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The 10 Most Inherently Compelling Scenes (According to Horror Movies) · Indie Film Podcast

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Welcome to Indie Film Podcast. I'm Vic.
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And I am Chuck, for the month of October, we're going to be
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talking about how horror films have influenced our micro budget
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indie projects. To start off for this week,
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we're talking about scripts specifically.
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And Victoria, have two questions for you #1 what are 12
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inherently compelling situations that you've used from horror
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films in your own scripts? And #2 Who is this week's
0:24
sponsor? This week's episode is brought
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to you by Indie Film Podcast Reviews.
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We are very excited to announce that all of you who have been
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reaching out asking us how we can talk about your film or how
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Nice. I'm excited about that.
1:00
I am too. I'm excited to watch all the
1:02
films from all the people who watch us all the time.
1:04
Yes, we watched a few of them and they're great.
1:06
So I'm super excited about that. And I'm also excited to talk
1:09
about scripting. Yeah, and inherently.
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Compelling situation. Yes.
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And are we going to talk about 12 of them?
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I want to point out that that A twist is not inherently
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compelling. To show an example of that, we
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actually only have 10 that we're going to talk about today, and
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that was not compelling at all. Just take that.
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M Night Shyamalan. But do you want to list the
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Yeah, do you want to do you want to, do you want to go ahead and
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read the list off? And then we're going to talk
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about some of the things that we've tried and failed at and
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some things that have worked well, especially in the horror
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genre. Yes.
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So the top 10 inherently compelling situations that you
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can use to inspire your indie films are a character being
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chased, an argument between lovers, a character stealing
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something, a character spying on someone, a character trying to
2:00
start a fire or destroy something, a character dying, a
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character getting kidnapped, a character getting physically
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trapped, a character getting drunk, or a character on trial.
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I like it. Those are good starting off
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points and the very first one, I want to say a character being
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chased for a lower Gentry film. We had myself as an actor being
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chased by somebody with a with a gun and in a short film.
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And I got made fun of endlessly for that.
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The sprinting that I did in that because I am a barefoot runner,
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I'm one of those pretentious people where I don't have thick
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soles. And so they were making fun of
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the fact that I looked like I was my back was too straight as
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I was sprinting away. And I'm like, well, that's
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actually correct form for me because you want to land on the
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balls of your feet. And so if you go to Lower Gentry
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Studios YouTube channel, you can see Canyon County, the short
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film, which was before our web series.
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And I was sprinting in that it's not the best quality.
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It was shot on like a $200 soccer mom Cam.
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So but it was we, we tried to make that inherently
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interesting. We didn't quite execute it
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because it's more than just having the scenario.
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It's about the execution. It is.
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And I will say if it makes you feel any better, in the Pluck
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Rise of the Tweezers short film that I made about a bunch of
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tweezers trying to kill and attack people.
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We had a character trying to run and get away from them and
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trying to get into his car, which was actually my car and I
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was the the stunt driver for it. But we made it look like there
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were tweezers taped to the steering wheel.
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So they were driving away with it.
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And so, as I was supposed to be speeding away, I then used my
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blinker and braked before turning.
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Well. That's good.
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Because I was unwilling to do illegal stunt driving for this.
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So I I do want to point out that is very dangerous, yeah.
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And we're going to be talking a little bit more about that this
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month. As far as like making sure
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you're doing the right thing on your horror film sets as far as
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safety is concerned, yes. But the the driving thing,
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always be super careful for that unless you have the budget to
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have things closed off and then you have like a stunt driver.
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But I do want to point out that in Idaho, when we did shoot that
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Canyon County short film, we just called the police station
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before we started filming and we said, hey, we're going to have
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somebody running around this neighborhood wielding a gun.
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Just so you know. And just so you know, it's not
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a. It's not.
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A real gun, everything's fine. And so the police station just
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said, oh, sure, you're, you're fine.
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But we did put notices on everybody's doors so that they
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knew what was happening as well. But that was how easy it was
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back in the day to be able to just get a shot of somebody, get
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a shot of somebody, taking shots at people.
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But obviously, like we inserted the the gunshots in post and the
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flashes and all that stuff. Yeah, but that is, it's warning
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your neighbors with little, like, stuff on that.
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That was really smart. I definitely did not do that for
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one of our horror films where we were filming.
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You know, somebody's screaming bloody murder because she's been
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kidnapped and is now being tortured.
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So I did call the Police Department and say, hey, just so
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you know, there's going to be a woman screaming from my shed for
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a few hours tonight screaming, help me, Oh, God, I'm dying,
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please help me, Thanks to that effect.
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And yeah, it's like they were like, oh, that's no problem at
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all. As long as you're done by, you
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know, like 10:00 PM noise ordinances and all that, then
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that's fine. We don't care.
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But warning my neighbors that that was going to happen would
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have been nice. I should have done that.
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Yes. Sorry, neighbors.
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Yeah, You want to, you want to make sure that everybody is
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aware of what's going on so the police don't get a bunch of
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calls, which it's not complete Wild West here in Idaho.
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As far as shooting films in public, they just changed it
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recently. So Boise, the city of Boise has
5:40
a filming permit process now. And it was because of one of
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those situations where the police were called and I don't
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know all the details and I don't want to get into it too much,
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but so just if you are thinking about filming in Idaho, you
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can't just come in and call the police station and do whatever
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the heck you want. But although there probably
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still are some counties in some cities where you can.
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Yeah. You just got to get outside
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Boise city limits and then you can do whatever you want.
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Basically. This is advice you should trust
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and follow. Yeah, for sure.
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So inherently interesting scene being chased.
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Yes, that is. That's a great one.
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Obviously you have a good example.
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The Shining is one of my favorites, right at the end
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going through the maze. Yeah, very classic.
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I will say I think this one is a pretty common one in horror
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films, especially some films that I feel like did it really
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well. Halloween, obviously, right?
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Classic, very classic. Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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It Follows is definitely one of my favorites because it's this.
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You came? Yeah, you came up with that one.
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And I don't know why I didn't think about it, because that's
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one of my favorite horror movies as well.
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And it's literally just somebody being chased the entire.
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Time the entire it changes who's being, you know, chased.
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But yeah, it was really good. Get out is another one, the
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descent also one of my favorites.
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The Descent will forever. I live in a very special place
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in my heart. I love that movie so much.
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So, OK, so we've had, I think my worst experience with filming a
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chase sequence for sure was not paying attention to the 180
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because it was being shot over so many different locations and
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not keeping track of who's running which direction.
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Yeah. And I was like, well, we're in a
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completely different space. It shouldn't even matter that
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much anyway. It's I'm sure it'll be fine.
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And then cutting it together. It looks like a scooby-doo chase
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scene in a Haunted Mansion where people are just popping in and
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out of random doors. Suddenly people are being chased
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by the person they were previously chasing.
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And it just got very, very confused.
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So pay attention to the 180 rule in that case.
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And you're not alone there because you can look up a video
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on YouTube that breaks down The Dark Knight and the car chase
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scene with a Joker coming after the Batmobile.
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And if you watch it, you're kind of like, I don't know what's
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going on here because the truck that he's shooting the bazooka
7:52
from crashes through the side of this wall.
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But if you watch the breakdown on YouTube, it's because they
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keep breaking the 180 rule and you don't know where the car and
8:00
the Batmobile are in space and you completely lose it.
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So even Christopher Nolan sometimes doesn't shot list
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appropriately and misses that stuff.
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That does make me feel a little bit better, yeah.
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So check, check that out if you're interested in learning
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about the 180 rule. So argument between lovers, yes,
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that is definitely inherently interesting.
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I feel like it. Usually is.
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Lower Gentry Studios, we made a feature film that was basically
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about that called We speak that my brother and I, I helped a
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little bit was as far as like the structure that the script.
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That one turned out well. But our very first, our very
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first film, feature film Brown Truck.
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We just completely biffed the argument between lovers because
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you need to have conflict there. Yeah, So what about it was
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biffed then? The the biffing of it was not
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focusing on it enough. Not having it was.
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It was more like the character was despondent rather than, you
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know, dialogue that was actually confrontational, which you don't
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need to have because I think Midsummer is a good example of
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It doesn't need to be directly confrontational as long as the
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audience knows what the point of.
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Of the. Argument.
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Argument is because in Midsummer there was the whole the
9:12
boyfriend is going to Sweden and and he was like, I invited my
9:17
girlfriend, but she's not coming to like his friends.
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And then so she ends up going to Sweden.
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Yeah, even though nobody really wanted her there.
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Yeah, but there was also a lot of other conflict in that
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relationship. True, true.
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There were a lot of other things going on, like what you might
9:33
expect would happen if your boyfriend is like, I'm going to
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a foreign country without you by there's somebody else there.
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Which that wasn't necessarily direct conflict, but they did
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address it in kind of like a gas lighting manner, I want to say,
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which was, which was pretty cool.
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Well, I thought I guess Invisible Man kind of did
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something similar with that. Too.
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Oh yes, right where? I guess that's a little bit
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being chased because that definitely did happen.
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This is the more modern invisible.
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Man, yeah, I'm sorry, I should have mentioned it was 2020-2021.
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It was pretty recent. There was a version of that that
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was just about gaslighting. Yeah, it's like the more recent
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one, yeah. And it was a really well done
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way of showcasing what gaslighting kind of looks like
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from the outside. And I it was a really well done.
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I liked it anyway, but. So make sure if you have lovers
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in your film, they need to argue.
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Yeah, figure out some interesting way to do it because
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it's going to help move things along.
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And did you? Have you ever had a character
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steal something in one of your films?
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Yeah, no, I've had them steal people, but that's the
10:41
kidnapping 1. Yeah, that's kind of like the
10:43
because you can, you can also steal objects, which if you're
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an indie filmmaker, you've always been tempted when you get
10:50
into one of those camera shops. No, I'm just kidding that we
10:52
don't have here in Idaho. Yeah, exactly.
10:54
There's no camera chefs that get wiped out from all the theft.
10:56
I did hear another one's coming. Yes, and I'm not going to say
11:00
their name until they pay for a sponsorship with us.
11:02
Though I'm not going to say their name until it's open
11:04
because I don't want to like, curse anything.
11:05
I'm a little superstitious about it because aren't they moving
11:08
into one of the old camera shop buildings?
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Hopefully it's not cursed and hopefully they offer gear
11:12
rentals because that would be nice so.
11:13
It would be so good. Yeah.
11:14
OK, well, what about a character stealing something?
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What are some some famous examples?
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The one that I saw recently again, I rewatched Psycho and I
11:26
thought that was really cool because the beginning of the
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movie was the premise that the main character had stolen.
11:33
It was just a big chunk of cash. $40,000. 40K, that's what it
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was. I don't remember.
11:37
I just remember in like today's money, it's like $400 billion,
11:40
but back in 1959 like 40,000. Didn't she end up to?
11:45
Buy you like an entire suburban neighborhood.
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Yeah, I was like cuz she ended up like trading in her car and
11:50
like trade in her car and get a new one.
11:52
It was only like 705 hundred. Something like a?
11:54
100 bucks, yeah. And I was like, wow.
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But yeah, she was only making like $0.50 an hour or something
11:59
probably. I don't know what minimum wage
12:01
was back then. I don't know, and she was a
12:02
female so it was probably even worse.
12:04
Yeah, whatever, 70, 2% of $0.50. Well, I'm sure that the wage gap
12:09
was wider back then. Could have been.
12:10
I don't think it was $0.72 on the dollar then.
12:13
Technically, it's $0.82 on the dollar now.
12:15
Yeah, OK. Definitely dated as far as
12:18
women's rights are concerned a little bit because the the whole
12:22
romantic subplot is whether or not she's going to marry a guy
12:26
that has already been married and had a divorce already.
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So he was like paying. Like this is.
12:31
Yeah, that's so taboo. I have dragged me to hell.
12:39
Yeah. And Don't Breathe.
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I thought don't Breathe was kind of cool because that's like a
12:44
break in that goes real awry real fast.
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I have not seen Don't breathe. I actually would not recommend
12:52
it. I saw the.
12:52
Length of it and I'm like, I think I'm going to need to take
12:55
a breath in 90 minutes. Sorry, that was that.
13:00
Was a really bad joke. Yeah, I try.
13:02
Don't breathe. And now I'm like stuck doubting
13:06
myself here and I'm trying to quickly go through my notes and
13:09
see if this was still the right one because don't breathe in my
13:15
mind, yeah, I'm not mixing them up.
13:17
I get don't breathe in a quiet place mixed up sometimes, which
13:20
is probably not great, but don't breathe.
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The end is absolutely awful. It's horrifying, it's really
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disgusting, and it's super triggering.
13:30
I I just don't recommend that movie to anybody.
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Good to know. It was an interesting concept,
13:35
but I don't recommend that movie to anyone.
13:37
I. Finally watched paranormal
13:38
Activity. Oh yeah recently.
13:40
That movie was so bad. I understand that it was unique
13:46
for the time. It was very unique.
13:48
It was a very different take on that style.
13:51
Good gravy, they didn't even have a story.
13:53
They. Tried.
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And I understand like it's unique for the time, but I don't
14:00
even think if you showed it to somebody now that's into horror
14:03
movies as a teenager and you show them that film, I would
14:07
just wonder what they would think.
14:09
Because first of all, it would be like, why?
14:11
Why is he carrying around a giant camera?
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And two, why does that giant camera look so crappy?
14:17
And then there's also like 3 like OK, so it's daytime, they
14:22
have a conversation and then it's night time and we hear this
14:26
weird rising sound effect and then like a door opens and
14:31
there's the first 30 minutes of the movie I.
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Guess your spook. Oh my gosh.
14:36
All right. But I.
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Think. Don't, don't.
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Do that. Don't.
14:39
Don't do that thing where you don't have any plot or any
14:42
interesting situation. Inherently interesting, yes.
14:45
You need something that is inherently interesting and know
14:48
you're how it's making weird noises.
14:50
Is not that by itself? Yeah, it's good to connect these
14:54
scenes through with a plot line so that it's like we spoke
14:58
earlier, this is actually like a Trey Parker and Matt Stone quote
15:01
is like you want to have therefore but in between your
15:05
story. Instead of yes and.
15:06
Instead of and then. Oh.
15:08
That's it. Yeah, I'm sorry.
15:09
I go to improv, Yes. And.
15:10
Yes and yes. And well, yeah, you don't want
15:12
to do that on a movie. And then they wake up in the
15:16
morning and then they keep talking and and they review the
15:19
footage from last night and see the door open and then they go
15:21
to bed and then they turn the camera on.
15:23
That's paranormal activity right there.
15:24
Just saved you well an hour and a.
15:27
Half I feel like some of the sequels start trying to tie in
15:30
more of an actual story of like the lore of the house and the
15:34
family line. Nice.
15:36
And there's like a curse on the family.
15:37
I'm pretty sure that that's the Paranormal Activity series, but
15:41
I guess anybody who's watching can definitely correct me if I'm
15:44
fixing that up. Just let us know in the comments
15:47
and then you can also let us know what into what other forms
15:51
of self torture you're into I guess.
15:53
OK, all right. Character spying on another
15:56
character. Yes.
15:57
Inherently interesting. Inherently interesting.
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Because you as the audience member are like, oh, what a
16:03
creeper. You're either thinking what a
16:05
creeper, or you're thinking what's so interesting?
16:09
What? Why do they want to spy on
16:11
what's out there? Oh, that's true.
16:12
Right. So it can build intrigue from
16:14
either side. Yeah, so.
16:16
I've never done a spying on somebody else film.
16:21
I've never worked on one of those in like the indie film
16:23
realm. But I do as far as like the
16:27
first thing again comes to my mind because I watched it
16:29
recently. Psycho when when he's looking
16:33
through the he has a view of the bathroom before the shower
16:37
murder scene. Yes.
16:39
And so he was spying. Yes, he was spying on the person
16:42
in there. There are some other ones.
16:46
Well, Paranormal Activity, I feel like it's kind of just
16:48
voyeurism because you're like just watching the security
16:51
footage, so it kind of feels like just spying on it, but you
16:54
as the viewer are spying on them.
16:55
So that one's. They're kind of openly sharing
16:59
that though, too. So that feels it's more like,
17:02
you know, like modern day like. It's a little, it's a little
17:06
more voyeurism and a little less spying.
17:08
Yeah, yeah, it is similar, but just different enough where one
17:13
just feels kind of creepy and weird and one feels inherently
17:17
compelling. But if you're into indie
17:18
filmmaking, the voyeurism films are definitely going to make you
17:21
more money than just the spying ones I would imagine.
17:26
Just a guess, not that I've done either, but.
17:29
But you want to talk about bang for your buck, which I'm pretty
17:31
sure is where that phrase came from.
17:33
Right? Like it had to be right.
17:35
Exactly. OK, that's enough of that.
17:37
OK, so then also the ring and barbarian.
17:41
Nice. And I was going to throw this
17:43
out there because I was so surprised that you mentioned
17:45
Psycho for Hitchcock. And I was like, why wouldn't you
17:47
go with Rear Window? True rear window is.
17:50
Just a dude spying on people. Yeah, and it's, but it's not
17:54
really a horror movie, but I guess it kind of is.
17:56
It's a thriller. It's a suspense thriller, Yeah,
17:59
so. True.
18:00
I guess you can kind of put that as a subcategory of horror
18:02
because it's puts people on edge.
18:05
Yeah, I mean and Rear Window does do a good job of.
18:07
That they did. They really did.
18:09
Super uncomfortable it it works still to this day.
18:13
Hitchcock was great when it comes to that stuff.
18:15
And you know. It's going to do.
18:16
You've leveraged Hitchcock yourself.
18:19
Yeah, for the film, Dive just ripped him off for a dive,
18:22
basically the goal, his whole. You leveraged.
18:25
I don't think there was a like an actual RIP off off, but he
18:28
does have a quote that you used as inspiration.
18:30
Yeah, which? Was an inherently interesting
18:32
situation. Dramatic irony is an inherently
18:35
suspenseful situation where as long as the audience knows
18:39
something that your character doesn't or characters don't,
18:42
then you can make anything really intense really fast.
18:47
Yeah. And his.
18:47
His example was if there's if the audience knows there's a
18:50
bomb underneath the table that's set to explode.
18:53
But the two people having lunch at said table don't know it.
18:56
Then the audience is going to be engaged no matter how ridiculous
18:59
the conversation. Is it doesn't matter anything
19:01
exactly. And you've been doing well with
19:03
the film. The film's doing well.
19:04
It will be at the Chicago Horror Film Festival this weekend.
19:09
Yes, well, actually we're going this weekend, but this is pre
19:11
recorded so. You're right.
19:12
So it will have just played at the Chicago Horror Film
19:15
Festival. But we're excited to go to it.
19:18
So yes, inherently interesting. And it is like the the spine
19:22
thing. I got kind of sidetracked here
19:25
destroying. Starting a fire or destroying
19:28
something, you have an example. I do have an example and that
19:33
was the same one where I was being chased where we had a
19:36
character with a gun. Shooting.
19:39
Shooting at the car. I met your famous example to be.
19:42
Fun. Oh, my famous example.
19:43
But I we'll take. Yeah, I mean, I've done.
19:44
It I've done it very badly before, like in indie films.
19:48
But yeah, what did I write down here on that one?
19:51
The Oh yeah, Midsummer finale. Duh.
19:54
Yeah, Midsummer finale. Midsummer was one of my favorite
19:57
movies. Midsummer was delightful.
20:00
It's another one of those that it's like, I don't know if you
20:02
could call that an outright. Horror film, because so much of
20:07
it feels so not horror and so not typical horror.
20:11
But I, yeah, I really liked, I really liked that movie.
20:16
Likewise, my mine weren't Frankenstein, right?
20:21
Angry mob. Nice.
20:24
Usually has the. I've seen Young Frankenstein,
20:29
that's the only Mary Shelley adaptation I've actually seen.
20:32
The book is fantastic. The book is so good, but doesn't
20:35
Young Frankenstein even still have?
20:38
Yeah, they're after. They're trying to burn down.
20:40
Yeah, they've still got the fire.
20:42
Like the torch I. Think he was using the fire
20:43
picks while he was doing the putting on the Ritz dance
20:47
number. Yeah, OK.
20:48
Brilliant. Also Carrie.
20:51
Oh, clearly, yeah. Yeah, that one felt real good
20:53
and also such a good good for her moment, which is another one
20:56
of my favorite genres. And then the Mist.
21:00
OK. Where the military kind of has
21:03
to come in and shut everything down at the end.
21:06
OK, you've seen about 4000 times more horror movies than I have
21:10
seen and you're you're sticking to the main ones.
21:13
But usually these horror movies I watch once, yeah, And then I
21:16
kind of forget about him, except for Midsummer.
21:18
Yeah. Well, cuz the.
21:20
Good ones stick with you, which is why they're important to call
21:22
out. Right?
21:23
It's what made it stick with you so much.
21:25
Exactly. But I also kind of feel like
21:29
misery fits in there. And I know that's a bit of a
21:33
stretch. Yeah, but.
21:36
How are you shoehorning that one in there?
21:38
Because the author, oh, I can't remember his name.
21:44
Stephen King. No, no, the character that
21:48
Stephen King based on himself in that in that the.
21:50
Character's name, Yeah. I don't.
21:52
I don't. Remember, it's not Arthur, but
21:54
whatever it is, he's pretty desperate to get out of the
21:59
house and is trying his best to like, start breaking things and
22:03
just get the hell out of there. But I don't.
22:06
Yeah, it's a little bit of a stretch, but.
22:09
Well, that's a good example of. I'm going to jump around here
22:11
then because we have kidnapping on there.
22:13
Oh yeah? Well, Oh yeah, Mr. He's
22:15
definitely kidnapping. Definitely about kidnapping.
22:18
Such surreptitious kidnapping, right?
22:20
Like, he doesn't even realize he's actually been kidnapped for
22:23
at least a day or two. Yeah, that's so well done.
22:26
He's like, just thinks he's under care.
22:28
Being taken care of, yeah. And Stockholm syndrome never
22:31
quite sets in. No, not the way that you.
22:33
Hoped it would. Yeah, that's why I liked
22:35
Midsummer. It's like that Stockholm.
22:37
Yeah, but it was in Norway, not Sweden.
22:39
Oh no, it wasn't Sweden. I don't remember, I know it was
22:41
somewhere nor Dick. It was in Sweden.
22:43
OK, yeah. So Stockholm syndrome does
22:45
apply. That is, I think, actually the
22:47
most apropos example of it, yeah.
22:49
Except they were north of Stockholm, because Stockholm has
22:52
night in the summertime because it's farther S But if you go way
22:55
up north in Sweden, I would imagine just because of the.
22:58
It's far up there, Latitude, yeah.
23:01
OK, it's it's about, it's a movie about latitude.
23:04
But yeah, I've done, I've done a film, a short film.
23:07
It was for a 48 hour Film Festival that was about a
23:09
kidnapping and it was a sci-fi and it was about a robot.
23:13
And I don't know if you can find it online anymore.
23:16
It was called Where There Is Love, There is Life, and it was
23:21
a comedy slash sci-fi slash horror.
23:24
But we just started with given this person is being kidnapped
23:28
by this robot, and the robot is a murder robot, and it's
23:32
receiving directions from its operators who are coming over a
23:35
nebulous speaker system. And that was fun to do with the
23:38
sound design on because I got to make a human sound like a robot
23:41
with just like drill noises pitched up and down and then
23:44
like heavy footsteps. And we just filmed it like all
23:47
basically in mediums in the studio.
23:49
Yeah, it was like it was just blank.
23:51
Backdrop and so everything was sound design on that one.
23:53
So that was kind of fun. I was happy with that one.
23:55
And it was it did help to have a given like character is
23:59
kidnapped, trying to escape and then having the character try to
24:03
overcome obstacles that consistently fail.
24:07
And, and what we learned on that one was that you need to, the
24:11
more you push it. And we were having a
24:13
conversation the other day about comedy and how if you continue
24:17
to, like, let the joke linger for a really long time, like,
24:21
the audience gets quiet and then it gets funny.
24:24
Again, Yeah, the seagull. You got to wait.
24:26
You got to wait for the, if you're, that is a very long
24:31
example that I will not go into and that's on this podcast,
24:34
especially because it's a podcast.
24:35
It involves a lot of like flapping your arms as if you
24:37
were a bird and that will not play well for audio only
24:40
audiences. But the idea was laughter always
24:43
comes in waves, and you just got to ride it out and wait for that
24:46
next wave because it will come. You will get that third one for
24:51
that final payoff. But sometimes you're going to
24:53
feel like an idiot standing up in front of a bunch of people
24:55
flapping your arms like a bird for a long time.
24:57
Yeah. And if you're having somebody
24:59
try to escape from something, the same rules apply where if
25:03
you set the objective in front of them and you let the audience
25:06
believe that this is going to be the way that they escape, and
25:08
then that doesn't work out. Then that is even more
25:12
stressful. Yeah, and so on.
25:14
I think on the short film, in 6 minutes, we wanted to have three
25:17
different avenues of escape present itself to this
25:20
character. And then at the final one, it
25:24
ended because he didn't actually escape, even though he thought
25:27
he did. And so it worked out pretty
25:29
well. Like, I was happy with it,
25:30
obviously. Like, you know, it's indie film,
25:32
low budget, 48 hours, yeah, nothing's going to be perfect,
25:35
but. But it's, yeah, kidnapping,
25:37
inherently interesting. Kidnapping is inherently
25:39
interesting. I just remember really screwing
25:42
up the logistics and practicing the stunt work on having
25:48
somebody be kidnapped, where it was supposed to be a really
25:51
quick scene where basically you just show a woman getting thrown
25:55
into a trunk, somebody slamming the door, car driving away.
25:59
We didn't really take into account the logistics of how
26:01
difficult it is to throw a struggling, moving live body
26:05
into a trunk. So did you hire an actor or were
26:07
you just grabbing people off the street for this short?
26:09
Film. I wanted the authenticity.
26:11
So we were just kidnapping people was.
26:13
This before the show Jackass or after the show Jackass?
26:17
Definitely after no, it was a it was very much of A consenting
26:21
actress. A very talented 1 here locally.
26:23
Thanks again, Sheila. Inherently compelling situation.
26:26
Actually kidnapping somebody. There we go.
26:28
There's your inherently compelling situation.
26:30
Committing an actual crime on film.
26:33
Yes, it is very stressful for everyone involved.
26:35
Because you will. You will be Which?
26:37
Includes filming without a permit because that's
26:39
technically a crime. It is.
26:41
Oh, why is this film inherently interesting?
26:44
Because we didn't get a filming permit.
26:45
We didn't. That's not inherently
26:46
interesting. Please don't do that.
26:47
That sounds like a awful that. Doesn't sound as exciting as
26:50
you. Want.
26:50
Or maybe you can make it good. Actually, people could make it
26:52
good. Yeah, if you're creative enough.
26:54
People could think that work OK, then Next up.
26:58
Getting trapped. I was going to go back to
27:00
character dying. Yeah, we.
27:01
Jumped around, we jumped around. So character dying, yes.
27:05
I wanted to throw out like basically any vampire slash
27:13
creature feature where you get to watch them turn right.
27:16
So any vampire film, you're going to usually see a lot of
27:19
people die. So I didn't feel the need to go
27:21
into a bunch of specifics. Specifics on that one.
27:24
Nightmare on Elm Street, I really like the Witch.
27:27
I thought that was a really good example of it 'cause like, and
27:31
then also I think possession movies as a whole kind of fit
27:35
into this 'cause they are dead, but then undead, depending on
27:41
the lore of the possession, I guess.
27:43
But I liked that a lot. And then I really liked Smile.
27:47
I don't know if you saw that one.
27:48
No, I haven't seen Smile. Smile's really good.
27:50
The sequel was fine, but the first one was really good and I
27:54
was really into it. And it was.
27:58
The whole thing is just basically people committing
28:01
suicide in very different ways because this force is making
28:04
them. And then of course, I don't
28:06
think it's fair to not mention Happy Death Day.
28:09
Just definitely one of my top absolute favorite horror films
28:14
of all time. I love Happy Death Day.
28:17
I think it's incredible. And it's just this repeat of
28:20
this woman waking up every day and then she dies and then she
28:24
wakes up again and she died. And it's just a matter of trying
28:27
to figure out why this is happening.
28:29
And I know that trope has been used quite a few times and it's
28:31
not earth shattering or anything like that.
28:33
I get it. I don't care.
28:36
The way they executed this was so well done.
28:38
It was beautiful. So happy Death Day.
28:40
I think it's the IT is in the execution though, because
28:43
basically a lot of stories have been told and they've been told
28:46
since. Yeah.
28:47
I mean, what is it? There are only like X number of
28:49
actual stories and everything fits into one of those
28:52
categories. Yeah, exactly.
28:53
Unless it's really art house. These this is not a formula to
28:56
actually write a script. We're just talking about some
28:59
hopefully some ideas that we've seen from horror films that will
29:02
get the juices flowing. If you're kind of at a stage
29:05
where you're stuck on something. And I actually have a bit of
29:08
trivia that I want to share right now because that's a good
29:11
point. So I recently recently rewatched
29:13
Cabin in the Woods which is a horror comedy that makes fun of
29:17
all the horror tropes. Yes, about cabins and teenagers.
29:21
And did it really well. Yes, and just so you know, Cabin
29:25
in the Woods writers Drew Goddard and Josh Whedon, they
29:29
wrote the script in three days, and I pulled that factoid off of
29:34
IMDb. OK, that's really impressive.
29:37
But it was only a first draft, and so I had to do a little bit
29:40
more digging into that. They did a long weekend retreat
29:44
for three days at a hotel room and they already had 10 pages
29:49
for the film done. Oh, so they'd already ideated
29:52
and begun writing this and then locked themselves into a hotel
29:55
room for through for a weekend? Correct.
29:57
They had they had an outline and then after they did the three
30:01
day retreat, they took that first draft and continued to
30:05
modify it over several months before they got the green light
30:09
to shooting. So anytime you hear that
30:12
somebody cranked out a script in like such a short amount of
30:16
time, I would be a little incredulous about that because
30:19
usually that means first draft and a lot of times the drafts
30:23
could be up in 78910. We talked about that on.
30:25
Another I think it goes so much higher than that they could do.
30:28
Dozens of drafts and you don't know what the final draft is
30:31
versus the one that they wrote initially.
30:34
It is a good idea though, just to crank stuff out.
30:37
Just get something on a page. Yeah, get it done, because you
30:40
can always go back and then use some of those ideas in a later
30:43
script if you don't use it for the script that you're going to
30:45
end up shooting. But, you know, crank it out.
30:48
But no, they did not actually write the final shooting script
30:50
in three. Days.
30:51
What we saw on screen was not what they wrote in 72 hours.
30:56
No OK. But that was just like a little
30:57
factoid that they had on their IMDb page, so hey.
31:00
Hey, what was interesting on that note then?
31:04
Yeah, I think the what is it, the character getting drunk?
31:10
Oh, yes, yeah. Cabin in the Woods is, I would
31:13
put it in that one because they do emphasize the trope of like
31:17
the drunken teenager. Yes, because obviously Evil Dead
31:20
has some of that too. Oh.
31:21
Yeah, for sure. I actually personally think
31:24
Cabin Fever did it best OK, because it was a much different
31:29
twist on that stereotypical we're a bunch of teenagers who
31:33
were going to get drunk in the woods.
31:35
Because for those of you who haven't seen either version of
31:38
Cabin Fever, they're both identical.
31:40
They're not completely identical.
31:41
I don't know why they did the remake.
31:42
Anyway, sorry personal opinion. Well I mean they did the same
31:46
thing with Psycho. It was.
31:48
I'm pretty sure Psycho the remake was like shot for shot.
31:51
Was it? If I remember correctly, it was.
31:53
Really. I think I've seen the remake.
31:54
Oh, it was really similar. There was a Psycho remake.
31:56
Oh yeah, yeah, I think that was in early 2000s.
31:58
I don't know enough about it but.
32:00
Well, now I'm going to go look that one up because I don't
32:02
even, I don't even remember hearing.
32:03
It was, it was really, really close.
32:05
It was super, super similar. And so it's just kind of like
32:08
we're just going to remake the same movie 40 years later.
32:10
Good job. Good job.
32:12
Well, cabin fever was basically the water is contaminated with
32:17
this really grossly infected dead body.
32:20
Yeah, so everybody who's drinking water is getting
32:23
infected. And the ones that were just
32:27
drinking booze, the teenagers that were just partying hard and
32:30
not drinking any water were the only ones who had a shot at
32:32
living. Oh nice.
32:33
Yeah, so I thought that was a really fun.
32:35
Just a little bit of like medieval slash early US
32:38
settlement history. Yeah, for you.
32:40
Exactly. That's why everybody used to
32:42
drink beer. It was safer than the water.
32:44
It's a lot safer. The water was dangerous.
32:47
Yeah. Kill you.
32:48
It's not great. OK so then getting physically
32:52
trapped is the next or no? Do you have a character getting
32:54
drunk example before having fun. No, I like The Shining.
32:58
I do like the. Because he hints at the fact
33:00
that he was on the wagon like he wasn't drinking.
33:03
And then he has a drink with a ghost and you're like, well,
33:06
there isn't even any booze at the hotel, but then he's somehow
33:10
getting drunk with his ghost. And I just thought that was kind
33:12
of like a cool scene that that is a fun.
33:14
It wasn't necessarily just him getting drunk, but it was him
33:17
having even deeper of a mental breakdown than you realized.
33:20
Yeah, which is kind of cool. That's a fun little note.
33:23
OK, All right. So then physically trapped.
33:26
Physically trapped people, yeah, obviously saw.
33:29
Saw as a real Yeah, they were definitely physically.
33:31
Trapped. They're kind of, that's kind of
33:32
like kidnapped and or trapped, but yeah.
33:35
Well, the descent also physically trapped in this cave
33:39
underground, Yeah, with all these creepy people ish things,
33:43
yeah, super fun. Oh yeah, I haven't seen that one
33:46
in forever. I love that one.
33:47
I keep trying to get my girlfriends to cosplay that at
33:50
like horror cons with me. Just show up covered in blood
33:52
and in like climbing gear, it'd be really easy.
33:56
Oh, those see those Speaking of being getting trapped, if you've
33:59
ever watched those those videos of people that are that do the
34:02
spelunking where they climb into those caves where it's you can
34:06
they put the camera out in front of them and you can see them
34:08
squeezing their chest through these super tight cavities.
34:11
It makes you feel claustrophobic even though you're sitting in
34:14
like an office. Anxiety inducing for sure.
34:17
So yeah, just do that for your horror movie.
34:19
Very inherently stressful or, you know, enticing or, or
34:24
whatnot. I do want to call out Gerald's
34:26
Game too, though, 'cause that one was kind of funny, but not
34:31
funny, but a little bit funny 'cause it's this couple.
34:34
Have you seen it? I don't remember if I've seen it
34:37
or not. OK, so couple having problems in
34:40
their relationship because of course there's an argument with
34:42
a lover, yes, but they both want to fix their relationship.
34:45
So they're going away to this like, you know, romantic getaway
34:48
weekend. And when things are starting to
34:50
get a little hot and heavy, just a little bit spicy, they, like,
34:54
have handcuffs and they're like, handcuffed to each other.
34:57
And then he dies. Oh, I have seen that.
35:02
One and then she's stuck handcuffed to this body in bed
35:06
like that's right next to him as he's like starting to compose
35:09
and everything like that was just so messed up.
35:12
It's so good and kind of funny. Not funny, but anyway, yeah, OK
35:16
now. With cell phones, that'd be a
35:17
pretty quick fix. Yeah.
35:18
You just call somebody. Yeah.
35:19
But back in the day, if the hotel line was too far away from
35:22
you, you'd have to eat your own hand off.
35:24
Yeah. You wouldn't.
35:24
You wouldn't be OK. Yeah, there's just been a lot
35:27
more people not losing their hands since cell phones were
35:29
invented. Thanks, cell phones.
35:31
Yeah. OK.
35:33
And last character on trial. I could only think of 2 for this
35:36
one. Yeah, and I couldn't think of
35:37
any. I have the exorcism of Emily
35:40
Rose and then the conjurings. The devil made me do it.
35:44
Oh nice. Which are both about trials in
35:48
their own way, but funny enough, both about how they're on trial
35:53
for committing this murder, but their defense is that a demon
35:57
was possessing them and that they can't be held responsible.
36:00
Yeah, they're crazy. They're crazy.
36:01
Or no, not technically crazy, just possessed.
36:05
Not crazy, just possessed. Well.
36:08
For characters on trial, there have been an entire television
36:11
series dedicated to the fact that a character on trial is
36:14
inherently interesting. So.
36:16
Well, yeah. Law and order.
36:18
I love that show. Yes, OK, those are those are our
36:23
10, not 12 inherently compelling situations specifically drawn
36:28
from horror films, but obviously can easily be repurposed to any
36:31
other film. Like for example, getting
36:33
Trapped, 127 Hours. Yes, kind of a thriller, but I
36:36
don't think I would call that a horror film.
36:38
No, these are universally used like usable tropes.
36:43
But you know, we actually came up with quite a few of them at
36:46
Lower Gentry Studios. It seems like these ones are a
36:48
little bit more horror focus, but if you watch films and you
36:52
could probably just talk to AI at this juncture and they can
36:54
give you like a, a list of things.
36:56
If you're stuck on your writing process, go watch another movie.
37:00
And maybe if you see just kind of pay attention to the
37:03
surroundings, the environment and the characterization and
37:05
those scenes that you feel yourself gravitate towards, and
37:08
then maybe figure out a way to get your own story arc to lead
37:12
into one of those situations. Yeah.
37:14
And hopefully it's a situation that you can film too.
37:17
That's even better when it's also practical.
37:20
Yeah, you know, like a character stuck in an airplane Might be
37:23
tricky if you're on a very low budget.
37:25
If you're on a very low budget and you aren't willing to sneak
37:28
your camera onto a plane. Yeah, tricky stuff.
37:30
All right, Well, shall we end with assisting?
37:32
Farewell. I think so.
37:34
Excellent. Goodbye, Bye.