Unblinded
Unblinded is a psychological thriller about a seemingly devoted husband who receives a telephone call from his wife claiming she has taken their two children on a murder-suicide pact. John de Veen now has 90 minutes to try and find them.
Unblinded is a tense, terrifying thrill-ride with a shocking premise at its heart, exploring themes of depression, domestic violence and one woman's journey to finally stand and fight against a lifetime of abuse and neglect.
Unblinded is currently in development in Melbourne, Victoria.
Synopsis
When John de Veen abruptly wakes on the floor of his home office in a stupor, he’s entirely unaware of the ordeal about to consume every heartbeat of the shocking hours ahead. His wife and two children are missing; his home is on the verge of being repossessed; and the otherwise spectacular mountain ranges, visible in the nearby distance through his office window, are ablaze with an uncontrollable, once-in-a-hundred-years’ wildfire.
John’s immediate concern is the upheaval of his regimented work routine – and trying to figure out how he ended up, drugged and unconscious on the floor. How long was he out for? What happened during that time? And who drugged him? Worse, the dire disruption could not have come at a worse time. John is just hours away from losing the family home… time he desperately needs to construct the financial documents necessary for him to counter the bank’s calamitous repossession.
But when John’s phone rings, his plans are about to take another, macabre turn. His wife Angela informs him that she can no longer deal with the heartbreak and trials of her ordinary life. She’s taken herself and the two children – and John’s gun – and is determined to execute a gruesome murder-suicide pact.
She’s going to kill herself and the children!
Familiar with Angela’s ongoing mental health issues, John must not only determine the veracity of the threat but, at the same time, implement a strategy to find his missing wife and kids to try and save his family from total annihilation. Immediately taking to the road, John must keep his wife talking on the phone, as he navigates his car through intolerable rush hour traffic.
Compounding John’s predicament is the incomprehensible location Angela has chosen for her coup de grâce – she’s right in the middle of the mountain range being consumed by the unstoppable inferno.
Angela has literally chosen ‘Hell on Earth’ for her sickening, final deathblow.
John’s desperate efforts to save his wife and children are aggravated further by Angela’s mother, Helen, who’s insistence upon antagonizing John on this fateful day frustrates him at every turn, only delaying his rescue mission. Despite his already-poor relationship with Helen, John is loathed to understand why the mother of the woman he’s trying to save would be so obstructionist at such a critical time.
All the while, John’s friend, Walter – manager of the bank poised to reclaim John’s home – has also chosen this terrible juncture to confront John, not only about John’s failure to provide the documents he needs to save his house but, more crushingly, John’s unforgivable neglect of their decades-long personal friendship.
John must climb his Everest of challenges to find, reach and stop his wife and children, if he is to prevent an unimaginable and imminent aftermath of death and destruction. He must pinpoint Angela’s precise location, stand and fight against the raging flames of fire and confront and wrestle with the persistent demands of his friend and mother-in-law.
But, as John ultimately nears the moment of reckoning, he’s confronted by an additional archenemy he never saw coming: his own demons! John is hiding his own, dark secrets. It becomes shockingly obvious that John’s problems may not be confined solely to his wife, to Helen and to his friend, Walter.
In a final confrontation, deep inside the burning heart of the forest-fire behemoth, John must now face the consequences of a life lived wrongly, if there is any chance for hope and truth to triumph in a future that’s worth living for.
Angela’s very survival depends on it!
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