The Tear

The world has changed. People don’t trust each other or themselves. Violence and savagery are common. Love and certainty are not. Earthquakes shake the ground and in the sky there is a massive, angry gash that rends the heavens. 

This is the world of “THE TEAR.” 

“The Tear” is a multi-media, cosmic horror experience that imagines a world where the laws of physics are variable. Science and technology have become stunted as it is increasingly difficult to study things that are ever changing. People and places have become unfixed in time. Most disconcerting perhaps, some animal species have undergone sudden extinction while strange new creatures have generated out of nowhere. 

Every character in this world lives a life of danger, terror, and fear. It is these kinds of stories that can be found here. Our team of writers, filmmakers, and artists use short films, novellas, audio programs, and comics to tell stories that exist within the uncanny world of “The Tear.” 

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Los Angeles, present day. A powerful and vast, cosmic entity lords over Earth as a crack in the sky, twisting reality, overturning the natural order and transforming everyday life into a struggle between good and evil, fantasies and nightmares.

The Tear, having appeared the day man first split the atom, has drifted close enough to not only dominate our view life itself. It’s an awe-inspiring sight to see, more beautiful than the stars and brighter than the moon at night, and yet The Tear’s luminous and vast beauty is betrayed by the horrors it inflicts upon the Earth, humanity and its own, twisted creations.

For it sees.

It knows.

It lives.

OKAY, BUT WHAT IS IT?

In short, the Tear is a god that, without rhyme or reason, has decided to make Earth and all its creatures its horrifying focus. It is a vast and ageless being of transformation and chaos.

While the short is concerned with the twisted relationship of two shapeshifters, and is thematically about identity, the Tear is a universe that is much, much broader. The presence of the Tear renders the world into a Twilight Zone like domain that represents the topsy-turvy nature of our times.

In this universe, supernatural terrors are unleashed upon the world to personify the indifference the universe feels towards us and evil that lives beneath what appears to be an orderly existence. In this world, our characters must struggle against not only the forces of darkness, but the darkness within.

Jealousy, depression, loneliness, vengeance, greed and death… our characters will struggle with the dark side of the human condition as revealed through the influence of the Tear, and in doing so, lay bare who they really are.

If things go well for the short, we’d like to explore the universe further. What angle or mediums this exploration might take remains to be seen, but it is a world that we look forward to sharing with you.

Our short story focuses on two, humanoid shapeshifters that are creations of The Tear. Our villain, Other-Smith, is out to find June and either get her to come back to him and kill her if she refuses.

After decades as a creature without a fixed, human form, Other-Smith has lost his identity and compassion, while June struggles to hold onto who she was and start a new life, free from Smith and The Tear.

THE CHARACTERS

JUNE

A shapeshifter that came into being at the forming of “The Tear,” June has had many names. She was a blues singer in Chicago, a Grandfather in Vancouver, a boy genius in Seattle. She would change lives and shapes when she felt like it or, as was often the case, whenever she would kill somebody. For a creature that can take the form of almost anybody, theirs is a life without consequence.

Decades of constantly changing her name, form, and gender have caused June to lose track of who she is, what she believes in, and what she wants. Summoning great courage, June has decided to never change form again. She will live as one person for the rest of her life. She will live a life of consequences. 

SMITH

Some years ago, June discovered that she could turn other humans into shapeshifters like herself. June did this to Smith(?) and together they lived whatever lives they chose. They were tethered to each other and the only living thing that either could understand or relate to. 

Then, without warning or explanation, June left Smith. Smith has spent years searching for June. He has killed countless people and lost all sense of himself. He has also grown to love and worship “The Tear.” Creatures like June and Smith derive their power from “The Tear” and Smith is it’s favorite child. He is stronger, faster, and more powerful than June ever could be. Now, Smith has found June and she will either join him or be killed.

THE VISION

“The Tear” is a short film that will serve as our audience’s access point to our strange world. The short is part of a larger, anthology film that will tell several stories from the universe we have created. It is a dark, moody, and disturbing tale of identity, betrayal, and death.