GHOST STORY

A short movie concept

By Garrett Gilchrist

EXT - MOUNTAINS - DAY

Aerial tracking shot. We are moving at great speed over an expanse of forests and mountains, far away from civilization. We stop at a stately, ancient-looking home. It is large, beautiful, and completely out of place.

INT - DRAWING ROOM - DAY

The room is somewhat dimly-lit, and there is obviously no housekeeper. We are looking at a photograph of MILES BARRIE, a middle-aged man with a neatly-trimmed moustache, and his late wife, EMILIA. In the photo, both are young and happy. We see another photograph of the two of them, and then another, and another, and then many more -- the house is full of such photographs. Then, above the fireplace, we see an OIL PAINTING OF EMILIA. The brass plaque on it reads "in loving memory." Below this, MILES is pacing back and forth, holding a cup of tea and a miniature tape recorder that looks at least two decades old. He wears unironed slacks and a red smoking jacket, and looks like he hasn't been outside in ages. He is dictating Chapter Eight of a Victorian-set novel into the microphone as he walks back and forth. From what we hear of the novel, it is romantic, but subtly so. He sips on his tea.

A gust of wind. Some unlit candlesticks by the window fall over. Miles is distracted a moment, and then continues dictating. A shadow passes over the sunlit window. The cup in Miles' hand starts to shake. He looks at it ... it isn't his nerves that are doing this. He tries to sip it and it falls out of his hands. The cup shatters on the floor.

Silence. He shuts off the tape recorder. The phone rings.

Miles answers it. On the other end of the phone is ERIC SLATTERY, Miles' agent.

INT - LITERARY AGENCY - DAY

INTERCUT WITH PREVIOUS SCENE. Eric talks on the phone with Miles. Eric is wondering how the new book is coming along. It is getting close to Miles' deadline, and Eric wants Miles to just send his rough dictation tapes over to be typed up, so they'll have something to show the publishers, but Miles calmly says he needs time to make it perfect, that his readers expect that. Eric gives up. He does ask if Miles is all right, and Miles says, of course he is. Eric says, here's a little personal advice ... you should get out, get some fresh air, if you come to the city we'll get a hotel room for you with a good computer, you can write there. Miles smiles and shakes his head ... he says talk to you later, when the book's done, and hangs up. Eric is left not knowing what to think.

INT - DRAWING ROOM - DAY

Miles cleans up the mess left by the shattered teacup and then returns to dictating. In the corner of the room we see his computer, which is idle with a large batch of writing on the screen, and a typewriter in the corner, next to which is a tall stack of paper. Miles picks up his tape recorder and starts dictating again.

EXT - HOUSE - DAY

A shadow passes strangely over the sun, blotting out the light for a moment. It is getting dark, far too soon.

INT - DRAWING ROOM - DAY

Miles is suddenly struck by inspiration. He repeats the last line he dictated over to himself, then walks to the computer and types it out on the screen. He now types quickly and furiously.

A gust of wind at the window. The curtains flutter transparently. The kitchen table is pushed slowly across the room.

Miles fails to notice this, still typing.

The shutters outside bang against the windows. Miles' concentration is broken. He looks angrily at the window, and the banging stops.

He continues typing. His computer screen flickers a bit, flashing black and white, then red and green. Then it shuts off. Miles stops typing and stares at the screen in shock.

The screen turns back on. Miles, with relief, clicks "save."

Then the computer turns off again.

EXT - HOUSE - DAY

A shadow passes over the entire house. It is black outside now.

INT - DRAWING ROOM - DAY

Everything is black. Miles stares at the blank screen. The computer is not working.

A gust of wind at the doorway. The computer shudders and inches forward.

Miles stands up and picks up his tape recorder, but as it does it surges with blue electricity and shocks him. He gasps and drops the device. He inches backward in fear.

The tape recorder rewinds by itself, and then the play button is pressed down. We hear ERIC's words about how Miles should get some fresh air, come to the city ...

Miles shouts "no" back to the tape recorder, and it shuts off.

Miles puts his hand over his mouth and looks around him nervously.

EXT - HOUSE - NIGHT

Sometime later. A shadow passes over the moon.

INT - DRAWING ROOM - NIGHT

Miles has boarded up all the windows. He is just hammering in the nails on the last one when the door opens by itself, releasing a gust of wind. He runs and shuts it, then boards that door up too.

Exhausted, he sits down on the ground and takes a few deep breaths.

A banging noise. The computer inches forward. Its screen of flashes on.

Miles gasps, and stands up. He walks toward it and sits down. Cautiously, he touches his hand to the keyboard. The keyboard flashes blue and shocks him. Miles screams and falls out of his chair in pain.

He lands on his face on the floor, and takes a few more deep breaths.

Miles unplugs the computer.

Cautiously, he moves his hand toward his tape recorder, then at the last moment becomes afraid and takes his hand away. He looks at the tape recorder for a moment, and then becomes angry, as if the tape recorder is movking him. Then he looks up, at the painting of Emilia, and becomes strong again. He picks up the tape recorder and in a bold voice dictates the next portion of his novel. Then, after a moment, the boards and nails fly off all of the windows, and off the door.

Miles gasps in terror, and stops a moment, just staring at the windows, and the strange light which streams out of them.

He then looks at the tape recorder, and talks into it again, wide-eyed and afraid, but this time he is talking about himself, about how he fears a strange presence has manifested itself in his house.

The windows shatter. Miles drops the tape recorder and screams.

Then we see what Miles sees. A ghost, glowing an unearthly green, stands in front of him. We cannot make out its features, but it appears from its flowing hair to be female.

Miles simply stares at it, in utter horror.

Then we hear a faint female voice, saying "Miles ..."

Miles shouts "what do you want from me?"

The voice says "You can't shut yourself away from the world forever."

Miles gasps, and then, after a moment, says "... Emila?"

The female face now comes into focus. It is EMILIA.

Miles tells her how much he loves her, and asks her why she had to leave him. She simply stares at him. She tells him she loves him too, but she's dead now, and that she wants him to live live for himself now, and not to think about her anymore.

He tells her he can't forget her, he'll always be true to her. He's kept the house just the way it was when they were together.

She tells him he has to leave, right now, to run away and never come back to this house ever again. This is a house for ghosts and memories only, and if he stays here long enough he'll become no more than a ghost of a man too.

He is crying now.

She fades away.

EXT - MOUNTAINS - DAY

Miles is driving down a strip of road. He picks up a cellphone and calls Eric, who immediately asks how the book is coming along. Miles tells him he can't think about that right now, but to get that hotel room in the city ready for him, because he's coming down. In fact, says Miles, he may wind up staying in the city permanently. Eric says okay to this, but demands to know at least what the last bit he wrote was. Miles thinks a moment and says, the book? It's basically done, it's the same old thing I've been writing for ten years. But wait until you read the next one. Eric is surprised by this, and repeats, "the next one?" Miles says, "Yeah. It's gonna be a ghost story."

Pan back over the mountains. We see a "for sale" sign on the old house.

FADE OUT.