BARBARIAN meets GET OUT; Anxiety stricken Lola is unexpectedly invited to a secluded indie music studio to record her debut album, but throughout the night discovers that they may be after more than just her music.

SYNOPSIS:

A pair of dirty feet run past us in the woods. SKINNY (20s), body matches the name as an

almost skeletal person looks over their shoulder… something or someone is chasing them.

Skinny reaches a clearing as a cop pulls up. A plea of help means nothing as he gets

SMASHED in the face –

Anxiety (manifests itself through visual and auditory experiences) stricken LOLA STONE (25)

performs at a local open mic. Anxiety is high when performing, but a deep breath, closed eyes,

and the strum of her guitar makes it all go away. And Lola is GOOD. Her voice would make

butter spread itself. She catches the ear of a mysterious woman DENISE ROE (20s) who claims

to have inherited a prominent music label from her recently deceased father. Denise invites Lola

to come record her album for free. Even though she is skeptical, Lola is tired of working 2 jobs,

raising her little brother (after her parents died), and not getting anywhere with her music career.

Lola’s aunt GEORGIA (50s) agrees to drive Lola to the recording studio. Curious about the

recording studio she remembers from when she even younger than Lola - she pulls out some

old newspaper clippings. Must have been a big deal decades ago and now nearly non-existent.

Georgia wonders if her daughter (Lola’s cousin) went to high school with Denise Roe because

the family is sort of an enigma. Georgia agrees to look after Lola’s brother BRANDON (8) while

Lola stays overnight to record at the secluded studio. They drive deep into the woods where

manors and mansions are generously separated. They reach an unintentionally creepy manor in

the middle of seemingly nowhere.

Denise greets Lola who is somewhat shocked that just a town over people live in mansions

when she’s stuck living paycheck to paycheck. Denise leads Lola down into a Patrick Bateman

inspired basement which gives Lola flashbacks to a traumatic fire incident. Lola meets HARRY

ROE (30s), who is surprisingly quite charming and ‘in tune’ with Lola’s musical tastes. After

some minor hiccups and exploration of the manor, they start recording… but the odd thing is

that Harry is adamant about Lola using their family brand hand-crafted guitar to record with.

After recording for hours, Lola takes a breather outside and spots a hidden police car- UH OH!

While investigating, Lola cuts her hand on glass as she gets a text from her cousin, MARIE

who says that Georgia never made it home. Lola accuses Harry and Denise, believing that they

aren’t really who they say they are. Fair assumption… they are sort of creepy. After she realizes

that the cut on her hand is worsening, Harry also now claims to be a doctor - stitches her up.

Lola starts to think she may have overreacted and continues to record against better judgment.

AH AH AH Lola - Should have listened to your gut. Lola get trapped inside the recording

space and they won’t let her out till she performs a song from Denise and Harry. A creepy

almost chantlike gothic song. They hold Georgia and Brandon as collateral until she sings their

freaky song. When she doesn’t comply, Harry plays the guitar from earlier- Lola’s fingers SNAP

backwards as if by some form of musical witchcraft. Visceral and more importantly: CREEPY.

Lola is only able to get through two verses of the song before she passes out.

She wakes up in a room full of PRISONERS (including Skinny from the opening), having lost half of her voice,

This is a form of generational witchcraft that absorbs the talents of others. Pshhh rich people

always want to do it the easy way... Before they bring Lola back down to the recording space,

she’s able to get a cleaver (through events that TOTALLY make sense in the script) and use it to

partially help Brandon and Georgia escape, but not before Lola is beaten down and forced into

the basement to record the final verse.

Lola has completely lost her voice and Denise absorbs it. BUT, the other Prisoners were able

to escape - they break all of the magical items that have absorbed their talents which causes

enough of a gory distraction as Denise and Harry’s ‘talents’ leave their bodies (sort of like

SPACE JAM… but horrific) for Lola to escape with Brandon and Georgia. Denise gets her

comeuppance. As the cops meet them at the front of the manor, Lola recognizes a similar gold

ring on the Sheriff’s finger that Denise and Harry (an object planted earlier) wore. Lola stares at

it. Unsure of what fate now has in store for her. SMASH TO BLACK.