#graham reznick

[dare-g]

I Can See You (2008) 

[m1ssingirl]

𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐑𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ౨ৎ ⋆｡˚

(Until Dawn - 2015)

“Here's a series of concept arts and stills from Until Dawn which show Jessica's design evolution. The game has been in development for a long time, but the final design isn't much different from the original one. She and Mike were actually the first characters created by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, the writers of Supermassive Games's version of Until Dawn.”

Credits:

Jony Simmer

MMMarius99

Supermassive Games

[scarstarved]

Ted Raimi as Ian Ullman Deadwax (2018) dir. Graham Reznick

[creepypastabookclub]

CREEPYPASTA BOOK CLUB EPISODE 32: BORRASCA https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ryAgxnKu4YE1zOpxc9FBW Jonah and Wednesday welcome this week’s guest, Tempest, to the club room! Can the three solve the mystery of Borrasca’s popularity? 

This week’s community spotlight: Sundrop: Stories of Shifting Sands is an e-zine depicting strange and fearsome imaginations of the desert by artists of color. Five comics in total, this anthology delivers both the awe of the land and the chill of its night. Find it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/600fe084c0 ! 

If you have a small horror or web fiction project you want in the spotlight, email us! Send your name, pronouns and project to creepypastabookclub@gmail.com.

Music Credits: https://patriciataxxon.bandcamp.com/

The Story: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/3e2zje/borrasca/

Our Tumblr: https://creepypastabookclub.tumblr.com/

Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepypastaBC

Featuring Hosts:

Jonah (he/they) (https://withswords.tumblr.com/)

Wednesday (they/them) (https://wormsday.tumblr.com/)

Guest host:

Tempest (any pronoun)

Works Cited: ASEAN’s Black Market Babies, Athira Nortajuddin; https://theaseanpost.com/article/aseans-black-market-babies 

On the word “ Borasco”; https://www.oed.com/dictionary/borasco_n?tl=true Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey; Dretzin, Rachel; McNally, Grace; Zweifach, Justin; et al; ;https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20560404/ Kimberlite; https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/summer-2019-kimberlites-earths-diamond-delivery-system Polaris Project, on human trafficking; https://polarisproject.org/ 

Southern Gothic Literature; Thomas Ærvold Bjerre; https://oxfordre.com/literature/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-304 Whump; https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HurtComfortFic 

Further Reading: Aja, Alexandre; Craven, Wes; Levasseur, Grégory; et al; The Hills have Eyes; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454841/

Anderson, Joel; Lake Mungo; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816556/ 

Ashman, Howard; Menken, Alan; Little Shop of Horrors; https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/little-shop-of-horrors-13538 Auerbach, Dathan; Penpal; https://www.reddit.com/r/NosleepIndex/comments/25mqnk/penpal_u1000vultures/ Barton, Joe; Bruckner, David; Nevil, Adam; Ritual;  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5638642

Baxley, Craig R.; King, Stephen; et al; Storm of a Century; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135659/

Beaird, John; Mihalka, George; Miller, Stephen A.; et all; My Bloody Valentine;  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082782/ Boorman, John; Dickey, James, Deliverance https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/ 

Byles, Will; Fessenden, Larry; Samuels, Pete; Reznick, Graham; Villiers, Justin; Until dawn  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2742544/ Forbes, Bryan; Goldman, William; Levin, Ira; et all; Stepford Wives; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073747/

Gaiman, Neil; American Gods; https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30165203-american-gods Green, Cliff; Lindsay, Joan; Weir, Peter; Picnic at Hanging Rock https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073540/

Hardy, Robin; Pinner, David; Shaffer, Anthony; Wicker man https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/ 

Howard, Abby; Scarlet Hollow; https://abbyhoward.itch.io/scarlet-hollow

  Henkel, Kim; Hooper, Tobe; Texas Chainsaw Massacre https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/ Jackson, Shirley; Lottery; https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-lottery/summary/ Kawase, Toshifumi; Ryukishi07; et all When the Cicadas Cry https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0845738/

Petty, J.T.; et al; Outlast 2  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4733294/ Poison jr; on gas leak; https://twitter.com/poisonjr/status/1494811675622580227?lang=en gas leak

Russel, Ken; Stoker, Bram; Lair of the White Worm; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095488/

Questions? Comments? Email us at: creepypastabookclub@gmail.com

[oldfarmerbillswife]

A year late, but here's the answer:

Graham Reznick, the headwriter of The Quarry, actually worked with Ted in a show called 'Deadwax' beforehand. Ted said he really respected his writing, and his new take on horror as a genre, and they obviously hit it off.

Graham Reznick personally emailed Ted about doing a video game and Ted said yes immediately without reading a script or even reviewing it with his agents. He had THAT MUCH confidence in Reznick's writing. So, considering Reznick knew Ted personally, he definitely wrote that 'T-Money' line (and 'Evil Dead' reference in the storm shelter) in there as a nod/inside joke.

t money rapped like a butterfly

[theodorobrejablog]

1. Narratives - Analysing the narrative structure of Until Dawn

Fig. 1 Until Dawn Cover

Until Dawn is an interactive horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The story takes place at a lodge on Blackwood Mountain, where eight teenagers reunite, despite the tragedy that happened a year before when one of the character’s twin sisters ran to the forest and fell off a cliff edge, as a result of a cruel prank. The bodies of the girls were not found and the sisters were declared  missing. Throughout the game, the characters discover the mysteries of the lodge, the abandoned asylum and the mine caves, while being terrorised by a masked man who was looking for revenge and the wendigos that were hiding in the caves.

Fig. 2 Butterfly Effect Interface

One of the strongest points of this game is its narrative. Written by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, the story is captivating, with multiple plot twists which makes it unpredictable. The narrative development of the game really intrigued me, as it is using a decision making butterfly effect system (fig. 2) which perfectly illustrates Aarseth’s “ergodic” narrative (Aarseth, 1997). In order to progress in the story, the player has to go through a combination of cutscenes and third-person exploration, which contain multiple decision making instances. The system is even more complex, as the player gets to control the actions of each of the characters, one at a time, switching between them as the story develops. The decisions directly affect the development of the story, as the characters may die or influence the outcome of the other characters, leading to different endings.

Fig. 3 Totem Game Mechanics

While analysing the narrative using Aarseth’s structure, I realised that even if at first the game shows a clear “tree” structure (Ryan, 2003), where at each decision point, depending on which action you choose, the story will develop on that branch, the game may also have sort of a “network” structure (Ryan, 2003). In the game there is a game mechanic which allows the player to collect hidden totems around the map (fig. 3). Each totem shows a fragment of the possible outcome of a specific decision point, which may help the player with their decision. In addition, because the game is played through multiple perspectives of different characters, the player may get to the same outcome of the story through different branches of the story, making them neither completely free nor limited to a single course. Because of its complex tree structure, the game shows a really excellent balance between the embedded narratives, which already exist prior to the choice making, and the emergent narratives which appear due to the decision making and the interaction with the other characters and environment.

Another layer of the narrative that I found interesting was the blending between the traditional and experimental type of narrative, used to add a new level of complexity to the story. Looking on a macro perspective over the development of the story, the narrative follows the traditional narrative arcs (Todorov, 1939 - 2017), has a clear narrative closure (in the end the games shows who survived, who did not and what is the police verdict), and psychologically rounded, complex characters, who you get to emphasise with as the story develops. As previously mentioned, the story follows the traditional story arcs, also known as the pillars or Freytag’s pyramid, which Gustav Freytag introduced the concept in his book “Technique of the Drama” (1863). In the exposition, the time and place are set and the characters are introduced, as well as any necessary background story that would help the viewer/player contextualise the story (the lodge on Blackwood Mountain, the eight teenagers, the background story of the lost twin sisters and the reason they reunited). The rising action is the part in which “the plot thickens”, when the characters have to overcome critical situations, discover the environment and develop (in the game, the characters split to uncover the mystery and each of them is terrorised by the masked man and the windigos). The third part is the climax, which contains the culmination point when the tension reaches its peak (the characters get to confront the masked man and counterattack). Following is the falling action part or the final suspense, in which the viewer/player is given “the plot twist” and the ending becomes uncertain (the characters find out the identity of the masked man). The final part of the story is the resolution which brings the story to its closure and shows the either good or tragic ending. (the police arrive and declare the dead, survivors and if the criminal is captured or not).

Fig. 4 Dr. Hill Room Beginning Fig. 5 Dr. Hill Room Deteriorated

Looking at a micro level over the development of the story, the narrative becomes more complex and not as linear as it seems at first glance, bringing some elements of the experimental narrative such as disruption of dramatic units and non-linear causation. The disruption of the dramatic units starts when Dr. Hill is introduced. At first Dr. Hill is presented as your psychologist, outside of the story, with little to no context, who gives you short psychological tests. Depending on your choices, the game will use your chosen fears to scare you during the game. As the game develops, the game is paused and you are transported to Dr. Hill’s room for more tests, each time the room becoming more deteriorated and strange, to resemble the character’s mental health (fig. 4 and fig. 5). In the final meeting, after we discover the identity of the masked man, we realise that Dr. Hill and the room is just a hallucination of the main character Josh (who turns out to also be the killer). The non-linear causation is given by the constant switching between the perspectives of the eight teenagers. The game most of the time alternates between parallel events, letting the game develop up to a certain point before going back and switching the perspective to another character. However, sometimes the game develops more on certain characters and later in the story the perspective of another character fills up the plot holes that appear during the story development.

To sum up, Larry Fesseden and Graham Reznick, with the help of the development team, managed to create a story based game with a complex narrative structure. Until dawn manages to balance so many layers of story development and mechanics, which gives the player a hyper realistic simulation where they are immersed in a beautiful and horrifying story.

Bibliography:

Fig. 1: Until Dawn guide (no date) IGN. Available at: https://www.ign.com/wikis/until-dawn/ (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

Fig. 2: Butterfly Effect (no date) Until Dawn Wiki. Fandom, Inc. Available at: https://until-dawn.fandom.com/wiki/Butterfly_Effect (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

Fig. 3: My first thoughts (no date) EllexMay. Available at: https://www.xgardenofedenx.co.uk/2017/07/my-first-thoughts-until-dawn.html (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

Fig. 4: Megabearsfan.net. Available at: http://www.megabearsfan.net/image.axd/2015/9/UntilDawn-trophy_psycho_path.jpg (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

Fig. 5: Softpedia.com. Available at: https://news.softpedia.com/news/until-dawn-diary-dr-hill-is-a-burden-to-the-game-491360.shtml#sgal_0 (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

Ryan, Marie Laure, (2003). Narrative as Virtual Reality. The John Hopkins University Press.

Aarseth, E. J. (1997) Cybertext. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Masterclass.com. Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/five-act-structure (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

Wikipedia contributors (2023) Until Dawn, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Until_Dawn&oldid=1190059790.

Dr. Hill (no date) Until Dawn Wiki. Fandom, Inc. Available at: https://until-dawn.fandom.com/wiki/Dr._Hill (Accessed: December 27, 2023).

[mhisadj]

Graham Reznick - Hexagram

Off of Witches’ Halloween Brew.

This whole collection is top notch. Cool creepiness all the way.

And now I bid you good-night... sleep tight... don’t let the ghouls bite...

[thecraggus]

Beneath (2014) Review

Beneath (2014) is one fish tale you'll wish had got away. #Review

Anyone familiar with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Season 7 will immediately grasp the basic plot of F-grade B-movie BENEATH. “From beneath you it devours” succinctly sums up this silly creature feature which offers pretty cinematography but basically little else. When Johnny (Daniel Zovatto) and five of his high school senior friends head out to a secluded lake to enjoy a last day together before…

[complexdistractions]

Graham Reznick : The interconscious Catalogue

Graham Reznick : The interconscious Catalogue

Graham Reznick operates in his own time zone, interdimensional space, and auditory frequency. As a sound designer for films Reznick is a bit of a wizard, encapsulating visuals with the kind of auditory experience one could easily describe as a all-encompassing. As a director his work like I Can See You and the Shudder series Deadwax is a psychedelic experience, toying with the lines between…

[burlveneer-music]

PIECES Vol 3 - Deadly Avenger / Graham Reznick (Burning Witches Records)

Volume 3 in the PIECES Horror anthology collection.

PIECES is 3 volumes of split EPs. 2 artists per tape, with 20 minutes of horror inspired music per side.

Volume 3 is Deadly Avenger and Graham Reznick

Blood red cassette shells, with transparent blood red cases in “O” card slipcase. Includes download card.

Artwork by Luke Insect

The cassette is sold out, but the digital edition is still available.

[dare-g]

I Can See You (2008)

[sherpawhale]

The most unsettling part of Until Dawn, for me, was that the key cards were only necessary for the chapel. Not the morgue, not the admin, not for anything else but the chapel

[bylaw]

A hidden gem of an action flick... Dave Bautista leads an intense adventure...

[distraughtlesbian]

having a former special interest in until dawn while also being cree is a fuckin trip lol.......like rami malek call me but also did you HAVE to make the ultimate big bad The Creature. why does the creature look like gollum *banging on graham reznick’s door in the middle of the night* why does the monster look like gollum

[kannra21]

Lets be real, Graham Reznick and Larry Fessenden played the Tomb Raider: Legend and saw all those caves, dark creppy places and ofc, the Force Monster.

I think it's safe to assume that they decided to create a game with similar aspects.

*i'm not judging them, the trilogy was great*

So yea, Emily basically found herself in the role of Lara Croft.