Surrogate Cabaret: 1a Trailer
Written/ Directed by: Edward Land.
Produced by: Edward Land & Alexander Winterbotham.
Production Company: Atrocity Lane Productions, London.
Production Type: Independent Short Film.
Genre: Surrealist, Psychological Horror.
Release Date: April 2012 (TBC)
Logline: Boy meets girl in the sober light of yesterday, while the memory plagues and haunts him today. A surrealist, psychological horror mixed with gothic Neo-Noir and Hitchcock- inspired suspense.
Surrogate Cabaret: 1a is a one-character monologue journeying into psychologically twisted and confused mindset of an unnamed male character (MC). Dealing with the savage recollection of a series of humiliating events from the previous night, Surrogate’s anti-hero withdraws to the confinement and security of the four walls around him.
Sat alone, deep in consideration and staring out of the window, MC’s distraction shifts to six levers that are positioned in front of his seat. Outside a distant bell chimes, this is the signal he has been waiting for. Grabbing hold first of the third lever, MC pulls it to the ground and returns it to its upright position, before doing the same to the second.
Distracted by the outside world he catches his reflection in the windowpane and starts recounting the series of events of a chance encounter with a mysterious young girl. Overwhelmed by her innocence, her beauty and accessibility, MC struggles to stay composed fearing any sign of invitation will no doubt be misinterpreted and potentially threatened.
Against his best efforts, MC is forced to acknowledge the mystery girl and unable to control his inner desires, he is forced to witness his actions as if through the eyes of another. Obediently obeying the haunting voices, MC attempts to physically restrain the girl with the hope of obtaining her cleansing powers.
In conflict with the girl, MC struggles for control as the mystery girl fights for her life, during moments of clarity success seems possible, but his physical deformities make it near impossible to keep hold of her. Consumed by moral compassion MC starts to sympathise with the vision of venerable beauty he sees in front of him, seizing her opportunity the mystery girl reverses her role as victim, for executor.
During his captivity at the hands of the mystery girl, MC is forced to live between the recollection of past memories and the remembrance of the present. As the memories become clearer and more frequent the two realities start to merge and the line between them becomes less apparent. Soon MC is unsure whether one is holding him captive or three; the image of his mother and sister distort his impression of the mystery girl and he is transported back to the adolescent conditioning of his youth.
Comparing his predicament and behavior as a result of his upbringing MC witnesses the life and evolution of a series of tiny stalagmites formed from his spilt blood, clotting on the floor. Unable to see past his own predicament MC compares his own existence to that of the inanimate subjects formed from his blood.
“I sympathised with those small pointless creation, it was my blood and my memory which created them. Time had robbed them of their chance, fate denied their obvious potential.”
A forceful application of the young girls foot to MC’s sternum awakes him fully to his present situation, the psychical pain now inflicted upon him forces the relative security of his room back into focus. With no physical indication that anything of the memory has occurred, MC once again returns his focus to the outside world.
Crew
Dir. Edward Land.
DOP. Eugene Magee.
Prod. Alexander Winterbotham.
Edit. Edward Land.
Comp. Chris Davis.
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