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THE SECOND TEST OF HDC IDOL II - THE GOBLINS

Out of the 10 listed famous writers, choose a writer and a short story written by him/her of your choice, and turn it into a movie adaptation, making necessary script/screenplay changes so that the movie appeals to wider audiences worldwide:-

M.R. James, Ramsey Campbell, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Robert E. Howard, Walter de la Mare, Sheridan Le Fanu, E. Nesbit, Henry James and Marjorie Bowen.


The Villain's entry -

I’ve decided to go with The Fearsome Touch of Death by Robert E. Howard. I’ve pretty much only loosely used this story as a basis for an idea I came up with while reading it. Sorry for the length but since it is almost completely different from the short story I felt that it was necessary plus I was trying to come up with enough details to fill in a whole movie.

A Night with a Corpse

Based on “The Fearsome Touch of Death” by Robert E. Howard

The movie starts with a young man named Fred and a young girl named Rose lying in bed together. They are talking about a trip that Fred is taking to reunite with some of his friends that he hasn’t seen in awhile. Rose wishes she could go with him but unfortunately she has to work. They talk about his friends and the good times he used to have with them in college especially his best friend Adam Stein. He talks about how he hasn’t seen them in so long and wishes she could come and meet them. She promises him that she will meet him there after work. The two then began to kiss and the scene fades to black as things go further. Later Rose is seeing him off and he gives her Adam’s number to reach him just in case he doesn’t have service or his phone dies. She wishes him off and he drives away.

Later as he is speeding down the road his phone rings. He quickly answers it and begins speaking to Adam. Fred tells him where he is and Adam warns him of a bad weather situation coming his way. But Fred is already late and is in a hurry but he tells him that he will be careful.

The movie skips forward to the storm. Rain is crashing down on Fred’s car to the point where he can barely see. Thunder and lightning crack off in the distance shaking his nerve. But Fred continues to drive quickly desperately wanting to reconnect with his friends that he hasn’t seen in awhile.

Suddenly his car starts to slide and Fred loses control. He begins freaking out while also trying to stop the car but it continues to slide wildly. Fred looks out his window and notices that he is heading right for a telephone pole but it is too late and his car slams hard into it.

Fred sits motionless in the car with a gash on his forehead that is bleeding. The wipers continue to move pointlessly against the windshield until finally the car dies killing the wipers along with it. Fred begins to stir suddenly and touches the wound on his head. He immediately recoils from the pain. He looks around wondering what is going on and then the memory returns to him. He breathes a sigh of relief that he is still alive and then tries to start his car but it won’t even turn over. Fred curses angrily and slams his fists on the steering wheel. This was a bad idea as Fred is still dizzy and the excursion of anger causes him to feel like he will pass out.

He tries his phone next but he doesn’t have any service and his battery is low. He swears again and lies his head down on the steering wheel. He wonders what he should do and then he notices a large house. He has crashed right in front of it. Hoping the occupants have a phone he decides it is his only option. Quickly he dashes out of the car through the pouring rain towards the house. He reaches the porch safe from the rain. He knocks on the door but no one answers. He knocks a few times more and then calls out but still there is no answer.

While he waits he looks over at his car and can barely see it through the rain. He can just make out the damages the crash has done. Suddenly he notices something else, there appears to be someone in his car. Fred isn’t sure but it definitely looks like someone is sitting still in the driver’s seat. He’s a little confused and to be honest spooked about it and decides to check it out. Just as he takes a step the front door slowly swings open with a high pitched squeak.

He looks back over his shoulder and sees the open door but no one to greet him behind it. He calls out to see if anyone is there but just as before he gets no answer. He looks back out at his car and lighting cracks nearby. Fred jumps at the suddenness of it and decides to forget all about the car. Quickly he enters the house and closes the door. There are no lights on pitching the house into darkness. The only lights he gets are from the windows nearby which only vaguely make out what stands before him.

There is a large staircase nearly in front of him and a room off to the right. Another room stands off to the left as well as one directly in front of him. The doors to the left and right are open but the one in front of him remains closed. Fred calls out and says he’s been in an accident. There is still no answer. He calls out again saying he needs to use the phone. No answer.

Deciding that the house is empty, Fred decides to search for a phone hoping that the darkness is from the storm and not from in-occupancy. He tries the door to the left but it is empty except for a few boxes. He finds the right one almost the same except for the large table that sits in the middle of the room. He guesses that it must be the dining room. An old piano covered in dust sits off to one corner.

Fred walks through the dining room to the next room and finds the kitchen. It is a complete mess. Old food, cans, pots, plates and other assorted items line the table, counters and even the sink. There is mold growing on almost everything. He checks quickly for a phone but finding none, he leaves the room and exits back to the foyer.

The emptiness of the house is starting to make him worried and as he climbs the staircase he mutters that the house is deserted and he’s not going to find a phone. Upstairs he finds a few bedrooms and a bathroom all in the same situation as the other rooms, empty and filled with boxes and mold. He yells out again hoping that someone, anyone will hear him but the only answer is a loud crack of thunder.

Fred realizes that he’s not going anywhere and enters one of the rooms. By this point it is so dark he can only just barely make out shapes in the rooms. In front of him, there seems to be a bed. He is tired and contemplates sleeping there but decides that it would be too strange and decides to rest on a wooden rocking chair that sits directly in front of the bed facing him.

He quickly falls asleep. Outside lightning strikes hard revealing that there is a lumped shape hidden under the sheet on the bed. Another strike shows a hand coming out from under the sheet. Another shows the hand reaching up and pulling the sheet down. The last strike shows the horrifically withered face of the dead old man that lies on the bed. He turns his head and stares at Fred sleeping in the chair. There are black holes where his eyes should be.

Suddenly Fred bursts awake unable to breathe. He begins coughing wildly and then begins sucking in air as if he was drowning. He knows that something in his dream had scared him very badly but he can’t remember what it is. Suddenly he notices the lumped shape on the bed. Carefully he gets up and walks over to it. The sheet is pulled all the way up and there seems to be something underneath. Breathing heavily and with eyes wide open, Fred pulls down the sheet underneath revealing the dead man. Fred gasps and he tumbles backwards in fright, he trips over the chair and lands hard on the ground.

Quickly he turns himself over and looks over at the bed. One of the old man’s arms has fallen to the side and dangles uselessly. Fred slowly gets up and makes his way back to the man. He takes a good look at him. He is very skinny, sickly so and his skin is so pale that it is almost translucent. He has long white unkempt hair and his fingernails are black. He is grateful that the eyes are closed.

Fred wonders what happened to the man and who left him that way. Certainly the old man hadn’t stripped himself naked and lied in the bed with the sheet pulled over his head waiting to die. Fred decides he really doesn’t want to know and decides to leave. Suddenly the old man’s eyes shoot open revealing the dark empty spaces underneath. Fred screams and runs out of the room almost tripping over the chair again. He dashes down the staircase and slips near the end and falls painfully to the ground. He spins back and looks upstairs hoping that the old man isn’t chasing him. There is no one there.

Fred picks himself up and runs to the door. He tries to open it but it won’t budge. We see a view from the door as Fred tries to pull it open. Blurry in the background the old man can be seen walking out of the room and descending down the steps. Fred hears something and we go to a close up of his face. He is breathing heavily and a drop of sweat rolls down his face. Quickly he turns around but there is nothing there.

He turns back to the door and is finally able to open it. He pulls it open and stares into the face of the old dead corpse that is now on the porch. Fred shrieks again and runs off. He runs back up the stairs and hides behind a row of boxes. Frantically he pulls out his phone and sees that his battery is almost dead. He dials 911 but before the call can be placed it goes dark.

(TBC...)