Haunter

Description

Following the traumatic suicide of his father, a young boy moves into a new home with his mother, hoping for a fresh start. Torn between his faith, which defies easy answers regarding the "sin" of suicide, and his secret fear - that his father is now trapped in purgatory, and that he himself is doomed to the same fate - the boy believes he is being haunted, both by his father and his father's crime, and that there is no escape no matter where he runs.

Biblical Connection

I feel that the space between your faith - which can be quite ambiguous regarding topics such as the "sin" of suicide, punishments being passed down through generations etc. - and what you truly believe or feel, or fear, offers fantastic potential for powerful storytelling. This is why I chose the Ezekiel passage; do we pay for our father's sins ? Or is this a more personal fear, as the boy in Haunter feels ? His faith says his father's suicide is a tragedy rather than a sin, but to a young child suffering grief and guilt there's a deep, dark part of the human heart that wonders if his father is now doomed to haunt the living, and drive his son to the same fate. I feel this offers a horror film with terrifying scares, but also layers of emotional depth and substance.