PATRON SAINT
Screenplay Information
Logline: A parish priest coerces an impressionable teen to film "Hell scenes" for the church, which ushers his entire Confirmation class into a moral dilemma to confront the unknown.
Page Count: 98 Genres: Horror, Coming of Age, LGBTQ+ Expected Length: 1.5 hr
Tone: Sardonic, Bleak, Experimental Comp: Hell House (2001) meets Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Characters
Andrew Allen (lead, male, 17 yrs):
A Catholic altar boy. A passive observer and a rule-follower. However, his passion for filmmaking coupled with his growing obsession towards his peer Thomas forces a reckoning within himself.
Father Martin (lead, male, 60-70 yrs):
Loud and boisterous with a penchant for theatricality, Father Martin is more myth than man. He's large, pale, and hairless - a beast in a clergy collar who yearns for control, or an Icarus who loses himself in his many words.
Thomas Costa (lead, male, 17 yrs):
Thomas is a bad boy who cuffs his church polos. He's a non-conformist who is not afraid to question authority. And though he's getting Confirmed into the Catholic church, his strong views make him a target for abuse.
This project is currently seeking representation. If you are interested in reading the screenplay, please contact me at CoreyHouseholder.work@gmail.com.
Supporting Work
Patron Saint was heavily inspired by the religious scare films of the 70's and 80's, particularly those made by the Ormond family. This, coupled with personal experiences, is the genesis of many of the themes involving identity, exploitation, relationships between parents and children, and the unknowns of being an adolescent. The following collage work is meant to reflect the tone and visual language of the screenplay.
. . . as kids, we expect our parents to have our best interests, and we surrender ourselves to beliefs instilled by them without really questioning ourselves. In all aspects of young life this rings true. But, whether we choose to accept or not, I still find we can be equally lost - as there will always be factors of control around us.
This is a film about a lot of things. It’s about the relationships between kids and their parents, the symbolic versus the very real and physical, fear and what it turns us into (or what it turns us towards), and coming to terms with the unknown. It’s a myriad of genres: a horror film, a film about filmmaking, an exploitation film - even a found footage film in the vein of Cannibal Holocaust where we the viewer become complicit. . .
