Film Idea

Genre; Psychological Horror
Name of the film; A Game of Cards

Main characters

Jeremy Roberts is a twenty five year old, who lives in New York City in the 1960s. He studied at New York University, and majored with a degree in English Language. After graduating from NYU, he went on to get a job, writing for the New York Times. Since a child, he has suffered from many psychological imbalances, including severe depression and anxiety. He was sent to the sanitarium, and feels more alone than ever.

Cherry Nichols is a twenty three year old women, who resides in New York City Sanitarium. She suffers from major depression and schizophrenia. Little is known about Cherry, except she was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and moved to New York when she was thirteen years old. During her teenage years, she was bullied heavily by fellow students at high school, and this led to her becoming suicidal. She didn't graduate from high school, and was sent to the sanitarium when she was sixteen years old.

Sister Wilson is a nun that works in New York City Sanitarium. She is sixty one years old, and is known for not treating the patients with good care. She is highly religious, and prays to God every morning and evening. Because of her faith, she believes that people who suffer from clinical insanity are doing so, because God is punishing them for their wrong doings, and refuses to try and make them better. Instead, she punishes them even more, because she claims, in a dream, that God told her to do so.

Plot

The story begins with twenty five year old Jeremy Roberts in his hospital room. The room itself is very dull, and the walls of the room are cracked. The only thing in the room is a small, metal bed, with one battered pillow and a thin blue blanket resting on the straw mattress. The walls of the room are heavily drawn on, with various inscribing's, including a list which Jeremy counts on how many times he's tried to kill himself and failed. Jeremy is sat in the left corner of the room, with a pack of cards spread out in front of him. He constantly plays with the cards, and is always deep in thought, looking panicky. Cherry Nichols, a twenty three year old, and fellow patient, enters Jeremy's hospital room. Her short, medium golden brown hair is stuck up all over the place and is full of knots. There's multiple stains of blood on her oversized, long nightgown, where self inflicted cuts on her body have re-opened.

Cherry and Jeremy then have a short conversation about the theories that got Jeremy thrown in the sanitarium. She is the only person who believes him, and thinks Life and Death control their destiny. After their conversation, she leaves his room, because otherwise Sister Wilson will be wondering were she is. Cherry leaves the room, and is found by Sister Wilson, who tortures her, incorrectly using Electroconvulsive Therapy when she didn't need the treatment. She then proceeds to re-open the self inflicted cuts on Cherry's arms, and made the wounds deeper.

Forward to Jeremy again, who is in his hospital room, messing about with his pack of cards. He picks up a pencil from under his pillow and starts drawing on on the wall next to his bed, writing words along the wall that don't make sense to anybody else, except Jeremy. Words, such as; Death, life, pain, cards. This is all relating to his theory about the world. The evening draws in, and Jeremy feels alone, and starts to suffer from flashbacks of previous treatment he has received while being in the hospital. When he wakes up in the morning, he is curled into the corner of his room, with the cards spread out around him, and there's dried blood on the floor. During the flashback, he had found a blade, and began to cut up wrists up, until his body had almost drained of blood. Jeremy believes he should of died, however Life won a game, and saved him from dying.

When the doctor comes in his room in the morning, and sees what happened last night, he tells Sister Wilson what happened. She drags in to the same room that he was sent to when he first was admitted to the hospital.

Flashback;

When Jeremy was first brought into the hospital, he was immediately given treatment, even before his condition had been examined by the doctor. He was dragged into a tiny room, with a metal bed, with restraints on the bed, so the patient will be fully tied down, and unable to move. Three psychiatrists shove him on to the bed, and tie him down. Then they use Electroconvulsive Therapy, at a level of electricity above what is recommended. They put a metal bar into his mouth, which is connected to the machine that runs electricity through the wires into his brain. As they turn up the amount of electricity that goes into his brain, it begins to affect his body, and his eyes begin to bleed. They then remove the metal bar from his mouth, and drag him to a room, which becomes his hospital room. He is left there, in excruciating pain.

Jeremy's theories

During the 1960s, religion played a big part of everyday society. Because of this, most people generally believed in a religion. However, some people also believed in science too. But, unlike the rest of general society, Jeremy believed in something very different. He believed that everything in life happened for a reason, and this was controlled by Life and Death, who played a game of cards. The idea of the game is that if Life wins, something good happens to Jeremy, such as he passes an exam, or wins an award. However, if Death wins, then something bad will happen to Jeremy, for example, he is involved in a car accident, or breaks his arm. If Death wins the game more than twenty five times, then Jeremy will die, and Death will decide how he dies.
He expresses his theories about this, while writing for the New York Times. As what he believes in, is neither really religion or science, people greatly reject him and his theories about the world. Because of this, his undiagnosed depression and anxiety, that he has suffered from since being a child, worsens, and he is ultimately sent to the New York City Sanitarium. While in hospital, he continues to share his theories to the other patients, however, they also reject his theories. Jeremy believes that everybody seems to be rejecting his theories, because Death won a game, and decided to make everyone not believe him.

http://thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/asylums/asylum-history/the-history-of-the-asylum

Research about treatments used in Asylums