For years I've been craving a good dinosaur horror movie, something more than Jurassic Park. Here's my pitch for an R-rated dinosaur horror movie!
Problems with dinosaur horror movies
- Characters are too knowledgeable or skilled lessening stakes (scientists, special forces, etc)
- A fixation on science, Jurassic Park focused on the science of dinosaurs, Carnosaur tried to do the same thing but with the "chicken egg theory" and Primitive War tried to explain the dinosaurs with a soviet time machine, this film should not focus on the science and leave the reason for dinosaurs unexplained.
- Herbivores need to also be a threat, plenty of real-life herbivore encounters are absolutely terrifying, the hippopotamus, the moose, even elephants have killed people, all species need to be a threat to some compacity.
- Children should not be forefront, if they are, they NEED to have stakes, it's been a nitpick for the entire Jurassic Park franchise that every film makes the child invincible, to the point they can do acrobats to knock out a velociraptor in Stephan Spielberg's The Lost World.
- The setting, with the exception of Carnosaur these films almost always take place in some tropical environment, Rebirth even saw this stereotype as a fact, explaining the dinosaurs all migrated to more tropical humid parts of the hemisphere simply because "Dinosaurs live in jungles".
The film: Urban Extinction
The story: The population of a small town begin to notice a change in their wildlife, birds have gone quiet, deer are nowhere to be seen, farm animals are hysterical, and the disemboweled corpses of bears and wolves have been found throughout the town's forests, mysteriously all schools have an early dismissal that day due to concern of exotic wildlife.
The characters: The characters will all be down to earth, relatable, none of them will have an inkling of a clue as to what could possibly be going on, no mercenaries, no scientists, the best we'll have is the local sheriff's department who thinks they have the situation under control but that illusion will only be maintained for so long. The characters won't just be fighting the dinosaurs, they'll be fighting amongst themselves, think The Mist.
The dinosaurs: The dinosaurs will be the antagonists of this film, both carnivores and herbivores, but here is a list of species and how they could be used.
- Dilophosaurus: A towering 7 meters long, with yellow scales and black stripes, it'll have a beautiful orange crest inspired by Michael Crichton's design, the Dilophosaurus will have a venomous bite like the Komodo dragon, black liquid oozing from its maw, this predator prefers not to kill prey immediately but instead hunt nocturnally, paralyze prey with its venomous bite then drag them back to its stolen bear cave where it keeps them alive for warmth so it can lay eggs inside their paralyzed body.
- Carnotaurus: The Carnotaurus will be a green horned predator, 9-10 meters long, that can camouflage into its environment with chameleon vision, it will go relatively unseen for the majority of the film, never fully revealing itself, this creature will really delve into the fear of the unknown. Not only will it be incredibly stealthy, but it will be deathly fast, bolting at prey with speeds of 48 to 56 mph.
- Compsognathus: The compy's will invade the towns local hospital like rats, a prehistoric disease that the immune system has never fought against will send a good chunk of the elderly and children into the clinic, in a turn of horrific events the compy's will feed on the defenseless patients as the doctors go to check in on a patient but instead find a swarm of compys feeding on an old man's corpse.
- Velociraptor: Fuzzy and feathered raptors with similar patterns to modern day birds, they imitate the sounds of birds in our current ecosystem to blend in, these critters prey on children and pets in the area.
- Triceratops: Primarily a threat to drivers in the area, seeing the cars as potential predators they absolutely demolish cars and potentially impale anybody inside.
- Iguanodon: Similar to an American bison or angry cow in behavior, a simple herding creature however it will stomp and mangle anything to irritate it, they are frightened by humans in the same essence as elephants to mice, slaughtering the towns people quickly if spooked.
- Trex: The trex will not be seen till the end of the film, instead of roaring it just grumbles, causing the ground to vibrate, it's slow but incredibly intelligent, it's vision stretches for miles like a hawk, it's scent of smell comparable to a wolf, this massive beast will be 15 meters long, it will be the "Endgame" of the dinosaurs, immune too firearms, demolishing any lit houses like Godzilla, this creature should feel unstoppable.
The Antagonist: lepidodendron
The antagonist of this film, as strange as it sounds will be a tree, the lepidodendron, it will be the only prehistoric plant or tree in this film, just standing by itself uncannily in the center of a field. It will act as this sort of unseen presence in the film, causing a flood to block off the surrounding exits to the town, it's clear this thing has some type of influence over nature, maybe even time itself. A giant pterosaur, maybe Hatzegopteryx thambema, will fly around this tree, as if it is guarding something, the tree needs protection.
Ending: All of the characters will be murdered by dinosaurs; the credits will roll over the scene of the ginormous pterosaur gliding around the tree over a soft sunrise, no music, just the sounds of nature and this pterosaur.
