Sam Durelle and her younger sister are home alone when a knock at the door leads Sam down the road to terror. Abducted by a serial-killer couple, Sam manages toescape and find refuge in a desolate farmhouse, only to discover it is home to a malevolent spirit. Trapped in the house, Sam is propelled into a struggle for survival, one that will push her to the limits not only physically and emotionally, but spiritually.

Nothing too original here, folks. I cringe at the potential, gratuitous gore and serial-killer psychosis that will permeate this script. The only slightly intriguing sentence in this logline is ‘…a struggle for survival…that will push her to the limits not only physically and emotionally, but spiritually..’ The Exorcist meets Buffy or Clueless? Sorry, as a fan of good horror, I remain unconvinced. Judge Foundis

There are two, seperate, potential feature stories here that have been jammed together for no good reason. The kidnapping by a serial-killer couple is one story. The haunted farmhouse is another. On the face of it, the kidnapping plot only serves as an over-elaborate device to place Sam in the farmhouse. (Her sister is just dressing therefore, so why bother even mentioning her in the logline?) There is no apparent connection between the killer couple and the evil spirit. And even if the two malevolent forces are supposed to be connected somehow, they are each way too different from each other to make for a cohesive and taut overarching thriller story here.

First piece of advice: Settle for one of these stories. Second piece of advice: Develop the chosen story to have deeper and more distinctive elements to it. Neither the killer couple nor the evil spirit are highly distinctive or interesting as they currently stand. More flesh is needed in their bones.

Steven Fernandez (Judge)