The Butterfly Chest A Short Horror Movie The short seven minute screenplay uses only one location and three actors.
Logline She wanted to surprise her boyfriend for his birthday with this beautiful Chinese Butterfly Chest, unaware of its powers.
Synopsis
Victoria, a female grad student at NYU, wants to surprise her older boyfriend Jason for his birthday. She bought this beautiful Chinese Butterfly Chest from a small shop in Chinatown. The owner of the shop told her that the box possessed dark powers that can change the owner's life. Victoria's brother, Connor, helps her carry the heavy box into Jason's apartment. Victoria shares with Connor that she is going to wear a butterfly kimono and pop out of the chest when Jason opens it. Her brother thinks she is crazy but he can't stay because he is leaving tonight for a week's vacation. Connor helps her in the box before he leaves and puts a card on top of it for Jason to read. Victoria is in the Butterfly Chest when Jason comes in and is blown away when he sees the chest. He reads the card and is excited to open the chest when his phone rings. On the phone is Mr. Chang who is delivering the Chinese food that Jason ordered for Victoria and him. Jason goes to the window and sees Mr. Chang double-parked and he wants Jason to go down and get the food because he can't leave his car there. Jason bangs on the chest and says he will be right back. He goes bounding down the stairs and we hear the sounds of a car accident and Mr. Chang yells Jason's name out.
This leaves Victoria in the box. She can't get cellphone reception because of the thickness of the box. There is no one that knows she is in the box and no one will be coming. By the light of the cellphone, she reads a message scraped on the inside of the chest, "If you are reading this, you will never get out."