“Blood Manor”. (Quarterfinalist, Emerging Screenwriters - Genre Screenplay Competition 2022, Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic Horror Screenplay Awards Season 6 2021, Semi-finalist Atlanta Screenplay Awards 2021, Honorable Mention Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards 2021, Quarterfinalist Santa Barbara Screenplay Awards Diverse Writers Outreach 2022 ). This screenplay is a horror/slasher story with quite a bit of mystery thrown in, there are unexpected twists, all the way, to the last scene.
Logline: A couple returns to the husband's childhood home with a group of friends for a weekend of fun. They find that the Manor steeped with a history of death continues its reputation.
Synopsis: Thomas is suffering from disturbing nightmares that stem from the traumatic incident of the tragic death of his parents. Thomas has no memory of the actual murder or the weeks that followed. Dr. Murry, Thomas’s psychiatrist, suggests that visiting his childhood home, the place of the incident, may jar loose his missing memories and rid him of the nightmares.
Thomas and Lynn, his wife, set out on a trip to Thomas’s home, Blont Manor, the seat of the town Blontville. They bring along six friends, some of which, Thomas has underlying tension. Thomas upon arriving at the Manor unveils the troubling history of the home. The home and its family have a tragic history that began with its founder Langston Blont, he and his soldiers claim the land after slaughtering the peaceful natives. The Blont family and the townspeople’s fortunes seem to be intertwined, while the Blont family’s wealth grows, the townspeople struggle to barely earn a living, resulting in deep-seated resentment. It is believed that this intertwinement began with a curse issued by the surviving member of a Creole family murdered 100 years ago. The Blont family blessed with fortune are also cursed with only the firstborn, always a male, of each generation surviving. All other siblings die tragic violent deaths.
The group encounters Jess, the unlikely sheriff of the town, a young black woman that was a childhood friend of Thomas. Thomas is also reunited with the caretaker of the manor Mr. Lenard a mysterious, elderly man, who is in contact with his uncle Dr. Blont. Dr. Blont is dead against Thomas’s return to the manor and has been secretly plotting to sell and destroy it.
It’s not long before the visit to the manor turns deadly for the group, although at first a plot is revealed to drive Thomas insane by his so-called friends. They prove more successful than they desired as the insane Thomas takes on the persona of “Vengdactor man” and goes on a murderous spree. He dawns an armored helmet used by Langston Blont, when conquering the territory, it harbors dark forces that guide Thomas.
Jess seemly always one step behind, investigates throughout the story, trying to get to the bottom of the unfolding mysteries of the manor. She is able by the story’s end to save Lynn, the final victim of Thomas while suffering a mortal injury. She awakes from a nearly month-long coma to find facts are being covered up and discovers her own fortunes are tied to the manor. The pregnant Lynn had plotted to get Thomas’s family’s wealth while sending him to a mental institution, gets more than she bargained for. All of her friends are now dead and she finds out the only way she and her baby can inherit the fortune is if her child resides in the manor until his 18th birthday.
