Shadows of a Killer

For my film opening, I'm creating a psychological horror centered around a woman who has just killed her husband, The story unfolds in a quiet mysterious way, with no dramatic chase scenes, no sudden bursts of violence. Instead, it's all about the eerie calm that follows the crime.

The Film Opening

The opening scene begins with the woman in her car, focused as she does calculations. What she's planning isn't immediately clear, but something feels off. She then heads to a hardware store where she quickly purchases a shovel, a machete, duct tape, and black trash bags, items that, on their own, might not seem suspicious, but together they paint a much darker picture.

She drives off into the night, the trunk carrying something heavy. The camera stays on her as she works, wrapping what appears to be feet in black plastic. Then, she begins digging. There's no hesitation, no second guessing just precise, deliberate movements. Finally, she drops something small into the pit a wedding ring before covering the hole. The ring is what gives you the clue that it was her husband.

The goal of this opening is to create tension without giving too much away. The audience should feel unsettled but still have questions. Did she really kill him? Why? How did she do it? This film isn't about the act of murder it's about the mind behind it.

The Plot

Christina a 36 year old woman married to Luke Moore has the picture perfect marriage. They met in high school and since then have been together. Christina always wanted kids but Luke was diagnosed with infertility and they were never able to have them. Although many couples break things off after they find out about infertility Christina and Luke grew stronger helping each other out through these hard moments. 

One day Christina started to feel sick, taking pills became her comfort. They weren't drugs they were over the counter pain killers. She began taking a lot as she got many heavy headaches. Luke even started to notice and got worried and told her to go to the doctors but Christina brushed him off. Little by little Christina wasn't acting like herself as if her personality was changing. She would get mad very easily and even got depressed. Even as she was struggling with everything Luke was always there for her. She started acting very differently and was still having horrible headaches, it's as if it wasn't the Christina everyone knew and loved. It got so bad Christina started having lucid dreams that felt real to her of Luke cheating, and even abusing her.

She started to make a plan to kill her husband, she couldn't handle it anymore. She planned it very meticulously. The minute her husband fell asleep she stabbed him over, and over, and over again. She stopped stabbing him when he stopped breathing. She cleaned up the mess and the next day put him in the trunk of the car, as if nothing happened. She then headed to the store and calculated his size for the hole she was going to dig. She bought everything she needed, headed to the Everglades and started digging. She wrapped him up and dropped him and her wedding ring into the hole. 

She then went back home as of nothing happened, but when she stepped into her house she fainted. Her neighbor which was a good friend of hers noticed her front door wide open so she walked in to make sure everything was okay. She saw Christina laying there without a wedding ring and rushed her to the hospital. Doctors found that Christina had a brain tumor which explains why her personality changed. When she woke up they asked about her husband and she said she didn't remember. Her neighbor Emily said that when she found her she had no wedding ring, so she inferred that he left her. Christina heard this and played along, showing her psychotic mind, blaming it on her husband.