Script For My Horror Film (Opening Sequence)

The Babysitter

EXT. LARGE MANOR HOUSE IN THE SURREY COUNTRYSIDE - ABOUT 6:00AM ON A BITTERLY COLD DAY IN JUNE

A large house can be seen in the distance across a vast garden with a large lake and many flower beds and bushes all kept in excellent condition. The only sounds that can be heard are the light breeze and the sound of a shovel scraping in and out of frozen soil. As the camera pans, the source of this sound becomes apparent; a man in his mid thirties is filling in a hole in one of the flower beds. As we come closer to the man we become aware of the bitter cold as his breath is clearly visible.

CUT TO:

EXT. LARGE MANOR HOUSE IN THE SURREY COUNTRYSIDE - ABOUT 6:00AM ON A BITTERLY COLD DAY IN JUNE

Mid shot of the man wiping his brow. He has clearly been working hard for a considerable amount of time.

CUT TO:

EXT. LARGE MANOR HOUSE IN THE SURREY COUNTRYSIDE - ABOUT 6:00AM ON A BITTERLY COLD DAY IN JUNE

Extreme close up of the flower bed where the man has been digging. A hand can be seen protruding from the flower bed.

CUT TO:



Fade in Text
The Babysitter

CUT TO:

INT. DARK BASEMENT – LATE NIGHT

A large table covered in various torture implements

CUT TO:

Titles

CUT TO:

INT. DARK BASEMENT – LATE NIGHT

Blood drips onto the basement floor. Muffled screams can be heard.

CUT TO:

Titles

CUT TO:

INT. DARK BASEMENT – LATE NIGHT

There is a wasted figure of a teenage girl shaking and crying in the corner. She is chained to the wall.

CUT TO:

Titles

CUT TO:

INT. DARK BASEMENT – LATE NIGHT

What appears to be a child walks into view with its back to us. He innocently toddles over to the terrified girl in the corner of the room; he is holding a small hatchet.

CUT TO:

Titles
As the final title fades out, a loud shrill scream can be heard.

Treatment For My Horror Film

Treatment – The Babysitter


Act 1

1. Establishing crane shot of a large manor house. Camera pans around to the garden of the house. The scene in underscored with ominous music.


2. Cut to a middle aged man filling in a hole in a large flower bed. He is visibly tired. He reaches into his pocket and takes out a handkerchief with which he mops his brow. Cut to an ECU of the flower bed from which the hand of a dead body is protruding.

3. Cut to black background with the title ‘The Babysitter’

4. Montage of horrific images, for example teenage girls be brutally murdered, flashes of a creepy looking child and people disposing of bodies. The final image of the montage is a newspaper article about a teenage girl missing. The page turns and there is an advertisement for a babysitting job.


Act 2



1. Protagonist is in a café with a friend they are two pretty girls in their late teens (between 16 and 19) looking for summer jobs in the newspaper. They have spotted the babysitting advertisement and decide to apply.


2. Interview sequence (in the style of ‘Shallow Grave’). POV shots from the parents. The protagonist gets the job. Last line of the sequence makes a reference to the child being somewhat eccentric.


3. Establishing sequence of child. Camera tracks forward to the child sitting with his back to the camera; he is singing nursery rhymes. The child turns round as the music reaches its climax and we see his chalk white face and sunken eyes. Blood starts to pour from his eyes.


4. The Protagonist arrives for her job and is greeted at the door by the parents. She is shown around the house and taken to the boy’s room to meet him; he has his back to them and demands to be left alone.



Act 3

1. Protagonist is watching TV; child has gone to bed by this point. It is just like an average babysitting job.

2. Protagonist gets a phone call, but the person on the other end just breathes heavily down the phone. She thinks it is a prank so hangs up. She receives the call a few more times before becoming worried. She phones the operator to ask them to trace the next call. After the next call, the operator warns her that the call is coming from an upstairs room in the house.

3. Protagonist goes upstairs to investigate and is attacked by the child. After a lot of conflict (hide and seek – similar to ‘The Orphanage’) the babysitter manages to escape, barely alive.

4. Two years later we see the protagonist go for another babysitting job. She is shown around the house and is taken into the child’s room where she realises it is the same child that tried to kill her; he turns around and smiles at her. She screams. Cut to black.

Research - George A. Romero Interview

George Romero and "Land of the Dead:" Romero returns to the genre he's credited with creating with "Land of the Dead," his latest venture into the world of zombies. It's been 20 years since Romero stepped behind the camera to direct a zombie movie and fans are eagerly anticipating this new film, which may or may not be his last zombie movie (depending on who you talk to and on what day of the week you speak to them).
In "Land of the Dead," the last humans on earth live inside a fortified city. On the other side of the city's walls, the walking dead roam around looking for a way in. As the social structure inside the city begins to crumble, the zombies outside have started to evolve into an army of flesh-eating killers.

George Romero on the 20 Year Break between Zombie Movies: "Well, it hasn’t taken me so long. It’s taken the world too long to say, 'Hey, let’s do another one.' I did the first one of these in the 60s and then I did one in the 70s and one in the 80s. I missed the 90s because we were tied up in development deals and, you know, I just basically missed it.
Then I wrote the first draft of this film right before 9/11. Literally I sent it out to studios three days before 9/11. That’s a true story. Everybody then wanted to make friendly little lollipop movies, so I had to stick it on the shelf for a while. Then after the invasion, I took it off the shelf and I said, 'Gee, this is even more interesting now!' To make it sort of address this new normal… So I was a little fast and loose with some of the referencing, you know the 9/11 / post-911 stuff in it. But I think it makes it a little stronger.
It’s about walking that line. You have to do the surface, which is the ride, and then underneath you try to lay in some of your observations. Not necessarily criticisms… I mean, I took some jabs at the administration here which are clearly criticisms. But most of it is more an observation. I have this conceit that the films reflect the times when they were made, stylistically as well as the social commentary."

On Creating Zombie Movies That Stand the Test of Time: "Well, I hope so. You know they stand up because they’re fun rides on the top, I hope. So that’s what I’m trying to do with these."

George Romero on Our Fascination with Zombies: "Boy, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s anything in particular. Zombies have become – not only because of movies but because of video games like Resident Evil and so forth - it’s become sort of the pop culture. It’s an easily identifiable monster. You say 'vampire,' you know what to expect. You say 'zombie,' you know what to expect. You don’t' have to have a scientist in the story explaining, 'Well, here’s what’s happening...' I think it’s just become idiomatic."


Romero's Zombies Evolve in "Land of the Dead:" "If you look at my other films, it begins at the end of 'Dawn.' The zombie drags a gun around for the whole movie and then at the very end grabs the hero’s gun and decides that’s better. He doesn’t even know it’s a gun. Then in 'Day of the Dead' there’s a zombie named Bub who actually shots the villain in the end. He’s this very sympathetic guy. It’s sort of following the same track. Now in this film when Big Daddy does it, there’s other zombies that come around and imitate the behaviour. So all of a sudden, ooops, there’s a bunch of them out there."

On Losing the Rights to "Night of the Living Dead:" "Night of the Living Dead" is now in the public domain and Romero's not happy about that. "Our title was 'Night of the Flesh Eaters.' We were just a bunch of young guys who made the movie and stuck it in the trunk of our car and drove it to New York to see if anybody wanted to show it. And we put the copyright right on the title card, so when the distributor changed the title to 'Night of the Living Dead,' they just never thought about it. So when the copyright thing came off, it became a public film."
Because of One Little Thing Romero Lost the Rights to "Night of the Living Dead: "Yes, basically. We’re still fighting it and there’s a chance we’ll get it back. A silly thing like that so… My advice to young filmmakers: Get a lawyer!"

Romero on why After "Night of the Living Dead" ‘Living’ was dropped from the Titles: "I know. It’s not me, no. I don’t know. There was no reason for that. It just happened that way."
Romero on Creating "Night of the Living Dead: Romero admits attending premieres for "Land of the Dead" is a totally different experience from his other zombie movies.”Land of the Dead" is the first of his zombie films to have a major studio - and all the publicity and hoopla associated with a big studio - backing its theatrical release. Romero recalls, "When we were making 'Night of the Living Dead' we thought it was going to be playing in a few drive-in theatres and maybe return our investment. And maybe if it did that, we’d be able to make something else. That’s really as far as it went."

(SOURCE UNKNOWN)

Research - Top 10 Horror Films

TOP 10 HORROR FILMS

10. Ringu

After the death of her cousin Tomoko, reporter Reiko hears stories of a videotape that kills everyone who sees it exactly one week after viewing. At first she discounts the rumors, but when she learns that Tomoko’s friend (who watched the video with her) died at exactly the same time, she begins to investigate. After viewing the tape herself, strange things start happening, and so she teams up with her ex-husband to try to stop the death clock that has once again begun ticking.

9. Jaws

A Great White Shark decides to make the small beach resort town of Amity his private feeding grounds. This greatly frustrates the town police chief who wants to close the beaches to chase the shark away. He is thwarted in his efforts by the town’s mayor who finally relents when nothing else seems to work and the chief, a scientist, and an old fisherman with revenge on his mind take to the sea to kill the beast.

8. Poltergeist

While living an an average family house in a pleasant neighborhood, the youngest daughter of the Freeling family, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke), seems to be connecting with the supernatural through a dead channel on the televison. It is not for long when the mysterious beings enter the house’s walls. At first seeming like harmless ghosts, they play tricks and amuse the family, but they take a nasty turn- they horrify the family to death with angry trees and murderous dolls, and finally abduct Carol Anne into her bedroom closet, which seems like the entrance to the other side

7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

En route to visit their grandfather’s grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home… where they’re plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills…

6. Carrie

Carrie White is a shy young girl who doesn’t make friends easily. After her class mates taunt her about her horrified reaction to her totally unexpected first period one of them takes pity on her and gets Tommy Ross, her boyfriend and class hunk to invite Carrie to the senior prom. Meanwhile another girl who has been banned from the prom for her continued aggressive behaviour is not as forgiving and plans a trick to embarrass Carrie in front of the whole school. What she doesn’t realise is that Carrie is … gifted, and you really don’t want to get her angry.

5. Les Diaboliques

he wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school’s filthy swimming pool… but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared - and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his ‘killers’ (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense…

4. Rosemary’s Baby

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. They discover that their neighbours are a very friendly elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet, and Guy begins to spend a lot of time with them. Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the washroom dies a mysterious death, Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises and Guy becomes remote and distant. Then Rosemary falls pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbours have special plans for her child.

3. Psycho

Marion Crane is a Phoenix, Arizona working girl fed up with having to sneak away during lunch breaks to meet her lover, Sam Loomis, who cannot get married because most of his money goes towards alimony. One Friday, Marion’s employer asks her to take $40,000 in cash to a local bank for deposit. Desperate to make a change in her life, she impulsively leaves town with the money, determined to start a new life with Sam in California. As night falls and a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her, Marion turns off the main highway. Exhausted from the long drive and the stress of her criminal act, she decides to spend the night at the desolate Bates Motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, a peculiar young man dominated by his invalid mother. After Norman fixes her a light dinner, Marion goes back to her room for a shower…

2. The Exorcist

Blatty’s novelization of a real case of possession that happened in a Washington Suburb (Mt. Ranier, MD) puts Regan, an adolescent girl, Living with her mother in Georgetown in Washington, into a more and more difficult situation. She exhibits strange symptoms, including levitation and great strength. When all medical possibilities are exhausted, her mother is sent to a priest who is also a psychiatrist. He becomes convinced that Regan is possessed and he and a second priest experienced in exorcism try to drive the spirit from Regan before she dies. Very graphic for its time.

1. The Shining

Jack Torrance becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel up in the secluded mountains of Colorado. Jack, being a family man, takes his wife and son to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long and isolated nights. During their stay strange things occur when Jack’s son Danny sees gruesome images powered by a force called “The Shining” and Jack is heavily affected by this. Along with writer’s block and the demons of the hotel haunting him Jack has a complete mental breakdown and the situation takes a sinister turn for the worse.


(http://listverse.com/entertainment/top-10-horror-movies/)