Analysis: An Old Man

An OLD MAN tells a YOUNGER MAN, who has just been released from prison, a fantastic tale of a pond known at the Witch Creek Pond. The Old Man tells him that one day Young BEN was supposed to go fishing with his dad, but refused. Later, Ben and his mother learned that his father drowned in the pond. Years later, when Ben 's mother died, she made him promise to scatter her ashes in the same pond.

Ben goes to the pond and begins to scatter her ashes when a black substance consumes Ben and his boat. Ben is pulled into the water.

Ben wakes up at the edge of the pond and discovers a young woman watching him. She doesn 't speak. Ben takes her home but can 't get her to talk. She begins to act bizarrely. She dances to the same music over and over.

At times the story reminds one of the film called MISERY and at other times it reminds one of the movie SPLASH as well as the LADY IN THE LAKE. The genre blends fantasy with a thriller and a romance.

The tone is mainly dramatic and sometimes feels surreal. The actionable goal of the protagonist Ben is to escape and survive. The stakes are high. The storytelling is very unpredictable. There are themes about forgiveness.

The plot offers a compelling mystery about the identity of the lost girl. There 's a solid inciting event when the girl holds the protagonist captive in his own home. The audience is hooked.

The second and third act are driven by the protagonist 's need to escape and eventually battle the creatures and the witch to save the girl.

The story is actually told in a flashback in which an old man tells the tale to a younger man. It 's a workable structure given the twist ending of the baby boy.

However, be aware that most will already have guessed that the old man is Ben. The twist still works. The only concern about this type of structure is that it transitions too many times to the old man and the young man. Consider minimizing this. Also, it 's not clear how the young man being released from prison adds to the storytelling. Perhaps there can be another reason that they