Clawed Predator
Speculative fiction, fantasy-horror, Western drama. A Story of what it is to be HumanAn indigenous vampiric boy’s family is killed. Alone in the world of humans, he struggles to understand his nature, branded as “other”, hunted by his family’s killer, haunted by the reality of what he is, of who he will become.
In writing the screenplay for Clawed Predator I paid attention to conveying the visual style and story first for a graphic novel or limited series comic book realization. I had in mind that the story would work well in a published medium before converting to the screen. This idea runs across the screenplay.
An indigenous vampiric boy, Death Bird, is witness to the slaughter of his immediate family. At first, he searches for his father, only to find him also murdered in a conflict of the historic west. Without his family to guide him, Death Bird gains blood sight (knowledge found in blood) of the world around him and a deeper understanding of the world of man. Death Bird seeks to learn how he fits into his new world. Death Bird knows despite his appearance he is not a man but “other.”
As he consumes the knowledge of human blood, Death Bird’s encounters bring him into conflict with true vampires. Death Bird is hunted by one of these creatures, born of his own family’s fatal encounter. In the end Death Bird must change from prey to hunter to overcome this nemesis but in so doing must face the reality of his true nature.
Death Bird is more animal than human and corrupted by drinking the evil in men’s hearts. With time his animalistic nature grows to dominate his humanity, making him closer to the vampire than man. Confronting his Vampire nemesis, he must face the reality of his true nature – to become death. Death Bird releases his inner animal to revenge and seek justice for his family, but in his final sacrifice proves that he has a deeper humanity than many of the humans he has encountered.
