Scraping The Barrel...

2010-05-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Look, Updates...

Well, there's not really any excuse for not updating this for over a year other than I've been lazy. However, I've been on a bit of a horror kick, so I figured I'd post some things that I've done in that span of a year. I posted a revision to a story previously posted here earlier, so now here's an outline, but a quick explanation:

This outline came about after I had a dream in which I was hired to write a script for a new "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movie. In the dream I was discussing the concept with someone, but woke up before I could see what my dream did with the concept. So, out of boredom, I decided to write out how I would make an Elm Street movie. It should be noted that I went for a more psychological horror bent rather than a slasher, so it likely wouldn't actually work as a movie, but it's how I think you could "refresh" the Freddy character and make him compelling again.

Anyways, enough rambling!

---------------------------

-Doctor arrives at hospital, fresh out of medical school and an internship at a different hospital in the state. As he settles in he's given a RX to a drug that's a dream surpressant, told that it's a clinical test study. Accepts the bottle but doesn't take any.
-That night he has dreams of the boiler room, with hundreds of pipes snaking across the room, turning it into a labyrinth. The doctor goes through the labyrinth, but doesn't find anything before waking up.
-The next day at the hospital the doctor sees several teenage patients, each of which are taking the same experimental drug he was given. Each teenager is showing the stress of not being able to dream, so the doctor switches them onto a placebo without them knowing.
-That night, one of the teenagers takes the placebo, and when she falls asleep she finds herself in the boiler room. She attempts to find her way out, but Freddy gets her.
-At the hospital the next day the doctor gets confronted by the shift supervisor, asking about the patient's rx. The doctor denies any knowledge about what could've happened, not wanting the other doctors to know he messed with the rx.
-He gets a call later that day from one of the other patients he gave the placebos to, with the patient complaining about a dream where they ended up in a boiler room and now they had a burn on their arm. The doctor tells them to come in so he can examine it.
-While waiting for the patient, he talks to another doctor there, who mentions that a lot of the kids in the area have issues with nightmares, which is why they all get the rx.
-The patient arrives, and the doctor examines the burn. When talking to the patient the patient tells him about seeing Freddy and being taunted by him. Doctor Clearly doesn't believe the kid but treats the burn, saying that the kid must've burned themselves somehow and their subconscious gave them the dream, although he couldn't shake the feeling that perhaps something more is going on because of the doctor's own dream.
-The kid has a dream that night, ending back up in the boiler room being chased by Freddy. Freddy catches the kid, impalign them with the finger knives before throwing them into the incinerator. The kid's screams alerts the parents, who come in to see the kid's bed on fire before the body burns to a charred husk.
-The next day the parents' mother is at the hospital, hysterical over what happened and complaining to the shift supervisor. The supervisor then confronts the doctor again, asking what the patient's visit the previous day was about. Again the doctor denied everything, but is throughly confused by what's been happening.
-That night, the doctor dreams of being in the boiler room, where Freddy confronts him and tells him that he needs to gives the placebos to more kids so he can have at them. The doctor tells him no, using a burning hot pipe to wake himself up.
-When the doctor gets to the hospital the shift supervisor confronts him with a bottle of placebos, telling him that he's suspended while an investigation is taking place. The doctor leaves, ending up at the library, where he tries to find information on Freddy. He's unable to, but the librarian there gives him some details as well as pointing him towards some books on dreams.
-The doctor stays up as long as he can, reading up on the subject and taking the pills when he finally can't stay awake any longer. While he's researching the dreams the last of the patients who was given placebos contacts him, saying that the dreams started up. He goes to see the patient, saying that based on the books if they destroy all physical remains of Freddy the physical anchor will be cut and he'll go away.
-They confront the kid's parents, who tell them that they buried the remains in Freddy's old house. The doctor decides to go take a look. He goes into the house, which is abandoned, and breaks in, going into the basement and finding a patch of dirt, digging up the remains and taking them to a funeral home and having them cremated.
-That night the doctor has another nightmare, barely managing to escape Freddy. The doctor wracks his brain over why this could be, but realizes that the house needs to be destroyed. Getting stuff together, he tells the patient his plan before going there that night.
-The patient decides not to take their pills, wanting to see if the destruction of the house worked. Freddy chases them in their dream while the doctor uses gasoline to set the house ablaze. The house burns, and Freddy starts to burn away like the house, allowing the patient to escape and wake up. The fire department and police arrive, and the doctor is hauled away for arson, screaming that Freddy was finally gone as the scene fades out.

2010-05-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

What Matters Revision

I had this done forever ago, but have just been lazy about posting it. Here's the finished revision:

You could've told Jared Palmer it takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown, but that wouldn't have mattered. it had been weeks since he had something worth smiling about. Weeks since the normal flow of time slowed to a trickle. Each moment had been agony, to even acknowledge their existence after they had fluttered by sheer torture.

That didn't matter now.

Jared's grip on the phone receiver in his hand loosened. A faint murmur of noise can be heard from the receiver as it slips away from his ear on a one-way ticket to the floor next to him. Jared closes his eyes, the moments ticking away as the murmur from the earpiece continued.

That didn't matter either. What mattered is the end result of the phone call. The ambulance would be on its way.

His eyes slowly open, immediately beginning to dart around the apartment that had become a prison of sorts over the past few weeks. Over this time he had gotten to know the place intimately. Much to his chagrin. It had been a cold dose of reality, but all that changed a phone call ago.

All he needed to do now is free himself from this prison.

Glancing to his left, the smile drains from Jared's face as he scans over the metal frame that he had spent so much time with. It dictated what he did, where he went. It was the warden here, and it would be continuing its silent dominance over his life regardless of what would soon transpire. Shaking his head, he pushed the frame, and the wheelchair slowly inched away from him.

As the chair went through its motions, his glance falls upon the empty syringe it had once concealed from sight. Assuming Jared's sense of time could even be trusted by this point it had been filled recently, and it was instrumental to the drastic measures that would soon take place.

Not that it matters.

The liquid courage flowed through his veins, giving him the sheer will power to push on, to break the bonds which held him down. His eyes remain focused on the needle as he reaches to his right, his hand wrapping around a handle. His focus breaks when he lifted the handle and pulls the power tool it's attached to up onto his lap. He looks the saw over, taking in the sight of the steel chains attached to the outer edges of the device, the edge that would soon guide him on his path to freedom. After basking in the self-perceived glow of what he sees as his savior, Jared sets the device down to his right, facing the blade outwards. With a simple tug of the drawstring, the chain whirls to life, the roar pure music to his ears.

That's what matters.

His grip on the handle of his savior growing ever tighter, Jared glances down at the blanket that is draped over his legs, hiding his lower extremities from view. A moment of hesitation hits, but Jared quickly steels himself for what he's about to do and pulls back the blanket. Long strands of blond hair fall into his face as he takes in the sight before him. Tourniquets are tightly wrapped around his thighs, seemingly separating the rest of his body from the horror beneath. Green veins ripple across the skin of his legs, giving life to darkened flesh.

Jared watches as the flesh recoils from the light, seemingly unwilling to bask in the glow of a seventy-five watt bulb. Jared finds himself briefly overcome by a wave of nausea as he continues to stare, but it passes as he realizes he needs to move quickly or not at all. He inhales, quickly heaving his new-found savior forward, his eyes growing wide as the chain bites into the wicked flesh, tearing through it like paper.

A dark crimson starts to flow as the discolored skin gives way, the logic center of Jared's brain screaming all the while that this should hurt but the fluid that mingled with his blood deadening the nerves and allowing Jared to continue his grisly work. The saw continues its seemingly effortless journey, causing the flesh to twitch and shift, twisting and contorting out of the shape of legs and into something else entirely.

Jared's resolves begins to falter as he witnesses a sight he had hoped to avoid, the things that were once his legs snaking around, one seizing his right forearm and the other wrapping around his neck, immediately applying a vice-like grip. Precious oxygen quickly starting to be cut off from his brain, Jared continues to force the blade down, trying to finish his handiwork. The rogue limb responds by tightening its grip, struggling to preserve itself against its host's attack.

His strength quickly starting to drain from his body, Jared presses on, the chain's rotation continuing to sever through sinew and bone. The limb wrapped around his arm tightens, spasming as the saw seeks to finally free Jared of it. With a death throe it shakes, overpowering Jared and shifting the blade. Jared watches in terror as he finds himself unable to halt the advance of his would-be savior as it digs into his midsection.

The flesh and organs contained within immediately give way to the device, viscera falling away in hunks as blood spurts from the gash. The grip on Jared's throat starts to loosen, and on pure instinct he attempts to inhale, hoping to return precious oxygen to his deprived mind. His body immediately betrays him as the life-giving crimson makes use of the newly-discovered escape path, oozing out of his mouth as he opens it.

As the saw continues to turn on its hapless owner, a knock emanates from the door, competing with the noise of the blade. Jared tries to respond, but the strength to do so has left his body, and he can merely slump to the side, not even able to keep himself sitting up. Another knock, with rustling audibly occurring on the other side, although Jared's ability to even register the noise has now vanished. The splinter of wood can barely be heard over the roar, nor can the screams of the paramedics as they look upon the sight.

Not that it matters. What matters is that Jared is free.

2009-02-28T20:14:00.000-08:00

Now For Something Different...

I realize it's been a while, and for that I apologize. Life's been busy with the new job and I've been too burnt out after working what end up being 10 hour days (when you factor in travel time) to really work on anything. I have an entry written up on remakes and reimaginings in horror, but I decided I would go a different route in this post and save that for later.

Instead, what I'm posting is a short piece of prose I wrote based on an idea I discussed with Kurai. It is a tad graphic at points, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and assume that anyone reading this wouldn't have an issue with such a thing.

That being said, here we go...

---------

That didn't matter now.

Jared's grip on the phone receiver in his hand loosened. A faint murmur of noise can be heard from the receiver as it slips away from his ear on a one-way ticket to the floor next to him. Jared closes his eyes, the moments ticking away as the murmur from the earpiece continues.

That didn't matter either. What mattered is the end result of the phone call. The ambulance would be on its way.

His eyes slowly open, immediately beginning to dart around the apartment that had become a prison of sorts over the past few weeks. Over this time he had gotten to know the place intimately. Much to his chagrin. It had been a cold dose of reality, but all that changed a phone call ago.

All he needed to do now is free himself from this prison.

Glancing to his left, the smile drains from Jared's face as he scans over the metal frame that he had spent so much time with. It dictated what he did, where he went. It was the warden here, and it would be continuing its silent dominance over his life regardless of what would soon transpire. Shaking his head, he pushed the frame, and the wheelchair slowly inched away from him.

As the chair went through its motions, his glance falls upon the empty syringe it had once concealed from sight. Assuming Jared's sense of time could even be trusted by this point it had been filled recently, and it was instrumental to the drastic measures that would soon take place.

Not that it matters.

The liquid courage flowed through his veins, giving him the sheer will power to push on, to break the bonds which held him down. His eyes remain focused on the needle as he reaches to his right, his hand wrapping around a handle. His focus breaks when he lifts the handle and pulls the power tool its attached to up onto his lap. He looks the saw over, taking in the sight of the steel chains attached to the outer edges of the device, the edge that would soon guide him on his path to freedom. After basking in the self-perceived glow of what he sees as his savior, Jared sets the device down to his right, facing the blade outwards. With a simple tug of the drawstring, the chain whirls to life, the roar pure music to his ears.

That is what matters.

His grip on the handle of his savior growing ever tighter, Jared glances down at the blanket that is draped over his legs, hiding his lower extremities from view. A moment of hesitation hits, but Jared quickly steels himself for what he's about to do and pulls back the blanket. Long strands of blond hair fall into his face as he takes in the sight before him.

Tourniquets are tightly wrapped around his thighs, seemingly separating the rest of his body from the horror beneath. Green veins pulse along the blackened flesh that forms his legs. Jared finds himself briefly overcome by a wave of nausea as he continues to stare, but it passes as he realizes he needs to move quickly or not at all. The flesh starts to shift, and Jared takes this twitch as his cue to free himself.

Lifting the heavy power tool, Jared swings it over, the chain starting to bite into the flesh just below the tourniquet. A dark crimson starts to flow as the discolored skin gives way, the logic center of Jared's brain screaming all the while that this should hurt but the fluid that mingled with his blood deadening the nerves and allowing Jared to continue his grisly work. The saw continues its seemingly effortless journey, causing the flesh to twitch and shift more, twisting and contorting out of the shape of legs and into something else entirely.

Jared's resolves begins to falter as he witnesses a sight he had hoped to avoid, the things that were once his legs snaking around, one seizing his right forearm and the other wrapping around his neck, immediately applying a vice-like grip. Precious oxygen quickly starting to be cut off from his brain, Jared continues to force the blade down, trying to finish his handiwork. The rogue limb responds by tightening its grip, struggling to preserve itself against its host's attack.

His strength quickly starting to drain from his body, Jared presses on, the chain's rotation continuing to sever through sinew and bone. The limb wrapped around his arm tightens, spasming as the saw seeks to finally free Jared of it. With a death throe it shakes, overpowering Jared and shifting the blade. Jared watches in terror as he finds himself unable to halt the advance of his would-be savior as it digs into his midsection.

The flesh and organs contained within immediately give way to the device, viscera falling away in chunks as blood starts to spurt out of the gash. The grip on Jared's throat starts to loosen, and on pure instinct he attempts to inhale, hoping to return precious oxygen to his deprived mind. His body immediately betrays him as the life-giving crimson makes use of the newly-discovered escape path, oozing out of his mouth as he opens it.

As the saw continues to turn on its hapless owner, a knock emanates from the door, competing with the noise of the blade. Jared tries to respond, but the strength to do so has left his body, and he can merely slump to the side, not even able to keep himself sitting up. Another knock, with rustling audibly occurring on the other side, although Jared's ability to even register the noise has now vanished. The splinter of wood can barely be heard over the roar, nor can the screams of the paramedics as they look upon the sight.

Not that it matters. What matters is that Jared is free.

2009-01-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Isolation Concepts Part 1

Instead of picking at random as I had said I would in the last blog, I opted to ask two different people to pick for me. One of them told me to just flesh out one of the ideas I had mentioned in the Isolation blog, so this one I'm going to be doing the other idea, since it's a bit more work to brainstorm.

The picked form of Isolation was "Solo Widespread Disbelief", so we'll roll with that.

The story would start with a burning house. Firefighters struggle to put it out but the fire is raging too hot and too fast, and the building is reduced to cinder. The police interview everyone found in the area to find out what happened, and the investigation quickly discovers that this is a work of arson. They start to bring in witnesses one by one for questioning after they make this discovery.

One man they interview blows them off during the interrogation and demands to be let go. Without any evidence the police comply, and we follow him out of the station to his home. Once inside, it is discovered that he really did set the fire, as there's all sorts of equipment and material necessary to start a blaze. he immediately gets to work with prepping himself for another fire.

A few nights later, the man makes his way to another home, inspecting the area. He starts to prepare for setting the fire, but he's attacked by another man. He struggles back, but the man pins him against the garage of the house. With no other option, the man takes a molotov cocktail he had prepared and smashes it against the man before tossing a match on him, burning himself but setting the attacker ablaze.

With his attacker on fire, the man escapes but is caught by the police as he tries to escape. They take him to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. While there, a detective interrogates the man, who finally tells him why he had been doing this.

He claims that the people he had been targetting weren't really human, but rather monsters in disguise that would literally suck the life right out of their victims. The detective prods further, asking if that was the case then why haven't they been discovered, to which the man replies that it appears as if the victims die of a heart attack, so there's never any question about it. He then goes on to say that they're immortal, and the only way to stop them is to consume them in flames.

Not believing the man's claims, the detective leaves, telling the two on-duty officers to keep an eye on him while he recovered. After the detective leaves, the man tries to convince the officers to let him go so he can finish his work, claiming there's two of the things left in the city. The officers laugh at him, leaving him in the room while they stand guard outside. A little while passes, and one of the officers goes to get coffee for the two of them.

While getting the coffee, the officer is stopped by a nurse, who coaxes him into a side room. While there, she jumps him, knocking him to the floor and straddling him. She then kisses him, sending him into convulsions as she literally sucks the life out of him. She then drags the body into a corner before walking to the other officer, telling him that she needs to check on the man's injuries.

Not knowing what happened to his partner, the officer lets her into the room only for her to immediately attack the man strapped to the bed. The officer moves to try to help him, and in the struggle he's forced to shoot the nurse, hitting her twice in the chest. Realizing it's not safe, the officer loosens the man's restraints so he can get out. Once the man is free, the nurse gets back up, attacking the officer and sending his gun across the room. The man grabs the gun and leaves, the hospital in chaos from the gunfire from before. The nurse then sucks the life from the officer before pursuing, her wounds healing up as she does.

The man makes his way outside, finding an ambulance that still has the keys in it and leaving, the nurse getting outside as he pulls away. The man drives the ambulance back to his house, where he limps in and starts to gather supplies, including what appears to be a garage door opener.

Several minutes later, the front door is kicked in, and the nurse walks in, followed closely behind by another man. The injured man limps into a corner, clutching the remote as the nurse approaches. She stops though, as the man behind her motions for her to hold back. The man then shakes his head, asking the injured man why he thought he could destroy them.

Trembling, the injured man replies that he'll make sure to go over it with them when they get to Hell. he then presses the button on the remote. A loud beep is heard, then the house goes up in a fiery explosion.

2009-01-18T01:33:00.000-08:00

Isolation

In discussing this blog with my friend Kowal, he pointed out the fact that I ignored the concept of isolation in my last blog entry. I fully admit that failing to mention isolation when talking about horror without gore was a large oversight on my part, so I figured that would be worth discussing (better be happy now Ben).

Isolation in horror almost goes without saying. Every single horror story you have and ever will read has it as an underlying theme. The reason for this is because humanity is an inheritly social species, so being cut off in any way is frightening to us. of course, there are varying degrees of isolation in horror, so let's break that down first:

-Large groups (this is rare in horror due to the nature of horror and how the less people involved the more "real" the horror becomes. Examples of this would be The Blob or The Crazies)

-Small groups (anywhere from three to a dozen people. Most zombie moves operate with this sort of number, along with a lot of slasher movies)

-Couple (just a pair of protagonists against the horror. Examples of this would be The Hitcher or Dagon)

-Solo (doesn't get more isolated than this. Examples of this would be most Silent Hill games or Wes Craven presents They)

Just as there are varying degrees of isolation, there are also different reasons for isolation. Those could include:

-Location (This is a popular one as it's arguably the easiest to pull off. Examples of this would be The Legend of Hell House, Event Horizon, and House of Haunted Hill)

-Widespread Antagonists (This is a fairly large umbrella much like the first one, as it could range from your standard zombie movie where the creatures are everywhere to something like The Blob, where the military as essentially locked the town up with their antagonist)

-Widespread Disbelief (People don't believe the protagonists for whatever reason. The Friday the 13th series makes use of this a lot in the middle chapter movies, as does The Hitcher)

-Psychological (it's in the person's head, so of course it's isolated to them)

Looking at the two primary story ideas I've discussed here thus far, the mirrors story and the mask one, both have the same degree of isolation but different reasons for it.

The paramedic in the first concept is dealing with a purely psychological isolation: he refuses to tell others. Now if he were to go tell others about what he believes he's seeing and doing chances are it would become a case of Widespread Disbelief, but since he doesn't you cannot categorize it as such. His self-imposed isolation is part of the horror of the concept: he's gotten himself painted into a corner and he's got no way out of it.

Susan in the mirrors story is dealing with a Widespread Disbelief form of isolation: her brother doesn't believe her stories and takes her to a doctor because of them. Where as the paramedic's horror comes from the fact that he can't trust anyone, Susan's comes from the fact that no one will trust her and she's doomed because of it.

Each of the forms of isolation has dozen of ideas you can work with. A psychological large group isolation story could be a a group of soldiers exposed to biological weapons that do various things to their minds. They all experience it, but they are isolated in the horror within their own minds. Likewise, a solo location isolation story could be a park ranger caught in a cabin being harassed by werewolves.

I'm going to pick one option from those two lists at random, and for my next blog I'll write up a treatment for an idea based on what I come up with.

2009-01-15T01:16:00.000-08:00

Avoiding Use of Gore in Horror

This came up a few days ago when I was discussing the horror genre with my buddy EJ and he brought up the fact that horror these days tends to really depend on the gore to try to frighten people and that he'd like to see an effective horror movie that didn't have that particular crutch.

So that got me thinking, what can you do effectively with no gore at all in this genre? While it's not really something I'd say is "required" in the genre, it's certainly become a major crutch as of late.

So, to give us a starting point, here's a short list of potential ideas that can be done with no gore:

-Ghosts/Hauntings

-Possession/Demons

-Psychic powers

-Stalkers

-Psychological horror

The first two are the main ways this is approached in the genre. While a lot of movies about hauntings do use gore (House on Haunted Hill stands out in my mind, as does 13 Ghosts), others use it minimally or not at all (Legend of Hell House). Movies dealing with demons and possession likewise have very little gore in them since the horror of the situation has to do with the idea of someone or something else taking control of our bodies.

Psychic powers really fall into this same concept, as it's the same sort of horror: the invasion of mind and body. Not much scares people more than the concept that their body is no longer their own. "Stalker" films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers plays out in a similar vein, just taking the concept a step further and having a full-out replacement of the individual. Non-gory movies with the use of psychic abilities are surprisingly rare though, which would definitely put it towards the top of the list to explore in the future.

I'll touch back on the concept of psionics in a future blog, however, as I want to address different approaches in the here and now. At the moment the last two possibilities are the most interesting to me.

As most people who would be reading this are already aware, I'm a sucker for psychological horror. Movies such as Jacob's Ladder and Session 9 (which excluding the final scene is gore-free) are amongst my favorites, and I'm a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, which while it makes liberal use of gore also makes use of psychological horror. In fact, I'd consider Silent Hill 2 one of the better psychological horror stories around if it was made into an actual book or movie.

The idea of things not being what they seem plays well into the "Stalker" concept for obvious reasons. Stalkers need to be kept off-screen, their malice present only in thought for the effectiveness to be there, or else they devolve into slashers and it robs the concept of its charm. The Colour Out of Space is a good example of this, as while the creature exists the horror comes not from direct contact with it but rather what its presence is doing to everything else.

So, how do we put these concepts to use for a horror idea completely devoid of gore? Well the first place to start would be to identify the motives of the "stalker". What does the antagonist want from the protagonist? Why? These motivations are particularly key when dealing with no gore, as the simple tried and true horror motives go right out the window.

Once you have this important first step done, the next step is to make sure you have a compelling protagonist. The lack of gore to help keep people interested means you have to get the audience emotionally invested in the character. Things such as plot holes can be devastating, as you lack the "oh well it's a good cheese-fest" factor to fall back on. Once you have the protagonist and antagonist worked out though, the rest should come with a natural flow as you design the world around these characters.

Let's try a sample concept, shall we?

Susan is a first year teacher, fresh out of college and eager to prove that she has what it takes to educate the students she is given. One evening after a late night on the town Susan is walking home alone. It had just recently rained, and as she walks through an alley way she hears her name. She looks around, but finds nothing except her reflection in a rather large puddle. Shaking her head, she dismisses it as the booze and goes about her way.

A few weeks go by with nothing of interest occurring when one night, having stayed late at school to grade some papers, Susan enters the restroom. She again hears her name, which causes her to check everywhere, but she appears to be alone. A bit spooked by this, Susan goes home, entering her own bathroom and finding huge letters gouged into the wall. Susan calls the police, and when they arrive they discover that the letters spell out "Freedom" when viewed in a mirror.

The break-in has Susan on edge, and she attempts to lose herself in her work, volunteering to assist other teachers with grading assignments and the like to keep herself preoccupied. She stays late again, and this time she catches someone out of the corner of her eye staring at her from the doorway. She quickly looks up, but no one is there. She reaches into her purse, pulling out a can of mace and quickly exiting the room. As she does so, she sees the person go around the corner. She quickly follows suit, chasing this person into the restroom, where she finds nothing.

Shaken by this, Susan decides to stay the evening with her older brother and his wife. During dinner, her brother jokes with Susan that maybe it's her evil twin that's out to get her, causing both Susan and his wife to get angry at him. That night, as Susan is getting ready she is brushing her hair, looking in the mirror as she does so. She turns away from the mirror for a moment, and when she turns back a hand is reaching through the mirror towards her. Terrified, Susan screams and she throws the brush, which shatters the mirror while she runs out of the room.

Concerned for his sister's health, her brother takes her to a local hospital, where the doctors take her to the mental health ward and place her into an observation room with a one-way mirror. The brother talks to the doctor observing her for a moment before both men exit the viewing room, leaving Susan unattended. Susan watches in terror as she looks into the mirrored surface, with her image slowly stepping out of the mirror towards her. When her brother and the doctor return, Susan looks calmer, more relaxed. A small smile crosses her face as only she can see the panicked, real Susan futilely beating on the inside of the mirror.

2009-01-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

Two Sides of the Same Coin...

Alright, let's start tonight's blog off with a story that I'm sure most everyone is at least vaguely familiar with. Due to that, I'm not going to go into too many specifics with it, mainly just the overall gist:

A young woman is murdered on a beach. A detective of some renown leaves nearby and is called in to investigate. A dedicated investigator, the man gets pulled into his work and is known to work long hours and rarely sleep while on a case. True to form, he throws himself into this case, courting off the area and going over the beach inch by inch before evidence is destroyed. It takes a while, but he finds a footprint from the killer and upon investigating it realizes the truth about the situation. The killer is missing a bone in their foot, the very same bone the detective had removed from his foot in childhood. The long hours had caught up to him, and in his insomniac state he murdered the young woman.

This is a concept that I feel is particularly under explored in the various forms of media today. 99% of the time in a horror or thriller there is a concrete antagonist(s) for the protagonist(s) to confront. Rarely are the two ever the same, and to me that's a real shame. Silent Hill 2 and Session 9 stand out to me as the most recent works that explore this concept, and they both do it in a very interesting, engaging manner.

The main reason I see for the lack of exploration here is the amount of work involved. The plot has to be smooth: let's face it, most movies/books/games/etcetera have plot holes of some sort in them. It can be quite difficult to make something make perfect sense from beginning to end, and especially so when dealing with a "big reveal" of this nature. The hints have to be there for the viewer to accept the reveal without giving it away. This is not an easy task at times, although some storylines will by their very nature make this easier (and will be discussed shortly).

The fact that the information is kept hidden from the viewer is what makes this different from a story like American Psycho, where you know up front that the Protagonist is also going to be the story's Antagonist. While in some cases that works out just fine (as in the aforementioned story), generally it's very difficult to pull off and is often unsatisfying as such characters are often very unlikeable. That's not to say they are inherently unlikeable as a rule, just that often times the storyteller isn't skilled enough in their craft to make the character compelling.

Alright, why don't we try to put all this into practice with a bit of brainstorming. Let's start with an idea I had used earlier: the mask. Basic idea would unfold in this sort of manner:

-Protagonist discovers item

-Protagonist makes use of the item, discovering it has uses beyond what it would normally have

-Protagonist discovers existence of the antagonist

-Protagonist decides that they must put a stop to antagonist

-Pursuit

-Protagonist discovers the truth: they are the antagonist

-Conclusion

Now then, applying the concept to the past idea, altering it with various ideas that have occurred to me in the downtime:

A man lays dying in a pool of his own blood when paramedics arrive. They struggle to save the man but fail to do so. Before he dies, however, the man gives a rather mundane looking rubber mask to have. Not knowing what to do with it, the paramedic pockets it and puts it to the side when he gets home. Later, after drinking heavily, he puts the mask on. Once the mask is on, the man realizes that he's seeing a reality that's not his own. He wanders the area, where he is attacked by a monster that he kills in self defense. Frightened he returns to his home and removes the mask, passing out. The following day he dismisses it as a bad dream brought on from the boozing and puts the mask on to prove it to himself, only to discover that he hadn't imagined it.

Frightened, he locks the mask up and tries to forget about it. Curiosity ends up getting the better of him, however, and he decides to explore the dimension. Each time he does this he takes out monsters to defend himself, striking first to not risk their attacks. At this same time, it's announced on the news that a serial killer that had never been caught but was thought to be retired had returned.

The paramedic looks into the background of the man who gave him the mask, only to discover that the man had been a suspect in several unsolved murders over the years. After looking into this information, the paramedic is located by a detective, who questions him a bit but doesn't otherwise do anything. The paramedic at that point decides that he needs to be rid of the mask before it consumes him, but decides to make one last use of it. He puts it on, and in his activities is accosted by the toughest monster he has yet encountered. He himself is mortally wounded in this fight, and pulls the mask off. In doing so, he discovers that he had just killed the detective as he starts to pass out from his wounds...

Now, obviously that's quite rough around the edges, but the basic required elements are all there. It's just an idea on one potential exploration of the concept. I'm sure there's many, many more.

2008-12-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

Underused Story Settings

This one has always been frustrating for me, but I feel it needs to be addressed.

There are a lot of settings that could be easily used for stories (particularly in the horror genre) that are either completely passed on or not used often, mainly because they require a bit more effort for a writer to properly execute. Why put forth the effort to research when you can just go with what you know, after all?

It's something that's always annoyed me, and since I had gotten to ponder on it last night (as opposed to sleeping), I figured I'd mention a few, along with potential uses.

-Manned oil rigs: This one actually came to me in a dream from several months ago. Myself and several others were investigating an oil rig that the crew had gone missing on. After touring the rig, a storm hit and we were forced to hunker down. During the night, none other than Cthulhu himself rose from the depths. There are plenty of stories involving the ocean and boats, but precious few that I'm aware of which make use of oil rigs. Very few places on Earth are more isolated than an oil rig, heightening the sense of horror when something bad happens on one. Deep Ones, Shoggoths, Cthulhu himself, or something else entirely, there's plenty you can do with this setting, just requires some thought put into it.

-The Arctic/Antarctic: These sorts of settings have been addressed quite well in the past (The Thing and 30 Days of Night) but it's still something that is very underused. Stories of things such as Yeti have long been around, but there's plenty of other twists that can be used in this setting. This is one of the few settings that I find werewolves or werebears tolerable, as would be yeti and the like. not to mention the good ol' Wendigo... There's a lot to work with.

-War: Yes, I know there's lots of stories about war. However, very rarely are the genres of horror and war combined. There are some notable exceptions to this (Jacob's Ladder comes immediately to mind) but mainly war movies are just that, about the war itself. There's all sorts of places you can go with this. Zombies, vampires, pretty much any stereotypical monster could fit here, particularly if you combine it with...

-The Holy Land: A place of great importance for the three major western religions, Jerusalem is a city that has long been plagued with war and conquering forces. Steeped in history, there's a lot of potential material here. Perhaps the constant skirmishes between Israel and Palestine disturb a long dormant and ancient group of ghouls. Or maybe one of the locals decides that their current faiths just aren't getting the job done so they decide to appeal to an ancient regional deity who turns out to be a Great Old One. The recent conflicts in Iraq also give a possibility to do a modernized update of the movie "Deathdream" (which itself is an update on "The Monkey's Paw"). Obviously the religious implications make this one trickier, but done in a respectful manner this setting would be a good one.

-Museums: This used to be a common one, what with all the artifacts and such that were dug up in the early 20th century. It's definitely dropped off as of late though, with only The Relic jumping out to me as one they've done recently. Movies such as The Mummy and The Relic definitely illustrate possibilities here, although things such as possession or viral infection can also play a part here (who knows what lurks inside ancient treasure). Perhaps there's an ancient Babylonian psychic "vampire" that survives within an ancient trinket and feeds off of people who possess the item, or a recently unearthed item contains a contagion that drives the infected individuals insane. Lots of potential ideas to run with here.

I'm sure at some point I'll think of other locales that have been ignored, but these are definitely the main ones I'd like to see more of. Get on it people!

2008-12-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

Time Travel: One Potential take

Well boys and girls, time to use this as intended.

Just a forewarning, until I get a layout/style that I like for this thing I will be experimenting with fonts and the like.

I digress though, as I've decided the real purpose of this blog won't be for me to ramble aimlessly about random subjects, but to instead serve as an "idea dump" for the creative process. I have a pretty overactive imagination, and it helps to just get stuff written down sometimes.

I've started work on a novel, but I will not be detailing too much of that here. I'd like to keep that under my hat until I have it presentable. This will instead be ideas I likely won't be immediately using.

I'm starting to ramble though, so let's get into the meat of this post, a basic story premise.

The story would begin in a hospital (as many of my ideas do, one of these days I'll explain the symbolism I see in that) with an unknown man being resuscitated. When he recovers, he finds himself unable to remember anything about how or why for him having ended up in the hospital. When he leaves the hospital he finds a latex mask in his pocket, which he doesen't recall having ever gotten.

Later on, he tries on the mask and immediately passes out, awaking in an unknown place. He does some exploring and realizes he traveled back in the past. Still having the mask on, he tries removing it, but in doing so ends up back in the present.

This is where there are several different potential options for paths to take the story. There's all sorts of time traveling principles I could apply. Does the future remain unchangeable? Will what he does have consequences? What if it was really an alternate universe he was entering, and that nothing he did actually effected his "real" world? Does he encounter others who can do the same things as him, or is he completely isolated?

It's something I plan on eventually doing things with, but at the moment I have other projects that have my attention, so I'm filing it away here for future use.

2008-12-27T01:39:00.000-08:00

Top 5 Zombie Movies... And 1 Dud

So I dusted this old thing off today and deleted all the old content. I'm not really sure what possible use I even have for this realistically, but meh.

So, to give this post some sort of content, let's run down the top 5 zombie movies I've seen, as well as the all-time worst I've seen:

5. Undead (2003): Probably the movie on the list someone is least likely to have seen, this is a very over the top Austrailian release by the Spierig Brothers. Literally everything about this movie is incredibly over the top and non-sensical, and it just seems to work well for it. It's a fun watch, but if you're expecting a gripping storyline and really depp, well-thought-out characters then this is NOT the movie for you. I've seen this movie several times and I still can't make any sort of sense out of the storyline, but when has that ever stopped me from enjoying a movie?

4. Shaun of the Dead (2004): The movie that put Simon Pegg on the map, this film is a comedic homage to pretty much every George Romero film out there. The characters are all interesting, well-acted, and mostly likeable (and the ones who aren't are meant to be that way) and it's downright hilarious. The only thing keeping it from being higher on the list is the fact that this is a very formulaic movie. If you've seen a zombie movie before in your life you can almost certainly guess where this one is going to go.

3. Slither (2006): This is the true darkhorse film on the list. While a comedy movie like Shaun of the Dead and possessing much of the same charm, Slither managed to outrank its spiritual brother by having a far more creative plotline. It's almost as if Shaun of the Dead and Undead had a one-night fling and this film was the bastard child of that union. The cast for this one is absolutely loaded with talent, and they all shine in their roles. Besides, this has Michael Rooker in it, and that guy's never been in a bad movie.

2. Dawn of the Dead (1978): This movie (along with #1) really needs no introduction. Any horror fan worth their salt has seen this one, and it's not hard to see why. Other than the studio-ordered ending, this movie is damn near flawless. It provides enough gore and zombie attacks to satisfy in that area, as well as enough characterization to really make you care about the characters and their fates. It's also amazing that the underlying commentary on materialism still holds true today.

1. Night of the Living Dead (1968): Not just my all-time favorite zombie movie, but my all-time favorite movie period. This is the movie that really launched the genre as we know it today, and helped make Hollywood notice George Romero's talent as a director. As an older (and cheaply made) film, the gore is a lot more toned down in this one, but few films truly convey the horror of a situation quite like this one. It also features one of the most compelling leads in a horror movie ever in Duane Jones. If you haven't seen this one, you need to.

Worst: Children of the Living Dead (2001): I'm almost ashamed to admit that I own this. That's how god awful this turd of a movie is. The plotline is horrific, the acting bad, make-up shitty. It's just completely unpleasant. Tom Savini stars in the beginning of the film (sadly they did NOT get him to handle the make-up, and boy does it show) and the whole 5 minutes of screen time he gets is easily the only decent part of this movie. Alas, he does, and with him any interest for the viewer. Avoid this like the plague.