A young couple rents a bug-infested cottage and discovers that there is no escape.

I was a fan of insects before reading Rob Herzog’s newest short, Queen of the Crawlies. Now the only crawlies I can feel are the shivers itching beneath my skin.

Justin and Cora are a couple driving to a cottage that they had rented. Justin claims it to be a romantic getaway, whereas Cora believes he is there to hunt and fish, feeling like a second thought. We open with their SUV seemingly driving erratic, with a blur of trees passing by the windows, and Cora feeling carsick.

However, Cora’s carsickness is soon replaced by a different type of nausea when they arrive at the rather dilapidated cottage, and the hundreds upon thousands of bugs inside, infesting the floors, the walls, the ceiling. I believe the descriptions speak for themselves when it comes to the feeling that spiders are dancing on my skin:

Rob suddenly takes a sharp turn with his storytelling, ultimately making our characters flee the cottage.

It was at this point where I had asked myself, “What’s next?” leaving me eagerly reading more. What could possibly happen to our characters now that they had left the primary location?

As they drive away, we develop a sense of who our characters are, as Rob begins to express the couple’s relationship through a small dialogue exchange. It is very apparent that the two are struggling with each other, and that there is a tension which builds up the further we delve into their conversation. Rob does the strained relationship justice in its subject matter of emotional abuse, involving denial, a true expression of defense, and of course a well-rounded sense of anger.

However, this is only scratching that itchy surface where the creepy crawlies skitter. It seems that by arriving at this cottage, an evil entity has entered this couple’s lives, one that forever haunts whomever it desires. The reader may ask, who, or what, is this evil entity? Why does it reside in this cottage? And most importantly, what does it want?

Take a read and determine the ending with your own thoughts. But if you start to feel like bugs are crawling on you, just keep telling yourself that it’s only your imagination…

BUDGET: Independent. 3 locations (car, cottage, woods), 3 actors (2 male, 1 female)

ABOUT THE WRITER: Rob Herzog is a Chicago-based screenwriter. He has sold several short scripts and won prize money in two small screenwriting contests. His short horror script “Creak and Shriek” was produced in 2019 by Mad Dreamer Entertainment and can be viewed on various platforms. He has a master’s degree in English composition from Northeastern Illinois University. Rob can be reached at: robherzogr (a) hotmail.

Read: QUEEN OF THE CRAWLIES (8-page short horror screenplay)

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*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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About The Reviewer: Sean Elwood has been writing screenplays since 2004, and telling stories long before then. His published work includes his 2016 anthology AfterLife AfterDeath: Stories for the Dark, his screenplay Grosvenor Arms (Amazon), the bonus short story “It Started With An Itch” in C. S. James’ Twisted Books To Leave You Shook – Book 1: Fright Filter, and most recently his newest feature screenplay Pyre (Amazon).

Visit Sean Elwood’s website

Check out the scripts of the ’22 Halloween One Week Challenge.

It’s Halloween and a cursed noun* has been activated. Your scrappy protag(s) have until midnight to save everyone. Will they succeed?

Theme: Cursed Noun!*
Genre: Halloween Horror (Thriller, Suspense, Comedy, etc) Rating: Adult, YA, Family
*A noun is a person, place or thing.

This is an anonymous challenge. If you have any interest in any of the scripts, please reach out to me and I’ll put you in touch with the writer. Or wait until the names are revealed on Halloween weekend.

Check them out on the discussion board.

– Don

The Movie Star (3 page horror script in pdf format) by Jamie Trouncelle

A young woman speaks the night away about her experiences in the filming industry.

Discuss this script on the Discussion Board

Quick plug for the Halloween One Week Challenge – still time to get in.

Over on the unproduced scripts page are eight original scripts for your reading pleasure.

And, don’t forget the Halloween One Week Challenge has just started!

– Don

Check out the script to the teaser trailer (and script) for Bwitches

Bwitches – Teaser Trailer by Scott Stanberry & Ryan Henry Johnston

When a white witch threatens the primacy of a small-town black witch, she learns that power can truly corrupt.

Looks amazing! Can’t wait to see the final film! Talk about it on the Discussion Board

Weird Shit (4 page short comedy) by Steven Clark

Rousted out of his bedroom in just his socks and underwear, a nerdy teen has a lot of explaining to do to the F.B.I. 4 pages

Discuss this script on the Discussion Board

Also, compare and contrast with a different prodco’s version of Weird Shit.

NO GOOD DEED

A good Samaritan attempts to diffuse a bad situation, only to light the fuse to another.

Rain-slicked streets and shadowy locales, fedora hats, anti-heroes and femme fatales. Voice-over rich narratives that regale us with tales of lust, blackmail and double-cross. Throw in some existential angst, some mystery, a little seduction. These are just a few of my favourite things when it comes to the golden age of Film Noir.

Budding film makers and fans of Noir, Neo-Noir and its various offshoots of pulp-fiction and graphic novellas sure are in for a treat today with John Staats’ short crime thriller, No Good Deed.

The complete phrase is: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Simply put that means beware of the consequences of acts of kindness and altruism, lest you be doomed for your trouble.

If only John Staats’ lead character, James had heeded this advice.

In No Good Deed we open on an ethereal image of two lovers locked in an embrace.

Melissa wears a long red negligee…

slit up the side to the top of her thigh.

… one leg draped over James, and a

hand on his hip.

Both of them … stare into each other’s eyes.

It’s very sweet and tender.

Except… something’s just a bit off with this picture.

As James’ world-weary voice-over informs us:

JAMES (V.O.)

(heavy Brooklyn accent)

It ain’t how it looks.

Let me explain…

And explain, he does:

JAMES (V.O.)

You see, it was late. I just

hauled my sorry ass up five flights

to my floor and, man-oh-man, this

couple down the hall was going at

it.  A real doozy, from the sound of it…

James is a chivalrous type. Not one to stand on the side-lines. If there’s trouble brewing he’s going to step up, especially when there’s a damsel in distress.

JAMES (V.O.)

And then nothin’. Silence.

No argument just stops like that

without someone getting’ popped. The

door was cracked, so I had a look-see.

When James looks over the threshold into the apartment where the hullabaloo was going on, whatever he sees causes him to instantly lose not only his lunch, but also his hat over the side of the fifth-floor window. That’s all quickly forgotten however when he sees ‘her’ –

– teetering barefoot on the window ledge… Melissa,

Oh, what a sight for sore eyes.

The breeze causes the negligee to cling

to her body and breasts. A wavy blonde wisp

of hair blows across her delicate face.-

.45 caliber nipples and all.

James is instantly smitten.

JAMES (V.O.)

She looked just like a pin-up I had

in my old G.I. footlocker…

Whew! This dame’s enough to make James take leave of his senses –

And forget a lot of things unfortunately – one fact being that he’s a married man.

Of course now is not the time for reminders of domestic banality so James smartens himself up and engages Melissa in conversation, all the while trying to finagle her to safety inside. For a while things are looking swell. The conversation that ensues between these two is electric, the attraction between them palpable. Even with a dizzying five-storey drop to the New York streets below, everything’s looking just peachy for a soft landing, until –

Something catches Melissa’s eye, something that turns everything pear-shaped.

So, has James’ good deed for the day left him hero or schmuck? Has he just committed a fatal mistake? We’ll let you be the judge of that.

John Staats exemplary writing in No Good Deed is a master class in bringing to life the gritty but very entertaining seedy underbelly of 1940s New York. Loaded with witty banter and repartee and with dialogue dripping with sardonic wit Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett would be proud of, it also offers a plot that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.

If you enjoyed Double Indemnity, Notorious, The Big Sleep & The Maltese Falcon or your tastes gravitate to the more modern neo-noirs like A Kiss Before Dying, Body Heat, & Sin City, (to name just a few), you’re going to love No Good Deed.

Filmmakers: Okay guys and dolls, let’s dispense with the formalities. Think of this as a fortuitous good deed for the day with no repercussions. Duck soup this is, (easy-peasy, in case you’re not up with the lingo). Better get on the blower to John, and make it quick smart.

BUDGET & CAST:

Two actors – 1 male 30s, 1 female mid-20s.

Director’s prerogative, however, No Good Deed lends itself perfectly to cool, highly stylized B&W cinematography with solo or selective color effects ala Sin City. Green screen, camera and lighting (optional additional animation) along with proficient skills with video editing and SFX  (Adobe Premier Pro & After Effects) for example, can enable stunning visuals all achievable on a reasonably low budget. Alternately, combine your quick-study talents with your passion for Noir and open source software programs available online.

Read No Good Deed (6 page Short, Drama, Film Noir)

Discuss this script!

ABOUT THE WRITER: As a fly-fishing fanatic and skier living in the Arizona desert, John Staats finds plenty of time for writing. His feature Impasse was a 2019 Filmmatic Season 4 Drama Screenplay Finalist and has been published as an e-book on Amazon. In addition to features and shorts for the screen, John has found a niche writing for the illustrated page (comics! – like The Fibre of Being and Astral Being). John can be contacted at jestaats (a) hotmail.

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

Find more scripts available for production.

About the Reviewer: L.Chambers has been writing all her life – especially in her head, and on scraps of paper. It’s only in the last few years she began to get serious about screen-writing. Prior to this she worked in the Features Department for ABC TV as a Program Assistant, and trained as a FAD. She currently works as a freelance web-content editor and lives with her husband (also a screenwriter) in Sydney, Australia.

BUNK (5-page short horror screenplay) Written by Rob Herzog

Siblings return to a room that terrified them as children.

If you revisit the past too much, sometimes you can remain stuck there – that’s what two siblings learn when they return to their dead aunt’s creepy house in Rob Herzog’s eerie, blood-soaked spine-tingler, “Bunk”.

Now in their 20s, brother-sister duo Doug and Hanna have inherited their Aunt Edith’s creepy, old house after she had passed. Doug, the executor of the estate, wants to sell the place. But as he and Hanna revisit the home, Hanna isn’t so sure. Specifically, it’s the old bedroom they used to sleep in when they’d spend weekends with their old Aunt Edith that has Hanna spooked. The room hasn’t changed much – it still has the bunk beds they used to sleep in as kids. And the room is still adorned with creepy old trinkets, including rocks with people’s faces painted on them.

Something was never quite right with Aunt Edith, though Hanna seems to be a little more traumatized from their sleepovers than Doug.

Just as the siblings hold hands and share a warm moment, that’s when things start to go awry…

Giving away anything else would ruin the gruesome fun, but just a disclaimer: this ending is not for the squeamish.

Gloriously horror to the core, I can see this going viral and/or picking up some accolades on the horror film fest circuit.

BUDGET: Shoe-string. One location, 3 actors.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Rob Herzog is a Chicago-based screenwriter. He has sold several short scripts and won prize money in two small screenwriting contests. His short horror script “Creak and Shriek” was produced in 2019 by Mad Dreamer Entertainment and can be viewed on various platforms. He has a master’s degree in English composition from Northeastern Illinois University. Rob can be reached at: robherzogr (a) hotmail.

Read: BUNK (5-page short horror screenplay)

Discuss on the Discussion Board

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

Find more scripts available for production.

About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.

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BEE-EL (8-page short horror screenplay) by CJ Vecchio

A young girl befriends something that’s inside her closet.

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Check out the script review.

ABOUT THE WRITER: CJ Vecchio braves the cold, windy winters in Chicago, along with his sidekick, a lovable pit bull named Izzy. Recently, due to COVID, CJ’s business (along with many others) was shut down. With a lot of time on his hands, he started to pursue his lifelong passion of writing Horror and Sci-Fi shorts. He plans on entering his latest short “Bee-EL” into The Killer Shorts contest and others. CJ is also working on featured full-length versions of his stories. CJ can be reached at his website is www.CjVecchio.com.