Thriller treatment

Flashback to 1996- tells the story of how the woods are haunted.

Dusk: Two young teenage girls go into the woods as a shortcut to get home. Ellen is a horror enthusiast and Freya is scared of all horror/ghost stories. Ellen convinces Freya to go through the woods.

As they are walking they start to hear noises and they both run in different directions. Ellen comes across a young girl sitting on a bench, she then realises this is not a girl and in fact a demon/possessed girl as her eyes are entirely white.

Camera cuts away to Freya as she hears the screams of Ellen followed by the sound of a something large being dropped into a pond, Freya runs and sees the demon girl. Camera cuts to a shot of the wood floor, screams are heard and one of Freya’s shoes with blood on lands in front of the camera.

Opening titles roll

Back to modern day

A group of 5 teenagers (girls and boys) show a fascination towards the stories of the demon in the woods and decide to see for themselves if they’re true.

The teenagers decide to do a campout in the woods and joke about seeing if they can survive the night.

Weird things (noises, movements in the bushes etc) start to happen as early as they are setting up camp and one of the teens wants to leave but they persuade him/her to stay.

As they start jokingly telling each other ghost stories and urban myths about the woods, some true some not, one of the teens shares a book with the group that tells you how to summon demons. All but one of the teens thinks it is a good idea to perform the ‘spell’ as all the stories about the woods are just ‘silly ghost stories’.

At first nothing happens, until two of the teens have an argument and one of them walks off. They come across a young girl sitting on the bench, just like the flashback showed, the same thing as in 1996 happens (she is thrown into the pond).

The rest of the group start to wonder where the other teen is and decide to as a group go in search for him/her.

As they are walking they start to hear noises and they think it is the other teen and they have been hurt or are in some kind of trouble. One of the teens gets left behind because they go to tie their shoelaces.

This pattern follows with one of the teens getting left behind for some reason. Each of the teens gets killed/possessed in one of the ways in which the stories they previously told. Once the demons are summoned they will not go back to rest until they have completed the pattern.

The film follows the teens as they try to find a way to escape the pattern and to put the demons at rest for good.

The film ends as the final teen is killed. The camera shows a close up of their face while zooming out to show their entire body until they suddenly open their eyes, which are entirely white just like the young demon girls were.

Credits

How this will help me to create my thriller opening:

Writing this thriller treatment has allowed me to gain knowledge of what the whole film would be like if it was made. This means I will know how much to give away in the opening and what I am ultimately aiming for.