Christopher Grant
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Chris Grant’s Horror Outline Version 1
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” This is still a work in progress. I haven’t identified my emotion elements yet but they are all in place. I think I still have a few more scenes to identify. But I’m happy with the way this has progressed.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
1. EXT. ISLA DE LOS MUERTOS – SUNSET
A fisherman, Senor Cordova, stands on the bow of a small FIBRAS, an open outboard-powered fishing boat. He yanks out a pin, the one that holds his engine to the back of his boat. With a splash, it falls and sinks into the water.
He looks out across the ocean steps up onto the ledge and stares into the perilous sea.
All around him in the water, men swim for their lives. He’s surrounded by screaming.
He utters a curse to the sea. This is how we bring about our damnation, by ignoring the sea that begs us to stop. To stop while there’s still time. DAMN all those who sin here. They have brought the monster upon themselves. It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery.
So be it. My son will avenge me. He is the immortal chosen one. My son will redeem our souls. So be it.”
All around him, the sound of gunfire. Below him in the water, the ocean begins to boil. The fishermen swim for their lives. Suddenly, one of them is yanked down. Then another. An unseen force rips them apart as they fight for their lives.
“The devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that’s in me should set hell on fire. So be it.”
Senor Cordova smiles, closes his eyes, and steps into the froth. He floats for a moment, laughing at his fear. Suddenly, he too is dragged under by some malevolent force.
Blood rises to a boil on the sea. Nothing but birds left to feed on the dead bodies.
His curse echoes out across the water. “This is our sea. Ours by birth. Ours by trade. Ours by life. Ours by responsibility. Avenge it or join us. The sea consumes as it gives. All are part of its glory or grave.”
2. EXT. BEACHES OF ST. ELENA – NIGHT/DAY
That night, a furious storm ravages the shoreline of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. The ocean seems to punish the shore for its transgressions. Trees, fall, waves crash and lightning fills the skies.
The villagers are spooked. They haven’t seen the sea this angry in years.
3. EXT. STREETS OF QUITO – DAY
Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village.
He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood.
His mother calls him to return to their village.
His father didn’t come home from his latest fishing expedition and she’s worried. Cristian tells his mother he’ll get on a bus and come home.
He can barely get himself together to leave his apartment.
4. EXT ROADS OF ECUADOR – DAY
The 5 hour trip from Quito to the Esmeraldas is like traveling back in time. Cristian arrives in his hometown of St. Elena at dawn, a small fishery village mixed of traditional indigenous culture and industrialized fleets.
5. EXT ST ELENA HARBOR – DAWN
Cristian steps off the bus in his hometown. No one awaits him. His hands shake from withdrawal.
He finds his mother staring out at the sea.
He promises her that he will find him.
She’s sorry he’s had to return for this reason.
She knows he left town because of his father.
6. EXT. HARBOR – MORNING
The fishermen are angry. Their numbers are dwindling fast. They have boats but no men. They’re losing their way of living quickly.
The beaches are a disaster. The ocean has vomited up on the shore.
Cristian tells them it’s global warming.
They tell him to fuck off back to Quito.
They believe Cristian’s return is a bad omen.
He’s been ostracized in his village.
His father is the reason why.
Cristian hates being back here. He’s been bullied and mistreated by the other fishermen in the village since he was a child. His complete mentality is based on his hatred for them.
He doesn’t want to return to this cursed place.
7. EXT. BEACH – DAY
A lone boat sits on the shore. It belongs to Senor Cordova.
Not far away, a mutilated body appears in the sand. Crabs and worms eat at it. It’s one of the fishermen from the village.
Men have been disappearing for weeks. Some report seas of boiling blood and froth.
The fishermen are spooked by warnings of sea monsters preying upon them. The sea is cursing them for some unknown reason.
Cristian examines the body. It appears torn, with bite marks everywhere. Suddenly, it sits up, stares at him, and sighs – from rigor mortis and heat from the morning sun. The men completely freak out.
Cristian warns them something is wrong. This kind of damage to a body isn’t natural and this man did not die from drowning.
When no one else is looking, the corpse speaks to Cristian. It warns him to beware of the RED DEVILS.
8. INT. DOCK SIDE BAR – NIGHT
The fishermen sit around the harbor bar getting drunk and cursing their misfortune. They fight about what to do. Some are afraid. Others disregard the warnings. Some of them intend to head back out with the first tide.
The Harbormaster tells them they are just superstitious drunks.
Cristian shows up to inquire with the Harbor Master about his father’s boat.
The fishermen don’t want to see him in their bar. They think he’s a bad omen. Cristian isn’t one to back down from being bullied.
Outside the bar, they beat him up for showing up and spoiling their season.
9. INT. BACK PORCH FACING THE SEA. – NIGHT
Cristian nurses his wounds and turns to his drugs.
He gets high out back of his mother’s shack.
Watching the ocean, he has a vision of his lost father. The ghost of Senor Cordova tells him he is both lucky and cursed. His father is hard on him. Cristian doesn’t understand why his father made him an outcast in the village. He hates him for it.
His hallucinations seem to be drug-induced.
Part of the PTSD that Cristian has with his father.
His mother tries to console him but they are long past that stage of comfort. She warns that the drugs will destroy him. He tells his mother that his father made sure he wouldn’t die.
He’s the immortal one.
10. EXT. HARBOR MOUTH – NIGHT
That night the sea punishes them once again.
The wind howls and the ocean tumbles.
11. EXT. HARBOR MORNING – NIGHT
The next morning, the harbor is left empty of water. Every boat is left on the sinking wet sand. The fishermen are furious they can’t go out.
Cristian wonders if it’s his father’s curse. The fishermen decide to burn his boat in effigy. Cristian’s mother begs them not to destroy it. It’s all they have. But they will not be placated.
12. EXT. HARBOR – NIGHT
They burn his father’s boat. It has no motor anyway so what use is it? Some of the fishermen ask why the sea monsters would eat the boat motors.
Cristian tells them they’re all stupid. Before they can beat him up again, the Harbor Master arrives.
He is furious they would treat someone they grew up with this way. He is Cristian’s uncle. He understands why Cristian has turned to drugs but he can’t change Cristian’s position in this village, full of superstitious morons.
Cristian wants to leave but cannot. His mother would be left with nothing. He must find out what happened to his father but there’s no way the fishermen will allow him to go out to sea.
13. EXT HARBOR. – MORNING
The next day, the tides return. The fishermen think the danger has passed and head back to the sea.
Cristian turns to his Uncle for help. Turns out his uncle the Harbor Master is also connected with the Narcos working in the area. Esmeraldas is known for two things – fishing and drug running.
The Harbor Master tells Cristian he can work for him to deliver a shipment. Narcos 1 and 2 can take him to the Isla de los Muertos to see about his father.
Cristian decides to take the job despite the nature of the work. He figures it’s his only way to find out what happened to his father. He’ll also be able to use the money to buy a new boat for his mother. His uncle tells him there will be drugs on board so he won’t go dry.
Cristian’s mother wants to come with him but he won’t let her.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
14. EXT OCEAN – DAY
Narcos 1 + 2 aren’t from the village. One of them speaks to Cristian and one of them doesn’t. They don’t know each other very well.
They will take him to the Isla de los Muertos where his father was last seen but he has to take the entire journey to get back. They won’t tell him much else about the work. Their rendezvous will meet them at the island. They tell Cristian that, to make the delivery way out at sea, they need a bigger motor. Or combine two motors. Otherwise, they won’t make it.
As if listening, the ocean starts to swell. Cristian gets seasick. He wasn’t made for this kind of life.
Narco 2 is naive, just past his teenage years, but friendly. This kid thinks this is the way out of his life back home. Cristian relates to him.
15. EXT OPEN SEA – DAY
Cristian suffers from withdrawal. He’s offered drugs.
On the way out, listening to Iron Maiden. Cristian and Narco 2 do drugs together. The day is pretty fun as they cruise across the sea. They have a lot in common. Narco 2 doesn’t believe Cristian is a bad omen.
A squid flies next to the boat. A bunch of them do. Cristian watches as it glides over the surface of the water using its body as a sail.
The squid is what the locals call The Red Devil. Cristian says he’s never seen them so big.
Strange to see so many of them near the surface during the day. They are generally night feeders.
He tells them he was studying in Quito to become a marine biologist. Never really made it to class though. He did it to please his mother.
16. EXT OPEN SEA – AFTERNOON
Still high, Cristian has another vision of his father. He sees him in the water, thrashing, and screaming. Cristian can barely keep his eyes closed.
Narco 1 wakes him up. He’s been screaming in his sleep.
17. EXT. OPEN SEA – AFTERNOON.
Along the way, they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets lie everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life.
They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.
The Narcos don’t care about the nets. They say it’s a sign of the bad fishing times.
Happened in their village as well…
Cristian understands that the ghost nets are going to cause problems for the boats if they can’t see them coming.
18. EXT. -3.1793068079250313, -80.43770094109634 ISLA DE LOS MUERTOS – EVENING
As they approach the islands, the nets grow thicker and spread out everywhere. Just offshore the jagged rocks are within swimming distance but offer no shoreline or easy exit from the water.
Cristian has to swim into the nets to try and free the boat.
He dives in to see what’s up. It’s like swimming through a graveyard of rotting animals.
He encounters two sharks, caught by the tail, struggling to get free, with nasty bite wounds taken out of them. Hanging upside down, jaws bouncing agape, they look like smiling, saw-toothed demons, peering at him through the hazy water. Their bodies are covered in writhing sea worms eating away at their milky white gills.
Down on the bottom, Cristian can see the ends of the fishing nets. One net is tangled around a sunken engine twisting on the propeller. It stretches out like a drifting trap. Across the water he can see hooks and tethers of other nets, all connected. In them, thousands of dead fish and sea animals.
On the other side of the net a large black eye, peers at him. He startles, pulls away, and goes for air. It’s a squid that moves and watches him. It reaches a curious tentacle through the net. It caresses his face. He lets it. He reaches out to touch it when just above, the engine of his boat revs.
He surfaces and says the ocean around this island is a graveyard. The Narcos laugh. “That’s why they call it Isla de los Muertos.”
They continue on their journey.
19. EXT ISLA DE LOS MUERTOS LATE – AFTERNOON
Arriving at the island, the Narcos reveal they have guns.
They pull up on the fisherman and fire into the air.
Many of the boats flee. One in the center does not. He has nets in the water and won’t go back empty-handed.
The Narcos say they don’t want to shoot anyone but they will if they have to.
They offer them an option, give them their engine and swim for shore or be shot and killed.
Cristian has been deceived. They are there to steal the motors from the fisherman.
Cristian realizes that he’s made a mistake and must solve this problem. But there’s no way he’s going to talk his way out of this mess.
20. EXT. TANGLED GHOST NETS DRIFT – SUNSET
Fisherman 1, the man who beat Cristian up in the village, is not having it. He recognizes the other Narcos with Cristian. They’ve all fished this coastline before. He points out that they are now robbing their brothers.
Cristian is forced to board the fisherman’s bot at gunpoint to un-hitch the engine. He’s been tricked by the Narcos into stealing for them and isn’t afraid to say it.
Fisherman 1 hates that Cristian is the one who is trying to ruin him. He calls him a useless drug addict. A struggle ensues.
The leader of the Narcos fires his gun in the air. Fisherman 2 jumps overboard and starts swimming out to sea.
Fisherman 1 overpowers Cristian and dumps the engine in the water. It immediately sinks.
Narco 1 loses his patience. He looks down and sees the Red Devils. They’ve begun to surround the boat like a giant pack. Their bodies flash on and off from red to white as they surface.
He orders Narco 2 to fire at the water. Narco 2 has never fired a gun before. He aims at the water. One of the squid is hit. Blood and ink spurt everywhere.
A feeding frenzy begins as the squid attack the injured one and drags it down for consumption. The water churns. These animals are so hungry they will cannibalize their own
Fisherman 1 is told to swim for the island, but he knows what’s about to happen. He tells Cristian he’ll say hi to his father for him.
Fisherman 1 dives down. That first moment when you jump in the water and you can’t see what’s going on beneath the surface, he dives and sees he’s already surrounded.
He spins around just as a blood-red squid attacks his head. He struggles against it, surfaces trying to get air, and screams for help. He’s pulled down by his legs into the water.
Cristian reaches for him but he’s pulled down too fast.
Fisherman 1 fights against the squid.
Cristian can see that when he twists, the squid lets go momentarily. They take bites out of Fisherman 1 tearing chunks of flesh. He screams underwater, his voice traveling back up to the surface.
25 feet down in the nets, he drowns. And the squid dismember him quickly. Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village is eaten.
The water is filled with red squid and red blood.
21. EXT. DRIFTING IN THE NETS – SUNSET
The Narcos say Cristian fought valiantly. He’s not stupid. He knows what’s up. Narco 1 pulls him back into the boat. He says that nobody has to get hurt. They just need to do what they are told.
Narco 2, freaked by what he’s just seen, wants to go home. Narco 1 explains they must deliver the engine or they will also be killed. If they don’t get this engine they too will be set adrift and their families killed. “Welcome to Hell. Nobody cares if you come back.”
Cristian wants to fight back against what’s happening but cannot. He knows now this is how his father must have been killed. He goes along with the Narcos to get his revenge.
Could his father’s body be trapped in these nets?
22. EXT IN THE NETS – SUNSET
To deliver the drugs to the freighter offshore they need the engine that has now submerged. The engine is caught about 15 feet below the surface, dangling in the nets.
The Narcos know if they don’t deliver the engine they will most likely be shot as well. But the boat that Cristian is on is damaged from bullet holes and taking on water.
They can see to the bottom of the clear blue water. Where the shoals meet the reefs, the ghost nets float everywhere. The morass of the dead is what attracted the squid in the first place.
Cristian watches the squid darting about in the ghost nets. They are trapped in a killing circle. He says the Red Devil likes fresh kills. Their flashing red bodies are hunger displays.
One of them stares up at him from just below the surface. He can see its eye considering him.
23. EXT. GOING AFTER THE MOTOR – NIGHT
Cristian fights with the other Narcos about what to do.
If they kill him, then they will have to swim for the motor. He has no choice but to dive back in while they distract him.
Somebody has to go into the water to free that engine.
They get a call. They have to be ready for the rendezvous and they need two engines. Worse, their engine has become caught in the nets.
24. EXT DOWN IN THE WATER WITH THE SQUID – NIGHT
Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets.
Cristian agrees to go into the water if the Drug Dealers can cover him. He tells them not to fire at the squid while he’s in the water
He takes a deep breath and pushes himself below the water line. He’s careful to not splash or make any fast movements. He shines the light. It attracts the squid. It almost seems as if they are curious about it.
Everywhere, dead fish are trapped in the nets, their decaying bodies cause the water to cloud up. The nets shift and drag with the current and make the dead rotting carcasses appear to dance and writhe.
Holding his breath, Cristian lowers himself below the keel. He searches the depths for signs of the squid and sees the bottom, about 30 feet down.
Nets cover everything.
Above, Narco 1 holds a gaffing hook stating he will just stab a squid if it comes close. He thinks he has a chance to get one, but he’s pretty clumsy with the weapon.
Under the boat in the darkness, Cristian can see the net is tightly wound around the motor.
He only needs to get a wench rope around the engine. The squid are on the other side of the net. They reach for him but can’t get to him.
He takes the opportunity to swap two fuel lines on the engine, the same way the fisherman tied the lines on his father’s boat to burn it.
He makes it back out of the water. The engine can be raised, but both boats are stuck in the nets.
Any attempts to free their boats from the nets only make it worse.
25. EXT RAISING THE ENGINE – NIGHT
They call their contact who is furious they have screwed up. He’s out on the water as well and will come to intercept them.
2nd half of 2nd Act
26. EXT FREEING THE NETS – NIGHT
Since they are all fishermen, the Narcos start to reel in the nets on the boats. They are full of stinking dead fish.
The body of the first fisherman rolls out of the net onto Narco 1. He freaks out as the partially eaten body drapes over him. He fears that they will all be eaten.
Narco 1 pushes the body back overboard.
27. EXT RAISING THE ENGINE – NIGHT
They manage to hoist the motor back up out of the water. They must get it back up and running. Cristian knows that it’s rigged to catch fire. It’s waterlogged so they let it drain. He tells them not to turn the engine over until it’s had a chance to dry.
28. EXT. HARBOR MASTER ARRIVES – NIGHT
Their contact is the Harbor Master. He arrives in another boat accompanied by two other gunmen. He sees the other boats loaded with nets and laughs at these pathetic fishermen who can’t catch a fish in an ocean full of nets.
Their boat is heavy in the water, it has a large trunk on the deck strapped down. He offers Cristian drugs. Cristian refuses even though he’s having heavy withdrawal.
The Harbor Master knows it.
Cristian confronts his uncle and asks him why he’s doing this. The Harbor Master’s answer is to sacrifice a man to the Red Devils. His boat is too heavy and they need ballast.
He fires his machine gun into the water and forces the man to jump.
As the man screams, he explains to the horrified group this is a dog-eat-dog world and the Chinese are off the coast taking all the fish in this region. In a couple of years, the island will be dead. “They’ll move on and leave us to perish. So I’m getting out while I can.”
Besides, he has a gun to his head as well, and it’s 50 miles out to sea waiting for his cargo. This trunk of cocaine will get him away from this Hell. But he has to sail through it first.
He orders the Narcos to drag the boats together so they can transfer the motors.
29. EXT. PULLING THE BOATS TOGETHER – NIGHT
Cristian sees his chance to sabotage the engine but the Harbor Master reveals another horror. The sacrificed man’s wife is below in the hold. She comes out screaming. He intends to turn her into a sex slave to pay back her transit to the United States.
The woman pulls a knife and goes after the Harbor Master. He fights her back but not before she gets him with a knife.
The smugglers try to start the engine but immediately cause a fire from Cristian’s rewiring.
Several of the smuggled Narcos are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid.
In the dark of night, the boats sink fast.
The Harbor Master realizes Cristian has sabotaged his operation.
30. EXT. BURNING BOATS – NIGHT
The Harbor Master orders Cristian and the girl to be shackled to the sinking boat. He offers mercy from the devil and orders Narco 1 to shoot them before they enter the water. He refuses. Narco 1 has had enough. He begs his family and his God to forgive him for what he has done.
He raises his gun to shoot the Harbor Master, but he’s shot first and falls into the water.
31. EXT. UNDERWATER – NIGHT
People shackled together in the water try to escape but get tangled up in the nets. The Harbor Master reminds Cristian that he is the immortal one. Now they are going to put that to the test.
They must try to unshackle themselves from the sinking boat before they enter the water.
The dilemma gets worse, as burning is no alternative to being eaten. Cristian has to free himself and the woman before they are dragged down by the squid.
Fortunately, the flames on the surface repel the squid away from him. Others are not so lucky. He swings his flashlight to scare them but they can’t be stopped.
The squid pulls the other Narcos down one-by-one.
The water fills with blood and the terrible screams of a man who is both burning and being eaten at the same time.
Cristian unshackles himself and the woman by grinding their cuffs on a spinning boat motor.
He dives down below the feeding squid. The ghost nets are full of the dead bodies of fishermen. There he sees his father, staring back at him, horribly disfigured and covered in slime.
The squid can be fought off one-on-one but not in groups. The woman frees herself. Together she and Christian surface underneath one of the sinking boats.
The squid try to get at them but cannot get around the nets.
But the boats start to drift apart. All are sinking. Bodies float all around them. They must decide what to do – swim for shore or stay and fight. She decides to swim for it. Cristian will stay and fight to divert them from her. And he can’t let his uncle get away from this.
She suggests that revenge isn’t going to help anyone.
It will just leave him dead. He says that he has to free the nets and settle up with his uncle.
With a powerful kick, she swims away from the nets and around out to sea. The Harbor Master tries to fire at her but misses.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
32. EXT. GHOST NETS – NIGHT
The boats start to sink. One of the remaining Narcos grabs a pole and starts to stab at the squid that surround the boat. He unsettles it. The container of cocaine falls into the water. The Harbor Master, furious, orders him to swim after it. He refuses.
They fight and the boat tips them into the water. The last Narco almost makes it to the container before he’s pulled down.
The Harbor Master won’t give up on the drugs.
He wastes bullets on Cristian who is on the other side of the boat. He can’t believe what Cristian has done to his plans. He’s ruined everything.
33. EXT. SINKING BOATS. – NIGHT
The Harbor Master offers Cristian a deal. Together they can still save their own lives and deliver the drugs. He tries to make a call on his cell phone but gets no service.
Cristian tells his uncle that his brother is down in the nets where he sent him. The Harbor Master tells him that his father deserved it. He was cruel to Cristian his entire life. And he was standing in the way of his plans. So his time had come. He’s sure Cristian doesn’t miss him.
Cristian realizes the only way out of the nets is to cut them loose so they can drift. He’ll have to swim down again and cut them loose from the motors on the bottom. But how can he do it?
He finds a bag of cocaine floating. It’s bubble-wrapped. The entire metal container is buoyant. He holds the bag up so his uncle can see it and cuts it open. The Harbor Master screams that they will both die if he does that.
Cristina covers his entire body in white powder and announces that he is the immortal one. Lightning strikes the skies. The angry sea awakens. Cristian’s strange prophecy is fulfilled.
34. EXT. ALMOST IN THE WATER. DAWN
Cristian, now cut and bleeding, understands the only way to be free of this mess is to cut it all loose from the bottom. He remembers the sharks he saw earlier and the engines on the bottom.
The squid fight to get at Cristian through the nets. As the entire mass moves, they find ways to get through.
Lightning strikes and scatters the squid long enough for him to swim through them. Down in the darkness, as he struggles for air, he sees his father’s body tangled and half-eaten, staring at him with one eye.
The ghost speaks to him – “All are free now. All are free.”
He cuts the ghost nets anchored on the bottom and frees the boat wreckage so it can drift free and away from the swarming squid.
Slowly the anchors give and the net is dragged off by the current. Cristian is dragged along by it. He can’t swim back to the boat. He watches as his father drifts away with the tidal pull.
He shines his flashlight underwater. The squid are now everywhere. A squid pulls up in front of him. Just as before, it seems more curious than dangerous.
He flashes it on and off. It seems to mimic him. Others do the same.
Suddenly, bullets pierce the water all around him. The squid re-frenzy. Cristian swims through them directly. Tentacles grab at him, blood in the water.
He surfaces to the Harbor Master laughing. “It’s beautiful Cristian. Beautiful.
Don’t you see the irony?” You’re the only person out here who wants those drugs more than I do.”
He laughs and shoots the water around Cristian riling up the squid in the bloody mess of water.
One end of the container bobs in the froth. Christian swims for it. There’s a handle. He pulls himself out of the water with a huge squid attached to his legs. He fights with his hands and teeth as it tries to pull him back into the water. He bites one of its arms off and it dives back into the water. The other squid attack it immediately.
The Harbor Master’s boat sinks. He fires at the squid and intentionally riles them up to a new frenzy. He tells Cristian that the drugs are now his only way home. “Good luck. I’ll see you at the bottom!”
A squid leaps from the water and lands on his head. He falls into the frenzied water and is pulled down. The Red devils tear his body apart while he’s still alive and screaming.
35. EXT. FLOATING CRATE OF COCAINE. – SUNRISE
Cristian manages to cling to one corner of the container. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sunrise, cast adrift in a sea full of red.
The woman, having swum for her life, has managed to make it to the beach of the island.
She screams out for Cristian, but can’t see him anymore.
Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine. With the sunrise, the squid disappear to the deeper waters.
He sees his uncle’s cell phone floating next to him. He grabs it, and dials – no signal.
He talks to his mother anyway and tells her he’ll be home soon.
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Chris Grant’s Scary-As-Hell Scene
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” I feel like I have a good feel for setting these scenes up. Following an emotional map is a good idea for any scene but it seems easier to do with horror – a great surprise.
Horror Situation: Pursued/Isolated
Dread to Hysteria culminating in Release.
EXT. ALMOST IN THE WATER. DAWN
Dread
Cristian, now cut and bleeding, understands that the only way to be free of this mess is to cut it all loose. He remembers the sharks he saw earlier. They are just below him in the nets. The squid fight to get through the nets to him on the other side.
Apprehension
Lightning strikes and scatters the squid long enough for him to swim through them.
Anxiety
Down in the darkness, as he struggles for air, he sees his father’s body, tangled and half-eaten in the nets.
Release
He cuts loose the ghost nets anchored on the bottom and frees the boat wreckage so it can drift free and away from the swarming squid. Slowly the anchors give and the net is dragged off by the current. Cristian is dragged along by it.
He watches as his father drifts away with the tidal pull.
Surprise
He can’t swim back to the boat. The squid rush back into the narrow gap between him and the boat. There’s no way through.
Fear
He shines his flashlight. A squid sees it and pulls up in front of him. Just as before, it seems more curious than dangerous. He flashes it on and off. It seems to mimic him, changing from red to white. Others do the same.
Panic
Suddenly, bullets pierce the water all around him. The squid re-frenzy forcing Cristian to swim through them directly. Tentacles everywhere, his blood in the water.
Horror
He surfaces to the Harbor Master laughing. “It’s beautiful Cristian. Beautiful. Don’t you see the irony?” You’re the only person out here who wants those drugs more than I do.”
He laughs and shoots the water around Cristian riling up the squid in the bloody mess of water. Cristian screams and heads for anything he can grab onto.
Hysteria
He’s pulled underwater.
A squid hits his back. He twists to get it off but they pile on. He flashes his light again to distract them but drops it during the fight. He gasps for air.
As he is pulled down, the current drags the nets past him. This looks like the end.
Release
It’s then he sees his father’s face, drifting past in the net, released, as if forever. His dead dangling arms wave goodbye. Above him on the surface, Cristian sees a silhouette, something floating.
Suspense
He kicks up to it, right through the massing squid, fighting them off on his way up to the surface.He gasps for air and swims towards one end of the cocaine container. There’s a handle. He grabs at it.
Horror
He pulls himself out of the water with a huge squid attached to his legs. He fights with his hands and teeth as it tries to pull him back into the water. He tears off one of its arms and tosses it. The other squid attack it immediately.
Release
He clings to the sides of the trunk, all appendages out of the water. If he moves, he’ll fall back in. But he’s alive.
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Chris Grant’s Scares, Releases, and Creepy moments!
What I learned doing this assignment is…?” I have a lot of scenes that can these scary treatments. There are plenty more than this one. I feel like my first act needs a lot more creepiness to amplify the scary. I’ll keep working on it.
Cristian stumbles up to his mother’s front door. He doesn’t want to go in, doesn’t want her to see him like this.
Behind him, the ocean howls, and the winds blow. He sits down on the concrete ledge. Down below is only feet away, but it’s as dark as Hades.
He digs in his pockets, and finds his meager bag of drugs, now running dry. He finishes the bag and licks the insides. He lays back on the ground as his head spins into a haze.
Is he asleep? Is he awake? Somehow the night begins to shift. The howling sea grows around him, the wind picks up. He opens his eyes. Nothing there. And then…
A voice calls out from below, down on the rocks in the darkness. Cristian takes out his flashlight and shines it on the rocks below. Somehow, its light does not penetrate the darkness.
He staggers to his feet, forehead still bleeding. The voice calls louder, beckoning him to come down closer. He shakes his head. Is this the drugs again? He can’t tell.
And then, “CRRRISSSTIAAAAN….”
The unmistakable sound of his father’s groaning voice. He stops down in the hole, the rocks are slippery. He yells out for his father and shines his flashlight on the rocks. There’s nothing there.
“CRISSSSTIAAAAN!!” His flashlight begins to flicker. He bangs it but it’s dying. Lightning strikes somewhere offshore as it fails. He’s left in the darkness on the slippery rocks. He calls out for his father again.
Lightning strike. A silhouette stands behind him. Cristian spins toward the light and sees…
A man, wretched, dismembered and way too close for comfort. Cristian falls back on the slippery rocks and tries to scramble away. But he only slides closer towards it, underfoot.
He makes out the horrible face, it appears to be…his father, the Ghost of Senor Cordova.
Senor Cordova points at Cristian, then out to the sea. He howls and as he does, Cristian sees other shadows of the dead approaching. He screams his father’s name but the howling only increases. “What do you want from me?”
“Red Devils” It howls to the wind. “Red Devils!”
Cristian struggles to understand. The ghost grabs him by the neck. Cristian asks his father why he did this to him. He hates his father, even as a ghost. He screams but the ghost suddenly holds a mass of dead fish in a net above his head. Cristian tries to scramble away but the ghost drops the slimy messy nets on him.
“REEEEED DEEEEVILLLLLLL” the ghost cries out as the mess covers Cristian.
Writhing sea creatures, slimy sea slugs cover Cristian as he screams and pulls away. But he’s unable to free himself. The ghost howls. Cristian screams back at his father. Why is he doing this to him?
Suddenly, he wakes up, back on his mother’s doorstep.
He screams in terror, asking what the ghost wants, scrambling to free himself from the now invisible nets covering him. She opens the door to find him bleeding, and crying.
She understands it’s the drugs and takes him inside.
As he stumbles through her front door, the sea behind him continues to howl. He turns back and shines his flashlight. Nothing there.
He tells his mother that he’s just had a vision of his father. His mother comforts him and tells him his father’s disappearance is not his fault.
He closes the door.
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Chris Grant’s Level 3 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned doing this assignment is…? I’m definitely seeing how these emotional shifts are relevant to each act. It’s important to wait until the anxiety is fully developed before introducing pure terror. I look forward to applying this to all of my scenes.
The woman, sweating, and frantic sees her chance. While the other Narcos struggle with the nets and the motors, she rises from the corner where she’s cowered from her shock.
They don’t pay attention to her, even when she reaches down and grabs a gaffe hook.
Before he can spin around, she lunges at the Harbor Master and gets the hook in his leg. He screams and slaps her backward onto the floor.
Blood spews from his leg.
Screaming in pain, he orders Narco 1 to shoot her.
But the boy has never shot anyone.
He hesitates, the look of anguish on his face, brought to this moment too prematurely in his life.
He panics and looks at Narco 2 in the other boat. He doesn’t know what to do. The Harbor Master orders him to shoot again. He raises his gun, but can’t pull the trigger.
The Harbor Master rises and shoves him into the water. Almost immediately, he’s set upon by the squid. He screams and tries to fight them off, but his gun wraps around his head and limits his ability to swing.
A Squid covers his face.
He screams underneath as it bites hard into his forehead. Narco 2 frantically reaches for him but to no avail. He’s pulled down under the water and ripped apart.
The Harbor Master orders Narco 2 to shoot the girl.
He grabs his gun and raises it. He too hesitates.
He cocks the weapon, looks to Cristian, and begs him “please find my wife. Please tell her what happened. Please don’t tell her what I’ve done here.
He points the gun at the girl, cocks it. The Harbor Master tells him to fire. Instead, he fires at the engine. It explodes, sending hot fuel everywhere.
He screams as the flames engulf his body. He falls screaming into the water.
The liquid fuel spreads quickly on the boats, driving them apart. The Harbor Master panics. His drugs have slid into the water and deep into the nets.
He yells at his men to stop it but the flames prevent them as the boats are driven apart.
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Chris Grant’s Level 2 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
This process is getting easier with each try. Building suspense is a fun way to escalate a scene. With each pass, I can see more and more elements to add to the fear. I’m enjoying he process. I’m still staying away from dialogue.
The motor is twisted badly in the nets. Narco 2 hands Cristian a machete knife. He looks at the clear water below the boat. Though he can’t see far, it all seems clear.
He slips into the water.
He takes a deep breath and pushes himself below the water line. He’s careful to not splash or make any fast movements.
Everywhere, dead fish trapped in the nets, their decaying bodies cause the water to cloud up. The nets shift and drag with the current and make the dead rotting carcasses appear to dance and writhe.
Holding his breath, Cristian lowers himself below the keel. He searches the depths for signs of the squid, sees the bottom, about 30 feet down. Nets cover everything.
Above, Narco 1 holds a gaffing hook stating he will just stab a squid if it comes close. He thinks he has a chance to get one, but he’s pretty clumsy with the weapon.
Under the boat in the darkness, Cristian can see the net is tightly wound around the motor.
He surfaces and tells the others he’s going to have to cut it. When he gives the cue, they need to start the engine to spin it free.
He dives back down below the keel, knife between his teeth, eyes again scanning the murky water.
He slices at the thick net around the engine rotor. At first, it doesn’t give, so many layers tightly wound. He cuts a few and then pulls away from the engine, like pulling cotton candy off a spinning wheel. It gets everywhere.
In the corner of his eye, something darts past. He turns, nothing.
He sticks his hand above the water line and motions to the Narco to turn on the motor.
Narco 1 turns the engine over in a quick spurt. The frizzy water makes it hard to see anything as the boat grinds into the nets. Cristian dives back below to get a better look.
The Narco spins the motor again. Cristian is too close. The wound nets spin off the motor slapping him and pushing him away into open water.
From nowhere, a squid slips past him. He spins his body around to fight but it seems unconcerned with him, preferring instead a massive squirming Grouper thrashing in the nets just below him.
The squid grabs the fish and pulls it up towards Cristian as other squid ascend to attack. Cristian kicks backward and away as the motor spins free. The water all around him frizzes. He barely misses the rotors.
Above, the Narcos can see the squid rising. Narco 1 grabs his pole and starts to poke the water.
Down below, his pole barely misses Cristain as he struggles to swim away from the warm.
In seconds, they’re everywhere, swarming to get a bite of the fish. One turns and sees Cristian. It approaches. He bangs on the side of the boat but his frantic arm-waving attracts more squid who turn towards him.
He surfaces screaming “pull me up!” The surface of the water begins to froth with the swarm. “Pull me up!” he screams.
Under the surface, a squid grabs hold of his shoe. It tugs the shoe off his foot but before it can grab his leg, he swipes with his knife and cuts off a tentacle. The injured squid darts backward, bleeding, frantic as the shoe and the tentacle float down. The other squid react, bloodthirsty even for one of their own. They attack the other squid, and the shoe giving Cristian a moment to surface.
Cristian kicks for the surface. Something grabs his shoulder and head. He screams and lets out all his air.
It’s Narco 2, who grabs Cristian by the hair, and then by the arms, and yanks him up out of the water into the boat.
Cristian lays on the bed of the boat hyper-ventilating. The Narcos laugh. He’s got big cajones, this kid.
They start the engine. The motor whips off the last bits of the net.
But looking around, their boat sits in a mass of nets, they won’t get far before it becomes entangled again.
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Chris Grant’s Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned is – I don’t usually write scenes without dialogue but this was a good lesson just to focus on the emotions. They can generally be conveyed without dialogue. It’s actually a great way to create a first pass.
EXT. BARREN BEACH MORNING
Hard waves at sunrise. The ocean coughs up it’s dead.
Everywhere, dead animals, seaweed, logs, plastic. It’s like a vomiting of all that the ocean doesn’t need.
In the center of the sand, not far from the break, A HUMAN-SIZED mound rolls back and forth on the froth.
Five or six fishermen approach slowly. They think it’s a seal.
Something about it is off. This no dead seal they say. That’s a…
Human.
Just as quickly, they jump back, climb over each other to get away. Some make the sign of the cross. Because..
The body is riddled with bite marks, wounds that appear more as tears. The leg bones are completely denuded.
One of them rolls it over. The bloated midsection, distended from sea-water and gas. Suddenly, it sighs.
The men jump back revealing Cristian standing among them.
He pushes the abdomen down and water spits from the mouth, like a gargle. He says it’s just seawater and gas from rigor mortis.
But then it sits up straight, as if trying to say something. The men freak out and start running back down the beach. Some pull out their phones to take pictures.
The mouth falls open, gargling as if to say something. Cristian gets near. What’s left of the face is bones and strands of hanging flesh over teeth.
As he places his ear next to the mouth, the head rolls sideways towards him. The eyeball rolls out of the socket. He hears the words “Diablo.”
Did he really hear that? Or was it a vision. Cristian snaps back away from the corpse. The other men ask what it said.
He says it’s a natural recently deceased body response. Just rigor mortis acting like life.
The men snap photos of the corpse. It won’t be long before everyone in town knows…
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Chris Grant’s Horror Outline Version 1
What I learned is: I’m digging too far into the specifics of my outline and it’s slowing me down too much. So I’m posting my progress so far. Don’t want to fall too far behind.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
EXT. ISLA DE LOS MUERTOS – SUNSET
Opening/prologue: Start the mystery of the monster by showing us the result of their violence.
Atmosphere of Evil established – A fisherman steps off his boat into a dark perilous ocean. Before he does, he speaks a curse. Fight – Cristian’s father curses everyone as he is forced into the ocean.The fisherman are told to swim but the Narco fires into the water to rile up the squid. Surprised / blindsided
Thrown into the monster – Senor Cordova is told to jump into the water.The ocean starts to boil. The fisherman swim for their lives. They are consumed by something under the water. Senor Cordova jumps into the froth. He floats for a moment, laughing at his own fear. Suddenly, he’s dragged under by some malevolent force.
Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Unrelenting hunger when frenzied. Death – Senor Cordova – Cristian’s father and first one killed.why – He will not give up his boat motor to the Narcos.how – He’s pushed into the sea and consumed by the squid.Demand – Putting together the pieces
EXT. BEACHES OF ST. ELENA NIGHT/DAY
Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
EXT. STREETS OF QUITO DAY
Connect with the characters – Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village. He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood. His mother calls him to return to their village. His father didn’t come home from the sea. Cristian tells his mother that he’ll get on a bus and come home. Traveling across Ecuador to the Esmeraldas is like traveling back in time. The coast is simple fishing towns mixed of traditional indigenous cultures.
EXT. HARBOR DAY
The fisherman are angry. Their numbers are dwindling fast. They have boats but no men. They are losing their way of living quickly.
The fishermen in the village believe Cristian’s return is a bad omen. He’s been ostracized in his own village.
Cristian arrives in his home town. It’s depressed, dominated by a failing fishing industry. He hates being back here.
Mentally tortured – Cristian has been bullied and mistreated by the other fishermen in the village since he was a child. His complete mentality is based on his hatred for them.He doesn’t really want to return to this cursed place.
EXT. BEACH DAY
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
The next morning, a mutilated body appears in the sand.
During 1st Act: Foreshadowing as cluesPossessed – The dead body on the beach sits up from rigor mortis and sighs.
Death – Fisherman 1 – In the boat with Senor Cordova. Washes up as a corpse on shore.Why – also sacrificed to the squid How – Unseen but generally consumed by the sea.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The characters are warned not to do it. – The fisherman in the village want to go back to sea and earn their living. But Cristian warns them something is wrong. The sea is angry for some reason and they must find out why first. Something inside our body – Crabs and worms eating the dead corpses.The only one who sees the monster – Cristian’s visions foretell of the monster to come. The corpse speaks to him when no one else does.Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions. This only makes them more angry at Cristian.
INT. DOCK SIDE BAR NIGHT
Denial of Horror – The fisherman fight about what to do. They disregard the warnings. Some of them want to head back out with the first tide.
o Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions. They sit around the harbor bar getting drunk and cursing their misfortune. The Harbormaster tells them they are just superstitious drunks.
o Cristian shows up to inquire with the Harbor Master about his father’s boat.
Threatened – The fisherman don’t want to see him in their bar. they threaten to beat him up outside the bar where they all drink. He provokes them and gets beat up by multiple people at once.Threatened – The fisherman think Cristian is a bad omen and they threaten to beat him up outside the bar where they all drink. He provokes them and gets beat up by multiple people at once. They beat him up for showing up again and spoiling their season.
EXT. HARBOR MOUTH NIGHT
· That night the sea punishes them once again. The wind howls and the ocean tumbles.
INT. BACK PORCH FACING THE SEA. NIGHT
· Cristian gets high out back of his mother’s shack.
· Watching the ocean, he has a vision of his lost father. Senor Cordova tells him that all are cursed. He tells his son to avenge him and the others.
· Cristian doesn’t understand what his father wants.
· His hallucinations seem to be drug-induced.
EXT. HARBOR MORNING
Safety taken away – The next morning, the harbor is left empty of water. The boats are left on the sinking sands. The fisherman are furious they can’t go out again.Cristian believes it’s a natural occurrence but they blame him anyway . The villagers take it out on Cristian’s family and burn his father’s boat.
1st Act turning point: Characters are locked into horror
Monster: The nature of the beast. – A whale is attacked in the ocean in the nights. Some unseen force drags it under. It struggles, trying to get free. It lets off a monstrous scream that can be heard for miles.
The next day, the tides return and the fishermen head back to the sea.
Menacing Stranger – Narcos that the Harbor Master introduces Cristian to are dubious at best. They aren’t from their village and are not friendly. Being lured into danger – The Harbor Master lures Cristian into traveling on his drug boat. He doesn’t know that the smugglers were responsible for his father.
Doing something forbidden – Cristian decides to get on the boat with the Narcos when his father’s boat is burned.Denial – Cristian takes up this journey despite the warnings of danger.ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
1st half of 2nd Act: The monster is present, but hidden
EXT OCEAN DAY
o Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – The smugglers promise to take him to the Isla Del Muertos where his father was last seen. Cristian, intent on finding out what happened to his father, agrees to crew on a drug running fast boat.
o Three men on a boat. One of them doesn’t speak to him. The other is naive. They don’t know each other very well.
· On the way out, listening to Iron Maiden. The youngest Narco is Cristian’s age. They have a lot in common. This kid thinks this is the way out of his life back home.
EXT OPEN SEA SUNSET
· They do drugs together.
o Unknown motive – Narcos who take Cristian out in the boat the first night seem to be good guys. They don’t believe he’s bad luck. But they aren’t really on his side.
§ Denial – Cristian goes along with them because they offer him drugs.
A squid flies next to the boat. A bunch of them do. Cristian watches as it glides over the surface of the water using it’s body as a sail.
o The only one who sees the monster – He sees the flying squid on the water when no one else does.
Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Seems intelligent. Demand – CuriosityMonster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Causing people to work against their own best interests. – Demand – Discovery –
EXT. OPEN SEA NIGHT.
· Along the way they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets are everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life. They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.
Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Initially hesitant. Demand – Curiosity Smugglers Weaknesses – Fragile egos, guilt. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – Stupidity Demand Conflict
Escape – Cristian understands that the ghost nets are going to cause problems for the boats if they can’t see them coming.
EXT. -3.1793068079250313, -80.43770094109634 ISLA DEL MUERTOS NIGHT
o Lured into the horror – Cristian has to swim into the nets to try and free the boats. It’s like swimming through a graveyard of rotting animals of all kinds.
Death – Sea Animals – Why Caught in the nets How – Can’t free themselves and end up drowning.Back into it – Swimming underwater and getting caught in the ghost nets with no way to get out.
o Walking into a trap – Arriving at the Isla Del Muertos, the smugglers meet up with another boat. These smugglers have guns. Cristian realizes he’s been deceived. He’s trapped by the Narcos.
EXT. ISLA DEL MUERTOS SUNSET
Kidnapped – Cristian is forced to work for the Narcos. He finds out that the two fishermen he’s with have also been forced to work on their behalf.Working with someone, then they become the evil one – The dealers give the two men in the boats the guns. They don’t really want to shoot anyone but they must do so in order to survive themselves.One of us killed – The Narcos are preying on the fisherman. They want their boat motors and they are willing to kill them for them. Escape – Cristian realizes that he’s made a mistake and must solve this problem.They offer them an option, give them their engine and swim for shore or be shot and killed. Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Being offered the chance to swim to shore or shot.
EXT. TANGLED GHOST NETS DRIFT – SUNSET
Cristian is forced to board the other ship so they can steal the engine.
Tricked – Cristian has been tricked by the Narcos into stealing for them. Fisherman 1 is not having it. He recognizes the other Narcos with Cristian. They’ve all fished this coast line before. He points out that they are now robbing their own brothers.Fisherman 1 hates that Cristian is the one who is trying to ruin them and fight him then and there. A struggle ensues. The leader of the smugglers fires his machine gun.
EXT. DOWN IN THE NETS SUNSET
Fisherman 2 jumps overboard and starts swimming out to sea.
Dilemma: Who to save: Them or me? Or Person A versus Person B? Either be the person stealing the motor or be the person swimming for your life. Fisherman forced to prey on one another.
Fisherman dumps the engine in the water and it immediately sinks down. The Narco loses his patience.
See another killed – Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village are forced into the water and eaten.
o Narco 1 orders Narco 2 to fire at the water. He looks down and sees a squid. They now surround the boat in the nets. The squid attack the injured squid and drag it down for consumption. A feeding frenzy begins as the squid cannibalize their own. The water churns.
Death – Fisherman 2 – Forced into the water by the Narcos and told to swim for the island. He tells Cristian he’ll say hi to his father for him.Why – Given a choice to swim for their lives or be shot.How – Can’t escape the squid once they enter the water.
o Physically tortured – Watching someone get eaten,
o That first moment when you jump in the water and you can’t see what’s going on beneath the surface. He dives down underneath where he sees that he’s already surrounded. He turns around and a blood red squid attacks his head. He struggles against it, surfaces trying to get air, screams for help. He’s pulled down by his legs into the water.
§ Cristian reaches for him but he’s pulled down too fast. Still he fights against the squid. Cristian can see that when he twists, the squid let go. The squids take bites out of him tearing. He screams underwater, his voice traveling back up to the surface.
o 25 feet down, he drowns. And the squid dismember him quickly.
o The water is filled with red squid and red blood.
§ Fisherman 2 – Consumed by the squid
§ Why – Won’t give up his motor
§ How – Shot and falls into the water. At least he’s dead before the squid get to him.
Friends in danger –o Cristian sees the people he has grown up with killed by the smugglers. He barely makes it back to his boat.
o Fight – Much like Cristian’s father, Cristian wants to fight back against what’s happening but cannot. He tries to help the fisherman out of the water but he’s torn apart.
EXT. DRIFTING IN THE NETS – NIGHT
Monster Reveal: Smugglers Purpose – Steal the boat engines from the fisherman Try to solve it – Cristian realizes this is how his father must have been killed.The group has been infiltrated – Cristian goes along with the Narcos in order to get his revenge.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
EXT. ISLA DE LOS MUERTOS
The engine is just below the surface and sinking fast and they are still caught in the nets. The Narcos know if they don’t deliver the engine they will most likely be shot as well. They younger Narco wants to go home. The older Narco explains that they must deliver the engine or they will also be killed.The engine is caught about 15 feet below the surface, dangling in the nets.The boat that Cristian is on is damaged from bullet holes and taking on water.Deliver the drugs to the freighter offshore. Nobody cares if you come back. Demand – DiscoveryMonster Reveal: Squid Powers – Can’t be stopped in the water. Demand – TerrorMonster Reveal: Squid Powers – Can attack from multiple angles. Demand – ConflictMonster Reveal: Squid Powers -Escapes easily – Demand – ConflictMonster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Extortion – Warns fisherman that their families are at risk if they don’t cooperate. Demand – Conflict Cristian tries to dive for the motor but the squid are everywhere. He fights with the other Narcos about what to do. If they kill him, then they will have to swim for the motor.
EXT. ISLA DEL MUERTOS NIGHT
The drug dealers are on the way. They get a call that they have to be ready for the rendezvous and they need two engines. Worse, their own engine has become caught in the nets.Monster Reveal: Squid Powers – Pack hunting at high speed. Demand – Putting the pieces togetherMonster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Can’t leave the water for very long. Demand – Conflict Smugglers Weaknesses – Stupidity Demand ConflictTrapped – The boats become entangled in the nets. Escape – Revving the boat engines to free them and making matters worse.
EXT DOWN IN THE WATER WITH THE SQUID – NIGHT
Full pursuit by the killer – Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets. He shines his flashlight into the water. It attracts the squid. It almost seems as if they are curious about it.Cristian agrees to go into the water if the Drug Dealers can cover him. He tells them not to fire at the squid while he’s in the waterHe dives into the water with the flashlight in his teeth. He only needs to get a wench rope around the engine. The squid are on the other side of the net. They reach for him but can’t get to him.While he’s down there he sees the nets, full of dead animals, he swaps to lines on the boat, the same way the fisherman did in his village. He makes it back out of the water. The squid cannot reach him.
2nd half of 2nd Act: Monster pursuing / attacking characters, delivering clues with each attack
EXT. ISLA DEL MUERTOS. NIGHT
· Any attempts to free their boats from the nets only makes it worse. They call the Harbor Master who is furious they have fucked up. He’s out on the water as well and will come to intercept them.
Forced into a dangerous environment – Boats drifting amid a large mass of nets that catch the motors and cause them to overheat.
EXT FREEING THE NETS
Since they are all fisherman, they Narcos start to reel in the nets on the boats. They are full of stinking dead fish. The imbalance starts immediately as they rush to get freed from the nets.
o The burned body of the first fisherman literally rolls out of the net on to Narco 1. He freaks out as the partially eaten body drapes over him.
Impending doom – Sinking boats, omens of approaching death, creatures swimming up from the dark to feed.
They manage to get the motor back up out of the water. It’s waterlogged so they let it drain.
· Together they start working on it to get it back up and running. Cristian knows that it’s rigged to catch fire. They can’t turn the engine over until it’s had a chance to dry.
EXT. HARBOR MASTER ARRIVES NIGHT
The Harbor Master arrives in another boat. He is accompanied by two other armed gunmen. He sees the other boats loaded with nets and laughs at these pathetic fisherman who can’t catch a fish with on ocean full of nets.
Cristian immediately confronts him, asks him why he’s doing it? His answer is to sacrifice a man to the Red Devils. His boat is heavy in the water, it has a large trunk on the deck strapped down. Too much ballast on their boat.
His wife, a woman, is spared. The Harbor master will turn her into a sex-slave to pay back her transit to the United States.
He offers Cristian drugs. Cristian refuses.
· He’s having heavy withdrawal from the drugs. The Harbor Master knows it.
He explains this is a dog eat dog world and the Chinese are off the coast taking all the fish in this region. In a couple of years it will be all dried out. They’ll move on and leave us to perish. So I’m getting out while I can. He says he has a gun to his head as well and it’s 50 miles out to sea waiting for his cargo. This trunk of cocaine will get him away from this Hell. But he has to sail through it first.
The other Narcos do the drugs.
He reveals the smuggled people on board. Criminals who have just escaped from an Ecuadorian prison.
And the woman whose husband was left and killed.
· The Narcos drag the boats together so they can transfer the motors.
o Terrorized – Night falls. The smugglers try to start their boats but immediately cause a fire from Cristian’s rewiring.
o The woman lunges at the Harbormaster, gets a knife in his leg.
o He orders Cristian and the girl to be shackled to the boat.
Death – Narco 1 – Rebels against shooting people and ends up in the water as a victim.Why – Freaks out and tries to stop the Narcos from killing people.How – Gets shot and wounded and ends up in the water as well.Give up – The main Narco, who knows what kind of monster he’s become, goes down into the water knowing what’s about to happen.Death – Narco 2 – Boat catches fire and jumps into the water only to be consumed while burned.Why – Chaos caused by the first Narco sets the boats on fire and burns the other Narco alive.Several of smuggled Narcos are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid. In the dark of night, they are all sinking fast.The Harbor Master orders Narco 1 and 2 to shoot Cristian but they refuse. How – he ends up in the nets.
Charge blindly into action – The Narco who can’t take it anymore causes chaos when he refuses to kill others.Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Catching fire on a burning boat or jumping into the ocean and being eaten. Escape attempt takes them into it – People shackled together in the water try to escape but get tangled up in the nets.Shackled – Someone is shackled to the boat as it sinks. Cristian has to free himself and the others as they are dragged down by squid.Escape – The prisoners must try to unshackle themselves from the sinking boat before they enter the water. Attacked or chased – forced to swim in a closed area with a horde of ravenous squid.Fight – Once in the water, fighting against the squid that immediately try to swarm you.Monster approaching – Being chased underwater, swimming for your life against creatures that attack from every direction.Monster trying to get to you – Squid pulls you down and tries to smother you, others attack your limbs and pull in different directions.Escape – Being dragged down until you drown.Escape – The dilemma gets worse, as burning is no alternative to being eaten.
Death Kidnapped Victim – Smuggled aboard drug dealers boat. Tries to frantically escape and doesn’t make it.Why – tries to escape and jumps right into the fireHow – Squid attack and drag him into the depths.§ Attempt something that fails
The kidnapped person tries to swim for his life not knowing what’s in the water.Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Flashlight in the eyes under water momentarily pushes them back. Demand – DiscoveryMonster Reveal: Smugglers Limitations – All must submit to the higher authority or die. Demand – DiscoveryMonster Reveal: Smugglers Limitations – Also afraid of the water.Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Can be fought off one-on-one but not in groups. Needs an anchor to pull. Demand – TerrorMonster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – Panic Demand – Terror
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
EXT. BOAT WRECKAGE. NIGHT
Fight to the death – One by one the people on the boats must try to swim to the nearby island. None are able to escape the nets before the squid attack them. Another character loses it (hysterical) – One of the other smugglers, a fisherman from a local village, can’t take it anymore. He attempts to sabotage the smugglers but ends up in the water as well. Environment changing around you – Cristian discovers the ghost nets are full of dead bodies of fisherman who got caught and drowned.Try to Solve it – Cristian realizes the only way out of the nets is to cut them loose so they can drift. He’ll have to jump in and cut them lose.
EXT. GHOST NETS NIGHT
· Hysteria – They drug dealer is willing to sacrifice his own men to protect the drugs. But he inadvertently causes the boats to separate and drift apart from the container of drugs they are transporting.
o A character refuses to take action – Fisherman refuses to shoot another man and is shot himself.
o Internal conflict in the group – Fisherman who can’t take it anymore who end up in the water. Narcos fight each other to survive.
§ Escape – Trapped in your own trap. The Narcos now have to battle each other to survive.
Death Head Narco – Goes down with the ship after he runs out of bullets and gets violently torn apart.Why – Won’t give up on the drugs in the crate and runs out of bullets as his boat is sinking.
§ How – Completely dismembered by the squid.
Betrayed – The main Narco sacrifices his own men to survive.EXT. SINKING BOATS. NIGHT
3rd Act: Characters solve the puzzle and fight back, apparently killing monster
Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Scared of light. – Demand – DiscoveryMonster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – need to stay with drug shipment or face death.Monster Reveal: Squid Appetite – Rising up from the depths of the sea to feed on the fresh dead. Like most predators, they prefer live or freshly dead prey. So there’s lots of half eaten dead corpses in the nets. Demand – Discovery
EXT. ALMOST IN THE WATER. DAWN
· The thrilling escape from death – Cristian is forced into the water with the squid. He manages to distract them long enough to get to the floating crate full of cocaine that is drifting on the tide. One end of it bobs above the waves.
o Slimed – Tentacles across your face, slimy fish guts, rotting animals in drift nets, an exploding whale full of sea worms, A rotting corpse on the beach being eaten by crabs.
o No escape or their escape route has been cut off –
o Trapped within the nets, the only way to get free is to swim down and release the nets under water.
o Injured, wounded, or debilitated – Cristian is cut and bleeding, but still must enter the water to cut the nets. As his bleeding worsens, he must swim as fast as he can through a startled bunch of squid.
§ Fight – Trying to fight off squid one by one as they attack.
· Death returns to take one or more. The Narco runs out of bullets as his boat sinks into the horde of squid. He is torn to pieces.
o Cannot see (fog, being underwater), speak or yell, hear (too loud or too quiet) The squid appear from the dark all around. They attack anything in the area. A shark swims up to Cristian and the squid devour it, giving him the chance to get away.
o Face to face with the monster – Cristian dives into the water to free the nets. He has a flashlight that he turns on and off in the water. The squid get curious and start to approach. They feel him with their tentacles as he dives down to the bottom.
§ Hide – Diving down to the bottom to get away from the bloody mayhem.
§ Fight – Cristian fights a squid underwater and successfully frees himself.
EXT. FLOATING CRATE OF COCAINE. SUNRISE
Resolution – Cristian manages to climb aboard a container full of cocaine. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sun rise, cast adrift in a sea full of red. In the calm he drifts away from the nets and out to sea. The squid disappear to the deeper water and leave him cast adrift.Lost – Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine.Escape – Cristian makes it to the trunk of cocaine but he’s set adrift on the ocean.
§ Cristian Cordova – Sole Survivor
Resolution: Survivors live…but somehow, the monster is still alive for the sequel
Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Disappear at sunrise. Demand – Discovery
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Chris Grant’s Character Journey Track
What I learned doing this assignment is…? This was a very enlightening exercise and will take longer than 3 days to incorporate into my outline. I’m discovering a lot about my character relationships but I don’t have a scene breakdown yet so I will incorporate this info once the structure has been more specifically laid out.
1. Role:
• Cristian Cordova – Protagonist/ Pursues his father’s whereabouts, Urges the other fisherman to not believe in sea monsters.
• Eduardo Cordova – Obstacle Character – Angry Guardian of morality
• Miriama Cordova – Helpless Guardian Protecting Cristian from abuse
• Harbor Master – Contagonist Tempt Hinder –
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional, Uncontrolled Feelings –
• Fisherman 2 – Skeptical, oppose, disbelief –
• Narco 1 – Sidekick, support, faith –
• Narco 2 – Reason, control, logic –
• Woman being smuggled to US – Obstacle Character – Handoff Positive, Innocent, Morality,
• The Red Devils – Antagonist –
2. Traits:
• Cristian Cordova – Drug Addict, Warrior, Inquisitive, Brave
• Eduardo Cordova – Ghost, Patriarch, Superstitious, Demonically Condescending and Abusive
• Miriama Cordova – Mother, Desperate, Innocent, Clueless
• Harbor Master – In Charge, Deceitful, Generous, Criminal
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Anxious, Impetuous, Irresponsible, Destructive
• Fisherman 2 – Practical – Conscious, Wary, Suspicious, explosive bully
• Narco 1 – Trust, Optimism, Fascination, Innocence, Ignorant
• Narco 2 – Obedient, Contained, Cold, Decisive, Hostage
• Woman being smuggled to US – Morally Angry, Broken, Hopeful, Desperate,
• The Red Devils – Voracious, Revenous, Super-Fast, Hungry -
3. Fears:
• Cristian Cordova – Personal Weakness, Abandonment, Rudderless life
• Eduardo Cordova – Selfishness, Inauthenticity,
• Miriama Cordova – Abandonment
• Harbor Master – Lack of control, Annihilation of his control, chaos
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Poverty, Lack of support, Chaos
• Fisherman 2 – Practical – Being Deceived, Being pushed around, Being made to feel stupid
• Narco 1 – Boredom, Lack of understanding, Being sacrificed,
• Narco 2 – Deception,
• Woman being smuggled to US – Rape, Degradation, Humiliation
• The Red Devils – Being out of water, Being Killed, Injured among the others.
4. Wants/Needs :
• Cristian Cordova – To be accepted, To quite his drug addiction
• Eduardo Cordova – To be avenged, To be forgiven by his son
• Miriama Cordova – To see her son safe, To be protected herself
• Harbor Master – To play both sides of the fence, To find humility
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional – To feel safe, Needs to be more aware of surroundings.
• Fisherman 2 – Practical – To make money fishing, To feel dominant no matter what
• Narco 1 – Wants to be led, Needs to understand what’s going on
• Narco 2 – Wants to Get back to his family, Needs this job to go smoothly
• Woman being smuggled to US -Escape, Needs Payback
5. Likability / Rooting factors:
• Cristian Cordova – Courage, Underdog,
• Eduardo Cordova – Ability to see through the mist
• Miriama Cordova – Kindness, frailty with strength
• Harbor Master – Listens, Likeable
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Funny,
• Fisherman 2 – Practical – Capable
• Narco 1 – Easily Inspired
• Narco 2 – Leader
• Woman being smuggled to US – Strength, Survival
• Red Devils – Curious, Amazing water skills
6. How they react under stress:
• Cristian Cordova – Drug Use, Anger, Irritability
• Eduardo Cordova – Defiance
• Miriama Cordova – Prayerful
• Harbor Master – Silence, Iron Fist
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Panic
• Fisherman 2 – Practical –
• Narco 1 – Obedient, Scared
• Narco 2 – Casting doubt, Demanding
• Woman being smuggled to US – Focused, Vengeful
• Red Devils – Feeding frenzy, cannibalism
7. Relationship with other characters:
• Cristian Cordova – Combative, Unreasonable
• Eduardo Cordova – Commandeering, Patriarchal
• Miriama Cordova – Sweet, Approachable
• Harbor Master – Domineering, Manipulative
• Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Constantly backtalking, reluctantly obedient
• Fisherman 2 – Practical – Challenging, Accusatory
• Narco 1 – Acquiescent, Curious
• Narco 2 – Short, Demanding
• Woman being smuggled to US – Frantic, Unable to hear directions
• Red Devils – Consume unless intrigued or distracted
B. What is their Character Journey for this story?
1. Character Intro:
1. Cristian Cordova – Dealing drugs in Quito and lying to his mom
2. Eduardo Cordova – Dying by jumping into a furious pool of angry squid
3. Miriama Cordova – Standing by the shoreline desperately looking for her husband.
4. Harbor Master – Arguing with drunken sailors about empty boats in the harbor
5. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Freaking out at dead body on the beach
6. Fisherman 2 – Practical – Judging dead body but wanting to get back to work
7. Narco 1 – Introduces himself to Cristian. Seems happy-go-lucky
8. Narco 2 – Quiet, Scared of Harbor Master
9. Woman being smuggled to US – Revealed by Harbor Master as hostage
10. Red Devils – Single Squid watching Cristian in the nets. Docile but easily escapes. Squid jumps in boat and sprays ink all over the men. Takes two men to subdue it.
2. Denial:
1. Cristian Cordova – Doesn’t believe in sea monsters
2. Eduardo Cordova – Doesn’t believe in giving in to drug smugglers
3. Miriama Cordova – Won’t accept that her husband is gone.
4. Harbor Master – Won’t accept that the fisherman are superstitious. Hates them because they are drunk and stupid.
5. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Denies that he’s scared of dead body.
6. Fisherman 2 – Practical Denies that they are in any danger when forced to give up their motor. Denies that he is afraid to go fishing.
7. Narco 1 – Denies the truth about what they are doing.
8. Narco 2 – Denies being friendly with Cristian. Denies the drug dealers when forced to kill.
9. Woman being smuggled to US –
10. Red Devils
3. Their reaction at first horror:
1. Cristian Cordova – Anger, Guilt, Tries to fight back but can’t
2. Eduardo Cordova – Defiance leads to his death
3. Miriama Cordova – Understands her husband isn’t coming back
4. Harbor Master – Isn’t great at killing and panic ensues.
5. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Panics jumps into the water and swims away
6. Fisherman 2 – Practical – Defies the danger and tries to fight back
7. Narco 1 – Shuts down. Isn’t able to kill. Too naive.
8. Narco 2 – Changes his mind and angers at what he’s being forced to do.
9. Woman being smuggled to US – Fearless just wants to escape
4. Relation to group after first horror:
1. Cristian Cordova – Wants revenge. Wants to fight back but can’t.
2. Eduardo Cordova – Dead, ghost appears to his son to avenge.
3. Miriama Cordova – Complacent. Tries to be stoic but is fragile.
4. Harbor Master – Laughs but knows this is just sheer terror.
5. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Jumps into the water and swims out to sea.
6. Fisherman 2 – Practical – Fights back against Cristian. Wants to kill him.
7. Narco 1 – Needs direction. Starts to shut down.
8. Narco 2 – Starts issuing orders, realizes they could be next if they don’t obey.
9. Woman being smuggled to US – Angers, doesn’t care what happens next.
10. Red Devils – Frenzy that won’t stop.
5. How they fight back:
1. Cristian Cordova – Sabotage, Defiance, Courage, Intelligence
2. Eduardo Cordova – Defiance. Won’t give in to demands.
3. Miriama Cordova – Tries to convince Cristian to stay away from the sea.
4. Harbor Master – Starts to sacrifice everyone, takes revenge.
5. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – Isn’t able to fight back.
6. Fisherman 2 – Practical – Bullies Cristian and fights over the motor.
7. Narco 1 – Tries to fight off squid but they drag him down.
8. Narco 2 – Sacrifices himself instead of killing others
9. Woman being smuggled to US – attacks harbor master before jumping into the ocean and swimming away. Shows Cristian how to escape.
6. End Point:
1. Cristian Cordova – Last man alive, floating on a container of cocaine
2. Eduardo Cordova – Stuck in fishing nets, dead, released by Cristian
3. Miriama Cordova – Left watching the ocean all alone
4. Harbor Master – Goes down fighting, philosophical yet terrified. Can’t swim.
5. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – swims out towards the ocean
6. Fisherman 2 – Practical – Attacked by angered squid.
7. Narco 1 – Tries to put out fire. Ends up in the water tangled in the nets.
8. Narco 2 – Sets boats on fire to stop this cycle from occurring to anyone else.
9. Woman being smuggled to US – Swims to the Isla De Los Muertos
10. Red Devils – Descend back into the depths at sunrise.
7. What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience?
1. Cristian Cordova – Fights off his cocaine habit while cast adrift at sea.
2. Eduardo Cordova – Causes other fisherman to become superstitious of sea monsters.
3. Harbor Master – Gets what he deserves for causing all this
4. Fisherman 1 – Emotional – No one is going to escape out here in the ocean.
5. Fisherman 2 – Practical – You could be next
6. Narco 1 – Causes the other smuggler to change his mind.
7. Narco 2 – Gives Cristian the chance to enact his revenge.
8. Woman being smuggled to US – It’s possible to survive if you do the right thing to escape the nets.
9. Red Devils – Men are cruel to the sea
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Chris Grant’s Monster Reveal Track
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
My outline feels a bit jumbled but I’m still making consistent discoveries that are beggining to tie together.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
• Opening/prologue: Start the mystery of the monster by showing us the result of their violence.
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Unrelenting hunger when frenzied. Demand – Putting together the pieces
• Atmosphere of Evil established – A fisherman steps off his boat into a dark perilous ocean. Before he does, he speaks a curse. The ocean starts to boil. He jumps into the ocean. Almost immediately he’s dragged under by some malevolent force. Other fisherman swim for their lives. They too are consumed by something under the water.
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
♣ Fight – Cristian’s father curses the drug smugglers as he is forced into the ocean.
♣ Death – Senor Cordova – Cristian’s father and first one killed.
♣ why – He will not give up his boat motor to the drug smugglers.
♣ how – He’s pushed into the sea and consumed by the squid.
♣ Surprised / blindsided
• Connect with the characters – Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village. He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood. His mother calls him to return to their village. His father and some of the other fisherman have disappeared. They believe his return to be a bad omen.
o The fisherman are trapped and set adrift at sea with no motors.
♣ Mentally tortured – Cristian has been bullied and mistreated by the other fishermen in the village since he was a child. His complete mentality is based on his hatred for them. Thrown into the monster – Senor Cordova is told to jump into the water.
♣ The fisherman are told to swim but the drug smuggler fires into the water to rile up the squid.
• During 1st Act: Foreshadowing as clues
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Conning – Convinces Cristian to make money on drug boat – Demand Solve Mystery
• The characters are warned not to do it. – The fisherman in the village want to go back to sea and earn their living. But Cristian warns them about sea monsters that await. The sea is angry for some reason and they must find out why first.
o Threatened – The fisherman think Cristian is a bad omen and they threaten to beat him up outside the bar where they all drink. He provokes them and gets beat up by multiple people at once.
o Possessed – The dead body on the beach sits up from rigor mortis and sighs.
o Something inside our body – Crabs and worms eating the dead corpses.
o The only one who sees the monster – Cristian’s visions foretell of the monster to come. The corpse speaks to him when no one else does.
o Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
♣ Death – Fisherman 1 – In the boat with Senor Cordova. Washes up as a corpse on shore.
♣ Why – also sacrificed to the squid
♣ How – Unseen but generally consumed by the sea.
• Denial of Horror – The fisherman disregard Cristian. They want to head backout with the first tide.
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
♣ Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
• Safety taken away – The next morning, a mutilated body appears in the sand. Cristian believes the ocean sent it with a message. “The Devil has Risen” – No one believes him but the next day, the tides return and the fishermen head back to the sea.
o Menacing Stranger – Drug smugglers that the Harbor Master introduces Cristian to are dubious at best. They aren’t from their village and are not friendly.
• 1st Act turning point: Characters are locked into horror
• Monster: The nature of the beast. – A whale is attacked in the ocean in the nights. Some unseen force drags it under. It struggles, trying to get free. It lets off a monstrous scream that can be heard for miles. The fisherman can hear it as they leave port.
o Being lured into danger – The Harbor Master lures Cristian into traveling on his drug boat. He doesn’t know that the smugglers were responsible for his father.
o Doing something forbidden – Cristian decides to get on the boat with the drug smugglers when his father’s boat is burned.
♣ Denial – Cristian takes up this journey despite the warnings of danger.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
• Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Cristian, intent on finding out what happened to his father, agrees to crew on a drug running fast boat. The smugglers promise to take him to the Isla Del Muertos where his father was last seen. Along the way they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets are everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life. They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.
o Unknown motive – Drug smugglers who take Cristian out in the boat the first night seem to be good guys. They don’t believe he’s bad luck. But they aren’t really on his side. The only one who sees the monster – He sees the flying squid on the water when no one else does.
♣ Denial – Cristian goes along with them because they offer him drugs.
o Walking into a trap – Arriving at the Isla Del Muertos, the smugglers meet up with another boat. These smugglers have guns. Cristian realizes that he’s been deceived. Cristian is trapped by the drug smugglers
o Lured into the horror – Cristian has to swim into the nets to try and free the boats. It’s like swimming through a graveyard of rotting animals of all kinds.
♣ Escape – Cristian understands that the ghost nets are going to cause problems for the boats if they can’t see them coming.
♣ Death – Sea Animals –
♣ Why Caught in the nets
♣ How – Can’t free themselves and end up drowning.
♣ Back into it – Swimming underwater and getting caught in the ghost nets with no way to get out.
• 1st half of 2nd Act: The monster is present, but hidden
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Seems intelligent. Demand – Curiosity
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Causing people to work against their own best interests. – Demand – Discovery –
o Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Initially hesitant. Demand – Curiosity Smugglers Weaknesses – Fragile egos, guilt. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – Stupidity Demand Conflict
• One of us killed – Cristian realizes the drug smugglers are preying on the fisherman. They want their boat motors and they are willing to kill them for them. They offer them an option, swim for shore or be shot and killed. The leader of the smugglers fires his machine gun to rile the sea monsters up to a feeding frenzy. Then he forces one of the fisherman into the sea. One of the fisherman jumps in the water and is immediately dragged down.
o Kidnapped – Cristian is kidnapped by the drug smugglers. He finds out that almost everyone has been kidnapped and forced to work on their behalf.
♣ Escape – Cristian realizes that he’s made a mistake and must solve this problem.
o Dilemma: Who to save: Them or me? Or Person A versus Person B? Either be the person stealing the motor or be the person swimming for your life. Fisherman forced to prey on one another.
o Working with someone, then they become the evil one – The dealers give the two men in the boats the guns. They don’t really want to shoot anyone but they must do so in order to survive themselves.
o Tricked – Cristian has been tricked by the drug smugglers into stealing for them. The fisherman hate that he is the one who is trying to ruin them and try to fight him then and there. A struggle ensues and one of them is shot. The other is forced to jump into the water and swim for it.
♣ Try to solve it – Cristian realizes this is how his father must have been killed.
o Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Being offered the chance to swim to shore or shot.
o See another killed – Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village are forced into the water and eaten.
o Physically tortured – Watching someone get eaten, that first moment when you jump in the water and you can’t see what’s going on beneath the surface.
♣ Fight – Much like Cristian’s father, Cristian wants to fight back against what’s happening but cannot.
o Friends in danger – Cristian sees the people he has grown up with killed by the smugglers. He vows revenge for their actions.
o The group has been infiltrated – Cristian goes along with the drug smugglers in order to get his revenge.
♣ Death – Fisherman 2 – Forced into the water by the drug smugglers and told to swim for the island.
♣ Why – Given a choice to swim for their lives or be shot.
♣ How – Can’t escape the squid once they enter the water.
♣ Fisherman 3 – Shot and consumed by the squid
♣ Why – Won’t give up his motor
♣ How – Shot and falls into the water. At least he’s dead before the squid get to him.
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Purpose – Steal the boat engines from the fisherman and Deliver the drugs to the freighter offshore. Nobody cares if you come back. Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Can’t be stopped in the water. Demand – Terror
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Can attack from multiple angles. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Escapes easily – Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Extortion – Warns fisherman that their families are at risk if they don’t cooperate. Demand – Conflict
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Weapons – machine guns used to rile up squid – Demand Putting together the pieces
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Power – Murder – Sacrificing people to the squid. Demand – Terror
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
• Midpoint: Monster is worse than we thought
o Monster Reveal: Squid Powers -Pack hunting at high speed. Demand – Putting the pieces together
o Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Can’t leave the water for very long. Demand – Conflict Smugglers Weaknesses – Stupidity Demand Conflict
• Full pursuit by the killer – Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets. He sees the nets, full of dead animals, have attracted hordes of Humboldt Squid to feed. 4 to 5 feet in length they are lightning fast pack hunters with an insatiable appetite. They’ll even cannibalize their own. The locals call them “The Red Devil” Cristian realizes the drug smugglers forced his father and the other fisherman into the same fate. He vows to get revenge by rigging the boat to catch fire.
o Shackled – Someone is shackled to the boat as it sinks. Cristian has to free himself and the others as they are dragged down by squid.
♣ Escape – The prisoners must try to unshackle themselves from the sinking boat before they enter the water.
o Attacked or chased – forced to swim in a closed area with a horde of ravenous squid.
♣ Fight – Once in the water, fighting against the squid that immediately try to swarm you.
o Monster approaching – Being chased underwater, swimming for your life against creatures that attack from every direction.
o Monster trying to get to you – Squid pulls you down and tries to smother you, others attack your limbs and pull in different directions.
♣ Escape – Being dragged down until you drown.
o Trapped – The boats become entangled in the nets.
♣ Escape – Revving the boat engines to free them and making matters worse.
o Terrorized – Night falls. The smugglers try to start their boats but immediately cause a fire. Several of them are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid. In the dark of night, they are all sinking fast.
♣ Escape attempt takes them into it – People shackled together in the water try to escape but get tangled up in the nets.
o
o Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Catching fire on a burning boat or jumping into the ocean and being eaten.
♣ Escape – The dilemma gets worse, as burning is no alternative to being eaten.
o Forced into a dangerous environment – Boats drifting amid a large mass of nets that catch the motors and cause them to overheat.
o Impending doom – Sinking boats, omens of approaching death, creatures swimming up from the dark to feed.
♣ Death – Drug Smuggler 1 – Rebels against shooting people and ends up in the water as a victim.
♣ Why – Freaks out and tries to stop the drug smugglers from killing people.
♣ How – Gets shot and wounded and ends up in the water as well.
♣ Give up – The main drug smuggler, who knows what kind of monster he’s become, goes down into the water knowing what’s about to happen.
♣
♣ Death – Drug Smuggler 2 – Boat catches fire and jumps into the water only to be consumed while burned.
♣ Why – Chaos caused by the first drug smuggler sets the boats on fire and burns the other drug smuggler alive.
♣ How – he ends up in the nets. Charge blindly into action – The drug smuggler who can’t take it anymore causes chaos when he refuses to kill others.
♣ Death Kidnapped Victim – Smuggled aboard drug dealers boat. Tries to frantically escape and doesn’t make it.
♣ Why – tries to escape and jumps right into the fire
♣ How – Squid attack and drag him into the depths.
♣ Attempt something that fails
♣ The kidnapped person tries to swim for his life not knowing what’s in the water.
2nd half of 2nd Act: Monster pursuing / attacking characters, delivering clues with each attack
o Monster Reveal: Squid Limitations – Flashlight in the eyes under water momentarily pushes them back. Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Limitations – All must submit to the higher authority or die. Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Limitations – Also afraid of the water.
o Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Can be fought off one-on-one but not in groups. Needs an anchor to pull. Demand – Terror
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – Panic Demand – Terror
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
• Fight to the death – One by one the people on the boats must try to swim to the nearby island. None are able to escape the nets before the squid attack them.
o Another character loses it (hysterical) – One of the other smugglers, a fisherman from a local village, can’t take it anymore. He attempts to sabotage the smugglers but ends up in the water as well.
o Environment changing around you – Cristian discovers the ghost nets are full of dead bodies of fisherman who got caught and drowned.
♣ Try to Solve it – Cristian realizes the only way out of the nets is to cut them loose so they can drift. He’ll have to jump in and cut them lose.
• Hysteria – They drug dealer is willing to sacrifice his own men to protect the drugs. But he inadvertently causes the boats to separate and drift apart from the container of drugs they are transporting.
o A character refuses to take action – Fisherman refuses to shoot another man and is shot himself.
o Internal conflict in the group – Fisherman who can’t take it anymore who end up in the water. Drug smugglers fight each other to survive.
♣ Escape – Trapped in your own trap. The drug smugglers now have to battle each other to survive.
♣ Death Head Drug Smuggler – Goes down with the ship after he runs out of bullets and gets violently torn apart.
♣ Why – Won’t give up on the drugs in the crate and runs out of bullets as his boat is sinking.
♣ How – Completely dismembered by the squid. Betrayed – The main drug smuggler sacrifices his own men to survive.
3rd Act: Characters solve the puzzle and fight back, apparently killing monster
o Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Scared of light. – Demand – Discovery
o Monster Reveal: Smugglers Weaknesses – need to stay with drug shipment or face death.
o Monster Reveal: Squid Appetite – Rising up from the depths of the sea to feed on the fresh dead. Like most predators, they prefer live or freshly dead prey. So there’s lots of half eaten dead corpses in the nets. Demand – Discovery
• The thrilling escape from death – Cristian is forced into the water with the squid. He manages to distract them long enough to get to the floating crate full of cocaine that is drifting on the tide. One end of it bobs above the waves.
o Slimed – Tentacles across your face, slimy fish guts, rotting animals in drift nets, an exploding whale full of sea worms, A rotting corpse on the beach being eaten by crabs.
o No escape or their escape route has been cut off –
o Trapped within the nets, the only way to get free is to swim down and release the nets under water.
o Injured, wounded, or debilitated – Cristian is cut and bleeding, but still must enter the water to cut the nets. As his bleeding worsens, he must swim as fast as he can through a startled bunch of squid.
♣ Fight – Trying to fight off squid one by one as they attack.
• Death returns to take one or more. The drug smuggler runs out of bullets as his boat sinks into the horde of squid. He is torn to pieces.
o Cannot see (fog, being underwater), speak or yell, hear (too loud or too quiet) The squid appear from the dark all around. They attack anything in the area. A shark swims up to Cristian and the squid devour it, giving him the chance to get away.
o Face to face with the monster – Cristian dives into the water to free the nets. He has a flashlight that he turns on and off in the water. The squid get curious and start to approach. They feel him with their tentacles as he dives down to the bottom.
♣ Hide – Diving down to the bottom to get away from the bloody mayhem.
♣ Fight – Cristian fights a squid underwater and successfully frees himself.
• Resolution – Cristian manages to climb aboard a container full of cocaine. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sun rise, cast adrift in a sea full of red. In the calm he drifts away from the nets and out to sea. The squid disappear to the deeper water and leave him cast adrift.
• Lost – Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine.
♣ Escape – Cristian makes it to the trunk of cocaine but he’s set adrift on the ocean.
♣ Cristian Cordova – Sole Survivor
Resolution: Survivors live…but somehow, the monster is still alive for the sequel
o Monster Reveal: Squid Weaknesses – Disappear at sunrise. Demand – Discovery
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Chris Grant’s Character Death Track
What I learned doing this assignment is…? The nuances of “why people die” in horror stories can be tied nicely to the overall themes in a way that doesn’t seem preachy because you are so caught up in the terror. I still have more to discover here.
1. Give us the order your characters die in.
• Character List
o Cristian Cordova – Sole Survivor
o Senor Cordova – Cristian’s father and first one killed.
♣ why – He will not give up his boat motor to the drug smugglers.
♣ how – He’s pushed into the sea and consumed by the squid.
o Fisherman 1 – In the boat with Senor Cordova. Washes up as a corpse on shore.
♣ Why – also sacrificed to the squid
♣ How – Unseen but generally consumed by the sea.
o Sea Animals –
♣ Why Caught in the nets
♣ How – Can’t free themselves and end up drowning.
o Fisherman 2 – Forced into the water by the drug smugglers and told to swim for the island.
♣ Why – Given a choice to swim for their lives or be shot.
♣ How – Can’t escape the squid once they enter the water.
o Fisherman 3 – Shot and consumed by the squid
♣ Why – Won’t give up his motor
♣ How – Shot and falls into the water. At least he’s dead before the squid get to him.
o Drug Smuggler 1 – Rebels against shooting people and ends up in the water as a victim.
♣ Why – Freaks out and tries to stop the drug smugglers from killing people.
♣ How – Gets shot and wounded and ends up in the water as well.
o Drug Smuggler 2 – Boat catches fire and jumps into the water only to be consumed while burned.
♣ Why – Chaos caused by the first drug smuggler sets the boats on fire and burns the other drug smuggler alive.
♣ How – he ends up in the nets.
o Kidnapped Victim – Smuggled aboard drug dealers boat. Tries to frantically escape and doesn’t make it.
♣ Why – tries to escape and jumps right into the fire
♣ How – Squid attack and drag him into the depths.
o Head Drug Smuggler – Goes down with the ship after he runs out of bullets and gets violently torn apart.
♣ Why – Won’t give up on the drugs in the crate and runs out of bullets as his boat is sinking.
♣ How – Completely dismembered by the squid.
2. Build the answers into your outline.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
• Atmosphere of Evil established – A fisherman steps off his boat into a dark perilous ocean. Before he does, he speaks a curse. The ocean starts to boil. He jumps into the ocean. Almost immediately he’s dragged under by some malevolent force. Other fisherman swim for their lives. They too are consumed by something under the water.
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
♣ Fight – Cristian’s father curses the drug smugglers as he is forced into the ocean.
♣ Death – Senor Cordova – Cristian’s father and first one killed.
♣ why – He will not give up his boat motor to the drug smugglers.
♣ how – He’s pushed into the sea and consumed by the squid.
♣ Surprised / blindsided
• Connect with the characters – Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village. He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood. His mother calls him to return to their village. His father and some of the other fisherman have disappeared. They believe his return to be a bad omen.
o The fisherman are trapped and set adrift at sea with no motors.
♣ Mentally tortured – Cristian has been bullied and mistreated by the other fishermen in the village since he was a child. His complete mentality is based on his hatred for them. Thrown into the monster – Senor Cordova is told to jump into the water.
♣ The fisherman are told to swim but the drug smuggler fires into the water to rile up the squid.
o
• The characters are warned not to do it. – The fisherman in the village want to go back to sea and earn their living. But Cristian warns them about sea monsters that await. The sea is angry for some reason and they must find out why first.
o Threatened – The fisherman think Cristian is a bad omen and they threaten to beat him up outside the bar where they all drink. He provokes them and gets beat up by multiple people at once.
o Possessed – The dead body on the beach sits up from rigor mortis and sighs.
o Something inside our body – Crabs and worms eating the dead corpses.
o The only one who sees the monster – Cristian’s visions foretell of the monster to come. The corpse speaks to him when no one else does.
o Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
♣ Death – Fisherman 1 – In the boat with Senor Cordova. Washes up as a corpse on shore.
♣ Why – also sacrificed to the squid
♣ How – Unseen but generally consumed by the sea.
• Denial of Horror – The fisherman disregard Cristian. They want to head backout with the first tide.
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
♣ Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
• Safety taken away – The next morning, a mutilated body appears in the sand. Cristian believes the ocean sent it with a message. “The Devil has Risen” – No one believes him but the next day, the tides return and the fishermen head back to the sea.
o Menacing Stranger – Drug smugglers that the Harbor Master introduces Cristian to are dubious at best. They aren’t from their village and are not friendly.
• Monster: The nature of the beast. – A whale is attacked in the ocean in the nights. Some unseen force drags it under. It struggles, trying to get free. It lets off a monstrous scream that can be heard for miles. The fisherman can hear it as they leave port.
o Being lured into danger – The Harbor Master lures Cristian into traveling on his drug boat. He doesn’t know that the smugglers were responsible for his father.
o Doing something forbidden – Cristian decides to get on the boat with the drug smugglers when his father’s boat is burned.
♣ Denial – Cristian takes up this journey despite the warnings of danger.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
• Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Cristian, intent on finding out what happened to his father, agrees to crew on a drug running fast boat. The smugglers promise to take him to the Isla Del Muertos where his father was last seen. Along the way they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets are everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life. They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.
o Unknown motive – Drug smugglers who take Cristian out in the boat the first night seem to be good guys. They don’t believe he’s bad luck. But they aren’t really on his side. The only one who sees the monster – He sees the flying squid on the water when no one else does.
♣ Denial – Cristian goes along with them because they offer him drugs.
o Walking into a trap – Arriving at the Isla Del Muertos, the smugglers meet up with another boat. These smugglers have guns. Cristian realizes that he’s been deceived. Cristian is trapped by the drug smugglers
o Lured into the horror – Cristian has to swim into the nets to try and free the boats. It’s like swimming through a graveyard of rotting animals of all kinds.
♣ Escape – Cristian understands that the ghost nets are going to cause problems for the boats if they can’t see them coming.
♣ Death – Sea Animals –
♣ Why Caught in the nets
♣ How – Can’t free themselves and end up drowning.
♣ Back into it – Swimming underwater and getting caught in the ghost nets with no way to get out.
♣
• One of us killed – Cristian realizes the drug smugglers are preying on the fisherman. They want their boat motors and they are willing to kill them for them. They offer them an option, swim for shore or be shot and killed. The leader of the smugglers fires his machine gun to rile the sea monsters up to a feeding frenzy. Then he forces one of the fisherman into the sea. One of the fisherman jumps in the water and is immediately dragged down.
o Kidnapped – Cristian is kidnapped by the drug smugglers. He finds out that almost everyone has been kidnapped and forced to work on their behalf.
♣ Escape – Cristian realizes that he’s made a mistake and must solve this problem.
o Dilemma: Who to save: Them or me? Or Person A versus Person B? Either be the person stealing the motor or be the person swimming for your life. Fisherman forced to prey on one another.
o Working with someone, then they become the evil one – The dealers give the two men in the boats the guns. They don’t really want to shoot anyone but they must do so in order to survive themselves.
o Tricked – Cristian has been tricked by the drug smugglers into stealing for them. The fisherman hate that he is the one who is trying to ruin them and try to fight him then and there. A struggle ensues and one of them is shot. The other is forced to jump into the water and swim for it.
♣ Try to solve it – Cristian realizes this is how his father must have been killed.
o Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Being offered the chance to swim to shore or shot.
o See another killed – Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village are forced into the water and eaten.
o Physically tortured – Watching someone get eaten, that first moment when you jump in the water and you can’t see what’s going on beneath the surface.
♣ Fight – Much like Cristian’s father, Cristian wants to fight back against what’s happening but cannot.
o Friends in danger – Cristian sees the people he has grown up with killed by the smugglers. He vows revenge for their actions.
o The group has been infiltrated – Cristian goes along with the drug smugglers in order to get his revenge.
♣ Death – Fisherman 2 – Forced into the water by the drug smugglers and told to swim for the island.
♣ Why – Given a choice to swim for their lives or be shot.
♣ How – Can’t escape the squid once they enter the water.
♣ Fisherman 3 – Shot and consumed by the squid
♣ Why – Won’t give up his motor
♣ How – Shot and falls into the water. At least he’s dead before the squid get to him.
o
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
• Full pursuit by the killer – Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets. He sees the nets, full of dead animals, have attracted hordes of Humboldt Squid to feed. 4 to 5 feet in length they are lightning fast pack hunters with an insatiable appetite. They’ll even cannibalize their own. The locals call them “The Red Devil” Cristian realizes the drug smugglers forced his father and the other fisherman into the same fate. He vows to get revenge by rigging the boat to catch fire.
o Shackled – Someone is shackled to the boat as it sinks. Cristian has to free himself and the others as they are dragged down by squid.
♣ Escape – The prisoners must try to unshackle themselves from the sinking boat before they enter the water.
o Attacked or chased – forced to swim in a closed area with a horde of ravenous squid.
♣ Fight – Once in the water, fighting against the squid that immediately try to swarm you.
o Monster approaching – Being chased underwater, swimming for your life against creatures that attack from every direction.
o Monster trying to get to you – Squid pulls you down and tries to smother you, others attack your limbs and pull in different directions.
♣ Escape – Being dragged down until you drown.
o Trapped – The boats become entangled in the nets.
♣ Escape – Revving the boat engines to free them and making matters worse.
o Terrorized – Night falls. The smugglers try to start their boats but immediately cause a fire. Several of them are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid. In the dark of night, they are all sinking fast.
♣ Escape attempt takes them into it – People shackled together in the water try to escape but get tangled up in the nets.
o
o Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Catching fire on a burning boat or jumping into the ocean and being eaten.
♣ Escape – The dilemma gets worse, as burning is no alternative to being eaten.
o Forced into a dangerous environment – Boats drifting amid a large mass of nets that catch the motors and cause them to overheat.
o Impending doom – Sinking boats, omens of approaching death, creatures swimming up from the dark to feed.
♣ Death – Drug Smuggler 1 – Rebels against shooting people and ends up in the water as a victim.
♣ Why – Freaks out and tries to stop the drug smugglers from killing people.
♣ How – Gets shot and wounded and ends up in the water as well.
♣ Give up – The main drug smuggler, who knows what kind of monster he’s become, goes down into the water knowing what’s about to happen.
♣
♣ Death – Drug Smuggler 2 – Boat catches fire and jumps into the water only to be consumed while burned.
♣ Why – Chaos caused by the first drug smuggler sets the boats on fire and burns the other drug smuggler alive.
♣ How – he ends up in the nets. Charge blindly into action – The drug smuggler who can’t take it anymore causes chaos when he refuses to kill others.
♣
♣ Death Kidnapped Victim – Smuggled aboard drug dealers boat. Tries to frantically escape and doesn’t make it.
♣ Why – tries to escape and jumps right into the fire
♣ How – Squid attack and drag him into the depths.
♣ Attempt something that fails
♣ The kidnapped person tries to swim for his life not knowing what’s in the water.
♣
o
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
• Fight to the death – One by one the people on the boats must try to swim to the nearby island. None are able to escape the nets before the squid attack them.
o Another character loses it (hysterical) – One of the other smugglers, a fisherman from a local village, can’t take it anymore. He attempts to sabotage the smugglers but ends up in the water as well.
o Environment changing around you – Cristian discovers the ghost nets are full of dead bodies of fisherman who got caught and drowned.
♣ Try to Solve it – Cristian realizes the only way out of the nets is to cut them loose so they can drift. He’ll have to jump in and cut them lose.
• Hysteria – They drug dealer is willing to sacrifice his own men to protect the drugs. But he inadvertently causes the boats to separate and drift apart from the container of drugs they are transporting.
o A character refuses to take action – Fisherman refuses to shoot another man and is shot himself.
o Internal conflict in the group – Fisherman who can’t take it anymore who end up in the water. Drug smugglers fight each other to survive.
♣ Escape – Trapped in your own trap. The drug smugglers now have to battle each other to survive.
♣ Death Head Drug Smuggler – Goes down with the ship after he runs out of bullets and gets violently torn apart.
♣ Why – Won’t give up on the drugs in the crate and runs out of bullets as his boat is sinking.
♣ How – Completely dismembered by the squid.
♣ Betrayed – The main drug smuggler sacrifices his own men to survive.
• The thrilling escape from death – Cristian is forced into the water with the squid. He manages to distract them long enough to get to the floating crate full of cocaine that is drifting on the tide. One end of it bobs above the waves.
o Slimed – Tentacles across your face, slimy fish guts, rotting animals in drift nets, an exploding whale full of sea worms, A rotting corpse on the beach being eaten by crabs.
o No escape or their escape route has been cut off –
o Trapped within the nets, the only way to get free is to swim down and release the nets under water.
o Injured, wounded, or debilitated – Cristian is cut and bleeding, but still must enter the water to cut the nets. As his bleeding worsens, he must swim as fast as he can through a startled bunch of squid.
♣ Fight – Trying to fight off squid one by one as they attack.
• Death returns to take one or more. The drug smuggler runs out of bullets as his boat sinks into the horde of squid. He is torn to pieces.
o Cannot see (fog, being underwater), speak or yell, hear (too loud or too quiet) The squid appear from the dark all around. They attack anything in the area. A shark swims up to Cristian and the squid devour it, giving him the chance to get away.
o Face to face with the monster – Cristian dives into the water to free the nets. He has a flashlight that he turns on and off in the water. The squid get curious and start to approach. They feel him with their tentacles as he dives down to the bottom.
♣ Hide – Diving down to the bottom to get away from the bloody mayhem.
♣ Fight – Cristian fights a squid underwater and successfully frees himself.
• Resolution – Cristian manages to climb aboard a container full of cocaine. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sun rise, cast adrift in a sea full of red. In the calm he drifts away from the nets and out to sea. The squid disappear to the deeper water and leave him cast adrift.
• Lost – Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine.
♣ Escape – Cristian makes it to the trunk of cocaine but he’s set adrift on the ocean.
♣ Cristian Cordova – Sole Survivor
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Chris Grant’s Horror Situation
What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
It’s fun to discover just how the horror in this story gets progressively more terrifying. I’m definitely discovering some interesting ways to create new tension.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established – A fisherman steps off his boat into a dark perilous ocean. Before he does, he speaks a curse. The ocean starts to boil. He jumps into the ocean. Almost immediately he’s dragged under by some malevolent force. Other fisherman swim for their lives. They too are consumed by something under the water.Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.Fight – Cristian’s father curses the drug smugglers as he is forced into the ocean.
Connect with the characters – Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village. He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood. His mother calls him to return to their village. His father and some of the other fisherman have disappeared. They believe his return to be a bad omen.
Trapped –The fisherman are trapped and set adrift at sea with no motors.
Mentally tortured – Cristian has been bullied and mistreated by the other fishermen in the village since he was a child. His complete mentality is based on his hatred for them.
The characters are warned not to do it. – The fisherman in the village want to go back to sea and earn their living. But Cristian warns them about sea monsters that await. The sea is angry for some reason and they must find out why first.
Threatened – The fisherman think Cristian is a bad omen and they threaten to beat him up outside the bar where they all drink. He provokes them and gets beat up by multiple people at once.
Possessed – The dead body on the beach sits up from rigor mortis and sighs.Something inside our body – Crabs and worms eating the dead corpses.
The only one who sees the monster – Cristian’s visions foretell of the monster to come. The corpse speaks to him when no one else does.
Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
Denial of Horror – The fisherman disregard Cristian. They want to head backout with the first tide.
o Forces of nature – The ocean seems, at every turn, to be punishing the fisherman for some kind of transgression. More importantly, it’s stopping them from finding out what happened to the missing men.
§ Try to solve it – The fisherman try to make sense of what has happened but come to the wrong conclusions.
Safety taken away – The next morning, a mutilated body appears in the sand. Cristian believes the ocean sent it with a message. “The Devil has Risen” – No one believes him but the next day, the tides return and the fishermen head back to the sea.
Menacing Stranger – Drug smugglers that the Harbor Master introduces Cristian to are dubious at best. They aren’t from their village and are not friendly.
Monster: The nature of the beast. – A whale is attacked in the ocean in the nights. Some unseen force drags it under. It struggles, trying to get free. It lets off a monstrous scream that can be heard for miles. The fisherman can hear it as they leave port.
Being lured into danger – The Harbor Master lures Cristian into traveling on his drug boat. He doesn’t know that the smugglers were responsible for his father.
Doing something forbidden – Cristian decides to get on the boat with the drug smugglers when his father’s boat is burned.
Denial – Cristian takes up this journey despite the warnings of danger.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
· Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Cristian, intent on finding out what happened to his father, agrees to crew on a drug running fast boat. The smugglers promise to take him to the Isla Del Muertos where his father was last seen. Along the way they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets are everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life. They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.
o Unknown motive – Drug smugglers who take Cristian out in the boat the first night seem to be good guys. They don’t believe he’s bad luck. But they aren’t really on his side. The only one who sees the monster – He sees the flying squid on the water when no one else does.
§ Denial – Cristian goes along with them because they offer him drugs.
o Walking into a trap – Arriving at the Isla Del Muertos, the smugglers meet up with another boat. These smugglers have guns. Cristian realizes that he’s been deceived. Cristian is trapped by the drug smugglers
o Lured into the horror – Cristian has to swim into the nets to try and free the boats. It’s like swimming through a graveyard of rotting animals of all kinds.
§ Escape – Cristian understands that the ghost nets are going to cause problems for the boats if they can’t see them coming.
One of us killed – Cristian realizes the drug smugglers are preying on the fisherman. They want their boat motors and they are willing to kill them for them. They offer them an option, swim for shore or be shot and killed. The leader of the smugglers fires his machine gun to rile the sea monsters up to a feeding frenzy. Then he forces one of the fisherman into the sea. One of the fisherman jumps in the water and is immediately dragged down.
Kidnapped – Cristian is kidnapped by the drug smugglers. He finds out that almost everyone has been kidnapped and forced to work on their behalf.
Escape – Cristian realizes that he’s made a mistake and must solve this problem.
Dilemma: Who to save: Them or me? Or Person A versus Person B? Either be the person stealing the motor or be the person swimming for your life. Fisherman forced to prey on one another.
Working with someone, then they become the evil one – The dealers give the two men in the boats the guns. They don’t really want to shoot anyone but they must do so in order to survive themselves.
Tricked – Cristian has been tricked by the drug smugglers into stealing for them. The fisherman hate that he is the one who is trying to ruin them and try to fight him then and there. A struggle ensues and one of them is shot. The other is forced to jump into the water and swim for it.
Try to solve it – Cristian realizes this is how his father must have been killed.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Being offered the chance to swim to shore or shot.
See another killed – Cristian is forced to watch as the fisherman from his village are forced into the water and eaten.
Physically tortured – Watching someone get eaten, that first moment when you jump in the water and you can’t see what’s going on beneath the surface.
Fight – Much like Cristian’s father, Cristian wants to fight back against what’s happening but cannot. Friends in danger – Cristian sees the people he has grown up with killed by the smugglers. He vows revenge for their actions.
The group has been infiltrated – Cristian goes along with the drug smugglers in order to get his revenge.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer – Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets. He sees the nets, full of dead animals, have attracted hordes of Humboldt Squid to feed. 4 to 5 feet in length they are lightning fast pack hunters with an insatiable appetite. They’ll even cannibalize their own. The locals call them “The Red Devil”
Tricked – Cristian realizes the drug smugglers forced his father and the other fisherman into the same fate. He vows to get revenge by rigging the boat to catch fire.
o Shackled – Someone is shackled to the boat as it sinks. Cristian has to free himself and the others as they are dragged down by squid.
§ Escape – The prisoners must try to unshackle themselves from the sinking boat before they enter the water.
o Attacked or chased – forced to swim in a closed area with a horde of ravenous squid.
§ Fight – Once in the water, fighting against the squid that immediately try to swarm you.
o Monster approaching – Being chased underwater, swimming for your life against creatures that attack from every direction.
o Monster trying to get to you – Squid pulls you down and tries to smother you, others attack your limbs and pull in different directions.
§ Escape – Being dragged down until you drown.
Trapped – The boats become entangled in the nets. Escape – Revving the boat engines to free them and making matters worse.
Terrorized – Night falls. The smugglers try to start their boats but immediately cause a fire. Several of them are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid. In the dark of night, they are all sinking fast.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire – Catching fire on a burning boat or jumping into the ocean and being eaten.
Escape – The dilemma gets worse, as burning is no alternative to being eaten.
Forced into a dangerous environment – Boats drifting amid a large mass of nets that catch the motors and cause them to overheat.
Impending doom – Sinking boats, omens of approaching death, creatures swimming up from the dark to feed.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death – One by one the people on the boats must try to swim to the nearby island. None are able to escape the nets before the squid attack them.
Another character loses it (hysterical) – One of the other smugglers, a fisherman from a local village, can’t take it anymore. He attempts to sabotage the smugglers but ends up in the water as well.
Environment changing around you – Cristian discovers the ghost nets are full of dead bodies of fisherman who got caught and drowned.
Try to Solve it – Cristian realizes the only way out of the nets is to cut them loose so they can drift. He’ll have to jump in and cut them lose.
· Hysteria – They drug dealer is willing to sacrifice his own men to protect the drugs. But he inadvertently causes the boats to separate and drift apart from the container of drugs they are transporting.
o A character refuses to take action – Fisherman refuses to shoot another man and is shot himself.
o Internal conflict in the group – Fisherman who can’t take it anymore who end up in the water. Drug smugglers fight each other to survive.
§ Escape – Trapped in your own trap. The drug smugglers now have to battle each other to survive.
· The thrilling escape from death – Cristian is forced into the water with the squid. He manages to distract them long enough to get to the floating crate full of cocaine that is drifting on the tide. One end of it bobs above the waves.
o Slimed – Tentacles across your face, slimy fish guts, rotting animals in drift nets, an exploding whale full of sea worms, A rotting corpse on the beach being eaten by crabs.
o No escape or their escape route has been cut off – Trapped within the nets, the only way to get free is to swim down and release the nets under water.
o Injured, wounded, or debilitated – Cristian is cut and bleeding, but still must enter the water to cut the nets. As his bleeding worsens, he must swim as fast as he can through a startled bunch of squid.
§ Fight – Trying to fight off squid one by one as they attack.
· Death returns to take one or more. The drug smuggler runs out of bullets as his boat sinks into the horde of squid. He is torn to pieces.
o Cannot see (fog, being underwater), speak or yell, hear (too loud or too quiet) The squid appear from the dark all around. They attack anything in the area. A shark attacks Cristian but the squid devour it, giving him the chance to get away.
o Face to face with the monster – Cristian dives into the water to free the nets. He has a flashlight that he turns on and off in the water. The squid get curious and start to approach. They feel him with their tentacles as he dives down to the bottom.
§ Hide – Diving down to the bottom to get away from the bloody mayhem.
§ Fight – Cristain fights a squid underwater and successfully frees himself.
Resolution – Cristian manages to climb aboard a container full of cocaine. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sun rise, cast adrift in a sea full of red. In the calm he drifts away from the nets and out to sea. The squid disappear to the deeper water and leave him cast adrift.
Escape – Cristian makes it to the trunk of cocaine but he’s set adrift on the ocean.
Lost – Cristian is set adrift at sea floating on a trunk full of cocaine.
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Chris Grant’s Horror Plot
What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
I was wondering if the order matters here. Can these plot points be rearranged or must they always stay in the same order? My plot is still forming but this was an excellent guide. I found a lot of unexpected horror moments that really boost the surprise factor.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established – A fisherman steps off his boat into a dark perilous ocean. Before he does, he speaks a curse. The ocean starts to boil. He jumps into the ocean. Almost immediately he’s dragged under by some malevolent force. Other fisherman swim for their lives. They too are consumed by something under the water.<div>
Connect with the characters – Cristian Cordova is an outcast from his fishing village. He lives in Quito, pretending to go to school, but spending his time doing drugs. He suffers from visions. Horrible images that he’s suffered from since childhood. His mother calls him to return to their village. His father and some of the other fisherman have disappeared. They believe his return to be a bad omen.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The characters are warned not to do it. – The fisherman in the village want to go back to sea and earn their living. But Cristian warns them about sea monsters that await. The sea is angry for some reason and they must find out why first.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Denial of Horror – The fisherman disregard Cristian. They want to head back out with the first tide.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Safety taken away – The next morning, a mutilated body appears in the sand. Cristian believes the ocean sent it with a message. “The Devil has Risen” – No one believes him but the next day, the tides return and the fishermen head back to the sea.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Monster: The nature of the beast. – A whale is attacked in the ocean in the nights. Some unseen force drags it under. It struggles, trying to get free. It lets off a monstrous scream that can be heard for miles. The fisherman can hear it as they leave port.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – Cristian, intent on finding out what happened to his father, agrees to crew on a drug running fast boat. The smugglers promise to take him to the Isla Del Muertos where his father was last seen. Along the way they become entangled in a vast array of fishing nets in the ocean. Ghost nets are everywhere in the ocean, trapping and killing all life. They’ve entered a giant marine graveyard.</div><div>
One of us killed – Cristian realizes the drug smugglers are preying on the fisherman. They want their boat motors and they are willing to kill them for them. They offer them an option, swim for shore or be shot and killed. The leader of the smugglers fires his machine gun to rile the sea monsters up to a feeding frenzy. Then he forces one of the fisherman into the sea. One of the fisherman jumps in the water and is immediately dragged down.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! The nets, full of dead animals, have attracted hordes of Humboldt Squid to feed. 4 to 5 feet in length, they are lightning fast pack hunters with an insatiable appetite. They’ll even cannibalize their own. The locals call them “The Red Devil”
Full pursuit by the killer – Cristian is told to get in the water and free the motor of the boat that’s become entangled in the nets. He realizes the drug smugglers forced his father and the other fisherman into the same fate. He vows to get revenge by rigging the boat to catch fire .</div><div>
Terrorized – Night falls. The smugglers try to start their boats but immediately cause a fire. Several of them are forced to jump into the water while the flames consume them, set upon by the angry squid. In the inky black of night, they are all sinking fast.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death – One by one the people on the boats must try to swim to the nearby island. None are able to escape the nets before the squid attack them. </div>
Hysteria – They drug dealer is willing to sacrifice his own men to protect the drugs. But he inadvertently causes the boats to separate and drift apart from the container of drugs they are transporting.
The thrilling escape from death – Cristian is forced into the water with the squid. He manages to distract them long enough to get to the floating crate full of cocaine that is drifting on the tide. One end of it bobs above the waves.
Death returns to take one or more. The drug smuggler runs out of bullets as his boat sinks into the horde of squid. He is torn to pieces.
Resolution – Cristian manages to climb aboard a container full of cocaine. With the squid lapping at his feet, he watches the sun rise, cast adrift in a sea full of red. In the calm he drifts away from the nets and out to sea. The squid disappear to the deeper water and leave him cast adrift.
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Chris Grant’s Characters for Horror
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
The logic of my story is still coming into clarity. I need to do more investigation about who on this list of characters needs to be present.
1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen.
Concept: SEA MONSTERS feeding on the dead. Superstitious fisherman who believe they are being preyed upon by sea monsters discover there are worse things in the ocean than malevolent spirits.
2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie.
Fisherman are forced ‘walk the plank’ by drug smugglers who then steal their engines and maroon them at sea. If they refuse they are fed to the enormous hordes of squid who have gathered to feed on all the dead animals in the area. But the main character, seeking revenge for his lost father, turns the tables on the drug dealers and they end up getting eaten instead.
3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.
• Leader – Harbor Master who hires fisherman to inadvertently prey upon one another. He works for the drug cartels.
• Rescuer – Cristian, the main character, is a marine biologist (and drug addict) who tries to get everyone to understand there are no sea monsters. But he ends up discovering the monsters are really the men themselves.
• Innocent – People who are being smuggled by the drug dealers who try to flee but end up getting eaten before the can get very far.
• Out of control / Obnoxious – The fisherman in the village who don’t like Cristian. They’ve bullied him since he was a kid and refuse to help him find his father.
• Red Herring – Harbor Master, who pretends he wants to help Cristian but is really just sending him to his death.
• Complainer – The fisherman who are complaining about the loss of fishing revenue because of the sea monsters.
• Rebel / Rule Breaker – The woman being smuggled who has just lost her husband to the squid. She jumps into the water and manages to swim to the Isla De Los Muertos.
• Introvert / Loner – Cristian is an outsider who has been a pariah from birth in his village.
• Moral One – The Drug Dealer who forces the fisherman to prey upon each other. His morals are completely backwards even as he understands there is no win for anyone in this situation.
• Monster Bait – The fisherman who refuse to heed the warnings about the sea monsters.
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Chris Grant’s Terrifying Monster
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
I realized I still have a lot more information for each topic on this list, but I’m going to build this one step at a time.
Create an early version of your monster.
1. Tell us what or who your monster is. The Red Devil. Monstrous hordes of Humboldt Squid have arrived at the Isla De Los Muertos to feed on the dead.
2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:
Their Terror
How does the monster terrorize? Humboldt squid will attack and eat anything. Even each other. Roughly 4-5 feet in length they are strong and fast. And with so much death around the shoals of the Isla De Los Muertos, there are literally thousands of them.
How does the monster pursue? They are night time pack hunters. Intelligent and capable of coordinating their attacks. Once they get their arms on you, it’s better to hope for a fast death.
How does the monster isolate? They surround you and systematically pull you down. At first it feels interesting, like a curious caress, and then it becomes hungry yanking, enough to pull shoulders out of sockets. They do this to drown you before consuming you.
What is the terrible thing they do? They devour with a panicked voraciousness that can’t be stopped or placated once it starts.
How does the monster cause death? Eating, pulling limb from limb, suffocation, drowning, biting and tearing with its razor sharp beak.
What makes this inescapable? They move with lightning speed and can even fly when needed. Once they surround you in the water, there’s not much you can do. If you get pulled down, you’d be lucky to drown first. Fighting back makes it worse.
Their Mystery:
· What is the secret, question, or puzzle that must be solved to survive this monster? Humboldt Squid are not particularly aggressive if not antagonized. But the drug dealers have been firing machine guns at them at night and it makes them frenzy.
· Cristian, the main character, is a marine biologist who solves the problem by using lights to communicate with the squid long enough to dissuade them from thinking you are prey. Long enough for him to release the drift nets that have been attracting them.
Their Fear Provoking Appearance
Grotesque or Disturbing: Slithering arms that have spiked tips that can grab and hold. Arms that get all over you in the water, including inside the mouth.<div>
o Weapon of choice – Super sharp beak that pulls chunks into the mouth. Once they grab a meal with the suckers on their feeding tentacles, they drag the prey down to their sharp beak. This cuts the prey into more manageable pieces. A shoal of squid can skin to the bone a full sized cow in 10 minutes.
Their Rules:
· How it operates to create horror – The Red Devil Squid is a formidable predator and most other animals in the ocean tend to avoid their swarms. They generally feed at night when they rise from the depths to the surface. If left alone, they are generally not a problem. But if antagonized, they start to frenzy and will even cannibalize their own.
· What behaviors does it exhibit; what horror does it create; and what rules does it follow? A word of warning: “You should not dive into a school of Humboldt Squid unless you are damn prepared and aware that you are throwing yourself into a scenario where you are at nature’s will.”
· Staying out of the water at all costs is the only way to survive a swarm. The squid will continue to feed until the water is clear.
Their Mythology:
o The Humboldt, specifically, are known to be fierce, cannibalistic fighters. Fishermen have nicknamed them “diablos rojos,” or red devils, because of their bodies’ red color and their hostile nature.
o Isla De Los Muertos – The island of the dead where the villagers fish. It gets is name for a reason – the ghost nets. Giant nets cast into the ocean by fisherman. They’ve been mysteriously left there to catch and kill anything that becomes entangled.
o The squid have come to the area because of the ghost nets that now surround the Isla De Los Muertos.
o Because of the nets, the fisherman believe they are being punished by the sea.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Christopher Grant.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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My Project: The Red-Red Devil
Watched: The Blair Witch Project
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
Analyzing scripts for their tension is by far the best way to learn how to do this right. I’m learning a lot about my script already.
Title / Concept: Blair Witch Project
Terrorize The Characters: A witch, some unknown forest wraith, terrorizes a 3 person film crew to the point of insanity and death.
Isolation: Lost in the woods, wandering in circles.
Death: One-by-one the crew dies as they try to escape from the woods but can’t.
Monster/Villain: The Blair Witch. Never seen but represented by evil talismans that get more gruesome by the encounter.
High Tension: Every time the sun sets the crew panics and the witch starts to terrorize them.
Departure from Reality: Hunting around in the dark, psychological terror in the woods at night. Abandoned houses, walking in circles.
Moral Statement: Do not take local legends for granted and don’t trespass
3. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film? The documentary style gave an immediate authenticity to the storytelling. Had this film been scripted it might not have the same impact.
4. With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story.
Concept: The Red-Red Devil – Sea monsters terrorize a small hapless fishing village in Ecuador.
Terrorize The Characters: Fisherman attacked by pods of giant squid that have migrated to the area because of their nets.
Isolation: Death at sea, no chance for rescue, everything is sinking, at night.
Death: Victims are torn apart by frenzied squids that have come up to feed by the hundreds.
Monster/Villain: Humboldt Squid, 4-5 feet long, eight strong arms, lightning fast, and constantly hungry. Locals call them The Red Devil. And lately they’ve become a lot more aggressive.
High Tension: Drug dealers in the area force the fisherman to give up their boats and swim back to shore. If they refuse, they are cut and fed to the squid while still alive and bleeding. The ocean is full of dead bodies and rotting souls.
Departure from Reality: An angry ocean. Superstitious fisherman prone to fantasy, Isla De Los Muertos – Island of the Dead. Ghost nets drift in the ocean catching everything in their path, a floating graveyard caused by overfishing.
Moral Statement: Overfishing with ghost nets that trap and kill everything causes an imbalanced ecosystem and draws in the voracious squid called the Red Devil. All are punished for their transgressions against the sea.
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Chris Grant
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