[Lois Buchter]

1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen. Victims will be members of the excavation team and sometimes their family members. Survivors will be members of the Indian tribe and one news reporter. Also, the Bigfoot tribe will be victorious.
2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie. The victims experience the terror alone, but sometimes together. An injured survivor tells the horror of the massacre.
3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.
TRIBAL LEADERS: Shadowhawk is the most outspoken chieftan who warns state officers about disrupting the sacred stones.
NEWS REPORTER: Samantha Rutledge. Has distant Indian blood, more of an outsider to the tribes, but pushes initiatives to help the tribes in the past. She films one of the attacks and narrowly makes it out alive.
EXCAVATION TEAM LEAD: Mark Hamilton, doesn’t believe in squat – bigfoot, UFO’s are all ridiculous to him. He is there to do a job. He is killed in the first attack and see’s Bigfoot approach the killing spirit and become possessed.
COMPLAINER: Government manager of Water District Management office – tired and wants to retire, but needs to go out of his work life on a positive. Sadly, he doesn’t make it.
Complainer II: A second employee from the government water office is possessed and dies.
LAWYER: J. Western a righteous Christian who is only after the money and billing hours on his case load. He would rather do the bare minimum than truly take care of the legal requirements he is tasked to do. He is outspoken when the deaths start, including his daughter in college near the excavation site. “It’s the wrath of God.”
BIGFOOT: Has become a carrier for the dark spirit and kills one bigfoot from his tribe accidentally. The Bigfoot tribe doesn’t take it lightly – fights back.

This was an interesting set up — I enjoyed it.

[Lois Buchter]

What I learned in Assignment 2: Lois

1. Tell us what or who your monster is: Tell us what or who your monster is: A nature spirit – smoke that can infect humans and animals – it emerges from the ground seeking vengeance against the land. Invades the souls of its victims – hollowing them out and transforming them into agents of wrath. Seeps into your skin, boiling under the skin until your eyes go black, mouth open, your soul is pulled back into you – now forever changed into a weapon of death.

2 Their Terror: How does the monster terrorize? The ancient spirit does not kill the Native Americans who try to stop entity, but goes after the humans who scar the land – it won’t stop until the land heals.

2. Mystery: How can we stop the spirit without getting infected ourselves

3. Fear Provoking Appearance: The Spirit changes the human form – elongating the jaw, blackening the eyes without pupils.

4. Their Rules: It gets into human contact by touching ground – the trees, roots, soil communicate to the spirit. Indian song and chant calm the spirit, but doesn’t stop it. Only the beast of the forest (Bigfoot) can stop it.

5. Mythology: Has been around since the beginning of mankind on earth, ancient, alien entity.

[Lois Buchter]

Lois – Horror Movie Slash/Back

Terrorize the Characters – 5 teen girls must face their fears in a very remote Alaskan village.

Isolation – Alaskan Native American village with the bare minimum opportunities. Fishing is the only job. Polar Bears are common.

Death – Villagers are picked off one by one. Native animals are picked off one by one – all coming back to life with a fericousity to kill and infect with the alien life force.

Monster/Villain – There is a split between two worlds – Alien and Indian village heritage, but the alien isn’t really seen until Act II. The alien needs bodies to feed upon.

High Tension – Can the girls use the rifle to actually kill and not scare off the monsters? They are not good shots and it comes down to facing their biggest fears. Also, one member who is known for telling outlandish stories is not believed by the majority of her friends. Parental figures are distant and not engaged with their kids.

Depart from Reality – At first we think it might be some sort of infection affecting the animals, but then after the first human kill we see the large alien entity waiting for the kills to be brought to it by the affected animals.

Moral Statement – Don’t mess with the native girls! There might be more to the native stories after all.

[Lois Buchter]

Horror Class Working File: A SACRED PLACE

A. Monster/Villian: Ancient Spirit/Indian Shaman
B. Interesting Terror: Has laid dormant for centuries – now awakened
C. An isolated and horrific environment: Indian Burial Grounds
D. People who will terrorized: Developer/State Reservoir Authority Officer

5. Creatures: The State Reservoir Authority seizes sacred tribal lands, ignoring warnings about the ancient spirits that protect them. In their greed to build a reservoir, they awaken an ancient entity, a vengeful force that has guarded these grounds for centuries. Five tribes come together, desperate to stop the encroachment, but it’s already too late. Something has been unleashed.

A smoke-like creature begins to emerge from the disturbed soil, seeking vengeance on anyone who dares to claim the land, touch the sacred artifacts, or move the ancient stone pillars. The creature doesn’t just kill—it invades the souls of its victims, hollowing them out and transforming them into agents of its wrath. Its fury is now aimed at the families of the Reservoir Authority, seeking to claim their souls in retaliation.

The tribal leaders try to warn those in power, but their pleas go unheard, and the spirit grows stronger with every trespass. To make matters worse, the ancient creature has crossed paths with an even older guardian—the elusive Bigfoot tribe that roams these woods. Now, a war is brewing between forces not seen by the human eye.

Alone in the woods, when the screams start, the spirits won’t stop. And no one will hear you.

[Lois Buchter]

1. Name? Lois Buchter
2. How many scripts you’ve written? Hard to say…a bunch. I have seven elevated high concept, worked in paid writing assignments and have an award-winning short horror that I’m thinking of producing next year. Wanted to take this class to have it in my back pocket in when the short is out there. Have gone through the ProSeries and Master Series with Hal, also in the Top Tier group with Roadmap.
3. What you hope to get out of the class? A way to elevate my short and this concept.
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you? My daughter likes to watch me watch horror. She loves it…me, not so much. I like suspense horror, not blood and guts like Saw, but I am interested in the emotional toll that Hal talked about.

[Lois Buchter]

I agree to the terms of confidentiality.