Horror Film Treatment A2 Audience Research Task

1. Film Title: Look Away
Summary: A family is attacked by evil spirits after staying in a haunted cabin. Upon returning to
their home, they begin experiencing supernatural events.
Full Storyline:
The film begins with the Drinkwater family arriving at a lakeside cabin resort whilst on their road trip.
They meet a local man who tells them not to stay and to leave immediately. He tells them inside the cabin
the most unspeakable things happened to the residents. Bad things had happened to anyone who had
stayed there since the mass murder committed by the original cabin owner. One of the children looks up
the history of the lake and reveals that the original cabin owner went crazy and killed the residents for
not following his strict rules and limitations. The local man shouts to them as they walk away from him
into the cabin. He tells them not to look in the mirrors or open the windows. Alisha, DJ’s aunt, them to
pay attention to the man and is resistant to entering the building. She tells DJ to be wary and pay
attention to his surroundings. Mark, Rose’s husband, Mark, reassures Alisha that if there were any real
danger they would be safer inside the cabin than out in the open. Alisha eventually enters the cabin while
the rest of the family is looking through the rooms. Alisha quickly realizes that all the windows and
mirrors have been covered or boarded up, and her suspicions begin to grow. She draws the family’s
attention to her discovery to which they attempt to reassure her by pulling off the covers and opening all
the windows. This made Alisha more uncomfortable as she urged them to heed the words of the man they
had met previously, as she believed he would not warn them unless there was a valid reason. Alisha
cautions DJ not to touch a single thing. They stay for a night and leave early the next morning as Alisha
had become wrought with fear and worry. As they leave DJ notices that Kristin is staring at the wall
motionless, he asks her what she is doing, and she replies saying she is talking to a friend. He brushes it
off as just one of her imaginary friends. The family returns to their home and go back to their usual
routines. Kristin’s behavior grows more worrying and DJ confides in his aunt and together they observe
the girl’s behavior. Now convinced, the child was possessed Alisha went to Rose and Mark to tell them
what she had witnessed. They became offended and irritated with her superstitions and kicked her out of
the house. She tried to take DJ with her but after a lengthy argument with the couple, she reluctantly left
him behind with every intention of gaining full custody of her nephew and taking him out of the house.
Kristin’s behavior becomes more alarming as strange things start happening in the house. Glassware falls
off tables, windows smash and mirrors crack. Things become more intense for the family when the
spiritual attacks become more violent. The first to experience the attacks is Kristin. Whilst in the cabin she
had opened an upstairs window despite the signs warning against these actions. Mark returns from work
to find Kristin standing on the roof and attempts to catch her as she leaps off the edge. As Rose is leaving
a volunteering event, she hits a pothole and her windscreen cracks. She sees a figure through the window
and calmly veers off the road and into a ditch. After the accident, Rose is found thrown from her seat
through the windshield. After a hockey game, Hunter is practicing on the ice and hears a noise. He looks
around and sees no one. He then feels a hand gripping the back of his neck and slam his head into the
ice. The last thing he sees before blacking out is the blade of a skate. As the events unfold further, DJ
becomes more disturbed by the attacks and calls his aunt to collect him. As she does not yet have custody
she cannot take him away, so she calls a friend to find a priest for the family. The priest does not have
any experience with the supernatural and turns out to be a fraud. He charges the family thousands of
dollars for saying a few prayers. After the priest leaves, Mark and DJ continue to take care of the rest of
the family. Tragedy strikes when Mark is sleeping outside in the glass patio and a branch falls, sending a
large shard of glass down onto Mark’s sleeping body. His body lies there twitching and bleeding out until
DJ comes back from the store and finds him dead. Following these events, Alisha wins custody of DJ as
there is no one left to take care of him. DJ decides to finish his senior year online and returns to Jamaica

2. with Alisha. As they drive off, the audience is led to believe that they have escaped the wrath of the evil
spirits, a hand print is seen on the rear window and the car sputters. The screen goes black and the
diegetic sound of screeching tires is the last thing heard before the end credits appear in screen.
Characters: Rose Winter, Mark Winter, Alisha Wilson, Hunter Winter, DJ Wilson, Kristin Winter
Rose Winter – Rose and her
husband have two children of
their own. They adopted DJ after
his mother was killed by her ex-
boyfriend and no immediate family
was found to take care of him.
She does not appreciate Alisha
being around because she feels as
though her authority is threatened
and she cannot control DJ as he
still has ‘real family’ that he can go
back to. Her attitude is passive
aggressive towards Alisha and
jumps at the chance to disagree
with her. She is a housewife and is
heavily involved in the children’s
school and various local volunteer
groups.
Mark Winter - Mark is a
contractor who has had an affair
with one of his children’s teachers
but ended it when he found out
she was pregnant. He has a
strained relationship with his son.
He initially did not want to adopt
DJ as he felt he should not have to
‘waste money looking after a child
that was not his’. He develops a
friendship with Alisha
Alisha Wilson – Alisha is DJ’s
aunt, she was not aware of her
sister’s death. When she found
out she moved from her
workplace in Jamaica to be with
her nephew to find that he had
been adopted by her sister’s
neighbors. She has been trying
to gain citizenship, so she can
stay with DJ while he finished
school in the US. DJ had asked
Rose if Alisha could stay with
them, so he would feel more at
home. Rose agreed but her
husband was entirely against it,
however, he grew fond of Alisha
while his wife grew jealous.

3. DJ Wilson – He is very quiet
around the Wilsons but quickly
builds a relationship with his aunt
when she arrives as she reminds
him of his mother. He tries his
best to assimilate into the Wilson
family, but the ethnic barriers
prevent him from doing so.
Alisha’s presence is comforting to
him as she takes away some of the
awkwardness by making him
laugh.
Hunter Wilson – Has a distant
relationship with his father after
catching him sleeping with his
teacher. His father attempts to
keep him from revealing the truth
to his mother. He is very
protective of his younger sister.
Kristin Winter – Kristin takes
advantage of the fact that she
knows about her father’s affair
and exploits to get what she
wants. She is very antisocial and
does not want to take part in
any of the family activities. She
is always seen staring off into
space or pouting.
Location:
Mors Cabin – Lake Duat Winter family home
Target Audience Breakdown:
The target audience for this film is both male and females of all ethnicities, between the ages of 16 to 25.
This audience was chosen because of the diverse cast that varies in ethnicity, gender and age.