[Brian King]

Brian King’s Outline

What I learned… follow the instructions of the assignment, work fast, or faster than I normally do, and don’t judge my work. It was a hard but rewarding assignment. I won’t include the lesson on here as no one else is posting their assignment. A silent group of colleagues.

[Brian King]

Brian King Creates His Outline Part 1

What I learned… do the assignment. Plug it in and worry about the perfection later on… I like what I have and hate what I have… but at least I have something.

Dear Class Colleagues, if you wish to read my outline, email me:Brian.king099@gmail.com

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Budget / What I learned… that I’m on track to do a low budget, one million or less. The hardest part of the assignment was ratcheting up the budget, as I have always thought of this story in terms of a small budget. FYI: I have removed the lesson from this site. If any of my silent colleagues would like to see my lesson, email me at Brian.King099@Gmail.com

[Brian King]

Brian King Writes Great Hope and Fear / What I learned: This lesson was a wonderful way to brainstorm moments of tension… hope + Fear = Tension. I was able to discover more character details for the three characters in the script. I’m still seeking a satisfying, surprising but inevitable ending. The lesson has been removed at my request. If my class colleagues would like to see what I wrote, email me at: Brian.king099@gmail.com

[Brian King]

Brian King’s 4-Act Structure

What I learned doing the assignment… don’t resist… go with the lesson, even if I’m used to working on the 8 Mini-Movie outline structure, for this assignment I found that I was able to complete the assignment by using the 4-Act Structure. I made strides with the outline, even if I’m still asking questions about the ending. I did find Lisa’s internal arc, and how she changes and completes the internal and external change.

The lesson has been removed at the request of the author. If any of my colleagues would like to see it, please email me at Brian.king099@gmail.com

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

What I learned doing this assignment is… an ending for the story. It could be called a mind ‘f’er’ and came to me while doing this assignment. Yeah, for the assignment, and thanks! The lesson is a hard one, but it helped me dig deeper as I explored and revealed the plot, characters, schemes, and shifts in meaning.

The posting of the actual assignment has been removed at the request of the author. If any of my silent colleagues wish to see what I wrote, email at Brian.king099@Gmail.com

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Character Journeys!

What I learned doing this assignment… I don’t have an ending to the story… yes, the hero makes some emotional growth, but now I need a twist or something else… this leaves me feeling frustrated. The assignment had me digging much deeper into the characters and forced me to come up with complete stories for all three… yes, I added a Boyfriend character, to go along with the hero and villain. It ties in nicely.

*

The lesson removed at the request of the author… if a colleague wants to see what I wrote, contact me at Brian.king099@Gmail.com.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Character Depth

What I learned doing this assignment is… dig deeper, let my imagination run wild, and tie in the wants of the hero and villain. How do they align, how are they different, and how do they motivate each other, before and after, “Fade In.” After writing the hero’s internal character depth, I was pleased; but when I wrote the same for the villain, I was forced to reevaluate what I penned for the hero and adjust accordingly. I also discovered stronger motivations for the villain which helped me to unlock some of my “stakes concerns.”

The Lesson: removed at the request of the author.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Right Characters

What I learned doing this assignment… It’s crucial to have a clear understanding of the backgrounds of both my protagonist and the antagonist. Understanding what led them to the pivotal “FADE IN” moment is essential, not only in my mind but also on the page. I spent a great deal of writing time figuring that out. Okay, it’s rough perfect, but it’s a start.

Additionally, I’m puzzled as to why I’m the only assignment contributor to this Forum. This situation leaves me with an unsettling sensation. Hal and Cheryl’s ScreenwritingU class materials are truly exceptional, and I benefit from them by wholeheartedly engaging in the assignments, perfectionism be damned.

While I remain committed to completing the assignments within the designated 48-hour timeframe, I’ve decided to exercise discretion in terms of what I choose to forum share. Given the lack of contributions from my peers thus far in the “The Ultimate Contained Movie” classes, I’m hesitant to continue being the sole provider of assignment posts. It is my sincere wish that my fellow participants will share their efforts and foster an environment where we can all learn and grow together. I’m sure my colleagues have their reasons for not posting assignments, and I respect that, curious though I may be.

*

With each of your main characters, how can they uniquely fit with the Hook? –Olympic athlete (hero) and a sports doctor (villain). Mix in jealousy, inspiration, self-sabotage, fear of success, and living through each other in unhealthy ways to create conflict and tension… hope + fear=tension.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Great Hook

How did the process work for me? It helped define a hook for my script. I’ve already narrowed down my choice of script to work on, which goes against the lesson. I kept digging and jotting down ideas for the hook until I came up with one that the “Producer in my head,” nodded yes to. What did I learn doing the assignment: question all my choices and keep questioning them before settling on a particular choice/answer.

The Lesson removed at the request of the author.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s guidelines for FREEZER BURN (a working title)

What I learned doing this assignment, is that one of my five ideas stood out for several reasons (cost to produce, simplicity of plot, a contemporary piece, a limited number of characters, and locations. Yes, all five of the ideas are Contained scripts, but four of the five are not ready for primetime production.

ASSIGNMENT PART 1: Select Your Project

1. Go through your five ideas and determine which of them can easily fit the Covid-19 guidelines. For the moment, don’t list the ideas. Just tell us your experience of evaluating them based on the guidelines.

>I put all five through the “spanking machine of elimination” and asked the question, does this fit the contained guidelines, does it appeal to a contemporary audience, are the two leads compelling, can I do this with a limited number of actors

A. It can be done as a contained story.

>All five ideas are “contained stories”, but do I want to spend the next six months pouring my heart, soul, and time into writing one of these. … it came down to two choices, with one of them ultimately prevailing; oh, and I asked myself if I, as an actor, would want to play this character (hero and villain) and that helped me decide.

B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences.

>The pitch came easy… err… well, not easy, and not ready for the elevator just yet, but the idea that I went with had the three things that I need when penning a logline, a hero, a villain, and a world

C. There is something unique about it.

>Yes, the location of the story… and the location is one that I have physically been in many times… and while I’m there I ask myself, What if… and BAM-A story w personal elements in a unique location.

ASSIGNMENT PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines

2. Pick a movie that is outside the Covid Guidelines and give us your thoughts on how they could make it in the current production environment.

>Okay… I went totally outside the box with this… and took one scene from the movie Die Hard and used my imagination to again ask, What if… and used my answer to that as a basis for Act 2.

TITLE: Die Hard

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People, a cast of hundreds

B. Stunts- Some greats ones

C. Extras Lots of background

D. Wardrobe Hero has really one, or two/wardrobes for everyone else would fill a warehouse

E. Hair/Make Up Simple but, lots of actors = lots of assistants

F. Kids /Animals Limited

G. Quarantine – None during the late 80’s shoot.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

>I used a scene from Die Hard (one actor) to come up w/ act 2 location for Freezer Burn / one scene featuring the hero, dialogue, and in a contained location

A. People- A cast of three

B. Stunts- Limited, some climbing and some maneuvering in a tight location.

C. Extras – Could use a couple of folks but could shoot without.

D. Wardrobe -Simple, very simple

E. Hair / Makeup -“Sweat,” lots of sweat

F. Kids /Animals -Zero

G. Quarantine- Small cast and a small crew, and a closed set

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

My name is Brian King-I’ve written ten screenplays+, and I hope to complete an outline and logline for a contained script. Something unique? Every day at or around 6p, CA time, I post a short cartoon, featuring a Power Ranger, a pony, and a crab, on Facebook/IG, going on 3 years. Why? No reason–Just because. A writing discipline, I guess. If you have nothing better to do, check it out… and yes, it is under the name, Brian King.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

AGREE, in which case, you Reply to this topic and include three things at the top of the page:

1. I, Brian King, agree to the terms of this release form.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Outline Version 1 <s></s>

Title: HUMANZ

Logline: When a young woman battling depression uncovers her father’s plan to create a human/zombie hybrid she must overcome her demons to stop him before his creation changes the DNA of humanity forever.

Horror Outline:

PROLOGUE:

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Blood-dark, a WOMAN with a rope around her neck, wearing a bloody nightgown, hangs from a tree.

INT. MORTUARY – TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Engulfed in a night terror, a young woman, TESS wakes up screaming, a GUNSHOT rings out.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess rushes outside and wraps her arms around the Woman in a bloody nightgown, trying to save her. Max (mortuary attendant) holds a smoking gun, and gestures to coyote footprints and a bloody trail leading into the darkness. When Tess’s FATHER, hypnotic eyes (name TBD) comforts her, she screams, “What have you done to her, that’s not my mother.” Unnatural, “feral” cries come from the darkness. Tess makes eye contact with a “Creepy Girl lurking and clutching a funeral urn.

MM 1 / Status quo/ funeral in a small town

INT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Protestors outnumber the mourners at Mother’s funeral, objecting to using the cemetery to bury a suicide, Tess’s bestie, GIGI (goth girl) attempts to comfort and overcome Tess. The roar of a Harley motorcycle interrupts the eulogy, as the new sheriff (Ely) rides into town.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Tess’s friend Sean, a skater punk wearing headphones, sees a woman, an older version of Tess’s mom, wandering the cemetery. BAM. After getting knocked out he comes to and discovers partially devoured human remains.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess peers out a window as MAX (funeral attendant) cuts down the suicide rope and sees Creepy Girl. An eyeball roams through a slit in the wall, watching Tess from an adjacent room. Gigi and Sean Tess go to the cemetery to visit the gravesite.

EXT. MORTUARY – DAY

The Sherriff and Ely grill Sean about the body in the cemetery.

INT. MORTUARY – DAY

Gigi and Sean want Tess to go with them to break into Ely’s home, searching for clues as they suspect that Ely is a zombie. Tess refuses.

INT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Tess, Gigi, and Sean discover a casket that contained Tess’s mom, unearthed and the body, gone. Tess is convinced her mother was buried prematurely. The Creepy Girl appears and charges Tess, carrying a funeral urn. Unworldly moans/ cries come out of the darkness.

MM 2 – Tess denies that her mother is dead

MOTHER’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess discovers a suicidal note left by her mother; and sees her Mother’s apparition out a window, eating flesh.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Ely (deputy) can’t find any unearthed caskets in the cemetery, but does find, “Zombie drool.”

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess, Gigi, and Sean consult a Ouija board, which spells out, “Pray.” <s></s>

INT. MORTUARY – DAY

Father pays his mistress for spying on Tess.

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess, Gigi, and Sean sneak into the embalming room, searching for clues to the whereabouts of Tess’s mom, and discover Creepy Girl prowling around and clutching the funeral urn.

EXT. ELY’S MOTEL – DAY

Sean and Gigi hover outside but get scared off by the arrival of the Harley.

MM 3 -The Monster’s secret is revealed/ Tess’s plan to end her depression, in the worst way possible.

INT. MORTUARY – DAY

Tess uncovers scars – “Cuts;” suffers debilitating Panic Attacks/refuses to leave the Mortuary, (Agoraphobia).

EXT. CEMETERY – DAY

The body of a half-devoured man was discovered. The Sheriff blames coyotes, the deputy says Zombies.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Gigi introduces Tess to a Therapist; Tess lashes out at her, “Get out.”… release scene…

INT. LAB/MORTUARY – NIGHT

Sean spies on Father, who reanimates the Man found in the cemetery.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM

Tess, depressed, confesses to the Therapist she wants to be with her mother… on the other side.

EXT. ELY’S MOTEL – DAY

Sean watches as Ely leaves for his shift, then breaks in.

INT. LAB/ MORTUARY – NIGHT

Father proves to the Sheriff he can bring back the dead (reanimation)-The Sheriff watches as Tess’s Mom comes to life-when the Sheriff panics and pulls a gun, Max disarms the Sheriff –and threatens to kill him unless he’ll go along with Father’s Zombie experiments.

INT. TESS’S ROOM – NIGHT

Sean shows Tess and Gigi the scrapbook he found in Ely’s room: news articles about how Father was fired for doing mad scientist stuff and suspected of using the university lab for “unnatural experiments” on cadavers–when police close in on Father, who disappears; photos of Ely grieving at his parents funeral-.

MM 4-Tess has a plan to overcome depression, puts it into action and it goes wrong.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Sean skateboards home and is attacked and dragged into the bushes, followed by sounds of a feeding frenzy.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Sean, a zombie, crawls into Tess’s room and sinks his teeth into Tess—she bashes the S out of him.

LATER

Tess looks at the bite on her arm, now, convinced she’s a zombie, looks at a photo of her mom and smiles, then ties a bed sheet in knots and heads for the front door, and says, “I’m coming, Mother.”

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess stands on the threshold, a sheet around her neck, as her Mother’s apparition beckons from the woods, Tess freezes unable to go outside, and engulfed in a panic attack.

MM 5: Tess’s Awakening and the Monster (Tess’s father) is much scarier than we imagined

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT – CONTINUOUS

Tess collapses, overwhelmed by the panic attack, Ely carries Tess to her bedroom.

INT. MORTUARY LAB – NIGHT

Father slaps the mistress around, she dressed up as Tess’s mom to drive Tess insane, jealous of Tess/ Father nods to Max, who kills the mistress, and bites her… Father uses a controller to stop Max, as the Mistress rises from the dead.

INT. TESS’S ROOM – DAY

Ely consults with Tess’s Therapist while Tess sleeps, the Sheriff, a zombie crashes through the window– Ely bashes the Sheriff.

INT. FATHER’S LAB – NIGHT

Father displays Zombie traits, struggles to inject himself with a serum, and returns to human form.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Gigi steps on the porch as Max crawls from the shadows and grabs and chloroforms her.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

The therapist attends to Tess, who knocks her out

EXT. FIELD – NIGHT

Ely burns the Sheriff’s body, as the Therapist, lump on her head, approaches, “I can’t find Tess.”

INT. MORTUARY / KITCHEN – NIGHT

Tess opens the fridge and grabs the first thing she sees, liver, as Gigi and Ely enter, Tess Snarls at them.

CONTINUOUS—

Ely subdues Tess and draws a vile of her blood to test her for Zombism.

MM 6 -Tess’s bigger bolder plan.

CONTINUOUS

Ely and the Therapist wait for Tess’s test results —Creepy Girls appears in the hallway and beckons Tess, who slips out.

CORRIDOR – NIGHT

Tess follows Creepy Girl toward the Lab/embalming room.

INT. KITCHEN –

Test results are Negative, Tess is human, but Therapist and Ely fear that Tess has been captured by Father.

INT. MORTUARY THRESHOLD – NIGHT

Tess freezes—then—determined–follows Creepy Girl—Tess wins a round over agoraphobia

>Sidebar: Tess makes an emotional change (to live and plans to kill her father, her bigger bolder plan).

INT. MORTUARY– NIGHT

Ely and the Therapist search for Tess.

INT. LAB/EMBALMING ROOM – NIGHT

Max makes a meal of the Mistress–Father has Gigi strapped to a medical exam table.

CONTINUOUS—

Creepy Girl and Tess watch from the shadows– Father artificially inseminates Gigi w/ Zombie semen.

Max discovers Tess and grabs her, as Creepy Girl flees.

Tess pleads with her father who says, “You’re not of my flesh, stepdaughter.”

Gigi goes into cardiac arrest and dies as Father turns to Tess and says, “Next up.”

>MM 7-Tess sees an opening and battles Father to the death.

INT. LAB/EMBALMING ROOM – NIGHT – CONTINUOUS

Tess comes to, screams, as Father stands over her, with an intractable look on his face, and holding the same tools he used on Gigi, as Ely crashes the party and battles Max—Tess fights her way out of the straps—Father reaches for a gun turns it on Tess–Ely kills Max– Therapist enters, takes a bullet from Father as Tess grabs the guns and fires at Father, who slips out a side door and disappears—

–Tess and Ely put Max in the crematorium and turn it on.

— Creepy Girl fills an urn with ashes from a cabinet and says, “Sister.”

–Tess and Ely flee.

INT. MOTEL – NIGHT – LATER

Tess peers out the window, Ely approaches from behind, and they embrace… kiss…

>MM 8 – A new Normal, Tess has escaped her insane stepfather, but he has one more trick up his sleeve.

INSERT CHRYON—NINE MONTHS LATER

EXT. CABIN IN THE WOODS – DAY

Off the Grid.

INT. CABIN – DAY

Ely helps Tess through labor, and says, “It’s our baby, Tess, you can do it.”—

–She pushes until she gives birth, as Ely backs away horrified, “That’s not mine.”

–Tess cradles the baby in her arms, it looks—

–It has human and zombie traits… HumanZ–

–Ely reaches for the baby, intending to strangle it–

–Tess pulls a knife– “Touch my baby and I’ll gut you.”

FADE OUT.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Horror Outline Version 1

What I learned… that I had to be flexible from the last outline, and just keep writing, focusing on the Horror emotions. I found improvements to make and strides to make for the next outline. By doing the assignment I focused on the scares and not the exposition, finding new and improved gut-wrenching emotions, that I hope will scare the reader and the audience.

PROLOGUE:

1. EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Blood-dark, a WOMAN with a rope around her neck, wearing a bloody nightgown, hangs from a tree.

2. INT. MORTUARY – TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Engulfed in a night terror, a young woman, TESS wakes up screaming, a GUNSHOT rings out.

3. EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess rushes outside and wraps her arms around the Woman in a bloody nightgown, trying to save her. Max (mortuary attendant) holds a smoking gun, and gestures to coyote footprints and a bloody trail leading into the darkness. Tess’s FATHER (hypnotic eyes) comforts Tess, Tess screams, “What have you done to her, that’s not my mother.” Unnatural, “feral” sounds come from the darkness. Tess makes eye contact with a “Creepy Girl lurking nearby, holding a funeral urn.

>Horror Situation: Tess sees her mother hanging off a tree, but the woman doesn’t look like her mother.

>Apprehension: Tess is startled awake from a nightmare; was it a dream or something more real?

>Anxiety: A gunshot jolts Tess awake and she runs outside to investigate

>Surprise: A woman is hanging from a tree—

>Shock. –OMG-It’s Tess’s mother.

>Surprise: There’s no blood around Mother’s neck, only on her nightgown. Why?

>Release: Father comforts Tess

>Monster Reveal: Unnatural feral sound from the darkness where the monster lurks.

>Apprehension: What does the Creepy Girl holding an urn have to do with Tess’s mom

MM 1 / Status quo/ funeral in a small town

4. EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Sean, a skater punk wearing headphones, and Tess’s friend, sees a woman, an older version of Tess, wandering in the cemetery. He comes to after getting plunked on the head and discovers a partially eaten body.

5. INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess peers out a window at the tree where her mother killed herself and sees the Creepy Girl. An eyeball roams through a slit in the wall, watching Tess from an adjacent room. Gigi (Tess’s bestie), and Sean plan to visit the cemetery to look for Tess’s mom. The Sherriff and the New Deputy grill Sean about the body in the cemetery.

6. INT. Cemetery – Night

Tess, Gigi, and Sean discover a casket that contained Tess’s mom, unearthed and the body is gone. Tess is convinced her mother was buried prematurely. The Creepy Girl appears and charges Tess, carrying a funeral urn. Unworldly moans/ cries come out of the darkness.

>Horror Situation: The casket of the Mother has been unearthed and the body is missing.

>Anxiety: Tess sees the Creepy Girl, again; but is unaware she’s being spied on.

Surprise/shock: Why has a casket been unearthed from a freshly dug grave?

Suspense: And where’s the body of Tess’s mother?

Fear: Tess’s mom was buried prematurely.

Panic: Tess’s Mom could be alive

Suspense: Why did the Creepy Girl carry a funeral urn?

MM 2 – Tess denies that her mother is dead

8. MOTHER’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess discovers a ‘cry for help’ note left by her mother and sees her Mother’s apparition, eating flesh.

9. EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

Ely (deputy) can’t find any unearthed caskets in the cemetery, but does find, “Zombie drool.”

10. INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess, Gigi, and Sean consult a Ouija board, which spells out, “Pray.” <s></s>

10. INT. MORTUARY – DAY

Father pays his mistress to spy on Tess.

11. INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess, Gigi, and Sean sneak into the embalming room, searching for clues to the whereabouts of Tess’s mom, they discover Creepy Girl prowling around, holding the funeral urn, she appears from the shadows and disappears out a side door.

>Horror Situation: Tess believes the mother is alive, she and her friends search the mortuary for clues to Mom’s whereabouts, Tess sees her mother’s apparition, with blood dripping out of her mother, the Creepy Girl prowls the embalming room with funeral urn.

>Suspense: Why the Ouija tell them to Pray?

>Shock: The Deputy discovers zombie drool.

>Suspense: Who reburied the unearthed casket?

>Panic: Has Tess’s mom become a Zombie?

>Anxiety: Does the Creepy Girl have a clue about Tess’s mom?

End MM 2/Act one

MM 3 -The Monster’s secret is revealed/ Tess’s plan: end her depression – but it’s a bad choice

12. INT. MORTUARY – DAY

Tess uncovers scars on her legs, where she “Cuts,” and suffers debilitating Panic Attacks, refuses to leave the Mortuary, (Agoraphobia).

13. EXT. CEMETERY – DAY

The body of a half-devoured man was discovered. The Sheriff blames coyotes, the deputy says Zombies.

14. INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Gigi introduces Tess to a Therapist, Tess lashes out in… release scene…

15. INT. LAB/MORTUARY – NIGHT

Sean spies on Father, who reanimates the Man found in the cemetery.

16. INT. TESS’S BEDROOM

Tess, depressed, confesses to the Therapist she wants to be with her mother… on the other side.

17. INT. LAB/ MORTUARY – NIGHT

Father proves to the Sheriff he can bring back the dead (reanimation)-The Sheriff watches as Tess’s Mom comes to life-when the Sheriff panics and pulls a gun, Max (father’s #1) threatens to kill the Sheriff – unless he allows Father to continue his Zombie experiments.

18. INT. TESS’S ROOM – NIGHT

Sean shows Tess photos he shots of Father reanimating Tess’s Mom, as a Zombie crawls in the window, Sean fights him, but succumbs, Tess bashes the shit out of the zombie and turns her attention to Sean, who sinks his teeth into Tess-backs off and bashes Sean, who falls out a window.

19. CONTINUOUS – LATER

Tess looks at the bite on her arm from Sean, convinced she’s a zombie, ties a bed sheet in knots and heads for the front door, and says, “I’m coming mother.”

20. INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess stands on the threshold, a sheet around her neck, as her Mother’s apparition beckons from the woods, Tess freezes unable to go outside, and engulfed in a panic attack.

End MM4

>Horror Situation: Tess suffers from agoraphobia / Father proves he can reanimate a corpse / Tess, in pain, wants to join her mother in death

Fear: Zombies will take over the town because of a compromised Sheriff.

Shock: Father can reanimate the dead.

Monster reveal: Father controls the dead/zombies (through electrical stimulation).

Suspense: What are Father’s plans for the reanimated?

Release: The Therapist tries to heal Tess.

Dread: Tess, so depressed, and convinced she’s a Zombie tries to kill herself, to be with her mother.

MM 5: Tess’s Awakening and the Monster (Tess’s father) is much scarier than we imagined

21. INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT – CONTINUOUS

Tess collapses, overwhelmed by the panic attack, Ely carries Tess to her bedroom.

22. INT. LAB – NIGHT

Father slaps the mistress around, she dressed up as Tess’s mom to drive Tess insane/ Father nods to Max, who kills the mistress, and bites her… Father uses a controller to stop Max, as the Mistress rises from the dead.

23. INT. TESS’S ROOM – DAY

Ely consults with the Therapist while Tess sleeps, the Sheriff, a zombie crashes through the window and bites Tess, Ely bashes the Sheriff.

24. INT. FATHER’S LAB – NIGHT

Father displays Zombie traits, struggles to inject himself with a serum, and returns to human form—Gigi crawls out of the shadows and sees Sean, dead, and now an experiment by Father. Max straps Gigi to an exam table.

25. INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

The therapist attends to Tess, who shoves her aside.

26. EXT. FIELD – NIGHT

Ely burns the Sheriff’s body, as the Therapist approaches, “I can’t find Tess.”

27. INT. MORTUARY / KITCHEN – NIGHT

Tess opens the fridge and grabs the first thing she sees, liver, as Gigi and Ely enter, Tess Snarls at them.

28. –CONTINUOUS—

Ely subdues Tess and draws a vile of Tess’s blood to test her for Zombism, as the Creepy Girl beckons Tess.

End of MM 5

>Horror Situation: Tess’s rescued from an attempted suicide; Mistress becomes a Zombie, Sheriff, a zombie, bites Tess, Ely burns the Sheriff; Father chemically subdues his Zombie symptoms, Ely test Tess for Zombism.

Monster Reveal: Father is a Zombie.

Panic: The Mistress will wreak havoc on the town as a Zombie/The Sheriff is a Zombie

Sean is dead

Fear: That Tess will become a Zombie

Suspense: Will Tess kill herself?

What will the father do with Gigi?

Is Sean a Zombie?

Dread: Will Tess test positive for Zombism?

>MM 6 -Tess’s bigger bolder plan.

29. INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT – CONTINUOUS

Ely and the Therapist wait for Tess’s test results, as Tess slips out of the room, following the Creepy Girl.

30. CORRIDOR – NIGHT

Tess follows Creepy Girl toward the Lab/embalming room.

31. INT. KITCHEN –

Test results are Negative, Tess is human, but Therapist and Ely fear that Tess has been captured by Father.

32. INT. MORTUARY THRESHOLD – NIGHT

Creepy girl heads outside– Tess freezes—then—determined–follows Creepy Girl

>Sidebar: Tess makes an emotional change (to live and plans to kill her father, her bigger bolder plan.

33. INT. MORTUARY / CORRIDOR – NIGHT

Ely and the Therapist search for Tess. (Release Scene)

34. INT. LABE/EMBALMING ROOM – NIGHT

Max makes a meal of the Mistress–Father straps Gigi to an exam table.

35. –CONTINUOUS—

Creepy Girl and Tess watch from the shadows– Father artificially inseminates Gigi w/ Zombie semen/evil seed.

>Max discovers Tess and grabs her as Creepy Girl flees.

>Father reveals that Tess is his stepdaughter as–

>Gigi dies—and Father plans to do the same experiment on Tess.

End of MM 6/end of Act 2

Horror Situation: Tess, fully human and determined to confront/kill Father, as he implants Zombie seed in Gigi—Tess is too late to stop the procedure–Gigi dies–Tess is captured–Father, is revealed as Tess’s stepfather, and he plans another experiment – to mate Tess with Zombie seed, to create a human/zombie=HUMANZ.

>(Note to self for rewrite: Reveal Father’s plan earlier/ artificially inseminate Gigi in MM 5, not 6)<

Apprehension / Anxiety: As they wait for the Tess, test results.

Surprise: Tess disappeared, or has she been captured in her own home (mortuary)?

Shock: Now that Tess follows Creepy Girl, will she be led to a Zombie feeding frenzy

Fear Tess will be killed by the Creepy Girl

Suspense: Will Ely and Therapist find Tess before it’s too late?

Dread: That Father is performing “god-knows-what experiments” on a comatose Gigi.

Anguish: Gigi, impregnated with evil seed, then dies.

Panic: Tess is helpless to stop Father, having been subdued by Zombie-Max.

Terror: Father will do to Tess what he did to Gigi.

Hysteria: Father gives Tess something “to make her sleep,” as he approaches w/Zombie seed.

>MM 7-Tess sees an open as she battles Father to the death.

36. INT. LAB/EMBALMING ROOM – NIGHT – CONTINUOUS

Tess comes to, screaming, Father stands over her, with an intractable look on his face—as Ely crashes the party and battles Max—Tess fights her way out of the straps—Father reaches for the gun–Ely kills Max–as Therapist enters—Tess grabs Father’s gun and tosses it to Therapist (“Take care of him.”)

>Creepy Girl fills an urn with ashes, looks at Tess, and says, “Sister,” as Tess and Ely flee—Max Rises and lunges for the Therapist, she fills him full of holes, he falls, she turns to shoot Father… dude is long gone.

37. INT. MOTEL – NIGHT

Tess peers out the window, Ely approaches from behind, and they embrace… kiss…

End of 7

Horror Situation: Father stands over Tess as she comes to—Ely barges in and he and Tess escape—Max appears to be dead, and Father is missing.

Suspense: Did Father inseminate Tess?

Fear: Tess could be impregnated with a zombie seed.

Panic: Tess has no escape.

Monster Reveal: Is there no end to his horridness?

Anguish: Tess is going to die soon, like Gigi.

Hysteria: Tess wakes up screaming, she’s doomed.

>MM 8 – A new Normal, Tess has escaped her insane stepfather, but he has one more trick up his sleeve.

INSERT CHRYON—NINE MONTHS LATER

38. EXT. CABIN IN THE WOODS – DAY

Off the Grid.

39. INT. CABIN – DAY

Ely helps Tess through labor, and says, “It’s our baby, Tess, you can do it,”—

–She pushes until she gives birth to a–

–Hybrid–a “HumanZ”—

–Ely backs away horrified, “That’s not mine.”

–Tess cradles the baby in her arms, it looks human, And Zombie… a hybrid.

–Ely reaches for the baby with the intent to strangle it–

–Tess pulls a knife– “Touch my baby and I’ll gut you.”

End MM 8 / End Act 3

Horror Situation: Tess gives birth to a human/zombie “Humanz,” – Tess’s father Did inseminate her w/Zombie Seed.

Suspense: What happened during the last nine months?

Suspense: Ely and Tess fell in love and now she’s pregnant.

Panic: This cabin in the woods doesn’t like a sterile environment.

Fear: Will the baby live; will Tess survive childbirth?

Hysteria: Tess gives birth to a zombie/human.

Suspense: What will happen to these three, two humans and a hybrid, now?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Scary-As-Hell Scene

What I learned from… I reviewed horror emotions from lesson 10: Apprehension/Anxiety, Surprise, and Shock and incorporated those into the scene I wrote. Since the scene is the turn of Act One, those emotions fit nicely into the outline as I brainstormed the scene. . Using those emotions spit-balled the idea for the scene, which hadn’t been written or even outlined. Here’s the first draft. A decided improvement on a blank page.

INT. CORRIDOR – MORTUARY – DAY

Tess freezes outside a double door, takes a deep breath, and turns the door handle–

MOM’S BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS

Suffocating, eerie, blood-stained carpet and woman’s clothes scattered about—-Tess enters and blinks away the tears, takes a few tentative steps towards the walk-in closet, and removes a hat–

–Overflowing with women’s clothes–

Tess lays on the unmade bed, grabs and puts the pillow over he nose and mouth, and breathes deeply.

TESS

Mom. Mama. Why?

A blue sheet flutters off the bed to the floor–

Trembling, Tess reads off a tear-stained woman’s stationery.

TESS

”I can’t live like this.”

Her breathing escalates as she turns the paper over–blank–

–Her heart races, her forehead gets dewy, and she panics.

–She stumbles to open the window and takes a couple of shallow breaths until her coloring returns and she can breathe normally–she looks out a window and sees a–

–Girl–the one she saw earlier, still clutching a small box–

–Tess blinks, anxious to clear her vision–

–The Girl levels her with a cold, hard stare–

–Tess clutches the ankh that hangs around her neck.

TESS

Hello.

The Girl snarls and walks towards the cemetery.

>Part two<

INT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

The witching time of night and the moon casts long shadows among the tombstones. Tess, Gigi, and Sean, armed with phone flashlights, walk silently past a freshly dug grave.

Tess clutches a hat, the one from her mother’s closet, Gigi holds her hand and Sean smokes a joint and offers Gig a hit.

GIGI

Have a little respect?

SEAN

Okay.

He takes a hit and exhales into the ground below a tombstone–

Gigi sweeps her flashlight over the graves.

TESS

It’s over here.

The beam from her light hits a big pile of dirt–

–Her face twists into a sheer horror as she drops the–

–Hat, and it disappears in an open grave.

SEAN

What the–

GIGI

Let’s get out of here.

TESS

No-no-no.

She shines her light on the open casket and into a–

–Satin-lined empty void–

–The body is gone… not just anybody… her mother.

TESS

Why.

Gigi gasps, her hand flies over her mouth–

–Sean’s eyes widen, disbelief etched on his face.

GIGI

Where… where is she?

SEAN

(struggles for words)

No… fuck this…

He scans his phone light in every direction, as–

Gigi wraps her arms around Tess, the rock side to side–

–Sean’s phone light spears past a moving object–he jerks the light back at the shape and illuminates a–

–Girl, a few yards away, a creepy, otherworldly presence.

TESS

I know her.

GIGI

You do?

TESS

(to the Girl)

What do you want?

GIRL

She offers Tess the urn and speaks in a chilling whisper–

GIRL

Secret.

TESS

What?

The Girl curls her lip into a sinister smile and a gut-wrenching feral cry.

GIRL

Ah!

She runs at Tess —

–Drops the urn at her feet and–

–Disappears into the darkness.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Scares, Releases, and Creepy Moments

What I learned… With prompting from the assignment, I came up with Scares, Releases, and creepy moments that I could add to the entire outline, from the Prologue to Mini Movie 8. I guess you could say (cliché alert) I went outside the box on this assignment

Startling:

Lights go out. MM 3-Lights flicker and go out in Tess’s bedroom (blame the old building)

Something falls. MM 3-Something of Mom’s falls off a shelf (blame the open window)

Window or glass breaks: MM 1-A rock crashes through Tess’s bedroom thrown by a protestor.

A friend jumps out at you: MM 5-Gigi pokes Tess (as a joke) as they walk a dark hall to the embalming room

See the monster w/warning: MM 5-In the lab, Father appears out of nowhere and touches Tess.

A howl or screech: Prologue-A high-pitched screech comes out of the darkness ( zombie warning)

Repeated in MM 2, 4, 5, 7

Emotional

Someone freaks out: MM 5- Tess losses it while watching Gigi inseminated

Attacked out of nowhere: MM 2-Skater Punk is attacked in the graveyard

Eerie shadow: Prologue-On the ground beneath the hanging woman… other times TBD

Strange Noises: >Zombie sounds at various times: moans, groans, snarls, screeches, gurgles

Wake up what’s happening??? Prologue-Tess wakes from a night terror with a foreboding, impending doom.

The characters are being watched: MM-Skater Punk says it, gets “chicken skin”

Finding a snake or spider: MM 2: Skater Punk sees a man eat spiders or worse

Projectile vomit: ???

Shocking

A safe person revealed as a monster: MM 4-Tess warned by Ely about Father, confirmed in 5

Something unknown grabs you: MM 6-Tess finds sanctuary w/ her Therapist then, grabbed by Max.

Lightning flash (no one there)- 2x: (the monster is there) Prologue and MM 8, etc.

Something explodes MM 7-Father’s lab combusts… maybe or not if it’s bad for the budget.

See a friend harmed. MM 5-Tess watches her bestie Gigi inseminated with w/a evil seed

RELEASES

We have escaped: MM 7-Tess flees w/ Ely; MM 8 (9 months later) gives birth to a HumanZ.

It’s not the monster; it is her friend: Tess fears it’s Ely, but he’s a zombie hunter.

We feel safe and then are slammed into the concrete: ???

We think we have killed the monster: MM 7- Ely bashes Max, but Tess has to kill him

CREEPY MOMENTS

Disturbing Environment

Searching in the dark with flashlights: MM 2:Gigi & Skater do a graveyard search for Mother’s casket

Gigi sends Tess (who won’t leave home) a live video

Digging in the woods at night. –Continuous—they dig up the casket, no Mom in a casket

>PS> Father did what with her body and what are his plans?

Going into the dark attic/ basement. MM 5: A break-in at the embalming room.

Reaching a dark place: MM 5-Tess finds light switch, discovers Gigi’s hand-scares 2 laughs.

Dungeon or place of torture. MM 2-SPK finds a secret lab ( more than an embalming room)

Gross Out

The smell. MM 2: The smell around the casket (with no body), gag-inducing

Find a body bag. Open it. See a corpse:/MM 5-lift off medical shroud -body resembles Skater

Touching a dead body: –Continuous.

Slime or vomit: MM 2, 3… Slips on a pile of Zombie drool

Eating or drinking something connected to the monster. ???

Unnerving Character

Contact with the monster: MM 4-Father/Monster tucks Tess into bed

Humans do something unhuman: MM 7: Gigi, now a zombie, tries to bite Tess

Anything to do with children: MM 5: Father inseminates Gigi as Tess hides & watches.

Children talking 2 invisible monsters: MM 3 Skater Punk pretends 2 see and talk with a ghost.

Voices out of nowhere: Various times-High pitched squeals from the mortuary & the woods.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Level 3 Horror Emotion Scene

What I learned… that I like the ending of my story, but it needs modifications, which will have to wait for a rewrite. I did spend the last thirty minutes brainstorming a fix for the overall ending and came up with three viable options. I liked the exercise because it asked me to apply Anguish, Panic, Horror, and Hysteria, which gave me guidelines and springboards on how to write the scene. It was great.

INT. EMBALMING ROOM – NIGHT

In a sterile, macabre operating room, inside a glass cage labeled “Zombie #2,” a male zombie thrashes.

On a gurney, a woman lies motionless, tubes run down her body to a monitoring machine, it’s–

–Gigi–

–Max, dressed in surgical gear, oversees–

–Tess watches in wide-eyed horror from the shadows.

–Father looks at Gigi with a mix of wonder and anticipation.

FATHER

Let’s begin.

He opens a cabinet and carefully selects a vial filled with viscous, colorless fluid pulsating with unnatural energy.

The label reads–

–“Zombie #2 Semen.”

FATHER

Life marries death.

He fills a sinister-looking syringe with the tainted seed.

FATHER

A miraculous miracle.

With intent and calculated precision, Father approaches Gigi and inserts the syringe into her womb, presses down on the plunger, and injects her with the tainted seed.

He steps back and admires his work, the dark possibilities.

Tess slaps her palm against her mouth to stifle any sound.

Gigi turns green and her veins pulsate with morbid energy.

FATHER

Life will rise from the dark abyss.

Gigi moans, eyes flutter as unnatural vitality courses through her veins.

FATHER

You are reborn, my dear.

Gigi flails, her expression haunted–

–Tess losses it and lets out a PIERCING SCREAM.

Father, Max, and Gigi snap their heads in Tess’s direction.

TESS

You twisted piece of—–

–Fueled by anger and desperation, She lunges for Father.

–Max jumps between and grabs Tess around the waist–

–A HIGH-PITCHED CONTINUOUS SQUEAL comes from the heart monitor attached to Gigi–FLATLINE–Gigi’s heart gives out and she goes into a sudden cardiac arrest.

Father’s face contorts, utter disbelief.

Gigi lays on the gurney motionless.

FATHER

We’re losing her.

Max’s grip on Tess loosens and–

–She breaks free and flees.

FATHER

Don’t let her get away.

Max takes off in pursuit as–

–Tess darts through a side door and disappears into the darkness.

INT. HALLWAY – NIGHT – CONTINUOUS

Tess runs into the arms of her Therapist.

TESS

I’m next. Do you hear me? I’m next.

Her words cut short as–

–Max snatches her from behind.

MAX

I’ll take it from her.

THERAPIST

Put her down.

Max swats the Therapist aside and drags away Tess, who fights him every step of the way.

**

The MM 7 payoff to the above scene/is more of an exercise than the way it will play out in the first draft of the story.

INT. EMBALMING – NIGHT

Tess, strapped on a gurney, struggles to break free of the straps, forget it, she’s powerless to flee.

A grotesque ZOMBIE pounds on the walls inside a glass cage–

–It’s Gigi, now a hollowed-out shell of Goth Girl.

GIGI

(zombie growl)

Ahhhh.

TESS

No. You bastard.

Father reaches for a handheld device and stabs a–

–Red button labeled–Gigi–

–She goes limp and docile as a lamb–

–Tess watches with bone-chilling horror.

TESS

Please. Stop the madness.

He looks at her with terrible intelligence.

FATHER

(fatherly care)

I have big plans for you, my dear.

A terrible intelligence etched in the lines on his face–

–Tess tries to speak but nothing comes out… finally.

TESS

Daddy, please.

FATHER

I’m not him. I’m barely your father. If you must, call me stepdaddy.

He fills a syringe with liquid from a small vial.

TESS

(stunned)

What?

FATHER

I’m sterile. You came from an agency. I barely know you.

Tess goes limp, stunned.

Father taps the side of the syringe and presses the plunger, a small amount of liquid squirts out of the needle.

Tess slams her legs closed, defiant.

TESS

Father, don’t.

FATHER

(off “Father”)

Father. Old habits die hard.

He inserts the needle into a tube flowing into her arm.

FATHER

Something to help you sleep.

Tess manages to kick the needle out of the tube.

FATHER

Suit yourself. Immortality awaits.

He studied under the harsh glare of the Fluorescents.

TESS

I’ll kill whatever you put in me.

FATHER

A mother’s love is unbreakable.

He nods and–

–Max holds Tess’s legs apart, as–

–Father fills a syringe with Zombie sperm.

TESS

Ahh.

Father approaches Tess with intent, the–

–Syringe looms large in front of–

–Tess–she’s got the bed spins, the lights dim, her focus, blurry, and she blacks out.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Level 2 Horror Emotion Scene

What I learned… read the lesson, then read it again, and then one more time… outline, then give it a go. I had so much fun with this first attempt at writing a scene with Fear, Suspense, and Dread. What I wrote lacks context but… well, you know… it will be clear when I fill in the before and after of the scenes.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Gigi reverently removes an Ouija board from a tattered box, along with the planchette, a small, flat device with a pointed rounded edge.

TESS

Don’t mess around with that.

GIGI

What’s the worst that could happen?

SKATER PUNK

You’ve got to see it, Tess.

TESS

I’ve explored every room here.

SKATER PUNK

I saw something move.

TESS

Like what?

SKATER PUNK

A head on a gurney.

GIGI

A head-What?

TESS

That’s what happens after death. It’s a chemical thing. Postmortem, you know.

SKATER PUNK

It turned and looked into my eyes. The dude was naked.

GIGI

Max was fucking it.

SKATER PUNK

No way. Really?

GIGI

Let’s ask Ouija.

She places the tips of her finger on the planchette, Skater Punk puts his fingers next to hers. alongside hers.

GIGI

Stop it.

SKATER PUNK

What now?

GIGI

Ouija, “Did Skater Punk see a corpse move?”

Nothing–silence fills the room–then–the planchette spells out–

“Yes.”

TESS

Max is moving it. Knock it off.

SKATER PUNK

No, I swear I didn’t.

GIGI

Prove it.

TESS

Move, dude.

He does, she sits next to Gigi and places her fingers on the planchette.

TESS

Ouija, is Skater Punk planchette around the board?

No response.

GIGI

Forget it.

TESS

“Ouija, did Skater Punk see a corpse move?”

The planchette spells the letters–

–“P-R-A-Y.”

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Skater Punk dismounts his skateboard and heads toward the front door, then grabbed and dragged into the darkness.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Gigi scrolls through a series of text messages on her phone.

GIGI

Nothing.

TESS

Father will be home soon.

GIGI

Let’s go. We don’t need him.

INT. CORRIDOR – MORTUARY – NIGHT

Gigi illuminates their path with her phone flashlight.

GIGI

I’ve heard stories about this place.

TESS

What kind of stories?

GIGI

You know, like the one Skater Punk shared.

TESS

If I get caught–

GIGI

–If we get caught.

She tests the doorknob at the end of the hall.

GIGI

Damn, it’s locked.

TESS

How did Skater Punk get in?

GIGI

He climbed through a window.

TESS

Forget that. I’m not going outside.

Gigi

Still? When are you going to get over that?

Tess

I know where Father keeps the key. Wait here.

GIGI

No way.

SAME – LATER

A sliver of light spears from under a door as Tess inserts a key and turns the lock–Gigi startles her from behind.

GIGI

Boo.

Tess jumps, and Gigi chuckles.

TESS

That’s it. I’m out.

GIGI

Come on. Suck it up. ‘m sorry.

A motor WHIRS to life, causing Gigi to jump.

GIGI

(gasps)

What’s that?

TESS

It’s the refrigeration system.

GIGI

Refrigeration?

TESS

To keep the bodies cold.

Tess pushes the door open and fumbles for the light switch.

EMBALMING ROOM – CONTINUOUS

Fluorescent lights reveal an embalming machine, sinks, cabinets, and storage, sterile, you could eat off the floor.

GIGI

That doesn’t sound like a refrigerator.

She listens intently.

TESS

That’s the embalming machine.

GIGI

Look.

She points to a shroud-covered body on a gurney–

–Curious, approaches an embalming table.

GIGI

Where are you going?

TESS

I want to see who it is.

She lifts the shroud from the corpse-freezes.

GIGI

Who is it? Who is it?

Tess stumbles backward–

Gigi peers at the corpse that’s hooked to an embalming machine, recoils, and bumps into—

–Max

Tess

Oh, my God, it’s–

FATHER (O.S.)

–Somebody you know… ?

He steps out of the shadows; a chill runs down Tess’s spine.

**

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene

What I learned… how far I have to go… by incorporating the exercise I was able to elevate the outline into an actual scene with subtext, frights, and a first draft to the two first scenes in the movie… baby steps, for sure.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

A cold wind billows the bloody nightgown on a WOMAN hanging off a tree, her lifeless body casts eerie shadows on the ground.

INT. MORTUARY – TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

The dead air silence is broken by a pale young woman thrashing in her sleep, TESS, trapped in a night terror, wakes up SCREAMING, a man in a dark suit, FATHER, hovers at the end of the bed, concern etched over the deep lines in his face.

A deafening GUNSHOT shatters the dead air the silence.

Tess’s grip tightens as Father’s body jerks backward.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT – continuous

Tess races out of the front door, eyes widening, heart pounding, her SCREAMS merge with Father’s heavy sobs as she races towards the woman hanging from the tree.

In a disheveled suit, Max stares in the distance, a smoking gun in his hand.

MAX

Coyote.

He follows a trail of blood from the woman’s nightgown into the darkness.

Father locks eyes with Max, they share a chilling moment of understanding.

Tess clutches the dead woman around the waist, refusing to let go, as something falls off the woman’s neck and lands in the dirt, raising dust–

–A silver chain with a teardrop-shaped pendant, a combination of cross and key—an Ankh, a symbol of life.

Tess drops to her knees, her trembling hands scooping up the pendant, tears mixing with the dust on her cheeks.

MM 1

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Somber, dreary light spears in an open window, Tess clutches a photo of a smiling beautiful woman, the same woman we saw hanging off the tree, dark mourning clothes are laid out on an unmade bed.

GOTH GIRL, Tess’s best friend, a goth with striking style, helps Tess dress for her mother’s funeral.

Tess approaches the window, her eyes fixed on a small group of protestors gathering outside. Signs read: “Suicide is a grave sin,” “Don’t violate the Sanctity of our graveyard.” “Keep the devil out of our graveyard.”

GOTH GIRL

It’ll be fine.

Tess lowers the blinds.

GOTH GIRL

I’ve got your back.

Tess embraces Goth Girl as a—

–Rock CRASHES through the window, Goth Girl ducks instinctively, but Tess remains rooted to the spot.

GOTH GIRL

Get down!

Tess, fueled by anger and ache, reaches for the rock, but before she can retaliate, the door flies open—

–Goth Girl jumps out of her skin.

Max fills the door frame.

GOTH GIRL

Don’t you ever knock?

MAX

Your father says it’s time to go.

Tess SLAMS the door in his face; her eyes burning with defiance, she turns to face the window once more.

GOTH GIRL

Don’t. They’re not worth it. Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.

She offers Tess a pearl droplet necklace and holds out her hand for the rock.

TESS

I’m wearing this.

She puts the Ankh, the pendant she found by the tree, around her neck, feeling its weight against her skin.

Father enters the room with a soft knock as Goth Girl adjusts the necklace on Tess.

FATHER

(to Goth Girl)

Excuse us.

GOTH GIRL

I’ll be right outside, Tess.

She brushes past Tess’s father and exits, Tess glares at her father, and tension drips off the walls.

FATHER

You’ll be alright.

TESS

Will I?

Her eyes burn with resentment.

FATHER

(off the Ankh)

Where did you get that? That belonged to your mother.

TESS

Now it’s mine.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Horror Outline Version 1

What I learned… Keep going, keep writing, finish this first version, and then it can be edited, improved, and added to. I’m shocked that I finished this and believe I will make it better.

>Prologue: Wake up, Shock up

EXT. OUTSIDE A MORTUARY – NIGHT

Blood-dark, a WOMAN in a bloody nightgown hangs from a tree.

INT. MORTUARY – TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Engulfed in a night terror, a young woman, TESS wakes up screaming, a MAN hovers over, her FATHER, she grabs him for comfort, as a GUNSHOT rings out.

>Begin MM 1 / Status quo, a funeral in a small town

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess races out the front and grabs the WOMAN around the waist–SCREAMS–SHOCK–HEAVY SOBS.

Max, in night clothes, holds a smoking gun.

He gestures to a bloody trail from the Woman into the darkness.

MAX

Coyote.

He shares a penetrating look with the Father.

EXT. CEMETERY – DAY

Tess tosses flowers on a casket, as a PRIEST eulogizes–GROWL–A motorcycle approaches, the rider doesn’t wear a helmet–the casket is lowered into the ground as the sheriff tickets the cyclist, ELY–Tess throws herself on the casket, GOTH GIRL, her bestie pulls her off the casket–as the Sheriff rips up the Cyclist’s ticket–Protestors waves signs: No Unnatural Deaths in our cemetery.

EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT

A SKATER PUNK performs stunts on a rock wall, grabs fresh flowers off a grave, skateboards towards a cracked tombstone, prays and puts flowers on a headstone, and skates past a freshly dug grave, the one we saw earlier. It’s been dug up, the casket pried open and the body… gone.

He’s hit from behind and knocked to the ground, watches as a large fighter carries a body into the night–

Headlights–sheriff’s car–Skater Punk falls unconscious.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess, numb, stares out a window at the tree where her mother killed herself, a tray of food sits untouched. Goth Girl puts a hand on Tess and exits.

INT. WAITING ROOM – MORTUARY – DAY

FATHER hires a NURSE to keep an eye on Tess.

EXT. SHERIFF’S OFFICE – DAY

The Sheriff accuses Skater Punk of grave robbing, ELY wears a Junior Sheriff uniform, he’s here to replace the Sheriff, he flips through photos of the empty casket.

INT. MORTUARY – DAY

The Nurse spies on Tess through a slit in a wall.

INT. MORTUARY

Skater Punk tells Tess that her mom’s body is missing. Tess believes that her mom was buried prematurely.

End MM 1

>Tess’s Grief Isolation and Denial that her mom is Dead.

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess conducts a séance, and Skater Punk and Goth Girl attend. Tess sees her Mother’s apparition, as a rock crashes into a window.

Ely disperses protestors and reveals that Father Mom’s suicide and subsequent burial in the local cemetery cursed the town.

INT. MORTUARY – RECEIVING ROOM – DAY

Father introduces Tess to a THERAPIST. Tess attacks her. Later, Goth Girl convinces Tess to at least talk with her

EXT. LAB – MORTUARY – NIGHT

The Skater Punk shows Tess (and Goth Girl) a secret lab in the bowls of the mortuary, she’s convinced her mom could be hiding there, but why? The lab has some creepy stuff, but Tess explains that it’s the embalming room, nothing more, nothing less. He claims there are other places he’s snuck into as–

Father steps out from the shadows as Skater Punk and Goth Girl bolt.

(Details: if there is a mausoleum in the cemetery, Skater Punk could show his crafty side–jimmy’s the lock and steals flowers for his father’s grave)—Note to self: explain the lab discovery.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Goth Girls sees an apparition, freaks out, screams, and runs, suddenly the screams cut out

End MM 2

>The Monster’s secret revealed, Tess figures it out.

EXT. MORTUARY – DAY

The body of a half-devoured Goth Girl was discovered. The Sheriff interviews Father about the death on the Mortuary grounds, casting the blame on the Father. Father turns the tables and says the Sheriff can’t control his territory. Father says that the Sheriff turned a blind eye to the Zombie, and if he can’t get his shit together, he’ll get him fired and Ely will take his place and the Sheriff will not get a full pension.

The nurse sees Skater Punk snooping around and tells Father.

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Tess sees Mom’s apparition wandering outside her window, steps outside, hit by a panic attack & goes inside..

The therapist tells Father that Tess is agoraphobic, brought on by Mom’s death. Tess tells her therapist what she saw. Ely shows questions Father about Goth Girl’s death and shows him photos of the half-devoured body.

Tess steals the photos and cowers in her room, sees her Mom outside the window, beckoning to her.

INT. MORTUARY

Ely shows photos of a dead coyote, “That’s what attacked Goth girl,” not zombies. The town quiets down, momentarily.

The therapist works with Tess.

INT. BOWELS OF THE MORTUARY – NIGHT

Skater Punk snoops around discovers body parts, and sees a body rise and climb out of a coffin as a door opens, he hides. Father and the Sheriff enter, the father comes clean to the Sheriff, he’s a zombie, working on a cure. The sheriff tries to leave. Max forces the Sheriff to stay. Father explains that if you try to stop me, Max will kill you. Father makes a bargain with the Sheriff, allow me to continue my work and you live.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Skater Punk reveals what he heard to Tess.

INT. MORTUARY – WAITING ROOM – DAY

Tess shares news from Skater Punk with the Therapist who offers to investigate. The therapist suggests that Tess stay with her grandmother, who lives in another state. Tess refuses, she can’t even leave the mortuary.

LATER

Tess talks with her father about what Skater Punk told her.

EXT. CEMETERY

Skater Punk lays flowers on the grave of his father.

INT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Father pays the Nurse, as the Nurse dress in a costume to resemble Tess’s mom, revealing that he wants the Nurse to drive Tess to suicide.

EXT. CEMETERY – DAY

Ely places a sheet over Skater Punk’s body.

INT. TESS’S ROOM – DAY

Unable to reach Skater Punk by phone, Tess forces the Therapist to reveal what happened to Skater Punk. Tess talks about wanting to be with her mom. The therapist fears that Tess will take her own life.

INT. FATHER’S SECRET LAB – NIGHT

Tess observes her father, unseen, he injects himself with the blood from a body, that appears to be a zombie, while he waits, he jots notes in a thick journal. Suddenly he transforms into something we don’t recognize.

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

She sleeps soundly. CRASH. A window breaks and crawls inside, it appears to be the same Zombie who attacks Tess.

Max enters and bashes the zombie to death.

INT. WAITING ROOM – MORTUARY

Ely watches, in the background, Father throttles the Sheriff.

INT. MORTUARY – KITCHEN – DAY

Tess, a mess, gnaws and eats liver, raw. The therapist tries to take it from her, but Tess Growls, the Therapist backs off.

End MM 3

>Tess’s big plan and a head-spinning twist

EXT. THE WOODS

Ely hunts and kills a Zombie. (how does he know it’s one, TBE)

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess fears she’s been infected and is now a zombie confesses to the therapist, and if true she wants to check out.

EXT. WOODS – DAY

The sheriff covers the Zombie, calls Ely over his skis, and is not authorized to do that (search for better response.

??? INT. MORTUARY – WAITING ROOM – NIGHT

The Sheriff huddles up with Father and says he can’t protect him any longer as his experiments are running amok. Father explains that he’s close to a cure and plans to create a hybrid human zombie and nothing will get in his way. The sheriff tells him that Ely might know too much, and Father says he’ll take care of that.

INT. THERAPIST CAR – NIGHT

The therapist reveals to Father that Tess is contemplating suicide, fearing she’s a zombie. Father is alarmed, and after this, he orders Max to get rid of Ely.

INT. LAB – DAY

Father offers to test Tess for Zombiism but must render her unconscious to do that. (or, how do I put her out). He performs a test on her. They wait for the results. He tells Tess the results are inconclusive.

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

Ely huddles up with the Therapist: I know the father and his backstory, he killed my family, it’s taken me years to track him down… and now I have I’m going to kill him… his ultimate plan, cure his zombism and steal the eggs of a human and mix them with the sperm of a zombie to create a human Zombie hybrid. The therapist is worried that he would do this to his daughter. You mean stepdaughter, Father is sterile and has been for years. As the Therapist drives off, Max attacks Ely, including being bitten, then drags him into the woods to dine in private. Father Zaps Max into submission. “You’ll eat when I say,” as HELP/SCREAMS come from inside the Mortuary.

INT. MORTUARY – DAY

Tess hangs with a rope around her neck, which the therapist holds up to keep from dying as Father enters.

End MM4

>The monster is scarier than we realized

EXT. WOODS – DAY

The search for Ely’s body comes up empty. Father tells the Sheriff that the Zombies must have taken the body,

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – DAY

Tess is asleep, after the ordeal, just outside the room, Father and Therapist huddle up. If the therapist had discovered Tess a moment later, she’d be dead. Tess pretends to be asleep, and eavesdrops as Father tells the Therapist his daughter is a zombie, the test came back positive.

The therapist exits as Father tells Max, “She doesn’t need to know everything.”

EXT. MORTUARY – NIGHT

The therapist sees something in the cemetery walking around, she gets out of the car… it’s the sheriff, dead-eyed, who turns and approaches her. She gets in her car and speeds off.

INT. LAB – NIGHT

Father labels a Petrie dish, “human eggs,” and puts it in a refrigeration unit, next to a test tube that reads, Zombie Sperm.” Tess comes to, strapped to a gurney. Father removes the straps, “You’re going to be fine.” We’re all going to be fine.

End MM 5

>Tess’s Awakening and her bigger bolder plan

INT. TESS’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Tess stares at a photo of her mother, then hears a noise, and goes to the window, it’s her mother’s apparition. “I’m coming mama.”

FRONT DOOR – CONTINUOUS

Tess on the threshold–

GRAVEYARD

The apparition beckons–

FRONT DOOR

-TESS’S FLASHBACK

The Therapist encourages Tess to take her first outside–

Back to scene.

Tess steps gingerly outside and walks towards the open, waiting arms of the apparition

GRAVEYARD

Tess embraces the apparition as the “costume” falls away–it’s the Nurse. Max holds on tight to her as Father puts a chloroform rag around Tess’s nose and mouth, she goes limp.

Father turns on the Nurse, “Thanks to you Tess almost killed herself.” She responds, “I did it for you.” “And now you’ll do something for me,” he says, and turns to Max, “Now you may eat.”

End MM 6

>The Final Showdown between Tess and Father

Tess is out of it as Father artificially inseminates her as Ely crashes the worlds creepiest party, armed. The therapist follows him in, finds some drugs, and wakes up Tess. Max looks baffled. “Remember now, Father.” I was your first experiment. As Max approaches, he kills him, and now he battles the Father, who knocks out Ely as Tess says I got this, and she blasts Father with Ely’s gun.

End of MM 7

>The New Birth of the New Normal

Chyron- nine months later

The daughter kills her Father, leaves town, and is about to give birth

End MM 8.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Character Journey Track

What I learned… a badass, hard-as-hell assignment provided me with gold, no platinum. By fleshing out/filling out the characters I focus on in the script I came up with plot details and much richer characters.

APOLOGIES: for making this so damn long.

PS. I understand why we had 72 hours to complete this… and I needed every minute.

Character Profile: The Daughter (name TBD)

Role: Mortician in training /hero /protagonist

Traits: Intelligent/sharp mind, analytical, determined, empathetic, curious, ultimately a survivor

>A once fun-loving young woman reduced to a shroud of grief after mom’s death.

Fears: Abandonment, agoraphobia, Succumb to the darkness, betrayal (loss of trust)

Wants/Needs: Reunite with w/mom (deceased), which masks what she wants: closure, truth, safety, survival

Likability / Rooting factors: Brave, growth, resilience/ identify w/her grief even if handle it differently

How they react under stress: Resourceful, problem solver, determined, adaptable.

Relationship with other characters: Strained w/Father, initial respect grows into suspicion/mistrust/Boyfriend-mistrust to allies (emotionally supportive), Therapist-desperate to believe in, Max-wary; sheriff- provisional trust.

Character Journey: The Daughter

Character Intro: Grieving over mom’s death, isolated, withdrawn, can’t cope, memory haunted

Denial: Refuses to accept mom’s death, clings to memories, unwilling to accept dark reality.

Their reaction at first horror: (Seeing mom’s vision) Shock, disbelief, joy at seeing mom.

Relation to the group after the first horror: Clings to conspiracy theories, wants to die

How they fight back: With the therapist’s aid she fights dark thoughts and collaborates with the
Traveler to uncover the truth.

End Point: She confronts her fears (agoraphobia), a showdown with Father, Max, and protects herself and her baby

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Hope and resilience to all of us, her transformation from a puddle of grief to an inspiration to Never Give Up.

**

Character profile: Max

Traits: Unique (human/zombie hybrid), human intelligence, zombie’s physical capabilities, Strength, speed, durable, fast healer, can “take a punch”, adaptable, survival instincts, jealousy

Fears: Extinction, a human target, fear of discovery, isolation (how he relates to the Daughter)

Wants/Needs: Acceptance, understanding, partner, value in his hated world

Likability / Rooting factors: Struggle for acceptance could evoke sympathy/empathy

> Complex moral dilemma: identity, humanity, rights of a hybrid

How they react under stress: Resourceful, adaptable, aggression leads to self-preservation at all costs

Relationship with other characters: Conflict, tension – defies tradition and norms

Character Journey: Max:

Character intro: Unique, complex identity extraordinary abilities/moves coffin singlehandedly

Denial: Desperate to reject zombie nature and become what he once was, fully human.

Their reaction at first is horror: Fear, aggression, resourceful, defending father against an attacker

Relation to the group after the first horror: Complicated, rejected by the group, outside, especially at the funeral

How they fight back: Super feats of strength that result in fellow zombie destruction at the mortuary.

End Point: Accept identity, understanding, or more likely, death at Daughters hands/Survival=hope 4 outsider

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Bringing to light the prejudice, used by the father for experiments, Survival would mean an inclusive world… especially if Max protects the Daughter and child from the father. What does it mean to be human?

*

Character profile: Therapist

Traits: Patient, empathetic, observant while treating the difficult daughter, a calm presence under great stress

Fears: Self-doubt on the progress in the sessions, the danger presented by the violent father (who threatens her)

Wants/Needs: Heal daughter’s agoraphobia, develop trust with w/daughter-reveals dark secret, create safe space

Likability / Rooting factors: Dedicated to her profession, supportive, odds are stacked against her

How they react under stress: Calmly gathers belongs tossed around by the daughter and violence by Father.

Relationship with other characters: Seeks trust and strong bond with daughter, having lost her daughter, works closely with boyfriend >She began her recovery after her son’s death by going to therapy school.

Character Intro: Therapist (Skilled professional/grief counselor, untested, though

Denial: Underestimates situation, “ just another case”, pragmatic, “horror is all in her head”

Their reaction at first is horror: Shock, disbelief seeing the Mother’s apparition (the second time daughter sees it), and self-doubt creeps into her psyche.

Relation to the group after the first horror: Viewed as an outsider, troublemaker, car is keyed.

How they fight back: Proves her value of grief-comforting, human or pet

End Point: Gains daughter’s confidence and gets the daughter to leave the house/mortuary.

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Never give up, admit it when “I need professional help,” we all do!!!, her death represents a lack of courage, but the daughter finds the courage.

**

Character Profile: Sheriff-

Role: On the brink of retirement, unexpectedly confronted with true evil rises to the occasion, only to become complicit in the plan of Father, the monster.

Traits: Authoritative, a presence, leadership, years of service, cop smarts/practical experience, pragmatic, loyal

Fears: Failure, compromise of principle for personal gain eats at him, and loss of innocent lives

Wants/Needs: Justice, exposing the mortuary’s dark secrets, redemption- making it right (at the end), saving the community

Likability / Rooting factors: Dedication to duty, confronting evil while risking personal safety, deceived by Father

How they react under stress: Resilience, resourceful, calm, composed, take charge, coordinator

Relationship with other characters: Protective of Daughter//community-overall respect, community organizer

**

Character Journey: Sheriff

Character Intro: When the town won’t offer the Mother a proper burial (suicide) he protects the unprotected

Denial: Too pragmatic, oblivious to the horror show, turns a blind eye to the obvious “he makes no sense”

Their reaction at first is horror: Shock and disbelief to dug up casket/ world blown up/ keeps it hidden from the town

Relation to the group after the first horror: Bonds w/ daughter, protects over gruesome rumors she’s subjected to.

How they fight back: Initially bonds with town against Father, then it flips… he sides with Father against the town

End Point: Forced to choose between wealth and evil or go after Father will all he’s got, admitting complicity.

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? His death-a reminded me of having principles

**

Character Profile for Skater Punk:

Role: Rebel, discovers casket dug up in the graveyard, helps Daughter find Father’s lab, killed by father

>a stark contrast between him and Daughter, rebel v. model daughter… until…

Traits: Street smart, adventurous, tags cemetery, thrills seeking by skating on graves, fearless

Fears: Claustrophobia-trapped in a mausoleum in an early scene, terrified of unknown

Wants/Needs: excitement after dark in a graveyard, independence, sense of purpose, uncovering Father’s lab.

Likability / Rooting factors: Charismatic, put flowers on brother’s grave, validation, camaraderie w/Daughter

How they react under stress: At his best, he is resourceful, wants to help, copes w/it all-puts fear into action

Relationship with other characters: Bonds with Daughter, Town wants him jailed, the sheriff wants him gone,

**

Character Journey for Skater Punk:

Character Intro: “fucking around in a cemetery” mischief maker, steals flowers for his dead parent.

Denial: Fearless translates into “F’ that”, this is no urban legend, busted by the sheriff- explains, then escapes,

Their reaction at first horror: Carefree demeanor, dissolves into horror

Relation to the group after the first horror: Sheriff calls him “a punk who cried wolf for attention.”

How they fight back: Explains it all to daughter, to get back a skeptical sheriff/ confirms rumors about “lab”/takes her in through a side door (Think my body SPK)

End Point: His early death at the hands of Father galvanizes Daughter to get to the bottom of the truth.

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Don’t Judge a Kid by their floppy hair/ reminds the audience of the high stakes involved in this story/ including theme of sacrifice. Prompts resolve in the Daughter.

*

Character Profile for Goth Girl?

Role: Daughter’s bestie, they drifted apart but now wants to help Daughter-doesn’t know how killed by Father,

Traits: Introspective, stands alone at the funeral, perceptive,

Fears: Abandonment, rejection, fear of losing the only friend she has, suspicion of adults.

Wants/Needs: Genuine connection, craves eternal bond, believes it’s her purpose to help Daughter

Likability / Rooting factors: Compassion, offers daughter a new place to call home,

How they react under stress: Withdrawn, determined to protect her bestie, courageous under stress

Relationship with other characters: Confrontational “fuck you, without the pleasure.”

**

Character Journey for Goth Girl:

Character Intro: Gives the finger to the sheriff, the father at the funeral, where she reconnects with Daughter

Denial: Excited by the dark side until she witnesses it firsthand, “zombies are cool,” until Max kills her

Their reaction at first is horror: Curiosity, to see the body in the graveyard, but it’s gone

Relation to the group after the first horror: They blame her and her friends for a practical joke

>Daughter says to her, “How could you?”

How they fight back: Sneaks into the mortuary to talk with daughter/ offers to hold séance.

End Point: Second time she sneaks into the mortuary, father/Max kills her

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? A catalyst for Daughter’s deep real feelings. “If she can do all she did for me, I must help others” Life is precious and fragile.

*

Character Profile for Daughter’s Nurse:

Role: spy and mistress,

Traits: Two-faced, deceptive, loyal to the wrong dude, Manipulative, death of mother opens an opportunity, calculating her future for her as a single mom, careful planner

Fears: Discovery by daughter and fear of double-crossing Father, her meal ticket.

Wants/Needs: Security for her child at all costs, control, and power over a powerless situation.

Likability / Rooting factors: Unlikable, but we may understand her motherly motives,

How they react under stress: Focused and composed, driven

Relationship with other characters: They suspect her of being Father’s mistress.

**

Character Journey for Daughter’s Nurse:

Character Intro: A compassionate caring soul at Mother’s funeral,

Denial: That Father will take her out when he doesn’t need her.

Their reaction at first horror: This is an opportunity to, she may even initiate/ come up w/Father’s suicide plan.

Relation to the group after the first horror: Ingratiates to the sheriff, even if everyone else hates her.

How they fight back: Meticulous planner to come up with a plan to drive daughter to suicide.

End Point: Dark!! Once the father sees the Daughter ready to commit suicide, Nurse is dead!

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? The depths of Father’s evil… and what a character will go through to protect their family, even at their own expense, ties in nicely w/Daughter at the end.

**

Character Profile for the Traveler (needs a name)

Role: He witnessed Father’s evil at the last town they were both in and spent years tracking Father to this town, both of his parents were Father’s failed experiments wants to help Daughter and eliminate Father. (think Van Helsing pursuing Dracula).

Traits: Revenge seeker, tracker, meticulous, determined, knows Father better than he knows himself

Fears: He will become another of Father’s victims, will succumb to revenge craving, and miss the mark

Wants/Needs: Justice and closure,

Likability / Rooting factors: Right wrongs, and underdog, doggedly determined,

How they react under stress: Survival skills, fearless, willing to take risks

Relationship with other characters: An outsider who’s viewed with suspicion that He is a zombie, they think he might be there to sell out the town to a developer, protective of the daughter

**

Character Journey for the Traveler:

Character Intro for the Traveler: Mysterious, introduce himself as a land developer

Denial: that he could be carrying a dormant Zombie gene, reveals it to who… Nurse… daughter… Max… or?”

Their reaction at first horror: “It’s starting again.” Horrified and takes action… what???

Relation to the group after the first horror: Bonds with the shrink to help Daughter… his presence provides safety and suspicion, depending on who you talk to…

How they fight back: Bonds with sheriff until Sheriff jails him… for…?

End Point: Sacrifice himself by revealing his identity to Max, a fellow hybrid, but he is still unsure

What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Insight into how to live: confront your fears. His resilience was reflected in the daughter’s choices.

**

Build Character Journeys into my outline.

Prologue: Wake up shock up.

A woman deliberately walks into the path of a speeding vehicle, screaming, “Take me, I won’t live like this.” Her body appears to have been partially eaten.

Mini-movie #1: Mother’s Funeral in a normal town, status quo

Goth Girl comforts Daughter, and they reunite.

Skater Punk spots an open casket and a partially eaten body.

The town demands answers from the sheriff, who visit the mortuary but finds the body gone.

Skater Punk is accused of making it all up.

A rejected therapist offers to help the Daughter.

Father’s mistress spies on Daughter, playing nurse and driving her towards suicide.

Nurse and therapist battle for control of Daughter.

Father promises to help raise Nurse’s child if she does his bidding, and she agrees.

The Sheriff discovers the owner’s secret lab/morgue.

Traveler introduces himself as a Developer.

Skater Punk shares details with the Daughter about what he saw.

The Daughter freaks out and wonders if her mother could be alive.

The mortician explains to the sheriff that a flesh-eating zombie attacked the woman’s body.

The mortician demands that the sheriff find and destroy the zombies before it becomes an epidemic.

Mini-movie #2: Daughter’s Grief and Isolation and Denial that her mom is Dead.

Rumors about zombies fly all over town.

Traveler offers to hunt down the zombies.

The mortician hires a tela-therapist for the Daughter’s well-being.

Goth Girl conducts a séance, which freaks out the Daughter.

Skater Punk shows Daughter Father’s secret lab.

Max, the mortician’s assistant, robs graves for more experiments.

Paranoia spreads among the townspeople, demanding cameras everywhere.

The Daughter remains unaffected by zombiism, raising suspicions.

The therapist is rejected by Daughter but insists she’s fine.

Skater Punk tells the sheriff about the lab but isn’t believed.

The Sheriff confronts Father about the lab, and Father blames the Sheriff for inaction, threatening to get him fired before retirement if he doesn’t work with him.

The Daughter sees an apparition outside a window resembling her mom; convinced that her mom is alive.

Mini-movie #3: Discovering the Monster’s Secret / Hero tries to find out what’s going on

The Sheriff pressures the mortician/father, who shows him proof of experiments to cure zombies.

The mortician reveals the limitations and risks of his zombie experiments.

An autopsy reveals that the dead woman was a victim of rare cannibalism, not a zombie.

The town wonders how the monster has been able to kill and eat people.

The mortician’s assistant, Max, is discovered by Father in the lab, and Max takes out a kid.

Traveler is jailed by the Sheriff for trespassing on the mortuary.

The therapist works with Daughter to accept her mother’s death, but Daughter wants to join her in death.

They both see the apparition of the Mother.

Mini-movie #4: Sheriff’s Desperation and Head-Spinning Twist, Daughter has a big plan:

The Sheriff is caught by the Traveler hiding zombie evidence, revealing his cover-up for Father.

The mortician demands the Sheriff bring him dead bodies, threatening to expose the zombie cover-up.

The Sheriff brings bodies to the mortician in exchange for money.

The daughter gives money to Goth Girl to free the Traveler from jail.

The daughter discovers Father’s lab and the truth, but the therapist doesn’t believe her.

The corpses start changing and no longer die after consuming flesh.

The nurse convinces the Daughter that the only answer to her grief is suicide.

Mini-movie #5: The villain/Father is scarier than anyone realized.

The therapist rescues the Daughter and stops her at the 11th hour.

The zombie problem becomes overwhelming for the Sheriff, who begs the mortician for help.

Father calls Nurse a failure for not driving his Daughter to suicide and kills her.

The mortician rewards the Sheriff with death, turning him into a zombie under his control.

The town is horrified when the Sheriff is seen wandering around dead, attacking, and eating people.

The mortician is seen eating dead flesh, confirming his connection to the zombies.

The daughter discovers Father’s new plan to inseminate her with zombie sperm and create a human/zombie hybrid.

The daughter shows Goth Girl the lab, and Father kills Goth Girl in front of the Daughter.

Mini-movie #6: Daughter’s Awakening, her bigger bolder plan

The daughter realizes her Father’s true nature and the danger she’s in.

The therapist won’t let the Daughter out of her sight.

The Traveler reveals his true identity to the therapist and offers to protect the Daughter at all costs.

The te-le-psychiatrist helps the Daughter overcome her fear triggered by her mother’s death.

Max knocks the Traveler out cold and drags him to the lab.

The daughter musters the courage to leave the mortuary and stumbles upon Max eating the Sheriff.

Mini-movie #7: Final Showdown:

The daughter wakes up / tied in Father’s lab, where he’s about to inseminate her with zombie sperm.

The Traveler regains consciousness and fights with Max.

The daughter tries to kill Father, but he escapes.

The Traveler gets bitten by Max and reveals he’s already infected.

The Traveler defeats Max.

The mortician captures the Daughter and artificially impregnates her.

The Traveler and therapist search for the Daughter.

Father kills the therapist and escapes with the Daughter.

Mini-movie #8: The Birth of Horror and the New Normal:

Nine months later, the Traveler searches for the Daughter.

The daughter kills her Father, leaves town pregnant, and is ready to give birth

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Monster Reveal

What I learned… I’m astonished by the unexpected depth and richness that emerged as I expanded the story, incorporating a complicit sheriff and drawing inspiration from Blade Runner. This assignment has brought forth two startling and intriguing elements that enhance the narrative and provide a deeper understanding of the villain. It feels like a positive development, and I’m excited about the newfound complexity it brings to the story.

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ASSIGNMENT 1:

Watch the movie THE THING. I was riveted by this remake of the early tale. I love it when the filmmakers keep guessing the villain… And I loved the ambiguous ending.

ASSIGNMENT 2

Take these steps to create your Monster Reveal Track.

> Who is your monster and what is their terror? A failed man of medicine who operates a mortuary. He carries the zombie gene/DNA giving him the ability to infect humans and turn them into zombies. His terror

>Powers: The ability to turn humans into zombies. He can control and manipulate the actions of his zombie experiments and command them to carry out his bidding.

Limitations: He operates in secrecy, hiding his experiments, and staying alive until he can find a self-cure. Time is running out. He’s found a zombiism antidote, but it contains limitations (doesn’t last long, only works some of the time, adverse effects). Father requires a fresh supply of human flesh to continue his research and sustain his zombie creations. This dependency limits his actions and forces him to seek out new victims discreetly.

>Weaknesses: Time is not on his side, as Zombiism is slowly eating away at his brain… heart, and soul. His humanity outweighs his zombie side (but for how long). Zombiism is eating his brain, destroying his soul. The longer he remains in his current state, the more his humanity fades away. He battles a Jekyll and Hyde existence, struggling with the ethical and moral implications of his actions, internal conflicts, and doubts.

Plan: To find a cure for zombiism, using his condition for a diabolical deity-like purpose.

Sequence the reveals & Create Demand for each clue/reveal.

1. DEMAND: Prologue intrigue! Why did a woman deliberately walk into the path of a speeding vehicle, while screaming, “Take me, I won’t live like this.” Is she crazy or is she feeling some unknown hell, that only she can explain? Later the woman’s body appears to have been partially eaten.

MONSTER REVEAL: This is the mortuary diabolical, possessed, and/or cursed, that drives people insane… this needs proper setup.

2. DEMAND: The town demands that the sheriff visit the mortuary and get some answers. While there he discovers the owner’s secret lab/morgue.

MONSTER REVEAL: The mortician explains to the sheriff a flesh-eating zombie attacked the woman’s body.

3. DEMAND: The mortician demands that the sheriff find and destroy the zombies before it’s an epidemic.

MONSTER REVEAL: The mortician shows the sheriff proof of his experiment trying to cure zombies.

4. DEMAND: The sheriff demands that the mortician keeps this info to himself while he investigates (he doesn’t want to raise the town’s fears, lose his pension, and get fired before his upcoming retirement.

MONSTER REVEAL: Max, the monster’s assistant follows Mortician’s instructions to rob graves for more experiments.

5. DEMAND: Max infects bites on a newly deceased body.

5. MONSTER REVEAL: The body doesn’t survive – deteriorates; Mortician reveals the limitations of his zombie experiments. Zombies survive by eating human flesh, and Monster experiments go wrong. It wasn’t a zombie who killed and ate the body.

6. DEMAND: The sheriff demands that the Mortician perform an autopsy.

6. MONSTER REVEAL: Autopsy reveals that the dead one was not a zombie/ rare condition of cannibalism.

7. DEMAND: Paranoia/townies suspicious of friends, and family/demand cameras in the graveyard, everywhere.

7. MONSTER REVEAL: The only people who have been dying are those who attended the “woman’s funeral” /How did the monster get to them/coincidence or something worse? How did the monster pull it off?

8. DEMAND: Sheriff caught hiding evidence of zombies/ still trying to hide the problem

8. MONSTER REVEAL: Mortician demands that the sheriff bring him dead bodies, or he’ll reveal that the sheriff has been harboring zombies. Mortician, “Help me, or this town will be doomed, and so will you.”

9. DEMAND: The Sheriff brings more bodies to the Mortician.

9. MONSTER REVEAL: The corpse starts changing. They are no longer dying after consuming flesh.

10. DEMAND: The zombie problem is out of the sheriff’s control; he begs Mortician for help / we will all be infected / I must call for help.

10. MONSTER REVEAL: The mortician rewards the sheriff with death, and the sheriff returns as a zombie, doing the mortician’s bidding.

11. DEMAND: The town is crazed when the sheriff is seen wandering around dead, attacking people, and eating them.

12. MONSTER REVEAL: The links the sheriff to the mortician and wants him dead.

13. DEMAND: The daughter of the mortician is suspiciously unaffected by zombiism.

13. MONSTER REVEAL: The Mortician is seen eating dead flesh.

**

2. Lay that over your current outline and fill in each clue/reveal using the tag “Monster Reveal.”

Prologue: Wake up shock up.

A woman deliberately walks into the path of a speeding vehicle, screaming, “Take me, I won’t live like this.” Her body appears to have been partially eaten.

Intrigue is created as to why she took such extreme action and if there’s an unknown hell she was experiencing.

Mini-movie #1: Mother’s Funeral: A normal town

The town demands that the sheriff visit the mortuary and get answers.

The Sheriff discovers the owner’s secret lab/morgue.

The mortician explains to the sheriff that a flesh-eating zombie attacked the woman’s body.

The mortician demands that the sheriff find and destroy the zombies before it becomes an epidemic.

Mini-movie #2: Daughter’s Grief and Isolation: Daughter in denial that her mom is dead

The mortician hires a tela-psychiatrist for the daughter’s well-being.

Max, the mortician’s assistant, follows the mortician’s instructions to rob graves for more experiments.

Paranoia spreads among the townies, demanding cameras in the graveyard and everywhere.

The daughter remains unaffected by zombiism, raising suspicions.

Mini-movie #3: Discovering the Monster’s Secret / Hero tries to find out what’s going on

The mortician shows the sheriff proof of his experiment trying to cure zombies.

The mortician reveals the limitations of his zombie experiments and how they can go wrong.

Autopsy reveals that the dead woman was not a zombie but a victim of rare cannibalism.

The town wonders how the monster has been able to kill and eat people.

Mini-movie #4: Sheriff’s Desperation/Daughter has a plan/head-spinning twist.

The sheriff is caught hiding evidence of zombies, still trying to cover up the problem.

The mortician demands the sheriff bring him dead bodies, threatening to reveal the sheriff’s zombie cover-up.

The sheriff reluctantly brings more bodies to the mortician.

The corpses start changing, no longer dying after consuming flesh.

Mini-movie #5: Out of Control/The villain is more scary than anyone realized.

The zombie problem becomes too much for the sheriff to handle, and he begs the mortician for help.

The mortician rewards the sheriff with death, turning him into a zombie under his control.

The town is horrified when the sheriff is seen wandering around dead, attacking and eating people.

The mortician is seen eating dead flesh, further confirming his connection to the zombies.

Mini-movie #6: Daughter’s Awakening, her bigger bolder plan

The daughter realizes her father’s true nature and the danger she’s in.

The boyfriend reveals his true identity and his mission to stop the mortician.

The te-le-psychiatrist helps the daughter overcome her fear triggered by her mother’s death.

Mini-movie #7: Final Showdown:

The boyfriend fights with Max while the daughter confronts her father, but the father escapes.

The boyfriend gets bitten by Max before killing him, turning into the seventh death.

The daughter musters the courage to leave the mortuary and stumbles upon the sheriff’s dead body.

The mortician captures the daughter and explains his plan to create a human-zombie hybrid.

The te-le-psychiatrist is abducted, and the daughter witnesses it but is too afraid to help.

Mini-movie #8: The Birth of Horror/ the new normal

Nine months later, the daughter gives birth to a human-zombie hybrid, revealing the true extent of the mortician’s experiments

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Character Death Track

What I learned: During this assignment, I realized the importance of fleshing out my outline and justifying character deaths. It helped me fill in some gaps and brought the first draft of the film to life in my mind. Although there’s still much progress to be made, this assignment has pushed me to stay consistent with the outline and take baby steps toward improvement.

Assignment:

Character Deaths #1:Beloved Mother of Daughter (hero) and Wife to Father (villain) –

Reason: Knows too much, gives up, or fears she’s a zombie.

How: She walks into the path of a speeding car, later revealed as a suicide to stop the spread of zombies.

#2: Newborn – Sacrificial lamb

Reason: The monster/villain/Father wants to test the serum on a newborn.

How: Father kills the baby during childbirth, claiming the umbilical cord was wrapped around the neck.

#3:Troublemaker/Teenager/ a snoop

Reason: Discovers the monster’s lab.

How: Eaten by the monster’s assistant, a zombie.

#4 Daughter’s Nurse

Reason: Tries to escape after masquerading as “mother.”

How: Injected with drugs by the monster then fed to Max, the controlled zombie, as a prize for killing her.

#5 “Boyfriend /”Van Helsing” Character

Reason: Knows too much, has been tracking the monster since med school, and understands the monster’s motives.

How: Initially shot – later revealed to have faked his death. Could be more interesting by having him trapped while the monster drains his blood to refill with zombie blood. He escapes the intravenous lab hook-up.

#6:Sheriff

Reason: Stumbles upon the lab.

How: Injected with the serum by the monster, causes physical deformities/ rapid decay/ monster’s experiment fails.

#7: Max (Monster’s Assistant) – Zombie under monster’s control

Reason: Rapes the Daughter under orders from the Monster, as part of the father’s rape experiment.

How: Killed by Boyfriend, (details of his death are yet to be determined).

#8: Boyfriend

Reason: Bitten by a zombie, sacrifices himself for moral reasons and the greater good.

How: Commits suicide, with specific details yet to be determined.

**

Building the Answers into the Outline / Mini-Movie Outline 1-8, with a Prologue:

Prologue: The hero witnesses her mother walking into the path of a speeding car.

Mini-movie #1: Mother’s Funeral:

A reveal: Mother is partially devoured, and the sheriff blames it on wild animals, specifically coyotes.

At the funeral, the woman goes into labor, but the nearest hospital is miles away.

Father (monster/mortician) saves the mother, but claims the baby dies due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around the neck.

#2: Daughter is mired in grief and refuses to leave home (mortuary).

Father hires a tele-psychiatrist for the daughter’s well-being.

A young man hires Father to prep his late father for burial and shows interest in the Daughter. He warns her that her father could be dangerous and advises her to get out.

Daughter’s grief spirals into agoraphobia, and she starts seeing her late mother roaming the hallways.

#3: Local kid sneaks into the mortuary, stumbles upon the father’s lab / Kid tells the Daughter about it, and they investigate together / startled by Max, the father’s assistant / daughter tells the boyfriend or therapist about the lab, but they doubt her story/ Kid is killed by the father and fed to Max (third death).

#4: Daughter is seen flushing her meds down the toilet/she plans to embrace the dark side with her mother’s influence /”Mother” lures Daughter into a trap in the father’s lab /Daughter realizes the “mother” is an imposter and escapes the trap/The boyfriend reveals his true identity and his connection to the father, as the father killed his family. He’s here to stop the father but needs proof /Father kills the nurse (playing “Mother”) for failing to drug the Daughter (fourth death) /Boyfriend fails to convince the Daughter to leave the mortuary / The tele-psychiatrist arrives, in person, concerned about the Daughter’s well-being/ The sheriff investigates the mortuary.

#5: The boyfriend explains the father’s history and his horrifying experiments, to daughter /The boyfriend is captured and hooked up to an IV, as the father wants his blood to test a new serum /Father reveals his plan to the impregnate daughter with zombie seed to create a human-zombie hybrid for the greater good/ Daughter spots her nurse, now a zombie, through the window. Max grabs and eats the nurse/ The tela-psychiatrist helps the Daughter overcome her agoraphobia triggered by her mother’s death/ Daughter witnesses the tela-psychiatrist being abducted outside but is too afraid to leave the house to help.

#6: Daughter musters the courage to leave the mortuary and stumbles upon the sheriff’s dead body (fifth death). The daughter is captured by Max. The daughter wakes up in the lab, where the father apologizes but insists that his actions are for the greater good. The daughter faints as Max mounts her.

#7: The boyfriend fights with Max while the Daughter goes after the father, but the father escapes / The boyfriend gets bitten by Max before killing him (Max is the seventh death). The daughter wants to escape, but the Boyfriend can’t and eventually commits suicide (how to be determined). Father knocks out the Daughter.

#8: Nine months later, the Daughter gives birth to a human-zombie hybrid.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Horror Situation track

What I learned…It was hard to complete this assignment. No, super hard. But so is life, so is the biz and so is writing. Now shuddup, BK, and get to work. By completing the assignment, I gained valuable insights into what was good and lacking in the overall outline. A challenging task and I’m glad because it pushed me to overcome doubts and obstacles. I appreciated the thought-provoking questions it compelled me to answer.

Step 1: Generate 20 to 50 potential horror situations for your story. Here are some ideas:

A. Isolated Situations

Lost: The Hero/Daughter wanders around her mother’s closet, feeling disoriented and trapped.

Trapped: Locked inside her father’s lab, the Hero/Daughter desperately seeks a way out.

Shackled: Drugged and immobilized, the Hero/Daughter experiences a sensation akin to being buried alive.

Kidnapped: The Hero/Daughter is forcefully taken by her father, and rendered unconscious with a drug.

Being lured into danger: Haunted by a vision of her mother in the street, the Hero/Daughter unwittingly wanders into traffic, narrowly avoiding a collision with a car.

Forces of nature: ???

The only one who sees the monster: The Hero/Daughter perceives her father as a monster but struggles to make others believe her.

B. Pursued Situations

Attacked or chased: The Hero/Daughter is seized and subdued by her father’s assistant, Max.

Forced into a dangerous environment: The Hero/Daughter is enticed by her mother’s ghost, leading her into a graveyard.

Impending doom: Consumed by panic attacks, the Hero/Daughter becomes convinced that her life is on the verge of ending. Her agoraphobia intensifies.

No escape or their escape route has been cut off: ???

Monster approaching: The Hero/Daughter’s dreams are plagued by haunting visions of her mother being run over. In these dreams, her father ominously looms over her shoulder.

Monster trying to get to you: As psych ward orderlies approach, the world seems to close her

Out of the frying pan and into the fire: Boyfriend valiantly fights off a zombie but killed by her father.

C. Torture Situations / Injured, wounded, or debilitated: Agoraphobia and panic attacks debilitate the Hero/Daughter.

The Hero/Daughter surrounded by death at the mortuary.

Something inside our body: ???

Transformed into something else: The Hero/Daughter realizes her father intends to turn her into a zombie.

Physically tortured: Grief-induced fears drives her to seek relief through cutting.

D. Tormented Situations

Mentally tortured: Tormented by visions of her deceased mother.

Possessed: ???

Tricked: She sees apparitions, her mother, now suspect her father of deception.

Dilemma: Who to save? She faces the difficult choice -prioritize either her own well-being or someone else’s.

Friends in danger: Her boyfriend, therapist, and best friend find themselves in peril.

Another character loses it (hysterically): A conspiracy theorist warns her about father, gradually loses sanity. .

A character becomes a liability (physically): Max, the father’s assistant, mysteriously appears multiple times, instilling a sense of fear and paranoia in her.

E. Paranoia Situations

The group has been infiltrated: She’s unable to trust anyone, even those who offer their help.

Suspecting someone else is possessed: She suspects Max is a zombie.

Not knowing who is possessed: The fear of everyone conspiring against her.

Unknown motive: She questions why her father treats her so maliciously.

Internal conflict in the group: Therapist / father offer opposing treatments for her well-being.

Menacing Stranger: A private investigator pursuing her father raises suspicions about him to her.

A character refuses to act: The therapist refuses to assist her, insisting that she must help herself/ she exhibits signs of turning into a zombie.

F. Spooky Situations

Slimed: Body parts are discovered in her father’s basement and in the trash.

Doing something forbidden: ???

Fall through the floor: The Hero/Daughter stumbles upon a dead body in the mortuary.

Threatened: Outside is a nightmare for her (agoraphobia).

Face to face with the monster: She witnesses her father reanimating her deceased mother.

Can not see, speak, yell, or hear: She finds herself her senses are impaired-dense fog or underwater.

Environment changing around you: Her home transforms into a chamber of horrors-hidden chambers with preserved bodies and ancient artifacts that seem to come alive.

Trapped spirits, hall of mirrors, rotting flesh: Refrigeration failures, eerie encounters with spirits, a disorienting hall of mirrors, and decaying flesh.

G. Deceptive Situations

Walking into a trap: She stumbles upon her father’s hidden lab, unknowingly stepping into a trap.

Lured into horror: She takes Father’s treatment, falls into a coma but being rescued by boyfriend.

Helping a good person and being attacked: ???

Working w/someone, then they become the evil one: A survivor of her father’s experiments warns her about Father, only to turn on her and try and “eat her.”

Step 2: Determine which situations work best for your plot. Here are the ones I’ve

A. Isolated Situations

Trapped Locked in Father’s Lab

Shackled Drugged and unable to move, like She’s been buried alive

Being lured into danger; Visions her mother in the street, wanders into traffic to save her and nearly run over by a car

The only one who sees the monster Calls Father a monster, no one believes her.

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>B. Pursued Situations

Attacked or chased Grabbed and subdued by Father’s assistant, Max

Out of the frying pan and into the fire Her boyfriend fights off a zombie, only to be killed by her father.

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>C. Torture Situations

Injured, wounded, or debilitated Agoraphobia, panic attacks

Physically tortured Self-inflicted fears brought on by grief, and finds relief by cutting.

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>D. Tormented Situations

Tricked Sees apparitions, including her mother, tricked by Father.

Another character loses it (hysterical) Conspiracy theorist, who warns her about Father.

>Max always seems to be spying on her… paranoia or reason to be afraid.

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>E. Paranoia Situations

Suspecting someone else is possessed Suspects Max may be a zombie, townies (sees them wandering)

>She shows signs of turning into a zombie

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>F. Spooky Situations

Fall through the floor Stumbles into a dead body in the mortuary.

Face to face with the monster Sees father reanimating (her mother and others).

> She stumbles upon a hidden chamber with preserved bodies, including a reanimated corpse

>Ancient artifacts and objects collected by the family over generations seem to come alive, or not

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>G. Deceptive Situations

Walking into a trap Stumbles upon fathers lab

Lured into the horror Takes her father’s treatment, falls into a coma, rescued by the therapist

>A survivor of father’s experiment (PI?) tries to warn her/ she suspects he’s in cahoots w/Father

<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ETC.

Hero / She experiences supernatural phenomena, ghostly apparitions, and eerie sounds, all initiated by her father, who wants to lure her to commit suicide to claim the will and continue his research, including impregnating her with a zombie baby—a vision becomes reality /

(If she is his stepdaughter how would that secret be kept from her all these years?)

Step 3: Assign a reaction (denial, solve it, hide, or fight) to the selected horror situations.

Denies she is her father’s stepdaughter until provided with proof.

Fights/denies the PI’s warning that he might be one of her father’s experiments.

Solves the mystery of the origin of zombies by uncovering her father’s lab.

Solves the mystery of her father’s possession of zombie artifacts.

Hides in a chamber only to discover a reanimated corpse within.

Denies she is turning into a zombie until it becomes impossible to hide from it.

Denies that her father is attempting to reanimate her mother until she confronts the truth.

Denies that her mother is alive until she comes face to face with her resurrected mother.

Attempts to solve her panic attacks and agoraphobia before it is too late, but the outcome remains uncertain.

Step 4: Incorporate horror situations and reactions into the plot, labeling them accordingly.

Prologue: The Atmosphere of Evil

Horror Situation: Witnessing her mother being struck by a speeding car.

Reaction: Panic attacks and agoraphobia.

Try to solve: Blaming herself for her mother’s death.

Hide in the mortuary: Engages in self-inflicted but distressingly real experiences.

Attempts to escape: Triggering panic whenever she tries to leave the house or mortuary.

Fight: Resorts to cutting to alleviate her pain.

Connection to characters: Her best friend is afraid to see her but wants to help despite feeling helpless.

Denial of horror: Refuses to believe rumors about her father’s experiments.

Safety taken away: Losing her mother’s advice and love.

Reaction: Experiences repeated visions of her mother’s accident.

Monster: Unidentified presence lurking in the house, accompanied by screams and disturbing visions.

Reaction: Pushes everyone away, including her best friend, boyfriend, and therapist.

Monster revealed: Discovers her father’s lab but denies what she sees, being labeled paranoid.

Act 2 – Point of No Return:

Isolation/Trapped/Abduction: Develops panic attacks

Horror Situation: Blaming herself for mother’s death.

Reaction: Agoraphobia.

Safety taken away: Loses her mother and best friend’s support, develops universal mistrust. .

Finds an ally: The boyfriend and therapist.

Reaction: Unable to trust them completely.

Disturbing Discoveries: Stumbles upon her father’s secret lab, a dungeon, discovers body parts.

Reaction: Denial.

Another Victim Falls: The zombie who tried to eat her is killed by Max

Reaction: Denies her father’s involvement, despite circulating rumors.

She sees Zombies:

Reaction: Denial and rationalization.

Midpoint: The Monster’s True Nature: Witnesses her father attempting to reanimate a corpse.

Reaction: Attempts to escape but can only reach the front door.

Horror Situation: Father murdered her mother.

Reaction: Confronts him and is subsequently drugged.

Sees mother roaming the mortuary, terrified yet intrigued, contemplating joining her on the other side.

Chased by the zombie Max.

Reaction: Fights back to escape.

Horror Situation: Caught and drugged, rendering her helpless.

Reaction: Fights for her life and manages to escape.

Act 3 – Full-On Horror:

Horror Situation: Boyfriend dies while rescuing her.

Reaction: She fights back.

Horror Situation: Disturbing Revelation: Father is a zombie seeking a cure for his condition.

Reaction: Escapes and gathers the courage to flee from the mortuary.

Horror Situation: Caught by Max.

Reaction: Fights but ultimately subdued.

Horror Situation: Raped by Max.

Reaction: Denial, questioning the reality of the situation.

Horror Situation: Nine months later, she gives birth to a human-zombie hybrid.

Reaction: Horrified by reality but compelled to love her own child.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Horror Plot

Lessons Learned from This Assignment: “Just write” without worrying about perfection. Focus on the assignment and move forward. Embrace change in the story and strive to create an action hero with a clear goal to defeat the monster. Find a specific goal for the monster (a little closer in this assignment. Although it was challenging for someone like me who seeks perfection, to “just write,” I wasn’t afraid to experiment and take some writing risks. Big baby steps for me.

Act 1 – Set up for Horror:

The atmosphere of Evil: In a prologue, the hero witnesses her mother being struck by a speeding car. Questions arise about the circumstances: Was she drugged, hypnotized, insane, or trying to kill herself? Did a fight with the father contribute to her death?

Connecting with the Characters: The daughter/townspeople prepare for the mother’s funeral. Later, those who attended the funeral will die, suggesting a curse on the funeral home. A townsperson dies at the funeral, who happens to be the father of the daughter’s soon-to-be boyfriend.

Warning Signs Ignored: The characters who go to the funeral are advised against attending due to its association with suicide. However, they disregard the warning.

Denial of Horror: Overwhelmed by grief, the daughter has a breakdown and relives the traumatic event of her mother’s death. She impulsively runs into the path of an oncoming car.

Safety taken away / shattered: A therapist suspects the daughter attempted suicide, attributing it to her grief. Townspeople believe that evil has infiltrated the funeral home.

Monster Revealed: A townsperson uncovers disturbing details about the father’s dark past (he violated corpses and grave robbed leading to his being kicked out of mortuary school, but because this reveal was delivered by the town’s conspiracy theorist, no one believes that about such a nice mortician.

Act 2 – Point of No Return:

Isolation / Trapped / Abduction: The daughter develops agoraphobia and refuses to leave the house.

The daughter finds an ally: “The boyfriend,” whose father died at the funeral, daughter implores the daughter to make funeral arrangements. The daughter has a glimmer of hope that she’s going to be okay but then glimpses someone who appears to be the boyfriend’s deceased father wandering the graveyard, leading others to question her mental state.

Disturbing Discoveries: With the boyfriend’s assistance, the daughter finds body parts in garbage bags and uncovers her father’s secret lab, akin to a dungeon.

Another Victim Falls: Another attendee of her mother’s funeral dies. The father performs mortician duties, but the deceased individual is later seen wandering the town.

Midpoint: The Monster’s True Nature:

Revelations: The daughter learns that her father murdered her mother for the inheritance, which she has inherited entirely. She also discovers that her father plans to kill her to claim the inheritance and continue his experiments on zombies.

Hallucinations: The daughter witnesses her mother roaming the mortuary, but nobody believes her. The father has an affair with a townsperson whom he manipulates to resemble the dead mother, tormenting the daughter.

Chased by the Killer: Max, father’s assistant, robs graves. The Daughter realizes that one of the bodies Max handles is connected to her father’s gruesome experiments.

Terrorized: The father subdues the daughter with drugs, rendering her helpless.

Act 3 – Full-On Horror:

Fight for Survival: The boyfriend helps the daughter escape but loses his life in the process.

Disturbing Revelation: Father is a zombie seeking a cure for his condition.

Thrilling Escape: The daughter musters the courage to flee from the mortuary.

Death’s Return: The daughter is captured by Max and brought back to the mortuary.

Unspeakable Tragedy: The daughter endures a horrifying assault (rape) at the hands of Max.

Nine months later, the daughter gives birth to a human-zombie hybrid.

The horror continues… as the father leaves town with the baby. (NOW I’M CREEPED OUT).

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Characters for Horror:

This assignment taught me the importance of including characters that align with the concept, effectively uniting the story, theme, and concept. However, I was unsure if the Group should include my hero. I like the first draft of the group, now I’ve got to make sure the hero doesn’t become passive. I’m still unsure what specific experiment the monster/Father is doing… It could be a plan to live forever, a cure for zombies, cuz secretly he’s a zombie, etc. I’m not worried about finding a solution… YET… but….

Concept and Group: Concept: Would you risk your life to reunite with a deceased loved one, knowing there’s a fifty-fifty chance they could return as a zombie and trigger an apocalypse?

Group A: Social group comprising townies and mystery solvers.

The Pattern of Deaths: The townies attempt to unravel the mystery. Deaths will occur at a rate of one every thirty pages, with an additional death in the prologue. The villain will select each victim for their specific talent, using them in his sinister science experiments. The number of deaths may increase depending on how close a group member discovers the villain’s plan. At the midpoint, a group member, possibly a detective, will raise the question, “What could these victims all have in common?” This leads to the hero/Daughter solving the puzzle.

Identity and Description of Each Group Character:

Leader: The boyfriend of the hero and a devoted companion. He met the hero when he visited the funeral home to plan arrangements for his deceased mother or father (to be determined).

Rescuer: The hero’s tela-therapist, frustrated with the lack of progress in the hero’s healing, pays a house call.

Law enforcement: An aging sheriff on the brink of retirement who is unexpectedly confronted with true evil but rises to the occasion.

Troublemaker: A lone wolf kid attempts to uncover the truth, breaks into the mortuary, and gets killed by the monster before he/she can raise the alarm.

Goth Girl: The hero’s best friend / they drifted apart after the death of the hero’s mother. She still cares deeply for her friend but feels powerless in bringing her out of a profound depression.

The Traitor: The boyfriend’s mother, is engaged in an affair with the monster/father. She is willing to do anything for the monster, as she believes it will grant her power and status.

Loyal Stooge: Max, one of the monster’s successful creations managed to survive. Programmed by the monster to carry out its bidding, Max works as a floor walker at the mortuary, doing its dirty work. Seemingly benign, until he’s not.

Odd Duck: A conspiracy theorist and rumor spreader, often sharing horror stories about the mortuary owner. Despite being seen as the “woman who cried wolf,” this character finally stumbles upon the truth about the monster. Unfortunately, no one believes them.

Nurse to Hero: Hired by the monster, this nurse discovers the monster’s true intentions but accepts money to keep quiet. Eventually, they decide to go to the authorities but are killed by the monster.

[Brian King]

Brian King’s Terrifying Monster

What I learned doing this assignment is…?”

What an incredible exercise it proved to be. It compelled me to keep my options open while simultaneously making my choices specific. Who is my Monster? What are his desires? How will he attain them? This assignment revealed two surprising yet inevitable endings for the story/script, even offering a potential sequel.

1. Tell us what or who your monster is.

My monster’s resume included mortician, scientist, and coder. His psychological evaluation uncovers a charismatic nature, manipulative tendencies, and a lack of empathy (what used to be called a “psychopath”), and he possesses, “congenital analgesia”, (incapable of experiencing physical pain).

Terror: He cunningly convinces his own daughter that she suffers from agoraphobia, intending to drive her to the point of suicide.

Mystery: Utilizing freshly deceased bodies to conduct reanimation experiments, manipulates his assistant into engaging in grave robbery, drove his wife, the mother of his daughter, to suicide, and plans the same for his daughter.

Fear-Provoking Appearance: He wears a mask of empathy, and “plays the role” of a loving and concerned father to his daughter. He weaponizes empathy to manipulate the bereaved.

Rules: His hollow moral compass revolves around the notion that the end justifies the means. He believes he’s a god, and ruthlessly pursues his goal of reanimating the dead. In the small town where this takes place, the loved ones of the deceased have witnessed their departed ones wandering the city streets zombie-like, including sightings near the mortuary. Once engaged for his services, the mortician/monster fully controls the deceased. The dead won’t tell.

Mythology: The monster’s backstory is littered with personal failures. He has an insatiable desire to achieve reanimation, believing that it will transcend his perpetual sense of inadequacy. He wants to live forever, as a zombie, a digital avatar, or a reanimated corpse. He believes that humans can attain immortality and relentlessly pursues that ambition.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Rosemary’s Baby, psychological horror, Horror Conventions

Concept: A pregnant woman discovers her husband’s sinister pact with a coven of witches: trade their unborn child for personal fame and success.

Terrorize The Characters: The hero lives in constant fear that a coven of witches will sacrifice her unborn baby to Satan.

Isolation: Deceived by her husband, drugged by her seemingly friendly neighbors, and mentally and emotionally tortured by her doctor, she finds herself trapped and isolated from anyone she can trust.

Death: Her best friend, new neighbor; and when her husband’s rival goes blind.

Monster/Villain: The hero’s husband is manipulated by a powerful coven of witches led by Satan.

High Tension: As the hero edges closer to uncovering the horrifying truth, the coven intensifies their efforts to keep her captive, isolating her both emotionally and physically, leaving her with very little chance of escape.

Departure from Reality: After the coven drugs the hero, she’s ritualistically raped by Satan.

Moral Statement: Rosemary’s Baby explores a mother’s unwavering love and the sacrifices she is willing to make for her child.

Additional Commentary: What would you do if your own child was the offspring of the ultimate evil? Rosemary’s Baby expertly blends elements of horror and thriller, with its psychological intensity heightened by the appearance of Satan’s Eyes and Hands, making it a horror movie, first, and then a thriller. By merging these genres, the film creates a gripping and terrifying situation. The concept explores a mother’s love in the face of unspeakable darkness, with a bone-chilling final scene

>Conventions for the New Concept<

What I learned… How to strengthen my concept by incorporating horror conventions.

Concept: Would I risk my own life to be reunited with a loved one, knowing there’s a chance they could return as a zombie; or worse, unleash the zombie apocalypse?

Terrorize The Characters: The hero is torn between the desire to escape her home, where her father intends to kill her, and the paralyzing fear of leaving the family mortuary, the only home she’s ever known.

Isolation: Haunted by guilt, the hero blames herself for her mother’s death, and now she’s trapped in a nightmare of agoraphobia, leaving her unable to venture outside.

Death: Her mother perishes in a tragic car accident. Her father uses his daughter’s precious bodily fluids to drain her of life, so he can reanimate her mother to lead an army of zombies.

Monster/Villain: The scientist-father relentlessly pursues a cure for zombies at any cost, attempting to control the uncontrollable.

High Tension: The hero yearns to break free from an emotional and physical prison, fearing that she will ultimately become her father’s next science experiment.

Departure from Reality: The concept explores the terrifying realm of reanimation, blurring the boundaries between life and death.

Moral Statement: Would I attempt to revive a dead loved one, while risking a zombie apocalypse even if the odds of success were only 50/50? What are the consequences of personal choices and the limits of love?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Brian King.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Brian King

I agree to the terms of this release form.

[Brian King]

Brian King

eight scripts, various genres

I want to write an outline for a horror movie that will give me “chicken skin”

Horror movies are not my go-to movies, but when this idea came to me I had to write it.

I took my first class with ScreenwritingU about ten years ago, it feels great to be back and part of a team

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Brian King.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

DS,

I attached some notes to the outline … if you like me to email them… I’d be happy to do that… let me know… brian.king099@gmail.com

[Brian King]

Ah, thx, now I see your outline from Lesson 15 – my apologies for my confusion.

BK

[Brian King]

Thx for partnering, partner. I’m looking forward to reading your outline version 1

BK

PS. Did you want me to read your outline from Lesson 14 – or your outline from lesson 15?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Brian King.

[Brian King]

Deb S, yes pls – apologies for a late reply

[Brian King]

Yes, pls… apologies for a late reply –