StoryPros
Optimus Feedback
Back

Duplicitous

A father takes his young disabled son to the country to reconnect in an old Victorian, but their stay becomes one of regret after a malevolent presence is awakened.

Account executive Owen Mitchell spends countless hours working at a prestigious accounting firm. After closing the deal on a government contract, he meets with his understudy William a senior accountant. He appoints him as the project lead as he prepares to take a leave of absence to reconnect with his 9-year-old son Cody, who is still recovering from an injury in a car accident. The accident injured Cody’s leg and took the life of Owen’s wife. Cody has been in a bad place mentally while recovering and doing physical therapy.

Owen finds a Victorian house in Evanston, Georgia, built-in 1882, ninety-six miles south of Atlanta, and drives down to view the property. He meets with Realtor Abigail Sanders and questions her why it’s been on the market for two years and marked $240,000 below market value. She explains that the previous home’s owner mysteriously disappeared, and people in the town are a bit superstitious. Owen tells her superstitions is the religion of feeble minds and buys the house.

Owen and Cody, who uses a walker to get around, move into the Victorian for the summer. Cody is not enamored with Evanston or the older Victorian. Owen tells him that it’ll grow on him, and he’s looking forward to spending time with him. Their stay is quickly interrupted after Owen gets a call from William explaining to him that the client wants him back on the project or they will lose the contract. He breaks the news to Cody that he will have to do some work for a few weeks, and then they’ll have the rest of the summer together.

Owen and Cody meet Brooke and her 10-year-old-daughter Katelyn while sightseeing. He sees that Cody could use some company and invites Brooke and Katelyn over. Owen takes a business call, leaving Brooke to show herself around the house. She sneaks into the basement and performs a séance. Owen and the kids hear her scream. A visibly bothered Brooke tells Owen that something scratched her. Owen confronts her for ghost haunting in his home, and she leaves upset. Cody tells Owen that the house feels weird, and he’s hears noises. Owen comforts him, saying there’s no such thing as monsters or ghosts, and there’s always a logical explanation for anything out of the ordinary.

Sheriff Hammond stops by the Victorian and tells Owen that two people have died and one person is missing since his arrival. Owen soon realizes that something isn’t quite right about the house after unexplained incidents. Cody goes missing one night in the house. Owen searches the place from top to bottom and the surrounding areas. Afraid to go to the police, Owen finds Abigail and questions her about the house’s history. Abigail’s mother, Linda, tells her and Owen that she and her grandmother accidentally released a dark presence in the house while trying to contact her deceased father. They were able to cast it out, but it took her grandmother. Linda tells Owen they must get Cody back before the witching hour, which starts at midnight. Owen, Abigail, and Linda go to the Victorian and do battle with a demonic witch for Cody’s soul.

Script Excerpt
Written by:
Format:
Screenplay
Budget:
Low
Starring Roles For:
Tom Hardy
Brock Brenner
Lin Shaye
In the Vein Of:
The Conjuring
Insidious
The Possession
Posted:
03/14/2021
Updated:
03/01/2024
Author Bio:
My name is Arthur Demetrius Glenn, and I am a screenwriter/producer/director currently living in the Washington, DC, metro area. I have written ten screenplays with six finishing Quarterfinals to Finals of screenwriting competitions. I plan to shoot my first feature film in the Washington, DC, metro area in the late fall of 2020 or early spring of 2021.

Contest Results:
Barnstorm Fest (Semifinalist) [2021]
Filmmatic Horror (Quarterfinalist) [2021]
Go Pro!