Marissa Lichwick
Forum Replies Created
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Subject line: (Marissa’s ) Scary-As-Hell Scene
What I learned: This class is excellent and the step by step approach is very effective
SCENE: Anxiety to Panic.
Children are on the playground. The adversary lingers.
Anxiety: An unknown woman near the playground. She engages with the children. Adair takes notice and remains on edge.
Surprise/scare: Adair returns her attention back to the Church ladies. When she glances back at Jo and the children, they are gone. The playground is empty. The children are gone as well as the strange figure. Adair screams and yells for Jo. The other mothers respond.
Release: The children run out from hide and seek and fill the playground laughing at their parents.
Shock: There is no Jo
Fear: ADAIR frantically searches and questions all of the children.
Dread: She calls her husband to come to meet her at the playground and help her search.
Release: An unknown/unmet Church lady from the far end of the park carries a child to Adair.
Panic: a deformed face turns and vomits on Adair. Adair screams. She looks at the woman who has black eyes and begs for her child. Adair runs.
Anguish: Adair shouts for Jo but all she sees are black eyes. The church ladies have disappeared. The children have all turned to demonic faces creeping towards her. Adair runs to her car. She meets her husband who holds Jo’s shoes.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Marissa Lichwick.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Marissa Lichwick.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by
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Subject: (Marissa’s) Monster’s reveal
What I learned: This was a challenging assignment
(I wrote this assignment a while ago but apparently, I didn’t hit “post”.
Who is your monster and what is their terror?
Powers? Possess people, levitate children, burns people, shred skin off of people, enter into the minds of people, and take control of them.
Limitations? bound to killing only in the house, can only lure from outside the house, can’t manifest in full.
Weaknesses? Harmed by venerable religious items: cross, bible, holy water.
Plan/Purpose/Appetite? The purpose is to retrieve the teraphim (idols) at all costs. Plan: possess and enter into Adair (the central character, whose former spirit stole them) and kill her husband and children.
Who or what the monster is: Leah from the old testament was in love with Jacob (the man who truly loved Leah’s sister, Rachel.) Leah had Jacob’s children but Jacob ran off with Rachel stealing the family teraphim (idols) that Leah worships to gain secret powers to conceive children, which Rachel could not.
Act 1
The atmosphere of Evil is established: an old woman begins to have a seizure.
Demand: Why is this woman dying
Reveal: There is something about this heavy white breeze that carries an evil force
Horror Situation: the windows open violently, and curtains dance wildly as a streak of light enters the room.
Reaction – She dies.
Connect with the Characters – a family of four is living an ordinary life. They receive news about the death of their grandmother. They set out for a road trip to attend the funeral on the opposite side of the country.
Characters are warned not to do it – the central character sees a woman in cover in blood on the drive. The husband warns maybe they shouldn’t go.
Denial of Horror – central character gets aggressive and defends her family. She declares she is mourning and takes the wheels to drive the family.
Demand: to prove she is sane she takes control of the situation.
Reveal: An embedded entity begins to haunt the wife
Safety is taken away – the wife now slightly unhinged loses her way. They wander into unknown territory and get lost in the middle of nowhere. The family is scared and the husband and wife argue as to who takes charge. The wife storms off into the unknown woods.
Horror Situation – wife is wandering alone in the woods. she gets lost and separates from her family.
Reaction – lost and confused they look for each other. the wife grows confused and thinks she sees the woman in white. she begins to walk faster and faster away from the direction of the white woman. she yells for her family. The husband hears the wife and tells the kids to stay in the car. He moves deeper into the woods calling after her. The wife and husband finally find each other. They run to the car, find it and get back on the road.
Demand: this adversary may be linked to her mother.
Reveal: wife hallucinates and sees a demonic face.
Horror situation – at the family funeral the family sees a strange unknown woman. The wife hallucinates and sees her demonic face.
Reaction – They decide not to drive back to their home and move into their dead mother’s house near their living family.
MONSTER – NATURE OF THE BEAST – they discover teraphims (little idols) that conjure the demonic spirit into the home. Unknown to them, they are now cursed by the demonic spirit.
Demand: little idols are found
Reveal: a dark cloud shrouds over the house.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
Horror situation – Little girl (youngest child) mysteriously disappears.
Reaction – Try to solve it – they search for her: the house, the yard, call the extended family, the police.
One of us killed – the father wakes in the middle of the night to screams of his little girl. He runs to her bedroom to find her in the arms of a woman in white covered in blood. The little girl is holding the teraphim. He lunges for her and he is burned alive.
Demand: Father has to find his little girl
Reveal: the monster is a partially formed woman in white that shreds his skin and burns him alive.
Horror situation – wife wakes and searches and finds her husband’s ashes and daughter gone.
Reaction – try to solve it – the wife takes her son, packs, and tries to leave the house. The doors are locked.
Demand: how did the doors lock?
Reveal: the house changes and shifts.
MIDPOINT – the monster is worse than we thought.
Full pursuit by the killer – son finds teraphim and it conjures the white woman right to him.
Demand: What is a teraphim, and how is it linked to the demon woman in white?
Reveal: A woman wants the person to hold the idol. She doesn’t hesitate.
Horror situation – mother looks for a safe room, but the house continues to change form.
Reaction – Mother finds a window to jump out.
Terrorized – Mother realizes that the idols are conjuring the white woman. how does she destroy the white woman?
Demand: How do you destroy the teraphim
Reveal: the woman in white seems to dislike religious icons
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: She burns the idols.
Horror situation – Idols don’t burn. The white woman now seeks them out.
Demand: (figuring out the pieces) Is the woman linked to the story of the teraphim
Reveal: the white is ruthless but resists when a bible or cross is near.
Reaction – fight – mother finds and looks in the bible to understand teraphim to destroy white woman. She tries to smash the idols with a hammer.
Horror situation – idols don’t break.
Reaction – lures – mother uses idols to lure, arms herself with cross, bible, and matches.
Pursued situation – there is no escape
Horror situation – mother and son find a window. The window is locked.
Reaction – Mother smashes the window – Son jumps out.
Demand: Conflict – Son escapes
Reveal: The white woman can’t allow the boy to escape. She needs to destroy the mother to keep the son in the house.
Face to face with the Monster – White woman approaches the mother and the mother burns herself and her bible on fire.
Resolution – the son watches the house burn. The rescue team arrives and the son is taken to the hospital. He is saved.
Resolution/Sequel – he keeps the teraphim.
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Subject line (Marissa’s) Level 2 Horror Emotion Scene
I’m not sure why this didn’t post. Put this up a few days ago.
What I learned: Always changing.
FEAR: Levi searches through the dark house to locate the cries of his missing daughter, Jo. Her voice is getting closer and closers are he approaches the attic. He creeps up the attic stairs.
SUSPENSE: The attic is stacked up to the ceiling with boxes of clothes, pictures, and books. He makes way but the crying has stopped. He looks around and realizes he’s lost. The boxes shield his pathway and the darkness blind his view. He feels his way around. A chill runs through his body. He yells “JO!”. “JO!” Levi scrambles. Then “Daddy!” Levi jumps. “Jo!” Where are you baby? Can you see?”
DREAD: “Daddy, help me!” Levi begins to push through the boxes searching for an opening. “Jo, come toward my voice. (Sotto) there’s so much shit.” Jo, come toward my voice” Silence. “Jo?” Levi attacks a box searching for a flashlight, something to help with the visibility. Nothing. He searches for string near the ceiling. He touches upon a line and pulls. As lights flicker on he catches Jo, staring at him only inches away. He looks beyond and black eyes glare back.
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Subject line: (Marissa’s) Scares, Releases, and Creepy Moments
What I learned: With a little time and brainstorming the script can really craft itself now that we are coming to the end of the month. I’m trying to put more focused time in and let some of the spaces fill in organically.
I’ll be back with the scene. This is the outline. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
Scares: Adair wakes from vivid nightmares. She reaches for Levi but he is missing. She panics. The house is dark and strange. She searches for her glasses but nothing. She stumbles out of the bed and decides to search. Adair locates a flashlight and walks through the dark house. She hears voices. As she moves into the living room they become more pronounced. She hears her daughter. Her missing daughter’s cries are coming from above. “Jo! Levi?” With blurry vision, Adair stumbles further and finds the attic door. She turns the knob and is ready to ascend when –
“Mommy”. Adair turns. Jo stares warmly back at her.
Release: “Jo? Where have you been? Oh, my god you had us scared.” Adair holds her daughter tight. “You scared us to death. Where’s Daddy?”
Jo – “You need your glasses”
Adair stares frightfully for a moment then shakes it off. She takes the glass.
“Thank you, baby”
Adair puts the glasses on.
She encourages Jo to bed. They amble off together.
Adair turns back, feeling a chill.
Creepy Moments – a little later
Adair rushes to her bedroom to search for Levi. He is still missing. Adair now frightened. She scans the room with her flashlight. Attempts the light switch but the lights flicker and burn out.
Adair “What’s the, what the fucks happening”
Adair wanders down the hallway and looks at the attic door. She decides. She marches to Benjamin’s room. She slowly creeps to his bed and carefully pulls off his covers. Benjamin is there. Sleeping. Peacefully. Adair turns and goes back to the attic door. She stares, pondering. Her hands shake. She decides and reaches for the door.
“Mommy.”
Adair whips around.
Black eyes stare back.
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Subject line: Marissa’s Level 3 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned: Realizing I need to start fleshing out my scenes but trying to keep up with the assignments.
ANGUISH: Adair finds the Shin Hee outside the house her body burnt to the cement with a shell of a face. She howls inaudibly. She turns and sees Benjamin enveloped by white smoke floating. He is holding the teraphim. She jumps for his feet.
PANIC: Benjamin begins to drift across the room, elevated. He is shouting for Adair. She chases after the mixture of clouds and smoke. Benjamin’s screams grow distant. Adair continues to chase when the floors give out and she crashes through slamming back first into a coffee table. Adair moans feeling her ribs. She grimaces. Then. Adair rolls over in agony.
HORROR: Benjamin is gone.
HYSTERIA: Adair attempts to rise but collapses. Her eyes search the room and she screams “Benjamin?” She pulls her body out of the living room. Seeking “Benjamin!”
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Subject line: (Marissa Lichwick’s) Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned is: this is challenging and still changing and evolving more so now that the characters are talking.
INT. HOUSE – DAY
Levi – Are you sure you feel okay to drive?
Adair – Yea, I’m fine.
Adair looks over to reaffirm. Levi looks back, questioningly.
Adair – We were estranged.
Levi – Okay. She was still your mother.
Adair – Years ago.
INT. CAR – DAY
Adair – I-90 right?
Levi double-checks Adair’s GPS.
Adair – it’s the newest one. The GPS works fine.
Levi – You seem on edge, Are you sure you want to drive?
Adair – Yes.
INT. CAR – TWO HOURS LATER
Levi – What’s our ETA
Adair – Umm…what does it say.
Levi – it says 4800 hours.
Adair – WHAT? We should be there by dawn.
Levi looks desperately at Adair.
Levi – babe just let me.
Adair – No!
Levi looks around. His face is blank. Jo gets up and looks.
Jo – Mommy? Where are we?
Adair – We’re close, baby.
Adair looks around. time passes. They are now off the highway.
Benjamin – Aren’t we supposed to be on the highway?
Adair – there are backroads too, Benji.
Levi – babe
Adair – NO!
The family drives.
INT. CAR – FOUR HOURS LATER
Adair’s eyes are frantic. Benjamin looks out the window and sees trees and forests.
Benjamin – Why are there so many trees?
Adair – (non responsive)
Levi – Pullover. I’m driving.
Benjamin – Mommy are you lost?
Adair shakes her head.
Levi holds her hand. Adair looks out. She stares. A cloud of smoke whisks by. She hears a scream, follows. She is pulled by the gravity of her vision.
Adair pulls Levi’s hand away with force. She swerves the car to follow the apparition. Everyone is thrust from the motion and screams explode. Adair is deaf to the noise and possessed by her need to investigate her new discovery. The car halts and nearly crashes against the row of barricading bushes. She jumps out and begins to run inside the woods. Levi jumps out after her.
Levi – ADAIR! ADAIR! DAMMIT!
The children are in hysterics.
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Assignment 9: Character Journey Track
Subject Line: (Marissa Lichwick) Make your outline readable
What I learned: The story and outline are still changing with each assignment.
OPENING/PROLOGUE
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
Windows swing open and a stream of smoke enters. It floats and creeps to the bed. An elder woman stirs awake. She tries to escape. There is a struggle of some kind and she is brutally killed.
INT. HOUSE – DAY
ADAIR, LEVI, and their two children JO (seven years old) and BENJAMIN (twelve years old) wake to find the terrible news of their grandmother from their aunt. They pack and prepare themselves for the long drive to New York State.
INT. CAR – DAY
They speak about their grandmother’s funeral and Adair reveals to her children that she has not seen her mother in a long time. We receive information that she is estranged.
Adair is blinded by fog while driving and loses her way. She envisions seeing a woman in white covered in blood.
EXT. WOODS – DAY
Adair and family have pulled over to the side of the road. Levi questions Adair and her wherewithal. Adair insists on going into the woods to see investigate who she saw on the road. Levi advises against it. But Adair defies the family and storms into the dark and becomes separated from the family.
After a few shouts and echoes, Adair makes her way back to Levi, Jo, and Benjamin. She reconnects and the family gets back on the road.
INT. CHURCH – DAY
Adair and their family eulogize about their mother. As she talks she notices a woman approach her son. She grows alarmed. She takes a closer look and believes the woman has a demonic face. Adair once again grows alarmed by her sense of reality.
MOMENTS LATER
Adair gathers with her siblings, husband, and children. She tells her sister Lizzy about her hallucinations. Lizzy warns her that it’s best if she doesn’t make the drive back home, instead, they recommend she spend the night and in the morning go to their mother’s house and think about spending some time there. Go through her items, sort through remnants, and get a sense of what her life looked like.
INT. MOTHER’S HOUSE – DAY
(MONSTER – THE NATURE OF THE BEAST)
Adair and her family arrive at her mother’s home to find chaos that the police have left. She looks through her mother’s life.
The children select their rooms and as they are busing themselves in their former grandmother’s home, Jo discovers small idols called teraphims. She takes it as her own and begins to play with the idol.
Benjamin carries on.
The teraphim unleash an evil spirit in the house.
ACT 2 – POINT OF NO RETURN
INT. HOUSE – DAY
Lizzy and her children visit Adair to inspect the house. As the sister go through their mother’s life, the children decide to play in the yard. As they play Jo disappears.
Adair screams and blames Benjamin unable to deal with the reality that her daughter has simply evaporated.
This begins the fall of the family.
INT. HOUSE – NIGHT
Adair and Levi sleep. Screams of Jo are heard. Levi wakes. Only he can hear. He walks room to room to find her. He grows more and more panicked. Finally, he walks up to the attic to find her playing with the teraphim. He goes to get her, to pick her up when suddenly blood starts coming out of his mouth and eyes. Acid burns his skin and he falls to the ground and is scorched alive, without the fire. He screams for Jo. Jo turns around and just watches him emotionless. A cloud of white smoke bellows behind her.
INT. HOUSE – MORNING
Adair wakes the next morning looking for her husband. She is frazzled. She searches and finds Benjamin in his bed. She checks Jo’s room. Still no Jo. She searches for her husband. She calls her sister. Adair gets a shotgun and begins to arm herself. She is ready to fight.
INT. HOUSE – AFTERNOON
There is a knock at the door. Adair is shocked. She goes and a woman from the church comes with food. A food train. Adair is bewildered. She refuses the food, but the woman insists. Adair can use the company. She lets the woman in. The woman shares stories about her mother, her mother’s fondness for bible stories, and Adair’s adoption story. She gives Adair a little package her mother left at the church. Adair feels she has made a momentary friend.
INT. HOUSE – MOMENTS LATER
Adair looks through the box, she sees letters, pictures of her as an adoptee, some idols. She puts the box away.
She keeps the idols out.
MOMENTS LATER
Benjamin’s screams are heard. He cries for his Mom. Adair runs to him and they discover Levi. Adair is horrified. She begins to pack. She tells Benjamin they need to leave.
Adair attempts to leave the house but the doors are locked. She is baffled. She goes to get her gun but there is no gun.
Meanwhile, Benjamin is studying the teraphim.
Benjamin hears Jo and begins to search for her.
Adair comes out and sees Benjamin gone. She attempts to leave one room but the walls change.
The house begins to morph.
Adair screams for Benjamin.
They finally rejoin. Benjamin tells Adair that he saw Jo. Adair is confused by this news. Benjamin shows her the teraphim and Adair inspects the idol. She realizes that the idol was in the box the church woman brought to her. As Adair is trying to understand everything. She thinks she imagined the church woman and asks Benjamin where he got the idol. He tries to explain.
White smoke moves toward them. Their eyes begin to burn.
They embrace hands and rush to the attic.
INT. ATTIC – DAY
The attic is unrecognizable as it has changed shape and size. But in that area is where her mother kept all of her boxes. Adair goes through her mother’s boxes and finds the Bible. Adair goes through the old testament and begins to investigate to understand. She learns about the idols. She realizes that they were worshipped by people to bring fertility, wealth, and nefarious entities. Adair is able to connect the idols with what is happening. She tells Benjamin they need to destroy the idols.
They try to smash the idol. Nothing.
They panic.
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Adair and Benjamin stay in the attic. She now tries to burn the idols but the idols do not burn. They are at a loss for what to do.
They can see the white smoke move through the attic door.
Adair goes for the window but the window is welded shut. She breaks the glass.
She rummages and she and Benjamin gather crosses and bibles. They position the idol nearby to lure the lady in white.
Adair makes Benjamin jump out of the window as the white smoke approaches and she self-immolates to burn the house down.
RESOLUTION – Benjamin escapes the house but keeps a teraphim.
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Assignment 8
Marissa Lichwick’s Character – Journey Track
What I learned doing this assignment: my mind keeps changing and shifting as to how I am building this world. Some aspects deepen while others completely change.
1. With each of your Survivors and Victims, answer the following questions:
A. What is their Character Profile?
Role: Adair
Traits: strong, leader
Fears: children dying
Wants/Needs: kill the adversary at all cost
Likability / Rooting factors: badass
How they react under stress: takes action. Finds the answer
Relationship with other characters: protectorB. What is their Character Journey for this story?
Character Intro: receives news about her mother’s death
Denial: no. accepts the news/truth
Their reaction at first horror: numb, anger, resentment, quiet sadness
Relation to the group after first horror: Reacts, takes control
How they fight back: finding clues, understanding the adversary
End Point: kills herself to kill the adversary
What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Destroys the adversary in the present form. Willing to sacrifice herself for her family/son.________
A. What is their Character Profile?
<div>Role: Reuben (husband)
Traits: Skeptical, hesitant, timid.
Fears: the unknown, the truth
Wants/Needs: peace, stability
Likability / Rooting factors: friendly, nice
How they react under stress: hides
Relationship with other characters: joins in the fear
</div>B. What is their Character Journey for this story? He dies quickly
Character Intro: wakes next to his wife. Finding out about his mother-in-law
Denial: that there is an evil supernatural force
Their reaction at first horror: dumbstruck fear
Relation to the group after first horror: protect and hide the group
How they fight back: escape
End Point: dies by fire
What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? One less adult to protect the young. This leaves the group more vulnerable._______
1. With each of your Survivors and Victims, answer the following questions:
A. What is their Character Profile? Benjamin
Role: introvert/loner
Traits: watches/observes
Fears: Conflict
Wants/Needs: peace, non-conflict, to be left alone
Likability / Rooting factors: sweet, wise beyond his easy
How they react under stress: retreats, or attacks when pushed
Relationship with other characters: lingers behind.
B. What is their Character Journey for this story?
Character Intro: follows his family once the news about his grandmother is heard. Doesn’t push back. He obeys easily.
Denial: He goes from denial -> suprise -> shock -> frightened-> fight back->
Their reaction at first was horror: frightened.
Relation to the group after the first horror: frighteningly curious.
How they fight back: through curiosity wants to find the answers. Help his mom.
End Point: the only one that survives.
What insight does their death bring? He holds onto a teraphim. He will recycle the story bringing conjuring the evil spirit.
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1. With each of your Survivors and Victims, answer the following questions:
A. What is their Character Profile? Youngest child – Jo
Role: Innocent one. A 5-year-old little girl.
Traits: complaints, asks a lot of questions.
Fears: all that she doesn’t know which is a lot
Wants/Needs: he brother to answer everything
Likability / Rooting factors: innocent, cute, earnest
How they react under stress: scared, screams, puts the group at risk.
Relationship with other characters: loves them all.
B. What is their Character Journey for this story? currently first to die
Character Intro: with family as they journey to their grandmother’s funeral.
Denial: kept in the dark, feed little information at a time.
Their reaction at first horror: utter fear
Relation to the group after the first horror: scared, needs group, emotions.
How they fight back: hides
End Point: first to die
What insight do their deaths or survival bring to the others/audience? Monster came to get the children.
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Marissa’s Character Death Track
What I learned doing this assignment is that there needs to be a reason why characters die and that they should to deepen the plot.
Character death 1: Little girl (youngest daughter)
Why: She’s the most vulnerable. The weakest link. She holds the family down.
How: She easily gets captured by the demonic woman
Character death 2: The husband (Everest)
Why: He’s the strongest. Without him the family is weaker, making them more vulnerable and susceptible to the adversary/monster.
How: He is skinned alive while trying to save the weakest link.
Character death 3: The mother/wife (Adair, the central character)
Why: She sacrifices herself to save her son. “who keeps the teraphim which will ultimately perpetuate this evil cycle.)
How: She immolates herself and the haunted house.
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Marissa’s Horror Situation Track
What I learned doing this assignment: The script keeps changing with each assignment.
ACT 1 – SET UP THE HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: a demonic entity beheads an old woman.
Horror Situation: the windows open violently, and curtains dance wildly as a streak of light enters the room.
Reaction – HIDE: A woman wakes and crawls under the bed.
Connect with the Characters – a family of four is living an ordinary life. They receive news about the death of their grandmother. They set out for a road trip to attend the funeral on the opposite side of the country.
Characters are warned not to do it – the central character sees a woman in cover in blood on the drive. The husband warns maybe they shouldn’t go.
Denial of Horror – central character gets aggressive and defends her family. She declares she is mourning and takes the wheels drives the family.
Safety taken away – the wife now slightly unhinged loses her way. They wander into unknown terrority and get lost in the middle of nowhere. Family is scared and husband and wife argue as to who takes charge. Wife storms off into the unknown woods.
Horror Situation – wife is wandering alone in the woods. she gets lost and separates from the family.
Reaction – lost and confused they look for each other. the wife grows confused and thinks she sees the woman in white. she begins to walk faster and faster away from the direction of the white woman. she yells for her family. The husband hears the wife and tells the kids to stay in the car. He moves deeper into the woods calling after her. The wife and husband finally find each other. They run to the car, find it and get back on the road.
Horror situation – at the family funeral the family see a strange unknown woman. Wife hallucinates and sees her demonic face.
Reaction – They decide not to drive back to their home and move into their dead mother’s house near their living family.
MONSTER – NATURE OF THE BEAST – they discover teraphims (little idols) that conjure the demonic spirit into the home. Unknown to them, they are now cursed by the demonic spirit.
ACT 2 – THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
Horror situation – Little girl (youngest child) mysteriously disappears.
Reaction – Try to solve it – they search for her: the house, the yard, call the extended family, the police.
One of us killed – the father wakes in the middle of the night to screams of his little girl. He runs to her bedroom to find her in the arms of a woman in white covered in blood. The little girl is holding the teraphim. He lunges for her and he is burned alive.
Horror situation – wife wakes and searches and finds her husband desacrated, and daughtered gone.
Reaction – try to solve it – the wife takes her son, packs, and tries to leave the house. The doors are locked.
MIDPOINT – the monster is worse than we thought.
Full pursuit by the killer – son finds teraphim and it conjures the white woman right to him.
Horror situation – mother looks for a safe room, but the house now begins to change form.
Reaction – mother finds window to jump out.
Terrorized – mother realizes that the idols are conjuring the white woman. how does she destroy the white woman
ACT 3 – FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death: She burns the idols.
Horror situation – Idols don’t burn. White woman now seeks them out.
Reaction – fight – mother finds and looks in the bible to understand teraphim to destroy white woman. She tries to smash the idols with a hammer.
Horror situation – idols don’t break.
Reaction – lures – mother uses idols to lure, arms herself with cross, bible, and matches.
Pursued situation – there is no escape
Horror situation – mother and son find a window. Window is locked.
Reaction – mother smashes the window – Son jumps out.
Face to face with the Monster – White woman approaches mother and the mother burns herself and bible on fire.
Resolution – the son watches the house burn. Rescue team arrives and the son is taken to the hospital. He is saved.
Horror situation – he keeps the teraphim.
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Marissa’s Horror Plot
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established – Grandmother dies of a seizure in her home. It’s a stormy night. Windows are open. White curtains. <div>
Connect with the characters – Family wakes the next day and gets ready for the day. They receive a phone message about the death. They pack and begin their journey to their grandmother’s home.
The characters are warned not to do it. – On the way, Adaire the protagonist, sees a woman glide down the road and gets into an accident.
Denial of Horror – Everest, her husband, tells her she’s just mourning.Safety taken away – Once at the house, there is a destructive storm that takes out the electricity.
Monster:
The nature of the beast. – Aunt Lizzy gives the children a small doll/idol she finds to sooth them. She releases the teraphim.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted – The family is now isolated in the house, with the teraphim (adversary), and a raging storm flooding the roads. They are trapped and isolated.
One of us killed. – Everest disappears in the house and is never found.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer – to retrieve the teraphim and get revenge on Adair (who is the reincarnate of Rachel) by destroying her and everyone she loves.
Terrorized – Everyone in the house is terrified with no clue as to where Everest went. The children are petrified and continue to clutch onto the teraphim for support. This exacerbates the adversary. Lizzy, Adair, and Raif have a light source, a way to see. But the structure of the walls and doors seems to be changing. They lose their whereabouts and find themselves in a blinding maze.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death – they lose the children. The children separate. Only the cries are heard. there is very little visibility. The adults try to stay together and find the missing children. Raif wants to separate and look, Adair wants Everest, Lizzy wants to find the girls and stay together. The storm creeps inside and the house has turned upside down. We see Poppy elevate and spin in the air. Her clothes are ripped off and she is skinned in real time. The entire house sees. The teraphims float to the ground. Adair slowly realizes the culprit. (still figuring this out). She turns on Soonae, who is traumatized by the sacrifice of Poppy. Adair goes to attack and is stopped by Raif. He reasons with Adair. (still figuring this out) A hail invades the house and the family come together. The idols are flaming hot.The thrilling escape from death – Adair realizes the Adversary is there for her and she sacrifices herself. She self-immolates with the teraphim. House returns to normal as her flames drown. Lizzy, Raif, and Soonae escape the burning home.
Death returns to take one or more. – the teraphim are immune to the fire.
Resolution – We see the family slowly recover at the hospital. One of the workers inform Soonae that “this statue” was found amongst the rubble. It is one of the teraphim.
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Subject line: (Marissa Lichwick) Characters for Horror
I learned about universal characters which was really interesting and made the process easy. I also learned about the 3 different types of Dying Patterns which is fascinating and so few.
I’m learning how structured Horror script writing is and how vast the stories are. But, when broken down it’s clear to see that they do fall into these categories under specific concepts, groups, villains, and survivors. I really enjoy it.
1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen: Social group (family)
A family gathers to grieve and bury their mother. As the family tries to understand the missing pieces of their mother’s life, a mysterious, faceless demon begins to destroy her house and those inside it.
2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie: B. The characters experience the terror and survive together, but one or two die.
3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.
Leader: Adair, Mother. Brings her family together after the death of her mother, to gather her remains.
Rescuer: Everest, generic father figure to accompany his wife and family.
Loner: Poppy, daughter and younger sister. Quiet, mysterious. Likes to play with dolls.
Rebel: Soonae, older daughter. Defiant teenager who holds a grudge against Adair.
Carrier: Lizzy, Adair’s sister who finds the teraphim (idol) and secretly gives it to Poppy to cajole her.
Moral One: Raif, Lizzy’s husband. Resourceful, inventive, and with a strong moral compass.
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Create an early version of your monster.
1. Tell us what or who your monster is.
My monster is a lingering female demon that never shows her face. She derives from a biblical story. She appears as mysterious light but then burns the skin off her victim and leavs only bones for the surviors. She arrives at and only when small idols called Teraphim, appear.
2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:
Their Terror: When small idols called teraphims appear. The demon appears. <div>Their Mystery: She doesn’t have a body, face, or form. Just light, then violent flesh burning.
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Their Fear Provoking Appearance: Light, but the touch, playing, holding, any interaction of the teraphim dolls.
Their Rules: bringing out the dolls will call her out as she is attempting to retrieve them.
Their Mythology: Leah is the daughter of Laban. This is a story in the old testament. Essentially she could bear children and her youngest sister Rachel could not. When Jacob came through town he fell in love with Rachel and as Jacob to work his land if he could marry Rachel. Laban agreed but Rachel couldn’t bear children and Laban realized Leah could. So, Jacob had to marry Leah and birth children with her even though he love Rachel.
I am going to run with this biblical tale. In one version of the story, Rachel steals Laban’s idols, the teraphims, and runs off with Jacob. So, in my film, Leah is back to kill the reincarnated Rachel and her family to get the dolls back because the dolls were what she worshiped to bear so many children for Jacob who she loved. Sorry, that sounds really complex. But, this is the mythology and the derivation of the ghost/demon. And, her objective.
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This is not fleshed out at all.
Title: Hereditary
Concept: A family drama flipped on its head. A seemingly normal family is overcome by an evil entity after the death of a patriarch who was an apparent cult leader. The nefarious entity/advisory is destined to capture the family, especially the son as he is chosen to be the seventh ruler of hell that the family is predisposed to inherit.
TerrorizeThe Characters: The family members who cannot escape their inherited doomed fate.
Isolation: In their home.
The Advisory follows them everywhere. They cannot escape their fate. The Advisory enters into them and begins to destroy the family from inside the home.
Death: Beheaded.
Monster/Villain: A transparent light.
High Tension: A clicking sound.
Departure from Reality: Does a family inherit the kingdom of hell?
Moral Statement: Not sure. Stories based on Greek Tragedy are great ideas for Horror films.
3. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?
The acting, writing, directing, production, just everything about it. It’s a smart film that doesn’t resort to jump scares. I’m afraid it might fall under Thriller Horror rather than straight Horror.
4. With your concept, fill in each of these Conventions for your story. (I’m still working through this)
Concept: A Korean Horror film that adapts traditional Korean fable and biblical idols spoken of in the Book of Jacob (old testament)
Terrorize The Characters: At 11:11 strange hauntings occur. First, they are small then they grow in size leading to severe and gruesome deaths. As the film unfolds the time becomes linked to the idols and the fable of a dead Korean woman called “Geshen”
Isolation: Time 11:11
Death: Still figuring this part out.
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Hi, Sorry I’m a little late. The holiday kept me away for a bit. I’m Marissa. I’ve written two short and one feature film script. I hope to get the tools to write the horror script that has been dancing in my head. Unique/Special? Not sure. I’ll include something if a unique quality comes to mind. Look forward to jumping in.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Marissa Lichwick.
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