Today’s Amateur Offerings are a HOLIDAY SPECIAL. I mean, how can we not review a horror script on October 30th??? I’m including both horror/Halloween entries from last week, plus three new entries. Will the returning contestants leave the newbies in a blood-soaked pile of discarded candy wrappers? I don’t know. Movie geeks loooooove Bruce Campbell. Which could lead to a ghoulish upset…
Title: LRKRZ (new draft!)
Genre: Horror/Slasher
Logline: Deep in the twisted and lawless labyrinth of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, a hip sociologist named Vega and her dirty gutterpunk friends are viciously hunted by the Lurkers, a pack of deranged, homicidal hobos — or maybe something even worse.
Why You Should Read: It’s always a lucky day when an idea picks you. Here, I had no desire to draft a horror screenplay, but frequent walks through San Francisco’s parks got me obsessed with what goes on there after dark. I mean, if the City streets are this sketchy during the day, then the nighttime park must be a fucking murder zone. And so the Lurkers were born, and now I’m half convinced they’re real. Definitely dirty business. — I’m more than a little over the current state of horror movies, so this is my effort to take it old school, with a focus on characters and a slow build. But for the shots of San Francisco it would cost little to make, so I hope I can convince an edgy director to take a chance. — Thanks again for all your hard work, Carson, it’s a real inspiration.
Title: Team Halloween
Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fi/Comedy
Logline: A group of Halloween-obsessed friends stumble across an otherworldly device and turn everyone in town into their Halloween costumes! They team up with a wacky scientist to fight through the chaos, get the device back, and make sure the world doesn’t turn into Halloween for real–forever!
Why You Should Read: Because it’s the perfect time of year for it! And because, in no uncertain terms, I wanted to create a go-to, all-ages Halloween ‘staple’ movie (the kind of movie that you have to watch whenever the season rolls around, like ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ is for Christmas, ‘Jaws’ is for the Fourth of July and ‘Groundhog Day’ is for Arbor Day), and I wanted to see what the world’s biggest group of smart script-readers think about it! Hardly anyone agrees on what movie they HAVE to watch every Halloween, and almost none of them are appropriate for parents to watch with their kids. I genuinely want a movie that groups of people will get together to watch for decades to come. I want parties dedicated to it. I want the title to become a verb. I want a movie that kids, teenagers, adults–literally everyone–will want to see because it’s funny, smart, thrilling, and touching. It’s a heartfelt return to the glory days of blockbuster movies that know how to have fun. It’s Back To The Future meets The Monster Squad (which was, of course, The Goonies meets Halloween); it’s big, it’s exciting, it’s all-ages (read: FOUR QUADRANT, baby) and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Plus the title is catchy as hell, isn’t it?
Title: Blood Soaked Moon
Genre: Action adventure horror.
Logline: After her encounter with Dracula Mina Harker seeks revenge for her husband’s death, whilst trying to prevent a vampire from becoming a day walker, thus enslaving the world.
Why You Should Read: Franchise. That’s what Hollywood is after these days. Plus this story is set in the 1800’s which isn’t done that many times in films. Also it serves as a sort of sequel to Dracula. Mina Harker is also a very active hero who’s driven by revenge. — All the right elements are there story and structure wise too. Not only that you have two legends: Van Helsing and Dracula (who does have a small cameo). This adventure romp is also well paced and never seems to slow down. On this site you are always emphasizing urgency and active heroes, so I’ve taken your advice and used them to the best ability I can. — Finally I know you might be able to tell it’s an early draft, but please don’t let that put you off. The main reason I am sending this to you is so I can improve it. I hope you like this script and I have plenty more for you.
Title: Sandbox
Genre: Sci-fi Horror Thriller
Logline: A Military Psychologist summons an Exorcist to an abandoned Air Force base when its classified technology becomes infected by a devilish entity.
Why You Should Read: Awesome setting, an abandoned air force base coupled with drones used in an unexpected way. Add the fierceness of a female military psychologist with a goal that only the devil can cherish.
It’s a complex tale with lots of meat for thought. Jump scares, creepiness and a touch of fun. I am often complimented on the time I give to other scripts on AOW but I feel a freedom in doing so. I can always find something good in those entries I read, I can see the time and energy expended, the hopes of the writer. I can’t see those things about my own writing, just a gnawing feeling I’ve come up short again. I don’t even know what hopes I have for each one. I may think like many writers do, that someone else will carry this out of the fog into some shining light, but that is, I know, my task to perform. I think I’m getting closer with this one, out of the fog that is.
Title: The Corpse of Bruce Campbell
Genre: Thriller/Dark Comedy
Logline: A penniless horror-obsessed filmmaker tries to steal Bruce Campbell’s corpse for a wealthy necrophiliac in order to finish financing his film.
Why You Should Read: I once attended a screenwriting workshop at Film Independent that was hosted by Corey Mandell (Yes, the writer of Battlefield Earth), where he was trying to convince the crowd that careers are no longer jumpstarted by marketable spec scripts, but instead by scripts that can go viral. Scripts that may not seem like they’ll every get made, but are so intriguing that everyone in Hollywood is being told they need to read it. It seemed crazy at first, but it made a lot of sense. The best way to get a writing assignment is to actually get someone to want to read your script, and if you look at some of the scripts that made it onto the blacklist, such as I Am Ryan Reynolds or Balls Out, they fit the “viral” theory pretty perfectly. So with that in mind, I believe The Corpse of Bruce Campbell has the potential to become the “Two Girls and One Cup” of Hollywood. It’s as funny and suspenseful as it is absurd and outrageous. Plus, anyone who doesn’t consider Bruce Campbell an American hero is either a communist or listens to Macklemore.
