After making an extraordinary discovery, the small team at an isolated research facility in the Australian outback must struggle to survive, as one-by-one they become violently deranged.

SYNOPSIS:

The Last Discovery is a sci-fi/horror feature that follows the events in the days after scientists, in an isolated research station deep in the Australian outback, make a momentous discovery.

The story follows Hamid, a maintenance engineer, whose happiness for his colleagues’ surprising discovery turns to horror and dismay, when two scientists destroy the facility’s infrastructure and attack their friends. Shocked by these events, he and the others try to understand what is happening, while struggling to cling to their humanity, as one-by-one they become violently deranged.

The Last Discovery is a contemporary take on H. P. Lovecraft’s concept of Cosmic Horror, and asks the question: What if the universe does have a purpose, but we’re not part of it and so must be removed?

Set in the harsh beauty of the Australian outback, the vast location acts as a microcosm of humanity’s place in the universe.

Peopled with intelligent, likeable characters from around the world, The Last Discovery avoids the trope of “humans are the real monsters”. Instead it shows our characters struggling to come to terms with what is happening, while never ceasing to care for each other. Even when they begin to suspect what is happening, and their possible “culpability” in humanity’s extinction, the last survivors continue to maintain their compassion and empathy to the very end.

And so, despite the bleak resolution, The Last Discovery is a celebration of humanity and our precarious place in a cold and uncaring universe.

The Last Discovery shares elements with Michael Crichton’s novel, The Andromeda Strain (which gave us both, the 1971 movie and the 2008 mini-series), and John Carpenter’s The Thing, but without the need for a huge special effects budget. Discussing it recently, I was also reminded of Nevil Shute’s novel “On the Beach”, which was made into a movie in 1959, and again in 2000.

The Last Discovery also taps into sci-fi fans’ current fascination with the idea that we may be living is a simulation, while at the same time introducing the concept to horror fans by giving it a dark twist.

• script and pitch deck can be found here: https://www.scriptrevolution.com/scripts/the-last-discovery