I am working in Akron, OH right now, and the University of Akron has a Kangaroo named Zippy as their mascot, with the slogan: Fear the Roo!

Go here and look if you don't believe me: http://www.feartheroo.net/

Anyway, this was one freaky tale, and I'd have bet a dollar to a donut that stevie had written it.  However, perhaps that's just what someone WANTS us to think.  Hmmmm?

Well this was definitely written by an Australian, and with the Bill Maher and George Costanza reference I think I know who.  I think this played out pretty well, kind of an Australian version of gremlins in a way, and i think it's fine for a family horror, it's not too over the top with the violence.  It also has some humor to lighten the load.  Nice job on this.  good work.

I didn't get any feeling it was set in Australia. It just felt like America with roos added!

I have always felt that Australian cinema had a particular feel to it - from The Cars That Ate Paris to Patrick to Mad Max to Crocodile Dundee - they felt Australian, but this didn't invoke anything for me except an Arizonan desert with some marsupials thrown in!

But I am probably completely wrong.

Thanks for the reads and the comments everyone! I'll try and answer as many of your questions and comments as I can.

Quoted from Dreamscale Well, I defintelly like the premise here, but I'm afraid, in my book, it does not meet the challenge.  Although it involves a Halloween festival, it's barely in play, but the bigger issue is that this does not seem to be in the family horror genre...too violent, as well as bloody, and mean spirited, with all teh deaths and destruction.

The whole script was meant to be taken with a pinch of salt. I wish I had been able to work more comedy into it, but the funny stuff is not my strong suit. I was going for kind of a Jurassic Park thing, which was very violent and bloody for a family film. But I saw it when I was 6 years old and loved it so that's my defense. And being a huge hater of children, I feel it's my personal duty to psychologically scar as many of them as I can.  

Quoted from Dreamscale On page 7, Decklin becomes Damon.  I also don't think the inclusion of "prowler's POV" worked well.

Decklin was originally named Damon. It was too close to Eamon so I changed it part the way through. Guess I missed one. The POV was there just to tease the kangaroos.

Thanks for the read, Jeff.

Hellsing3000, grademan, Cam17, thanks for reading!

Quoted from Coding Herman Anyway, back to the story, the progression of events is pretty standard: kangaroo attack, people run to safety, the end. I'd prefer some explanation of where and why the kangaroos are like that. I didn't get the ending: how come the kangaroo didn't attack the trio on the highway? And what's the point with the ending scene with Chris?

I agree. But standard is what you get with me when I only have a few days to write something. I'm slow and need time to come up with the good stuff.   The ending was inspired basically by Hitchcock's The Birds where they drive off and the birds don't attack them. And the lack-of-an-explaination thing was done intentionally. Even if I had 100 pages I wouldn't have explained it because -- again taking my cue from Hitchcock -- any explaination I could have provided would've either been too obvious or cliched. I think it's more interesting if it just happens and we follow the people trying to deal with it. The scene with Chris was there to say that whatever happened in the town is starting to happen in other places and this isn't a localised event and now possibly millions of people are in danger. Audiences love a happy ending.

Quoted from stevie Hmm, by process of elimination, it has to be Chris Reid, Trojan, or Matt Chisholm.

Congrats, stevie! You've won a shiny penny!
Thanks for the read.

Quoted from Zombie Sean With that said, closure was a problem here, but it seemed like only the beginning of a longer script, so hopefully you can expand on this since there's a limit to how long it can be. Hopefully you will expand. This is a pretty good premise, and can even be turned into a horror-comedy. I mean, killer Kangaroos? That's begging for it's own movie.

This seems to be the consensus. I'd love to expand it and give it a more Aussie vibe. It might happen, but I wouldn't hold your breath. You know what I'm like. Thanks for the read, Sean!

Quoted from LC A horror story, (not 'Family Horror') that just so happens to occur on Halloween. And, while Halloween is slowly catching on in Australia we don't generally have Fairs devoted to it - least in Sydney we don't. So I would be really surprised if this was written by an Aussie. Also, the Halloween-costume references to Bill Maher and the Hispanic Court Judge -an Aussie would more than likely reference an Aussie icon. Plus we spell tire with a 'y' - and would not write Taronga National Zoo so it's all very dodgy imo.

Thanks for reading, LC. I took a little creative license with the whole Halloween thing. It's not really popular down here (thank God) but I had to set it in Aus so that I could have hordes of kangaroos. The Bill Maher thing, I love Bill Maher and I referenced him and an American politician because Australian entertainers and politicians are so boring and uninteresting. Whereas American politics -- particularly the Republican side of things -- are usually hilarious.

Thank you for reading, Niles Crane. I didn't write it to be super, duper Australian. The town's name is a Biblical reference, I didn't intend for it to be an American reference.

Cornetto, MBCgirl, thank you kindly for the reads!

Quoted from Blakkwolfe Fairy Floss? Sounds like cotton candy.

Fairy floss is what we call cotton candy in Australia. Thanks for reading!

steven8 - thanks for the read!

Quoted from The boy who could fly Well this was definitely written by an Australian, and with the Bill Maher and George Costanza reference I think I know who.

Ahhh you know me too well, my friend. Gotta have the Costanza reference. Thanks for reading, Jordan!

Thank you everyone for  taking the time to read and comment on the script. I'm glad at least some of you sort of liked it. It'd be a fun feature, I think. I'd like to expand it and see if I can bring out more of the comedy and also push the gore a lot further. I held back a lot because of the family horror thing, some people say not enough, but like I said, I do enjoy tormenting small children.

Hi Matt. Some good insights into the creation of your script!

Just out of curiosity, was the Beatles ref a red herring to make People think I did it? Or do you just like 'Twist and Shout'? (doesn't everyone?!)

cheers

Quoted from stevie Just out of curiosity, was the Beatles ref a red herring to make People think I did it? Or do you just like 'Twist and Shout'? (doesn't everyone?!)

No red herring. No herring of any colour, actually. I just think it's a cool song.  

Quoted from matt chisholm I didn't write it to be super, duper Australian.

I was just disappointed that it did not feel more grounded in the country it was set in.

I thought it might have been a deliberate parody of the tendency of Americans to make films about other countries and then treat them as if they are just another extension of the US!

This extends to your choice of town name - yes, it is biblical and you may not have chosen it to sound American, but it is also a famous American town and site of a Civil War battle.

Quoted from Niles_Crane I thought it might have been a deliberate parody of the tendency of Americans to make films about other countries and then treat them as if they are just another extension of the US!

Ha, no! I'm not intelligent enough for that level of social commentary. It would never have occurred to me had you not mentioned it.  

I enjoyed some of the dialogue with Jemma and Eamon for the most part.

The fact that Eamon has something against Americans is interesting from the perspective of... of... from the perspective of me wondering why the writer wanted to write that.  

Here:

>EAMON
“Halloween spirit?”
What are you talking about?
Halloween was invented by a bunch
of moronic Americans to make
themselves feel better about
being so fat. This is just them
shoving their hyped-up,
superficial, cooked-in-saturatedfat
culture down our throats.

I think actually it was The Druids who started it all. Blame them; not Americans. And I'ma wondering: Where do we Canadians fit into this whole thing?  

And interesting idea with killer kangaroos.

Good effort here,

Sandra

I don't think that the Druid's went door to door asking for sweets, and throwing eggs at the huts that wouldn't give them any.

But I may be wrong.

Quoted from Niles_Crane I don't think that the Druid's went door to door asking for sweets, and throwing eggs at the huts that wouldn't give them any. But I may be wrong.

Nice little Druids would have certainly behaved themselves and not have thrown eggs.

But they might have said, "Fire that bad boy up!"  

Sandra

Quoted from Sandra Elstree. I think actually it was The Druids who started it all. Blame them; not Americans. And I'ma wondering: Where do we Canadians fit into this whole thing?   And interesting idea with killer kangaroos. Good effort here

I blame Americans for starting the modern incarnation of Halloween, which has little if anything to do with the Druids. And as far as I know, Canadians celebrate Halloween the same way Americans do, so Canadians fit in with them I guess.

Thanks for the read, it's greatly appreciated.

Quoted from chism I blame Americans for starting the modern incarnation of Halloween, which has little if anything to do with the Druids. And as far as I know, Canadians celebrate Halloween the same way Americans do, so Canadians fit in with them I guess.

You can blame the Catholic church for Halloween. It's their fault, stealing pagan festivals. Again.

Quoted from rendevous You can blame the Catholic church for Halloween.

Hey, that's my favourite hobby! This is gonna be a fun night.