Trapped in a failing marriage and fearing the loss of his children, a desperate father takes an extreme step to keep them close. After years of bitter arguments with his wife and her threats to take the kids, he devises an audacious plan: fake a zombie apocalypse and hide his children in an abandoned World War II bunker. The ruse works perfectly, and for years, the family lives in isolated peace.

But as his eldest child begins to question the reality of their situation, the father's elaborate lie starts to unravel. During a rare excursion outside, the siblings encounter what they believe is a zombie, prompting a shocking act of violence that exposes the truth: the apocalypse was a hoax. As the children uncover incriminating evidence on their father’s phone documenting the staged events, they are left to grapple with betrayal, manipulation, and the realization that the real danger may have always been closer to home.

 Link to Pitch deck and most up to date script: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mKSFWnPlAg7iiX2jEF4oQiA5cdHjZ0DB?usp=drive_link

Three Act structure treatment 

Act 1 The Awakening

The story opens with two young siblings, Shaun and Lorrie, sitting in front of a TV, engrossed in a zombie movie. The atmosphere is calm, until the sudden crash of the living room door sends a shockwave through the scene. Their mother, disheveled and bloodied, bursts in, her mouth dripping with red as she grapples with their father, Karl, in a deadly struggle. Karl holds her off, barely maintaining control as the mother growls like a zombie. Just as the tension peaks, the TV flickers and a news broadcast interrupts, declaring the onset of a zombie apocalypse and offering survival tips, including how to kill the creatures.

In a panic, Karl yells at the kids to get to the car. They rush out, escaping with their father just in time as the house is left behind. The scene cuts to a title card: “Ten Years Later”.

Now, the siblings are older, chopping wood outside their secluded cabin. Karl returns home, covered in blood. He tells them about a violent encounter with zombies in the streets and his narrow escape, hiding in an old car. Shaun, now older and more skeptical, begins to question his father’s story. Suddenly, a strange buzzing noise fills the air, cutting the conversation short.

Act 2: The Truth Unravels

Karl orders the children into their hideout, where they discuss the strange buzzing sound. Shaun grows more suspicious of his father’s increasingly erratic behavior, especially as the hours pass without Karl returning. Unable to ignore his gut feeling, Shaun sneaks out and discovers the glow of a smartphone in the distance. He hurries back to Lorrie and shares his discovery, but she dismisses his concerns.

That night, the family watches a film together, and during a random scene, Shaun is jolted by a chilling moment: it’s a flashback of the TV broadcast announcing the start of the zombie apocalypse—the same scene they watched as children. Shaun, now deeply troubled, pretends to sleep as he overhears his father and sister discussing plans to leave the base soon. The next day, Shaun shares everything with lorries, but she refuses to believe him. She goes back to her training while Shaun decides to shadow his father.

Act 3: The Lie Revealed

While tailing Karl, Shaun finds his father talking to a strange man in the same old car Karl had claimed to escape in earlier in the story. Heart racing, Shaun dashes back to the hideout and confides in Lorrie once more, but she brushes him off again. She insists they’ll find out the truth when they leave the base tomorrow.

That night, the tension builds again as Shaun, once again pretending to sleep, overhears a crucial conversation. Karl discusses plans for tomorrow with Lorrie, and the daughter asks for her father’s axe, suggesting they’ll be leaving for a walk. The next day, the family sets off on a country road, each armed with their weapon. They encounter a figure walking towards them, and Karl tells the kids to return to the base, but Lorrie is already charging at the figure, wielding the axe with deadly intent. In one swift motion, she strikes, decapitating the person, only to realize too late that they weren’t a zombie.

In the chaos that follows, Karl forces the children to return to the base. But as they leave, Shaun notices a phone in Karls pocket. He steals it without his father’s knowledge.

Finale: The Reveal

The credits roll, but as they do, we get a glimpse into Karls true intentions: the entire plan. Through fragmented clips, we learn Karl's unsettling goal—to kidnap the kids to keep them from the truth, revealing that the world outside is far less dangerous than the one he’s created for them.