Treatment - The families

TREATMENT

WORKING TITLE: THE FAMILIES

WRITTEN BY: AJAIB SINGH

His real name is Mark but he calls himself Malcolm now. He is a short order cook in a restaurant and suffers from panic attacks occasionally. He has a girlfriend - Judy. One day during weekend Judy comes to take Mark to meet her family. While at work Mark gets a panic attack and faints. He wakes up in Judy’s car. At home Mark meets Judy’s father - Richard, mother - Bertha, brother - David and his girlfriend - Elisa. Judy introduces Mark to them as Malcolm. Mark takes dinner with Judy’s family and then everyone go to sleep. In the middle of night when everyone was sleeping Mark wakes up and kills Judy, David, Bertha and Richard by slitting their throats. But he let Elisa go alive. Mark then moves to a new city.

In the new city Mark starts living in a new house. His new neighbour was an old lady – Rosy, who was living with her husband Peter and their son - Joel. Rosy spies Mark and becomes suspicious about him. One day she and Peter break in Mark house while he was away and find a video. They get shocked when they see the video. Rosy asks Joel to go to Richard (Judy’s father, dead now) who lives in another city and gather information about Mark.

Joel goes to Richard house but finds that Richard and his family were murdered few months back. He then goes to Richard’s previous residence where his family was neighbour to Derrek’s family. Joel asks an old man about the family and finds out that the family consisted of Derrek, his wife - Andrea, daughter - Aleen, two sons - Daniel and Mark (identical twins) and grandson - Jimmy (Aleen’s 12 year old son who was always making movies with his cell phone camera). The old man further tells that one day all of a sudden the family moved to some other place without leaving any address and now no one knows where they are!

Joel goes home and tells everything to Rosy and Peter. Rosy then goes and meets Mark. She calls him Daniel to which he responds that he is Mark. She tells Mark that she was good friend of Andrea, his mother. She invites Mark to dinner. At dinner Rosy mixes some powder to coffee and gives it to mark. Mark however fakes vomiting and fells sick. Rosy asks him to stay for the night. In night Joel comes to see Mark but Mark attacks and kills him. Mark then kills Rosy and Peter too. He then moves to another city.

One day Mark goes to a disco club where he stalks a man – Zack Delur. Mark kidnaps him from his hotel room and takes to an unknown place. Mark asks Zack the address of a girl Karen but Zack refuses. Mark tortures him and keeps without food and water.

Mark then spies on Sandra who is a receptionist at Pines hotel. He collects information about Sandra’s family. She was living with her mother - Susan, nephew - Ricky (10 years) and neice – Danny (12 yrs). Both Ricky and Danny were son and daughter of Sandra’s missing brother Michael. Mark then starts staying in Pines hotel. One day Ricky while playing with Danny falls in hotel’s swimming pool. Mark jumps in the pool and saves Ricky from drowning. Sandra expresses her gratitude to Mark and invites him for a coffee. They begin seeing each other and slowly it turns into a love affair. One day Mark proposes Sandra. She however tells that she has the responsibility of Ricky and Danny. Mark says that he loves the children and wishes to share the responsibility. Finally Sandra accepts Mark’s proposal. Soon Mark moves in with Sandra. Susan remains suspicious about Mark and wishes to know all about him. One evening Ricky goes to a nearby shop to bring some candy. While coming back he is stalked by someone. Ricky senses it, runs and hides behind a hedge. Suddenly he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up but finds Mark smiling at him. Mark asks him what he was doing there. Ricky tells that someone was chasing him. Mark goes with Ricky to alley to see who was it but doesn’t find anyone. They then return home.

One day while Sandra was away Mark gets a call from his girlfriend – Emily, from a different town. She asks Mark where was he and when will he come back. To which Mark says that he is on a business trip, he will finish his work soon and come back. Danny overhears the conversation and asks Mark who was Emily. Mark is taken by surprise at this and angrily tells Danny not to eavesdrop on others. He asks her just to go out and play.

In the night someone comes in the house. He goes to Ricky and Danny’s room where they both were sleeping. The stranger kidnaps Danny, puts her in a car and drives away. Meanwhile Sandra wakes up and sees Mark coming from outside. She inquires where he was. He says he was about to have a panic attack and went till garage for a walk. Just then Ricky comes in the room and informs them that Danny was not in her bed. Sandra goes and searches in the kid’s room. She then goes to Susan and asks her whether Danny was with her! She denied. All of them then begin searching for Danny in the entire house. Mark says he will see outside and goes out.

Mark goes to an abandoned building. He goes inside. When he opens the door of a room Danny was inside. She was tied to a chair. Mark unties her fast. Danny tells that kidnapper was in the adjoining room. Just then the kidnapper - an old vagabond comes out. Mark punches and beats him until he falls on the ground. Mark ties him and takes him along. Meanwhile Sandra has called cops at house. Mark reaches with Danny and tells cop that the kidnapper was in the car. The cops then take away the kidnapper in the police car.

One day Mark goes to other city to meet his girlfriend Emily. At Emily’s house he meets her father - Mathew, elder sister - Deorah, a friend - Patrick, and his girlfriend - Ellie. In the night Mark goes to Emily’s room. She wakes up with a startle and asks Mark what he was up to! Mark says he wants some water from the fridge and takes out a bottle. He goes back to his room and sleeps. Next day Patrick suggests that they all should go for a sightseeing of the caves in a nearby forest. All of them agree and go there. While walking through the jungle they lose their way. Patrick suggests they should divide in groups and search for a path. Mark and Emily, Patrick and Ellie and Mathew and Deorah form pairs and start searching for the path. Meanwhile Mathew and Deorah get indulge in outdoor sex (incest?). After some time Emily takes another path and gets separated from Mark. Mark starts searching alone. After a while he hears a scream of Ellie. He runs toward the direction of sound. When he reaches he sees terrified Patrick and Ellie. Corpses of Emily, Mathew and Deorah were lying on the ground. Someone had slit their throats.

Mark continues to live at Sandra’s house. One day Mark goes to Zack again who was quite exhausted. Mark asks him whether he was ready to speak now. Zack says he doesn’t have any idea about anything. Mark then shows him a wrench and tells him that he was going to castrate him with it like a farm animal. Zack is terrified and agrees to tell. Mark then shows him a picture of Karen, Sandra’s friend and asks where she was? Zack tells him her address. Mark then kills him by hanging.

Mark spends some more good time with Sandra and her family. He helps Sandra in day to day household activities, teaches kids swimming and plays with them. During vacations he takes the family to different places. All were happy with him.

Once a family – Brian, Sarah and their daughter Donna was having dinner in their house. Just then the doorbell rings. Brian goes to open the door and before opening asks who was it. The man outside tells that his car was broken down and he needed to make a phone call. Brian opens the door and a masked man comes inside. The man points a gun at Brian and takes everyone captive. He asks Donna to tie Sarah’s hand behind her. And then asks Brian to tie Donna to the chair. The masked man shuts Sarah inside the closet. He then asks Brian whether he was having his ATM card with him. When Brian says yes, the man takes him out to an ATM machine and asks him to withdraw money. After Brian does so the masked man brings Brian back to the house. Once inside the house the masked man kills Brian, Donna and Sarah by shooting them. While leaving, the masked man pulls his mask off. It was Mark himself!

One day Sandra’s friend - Karen comes to meet her. When she sees Mark she becomes anxious. After Mark leaves Karen tells Sandra that while working in Portland she has seen a poster of a man who was wanted for the brutal murder of some Richard’s family. The face in poster resembles that of Mark. Sandra however doesn’t believe what Karen says. Karen further tells her that she was going to Portland the next day and will try to find more about it. While Karen was telling this, Mark eavesdrops and listens everything.

Karen goes to Portland and Mark follows. Karen goes to the Richard’s house. There she meets another person who tells that Richard’s family was murdered by the boyfriend of Richard’s daughter - Judy and now there was a website about it over the internet. Karen goes back to hotel where Mark stalks her. She searches the net on her laptop and comes across a website about murder of the Richard and family. She copies the link and mails it to Sandra. She was only in the middle of sending the mail when the door is forced open. Mark comes inside and kills Karen. He tries to cancel the mail sending however couldn’t. It is successfully sent.

At home Sandra goes to basement where Mark uses to keep his things. She searches almirahs and cupboards. In one almirah she finds a blood stained knife hidden under the clothes. She becomes afraid and shows it to Susan. Just then Sandra gets a message in her cell phone saying – one new mail in your message box, sender: Karen. Sandra runs upstairs and Susan follows her. After reaching the living room Sandra fiddles with her laptop. Susan stands behind. Danny and Ricky also join them. Sandra opens the mail sent by Karen and clicks the link to the website. Meanwhile Mark is coming home at top speed. Sandra goes through the website. She comes across the pictures of the dead family of Richard. She then sees the sketch of murderer. It resembles Mark’s face. Both Sandra and Susan are horrified.

Just then doorbell rings. Mark is at the door. Sandra gets up but she doesn’t’ open the door. Mark goes to the window and shatters the glass. Terrified Sandra and others move back. As Mark jumps in, Sandra, Susan, Ricky and Danny run upstairs. Mark asks Sandra to stop and listen to him. But they keep running. Mark chases them. Sandra and others get inside a room and shuts the door. Sandra and Susan places tables and chairs on the door to prevent Mark’s entry. Mark however beats the door with shoulder and is able to break it open. He applies force and makes enough space to enter. He comes in the room but it’s empty. Mark goes to other rooms and searches here and there. He then reaches the store room. After searching a while he goes towards a table with many cartons on it. Susan, Danny and Ricky were hiding there. Mark comes there and finds them. As he was about to go towards them Sandra appears behind him with a baseball bat in her hand. She hits Mark who tucks in time and is hit on the shoulder. She strikes again but Mark fights back. He makes the bat fall off of Sandra’s hand. She tries to use her hands but Mark slaps her. Sandra falls on the floor. Susan, Danny and Ricky become more afraid as Mark looks at them. But all of a sudden Mark begins to roll his eyes. It was a panic attack in time and he falls on the ground. Sandra, Susan, Danny and Ricky take the advantage of this opportunity and escape.

Fallen Mark then sees some memories (a flashback). We see Mark’s father Derrek’s house. A new neighbour Richard and his family – Bertha, Judy and David are moving in next door house. Derrek’s grandson Jimmy who is fond of making home videos with his cell phone camera records the new family moving in. After few days Bertha and Richard invites Derrek’s family for house warming dinner party. Derrek’s family except Mark who was in college in some other city go for the dinner next day. Many other people were also there: Peter, Rosy, and Joel; Brian, Sarah and Donna; Zack and Karen. Judy takes Daniel and Jimmy to see her room. When she leaves for some work Jimmy fits his cell phone with video recording on, in a crevice between the pickets of balcony. He wanted to record the video of this dinner. Bertha then calls everyone to dinner.

The flashback then moves to another incident. Mark comes home for vacations but finds no family member home. He goes to next door neighbour’s (Richard and family) house which was also empty. As he was about to return a cell phone rings inside the house. Mark picks up the cell and finds that it was of Jimmy. He answers the call from one of a Jimmy’s friend and while coming back, fiddles with the cell. He begins watching a video which leaves him totally shocked and horrified.

Flashback ends and Mark becomes conscious again. He gets up and runs towards the stairs. Sandra and others were escaping in a car but Mark reaches in time and blocks the exit. He brings all of them to the living room. He makes them sit on the sofa and ties their hands behind. He then brings his laptop and places it on the table in front of them. He inserts a pen - drive and then plays a video. All of them begin to see the video of the dinner at Richard house.

On the video we again see the dinner scene: All are sitting on the dinner table. Dinner is served and everyone start with soup. After few minutes Derrek, Andrea, Aleen, Daniel and Jimmy faint and fell on the table. Richard and other laugh. Rosy ask all of them to raise a toast stating – to cannibalism!!

At this point Mark takes Ricky and Danny to their room. Apparently he doesn’t want them to see the gruesome scene coming next. In the room he asks them whether they have realised everything now. To which they say - yes. When Mark comes back to living room Sandra and Susan are looking horrified and nauseated. On the video we see blood stained floor. Most of the cannibals have finished their butchering job and now they are chatting and laughing in groups. There are blood stained knives, axes and saws scattered here and there on the floor. There are six black plastic bags full of something apparently human meat. Richard puts the last pieces of meat in the seventh plastic bag. Karen comes to him and asks which bag contains young boy’s meat so that they can cook it for dinner. Richard winks and indicates towards second bag. Mark stops the video. Sandra is in tears. Mark unties both Sandra and Susan.

In few days things become normal. One day Sandra comes to Mark who was sitting in the lawn. She wonders whether her brother will come back some day. Mark gives her a locket which she identifies as of her brother’s. Mark tells her that he has found it at Karen’s house. Sandra starts sobbing. She had seen Karen on video and could understand what would have happened to her brother who was dating Karen.

One day while driving with Sandra Mark crosses a bridge. He throws the cell phone of Jimmy in the river and moves ahead with life with Sandra and her loving family.

THE END