I Wrote A Horror Movie! Here Is Part I & II
A few months ago I was walking on the treadmill, bored as shit. I only wanted to get some steps in to trim down my lard ass but I had nothing to watch and was losing my mind staring at the gym wall. To fix my boredom, I started writing something. I had done a wiki deep dive over the summer on this Eastern European demon called a Likho. I have always found it fascinating, and had recently watched and liked 'The Green Knight'. So I figured why not write something on a folktale people don't know about. I wrote most of it in a few days, had a block on it and revisited it earlier this week. I wrote it more like a book than a traditional spec script because I really don't know how screenwrite at all. Or regular write. I'm basically illiterate. Regardless, here is what I came up with.
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Enjoy it or TLDR it, doesn't matter to me!
Likho
Setting: Medieval fantasy version of Poland. Zdzislaw Beksinski's art is basically the playbook as far as how everything looks.
ACT I
We start out in a village which is very dreary, very toiled.
Alek is the town blacksmith. His wife and child recently died from the plague and he wants to bury them with Christian honors at the church. The village priest is denying him, saying that since his wife was a pagan and his daughter is of pagan blood that they can’t be buried in the church yard. Alek is religious and believes that his wife and child are stuck in purgatory/hell as a result and has vivid nightmares about it. In these nightmares, his wife and daughter are in an all white setting, but their bodies are being burnt by an invisible fire as they cry for help. The priest extorts Alek, saying if he pays some crazy sum that he will allow them to be re-buried with Christian honors.
Samo is the town's tailor. He is trying his best to provide for his wife, teenage son and daughter. He married slightly above his station and is riddled with guilt about not being able to provide the lifestyle he thinks she deserves. His wife berates him and emasculates him over their situation, as does his father-in-law
Alek and Samo are at the village tavern drinking their sorrows away. An old knight named Yaromir bursts into the bar and orders ale and food. He boasts about the creatures he has slain and how he is on a quest given to him by the Duke. The Duke has offered a huge sum of money to any noble who can capture a rumored evil which has never been seen before that resides in a nearby region. Samo and Alek sit with him and ask to hear more. Yaromir tells them about the mission, but mostly boasts about how many whores he has fucked and how many things he owns.
Alek and Samo ask if they can join his mission in return for a cut of the gold prize. Yaromir agrees, but only on the condition that it is a very small cut and that they pick up his bar tab for the night. They’re a bit curious about why a knight would need someone else to pick up his tab, but they agree. Yaromir tells him where there are going.
Far away from the village, across a river, through a forest and a marsh is where this never-seen evil supposedly is. The path is full of monsters, and nobody else took up the Duke's offer out of fear. When they ask Yaromir why he agreed to do it, he says it’s because he is obviously so brave and strong. He says he would turn down the gold, even, if the Duke hadn’t forbid him from to doing so.
The next day they prepare to head out. Alek visits his sister in law who still follows the old ways. She tells him not to go on this quest. The evil they seek is deceitful, and the road they must travel is dangerous. It is pagan superstition that those who seek out evil will be punished for their arrogance. Alek says he needs to do it to bury her sister and get her out of hell. She says she knew her sister much longer than he did and if Alek truly loved her, then he knows sister never truly stopped being a pagan. Alek has a moment of hesitation where you can tell that he knows it is true, but the image of her stuck in hell flashes in his head again, and he calls the sister a liar and runs off. She stops him and gives him a talisman for protection on the road. She closes the door with a sigh. Alek looks at the talisman and throws it on the ground.
Meanwhile, Samo explains to his children how he has to leave. They are scared and beg him not to go, saying that the other children told them that he is going to die. Their mom comes in and interjects. She explains their dad HAS to go because he has to provide for them in order to be a good father. In bed, Samo asks her if being a dutiful husband is enough for her. After all, it’s not like they live in poverty. The wife tells him that it is not a wife's duty to interfere with her husband. Just like how it is his duty to provide like a good husband, and to honor the promise he made to her father to provide for her in the same manner that he did.
The men prepare to leave that morning. Samo says goodbye to his children, and his wife gives him a cold goodbye. Alek leaves his house and finds the talisman he discarded early has wound up at his doorstep. He huffs and walks by it. The image of his wife & child flashes in his head again and he stops, picks it up and puts it in hi bag. They meet up with Yaromir at the entrance to the town. He is there with his squire, who is clearly too old to be doing the profession. Together, they set off on the journey together.
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ACT II
While traveling, Yaromir continues to boast about his exploits while getting drunk and aggressive. One night, after Yaromir passes out, his squire explains to Alek and Samo how Yaromir is actually broke and has not accomplished nearly any of the deeds he claims. He has also been dragging his squire along with promises of an eventual knighthood. The Squire knows that it is more likely that Yaromir dies before that happens, but is resigned to the fact that he is hitched to this wagon.
While camping by the road to the forest, they are approached by 2 men. One is apparently a noble, and the other is his squire. They all greet each other, and the noble says he is from a land and of a house that none of the party have heard of before. But he earns Yaromir’s trust by feeding his ego and his boasts of wealth and exploits. Alek, being a blacksmith, notices that the armor the Noble is wearing is mismatched and the crest on his shield is only slightly painted over. He tells Samo and Yaromir’s squire this, and they bring it to Yaromir privately. Alek suspects they are bandits, and that they scavenged the armor from a nearby battlefield. The squire agrees and begs Yaromir to abandon them. Yaromir beats him, accusing him of insolence. The group all goes to sleep
When the group lets their guard down before daybreak, the bandits show their true colors and steal Yaromir’s blade, his armor, and what little treasure he has left. His squire puts his hand up to try and protect his master's treasure, and one of the bandit's swings his sword right between the squire's middle and ring finger, slicing them clear off his hand at an angle. After the bandits leave (with their horses as well), Yaromir blames his squire for failing to protect him. Alek cauterizes the wound with a hot knife, and Samo dresses it with some fabric he brought. They walk to the rivers crossing and they notice a man standing at the other side in the moonlight. He is a weathered old man with a beard dipping his feet in the water.
The old man calls out and asks who is trying to cross the river. Yaromir responds with his name and title, along with a lengthy list of exploits. The Old man cuts him off, telling him that he has no tolerance braggarts and liars. Yaromir gets enraged, assuring that he is no liar. And if the old man suggested that again, then his death would be added to that list of exploits. The Old man mocks him, asking what knight has no armor, no horse, and no blade? Yaromir insults the old man, and further brags about how many other old men have fallen by his hand. The Old man suggests to him that he try to add one more, if he dares. Yaromir charges across the river as the old man laughs.
Yaromir grabs the man, punching and kicking him while the man laughs through a bloody smile. This makes Yaromir angrier and drags the man into the deep part of the river, intent on drowning him. He holds him under the water, only letting up when the air bubbles stop coming out. Yaromir, exhausted and out of breath, turns to face the group on the other river. He claims another victory to add to his already storied name. While he sings his own praises, a dark figure rises behind him. It is a Vodyanoy. Sort of a half man, half bullfrog creature. You don’t quite make out all his features, as his figure is mostly masked by the night, and the shadow. But his eyes are bright yellow and stand out in the landscape.
Yaromir turns as the creature's tongue flies out and sticks to his head, whipping him forward into its arms. The creature holds the top half of his head in its mouth while his body is held down by its arms. Yaromir screams in terror as the rest of the party sprints forward to help him. Yaromir continues to scream and flail his legs while the creature laughs(its voice now deep, low and scary) until a sickening crunch is heard. Yaromir’s body instantly goes limp and the screams stop as the creature pulls him out of his mouth to chew on his bones. We see the top half of Yaromir’s head, everything above the mouth, has been bitten off. The party stops in their tracks, terrified.
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The Vodyanoy looks up at the party and asks them if they have anything to say to it. They look at each other, not sure what to do. The squire comes forward and says that Yaromir was a braggart and a liar, and that he deserved to die. He spits in the water and curses his name. The Vodyanoy laughs and says they may pass. Samo is scared, and asks if they should just turn back, but the creature interjects. “The only path now is forward”. They pass the river and go into the forest.
They set up camp, starving and cold. Alek and Samo thank the squire for cursing his master to help them pass. The squire says that he only did it because they were kind to him and Yaromir was already dead. He slowly breaks down, crying for the loss of his only friend(he’s kind of like a battered wife in this sense) and any chance he had at a future knighthood. As they begin to question their quest, they hear music and women's laughter in the distance. They search in the woods and find a fire surrounded by a group of beautiful, half-naked women with long hair dancing and singing and playing music.
Alek and Samo are hesitant and talk to each other about whether or not they should approach. As they talk, the squire jumps out into the clearing. He is welcomed by the women who quickly bring him to the fire give him mead and food. The squire dances and yells to the still-hidden friends how this is his true reward for his years of service. He is so desperate for happiness & some form of reward for his service and is enjoying this celebration only through tears. He joins hands with the women dancing a circle around a fire and seems to force himself to enjoy it.
The dance speeds up (as does the music) and the squire starts sweating and breathing heavily. He tries to break away from the women, but their grip is iron. He asks to be let go, but the women continue to laugh, sing and go faster. He is running out of breath and leans as close as he can to the woman holding his left hand to beg her to stop. The second he gets face-to-face with her, it is like an image coming into focus. The woman’s hair turns green and thin, and her face becomes distorted with facial features out of place. The squire recoils, and looks closely at the woman on the other side of him to see that she is also a creature.(These creatures are called Rusalkas).
The squire struggles to escape while Alek and Samo look on in horror. His vision blurs and his breathing becomes over-labored. The blood vessels in his eyes begin to pop as the laughing of the women turns from feminine to maniacal. He calls out for help, but his cries turn to wheezes as he coughs out the remainder of his life in front of them, dying of exhaustion. The dancing stops and the Rusalka all reveal their true form. They laugh as they strip the squire and string him up in the trees with rope almost like a hammock, using their tallon-like nails to make cuts along his arms and legs. That's when they begin suckling at the wounds for blood like a litter of puppies at their mother's breast.
Alek and Samo flee and camp just before the marshland. They talk to each other about whether or not it is worth it to continue their quest. Samo is having doubts. He thinks his family is better off having a father to provide whatever he can vs having no father at all. He begs Alek flee with him. Alek says they should sleep on it since they already came this far. In his sleep Alek sees his wife and child again. They beg him for help as they are stuck burning alive in front of him. When they wake up Alek begs Samo to come with him. He needs to finish this for his family, and Samo is honor bound to help as he was Alek’s dead daughters godfather. Samo wishes him luck, and says that he must be there for his family. Alek curses him, and says that his wife will never truly love him, and his children are better off with no father than a cowardly loser. Samo looks sad, and leaves.
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Alek starts to work his way through the marshland. It is a foul smelling swamp covered with a thick, soupy fog. Weird animal noises come from everywhere as Alek slowly works his way through, testing for solid ground where he walks. He hears his wife and child's voices, and starts to go into a craze. He falls into a quicksand like puddle, and starts to drown. He sees his wife's hand reaching out to him, and he reaches back. The hand is actually Samo’s and he pulls Alek free. He returned because he says Alek is right. It would be wrong for him to abandon his goddaughter to the pits of hell and that he does need the money for the sake of his wife.
They help each other work through the marsh, and night begins to fall once again. The sounds of creatures in the distance become more menacing but they notice a light in the distance. It is a small house in a patch of solid ground. It is surrounded by lit torches that cut through the fog like a beacon of safety. Alek and Samo knock on the door.
An old woman opens the door. She looks frail, sweet and harmless. The men tell her how they have become lost trying to pass through the marshes, and are looking for refuge. The woman tells them they are more than welcome to stay the night, and ushers them into her house. The inside of the house is plain enough. A kitchen on one side, a fireplace, a bed and a table. They sit near the fireplace while she starts on dinner.