User:Hard Shoulder

HARD SHOULDER

LOGLINE

"When a work-obsessed man reluctantly agrees to a weekend away with his disgruntled wife and disruptive children, a leisurely trip to the country becomes a fight for survival as a convoy of old-world carnival-type travellers force the family off the road, and then seem to engage them in a series of terrifying mind games in an abandoned roadside diner.”

SYNOPSIS

“When Carl Foster, a work-obsessed man, reluctantly agrees to a weekend away with his disgruntled wife and disruptive children,  it’s as much as he can do to muster any kind of enthusiasm for the long journey ahead, let alone the few days he must endure in their company. The constant bickering of family finally takes its toll on Carl when they are passed, on a deserted country road, by a convoy of old-world vehicles belonging to a gang of ‘carnival types’, who, by mischief or accident, cause Carl to swerve off the road. With the red mist of rage descending Carl gets into heated exchange with the travellers, only for the pleas of his wife, and anxious looks from his children, to bring him back down to earth again.

Taking an enforced stop hours later, in a small lay-by, for both rest and refreshment the family are once again affronted as their stationary vehicle is rammed by an unseen assailant in a large truck. Dazed by the impact they wake, bound and gagged, within the dreary, grimy confines of an abandoned and derelict roadside diner, with, seemingly, the same carnival types now their abductors and antagonists. As the gang members rouse and cajole each other to play with, demean, insult, abuse, and torture each of the captive family members in turn, it falls to Carl to try to free his family from their predicament and procur an escape. But not everything is quite as it seems, their environment not as tortuous as they imagined, and Carl not all that he would have us believe. That Carl should, in such dire circumstances, somehow become both hero and protector to his closest and most loved is shrouded not just in unlikeliness, but also bound in a tragic irony.”

TREATMENT TO TERROR

It’s a blissfully warm day when CARL packs up his family’s utility vehicle for a long-awaited and much needed weekend away. Everything that could be right is – a new job, more money, a new car. It’s all material he knows, but he’s worked hard for it. So hard in fact that he’s pretty tired and is in need of the break.

That’s if he can get away before murdering the kids. They are playing up as usual and Carl’s in no mood for it – well LUCAS is messing at least. On his games console he hasn’t lifted a finger to help all day. CHLOE, his daughter, is on the phone, constantly it seems to her boyfriend, and Carl’s wife, MADELEINE, is taking forever to pack what’s needed and the kitchen sink, it would seem. At this rate they’ll never get away before teatime. Finally, with everything packed, they set off for the Cheviot Hills, and a quaint, off-the-beaten-track guest house where they will try to enjoy a weekend in each others’ company. Life hasn’t been easy for any of them since Carl was promoted at work. Responsibility has meant him spending less and less time at home, and more and more time at the office.

Any other circumstances and people would be forgiven for thinking he was having an affair. Madeleine feels neglected, and the kids have almost forgotten what their father looks like. So this trip away is not before time. Maybe Madeleine and Carl will even rediscover some romance. At least that’s the plan if they can stop sniping at one another. For a while Lucas is content to play with his games and Chloe to finger-tap her way into text oblivion, but eventually sleep overcomes them and they are no longer privy or conscious to their parents continued struggle for verbal supremacy. The journey is uneventful save for the continued bickering of the two adults, especially over petty matters like directions, and the time that is being taken to reach their destination.

Uneventful that is until Carl is shoved clean off the road by a passing convoy of tinker-type travellers who take great joy and no uncertain amount of enjoyment in nearly destroying Carl’s brand new vehicle, let alone risking the lives of his passengers. Carl is understandably incensed, and ill-advisably pursues the group once all four wheels of his ‘off-road’ vehicle have regained the tarmac. Fatigue and anger blends to form a frightening mix - as Road Rage. Madeleine is beside herself with fear. Not so much at being shunted off the road, but by the demonic possession now at the wheel of their car. Even the kids have awoken, tossed about in the rear of the vehicle as Carl slings the jeep around, cursing his tormentors, in his efforts to get back in front of the travellers.

Eventually Carl gives up the pursuit, as much to relieve himself of the pleading from his wife, as due to the subsidence of his anger. Red mist dissipates to reveal clarity. The stress of the moment, and the onset of fatigue, begins to bear down on him and Carl succumbs to his wife’s wishes to take a quieter, more leisurely road to their destination. Even the suggestion that they stop for a while for something to eat and drink seems to find agreement with Carl. But such an unscheduled stop in a dark and uninviting rest area is to prove disastrous. Within moments of coming to a stop Carl’s vehicle is rammed from behind, shunted into a line of trees at the top of some shallow banking. None of the family sees the vehicle’s approach, nor the derelict, and grimacing man at the wheel.

Carl awakens to unfamiliar surroundings. With his head banging, and blood soaking into his shirt he’s more than a tad disoriented. One thing he does recognize however is the fact he’s bound hand and foot, and suspended so that his feet barely touch the floor. Uncomfortable movements to either side, or straining to turn his head, mean he is just able to make out both Madeleine and Chloe, strung up in similar fashion. Lucas trussed and bound lies on a filthy stained mattress in the farthest corner of the room.

None of Carl’s family seems to be conscious. Perhaps they’re dead already. Part of Carl hopes so, because whoever, or whatever, brought them into this place doesn’t mean for them to enjoy their stay. Carl reasons that they are being kept in an old diner or roadside café. The décor reminds him of a time when the kids were much younger, when he and Madeleine would stop at ‘Little Chef’ roadside restaurants on their long hauls to Cornwall for summer holidays.

That was a time long before the great demise of the happy little fat bloke from those recognizable banners, and looking at this place it hasn’t seen so much as a customer in a decade or more. It is filthy, broken, derelict, and has clearly been wasted by the activities of vandals and vagrants. All the graffiti on the walls suggests that. But Carl is still at a loss as to why they have been brought there, let alone by whom. Carl’s imagination spins off in absurd directions as he imagines the worst. And the worst is always painful and terrifying.

To be continued………………………..

CAST LIST

Carl Foster  - 		Wil Johnson

Dog  - 			Jamie Foreman

Bones  - 			Jill Greenacre

Maddie Foster  - 	        Angela Dixon

Diggs  - 			Jon Campling

Herschel  - 		        James Fisher

Mamon  - 			Lucy Drive

Chloe Foster  - 		Frances Speedie

Lucas Foster  - 		Callum Anderson

Carl’s Girls  - 		Jody Jameson & Sarah Moss

Carnival King  - 		Greg Tanner

Lupo  - 			Gabriel Lee

Clown Prince  -               Mike Fox

Bearded Lady  -               Arti Shah