AND THEN HE COMETH (11-page short horror screenplay) by Warren Duncan

A Halloween party descends into chaos for a young girl and her partner when they take center place in an ancient ritual.

One lesson I’ve learned in life; never go to a party unless you’re personally invited or you know people there who were invited. Especially when it’s at some creepy farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately for Lily and her boyfriend Axel, they learn this lesson the hard way. And that’s putting it very gently.

While strolling around the city during Halloween festivities (Lily in a sexy devil costume, Axel dressed as a demon), they conveniently receive a flier for a “Demons & Devils” – themed shindig. Why not, right?

They hop in an Uber and, next thing you know, they’re at a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. It’s pretty much just as advertised – everyone’s dressed as devils and demons, just like them. But something about the vibe seems terribly off – all eyes seem to be strangely focused on Lily. Could it be the sexy costume? Who knows? But Lily and Axel aren’t feeling it. As they attempt to ditch the party, a demon-dressed party-goer practically pressures them into staying for at least one beer. “One drink and we go!” Axel tells her, yelling over the loud music.

Things don’t go quite as planned and Lily ends up waking up on the couch without Axel and without her cell phone. It seems like the party’s over, a demon-dressed man sweeping the floor around her. Even stranger, it’s not even midnight yet.

Lily wants to leave and it seems as if the demon-dressed man, the only other person who seems to still be there, is trying to help her by calling an Uber. But it turns out that he (along with everyone else at the party) knows much more about Lily than she knows about them.

If you’re a fan of films like “House of the Devil”, you’re going to LOVE this, especially the awesome “gut punch” of an ending. Uniquely horrifying visuals really elevate this one over your average demonic cult film.

BUDGET: Low. One location, three main actors and extras in robes and demon costumes. Oh, and some practical effects (blood, mainly).

ABOUT THE WRITER: Warren Duncan writes screenplays and comics in his spare time and has been lucky enough to have several shorts produced and the first issue of his comic book series published. Warren can be reached at: Warren_duncan(a)hotmail

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

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Forgot who gave us the heads up on this one. Apologies. But thank you.

Bringing Up Baby – Undated, unspecified, badly formatted draft script by Dudley Nichols and Hager Wilde – hosted by: Daily Script – in pdf format

Dr. David Huxley has two reasons to be excited. He is about to be married and the final piece to a brontosaurus, the showpiece to his museum exhibit, will soon be in his possession. Furthermore, if he plays his cards right, a wealthy donor will donate $1 million to his museum, to aid his palaeontological collection. Unfortunately, he meets Susan, a woman who seems destined to unintentionally destroy his life. Huxley soon finds himself playing nursemaid to Baby, her leopard.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

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SCAVENGE (5-page short horror screenplay) by Steve Miles

A backpacker stumbles upon an abandoned campsite only to discover he’s not alone when it comes to an appetite for scavenging.

All right, filmmakers, if you’re looking for something super-low budget to shoot while keeping social distancing in mind – and I know a lot of you are – look no further than “Scavenge” by writer, Steve Miles.

The story opens as a lonely backpacker (never a good thing to be in a horror movie) named Lars happens upon an abandoned beach – the perfect spot to post up for a few days. After setting up shop, he decides to explore the area a little bit while scavenging pretty much everything he can get his hands on – candy wrappers, bottle caps, beer cans, etc.

Lars hits the jackpot when he stumbles upon an abandoned campsite, camping gear and loads of trash (or treasure if you’re Lars) scattered around the remains of a campfire.

But where is everybody? And what happened to them? Not too concerned with any of those questions, Lars peruses the abandoned items like a kid in a candy shop, taking with him a cooking pot and nice camping chair. He even finds an unopened can of beer! Score!

However, Lars spots something else – fabric poking out from under the ground. As he pulls on the fabric, he discovers that it’s a tent buried under the sand. Oh, well, nothing Lars can take with him.

It isn’t until later that night when Lars realizes that something about this abandoned beach is very, very off…

I know this sounds like the set-up to a typical slasher film, but the way this story plays out may surprise you. I know I wasn’t expecting it. In fact, this may be the antithesis to the typical slasher film. For one, there’s no dialogue. Also, there’s no cheap jump scares. Everything is carried by raw tension, specifically a terrifying, visually arresting (yet simple) scene when Lars is in his tent and realizes that he’s not alone.

If you were afraid of camping before, this story definitely won’t help you get over any fears. Quiet, tense and visually horrifying, “Scavenge” is a perfect horror short to film during social distancing. But I wouldn’t recommend watching it alone.

BUDGET: Shoe-string. All takes place outdoors at an abandoned beach with two actors (one main actor).

ABOUT THE WRITER: Steve Miles enjoys writing in a variety of genres but leans toward raw, grittier characters and the worlds they inhabit – from the deadly serious to the darkly comic. Fortunate to have a number of shorts produced (some of which can be seen at Steve Miles’ Short Scripts alongside a range of scripts) with short films Forever Red and A Cool Green Place soon to be released, and The Cold Season which you can watch on Amazon Prime. Steve can be contacted via his website.

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*This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

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Over on the Original Scripts page are eighteen original scripts for your reading pleasure.

And, 21 years ago today SimplyScripts came to life.

– Don

7 Days to Live – June 20, 1999 3rd draft script by Dirk Ahner – hosted by: RainDance – in pdf format

A grieving woman suffers terrifying visions of her own demise after she and her husband move into a country mansion.

Information courtesy of IMDb

Thanks Isak for the heads up on this early draft of La La Land which you can compare to the “For Your Consideration” versions of La La Land that Lions Gate distributed for their awards season push.

La La Land – April 2013 (early) draft script by Damien Chazelle – hosted by: Cursos de Guion Online – in pdf format

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

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DING DONG DITCH (5-page short horror screenplay) by Zack Akers

After thinking a group of mischievous kids are ringing his doorbell and running away in the middle of the night, Matt soon finds out that it’s someone else with much more sinister intentions.

Come on, you know the game. We ALL played it as kids. Remember? That “game” you played when you’d ring someone’s doorbell and run away? It’s more of a prank rather than a game. A hilarious prank if I remember my childhood correctly. Sometimes we’d ring doorbells and hide behind bushes so we could see the befuddlement on their faces when they’d answer the door… only to see nobody there! Oh, what fun!

No harm done, right? A little childhood mischief never hurt anybody. Though some kids liked to light a bag of dog crap on fire and leave it on their doorsteps – which is a bit next level for my taste. But even then, come on! Kids will be kids! It’s like egging houses or toilet papering people’s lawns. No harm, no foul. Just a bit of innocent fun.

At least that’s what you think when you’re a kid. After reading Zack Akers’ atmospheric slasher, “Ding Dong Ditch”, I couldn’t help but look back on those days and realize how creepy that must’ve been for the people answering their doors. Hell, if I hear my doorbell ringing any time after dark, I’m hiding in the closet in fetal position, hand shaking while clutching pepper spray, crying to a 911-operator. Come to think of it, me and my friends were pretty messed up. I can picture my neighbor having night terrors 30 years later all because me and my dorky buds had nothing better to do.

Just imagine if it wasn’t a kid with nothing better to do, but a full-grown adult… who’s idea of fun is much more sinister than ringing a doorbell and running away in laughter. That’s the idea behind “Ding Dong Ditch”, a classic horror slasher that takes familiar horror tropes and exploits the hell out of them in the creepiest and most sinister way possible. No, author Zack Akers isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel here – but he’s taking the wheels off completely and taking us on a homage-fueled hell-ride into the darkest depths of human nature.

The night starts off innocently enough for 44-year old Matt, who’s viewing of the original House on Haunted Hill is unpleasantly interrupted by some punk kids ringing his door bell.

It’s annoying how much Matt reminds me of myself – that old, crotchety middle-aged man shaking his fist at a bunch of up-to-no-good, punk kids.

Sure enough, later that night, the doorbell rings again. Ready to kick some adolescent ass, Matt answers his door again – but there’s nobody there. So, it seems. Unbeknownst to him, there’s someone watching him from the distance, breathing heavily – a classic trope you see in Giallo style thrillers like Dario Argento’s Deep Red – a style later used in slasher films such as Friday the 13th, Halloween and Black Christmas.

While taking a phone call from his ex-wife, Matt hears the door bell ringing yet again. “Oh, those pesky kids!” he’s probably thinking to himself. But he’s about to get a very rude awakening.

If it’s not the kids playing ding-dong-ditch… who is? And why?

Heavy on atmosphere and tense, edge-of-your-seat moments, “Ding Dong Ditch” carries a very depraved and bleak tone with an ending that will remind you of one of the scariest films of the past 20 years, The Strangers. If you’re a filmmaker looking to rack up Youtube views while scaring the begeezus out of anyone who dare watch, I highly recommend you jump on this one.

BUDGET: Shoe-string. Two actors and a house. Can’t get any easier than that.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Zack Akers has been writing screenplays since 2005, accumulating over 25 horror shorts with a handful of them having been produced. A true fan of the horror genre, Zack’s goal is simple – to scare the audience. Right now, Zack is collaborating with several talented filmmakers on some very exciting projects. So be on the lookout for some of his work! He can be reached at: zack.akers.89 (a) gmail

Read: DING DONG DITCH(5-page short horror screenplay)

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*This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

Subscribe to his YouTube Channel. Now!

Thanks to “John” for the heads up.

Summer of 84 – undated, unspecified, fyc draft script by Matt Leslie & Stephen J. Smith – hosted by: Daily Script – in pdf format

After suspecting that their police officer neighbor is a serial killer, a group of teenage friends spend their summer spying on him and gathering evidence, but as they get closer to discovering the truth, things get dangerous.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

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Conan (filmed as Conan the Barbarian) – August 1, 1978 draft script by Oliver Stone (Based on the stories of Robert E. Howard) with later additions by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter – hosted by: Apolitical – in pdf format

A young boy, Conan, becomes a slave after his parents are killed and tribe destroyed by a savage warlord and sorcerer, Thulsa Doom. When he grows up he becomes a fearless, invincible fighter. Set free, he plots revenge against Thulsa Doom.

Information courtesy of IMDb

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