Rust-Tinted Prairie's Reach

### **TREATMENT: RUST-TINTED PRAIRIE'S REACH**

**LOGLINE**

A young couple fleeing their past becomes stranded in the remote Canadian wilderness, where they discover that their paranoia is real and an ancient, malevolent presence in the woods has been waiting for them.

**SYNOPSIS**

On the run from a troubled past in Winnipeg, THOMAS and SADIE drive their rattling Ford Pinto through the vast, oppressive landscape of Northwestern Ontario. Thomas, already on edge, is plagued by a growing sense of dread—a persistent chill, whispers on the edge of hearing, and a feeling of being watched by the ancient land itself. Sadie remains the pragmatic anchor, dismissing his fears as road fatigue and stress. Their journey is punctuated by unsettling sights: a dilapidated billboard for a forgotten resort, an abandoned children's playground swinging in a windless clearing. As fuel runs low, they are forced to stop at a desolate, eerily silent gas station where Thomas has a terrifying encounter with the gaunt, unnerving attendant, briefly seeing him as a monstrous, shadowy figure. Shaken, they flee back into the deepening twilight, but the feeling of being hunted now follows them. As a deep, guttural thrumming sound begins to vibrate through the car, the engine dies, plunging them into absolute darkness miles from civilization. Stranded and terrified, they hear something enormous scratching and moving in the trees, its approach heralded by a pulsing, unnatural green-yellow light that ignites in the heart of the forest.

**CHARACTER BREAKDOWN**

* **THOMAS (20s):** Raw-nerved and perceptive, teetering on the edge of paranoia. He is the first to sense that something is wrong with the landscape they’re traveling through. His anxiety makes him a seemingly unreliable narrator, but his fears are ultimately validated. He is trying to be the protector but is overwhelmed by a threat he can't explain or fight.

* **SADIE (20s):** Grounded, resilient, and fiercely pragmatic. She is the rock, trying to keep their focus on the practicalities of their escape—maps, fuel, their dwindling funds. She loves Thomas but treats his growing terror as a symptom of their recent trauma, only to have her rational worldview shattered when the supernatural threat becomes undeniable.

**SCENE BEATS**

* **THE WRONG KIND OF QUIET:** Inside their cramped Pinto, Thomas tries to explain an unnerving silence he experienced, but Sadie rationalizes it away. The tension between his paranoia and her pragmatism is established. The car and the landscape feel oppressive.

* **OMENS ON THE ROAD:** They pass two decaying landmarks that serve as warnings. First, a peeling billboard for a failed "Lake of Dreams." Second, an abandoned playground, its swings moving eerily on their own. Thomas's unease deepens; Sadie dismisses them as mundane ruins.

* **THE ISOLATED PUMP:** Dangerously low on fuel, they pull into a single, remote gas station. The air is cold and smells of rot. The silence is absolute.

* **THE ATTENDANT:** Thomas has a chilling interaction with the gaunt, silent attendant, who moves too smoothly and won't make eye contact. For a split second, Thomas sees the man as a distorted, inhuman shadow with glowing eyes. The encounter leaves him terrified.

* **THE ESCAPE:** They speed away from the station, the neon sign pulsing behind them like a malevolent eye. Sadie, sensing Thomas's genuine terror, begins to shed her skepticism. The shared fear begins to bond them.

* **THE HEARTBEAT OF THE LAND:** Deep in the forest, a low, guttural thrumming begins, vibrating through the car. It's a deep, ancient sound. The atmosphere shifts from unsettling to overtly hostile.

* **ENGINE FAILURE:** The car's dashboard lights flicker and die. The engine sputters out, and the headlights extinguish, plunging them into terrifying, total darkness. They are stranded.

* **IT'S HERE:** In the suffocating silence, a new sound emerges from the woods beside them: the heavy scratching of something enormous moving through the trees.

* **THE WATCHING EYE:** A sickly, green-yellow light begins to pulse deep in the forest. It grows in intensity, rhythmically matching the thrumming sound. It is the light of something vast, alive, and aware of them. The scratching gets closer. They are trapped, and their hunter has arrived.

**VISUAL STYLE**

* **AESTHETIC:** A gritty, analog feel reminiscent of late 1970s/early 1980s road thrillers and folk horror. The setting is pre-internet and pre-cell phone, emphasizing true isolation. The world feels worn, rusted, and forgotten.

* **CINEMATOGRAPHY:** A contrast between claustrophobic, intimate shots inside the Pinto and vast, agoraphobic wides of the indifferent landscape. The camera should feel unsettled, using slow, creeping zooms and slightly off-kilter framing to enhance Thomas's paranoia. Long lenses will be used to compress the endless highway, making the horizon feel both infinitely far and crushingly close.

* **COLOR PALETTE:** A desaturated, earthy palette dominates: the faded blue of denim, the rust-orange of the Pinto, the deep greens and browns of the forest, the grey of the asphalt. Color will be used sparingly for menace: the erratic, sickly blue of the gas station's neon sign, and the unnatural, pulsating green-yellow of the final supernatural light.

* **SOUND DESIGN:** Sound is a primary driver of the horror. The film will alternate between the tinny, comforting noise of the car radio and an oppressive, unnatural silence. The low, bass-heavy thrum should be a visceral, physical presence. Foley work will be sharp and terrifying—the snap of a twig, the scratch of claws on bark—to punctuate the silence and amplify the threat in the darkness.