Boscutti's John Harper (Screenplay)

By Stefano Boscutti

A child shall lead them.

Struggling after the hanging of his beloved father, a young boy must protect his much younger sister and a deep, dark secret from the clutches of a murderous preacher.

This unsettling thriller pits good against unholy evil. It’s set along the cursed Ohio River in West Virginia during the 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression. A diabolical serial-killing preacher will stop at nothing in his quest to serve his fancied Lord.

“Boscutti’s John Harper” is a gripping, nightmarish screenplay. It’s a terrifying look at the loss of innocence.

Will the young John Harper escape the tormented preacher out for blood and vengeance.

Will the boy overcome his fears?

Will the boy become a man?

★★★★

‘Slits your heart like a fine, shiny knife.’ Florence Pontell

‘Sumptuous blend of blood, danger and menacing whispers in the cold, dark night.’ Thomas Nordine

‘Bewitching adaptation goes to the heart and soul of the original novel.’ Louis Caracciolo

‘Disturbing, complex and altogether haunting screenplay.’ Kelvin Quinn

‘Maintains the sustained drive and relentless, mounting terror missing from Laughton’s film adaptation.’ Nessa Taylor

‘American Southern Gothic Horror in all it’s glory.’ Susan Bock

Based on Davis Grubb’s classic Depression-era novel “The Night of the Hunter.”

‘I love Charles Laughton’s intensely expressionistic 1955 film adaptation. But I wanted to go deeper into the original novel by Davis Grubb, wanted to see it from the eyes of the boy. I was stunned to learn the plot was based on the true story of Harry Powers, who was hanged in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children. I started digging from there.’ Stefano Boscutti

Features improved screenplay format to make it easier and more enjoyable for you to read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stefano Boscutti
• Release date: Jun 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9780980712537

Stefano Boscutti

STEFANO BOSCUTTI is an award-winning writer and director.He loves stories about true mavericks and outsiders who want to change the world. Larger than life characters who either wildly succeed or go down in flames. (Often both at the same time.) Boscutti's stories are usually laced with humor and a ton of irony.

Book preview

‘Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?’ Captain Ahab

BOSCUTTI’S JOHN HARPER

Stefano Boscutti

Based on the novel The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Stefano Boscutti

All rights reserved ISBN 978-0-9807125-3-7

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Discover more titles by Stefano Boscutti at boscutti.com

This is a work of fiction. While many of the characters portrayed here have counterparts in life, the characterizations and incidents presented are products of the author's imagination.

BOSCUTTI’S JOHN HARPER

Sounds of CHILD giggling.

Fade in.

EXT. 1933 - OHIO RIVER - CRESAP’S LANDING - GRUBB’S LIVERY STABLE – DUSK

Child’s hand with a piece of white chalk scrawls a careful cross on the red brick wall. Then a thick broken line for a rope. And then a scarecrow of a hanging man.

Beyond the red brick wall and down the lane sits the Harper House

PEARL (O.S.)

(chanting)

Hing Hang Hung! See what the hangman done! Hung Hang Hing! See the robber swing --

Sounds of china plate and apple pie crashing to the floor.

INT. OHIO RIVER - CRESAP’S LANDING - HARPER HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

WILLA

Don’t you ever sing that! Ever! Ever! Ever!

WILLA, thirty, is on her knees cleaning up the apple pie and shattered blue china plate with her poor, thin hands. PEARL, four, frowns at the table. JOHN, nine, takes a sip of water from a cracked glass.

PEARL

Why? The other kids sing it. And John said --

WILLA

Never mind what John said. God in heaven as if my cross wasn’t hard enough to bear without my own children -- his own children -- mocking me with it! Now hush!

PEARL

Where’s dad?

WILLA

Hush! Hush!

PEARL

But why won’t you tell me? John knows?

Willa dumps the shattered china and pie into the sink.

WILLA

Go up to your room, Pearl.

PEARL

But my pie?

WILLA

Now!

Pearl gasps and waddles off, clutching her old rag doll. Willa glares at John.

WILLA

And I don’t want you telling her, John. I don’t want you breathing a word of it -- you hear? I don’t want her to ever know.

John looks at the slice of apple pie on his plate.

Willa by the mirror tucks her chestnut curls into the wide straw hat with the green band.

WILLA

I’m going to Moundsville to see your dad.

Willa scurries down the hallway past the hall clock that no longer works and out the door.

WILLA

Mind your sister now, John.

John listens to the whinny-and-catch, and then the final cough-and-catch and the rising whine of the old Model T as it starts and heads up the river road.

INT. OHIO RIVER - CRESAP’S LANDING - HARPER HOUSE - CHILDREN’S BEDROOM - LATER

Fade up Blind Willie Johnson’s It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine.

Door opens and John enters with his slice of apple pie for Pearl.

She lies in the bed brushing the hair of her ancient doll in her arms with the heavy hairbrush, its chipped and corroded face not unlike her own streaked with faint dry tears.

She refuses the pie.

PEARL

Why won’t mom tell?

JOHN

Because you’re too little.

PEARL

I’m not, John. I’m not!

John moves to the window and looks out at the gas lamp on the wooden post below. It stands next to the wooden fence, behind the apple tree shifting in the night wind.

JOHN

Hush up, Pearl! It’s time you was asleep!

John sketches a crude hanging man on the foggy window pane with his finger. He slips into bed, watching the whirling shadows the gas lamp throws on the wall.

PEARL

Tell me a story, John.

JOHN

Only if you keep the covers on so you don’t catch the cold.

Pearl shoots down under the sheets, tucks her legs up tight and hugs her doll waiting for the story to start.

John stares at the swirling shadows.

JOHN

Once upon a time -- there was a rich king --

PEARL

What’s a rich king, John?

JOHN

You’ll see. Well, there was this rich king and he had a son and a daughter and they all lived in a castle over in Africa. Well one day this king got carried away by bad men --

Pearl’s face tightens.

JOHN

And well, before he got carried off he told his son to kill anyone that tried to steal their gold. Well, it wasn’t long before the same bad men came --

PEARL

The blue men?

John turns his head away from the shadows and shuts his eyes.

PEARL

John! What happened to the king’s gold? Did the blue men --

JOHN

Go to sleep, Pearl! I fogit the rest of that story.

John shivers under the covers.

Pearl sighs and puts her thumb in her mouth. Then takes it out again and blinks at the doll on the pillow next to her.

PEARL

(softly)

Good night, Miz Jenny. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.

She falls asleep. But John remains awake, watching the creeping shadows form into the shape of a dark man crouched low.

John slips out of bed and steps to the window. His own shadow looms up behind him. He’s scared.

JOHN

(under his breath)

I ain’t scared --

He turns and scurries back into bed, pulling the covers up tight as the wind rattles the window like pressing hands.

John scowls and shuts his eyes tight as shadows gather over his face.

MATCH DISSOLVE

EXT. OHIO RIVER - CRESAP’S LANDING