Script 04: They’re Monsters

  Logline        

  Four high school males from 4 main types of families learn the hard way they can only count on each other and they end up in jail together. Are they the only ones to blame or do their families, school, and society need to take some responsibility for them being monsters? You can pour all the love you can and they can still turn out wrong but how about those that their parents call mistakes? What about those that blame or hate their children?                                                                   

Synopsis

It’s morning in the Jackson house where dad is getting ready for work, Raymond (favorite son) is getting ready for school, mom is making breakfast, and Wayne (hated son) is asleep. The school year is almost over. Wayne plays sick and Raymond snitches as usual. Father and son go at it again so Wayne leaves. Tim Stevens, a friend, is out front waiting for Wayne. (Tim’s parents are divorced) Tim doesn’t care about school or his future. Because dad hit his mom and he makes very little money, Tim has no respect for him.  Mr. Jackson and Raymond leave for school. Dad and hated son have words again as they leave. Aaron (another friend) walks up to them (his mom resents him because she resents his father. Helen, Aaron’s sister is clearly more loved). They walk to Mark’s (4th friend) house (at the Norris house, Mom is always on Mark’s case because she thinks he’ll end up like his no-good drunk father). This 4-man crew is disrespectful to just about everyone they meet in and out of school. They hang out together often and are usually up to no good. They go off to school.

In order to graduate, all 4 have been informed by the principal that they have to go to summer school.

After school, Mark walks in the house where mom and dad are watching tv. Dad is drunk and abusive. He beats up Mark and antagonizes him. Mom gets dad back downstairs. Mark leaves.

At the Brown’s house, Aaron is watching a game but he’s making too much noise for Helen who complains. Mom hits Aaron who goes to his room. Mom follows Aaron into his room yelling about his father, then leaves. Aaron tells his mother he hates her and leaves the house. Helen cries which makes mom cry. Mom calls Mrs. Norris who doesn’t know anything. Mark hears it and leaves. Mark with his black eye goes to the clubhouse (a place the 4 friends hang out) to talk to Aaron.

Wayne is home listening to loud music which is why he can’t hear his mother yelling. Mr. Jackson goes into his room and turns the music off. Wayne mouths off at dad and ends up on the floor. Wayne gets up and walks out only to be yanked back In. Wayne is just his punching bag (verbally and physically). Mom takes up for him and also gets yelled at. She walks away and he grabs her. “If you treated your son like a person and not a loser, you might get more out of him.”

Tim makes dinner for mom but she ruins the moment stating that the 4 “slops” will not graduate with their class. She tells him to live with his father like one bum to another. He hits her and leaves. “He hits like his father too. “

All 4 meet up at the clubhouse. Raymond, Wayne’s brother gets beat up by 4 guys and is sent to the hospital. Wayne, who knows he was a setup by Andy (a boy on Raymond’s baseball team), gets even with Andy. Wayne goes to the softball game. Andy isn’t doing too good in Raymond’s place. Later, Andy is in the field and Wayne throws a ball at Andy as a ball is hit to him, knocking him out. In the hospital, Raymond has broken ribs, his arm is in a sling, and bruises on his face. Andy finally admits to setting up Raymond after everyone jumps on Wayne.

The four go to their prom and after getting embarrassed by the girls, they get even when Mark spikes the punch. Raymond at his Jr. High School dance is apologized to by the softball coach and finds out he has an admirer.

The story concludes with the 4 friends stealing at the local mall and during their efforts to escape, Wayne, the driver of a stolen car, runs over his parents… killing them. In court, the public defender makes a speech of her own blaming society for allowing these 4 to grow up the way they did because of the parents they have and how their parents dropped the ball. The 4 stand up, look at the camera and say, “you always said we would end up in jail, and isn’t great to know that you were right?”