They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...!
For my next script i really want to create something that isn't a homage to a genre of film or a director like i did with my first script, i instead want to create something that has made me step out of my comfort zone and show my ability for story writing.
because i had done my first script as the freestyle script, this one has to be a film with futuristic elements, but i decided to have this script should be a sci-fi/ horror piece.
the story is about a team of scientists who venture off to the planet Venus to find a source of fuel as natural resources have dwindled on earth, but soon encounter a creature that begins to take control of them one by one.
i had the idea of the creature being some sort of parasite thanks to a fungus known as cordyceps. the spores can infect small insects, forcing them to go to a high point, allowing the spores to grow into another mushroom from its body that can then spread more spores infecting others.
this got me to begin searching for other Parasitoids, forms of life that are born from inside another animals body. Different species of wasps can inject a host with eggs so the larvae can feed on its insides. whats strange about this is that the larvae do not eat the vital organs of the host so that it stays alive before they mature. Once old enough they burst from the insects abdomen and begin to wrap themselves up in a cocoon. what is even stranger is if the insect survived them bursting from its body, the host will begin to protect the cocoon because of the chemicals excreted from the wasps sting, making the host a form of zombie like slave. even then it will stand guard until it eventually dies of starvation. Another type of parasitoids, the horsehair worm (also known as the the Nematomorpha) where the larvae force its host to go to water to allow it to burst from its body.
thanks to parasites like these, they could possibly have influenced the life cycle of a Xenomorph in the Alien series of films. The facehugger would impregnate a host then die, then the egg is pushed down to its stomach thanks to food eaten until finally bursting from the host. Another film about a parasitic lifeform Splinter (2008) has the ability to infect its hosts from contact and is able to control even parts of the body, even a hand. it could also merge with other infected hosts to create a larger mass.
Video games have also had forms of parasites in certain games such as the puppet nurses in Silent hill (1999) but the type of parasite that influenced the creature in my project is known known as the Las Plagas from Resident Evil 4 (2005) in which the parasite can be injected into the hosts neck or inhaled via spores after being fossilised. the parasite lives in its hosts and controls it as if its its own body by connecting to the hosts nervous system. The host can also take alot of heavy damage, including loss of its head and even either creating a head of its own, or emerging from its neck hole.
from what i gathered from both real and fictional parasites, common methods of becoming host to one is being injected, or consumed orally, so i decided that my creature would inject the victim with a needle like appendage, to also blend in to its surroundings also, the creature would be much like a hermit crab, in which it lives in a shell not made naturally to the creature, much like a alien rock on venus, imagine the space crew picking up on of the rocks they needed only to then be carrying a deadly creature that can take control of you?
Recources: Project Umbrella (2013) Las Plagas: B.O.W. Top-Secret File [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS-wB3vS3LU
BBCWorldwide (2008) Cordyceps: attack of the killer fungi - Planet Earth Attenborough BBC wildlife [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8
DjDeutchTv (2013) Guy kills a zombie praying mantis, revealing a huge parasite living inside
[online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhzFh_hs5Oc&feature=youtu.be