7 Villains

[Hal Berlin]

7 movies about death didn't incite the outpouring of creativity I hope for - too vague and too challenging. So here's a second attempt to restart list-based creativity:

Give me 7 villains. Be as broad as you want, as cursory or as detailed as you want.

Here are mine.

Villain One: Elvis Presley

It's 1957, and Elvis is America's most popular musician. Great if you're a teenage girl, not so great if you're Peter Steinberg. See, Peter's a struggling intellectual in New York City, trying to eke together livelihood from teaching classes at CUNY and writing articles for the small journals. There's one thing good in Peter's life, and that's his wife - Amy. She's smart, fast-talking, and an incredible stunner. Quite possibly the most beautiful girl in New York. Everyone thinks so. And, unfortunately, everybody includes Elvis Presley, who spots Amy walking down 40th street and decides he wants her. And what Elvis gets, Elvis wants....

Villain Two: God

The great one is tired with humans and has declared Holy War on our species, sending every kind of natural and unnatural disaster our way. This makes 2012 look like preschool. An group of combat-trained religious leaders must team up with Satan in order to kill God...

Villain Three: Pugs

They're cute. They're lovable. But what if all the pugs in the world were secretly launching a plan to destroy humanity? How could we stop an enemy so lovable?

Villain Four: The Kindergarten Teacher From Hell.


Villain Five: Your Hard-Ass Dad.
He caught you drinking from his liquor cabinet, and now he's totally clamped down on your social life. So it's hard-ass father against rebellious son in a war to the death. Or, at least until graduation.


Villain Six: TV.
What if they started broadcasting (effective) subliminal messages: KILL KILL KILL.

Villain Seven: The Citizens of the United States.

You have a contract on your head, any anyone who catches you gets a million dollars. You have 5 days to get across the border into Canada.

[glengarry]

Love villian six. TV. Have you ever watched Cronenberg's "Videodrone". I think I heard recently they are doing the remake. (what a shock..)

But pretty crazy TV is a KILLER movie.

Check it out.

[nason]

Aging is the #1 villain.

[attatt]

I'll give this one a go:

1. High School Teachers
The teachers at Washington High are loathesome, drunkards and sluts just barely holding the facade of respectability together. Behind the scenes they support each other's desires to sleep with all the students, teach subversive classed wasted, and damage the lives of the popular students beyond repair.

2. Maniac Russian Spies from the Cold War Era
These men were put into a cryogenic sleep as the cold war came to an end just in case their unique skills and complete dedication to communist ideals were ever needed again. They have been thawed out as money to keep them suspended has run dry and it just seems wrong to just let them die. No one bothers to tell them the cold war is over, so they pick up where they left off-planning to take out the US Senate.

3. Assassin Hired to Kill Himself
A world class assassin has been too good, and knows too much to be left alive as he shows signs of snapping out of his brainwashing. What is presented as a new assignment turns out to be a brainwashing program that will induce suicide. It backfires and he wanders around Washington DC trying to remember who he is, and who to kill. He decides to just start killing every crooked politician he knows of along the way, and the person who planned his suicide is on the list.

4. Crazed Children Who Have Played Too Many Video Games
The children in Oakland, CA have been playing Fallout 3 non-stop of months in preparation for an XBox tournament. They begin to lose touch with the difference between the real world and the video game world and decide to wage war against the city.

5. Steven Spielberg
Spielberg, having no prospects for a new movie and no interest in anything (having done it all) decides to steal an idea from an up-and-coming director whose production company has failed to file all the necessary legal paperwork. Everyone knows he is producing a rip off, but should they care? He is doing it with a budget, actors, and script that is already garnering Oscar talk.

6. Humanity
In a world where zombies run the country, a small group of humans is found alive in the middle of nowhere, breeding. The zombies must launch an attack before humanity is strong enough to reclaim their right to the world.

7. The Younger Brother
John is a 38 year old man permanently locked into his 16 year old mentality after a brutal accident. He lives with his alcoholic 25 year old brother Charlie who acts as guardian. Charlie got John a janitorial job at the local high school so he could make a living while still feeling connected to people "his own age". When Charlie finds out John has a big crush on an overdeveloped, fast 15 year old girl, he steps in to stop any inappropriate behavior, but gets sucked in by the girl's charms and sexuality. John sees Charlie as the disgusting old man taking advantage of an angelic young girl and must intervene without tipping off any adults.

[attatt]

I should point out that I live on the border of East Oakland and picked that city out for #4 above because it could actually happen. well, not really, but , actually, yeah, it kind of could happen.

[nason]

Also, Zombies have been running this country for decades.

[Hal Berlin]

Att, Att,

4 could possibly be videodrome for the Playstation Age: a game that somehow takes over the mind of its players. And if you could figure out a way to make zombies something other than drooling half-dead morons, 6 would be terrific as well.

But of all the ideas, I like the germ of the idea behind 7 the best. I might make two suggestions to it. First, make the retardation more severe. Give John something like down's syndrome, it hasn't been done before and it could be really incredible. Second, make Charlie a potential serial killer -- much more horrifying than a lech.

[attatt]

@haberlin - #7 is something I have been kicking around for a long time just for fun. I was about to give you reasons why I envision it a certain way, but you have openned my eyes a bit to new possiblities.

Does it change your opinion if you imagine these actors in the various roles
John - John C Reilly
Charlie - Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Girlfriend - Dakota Fanning

Dont think I will ever actually write it, because it would never be as good as what I picture in my head with this cast.

[Hal Berlin]

attatt, that cast makes it sound like a comedy, albeit a dark one, not sure if you're thinking about it that way. But there's something in the idea that suggests a really intense psycho-thriller -- something on the level of Memento or The Lookout.

[Jeff Messerman]

While I have neither the time nor the energy today to join in, I must say I love what's going on in this room! Fascinating brainstorming, to say the least!