The Strange Gravity of Gravy
Frank sat amidst the din of the cafeteria, a lukewarm poutine congealing before him, but his mind was not on the soggy fries. Something was off, profoundly, subtly off. The gravy, the lights, the very air – it all hummed with an unsettling, almost playful malevolence. He found himself cataloguing every minute, uncanny detail, desperate to convince his friend, Casey, that he wasn't entirely losing his grip on reality.
# The Strange Gravity of Gravy
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A paranoid high school student's obsession with the unnerving perfection of his cafeteria's poutine gravy reveals a horrifying, otherworldly presence hiding in plain sight.
## Themes
* **Paranoia vs. Perception:** The thin, terrifying line between imagining a threat and being the only one who can perceive a real one.
* **The Uncanny in the Mundane:** The horror that arises when familiar, everyday settings and routines become subtly and unnervingly "wrong."
* **Isolation of Truth:** The profound loneliness and vulnerability of seeing a horrifying reality that everyone else accepts as normal.
* **Conformity as a Mask:** The idea that perfect, efficient, and uniform behavior can be a facade for something monstrous and inhuman.
## Stakes
Frank's sanity, and perhaps his very existence, are at stake as he risks being consumed by the horrifying truth he has uncovered.
## Synopsis
In a bustling high school cafeteria, FRANK, an anxious and overly observant teenager, becomes fixated on the unnatural perfection of the poutine gravy. Its uniform consistency and the way it seems to absorb light feels deeply wrong to him. His friend, CASEY, dismisses his concerns as over-imaginative theatrics, grounding him in the mundane reality of institutional food.
Frank's unease escalates. He perceives a subtle, rhythmic pulse in the overhead fluorescent lights and feels a low-frequency hum that seems to vibrate in his teeth. He sees the other students and staff as automatons, their movements too smooth, their smiles too rehearsed. His focus narrows on the new cafeteria COOK, a man of impossible neatness and mechanical efficiency. The Cook's movements are too precise, too perfect, lacking any human hesitation. Casey, ever the rationalist, interprets this as mere professionalism, further isolating Frank in his growing terror.
A fleeting, distorted reflection of the Cook in a sugar dispenser—a shimmering, undulating image—confirms Frank's paranoia is rooted in reality. Feigning a need for the washroom, he leaves the table, drawn towards the kitchen by a strange, rhythmic thumping sound. Slipping inside, he finds the kitchen eerily sterile. He picks up a ladle the Cook had previously dropped and retrieved with impossible speed. In its polished surface, he doesn't see the kitchen, but a reflection of a vast, writhing, multi-limbed creature of impossible geometry.
The thumping stops. The Cook emerges from behind a stack of trays, his human facade dropping. His movements become heavy and unnatural, his smile widens impossibly, and the low hum emanates directly from his throat. As the creature posing as the Cook advances on him, a paralyzed Frank feels a cold, insistent pressure on his shoulder, realizing he is trapped and his worst fears have been horrifically confirmed.
## Character Breakdown
* **FRANK (17):** Highly intelligent, anxious, and perceptive to a fault. Frank sees the unsettling details others miss, making him feel isolated and paranoid. He is caught in a struggle to trust his own senses against the gaslighting of a mundane world.
* **Psychological Arc:** Frank begins in a state of anxious observation, questioning his own sanity as he perceives subtle cracks in reality. He ends in a state of horrified validation, his paranoia confirmed as terrifying perception, transitioning from intellectual unease to pure, paralyzing terror as he faces the monster he has uncovered.
* **CASEY (17):** Frank's friend; pragmatic, witty, and grounded. She is the voice of reason and normalcy. Her theatricality and gentle dismissal of Frank's fears serve as the audience's anchor to the "normal" world, highlighting Frank's isolation. She genuinely cares for him but cannot see the horror he does.
* **THE COOK (40s):** The primary antagonist. Initially appears as a portly, impeccably clean, and unnervingly efficient cafeteria worker. His movements are fluid, precise, and robotic. This facade conceals a monstrous, non-human entity that mimics human behavior with chilling perfection until its true nature is revealed.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE PERFECT GRAVY:** In the noisy cafeteria, Frank stares at his poutine, disturbed by the gravy's unnatural uniformity. Casey teases him for his "intense scrutiny," trying to pull him back to reality.
2. **A WORLD OUT OF TUNE:** Frank's paranoia grows. He points out the pulsing fluorescent lights and a low hum only he seems to feel. Casey dismisses it as a headache, her rationality making Frank feel more alone.
3. **THE EFFICIENT MONSTER:** Frank's focus shifts to the new Cook, whose movements are inhumanly precise and efficient. He tries to convince Casey, but she playfully reframes the Cook's actions as "culinary ballet."
4. **THE GLITCH IN THE REFLECTION:** Frank sees a momentary, horrifying distortion of the Cook reflected in a steel sugar dispenser. It's a watery, undulating shimmer that vanishes instantly. This is his proof.
5. **THE CALL OF THE KITCHEN:** Visibly shaken, Frank excuses himself. He is drawn past the washrooms toward the kitchen doors by a low, rhythmic *thump-thump* that resonates with the hum he's been feeling.
6. **THE LADLE OF TRUTH:** Frank slips into the sterile kitchen. He picks up a fallen ladle. The reflection in its bowl is not the kitchen, but a writhing, cosmic horror—a churning void of limbs and unblinking eyes.
7. **THE MASK DROPS:** The thumping stops. The kitchen falls silent. The Cook emerges, his human movements gone. He moves slowly, unnaturally, his head tilted at a broken angle.
8. **THE IMPOSSIBLE SMILE:** The Cook fixes his dead eyes on Frank. A low drone begins in his throat as his smile widens impossibly, splitting the skin at the corners of his mouth. He raises a stretching, elongating hand as Frank, frozen in terror, is trapped.
## Visual Style & Tone
The film will cultivate a sense of creeping dread by contrasting a mundane, almost banal setting with subtle, surreal horror.
* **Cinematography:** The film opens with stable, observational shots, reflecting a normal school day. As Frank's paranoia intensifies, the camera will become more subjective, using shallow depth of field to isolate him, and subtle push-ins on unsettling details (the sheen of the gravy, the Cook's still eyes). Handheld shots will be introduced during the climax to convey his panic.
* **Lighting & Color:** The primary setting is the cafeteria, bathed in the flat, humming light of institutional fluorescents. The color palette is dominated by drab beiges, greys, and browns, making the unnatural caramel of the gravy and the cobalt blue of Casey's nails stand out. The kitchen will be starkly lit, with harsh whites and gleaming, reflective steel surfaces that distort reality.
* **Tone:** The tone is one of escalating psychological dread and cosmic horror. It aligns with the mundane paranoia of **Black Mirror**, the surreal, unsettling atmosphere of a David Lynch film, and the creeping conformity horror of **Invasion of the Body Snatchers**. The horror is not in jump scares, but in the slow, dawning realization that reality is a thin, fragile veneer.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A paranoid high school student's obsession with the unnerving perfection of his cafeteria's poutine gravy reveals a horrifying, otherworldly presence hiding in plain sight.
## Themes
* **Paranoia vs. Perception:** The thin, terrifying line between imagining a threat and being the only one who can perceive a real one.
* **The Uncanny in the Mundane:** The horror that arises when familiar, everyday settings and routines become subtly and unnervingly "wrong."
* **Isolation of Truth:** The profound loneliness and vulnerability of seeing a horrifying reality that everyone else accepts as normal.
* **Conformity as a Mask:** The idea that perfect, efficient, and uniform behavior can be a facade for something monstrous and inhuman.
## Stakes
Frank's sanity, and perhaps his very existence, are at stake as he risks being consumed by the horrifying truth he has uncovered.
## Synopsis
In a bustling high school cafeteria, FRANK, an anxious and overly observant teenager, becomes fixated on the unnatural perfection of the poutine gravy. Its uniform consistency and the way it seems to absorb light feels deeply wrong to him. His friend, CASEY, dismisses his concerns as over-imaginative theatrics, grounding him in the mundane reality of institutional food.
Frank's unease escalates. He perceives a subtle, rhythmic pulse in the overhead fluorescent lights and feels a low-frequency hum that seems to vibrate in his teeth. He sees the other students and staff as automatons, their movements too smooth, their smiles too rehearsed. His focus narrows on the new cafeteria COOK, a man of impossible neatness and mechanical efficiency. The Cook's movements are too precise, too perfect, lacking any human hesitation. Casey, ever the rationalist, interprets this as mere professionalism, further isolating Frank in his growing terror.
A fleeting, distorted reflection of the Cook in a sugar dispenser—a shimmering, undulating image—confirms Frank's paranoia is rooted in reality. Feigning a need for the washroom, he leaves the table, drawn towards the kitchen by a strange, rhythmic thumping sound. Slipping inside, he finds the kitchen eerily sterile. He picks up a ladle the Cook had previously dropped and retrieved with impossible speed. In its polished surface, he doesn't see the kitchen, but a reflection of a vast, writhing, multi-limbed creature of impossible geometry.
The thumping stops. The Cook emerges from behind a stack of trays, his human facade dropping. His movements become heavy and unnatural, his smile widens impossibly, and the low hum emanates directly from his throat. As the creature posing as the Cook advances on him, a paralyzed Frank feels a cold, insistent pressure on his shoulder, realizing he is trapped and his worst fears have been horrifically confirmed.
## Character Breakdown
* **FRANK (17):** Highly intelligent, anxious, and perceptive to a fault. Frank sees the unsettling details others miss, making him feel isolated and paranoid. He is caught in a struggle to trust his own senses against the gaslighting of a mundane world.
* **Psychological Arc:** Frank begins in a state of anxious observation, questioning his own sanity as he perceives subtle cracks in reality. He ends in a state of horrified validation, his paranoia confirmed as terrifying perception, transitioning from intellectual unease to pure, paralyzing terror as he faces the monster he has uncovered.
* **CASEY (17):** Frank's friend; pragmatic, witty, and grounded. She is the voice of reason and normalcy. Her theatricality and gentle dismissal of Frank's fears serve as the audience's anchor to the "normal" world, highlighting Frank's isolation. She genuinely cares for him but cannot see the horror he does.
* **THE COOK (40s):** The primary antagonist. Initially appears as a portly, impeccably clean, and unnervingly efficient cafeteria worker. His movements are fluid, precise, and robotic. This facade conceals a monstrous, non-human entity that mimics human behavior with chilling perfection until its true nature is revealed.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE PERFECT GRAVY:** In the noisy cafeteria, Frank stares at his poutine, disturbed by the gravy's unnatural uniformity. Casey teases him for his "intense scrutiny," trying to pull him back to reality.
2. **A WORLD OUT OF TUNE:** Frank's paranoia grows. He points out the pulsing fluorescent lights and a low hum only he seems to feel. Casey dismisses it as a headache, her rationality making Frank feel more alone.
3. **THE EFFICIENT MONSTER:** Frank's focus shifts to the new Cook, whose movements are inhumanly precise and efficient. He tries to convince Casey, but she playfully reframes the Cook's actions as "culinary ballet."
4. **THE GLITCH IN THE REFLECTION:** Frank sees a momentary, horrifying distortion of the Cook reflected in a steel sugar dispenser. It's a watery, undulating shimmer that vanishes instantly. This is his proof.
5. **THE CALL OF THE KITCHEN:** Visibly shaken, Frank excuses himself. He is drawn past the washrooms toward the kitchen doors by a low, rhythmic *thump-thump* that resonates with the hum he's been feeling.
6. **THE LADLE OF TRUTH:** Frank slips into the sterile kitchen. He picks up a fallen ladle. The reflection in its bowl is not the kitchen, but a writhing, cosmic horror—a churning void of limbs and unblinking eyes.
7. **THE MASK DROPS:** The thumping stops. The kitchen falls silent. The Cook emerges, his human movements gone. He moves slowly, unnaturally, his head tilted at a broken angle.
8. **THE IMPOSSIBLE SMILE:** The Cook fixes his dead eyes on Frank. A low drone begins in his throat as his smile widens impossibly, splitting the skin at the corners of his mouth. He raises a stretching, elongating hand as Frank, frozen in terror, is trapped.
## Visual Style & Tone
The film will cultivate a sense of creeping dread by contrasting a mundane, almost banal setting with subtle, surreal horror.
* **Cinematography:** The film opens with stable, observational shots, reflecting a normal school day. As Frank's paranoia intensifies, the camera will become more subjective, using shallow depth of field to isolate him, and subtle push-ins on unsettling details (the sheen of the gravy, the Cook's still eyes). Handheld shots will be introduced during the climax to convey his panic.
* **Lighting & Color:** The primary setting is the cafeteria, bathed in the flat, humming light of institutional fluorescents. The color palette is dominated by drab beiges, greys, and browns, making the unnatural caramel of the gravy and the cobalt blue of Casey's nails stand out. The kitchen will be starkly lit, with harsh whites and gleaming, reflective steel surfaces that distort reality.
* **Tone:** The tone is one of escalating psychological dread and cosmic horror. It aligns with the mundane paranoia of **Black Mirror**, the surreal, unsettling atmosphere of a David Lynch film, and the creeping conformity horror of **Invasion of the Body Snatchers**. The horror is not in jump scares, but in the slow, dawning realization that reality is a thin, fragile veneer.