pitch for movie

I would be remised if I did not lead with my antipathy towards horror movies. I am a movie-buff; I love movies. I see everything. There is only one genre that I find little to no redemptive value in; and that is the horror genre. Of course, much of this is a matter of semantics. Certain films may be classified in the “horror” category that I do enjoy. It all depends on one’s definition of “horror.” I suppose my disdain is not for the suspenseful films. For example, pictures like “The Shining,” “Jaws,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “The Sixth Sense,” etc, are absolutely brilliant. I love and appreciate those. Could they be classified as “horror”? Perhaps? Classifying movies by genre is a ridiculously subjective process. (I once had a guy argue to me that "Jaws" was a sports movie. I was incredulous, and asked, "what sport?" To which he replied, "Fishing.") Anyway,the movies I loathe are the wretched, cheesy, gore-filled, blood-infested, slashing, grotesque, b-movies. (In the interest of full-disclosure, I must also add that I have never comprehended why people would attend a movie and pay money to be frightened. I live my life in fear of everything, from the imminently threatening, to the extraordinarily improbable. I try to avoid terror at all costs. If I want to be horrified, I’ll just leave my house in the morning and go through my day. That’s scary enough for me, and it’s free. Why the hell would I pay to be scared?) But, anyway, I digress.

Because of my position on this, I really could not invent a horror flick. But, I could pitch a suspenseful, unsettling, subtly frightening film. The picture would be a sort-of a mixture between “Stranger than Fiction,” “Secret Window,” (though that movie was awful) and “Being John Malkovich,” but highly dramatic. Let me explain. It would be rather meta-physical. Okay, the main character (Jack) begins hearing a voice, and, with the voice, a person (Bob). And, this mystery fellow feeds Jack lines, dialogue, pithy phrases to say at opportune times in Jack’s life. It’s like having a great screenwriter really writing dialogue for Jack in his actual life. Jack’s like a character in a movie; he always has the clever, witty, smart thing to say in every situation (given to him by Bob, of course). At first, Jack loves it, because he is enjoying tremendous success. He gets promoted at his job, because he’s always dispensing witticisms in meetings, impressing his bosses, and earning the admiration and love of everyone in the office. Furthermore, he’s now adroitly picking up women, because he always has the perfect comment to make the adorables swoon. And, just as he is wondering if his life can possibly improve, and realizing it likely cannot, things then turn.

Bob starts feeding him insidious, evil, demented lines. He becomes a depraved, degenerative, offensive maniac. Everything crumbles. His life falls apart. All the gains he made evaporate, and he continues to lose ground. He cannot control himself. Soon, it is not simply dialogue, Bob is making him do things, evil actions--murderous actions. The suspense is derived from not knowing what he will do, or be made to do, next. How much worse can it become? Further, as he becomes increasingly unstable, the viewer is forced to ponder if Bob ever existed at all. Is poor Jack afflicted afflicted by some disorder, a personality defect--paranoid schizophrenia, perhaps? Does he possess multiple personalities? Is the whole thing made up entirely? Is it all a charade orchestrated by an odious madman? Or, is Bob real?

Where is the answer, and how will it all be revealed? How will it turn out? The viewer shall be left guessing until the end in this suspenseful, horrifying, psychological thriller.