Seven Goats

A “Boddy Bags and Fallen Knights” FILM
WRITTEN BY Phil Knight

A thriller set in Devonport, Auckland. It is Boxing Day and a third child has been found murdered in the once idyllic suburb. One child was killed on Christmas Eve, one on Christmas Day and one on the 26th. Chillingly, the first child killed was seven years old, the second a six year old and the third just five. There is a massive manhunt with a former teacher in the area the main suspect. His ten year old daughter went missing two years earlier and he was also a suspect at that time. Subsequently, his life fell apart and his wife left him and he recently lost his teaching job at the local high school. As a favour his old friend, the principal, is letting him be a caretaker at the creepy, spooky old school (atop a cliff) for the summer.

The only clues the two policemen (running the manhunt and also core characters) have are that each murder has a seeming connection to a famous nursery rhyme. They also quickly find out the Devonport area is riddled with tunnels and the murderer is making use of an extensive knowledge of these underground trails. There is a race each day to stop the next murder but the police are outwitted by the serial killer. It also becomes apparent that there are a lot more suspects and a lot of people who would like to see the teacher convicted. The murders continue until New Year’s Eve when a newborn will supposedly be killed. The last 30 minutes of the movie will be an exciting chase through the city as the identity of the newborn is discovered and the killer does everything possible (and goes to extraordinary lengths) to complete his/her grisly goal. Throughout the film there will be a series of twists and turns (mainly related to who the next victim is and how the child dies) which will fit the genre and also the symbolism of the tunnels. The main twist will be the identity of the newborn and thus the identity of the killer.

The movie will change perspectives throughout the narrative. At one point it will follow the teacher, then one of the detectives, then a father of a murder victim. All in all seven characters will be used to advance the plot and be used for voiceovers to help move the narrative and deepen the mystery. This decision will also link to the importance of numbers in the movie, which will be used symbolically and as an allusion to other seminal serial killer texts. Also, at the heart of what a serial killer does is to accumulate a tally, a list of victims.

This movie will be about stories and the darkness that lies at the core of many tales - even nursery rhymes for small children. Therefore, the movie (and killer) will allude to and be aware of other serial killer movies and also examine our fascination with death and stories about people who do terrible things. The fact that the movie is about the worst thing a person can do to society (kill its children) also examines the perverse nature of these tales and the worry about their growing escalation and the lines they seem to have no problem crossing.