Dialled Up (7 page short horror script in pdf format) by Matthew Taylor

A grieving old man tries to hold off the bailiffs in order to answer one last call.

What would you do if you could go back in time? Would you right an old wrong? Go left where you once went right? Or maybe just take a moment to say I love you to someone who needs to hear it most. It’s a hard choice to make. Now, what if that same opportunity presented itself every single day?

Every single day. Same time. For 43 years.

That’s what happens with Frank, a man beaten down by life and on the verge of eviction. Perhaps he’s gone a touch mad, too, alone in that small apartment with the faded wallpaper and sickly green rotary phone. Yet, there’s one thing that keeps him waking up every day. A phone call he knows is going to come. A call he must take, and answer correctly. For if he answers incorrectly, his son dies. Again, and again.

Somehow, some way, that’s exactly the situation he’s in. The year is 1977 and an impatient Frank waits, anxious, wanting to know where his car has gone. But he knows the answer already. It’s Andy, his son. Always Andy, it seems. He took the car again, didn’t bother to ask permission, and now it’s getting on 3:00 and nary a peep has been heard.

That’s when the phone rings. That sickly green rotary phone you’ll see throughout this expertly crafted story. Frank’s anger boils to the surface as Andy tries to explain where he’s been. But Frank’s not having it. Not this time. He slams the phone down, maybe like he’s done a hundred times before. Beyond frustrated and so done.

If Frank had only known he would never see Andy alive again, he might have been inclined to take it a little easier on his son.

An accident has claimed Andy’s life, setting in motion a grim daily routine that will last for years and years. By some miracle that stretches the fabric of existence, Andy calls again nine days later. It’s the same call. He’s still late and he still has the car. At first Frank thinks it’s a sick joke, but as time goes by –call after call — he realizes it’s not. This is real. Somehow, it’s real.

Armed with that new knowledge, a curious question is asked…

What if he can stop it? What if Frank can save Andy’s life by saying something different this time? Telling him to make a left instead of a right. Or maybe just by saying I love you.

Maybe there’s a way. Besides, Frank only has the next 43 years to get it right.

Producer/Director: With Dialled Up, Matthew Taylor has crafted a powerful, easy to film 7 page story – one actor, one location, and enough emotion to fill the movie poster with laurels. It’s available to the right director. You can reach Matthew at Scripts.By.MT(a)gmail.com

Read: Dialled Up (7 page short horror script in pdf format)

This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.

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