Personal Screening

ANNOUNCER

This episode is dedicated to Nikolas Rabayda – who thanks their friends Dreach Noishe Mrm, Boot boot, and Kobalt Jäger. May the Ceaseless Watcher avert their gaze on us.

[Intro Theme]

ANNOUNCER

Rusty Quill Presents: The Magnus Protocol.

Episode Five – Personal Screening.

[Music]

---

[Tinny audio quality: we are listening through a landline recorder]

[Quiet typing]

[A tentative knock at the door]

LENA

(calling) Come in.

[Door opens]

LENA

Good evening, Sam. I don’t believe we had a meeting scheduled?

SAM

(from the doorway) Well, no, but I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes though? I think it might be important.

[Beat.]

LENA

Very well.

[Footsteps as Sam closes the door and approaches]

LENA

Do take a seat.

SAM

Oh, er, sorry –

LENA

It’s fine.

[Sam sits. Fabric rustles as he puts a bag down on another chair.]

LENA

What is it you wanted to discuss?

SAM

Well, it’s a bit awkward… I’m not really sure how to – um…

LENA

For the sake of efficiency, let us presume that since you said it is important, I will not make any assumptions.

SAM

Okay, yeah. Well in that case, it’s Colin.

[Beat]

LENA

Go on.

SAM

Er… I’m worried about him. That is, um. Well, today I found him crawling along the corridor, yanking out wires and muttering to himself.

LENA

Well, Colin’s role does include technical maintenance.

SAM

Sure, but, I mean, he’s added all those locks to his office door and he refuses to even go near a camera now…

LENA

A desire for personal privacy is not a crime.

SAM

Yes, I understand that, but…

I think that the stress is getting to him, and honestly? I think he might need some professional help.

[Pause.]

LENA

Anything else?

SAM

Um… No?

LENA

Right. Well firstly, thank you for raising this with me, Sam. It’s important we don’t keep secrets here.

SAM

Oh, that’s quite all right.

LENA

Now, while I understand your concerns, you need to understand that Colin has held the IT Manager position for some time without incident, and although he is somewhat… frustrated with his current assignment, he can request help from the central IT team at any time. I am certain that should he find his responsibilities unmanageable, he will request assistance. Or resign, of course.

Either way, the problem will resolve itself.

SAM

Right.

LENA

…Was there something else, Sam?

SAM

I–… no. No, I guess not.

LENA

Very good.

[Beat]

[Sam stands with a rustle and goes to leave]

[He opens the door]

LENA

And Sam?

SAM

(from doorway) Yeah?

LENA

Please schedule such meetings in future.

SAM

…Sure.

[SAM exits.]

---

[The decrepit OIAR computer begins recording]

[Stomping footsteps]

[Sam sits down at his chair heavily and dumps his bag on the table]

[He turns on the computer]

ALICE

Glad to see you’ve been learning from my exceptional example.

SAM

(brusque) What?

ALICE

You’re late.

SAM

Okay.

[As Alice continues, he angrily unzips his bag, pulls his stuff out and roughly puts it on the desk.]

ALICE

And thanks to my incredible perception skills and genius intellect, I think I can detect the subtlest hints that you might be ever so slightly miffed. But I could be wrong –

SAM

Lena – doesn’t take me seriously.

ALICE

Ah. Yeah, Lena isn’t exactly known for her diplomacy.

[Beat.]

SAM

(picking up paper) What’s all this?

ALICE

(as if to a toddler) That – now bear with me on this, Sam, because I know you’re feeling emotional right now – is paper! It’s made from trees. And –

SAM

Alice! Not today. Please?

ALICE

(normal again) I had a nosey while you were in Lena’s office. Looks like it’s for your Response department one to one.¹

[More paper rustles. Sounds like there’s a lot.]

SAM

What? All of it?

ALICE

As far as I can tell.

SAM

Good grief…

ALICE

Just chuck it. I told you, I’m pretty sure the Response Department doesn’t even exist anymore. It’s just the system spitting out dead paperwork. Happens all the time.

[SAM takes a moment, then settles down]

[Pen click]

[Scribbling as he starts filling out the forms]

[Alice sighs]

ALICE

Did you not hear me?

SAM

(still writing) I heard you.

ALICE

And?

SAM

And I’m going to fill it in anyway. See what happens.

ALICE

You’re wasting your time.

SAM

It’s my time to waste.

ALICE

You say that, but your caseload is pretty heavy tonight, and I’m too busy to bail you out.

SAM

(distracted) Uh huh… Jesus, they want my last – seven addresses I’ve lived at. I don’t know if I’ve even had –

[Sam’s terminal pings.]

ALICE

Sam? Seriously, you’d better do that later. We’re swamped.

[Sam’s terminal pings again.]

SAM

(reluctant) Yeah, yeah, okay, all right…

[Paper rustles as he puts it away]

[He double-clicks the first case:]

COMPUTER VOICE (CHESTER)

https://www.tomsterrors.blogsphere.org

BLOG POST: GENERAL: WELCOME TO MY TWISTED MIND!!

Hey all you sick freaks out there, Tom here, your gruesome guide to the most twisted horror films of the world wide web!

We’re gonna be talking about the darkest, splattiest stuff here – starting next week with Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2!

Stay bloody!

BLOG POST: GENERAL: A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Wow, this is all incredibly weird. I can’t believe this blog’s still up. Was looking for somewhere slightly less confrontational than social media to post my film thoughts, and I remembered starting this back in, what, 2009? That first post… Fourteen years old and convinced I was the edgiest writer on the web. Might keep it up for posterity, god knows the kid went through enough.

I remember I was pretty lonely in those days. Ever since I was a child, making friends has always been kind of a struggle. My interests have always been seen as a little… strange. While other kids my age at the time were looking up to football players and other celebrities, I was looking up to Pinhead and Freddy Krueger… It wasn’t in a psychopath kind of way or anything, I’ve just always been fascinated by horror. I can thank my dad for that, he showed me Puppet Master when I was six. “Oh, don’t worry, buddy! It’s just like Toy Story”…

He had kind of a dark sense of humour like that. That’s when my fixation started. We must have watched thousands of weird and obscure horror films over the years… Critters, Ghoulies, Wishmaster… I couldn’t get enough. And that is what brings us here today. THIS is the first (new) post of the Horror Dumpster Dive! I am going to use this blog to talk about all things HORROR. This could include film reviews, gaming news, and just basically my general thoughts on the genre!

The plan is to focus on unknown gems. There’s a comment section as well, so if you like something or just have some general feedback… feel free to leave a comment! And remember… One man’s TRASH is another man’s TERROR!…

I’m really proud of that tagline. Bye!

BLOG POST: FILM REVIEW: FIRE IN THE SKY

[The contents of this post have been deleted.]

BLOG POST: GAME REVIEW: SWEET HOME

[The contents of this post have been deleted.]

BLOG POST: FILM REVIEW: PUPPET MASTER 4

[The contents of this post have been deleted.]

BLOG POST: GENERAL: SOME NEWS!!

Hello there, horror hounds! Hope you are all having a terrorific day today! I sure am. I know that this blog is still fairly new, but I must say it feels so good to have like-minded people to talk to. And I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone that has been leaving recommendations in the comments!

There have actually been a few that I’ve never even heard of. I can’t seem to find the original comment anymore, but one of you mentioned a film called “Voyeur.”

I looked it up and I can’t seem to find anything about it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s literally dozens of films with that title, but let’s just say that most of them aren’t horror and none released in 2009. The only thing I could find was another old blog with what must have been the shortest film review I have ever read. You can check the link, but I’ll save you some time: all it says is “Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen.”

I am sold. I need to track down this film! If any of you have any more info on Voyeur, please leave it down below in the comments. Oh! And remember, if you like what I’m doing here, you can contribute to my Ko-Fi! Every little bit helps. Those old hidden gems can get expensive… Bye!

BLOG POST: GENERAL: HUGE UPDATE!!

Oh my God. I can’t believe one of you found it! Thank you SO MUCH Cinephobia12220 for the link! I have no idea how you even found it.

You’re right that it seems to be the official website for the film. It’s so strange though. You should all check the link out for yourselves. It looks like it hasn’t been updated in years but they appear to be currently running some kind of contest!

The winner gets a private screening of the film and then they get to be part of a Q&A with the director, and I figure why not, right? The form literally only asked me to enter my name… I never win these things, and the draw probably already happened years ago, but – what the hell. I will let you all know if anything comes of it. I still haven’t found a copy of the actual film online anywhere yet. Thank you everyone for the help and don’t forget! If you have any recommendations for some other hidden gems you would… like me to take a look at, please leave a comment down below. Thanks!

BLOG POST: GAME REVIEW: FAITH; THE UNHOLY TRILOGY

[The contents of this post have been deleted.]

BLOG POST: GENERAL: NO WAY

I won the contest! I can’t believe it! The invitation was waiting when I got home today, in a small black envelope. I don’t even remember giving them my address. The website must have logged my IP and looked it up or something… I’m really not sure how any of that works.

The letter also had all the details about the screening itself. It’s very short notice, but the screening is THIS Saturday! I’m supposed to have work that night, but I’m going to figure it out. There is not a chance in hell that I am going to miss this.

And I’ve actually been to this cinema before! I used to go all the time with my dad… they would play classic horror films midday every Saturday. That’s where I saw I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Thing for the first time. I haven’t been there in years though… I actually didn’t even know that it was still open.

It is a bit of a trek to get there, so, if you would like to contribute to the expenses, you can head over to my Ko-Fi page. I’ll leave a link in the comments. I’m not sure if I’ll have time for any other posts before this weekend, but I will try my best. Talk to you all soon!

BLOG POST: GENERAL: GETTING READY

Sorry I’ve been M.I.A. these past few days… I’ve actually been pretty nervous about this whole event. This film could never live up to my expectations… this happens to me when it comes to horror films. In fact it comes up so often that I even came up with a term for it. I call it “Getting Babadooked.” Everything that I read about The Babadook before seeing it was how phenomenal it was. I was so hyped for that film that I even ended up dressing for the occasion… and then… blerg. It was so embarrassing… I struggle to think of a more disappointing film.

But I’m sure it won’t be another Babadook. I can’t believe that tonight is finally the night! I know that I only found out about this film like a week ago, but I feel like I’ve been waiting to see something that would truly scare me for… years now. I feel like I’ve been kind of… numb to the whole genre. Obviously, I still really enjoy everything horror-related, but it takes a lot to get any sort of reaction out of me these days… I even started seeking out the borderline “should be illegal” stuff… Faces of Death, the August Underground series… even those barely get a shudder out of me… I’m hoping this might finally scratch that itch.

Sorry, I’m just rambling now. I really need to log off and start getting ready! And oh yeah! I forgot to mention, I’m sure you all are wondering when you will be able to hear all my thoughts on the experience. Well, I have good news. You won’t have to wait at all! The invitation to the screening actually explicitly mentioned that liveblogging the event is okay! I’ve been testing out some of these speech-to-text apps and I’ve found one that should work, so prepare for my impressions… live!

I’m so excited and I hope you all are too! Okay. I am going to order the Lyft now… If you would like to help pay for that, my Ko-Fi and PayPal are in the pinned comment down below… Next time you hear from me, I will be at the cinema!

Talk to you later, Horror Hounds… in real time!

BLOG POST: LIVE BLOG: “VOYEUR EVENT”

I made it! Finally! The price of the Lyft was absolutely insane, but it is definitely going to be worth it.

Wow. This place looks just how I remember it, although it’s old, obviously, and… dirtier. Yeah, time has not been kind to this place. There’s ripped trash bags on the front steps and there is some… er, pretty graphic graffiti all over the walls. You’d think that they would want to clean things up a bit before hosting an event?

Huh. There’s just the one car in the car park… “Voyeur Fan Screening – SOLD OUT” is on the marquee, so this is definitely the right place.

Is it a private screening just for me? The contest didn’t mention that. That’s, [UNINTELLIGIBLE], cool, actually. I’m going to head on in… Hang on a sec.

[Note: the voice does actually read out the word “unintelligible.”]

Oh my God. Never judge a book by its cover, I guess. It is glorious in here! The carpet and walls are absolutely pristine, and the smell of freshly buttered popcorn! Mmmm. I’m not sure where exactly I’m supposed to be right now, so I’m going to head over to the ticket counter and see if the employee there can point me in the right direction.

The guy was very helpful. Apparently, Voyeur is the only film playing tonight so I guess I have the place to myself! I also get a large popcorn and a drink. I told him I didn’t really want them, but he was kind of touchy about it. I asked about the mess outside, trying not to be rude about it, but he just said, “It’s what on the inside that matters.”

That’s kind of deep when you think about it. I’m going to go grab my snacks and then try and find my seat.

Snacks acquired! They’re obviously short-staffed, since it was the same guy working the concession stand. I feel bad. He looks super old and they’re really putting him to work. He seems in good spirits though. Okay… [UNINTELLIGIBLE] find my seat!

The poor guy, they have him ushering too! They really need to hire more staff…

Oh wow… There’s really nobody else in this whole cinema! I’m so lucky! There’s absolutely nothing like sitting alone in a cold room and watching a scary film that you know nothing about.

So I’m almost done with my popcorn and the film hasn’t even started yet. No previews or anything… Do I go talk to the old guy? I really hate [UNINTELLIGIBLE] bother him. I’m just going to wait for now.

This has to be the best popcorn I have ever had. I’ve eaten the entire bucket before the film even started, I haven’t done that since……

Oh, something is happening! The projector is officially on! Here we go…

So it’s been a minute, and the screen is still black. I can hear what sounds like… beeping. It sounds so familiar but I can’t quite place it. Medical equipment maybe? There’s something [UNINTELLIGIBLE] the screen… Looks like it might be a flashback or something, handheld… looks like it was filmed on an old camcorder…

(softly) Wait. Is that…?

I know that room…. How… How did they get [UNINTELLIGIBLE] This was after the accident. Mum wanted to film it for my brothers… Dad… I… [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Wait. Who is that? In the corner of the screen, there’s… (soft, more shocked than anything) Who the hell is that?

BLOG POST: FILM REVIEW: VOYEUR

Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen.

---

[We’re hearing through the echoey CCTV audio again.]

[Alice is speaking on the phone. She sounds tired.]

ALICE

– glad to hear it. You did say this new band was pretty solid.

(sighs) No, it’s fine, if you can hold on till payday I’ll be able to cover it, no worries. (lightly) Besides, it sounds like I’ll be getting it back pretty soon, the way things are going.

I know, I know. Just make sure next time, yeah? I won’t always be there to wipe my sweet little brother’s bum-bum for him.

(amused) Oh, you always say the sweetest things.

Look after yourself.

[ALICE puts the phone down.]

[She sighs deeply.]

GWEN

(a bit intense) Are you finished?

ALICE

(jumping) Jesus! How long were you lurking there?

GWEN

I wasn’t lurking. I need to ask you something.

ALICE

(still catching her breath) Right, fine!

GWEN

Do you remember the IT manager before Colin?

ALICE

Who? Amelia? What about her?

GWEN

No, before Amelia, before I joined. German guy. Lots of tattoos.

ALICE

I mean, I think Amelia mentioned him once or twice, maybe? Mostly I remember her complaining about his work, but he’d have been here well before my time. What’s this about?

GWEN

None of your business.

ALICE

What?

[Footsteps; Gwen is already leaving]

Seriously?

GWEN

Yes.

[Pause.]

ALICE

(to herself) What the hell is wrong with everyone today?

[The OIAR computer emits an error noise]

ALICE

Oh, don’t you start.

---

[Music]

ANNOUNCER

The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 4.0 International License. The series is created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J Newall, and directed by Alexander J Newall.

This episode was written by Jamie Petronis and Alexander J Newall, and edited with additional materials by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J Newall, with vocal edits by Nico Vetesse, soundscaping by Meg McKellar, and masting by Catherine Rinella with music by Sam Jones.

It featured: Billie Hindle as Alice Dyer, Shahan Hamza as Samama Khalid, Anusia Battersby as Gwen Bouchard, Sarah Lambie as Lena Kelley, with additional voices from Jonathan Sims.

The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner, with executive producers Alexander J Newall, Dani McDonough, Linn Ci, and Samantha F.G. Hamilton, and Associate Producers Jordan L. Hawk, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Cetius d’Raven, and Megan Nice.

To subscribe, view associated materials, or join our Patreon, visit rustyquill.com. Rate and review us online, tweet us @therustyquill, visit us on facebook or email us at mail@rustyquill.com.

Thanks for listening.