Page 6

Carnifex

FADE IN:

INT. ANNA’S HOUSE- AFTERNOON.

Medium shot of ANNA in the living room sitting on the sofa. It appears she has been sleeping on it for a while now. The room is filthy. There are dirty dishes and magazines thrown all over the floor and the sofa is piled high with dirty clothes. The room is darkly lit although sunlight breaks through the gaps in the blinds. The air is so thick with dirt in the room you can almost see it and smell it. There is nothing on the soundtrack. You can hear her slightly amplified breathing, everything is so silent. Anna looks straight down the camera and slowly starts swaying gently in her seat.
5 seconds later the camera quickly zooms in on her face in a trombone shot as she quickly gasps before screaming. The camera abruptly stops in an extreme close up.

ANNA
(screeching)
STOP IT!!!

Something from the right side of the frame moves and walks out of the open door. Anna immediately follows.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

ANNA’S P.O.V walking out of the room. We can hear violins on the soundtrack frantic and shaky. Camera becomes shaky to echo her movements. She looks left and we hear the front door slam. She quickly turns round and we see the wooden door leading to the rest of the world. She hurriedly walks towards the door and pulls it open. There is blinding white light. Nothing is visible because of the light but we hear (in the distance) the sound of light traffic, children playing out and birds chirping. ANNA bangs the door shut and turns round to looks at the stairs.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

Long shot of ANNA standing watching the stairs. The music has stopped, back to silence. She looks scared. The stairs are as dishevelled as the living room was and again it is very dimly lit. You can feel the atmosphere of the room is tense. ANNA raises her left hand and (keeping her arm close to her body) points out her index finger. She begins to sway again making silly patterns with her finger.

ANNA
(whispering and mumbling so we can barely make out what she’s saying)
………there I met an old man who wouldn’t say his prayers so I took him by his left leg and threw him
(and this point she gets louder)
down the
(she screams)
STAIRS

She quickly runs up the stairs (violins play again fast and furious) managing not to trip over all the mess. The camera follows her to the foot of the stairs and stops but tilts up to follow her. She pauses at the top of the landing.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

INT. ANNA’S BEDROOM- DAY
Silence on the soundtrack. Light shines through the window and we can see nothing but mess.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

INT. LANDING- DAY
CU ANNA paused on the landing. Violins play again.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

INT. ANNA’S KITCHEN- DAY
The kitchen looks grimy, as if it hasn’t been cleaned in weeks. Silence on the soundtrack.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

INT. LANDING- DAY
CU ANNA paused on the landing. Violins play.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

ANNA’S P.O.V
She looks at the door to her room and the door to CHARLIE’S. She moves towards the bathroom.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

INT. ANNA’S BATHROOM- DAY
The violins have stopped. The bathroom is surprising clean. The room feels light and airy and although it is a sickly avocado colour the room is pleasant. A large wooden door is closed and ANNA enters the frame from behind the camera. Pan pipes gently graze the soundtrack and ANNA walks slowly to the door. She throws herself at it and steps back. She raises both her arms and bashes the door and again steps back.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

ANNA’S P.O.V sees her face in the mirror. She looks down at her hands and places them in the sink cupping them full of water. She lifts her hands to her face (and the camera) and splashes it with the water.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

INT. LANDING- DAY
ANNA’S P.O.V stares at CHARLIE’S door. The music has stopped now and we are back to deadly silence. She slowly walks forward and nudges the door open.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

Close up of ANNA. She looks horrified. She is dumbstruck and doesn’t move. She stares silently down the camera and looks right into the audience. The shot last for 5 seconds.

STRAIGHT CUT TO:

Reverse shot to see what ANNA sees. As the shot reverses we hear a re-enactment of the hanging on the soundtrack and Charlie quietly whispers “mummy”. The room is dirty and dimly lit. You cannot see any of the carpet because of the mess and everything is dark, there are no children’s toys and the decoration is plain and adult. CHARLIE is hanging in the middle of the room from the tudor beam. His hair is draped over his face so you cannot see it at first but his 7 year old body is still slightly swinging and as he rocks round to face the camera and you can see his closed eyes and pale swollen face.

FADE OUT:

WORD COUNT: 817

Carnifex Synopsis.

Anna Lynch is 29 years old. She’s been married for 9 years to Mike a policeman and they have a 7 year old son called Charlie.

It’s recently been in the papers about a couple of suicides committed by young boys in the local school. After another young boy commits suicide the police begin to think there is something not right about it.

Mike is assigned to the case as no-one else wants to handle it given the sickening circumstances and with the position Mike’s in at work he literally cannot refuse.

Things get worse for Anna and Charlie as Mike has to bring home some of his work. Mike gets very wrapped up in his work which irritates his wife and son.

Mike gets deeper and deeper into the case and begins to believe there may be a mystical force behind the suicides. When Anna commits herself to an institution Mike is left alone with his bothersome partner who becomes his only ally. As the case starts to unravel Mike is put under pressure by everyone around him to work out what is going on with the towns children before anyone else dies.

Word Count: 192

The scene would come about 40 minutes into the film. Mike has been on the case a while and some of Charlie’s friends have committed suicide. Charlie’s behaviour has started to change and Anna is having nightmares about the case. She has begun to think she is losing her mind and this is the moment when she finally does.