The Last Discovery by Robert Bruinewoud | Script Revolution

The Last Discovery

After making an extraordinary discovery, the small team at an isolated research facility in the Australian outback, struggle to survive as one by one they become violently deranged.

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94pp

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*The Last Discovery* is a sci-fi/horror feature that follows the events in the days after scientists in an isolated research station deep in the Australian outback, make a momentous discovery.

The story follows Hamid, a maintenance engineer, whose happiness for his colleagues’ surprising discovery turns to horror and dismay, when two scientists destroy the facility’s infrastructure and attack their friends. Shocked by these events, he and the others try to understand what is happening, while struggling to cling to their humanity, as one-by-one they become violently deranged.

*The Last Discovery* is a contemporary take on H. P. Lovecraft’s concept of “cosmic horror”, and asks the question: What if the universe does have a purpose, but we’re not part of it and so must be removed?

Set in the harsh beauty of the Australian outback, the vast location acts as a microcosm of humanity’s place in the universe.

Peopled with intelligent, likeable characters from around the world, The Last Discovery avoids the trope of “humans are the real monsters”. Instead it shows our characters struggling to come to terms with what is happening, while never ceasing to care for each other. Even when they begin to suspect what is happening, and their possible “culpability” in humanity’s extinction, the last survivors continue to maintain their compassion and empathy to the very end.

And so, despite the bleak resolution, *The Last Discovery* is a celebration of humanity and our precarious place in a cold and uncaring universe.

In addition to Nevil Shute’s novel *On the Beach*, which has been adapted into a movie in 1959 and again in 2000, *The Last Discovery* has elements similar to Michael Crichton’s novel *The Andromeda Strain* and Carpenter’s *The Thing* – but with a likeable, multi-national cast, and without the need for a huge special effects budget.

*The Last Discovery* also taps into sci-fi fans’ current fascination with the idea that we may be living is a simulation, while at the same time introducing the concept to horror fans by giving it a dark twist.

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Submitted: August 19, 2021
Last Updated: August 17, 2024

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This Script Is Loved By 4 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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