Treatment:
After having nothing to do a group of teenage friends decide to
take a trip round to a local lake. The
group of friends consists of a promiscuous blonde
with her jock boyfriend, the geek chic girl and the bullied boy. When
walking to the lake we see the constant banter between the group and the
bullied boy by tripping him up and making virginal references towards him.
They find a spot facing the lake and decide to play a game of truth or dare. Here we see the
bullied boy as an outsider of the group as he is positioned slightly away from
the others. As the dares commence the bullied boy gets pressured to spend five
minutes in the dark woods alone. However,
after the time has passed the rest of the group panic,
as he doesn’t come
back, leaving the jock to go in search of him. Whilst the jock is searching for
him, the bullied boy grabs him from behind the bush, stabs him
and hides the body
in the lake, leaving only the remains of the blood. As the rest of the
group wait anxiously for their arrival, only the bullied boy comes back alone,
acting clueless to the jock’s whereabouts.
As they all settle down, the blonde girl notices something on the boys
hand and begins to stare to which the bullied boy looks down to his hands and
realises the blood stains, so he slyly pulls his sleeve down. The game
continues and this time the truth lands
with the promiscuous girl, the question being, ‘have you had sex?’ to which she replies, ‘yes,
unlike ugly boy over there’ pointing at the bullied boy. Slowly, the boy starts
to get angrier and claims ‘you’ll be next’, and disappears into the dark. As
the rest of the group query what he means the jock's dead body washes up from
the lake.
With only two remaining in the group, the geek chic and the blonde
start to panic and protect each other. The blonde sets out to find the bullied
boy, leaving the geek chic girl to wait by her friend’s dead body. As she walks
nervously through the woods, slight noises worry her making her scream and
panic. She decides to run to find the exit, however tripping on a branch and
banging her head on a rock, knocking herself unconscious. As she begins to wake
she tries to move her arms but is suddenly shocked that she is unable to,
looking up to find her hands tied with rope
to a tree. Inspecting her body she has come to the realisation that she has
been attacked, covered in bruises and blood head to toe. As she struggles to
escape, her screams are heard by the bullied boy drawing his attention to find
his victim has awaked.
Running to her side, he hears her screaming her boyfriend’s name to
which he replies, “He can’t help you now.” She attempts to haul herself up but
fails, shouting at him, “what have you done to my boyfriend?!” Smirking to
himself, he asks, “would you like to join him?” He walks slowly towards her
still smirking pulling a knife from his
back pocket. Before she has time to react he brutally stabs her straight
through the heart, killing her instantly.
Unknowingly to the geek chic girl, she is completely alone at the lake
with the bullied boy, her secret crush, not understanding where her blonde
friend had got to. When suddenly bumping into him, he confesses his love to
her. Seeing the knife in his back pocket, she realises he is the killer, and
deciding the best thing to do is go along with his affections and embraces him
tightly. She steadily takes the knife from his back pocket and strokes his hair
with her free hand, distracting him from the hand that holds the weapon.
Believing all is well and in the moment, she whispers in his ear, “Would you
die for me?” he unconsciously replies, “yes.” With this she brings the knife to
his jugular vein and quickly slits his throat
causing him to fall to the floor gripping his throat.
Knowing that she could be framed for all the murders, she wraps the
knife in the bullied boy’s hat and in a state of shock walks to the lake where she disposes of the weapon
Analysis:
local
lake – Stereotypically isolated setting for a horror film
promiscuous
blonde with her jock boyfriend, the geek chic girl and the
bullied boy – Conventional characters for horror, we are able to predict
from the set of characters that the final girl will be the ‘geek chic girl’
bullied
boy – Stereotypical motive for killing/murdering
dark
woods alone – Conventional location for a murder; silent and dark and
away from safety.
However,
after the time has passed the rest of the group panic, as he doesn’t come back,
leaving the jock to go in search of him – Chosen as the first
person to die because he is the main bully
the jock is searching for him, the bullied boy grabs him from behind the bush,
stabs him and hides the body in the lake
- Stabs him, insinuating conventional knife use, and hiding the body in
the lake is conventional as it is mysterious and unknown
this
time the truth lands with the blonde girl, the question being, ‘have you had sex?’ to
which she replies, ‘yes, unlike ugly boy over there’ pointing at the bullied boy
– Further bullying to fully display the motive for his killings, and setting
the blonde girl up to be the next predictable victim, because of her promiscuous views
and ways.
noises
worry them making the blonde girl scream –
Stereotypical horror scream, and conventional promiscuous girl as a victim
The
blonde girl decides to run to find the exit, however tripping on a branch and banging her head on
a rock, knocking herself unconscious – Determining her as a frivolous,
irrational thinker which is stereotypical of the blonde promiscuous girls in
horror genre
pulling
a knife from his back pocket – Cliché horror weapon
When suddenly bumping into him he confesses his love for her. Seeing the knife in his back pocket, she
realises he is the killer and deciding the best thing to do is go along with his affections and embraces him tightly. She
steadily takes the knife from his back pocket and strokes his hair with her
free hand, distracting him from the hand that holds the weapon. Believing all
is well and in the moment, she whispers in his ear, “Would you die for me?” he
unconsciously replies, “yes.” With this she brings the knife to his jugular
vain and quickly slits his throat causing him to fall to the floor gripping his
throat - Showing her to definitely be the final girl, as she is far more
intelligent and has a strategy for escape, which is conventional of horror.
Knowing
that she could be framed for all the murders, she wraps the knife in the
bullied boy’s hat and in a state of shock walks to the lake where she disposes
of the weapon – Again showing her intelligence and reason for being the ‘final
girl’