Master Cat! Jennifer Chang (aka Zhang) wrote and produced the feature Dead Inside, which has played the NewFilmmakers LA, Boston International, and Los Angeles United film festivals and is being repped at Cannes by Bleiberg Entertainment. The film just won “Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature” in the Women’s Independent Film Festival. Here’s her surprising guest blog:
“Finally reaching the tower where the princess is being kept, the hero finds… she’s not there! And not only that, it’s a trap! It looks like the Bad Guy has won… The hero now has to come up with a new plan.” – From a blog Blake wrote on the subject of Finales in 2007
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If you’re like me (and in some key ways, you must be, because you’re here), then you can categorize your movie-going experiences into pre-Save the Cat! and post-Save the Cat! experiences. Like Neo at the end of The Matrix, I now often feel like I can see the code when I’m watching a movie. I’m waiting for and anticipating the Catalyst. I’m identifying the “false victory” or the “false defeat” moment at Midpoint.
And I feel like a smartypants.
But speaking of the ends of movies, I was marveling recently at how cleanly Blake’s “5-Point Finale” lays out a film’s – nay, every film’s conclusion. And, getting more granular, I realized how much I enjoy the “High Tower Surprise” within every film’s finale. Nothing beats that moment when the hero is inches from tasting victory, when suddenly… BLAMMO!
Agent Smith is on the other side of that door and he’s just shot you through the heart!
The alien has hidden itself on your escape pod, and now there’s really nowhere to run!
Bruce Willis was dead THE WHOLE TIME?!
But along those lines, I thought it’d be fun to share, in greater detail, three of my favorite “High Tower Surprise” moments from movies I love, in no particular order.
Oh yeah. SPOILER ALERT!
1. Labyrinth: This beloved Jim Henson classic features a young Jennifer Connelly as plucky-but-petulant daydreamer Sarah, David Bowie rocking a spectacular pant-bulge as the Goblin King, and a finale that stands out in memory as one of my favorites because of how literally it demonstrates the Save the Cat! principles. At the end of a journey through the magical and treacherous labyrinth, Sarah has actually stormed the castle after having assembled her team by the third act. And as she charges up the stone steps of what is indeed a high tower, she stops short and turns to her friends and tells them she has to go alone. “Why?” they ask.
Sarah: Because that’s the way it’s done.
Didymus: Well, if that is the way it is done, then that is the way you must do it.
(I’m always tickled by this part of the film. It’s like the movie has become self aware.)
And so Sarah does. Alone, she ascends the high tower to what should be her victory over the Goblin King. But at the top, she faces the embodiment of the “upside-down world” (yet another way the movie seems to be tailor-made to STC! specifications)… where the staircase is twisted into an M.C. Escher-style paradox; no matter which staircase she climbs and which passageway she takes, Sarah cannot reach the baby brother she has come all this way to rescue. And meanwhile, the giant ticking clock (there it is again!) that the Goblin King has set into motion to raise the stakes at the start of the film’s third act… well, it starts to run down.
So here, in the high tower, Sarah must dig deep down, realize that life is not fair anywhere, relinquish her childhood delusions, and grow the eff up. She tells the Goblin King, “Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City…”
…And if you know the rest, you’re awesome and we should hang out.
2. Identity: One by one, the guests who have been stranded at a motel in the middle of the desert, in the middle of a rainstorm, have been picked off by a mysterious killer. And even more mysterious — their bodies have been disappearing. And more mysterious still — they all share the same birthday. Alright, that detail seemed rather lame when it was revealed until…
…the High Tower Surprise moment. The only people that have survived at the motel are John Cusack, his love interest played by Amanda Peet, and the supposed killer. John Cusack is hot on his tail when suddenly he’s jolted out of the rainstorm, out of the desert, out of the motel… and into a strait jacket in a psychologist’s office. The psychologist tells him that he is not who he thinks he is. He’s not even a real person. He’s merely one of the multiple personalities that lives inside a serial killer. And if he doesn’t succeed in going back in and killing the personality that’s responsible for the mass murders in the outside world, the killer’s insanity plea will fail, he’ll be executed, and everyone inside of him will die.
Did. Not. See. That. Coming.
And I loved it.
3. Se7en: I can just see all your faces out there grimacing now as you recall what the High Tower Surprise Moment was in this movie. Detective Mills and Somerset have their killer in custody, at gunpoint. After he has staged 6 gruesome murders that each correspond to a deadly sin, they have now effectively stopped him from committing the seventh murder… the one that would have been an homage to “wrath.” But surprise… that’s when a box arrives. And the murderer casually mentions to the detectives that he paid a visit to Det. Mills’ wife that afternoon.
This High Tower Surprise takes the cake, for me. It’s completely unexpected, brilliantly sprung on the audience, and oh-so stomach-turning and heartbreaking that the impression it leaves is indelible.
As an aside — some recent work on productions has left me with a banker’s box with a wigged styrofoam head in my trunk, and every time I pop the trunk and see it, I start wailing, “What’s in the box? What’s in the box!” And then I try my best to avoid annoyed looks from the other people in the parking lot.
Worth it.
Anyway, nothing would delight me more than seeing some of my fellow Cats! share some of your favorite High Tower Surprise moments in movies down in the comments below. Let’s take a cinematic trip down memory lane, up a high tower where…
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Jennifer,
You raise a high bar for we nebs! But see I failure to respond as shirking responsibility to our craft and continuing to slobber in my own comfortable art.
“GET OFF OF MY PLANE”(from Air Force One)
I hope that cuts it in recognizing the moment in the high tower. If it does not, I’ll try again.
Thanks Jennifer,
Captain
What fun to read your writing Jennifer. If I find the words Sarah’s fighting words, can we hang out?!!!
Irregardless, I’ll play the game for the high tower moment from Meg Ryan’s film FRENCH KISS. She’s lost her true love Charlie to a French “goddess,” and travels across the big blue ocean in a plane (We’re going down, we’re going down), everything that could go wrong does. Yet, she prevails in getting him out of the clutches of his new girlfriend climbs into the high tower of his bed only to discover that the one thing she doesn’t want anymore is HIM. Oh dear. But the person she does want is wanted by the police, to save him she must give up her “nest egg.” And she does.
Thank you for your posts Jennifer.
Barbara
Hi Jennifer,
Great thought provoking article…Mine is from Field of Dreams. Shoeless Joe looks at Ray while nodding at his Father and says, “If you build it, He will come.” And later, Ray says, “You wanna have a catch?”. I didn’t see that scene coming, nor did most of the guys in the theater.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen more grown men tear up (me included) after the lights came on like I did that night.
If I could only be that good…just once!
Regards,
Bob
Bradford,
Grin at the head shot? Come on Dude. When I saw her picture She left me breathless, while my heart skipped a beat and I’m old enough to be her grandfather. Nothing wrong with being beautiful and smart in Hollywood dear.
Captain
Jennifer, I’m mad for your writer’s voice! I had to grin at your angelic headshot above, because I have a feeling there’s a brilliant, zany, wildly creative and darkly funny artist behind the curtain. Plus, I’ve got a skull/head in a box which I pull out every Halloween simply because it scares the crap out of me as much as SEVEN did/does.
Jennifer,
I love your analogy of feeling like Neo seeing the code. The same thing happened to me after reading Blake’s books. In fact, anytime I go see a movie, I see the Beat Sheet whether I try to or not.
As for one of my favorite High-Tower Surprise moments, I’d have to cite The Truman Show. I think it happens when Truman finally sets out to “storm the castle” of escaping his world as he knows it. He tries to overcome his fear of the water, but then Christof surprises him by a storm. Just as Blake’s sheet says, Truman must “dig, deep down” and figure out if he’s really willing to risk everything… and he does.
But that’s not the only movie I see it in. And I’m happy to have spread it to others. A few months ago, I taught it to my seventh graders, and even at the end of the year, they remember it more than anything we did this year. In fact, at parent-teacher conferences, one parent just shook his head and told how his son was watching a movie with him and went on to describe in detail everything that would happen (relying on Blake’s Beat Sheet). The dad said that while he had seen the movie, his son never had, yet was accurate in great detail. When he asked his son how he could possibly know this, his son said, “Dad, that’s the kind of stuff he teaches us.” I can’t wait to continue spreading the “code” to other classes!
YAY! <–delighted!
O Captain, my Captain – I liken the “Get off my plane!” quote you described to Sarah’s speech in Labyrinth. It’s the result of digging deep down! But I believe the High Tower Surprise moment in Air Force One is RIGHT before that, after Harrison Ford has kicked the @sses of the terrorist’s men and is going after the scumbag when suddenly, the guy takes his wife hostage and throws all the parachutes off of the plane. Mile-High Surprise!
O Barbara, my Barbara – sounds like I gotta watch “French Kiss” – and even if you don’t know Sarah’s victory speech, we should hang out anyway. Haha — writers are good people.
O Bob, my Bob – Field of Dreams is a unisex-cry-maker. And plus, REAL men cry during Field of Dreams. Anyone who doesn’t cry needs to become more emotionally available and/or has been dead on the inside for too long. Like Batman.
O Bradford, my Bradford – Thanks for assuming I’m brilliant, zany and funny from my headshot, and not vain and self-indulgent. What kind of writer gets a headshot anyway?! THIS GIRL!!
And Captain, I’m gonna get your comment tattooed on my forehead, backward, so it can cheer me up whenever I look in a mirror.
Hearts to the lot of you!
Cory – I’m sure the Cat! family is uber-warmed to know that you’re using Blake sensei’s words to train a whole new generation of Kittens! Now they all know screenwriting kung fu.
Jennifer –
Pivotal!
I keep getting to the high tower surprise of my own scripts and being surprised… that they aren’t that clear. I feel like I have a better grasp.
I feel like WallE is another unisex cry-maker. But I have trouble nailing down that HTS moment.
Is it when Eve repairs WallE but he doesn’t remember himself? She digs down, deep. Holds his hand (his only goal) and gives him a final kiss.
I love the examples you gave. I grew up on Labyrinth. And shrunk down after Se7en.
Dear Jennifer,
It is evident that I do not own the “High Tower” moment yet, but I am determined to aquire it for my bag of writing tools.
In GRAN TORINO Walt Kowalski confronts the bad guys. He has decided to sacrifice himself for his Hmong friends. He reaches in his coat like he’s going for a gun and gets murdered in cold blood with witnesses to ultimately give his friends a future.
Is this a “High Tower” Moment?
Captain
Okay, my favorite High Tower Surprise moment is in one of my all-time favorite films… Back to the Future. Even today, watching it is still intense even though I know what happens later. Gathering the Troops: Marty & Doc prepare for their plan to send him back to the future. Executing the Plan: Doc has rigged up a wire to the clock tower so the DeLorean will get the 1.21 gigawatts it needs when the lightning hits the tower. High Tower Surprise: the DeLorean stalls, the wire breaks loose and Doc has to fix it, leading to the next steps for both: Dig, Deep Down & Executing the New Plan.
Thanks to Blake… seeing the code, just like Neo…
DEJA VU– Denzel tries to save the lovely Paula Patton from 4 days in the future after she was killed in a terrorist bombing of a ferry in New Orleans. After sending himself a note, which gets his partner murdered instead of saving the day, Denzel decides that he must go back in time to save the girl and the day himself, by intercepting the bomber before he can carry out the planned attack on the ferry.
Denzel saves Paula (Gathers the Team) but the terrorist blows up his home and assumes he blew up Denzel and Paula so goes to blow up the ferry right on schedule… Denzel hasn’t changed anything.
So Denzel and Paula trail the terrorist back to the ferry dock (Executes the Plan), Denzel and Paula watch the terrorist park and arm the explosives-laden SUV and leave the ferry to go watch the explosion from a near-by bridge…
Denzel storms the ferry to disarm the bomb, but (High Tower surprise the terrorist recognizes a vehicle parked at the dock as the truck Denzel drove from the terrorist’s lair!! and the terrorist storms back to the ferry, catches Paula and handcuffs her to the steering wheel of the SUV-bomb!!! Surprise!!
so Denzel has to dig deep down to save Paula, the passengers and himself from the terrorist… well, two out of three ain’t bad, even for Denzel!
Some will dismiss this HTS because of the dream-sequence device. Nonetheless, Nicolas Cage in Next is as surprised as anyone when the nuclear bomb detonates and he was wrong; he did not see the future, even though he dug deep to see it.
Until he wakes up and starts charting a new course of future events, digging even deeper.
The “its only a dream” device was bandied about the whole movie. We shouldn’t have been surprised, especially when the multiple events were shown in the shoot out in the warehouse.
O Jennifer, my Jennifer!
Great blog on HTS. Okay, I offer three. From JAWS, STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
JAWS: The shark has caused Hooper to disappear, has eaten Quint and made the Orca begin to sink, leaving Chief Brody, the landlubber afraid of the water, all alone. This is one of the great HTS predicaments in cinema history, and it’s a precise moment — when Brody takes refuge inside the flooding ship’s cabin. The ship is the castle, and it’s a siege. The villain storms the castle and crashes through the half-submerged cabin windows and starts chomping towards our Hero. The castle is a trap, and will soon be gone entirely, leaving Brody as helpless as the skinny dipping girl from the opening sequence. Flight is impossible — he can’t out-swim the shark. The only hope is to destroy the enemy, a seemingly impossible task. If ever a hero had to dig deep down and formulate a desperate new plan, it’s here, at this moment, and true to BS2 mechanics, Brody improvises and takes action: he force-feeds a scuba tank to Jaws. What I love so much about this ending is that the ‘dig deep down’ beat is all about synthesis, which is communicated visually: Brody takes a piece of Hooper (his scuba tank, which has been foreshadowed as something that can “blow up”) and a piece of Quint (his WWII carbine rifle) and puts them both to work to vanquish the monster, for this film is the mother of all modern Monster in the House movies. In a metaphorical way, through Brody and the weapons (talismans) he employs, all three shipmates defeat the shark together, just as the clock ticks down and Brody’s citadel — the ship’s mast — sweeps towards the water like a second hand on a stopwatch. A literal, visual ticking clock, with time running out as it nears the water. Smile you sunavabitch! KABOOM. Brilliant.
STAR WARS: Here we have the heroes storming the castle in their attack on the Death Star. The HTS isn’t a precise moment, but rather a sequence that I suggest begins when Red Leader’s shot grazes the target and he is subsequently shot down by Darth Vader, leaving only three X-Wing fighters remaining from the whole squadron with only a minute to go before the Death Star is in range to destroy the planet of the Rebel base. Luke decides to go in and go in full throttle, but as one of the other pilots points out, at that speed he might not be able to clear the tower that looms above the target. Not only is the target small, and “impossible, even for a computer,” but there is a problematic “tower.” Surprise! It almost sounds like Lucas consulted with Blake as he was writing the dialogue. What happens next is the two pilots providing cover for Luke are scattered (one damaged, one shot down) leaving Luke — exactly like Brody at the end of JAWS — all by himself. Vader then targets Luke, much like Jaws zeroing in on Brody. The castle, the trench, the exhaust port target — it’s all a trap. And it looks like the Bad Guys are gonna win. But Luke ‘digs deep down’ and hears Obi-Wan’s voice in his head: “Use the Force, Luke.” This is the desperate new plan: to turn off his targeting computer and fire manually. Vader fires upon Luke and hits R2, stripping away Luke’s only remaining ally, leaving him more alone than ever. But just as Vader is about to fire upon Luke for the last time (and just as the Death Star readies to blow up the Rebel base), a moment of synthesis: Han Solo attacks Vader from above. The cynical skeptic has returned to help his idealistic friend save the day. Smile you sunavabitch. I mean, “You’re all clear, kid, so let’s blow this thing and go home.” KABOOM. Brilliant. And Luke couldn’t have done it without Obi-Wan, either, so his moment of synthesis includes him, too. Just like Jaws, a synthesis of three. As Blake says, “the same, only different.”
RAIDERS: In the two examples above, the heroes are still free and fighting the opponents during the HTS moment, one being stormed and the other doing the storming. Not here. Here, Indy is in the clutches of the enemy. He has already stormed the castle (the German submarine base) and then bargained to save the “princess” Marion by threatening to blow up the Ark, but Belloq calls his bluff which puts Indy in the clutches of the enemy. He’s tied up with along with Marion and the Belloq and the Nazis have possession of the Ark. It looks like the Bad Guys have won. The Hero’s nadir. The HTS and another impossible situation. But the villains have an Achilles Heel: hubris. The hubris that they think they can control supernatural powers, and the right to look upon them. Thank goodness for hubris. Just as it was foreshadowed in the Bible illustration in Act I, the Ark is opened and the fire of God is released. Indy’s dig deep down moment results in a very simple strategy: “close your eyes, Marion.” The opposite of hubris; humility, and the willingness to let some things go “unfound.” A significant change in the man who we’ve seen go to impossible lengths to find things of value. This simple, innocuous strategy saves them. And then Belloq’s head explodes. KABOOM! See, there’s nearly always a KABOOM. And he was smiling just before it happened. The same, only different. Brilliant.
Tom
Thanks Tom,
And thanks again Jennifer for instigating such a good forum.
Captain
Woo Hoo! Go, Jen, go! I’m so thrilled for your success… you completely deserve it. Thanks so much for your insight on the High Tower Surprise, and keep those stories coming. xoxo
*SPOILER ALERT* One of my favorite HTS moments happens in the 1996 film SCREAM. Sidney witnesses her boyfriend Billy getting stabbed by the killer.. then a little later she’s surprised by his survival and rushes to his aid.. once Billy assumes possession of the gun, he shuts the front door as if he’s keeping the true danger out, turns around and states “We all go a little mad sometimes” (Anthony Perkins, Psycho) and shoots their friend Randy. He then reveals that the blood on him is fake and he’s been a killer all along. This occurs after most viewers were lead to believe that there was only one killer. This moment encapsulates the horror for Sidney when she realizes that the true danger is right in front of her (not locked outside the house) – her own boyfriend. I thought it was a well-crafted ruse to make the viewer and Sidney believe that there was only one threat. Since her boyfriend was also attacked, it momentarily removed the idea that he was the killer from the minds of both the viewer and Sidney. It’s a surprise twist that still gets me to this day!