The Story (what I have right now...there is more)

Derailed

Derailed is a film about a Killer cognitively confined to his own world. He isolates himself in his basement, concerning himself with only his toys of destruction. Trains. In a dimly lit room where he harbors these trains, he sits alone, methodically working on them. He concerns himself with minutia, blinding his mind to anything besides his own narcissism. Trains fascinate him, so he visits a train station that lies close to his house. He stands there observing the sleek grace of the trains. As he observes the platform, periodically a person will gain his attention as well. The Killer lives for is the hunt. His love for trains intermingles with his desire to toy with human lives. The Killer finds joy in following his prey home and murdering them. Those are his sick obsessions: toying with his miniature trains, and seeking out people to murder.

The film starts with a man, dead, lying face down in the woods. A stream runs through his hair, and down to his boots (shoes). The man’s dead grasp clasps a metal bludgeon. The man has died recently and his blood flows down the stream past footsteps in the mud, to a miniature silver train wedged in leaves. We zoom on the train and then pull back to see a much larger life size train come into focus.
(Night) Todd and Dustin sit inside the train as it shifts its weight, clanking electric and steel. Todd and Dustin are worn from a day of work in Manhattan. Todd’s face is not visible behind a crumbled copy of the Times. He reads studiously. Dustin with more relaxed posture, is fixated on his phone as he lethargically texts. Both men are dressed in suits. They are 23 years old and work for a brokerage firm. Dustin has unbuttoned his top button and undone his tie so it slides down his chest. (As the train starts to decelerate we see behind Dustin, a man dressed in all black staring at the train as it passes him). Todd makes small talk as Dustin “yes’s” him, there is level of intimacy(friendship wise) in their mannerisms and tone. They have been friends since grade school. Todd comments about a movie he can’t wait to finish and the absence of the cute blonde that makes the trip go a lot faster because she is easy on the eyes. As the train comes to a stop and they get off, the conversation starts to pick up. They begin to talk about a more serious issue. They walk up the staircase and turn left as they speak of new york city life. Todd makes a remark about how his mother was terrified he would get mugged in nyc.

Cut to Clara (Morning) getting ready for work. She is on the phone, talking to her mother. She replies something like “yea mom, I am careful, I am not going to get mugged, don’t worry.” She consoles her anxious mother as she does all her early morning chores. Clara puts the coffee grinds into the coffee maker. As she puts down the grinds, she takes out a mirror and looks at her reflection, with the cellphone still cradled in her other hand, pressed against her head. She walks from the kitchen to the bathroom, still talking to her mother. She begins to brush her teeth (very little toothpaste so she can still speak clearly). Her mother’s anxiety doesn’t cease, rather she becomes more neurotic. After Clara finishes brushing her teeth she applies additional make-up. She stares at herself in the mirror as her mother continues her racket over the phone. She tunes her mother out and just focuses on herself. She is completely absorbed with being presentable, she readjusts her hair to perfection and Clara applies more mascara. Her mother breaks this daydream (we see Clara visible get shaken out of her daze) she asks if Clara has met any men. She replies “there is one man that catches my eye, but I have never spoken to him.”

We cut to Todd walking down the street with Dustin. They are finishing up their conversation. Dustin peals off to the left “Noon, we’ll hit the hoops tomorrow” he says as he approaches a house. Todd makes a witty comment back, they smile and Dustin walks out of the shot.

(Night) Cut to a close up of a house drenched in darkness. We are in the POV of the Killer as he watches the house from across the street. He very slowly turns to the left and we see Todd from out of the darkness. Todd crosses the street and onto the lawn, approaching the front door. He opens it and puts his things down, as he does this the killer stalks closer. Todd opens the second door and the killer is painfully close to the house. Through a window to the right, we see Todd silhouetted in darkness. The Killer peels off to the left, moving slowly. We see him look in a basement window into nothing but an empty lit room. He proceeds down the driveway until he comes to another window. We see Todd inside, very relaxed, not like on the train, and he is watching a movie. The Killer walks past the window and we see his hand push open Todd’s backyard fence. He walks up the deck stairs and we can see the Killer’s shadow as he creeps closer to the house. He opens the wooden deck door still approaching the house.
Cut to behind Todd. He sits on a futon relaxing after a day of work and commuting. The television is visible, along with the room behind the television. From out of the darkness the Killer emerges, staggering down the steps with the Bludgeon in his hand.