Synopsis & Filming Diary

Psychological thriller

Idea/plot

An ex army sergeant is a wanted criminal for killing several colleagues while working with the army. He broke out of  (St.Laurences) and is a huge danger to anyone due to psychological problems and mental illnesses. He is a very clever man and is one of the best hackers in the army. He steals the identity of a citizen and lays low for a while in an abandoned house.

He then meets a woman who he becomes very fond of , he uses his skills to find out as much as he can about her and becomes unhealthily obsessed with her. They are inseparable at first but then becomes paranoid and convinced that she is cheating on him. His unusual behaviour makes her wonder what has triggered this sense of paranoia off. He acts very suspiciously and wants to know where she is and what she’s doing 24/7.  He family and friends acknowledge his behaviour and warned her about him and urged and pleaded for her not to stay with him, but she did. He had used his mind games to worm his way in and make her resent her family and friends so he would have her all to himself.

She moves in with him after 6 months and this is when he becomes very weird, she wants to know why he is acting this way, she needs to find something. She kept finding unusual objects and things belonging to other people and when she tried to talk to him about this he would flip out or change the subject. While she is in his house which is far in the woods, she comes across a large metal box which he has tried to hide, sealed with a thick metal lock. She needed a key to get in the box but needed to find it. Where would the key be?

She becomes more and more agitated as she cant find the key. But one day she sees a glimpse something hanging around his neck that she has never noticed before. During the night she tries to get the key but the task seems impossible, she cant risk him seeing her trying to get it. He took it off in the shower once, so when he was in the shower she quickly and quietly snook into the bathroom, looked for the key, found it and grabbed it. After that she quickly ran out to where the box was and opened it to find all of his private documents. She found one with her name on it. Startled, she looked inside to find out he has all her details. He had her whole life in this folder, medical records, birth certificate, copies of letters addressed to her, pictures of her family, her whole life…summed up in one folder. Tears began to fill her eyes as she began to cry. She was very anxious and apprehensive. She continues to look through the other documents and sees one folder which frightens her . He has pictures and information on girls who have gone missing and have been found dead and murdered. Why would he have them? She began to panic as she recognised some of the girls from the news who have been reported missing.

The man comes out of the shower, dresses and reaches for his key. It was gone and knew she had taken it. He ran into find her and screamed at her…he wanted to know where it was. She had put it on the key rack and acted completely normal which threw him. She told him she was going to the supermarket and would be back in an hour. He insisted that he come with her but she said she had a surprise for him and needed to get it. With that she smiled and kissed him goodbye and left for the shop. He was very unsure about it but she reassured him that she would be back in an hour.

She left his house and had taken some of his documents with her. She turned up outside her friends house and told her she was right about him. Her friend and him hated each other  which resulted in her to chose her friends and family or him. He had manipulated her so much she loved him and chose him. She was completely dependant on him which he loved. Now she had opened her eyes and seen who he really was. However she didn’t know who he really was. Her friend had called the police who said they would look at the situation but it wasn’t a serious case. She warned her friend about this and when back to his house to find the police already there. She began to panic and slowly walked into the house to find two police officers talking to him…he had managed to divert them away from the situation that has been reported against him. She acted like she knew nothing but he knew it was here.

When the police had gone, he locked the doors and disconnected the phone wire. There was not much signal in the woods so mobiles rarely worked. He forcefully pinned her up to the wall and hit her across the face. He was stronger than her and she was powerless to him. He tied her up to a chair and put tape across her mouth. She had a phone in her pocket but there was no way to get it. When he left she looked around and saw a blunt blade hung on the wall which she took advantage of. She managed to stand up and cut the wire/rope around her hands. She then ripped the tape off her mouth and ran for the door, it was locked and there was no way of getting out. There was a small window at the top of the cellar and she smashed that in order to escape. She heard him coming back and quickly stood on the cabinets and boxes in the cellar and crawled out the window. He came through the door to see her escaping through the window and grabbed her leg. She managed to break free from his grasp and ran into the woods.  

Distressed and running from her life she ran further into the woods near a river. He ran out of the house with a knife and chased after her. He was crazy and she phoned her friend and hid behind a tree, she only just had signal. He friend answered the phone and she quickly told her while out of breath. He found her, snook up behind her and dragged her to the water. She was screaming down the phone at her friend until she was cut of because she was dragged into the water. He tried to drown her…

So far…

Summary

A cop who has mental issues and killed his partners escapes his metal hospital in an attempt to begin anew. He chooses to change his name and move as far away as possible in order to lay low. While in hiding he meets an attractive woman who he grows fond of. The relationship blooms and to her he seems very normal. They quickly fall in love, and she moves in with him, against her parents and friends wishes, who try to warn her of his odd nature.

After the move he becomes obsessed with her, wanting to know her every move. He researches her life and stores the information in a box, locked with a key that is kept around his neck. She soon starts to become suspicious of him and notices the key wondering what secrets it could unlock. The key jogs her memory of noticing a box that had no way of opening it, apart from a lock. Her first attempt at stealing  the key  was unsuccessful  though her second attempt, stealing it while he was showering, proves successful. She discovers his research and becomes troubled. She confides in a friend, who rings the police against her will.

Returning home she finds the police leaving after they find nothing wrong with Dexter. After they leave he locks her in the house basement, however she manages to escape out of a small window and runs into the forest. The chase begins and he manages to catch her near a fast flowing river and pushes her head under the water…


New Synopsis

A woman named Alice is a keen photographer and enjoys the tranquil surroundings of the nearby woods where she does most of her work. She receives a mysterious phone call from an unknown number, which frightens her, this makes her very on edge and become more cautious. She has no idea who this person is and after this she begins to notice strange figures in her images and this figure appears every time she develops her images. Things begin to get very serious when one of her images reveals this figure moving a body. When she realises what is happening she goes to the woods to see if the figure appears again, he does and captures her in the woods.  

This is when the scene of the trailer ends to leave a cliff hanger to entice the audience.

Here is a filming diary of the progression of filming for 'The Dark Room' we have included information regarding props, location, the people involved and more.