Encore un nouveau projet - Vivid/Psychosis

The film starts off back in the early nineties, where a bunch of eco-warrior types have arrived to protest the building of a road through the woods. They set up camp, and naturally, as it's night and they're in the middle of nowhere, they're swiftly killed by lunatic with an axe. Said lunatic gets injured in the process, one of the campers gets away, and the police find the guy laying in the woods, hurt but alive. He gets hauled off to the local nuthouse.

Meanwhile, in the present day, we see Charisma's character Susan. She's a crime author. She previously had a 'total mental collapse', but at some point met her husband David, who 'saved her/brought her back/etc, etc'. Susan has a book to finish, and they've decided to move into the middle of nowhere (somewhere in Yorkshire, I believe). What have they moved into? A really big house, with nothing but woods around for miles. Totally isolated. Anyone moving to a place as creepy as that is just asking for trouble.

Just after they arrive, they get a visit from the local vicar, who has about two sips of tea before leaving.

That night, Susan wakes up hearing noises, and sends the husband off to go check but there's nothing there.

Sometime in the next few days she gets a visit from her publisher, clearly wanting her to hurry finish writing her book. While she's off making coffee, he talks to the husband about how she's been doing since her breakdown. He assures him everything's fine. When she returns she stands by the window, and sees a boy kicking about a football in her garden. She taps on the window, but he doesn't hear. She turns around to mention this to David and the publisher, but when she turns back to look, the boy is gone.

That evening's spooky occurrence is that David has been hooking up a telly in the bedroom and blows a fuse and all the lights go out - so he goes down to fix it. While this is going on Susan has been running a bath. When the lights come back on, the water is red like blood, even though it was running clear before the power went. She drains it and her husband tells her it was just rust.

Another day, and Susan sees the boy outside again. She runs out but when she gets outside, he's gone.

The next scene she's going for a walk through the creepy forest. While walking deeper into the woods, she comes across this man fucking a girl in a clearing. She stands shocked for a moment, and then the man sees her and grins. Susan stumbles away. When she's clear of them, she appears to be a little lost. While trying to find her way back, she sees the man standing before her. While starting at him, he flashes her (yes kids, full frontal male nudity in this film) and she legs it (he may/may not be chasing her). Eventually she gets back to the house covered in mud, just as her husband returns from work (he commutes to London). She's freaking out and he tells her to go inside and lock the door while he goes for a look to see if he can find the guy. She goes into the kitchen to clean up. Yet again she sees the boy with the football, runs outside and finds him gone. She goes back into the kitchen to start on dinner, when her husband calls her out, wanting her to meet someone.

That someone? Turns out to be the guy in the forest, who's name is Peck. Turns out though he never mentioned it, David hired him to be the gamekeeper. Susan naturally isn't too thrilled, mentions he flashed her and David asks 'if she's sure'. He then mentions he was a solider, been in lots of wars, and was also from the country, which is why he may seem a little 'off'.

That night Susan wakes up hearing noises again, and sends David to check again. While waiting for him, she ventures outside the bedroom to take a look. She sees nothing and turns to go back into the bedroom. As she turns, the killer from the beginning of the film walks down the hall with a knife and covered in blood. She naturally freaks the hell out, runs into the bedroom and shuts the door. As she leans against it, someone tries to get in. she tried to hold them out, but they manage to start opening the door. Turns out its David, having found nothing. She tells him about the guy, and he says there can't have been anyone there, as they'd have had to walk right by him. She breaks down.

The police have been called, and checked the place out/dusted for prints etc but can't find anything. A rather condescending detective who clearly thinks she's off her rocker tells her there is nothing they can do, perhaps they should change the locks and to call if anything happens.

Susan tells them that if they get murdered in their beds, she'll be sure to let them know. The next day David and Peck change all the locks and Susan remembers that the construction workers had keys - perhaps they should call the detective? David says if she wants to waste his time to go ahead, but he won't. She isn't impressed.

Her publisher calls, more book pressure, etc, etc.

Later that evening, they're watching telly. He gets a call and she channel hops to a concert by an artist called Josh (I think. We'll call him that anyway). David comes back, says he has a business meeting with some guy in London, and needs to stay over tomorrow night. Susan asks why he bothers with these meetings, as they never bring any money in, and it's not like they need the cash. David gets pissy and tells her she has her career, let him have his. She then says she doesn't want to stay in the creepy, isolated house alone.

That night she wakes up and hears strange noises coming from her husband. She turns around and some older guy is there instead, covered in blood and dying. She bolts from the bed screaming, and David wakes up and turns the light on. Old guy has vanished and not wanting to seem crazy, says she had a nightmare.

The next day David leaves for his trip to London and she drives down to the local pub, only to find it closed. On her way back to her car, she sees Josh the rocker dude hitchhiking. Then a van passes between them, and poof, like magic he's gone.

She goes back home, goes to the kitchen, and turns to find Peck staring creepily through the kitchen window at her. He tells her David said she didn't want to be alone, and he's a decent cook, he can make their tea.

It's dark now, and Susan is on the phone to David. He's telling her things are going great, he's even got a company car. She's happy things are going well and they hang up. David then leaves the bathroom he's in, and walks into a bedroom where he's been shagging some woman. Turns out these 'meetings' are an excuse for him to go to some club where he can have sex with various women. How charming. The woman asks how long 'it'll' be. David says 'not long'.

Oh, and Josh the rocker is there too.

Meanwhile back at the creepy, isolated house, equally creepy Peck is cooking dinner. Susan tries to peek at it, to no avail. Peck tells her tea is almost ready so she goes to set the table and put on some music. There are candles and mood lighting too. All somewhat out of place for dinner with the creepy gamekeeper.

Anyway, while she's doing this, Peck slips a fair amount of magic mushrooms in the stew he's cooking.

They eat dinner, have creepy conversation, and she starts to feel funny, and we get flashbacks to Peck and the girl in the forest, and her and David having sex. Susan asks Peck if that girl he was with in the forest was his girlfriend. He says 'something like that'.

Susan then sort of stumbles over to the settee, and more flashbacks are had, now inter-cut with Susan and Peck having sex, though she doesn't seem all that into it at first. The 'making of' says that it could have been real, or all in her mind as a result of the mushrooms.

At any rate, she wakes up on the settee the next day naked, to someone knocking on the door. It's the girl from the forest, saying she's a gardener and Peck mentioned Susan might need some help. Susan is still kind of weirded out, says sure, whatever, take those bushes out while she goes to have a bath. When she gets out, she looks out to see the girl working in the garden… and the boy with the ball nearby. Susan gets dressed, goes downstairs and asks the girl (who's just come inside) who the boy is. She asks what boy, and Susan thinks she's lying, as he was clearly there. Susan chucks her out, and the girl makes a comment about what her and Peck did. Susan shouts 'fuck you', slams the door and looks somewhat the worse for wear.

Later, she's in her office writing, hears something, goes into the hall and seems someone in a black hoodie, covered in blood stumbling towards her. She flees outside, and while catching her breath, sees rocker Josh inside painting one of the window frames. She closes her eyes, and when she opens them again he's gone.

She's clearly had enough, as she goes to see the vicar and talks to him about it all, talks about her breakdown and wonders if she's crazy etc.

Next scene, she's on the phone to David, who's almost home. After they hang up, she checks herself in the mirror and goes to put on some lipstick. While doing this has some more visions. She's broken out of her daze by her husband arriving home. He goes up to the bedroom, and looks shocked when he sees her. Susan is talking away, tidying up etc. Eventually we see her and she has lipstick all around her mouth, though she doesn't seem to realise.

During all this, we find out the vicar is popping round tomorrow with some woman.

The next day she looks somewhat unhinged, and it turns out the forth person is a medium or something and they hold a séance, only the woman says there is nothing there. This doesn't help Susan any, but the woman says she isn't saying Susan is crazy, just that ifsomething was there, it isn't here now.

David sees the vicar and woman out and takes them to the station, while Susan, who is rather annoyed, goes to work on her book instead as it's almost done.

David is still out, and Susan walks into the bedroom only to see the dead old guy on the bed, she runs out the room only to see the crazy knife killer stalking around, and kill the hoodie guy. She runs down the stairs, goes for the phone when rocker Josh crawls out of another room. Killer guy then goes to finish him off. Susan who buy now is majorly scared/freaked, throws the phone at them. Rocker josh and the killer vanish.

Susan, who by now is a puddle of seriously messed up and rocking on the floor, hears a noise. She runs down the hall, into the kitchen and looks for a place to hid, deciding on the fridge (to do this she throws everything out, including shelves, onto the floor which makes it rather easy to guess where she is). Anyway, she grabs a knife and hides.

The fridge door opens, and she wastes no time and shoves the knife deep into the chest of whoever it is. Turns out to be Peck, not the killer. Whoops.

He dies BTW.

She runs, screaming for help until she gets back into the entrance hall, sort of in a daze.

Only to find the lunatic knife killer finishing off rocker Josh with the phone cord.

She ends on the floor, her mind broken.

The next few scenes are David at the publisher's office, after Susan's book has been published. Turns out she based her book on the visions. The publisher asks how Susan is doing, and David says he's visiting her today. The publisher then asks who the royalties' cheque should be made out to as surely he has power of attorney, and David says to just transfer it into the usual account, as it's a joint account, they set it up when they got married.

David then goes to visit Susan, who's in the same mental hospital that the lunatic knife killer is in, having been sent there after his axe rampage of '92. Susan is totally non-responsive.

David then goes to the house, which has now been sold to get a few things left behind. Speaks to the new owner, who mentions rocker Josh is staying there. He stares at him surprised. Josh BTW, is painting the window frame just like Susan saw in her vision. Meanwhile, a guy in a black hoodie is playing football in the garden.


David goes to leave and sees the forest girl gardener and asks if she wants a life. While she cleans up, David gets on the phone to the woman he slept with at the club, who he's now engaged to (he's fast tracking a divorce, while still getting Susan's money… somehow) and the woman says to bring the girl to the club if he wants, it'd be nice to have someone from the country there… since Peck is dead and all.

The girl gets into the car, and suddenly the killer pops out from the back seat, slits David's throat and drags forest girl to the back of the car to kill her too. As this is happening a news alert on the radio mentions he'd escaped the hospital. Yeah, thanks for that warning, a little late though. He is then seen walking into the house.

Last we see Susan in her room, as she hears them getting killed, just as she saw it.


So, in summery:
*David married her hoping to drive her nuts and get her money, scheming with the woman from the club.
*Peck was hired by David to mess with Susan's head and drive her insane.
*Susan was managing that fine on her on.
*Susan was having visions, but not of the past, but of the future.