Brief

When Brooke and Jake set out to enjoy their awaited holiday, they are met with the most dangerous and mysterious life experience, that also puts their adult children in danger. Coming face to face with the Grim Reaper, Brooke and her family must survive this trip and get out in one piece.

What We Liked

The story was unique enough to raise eyebrows and have the imagination running wild. With an elderly couple who love motorcycle trips across the country, and the husband being a truck hauler, the demographic is pretty set for the elder audience. Not only is the target demographic unique but also the notion of a female Grim Reaper breaks the stereotype of only a male ideology of the Grim Reaper. The highlight of this plot is that it breaks gender barriers and showcases that a protagonist needn't always be a muscular man in a story, it can also be a mother who has nothing but the safety of her family in her mind.

Film: Asylum Road would be best suitable as a motion picture due to its storyline. The plot makes for a great experience on the big screen since there will be many fantasy creatures involved, and also would be a great way for adults to go watch a movie with their friends. The demographic can also be seen as that of Americans who like to travel by having roadtrips. More older adults with motorcycles would enjoy this story, since it is geared towards their experiences with a dose of fantastical creatures to boost the storyline.

TV: The story could be adapted into a limited series or a tv movie for a streaming service which has the potential to attract a plethora of tv watchers. Since the targeted audience is older, it would be easier to have it be movie that parents and elders can watch with their friends and family. The IP can also be optioned in the category of triumphant stories for adults who like fantasy drama.

Key points: 1) Medium budget
2) Breaks gender barriers
3) Relatability for older couples
4) Fantasy based
5) Good guys win.

Synopsis

Brooke and her husband Jake are motorcycle riders who like to take road trips every few years to get away from their mundane lives. The couple have a daughter, a son, and two grandchildren. Four years before their current trip, the couple went to Gaspe Bay Peninsula where they attended a wedding for one of the members in their motorcycle group, called the Golden Wings. Brooke remembers the medieval themed wedding even to the detail of having to eat with their hands during dinner and getting interrupted by mother nature’s wrath of rain. As Jake pulls up to pick up Brooke, he delivers the bad news that his boss has asked him to deliver a trailer up to New York. Begrudgingly, Brooke agrees to accompany him only because Jake is promised two extra weeks of paid vacation for their personal trip.

As the couple make a last pit stop to grab dinner and stay the night, Brooke gets an eerie feeling about the place. She goes to call her kids to inform that they only have a few hours drive left and that they are in a town called Fogmore. At the diner, Brooke notices that all the patrons of the joint stare and whisper around her. She begins to get a gnawing creepy feeling about the whole place but Jake reassures her that it’s just the storm outside and they will leave first light the next day. As the couple get ready to go to bed inside their truck, they hear a knock on the drivers door. Concerned for their safety, Brooke suggests that Jake doesn’t open the door, but he checks it out anyways. Jake and Brooke then get pulled down from the truck, while Jake gets kicked and beaten by a bunch of guys from a motorcycle gang, Brooke is held by a man named Sebastian who asks her where the stuff is.

Dakota and Taylor begin driving again to visit the diner Brooke had called Taylor from, Dogpatch. As soon as they reach the diner, they notice that there was no one present there. When they asked the waitress whether Brooke and Jake had been there, the waitress snaps at them and lies that they were never there. Feeling defeated, the two have their breakfast at the diner and head out to their car. Just when they think about leaving, Taylor notices his father’s semi pick-up truck on the side of the diner, hidden away. So, Dakota and Taylor go to inspect the truck and as they decide to go to the authorities to report their parents missing, they are met with the same fate as Brooke and Jake, dragged out of the truck and pushed down to the ground. After torturing both Dakota and Taylor, the gang pushes Dakota to the cabin where Brooke is and Taylor with Jake in the shed.

However, the family escapes and find shelter in the woods till they finally get rid of the threat. Brooke and the rest come to find the people following them are Grimps, who do the dirty work for the Grim Reaper. Escaping the ground, the family gets abducted by aliens and then escape back out into the real world, only to find themselves back to square one.

Nearly escaping the killer bats and Grimps, they finally see a mirage and reality of a few houses and a barn in the distance. Happy to see that, the family and Gretchen begin to head towards them to only find being repelled by a wall. Jake soon comes to figure out they are repelled by a force shield. When they find a porthole, everyone escapes through the porthole to finally reach to the side of trees, animals, houses, and civilization.

With an end in sight, the family and Gretchen climb up a mountain to find that there is only one more mountain between them and road. As they climb up and reach the top of the last mountain, they see everything in sight and are happy to find civilization. However, they all take a heavy tumble down the steep mountain and end up on the ground with major injuries. But this doesn’t hinder their spirits from sprinting to the road where there are state trooper cars passing by to rescue them. Finally, after reaching the state trooper station, the troopers make sure they are tend to, and one of them mentions that someone had been looking for them for a couple of days now. And lo and behold, it is her brother Lynn who comes to take them home. Unable to control her relief, Brooke gives her brother a big hug and thanks the troopers. One of the trooper also reveals that there was no town called Fogmore and no diner called Dogpatch where they were held captive and tortured. In order to prove that the family wasn’t hallucinating or making it up, they all travel back in the trooper’s cruiser, to only find that there truly wasn’t a town or diner present. However, Brooke finds a photo of her grand kids on the ground where they were captured to show that they weren’t making it all up. Happy to be alive and out of danger, the family gets into Lynn’s van ready to go home. But Brooke gets the eerie feeling that this wasn't the last time she was seeing the Grim Reaper.

About The Author

Brenda Goodman has had many dreams and life experiences that she has incorporated into her long-awaited vision of publishing a book.