ABOUT THE PROJECT
LOGLINE
A group of renegade cowboys on the trail of lost treasure become cursed and must escape from an unending darkness filled with ghostly visions of their past and future.
SYNOPSIS
Drunken town sheriff Cleve Hollister has led an uneventful life — but that is about to change. After winning an ancient treasure map in a poker game, he mounts his horse and sets out into the open desert on the trail of lost gold. With the help of his young brother, Jerem, and an outsider by the name of Madge Gilhaney, Cleve not only seeks the treasure, but a respite. His prisoner (a desperado by the name of Blanchard) is scheduled to hang by the neck on the following day. But Blanchard’s family is en route to free their kin. To avoid a shootout, Cleve takes Blanchard along (bound) on the treasure hunt.
Things quickly turn strange, when, after their first night at camp, the sun refuses to rise. Engulfed in an endless, otherworldly darkness—tensions rise. And when ghostly specters begin to emerge and haunt their steps, they question their sanity. As they attempt to understand the mystery at hand, they are also forced to confront the sins of their fathers whose greed and aggression against the native lands have not been forgotten.
Can they solve the riddle of the map and escape an age-old curse? Only time will tell.
THE VAST LONESOME is a tale of ghostly mystery set in the Old West. It includes elements of adventure, romance, and Lovecraftian horror. In the vein of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, it also includes a subtext of social commentary as the indigenous tribes described in the film have been wronged by colonial aggression and expansionism. The comeuppance meted out upon those who seek the treasure of this lost people is severe and forces them to examine the wrongs of such choices.
PROJECT TYPE Narrative Feature
DIRECTOR Gus Holwerda
SCREENWRITER Gus Holwerda
PRODUCER Jason Spisak, Lyndsey Waugh, Luke Holwerda, Gus Holwerda
WEBSITE thevastlonesome.com
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