Howling by Mike Underwood | Script Revolution

Howling

A debt-ridden ex-cop lands a lucrative contract to solve disappearances in a remote town. But he eventually realises they have been murdered by psychopathic family in twisted games - and he is their next ‘contestant’.

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28pp

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Every seven years, someone vanishes from the remote, isolated market town of Howling. A curse? A killer? A coincidence?

It’s 2001 and debt-ridden private investigator MATT WALKER lands a lucrative contract from a mysterious client to solve the disappearances once and for all.

It couldn’t come at a better time after a drink-drive conviction cost him his job as head of the Met Police’s elite Missing People unit. He now spends his days evading loan sharks and placating the bank who want to repossess his home and leave his family destitute.

Aided by Howling’s affable historian DEREK CARTWRIGHT, we follow Matt as he investigates five mysterious disappearances in the town stretching back to the 1960s. As he probes deeper and uncovers anomalies and inconsistencies, he experiences a series of ‘accidents’ and clashes with local police chief SGT BRENDAN MILES who tries to thwart Matt’s progress at every turn.

While the audience is shown the truth behind the disturbing cases through horror-packed flashbacks, Matt is unable to solve them with the fragments of clues he unearths. But they are enough for him to reach a terrifying conclusion - something sinister is behind the disappearances.

At the same time, a ghost of Matt’s own past returns in the shape of VICTORIA NOVAK, a former child kidnap victim rescued by Matt’s team from a loving couple and reunited with viciously abusive parents. Years of abuse leave her twisted and driven by revenge so she embarks on a murderous spree to take out Matt’s old team. It leads her to kidnap Matt’s wife SAM and son SEAN before heading for a final showdown in Howling.

As Matt confronts the dark truth of the cases, he finally uncovers the psychopathic CARMICHAEL family are behind the disappearances as part of a sick, high stakes ‘game show’ in which they bet how long victims will survive their deadly Games … and Matt is their next contestant.

In a thrilling climax, as Matt desperately tries to flee Howling, he must face and defeat Victoria, save Sean and Sam, and evade the clutches of the town’s bloodthirsty citizens. But it’s a game Matt and his family can’t win.

Submitted: May 5, 2021
Last Updated: June 2, 2021

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This Script Is Loved By 3 Readers

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The Writer: Mike Underwood

I have a passion for dark, twisting and twisted TV and film which gets the heart racing, the mind questioning and the soul begging for mercy! A little bit about me - armed with a journalism degree, I have been writing professionally since 1999 after becoming a reporter and spending 11 years neck-deep in covering crime and politics in England, Scotland and the United States. I spent two hair-raising years as a night shift city reporter on the Boston Herald in Massachusetts Since 2010, I have worked in the less treacherous world of PR & Communications, winning national awards for creative campaigns, media relations and team leadership for a range of public and private sector organisations... Go to bio

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