Journey To Death: Chapter Two by R.E.Freak - Horror, Drama - The world as we know it has ended. Death fills the streets as the reanimated bodies of the dead hunt the last remaining survivors. Nowhere is safe, nowhere is free of the undead threat. Jack, Jessie, and Filla make their way to the cabin, joining up with a group of drifters who agree to go with them, hoping it will provide them with a safe haven amidst the chaos. On their way they encounter a rogue military General and his splinter faction, hell bent on finding a way to wipe out the undead, even if it means killing all those who come across them. Meanwhile, David and Kelly find themselves in the middle of a mass exodus as survivors make their way to the mountains. As the numbers of refugees increases, they find themselves facing the threat of the undead. This is the 186 page draft, which turned out far better than I had hoped. - html format.


Journey To Death: Chapter Two by R.E.Freak - Horror, Drama - The world as we know it has ended. Death fills the streets as the reanimated bodies of the dead hunt the last remaining survivors. Nowhere is safe, nowhere is free of the undead threat. Jack, Jessie, and Filla make their way to the cabin, joining up with a group of drifters who agree to go with them, hoping it will provide them with a safe haven amidst the chaos. On their way they encounter a rogue military General and his splinter faction, hell bent on finding a way to wipe out the undead, even if it means killing all those who come across them. Meanwhile, David and Kelly find themselves in the middle of a mass exodus as survivors make their way to the mountains. As the numbers of refugees increases, they find themselves facing the threat of the undead. This is the 186 page draft, which turned out far better than I had hoped. - html format.

I read it.  This morning, in one sitting, with those annoying little sleepy things blocking most of my vision, i still read the second one.  I think it's great!  It is da bomb, i really have to say it's what i was expecting, and then some.  Freidrich was one of my favorite characters.  What a crappy way for Hillard to die, almost as bad as Johnny Depp getting used as a human shield in 'Platoon'.  I liked how you showed the presence of the military more in this one.  You know, in the first i realize that was hard to do because simply of the fact that it was in a small tow, but what was up with that last scene?  Like, you faded out on the dead people, i didn't get that at all.  Also, why did Jack say Because.  It sounded good, but I don't necessarily get the meaning.  Well, earlier i posted that thing about how the scripts reminded me of when I was a twelve year old boy skipping school to see dawn  of the dead, this script did just that, I really have to commend you, especially since you took less than five years to do it .

How do you write so fast?  I have to know, I'm like on page three of my script, and at the same point in time into it you were like on page 50.

Great, I'll read it right now.

I just know what I'm going to write. I basically say that this is going to happen at a certain point, so that's the outcome. Then I just write with that in mind, and it takes me no time.

As for the 'because'  and the fading out on the dead people, I wanted to end on a much more down note in this one. The first one was hopeful, this one I wanted it to seem like the characters are royally screwed. I thought that having the bodies and having Jack say 'because' was sort of a fitting way to end it. Here's the bodied, this is how most people will end up, and it's just because.

Though I was probably more than a little tripped out at this point.

And, if you liked the first two, the third will blow you away. It's going to be big, though I won't start writing it for a while. Needless to say, I need some rest. It will finish off the parallel stories, with the cabin and everyone captured by Winters. There'll be a lot more of the experimenting. I've always wanted to do that, but I've never been able to. Well, now I can.

I see... yeah, i just didn't understand, i mean, people remember the ending, and so people are putting on their coats, and they're like gee, you ended it on the dead people.  but i get what you mean.

Hey i am gonna read it soon. Btw check out my script i just submitted called Zombie Apocalypse its at the bottom of the unpro page thanks
Andrew

Well, here is the inevitable sequel. And although it is faithful to the first part, which is always key to a good sequel, it is still a sequel. I despise sequels in all their forms. Very few sequels ever seem to make it (e.g. Reloaded, Revolutions and Spider-Man 2). People always accuse me of hating Spider-Man 2, but I think its the worst movie ever made, not that the first one was any good either. But it's a sequel and they never seem to work, except in a few cases like the Hannibal Lecter trilogy or Terminator 2 (of course!).

I'm not chewing you out or anything, I just really, really, really hate sequels. I can't say how much I really hate sequels. They're just annoying and I feel if they're not good enough, they spoil what the original film had. Mainly because Hollywood is so showy and sequels are only made because the first film was successful. But I still kinda liked some of the ideas in this script, and it really did something new with the story, not just another flashy, showy sequel. And if it works, it works. And this works so, keep it up.

Although I'm against it, I'm looking forward to reading Journey To Death Part Three or something. Juat keep doing what you're doing.  

My trilogy isn't like The Matrix. I didn't write the first one, find people liked it, then decided to write two more. I hate it when a sequel is made simply based on how well the first movie did. I, much like you, very much hate sequels. In this case, I had one simple story to tell that took me three screenplays to tell it in. That's why I called them chapters. They're not so much sequels as just one big story that would be ten hours long if it were one movie. I like long movies and all, but Jesus.

But yes, once Three is done, that's JTD. For good. It doesn't matter if I actually make them and make billions, there will be NO CHAPTER FOUR. And none of this prequel crap either. That's ruined Star Wars for me (haven't touched a SW book in two years).

And I will keep doing what I'm doing. I don't intend to do anything differently. If's it not broken, why fix it?

Though I may whack it with a hammer a few times, just to make it interesting.

Follow ups only bother me when they loose the DNA of the 1st movie -- I.E. EVIL DEAD, NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, FRIDAY THE 13TH, you know the drill... so forth and so on and so on and so forth.

I like a good trilogy only if the 1st movie doesn't end.  By this I mean, that the three movies are more like 1 part of a whole picture and neither of the three can stand on their own without the other movie.  I think that is what I mean...

Do you get what i'm tryin' to say?

J.D.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I like the same sort of trilogy.

Ok, I tried things differently. I read the second one only. I think most people here interested in your work read them by chronological order, and I figured it might be helpfull if I wrote a review for the second one as a stand alone.

I think you do a great job in the writing department, everything is vivid and can be easly visualised.

Some problems:
- You take the dynamic out of the movie by having two establishing shots of empty streets and then a zombie moving. Both in the beginning and somewhat later on when we get (re) introduced to Jack. Really takes the edge of from it

- Your female characters are practically slaves. Esspecially Kelly. Poor woman.

- There is a good conflict when the group gets caught and an even better suspension builder as we see the zombies getting smarter

- I dont know how a Zombie can be a super marksman with their bodies rotting away. I'm not so sure why all zombies can snipe. I think you should cut their professionalism down drastically.

- How can Winters observe how the Zombie 'learns' when they just give him a weapon. From what is the zombie learning then? He has no example, there is no reason to think the zombie oculdn't do this previously, there's even no need for bait. I know the guy is insane, but the experiments make no sense. They aren't even experiments, why the characters (besides Winters) don't figure out the 'experiments' make no sense is beyond me. I hope you get what I am trying to say here because it's hard to put in words. But no conclusion can be drawn from a zombie wielding a knife.

- There's no final conclusion. I know you are saving this for part three, but there CAN be a conclusion AND still have a cliff hanger. This is just absurd, the whole movie builds up to nothing. No character has learned, nobody has developped and nothing has been solved (not even personal drama).

I dont like the ending at all.

Your writing skills are amazing, truly the good stuff. And I'd love to read more from you, but this part is in my oppinion unfinished and could be so much better. You got the material, you just need a bit of tweaking. So take nothing I said personal, I applaud your work since it's zombie script supreme, but I know you can make this better.

In Defense of R. E. Freak

Looks like i'm a have to take up for R.E, here.

There is nothing wrong with the female characters, they are not SLAVES.  They are important to the plot.  Jessie is important, she's the most emotional of the group of survivors, and Jack and Filla want to protect her, they feel a need to in many instances, would they if she was a slave?  

Kelly is important too.  Yeah, she had to get coffee a lot, but, she was resourceful with her medical training and such, and without her their would be no story.

"How can Winters observe how the Zombie 'learns' when they just give him a weapon. From what is the zombie learning then? He has no example, there is no reason to think the zombie oculdn't do this previously, there's even no need for bait. I know the guy is insane, but the experiments make no sense. They aren't even experiments, why the characters (besides Winters) don't figure out the 'experiments' make no sense is beyond me. I hope you get what I am trying to say here because it's hard to put in words. But no conclusion can be drawn from a zombie wielding a knife."

He can learn from them because of the zombies not knowing how to use a knife.  His super military technology shows how they can learn to use the knife, and their strategies in defeating the humans.

"- There's no final conclusion. I know you are saving this for part three, but there CAN be a conclusion AND still have a cliff hanger. This is just absurd, the whole movie builds up to nothing. No character has learned, nobody has developped and nothing has been solved (not even personal drama)."

The movie builds up to nothing is a false statement, the characters all have some sort of growth, and death is growth, even if it's not exactly for the better.  The characters have learned, too, go back, Frank started out as a traveler fending for himself, and he was going to leave but decided to stay and help out David and Kelly.  That sounds like growth to me.  Developing has happened too.  

You did the wrong thing in reviewing it.  Journey to death isn't like most movies out today, where sequels are invented because the first one was popular.  It is like Lord of the Rings, it is telling a much larger story, and look at The Two Towers, there wasn't too much growth either, just development, and the story moved forward to prep us for the final act.  The Two Towers is a classic.  

The Zombies learning and being super marksman is a fact of life.  Man has learned, you think we learned how to build huge skyscrapers and build weapons and make fire and stuff happened on instant?  No, we adapted to our environment, and got better and better overtime.  

Read the first one, then come back and read this one.

Well, many thanks to you sheepdogg.

The second movie in a trilogy is always the worst, as it's picking up the story from the first one and leaving off for the next one. I knew that there would be problems with this one, but like sheepdogg says there are problems with The Two Towers. It just sort of ends. . .

And don't worry Hypnos, I don't take anything said about my scripts personally. I like it when people do point out errors like those, because now I can go back and I'll be able to fix them.

Now halfway through reading it, looks good so far.

R.E. FREAK is a stand up guy, isn't he?  I think everyone one this board needs to take a closer look at his raw talent and his attitude on the board aswell.  If I didn't already boost your rep, I'd do it now or if I could do it again... I would!

Here's to you R.E.!!!!