THE CURSED BUILDING
Written by: Hamayl Shahbaz
NovaStrikes Studios
"Trapped inside a cursed building that resets time, a soldier must survive endless loops to save his daughter, only to die a hero, sparking her path to vengeance."
- Elias Cross – Veteran soldier, protective, calm under pressure, secretly the girl’s father.
- Evelyn (12 years old) – Fragile but observant, becomes key to survival.
- Entity – Unknown form, mimics voices and people, represents the curse.
- SWAT Commander – Elias’s boss, loyal but unaware of supernatural events.
On a random night, a building was set on fire in NYC (New York City). The rescue team arrives at the scene only to find that the building is possessed in one way or another, leaving unnatural marks and stains on it. The rescue team is hesitant to enter the building, so the brave SWAT team takes on the task. One of the SWAT soldiers, named Elias, finds out that it was the building where her wife and daughter were living and rushes inside with the other soldiers. While other soldiers have evacuated almost every citizen inside, they find out that Elias is still inside the burning possessed building.
INT. ELEVATOR
Captain Elias is inside the elevator. After a while, a button with a red light labelled "-1" starts to flicker. Elias presses the button without knowing what will happen to him. A sudden shake in the elevator makes Elias a bit nervous. Elias tries to contact his team through the radio:
"Alpha 01, do you copy?" - Only to find out that the Signals are lost.
Static. Then— nothing.
*DING*
The doors open into dense fog. Silence.
He steps out, gun raised. And walks forward slowly into a seemingly endless room with no furniture, just a blue flickering light in the distance.
ELIAS
Hello...? Who's there?
A SHADOW emerges slowly from the fog. Human-like... but wrong.
ELIAS (CONT’D)
I said— identify yourself!
The fog parts slightly.
It’s himself... bloodied, pale. Dead-eyed.
ENTITY
You shouldn’t be here... *says in a broken voice and falls on the ground*
Elias slowly approaches the dead body of himself in tension. He examines the body and finds brutal scars, which led the entity to die horribly.
ELIAS
SHIT!!!!! *Turns back to find out that the elevator is gone and he is trapped inside the endless room*
Elias starts moving slowly to the front, hoping to find an exit, gun raised. After an endless 15-minute walk in the room, he sees himself where he first stumbled upon the entity. He carefully looks at the scene and shouts to himself
HEY!!!!... HEY OVER HERE!!
But no response; he sees himself doing the same thing as he did. He rushes back anxiously from where he came, terrified. He is now back at the same position where he met the entity, but the entity is now gone, leaving some blood stains on the floor. He sees an open elevator door in front of him and rushes in, but to his surprise, there are no buttons except for the one that he pressed, which led him to an endless looped room. The button is flickering, but this time, it's faster, and after pressing it, nothing happens.
SITUATION OUTSIDE THE BUILDING
Every SWAT soldier comes out of the building safely with the citizens. One of the SWAT soldier talks to their commander:
Soldier 1
Sir! Everyone has been saved, perimeter has been secured around the building... but Elias is still not here
SWAT Commander
Let's wait for him for a while, maybe he is lost inside
Soldier 1
But sir! We have lost connection with him too...
SWAT Commander
O Boy.... let's just wait for a while *Says in confusion*
BACK INSIDE THE BUILDING - ELIAS
He steps out of the elevator again, thinking he is lost, and in one blink, the empty room is filled with furniture. He GASPS in fear. He starts exploring this new room filled with fear and terror, and an unknown entity.
After a while, he hears someone crying in fear. Elias is panicked and starts searching here and there with a shout, "HELLO!!?". He reaches a corner and finds her daughter holding a teddy bear plushie and crying in fear. Elias tries to confront her, but due to her fear and trauma, she doesn't make any eye contact.
ELIAS
Evelyn!!? *After a Deep Breathe* Its okay Darling, daddy's here *he starts approaching her slowly*
When Elias touches her Arm, she starts crying and ultimately transforms into an unnatural-looking Horrific entity, leaving him frozen for a while.
ELIAS
*whispers to himself in broken voice* Ev....Evelyn!!??
He tries to run away from the entity but gets attacked by it on his back, scratching it with his sharp claws. He runs away from there, bleeding, terrified of what he witnessed, and reaches an empty room again where he witnessed himself bleeding in the first place. The Elevator Door opens, he slowly approaches, and finds himself coming out of it:
ELIAS
You shouldn't have come here *In broken, terrified voice and falls on the ground*
OUTSIDE THE BUILDING - COMMANDER
After 30 minutes of waiting for Elias Outside:
Commander
Okay..... that's just messed up! All units, be advised to go back into the building and look for any sign of Elias. We need him dead or alive!
As the Swat Soldiers start rushing towards the building, the building just closes its doors and windows by itself, unable to open them by any means.
Commander
WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED *In a low, curious voice*
After trying to open the doors of the building by any means, they just fail.
Commander
*talking to senior grade officer on radio* Yes Sir.....But our man is inside......*After a deep breath* okay Sir, we're on it! Alpha 02, we need a heavy crane to demolish this building, we need reinforcement, and we don't want to look at some company
After calling the reinforcement to demolish the building:
Soldier 2
Everything is ready, sir! Waiting for your order, the surrounding buildings have been evacuated already!
Commander
Good! Let's do it. *Commands the crane operator to demolish the building - everyone is looking from a safe distance, but to their surprise, the building didn't even get a scratch on it, and the crane just collapsed on the ground
Commander
HOW....HOW THE HECK......!? *whispers to himself in surprise, talks on the radio to the senior officer, and explains the situation, the senior officer gives him another idea*- YES SIR! On it
BACK INSIDE THE BUILDING - ELIAS
When Elias opens his eyes, he finds himself in the elevator again. He remembers what happened to him last time, so this time, he is more conscious and alert, ready not to make any mistakes. He steps out of the elevator, and this time, the empty room is filled again with some furniture; he has looped again, but the room is different. He goes to the same place where he found his daughter last time, but this time, she is not there. He looks around to find her. After a while, he hears crying and screaming. He rushes towards the area and finds her daughter crying in the corner of the room in complete darkness, holding her teddy bear. Elias approaches her slowly with his gun raised, and her daughter looks at him:
EVELYN
D...Dad..!??? *Asks in broken voice while sobbing*
ELIAS
*Points his gun at her head without saying anything*
EVELYN
*Gasps in fear and starts crying again, thinking that the soldier is not her father but another entity *
ELIAS
*lowers his gun* Ev...Evelyn!!!? Is it you? *Elias hugs her daughter tightly , confronting her. her daughter hugs him as tightly as possible, and both are crying*
ELIAS
It's okay.... daddy is here, we will get out of this place....
As soon as he picks up her daughter in his arms, the entity reappears and kills Elias in front of her daughter, leaving her daughter crying:
EVELYN
DAD!!!!!..... DAD WAKE UP......!!!!! *Crying - broken voice*
Elias opens his eyes and finds himself in the elevator again with no escape. He is now aware that the Entity won't let him escape, and when he steps out of the elevator, he finds that the room is filled with more furniture and doors. He looks for his daughter and finds the entity again disguised as her daughter.
After several loops, when the room is completely furnished, he looks for her daughter again, and he finds her crying in a corner of the room with dim light. Without wasting any time, he picks up her daughter in her arms, the entity is chasing him, and he locks himself in a room with her daughter. The Locked room can only buy him a couple of minutes:
ELIAS
Evelyn.. Listen to me, you do the same thing that I do, okay!
EVELYN
O....Okay *says in a broken voice*
Elias finds a Map of the building and finds a room where he can destroy the core of the building and escape. He takes Evelyn through ventilation to travel from one room to another.
OUTSIDE THE BUILDING - COMMANDER
After setting up bombs around the base of the building:
Soldier 1
All bombs are set, ready to detonate! *At this point, the whole media team is alerted and broadcasting everything live from helicopters
Commander
Good *Goes to a safe distance* ON MY MARK...........NOW!!!! *After detonating, the building is still standing, leaving just some smoke/fire marks on it* HOW ON EARTH IS THIS SHIT STILL STANDING!!! *Angry tone* - *The building creates a very strange humming sound*
Soldier 2
Sir! What should we do now!?
Commander
Falcon Strike is a go. I repeat, launch Falcon Strike. Light it up. *Talks on the radio*
Soldier 1
But Sir...! That could be very dangerous.... just launching the missiles at a residential area....
Commander
*Completely ignores the Soldier, looking up in the sky at Fighter Jets*
Jet Pilot 1
This is Falcon 1, we are approaching the target in T-20, Standby...*after a while* target is on sight, I repeat target is on sight! Light it up, boys *Commands the other pilots*
After firing at the building, it still stands, and the commander is left in shock. The building opens its doors and windows, leaving some weird greenish gas that whoever smells it turns into zombies. The Media Coverage becomes a Global Pandemic headline across the entire world. Sirens can be heard from any distance.
Commander
Mask on! EVERYONE, MASKS ON!!!!!
The Government imposes a complete lockdown on the whole country. The president is making a speech, but it left viewers in fear on the TV as the zombie attacked them.
INSIDE THE BUILDING - ELIAS
Back inside the building, Elias and his daughter Evelyn are looking for the room where the core is located. After surviving multiple times from the brutal entity, they stumble upon a room, very unusual, with a dark red light. There, Elias sees a Goey-type ball, which turns out to be the core of the building. There is the control panel next to it with one button labelled "Self Destruct". As soon as Elias presses that button, the fog is lifted up in the room, all doors and windows are opened, the red light and siren are buzzing in the whole building, which can be heard outside too. The bombs start ticking, an exit door is revealed, Elias picks up her daughter in his arms and rushes towards the exit.
The Soldiers outside the building slowly start going into the building due to the mysterious siren sound. The entity attacks Elias brutally, scratching his back and leg, which makes him fall on the ground very hard, dropping Evelyn from his arms. This time they won't die. As soon as the Entity approaches to kill them, they think that it's the end of their life.
BUT, soldiers who were coming inside see the situation and rush, opening fire on the entity. One soldier made Evelyn wear a mask and took her in his arms and fled from there. Two other soldiers do the same with Elias - they make him wear the mask and, by supporting him, they flee from the building while 4 other soldiers were continuously firing at the Entity. Everyone rushes outside the building to save their lives - the building explodes, and the mysterious gas in the air dissolves. A Soldier checks his Device:
Soldier 2
The Gas is gone, we can take off the masks
Evelyn
D..Dad!!? *Broken Voice - sobbing*
Soldier 1
*On radio* All stations be advised, the building has been destroyed, and the gas has been dissolved. Elias and his daughter have been saved requesting immediate rescue - I repeat, we need an immediate rescue, Over!
As the gas has been dissolved, everyone who turned into zombies starts turning back into normal humans. Due to the deep wounds on Elias....
ELIAS
*holding her daughter in his arms and with a broken voice says* Hey... look at me. It’s okay to cry. But promise me this, Evelyn - don’t let this world break you. Let it build you!
After Elias says his final words to Evelyn, he faints - dies. Evelyn is lying on his chest:
EVELYN
No—no wait! Please—please wake up… I still need you...!”
(sobs) You said the world would build me… but it just broke me. (beat) “I’ll remember… I promise I’ll remember everything...” (as she’s being lifted by a soldier taking her away from the dead body) You were my home… and now I’ve got nowhere left to go… *In broken voice*
FADES OUT
AFTER 20 YEARS
After 20 years, Evelyn is now a Strong 22 years old teen. She has now taken the Position of her father in SWAT team. One day, she visists her father's grave:
Scene: Gray skies. Steady rainfall.
Evelyn stands small and alone at a grave that looks too big for someone so young to understand.
EVELYN (soft, barely audible):
Hi again…
I hope you’re warm.
It’s raining today.
You always said you loved the rain.
I don’t know what to say first.
There’s too much.
And nothing… all at once.
Everyone keeps calling you a hero.
They tell me you saved the world.
That I’m lucky to be alive.
But if I’m being honest...
I don’t feel lucky.
I feel like the world cheated me.
She sits down, the wet grass soaking through her knees, but she doesn’t care.
Her voice trembles.
EVELYN:
You were there.
And then you weren’t.
One minute I was in your arms,
Hearing your heartbeat and feeling safe even though the whole world was collapsing...
And the next minute...
It was just me.
Alone.
In a world you left behind.
She takes something out of her pocket — a small drawing.
It’s wrinkled, barely legible from the rain, but it’s of her and him holding hands in front of a house.
She presses it gently against the stone.
EVELYN:
I made this the night you promised we’d go home.
You said we’d sit on the roof, watch the stars, and eat whatever snacks were left in your backpack.
“The world can burn, but as long as we have each other, it won’t take us.”
But it did.
It took you.
And now I don’t know who I am without you.
She wipes her face, unsure if it’s tears or rain. Probably both.
EVELYN (quieter):
I keep thinking you’ll walk out from behind a tree.
Or your voice will come through my radio.
I keep hoping this is just another loop…
That I’ll open my eyes and be back in the elevator with you.
But it’s not.
This is real.
You’re really gone.
And I’m really still here.
She looks up at the sky, squinting through the drizzle.
EVELYN:
I hate this world.
I hate the monsters.
I hate the building that took you.
I hate how people smile like things are okay again.
They’re not.
Because you’re not here.
And I don’t want to be brave today.
I just want my dad back.
She stands up slowly, pressing her palm to the cold gravestone.
EVELYN:
But I remember what you said…
Right before you gave me to those soldiers...
You said:
“It’s okay to cry. But promise me this, Evelyn - don’t let this world break you. Let it build you! "
I think today’s not that day.
But someday will come.
And when it does...
I’ll fight for you.
I’ll protect others like you protected me.
I’ll become the kind of person you'd be proud of.
I promise.
She walks away, pausing one last time to look back.
EVELYN (voice breaking):
Goodbye, Dad.
Please don’t stop watching me from wherever you are.
Because I’ll be watching you…
In every mission I take.
In every breath I survive.
In every step I walk away from the dark…
She vanishes down the path, her figure slowly swallowed by the fog.
The rain keeps falling.
The drawing flutters at the grave.
🖤 FADE TO BLACK
“For the fallen…
And for those they made strong.”
PART 2 - COMING SOON!