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The Shell

A nationally known surgeon/doctor, removes the head of his best friend, for sleeping with his wife, and keeps it alive until the head finally turns the tables on this horror/thriller of a partial day-time nightmare.

“The Shell” By Mark Mc Quown Synopsis

Michael Goldfarb and Dr. Levanthal are the best of friends, high profile surgeons in a fast class of big spenders but Michael is in love with his best friend's wife and is driving himself crazy about having an affair. Dr. Levanthal discovers the affair and seeks revenge of the most horrific and blood thirsty nature.

Dr. Levanthal spends months and a small fortune to kidnap Michael from the fast lane of society, and hold him prisoner in a sub-basement upstate of their practice. While Michael is imprisoned, Dr. Levanthal and his psychopathic partner, Paul, put Michael through a series of operations where they remove almost ninety percent of his body, leaving only his head and neck alive on a Lexan table, suspended in a metal matrix with a bundle of tubes, wires and plugs coming out of his neck and then routed behind the table to a bank of electronic devices and machines, which keep Michael’s head alive.

Inside the basement is also a Robotic Unit which is programmed to care for the head while no one else is there. Michael and the Robotic Unit, which he names Milos, make a plan to reattach all of Michael's body parts so they spend months, teaching Milos to be a surgeon but in the end, Michael's parts did not survive Cryogenic Suspension, so the pair must find a suitable body and then perform the first, Head Transplant in medical history.

Just before Michael and Milos are about to surgically remove Paul's head, Michael wakes up in a Surgical Theater, doing an operation with Dr. Levanthal where Michael has blacked out for a few seconds and dreamed the entire horror story before coming out of it and finishing the operation in the present

After the surgery, Michael finds himself in a large room where many friends, doctors and staff members are celebrating Michael and his wife's 25th Anniversary. In the middle of an embrace, his wife tells him, privately, that Dr. Levanthal and his wife were interested in having sex as a foursome, meaning Michael's original dream and affair might really be true and the anguish he caused himself over it, was the fuel for the most horror driven, blood sprayed and gore packed nightmare ever experienced and now – it seems like it is happening all over again..

Script Excerpt
Written by:
Format:
Screenplay
Starring Roles For:
Adrien Brody
Colin Farrell
Jake Gyllenhaal
Posted:
07/04/2017
Updated:
01/08/2020
Author Bio:
Mark Mc Quown Screenwriter/Playwright Resume

(661) 714-0976 25933 Sandalia Dr, Valencia, CA 91355 MarkMcQuown@ca.rr.com -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Produced Screenplays

“PJ” Starring John Heard, Vincent Pastore, Robert Picardo Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Patricia Rea, this film had a short theatrical opening and is available now on Netflix

Winning Screenplays

“The Rocking Horse Christmas" First Place, Santa Clarita International Film Festival Animation Genre, 1997 Second Place, The Burbank International Children’s Film Festival Animation Genre, 2001

“Dot Gone” Finalist, The Telluride Independent Film Festival, 2002

“Safari” Quarter Finalist, Fade-In Magazine Screenplay Contest, 2004

“The Cat and The Rat” Finalist, The International Family Film Festival, 2005

“Pier 21” Quarter Finalist, Chesterfield Screenplay Fellowship, 1997 Quarter Finalist, Quantum Quest Screenplay Competition, 1997 Finalist, The Key West Independent Film Festival, 2002-2003

“The China Tiger” Semi-Finalist, Chesterfield Screenplay Fellowship, 1998 Honorable Mention, Quantum Quest Screenplay Competition, 1998

“The Tahoe Signal” Finalist, The Telluride Independent Film Festival, 2000

“Jane, The Legend of Mountain Charley” Quarter Finalist, Scriptapalooza, 2000-2001 Winning Screenplays

“The Missing Link” Quarter Finalist, The Fade-In Magazine Screenplay Contest, 2005-2006 Semi-Finalist, The Hollywood Nexus Screenplay Contest, 2005

“Graduate School” Fourth Place, The Winter 2006 Script Showcase Contest, 2006

“The Sudan” Quarter Finalist, Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, 2007.

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