Scriptwriting

Oedipa Regina

• LOGLINE: A genderbent modern re-interpretation of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex that fuses ancient Greek psychological terror with Cthulhu-esque cosmic horror.

• GENRE: Psychological horror short film

• MEDIUM: Live-action with animated VFX, or theatre.

Below are the first three pages from my 11-page horror short film inspired by Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and  H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulu.  Both these texts, in my mind, are about a similar kind of fear: the fear of some unintelligible omnipotent entity controlling every aspect of your life with possibly benign intentions, but these intentions do not seem to be aligned with what is actually happiness for you. I took this fear, and added a gendered lens to it as I think a lot of women are particularly acquainted with this fear as they navigate a patriarchal society where a male God is at the centre of the universe, followed by a fatherland, a father and a husband. These omnipotent, seemingly benign, paternal figures in one's life promise one happiness at the cost of obedience... but is that really okay? To make this tradeoff blindly, ignorant of what one is giving up, is not heroic. To strive to uncover the truth of one's life, no matter how horrible it may be, at the cost of blinding yourself, is what makes Sophocles' Oedipus a tragic hero, but a hero who was worshipped in Sophocles' hometown nonetheless. 

This story is set in a comfortable suburban 1950s pocket dimension controlled by an unknowable Cthulu-esque entity. A woman finds herself living the ideal feminine dream - a loving husband, an adorable son. Except this son of hers is being afflicted with a mysterious illness that has no cure. It will take the courage of a hero for this woman to look upon the horrible truth at the centre of her world.

Below, you may find the first three pages from this 11-page horror short film script. If you are interested in reading more, or helping me turn this into an actual film and/or theatre production, please do get in touch!