Monday, August 13, 2007

Scary dream I had - slasher films

I believe the biggest reason I'm not afraid of horror movies or books is that I don't project myself into the situations, that I don't imagine myself in the situation.

Earlier I had a dream (I sleep days, remember) that, as a movie would be your average horror film. But since I was a part of it (I think), it was kind of scary. As with any dream, I only remember so much of it, but using logic and imagination, I can fill in some details.

The premise: A group of people held hostage in a furniture store by a madman. It doesn't sound like much, but this guy proves he is capable of anything - but he's not very capable. This furniture store is a free-standing building on a lot, with employee parking and freight docking in the back and a decent parking lot out front. Also in front, to the right of the entrance, are two trailers. One might transport two motorcycles, but also might be a weekend hotdog/popcorn/soda booth/stand. The other is a camper. The lights were off, but someone may live there. (The store owner?)

The hostages: As I write this I don't even know how many there are. I haven't stopped to count. So here they are:

The girl: Not the only girl, but that's her description, considering I don't know any names. She's the wild type, perhaps grew up in the country. Her major screen time in my dream was escaping, through the front door, while the madman was busy elsewhere. She runs down the parking lot, to the right to a convenience store, and tells the clerk what she knows. The lady behind the counter offers to call the police, but the girl doesn't trust them, and steals a Harley owned by the clerk, who reports it as stolen. The girl is caught about 20 miles up the road. Associates of the madman break into the jail and bring her back to the store.

The geek: This may or may not be the main character. He reminds me a lot of me, but I don't think he's the main guy. Anyway, he has a modified iPod with a camera and wireless transmitter on it. He's upstairs in the office when the madman and his associates break in, but he sees the action on his iPod's camera and tries, unsuccessfully, to hide. He's caught and tied to some large hand-truck/dollie, whatever they're called.

The geek's girlfriend: Oddly enough the geek has a girlfriend, and she's a freak. City girl, kinda Goth/Emo style - I thought of the love interest in The Waterboy. When the madman takes over, she knows she can't do anything, but she positions the geek's iPod to record the events in the hope that he sees and calls the police. Which he doesn't, for reasons unknown to me. Anyway, she is tied up same as he is, but before he gets caught. I think one or both of them were supposed to be tortured - I saw a knife - but I don't recall it actually being used.

The hero: I still don't know why this guy and the geek aren't the same character. I think that they might be, it's like I had the dream twice and in one they were, the other they weren't. In the one they weren't, though, this guy is your average Dude character, drives a muscle car, smokes, drinks, listens to classic rock, jeans and T-shirt.

He actually provokes the madman somehow. I saw him at the madman's place, maybe getting directions, maybe he had to use the phone, maybe car trouble, but something wasn't right and he had to get out of there. The guy may have been a hunter and talked openly of killing not just animals, but people as well - maybe kids. Anyway, the madman was a creep and the dude just wanted to move on. On his way out, though, he threw some trash out the side of his car in the madman's yard or driveway, and that set the madman off to begin with.

The dude/hero is the only other character that made an escape attempt. His was a little more thought-out, perhaps. He first runs to the left, around the corner, then around back. Then around to the right side of the building, and he creeps up to the front. The back and sides are fenced in, and there's nothing back there anyway - this is a small town. (Why it has a furniture store is beyond me, but I know it wasn't a grocery store.) So he comes back up along the right side, and creeps behind what may be the hotdog stand, then the trailer. I woke up shortly after this point, so I don't know if he gets away or tries a rescue attempt.

The black guy: There was also a black guy around the madman's home. I didn't see him around the furniture store, but he came around, I think he was a journalist writing a story about the Klan in the 21st century. He asked about the madman's five associates, who wore white masks and their features were obscured (nothing like the traditional Klan dunce cap and sheet) but he still suspected them of it. The madman said yes they were Klan, but they were his men. It's later revealed that they weren't, in fact one of them was black as well. Weird, I know, but this dream didn't make much sense.

There might be more, but you know how dreams fade, if you have them, that is. None of these events really took place chronologically, nor did they take place in the order I named them. I just posted on a first remember, first logged basis. But I stand back from the dream and just look at the story from the point of view of, well, anybody else, and I realize it's just your average slasher film. Below average, maybe, and probably not even deserving of an R rating. Another PG-13 horror film, cast the lastest Mickey Mouse Club alumni in the lead roles and someone like Dennis Hopper or Gene Hackman as the villain, and you have an instant blockbuster.

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