CRUEL LOGIC
Thriller
Full length feature in development
Written & Directed by Brian Godawa
Producer: Jack Hafer
Production Company:
Boulevard Pictures.
Story
A brilliant serial killer videotapes his debates with college faculty victims.
The topic: His moral right to kill them.
Herman Mudgett thinks he is God bringing in the apocalypse, which is why he is called “The Millennium Killer.” When Mudgett escapes from a hospital for the criminally insane, Dr. Joseph Kallinger, the psychiatrist who testified on behalf of Mudgett’s insanity, is called in to help profile him with Detective Van Til, the cop who originally caught Mudgett. Their bitter pairing intensifies when Kallinger exploits Mudgett’s case for his book on criminal behavior. The stakes increase when one of Kallinger’s female students, with whom he is having a secret affair, is drawn into the danger.
And then the videotapes start to show up. Mudgett is capturing distinguished college professors and debates with them. His proposition: “Give me one valid reason why I should not kill you, and I will let you go." As Mudgett dismantles their reasoning, he proceeds to dismember his victims, recording it all on video. The method to his madness is soon revealed: Mudgett’s murders are a forensic argument, proving himself to be guiltless to the cop and sane to the psychiatrist. Catching the killer is not enough to win this debate. Both heroes will have to face their inner demons.
But then it’s revealed that Mudgett has an accomplice, and all the evidence points to Kallinger, but all the reality points to Van Til. Who is predator and who is prey in this cat and mouse debate where ideas have consequences?
Cruel Logic is a story about human nature, the problem of evil, and one man’s attempt to regain his sanity in a world without absolutes.
2006 Short Film Awards:
Quarterfinalist: Golden Star Shorts Film Fest
Official Selection:
Dusk Till Dawn Fest
Great Lakes Indie Film Fest
Shriekfest Film Fest
Bluegrass Indie Film Fest
Palm Springs International Film Fest
San Diego Film Festival
Flatland Film Festival
Screenplay Awards:
1st Place: A.K.A. Shriekfest Horror Film Competition
4th Place: Worldfest Houston Screenplay Competition
Finalist: America’s Best Competition
Quarter-Finalist:
Nicholls Fellowship
Academy Foundation
Semi-Finalist Maui Writer’s Conference
Scriptapalooza
Carl Sautter Screenwriting Competition
American Accolades