Chapter 29: Cockroaches (4)
How do you make an insect-disaster movie?
Having watched enough genre films, Everly could confidently answer: the filming of such disaster movies is basically divided into four stages: “Introduction, Development, Twist, and Conclusion.”
Stage 1 – Introduction: Usually explains the cause of the disaster. Where did the insect plague come from—nuclear leaks, genetic experiments, monsters awakening from underground… it’s always one of these clichés.
Stage 2 – Development: The insect infestation grows from small to large, gradually affecting the town. At this stage, to increase the sense of mystery—or to reduce human intervention before the disaster fully erupts—generally, no one notices anything wrong except the wise and brilliant protagonist. People continue their lives under a false sense of calm.
Stage 3 – Twist: After the initial buildup, the disaster erupts on a large scale, and the town’s situation rapidly deteriorates. To highlight the horror and brutality of the infestation, countless people die in the disaster, while only the protagonist and their group survive, thanks to the “protagonist’s halo.”
Stage 4 – Conclusion: This is the final showdown. The protagonist, having discovered the insects’ weakness during previous adventures, eliminates the infestation in one fell swoop and saves the town—or, alternatively, almost everyone else dies, and only the protagonist survives, escaping to safety.
↑
Eight out of ten disaster movies on the market follow this formula.
Knowing the pattern, Everly applied it to the current situation: the insect plague was already known to everyone, the townspeople were in chaos, and phones couldn’t reach the outside world… Clearly, if reality were a movie, it had already entered Stage 3. At this stage, a large number of townspeople would die, and Everly herself could even be among them.