Refined Treatment

Title -


Audience -
The film has some dark scenes and contains mild elements of threat and terror and would therefore receive a PG or 12A age certificate.


Synopsis -
It is late at night and a young girl named Ivy is hiding in a small room; terrified and trembling. The door is shaking violently. Ivy desperately tries to block out  the noise, holding the palms of her hands tightly of her ears; we hear a girls voice, droning, echoing and bouncing around the room. The door bursts open and Ivy jumps up from her bed; she was sleeping, having a terrible nightmare. The next morning she slowly leaves her bedroom, distracted by the recurring nightmares. Lily, Ivy's mother rushes around the kitchen, preparing her daughters lunch for the day ahead at school. She is talking on the phone with a friend, discussing what seems to be the condition of Ivy and her nightmares. Ivy arrives downstairs and her mother says goodbye to her friend and begins to take notice of Ivy. She tries to break the silence with light conversation before asking Ivy if she's still having the nightmares; Ivy remains silent and looks at her mother in sadness. Lily moves slowly to her daughters level before hugging her tightly.


That night, we see Ivy downstairs having a drink of water. All is silent until a creek in the floor grabs her attention, we briefly see a poorly lit figure of a girl before Ivy drops the water and scurries back upstairs, running away. The droning of voices begins as Ivy rushes through the house to the room she previously locked herself in; light beams from the room and illuminates Ivy before she slams the door behind her. The door bangs and shakes violently, but eventually, there is silence. The handle slowly lowers and the door creeks open; but it is only Lily, who comforts Ivy. She tells her she was only dreaming, and that she's safe now, before taking her back to her room, passing another child's room on the way.
     
The next day at school, Ivy sits silently whilst the other children have already left the classroom. Ivy is still packing up her things. On her way out the teacher glances at Ivy worryingly. On her trip home she stops by a lamppost with a bouquet of flowers tied to it. 


The following night, Ivy is again curled in the corner of the room, shining a torch toward the door which continues to shake. A girls voice continues to drone throughout the room and Ivy's patience wears thin. Frustration builds inside her before she finds the courage to scream in confusion - "I don't know what you want, please just leave me alone!". The 'monster' calms and the droning stops before telling Ivy that she loved her, and only wanted to say goodbye to her little sister.


Ivy stands up from the corner of the room and moves over to the door, confidently. She opens the door slowly, only to see that no one is there. Upset, she makes her way downstairs to the dining room and reaches for a framed picture of her family. She removes the photograph from the frame before going back to sleep. The next day on the way to school, she places the picture of the girl with the flowers on the lamppost. Ivy sleeps peacefully that night with a nightlight.