Plots - Tension; Horror | Surthan, Pyrenees, 2022.
Main characters
Surthan is an isolated village among the highest forests of the Pyrenees. A few very close-knit souls live in the hamlet, like one big family. Life flows slowly and serenely, far from the city customs, following almost medieval canons and rituals: the men work and the women take care of the house. Remy and Lucille were born and raised in Surthen, and having come of age they married, just like the other couples in the village.
The call to adventure
A year after their marriage, Lucille gives birth to a baby girl. The whole village is happy about the rare event: births in Surthan are sporadic, unusual occurrences. They are celebrated for days, and even in the weeks that follow, the protective attentions of the elders toward the little creature seem increasingly excessive, almost obsessive. Lucille is uncomfortable, to no avail her remonstrances, not even her husband seems to share her concerns. Lucille decides that she must move away from the village. This idea will be opposed not only by Remy, but by the whole community.
The conflict
Lucille discovers that she is alone; no one will help her in her efforts to get away. She feels like a prisoner. Desperate to find a way to escape, she discovers some hidden documents and realizes that the idyllic village where she was born is actually a cover for a patriarchal sect devoted to Satanism practiced by men and allowing only older women to attend black masses.
In Lucille's mind, all the little oddities she has observed over the years find an explanation, and she discovers that her daughter, born on a full moon night, has only one destiny: to be sacrificed.
The key
Lucille understands that the cult absolutely must carry out her daughter's sacrifice. There is no escape but to attempt escape. But she fails and is taken prisoner. All is lost, the infant is led to the altar for sacrifice. With the force of desperation Lucille manages to free herself and devises the only way to interrupt the ritual and call for help: she sets fire to the village and the neighboring woods. The fire rises devastatingly, drawing the attention of neighboring villages and allowing for a happy ending.
The alternatives
Tension or horror stories rely on simple frames that exploit atavistic human fears: demons, darkness, human sacrifice. Moving the location of events to a roller coaster or within a remote Norwegian fjord is very easy. With these kinds of plots one can also go back in time and even conjure up witch, esoteric, paranormal stories.
