OLD DEVIL MOON SCRIPT

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INT. CAR DRIVING ALONG COUNTRY ROAD. EVENING

DANIEL is driving along listening to smooth jazz. Perhaps ‘Old Devil Moon’ by Chet Baker. He is middle-aged. Heavy-set.

The light is fading and he’s nonchalantly tapping along to the music.

Headlights appear in his rear-view mirror, he immediately tenses up and becomes focused on the car behind him.

He tightens his grip on the steering wheel.

His eyes are locked on the mirror.

It soon turns away and the tension releases from his body as he lets out a sigh of relief.

He makes one final check behind then turns a corner and continues on.

EXT. CLEARING IN WOODED AREA. CONTINUOUS.

The car pulls up and comes to a stop. The low hum of the engine fills the silence of the night.

INT. CAR. CONTINUOUS.

Daniel pauses the music. He quickly and anxiously scans his surroundings.

He stops for a second and takes a deep breath before exiting the car.

EXT. CLEARING. CONTINUOUS.

Daniel tries to close the car door quietly whilst taking in the surroundings

He walks around the back of the car and gets to the boot. 

He opens it. We don’t see what’s inside.

Someone attempts to cry out from inside the boot before Daniel reactively punches him in the face to shut him up.

Daniel checks around, there is no response to the cry.

With some effort, Daniel pulls out his cargo to reveal a hostage.

This is JAMES. 

We see that he is clearly dazed and dishevelled with his hands tied between his back and a burlap sack over his head.

With some effort James is dragged out in front of the beaming headlights and pushed to his knees.

James struggles to breathe and see through the sack.

We see a POV from James, he can see blurry shapes and lights in front of him.

Daniel struggles to pull a small revolver from the inside pocket of his jacket.

He looks down at the gun and hesitates as he tries to muster the courage to kill the man in front of him.

Suddenly a phone call goes off and shocks him out his trance. He also struggles to pull the phone out of his pocket as he rushes to answer to stop the noise of his ringtone.

He becomes distracted by the call and we hear faint murmurings of a conversation

PHONE

(murmuring)

DANIEL

I’m sorry, I... I just got stuck in traffic, I’ll be back soon. Is she ok?

James starts shifting around, trying to loosen his restraints. He slowly stops and looks up at Daniel. 

We cut back to see Daniel finish his call but as he turns around his hostage charges into the back of him, causing him to drop his weapon and phone.

James to awkwardly rush into the treeline as Daniel scrambles to pick up his gun.

EXT. GRAVEYARD. CONTINUOUS.

Still visually impaired by the sack over his head James stumbles through the trees and comes out into a graveyard.

He stops and scans the blurred gothic maze in front of him.

He glances behind and then keeps moving.

Daniel emerges from the trees, revolver in hand.

James is gone.

He moves forward. Scanning. Listening. The gun shakes in his grip. He sees no sign of the man he’s tailing.  

The graveyard is silent. James moves quickly, laying low. Finding cover where he can. His hearing is dampened by the sound of his own breathing in the sack.

He crouches down, finally managing to free himself from his restraints. He rubs his writs and breathes in the fresh air.

His hearing is unmuffled.

The sounds of the graveyard are heightened. James quells his breathing. We hear the sound of leaves swaying, twigs breaking.

The sounds stop. He glances around one last time before moving out.

He steps out but when he looks to the left he freezes, Daniel has caught up.

Their eyes lock and the surprise incapacitates both. A moment of silence before the shock begins to wear off and Daniel remembers the gun in his hand.

Daniel takes aim but his hand is still shaking, He’s no longer aiming at a burlap sack, he’s aiming at a real person. He hesitates long enough for James to take off.

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD. CONTINUOUS

James hurriedly makes to the end of the graveyard and struggles through the treeline, coming out on to a small winding road.

He makes it to the other side of the road but Daniel follows, breaking through the trees and coming out into the road.

He shouts at James.

DANIEL

James! I trusted you!

(murmuring to himself)

She was my little girl

He turns back to James

DANIEL

She was only eight!

Daniel stands in the road, filled with newfound anger.

He brings up his gun but before he can shoot, we hear the roar of an engine coming around the bend behind him and he is blinded by an overwhelming beam of oncoming light.

We hear the screeching of brakes and a loud thud.

Cut to black.  

James is halted in shock, drenched in the red of the brake lights. The car speeds off, leaving James alone in silence with the body of his abductor.

He checks around and then leaves the body and disappears into the darkness.