police at the house. Mark is missing. They take Cody away. Jessie is hysterical.
29: Jessie return to the orphanage and steals the folder from CPS that has Cody’s file in it. She discovers missing people… and the man from the opening scene, Whelan: He has voluntarily committed himself to a Mental Hospital. Jessie visits.
30: Whelan recounts: His wife getting eaten by The Canter Man. Is there a way to get these victims back…? We don’t know.
31: Flashbacks reveal Cody dreaming about Whelan’s wife Katie, reuniting them. But it’s not her. It’s his impression of her, which is chilling. Whelan tries to tell Jessie to kill Cody; to stop the terror. Jessie wants to investigate Cody’s birthmother.
32: Cody in the orphanage. Alone in his room. It’s night. Dark hallways, bedroom lights are out. The sound of distant and haunting drumming. The camera takes us outside. An eerie darkness blankets the building. It’s bedtime….
33: Jessie getting medical records for Cody’s mom. Back at the orphanage, Cody yawns. Staff states he hasn’t been sleeping. Jessie digs deeper into the record, personal effects.
34: The orphanage. Cody is given a shot of sedative.
35: Cody sleeps. Butterflies fill his room.
36: Jessie outside. Enters the orphanage somehow. A mass of butterflies throttles her. She proceeds. Eerie quiet. A terrified woman encased in a cocoon.
37: Jessie sees a bathtub in a bathroom. Closes in on it. The camera holds. We expect something that doesn’t come when we anticipate, but then shortly follows… water splashes in the once empty tub. She approached with caution. The water is black. The camera holds, just a little too long. We expect something to burst out. But nothing. Then as she turns, Tate is standing in the doorway and lets out a horror scream, which knocks her backwards. Then Sean peers over the top of the tub and drops of water hit her face. She relives Sean’s drowning as the boy flails around in the tub. She leaves as the sound of splashing continues behind her.
38: Jessie continues on while everyone sleeps.
39: Jessie enters a room. Cody sits. She calls his name and he turns, but something is not right. A woman appears behind Jessie and walks to Cody. Her face is clay-like, cracked, veined, eye sockets black and empty. She touches Cody’s face, and he seems to accept it. Then she punches out his eyes and twists his head with an evil calmness about her. She removes her hand, revealing a Cody that has been disfigured, face like the desert, eyeballs missing — and it’s now Sean.
40. Mark suddenly steps before her. Face and eyes the same. A black butterfly comes out of his eye socket. Music and jump scare noises fall right into place.
41: The hallways. More butterflies an eerie fluttering. Cocooned people.
42: She finds Cody’s room. He sleeps, It’s peaceful, until… The Canter Man grabs her from behind and throws her down the hallway. She stands. He watches her. Then screeches and rushes her. She opens a butterfly stuffed toy that stops him. She found this in the box of Cody’s mom’s personal effects.
He seems to take it in. Calmed and soothed by it. But we still feel like something unsettling is coming…
the butterflies have stopped flying, suspended in motion, while she hugs The Canter Man, who turns into Cody, then vanishes….
43.
Departure from Reality: People’s dreams do not cross over into the real world.
Moral Statement: The bully kid gets it. I could find no moral statement for Whelan or Mark getting killed.

Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?
I liked that it also had a story behind it. Cody was terrorized by The Canker Man, and we later come to learn that his mother died from cancer. When Cody has to read the word, he says “Canker.” In her last days, she looked similar to what Cody’s “Canker Man” looked like. She tells him “I am always with you,” in a raspy, metallic voice.

I’d also like to say that people that were killed stayed dead. I half expected they would be found alive in some secret dream hideaway, and I’m glad that didn’t happen.

MY CONCEPT:

Title / Concept: The Creek / Urban legend tells of a creek where women would drown unwanted babies. This story takes that legend and traces it back to one woman, who once ran a “clinic” that provided secret birthing and adoption services to women who didn’t want to keep their children. But these babies were never adopted. They were given to The Creek. Now, decades later, these babies want revenge.
Terrorize the Characters: Dead children stalk the grounds of this house. I haven’t decided yet if it’s a family that moves in (I feel like this is always the case though), or some teens that want to party and picked the wrong house.
Isolation: The creek, the foliage, and the house will trap them. Cell phones get no service.
Death: All but one teen will die. The one who is hiding her newly discovered pregnancy from her friends.
Monster/Villain: Drowned children
High Tension: A lot of darkness, strange noises, jokes played on one another, some hallucinations, injuries, missing people, screams, and guttural sounds.
Departure from Reality: It’s a haunted house and a haunted creek, and the villain is a group of children who were drowned in the 1950s.
Moral Statement: Well, for sure one guy’s gonna get it because when he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, he wants to abandon her. Another moral statement could be the selfish vandalizing of property by these riff raff!

… I think I just decided that this would be about teens coming to party, as opposed to a new family moving in. 😉

[Patrick Malone]

What I learned is the difference between horror and thriller films, a more detailed understanding of the horror conventions, and that horror films need plenty of death.

Watch the movie and as you do, note its conventions.

Title / Concept: The Ritual:
four friends take a hiking trip in the Swedish wilderness from which they
may not ever return.

– Terrorize The Characters: after five friends meet to decide where to go on a trip, one is murdered in a liquor store robbery while Luke fails to help him; the four remaining men head to Sweden; get lost in forest; face huge night time thunder storm; threatening growls; shelter in an abandoned house with a wiccan statue; attacked and killed by huge, obfuscation creature; have have
hallucinations; tortured and killed by strange superstitious people.

– Isolation: wilderness,
forest, trapped in abandoned house

– Death: maddening
hallucinations; unseen creature impales elk on
tree; have terrifying dreams; creature stalks the men eventually kills 2 of them; superstitious people
offer one man as sacrifice to the creature.

– Monster/Villain:
creature
that is bastard offspring of Norse god Loki; the superstitious people and their witch

– High Tension: injury forces
men to take shortcut through forest; men lost in forest; foreboding
atmosphere; huge thunderstorm; strange, evil sounds; creature stalks the
men; will last man escape the superstitious people and the creature?

– Moral Statement: ?

With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story.

– Concept: Two rival
groups seek long lost Confederate gold.

– Terrorize The
Characters: with snakes, gators, flying cockroaches, quick
sand, vines that strangle, traps, mystical spells, infighting amongst the men

– Isolation: forests and
swamps of the Gulf Coast

– Death: some seekers
will be killed by nature, others by paranormal powers and spirits of long
dead Confederate soldiers.

– Monster/Villain:
an
ancient woman who misdirects the seekers, sometimes to their deaths. A paranormal
creature that guards the gold.

–

High Tension: getting lost in wilderness; struggles with nature; fights among the men; excruciating
tortures. Augmented with horrifying sound fx and ominous music.

– Departure from
Reality: the locations do exist, but the ancient woman, spirits
of dead soldiers are not part of ordinary life.

– Moral Statement:
honesty
and perseverance triumph over greed and treachery.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Patrick Malone.

[Patrick Malone]

Cheryl, why does my formatting show up all askew when I post it? I pasted it from Word. Thanks

[Frank Gaide]

CHRISTINE – HORROR CONVENTIONS

WHAT I LEARNED DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT:

The “conventions of horror” and the difference between Thriller and Horror: fine line between the two. AND imagine “Smart Horror” when developing concept and story.

EXAMPLE: CHRISTINE

CONCEPT:

A demonic car seduces an unsuspecting nerd to bring her back to life and murders anyone who comes between their relationship.

TERRORIZE THE CHS:

Nerd’s friends and enemies forever frightened that the car cannot be destroyed. It can morph itself back to life after destruction and chase them down forever.

ISOLATION:

Victims are from a small town and carefully isolated by the car when striking: One kid squished/cut-in-half when alone at night: Three other kids are caught after a car chase in the dead at night…and killed: Owner of a Car junk yard crushed to death when alone in his garage: Nerd’s two best friends fight him and car to-the-death in an empty garage.

DEATH:

Cut in half by car: Run down and crushed by car: Choking to death in car: Burned to death in a fireball: Crushed by the seat and steering wheel: Suffocated inside car.

MONSTER/VILLAIN:

Demonic car with an evil soul.

HIGH TENSION:

Life and death friendships. Ticking clock when bullies will revenge the Nerd. Nerd turns as demonic as his car causing impending doom.

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY:

Supernatural car with its own mind and the ability to rebuild itself forever is difficult for characters to believe, until faced with the reality of its horror and are killed… never able to prove its existence.

MORAL STATEMENT:

Love can drive you mad.

MY CONCEPT: CODZILLA

A demonic powerboat revenges its destruction and the death of its owner by rising from the bottom of Cape Cod Bay and slaughtering everyone responsible.

TERRORIZE THE CHS:

Greedy family that murdered one of their own cannot escape his avenging spirit as they are killed-off one by one in the most horrific ways by his raised, 70 foot, 3000 horsepower thrill boat that is supposed to be shipwrecked.

ISOLATION:

After killing all guilty non-family, the boat isolates the family at sea where they’re gathered together to scatter the murdered owner’s ashes and kills them off one by one, alone in the ocean with nowhere to turn.

DEATH:

Sheriff is run over. Crewman is crushed to death under weight of a boat. Brother is run over. Nephew burned. Ex-wife drowned. Niece stabbed. Daughter dragged to the bottom of the sea.

MONSTER:

The ghost of a 70 foot, 3000 horsepower, thrill ride, powerboat named CODZILLA that rises from the bottom of the sea to revenge its owner’s murder and the destruction that his family inflicted upon the boat.

HIGH TENSION:

Ticking clock. Life and death situations. Horrible, graphic deaths in the world of boating.

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY:

Situation where victims cannot explain an evil, supernatural entity, and activity because the apparition can disappear at will and the victims never live to prove it ever existed.

MORAL STATEMENT:

The world is greedy as ever thanks to shrinking supplies and opportunities for all. Remember that you reap what you sow.

[Bob Kiely]

DESECRATION ROW – Horror Conventions

What I’ve learned watching “Paranormal Activities.” Importance of good title that intrigues, and it hit all the enumerated conventions, except one, IMO, the moral sin or lesson. Liked the pacing albeit maybe a little too slow. I think the acting was good or this would not have been a hit.

My Concept: A ruthless developer builds a condo project over a forgotten “potter’s field” cemetery and hapless buyers w/o due diligence to its origins, buy in and suffer the consequences of the cemetery’s desecration.

Terrorize the Characters: There are numerous opportunities in the setting to have severe real and perceived morbid fears as the building sits on top of a former cemetery and its foundation intrudes upon the underbelly of the graveyards, and their ghostly spirits.

Isolation: The condo itself while consisting of several units, becomes more isolated as the unexplained visitations and other unnatural events occur. The project had to agree to keeping the old stone walls around the project to satisfy local opposition, which also encapsulates the new owners.

Death: Is realized here in the spirit of the buried, as well as some of the people responsible for its construction as well as some of the buyers, but hopefully won’t be overdone, more staged out as the story progresses. One feature element of suspense is the apparent disappearance of one of the couple’s child, which keeps them fixed in the building, as others vacate, as morbid uncontollable events progress.

Monster/Villain: The monsters are the vengeful spirits of the remains of the bodies that were illegally bulldozed, was well as an old hag, who kind of oversees the underworld beneath the building, with maybe its portal to hell? She becomes almost a broker in a quid pro quo with a body for a soul, if it works out. But she is very threatening and I thought that her presence in the opening scene circa 1860, after the civil war, would be scary feature of her designation. Then Act 1 begins in contemporary times with a scene where the developer thoughtlessly urinates on one of the graves.

High Tension: Hopefully the pacing of the script and its escalating supernatural events, as in Paranormal, will keep viewers on edge, with breathers throughout for relief. The subterranean marshy grounds under the building and the location of the project with its peculiar unexplained disappearances should work. Lots of shadows and cavernous sounds, dripping water. Bats, spiders, snakes live in their marshy wet ground beneath.

Departure from reality: The location and entire background of the project and its being built over a cemetery that is like an underground depot to Hades is pretty scary, if I do it right.

Moral statement: There are consequences for violations of customary norms of decent behavior such as the developer cutting corners on his agreement with the town to safely build, (a knowingly weak foundation on marshy land without proper pilings, etc to save money), and the ignorant buyers who buy in a somewhat controversial new development because they were getting a good buyer incentive to come in, but no guarantee of getting out. IOW, don’t be careless with important things in life as well as desecrating the hallowed grounds.

[Rob Bertrand]

THE ENTITY – HORROR CONVENTIONS

What I learned: I learned that horror movies are cheap to make and that producers are looking for smart, high concept screenplays with unique monster/villains. I also liked the idea that screenplays are a puzzle that you put together one piece at a time. This resonated with me as an escape room owner.

Title / Concept: The Entity – A Psychiatrist and a group of Parapsychologist investigate a single mother who claims to be tormented and sexually assaulted by an invisible demon.

Terrorize The Characters: A demonic entity stalks and terrorizes a single mother, her children and anyone who gets in its way.

Isolation: The mother and her kids become isolated to their rundown suburban home after no one believes their story. They have no place else to go due to their financial situation.

Death: The threat of death and mental illness increases as the attacks become more and more intense. The entity harms anyone who attempts to interfere.

Monster/Villain: A demonic entity.

High Tension: Paranormal rape that become more and more intense. Escalating tension between Psychiatry and Paranormal Investigation. Is the paranormal real or is the mother mentally ill?

Departure from Reality: The paranormal activity: Disturbing voices, shaking/moving objects that levitate and explode, physical abuse by an unseen demon, unexplainable light phenomenon, temperature fluctuations. The entity follows the mother everywhere she goes.

Moral Statement: Is paranormal activity real or just a symptom of mental illness? Failure to believe a woman’s report of sexual assault.

MY CONCEPT: THE RESONANCE

Concept: A an elderly serial killer on his deathbed and his family are haunted by the victims of his past.

Terrorize The Characters: Character’s experience frightening paranormal phenomenon. Dying old man is brutally attacked, repeatedly, by unseen entities. Family experiences frightening apparitions that are trying to communicate.

Isolation: Remote beach house in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Death: The old dying man prays for death as the attacks become more and more intense. The family experiences paranormal activity that is increasingly more and more violent.

Monster/Villain: Lady in White, Various Ghostly Victims, The Bandage Man.

High Tension: The characters will witness escalating paranormal attacks and ghostly apparitions attempting to communicate. Family struggles with watching the torment of their sweet, dying grandfather. Oldest son will be pushed to the brink of insanity when it’s revealed the dying old man was a serial killer.

Departure from Reality: The house appears to be haunted. Paranormal Investigators will document science based paranormal evidence that is increasingly more frightening. Investigation will reveal that the haunting is a physical manifestation of the old man’s guilt and that he was a serial killer. Based on the theory that Poltergeist are actually RSPK (recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis.)

Moral Statement: How well do you really know your parents? Is paranormal activity real? Can confessing your biggest secrets clear your conscience before you die?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Rob Bertrand.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Rob Bertrand.

[Robert Smith]

“The Mummy’s Hand” (Universal 1940). Analysis according to horror conventions.

What I learned from this assignment: I learned the conventions of horror and how to keep my creativity disciplined and on track with these Horror Concepts and Conventions.

TITLE/CONCEPT “The Mummy’s Hand” because he kills with his only good hand. Mummy is still alive and can be sustained by fluid from the Tana leaves.

Most of the first quarter of the film is a set up for the rest of the story including and especially the cast.

THE MUMMY (KHARIS – Tom Tyler) is introduced by flashback, as the lover of the Princess Ananka She died and was buried. Kharis tried to bring the Princesss back to life by the fluid of the Tana leaves, but was arrested and buried alive as punishment for this sacrilege.

STEVE BANNON (Dick Foran): Young Archaeologist who wants to find the tomb of Princess Ananka.

BABE JENSEN (Wallace Ford): Steve’s buddy who provides comic relief.

PROF. SOLVANI (Cecil Calloway): A magician who agrees to finance Steve’s expedition.

MARTA (Peggy Moran): His daughter and eventually Steve’s love interest. Although originally she thought Steve and Babe were swindling her father.

PROF. ANDOHEB (George Zucco): Of the Cairo Museum but he is also High Priest of Karnak and keeper of the secret of Ananka’s tomb and of Kharis who is its guardian. He tries to discourage Steve’s expedition when he brings to him a broken vase Steve things gives clues to the location of Ananka’s tomb which Andoheb says is a fake. He is the villainous High Priest who controls Kharis, the Mummy. He warns against taking an expedition to the area of Ananka’s tomb, known as the Hill of the Seven Jackals, claiming that it is the most dangerous area in Egypt where two expeditions have gone before and were never heard from again.

DR. PETRIE (Charles Trowbridge) is an eminent Egyptologist who disagrees with Andoheb and believes the vase is authentic. He wants to join Steve in the expedition.

The expedition is Bannon, Jensen, Petrie, and Solvani as financier. His daughter. Marta is present to accompany her father.

* *

HORROR CONVENTIONS

TITLE / CONCEPT: The Mummy is brought back to life by fluid of the Tana leaves to be administered by the cycle of the Full Moon: 3 leaves for life. 9 for movement. If he is given more than 9 leaves, he becomes an uncontrollable monster. He destroys all who would plunder the tomb of his beloved Princess Ananka which is exactly what Bannon, Jensen, and Petrie will do in the name of Egyptology.

TERRORIZING THE CHARACTERS: First the Egyptian workers are frightened by the discovery of the tomb. They believe it is cursed. The skeletal remains of archaeologists from a previous expedition are unearthed, confirming Prof. Andoheb’s warning not to go to the Hill of the Seven Jackals, claiming that it is the most dangerous area of Egypt where two expeditions have previously ventured and were never heard from again. This sets the scene for what could happen to them. Bannon is unfazed. Dynamite is used on the cliff and exposes the entrance to a sealed tomb in the mountain side. In it they find the mummy of Kharis. That night, while Petrie is investigating and analyzes the mummy, he is startled when Andoheb appears he asks Petrie to feel the pulse of Kharis. Petrie feels a faint pulse. When Andoheb pours fluid into the mouth of the mummy, his pulse becomes stronger. He is alive and rises and strangles Petrie to death.

From here the story is set: Who is next?

First is ALI, the Egyptian guide who discovers a vial of Tana fluid left for the mummy with Andoheb’s instruction, “Where you find the vial of the fluid, kill the unbeliever who is there. So, the Mummy kills Ali.

Bannon breaks open the bags and distributes weapons.

Bannon offers his own tent for Solvani and Marta to bed down for the night. Solvani notices a vial of fluid is on a table in the tent but thinks nothing of it.

Solvani and Marta fall asleep. We see the sillouette of the mummy approach the tent and open, drink the Tana fluid and scares Solvani awake, and strangles him. Marta awakens and screams in terror. Kharis the Mummy carries her off to the Temple which is Princess Ananka’s tomb.

There he lays her on what looks like an altar. She is tied down by Andoheb. When she awakens he tells her that he and she will become immortal when he injects her and himself with the Tana fluid. Here, Andoheb is finally revealed as a Monster himself.

However, both Babe Jensen and Steve Bannon are trying to find Marta and the Mummy. Bannon discovers a passageway which he enters, believing it leads to the Tomb of Ananka. He is being followed by the Mummy but doesn’t know it. Jensen has been searching by full moon around the mountain where he comes to a stair way to the Temple and climbs it. He is approached by a Hyena and shoots at it. Andoheb hears the gunfire and places down the syringe in a table drawer and pulls out a gun that he conceals beneath his robe. Jensen encounters Andoheb. They have a shoot-out in which Jensen is wounded and Andoheb apparently killed, but he shows up in the sequel, “The Mummy’s Tomb.”

Bannon enters the Temple and starts to untie Marta but she screams as the Mummy also enters the Temple, heading for the Tana fluid which is brewing on a flaming tripod. Bannon shoots the Mummy but his bullets have no effect. The Mummy grabs Bannon by the neck and tosses him and grabs a bowl of the fluid which is shot out of his hand by Jensen. The Mummy bends down to drink the fluid on the floor. It has enough strength to turn him into an uncontrollable monster. Bannon smashes the flaming tripod onto the Mummy and he is emulated –yet shows up again in the sequel “The Mummy’s Tomb” to take revenge on Bannon and Jensen, thirty years later.

For now, the terror of the Mummy is ended and the remaining members of the expedition are safe. The audience has been taken through a fantastic journey of supernatural horror with a monster (Kharis the Mummy) and human villain (Andoheb).

ISOLATION: The members of the expedition are isolated in a remote location in Egypt.

DEATH: Petrie, Ali die first and the Mummy almost kills Solvani. Andoheb almost kills Marta in a diabolical plot to resurrect her into immortality by an injection of the Tana fluid.

MONSTER / VILLAIN; Kharis a 3000 year old mummy and Andoheb who controls him.

HIGH TENSION: As the cast is eliminated or nearly so, one by one, there is the tension of the cast members who are scared for their lives and we are scared for them.

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY: A live mummy.

MORAL STATEMENT: Andoheb tells Petrie (an archaeologist and scientist) that there are some things that science had best leave uncovered. But he has pronounced his own verdict upon himself a scientist of ancient Egyptian magic. An ancillary moral statement is to show respect to antiquities.

MY SCREENPLAY: “THE TOREPH”

HORROR CONVENTIONS

TITLE / CONCEPT: “ The Toreph.” Toreph is singular from Teraphim, household gods (Genesis 31), they are actually mummified severed heads that are used for purposes of divination and necromancy. The skulls are animated when a gold platelet with the name of a demon on it are inserted in the mouth under the tongue and the skull speaks. This is a form of necromancy.

TERRORIZING THE CHARACTERS: The primal fears operative here are fear of the unknown, fear that terrible things will happen, and fear of death.

The set up for a terror ride is incited by the chief of the ‘dig’ Dr. Colin Kendrick when the lead character (NED GARNER) registers for the dig and Kendrick shows him a gold platelet with the name of a demon on it i.e., “Azazel” who is a desert demon of Jewish and Arabic mythology and appears in the Bible. On the table while Kendrick explains the nature of a Toreph, the gold platelet appears to move like a vibrating cell phone suggesting a malevolent spiritual presence. Kendrick also describes the grizzly details of what is a Toreph and that this gold platelet was found by a Bedouin (Yassine) in the desert near a sealed cave in ancient Jericho in the desert in Israel last explored by a French expedition in 1972. He also mentioned how plastered skulls were found there in the 50’s and he suspects there are more skulls in this cave and if they recovered them, they would be making a major archaeological discovery. He asks Ned to keep this a secret from other members of the expedition, i.e, including his friends “Boots” Barton and his love interest, Kaitlyn Randolph.

When the sealed cave is opened by Kendrick and the others, they find it is a tomb. In one chamber is a room with a niche in which there is a mummified skull. When Kendrick inserts the gold platelet into the mouth of the skull, it comes to life and identifies itself as AZAZEL, the desert demon of destruction. Speaking through the skull, the demon recites a magic spell and kills Yassine for betraying the gold platelet to Kendrick. Ned berates Kendrick for endangering the members of the expedition and reveals the secret to the others. Azazel through a magic spell also kills Kendrick. With Ned, Boots, and Kaitlyn remaining, Ned assails the skull with a shovel but cannot strike the skull because Azazel has erected an invisible shield around the skull. But Ned within that shield grabs the skull and pulls the gold platelet from its mouth. It is now returned to being a simple dead skull. Ned, Boots, and Kaitlyn search the remainder of the tomb and discover an Egyptian style anthropoid coffin marked with the name “Cushan son of Malka.” They open the coffin and find a headless mummy. Clearly the mummified skull belongs to this mummy named Cushan. Ned realizes that Cushan is “Cushan Rishathaim” (Cushan the Doubly-Evil) of the Bible (Judges 8).Upon placing the skull in the coffin, it is miraculously rejoined to the body and now Cushan rises to terrorize the three friends. Cushan hurls a spear at Ned and misses but Ned picks it up and runs Cushan through with it and kills him.

ISOLATION: The lead characters, all on an archaeological excavation are located in the desert at ancient Jericho and are trapped in a cave/tomb.

DEATH: In addition to the menacing of Ned, Boots, and Kaitlin. Azazel, the Toreph kills Yassine and Kendrick.

HIGH TENSION: An all powerful demon, capable of moving things by telekinesis and magic spells is out to kill all the lead characters, after killing two, the question for the audience becomes “Who gets it next?” and “How are they going to get out of this now. Some relief comes when Ned pulls the platelet from the mouth of the skull and neutralizes Azazel. But then when the skull is reunited to the body of Cushan, the terror begins again.

DEPARTURE FROM REALITY. The story is an exotic setting, namely, Tel Es-Sultan (the ancient city of Jericho. Additionally, the setting of the terror is in a tomb with the skull animated by a demon.

MORAL STATEMENT: Don’t mess with the occult.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Robert Smith. Reason: Clarification

[PAMELA Raymond]

What I learned doing this assignment is…

Horror says as much through its through its setting as it does through its dialogue or graphic scenes. We like to think we can spot the uncanny valley among us but 1BR showed that you take for granted what you believe to be safe even when there are signs to the contrary. I chose this film for the ordinariness of it which made the events in the film even more unsettling.

Watch the movie and as you do, note its conventions.

Title:
1BR (shorthand for 1 bedroom and yes it is set in an apartment building)

Concept:
An apartment complex hides a sinister motive behind its friendly community
façade

Terrorize
The Characters: Main character, Sarah, is put through torture rituals
including tasering, nailing her hands to the wall, and killing her cat
(yes that happened off screen mercifully) to break her will and enforce
compliance to the community. A symbol was branded behind her ear to mark
her full transformation.

Isolation:
1) Sarah, young woman in her 20s, moves to L.A. for a ‘fresh start’ with
no friends or family for support, estranged from her father due to his
actions while her mother was dying of cancer. 2) Once ‘residents’ move in,
they are not allowed to leave the building without deadly repercussions. A
team of residents expunged Sarah’s life by canceling her credit cards, calling
her job and quitting, and basically erased her from her life outside the
building. 3) The entire building including the apartments are under
constant surveillance by a team of residents.

Death:
Stabbing, euthanasia, suicide – a lot happened in this film

Monster/Villain:
The apartment manager, Jerry, is a cult leader. He chooses potential residents
by holding open houses. He will see 100s of people before finding what he
believes is the right resident based on the candidate’s lack of a moral
compass. By extension, the other residents who participate in this cult
are also villains.

High
Tension: 1) Sarah is made to stand in torture positions and as she
becomes weaker, Jerry threatens to shoot her in the head if she didn’t
continue to stand in the position. He eventually ordered his minion to
nail Sarah’s hands to the wall. It was unbearable. 2) Jerry commanded
Sarah to kill a new resident who was being tortured but refused to comply
and surrender. Sarah held an ice pick to the woman’s ear but at the last
minute didn’t. She came so close to doing it! 3) As Sarah tried to escape through
the front door of the apartment complex, the residents pulled her back in
just as she was about to taste freedom.

Departure
from Reality: 1) When a member of the community, Edie, was too old to
be of value, they all gathered around her and euthanized her. Sarah was
horrified because she had become a caretaker to her and enough of her
humanity remained to know that this was messed up. 2) When Sarah finally escapes,
she limps down the side walk only to realize that every apartment building
she passed had the same symbol branded behind her ear. The buildings had
their own cult cells inside. Red lights and alarms started to sound at
each of those building, a surveillance camera on the front of each of them
staring at her, knowing she had escaped. Sarah knew she was really in trouble
at this point.

Moral
Statement: Jerry only picked
people who he believed had moral failings in their lives. He accused Sarah
of her lifestyle of drinking, taking prescription drugs, and estrangement
from her father made her morally weak and she needed their protection and
guidance. This film showed how easy it can be to break someone’s will and
how easy it is to normalize violence and brainwash someone using fear to
crumble their mental state and rational thought.

Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?

I liked the psychological aspect of this. It really laid the ground work for some real Jonestown-style madness. You could really see how easy it is to coerce someone into some terrible things and rationalize all of it. The characters where more fleshed out than you would expect in a horror movie especially the final girl, Sarah, and the elderly woman, Edie.

With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Title: TBD

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Concept:
Cat and mouse hunt between someone who is a lethal hunter bent on fulfilling
a mission and the hunted who happens to be a deity

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Terrorize
The Characters: psychological head games, explosive violent outbursts,
possession that makes characters act out their worst fears

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Isolation:
Deity is trapped at a motel during a hurricane desperate to get ahead of
her pursuer

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Death:
magic and spirts that kill in body horror ways, drowning (because
hurricanes, y’all)

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Monster/Villain: Dangerous ex-boyfriend

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>High
Tension: Deity’s magic is hampered and off kilter during the storm
making escape a challenge

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Departure
from Reality: deities don’t generally exist, possession is not a
typical state of being

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Moral Statement: a parable on domestic violence

<div>
</div>

[Nadia Tholance]

Film picked for the study:

· Title/Concept: “A Quiet Place 2”

· Terrorize the characters: A family must live in total silence if they don’t want to be massacred by sound attracted creatures.

· Isolation: Here the isolation is total – isolated house, isolated family with no other humans around, isolated amongst them as they cannot use words or sound to communicate.

· Death: Death can be sudden, brutal and terrifying and happen the second they make a noise.

· Monster/Villain: Deadly creatures/ monsters that appeared one day, we don’t really know where, most likely aliens and their intentions were immediately deadly.

· High Tension: Every second in their lives must be lived in a way to avoid making any sound that could be heard by the monsters. One mistake means instant and brutal death.

· Departure from reality: This is an extreme situation that implies immediate acceptance from the audience that the sudden appearance of aliens on earth whose only objective is to kill is believable enough to be drawn into the story.

· Moral Statement: Life as we know it (!) could disappear at the blink of an eye and adaptation is the key to survival.

My film project for the class:

(Title: “GRAHAMSTOWN”)

· Concept: Old people who turn into killing monsters at night in their quest for eternal youth.

· Terrorize the characters: Any young person who is not locked in at home by night fall is not safe.

· Isolation: A small insular student’s town where no one can be trusted.

· Death: Anyone unlucky enough to turn 21 in Grahamstown can die a horrible death.

· Monster/Villain: Harmless looking old people by day can be killing monsters by night.

· High Tension: Don’t trust anyone and be home with your door locked before it gets dark.

· Departure from reality: Getting old is part of life’s natural cycle; people don’t go around killing young people in an attempt to stay young forever.

· Moral Statement: What is the ultimate act a person would be prepared to do to live longer?!

What I learned in the 1st assignment: the difference between “thrillers” and “horrors”… which led me to put aside 2 out of the 3 concepts/ideas I had for the class as they were obvious thrillers. It also made me realize that I have a strong inclination for thrillers 🙂

[Jake Iorio]

What i learned from this assignment is the basic concepts and conventions of what makes a good horror film. Also learning that creating a story is like a puzzle and that you don’t have to figure it all out right away. It can change as you begin to discover what the world you are creating is like.

2. Watch the movie and as you do, note its conventions.

Title
/ Concept: IT / The shapeshifting clown
Pennywise reappears in the town of Derry, Maine every 27 years to feast on
children.

Terrorize
The Characters: Pennywise shapeshifts into
what children fear most in their lives and does this to the Losers Club, a
group of adolescent social outcasts in Derry.
Isolation:
The seven kids are isolated, all by themselves when they encounter the
clown. Usually, they are in their own home when they encounter this shapeshifting
clown where they are either being abused, smothered, or emotionally
neglected by their caregivers. He shapeshifts into what they are most
afraid of but ultimately reveals himself to be Pennywise the Dancing
Clown.

Death:
Georgie dies in the opening scene, a boy gets eaten in the sewer by
Pennywise, Henry Bowers slits his dad’s throat while he sleeps…lots of stuff
happens.

Monster/Villain:
Pennywise, a shapeshifting clown who terrorizes the community of Derry, but
also feeds off the evil that resides within the community itself. Racism,
homophobia, abusive parents, emotionally distant parents
High
Tension: When each character finds themselves alone, Pennywise
appears in one of his many forms only to reveal himself suddenly as the
creepy clown that he is.

Departure
from Reality: These kids are the only ones
who can see this shapeshifting clown. For instance, Beverly gets drenched
in blood while in her bathroom. Her Dad doesn’t see any of it. Only when
she invites the other kids over to her house are they able to see what she
sees. A bloody bathroom. “I thought I might’ve been crazy,” she says. One
of the boys replies, “Well if you’re crazy then the rest of us are crazy.”

Moral
Statement: The trauma’s we experience
during childhood can be a nightmare, even if it doesn’t come in the form
of a killer clown. Having a painful childhood is scary but can also be
overcome by sharing comradery with others to make you realize you are not
alone.

3. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?

I felt this movie really made the point of its moral statement. The adults in the kids lives, such as Beverly’s dad, are just as scary as the clown itself.

4. With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story.

Concept: A 12 year old boy
wakes up one morning to discover his parents have murdered a man and he
must help them bury the body in their backyard.

Terrorize The Characters: The ghost
of the murdered man begins to stalk and terrorize the 12 year old boy. He
is the only one that can see it. His own parents can’t see it and they
begin to worry that their son will blow their cover.

Isolation: The boy is alone in
this. He is the only one who can see and be haunted by the entity. He is
then kept hostage in his house by his parents when he threatens to turn
them both in believing once he does the ghost will go away.

Death: A dead body is buried in
a young boys backyard. It goes after him.

Monster/Villain: The ghost of
the man his parents have murdered. It looks like a zombie almost.

High Tension: The appearance of
this ghost wherever our protagonist goes. At school, the mall, at home.

Departure from Reality: This is
something only the young boy can see. He is all alone in this and must find
a way to escape the clutches of this monster.

Moral Statement: Keeping family
secrets never stay buried. Intended to protect the family image, it does
more harm then good.

[Michael Greco]

The Ritual – Horror Conventions.

Michael Greco 6 14 21 (6/21/21)

Day 1 – Assignment –

WILDTA: That starting from key elements of horror is an organic way to flesh out a horror story and concept.

ASSIGNMENT

Analyze a HORROR movie to discover how the conventions were expressed. It is totally okay to analyze a movie you’ve already seen, but please watch it again. Don’t just do it from memory.

1. Go to Netflix, iTunes, or Amazon and search for “horror” movies. Pick a horror movie that fits three criteria:

· A. It matches our model.

· B. It is not one of our example movies.

· C. You can get instant access to it. Check iTunes, Netflix, YouTube or Amazon.

2. Watch the movie and as you do, note its conventions.

· Title / Concept:

The Ritual [NOTE: SPOILERS – THIS MOVIE IS WORTH EXPERIENCING WITHOUT ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EVENTS DEPICTED]

· Terrorize The Characters:

Four lads in their 30s try to re-capture a lads’ holiday by hiking in Northern Sweden – not during winter, not during midsommar. They encounter menacing sounds and utterances, footprints suggesting both human and quadruped beings concealing themselves near them, and corpses mounted in trees. They are constantly being encircled and approached.

· Isolation:

The brashest of the lot, Hutch, chooses a forest route back to the main lodge after one of them injures a bad knee. They struggle to maintain a clear route toward the lodge, and take shelter from rain in a seemingly abandoned house deep in the woods. The forest is the terrifying environment, and, of course, the sole domain of the Monster (the Monster cannot exist outside the forest).

· Death:

Before the hiking trip, one character (Luke) witnesses the murder of their friend Rob in a liquor store when they accidentally stumble into a robbery. Rob is stabbed because he refuses to give robbers his wedding ring; Luke has hidden and is afraid to come to Rob’s defense, remains hidden. Rob is clubbed and left to die in a large pool of his own blood. In the Sweden hike, the lads first encounter a quartered bear mounted on a tree, as though for display. Then they see a human corpse, quartered and mounted on a tree. Hutch is stripped from his sleeping tent, slaughtered and mounted on a tree. Other similar killings ensue.

· Monster/Villain:

Revealed late in the film, after surviving lads Luke and [Peter] find their way to a mid-forest compound of aging Swedes. They are abducted and chained inside the group house. Peter is taken for sacrifice to the Beast first – Luke peers through crevice in wall and sees giraffe-sized fur-skinned raptor-like beast, kangaroo- or T-Rex-shaped, ambulating on large hind legs and manipulating the people with its arms short and strong. Face indeterminate, seems to have bear-jaws inside First Nation/Native Medicine Man (Great Plains: Comanche Kiowa Shoshoni Sioux) head and headdress. The monster has shape-shifting and reality-shifting abilities – it appears to Peter as his wife, when Peter is offered by the forest dwellers for sacrifice. It re-creates for Luke the scene in the liquor store where Luke’s friend Rob is murdered, in the middle of the forest. The monster seeks adulation/supplication from the forest dwellers, and is vulnerable to fire/immolation, open spaces (cannot leave forest or enter clearing).

· High Tension:

The different footprints and sounds as well as the ritual tree-carvings, corpse mountings and ritual figures and statue in the abandoned house create mystery and suspense as to the being[s] surrounding the lads. The swift and deadly means of taking and dispatching victims jacks up the tension. The tension between the lads and their different personal objectives and ideas about the northern Sweden hiking trip causes dissension, jacks up the tension.

· Departure from Reality:

The monster is preternatural, cryptozoological, as is the bargain it strikes with the forest dwellers: supplication and obsequiousness/obedience to the monster in consideration for enduring life to the aging forest dwellers.

· Moral Statement:

Not perfectly rendered – Luke’s escape from captivity by the forest dwellers and confrontation with / escape from the monster signal a reward for courage, ingenuity and defiance. Luke’s failure to intervene in liquor store robbery to prevent Rob’s murder (not known if Rob would have survived had he voluntarily relinquished wedding ring to robbers), along with Luke’s failure to rescue Peter from death, highlights self-preservation, and a realistic response to peril. It also points up cowardice in response to danger, an issue raised in the film.

3. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?

The contrast between four lads-approaching-middle-age actively seeking out a natural adventure in a remote unfamiliar location and being terrorized and killed by bizarre supernatural forces make the film an extraordinary experience.

4. With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story.

· Concept:

CONCEPT: Town money baron and overseer Hiram Talley disappears with a young woman one night, causing unrest throughout the small river town. Talley’s family, friends, employees and toadies are drawn to his boathouse to seek clues as to his disappearance, ending drastically for all those who enter.

· Terrorize The Characters:

Hiram’s children, lovers and mistresses, and employees look for him, and for evidence of where his cash and rare coins are located. They are ineluctably drawn to the boathouse, where they find evidence of his presence and activity; and are then terrorized, immobilized and sent down river in dingies, by forces they cannot precisely identify. Only those who do not seek any money or graft from Hiram are able to return alive.

· Isolation:

The boathouse is Hiram’s hallowed sanctuary, as much as his manse and his boat. Hiram exercises complete dominion over the entire region, and especially in his boathouse.

· Death:

The sycophants and toadies who are grazing for Hiram’s wealth disappear, and ultimately turn up death. Those who do not adulate or curry favor with Hiram are terrorized and tortured, but they are able to survive, escape and return to the town.

· Monster/Villain:

Hiram Pa Talley is not tall but stocky, imposing, formidable and distinguished-looking. His eyes pierce, his nose thick and large, his jaw ringed by an Abe Lincoln beard and his mouth mischievous, expressively twisted and always snarling.

· High Tension:

Hiram’s children, employees and toadies are frenzied to ascertain that Hiram is dead – and to access his wealth. All of their theories point to large amounts of cash and collectibles being stashed in the boathouse. One by one they keep disappearing, and showing up dead.

· Departure from Reality:

Disappearances of Hiram and the people around him without a trace, and some of them turning up dead, others returning alive but completely devastated psychologically, unable to recollect their experiences, launches the story away from the expected.

· Moral Statement:

Greed and Covetousness of Hiram is punished, as is the greed of his venal, inheritance-minded children and the toadies and employees who expect to cash in on Hiram’s death. These people disappear and meet with a grisly death. Those who respect but do not revere Hiram and his wealth are allowed to survive, to live, never again to fall within his clutches.