'Descent'

By Peter Devonald

LOGLINE
David is a killer. His next victim is closer than he thinks….

GENRE
Short film, thriller, 10 minutes

AWARD PLACEMENTS:
Winner of the Napalm Short Screenwrting Competition - December 2002: Titled - 'The Lift'

QUOTES FROM PROFESSIONAL SOURCES
Really descriptive, beautifully cinematic writing. You write so well with minimal dialog… I love the second scene of payoff… The end is very powerful. I love the countdown of the lift… counting down to death? Hell? The end? Love it. (B.T.J.)

Really nicely written, in terms of pace and dialogue and just pure - page turnability. (D.S.)

The Lift is an excellent work. There's so many layers in it. Stylistically fresh - sparse dialogue… You've got some interesting play with light and dark. Opposing forces within the story - Healy and the boy and the physical light/dark imagery. A very good piece. (M.G)

SYNOPSIS
A loud squealing noise. DAVID stands in a daze by the ground floor door of a decrepit, falling down apartment block. He is rough looking, 28, with much stubble. He wears a big, black coat, has dark hair. Something very odd lies down the end of the corridor, on the floor... David gets closer, watches as flies swarm around the bundle of rags huddled up against the wall. The clothes move, revealing a DERELICT man, 65, covered in grime. He sticks his hand out, palm up. David gives the Derelict money, but still he stands, comes towards him. David desperately gets in the elevator, presses for the 28th floor. The Derelict gets closer, closer. David keeps pressing the button… Eventually, the doors close, the Derelict is kept out, silence.

The elevator rises, stops on the 8th floor. PAUL, 8, a scruffy looking kid, stands at the entrance of the elevator. David asks him what he wants, but Paul doesn't respond. The doors close, open again: Paul is still there. Paul's eyes stare penetratingly at David. David talks to him. Paul tells him that it's his birthday; David responds by telling him that it's his 29th birthday next year, so what? Paul tells him they're no longer friends. David closes the door to the elevator, the doors open again… David reacts angrily, sees that the person is now MORGAN, an African American, 73, with stubble and gray hair. He enters the elevator with a baby carriage. David stares at the Caucasian BABY in the carriage, something very familiar about its looks… Morgan tells David that he knows him. David assesses him - he's not a threat. As the elevator door opens on the 18th floor, Morgan leaves, offers David one last chance to get out... David declines, he has to finish what he came for.
When the elevator stops on the 16th floor, the door opens and CHERYL steps in. She's 17, gorgeous. David stares at her, feels he recognizes her, doesn't know where from. When she leaves the elevator on the 18th floor, David feels lost.

The elevator goes up, stops. Darkness. David stands there, scared. Waits. Eventually, the elevator rises. On the 28th floor, the doors open. David gets out, gun in hand. He goes down the corridor. The walls are streaked with urine. Litter covers the floor. He finds the right room, knocks, gun at the ready… The door opens, Morgan stands there, unafraid. Behind him, Paul. Morgan tells David that he's in the wrong place, the elevator is broken, and they are on the 8th floor. David, worried, goes into the room, doesn't understand what is going on, but something is wrong, and there is no sign of the baby.

David dashes back to the elevator, presses to go upwards, but instead goes down. The doors open on the 2nd floor. He gets out, hears screams. In a daze, he goes down the corridor, finds an open door where MOTHER lies in a bed with a needle in her arm. To the side, a screaming baby. Freaked, scared, David runs back to the elevator, presses 28… But the doors open on the 8th floor, revealing Morgan staring at him. Morgan tells him to use the stairs - the elevator is broken… but why must he do this?

David, desperate, runs up the stairs, gets out on the 28th floor. The door is locked. David hammers on it… The Derelict Man opens it, grins. David quickly runs down the corridor, finds the right room, goes inside, fires three times. He runs out the room, blood on his face, pain in his stomach. He gets back into the elevator, presses G, goes down. As the elevator descends, the events around him take shape. The Baby has familiar eyes: his past with Cheryl is revealed: and the person who David really killed by his actions is revealed as blood spurts from his own stomach…

For script contact pdevonald@hotmail.com

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