Plato's Cave by Ron Green | Script Revolution

Plato's Cave

Ellen's traumatic childhood experience with a ghost shapes her entire existence and provides her with a steely determination to find out what happened and to eventually become a scientifically driven ghost hunter.

Type:

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Page Count: 
55pp

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Based On: 
My feature script- Bewgley Hall
Synopsis/Details: 

Alfred Stewart turns the neglected Jacobean Bewgley Hall into a swanky five star hotel. Opening night is a thing of splendour; tuxedoes & ballgowns, Ferraris, champagne and caviar. He trusts the invited hotel critics to his nine year old daughter, the sassy Ellen who shows them around and reports back that they love the place. All is going swimmingly...until an unexpected guest arrives.
From her Dad's office Ellen watches the CCTV feeds glitch and warp as Malachi Engels enters, apparently looking straight at her through the cameras.
It was Malachi who let the pile go to ruin and from whom Albert bought Bewgley Hall.
He walks up the sweeping grand staircase and stands outside one of the bedrooms- Fennel. When Ellen, intrigued, approaches, he tells her 'Don't go into Fennel. Don't go into fennel'.
As she watches him walk downstairs she hears the door behind her slowly open, raising the hairs on her neck.
But Ellen's not easily scared, she walks confidently in- and the door closes.
Bricks and plaster pulsate and then fly from the wall at her, and through the dust she sees a pair of deep red eyes staring. Then, truly terrified, she perceives something behind her. She turns and a female 'shape' without any definition floats up to the ceiling. Ellen's guttural scream is joined by a deep howl from the wall.

Alfred bursts in to find his bloodied daughter in a catatonic state. The party guests fly from the building. The night that promised so much ends in disaster.

At the hospital Alfred is asked some uncomfortable questions regarding Ellen's injuries. He would never hurt his daughter! She was hit by falling masonry- a terrible accident! It is represented to him that 'bricks don't fall like that'. He's lead away in a police car for questioning.

Following release 'under caution' his disgusted wife drives him to the hospital where the consultant paediatrician suggests psycho evaluation. Alfred vehemently rejects any intervention and takes his daughter back to the hotel where he attempts to repair the damage to his beloved Bewgley Hall's reputation.

But Ellen is traumatised by the return and ends up in a children's' psychiatric care facility - closed from the world.

His daughter's desperate state, divorce papers, final demands and ultimately a foreclosure notice from the bank prove the final straw.

Alfred takes his life in the grand hall. Ellen- miles away, perceives his intention and in great distress fits uncontrollably in the second he dies.

As his coffin is lowered, Ellen stares into nothing.

Five years have passed. Ellen, now fourteen lives with her grandparents in the country. She remains silent and closed off. Spends her time drawing images of a pair of deep red eyes in the dark and the outline of a female form, floating.

Her Grandparents have been long instructed to hide all reference to the hotel and what happened in Fennel from her for fear it may cause her to relapse, but their frustration at her lack of progress prompts Dr Spearing, her consultant to visit.

He explains Ellen is still, emotionally, inside Fennel. That is her reality. If they are to learn anything of what happened that night they must distance her from her memories.

Ellen's Grandad burns with a passion to clear his son's name- the popular press labelled him a 'paedo' whose daughter went into psychiatric care after an 'incident'.

He's also convinced something very strange happened in Fennel- perhaps something supernatural- how else can Ellen's repeated drawings be explained?

He visits the now closed-down and neglected Bewgley Hall with two of Ellen's drawings. He senses a presence in Fennel and in a desperate bid to learn something he shows pictures of the scene to Ellen. But his plan backfires- Ellen fits and is rushed to hospital.

It's three months before Ellen wakes, incredibly lucid and talking. She remembers her father's funeral, her granny's cooking and nothing else from the past five years or more.

Her Granny takes her to her father's grave...with her Grandad next to him; When she relapsed he couldn't forgive himself and soon after he collapsed and never recovered.

Ellen has had so much trauma and loss to deal with, yet she is driven by the need for answers; Why did her father kill himself, what happened five years ago..and where? Her granny refuses to tell her anything for fear she'll relapse and perhaps never recover.

Ellen starts at the local school where her unhappy history makes her a very soft target for abuse.

She spots a paranormal society poster and on a whim, goes along.

Here she meets Ray; a very intelligent, highly opinionated STEM student- earmarked for a career as a scientist or engineer. But with one fault- he has an imagination and spends his time and big-brained ideas working out methods and makes designs for ghost-hunting kit.

With a common purpose - to find the place Ellen experienced her paranormal event - they click.

Submitted: July 31, 2022
Last Updated: July 31, 2022

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This Script Is Loved By 3 Readers

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The Writer: Ron Green

My love for cinema is at it's most fulfilled when I am immersed in a good horror! There is no better feeling than that of creeping terror or dread of what might happen next! When executed well, horror ticks all the emotional boxes for the audience; along with the hit of fear realised, then (usually) overcome, are relief, panic, wonder, awe ...and in the best exponents, some comedy to give laughter . The whole should ultimately provide the audience with a palpable sense of satisfaction. I find the broad church that is the horror genre a liberating world in which to draw from, and add to. Anything is possible, the rules can be made up as one makes their way. Imagination is key. But also... Go to bio

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