Section 5: Treatment

THE HIDDEN:

The Concept:

A young boy, Joshua, is jealous of his brother, Christian, because he is more successful and therefore reaps all of the attention. So, in an aid to get his parents attention, he runs away, only to return to eat during the night when his parents were in bed, and after an amount of planning, he kidnaps his brother, taking him down into the basement, and telling him why he has his tied up. His parents, after a long search, figure out where they are after the brother screams, and in a quick reaction - Joshua stabs his brother multiple times with the knife he holds in his hand, but then remorse takes over him. He realises what he has done, and quickly turns the knife to himself only to find that he dies, and his brother survives.

Synopsis:
The film begins in Warrington in the Northwest of England. The Cartwright family have been celebrating their son, Christian's, results on this exams and whilst the family is celebrating, their younger son, Joshua, was not impressed because since his brother became a prodigy, his parents made Christian the favourite out of the two, and with Joshua not being as successful in his education as his brother, he feels like he doesn't belong in the family any more. That night, an argument breaks out and Joshua goes to his room. Later than night, he goes downstairs and see's his brother's results pinned on the noticeboard, and he rips them down and throws them in the bin. He decides he has had enough of Joshua, and packs a rucksack of essentials, and leaves that night. His family wake the next morning to find him missing and try to find him, but they never did.

Months later, Strange happenings occur to the family, such as noises coming from downstairs during the night, and strange phone calls with no one on the other end. The next morning, they awake to find their son, Christian, missing from his bed and quickly go out to find him. Little do they know he is tied up in the basement, where Joshua had been staying since he left. The noises at night were Joshua moving around the house, and the phone calls were him distracting his parents so he could escape unseen.

He emerges from the darkness to reveal himself to his brother, with a knife in his hand and a scarce look on his face. Finally having the perfect chance to teach his brother a lesson for stealing his limelight all these years, he runs the knife across his brothers face and torso to scare him, but suddenly there is a bang of the front door upstairs and chaos breaking out with frantic shouting and crying. Christian tries to scream for help and in doing so, Joshua gets angry and stabs his brother multiple times out of rage until Joshua stops screaming and falls limp. Reality kicks in for Joshua as he realises what he has done for he never intended to kill his brother, only to teach him a lesson. Rage got the best of him and so he turns the knife on himself and thinks of the quickest way to do it - Right across the neck. His parents hear the screams and go downstairs to find Joshua's back to them, and he falls to the floor with knife in hand. With both of their son's struggling for their life, April (their mother) breaks down onto the floor screaming and Terry (The father) starts screaming and running over to help.

The next scene is in the hospital, and Christian has survived the ordeal, whilst they await the news on their younger son, Joshua. And in the end, Joshua doesn't survive, and Christian does and his parents are distraught.

Opening Scene:

Joshua wakes up during the early morning, and gets up out of bed. He goes downstairs only to see that his brother's exam results are hung up right in front of the fridge for everyone to see. He scrunches it up and throws it in the bin. He then walks upstairs, packs all his essentials, such as clothes and money, and heads out of the door and down the driveway. During this scene, there are flashbacks to the argument he had with his family earlier on in the day, so that the audience understands why the boy is leaving home.

Target Audience:

The film is aimed at ages 15 and above, due to the content, such as blood and strong violence.

Other Details:

There are no famous roles in the film, so that is is realistic and that the film cannot be favourited because of who stars in it. It is also set inside a home, so show that is it is not set in a substantial city of any sort, which sends the audience into the unknown.