Subterranean Troglodyte by gewgaw

Subterranean Troglodyte is the soundtrack for the theoretical movie concept of the same name, written by J. Stout.

Each track represents a different movement/set of scenes to be included in the movie. Written below is the film treatment, segmented by the track titles.


Introduction/Chase:
The scene is set in late night New York City, 1977, with our protagonist leaving a bar by foot late at night. Very quickly the jovial mood of the party goers at the bar is snuffed out when our protagonist is reminded of their recent struggles with depression. Distracted by an abundance of alcohol and by a series of unfortunate events that recently occurred in their life, they walk seemingly without purpose on the sidewalk fumbling to get a cigarette out of their coat pocket. In this distraction, they fail to notice a shadowy figure trailing them from behind. Our protagonist decides to cut through Central Park so they can get to their apartment quicker. However, this proves to be a dangerous move, as the park is filled with darkness and eminent danger. As the crowds of people thin out, our protagonist sees the looming shadow of a large figure trailing them from a few feet behind. They begin to walk a bit faster, but they notice that the figure trailing them picks up speed as well. Our protagonist throws their cigarette to the ground and begins to run. Unfortunately, the shadowy figure has already gained close distance and is making fast progress behind them. Though the protagonist tries to run in a serpentine fashion to throw off the shadowy threat, our villain sees through this maneuver and tackles them to the ground in front of a large section of bushes. In this fall, our protagonist hits their head on a large rock, knocking them unconscious. The large shadowy figure then drags the body of our protagonist behind the large bushes to where they find a manhole cover, leading to the massive underground city sewer system. Pulling up the manhole cover, our dark shadowy villain pulls the body of our protagonist down into the darkness and slowly, but carefully, replaces the cover.

Illusions of the Mind:
While being carried on a pull wagon in the underground cavernous sewer system, our protagonist briefly awakens. Our shadowy abductor puts a rag soaked in a unique concoction of sedatives and psychedelic drugs upon the protagonist's mouth. This sends them into a blissful dream. They’ve returned to their comfortable bed in their safe apartment. All things previously plaguing their consciousness have disappeared. Their spouse has returned and they’ve reconciled. They’ve been asked to return to their job and are given a raise. But slowly, they start to feel cold. And damp. As they open their eyes they realize that they are actually locked in a dog cage in a nasty corner of a secret sewer hideout. Still affected by the drugs, their body buzz is still too euphoric to move, however, they know that if they don’t act soon, their abductor will soon return. And who knows what they’ll do when they return…

Sewer Creatures:
The cage is flimsy and collapsible, with a sliding lock. After rocking the cage back and forth the lock slides, but not enough to open the cage. Our protagonist forces themselves against the door forcibly until the door opens. The cage collapses as our protagonist throws themselves out of the cage’s doorway. Their head begins swimming again as a new psychedelic wave sweeps over their brain, giving an awful head rush that forces them to briefly close their eyes and put their head down, collapsing to the ground. When they come out of it and lift their head once more, they realize that they’re not the only ones being held captive. This dark, dripping cavern is filled with cages, occupied with animal/human mutated test subjects. Parts of animals hastily sewn to peoples bodies. Piles of fecal matter. Debilitating smells. And yet- silence. Until they look up to make eye contact with the villains most recent creation- the pig man. Its cold blue eyes express both horror and panic as it begins a shrill squeal that awakens all the other caged beasts. At once, our massive shadowy abductor re-enters from the adjoining room, a dirty laboratory where he makes his godforsaken creations. Our protagonist makes the gamble of quickly unlocking and opening numerous cages in efforts to distract the abductor and gain a chance of escape.

Escape/Search
The sounds of the creature screams is deafening, and our villain makes animalistic grunts of displeasure. In this moment, our protagonist frantically runs through the underground city waterway tunnels, however, they have no idea where they’re going, and it's nearly pitch black. From far behind, they see the shadow of the abductor making quick speed behind them. Desperately searching for any way to turn, they luckily find a ladder leading to a manhole on the surface. As they begin to climb the ladder, suddenly they feel something grab their leg. The abductor gets a firm grip of their ankle, tearing at the bottoms of their pant leg. The abductor takes a knife and cuts the other leg as our protagonist remains holding on to the ladder for dear life. Finally, with the non-injured leg, they’re able to kick off the villain, losing their shoe in the process. This provides them about a minute and a half time to finish their ladder climb to the surface and shove open the manhole cover. Bursting onto the street, they begin screaming for help. Passersby on the sidewalk freeze for a moment, but then continue walking. This is New York City after all. Our protagonist begins to run away as far as fast as they can, which unfortunately isn’t very fast due to their injury. Dirty, covered in animal feces and bleeding, our protagonist finally finds a walking police patrol officer. They frantically try to explain what has happened and what they saw, demanding that a search be conducted of the sewer. At first, they regard the protagonist as a raving lunatic, placing them in cuffs them with intentions of detainment. It is at this point that the police officer looks up to see a massive, shadowy figure with face covering and gas mask standing before him holding a bloody knife. The officer raises the firearm and tells the shadowy villain to drop their weapon and get down on the ground. Our villain instead silently turns around and begins to retreat back to the sewer. After demanding multiple times that the villain stop, the officer fires three shots into the subterranean troglodytes upper back. The villain does not even flinch, but instead continues their descent into the sewer. The officer then calls for back up. This is followed by a massive underground search of the nearby sewer system. Although this search lasts all night, neither the subterranean troglodyte, nor their creations are recovered. Our protagonist is treated for their wounds, and then taken for psychiatric care. Our villain is never found.

Ominous Uncertainty:
After undergoing a years worth of psychiatric therapy, our protagonist is able to return to their normal life. Unfortunately, they are never able to gain full closure or get explanation of the events that they endured since the subterranean troglodyte was never located or apprehended. What’s more is that neither were the creatures. What was the nature of these beasts? Are they evil as well? The protagonist tries not to spend too much of their energy considering these things anymore, as they’ve reestablished themselves with a new group of friends and have gained new employment at a promising new job. In the final scene of our story, we see our protagonist in a late night restaurant bar joyfully interacting with their new friends and colleagues. As the camera pans out from the view of the restaurant to the city street, we see the manhole covering of the sewer outside of the restaurant slowly raise, and move aside. It's then that we see a large gloved hand raise from the opening, holding a recognizable bloody clever. A monstrous pig squeal echoes throughout the deserted city street as the screen suddenly goes black. Roll credits.

A Cincinnati based music label with a mission to bring forth the musical output of underdog weirdos everywhere. Specializing in digital, cassette and CD-R

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