1. Created using Celtx
ACT 1
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INT. TRAIN STATION, NIGHT
JOE, a small, brown curly-haired boy wearing a windbreaker
and jeans, and MEL, a tall, long blonde haired girl with
sunglasses and a hoodie on, two university students, are
looking puzzled as they arrive to the Budapest train station.
It is quite busy, and all the bright blue announcement boards
are shouting times out rapidly. They set their bags down and
read the announcement on the board.
JOE
I refuse to believe we have missed it.
We got here right on time.
MEL
Just relax man. It'll probably come in
a minute.
JOE
Yeah but the board says it was due ten
minutes ago, that's not what it said
on the website. I can't afford to miss-
joe's rambling is cut off by the noisy train speeding up the
railway tracks. Mel looks at him and smirks.
MEL
See. You are literally a stress-
such
head.
joe sighs and laughs. They both pick their suitcases up and
walk up to the platform.
JOE
I have to be a stress-head. Imagine if
we had missed this train. We would be
stuck in Budapest, then we would both
be stress-heads.
INT. TRAIN, NIGHT
joe and mel are sitting opposite each other in a four person
booth on the train. It is quite empty, with only a few other
people scattered in the carriage behind them. They are
slurping a can of Pepsi between them and their table is
covered in share bags of crisps.
2. 2.
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JOE
I can't believe lockdown is over and
we're finally doing this. (slurps
Pepsi noisily) I've wanted to travel
for so long.
MEL
I know it feels surreal. I've always
wanted to go to Europe.
JOE
We live in Europe, the UK is in
Europe.
mel continues eating crisps, ignoring joe. After a few
seconds of critical thinking and picking the food from her
teeth she shakes her head.
MEL
No, well I mean like obviously.. but I
mean like Europe. Like these
Europe
countries are amazing compared to the
grey shit hole we come from.
JOE
(laughs)
True. I just can't wait. I hope the
house is as good as it looks on the
photos.
MEL
Well the reviews of it were amazing.
It's about a 2 minute walk out of the
forest trail onto the main street but
we will manage.
The train stops. A man, who looks to be in his late 40's,
with dark washed jeans and a beat up checkered flannel slowly
gets on. He walks up the carriage, past mel and joe. He is
staring intently at mel, with a tiny smirk at the end of his
lips. Mel looks at him and quickly looks away. He looks her
up and down and walks slowly to the end of the carriage,
disappearing into the second one. Joe looks at mel with an
eyebrow raised.
JOE
(mouthing)
oh my god man.
MEL
Ugh I know. (snarls) I hate pervs.
3. 3.
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JOE
He looks like he had a rough paper
round.
mel lets out a soft, unenthusiastic laugh and rests her head
against the train window.
MONTAGE
mel and joe continue eating and drinking until we see them
mellowing over multiple shots and they proceed to fall
asleep.
CUT
EXT. AUSTRIA TRAIN STATION, EARLY HOURS IN MORNING
joe and mel are sitting in the Austria train station waiting
for their transport. It is dark, the air is full of dust and
the station is deserted. They are sitting on a worn down
wooden bench. Mel looks half asleep still, whilst Joe is
raking through his bag in a panic. Mel picks her self up from
the slumped position she was in on the bench.
MEL
(long groan )
what is it now? What have you lost?
Joe continues searching and talking to himself under his
breathe in a panic, until he pulls out a digital disposable
camera. A huge grin spreads across his face.
JOE
(grinning excitedly )
I thought I'd forgot to bring it. It
was stuffed right at the bottom of my
bag in an inside pocket. I don't
remember putting it there though.
He quickly turns around and snaps a photo of Mel, who has
sunglasses half down her nose and a frown from the sudden
flash. She groans jokingly and pushes the camera out of her
face. They are laughing together and their taxi pulls up.
They put their suitcases in the boot of the taxi and slam it.
CUTS TO BLACK
4. 4.
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ACT 2
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EXT. TAXI JOURNEY AUSTRIA, EARLY HOURS IN MORNING
We see joe in the back of a taxi, who is looking out the
window at the house. They are driving up a dusty road, and
the house is in sight on the hill behind lots of green
forest. He looks nervous and is repetitively playing with his
thumbs. He looks at Mel, who is asleep again. Their taxi
driver is a tall, rough-faced Russian man, who has been
humming to himself the whole duration of the drive.
TAXI DRIVER (OS)
(Russian accent)
You are staying at this house? On the
hill?
JOE
(stuttering)
Yeah.. I guess. Looks different to the
photos.
We see the house, which is huge with a lot of open glass
windows and overgrown shrubs swallowing the front of it. It
is only a bit visible due to the amount of forest surrounding
it. The taxi driver lets out a half grunt half laugh.
JOE
Are you sure this is it? Reverof's
Holiday home? It looks similar just a
bit-
The taxi driver cuts Joe off mid sentence.
TAXI DRIVER
Old? Yes. Very old house, very rich
owners. Lots of scary tales
surrounding this house.
Joe's eyes widen drastically and he starts fidgeting with his
seatbelt.
JOE
(swallowing loudly )
Like what?
We can see the taxi driver staring at joe intently in the
rear view mirror, and joe is looking increasingly nervous.
(dramatic pause)
5. 5.
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TAXI DRIVER
Well, a young girl stayed at this
house last year. Never seen again. The
only remains in this house were all of
her belongings and a big spot of blood
on the floor.
JOE
(shrieking )
What?
Joe is sitting in the back seat. He is gripping the car door
with one hand and using the other one to massage lightly at
his hair. Mel jumps in confusion, due to Joe's shriek.
JOE
(panicking)
why would they even let people book if
something like that happened? What the
f-
Taxi driver bursts into roaring laughter. He turns around to
look at Joe and shakes his head whilst laughing hysterically.
TAXI DRIVER
(hysterical laughter )
wow, I cannot believe you fall for
this joke. you silly kid.
The taxi driver slaps his knee and carries on driving, wiping
a tear from laughter from his eye and mumbling under his
breathe still. Joe doesn't react, he just looks away in
extreme discomfort but also relief.
EXT. STAIRCASE TO HOUSE, EARLY HOURS IN MORNING
The taxi drivers brakes screech as he pulls up to the side of
a road, where there is a huge set of stairs. The staircase
leads to the forest just before the house, which in the light
of the sun just rising is still very dark. He turns around
and grins at joe and mel.
TAXI DRIVER
that will be 40 euros kid.
Joe fumbles in his back pocket, pulling out the cash. The
taxi driver is staring him strangely in the eyes whilst he
puts the money in his hand. Mel looks at joe in discomfort,
and opens the car door as soon as he has the money.
6. 6.
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MEL
(nervously)
yeah, thanks so much for the ride.. we
will just get our cases.
Both joe and mel manage to get out of the taxi quickly, and
grab their cases from the boot. They are both looking at each
other with their brows furrowed, due to the taxi drivers
dodgy behavior. They turn around and start heading to the
stair case. The taxi driver rolls his window down just before
driving away.
TAXI DRIVER
(shouting)
wait, kid!
They both turn around to hear what he has to say; he is
looking at them in the same strange way, with a small
upturned smirk on his lips.
TAXI DRIVER
(laughing)
good luck.
He slams his foot on the pedal and speeds off down the dusty
road, leaving joe and mel in a state of confusion and fear.
MEL
what does that mean? 'good luck'?
JOE
(shakily)
I don't really know, mel- I mean he
told me when you were asleep that this
house has a lot of weird scary shit
come from it, but then he said he was
joking. he said a girl disappeared.
mel grabs joe's sleeve and rolls her eyes. she starts to walk
up the stairs.
MEL
come on joe, did you see the man? he
was so dodgy, he would have just been
messing with you.
joe still has a very concerned look on his face. he follows
mel up the stairs, looking behind him as he watches the taxi
in the distance.
7. 7.
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CUTS TO BLACK
EXT. AUSTRIA FOREST, MORNING
joe and mel are lugging their suitcases through the over
grown forest, due to there being only a very small dirt path
for them to follow. The sun has almost risen, so they are
getting small rays of sunshine peaking through the trees.
they get to the end of the forest, and start rolling their
suitcases up a very gravelly drive way. the house is now
right in front of them, and they are both observing it. It is
an incredibly tall house; the bottom two stories are all
brick and the top is surrounded by a modern open glass layer.
There is shrubs and weeds growing up the walls of the brick;
the door is a large, intimidating oak door with a mid sized
thick glass panel with writing in scripted.
JOE
it looks like no one has been in this
place for years.
MEL
I love the vibe, so vintage. so
overgrown. a bit like you.
joe sighs as mel laughs and walks giddily to the house. he is
still very nervously twiddling his thumbs whilst trailing
after mel.
JOE
I don't know about this, I feel really
nervous now. it looks shifty..
mel continues to walk happily up to the drive way, ignoring
joe. joe hangs back and ties his shoe laces, watching mel
approach the house. mel steps up the three large concrete
stairs in front of the house, on the window of the huge brown
door it spells 'REVEROF', the advertised name of the holiday
home. the door creeps open slowly, and mel stumbles back a
bit.
MEL
I wonder whether they will have left
us a key inside or something-
joe watches as mel takes her suitcase into the house. as soon
as mel is in the house and out of sight, the door slams its
self shut behind her. joe's eyes widen in shock. he
immediately rises from tying his laces and runs to the door.
8. 8.
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JOE
(shouting)
MEL?
joe is at the bottom of the steps when he hears muffled
shouts. he can see mel's hand through the glass panel.
JOE
(shouting)
Mel? Mel!! What's happening?!
joe is pounding his hand off the door. he tries the handle
but it will not open, as if it has been locked.
MEL
(muffled shouting)
JOE!
JOE
(shouting)
MEL! What's going on in there! MEL!
joe continues to bang on the door in distress. he can hear
mel's cries for help from the inside and puts his hands on
his head and starts to cry in panic.
JOE
(slight crying)
Mel I don't know what to do -
mel's shouts start to drown out, as joe freezes and reads the
thick glass panel on the door. we see his reaction as he
reads 'welcome to the reverof house'. mel's shouts start to
quieten, as if she had moved further away.
JOE
(breathing heavily)
welcome to the- forever house?
CUTS TO BLACK
