History Literature / Migraine

The screenplay was ranked as a finalist in 13Horror.com's 2019 short screenplay contest, and it was published on Amazon on June 19th, 2019.
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''[[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KwWt1NrFV-AsholqfTIJbUXu-FznRLTj/view Migraine]]'' is a black comedy/horror screenplay written by Tropers/JoeBlitz.

** Ken's middle name comes from a certain [[Franchise/FridayThe13th horror icon]].

* BiTheWay: Ken's ex-girlfriend Brenda, who reveals that she has moved on and married a woman. Ken feigns his approval.

* MurderDotCom: [[spoiler: Revealed to be Ken's source of income. In Ken's own words, "the more illegal something is to produce, the more people are willing to pay outlandish amounts of money for it"].

* VillainProtagonist: Kenneth Muntz, inspired by characters like [[Literature/AmericanPsycho Patrick Bateman]] and {{Film/Nightcrawler Louis Bloom}}.

* VillainProtagonist: Kenneth Muntz, inspired by characters like [[Literature/AmericanPsycho Patrick Bateman]] and [[Film/Nightcrawler Louis Bloom]].

* PreMortemOneLiner: "Your pain is my profit".

* AssholeVictim:

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Ken's neighbor Fred. Ken finds Fred and his girlfriend deeply annoying, but they, especially Fred, are really nothing but nice and cordial to him. Makes it all seem insanely petty on Ken's part when he deliberately sabotages their relationship by playing on growing tensions for [[ItAmusedMe shits and giggles]]. [[spoiler: And then murders Fred for no discernible reason at the finale]].

* EvilChef: Ken is revealed to be [[spoiler: is a rather skilled butcher. And people are on the menu]].

* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: A dark example. Ken routinely plays a game with gas station attendant Roy where Roy attempts to make Ken laugh with dark jokes, to no avail. The only time Ken genuinely laughs in the whole story is after deliberately destroying his neighbors' relationship, laughing his ass off as Fred and Kacey have an altercation outside his door.

* {{Anticlimax}}: [[spoiler: Ken kills Penelope, and when Fred comes knocking on his door, one can suspect his reign of terror is over. Ken simply steers his neighbor away, and carries on. The story ends with him on his bed, narrating to the audience about how [[LampshadeHanging disappointed they must be]]]].

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Sanchez. While threatening to throw Ken out into the streets in the dead of winter and relishing the thought of his frozen corpse is harsh, his anger is a bit justified as Ken has been dodging his payments for weeks. Still, it's a little satisfying when Ken gives him a vicious threat on his life, but this "comeuppance" is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Sanchez simply laughs it off.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Ken's neighbors. Ken finds Fred and Kacey deeply annoying, but they're really nothing but nice and cordial to him. Makes it all seem insanely petty on Ken's part when he deliberately sabotages their relationship by playing on growing tensions for [[ItAmusedMe shits and giggles]].

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Ken Muntz, revealed to be a malicious, misogynistic SerialKiller, gets enough income from his illicit dealings to move to a better apartment, and promises to continue his murderous ways until he's caught or killed]].

** Fred, in the midst of a weed binge following his fall-out with Kacey, attempts to confide with Ken. Unbeknownst to him, [[spoiler: Ken is attempting to clean up the scene of his latest murder. When Fred notices two glasses on Ken's table, indicating Ken has a guest, Ken simply replies "what glasses", successfully gaslighting the stoned Fred]].

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the VillainProtagonist. Kenneth Muntz has a sympathetic motive, just trying to make enough money to pay the rent, but his willingness to cross any moral line, his sick pleasure in carrying out his twisted crimes, and his sheer pettiness make him wholly unsympathetic. He also lacks any genuine charisma or charm, leaving nothing but an utterly contemptible HateSink for readers to despise.

* DownerEnding: Ken ruins Fred's love life, [[spoiler: has killed at least seven young women, and makes enough money from selling their meat to move to a new apartment, all with no one being the wiser that a monster is in their midst]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Ken ruins Fred's love life, has killed at least seven young women, and makes enough money from selling their meat to move to a new apartment, planning to continue his spree indefinitely]].

* DrivenToVillainy: Played with with Ken. It's left up to interpretation if his psychopathy is his nature, or how he learned to cope with the cruel environment of his upbringing.

* HypocriticalHumor: Ken calls Roy out for making a joke about a baby being accidentally castrated. Ken is revealed to have no room to judge...

* BerserkButton: Ken is an emotionless individual throughout most of the script, but when Sanchez threatens to render him homeless, he completely loses his cool. He similarly flips his lid when he sees his ex-girlfriend at the flower shop, [[spoiler: and his killing spree is partly the result of his other major berserk button: [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain women]]]].

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Ken's threat to Sanchez, after the landlord manages to genuinely scare Ken with the prospect of being on the streets again. [[SubvertedTrope Sanchez finds it hilarious]], and admires Ken's "balls".

Kenneth Jason Muntz is a seemingly typical American young adult, fending off constant stress headaches and trying his hardest just to keep the lights on at his run-down apartment. A [[DarkAndTroubledPast tough upbringing]] has molded him into an [[TheStoic emotionally cold]] person, and while he projects an outwardly affable persona to his [[TheStoner unwitting neighbors]], he is hiding a dark, dark secret. And with the onslaught of winter approaching and his CrankyLandlord threatening eviction, Ken finds his MaskOfSanity slowly start to slip...

* AdultFear: [[FreudianExcuse Part of Ken's motivation]] is that he wants to avoid the tribulations of his rough childhood on the streets. He is truly terrified of his landlord's threats of eviction, as he'll have to live without a home again. In seeking to avoid this outcome, he abandons every semblance of humanity he has.

** Roy's attempt to make the infamously stoic Ken laugh involves a joke about a little boy being [[spoiler: circumcised during an earthquake]]. Considering Ken's own... activities, it's incredible this doesn't even provoke a response from him.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Ken has a brief flashback that shows that he spent an indeterminate amount of time in his childhood homeless. His monologue to his [[spoiler: victim]] implies that his parents were the kind of people he's describes as "slaving away at dead end jobs" for nothing but ruin. [[FreudianExcuse This, at least partially, explains]] his self-centered, cutthroat ideology, as he believes if he is to "win" at life, he has to be "willing to cheat".

** After seeing the homeless man at the gas station, Ken recalls his own childhood without a roof over his head. Upon coming back to his senses, he immediately drives off, not paying the impoverished man any mind, his indifference seeming weird considering he was once in the same situation. [[spoiler: Then his status as a heartless egotist is revealed, and it all makes sense.]]

** And, of course, there's the [[spoiler: drawer full of cellphones that he uses to frame Fred as a philanderer. The fact that he has all these phones implies shady dealings.]]

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Ken is shown to have gone from being an meek kid raised on hard streets to a [[spoiler: vicious, vindictive serial killer of young women]].

* PreMortemOneLiner: [[spoiler: "Your pain is my profit"]]

** And, of course, there's the [[spoiler: drawer full of phones that he uses to frame Fred as a philanderer. Where he got all these phones is promptly answered...]]