THE STAGE 32 LOGLINES

Post your loglines. Get and give feedback.

BAD AND WORSE
By Annelise Gaparasi

GENRE: Thriller
LOGLINE: A mother to newborn boy twins does the unthinkable and gives away one of them after using drugs. Later, the lost twin unintentionally reunites with his twin brother when he kidnaps him for ransom. This is his chance to get some questions answered….

SYNOPSIS:

The Colemans are a wealthy family in the suburbs of Illinois. Spencer has taken advantage of. He’s very spoiled and lazy. He lives off his parents' wealth. Julia wants him to be more responsible, she reaches her breaking point when she finds drugs in his bedroom. She wants him out of the house.

Spencer goes to a club to forget his troubles; he is tipsy and gets into a fight. There are shots, everyone is scattering around. As Spencer gets to his car, he is kidnapped.

He wakes up to find himself in a dark basement, with two other victims. They are explained that the reason for their kidnap is for the greater good of those less privileged. These people kidnap wealthy individuals and threaten to kill them if they do not give them money, they claim that money is used to help out the poor. Around this time, Julia and Mark are vacationing. Once they return, they try to get in contact but can’t reach him, they are worried.

When one of the hostages is killed, one of the kidnappers is hesitant about going further with the mission. He sends a tip to the police about the suspect's location and where they hid the bodies. A few days have passed, and Spencer gets to meet the mastermind behind all the kidnappings. To their shock, the guy looks exactly like Spencer. His name is Chris. Chris wants to meet Spencer’s family. He asks Spencer to call his mom to come over. Julia gets to the destination at the same time as the police. The confrontation turns violent, Chris’ friend gets shot but he escapes and takes Spencer and his mother hostage in their house.

In the few days they had together, Chris acts civil in the beginning, wanting to know more about each one of them. They started bonding. There are even happy moments although the police are looking for him. Chris wants to know the whole story and why he grew up away from his biological parents. Julia reveals she was pregnant with an ex who she was very dependent. He didn’t want the pregnancy so he left, Julia was broke and struggling. After her mother died, she had no one. She dived into using drugs more frequently to kind of numb the pain. Once she had the babies, the stress of being a new mom took a toll on her, she kept using it.

One day, Chris was crying more than Spencer... she was high at the time. She took Chris to a fire station and left him there. Once sober and realizing what she had done, she returned to get him back but he was gone. Chris was adopted by a low-class family. Chris’s troubles did not end there, his adopted father did not want him. He even lefts him in the wild hoping he would not come back. He grew up in a tough neighborhood and life was hard for him. As for Spencer, things were getting better. Julia had improved her life, was working on her passion, and met her future husband, Mark. She never revealed the secret to Spencer or Mark until then.

After hearing this, Chris was outraged. He told the family he wanted to play a game. The game turned out to be a questionnaire that each of them would take, if the answer didn’t satisfy Chris... he would torture them. Most of the questions were about their character and what-if situations. Everyone had a turn; Chris had no empathy. He asked Julia who he would save between him and Spencer... she said both. Chris knew it was a lie, he shoots Spencer. Once the police arrive, Chris is arrested and Spencer is rushed to the hospital.

Julia wants to keep in touch with him, she visits him and they have a sincere conversation. Julia apologizes for what she did and wants to make things right. She wants to help him get out earlier but he refuses. Chris is ready to let go of the past; they both agree to turn a new leaf and learn to be a family.

BAD AND WORSE

View screenplay
Nate Rymer

Rated this logline

register for stage 32 Register / Log In