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Nostalgia Kills

A washed-up paranormal TV crew heads to an abandoned mall to exploit a legendary massacre for ratings, only to find themselves trapped inside a bloody slasher sequel where someone is determined to finish the story that started twenty-five years ago.

Twenty-five years after the Winterfield Mall massacre left thirty-three people dead, washed-up paranormal TV host JIMMY MICHAELS sees the tragedy as one last chance to save his failing series. With surviving killer RONALD KRAMER finally facing execution, Jimmy drags genuine psychic NORA STEVENS and his dysfunctional crew to Winterfield to investigate the abandoned mall—a decaying time capsule still frozen in 1999. But Nora immediately senses something is wrong. The dead are restless, the locals want them gone, and when Kramer’s prison transport is deliberately crashed, the convicted killer escapes into the surrounding woods.

As the crew digs into Winterfield’s buried history, Sheriff Williams is brutally murdered, their producer is found slaughtered, and massacre survivor MAX SPELLER reveals the horrifying events that destroyed his childhood. Nora begins seeing the victims themselves—including Max’s murdered father—trying to warn her that the danger isn’t coming from Kramer. By the time Jimmy decides they should abandon the investigation, it is already too late. The crew returns to the mall to collect their equipment and finds the security team butchered, their driver murdered and Kramer himself burned alive at the entrance. Someone has turned Winterfield Mall into a killing ground all over again.

Trapped inside, Nora discovers the massacre’s surviving children have spent decades consumed by what happened to them. Max and cameraman LIONIS “KITTY KAT” FREEMAN—really survivor Joel Freeman—have engineered a new bloodbath, determined to force the world to remember Winterfield and emerge from it as celebrated survivors. As Jimmy, Loogie and Brian are brutally picked off, Nora must finally trust the psychic gift she has spent years exploiting for television. Guided through the mall by the ghosts of its original victims, she fights back against Max and Lionis inside the last surviving Blockbuster—turning their recreation of the massacre against them and becoming the one survivor nobody planned for.

Script Excerpt
Written by:
Format:
Screenplay
In the Vein Of:
Scream
Fear Street 1994
Grave Encounters
Posted:
08/07/2026
Updated:
08/07/2026
Author Bio:
Ritchie “Stonian” Johnston is a British screenwriter and novelist specialising in high-concept genre storytelling across horror, thriller, action, sci-fi and dark comedy. A former independent filmmaker, he brings a strongly visual, character-driven approach to his work. Ritchie was selected for the ISA Development Slate and named one of ISA’s Top 25 Writers to Watch for 2026. His work has earned recognition across numerous competitions and industry programmes, including two consecutive appearances on the Capital Fund Screenplay Contest Hot 100 with different projects.

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