by Salva Rubio
Gathering the Team: Offscreen, Wiesler runs to Dreyman’s house to get the typewriter, as Grubitz gathers his own team of Stasi policemen to raid the house.
Executing the Plan: Also offscreen, as we will know later, Wiesler regains the machine, missing Dreyman by seconds, but thinking that he has saved him. At the same time, Grubitz carries out his own plan of searching the house.
High Tower Surprise: The surprise for Grubitz is that the typewriter is not there, but the surprise for Wiesler is very different, as the unexpected happens — feeling like a traitor to her love, Christa commits suicide by jumping in front of a truck, not knowing what Weisler had done for her. Now he can do no more.
Dig, Deep Down: This could be a good time for Wiesler to lie or confess to save himself, but instead he “digs, deep down” when he refuses to talk to Grubitz, so he will have to suffer the consequences. Wiesler has changed — a synthesis character, he used to get the truth in order to condemn people but now he has learned to lie to protect them, even sacrificing himself.
The Execution of the New Plan: Weisler’s new “plan” is a demotion he accepts for doing what he felt was right: opening letters in a cellar for 20 years. But four years later, the Berlin wall falls.
And we have our second finale, regarding the fate of Dreyman. Does it work to have two finales in a row? Well, let’s see it!
Gathering the Team: In 1989, Dreyman is still a successful writer. He finds Hempf and he tries to “amend hurts,” confirming to him that despite his naiveté, he was under surveillance the whole time.
Executing the Plan: The writer’s plan at this point is to find out more, so he visits the Stasi archives center, where he is given the enormous file about himself.
High Tower Surprise: Dreyman painfully learns that Christa indeed betrayed him, but when he finds a red ink fingerprint, he also realizes that a Stasi agent protected them!
Dig, Deep Down: Dreyman finds Weisler in the street, but instead of confronting him verbally, he “digs deep down” to wait and tell the story, as a writer would do...
The Execution of the New Plan:...and publishes a book, Sonata for a Good Man, dedicated to Weisler.
Final Image: Germany is now a free country and Weisler is struggling to survive in this new world. However, when he finds Dreyman’s book in a bookstore, and sees it is dedicated to him, he knows that he made the right choices, because as its title says, he is now a “good man.”
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974)
Five teenage friends on a weekend trip end up being chased by a serial killer who disposes of them one by one, until just a “Final Girl” remains alive... sounds familiar, yes? But there was a pre- Halloween time in which the “slasher film” trope was not that well-known, and this low-budget movie not only helped set some of its “rules,” but is also considered a masterpiece.
Widely studied by scholars, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre holds rich cultural themes about late-Vietnam America, like the end of the hippie dream and the counter-culture, and the clash between modern values and rural family lifestyle. Even today, the scandal its supposed grisliness caused still resonates, though little actual violence or gore is shown onscreen.
Story-wise, it is an interesting film to analyze because it has little characterization and a meager plot. Still, there abounds a basic trait, one that Blake mentioned as a special characteristic of MITH movies: its primal-ness, as only survival counts in a film in which death is present everywhere.
In the end, it doesn’t matter that we know little about the characters and how barebones (literally, we could say) its structure reads — it leaves us with only our most basic narrative tools to use, namely the BS Beat Sheet. So prepare yourself for a horror feast... although this particular film may not leave you exactly hungry for more.
MITH Type: Serial Monster
MITH Cousins: Halloween, Cold Prey, Friday the 13th, Hostel, Prom Night
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
Story by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Opening Image: After a “based on a real story” roll, gruesome flashes of decaying body parts are shown in darkness, while an eerie newscaster talks about grave robbing, sick crimes and morbid occurrences. The scene finishes with a “grisly work of art,” a statue made of body parts erected under the scorching Texas sun — death is even present in broad daylight.
Set-Up: A classic Set-Up for a “Serial Monster” story, five hippie teenagers drive out of their usual environment for a weekend trip, although the reason is not a happy one: they must check to see if the grave of Sally and Franklin’s grandfather has been desecrated. Although not much is said about the characters, we know that wheel-chair-bound Franklin is quite a whiner, Jerry is the sarcastic one, Sally is quite naive, Kirk is the tough one and Pam is addicted to horoscopes — and we might note that all signs around them are ominous and evil, so their “sin” is ignoring them.
B Story: Our “relationship” story here is among family, as there is great tension between Franklin and Sally. They are fighting; things are sour between them. He does not seem all that welcome on the trip and behaves like a peevish brat, which makes all of them uncomfortable, and tries Sally’s patience. Later, we will meet a different set of siblings that seem to get along way better, because a family that slays together... stays together! (There goes my $ 1 dollar joke.)
Theme Stated: When the group reaches the cemetery, they meet several locals, mostly drunk rednecks who can’t take their eyes off Sally, and one of them utters a foreboding rant: “Things happen hereabout they don’t tell about. I see things...” What are those things and why don’t they talk about them?
Catalyst: On their way from the graveyard they find Hitchhiker, a weird young man who freaks them out by telling how his brother and grandfather used to work at the local slaughterhouse, and that his family has “always been in meat.” Afterwards, he takes a knife from Franklin and slices him in the arm, also cutting his own hand! They kick him out of the vehicle, but he smears a strange symbol with his own blood on it, a new dark sign.
Debate: “There are moments when we cannot believe what is happening is true,” says the newspaper horoscope in pure Debate fashion, and that seems to happen to the group. What must they do now? Before answering the question, they need to refuel, so they stop at a gas station, where they also inquire about Franklin’s old house. The strange Old Man (Jim Siedow) warns them not to go around it, as “those things is dangerous.... You are liable to get hurt.”
Break into Two: Still ignoring every warning, the teens go back to the road to visit the old house, with Franklin thinking about the strange hitchhiker and eating some weird-shaped barbecue.
Fun and Games: At last, Sally and the others can relax when they arrive at the old family house. Even though it is ramshackle and dirty, it holds great memories for Sally, and everybody’s laughter fills the place, except for Franklin, who is unable to freely move around and share the good times. Even as they laugh, there are more ominous signs found in the house, but Kirk and Pam pay no attention to them as they decide to go for a bath at the creek. It’s dry, and they hear a motor humming in the distance, so maybe they can get some gasoline. Unluckily, after not noticing another sign (a human tooth), Kirk gets killed by a huge strange man in a dead skin mask. Meet Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), model for many serial killers to come, as Pam can attest after being killed in one of the most cruel and iconic deaths in cinema history.
Midpoint: As night begins to fall (a sign of the ticking clock), s takes have been raised. Now getting the gasoline is a matter of life and death, although the remaining friends still don’t know it. While Sally utters her “public display” as a hero — “We’ll protect you” — is she really capable of protecting anyone? Can she even save herself? In any case, A and B Stories cross as Franklin keeps whining about his lost knife, driving Sally mad, still hiding the fact that she did not want him there. Franklin wonders about the signs they have seen and Sally ca
n only answer: “Everything means something, I guess.”
Bad Guys Close In: A characteristic of this beat is that “the group disintegrates” even more, with Jerry leaving them to search for his friends and entering Leatherface’s home. After finding Pam in a refrigerator, he is killed too. Back at the van, Franklin wants to go with Sally even if he is a physical and emotional burden for her, as they inadvertently attract the attention of Leatherface, who appears out of the dark and dispatches of Franklin with his trademark chainsaw. With the enemy as close as he can be, Sally tries to get away in the dark countryside, running among dead trees and branches, at the same time becoming one of the screen’s greatest “scream queens”!
All Is Lost: Sally finds salvation in the gas station, where the Old Man they met at the beginning protects and comforts her. As there is not a phone, the man decides to get his truck. This might seem like like an All Is Won moment, but Sally’s mistake has cost her a final chance of survival.
Dark Night of the Soul: In this beat, major characters “contemplate death,” and that is exactly what Sally does when she is left alone in the room, watching the barbecue meat and listening to more horrible news on the radio, reminding her — and us — that the real world hides danger too.
Break into Three: That danger is confirmed when the Old Man returns to the room with a sack and a strange smile, revealing that his intentions are not good. After disarming and tying up Sally (temporarily depriving her of her proactivity), he puts her in the car and drives her to a home we know all too well. They find Hitchhiker on the way, revealing that he is family (some say brothers) with him and Leatherface, a dark Moment of Clarity for Sally.
Finale:
Gathering the Team: The Sawyers are reunited (read: gathered) for the first time in the film, including Grandpa, “the best killer in the family,” who can barely move, but can definitely enjoy the blood that Hitchhiker gets from Sally’s finger before she passes out.
Executing the Plan: Literally “executing,” as when Sally wakes up, the family decides to carry out their plan to terminate her suffering by killing her, the slaughterhouse-old-school way, and let’s just say it (gasp!) involves a hammer.
High Tower Surprise: When Hitchhiker is about to finish off Sally, he gets overconfident and she manages to free herself, jumping out of a window and finding herself on the loose at dawn.
Dig, Deep Down: But Sally is still not yet safe. She must “dig, deep down” and run for her life while Hitchhiker chases her, slicing her with his straight razor, while Leather-face and his chainsaw are not far behind.
The Execution of the New Plan: At this point, Sally’s new plan is to stop a vehicle to get away, something she almost accomplishes when a cattle truck runs over Hitchhiker. Still chased by Leatherface, she jumps in the back of a pickup and barely escapes alive.
Final Image: A blood-soaked Sally laughs hysterically in the car, and we know for sure that after losing all her friends and experiencing so many horrors, she is not and will never be the innocent girl she was at the beginning. As for Leatherface, he is left angry and frustrated, swinging around his chainsaw in the middle of the road, showing again that some horrors still await us in broad daylight.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
“Supra-natural Monster” films, said Blake, are among the most frightening ones, and how could they not be so, considering that not only are our lives at the stake... but our souls, too? The reason is that the “monster” in these films can “strike anywhere, haunt our dreams until we can’t tell what is real — and what isn’t.”
Just ask Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard, the three filmmakers who “in October of 1994 became lost in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary,” this film being their “found footage.” Were these events real or not?
That was the question that tens of thousands of people were asking themselves all over the world because of the smart internet campaign — at the time, one of the first — that launched this film, budgeted at reportedly less than $ 23,000, with box-office receipts of almost $ 250,000,000 (and yes, we counted all those zeroes right!).
We have also chosen this film because it features some interesting creative solutions, like the use of primarily three main characters, its lack of location changes (the forest being the “house”) and its visual first person narrative. Also, legend says it sprang from a 35 -page outline, with its dialogue mostly improvised — yet the editing of its 19 hours of footage to 81 minutes rendered a film that neatly fits our Beat Sheet.
MITH Type: Supra-Natural Monster
MITH Cousins: The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Cabin in the Woods, Requiem, The Witch, Paranormal Activity
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Written and directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez
Opening Image: After an onscreen warning that our story and its characters’ fates are true, the film starts, as it will finish, with a blurry image. When the focus sharpens, we meet film director Heather Donahue, whose “Blair Witch Project” is the documentary that she intends to shoot about a mysterious Maryland witch. What will she find out in the process and how will it change her and her world?
Theme Stated: We are shown some pre-Halloween decorations, and Heather asks her companions, and possibly herself, “Do you believe in ghosts?” Are supra-natural creatures real — or not? This notion will be tested during their whole misadventure.
Set-Up: In Save the Cat!® Strikes Back, Blake gave us a tip for any Set-Up: to visit the “at home, at play and at work places” of our protagonist to know her better. So the film starts in the safety of Heather’s “home,” and soon we visit “work” where we meet co-worker Josh, the nice, reasonable 16 mm cameraman. Enter also shy, quiet sound mixer Mike, after which they ”play” buying groceries for the trip. At this point we know more about Heather and her six things that need fixing: she is bossy, insistent, controlling, manipulative, self-centered and everything has to be done her way. Quite a basis for a character arc!
B Story: Our “love story” centers on the care and respect the team must learn to feel for each other. As we will see, at first they are not that close, brought together to make the documentary. But as the movie progresses, they will be tested and face difficult circumstances, so they will need to stick up for each other. Will they be capable of that?
Catalyst: They begin shooting the documentary, interviewing people who more or less believe in the Witch and provide unsettling details about its legend — focusing on the story of Rustin Parr, a man who killed seven children under the Witch’s command. The group also meets Mary Brown, a seemingly crazy old lady who claims she once met the Witch and lived to tell it. Well, have you had a good look at her fence door?
Debate: At this point, do they believe in the Witch? They keep driving, joking around, perhaps to hide their concerns, thinking that Mary was crazy. These laughs are also their “sin” — because their disrespect and disregard as they invade the Witch’s territory will bring disgrace in the end. As they reach the woods, they leave their car behind and find Coffin Rock, a place where a gruesome killing took place. “That happened here,” claims Heather for her documentary. But does she believe it?
Break into Two: The trio spends their first night camping in the woods. The next day, Josh says he heard strange noises in the darkness, a kind of cackling. They joke about that, but things get worse as they realize they are lost. What don’t they realize? As must happen in an effective Break into Two, there is “no way back.” The Witch is already hunting them and they may never get out of the forest — not even if they die — as their souls would be trapped forever in the woods with her. Josh asks Heather if she believes in the Witch yet. “I don’t know,” she answers.
Fun and Games: Is there something Fun in being lost in the woods searching for a cemetery? As much as I wouldn’t want to experience it, the group has fun mocking each other and playfully joking around in the forest. However, they get serious after they fi
nd something strange: seven stone piles, one of which Josh accidentally knocks over. That night they hear weird noises again, and get more and more nervous as Heather continues being mean to them. Thinking that some locals are playing a prank, they decide to go back to the car, but they don’t seem able to find the way. And any possible Fun ends on the third night, when they hear noises again and upon waking up, they find three more stone piles around their tent.
Midpoint: A false defeat comes when they realize they have lost the map, raising the stakes as it is now harder to get home. The situation becomes public, and violent, when Mike reveals that he threw the map away in frustration, raising the stakes even more. A physical fight ensues in which the worst of each character surfaces, as Heather blames Mike for everything, again not taking any responsibility. She will not even let the boys have the compass, ignoring the possibility that her changing might save them all.
Bad Guys Close In: One of the characteristics of this beat is that “the team disintegrates,” a condition that is particularly threatening for all-controlling Heather, since she no longer has power over the others. Still they “stick” together, finding strange eerie stick men hanging from the trees. The two guys want to get out of the woods but Heather keeps filming — self-centered, the documentary still goes first for her. That night Bad Guys really do Close In, as the trio first hears terrorizing children’s voices and then their tent is shaken by someone outside. The next morning, they find their stuff thrown around, and Josh’s clothes are stained with a blue slime, as if marked. He, the reasonable one, gets really angry, psychologically torturing Heather by filming her.
All Is Lost: They realize they are in the same place in the forest where they began. How can that be possible? “There’s no one to help you,” repeats Josh to a crying Heather. The next day, Josh is missing and Heather and Mike can’t find him no matter how much they try. They are indeed “worse off than when the story started.”