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Showcasing screenwriting talent since 2002...
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| The 49th Day |
by
Craig Peters
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Genre: Thriller
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Logline:
A little girl's imaginary friend starts killing her family off, one by one. Her parents don't know what she knows, can't see what she sees. So what do you do when you're only
seven and Death wants to be your best friend?
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Synopsis:
Note: This script received a ScriptPimp RECOMMEND.
It all starts when DIANA (7) sees an image in a crystal. It's a girl named SHYLA who wants to play a tapping game. But soon after Shyla appears, Diana's brother, NOBU, drowns in the
family swimming pool. Then her grandmother is felled by a sudden heart attack. Shyla knows how sad Diana feels and wants to be her new friend.
BA-CHAN, Diana's great-grandmother, relates an old Japanese folk tale about a hungry giant who comes down from the mountain, takes people away, and eats them for dinner. She warns
Diana to be careful. Sometimes the giant decides to stay.
Diana starts getting terrible nightmares. Her parents, NATHAN and TOMOKO, discover her sleepwalking -- shrieking at shadows in the dead of night. Afterwards, Diana tells Shyla she
saw the giant. He might have taken Nobu, but she vows he won't take anyone else.
As days pass, Diana withdraws into her own world. All she wants to do is play with her imaginary friend. She writes letters to Shyla, paints her picture, and plays sock puppets with
her. Concerned that she's spending too much time alone, her parents set up a play date with her classmate, Teresa. Shyla begs her not to go. She wants Diana to stay and play the
tapping game. But Diana won't listen.
As Diana and Teresa race bikes, Diana falls, cracks her head on the sidewalk, and suffers a concussion. But Teresa veers out onto the street -- right into the path of an oncoming
pickup. In an instant, she's dead.
Diana's life is torn apart. She's lost her brother, her grandmother, and now her best friend. She retreats even further into her imagination. Now she sees Shyla everywhere -- in
crystals, in stained glass, looking back from the mirror -- Shyla never leaves her side. Her parents insist that Shyla's “just pretend”, but Diana knows she's real. Why can't they
believe her?
Diana sees painful, flashing lights when she closes her eyes. Her parents consult her doctor to no avail. Doddering Ba-chan only makes matters worse. She warns Diana that the more
the giant eats, the hungrier he gets -- and it's up to Diana to stop him.
So Diana seeks Shyla's help. Together, they'll watch for the giant. If they see him, they'll tell everybody to run and hide. Maybe if he can't find anyone to eat, he'll head back
up the mountain where he belongs.
It's the 49th Day; there's a ceremony for Nobu at the family's Buddhist temple. Diana sees his shimmering spirit on the altar. Nobu tells her the last thing he remembers before he
died was that a little girl tapped him on the shoulder. A girl who looks a lot like Shyla.
Diana can't believe it. Shyla's not her friend at all -- she's the hungry giant! When she taps people, they die! Diana flies into a rage, screams at Shyla to leave her family
alone. Shyla offers a deal: She'll go away if Diana does four favors for her. So the little girl agrees.
Following Shyla’s instructions, Diana squishes a ladybug in the palm of her hand. Catches a butterfly and tears its wings off. Rips the head off her favorite doll. Then Shyla
orders Diana to put her kitten, Sunshine, in a plastic bag, tie it tight, and throw it in the garbage.
Diana runs to her parents, crying that Shyla killed Nobu, Grandma, and Teresa -- and now she wants Sunshine dead too! Nathan and Tomoko struggle to comfort her, explaining over and
over that Shyla's all in her mind. They take her to a child psychiatrist who strongly recommends therapy and medication.
Then Shyla whispers that Diana didn't do all four favors -- so someone else in the family will have to die. But Diana remembers what Ba-Chan has told her. She makes charms to
protect her family, only neglects to make one for herself. Shyla has Diana in her clutches. The tapping game is almost complete.
But at the last moment, Ba-Chan gives her own soul so that Diana might live. And finally, the family is free.
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| View Screenplay* |
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Contact screenwriter:
craigpeters@roadrunner.com
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