SkullFace

Script Synopsis

by Frank Forrestall

Act I

Teenagers partying in an abandoned hospital meet their end at the hands of the dreaded SkullFace; SkullFace's cryptic words suggest a secret motive to the massacre. He corners the one named Eric and claims that Eric has something which belongs to him; something which he carries in his soul.

Ten Years and Two Months Earlier

Dr. Sullivan Cain is arrested in his beachside cabin for the abduction and torture of seven-year-old Frank Aquinas. Cain is incarcerated. The nature and motive behind the torments that he subjected upon his young captor remain a mystery.

Ten Years Later to the Day

Frank is a troubled teen. Cain's torment continues to haunt him, although he carries no recollection of what those tortures meant. Years of bad psychotherapy and prescription drug use have left him an emotionally barren soul. Sarah - Frank's mother - has tried to emotionally bury the horrors of their past; but doing so has only exasperated her son's emotional problems. Frank's greatest desire is to learn the hidden truth behind the tortures that Cain put him through.

Frank's only friend is a Punk-Goth teen named Pooka; and his only release from the torments of his soul is his "dream journal," a sketchbook in which he records in words and drawings the harrowing visions of his nighttime dreams.

One-day word comes to Frank and Sarah that Cain has died in his prison cell. Sarah embraces the news as an ending to the years of anguish. She sees in Cain's death an opportunity to put the past behind them; a chance to forget. Frank had long held the hope that one day he would confront Cain and so learn the truth behind his captivity. Frank is shattered by the news of his death.

Frank slowly comes unhinged. He violently lashes out at a teacher in school; he starts a brutal fight with another teen; and shadowy hallucinations begin to beleaguer him. Pooka tells Frank that there is a way that he may still confront Cain. The two steal a car and return to Cain's beachside cabin.

While Sarah and her RCMP friend Darren pursue the teens it is revealed that among Frank's various psychoses, in the past he was prone to creating hallucinatory friends. As a child one of these friends was a black goat named Pooka.

At the cabin, Frank discovers a mystical portal into another world. On the threshold of this world he acquires the mask and knives that transform him into SkullFace.

When Sarah and Darren arrive at the cabin they find no trace of Frank.

Act II

SkullFace finds himself in a dreamlike landscape of eternal night and endless mist. He wanders the strange wilderness encountering ghostly spirits and strange phenomenon.

In his travels SkullFace encounters a spirit-oracle known as the Tree Verdade - a tree with many talking faces that drop cryptic clues of the world that they are in and the nature of Frank's transformation into SkullFace.

During the encounter SkullFace is attacked by a hostile spirit known as Scythian. In the ensuing battle SkullFace discovers that he has magical power over the ten knives that he carries. As a "reward" for his victory, the Tree Verdade presents SkullFace with a fruit that will supposedly give SkullFace insight into his forgotten past.

At that moment Pooka shows up and stops SkullFace from eating the fruit a declaring it as a trap; for SkullFace to remove his mask in this world - even for a moment to bite the fruit - would be perilous. Pooka tells SkullFace that he will lead him to confront Cain so that he may learn the truth that he seeks. Pooka and SkullFace leave the tree together without the fruit.

In the living world Sarah sets out on a journey to find her son. The journey takes her through many hardships and she learns much about the mysterious Dr. Sullivan Cain. After exhausting all rational options with little success Sarah takes another path. Using Frank's dream journal as a guide she leaves behind everything she knew in her life and embarks on a "spirit walk" to find her son. The journey takes her far away and through many hardships.

Pooka explains that they are in the spirit world. An alienation of human spirituality and social disconnection to the world has left the spirit world a bleak and inhospitable landscape, filled with madness and lost souls. Creatures who were once gods - humanity's guides and companions in the spirit world - have dwindled to back-alley bogeymen and psychic parasites that feed on human anxiety. The spirit world is divided into geo-political territories that often come into conflict.

Pooka and SkullFace journey through the spirit world. On the way they encounter a number of spirits. Among them a dark angel named Vanth who knows something about SkullFace's past.

Pooka brings SkullFace to the abode of his people - the Fay - the once beautiful fairies of folklore, now a rag-tag pack of bandits scraping survival out of the desolation of the spirit world.

During his time among the Fay, SkullFace aids Pooka in a quarrel of leadership; securing Pooka's position as sole leader of the Fay. SkullFace also learns more about the nature of the spirit world - how power is acquired and wielded (through worship and other methods) - and the nature of magic.

SkullFace is secretly visited by Vanth who returns to him the mystical fruit which he abandoned at the Tree Verdade. SkullFace begins to suspect that Pooka may be manipulating him to serve his own ends. Unbeknownst to Pooka, SkullFace keeps the fruit.

The Fay are soon visited by powerful spirits from another territory of the spirit realm. They collect SkullFace and bring him to a neighboring territory where - Pooka claims - Cain's resides in spirit form. SkullFace resists and battles Nedu a powerful guardian spirit. The battle is completely one-sided to SkullFace's disadvantage. Seeing the urgency of the situation Pooka says something which opens a door in the SkullFace's memory. SkullFace falls into a trance… A flash back reveals Sullivan Cain in his beach cabin teaching his young captive magical techniques. SkullFace returns to his senses and uses the magic to defeat Nedu.

SkullFace later recalls the revelation with a disappointed understanding that Pooka has kept many secrets from him.

SkullFace, Pooka and a small band of warrior Fay travel through the spirit realm hunting down powerful spirits and gods that Pooka a claims are the allies of Cain. Pooka promises that once these beings are destroyed they will confront Cain and SkullFace will get the answers that he seeks. SkullFace's faith in his old friend Pooka is strained as more clues indicate that Pooka is manipulating SkullFace into defeating his own enemies. Pooka's sincerity appears flawless.

One of these encounters requires SkullFace to temporarily cross into the living world. While there he is caught on security camera and implicated in a mysterious murder.

SkullFace's journey is interrupted by an untimely encounter with a pack of roving death gods known as the Wild Hunt. Pooka leads the companions to hide but the Wild Hunt stalks and slays all the warrior Fay.

During the massacre - in the living world - SkullFace is seen by millions of television viewers. His appearance on the security tape is an immediate media sensation. As Pooka puts it "people in the living world have seen your face and now worship you with their fear." The psychic energy that SkullFace is subjected to creates a torrent of magical power within him; he is able to destroy the death gods.

SkullFace and Pooka continue their journey.

The final adversary that Pooka claims stands between SkullFace and Cain turns out to be the dark angel Vanth. When they meet SkullFace reveals to Pooka the fruit of the Tree Verdade which he has been carrying throughout their journey. Pooka pleads with SkullFace not to bite into the fruit. SkullFace has lost all trust in Pooka. He raises his mask to bite into the fruit. As he does so he is struck unconscious.

Act III

SkullFace returns to his senses. Pooka has fled with the fruit. SkullFace knows where to find him. He crosses back into the living world.

A group of teens are being massacred in an abandoned hospital. SkullFace calls them by their Fay names as he slays them. He corners one named Eric; addressing him as Pooka he demands the return of the fruit. With fast talking Eric stays SkullFace's killing stroke. In a horrified panic Eric explains how he too was abducted by Sullivan Cain; as he tells it Cain brainwashed him and made him believe that he was able to wander through worlds and fight evil spirits. He explains that when the police finally found him he'd killed a neighbor's dog and his life had been.

The revelation hits SkullFace hard. Flashback: he sees the creatures he killed in the spirit world and crosses their faces with visions of people killed in the living world. The question haunts him: has anything he's seen in the spirit world actually happened… or has he completely lost his mind?

He looks down. Eric is dead in his arms. He's slain him without realizing it.

SkullFace transcends back to the spirit world with Pooka in his clutches. Pooka - defeated - gives the fruit to SkullFace. SkullFace bites. All is revealed.

Flashback: Sullivan Cain explains to the captive Frank that the spirit world is sick and needs to be healed. Before healing can begin the sick limbs must first be severed. Cain will turn Frank into a powerful death god so that he may travel into the spirit world and destroy those evil spirits which plague the souls of humanity. The training will be intense and there will be great suffering, but for the good of humanity it must be done.

SkullFace returns to himself with the understanding he has sought. Although he understands now what it was that Cain did to him, he has not forgiven him.

For his betrayal SkullFace tells Pooka to go away; it is only out of sentiment for the years of companionship that SkullFace chooses not to destroy him now. Pooka abruptly transforms into a terrifying goat monster and turning on SkullFace rips the mask from his head; leaving an exposed and vulnerable Frank. With his words SkullFace had unwittingly set Pooka free from a servitude forced on him by Cain. A history of jealousy and betrayal are revealed.

Pooka takes the mask for himself and begins to leave Frank. At that moment Frank remembers a bit of his old masters teachings. Tearing his own face off Frank reveals another SkullFace mask beneath his flesh.

The two tumble fighting into a bottomless pit. In this final battle SkullFace reveals the extent of the power that Cain has given him. Pooka is completely annihilated. SkullFace is left falling alone in the dark of the pit. He removes his mask. Frank continues to plummet into the darkness. The darkness overcomes him.

In the living world Sarah's journey has brought her ragged and starving to an abandoned Hospital in another city. There she finds her son unconscious and surrounded by the bodies of the massacred teens. She carries her son away, washes the blood from his hands and takes him to a hospital.

Sarah watches over her comatose son. SkullFace appears to her in dream. He tells her that her son is well and will return to her some day. She promises to keep him well. He explains that for now there is something important that he must do.

Somewhere in the spirit world… Cain is waiting.

The End