Polly by Robert Bruinewoud | Script Revolution

Polly

A woman hiding from her abusive ex, moves into a secluded, rural house, only to discover that it is haunted by a reclusive poltergeist.

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Page Count: 
16pp

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Age Rating:

Synopsis/Details: 

Set in and around a small country town, we meet a woman, WILMA (30s), as she moves into an isolated, rural house. It goes well, except for a recalcitrant kitchen drawer that she has to fight to open.

That evening Wilma ensures the house is secure and goes to sleep with pepper spray in her bedside drawer and a cricket bat at her side. She is woken in the middle of the night by a sound, but a search of the house reveals nothing.

In the morning she finds the recalcitrant drawer on the floor with cutlery scattered around it. Frightened, she searches the house again, but finds nothing amiss.

That night, Wilma is woken again. She goes to the kitchen and finds the drawer on the floor, and all the cutlery bent and twisted. She goes to her computer and discovers the house was the site of a murder.

The next day she goes to the realestate agent to discuss her situation. The agent is less than sympathetic and of little help. Later, in the town’s op shop (thrift store) while buying some replacement cutlery, she also buys an old children’s bible.

At home, she gingerly places the bible in the empty cutlery drawer and quickly shuts it. Nothing happens.

That night Wilma's sleep is undisturbed. In the morning she finds the drawer is in its place. Relieved, she opens the drawer, only to be blasted by a blizzard of torn paper. She looks in the drawer and sees only six squares of paper remaining. The letters spell: G O A W A Y

Her first impulse is to do as she’s told, but instead, she creates a basic ouija board. With it she manages to make contact with “Polly”, the murder victim.

Sometime later, the house is now a home. She is 'discussing' with Polly what music she’d like to listen to when-- the front door is kicked open!

Her Ex enters with a hunting knife and soon has Wilma cornered in the kitchen. The drawer beside him rattles. He turns toward the sound and the drawer flies open, smashing into his groin. He falls to his knees and slams the drawer shut. Only for it to shoot out and slam into his head, knocking him unconscious.

Wilma finds her phone and is about to call the emergency number, when her Ex wakes. Wilma tells she's calling an ambulance and not to remove the knifes he's stabbed himself with. Enraged, he tries to scramble to his feet, only to slip on his own blood and fall on his knife, killing himself. Stunned, she answers the Emergency Operator on the phone.

———

LOCATIONS
- secluded, rural house – day & night
- small town realestate office – day
- small town op shop (thrift store) – day

ACTORS
- lead (women, 30s)
- realestate agent (woman, 50s)
- op shop staff (woman, 60s)
- abusive ex (man 40s), and
- op shop background (man, 60s)

EFFECTS etc
– practical poltergeist effects
- bloody wound

THE VIBE:
thriller / fantasy

———
there is potential to develop the premise into a feature, in which some dangerous people from Polly's past come searching for incriminating photos she took back in 1970s

Submitted: October 22, 2022
Last Updated: October 15, 2024

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This Script Is Loved By 7 Readers

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The Writer: Robert Bruinewoud

Melbourne, Australia 1982. I submit my first "screenplay" (and I use the term very loosely) to the BBC. It was a hugely expensive Doctor Who saga. Needless to say, it wasn't picked up. You can read all about it here . Now, I’ve been advised that the above is not the way to sell myself as serious writer. I’m not sure why. The fact that any screenwriters’ first screenplay doesn’t sell is, I would’ve thought, to be expected and so not something anyone should hide. Nor is the fact that I’ve been writing screenplays (off and on) for forty years, something to be shy about. During that time I had my paying job (graphic designer and advertising art director) distracting me, but over those years I... Go to bio

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