Logline
After the transfer of a new patient, a haunted psychiatrist grapples with being confronted by his traumatic past.
Short Synopsis
Inside a nondescript and grimy white room, a sullen Doctor Hoffman begrudgingly meets Sidney Cole Austin, his new charge. Beginning the New Patient Intake Interview, Hoffman struggles to extract coherent answers from his enigmatic young patient with regards to her symptomology. When Hoffman touches on the “shadows,” Sidney forcefully corrects him. They are Feeders and they feed off of fear. Pushing the subject, an uneasy Hoffman attempts to ascertain how the Feeders work and how they are impacting Sidney. With cameras leering down on the interview, Sidney turns the tables, placing Hoffman under the microscope. Interrogating him, she alludes to connections to Hoffman’s past, the acutely traumatic six-month illness of his sister, and her subsequent death. Hoffman struggles to maintain his sanity and regain control of the interview and his tumultuous emotions. Thrashing to reassert control over the interview, Hoffman roars that the Feeders aren’t real and begins to process Sidney’s symptoms in cold clinical detail, including the myriad of tests he will subject her to. Sidney gives him one final warning, mocking him for not considering an explanation outside conventional medicine as the room plunges into darkness. Shakily taking the interview camera into his hands, a panicked Hoffman attempts to escape from the blackout. Realizing that he is trapped, Hoffman follows the sound of talismanic whispers. Finding Sidney crouched in a corner surrounded by shadowy figures, the whispering stops. They turn to face him. Sidney, approaching a horrified Hoffman, tells the doctor she is no longer afraid, and with a snarl, lunges.
Intake Film 