Marcus Weems
Forum Replies Created
-
Assignment #3 Survivors & Victims
Marcus Weems Characters for Horror
What I learned from this assignment is:
I never realized that there are certain “stock” characters and groupings that populate the Horror genre.
CONCEPT & GROUP
Social Event
Dia de Muertos / All Hallows Eve cruisers
DYING PATTERN
Six or so die one by one.
CHARACTERS
Leader / Carrier
Psychic who inadvertently calls and releases the evil spirits.
Rescuer
Incognito nun on sabbatical who holds the knowledge necessary to combat the monsters.
Innocent
Novice nun whose inept naivete compounds the situation. Traveling with the nun.
Out of Control / Obnoxious
Entitled Cali girl whose comeuppance will be celebrated by the audience.
Complainer
Nothing is good enough or fast enough for this curmudgeon.
Introvert
Skittish, Don Knotts type, who took the cruise for his nerves.
Moral One
Scatman Crothers type is the steward who gets the big picture while trying to make things run smoothly.
Rebel / Rule Breaker
Goth girl (if there still is such a thing) who has done it all, seen it all, and experienced it all with a hidden knowledge that might just help save the day.
-
Marcus Weems
ASSIGNMENT #1 Horror Concept and Conventions
What I learned from this assignment is:
If you don’t exercise your writing muscles, they sometimes atrophy.
I didn’t realize that horror was soooooo horrific. I also didn’t know that it was quite so bleak or inescapable or that it had such established or consequential elements.
Movie Analysis
Title / Concept
THIRTEEN GHOSTS
GHOST BUSTERS—The evil side.
Terrorize the characters
A family already under duress is lured to an inherited house that is the prison for a dozen deadly and menacing invisible ghosts lurking in glass cages.
Isolation
The house seals shut and the hapless family is trapped inside.
Death
The mortality rate begins with a massacre even before the family is ever trapped in this glass house. Inside the home the estate attorney, the conniving cohort, the deceased’s assistant, and the not-so-dead-after all deceased benefactor all bite it big time.
Monster / Villain
The true villain is the demented master-mind ghost hunting uncle, but that is not discovered until near the end. In the meantime, you have 12 ghosts that are popping in and out.
High Tension
All 12 of these evil spirits have their own preferred method of exacting revenge, each worse than the one before. They can only be seen while wearing a special pair of treated glasses so oftentimes the assault comes out of nowhere. The walls are glass, but it is like a house of mirrors where the doors open and close cutting you off in mid pursuit.
Departure from Reality
Houses are not built ENTIRELY of glass: walls, doors, ceilings, and floors. You can’t keep an angry spirit trapped in a glass cage with some Latin verse serving as the lock.
Moral Statement
Beware of gifts “too good to be true.”
ORIGINAL Script Idea
Title / Concept
SÉANCE AT SEA
John Edward type (psychic) opens Pandora’s box mid-ocean.
Terrorize the characters
Unknown misdeeds both personal and familial come to light with dire consequences. Once the avenging entities have taken revenge, they don’t stop. They continue their rampage on innocent bystanders.
Isolation
Trapped in the middle of a transatlantic cruise from Hell.
Death
Various and sundry: Drowning in backed up sewage; boiling in a hot tub; skewered by shisha kabob; Draino martini, etc.
Monster / Villain
Half-a-dozen or so avenging entities that appear for revenge and then stick around for the rush they get from terminating the living in unexpected ways.
High Tension
A spa treatment can turn into a torture session. Libations can be lethal. Daily functions can become deadly. There is not a rhyme or reason—necessarily. You may not even be a guilty party or a member of a transgressing family.
Departure from Reality
Tele-psychics don’t usually awaken murderous marauding minions that murder malingering malcontents. People don’t usually drown in shipboard bathrooms or boil to death in a Jacuzzi tub.
Moral Statement
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that someone (or something) is not out to get you.
-
Howdy y’all. I’m Marcus Weems (68 in two months.)
I’ve written about half-a-dozen scripts (mostly with Hal) but life got in the way so I never followed though.
I’m retired now so NOW is the time to get back in the the saddle & goforit!
Looking forward to working with you guys to develope some synergy.🤠
-
Marcus Weems
I agree to the terms of this Confidentiality Agreement.