From the Light to the Sheyd by Not Kosher - An airline hijacker underestimates just how serious his hostages are about keeping holy the Sabbath. - Short, Horror

I had to read at least one entry before going to bed and...who's the lucky one!

OMG! You came up with this in 72 hours? Nice work! You shoe-horned in the hand sanitizer but it counts in my books. Great story, good character development and pretty decent (maybe a little cheezy) dialog. Very good writing. All in all, a great start for round three. Great job, writer!

Hmm, the use of the sanitizer was quite ingenious, shoehorned, and a tad silly as well.

An ambitious idea with moments of humour that tickled my funny bone.
When horns start appearing in stories/scripts I turn off a bit, but hey that's just me. I wasn't really feeling the horror but that's like I said cause this ain't the type of horror to scare me or enthrall me.

A big effort.

This one was interesting . It would have read better for me if  you named the tech guy. I know you don’t have long to setup only being allowed 5 pages. I would have liked to see the tech guy hook into the plane. Maybe he goes into the bathroom unlocks a small panel and plugs in a cable. Something like that.  One sec he was sitting, then poof he’s hacked the plane.

I take naming of the “Tech Bro” back. A high jacker isn’t going to introduce himself . My fault for not thinking that thru.  

I like Kaleb. Older people are harder to scare. They’ve done had life throw everything at them. So tech bro ,like he said ,was an ”inconvenience.”  He was my so called relatable character that tied the story together nicely .

The winged monster was a nice surprise. Washing the blood off with hand sanitizer was unique .

The flight attendant forgetting to restart CPR lol.

You know how to weave plot and story pretty well.  When I found out she was pregnant. That was a nice payoff out of a tragic situation .

Well done ...

Hey writer.. This was really interesting and clever writing. Loved the set-up. Though horror part didn't work as it should, but may be it's just me. Very well done though.

I really liked the mythology on display here, but...

Tech-Bro, urgh, can’t he have a name?

His reasoning for the hijacking is ridiculous... he’s going to get hired as a hacker after this demo, no he’ll be in jail sewing mailbags. TBH wasn’t sure if this was meant to be funny?

These can both fixed.though...

Not aware of the Sheyd before, will be reading up later, thanks for the education.

Sanitiser... a little shoe horned but okay by me.

"Tech-Bro" - ?  That's a pretty irritating name.

The setup here is once again ludicrous...completely unrealistic and unbelievable.  So many reasons why, but I'm not going to waste my time gong into detail.

Is this supposed to be a comedy?  The dialogue is cringe worthy.

Passages not remotely broken up correctly, which makes this read very difficult.

HA!  I keep reading, "the Flight Attendant", as if there's only 1 on this Boeing 777, which appears to be flying a long distance.  So completely fake...c'mon...really?

"Hezekiah kicks off the Air Marshall, who returns. He throws off others one at a time, but they return as well." -  ;D ;D ;D ;D  Man, oh man, this reads like a combination of a pisser and a young child's writing.

The End.  Well, it's memorable, that's for sure.  It's whacky, goofy, and way, WAY to big a premise for 5 pages.  The hand sanitizer is shoehorned in at the very end.

Nothing works for me at all here.

Hi writer,

Quoted Text looks at a TECH-BRO

A tech-bro? Reading on...

Okay I get it, surely you could have come up with something better than tech-bro.

Quoted Text life signs,

vital signs

Quoted Text Kaleb knees Tech-Bro in the balls. Tech-Bro crumples.

I really dislike that name and it is starting to affect the read for me.

Quoted Text TECH-BRO Yeah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s going to be all mad at me if I keep you flying after dark.

This guy sounds like a complete idiot, someone not capable of doing what he's doing.

Quoted Text KALEB My order guards the secret of the Sheydim. They were to be companions to Man, but were unfinished when the Sixth Day ended. TECH-BRO Wow, you hit your head really hard. ESTER We support the Sheydim who wish to live among Men in peace. Hunt down those who do not. Hezekiah buries his head under his arms, whimpering quietly, comforted by the Jewish Woman GURIT (18) next to him. KALEB As I said, the Sheydim were unfinished. A Sheyd needs the order of the holy laws. Without that firmest of guidance, he is lost.

Mass exposition, it really needs to be done well to be pulled off, for me this wasn't one of those times.

Quoted Text KALEB Miss, put the watch on your wrist. FLIGHT ATTENDANT Okay, but I can’t log into it. She fastens the strap, but the countdown continues. KALEB His password is zero six six six, perhaps a very stupid joke.

This is so convenient to the story.

Quoted Text She “forgets” to resume the CPR.

Her real motivations would only be known if you show us or tell us. This is some really awkward writing.

Quoted Text Tentatively, a Passenger mom with a diaper bag offers a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Ester checks for the Kosher symbol, accepts the bottle, and other moms come forward.

I almost forgot all about the sanitizer. It's there though.

Quoted Text Still in the window seat, Gurit’s cries of pain end. She straightens up, enters the aisle. She’s five months pregnant. GURIT Not all.

Sorry but that ending was really cringe worthy.

Lots of moving parts that don’t feel like they sit too well together.

Some of the dialogue, while trying to sound 'proper' just comes off robotic.

Criteria met for me. Won’t do too well in the other categories.

All the best.

This had promise, but kind of fell apart for me.

I was intrigued when they confront the Tech-Bro right at the start of his plan. Had me leaning forward. It was an interesting twist on what I was picturing... seemingly peaceful people with a violent purpose... I liked the feel of that.

But, when the horns/wings came out, you totally lost me. Now, I realize you were chasing horror for the challenge. But, I'd like to see the version of this where it's just normal people acting in a completely unexpected way.

In the end, I enjoyed the first couple of pages, but not the last.

Marks for the criteria being met, so good there.

This had a good start to it, nice setup. This type of suspense has been achieved with good effect in films like Red Eye, e.g.  But it started going downhill for me with the dialogue between “Tech Bro” (which, while descriptive, seems very out of place here) and Kaleb. I thought it was going to rebound as the transfiguration occurred, but that part fell a bit flat for me.  My issue with the dialogue is that it’s mainly expository— that is, it explains things to the reader through the dialogue rather than showing us what’s happening.

I think with a bit of rewriting and a longer script to work with, you might have the nucleus of a pretty decent story.

Best of luck,
Gary

Sorry to say, I didn't like it.

There was no horror for me.

Tech-Bro is a horrible character name.

I've no idea what a Sheyd is.  If I was on my PC I'd be googling this and the other strange words.

The story of this Tech-Bro taking over the plane and ending with the shining light of a baby due in a few months didn't work for me.  Made no sense TBH.

This was really a test to see if I'd reach the end.

Light on the horror.

Started okay - then started to fizzle for me.

Lose the tech bro.  This is main character. Give him a name.

Excellent story. Tech-Bro’s motivation for the hijacking—to be regarded as the best black-hat hacker, however, tells me he’s not too bright. I’m sure there’s a department in an agency not to be mentioned that specializes in deleting any black-hat hacker that can’t be co-opted. And Tech-Bro doesn’t strike me as co-optible. Kaleb comes off as very cool guy, as ready with a witticism as with a knee to the stones.

Hello writer

"a TECH-BRO" made me think it was a thing, rather than just a strange character name. A google search for Tech-bro tells me it is, although I still don't fully understand lol - he still needs a name though.

" The Flight Attendant backs away toward the rear of the plane." - lol i just had images of him/her slowly walking backwards, whistling in a "nothing to do with me" sort of way.

These Jewish characters are interesting - Kaleb, very calm in the face of this situation - Ester, again calm enough, and clever enough, to check the faces of the passengers to look for an accomplice - they are like some kind of secret agents - I hope we get to know more about them.

"(gagging)" - I don't think this is the right word, that's more for choking - unless Kaleb kneed him in the balls so hard they entered his throat and made him gag, I would use 'gasping' - or nothing at all really, it's not needed - any actor worth his salt knows the character has just had his bits squashed and would act accordingly.

I'm afraid that my uneducated self does not know a lot about Judaism - so I'm off to google, back in a mo...

...OK, Sheyd is demon in Hebrew - these Jews seem to be some kind of demon hunters/educators - support the demons that live amongst them peacefully, kill the rest. I think I'm up to speed lol

What I have an issue with so far is this...

Quoted Text TECH-BRO You know, I could go to any country unfriendly to the U.S. Seems to be more of those every week. But just for that, we�re going to Syria where it will be Friday... night. HEZEKIAH No! I beg of you!

First, I still don't know what the relevance is of it being Friday night when they get to Syria, or why it has upset the Jewish demon hunters - but mostly, I don't understand how Tech-bro does know that it will upset them... he just confused them with Amish people so how does he now suddenly understand Jewish demonology?... either that or I am missing something obvious lol

There was this tidbit...

Quoted Text FLIGHT ATTENDANT Not at all. I apologize for the delays, but we should reach Athens with plenty of time to get to your hotel before sunset.

But that is for the audience - Even if Tech-Bro overheard the attendant say this, it's a big jump to then think they would be upset if it was night time - I really hope I am making sense lol

Wow - didn't see that coming. I love it lol - great imagery of the beast and the people trying to subdue him - visually I would really like this.

Some clever story points in here too, the use of the sanitizer, the laptop and watch and how to disarm it, the knowledge of Jewish demonology - all good, it was unique and well, puts my entry to absolute shame lol

It's not without issues though - some for me were:
- Tech-bro knowing that night time would upset the Jews
- Hezekiah, I guess I am suppose to feel something for him and his impending doom at the end, but the revelation he has a child - problem is, I've spent so much time with Kaleb and not Hezekiah, it is Kaleb's fate that I am most interested in.
- Tension, I don't have a lot at the end - I didn't sense the characters (other than Tech-Bro who I don't care about) were in danger, they subdued the demon, Kaleb knew the password and quickly had the idea for the wrist watch - I guess the 5 page limit was a problem for that.

But wow, writer - Cleverly written, interesting and unique story, interesting characters - all in 72 hours... I'm jealous

Kaleb's action seems strangely unshocked.

Passengers don't chuckle when they're life is in danger.

Decent work on the prose.

From The Leyd To the Shed

((Wo)((M/m)an)), I appreciate that you at least worked in the realm of Horror, Horror comedy, but there are no single signs of other main genres…
here, it was absolutely clear what this is. Nice ironic world-building and I like your own version of hijacking a plane. I liked the whole satiric momentum, which throughout felt deliberately placed and eventually escalated in the Hezekiah situation. The script just felt overall self-aware. Not a true thinker for sure, however it steps its path in the madhouse segment.  Thumbs up.

Very interesting story. At first I was like "This ain't horror." Then on page 4 that Dude transformed into a hairy winged monster and my interest peaked. Pretty cool stuff.

I'm a little confused on the mythology behind the monster. Why does the hand sanitizer turn him back into a human?

You should give Tech-Bro a proper name.

Writing is solid, nothing spectacular, but it got the job done. Decent character work and dialog, too.

Pretty solid effort here. :)

I hate being too critical, but I have to be honest.

It didn't work for me.

Not suggesting a page 1 re-write here.

While I thought the majority of the action lines were tight and fast.  Nice!  Unfortunately, it was not the case for some of the dialogue.  It needs tweaked.

The conflict feels false.  The deal with the CPR, the passangers reactions, ect... not saying you've artificially injected conflict wherever the scene turns by any means, but... this felt more like a comedy than horror.  If so, maybe that explains some things.

I really wanted to like this one.  Good job for competing.-Andrea

This has a great mythology to it. It's a very ambitious story for five pages, it could have used some room to breathe, but it's not a bad effort.

The antagonist was a cookie cutout, the logic of everything was questionable, and the writing could have been clearer around the action. I did like the use of the hand sanitizer, it felt organic, it wasn't a MacGuffin, and it was instrumental in the story. And I had no idea it would be kosher, but apparently that's a thing too.

It has its flaws, but overall I like it.

So, this one was mine. I'm glad that see that many of you seemed to like this one, whether it scored well or not.

I will immediately send a sheyd to go eat the S.T.A.R. girls from round one, which everyone should like :)

Jeff, only one flight attendant had lines, so she was "the" flight attendant. Originally had her as the Head Flight Attendant, but dialed it back to save a bit of space and fit "the" in front every time she was mentioned. I got hammered last round for switching between "X" and "the X".

Of course, now that I think about it... I could have avoided the whole mess by giving her a nice, short name ::)

I could probably have found a way to squeeze in a name for the Tech-Bro as well. Calling him a "tech bro" shorthands a lot of description about a casually-dressed techno-chauvinist who's probably a white male, and his mention of the Flying Spaghetti Monster specifies that he is an atheist. "Pastafarians" tend to have a broad (if not particularly deep) knowledge of world religions, all the better to mock them. Such a person would definitely know that the Jewish sabbath begins at sundown on Friday.

The annoying label "Tech-Bro" only had to appear once, then I could have used some normal-sounding name (or a Matrix-style online handle) after that.

JE and Matthew wondered how someone could come up with this story in 72 hours. I didn't invent the sheydim or the idea of ultra-orthodox Jews going stir-crazy on a delayed flight. The real story-making here was putting the airplane (with its ability to travel from day to night and back) and the idea of cleansing (hand sanitizer) together to hang some dire consequences on breaking the Kosher rules.

Valid criticism from several folks that the horror is kinda weak in this one. You've got the hijacker who demonstrated his power to knock down Kaleb, and then set his group up for psychological torture with about a three-hour wait before breaking their religious laws. Oh, and there's also a monster. Wasn't tied for top "meets criteria" so obviously didn't meet some folks definition of horror.

He was supposed to be demonstrating a new, simple way to take over any fly-by-wire aircraft. One guy, one laptop, one dead-man's switch. Usually when a new attack emerges, regulators ban or restrict the tool. Trying to ban laptops from flights would be basically impossible.

Kaleb and his crew would typically be better equipped to handle a marauding sheyd, but they can't get that kind of equipment through an airport security gate. Wasn't clear due to space-saving cuts, but Hezekiah was in the middle of their block of nine seats to keep him surrounded by caretakers while in transit... not that this containment strategy worked.

You'd think by now movie characters would realize that Plan A never works, and they should have a Plan B ready.

I also had to cut the bit about Kaleb's "black hat" being different from any widely-known sect's hat style. Not sure what the sheydim-velderer hat might look like, but it'd probably include some stylistic nod to the sheydim's horn or wings.

Certain sects of ultra-Orthodox Jews have been known to get violent when their taboos are threatened, so Kaleb's knee-to-balls move would not be unprecedented. Besides, his day job is dealing with things way scarier than this hacker. It's also decent odds that all but the youngest of Kaleb's group are veterans of the I.D.F.

Technically, sheyd and sheydim are Yiddish while the proper Hebrew would have been shed and shedim... but the former has a much spookier false-cognate in English. In modern usage, the term has evolved to the rough equivalent of "ghosts and goblins," but two older myths were more specific. One applied the term sheydim to Adam's monster-children with Lilith, the other applied that term to a Sixth Day creation after Man that was also somewhere between beasts and angels. I went with the second option, and those beings were described as winged, hairy, and with a single horn.

One bit of the script that needs fixing is describing the sheydim as "unfinished." From an outsider's point of view, that's exactly what they are... God wasn't done with them yet when the Sixth Day drew to a close. On the Seventh Day, He rested. He did not go back and fix them up on an Eighth Day, and this is supposed to feed into the notion that a task interrupted by the Sabbath is considered completed. So, a true believer would have used some word other than "unfinished," but by the end of 72 hours I hadn't come up with a better way to say it... and still haven't in the time since (at least without cramming in even more exposition in a short space).

In my limited research, I couldn't find out exactly what was "unfinished" or lacking about the sheydim. They were described as not inherently evil, and could even choose to live according to God's laws. With this annoying hole in the middle of my source material I did the same thing any decent writer on a deadline would do... I made something up! And thus, keeping with the Kosher-with-dire-consequences theme I decided sheydim require outside guidance. There's nothing in the world setup that demands all sheydim end up Jewish, presumably any sufficiently strict set of holy laws could work.

So keep this in mind when you delay a Jewish family's trip on a Friday, or interrupt a meditating Buddhist, or wipe the ash off a Catholic's forehead... they might turn into a monster and bite your face off :)

Quoted from FrankM I could probably have found a way to squeeze in a name for the Tech-Bro as well. Calling him a "tech bro" shorthands a lot of description about a casually-dressed techno-chauvinist who's probably a white male, and his mention of the Flying Spaghetti Monster specifies that he is an atheist.

Worse... a New Atheist.