Hazardous - A Short Movie Script

This screenplay was written as part of a university assignment with a deceptively simple brief: create the opening of a feature film with intrigue—something that could be extended into a full movie. No resolution required, just a beginning strong enough to make the audience lean in.

Hazardous was shaped by two songs that circle the same subject from very different angles: Where the Wild Roses Grow by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds featuring Kylie Minogue, and Hazard by Richard Marx. One is explicit, gothic, and violent. The other is soft-spoken and unsettling only if you listen closely. That contrast informed the tone from the outset, as quiet domestic normality collides with accusation, suspicion, and a history that refuses to stay buried.

The story opens on an ordinary Sunday morning, only to fracture it immediately. Nick Marx is not introduced as a monster, nor as a hero. He’s simply present. From there, the script leans into interrogation rather than exposition, allowing implication, power imbalance, and language to do the heavy lifting. The Sheriff and the FBI Detective are deliberately distinct in approach—one grounded in the town, the other hungry for closure; the truth of who Nick is remains deliberately unstable.

The primary feedback at the time was consistent: the premise was engaging, the mystery effective, and the missing women immediately created unease. The recurring note was that the opening could have lingered longer on Nick before the knock at the door, perhaps through a brief glimpse of his routine to help the audience decide whether they wanted to trust him. That feedback wasn’t about clarity, but alignment: whose side the viewer believes they’re on, even temporarily.

In practice, the script was written right up against a strict word limit. Every line that survived did so at the expense of another. What remains is the opening exactly as submitted, unchanged, intact, and doing precisely what it was designed to do: establish tone, raise questions, and end with a town that has already decided the outcome.

What follows is that opening.

Based on the songs “Where the Wild Roses Grow” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, featuring Kylie Minogue, and “Hazard” by Richard Marx

1.      INT. KITCHEN.       MORNING.

Setting – modest house with simple furniture and fittings. Some dirty dishes in the kitchen sink.

It’s Sunday morning, and Nick Marx is making a coffee. A pounding at the front door startles him.

Nick puts down his mug and heads for the door.

2.      INT. FRONT DOOR.    MORNING

                    MINOGUE
             Nick Marx?

                    NICK
             Yes.

MINOGUE
I’m Sheriff Minogue from Sherman County Sheriff’s Office, and this is Detective Hall from the FBI. We have a few questions.

Both Minogue and Hall flash their badges. Hall pushes past Nick and into the living room, followed by Minogue and two other uniformed police officers.

3.   INT. LOUNGE ROOM.   MORNING

                     NICK
              Umm. What’s this about?

                      HALL
              You know exactly what this is about.

        MINOGUE
Where were you last night?

        NICK
Here. I came home and had a few beers and went to bed.

        MINOGUE
Came home from where?

        HALL
Anyone confirm your story?

        NICK
(Shrugs at Minogue) What do you think? Anyone around town can tell you they don’t like me. They think there’s something wrong with me.

        HALL
What makes you think that?

        NICK
Come on. This is the tenth time this year you flat-foots have harassed me.
(He points toward the kitchen) I had to call a plumber from Litchfield to fix me tap.

        HALL
Just answer the question.

        NICK
I didn’t see anyone.

        HALL
How long have you lived here?

        NICK
My mother came to Hazard when I was just seven.

        MINOGUE
Why stick around town if everyone hates you?

        NICK
Did I say hate? Everyone leaves me alone, except Mary.

        HALL
So you do know Mary Smith? When did you last see her?

        NICK
Mary? She went for a walk. She loves watching the sun go down.

Minogue picks up a framed picture from a cabinet of Nick and Mary embracing each other and seemingly having fun.

        MINOGUE
Is this you with Mary?   

        NICK
Yer. What of it?

        MINOGUE
Do you walk with her often?

        HALL
(Hall scribes in his notepad)

You both went for a walk?

NICK
(SHRUGS)

        MINOGUE
Well, we have witnesses who have seen you two together.

        NICK
So what? We were seeing each other.

        HALL
Do you know where she is now?

        NICK
I left her by the river.

        MINOGUE
(Minogue glances around the room) Why would a girl like Mary go for someone like you?

        NICK
As I said, nobody likes me around here. She’s the only one who looked beyond the rumours and the lies and saw the man inside.

                     MINOGUE
That’s very sweet, but she’s missing. Nobody has seen or heard from her since yesterday.  

        NICK
Mary, she’s missing? And you think I had something to do with it?

        MINOGUE
What makes you think that?

        NICK
(Gestures toward the uniformed officers)

        HALL
(LOOMING)
Where is she, Nick?

        NICK
You honestly think I had something to do with that? I would never hurt Mary. I love her.

        MINOGUE
We need you to come down to the station.

         NICK

All the way over at Loup City? Am I under arrest?

         MINOGUE

We just want to ask you some more questions.

         NICK

It seems I’m it, hey? Or your FBI friend wouldn’t be here.

         HALL
Enough pleasantries. Where is Mary?

         NICK
 (Frustrated)
I left her by the river.

                                  HALL
                           Her body?

                      NICK
                          I swear I left her safe and sound.

                                 HALL
                         Where?

                                NICK
                           (FRANTIC)
                          I need to make it to the river…

                                 HALL
                         You’re not going anywhere until you tell us where Mary is.

                                NICK
                          (ANGERED)
                          I don’t know. She was safe when I left her.

     HALL
Just like Elisa Day? 

(PREGNANT PAUSE.) Nick looks shocked, Minogue is confused, and Hall is smug by Nick’s reaction, implying guilt. 

     HALL (CONT’D)
That name mean anything to you?

     NICK
No. Should it?

                     HALL
Pretty little thing from out of state. Found dead in the river three years ago.

                    MINOGUE
Wait, isn’t she the one they called “the wild rose”? 
Why did they call her that? Her name was Elisa Day.

                      HALL
             The killer left a rose between her teeth. Just like the other women. That was his calling card. But you knew that, didn’t you Nick?

    NICK
(Remains silent)

                               HALL
             Nick? Do you have anything to say?

                      NICK
             I don’t know any Elisa Day. I need to find Mary.

                      HALL
             You are a sly piece of work. We have been searching for years for the wild rose killer. We’re not letting you get away this time.

                      MINOGUE
              Come along, Nick. 

Nick turns, shoulder charges past an officer and along the hall to the kitchen and leaps through the closed fly screen door, splitting the screen.

The uniformed police officers give chase.

4. EXT. FOREST LEADING TO RIVER.   MORNING.

Nick is chased by the officers down to the river.

5. EXT. UNDER TREES BY THE RIVER. MORNING.

       NICK
Maaa…rrry.(CALLING).
Where are you?  

Nick sees a woman that looks like Mary standing between the trees on the other side of the river.

       NICK
Mary? (CALLING) Let’s leave this old Nebraska town together.

The two officers crash-tackle Nick to the ground.

Nick looks up as the officers put on handcuffs, and the woman is gone. Minogue steps between Nick and where the woman was. Nick tries to look between Minogue’s legs.

        MINOGUE
Oh, Nick. Why did you go do that?

        NICK
(STRUGGLES)
Mary. She’s over there. She’s safe. Let me go to her.

        MINOGUE
(GLANCES OVER THE RIVER)
There’s no one there, Nick.

The officers pick up Nick and securely hold him.

        NICK
(WRENCHES BODY TO TRY TO ESCAPE)
Let go (shouts). Let me go to her.

          HALL
It’s a shame he struggled too much and tripped.

Hall punches Nick in the face, which brings on a bloody nose.

                    HALL (CONT’D)
Get this bastard in the car. Nick Marx, you’re under arrest for the murder of several women, including Mary Smith and Elisa Day.

Nick blows/sprays blood at Hall. Hall takes a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his face.

                     HALL
             There’s no escape for you this time.

 The party shuffles back to the house.

6. EXT. FRONT OF NICK’S HOUSE.      MORNING.

Nick is put in the police car with the Sheriff and officers, and Hall takes his unmarked FBI car.

The car turns toward the town of Hazard and crosses the bridge. Flowers bloom along the river’s edge.

                   MINOGUE
It seems the wild roses are blooming this week. Just in time to see you off, hey?

 7. EXT. MAIN STREET OF HAZARD.     MORNING.

Nick can see the red and blue police lights reflecting off shop windows. The Sheriff drives slowly through town, and people stop to stare and point. The car slows further as they drove past the supermarket and the church congregation.

       MINOGUE
You know, there’s a thousand people pointing at you.

Assignment Reflection (Presented as Submitted)

What follows is the reflection that accompanied Hazardous as part of the original university submission. It’s included here verbatim, without revision or retrospective editing.

I’ve left it exactly as it was written at the time, because it captures where my head was during the assignment: the false starts, the pivot in concept, the practical constraints, and the tension between instinct and assessment criteria. It’s not a hindsight piece, and it’s not meant to justify the work — it documents the process as it happened.

Reflection

The song “Where the Wild Roses Grow” has a great story, and the original script I had intended would have followed the ghost of Elisa Day, watching the unnamed man return every year with a new, beautiful woman to murder. Finally, Elisa and the essence of the other woman would cause a branch to fall on his head, killing the man who did them harm.

The first draft wasn’t going well, and my wife suggested Hazard by Richard Marx, which sounded like the script I was struggling with. This is where my story changed to what it is now. Besides Mary and Elisa, the other names were random. Richard Cave became Nick Marx, like a scratch, and the Sheriff had to be named after Kylie Minogue.

Writing a movie script was completely different compared to writing a short or long-form story. I found it more challenging because of the reduced world-building and character direction didn’t set running that movie in my head. Then there was the tedious formatting.

I hope the script feels like it could be extended to either a courtroom/murder mystery or an escape for Nick so he can find Mary or clear his name.

The Workshopping week sounds like a great idea, where other people were getting several replies, but this is the second assignment with limited responses to my work. I am in two minds: am I that much better than the other students, or something else? It can’t be the former with my assignment two score.

The documentation the University provides is informative, but with having a young child and sensory classes taking a portion of my week, the scanned second-generation photocopies, sometimes with written markups, are time-consuming and difficult to read, and some I didn’t even attempt to read, and just drew on my knowledge. I feel this could have contributed to my lower score in the poetry module.

Like the others before it, this unit was eye-opening and added to my skills as an author. If the rest of the units in the full degree are just as informative, I look forward to continuing my studies.