BLACK AUTUMN - A Movie Script And Idea - A Full Screenplay

 

An Original Feature Screenplay

Written by

Kalifornia Jani - Jani Apukka

BLACK AUTUMN

A Note to the Reader and Director 1/2

BLACK AUTUMN should feel cold before it becomes frightening.

This is not a film that begins by announcing its monster. It begins with a road, failing daylight, an almost-empty town, and the gradual realization that everyone you meet knows something you don't.

The audience should want to leave Kaamosvaara long before they understand why.

That feeling is the foundation of the movie.

The tone

The world of BLACK AUTUMN should feel physical, weathered and real.

Snow pushed against dirty windows. Wet wool drying beside radiators. Sodium streetlights. Old mining equipment. Cheap motel sheets. Fluorescent corridors. Rusted steel. Wood-paneled rooms renovated one piece at a time over forty years. A town that has survived by repairing everything except itself.

The horror should grow out of that reality.

Kaamosvaara isn't Gothic. It isn't picturesque. It isn't a supernatural fairy-tale village.

It is an ordinary northern town where something terrible became routine.

That distinction matters.

We should resist making the townspeople visually monstrous. They aren't a congregation of horror-movie villains waiting in shadows. They shovel snow. Drink coffee. Repair engines. Complain about heating bills. Put Halloween decorations in windows.

Then they go home knowing people are being murdered.

That normality is more disturbing than eccentricity.

The motel

The Polar Night Motor Lodge is the heart of the film.

At first it should almost seem comforting.

Warm light against darkness. A bed after a long drive. An old-fashioned proprietor. Somewhere to wait until morning.

Then the architecture begins betraying the characters.

A vent contains a camera.

A wall contains a passage.

A wardrobe conceals a door.

The basement connects to something older.

Eventually the audience understands that the motel was never simply accommodation.

It is a machine built to make people disappear.

By the time we return to the motel later in the film, the audience should know its geography. That allows Antti and Helena to weaponize what frightened us earlier. Doors, corridors, laundry equipment, cameras and hidden passages become part of the characters' strategy.

The building changes because our understanding of it changes.

Number 61

Number 61 should initially be photographed like something almost supernatural.

We don't get a clean look.

We hear him.

We see the mining coat.

The brass tag.

The mask.

The silhouette at the edge of Tomas's flash.

The audience should begin constructing the monster for us.

Then we remove the mask.

And underneath it is Jarmo.

Not a demon.

Not an immortal killer.

Not even an extraordinary man.

That's essential.

The mask is more powerful than the person wearing it.

Jarmo inherited a role. The town inherited a lie. Eventually nobody remembers where obligation ends and choice begins.

The frightening revelation isn't that Number 61 exists.

It's that anyone can become Number 61 if enough people agree to keep the story alive.

Violence

The violence should hurt.

It should not become decorative.

When violence happens, the audience should understand where people are standing, what they are trying to accomplish and what it costs them.

We don't need elaborate gore to make the mine frightening. Darkness, distance, sound and uncertainty can do more.

A mining pick striking stone beside someone's head is frightening because we understand what would have happened ten centimeters to the left.

Whenever possible, anticipation should be worse than impact.

And aftermath should matter.

People limp afterward.

They lose blood.

They become exhausted.

They make worse decisions.

Nobody resets for the next action sequence.

Humor

There is humor in BLACK AUTUMN, but the film is not winking at the audience.

Elias jokes because that is how he avoids fear and vulnerability.

Antti is dry because he has spent years listening to people lie.

Salla jokes early because she believes the trip is an adventure. By the end, she doesn't need jokes anymore.

Humor should make us like these people.

Then horror has something to take away.

The funniest line should never tell the audience that the danger isn't real.

The mine

The mine should feel enormous.

Not because we constantly show enormous sets, but because darkness continues beyond every flashlight.

Sound becomes geography.

A bell somewhere far away.

A chain moving.

A boot against gravel.

Air moving through ventilation shafts.

Something metallic striking stone.

CLANG.

That sound begins the film before we know what it means.

Eventually it becomes Number 61.

Then history.

Then memory.

And finally something we may never completely understand.

The mine is not simply where the monster lives.

It is where Kaamosvaara buried the truth.

The Below

The Below should be disturbing without becoming a collection of grotesque stereotypes.

There are dangerous people underground.

There are also frightened people, old people and children who were born into circumstances they never chose.

The child who helps Salla matters enormously.

That moment prevents the movie from making the easy argument that evil is hereditary.

It isn't.

Choice is.

The Below and the town are mirrors of one another. Both communities tell themselves that survival justifies what they do.

Some people believe it.

Some hate it.

Some simply stopped asking.

Aino

Aino should never think she's the villain.

She should probably be the calmest person in the movie.

Her worldview is terrifying precisely because it contains fragments of truth.

Governments do forget remote communities.

Companies do leave after extracting what they need.

People do make compromises to survive.

But Aino has turned those facts into permission.

She has spent decades converting necessity into tradition and tradition into morality.

Her most frightening quality isn't cruelty.

It's certainty.

The landscape

Lapland cannot simply be background.

It should become pressure.

Distance matters.

Cold matters.

Darkness matters.

The road matters.

In another movie, escaping the building means surviving.

Here, escaping the building may leave you twenty kilometers from anyone who wants to help you.

The landscape is beautiful, but we should never photograph that beauty like a tourism commercial.

Beauty and danger can occupy the same frame.

A completely silent snowy forest can be magnificent.

Then a figure appears between two trees.

Nothing about the landscape changed.

Everything about the image did.

What the film is actually about

Underneath the survival horror, BLACK AUTUMN is about collective responsibility.

Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to create Kaamosvaara.

It happens one compromise at a time.

Someone changes a document.

Someone doesn't ask where a suitcase came from.

Someone repairs a vehicle.

Someone removes a license plate.

Someone decides protecting a neighbor is more important than helping a stranger.

Someone says:

This isn't my responsibility.

Eventually an entire town has committed a crime that no individual believes belongs entirely to them.

That is why the central idea of the movie is not:

There is a monster in this town.

It is:

Your mistake is thinking monsters destroyed this town. People did.

And that is also why exposing Number 61 isn't enough.

Killing the masked man doesn't solve Kaamosvaara.

The mask was never the disease.

Silence was.

Why make this movie?

Because horror is particularly good at turning abstract moral questions into physical experiences.

We can talk intellectually about institutional guilt, forgotten communities, inherited violence and the stories societies create to excuse themselves.

Or we can put four people in a motel where everyone knows they are going to disappear.

Then we make the audience feel what complicity means.

BLACK AUTUMN also offers something increasingly valuable in horror: a monster whose mythology becomes more frightening when explained rather than less.

At first we fear Number 61 because we don't know what he is.

Later we fear Kaamosvaara because we do.

The revelation doesn't shrink the movie from supernatural horror into ordinary crime.

It expands the monster from one man to an entire system.

And yet the film shouldn't end in nihilism.

Tomas photographs.

Salla carries the evidence.

Helena publishes names.

Antti reopens cases.

Mira and Elias survive with consequences.

The dead are identified.

The forgotten become people again.

The final victory isn't killing a monster.

It is restoring names to people who were deliberately reduced to numbers.

That is why the recurring question of counting matters.

Sixty.

Sixty-one.

Sixty-two.

Numbers are useful when somebody wants to erase a person.

Names are harder.

So when Antti is told there may be forty-seven victims and answers:

“Stop estimating. Start naming them.”

That is what the entire movie has been moving toward.

For the director

Trust silence.

Trust faces.

Trust geography.

Trust the audience to notice something before a character explains it.

Don't rush to show Number 61.

Don't make the town obviously evil.

Don't make the Below simply monstrous.

Don't make Jarmo superhuman.

And don't let the mythology become more important than the people caught inside it.

The audience should enter BLACK AUTUMN expecting to discover what happened in Kaamosvaara.

By the end, they should understand something worse:

Everybody already knew.

BLACK AUTUMN

A Note to the Reader 2/2

Before entering Kaamosvaara, it is useful to understand what kind of horror film BLACK AUTUMN wants to be.

This is isolated-road horror.

It is corrupted-community horror.

It is a pursuit film that gradually becomes a conspiracy film.

And although the story takes place in contemporary Finnish Lapland, its cinematic soul belongs to the rougher, colder horror tradition of the 1960s and 1970s.

The key reference points are Psycho, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre — not as stories to reproduce, but as examples of a particular kind of fear.

In these films, the nightmare begins when ordinary travel goes wrong.

A road takes you somewhere you should not be.

A place that initially promises shelter becomes dangerous.

The people who should represent civilization become part of the threat.

And once the characters understand what is happening, geography itself seems determined to prevent them from leaving.

That is the territory of BLACK AUTUMN.

The road into the nightmare

The first movement owes something to the fundamental unease of Psycho: the traveler, the road, the isolated accommodation, the proprietor whose politeness becomes increasingly difficult to trust, and the disturbing possibility that the building itself has been designed to watch you.

The Polar Night Motor Lodge should therefore never immediately announce itself as a horror location.

It should look like somewhere you might genuinely stop after ten hours on a winter road.

Warm office.

Cheap rooms.

Old furniture.

A tired sign glowing in the darkness.

Safety.

Only gradually do we discover the cameras, peepholes, hidden corridors and underground access.

The motel has two identities.

The one presented to travelers.

And the one hidden inside the walls.

The corrupted community

From The Hills Have Eyes comes a different source of terror: leaving the recognized world and discovering a parallel community that has developed its own rules for survival.

But BLACK AUTUMN deliberately complicates that idea.

There are people living beneath Kaamosvaara, but the people underground are not the whole answer.

The greater horror is above them.

The mechanic.

The bartender.

The motel owner.

The neighbor looking through the curtain.

The person who knows your car won't start and has already decided not to help.

The town has not been conquered by monsters.

The town has incorporated horror into its normal civic life.

That is the progression the audience should experience:

Something is wrong with this motel.

Then:

Something is wrong with this town.

Then:

The town knows exactly what is wrong.

And finally:

The town is how it continues.

The pursuit

From The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes the desired physical quality of the second half.

Once the trap closes, BLACK AUTUMN should become exhausting.

Running.

Falling.

Doors that won't open.

Engines that won't start.

Flashlights moving through trees.

Metal against stone.

Breath in freezing air.

A person getting up when we desperately hoped they wouldn't.

The audience should begin to feel that escape is not simply difficult but geographically impossible.

Every route seems to return to the motel, the mine, the forest or the town.

That pursuit should not feel elegant.

It should feel dirty, confused and desperate.

People shouldn't fight like action heroes. They should grab whatever is available. A fire extinguisher. A tire iron. A laundry basket. An ore cart. A broken piece of timber.

Survival is improvised.

Number 61

Number 61 belongs to the same tradition of frightening figures whose power comes partly from their simplicity.

A mining coat.

A crude mask.

A brass number.

A tool.

A silhouette.

We should resist embellishing him.

The less designed he appears, the more disturbing he becomes.

And then BLACK AUTUMN makes its most important turn:

we take the mask off.

There is no supernatural revelation underneath.

There is Jarmo Vuorela.

An ordinary man performing a role that existed before him.

That is where the film separates itself from the mythology it initially appears to promise.

The monster isn't immortal.

The job is.

The 1970s feeling

BLACK AUTUMN should have the texture of 1970s horror without pretending to have been made in 1974.

That means restraint rather than nostalgia.

Natural locations.

Practical environments.

Available-looking light.

Faces allowed to remain imperfect.

Darkness that is genuinely dark.

Violence that is sudden rather than choreographed.

Long stretches where nothing explains to us how frightened we should be.

The camera should sometimes feel as though it has arrived at something terrible rather than arranged it.

The world needs dirt under its fingernails.

Rooms should look inhabited.

Cars should look driven.

Winter clothing should look worn rather than styled.

The mine should feel industrial, dangerous and indifferent.

And when violence happens, it should leave the film changed afterward.

No reset.

No clean slate.

No invulnerable protagonists.

The aftermath matters

This is also where the documentary quality becomes important.

BLACK AUTUMN should not simply end when the killer falls.

The final movement changes perspective.

Police arrive.

Evidence is catalogued.

Rooms are photographed.

Mine records are recovered.

Suitcases are opened.

Families wait for identification.

Victims who existed only as props in a horror story become people with names.

The film begins with archival material and eventually creates its own archive.

Photographs.

Video.

Police evidence.

Newspapers.

Recovered documents.

Names scratched into rock.

That documentary texture gives the aftermath weight.

We don't simply ask:

Who survived?

We ask:

What happens when the story finally escapes the place that was hiding it?

That distinction is crucial.

The cinematic progression

The movie should almost feel as though it changes horror subgenres while remaining one continuous nightmare.

It begins as a road movie.

Becomes motel horror.

Expands into small-town paranoia.

Descends into underground survival horror.

Explodes into an extended pursuit film.

Then transforms into an investigation and reckoning.

Each stage reveals that the previous stage was only the visible part of something larger.

The motel leads to the town.

The town leads to the mine.

The mine leads to 1978.

And 1978 leads back to ordinary human decisions.

Most importantly

The influence of Psycho, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre should be felt in the audience's nervous system, not copied on the page.

The lonely accommodation.

The wrong road.

The hostile landscape.

The corrupted family or community.

The relentless pursuer.

The physical ugliness of survival.

The feeling that something this horrible might have happened somewhere without anyone outside noticing.

Those are the traditions BLACK AUTUMN is working within.

But Kaamosvaara gives them a different destination.

Because ultimately this is not a movie about discovering that monsters live beyond civilization.

It is about discovering that civilization itself can learn to accommodate monstrous things.

The road does not take our characters outside society.

It takes them to a place where society has gone wrong.

And that is the tone to carry through the entire production:

Cold.

Physical.

Unpolished.

Relentless.

Human.

The film should leave the audience with the exhausted feeling of having escaped somewhere real — followed by the much less comfortable realization that the people who created that place were real, ordinary people too.

BLACK AUTUMN

Genre: Folk Horror / Slasher / Survival Thriller / Mystery
Setting: Finnish Lapland, late October
Running time: Approximately 115 minutes
Tone: Bleak, wintry, atmospheric, violent, suspenseful, occasionally darkly humorous
Tagline: Some towns bury their dead. Kaamosvaara feeds them.

PROLOGUE — 1978

Black screen.

Wind.

Then the distant metallic sound of something striking stone.

CLANG.

CLANG.

CLANG.

An old 16mm newsreel flickers into existence.

We see KAAMOSVAARA, an isolated mining town in Finnish Lapland.

Population: 1,814.

Men pose outside the KAAMOSVAARA NICKEL WORKS. Children wave Finnish flags. Women stand outside a grocery store. A brass band marches through snow.

The narrator proudly describes a prosperous northern community.

Then the images change.

A mine collapse.

Ambulances.

Families waiting behind barriers.

The official death toll is twenty-seven.

But handwritten words appear across a newspaper clipping:

THEY LIED.

Another clipping:

ELEVEN MINERS STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR.

Another:

SEARCH ABANDONED AFTER THREE WEEKS.

A final photograph shows the entrance to Shaft 6.

Someone has written beneath it:

THEY NEVER CAME OUT.

CUT TO:

October 31, 1986.

A young couple drives through Kaamosvaara at night.

Their car breaks down.

The man walks toward an apparently abandoned service station.

A huge figure watches him from behind a snow fence.

The figure wears an old mining coat and a crude mask made from blackened reindeer leather.

Around his neck hangs a miner's brass identification tag.

Number:

61.

The young man hears metal scraping behind him.

He turns.

CUT TO BLACK.

A scream.

Local newspapers later call the unidentified murderer:

THE SIXTY-FIRST MAN.

No arrest is ever made.

And Kaamosvaara begins disappearing from maps.

---

ACT I — THE ROAD INTO KAAMOSVAARA

Present day.

It is October 28.

Four travelers are driving north through Lapland in an aging Volvo estate.

They aren't tourists so much as people temporarily escaping their lives.

ELIAS KORHONEN, 31, cynical, funny and restless, recently fired from a construction company.

MIRA SAARI, 29, his former girlfriend, intelligent and practical, travelling with Elias because their complicated relationship isn't quite finished.

TOMAS VARGA, 34, a Hungarian-Finnish photographer obsessed with abandoned places.

And SALLA NIEMI, 25, impulsive, warmhearted and perpetually recording things with a battered camcorder.

They are headed toward Norway.

Snow begins falling.

Their GPS loses signal.

A road closure forces them onto an old highway.

Then they see the sign:

KAAMOSVAARA — 12 KM

Someone has painted underneath:

TURN BACK BEFORE DARK.

Elias laughs.

They continue.

Kaamosvaara appears from the fog like a town that forgot to die.

Empty houses.

A shuttered school.

An abandoned cinema advertising a movie from 1998.

Halloween decorations hang strangely throughout the town—cheap plastic pumpkins, ghosts made from bedsheets, handmade witches.

Yet there are almost no children.

People stop what they are doing to watch the Volvo pass.

Nobody waves.

Salla films them.

One elderly woman immediately covers her face.

At the edge of town stands their only apparent accommodation:

THE POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE

Twelve rooms arranged around a cracked parking courtyard.

A flickering neon sign.

An office attached to a large wooden house.

Behind everything: forest.

Beyond the forest: mountains.

The motel's proprietor is OSKARI VUORELA, 58.

Soft-spoken.

Painfully polite.

Something about him is wrong.

He knows their names before Elias tells him.

Oskari explains it away.

Their license plate.

He asks where they're going.

When they're expected there.

Whether anyone knows they stopped in Kaamosvaara.

Mira notices the questions.

Elias doesn't.

Oskari gives them Rooms 6 and 7.

He tells them dinner is available at the town's only pub.

Then, almost casually:

"Don't walk behind the motel after midnight."

Why?

"Old mine ventilation shafts."

That night, the four visit THE LANTERN, Kaamosvaara's pub.

Everyone inside falls silent.

The travelers discover that October 31 is the anniversary of the Shaft 6 disaster.

Locals call it:

BLACK AUTUMN.

A drunken former miner named PENTTI tells Tomas about the Sixty-First Man.

Sixty miners supposedly entered Shaft 6 on the morning of the disaster.

But Pentti insists there were sixty-one.

The company erased the final man's identity.

According to the legend, Number 61 survived underground by eating the dead.

When rescuers finally approached him, the mining company ordered the tunnel sealed because they feared what he would tell investigators.

Pentti whispers:

"They buried a living man."

The bartender violently orders Pentti to stop talking.

Later, Pentti disappears.

Back at the motel, Tomas notices something.

A red light.

Behind the ventilation grille.

A camera.

They search the room.

There are cameras everywhere.

Inside the bathroom.

Behind the television.

Above the beds.

Someone is watching them.

Across the courtyard, Oskari sits in a hidden surveillance room containing monitors for every motel room.

Beside him stands AINO VUORELA, 83, his mother.

She watches the travelers silently.

Then asks:

"Which one first?"

Oskari doesn't answer.

In the forest behind the motel, something enormous moves between the trees.

A brass tag swings against its chest.

---

THE FIRST BLOOD

Tomas sneaks outside to photograph the motel.

He discovers a locked shed.

Inside are suitcases.

Dozens of them.

Some twenty years old.

Some almost new.

Foreign passports.

Wallets.

Phones.

License plates.

Children's toys.

Tomas realizes these aren't abandoned belongings.

They're trophies.

He hears breathing behind him.

The Sixty-First Man attacks.

Tomas runs.

The killer never runs.

He simply follows.

Tomas reaches the motel courtyard and sees Oskari standing outside.

"Help me!"

Oskari looks directly at him.

Then turns off the motel lights.

Darkness.

Tomas understands.

The motel owner is part of it.

The killer drags Tomas behind the building.

His camera remains in the snow.

The next morning Oskari claims Tomas checked out early.

Nobody believes him.

Mira finds Tomas's camera.

The final photograph shows the killer.

And behind him—

Oskari.

Watching.

The travelers attempt to leave.

Their Volvo won't start.

The fuel line has been cut.

Elias confronts Oskari.

The confrontation attracts townspeople.

Instead of helping, they quietly surround the motel.

Shopkeeper.

Mechanic.

Bartender.

Postal worker.

Nurse.

Retired teacher.

Every ordinary face they saw yesterday.

Nobody threatens them.

Nobody needs to.

Mira understands.

The entire town knows.

Aino appears on the motel balcony.

"Visitors should not accuse their hosts."

Salla secretly films everything.

Elias pulls Mira and Salla inside.

They barricade Room 7.

Then every telephone in the motel rings simultaneously.

Elias answers.

A man's breathing.

Then:

"Run."

The motel lights die.

ACT I ENDS.

---

ACT II — THE HUNT

The Sixty-First Man enters the motel.

He carries tools rather than conventional weapons—implements inherited from the mine.

Hammer.

Chain.

Rock pick.

Bolt cutter.

His mask is stitched from several pieces of leather, blackened by decades of coal dust and grease.

He isn't supernatural.

That makes him worse.

The travelers crawl through a maintenance passage connecting the motel rooms.

They discover that the motel was deliberately built around these passages.

The rooms are hunting cages.

Hidden doors allow attackers to enter without being seen.

Room numbers correspond to old mine shafts.

Salla whispers:

"This isn't a motel."

Mira answers:

"It's a trap."

They reach the office.

Inside they find a ledger.

Thousands of names.

Dates.

License plates.

Nationalities.

Beside certain names:

DELIVERED.

They hear screaming from underneath the floor.

There is a tunnel beneath the motel.

They descend.

The tunnel joins an old mining railway.

They find Tomas.

Alive.

Badly injured, but alive.

He has seen what exists below.

"Families."

"What families?"

Tomas can barely speak.

"The ones who never left."

---

THE PEOPLE BELOW

The abandoned mine isn't empty.

Several isolated families live inside forgotten maintenance chambers.

Descendants of miners, fugitives and displaced residents who remained after the mine closure.

Decades of isolation have created a brutal underground society.

They call themselves:

THE BELOW.

The town supplies them with food.

Usually animals.

Sometimes stolen livestock.

But every few years, during Black Autumn, the old arrangement changes.

Outsiders are offered.

The killings aren't random.

They are ritualized population control and collective blackmail.

The Below know secrets about the town.

The town knows secrets about the Below.

Each keeps the other alive.

And Number 61 is their executioner.

Not the original.

The identity has been inherited.

The mask passes from killer to killer.

The current Sixty-First Man is JARMO VUORELA, Oskari's younger brother.

The motel has been supplying victims for decades.

The legend was intentionally cultivated because frightened people don't investigate.

They simply avoid Kaamosvaara.

But occasional travelers still arrive.

And those travelers disappear.

---

ESCAPE THROUGH SHAFT 6

Elias, Mira, Salla and Tomas attempt to escape through the mine.

The Below hunt them through tunnels using bells and whistles.

The sequence becomes a nightmare of darkness.

Flashlights die.

Mine carts roll by themselves.

Voices echo from impossible directions.

Salla becomes separated.

She hides inside an ore cart.

A child from the Below discovers her.

Instead of alerting the others, the child silently points toward an escape tunnel.

Salla realizes not everyone underground accepts this life.

Elsewhere Elias fights Jarmo.

Elias manages to knock the mask away.

For the first time we see Jarmo's face.

Completely ordinary.

Middle-aged.

Tired.

Almost gentle.

That normality horrifies Elias more than the mask.

Jarmo says:

"My father wore it before me."

He picks up the mask.

"And his father before him."

The legend is not one monster.

It is a job.

Elias causes a partial tunnel collapse, buying the group time.

They emerge beside an abandoned church.

They believe they've escaped.

Then church lights switch on.

The townspeople are waiting.

Dozens of them.

Aino stands at the altar.

She explains the truth.

The 1978 mining company covered up dozens of deaths caused by illegal working conditions.

Survivors and families discovered the truth.

Company officials bribed local leaders.

Those leaders murdered witnesses.

The town became built upon shared guilt.

Every generation inherited another piece of the crime.

The Below eventually became useful.

Bodies disappeared easily in abandoned mines.

Soon the original conspiracy became something else.

A system.

Aino tells Mira:

"Your mistake is thinking monsters destroyed this town."

She gestures toward the ordinary townspeople.

"People did."

That is the central revelation of the movie.

The killer is frightening.

The cannibals are frightening.

But Kaamosvaara itself is the monster.

---

THE MOTEL MASSACRE

The captives are returned to the motel.

Tomas dies from his injuries after secretly giving Salla his camera memory card.

Salla hides the card inside her boot.

Elias attacks Oskari and creates an escape opportunity.

Mira and Salla run.

Jarmo catches Elias.

Their final confrontation occurs inside the motel laundry room.

Elias manages to trap Jarmo momentarily inside an industrial dryer cage but refuses to kill him.

That hesitation costs him.

Jarmo escapes.

Elias dies buying the women time.

Mira and Salla reach the Volvo.

The engine unexpectedly starts.

They race toward the highway.

For one glorious moment, they appear to have escaped.

Then headlights appear ahead.

A snowplow blocks the road.

The driver is the town mechanic.

Mira swerves.

The Volvo crashes into the forest.

Salla crawls from the wreckage.

Mira is unconscious.

Footsteps approach.

Salla takes Tomas's memory card.

She runs into the darkness.

Jarmo follows.

CUT TO BLACK.

A camera lies in the snow.

We hear Salla screaming.

Then nothing.

---

ACT III — THREE DAYS LATER

October 31.

Halloween.

A different car arrives in Kaamosvaara.

Inside are two people.

DETECTIVE ANTTI LEHTO, 46, an investigator from Rovaniemi.

And HELENA RANTA, 38, an investigative journalist for a major newspaper.

They dislike each other immediately.

Antti believes Helena interferes with police work.

Helena believes Antti's department ignored disappearances around Kaamosvaara for years.

They have arrived because Salla managed to transmit eleven seconds of video before disappearing.

The video shows:

The motel.

Townspeople.

And a bloody man wearing Number 61.

Antti wants evidence.

Helena wants the truth.

Kaamosvaara gives them neither.

Everyone claims the travelers never arrived.

Oskari's guest ledger is blank.

The rooms have been cleaned.

The Volvo is gone.

Tomas's belongings are gone.

No blood.

Nothing.

Then Helena notices something.

Room 7 has been repainted.

That evening Antti secretly searches the motel.

He finds a bullet lodged behind new plaster.

Helena interviews Pentti's wife.

She learns Pentti has also disappeared.

The pattern becomes undeniable.

Antti radios for backup.

Static.

Someone has damaged their vehicle.

They are trapped.

Again.

But this time Kaamosvaara has chosen the wrong outsiders.

---

THE SECOND HUNT

Antti knows they are being watched.

So he gives the town what it expects.

Fear.

He and Helena pretend to barricade themselves inside Room 7.

They leave lights on.

They place silhouettes behind curtains.

They run the shower.

Then they crawl through the motel's own maintenance tunnels.

The hunters enter the room.

Nobody is there.

Antti and Helena turn the architecture of the motel against its creators.

Doors are jammed.

Power is redirected.

A sprinkler line floods a corridor.

A motel bell becomes an improvised alarm system.

Helena uses camera flashes to disorient pursuers in darkness.

Antti releases a parked car from its jack, blocking the courtyard.

Nothing is superhuman.

Every victory comes from observation.

Every trap has been established earlier in the story.

They make their way into the mines because Helena believes that's where the evidence is hidden.

She is right.

They discover the archive.

Passports.

Photographs.

Clothing.

Bones.

Police reports.

Company documents.

The history of Kaamosvaara stored underground for almost fifty years.

Helena photographs everything.

Antti finds Salla.

Alive.

She has been hiding in a disused ventilation chamber for three days.

She has Tomas's memory card.

Now they have proof.

But Jarmo appears.

---

NUMBER 61

The final chase begins.

Jarmo hunts the three through Shaft 6.

Members of the Below join him.

Antti realizes the old mine has methane warning systems.

Helena finds an abandoned emergency control panel.

Together they activate ventilation fans.

The sudden roar creates confusion.

Dust fills the tunnels.

Visibility disappears.

Helena begins ringing the hunters' own signal bells from different locations.

The Below chase phantom sounds.

Antti uses old mining gates to divide the group.

Salla guides them toward the tunnel she learned about from the underground child.

Jarmo follows alone.

The chase reaches the original 1978 collapse site.

There are names scratched into the wall.

Dozens.

The forgotten dead.

Jarmo corners Antti.

The detective is wounded.

Helena grabs the Number 61 mask and runs.

Jarmo abandons Antti to pursue it.

His identity depends upon the mask.

Helena understands.

She reaches an ore shaft.

Jarmo approaches.

Helena holds the mask over the darkness.

"Without this, you're just Jarmo."

For the first time, he hesitates.

She drops it.

Jarmo lunges.

Antti triggers an ancient ore gate.

Jarmo falls through the collapsing platform.

He catches the edge.

For a moment Antti could save him.

Jarmo looks up.

No mask.

No mythology.

Only a terrified man.

Then the rotten structure breaks.

Jarmo disappears into Shaft 6.

The brass tag strikes the wall as he falls.

CLANG.

CLANG.

CLANG.

Silence.

---

THE TOWN TURNS

But the nightmare isn't finished.

They emerge from the mine.

The entire town is waiting.

Oskari.

Aino.

The bartender.

Mechanic.

Nurse.

Everyone.

Antti is injured.

Salla can barely stand.

Helena has the evidence.

Aino tells them they cannot possibly escape hundreds of kilometers of wilderness.

Then headlights appear behind the townspeople.

One car.

Then another.

Then five.

Then twelve.

Police.

Emergency vehicles.

Journalists.

Helena smiles.

Before entering the mine, she scheduled her photographs and location data to upload automatically if her phone regained even a momentary connection.

It did.

The conspiracy has escaped Kaamosvaara.

For the first time, the townspeople turn on one another.

Someone runs.

Someone confesses.

Someone attacks Oskari.

The collective silence collapses instantly.

Aino remains motionless.

She looks at Helena.

"You think telling people will end it?"

Helena answers:

"No."

She looks toward the mine.

"But now they have to remember it."

---

EPILOGUE

Weeks later.

Newspapers rotate across the screen.

THE KAAMOSVAARA FILES

DECADES OF DISAPPEARANCES INVESTIGATED

MINE REMAINS IDENTIFIED

FORMER OFFICIALS QUESTIONED

SURVIVORS COME FORWARD

Helena's investigation becomes internationally known.

Antti receives neither glory nor promotion.

He returns to ordinary police work.

Salla refuses interviews.

Instead, she gives Tomas's photographs to the families of the missing.

Kaamosvaara is evacuated while investigators search the mines.

The Polar Night Motor Lodge is boarded shut.

Winter arrives.

Deep snow covers everything.

Then:

Six months later.

A demolition crew enters the motel.

A worker removes a wall behind Room 6.

There is a hidden compartment.

Inside:

A miner's coat.

A brass identification tag.

Not 61.

62.

The worker stares at it.

Behind him—

A floorboard creaks.

CUT TO BLACK.

One final metallic sound.

CLANG.

TITLE:

BLACK AUTUMN

Then, beneath it:

Some stories survive because somebody tells them.
Others survive because somebody doesn't.

BLACK AUTUMN

Written as an original feature screenplay

FADE IN:

BLACK

A metallic STRIKE.

CLANG.

Silence.

CLANG.

A third strike.

CLANG.

Then—

GRAINY 16MM FILM

Snow-covered mountains.

A mining complex.

Smiling workers.

Children waving flags.

SUPER:

KAAMOSVAARA, FINNISH LAPLAND — 1978

A cheerful DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR speaks over the footage.

NARRATOR (V.O.)
Here in Kaamosvaara, the future of the Finnish north is being carved directly from the mountain.

Sixty miners pose for a photograph.

FLASH.

The film burns.

Another image replaces it.

Ambulances.

Women crying.

A mine entrance surrounded by emergency workers.

A newspaper rotates into frame.

CATASTROPHE IN KAAMOSVAARA

Another.

27 CONFIRMED DEAD

Someone writes across the clipping in red ink.

LIARS.

Another clipping.

SEARCH TERMINATED

Another handwritten message.

WHERE ARE THE OTHERS?

A photograph of—

SHAFT 6

A black opening in a mountainside.

Handwriting beneath it:

THEY NEVER CAME OUT.

CUT TO BLACK.

---

EXT. NORTHERN HIGHWAY — NIGHT — 1986

Snow sweeps across an empty road.

A Saab sits with its hazard lights blinking.

A YOUNG MAN, 25, opens the hood.

His GIRLFRIEND watches from inside.

GIRLFRIEND
Mikko.

He doesn't hear.

GIRLFRIEND
Mikko.

Something is standing beyond the headlights.

Huge.

Motionless.

A mining coat.

Black leather mask.

A brass tag hanging from its neck.

61.

Mikko turns.

The figure is gone.

MIKKO
What?

The girlfriend locks the doors.

Mikko walks toward her.

Behind him—

The figure steps into the headlights.

The girlfriend SCREAMS.

SMASH CUT TO:

BLACK AUTUMN

---

EXT. LAPLAND HIGHWAY — AFTERNOON — PRESENT DAY

An old VOLVO tears through autumn wilderness.

Inside—

ELIAS drives.

MIRA navigates.

TOMAS photographs everything.

SALLA films everyone with a camcorder.

SALLA
Say something profound.

ELIAS
Petrol is too expensive.

SALLA
More profound.

ELIAS
Everything is too expensive.

Mira looks at the GPS.

MIRA
We're going the wrong way.

ELIAS
We're going north.

MIRA
Norway is northwest.

ELIAS
Eventually everything up here becomes Norway.

MIRA
That's not geography.

Tomas photographs a mountain.

TOMAS
Stop arguing. The light's beautiful.

The GPS freezes.

Then goes black.

ELIAS
Technology has spoken.

They round a bend.

A ROAD CLOSED sign.

Below it, a detour.

Salla notices an older road sign.

KAAMOSVAARA 12

Spray-painted underneath:

TURN BACK BEFORE DARK

Salla zooms in.

SALLA
Well, obviously we're going there.

Mira looks at her.

MIRA
That's how documentaries become evidence.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA — DUSK

The Volvo enters town.

Silence.

A supermarket.

Closed.

School.

Closed.

Cinema.

Closed.

Halloween ghosts sway from telephone poles.

A plastic skeleton hangs from a bus stop.

No children.

A WOMAN sweeping steps stops.

Watches the car.

A mechanic stops working.

Watches.

An elderly man behind curtains.

Watching.

TOMAS
This place is incredible.

MIRA
That's not the word I'd use.

They pass an old billboard.

KAAMOSVAARA — A GOOD PLACE TO COME HOME TO

Someone has scratched away:

COME HOME

Leaving:

A GOOD PLACE TO

---

EXT. POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE — EVENING

A horseshoe-shaped roadside motel.

Flickering neon.

POLAR NIGHT

The word MOTOR LODGE barely illuminates.

Tomas raises his camera.

CLICK.

Behind one motel-room curtain—

Someone moves.

---

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — EVENING

A bell.

Elias rings it.

DING.

Nothing.

Again.

DING.

A voice immediately behind them.

OSKARI (O.S.)
Once is enough.

They turn.

OSKARI VUORELA stands there.

Fifty-eight.

Cardigan.

Gentle smile.

OSKARI
Elias Korhonen?

Elias frowns.

ELIAS
Have we met?

OSKARI
Registration number.

Oskari looks toward the Volvo.

OSKARI
Registered to Elias Korhonen.

Beat.

Perfectly reasonable.

Almost.

OSKARI
Two rooms?

MIRA
How did you know?

OSKARI
Four people usually want two.

He opens an enormous handwritten ledger.

OSKARI
Destination?

ELIAS
Why?

OSKARI
Conversation.

ELIAS
Norway.

OSKARI
Anyone expecting you tonight?

Mira looks at him.

MIRA
Why would that matter?

Oskari smiles.

OSKARI
It doesn't.

He hands over two keys.

6.

7.

OSKARI
One rule.

They wait.

OSKARI
Don't go behind the motel after midnight.

Salla grins.

SALLA
That's a very specific rule.

OSKARI
Specific rules usually have specific reasons.

---

INT. THE LANTERN PUB — NIGHT

A dozen locals.

All conversation stops.

Elias smiles awkwardly.

ELIAS
Good evening.

Nothing.

Then everyone resumes talking.

SALLA
Friendly.

They sit.

At another table, PENTTI, 70s, drunk, watches them.

Eventually he moves closer.

PENTTI
You staying at Vuorela's?

Mira nods.

Pentti laughs.

Nobody else does.

PENTTI
Wrong week.

TOMAS
Why?

Pentti points toward Halloween decorations.

PENTTI
Black Autumn.

The bartender slams down a glass.

BARTENDER
Pentti.

Pentti ignores him.

PENTTI
Sixty went down.

He raises one finger.

PENTTI
Sixty-one came back.

Tomas leans forward.

TOMAS
What does that mean?

Pentti smiles.

Most of his teeth are gone.

PENTTI
Depends who you ask.

The bartender grabs Pentti.

BARTENDER
Go home.

Pentti stares at Tomas as he's dragged away.

PENTTI
Don't let him count you.

---

INT. MOTEL ROOM 7 — NIGHT

Mira brushes her teeth.

Stops.

A tiny RED REFLECTION in the bathroom vent.

She looks closer.

A lens.

MIRA
Elias.

He enters.

She points.

Elias removes the grille.

A camera.

They stare at each other.

---

INT. SECRET SURVEILLANCE ROOM — SAME

Twelve monitors.

Every motel room.

OSKARI watches.

Behind him sits AINO VUORELA.

Eighty-three.

Small.

Severe.

Monitor 7 goes black.

Aino looks at Oskari.

AINO
They found it.

OSKARI
Yes.

AINO
Then start.

---

EXT. MOTEL — NIGHT

Tomas photographs the building.

CLICK.

CLICK.

He notices a shed.

Locked.

He picks the simple latch.

Inside—

Suitcases.

Dozens.

Passports.

Phones.

Shoes.

A pink child's backpack.

Tomas stops breathing.

He raises the camera.

CLICK.

Something moves outside.

Tomas turns.

Empty doorway.

He backs away.

A brass tag swings into view.

61.

Tomas looks up.

THE SIXTY-FIRST MAN fills the doorway.

Tomas runs.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — NIGHT

Tomas bursts from the darkness.

TOMAS
HELP!

Oskari stands in the office doorway.

TOMAS
CALL THE POLICE!

Oskari reaches inside.

CLICK.

Every motel light goes out.

Darkness.

TOMAS
No—

Something grabs him.

His camera falls.

FLASH.

For one frozen instant we see:

Tomas screaming.

The masked killer.

And Oskari calmly watching.

BLACK.

---

INT. MOTEL ROOM 7 — MORNING

Mira examines Tomas's camera.

The final image.

Elias stares.

ELIAS
We're leaving.

---

EXT. MOTEL — MORNING

The Volvo turns over.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

Elias looks underneath.

Cut fuel line.

He rises.

Oskari stands nearby.

ELIAS
Where's Tomas?

OSKARI
Checked out.

ELIAS
Without his camera?

Silence.

People begin appearing.

The mechanic.

Bartender.

Nurse.

Shopkeeper.

Ordinary citizens.

Mira looks around.

MIRA
Elias.

More arrive.

Nobody speaks.

Nobody needs to.

Aino steps onto the balcony.

AINO
Visitors should be careful about accusations.

Salla quietly raises the camcorder.

Records.

Elias pulls both women inside.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — NIGHT

Furniture against the door.

Silence.

Then—

RING.

The telephone.

They stare at it.

RING.

Elias answers.

Breathing.

ELIAS
Who is this?

Breathing.

Then a distorted whisper.

VOICE
Run.

CLICK.

The lights die.

Somewhere outside—

CLANG.

Salla begins crying.

From the corridor:

SCRAPE.

SCRAPE.

SCRAPE.

The doorknob slowly turns.

---

INT. MOTEL WALL PASSAGE — NIGHT

The three crawl through darkness.

Salla shines a light downward.

Old peepholes look into every room.

SALLA
Jesus.

Mira sees doors built into the walls.

MIRA
This place was designed this way.

ELIAS
Designed for what?

Mira looks through a peephole.

Inside Room 4, the killer searches.

MIRA
Us.

---

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — LATER

They discover the ledger.

Mira turns pages.

Names.

Dates.

Cars.

Beside dozens:

DELIVERED

Salla goes pale.

SALLA
Delivered where?

A scream comes from beneath them.

They look down.

---

INT. UNDERGROUND TUNNEL — NIGHT

They descend.

Find TOMAS chained beside an abandoned rail line.

Alive.

SALLA
Tomas!

They free him.

TOMAS
We have to go.

ELIAS
Who did this?

Tomas looks into the tunnel.

TOMAS
Families.

MIRA
What?

TOMAS
There are people down here.

A bell rings somewhere in the mine.

Another answers.

Then another.

Tomas whispers:

TOMAS
They know we're here.

---

INT. ABANDONED MINE — NIGHT

The hunt begins.

Lanterns appear far behind them.

Figures move through tunnels.

Bare feet.

Old mining helmets.

Animal skins.

Improvised masks.

Elias supports Tomas.

Salla becomes separated.

She crawls into an ore cart.

A CHILD finds her.

Salla covers her mouth.

The child stares.

Then points left.

An escape.

Salla hesitates.

The child whispers:

CHILD
Go.

---

INT. SHAFT 6 — NIGHT

Elias fights the Sixty-First Man.

The mask comes off.

JARMO VUORELA.

Middle-aged.

Ordinary.

Elias stares.

ELIAS
You're him?

Jarmo looks at the mask.

JARMO
My father was.

He retrieves it.

JARMO
Before him, my grandfather.

Jarmo puts it back on.

JARMO
Now me.

Elias understands.

The monster isn't immortal.

The position is.

---

INT. ABANDONED CHURCH — PRE-DAWN

The survivors stumble inside.

Lights switch on.

The pews are filled.

The entire town.

Aino waits at the altar.

AINO
There was never a curse.

Mira stares at her.

AINO
Curses are stories people tell because the truth embarrasses them.

She gestures toward everyone.

AINO
The company killed men. Officials hid it. Witnesses disappeared. Then people who knew about the disappearing had to disappear too.

Mira looks around.

MIRA
And everyone agreed?

AINO
No.

Beat.

AINO
That's the clever part.

She smiles faintly.

AINO
Everyone agreed to something small.

A driver looked away.

A policeman lost a report.

A doctor changed a date.

A motel owner forgot a guest.

AINO
Nobody had to agree to everything.

Mira realizes the true horror.

AINO
That's how a town becomes guilty.

---

INT. MOTEL LAUNDRY — NIGHT

Chaos.

Elias shoves Mira through a doorway.

ELIAS
GO!

Jarmo approaches.

Elias grabs a metal pole.

MIRA
Elias!

ELIAS
GO!

Mira runs.

Elias turns.

Jarmo enters.

Elias smiles despite himself.

ELIAS
Sixty-one?

Jarmo tilts his head.

ELIAS
Let's see if you can count to sixty-two.

He attacks.

CUT AWAY before the outcome.

---

EXT. FOREST ROAD — NIGHT

Mira and Salla escape in the Volvo.

Salla laughs hysterically.

Then—

A SNOWPLOW blocks the road.

MIRA
Hold on!

She swerves.

CRASH.

---

EXT. FOREST — CONTINUOUS

Salla crawls from the wreck.

Mira is unconscious.

Salla takes Tomas's memory card.

Runs.

Behind her:

CLANG.

She looks back.

The Sixty-First Man enters the forest.

Salla runs harder.

CUT TO BLACK.

---

ACT III

SUPER:

OCTOBER 31

A police vehicle enters Kaamosvaara.

Detective ANTTI LEHTO drives.

HELENA RANTA sits beside him.

HELENA
You don't believe me.

ANTTI
I believe eleven seconds of video.

HELENA
Eleven seconds showing an armed man covered in blood.

ANTTI
Which is why I'm here.

HELENA
And the missing people?

ANTTI
Which is why you're here.

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
You don't like journalists.

ANTTI
I like newspapers.

HELENA
That's almost charming.

ANTTI
Don't tell anyone.

They enter Kaamosvaara.

Every face turns toward them.

---

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — DAY

Oskari smiles.

OSKARI
No.

ANTTI
No?

OSKARI
They were never here.

Antti puts photographs of Elias, Mira, Tomas and Salla on the counter.

ANTTI
You've never seen them?

OSKARI
Never.

Helena looks at the wall.

Fresh paint.

Room 7.

She scratches it with a fingernail.

Still soft.

She and Antti exchange a glance.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — NIGHT

Antti removes a piece of plaster.

Something drops.

A flattened bullet.

Helena stares.

HELENA
Eleven seconds.

Antti holds the bullet.

ANTTI
Now twelve.

---

EXT. POLICE VEHICLE — NIGHT

Antti opens the hood.

Wires cut.

He looks toward town.

Windows illuminate one by one.

Watching.

Helena joins him.

HELENA
We're not leaving, are we?

ANTTI
No.

HELENA
Police coming?

ANTTI
Radio's dead.

She thinks.

HELENA
So what do we do?

Antti looks at the motel.

ANTTI
We let them think we're stupid.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — LATER

Two silhouettes appear behind the curtains.

Shower running.

Television playing.

Outside, figures approach.

Jarmo unlocks the door.

Enters.

The bed is empty.

The silhouettes are coats hanging from lamps.

Jarmo turns.

DING.

A motel reception bell rings somewhere inside the walls.

---

INT. WALL PASSAGE

Antti and Helena crawl.

HELENA
They built tunnels.

ANTTI
No.

He studies the timber.

ANTTI
They renovated around them.

He finds an old mining-company stamp.

ANTTI
These passages are older than the motel.

Helena photographs it.

---

INT. MINE ARCHIVE — NIGHT

Their flashlights reveal shelves.

Hundreds of possessions.

Helena stops.

Her professional composure disappears.

HELENA
Oh my God.

Antti finds boxes of police documents.

Missing-person reports.

Marked:

CLOSED

TRANSFERRED

NO ACTION

Helena photographs everything.

A faint sound.

SALLA (O.S.)
Don't.

They spin.

Salla stands behind them.

Filthy.

Emaciated.

Alive.

Helena lowers the camera.

HELENA
Salla?

Salla begins crying.

She removes something from her boot.

A memory card.

SALLA
He photographed everything.

A bell rings.

Salla's face changes.

Pure terror.

SALLA
He's coming.

---

INT. MINE — NIGHT

Jarmo hunts them.

Members of the Below emerge behind him.

Antti spots an old control board.

ANTTI
Ventilation.

Helena understands.

She throws the switch.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

Salla sees a breaker.

Pulls it.

THE MINE ERUPTS.

Industrial fans roar awake.

Dust explodes through the tunnels.

Visibility vanishes.

Helena grabs signal bells.

RINGS one.

Runs.

RINGS another.

The Below pursue the false signals.

Antti drops mining gates between corridors.

SLAM.

SLAM.

SLAM.

For the first time, the hunters are confused.

The prey understands the maze.

---

INT. SHAFT 6 — NIGHT

Helena, Antti and Salla reach the original collapse.

Names cover the wall.

Antti shines his light across them.

Not twenty-seven.

Not sixty.

Many more.

HELENA
This is the story.

Antti looks at her.

ANTTI
No.

He looks at the names.

ANTTI
These are people.

Behind them:

CLANG.

Jarmo.

Helena grabs his mask during the struggle.

Runs.

Jarmo immediately follows her.

---

INT. ORE PLATFORM — NIGHT

A bottomless shaft.

Helena stands at the edge.

Holding the Number 61 mask.

Jarmo approaches.

Without the mask, he looks almost pathetic.

JARMO
Give it back.

Helena looks at it.

Then him.

HELENA
That's what all of this is?

She holds it over the shaft.

HELENA
A number?

Jarmo steps closer.

JARMO
Give it back.

HELENA
Without this—

She looks directly at him.

HELENA
You're just Jarmo.

She drops the mask.

Jarmo lunges.

The platform collapses.

He catches the edge.

Antti arrives.

Jarmo looks up at him.

Terrified.

Human.

Then—

CRACK.

The timber breaks.

Jarmo falls.

His brass tag strikes metal.

CLANG.

Lower.

CLANG.

Lower.

CLANG.

Silence.

---

EXT. MINE ENTRANCE — PRE-DAWN

Antti, Helena and Salla emerge.

The townspeople wait.

Aino steps forward.

AINO
Where will you go?

No answer.

AINO
Look around.

Hundreds of kilometers.

Snow.

Forest.

Nothing.

AINO
You won't make it twenty.

Headlights appear behind her.

Everyone turns.

One vehicle.

Then another.

Police.

More headlights.

Ambulances.

News vans.

Aino's confidence disappears.

Helena takes out her phone.

HELENA
Scheduled upload.

She looks toward the motel.

HELENA
Your Wi-Fi came back for forty-three seconds.

The first police vehicles stop.

Doors open.

Officers pour out.

The townspeople begin shouting.

One runs.

Another points at Oskari.

MAN
It was him!

OSKARI
Shut up!

WOMAN
The Vuorelas started it!

AINO
QUIET!

Nobody listens.

Decades of silence collapse in seconds.

Aino looks at Helena.

AINO
You think telling people changes anything?

Helena considers that.

HELENA
Not everything.

She looks toward Shaft 6.

HELENA
But silence doesn't belong to you anymore.

---

MONTAGE — WEEKS LATER

Newspapers.

Television.

Police excavation teams.

Forensic tents.

Families arriving in Kaamosvaara.

The Polar Night Motor Lodge behind police tape.

Headlines:

THE KAAMOSVAARA FILES

MASS DISAPPEARANCE INVESTIGATION EXPANDS

HUMAN REMAINS RECOVERED FROM ABANDONED MINE

FORMER OFFICIALS QUESTIONED

---

INT. NEWSPAPER OFFICE — NIGHT

Helena sits before her computer.

Her article is finished.

Headline:

THE TOWN THAT FED THE MINE

Her cursor hovers over SEND.

She stops.

Changes the headline.

THE PEOPLE KAAMOSVAARA TRIED TO ERASE

She presses SEND.

---

EXT. CEMETERY — DAY

Salla stands alone.

She places Tomas's camera on a grave.

Then changes her mind.

Takes it back.

She photographs the mountains.

CLICK.

For once, the image is beautiful.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA — WINTER

The town is empty.

Snow buries the road.

Police tape flaps outside the motel.

The neon sign is dead.

---

INT. POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE — DAY

SUPER:

SIX MONTHS LATER

A demolition crew tears apart Room 6.

A WORKER removes old paneling.

Behind it:

A hidden compartment.

Inside lies a mining coat.

He pulls it out.

Something drops.

TING.

A brass identification tag.

The worker picks it up.

Not 61.

62.

He frowns.

Behind him—

CREAK.

The worker turns.

Nothing.

He laughs nervously.

Then a voice from somewhere inside the walls:

VOICE (O.S.)
You found it.

The worker freezes.

CUT TO BLACK.

A metallic strike.

CLANG.

Silence.

Then another.

CLANG.

BLACK AUTUMN

FADE OUT.

THE END

BLACK AUTUMN

An Original Feature Screenplay

Genre: Horror / Mystery / Survival Thriller
Setting: Finnish Lapland
Time: Late October, Present Day

---

FADE IN:

BLACK

Nothing.

Then—

CLANG.

Metal striking stone.

A long silence.

CLANG.

Closer.

Another silence.

CLANG.

Then the mechanical CHATTER of an old film projector.

Light burns through darkness.

---

ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE — 16MM — 1978

Snow-covered mountains beneath a pale northern sky.

An industrial complex rises from the wilderness.

Headframes.

Ore conveyors.

Smoke.

Trucks.

Rows of identical houses.

SUPER:

KAAMOSVAARA, FINNISH LAPLAND

A relentlessly cheerful DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR speaks over images of miners arriving for work.

NARRATOR (V.O.)
Two hundred kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, a new community is growing.

Men in helmets smile at the camera.

NARRATOR (V.O.)
Kaamosvaara represents a modern Finnish success story. Here, beneath some of Europe's oldest mountains, nearly eight hundred workers—

The film JUMPS.

A few frames missing.

Continues.

Children leave a school.

Women shop.

A brass band marches down the main street.

A sign reads:

KAAMOSVAARA — BUILDING TOMORROW TOGETHER

The image changes.

A group of MINERS stands outside an elevator cage.

Someone holds up a slate:

SHAFT 6 — MORNING CREW

The narrator continues.

NARRATOR (V.O.)
For these families, the north is no longer the edge of civilization.

The camera pans across the miners.

Young men.

Old men.

Fathers.

Brothers.

One miner near the back turns away before the camera reaches him.

FREEZE FRAME.

Film scratches cover his face.

Then—

WHITE.

The film burns.

---

BLACK

A different voice.

A NEWS REPORTER.

REPORTER (V.O.)
Rescue operations continue tonight following what officials describe as the worst industrial accident in the region's history.

---

ARCHIVAL NEWS FOOTAGE — NIGHT

Ambulances outside the mine.

Floodlights.

Snow.

Women gathered behind barriers.

A child asleep against his mother's shoulder.

REPORTER (V.O.)
An underground explosion occurred shortly after eleven this morning in the western section of the Kaamosvaara nickel mine.

A stretcher is carried past.

Covered.

REPORTER (V.O.)
Twenty-seven deaths have so far been confirmed.

CUT TO:

A newspaper.

KAAMOSVAARA MINE DISASTER — 27 DEAD

Another clipping.

RESCUE CREWS SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS

Another.

COMPANY DENIES SAFETY FAILURES

A hand writes across it in RED INK:

LIARS

Another newspaper.

SEARCH TERMINATED

Another handwritten message:

WHERE ARE THE OTHERS?

A photograph of a mine entrance.

A sign above it:

SHAFT 6

Underneath, somebody has written:

THEY NEVER CAME OUT.

The projector slows.

The image trembles.

Stops.

Darkness.

Then—

A SCREAM.

---

EXT. OLD NORTHERN HIGHWAY — NIGHT — OCTOBER 31, 1986

Heavy snow.

A lonely SAAB sits on the roadside with hazard lights blinking.

No other vehicles.

No buildings.

No moon.

MIKKO LAINE, 25, struggles with the hood.

His girlfriend, ANNA, 23, sits inside.

Mikko bangs something with a wrench.

MIKKO
Come on.

Nothing.

MIKKO
Come on, you bastard.

Anna looks through the windshield.

Beyond Mikko—

Something stands among the trees.

She leans forward.

The windshield wipers sweep.

The figure is gone.

ANNA
Mikko?

He doesn't hear.

ANNA
Mikko!

Mikko looks up.

MIKKO
What?

Anna lowers the window slightly.

ANNA
Someone's there.

Mikko looks around.

Nothing.

MIKKO
Where?

ANNA
By the trees.

MIKKO
Probably a reindeer.

ANNA
It wasn't a reindeer.

Mikko closes the hood.

He looks down the road.

Far away—

A LIGHT.

MIKKO
There's something down there.

ANNA
Don't go.

MIKKO
I'll see if there's a phone.

ANNA
Mikko.

He leans through the window.

Kisses her.

MIKKO
Lock the door.

He takes the flashlight.

Walks.

Anna immediately locks it.

CLICK.

She watches him disappear into the snow.

---

EXT. ABANDONED SERVICE STATION — NIGHT

Mikko approaches.

The light comes from a single bulb above an old petrol station.

The place appears deserted.

A handwritten sign:

CLOSED

Mikko tries the door.

Locked.

MIKKO
Hello?

Nothing.

He circles the building.

MIKKO
Anybody here?

Behind him—

A faint metallic sound.

CLANG.

Mikko turns.

Nothing.

MIKKO
Hello?

Another.

CLANG.

Closer.

Mikko raises the flashlight.

The beam sweeps across—

Fuel pumps.

Snow.

Trees.

An abandoned truck.

Then—

A MAN.

Mikko jumps.

The man stands twenty meters away.

Large.

Old mining coat.

Heavy boots.

A crude blackened leather mask.

Something metallic hangs around his neck.

Mikko points the flashlight.

The brass tag reads:

61

MIKKO
Can you help me?

The figure doesn't move.

MIKKO
Our car broke down.

Nothing.

MIKKO
Do you have a telephone?

The masked figure tilts his head.

Mikko begins backing away.

MIKKO
Never mind.

The station light goes out.

Darkness.

Mikko runs.

---

INT. SAAB — NIGHT

Anna hears something.

Footsteps.

She looks through the rear window.

Nothing.

Then Mikko appears in the headlights.

Running.

ANNA
Mikko!

She unlocks the door.

Mikko reaches the car.

Grabs the handle.

A MINING PICK swings out of darkness.

SMASH—

The windshield explodes.

Anna SCREAMS.

CUT TO:

---

NEWSPAPER HEADLINE

COUPLE DISAPPEARS NEAR KAAMOSVAARA

Another.

POLICE FIND ABANDONED VEHICLE

Another.

LOCAL LEGEND BLAMED FOR DISAPPEARANCES

Then:

THE SIXTY-FIRST MAN

CUT TO BLACK.

TITLE:

BLACK AUTUMN

A beat.

Then—

The cheerful opening chords of an old Finnish pop song.

---

ACT ONE

EXT. HIGHWAY E75 — AFTERNOON — PRESENT DAY

A battered dark-blue VOLVO ESTATE travels north.

Endless wilderness surrounds it.

Yellow birches.

Black spruce.

Low mountains dusted with the season's first snow.

Inside—

---

INT. VOLVO — MOVING — AFTERNOON

ELIAS KORHONEN, 31, drives.

Unshaven.

Restless.

Good-looking in the manner of someone who has stopped caring whether he's good-looking.

MIRA SAARI, 29, sits beside him.

Smart.

Controlled.

Trying very hard not to react to Elias.

In the back—

TOMAS VARGA, 34, photographs the landscape.

Beside him—

SALLA NIEMI, 25, films everybody with an old MiniDV camcorder.

She points it at Elias.

SALLA
Elias Korhonen.

No response.

SALLA
Thirty-one years old.

ELIAS
Thirty.

Mira looks over.

MIRA
You're thirty-one.

ELIAS
Traitor.

SALLA
Occupation?

ELIAS
Driver.

MIRA
Unemployed.

ELIAS
Temporary driver.

SALLA
Recently unemployed construction worker.

ELIAS
Documentaries are supposed to be objective.

SALLA
Reason for unemployment?

ELIAS
Capitalism.

MIRA
He called his supervisor an incompetent alcoholic.

ELIAS
He was an incompetent alcoholic.

MIRA
At the Christmas party.

ELIAS
He was still incompetent at Christmas.

Tomas lowers his camera.

TOMAS
Can we stop somewhere?

ELIAS
Why?

TOMAS
Because we're driving through one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

ELIAS
That's why the car has windows.

Tomas photographs Elias.

CLICK.

ELIAS
Delete that.

CLICK.

ELIAS
Tomas.

CLICK.

Mira almost smiles.

Elias catches it.

Their eyes meet.

The smile disappears.

Salla notices.

The camera moves between them.

SALLA
And here we observe two emotionally mature adults—

Mira grabs the lens.

MIRA
Turn that thing off.

---

EXT. ROADSIDE REST AREA — LATER

The Volvo is parked beside a frozen lake.

Tomas photographs the landscape.

Salla eats crisps.

Mira checks her phone.

NO SIGNAL.

Elias approaches with two coffees.

Offers one.

Mira accepts.

MIRA
Thanks.

Silence.

ELIAS
You could still go back.

MIRA
We're eight hundred kilometers from Helsinki.

ELIAS
Exactly. Long walk.

She looks at him.

MIRA
You know what I mean.

ELIAS
I don't anymore.

Mira looks toward Tomas and Salla.

MIRA
This wasn't supposed to be awkward.

ELIAS
You invited me.

MIRA
Salla invited you.

ELIAS
You didn't object.

MIRA
I didn't realize you'd say yes.

ELIAS
That's flattering.

She drinks.

MIRA
How long are you going to do this?

ELIAS
Do what?

MIRA
Pretend nothing matters before anyone can accuse you of caring.

Elias watches the lake.

ELIAS
Norway matters.

MIRA
Why?

ELIAS
Never been.

MIRA
Excellent emotional growth.

She walks away.

Elias watches her.

The joking expression leaves his face.

---

EXT. HIGHWAY — LATE AFTERNOON

The Volvo continues north.

Clouds gather.

Snow begins.

---

INT. VOLVO — MOVING

Tomas studies a paper map.

TOMAS
There's an abandoned mine around here.

SALLA
Of course you know that.

TOMAS
Kaamosvaara.

Mira turns.

MIRA
Never heard of it.

TOMAS
Mining town. Seventies. Mostly abandoned now.

ELIAS
Perfect. We can buy abandoned petrol.

The GPS flickers.

Freezes.

MIRA
Wait.

Ahead—

Barriers.

---

EXT. HIGHWAY JUNCTION — LATE AFTERNOON

ROAD CLOSED.

A sign indicates a long detour.

Elias studies the map.

ELIAS
That's two hours.

MIRA
Then it's two hours.

Tomas points.

TOMAS
Not necessarily.

An older road branches north.

Faded sign:

KAAMOSVAARA 12

Beneath it, spray-painted:

TURN BACK BEFORE DARK

Salla immediately films it.

SALLA
Please tell me we're taking that road.

MIRA
We're absolutely not taking that road.

Elias looks at her.

Then the sign.

Then Salla.

CUT TO:

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA ROAD — TEN MINUTES LATER

The Volvo travels down the forbidden road.

---

INT. VOLVO

Mira glares at Elias.

ELIAS
It was democratically decided.

MIRA
Two idiots aren't a democracy.

SALLA
Tomas voted yes.

Tomas raises his hand.

MIRA
Three idiots.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA — DUSK

The forest opens.

A town emerges.

Not abandoned.

Not alive either.

Rows of houses.

Some boarded.

Some occupied.

An empty schoolyard.

A supermarket with half its letters missing.

A derelict cinema.

Its marquee still advertises:

HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHT — OCT 31

No year.

Plastic ghosts hang from street lamps.

Cheap pumpkins.

Paper witches.

A skeleton swings from a bus shelter.

Salla films.

SALLA
They like Halloween.

TOMAS
Maybe they don't take decorations down.

The Volvo passes an ELDERLY WOMAN sweeping snow.

She stops.

Stares.

They pass a MECHANIC.

He stops working.

Stares.

A curtain moves.

Another face.

Another.

MIRA
Everyone's looking at us.

ELIAS
They haven't seen Tomas's jacket before.

TOMAS
This jacket is Italian.

ELIAS
Exactly.

They pass a billboard.

KAAMOSVAARA — A GOOD PLACE TO COME HOME TO

Someone has violently scratched away:

COME HOME

Leaving:

A GOOD PLACE TO

Salla lowers the camera.

For the first time—

She doesn't make a joke.

---

EXT. POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE — DUSK

The motel appears at the town's northern edge.

Twelve rooms surrounding a cracked parking area.

An office attached to a larger wooden house.

Neon:

POLAR NIGHT

The word MOTOR flickers.

The word LODGE is dead.

Behind the motel—

Forest.

Beyond it—

The black silhouette of a mountain.

Tomas photographs the building.

CLICK.

TOMAS
Perfect.

MIRA
For what?

TOMAS
Photograph.

MIRA
I thought you meant murder.

Salla looks at her.

SALLA
See? You're getting into it.

---

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — DUSK

Old wooden counter.

Postcards.

Stuffed fox.

Key rack.

An enormous ledger.

Nobody there.

Elias rings the bell.

DING.

Nothing.

Again.

DING.

A voice directly behind them:

OSKARI (O.S.)
Once is enough.

They turn.

OSKARI VUORELA, 58.

Cardigan.

Slippers.

Gentle expression.

He carries folded towels.

OSKARI
Good evening.

ELIAS
Sorry.

OSKARI
For ringing twice?

ELIAS
Yes.

Oskari considers this.

OSKARI
Accepted.

He puts down the towels.

Looks through the window at their car.

OSKARI
Elias Korhonen.

Elias stops.

ELIAS
Have we met?

OSKARI
Registration.

He points.

OSKARI
Your car.

Beat.

ELIAS
Right.

Oskari opens the ledger.

OSKARI
Four guests.

MIRA
Two rooms.

OSKARI
Of course.

He begins writing.

OSKARI
Destination?

ELIAS
Norway.

OSKARI
Where?

ELIAS
Eventually Tromsø.

OSKARI
People waiting for you?

Mira looks at him.

MIRA
Why?

Oskari looks up.

OSKARI
Conversation.

Silence.

Then Oskari smiles.

OSKARI
We don't get many visitors anymore.

SALLA
Why not?

OSKARI
Nothing here.

He selects two keys.

6

7

He hands them over.

OSKARI
Breakfast from seven.

ELIAS
Restaurant?

OSKARI
No restaurant. There's a pub in town.

He points through the window.

OSKARI
The Lantern.

Elias takes the keys.

OSKARI
One thing.

They stop.

OSKARI
Don't walk behind the motel after midnight.

Salla smiles.

SALLA
Why?

OSKARI
Old ventilation shafts.

SALLA
Dangerous?

OSKARI
Very.

He smiles.

OSKARI
I'd hate to lose a guest.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — EVENING

They unload bags.

Mira notices an upstairs window in Oskari's house.

An ELDERLY WOMAN stands there.

AINO.

Watching.

Mira looks again.

The curtain closes.

---

INT. ROOM 6 — EVENING

Elias and Tomas.

Dated wallpaper.

Two beds.

Television.

Religious print.

Tomas opens a drawer.

Bible.

Old motel stationery.

TOMAS
I love it.

ELIAS
You need better things to love.

Tomas photographs the bathroom.

ELIAS
You're photographing a toilet.

TOMAS
I'm documenting.

ELIAS
A toilet.

Tomas looks through the viewfinder.

TOMAS
It has character.

ELIAS
So does dysentery.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — EVENING

Mira chooses a bed.

Salla immediately opens curtains.

The forest sits directly behind the motel.

SALLA
Imagine waking up to that.

MIRA
Imagine something coming out of it.

Salla points the camcorder.

SALLA
You're definitely getting into this.

Mira throws a pillow.

---

INT. SECRET ROOM — SAME

A monitor shows Room 7.

Another shows Room 6.

Black-and-white images.

No sound.

Oskari sits before them.

Aino enters.

She watches Mira unpack.

AINO
Four.

Oskari doesn't respond.

AINO
Young.

OSKARI
Mother.

AINO
What?

OSKARI
Not tonight.

Aino looks at him.

AINO
You don't choose.

OSKARI
Neither do you.

She looks at the monitors.

Tomas moves close to one hidden camera.

His face fills the screen.

AINO
We'll see.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA MAIN STREET — NIGHT

The four walk toward the pub.

Snow falls lightly.

Their footsteps sound too loud.

Halloween decorations flutter overhead.

Salla notices a row of carved wooden figures outside a house.

Each resembles a faceless miner.

SALLA
What's that?

Tomas photographs them.

A front door opens.

An OLD MAN looks at them.

Tomas lowers the camera.

TOMAS
Sorry.

The old man points at the wooden figures.

OLD MAN
Not decoration.

Then closes the door.

Salla and Tomas exchange a look.

---

INT. THE LANTERN PUB — NIGHT

Warm.

Old.

Low ceiling.

A dozen locals.

Conversation dies as the travelers enter.

A beat.

Then resumes.

They approach the bar.

The BARTENDER, MARKKU, 50s, pours drinks.

MARKKU
Kitchen closed.

ELIAS
It's eight.

MARKKU
Yes.

ELIAS
Any food?

Markku considers.

MARKKU
Sausage.

ELIAS
Hot?

MARKKU
Can be.

ELIAS
Four.

Markku looks at Mira.

MIRA
Three.

Elias looks at her.

MIRA
I'm vegetarian.

Markku stares.

A long beat.

MARKKU
Potatoes.

MIRA
Great.

He disappears.

Salla whispers:

SALLA
You broke him.

They sit.

Tomas looks at photographs on the wall.

Mining crews.

Hockey teams.

School classes.

One framed newspaper clipping:

SHAFT 6 MEMORIAL — 25 YEARS

Tomas moves closer.

A voice behind him:

PENTTI
Twenty-seven.

Tomas turns.

PENTTI, 70s.

Red face.

Whiskey.

TOMAS
Sorry?

Pentti points at the clipping.

PENTTI
Twenty-seven.

He laughs.

PENTTI
That's what they wrote.

Markku sees him.

His expression hardens.

MARKKU
Pentti.

Pentti ignores him.

He sits with the travelers.

PENTTI
You staying at Vuorela's?

Elias nods.

Pentti laughs.

PENTTI
Wrong week.

SALLA
What's this week?

Pentti points at the Halloween decorations.

PENTTI
Black Autumn.

Tomas sits forward.

TOMAS
The mine accident?

Pentti looks at him.

Surprised.

PENTTI
You know?

TOMAS
A little.

Pentti leans closer.

Whispers.

PENTTI
Then you know nothing.

Markku arrives.

MARKKU
Go home, Pentti.

PENTTI
I'm talking.

MARKKU
You're drinking.

PENTTI
I can do both.

Markku grabs his shoulder.

Pentti jerks away.

PENTTI
Sixty went down.

The pub grows quiet.

PENTTI
Sixty-one came back.

Markku grabs him harder.

MARKKU
Enough.

Tomas looks between them.

TOMAS
What does that mean?

Pentti smiles.

PENTTI
Depends who you ask.

Markku pulls him up.

PENTTI
Ask the company, twenty-seven died.

He points around the pub.

PENTTI
Ask these people, nobody died.

Nobody looks at him.

PENTTI
Ask the mountain—

Markku shoves him toward the door.

Pentti turns back.

Points at Tomas.

PENTTI
Don't let him count you.

Markku throws him outside.

Silence.

Then somebody feeds coins into the jukebox.

Music.

Conversation resumes.

Elias drinks.

ELIAS
Charming town.

Mira notices everyone avoiding their eyes.

---

EXT. THE LANTERN — LATER

They leave.

Tomas pauses.

Across the road—

Pentti stands beneath a streetlight.

Waiting.

TOMAS
I'll catch up.

The others continue.

Tomas approaches Pentti.

TOMAS
Sixty-one.

Pentti looks around.

PENTTI
You like stories?

TOMAS
Sometimes.

PENTTI
This one doesn't like you.

Tomas waits.

Pentti lights a cigarette.

PENTTI
Official shift list had sixty names.

He inhales.

PENTTI
But men said there was another worker underground.

TOMAS
Who?

PENTTI
Nobody knew.

TOMAS
That's impossible.

PENTTI
Most useful things are.

Pentti looks toward the mountain.

PENTTI
Explosion closed Shaft Six.

TOMAS
And he survived?

Pentti smiles.

PENTTI
Something survived.

A car approaches.

Pentti immediately steps away.

PENTTI
Go back south.

TOMAS
Our car—

PENTTI
Walk.

The car passes.

Pentti watches it.

PENTTI
If you hear bells underground, don't follow them.

TOMAS
Why?

Pentti looks at him.

PENTTI
Because they're not ringing for you.

Pentti walks away.

---

EXT. MOTEL — NIGHT

The four return.

Oskari stands outside smoking.

OSKARI
Good dinner?

ELIAS
Memorable.

Oskari sees Tomas.

OSKARI
You met Pentti.

Not a question.

TOMAS
You know everyone here?

OSKARI
Everyone knows everyone.

Oskari drops the cigarette.

Crushes it.

OSKARI
That's the problem with small towns.

He goes inside.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — NIGHT

Salla lies in bed watching television.

An old horror film plays.

Mira brushes her teeth.

She glances at the ventilation grille.

Something catches the bathroom light.

A tiny RED REFLECTION.

Mira leans closer.

A lens.

She touches it.

Stops.

MIRA
Salla.

SALLA
Mm?

MIRA
Get Elias.

Salla hears the tone.

Sits up.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — MOMENTS LATER

Elias unscrews the grille using a coin.

Behind it—

A miniature camera.

Silence.

SALLA
No.

Elias pulls it out.

Wire disappears into the wall.

MIRA
Don't touch anything else.

ELIAS
Little late.

MIRA
There could be fingerprints.

ELIAS
Whose? The motel pervert's?

Salla checks behind a painting.

Nothing.

Then the smoke detector.

She climbs on the bed.

Looks.

SALLA
There's another one.

Mira turns.

MIRA
What?

Salla removes the smoke detector.

Another lens.

The joking is gone.

---

INT. SECRET SURVEILLANCE ROOM — SAME

Monitor 7 turns to static.

Then another.

Aino watches.

Oskari enters.

AINO
They found them.

Oskari looks at the dead monitors.

OSKARI
I know.

AINO
You said not tonight.

OSKARI
I said—

AINO
They're frightened now.

She looks at Room 6.

Tomas sits on his bed studying photographs.

AINO
Frightened animals run.

Oskari turns toward her.

OSKARI
They're people.

Aino looks at her son.

Long silence.

AINO
You've lived here fifty-eight years and still say strange things.

---

INT. ROOM 6 — NIGHT

Tomas scrolls through photographs.

The carved miners.

The pub.

Pentti.

Motel.

He stops.

One photograph of the motel courtyard.

He zooms.

In an upstairs window—

Aino.

Another photograph.

Forest behind the motel.

Zoom.

Nothing.

Another.

Zoom.

A SHAPE between trees.

Tomas sits forward.

Zoom further.

A person.

Large.

Black coat.

Watching the motel.

Tomas looks toward the window.

The forest outside.

Dark.

He takes his camera.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — NIGHT

Tomas steps outside.

Snow.

Silence.

He photographs the motel.

CLICK.

Moves around the side.

CLICK.

A locked shed.

Tomas looks toward the office.

Dark.

He tests the shed.

Locked.

He notices the cheap latch.

Uses a multitool.

POP.

The door opens.

---

INT. SHED — NIGHT

Tomas enters.

His flashlight sweeps across shelves.

Cleaning products.

Tools.

Old furniture.

Then—

A suitcase.

Another.

Another.

Dozens.

Tomas opens one.

Women's clothing.

Passport.

MARIA KELLER — GERMANY

He opens another.

Men's shoes.

Swedish passport.

Another.

A child's backpack.

Tomas stops.

He sees boxes.

Mobile phones.

Wallets.

Cameras.

License plates.

He raises his camera.

CLICK.

CLICK.

CLICK.

A wall covered in old car registration plates.

CLICK.

Something outside.

Tomas freezes.

Silence.

He slowly turns.

Empty doorway.

He lowers the camera.

Steps outside.

---

EXT. BEHIND MOTEL — CONTINUOUS

Tomas moves through falling snow.

TOMAS
Hello?

No answer.

He sees footprints.

Large.

Leading toward the forest.

Then—

A metallic sound.

CLANG.

Tomas remembers Pentti.

If you hear bells underground, don't follow them.

Another sound.

CLANG.

Not a bell.

Metal striking metal.

Tomas backs toward the motel.

A figure appears between trees.

Huge.

Mining coat.

Leather mask.

Brass tag.

Tomas raises the camera instinctively.

FLASH.

The figure is illuminated.

61.

Tomas lowers the camera.

TOMAS
Jesus Christ.

The figure steps forward.

Tomas runs.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — CONTINUOUS

Tomas races around the building.

TOMAS
HELP!

He slips.

Gets up.

The motel office door opens.

Oskari appears.

TOMAS
OSKARI!

Oskari stares.

TOMAS
CALL THE POLICE!

The masked figure appears behind Tomas.

Tomas sees Oskari looking past him.

At the killer.

Recognition.

Tomas understands.

TOMAS
You know him.

Oskari says nothing.

TOMAS
You know him.

Tomas runs toward the office.

Oskari reaches inside.

CLICK.

Every exterior light dies.

BLACKNESS.

TOMAS
No—

FLASH.

Tomas's camera fires.

For a fraction of a second:

THE SIXTY-FIRST MAN.

Closer.

FLASH.

Closer.

FLASH.

Tomas falls.

His camera skids across the snow.

TOMAS
OSKARI!

Oskari stands in the doorway.

Does nothing.

A gloved hand grabs Tomas by the ankle.

Tomas screams.

He's dragged into darkness.

His fingernails carve lines through the snow.

The camera remains behind.

Its display still glowing.

On the screen:

The final photograph.

The masked killer standing over Tomas.

And behind him—

Oskari.

Watching.

CUT TO:

INT. ROOM 7 — SAME

Mira suddenly wakes.

She heard something.

Salla sleeps.

Mira listens.

Nothing.

She gets out of bed.

Approaches the window.

Outside—

Empty courtyard.

Snow falling.

She almost turns away.

Then sees something.

Tomas's camera.

Lying in the snow.

Mira stares.

CUT TO BLACK.

END OF PART I

BLACK AUTUMN

PART II

Approx. Pages 29–58

FADE IN:

EXT. POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE — PRE-DAWN

Tomas's camera lies half-buried in fresh snow.

Snowflakes melt against the display.

The battery indicator flashes.

Almost dead.

On the screen—

The final photograph.

THE SIXTY-FIRST MAN.

Behind him—

Oskari.

Watching.

A motel curtain moves.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — PRE-DAWN

Mira stands at the window.

Barefoot.

Breathing against the glass.

The courtyard is empty.

She looks at Salla.

Still asleep.

Mira pulls on her coat.

Quietly unlocks the door.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — CONTINUOUS

Mira steps outside.

The cold immediately hits her.

She crosses toward the camera.

Stops.

Tracks in the snow.

One set belongs to Tomas.

Another—

Much larger.

And two long parallel grooves.

As if something heavy was dragged.

The tracks disappear around the building.

Mira looks toward the office.

Dark.

She crouches.

Picks up the camera.

The display lights.

She sees the photograph.

Her expression changes.

A FLOORBOARD CREAKS behind her.

Mira spins.

Nobody.

Then—

A curtain closes in Oskari's house.

Mira runs back.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — MOMENTS LATER

Mira locks the door.

MIRA
Salla.

Nothing.

MIRA
Salla.

She shakes her.

Salla wakes.

SALLA
What?

MIRA
Get dressed.

SALLA
Why?

Mira shows her the camera.

MIRA
Tomas is gone.

Salla sits up.

SALLA
What?

MIRA
Get dressed.

---

INT. ROOM 6 — MOMENTS LATER

Elias sleeps.

BANG BANG BANG.

He wakes.

ELIAS
What the—

MIRA (O.S.)
Elias.

He recognizes her voice.

Opens the door.

Mira and Salla enter.

ELIAS
Where's Tomas?

Mira puts the camera into his hands.

MIRA
I don't know.

Elias studies the photograph.

Silence.

ELIAS
What am I looking at?

SALLA
Last picture on the camera.

Elias zooms.

The killer.

Oskari.

ELIAS
When?

MIRA
Last night.

ELIAS
Why didn't we hear anything?

MIRA
I think I did.

Salla looks at her.

MIRA
I woke up. I thought—

She stops.

Elias pulls on trousers.

MIRA
What are you doing?

ELIAS
Finding him.

MIRA
No.

Elias looks at her.

MIRA
We're calling the police.

She takes out her phone.

NO SIGNAL.

Salla checks hers.

Nothing.

Elias checks.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Office.

---

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — DAWN

BELL.

DING.

Elias doesn't wait.

ELIAS
Oskari!

Nothing.

He rings again.

DING DING DING.

A door behind the counter opens.

Oskari enters.

Fully dressed.

Not sleepy.

OSKARI
Good morning.

Elias immediately notices.

ELIAS
Where's Tomas?

Oskari looks at him.

OSKARI
Your friend?

ELIAS
You know his name.

OSKARI
Of course.

ELIAS
Where is he?

Oskari opens the ledger.

OSKARI
Checked out.

Silence.

SALLA
What?

OSKARI
Early.

MIRA
Without us?

OSKARI
Apparently.

Elias laughs once.

No humor.

ELIAS
Where did he go?

OSKARI
He didn't say.

ELIAS
On foot?

Oskari looks up.

OSKARI
People do strange things.

Elias puts Tomas's camera on the counter.

Oskari's eyes flick toward it.

Tiny reaction.

Mira catches it.

ELIAS
He left this.

OSKARI
Then perhaps he'll come back for it.

ELIAS
He doesn't go to the toilet without that camera.

OSKARI
Then perhaps something changed.

Elias steps closer.

ELIAS
Show me your phone.

OSKARI
Why?

ELIAS
We're calling the police.

OSKARI
Telephone line hasn't worked properly for months.

MIRA
You run a motel without a telephone?

OSKARI
We have mobile phones.

MIRA
There's no signal.

OSKARI
Not today.

Aino appears in the doorway behind Oskari.

Nobody heard her.

AINO
Weather.

Salla jumps slightly.

Aino looks at them.

Then at Tomas's camera.

AINO
Mountains interfere.

Mira looks through the window.

Clear sky.

MIRA
What weather?

Aino smiles.

AINO
Northern weather.

Elias picks up the camera.

ELIAS
We're leaving.

Oskari nods.

OSKARI
Of course.

That easy.

Elias doesn't like it.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — MORNING

Elias throws bags into the Volvo.

Mira and Salla hurry.

SALLA
We can't leave Tomas.

MIRA
We're not leaving him. We're getting help.

SALLA
What if he's here?

Mira stops.

Looks at her.

MIRA
Then we bring the police back.

Elias gets behind the wheel.

Turns the key.

ENGINE CRANKS.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Come on.

Again.

Nothing.

He gets out.

Opens the hood.

Checks.

Then kneels beside the car.

Looks underneath.

His face changes.

He reaches under.

Pulls out a loose hose.

Smells it.

Fuel.

ELIAS
Someone cut the line.

Salla looks toward the office.

Oskari stands behind the window.

Watching.

---

EXT. MOTEL OFFICE — MOMENTS LATER

Elias storms toward Oskari.

ELIAS
You cut my car.

Oskari steps outside.

OSKARI
No.

ELIAS
The fuel line's been cut.

OSKARI
Then somebody cut it.

ELIAS
You think?

Mira catches up.

MIRA
Elias.

ELIAS
Stay out of it.

MIRA
That's usually when I don't.

Oskari looks toward the road.

OSKARI
There's a mechanic.

ELIAS
Great.

OSKARI
He opens at nine.

Elias checks his watch.

8:12.

ELIAS
I'll wake him.

He starts toward town.

Oskari's voice stops him.

OSKARI
I wouldn't.

Elias turns.

ELIAS
Why?

Oskari smiles.

OSKARI
People here value routine.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA MAIN STREET — MORNING

Elias, Mira and Salla walk.

The town feels different in daylight.

Not safer.

Just clearer.

The decorations look handmade.

Some ancient.

A plastic jack-o'-lantern turns slowly in the wind.

A WOMAN opens a curtain.

Watches them.

Closes it.

A MAN shoveling snow stops.

Watches.

Salla raises her camcorder.

Mira lowers it.

MIRA
Don't.

SALLA
Why?

MIRA
Because everyone here knows we're frightened.

ELIAS
Good.

MIRA
No. Not good.

She looks around.

MIRA
Don't show them anything.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA GARAGE — MORNING

Sign:

K. HEIKKINEN — REPAIRS / TOWING

Elias pounds on the door.

ELIAS
Hello?

Nothing.

Again.

A side door opens.

KARI HEIKKINEN, 50s, the mechanic from yesterday.

KARI
Closed.

ELIAS
Sign says nine.

Kari looks at his watch.

8:29.

KARI
Correct.

He starts closing the door.

Elias catches it.

ELIAS
Our fuel line's cut.

Kari looks at him.

ELIAS
At the Polar Night.

A tiny pause.

KARI
Animals.

Elias stares.

ELIAS
Animals cut fuel lines?

KARI
Martens chew.

ELIAS
With scissors?

Kari's expression doesn't change.

MIRA
We need the car fixed.

KARI
Tomorrow.

ELIAS
Today.

KARI
Tomorrow.

Elias pushes the door open.

Kari doesn't resist.

Inside—

Tools.

A tow truck.

An old radio.

ELIAS
You have a radio.

Kari steps between Elias and it.

KARI
Private frequency.

MIRA
Police?

KARI
No.

MIRA
Emergency services?

KARI
No.

SALLA
Who then?

Kari looks at her.

KARI
People who live here.

The implication hangs.

Elias points toward town.

ELIAS
Our friend disappeared last night.

Kari says nothing.

ELIAS
Tomas Varga.

Nothing.

ELIAS
You seen him?

Kari shakes his head.

ELIAS
Sure?

KARI
I'd remember.

SALLA
Why?

Kari looks at her camcorder.

KARI
People who don't belong are easy to remember.

---

EXT. GARAGE — MOMENTS LATER

They leave.

Elias furious.

ELIAS
I'm taking that truck.

MIRA
No.

ELIAS
What do you suggest?

MIRA
We find a house with a landline.

SALLA
Oskari said—

MIRA
Oskari also said Tomas checked out.

They walk.

Behind them—

Kari steps outside.

Watches.

Then enters the garage.

A moment later—

A RADIO crackles.

---

INT. GARAGE — SAME

Kari speaks quietly into a microphone.

KARI
They're moving.

STATIC.

A voice responds.

VOICE (RADIO)
All three?

KARI
All three.

VOICE (RADIO)
Keep them away from Pentti's.

Kari looks toward the road.

---

EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET — MORNING

Mira knocks at a house.

An OLD WOMAN opens the door three centimeters.

MIRA
Sorry to bother you. We need to use a telephone.

The woman looks past them.

OLD WOMAN
No telephone.

Door shuts.

Next house.

A MAN opens.

ELIAS
Telephone?

MAN
Broken.

Door shuts.

Next.

No answer.

Next.

Curtain moves.

No answer.

Next.

A mother sees them through a window.

Pulls her child away.

Salla watches.

SALLA
They know.

Nobody answers.

SALLA
All of them.

---

EXT. SMALL CHURCH — MORNING

They stop.

An old Lutheran church.

Locked.

A notice board contains community announcements.

Mira scans them.

Halloween dance.

Mine memorial.

Missing dog.

A photocopied newspaper article.

BLACK AUTUMN MEMORIAL — OCTOBER 31

Salla reads.

SALLA
Tomorrow.

Elias looks at her.

SALLA
The mine accident anniversary.

Mira sees something pinned beneath it.

A faded photograph.

The 1978 mining crew.

Sixty men.

One face has been scratched away.

Mira removes the photo.

On the back, handwriting:

THERE WERE 61.

ELIAS
Put it back.

MIRA
Why?

ELIAS
Because I officially don't care about their local ghost story anymore.

He looks toward town.

ELIAS
I care about Tomas.

---

EXT. PENTTI'S HOUSE — LATE MORNING

Small house at the edge of town.

Tomas mentioned where Pentti lived.

The front door is open.

MIRA
Pentti?

No response.

They enter.

---

INT. PENTTI'S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS

Chaos.

A chair overturned.

Broken glass.

Blood on the floor.

Salla stops.

SALLA
Oh God.

Elias checks the rooms.

ELIAS
Pentti?

Mira sees photographs covering a wall.

Mine workers.

Maps.

Newspaper clippings.

Handwritten names.

She approaches.

MIRA
Guys.

A large hand-drawn map of the mine.

Several tunnels marked in red.

One extends—

From Shaft 6.

Under the forest.

Toward—

POLAR NIGHT

Mira points.

MIRA
The motel.

Salla moves closer.

SALLA
That's underneath us.

Elias sees a notebook.

Opens it.

Names.

Dates.

Cars.

Disappearances.

Swedish.

Norwegian.

German.

Finnish.

One entry circled:

MIKKO LAINE / ANNA SALO — 31.10.1986

Another:

LARSEN FAMILY — 1994

Another:

M. GARCIA — 2002

Another:

TWO HIKERS — 2009

MIRA
He's been tracking them.

Salla finds a newspaper clipping.

Reads.

SALLA
"Police say there is no evidence connecting the disappearances."

She looks at the wall.

SALLA
There are dozens.

A floorboard CREAKS upstairs.

Everyone freezes.

Elias picks up a fireplace poker.

Looks at Mira.

Stay.

He climbs.

---

INT. PENTTI'S HOUSE — UPSTAIRS

Elias moves down the hall.

Bedroom.

Empty.

Bathroom.

Empty.

A closet.

He opens it.

Nothing.

Then—

BANG downstairs.

Elias races back.

---

INT. PENTTI'S HOUSE — CONTINUOUS

A stone has broken the window.

Attached to it—

A piece of paper.

Elias unwraps it.

One handwritten word:

LEAVE

Salla looks outside.

A CHILD on a bicycle disappears around the corner.

SALLA
It was a kid.

Elias grabs Pentti's notebook.

MIRA
What are you doing?

ELIAS
Taking it.

MIRA
That's evidence.

ELIAS
Exactly.

They leave.

The camera remains on the blood.

Slowly—

A DROP falls from the ceiling.

Then another.

Mira looks up.

Too late.

They've already gone.

Above them—

In the attic—

Pentti's hand hangs motionless over a beam.

---

EXT. PENTTI'S HOUSE — DAY

They hurry away.

At the end of the street—

Kari's tow truck waits.

Engine running.

Nobody visible inside.

ELIAS
Don't look.

They walk past.

The tow truck begins moving.

Slowly follows.

SALLA
He's following us.

ELIAS
I know.

SALLA
Shouldn't we run?

MIRA
No.

SALLA
Why?

MIRA
Because if we run, they know where we're going.

Elias looks at her.

ELIAS
Where are we going?

Mira thinks.

MIRA
Pub.

---

INT. THE LANTERN — DAY

They enter.

Every table occupied.

Far more people than last night.

All turn toward them.

Markku behind the bar.

MARKKU
Kitchen's closed.

ELIAS
Good.

Elias puts Pentti's notebook on the bar.

Several people react.

Tiny movements.

Enough.

ELIAS
Where is he?

Markku looks at the notebook.

Then Elias.

MARKKU
Who?

ELIAS
Pentti.

MARKKU
Home.

MIRA
No, he isn't.

MARKKU
Then he's out.

ELIAS
There's blood in his house.

Silence.

MARKKU
He falls.

SALLA
There's a lot of blood.

MARKKU
He falls a lot.

Elias laughs.

ELIAS
You people practice this?

Markku's expression changes.

ELIAS
Is there a meeting every Monday where everyone learns how to lie badly?

A chair scrapes.

A large LOCAL MAN stands.

Mira touches Elias's arm.

MIRA
Don't.

Elias pulls away.

ELIAS
Our friend is missing.

Nobody responds.

ELIAS
His camera was outside the motel.

He looks around.

ELIAS
Someone attacked him.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Someone cut our car.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Pentti's missing.

Still nothing.

Elias looks at every face.

ELIAS
And every single one of you knows something.

An elderly woman begins quietly crying.

The man beside her takes her hand.

Markku looks at Elias.

MARKKU
You should go back to the motel.

ELIAS
Why?

MARKKU
Because you're guests.

ELIAS
Guests of who?

Markku says nothing.

Aino's voice from behind them:

AINO
All of us.

They turn.

Aino stands in the doorway.

She has walked there without a coat.

Snow melting in her hair.

AINO
You're guests of Kaamosvaara.

She looks at Pentti's notebook.

AINO
And guests should not steal.

Mira looks around.

Everyone in the pub is watching Aino.

Not Oskari.

Not Markku.

Her.

MIRA
What happened to Tomas?

Aino studies her.

AINO
Your friend left his room.

MIRA
And?

AINO
What happens outside a person's room is their responsibility.

SALLA
Is he alive?

Aino looks at Salla.

A long silence.

AINO
For everyone's sake—

She smiles.

AINO
I hope so.

---

EXT. THE LANTERN — DAY

The three emerge.

People follow them out.

Not aggressively.

One by one.

Markku.

Kari.

The nurse.

The old woman.

The shopkeeper.

More.

They spread along the street.

Watching.

Elias stops.

ELIAS
What the hell is this?

Nobody answers.

Mira counts.

Twenty.

Thirty.

More coming.

Salla raises her camcorder.

Records.

Aino emerges last.

AINO
Go back to your rooms.

Elias looks at her.

ELIAS
Or what?

Aino's expression almost becomes sad.

AINO
Please don't make people answer that question.

Mira grabs Elias.

MIRA
Come on.

They walk.

The townspeople do not follow.

They simply watch them leave.

---

EXT. MOTEL — AFTERNOON

They hurry into Room 7.

Oskari watches from his office.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — AFTERNOON

Door locked.

Curtains closed.

Elias paces.

ELIAS
We take the tow truck.

MIRA
There are fifty people between us and the garage.

ELIAS
Then another car.

MIRA
And if the roads are blocked?

ELIAS
We walk.

MIRA
Twelve kilometers to the main road in snow with no guarantee anybody comes past.

ELIAS
Better than staying.

Salla sits on the bed.

Camcorder in her hands.

SALLA
We can't leave Tomas.

Elias stops.

SALLA
You both keep saying we're getting help.

She looks up.

SALLA
What if he's alive?

Silence.

SALLA
What if he's somewhere here waiting for us?

Elias looks away.

Mira kneels in front of her.

MIRA
Salla—

SALLA
He wouldn't leave us.

Mira can't disagree.

SALLA
He wouldn't.

Elias looks at Tomas's camera.

Then Pentti's notebook.

He opens the mine map.

ELIAS
The tunnel.

Mira looks over.

ELIAS
Pentti marked a tunnel underneath the motel.

MIRA
No.

ELIAS
If they took Tomas—

MIRA
We don't go underground looking for the man who attacked him.

ELIAS
I'm not suggesting that.

He points at the map.

ELIAS
I'm suggesting we find the entrance.

MIRA
Why?

ELIAS
Because right now they know everything we're doing.

He looks at the walls.

ELIAS
Maybe there's somewhere they don't.

Salla looks at the removed camera.

SALLA
They watched us sleep.

Nobody speaks.

---

INT. SECRET SURVEILLANCE ROOM — SAME

Oskari watches monitors.

Room 7 is dark.

No cameras.

Room 6 still visible.

Empty.

Aino stands behind him.

AINO
You should have taken the cameras before they woke.

OSKARI
Jarmo was supposed to take the photographer quietly.

Aino looks at him.

AINO
Don't blame your brother because you're becoming weak.

Oskari turns.

OSKARI
Weak?

AINO
You leave things unfinished.

OSKARI
They aren't things.

Aino sighs.

AINO
Again with that.

She sits.

AINO
Your father never had this problem.

Oskari looks toward the monitors.

OSKARI
My father had many problems.

Aino's eyes harden.

AINO
Your father kept this town alive.

OSKARI
Is that what you call this?

Aino looks at him.

AINO
What would you call it?

Oskari has no answer.

Aino points toward Room 7.

AINO
Finish before dark.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — LATE AFTERNOON

Mira examines Pentti's map.

Elias pulls the dresser away from the wall.

Nothing.

Salla checks beneath the bed.

SALLA
Maybe it's outside.

Mira studies the map.

MIRA
No.

She rotates it.

MIRA
Look.

A line extends under Rooms 5, 6, 7.

MIRA
The motel wasn't here when the mine operated.

ELIAS
So?

MIRA
So they built it on top.

Elias looks around.

He knocks on the wall.

Solid.

Again.

Hollow.

He knocks lower.

Hollow.

He removes the skirting board.

Behind it—

A narrow gap.

ELIAS
Help me.

They pull.

A section of wall moves.

Behind it—

Darkness.

Salla shines her phone light.

A narrow passage.

SALLA
No.

Elias looks at her.

SALLA
That's not normal.

ELIAS
Finally something we agree on.

---

INT. MOTEL WALL PASSAGE — LATE AFTERNOON

They crawl.

Dust.

Old timber.

Wires run through the walls.

Mira finds one.

Follows it.

It connects to a tiny camera behind a peephole.

She looks through.

Room 6.

MIRA
Jesus.

They continue.

More peepholes.

Room 5.

Room 4.

Hidden doors.

Salla opens one slightly.

It leads directly behind a wardrobe.

SALLA
They can get into every room.

Elias looks back.

ELIAS
Without using the doors.

They move farther.

A sound.

Footsteps.

They freeze.

Through a crack—

Oskari enters Room 5.

He checks the bathroom.

Leaves.

Elias waits.

Then continues.

The passage descends.

At the bottom—

A locked wooden door.

Elias tries it.

No.

Mira finds an old latch mechanism.

Pulls.

The door opens.

---

INT. MOTEL BASEMENT — CONTINUOUS

Boiler.

Laundry.

Storage.

An industrial freezer.

Salla looks at it.

SALLA
Don't.

Elias approaches anyway.

MIRA
Elias.

He opens it.

Frozen meat.

Wrapped packages.

Nothing identifiable.

Elias closes it.

ELIAS
Happy?

SALLA
Actually, yes.

Mira finds another door.

Locked.

Elias uses a crowbar from the wall.

CRACK.

Door opens.

Behind it—

Stone steps descending.

Cold air rises.

And—

A faint metallic smell.

Mira looks at Pentti's map.

MIRA
This is it.

Salla whispers:

SALLA
Tomas.

---

INT. SECRET SURVEILLANCE ROOM — SAME

A light begins blinking.

Oskari sees it.

BASEMENT ACCESS

His face changes.

He grabs the radio.

OSKARI
Mother.

No answer.

OSKARI
Mother.

Aino enters.

AINO
What?

Oskari points.

Aino sees the blinking light.

She doesn't panic.

She smiles.

AINO
Good.

Oskari looks at her.

AINO
Now we know where they're going.

---

INT. UNDERGROUND STAIRCASE — DUSK

Elias leads.

Mira behind him.

Salla last.

Their phone lights barely penetrate the darkness.

The stairs descend farther than expected.

Twenty steps.

Thirty.

Fifty.

Finally—

An old steel door.

Faded letters:

KAAMOSVAARA NICKEL WORKS

Below:

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

Elias pushes.

SCREEECH.

---

INT. OLD MINE ACCESS TUNNEL — CONTINUOUS

Blackness.

Old rails disappear into it.

Wooden supports.

Rusting pipes.

Mira checks Pentti's map.

MIRA
This should connect to a maintenance tunnel.

ELIAS
How far?

MIRA
Maybe two hundred meters.

SALLA
And then?

Mira looks at the map.

MIRA
Shaft Six.

Nobody likes that.

They continue.

---

INT. MINE TUNNEL — LATER

Their lights sweep across old warning signs.

DANGER — GAS

NO ENTRY

SHAFT CLOSED 1978

Salla films.

Her hands shake.

ELIAS
Put that away.

SALLA
Why?

ELIAS
Save the battery.

She lowers it.

They hear—

A faint sound.

CLANG.

All stop.

Salla looks at Elias.

Another.

CLANG.

Mira whispers:

MIRA
Metal.

Elias remembers Tomas repeating Pentti's warning.

ELIAS
We go back.

Then—

Something else.

Faint.

A human sound.

A MOAN.

Salla turns.

SALLA
Tomas?

Silence.

Then again.

A moan.

Far down the tunnel.

SALLA
Tomas!

Elias grabs her.

ELIAS
Quiet.

They listen.

A weak voice.

Barely audible.

VOICE (O.S.)
Help.

Salla's eyes fill.

SALLA
That's him.

Mira isn't convinced.

MIRA
We don't know that.

VOICE (O.S.)
Help me.

Salla starts forward.

Elias catches her.

ELIAS
Wait.

He shines his light down the tunnel.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Tomas!

Silence.

Then:

VOICE (O.S.)
Elias.

Elias freezes.

Mira looks at him.

VOICE (O.S.)
Elias.

It knows his name.

Salla pulls free.

Runs.

SALLA
Tomas!

MIRA
Salla!

They chase her.

---

INT. ABANDONED MINE STATION — CONTINUOUS

Salla enters a wider chamber.

Old ore carts.

Benches.

Lockers.

Her light searches.

SALLA
Tomas?

Nothing.

Elias and Mira catch up.

ELIAS
Don't do that again.

Salla ignores him.

A sound.

Behind an ore cart.

She moves toward it.

MIRA
Salla.

Salla rounds the cart.

Stops.

Her face drains.

Elias approaches.

On the ground—

Blood.

A lot of it.

A trail leads toward another tunnel.

Salla follows with her light.

Something lies beside the rail.

A shoe.

Tomas's.

Salla picks it up.

SALLA
He's alive.

MIRA
We don't know—

SALLA
He called Elias.

MIRA
We heard a voice.

SALLA
It was him.

MIRA
We don't know that.

Salla turns on her.

SALLA
Why are you doing this?

Mira stops.

SALLA
Why do you keep talking like he's already dead?

Mira's expression softens.

MIRA
Because I need you to understand that whoever brought him here knows we're looking for him.

Salla stares.

Mira points at the shoe.

MIRA
They left that where we'd see it.

Beat.

MIRA
They want us farther inside.

A distant bell RINGS.

Not metal striking stone this time.

An actual bell.

Another answers.

From another tunnel.

Then another.

Three different directions.

Salla remembers Pentti's warning.

SALLA
"If you hear bells underground..."

Elias finishes:

ELIAS
"Don't follow them."

A lantern appears far down one tunnel.

Then another.

Another.

Figures.

Too far away to identify.

Standing silently.

Watching.

Mira whispers:

MIRA
Back.

They retreat.

The lanterns move.

Slowly.

Following.

---

INT. ACCESS TUNNEL — NIGHT

The three hurry back.

The bells continue.

RING.

RING.

RING.

Different distances.

Different tunnels.

Salla looks behind.

A lantern disappears.

Then appears somewhere else.

SALLA
How many are there?

ELIAS
Don't look.

They reach a junction.

Stop.

Three tunnels.

Mira opens Pentti's map.

Her hands shake.

MIRA
We came from—

She turns it.

ELIAS
Mira.

MIRA
I know.

ELIAS
Which one?

She points.

MIRA
Left.

They run.

---

INT. WRONG TUNNEL — MOMENTS LATER

Dead end.

Collapsed rock.

MIRA
No.

ELIAS
You said left.

MIRA
I know what I said.

A bell rings behind them.

Close.

Salla turns.

A small figure stands at the far end.

A CHILD.

Barefoot.

Dirty clothes.

Holding a lantern.

Salla stares.

SALLA
Hey.

The child doesn't move.

MIRA
Salla, don't.

SALLA
It's a kid.

The child lifts one hand.

Points.

At the wall.

Elias shines his light.

A narrow opening.

Old ventilation passage.

Then the child looks behind itself.

Fear.

Not of them.

Of whatever is coming.

The child whispers:

CHILD
Go.

The lantern goes out.

Darkness.

Elias doesn't hesitate.

ELIAS
Go.

---

INT. VENTILATION PASSAGE — CONTINUOUS

They crawl.

Behind them—

FOOTSTEPS.

Fast now.

No more games.

Salla crawls first.

Mira behind.

Elias last.

Something reaches into the opening.

Grabs Elias's boot.

ELIAS
GO!

He kicks.

Again.

The grip releases.

He crawls.

A mining pick SMASHES through the wood beside his head.

Elias scrambles.

---

INT. MOTEL BASEMENT — NIGHT

The hidden door bursts open.

Salla falls through.

Mira.

Elias.

They slam the door.

Elias throws the bolt.

A tremendous impact from the other side.

BANG.

Salla screams.

BANG.

Dust falls.

Elias braces himself against it.

BANG.

Then—

Silence.

All three listen.

Nothing.

Elias slowly steps away.

Mira whispers:

MIRA
We leave now.

ELIAS
Agreed.

MIRA
No Tomas. No investigation. No argument.

ELIAS
Agreed.

Salla looks at them.

Devastated.

But she nods.

Then—

The motel telephone rings upstairs.

RING.

They freeze.

RING.

RING.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — MINUTES LATER

The telephone rings.

They enter cautiously.

RING.

Elias looks at Mira.

She shakes her head.

RING.

Elias answers.

ELIAS
Hello?

Nothing.

Breathing.

ELIAS
Who is this?

Breathing.

Then—

A weak voice.

TOMAS (PHONE)
Elias.

Elias's face changes.

Salla hears it.

Runs closer.

SALLA
Tomas?

TOMAS (PHONE)
Don't—

Static.

ELIAS
Tomas, where are you?

TOMAS (PHONE)
Don't come—

A sound on Tomas's end.

Metal.

Then Tomas whispers:

TOMAS (PHONE)
There are families down here.

Salla covers her mouth.

ELIAS
Tomas.

TOMAS (PHONE)
They're not—

STATIC.

ELIAS
What?

TOMAS (PHONE)
They're not the worst ones.

The line crackles.

ELIAS
Who is?

Long silence.

Then Tomas whispers:

TOMAS (PHONE)
The town.

CLICK.

Dead.

Nobody moves.

Then—

The motel lights go out.

BLACKNESS.

Outside—

A car engine starts.

Another.

Another.

Doors slam.

Many footsteps cross the courtyard.

Elias moves to the curtain.

Mira catches him.

Too late.

He looks outside.

---

ELIAS'S POV — MOTEL COURTYARD

Townspeople arrive.

Kari.

Markku.

The nurse.

The shopkeeper.

Men and women.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Some carry flashlights.

Some rope.

Some nothing.

Oskari walks among them.

Aino stands at the center of the courtyard.

She looks directly toward Room 7.

Even though Elias is hidden behind the curtain.

She knows.

Aino raises one hand.

Every exterior motel light switches on.

Brutally bright.

Room 7 is illuminated like a stage.

---

INT. ROOM 7 — CONTINUOUS

Salla whispers:

SALLA
What are they doing?

Mira looks at the door.

Then the hidden wall passage.

MIRA
They're closing the motel.

A sound from Room 6.

CRASH.

Someone has entered next door.

Then Room 5.

CRASH.

Room 4.

One by one.

Getting closer.

Elias moves the dresser against the door.

ELIAS
Wall passage.

Mira opens it.

Stops.

A SHADOW moves inside.

Someone is already there.

She slams it shut.

MIRA
No.

Elias looks around.

Front door blocked.

Wall passage blocked.

Window faces the courtyard.

Salla grips her camcorder.

SALLA
We're trapped.

A loudspeaker outside crackles.

Aino's voice.

AINO (V.O.)
Elias.

Silence.

AINO (V.O.)
Mira.

Salla looks at them.

AINO (V.O.)
Salla.

A pause.

AINO (V.O.)
Open the door.

Elias says nothing.

AINO (V.O.)
Nobody needs to make this difficult.

Elias laughs quietly.

ELIAS
Bit late for that.

Aino hears nothing.

But continues:

AINO (V.O.)
Your friend is alive.

Salla looks up.

AINO (V.O.)
For now.

Salla moves toward the door.

Mira catches her.

SALLA
They have Tomas.

MIRA
That's why they said it.

SALLA
We heard him.

MIRA
I know.

SALLA
Then what do we do?

Mira has no answer.

Outside—

Aino waits.

AINO (V.O.)
We have lived here a very long time.

A beat.

AINO (V.O.)
Longer than your fear.

The doorknob moves.

Slowly.

Elias grips the fireplace poker.

AINO (V.O.)
You came into our town.

The lock begins turning from the outside.

Someone has a master key.

AINO (V.O.)
You opened doors that were closed.

Elias raises the poker.

Mira grabs the lamp.

Salla grips the camcorder like a weapon.

The lock CLICKS.

AINO (V.O.)
Now you will see what was behind them.

The door begins to open.

Elias swings—

SMASH CUT TO BLACK.

END OF PART II

BLACK AUTUMN

PART III

Approx. Pages 59–87

BLACK.

A door CREAKS.

Then—

INT. MOTEL ROOM 7 — NIGHT

The door opens six centimeters.

ELIAS SWINGS.

CRACK!

The fireplace poker strikes an arm.

A MAN cries out.

Elias kicks the door.

SLAM.

The man falls backward into the walkway.

ELIAS
NOW!

Mira grabs the bedside lamp.

Salla grabs Tomas's camera.

Elias kicks the door open.

---

EXT. MOTEL WALKWAY — CONTINUOUS

Chaos.

A LOCAL MAN lies clutching his wrist.

MARKKU turns.

MARKKU
Stop!

Elias throws the poker.

Markku ducks.

The three run.

AINO
Don't let them reach the road!

Townspeople converge.

Mira grabs a FIRE EXTINGUISHER from the wall.

Pulls the pin.

WHOOSH!

A white cloud engulfs the walkway.

People cough.

Salla runs blind.

A hand grabs her coat.

She screams.

Mira swings the extinguisher.

THUD.

The hand releases.

MIRA
MOVE!

They reach the stairwell.

KARI appears below.

Blocks it.

Elias looks over the railing.

Roof of the laundry extension.

Two meters down.

ELIAS
Over.

SALLA
What?

ELIAS
Jump!

He climbs over.

Drops.

BANG.

Rolls.

Mira follows.

Salla looks down.

SALLA
I hate both of you.

She jumps.

---

EXT. LAUNDRY ROOF — CONTINUOUS

Salla lands hard.

SALLA
Ow!

Elias helps her.

People appear above.

Mira spots a maintenance ladder.

They descend.

---

EXT. REAR OF MOTEL — NIGHT

Forest.

Darkness.

The mountain beyond.

Elias leads them toward the trees.

Mira stops.

MIRA
No.

ELIAS
What?

MIRA
That's what they expect.

She points toward the motel basement entrance.

MIRA
Back inside.

Elias looks at her as though she's insane.

MIRA
They've surrounded the road.

She points toward the mine.

MIRA
But the mine connects under the town.

Salla realizes.

SALLA
Pentti's map.

MIRA
There was another exit.

ELIAS
Shaft Six.

MIRA
Near the church.

Behind them—

Flashlights approach.

Elias makes the decision.

ELIAS
Basement.

---

INT. MOTEL LAUNDRY — MOMENTS LATER

They climb through a small window.

Mira closes it.

Outside, flashlights pass.

They crouch.

Salla whispers:

SALLA
We're going back down there?

MIRA
We're going through it.

SALLA
Those are different sentences?

ELIAS
Tonight they are.

They reach the underground door.

Elias opens it.

Darkness.

ELIAS
Ladies first.

Mira glares.

ELIAS
Bad timing?

MIRA
Very.

For the first time all night—

Salla laughs.

A tiny, terrified laugh.

Then they descend.

---

INT. OLD MINE ACCESS — NIGHT

Their lights sweep across rails.

No bells.

No movement.

They walk quickly.

Mira holds Pentti's map.

MIRA
Maintenance line should split in about a hundred meters.

ELIAS
Which direction?

MIRA
Right goes toward Shaft Six.

SALLA
And left?

Mira studies the map.

MIRA
Doesn't say.

ELIAS
Then right.

A faint sound.

Not a bell.

A cough.

They stop.

Again.

A HUMAN COUGH.

Salla turns toward the left tunnel.

SALLA
Tomas.

MIRA
We can't know—

SALLA
Tomas!

Silence.

Then:

TOMAS (O.S.)
Salla?

Salla runs.

ELIAS
Damn it.

They follow.

---

INT. MINE SERVICE CHAMBER — NIGHT

A rusted steel door.

Behind it—

TOMAS (O.S.)
Here!

Elias pulls.

Locked.

Mira finds an iron bar.

Together they force it.

SCREECH.

The door opens.

Their lights reveal—

TOMAS.

Alive.

Chained to a pipe.

Face bruised.

One eye swollen shut.

Salla rushes to him.

SALLA
Oh my God.

She hugs him.

Tomas winces.

TOMAS
Easy.

SALLA
Sorry.

She hugs him more carefully.

Elias kneels beside the chain.

ELIAS
Can you walk?

TOMAS
Define walk.

ELIAS
Move without dying.

TOMAS
Probably.

Mira examines his wounds.

MIRA
Who did this?

Tomas looks toward the tunnel.

TOMAS
Which part?

MIRA
Any of it.

Tomas looks at Elias.

TOMAS
The man in the mask brought me down.

ELIAS
Sixty-one?

Tomas nods.

TOMAS
But he didn't kill me.

SALLA
Why?

Tomas looks at her.

TOMAS
Because I wasn't for him.

Silence.

MIRA
What does that mean?

Tomas looks toward the darkness.

TOMAS
I was food.

Nobody speaks.

---

INT. SERVICE CHAMBER — MOMENTS LATER

Elias breaks the old chain fastening with the iron bar.

Tomas rubs his wrist.

TOMAS
I saw them.

SALLA
Who?

TOMAS
People.

He struggles upright.

TOMAS
Families.

ELIAS
The people with the lanterns?

Tomas nods.

TOMAS
They live down here.

Mira shakes her head.

MIRA
Nobody lives in an abandoned mine.

TOMAS
They do.

He points deeper.

TOMAS
Rooms. Beds. Cooking fires. Children.

He looks at Salla.

TOMAS
Old people.

ELIAS
How many?

TOMAS
I don't know.

A beat.

TOMAS
Enough.

Mira helps him stand.

MIRA
Why would the town feed people to them?

Tomas looks at her.

TOMAS
I don't think that's the right question.

MIRA
What's the right question?

TOMAS
Why does the town need them?

That lands.

A distant bell.

One.

Tomas goes pale.

TOMAS
We need to move.

---

INT. MINE TUNNEL — NIGHT

They move quickly.

Elias supports Tomas.

Salla walks beside him.

Mira navigates.

TOMAS
Where are we going?

MIRA
Shaft Six.

Tomas stops.

TOMAS
No.

ELIAS
It's the exit.

TOMAS
It's where he lives.

Silence.

ELIAS
Who?

Tomas looks at them.

TOMAS
Sixty-one.

A bell rings.

Closer.

TOMAS
Move.

---

INT. THE BELOW — NIGHT

They turn a corner.

Stop.

Their lights reveal something impossible.

A vast former equipment chamber transformed into a settlement.

Mattresses.

Old furniture.

Wood-burning stoves.

Laundry lines.

Battery lamps.

Animal hides.

Children's drawings cover stone walls.

Twenty PEOPLE stare at the outsiders.

Men.

Women.

Children.

Some visibly ill.

Some scarred.

Some completely ordinary.

A woman chops meat at a table.

An old man repairs boots.

A little girl holds a doll made from cloth.

The travelers stand frozen.

Tomas whispers:

TOMAS
This is what I saw.

A large man steps forward.

Then another.

Salla notices bones beside one stove.

Animal?

Maybe.

She doesn't want to know.

An OLD WOMAN speaks.

OLD WOMAN
Vuorela?

Mira doesn't understand.

OLD WOMAN
Did Vuorela send you?

MIRA
No.

The old woman studies them.

Her eyes settle on Tomas.

Recognition.

OLD WOMAN
That one came before.

Men move toward them.

Elias picks up the iron bar.

ELIAS
Stay back.

The old woman smiles.

OLD WOMAN
You brought him back.

SALLA
We're leaving.

The old woman looks at Salla.

OLD WOMAN
Nobody leaves.

A whistle sounds.

Every person in the chamber changes.

Children disappear through doorways.

Women extinguish lamps.

Men reach for tools.

Darkness spreads across the settlement.

Tomas whispers:

TOMAS
Run.

---

INT. THE BELOW — CONTINUOUS

They run.

A man lunges.

Elias swings the bar.

CRACK.

Another grabs Mira.

Salla hits him with Tomas's camera.

He releases her.

SALLA
Sorry, Tomas!

TOMAS
Camera's insured!

SALLA
Really?

TOMAS
No!

They run.

A figure blocks the tunnel.

Salla screams—

It's the CHILD from earlier.

The child points toward a narrow passage.

CHILD
There.

Mira recognizes him.

MIRA
Why are you helping us?

The child looks toward the approaching hunters.

CHILD
Because they don't.

He runs away.

---

INT. NARROW TUNNEL — NIGHT

They squeeze through.

Tomas struggles.

Elias pushes him.

Behind them—

The Below approach.

A hand reaches through.

Mira slams a wooden support loose.

Timber collapses.

The opening partially blocks.

Not enough.

MIRA
Go!

They continue.

---

INT. OLD MINING GALLERY — NIGHT

They emerge into a huge tunnel.

Signs:

6A

6B

SHAFT 6

Tomas stops.

TOMAS
We're here.

A metallic sound.

CLANG.

From ahead.

Not behind.

Elias slowly raises his light.

The SIXTY-FIRST MAN stands in the tunnel.

Waiting.

ELIAS
Of course.

Jarmo charges.

---

INT. SHAFT 6 GALLERY — CONTINUOUS

Elias pushes the others away.

ELIAS
GO!

Jarmo swings the mining pick.

Elias ducks.

The pick strikes stone.

SPARKS.

Elias drives the iron bar into Jarmo's ribs.

Jarmo barely reacts.

He grabs Elias.

Throws him against the wall.

Mira picks up a loose rock.

Smashes Jarmo's shoulder.

He turns.

Mira runs.

Elias tackles him.

They crash onto the rails.

Jarmo's leather mask tears loose.

Falls.

Silence.

The man beneath it is—

JARMO VUORELA, early 50s.

Weathered.

Pale.

Completely human.

Elias stares.

Jarmo catches his breath.

ELIAS
You're him?

Jarmo looks at the mask.

Then Elias.

JARMO
Today.

Elias doesn't understand.

Jarmo retrieves the mask.

JARMO
My father wore it.

He wipes blood from his mouth.

JARMO
Before him, his brother.

Tomas stares.

TOMAS
There never was a Sixty-First Man.

Jarmo looks at him.

JARMO
There was.

He lifts the mask.

JARMO
Just not for very long.

He puts it back on.

JARMO
Stories live longer than men.

Elias kicks a mine-cart brake.

The cart rolls.

Jarmo turns.

Too late.

The cart slams him sideways.

Elias runs.

---

INT. SHAFT 6 — NIGHT

The four race through old workings.

Jarmo follows.

Never running.

Always appearing.

Mira checks the map.

MIRA
There should be a surface tunnel ahead.

They reach a wooden bridge over a collapsed excavation.

Rotten.

ELIAS
One at a time.

Salla crosses.

Boards CREAK.

Tomas follows.

A board breaks.

His leg plunges through.

TOMAS
Ah!

Salla helps him free.

Mira crosses.

Elias starts.

Jarmo appears behind him.

Elias reaches the far side.

Grabs a rusted lever.

MIRA
What does that do?

ELIAS
No idea.

He pulls.

Nothing.

Jarmo steps onto the bridge.

Elias kicks the lever.

An old ore chute opens.

Tons of loose rock spill onto the bridge.

The structure collapses.

Jarmo disappears into dust.

Salla looks down.

SALLA
Did you kill him?

Elias stares into the darkness.

ELIAS
Let's not wait for the answer.

---

INT. SURFACE ACCESS TUNNEL — LATER

They climb.

Cold air.

Salla almost cries with relief.

SALLA
I can smell snow.

Mira sees moonlight.

MIRA
There.

They climb faster.

---

EXT. ABANDONED CHURCHYARD — NIGHT

A hatch opens.

Mira emerges.

Then Salla.

Tomas.

Elias.

They collapse into snow.

Breathing.

Alive.

Salla laughs.

Tomas laughs too.

Elias lies on his back.

ELIAS
Norway.

Mira looks at him.

ELIAS
Next time we go to fucking Tallinn.

Mira laughs despite everything.

Then—

CHURCH BELLS ring.

All four stop.

The church lights switch on.

One window at a time.

They look toward it.

The front doors open.

Aino stands inside.

AINO
Come in.

Behind them—

Flashlights appear among the trees.

The Below?

No.

Townspeople.

They surround the churchyard.

Elias looks toward the road.

Kari's tow truck blocks it.

Markku stands beside it.

Oskari approaches.

OSKARI
I'm sorry.

Elias looks at him.

ELIAS
You keep saying strange things for a man who hasn't apologized once.

Oskari lowers his eyes.

Aino waits.

AINO
Inside.

---

INT. KAAMOSVAARA CHURCH — NIGHT

The four are marched inside.

No one binds them.

They don't need to.

The pews are filled with townspeople.

Every face.

The entire community.

Tomas looks around.

TOMAS
What is this?

Aino walks toward the altar.

AINO
History.

Elias laughs bitterly.

ELIAS
Is that what you call kidnapping?

Aino turns.

AINO
Sit.

Nobody moves.

Aino shrugs.

AINO
Stand.

She looks toward the congregation.

AINO
They deserve to understand.

Oskari looks at her.

OSKARI
Mother.

AINO
They've earned that much.

She turns toward the four.

AINO
You think this began with a monster.

She gestures toward the mountain.

AINO
It didn't.

---

INT. CHURCH — LATER

Aino stands beneath a wooden cross.

AINO
In 1978 the mine was dying.

Tomas watches.

AINO
Not the miners. The company.

She walks.

AINO
Nickel prices. Debt. Safety repairs postponed because repairs cost money.

Mira looks at the older townspeople.

Some stare down.

AINO
There was methane where there should not have been methane.

She stops.

AINO
Management knew.

Tomas understands.

TOMAS
The explosion.

Aino nods.

AINO
Twenty-seven died immediately.

She looks toward an old man.

AINO
More were trapped.

MIRA
How many?

Aino doesn't answer.

MIRA
How many?

A voice from the pews:

OLD MINER
Thirty-three.

Aino looks at him.

The old miner continues.

OLD MINER
Thirty-three still alive after the blast.

Silence.

SALLA
Why weren't they rescued?

Nobody answers.

Then Oskari:

OSKARI
Because rescue crews would have found the records.

Aino looks at him sharply.

Too late.

OSKARI
Safety logs. Illegal drilling. Gas readings.

Mira is horrified.

MIRA
They left thirty-three people underground?

Aino speaks.

AINO
Company officials ordered Shaft Six sealed.

Salla stares.

SALLA
With people inside.

AINO
Yes.

A beat.

AINO
Some survived.

Tomas looks toward the floor.

The Below.

TOMAS
Their families.

Aino nods.

AINO
Some miners found older workings. Storage chambers. Ventilation tunnels.

MIRA
And nobody helped them?

Aino's expression hardens.

AINO
People tried.

She points toward the congregation.

AINO
Then witnesses disappeared.

ELIAS
Who killed them?

Aino looks at him.

AINO
Men from the company.

ELIAS
And Number 61?

Aino smiles faintly.

AINO
A useful story.

Tomas steps forward.

TOMAS
You invented him.

AINO
Not entirely.

The church is silent.

AINO
One man came out.

She looks toward the mine.

AINO
After twenty-three days.

Salla listens.

AINO
Starving.

Injured.

Not entirely sane.

AINO
He told people what had happened underground.

Aino looks at the older residents.

AINO
And what people had done to survive.

Tomas realizes.

TOMAS
Cannibalism.

Aino says nothing.

Enough.

AINO
The company called him Number Sixty-One because officially—

She smiles bitterly.

AINO
He didn't exist.

---

INT. CHURCH — CONTINUOUS

Mira looks around.

MIRA
That's the history.

Aino looks at her.

MIRA
It doesn't explain this.

She points toward Tomas.

His injuries.

MIRA
It doesn't explain kidnapping travelers.

Aino studies her.

AINO
No.

Beat.

AINO
That came later.

Aino walks down the aisle.

AINO
The mine closed.

AINO
The company left.

AINO
Helsinki forgot us.

She gestures toward the town outside.

AINO
But the people underground remained.

SALLA
So you fed them people?

Murmurs.

Aino looks offended.

AINO
At first? Animals.

ELIAS
"At first."

Aino looks at him.

AINO
Winters were difficult.

Elias steps toward her.

Several men move.

ELIAS
You're insane.

AINO
No.

She looks around the church.

AINO
Insanity would be easier.

She points toward ordinary townspeople.

AINO
A butcher supplied meat.

The BUTCHER lowers his eyes.

AINO
A policeman misplaced reports.

An OLD POLICEMAN looks away.

AINO
A mechanic removed registration plates.

Kari.

AINO
A doctor signed certificates.

The NURSE begins crying.

AINO
A motel owner forgot guests.

Oskari stares at the floor.

AINO
Nobody agreed to everything.

Mira listens.

AINO
Everyone agreed to something small.

Aino approaches Mira.

AINO
That's how these things survive.

Mira looks at the congregation.

MIRA
Because you're all cowards.

Some react angrily.

Aino does not.

AINO
Yes.

That answer surprises Mira.

AINO
Mostly.

---

INT. CHURCH — LATER

Salla secretly lowers Tomas's memory card from his camera into her boot.

Aino continues.

AINO
The myth kept people away.

TOMAS
Except the motel.

Aino looks at him.

TOMAS
The motel brings them here.

Oskari closes his eyes.

Aino says nothing.

Tomas understands.

TOMAS
That's what it was built for.

He looks at Oskari.

TOMAS
Not tourists.

OSKARI
Stop.

TOMAS
Victims.

Oskari looks at him.

OSKARI
I said stop.

Aino smiles.

AINO
My son has always disliked plain language.

Elias steps toward Oskari.

ELIAS
How many?

Oskari doesn't answer.

ELIAS
How many people?

OSKARI
I don't know.

ELIAS
Bullshit.

OSKARI
I DON'T KNOW!

The shout echoes through the church.

Silence.

Oskari breathes.

His composure gone.

OSKARI
I stopped counting.

Tomas looks at him.

TOMAS
That's worse.

Oskari looks away.

Aino addresses Markku.

AINO
Take them back.

Salla looks at her.

SALLA
Back where?

Aino looks toward the motel.

AINO
Where guests belong.

---

INT. MOTEL BASEMENT — LATER

The four are forced inside.

Kari locks the exterior doors.

Markku watches.

Oskari stands at the stairs.

Elias looks at him.

ELIAS
You could open that door.

Oskari says nothing.

ELIAS
You know this is wrong.

Oskari looks at him.

OSKARI
Right and wrong are luxuries in places where nobody comes to help.

ELIAS
People came.

Oskari's face tightens.

ELIAS
You killed them.

Oskari closes the door.

Locks it.

---

INT. MOTEL BASEMENT — NIGHT

The four sit.

Tomas weak.

Salla cleans his face with a towel.

Mira searches shelves.

Elias studies the room.

SALLA
What happens now?

Nobody answers.

TOMAS
They give us to the Below.

Salla looks at him.

TOMAS
That's what they were preparing when I escaped.

Mira stops searching.

MIRA
When?

TOMAS
Soon.

Elias notices a gas pipe.

Laundry machinery.

Old electrical panel.

ELIAS
Then we don't wait.

He opens a cabinet.

Tools.

ELIAS
We make them come in.

Mira looks at him.

MIRA
And then?

Elias picks up a wrench.

ELIAS
We stop being guests.

---

INT. MOTEL BASEMENT CORRIDOR — LATER

Oskari unlocks the door.

Markku beside him.

Kari behind.

Oskari opens it.

Darkness.

OSKARI
Elias?

No answer.

They enter.

A washing machine suddenly starts.

BANG BANG BANG BANG.

Markku turns.

A FIRE EXTINGUISHER blasts him.

Mira charges.

Kari grabs her.

Elias drops from behind a shelf.

Hits Kari with a laundry basket full of tools.

Salla pulls Tomas through the doorway.

SALLA
Go!

Oskari grabs Elias.

They struggle.

OSKARI
You don't understand!

ELIAS
I understand enough!

Elias headbutts him.

Oskari falls.

Markku lunges.

Tomas swings a mop handle.

CRACK.

Markku drops.

Tomas looks impressed with himself.

TOMAS
Still got it.

Then nearly collapses.

Salla catches him.

---

EXT. MOTEL REAR — NIGHT

They escape.

Elias has Kari's keys.

They race toward the courtyard.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — CONTINUOUS

Kari's TOW TRUCK.

Elias unlocks it.

ELIAS
Get in!

Mira helps Tomas.

Salla climbs into the rear.

Elias turns the ignition.

ENGINE ROARS.

Headlights.

People emerge from the motel.

Aino sees the truck.

AINO
Stop them!

Elias slams it into gear.

The tow truck crashes through the motel barrier.

---

INT./EXT. TOW TRUCK — MOVING — NIGHT

They race through Kaamosvaara.

Salla laughs and cries simultaneously.

SALLA
We're actually leaving.

Tomas leans against the window.

Mira looks back.

Cars start behind them.

MIRA
Not yet.

Headlights appear.

Three vehicles following.

ELIAS
How far to the highway?

MIRA
Twelve kilometers.

ELIAS
Easy.

Ahead—

A SNOWPLOW emerges sideways.

Blocks the road.

MIRA
Elias!

Elias brakes.

Truck fishtails.

He swerves onto a side road.

---

EXT. FOREST ROAD — NIGHT

Tow truck bounces violently.

Branches strike windshield.

Pursuing cars follow.

MIRA
Where does this go?

Elias looks at her.

ELIAS
No idea.

MIRA
Fantastic.

A road sign flashes past.

OLD MINE — 4 KM

Tomas sees it.

TOMAS
We're going back.

ELIAS
Not intentionally.

A vehicle rams them.

BANG.

Salla screams.

Another impact.

BANG.

Elias fights the wheel.

Ahead—

A narrow wooden bridge.

MIRA
Slow down!

ELIAS
Can't!

The truck hits the bridge.

Boards explode.

The pursuing car brakes.

Elias gets across.

Then—

A second vehicle appears ahead.

Headlights.

Elias swerves.

The tow truck leaves the road.

---

EXT. FOREST — CONTINUOUS

CRASH.

The truck slams into a tree.

Silence.

Steam.

Elias wakes.

Blood on his forehead.

ELIAS
Mira?

MIRA
Here.

ELIAS
Salla?

SALLA
Ow.

ELIAS
Tomas?

No answer.

They turn.

Tomas lies motionless.

Salla crawls to him.

SALLA
Tomas.

She touches his neck.

Nothing.

SALLA
No.

Mira climbs back.

Checks.

Tomas opens his eyes.

TOMAS
Did we reach Norway?

Salla bursts into tears.

Hits him.

SALLA
Asshole.

TOMAS
Ow.

Outside—

Car doors slam.

Elias looks through the shattered windshield.

Flashlights.

ELIAS
Out.

---

EXT. FOREST — NIGHT

They crawl from the wreck.

Tomas can barely move.

Elias supports him.

Flashlights close in.

Then—

A different sound.

CLANG.

Everyone stops.

Even the townspeople.

Another.

CLANG.

From the forest.

A figure steps into the headlights.

The SIXTY-FIRST MAN.

Jarmo survived.

His mask damaged.

Coat covered in mine dust.

The townspeople stop advancing.

They are afraid of him too.

Jarmo looks at the four outsiders.

Then toward the townspeople.

Aino arrives in a car.

Steps out.

AINO
Jarmo.

He turns toward her.

Aino points.

At Elias.

Mira.

Salla.

Tomas.

AINO
Finish it.

Jarmo starts toward them.

Elias whispers:

ELIAS
Run.

They do.

---

EXT. FOREST — NIGHT

A desperate chase.

Tomas falls.

Elias lifts him.

TOMAS
Leave me.

ELIAS
Shut up.

TOMAS
Elias—

ELIAS
I said shut up.

Jarmo gains.

Mira sees something ahead.

An old logging cable stretched between trees.

A rusted winch.

MIRA
Elias!

She points.

He understands.

They lower Tomas.

Mira grabs the cable.

Elias releases the brake.

The cable drops.

Jarmo approaches.

Salla screams deliberately.

SALLA
HEY!

Jarmo turns toward her.

Charges.

At the last moment—

Elias cranks the winch.

The cable snaps taut.

Jarmo trips violently.

Hits the ground.

His pick flies.

ELIAS
GO!

They run.

Jarmo rises behind them.

---

EXT. FROZEN CLEARING — NIGHT

The forest opens.

Ahead—

The motel lights in the distance.

They've circled back.

Salla stops.

SALLA
No.

Mira looks around.

Roads.

Town.

Forest.

Mine.

Every direction leads back.

Tomas looks at Kaamosvaara.

TOMAS
That's the point.

They look at him.

TOMAS
The road closure.

The motel.

The garage.

The detours.

He understands the entire mechanism.

TOMAS
They don't wait for people to get lost here.

He looks toward the town.

TOMAS
They make sure they do.

A gunshot.

BANG.

Tree bark explodes.

They duck.

Kari has a hunting rifle.

Elias looks toward an abandoned maintenance building.

ELIAS
There!

They run.

---

INT. ABANDONED MAINTENANCE BUILDING — NIGHT

They barricade the door.

Tomas collapses.

His wound has reopened.

Too much blood.

Salla presses cloth against it.

SALLA
Stay awake.

TOMAS
I'm awake.

SALLA
Talk.

TOMAS
About what?

SALLA
Anything.

Tomas looks at her camcorder.

TOMAS
Did you get the church?

Salla realizes.

The memory card.

She touches her boot.

SALLA
Some.

TOMAS
Keep it.

SALLA
You're keeping it.

Tomas smiles weakly.

TOMAS
You're a terrible liar.

Outside—

Footsteps.

Elias finds a rear window.

Boarded.

Mira helps tear boards loose.

MIRA
Come on.

Tomas looks at Salla.

TOMAS
The photographs in the shed.

SALLA
Stop.

TOMAS
My card has them.

SALLA
Stop talking like that.

TOMAS
Listen.

She looks at him.

TOMAS
If one of us gets out—

SALLA
All of us.

TOMAS
If one gets out—

He touches her boot.

TOMAS
Make sure they see.

Salla cries.

Outside—

Jarmo's silhouette appears.

---

INT. MAINTENANCE BUILDING — CONTINUOUS

The front door SHUDDERS.

BANG.

Again.

BANG.

Elias tears the final board loose.

ELIAS
Mira, through!

Mira climbs.

Salla tries to lift Tomas.

He can't stand.

SALLA
Come on.

TOMAS
I can't.

SALLA
Yes, you can.

TOMAS
Salla.

BANG.

Door splinters.

Tomas takes the iron bar from Elias.

TOMAS
Take her.

Salla realizes.

SALLA
No.

TOMAS
Elias.

SALLA
NO!

Elias grabs her.

She fights.

SALLA
LET GO!

Tomas smiles at her.

TOMAS
Camera's still not insured.

The door explodes inward.

Jarmo enters.

Elias pulls Salla through the window.

SALLA
TOMAS!

Tomas raises the iron bar.

Faces Jarmo.

TOMAS
Smile.

He triggers his camera flash.

WHITE.

---

EXT. MAINTENANCE BUILDING — CONTINUOUS

Elias drags Salla away.

Mira follows.

Inside—

CRASH.

A struggle.

Then silence.

Salla stops fighting.

She knows.

Elias doesn't let go.

ELIAS
Don't look.

Salla looks anyway.

Jarmo steps from the building.

Alone.

Blood on the mining pick.

Salla makes a broken sound.

Mira grabs her.

MIRA
Run.

---

EXT. MOTEL SERVICE ROAD — NIGHT

The three survivors run.

Elias slows.

A dark stain spreads across his jacket.

Mira notices.

MIRA
You're hurt.

ELIAS
Later.

MIRA
Elias—

ELIAS
Later.

Behind them—

Jarmo.

Ahead—

The Polar Night Motel.

Mira looks at it.

An idea.

MIRA
The car.

SALLA
It doesn't work.

MIRA
The fuel line.

She looks at Elias.

MIRA
Can you fix it?

Elias understands.

ELIAS
If Kari has tools.

MIRA
He does.

They run toward the garage side of the motel.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — NIGHT

Empty now.

Most townspeople are hunting.

Mira and Salla push the Volvo.

Elias crawls beneath it.

His hands shake.

Blood drips from his sleeve.

MIRA
How long?

ELIAS
Longer if you ask.

Salla watches the road.

Nothing.

Elias reconnects the damaged line with tubing and a clamp from the tow truck's emergency kit.

ELIAS
Try.

Mira gets in.

Turns the key.

ENGINE CRANKS.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Again!

Crank.

Crank.

ENGINE FIRES.

Salla almost laughs.

SALLA
Yes!

Elias crawls out.

Then—

CLANG.

He stops.

Jarmo stands at the entrance to the courtyard.

Elias looks at Mira.

ELIAS
Get in.

MIRA
You too.

ELIAS
Get in.

MIRA
Elias.

Jarmo approaches.

Elias picks up a tire iron.

ELIAS
If we all get in, he reaches the car before we move.

Mira knows he's right.

MIRA
No.

Elias looks at her.

For once—

No joke.

ELIAS
Mira.

She can't speak.

ELIAS
You were right.

Tears appear.

MIRA
About what?

ELIAS
Most things.

Despite herself—

A tiny laugh through tears.

MIRA
That's a terrible apology.

ELIAS
I know.

Jarmo gets closer.

ELIAS
Go.

Mira grabs Elias.

Kisses him.

Brief.

Desperate.

Then gets into the Volvo.

Salla screams from inside:

SALLA
ELIAS!

Elias slams the door.

ELIAS
Drive!

Mira does.

The Volvo accelerates.

Jarmo turns toward it.

Elias attacks.

Tire iron against mining pick.

The Volvo disappears onto the road.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — CONTINUOUS

Elias fights Jarmo alone.

Jarmo swings.

Elias ducks.

Hits him.

Again.

Jarmo catches the tire iron.

Pulls Elias closer.

Elias headbutts him.

They crash through the laundry door.

---

INT. MOTEL LAUNDRY — CONTINUOUS

Elias sees the industrial equipment.

The cage.

Gas lines.

Steam pipes.

Everything he noticed earlier.

He backs toward an industrial drying cabinet.

Jarmo follows.

Elias throws detergent into Jarmo's face.

Jarmo recoils.

Elias kicks him inside the drying cage.

SLAMS it.

Locks it.

Jarmo crashes against the bars.

Elias steps back.

Breathing.

Laughs.

ELIAS
Sixty-one.

Jarmo stares.

ELIAS
Let's see if you can count to sixty-two.

Elias turns to leave.

Behind him—

METAL GROANS.

He stops.

The old cage latch bends.

ELIAS
Oh, come on.

Jarmo tears it open.

Elias runs.

---

EXT. HIGHWAY OUT OF KAAMOSVAARA — NIGHT

The Volvo races through snow.

Mira drives.

Salla sobs silently.

Headlights behind them.

None.

SALLA
He could still—

Mira says nothing.

SALLA
Elias could—

MIRA
I know.

They drive.

Road sign:

MAIN HIGHWAY 8 KM

Salla sees it.

Hope.

SALLA
Eight.

Mira accelerates.

Six kilometers.

Four.

Two.

Ahead—

HEADLIGHTS.

A vehicle.

Salla laughs.

SALLA
Someone's coming.

Mira slows.

Then sees what it is.

The SNOWPLOW.

Parked sideways.

Blocking the entire road.

Kari stands beside it.

Mira's face hardens.

MIRA
Seat belt.

SALLA
What?

MIRA
Seat belt!

Salla buckles.

Mira accelerates.

SALLA
Mira—

The Volvo races toward the snowplow.

Kari jumps aside.

At the last second—

Mira turns off the road.

---

EXT. FOREST — CONTINUOUS

The Volvo tears through saplings.

Branches smash the windshield.

Mira fights the wheel.

A tree.

MIRA
Hold—

CRASH.

BLACK.

Silence.

Then—

The ticking of a damaged engine.

---

INT. WRECKED VOLVO — NIGHT

Salla opens her eyes.

Blood on her forehead.

SALLA
Mira?

No answer.

SALLA
Mira.

Mira unconscious.

Breathing.

Salla tries the door.

Jammed.

She kicks.

Again.

Door opens.

---

EXT. FOREST — NIGHT

Salla crawls out.

She looks toward the road.

Flashlights.

Coming.

She returns to Mira.

Pulls.

Can't move her.

SALLA
Wake up.

Mira doesn't.

SALLA
Please.

A metallic sound.

CLANG.

Salla freezes.

She reaches into her boot.

Takes out Tomas's memory card.

Looks at Mira.

Then toward the approaching lights.

She makes a decision.

Salla runs.

---

EXT. DEEP FOREST — NIGHT

Salla runs blindly.

Branches tear at her.

Behind her—

CLANG.

She falls.

Gets up.

Her phone.

One bar of signal.

For a second.

Salla stops.

Opens Tomas's camera app transfer.

No.

Too slow.

She inserts the memory card into a small adapter on her phone.

Files appear.

Photographs.

Video.

She selects one.

UPLOAD.

5%.

10%.

Signal disappears.

SALLA
No.

She runs uphill.

Signal returns.

One bar.

UPLOAD:

18%.

27%.

Behind her—

A figure between trees.

Jarmo.

Salla runs.

38%.

49%.

She climbs a rocky ridge.

58%.

Jarmo gets closer.

67%.

Salla sees a transmission tower far away.

SALLA
Come on.

81%.

Jarmo reaches the bottom of the ridge.

92%.

Salla backs away.

99%.

Jarmo climbs.

UPLOAD COMPLETE.

Then—

NO SIGNAL.

Salla laughs.

Jarmo reaches the top.

She looks at him.

No more running.

Salla raises Tomas's camera.

Points it at him.

SALLA
Smile.

FLASH.

CUT TO BLACK.

A scream.

Then silence.

---

BLACK

SUPER:

THREE DAYS LATER

The sound of tires on wet asphalt.

---

EXT. ROAD TO KAAMOSVAARA — DAY

A dark unmarked POLICE VOLVO travels north.

Inside—

DETECTIVE ANTTI LEHTO, 46.

Tired eyes.

Patient face.

A man who distrusts dramatic explanations.

Beside him—

HELENA RANTA, 38.

Journalist.

Sharp.

Observant.

A notebook already open.

Antti glances at it.

ANTTI
You're writing already.

HELENA
I'm thinking.

ANTTI
Looks like writing.

HELENA
They're related.

Antti drives.

ANTTI
We have eleven seconds.

HELENA
Eleven seconds of a missing woman screaming into a camera while a masked man approaches her.

ANTTI
Yes.

HELENA
And photographs of the motel.

ANTTI
Yes.

HELENA
And four missing people.

ANTTI
Yes.

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
You always talk this much?

ANTTI
Only when interrogated.

She almost smiles.

HELENA
Why did they send you?

ANTTI
They didn't send me.

HELENA
You volunteered?

ANTTI
Unfortunately.

He looks ahead.

A sign emerges.

KAAMOSVAARA 12

The spray-painted warning remains:

TURN BACK BEFORE DARK

Helena reads it.

HELENA
Charming.

Antti drives past.

ANTTI
It's noon.

The car disappears down the road.

Ahead—

Kaamosvaara waits.

CUT TO BLACK.

END OF PART III

BLACK AUTUMN

PART IV

Approx. Pages 88–115

FADE IN:

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA ROAD — DAY

The police Volvo moves through thin snowfall.

HELENA watches the forest.

ANTTI drives.

Neither speaks.

The first houses appear.

Halloween decorations still hang from street lamps.

Plastic ghosts.

Paper witches.

A skeleton turning slowly above an empty bus stop.

Helena looks at her watch.

HELENA
October thirty-first.

ANTTI
I know.

HELENA
Does this place actually celebrate Halloween?

ANTTI
Maybe.

They pass an old woman.

She stops sweeping.

Watches them.

Antti sees her in the mirror.

ANTTI
Or maybe they're celebrating something else.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA MAIN STREET — DAY

They drive slowly.

People watch.

The mechanic's garage.

The Lantern.

The church.

Helena photographs everything through the window.

ANTTI
Don't.

She lowers the camera.

HELENA
Why?

ANTTI
Because you want them to think we're curious.

HELENA
We are curious.

ANTTI
I want them to think that's all we are.

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
You do have a personality.

ANTTI
Don't spread it around.

---

EXT. POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE — DAY

The Volvo enters the courtyard.

Everything is immaculate.

Fresh snow.

Fresh paint.

No wreckage.

No blood.

No damaged barrier.

Room 7's door has been replaced.

Helena notices immediately.

HELENA
That new?

Antti looks.

ANTTI
Very.

Oskari emerges from the office.

He smiles.

OSKARI
Detective Lehto.

Antti stops.

ANTTI
We've spoken?

Oskari realizes.

Too late.

OSKARI
Your department called.

Antti looks at Helena.

Then back.

ANTTI
Did they?

OSKARI
Yesterday.

ANTTI
Who?

Oskari hesitates.

OSKARI
I don't remember the name.

Antti smiles.

ANTTI
Neither do I.

He walks toward the office.

Helena follows.

---

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — DAY

Same counter.

Same bell.

Same ledger.

Antti places four photographs down.

ELIAS.

MIRA.

TOMAS.

SALLA.

ANTTI
Recognize them?

Oskari looks.

No reaction.

OSKARI
No.

HELENA
Take your time.

Oskari studies each photograph.

OSKARI
No.

Helena looks at the ledger.

HELENA
Guest register?

Oskari places his hand over it.

OSKARI
Private.

Antti looks at him.

ANTTI
It's a motel register.

OSKARI
Guests expect privacy.

ANTTI
The missing ones certainly do.

Oskari stares.

Antti takes out identification.

ANTTI
Open it.

Oskari reluctantly does.

Pages.

Recent names.

None of the four.

Antti runs his finger down the dates.

ANTTI
No guests on the twenty-eighth?

OSKARI
No.

HELENA
Twenty-ninth?

OSKARI
No.

ANTTI
Thirty?

OSKARI
No.

Helena looks around.

HELENA
Bad week.

Oskari closes the ledger.

OSKARI
It's October.

A voice from behind them:

AINO
People prefer summer.

Helena turns.

Aino stands in the doorway.

Small.

Calm.

AINO
You must be the journalist.

HELENA
Helena Ranta.

Aino nods.

AINO
I read your work.

HELENA
I'm sorry to hear that.

Aino smiles.

AINO
You enjoy unpleasant places.

HELENA
They're usually interesting.

AINO
Until they become unpleasant.

Antti watches both women.

ANTTI
Mrs. Vuorela—

AINO
Miss.

ANTTI
Were these four people here?

Aino looks at the photographs.

AINO
No.

Immediate.

No study.

Antti notices.

ANTTI
You didn't look.

Aino looks at him.

AINO
I don't need to.

A beat.

AINO
We haven't had guests all week.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — LATER

Antti photographs tire marks.

Helena examines Room 7.

Fresh paint around the door.

She scratches it.

Paint comes away under her nail.

Wet beneath the surface.

HELENA
Antti.

He approaches.

She shows him.

HELENA
Three-day-old paint in October.

Antti smells it.

ANTTI
Maybe less.

Helena looks at Room 7.

HELENA
We should stay here.

Antti looks at her.

ANTTI
Absolutely not.

CUT TO:

---

INT. ROOM 7 — AFTERNOON

Antti puts his bag down.

Helena smiles.

HELENA
Good decision.

ANTTI
It wasn't yours.

HELENA
Of course not.

She examines the room.

HELENA
We're sleeping here?

ANTTI
You're sleeping.

HELENA
And you?

ANTTI
I snore.

HELENA
That's considerate.

Antti looks at the smoke detector.

Then the vent.

He takes out a small screwdriver.

HELENA
What are you doing?

He removes the grille.

Empty cavity.

A clipped wire.

Antti shows her.

ANTTI
Camera used to be there.

Helena's expression changes.

HELENA
How do you know?

ANTTI
Because whoever removed it forgot the wire.

She looks toward the wall.

HELENA
Maybe the missing people found it.

Antti looks at her.

ANTTI
Or whoever cleaned the room did.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA — AFTERNOON

Antti and Helena walk through town.

They split interviews.

---

INT. GARAGE — AFTERNOON

Antti speaks to KARI.

ANTTI
You operate the tow service?

KARI
Yes.

ANTTI
Any calls three nights ago?

KARI
No.

ANTTI
Broken-down Volvo?

KARI
No.

Antti notices scratches on the tow truck.

Fresh damage.

ANTTI
What happened there?

Kari looks.

KARI
Tree.

ANTTI
Tree moving fast?

Kari looks at him.

Antti smiles.

---

INT. THE LANTERN — AFTERNOON

Helena interviews Markku.

HELENA
Four people. Three Finns, one Hungarian-Finnish.

MARKKU
Didn't see them.

HELENA
You remember every customer?

MARKKU
Most.

HELENA
Then you'd remember four strangers.

Markku wipes a glass.

MARKKU
If they'd been here.

Helena sees a trash bin.

A broken strip of photographic film.

She reaches.

Markku covers it with his foot.

MARKKU
Anything else?

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
Plenty.

---

EXT. PENTTI'S HOUSE — AFTERNOON

Helena knocks.

No answer.

She tries the door.

Locked.

An elderly neighbor watches.

HELENA
Pentti home?

The neighbor turns away.

HELENA
When did you last see him?

No answer.

HELENA
Is he missing?

The neighbor goes inside.

Door locks.

Helena looks at Pentti's house.

Something in the upstairs window.

A fly.

Then another.

Helena stares.

---

INT. MOTEL ROOM 7 — EVENING

Antti removes new plaster beside the bed.

Helena watches.

HELENA
Do police normally dismantle hotels without warrants?

ANTTI
Only bad hotels.

He digs.

Something falls onto the floor.

TING.

A deformed bullet.

They stare.

Helena kneels.

HELENA
Now?

Antti bags it.

ANTTI
Now we stop asking whether something happened.

HELENA
And start asking what.

Antti nods.

He takes out his radio.

ANTTI
Lehto to Rovaniemi.

Static.

Again.

ANTTI
Lehto to dispatch.

Nothing.

He checks his phone.

No signal.

Helena checks hers.

Nothing.

They look at each other.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — EVENING

Antti opens the police Volvo hood.

Cut wires.

He examines them.

Clean cut.

Helena joins him.

HELENA
Martens?

Antti looks at her.

ANTTI
Very organized martens.

She looks toward town.

Curtains.

Faces.

Watching.

HELENA
We're trapped.

ANTTI
Temporarily.

HELENA
Difference?

ANTTI
Attitude.

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
That's almost optimistic.

ANTTI
Don't spread that around either.

---

INT. MOTEL ROOM 7 — NIGHT

Antti closes curtains.

Turns on television.

Turns shower on.

Places a coat over a lamp near the window.

Human silhouette.

Helena understands.

She makes another silhouette.

HELENA
You think they'll come.

ANTTI
They already cut the car.

He finds the loosened skirting board.

Pulls.

Hidden passage.

Helena stares.

HELENA
Well.

Antti shines a flashlight inside.

ANTTI
After you.

HELENA
You're the police.

ANTTI
Exactly.

---

INT. MOTEL WALL PASSAGE — NIGHT

They crawl.

Helena sees peepholes.

Looks through one.

Room 5.

HELENA
Every room.

Antti finds hidden doors.

ANTTI
Not a motel.

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
A machine.

Antti nods.

ANTTI
For making people disappear.

Footsteps.

They freeze.

Through a crack—

JARMO enters Room 7.

Mask on.

Mining coat.

Helena sees him.

Her face drains.

Behind Jarmo—

Markku.

Kari.

Jarmo pulls back the shower curtain.

Empty.

Turns.

Sees the silhouettes.

He understands.

His head slowly turns toward the wall.

Antti whispers:

ANTTI
Move.

---

INT. WALL PASSAGE — CONTINUOUS

They crawl faster.

Behind them—

BANG.

Jarmo enters the passage.

Helena and Antti descend.

---

INT. MOTEL BASEMENT — NIGHT

They emerge.

Antti pulls the hidden door shut.

Looks around.

Blood stains have been scrubbed from the floor.

Not well enough.

Helena sees them.

HELENA
There.

She photographs.

Antti sees the underground door.

Open.

ANTTI
That's not encouraging.

A sound above.

Jarmo entering the basement.

They descend.

---

INT. OLD MINE ACCESS TUNNEL — NIGHT

Antti and Helena move quickly.

HELENA
You have a gun?

ANTTI
Yes.

HELENA
This seems like an excellent time.

Antti draws his service pistol.

ANTTI
Happy?

HELENA
Not remotely.

They continue.

A sound.

Movement.

Antti raises the weapon.

ANTTI
Police!

Silence.

ANTTI
Come out.

A shadow moves behind an ore cart.

Helena shines her light.

A woman.

Filthy.

Bloodied.

Terrified.

SALLA.

Helena recognizes her.

HELENA
Salla?

Salla raises a broken piece of metal.

SALLA
Stay back.

Helena lowers her light.

HELENA
Salla Niemi?

Salla's eyes widen.

SALLA
How do you know my name?

HELENA
Your upload.

Salla almost collapses.

SALLA
It worked?

Helena nods.

HELENA
Eleven seconds.

Salla begins laughing.

Then crying.

Helena approaches slowly.

HELENA
Where are the others?

Salla's expression answers before she speaks.

SALLA
Tomas is dead.

Helena closes her eyes briefly.

SALLA
Elias—

She shakes her head.

SALLA
I don't know.

HELENA
Mira?

SALLA
Car crash.

Salla looks toward the tunnel.

SALLA
They took her.

Antti kneels.

ANTTI
Who?

Salla looks at him.

SALLA
Everyone.

---

INT. MINE STORAGE ROOM — LATER

Salla drinks water.

Helena wraps a blanket around her.

Antti examines Tomas's memory card.

ANTTI
You still have it?

Salla removes it from inside her sock.

SALLA
Different one.

Helena smiles faintly.

SALLA
I moved it after the crash.

She gives it to Helena.

SALLA
Tomas took photographs.

HELENA
Of what?

Salla looks around.

SALLA
Everything.

Helena inserts it into her camera.

Images.

Suitcases.

Passports.

Number 61.

Oskari.

Mine.

Church.

Aino.

Townspeople.

Helena stops breathing.

HELENA
Jesus.

Antti looks.

ANTTI
Copy it.

HELENA
No signal.

ANTTI
Prepare it.

She looks at him.

ANTTI
If we get one second outside—

Helena begins setting automatic uploads.

Salla watches.

SALLA
You won't get outside.

Antti looks at her.

SALLA
They know every way out.

A bell rings.

Salla goes rigid.

SALLA
They're here.

---

INT. MINE — NIGHT

Lanterns.

The Below emerge.

Jarmo behind them.

Antti, Helena and Salla run.

---

INT. VENTILATION CONTROL ROOM — NIGHT

They enter.

Antti slams the door.

Old machinery.

Control panels.

Salla recognizes it.

SALLA
This goes to Shaft Six.

Antti sees a huge breaker.

ANTTI
Ventilation.

Helena understands.

HELENA
Does it work?

Antti throws it.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

Jarmo hits the door.

BANG.

Salla spots a secondary breaker.

Pulls it.

For one second—

Nothing.

Then—

A DEEP MECHANICAL GROAN.

Fans somewhere underground begin turning.

Slowly.

Faster.

The entire mine ROARS.

Dust blasts through tunnels.

Lights flicker.

Helena sees old signal bells.

An idea.

She grabs one.

HELENA
What do they use these for?

SALLA
Calling each other.

Helena smiles.

HELENA
Good.

---

INT. MINE TUNNELS — NIGHT

Chaos.

Dust.

Wind.

Visibility near zero.

Helena rings a bell.

RING.

Runs down another tunnel.

RING.

The Below follow.

Another bell from somewhere else.

RING.

They turn.

Antti releases an old mining gate.

SLAM!

Separates three hunters.

Salla points.

SALLA
This way!

They run.

Jarmo emerges through dust.

Alone.

---

INT. SHAFT 6 — NIGHT

The three reach the original collapse.

Names scratched across the walls.

Hundreds of marks.

Helena stops.

Her flashlight moves across them.

Names.

Dates.

Messages.

WE WERE HERE

TELL LIISA

FORGIVE ME

Salla sees something.

A name.

ELIAS KORHONEN

Fresh.

She touches it.

Below:

MIRA SAARI

Helena looks at her.

SALLA
They wrote our names before we died.

Antti sees a wall of company documents preserved inside metal boxes.

Records.

Safety logs.

Personnel lists.

He opens one.

ANTTI
This is it.

Helena photographs everything.

HELENA
Methane readings.

ANTTI
Weeks before the explosion.

Helena turns pages.

HELENA
They knew.

A sound behind them.

CLANG.

Jarmo.

Antti raises his gun.

ANTTI
Stop.

Jarmo doesn't.

ANTTI
Stop!

Jarmo continues.

Antti fires.

BANG.

Jarmo jerks.

Hit in the shoulder.

Still walking.

Helena backs away.

HELENA
Antti—

Jarmo swings.

The pick strikes Antti's arm.

Gun falls.

Salla grabs it.

Jarmo turns toward her.

She points.

Hands shaking.

SALLA
Don't.

Jarmo steps closer.

Salla can't fire.

Helena grabs Jarmo's mask.

Rips it away.

Jarmo freezes.

Helena runs.

With the mask.

Jarmo immediately abandons Salla.

Follows Helena.

---

INT. ORE PLATFORM — NIGHT

Helena reaches a decaying platform above Shaft 6.

Bottomless darkness.

Jarmo approaches.

No mask.

Blood down his shoulder.

For the first time—

Just a man.

JARMO
Give it back.

Helena holds the mask.

HELENA
Why?

Jarmo steps closer.

JARMO
It belongs here.

HELENA
It's leather.

JARMO
Give it back.

HELENA
You're not sixty-one.

Jarmo's face twitches.

HELENA
There is no sixty-one.

JARMO
Give it back.

Helena holds it over the shaft.

HELENA
You're Jarmo Vuorela.

He stops.

His own name wounds him.

HELENA
A man from a dying town wearing somebody else's nightmare.

Jarmo charges.

Helena drops the mask.

It falls.

Jarmo lunges after it instinctively.

The platform CRACKS.

He grabs the edge.

Helena falls backward.

Jarmo hangs.

Antti arrives.

Injured.

Jarmo looks up.

JARMO
Help me.

Antti kneels.

For one moment—

He reaches.

The timber beneath Jarmo cracks.

Jarmo looks terrified.

Not a monster.

Not a legend.

A man.

JARMO
Please.

CRACK.

The wood breaks.

Jarmo falls.

His brass tag strikes steel.

CLANG.

Farther down—

CLANG.

Again—

CLANG.

Then nothing.

Antti looks into the shaft.

ANTTI
Sixty-one.

Helena looks at him.

ANTTI
No more.

---

INT. SHAFT 6 — LATER

Salla calls.

SALLA (O.S.)
Here!

Antti and Helena find her beside a side chamber.

Inside—

MIRA.

Alive.

Bound.

Barely conscious.

Salla drops beside her.

SALLA
Mira.

Mira opens her eyes.

Sees Salla.

MIRA
You got away.

Salla laughs through tears.

SALLA
Not very far.

Mira looks behind her.

MIRA
Elias?

Salla cannot answer.

Mira understands.

She closes her eyes.

One tear.

Then:

MIRA
We leave.

Antti helps her up.

MIRA
We leave now.

---

EXT. MINE ENTRANCE — PRE-DAWN

The four emerge.

Antti.

Helena.

Salla.

Mira.

Cold air.

Snow.

Freedom—

No.

The townspeople wait.

Dozens.

Aino at the front.

Oskari beside her.

Kari.

Markku.

Others.

Some carry hunting rifles.

Antti draws himself upright.

ANTTI
Police.

Nobody moves.

ANTTI
Put the weapons down.

Aino looks at his injured arm.

AINO
You're a long way from your police station.

Helena takes out her phone.

No signal.

Aino sees.

AINO
And your telephone doesn't work.

She approaches.

AINO
You understand now.

HELENA
Yes.

AINO
Good.

Aino looks at Salla.

AINO
You caused us a great deal of trouble.

Mira steps in front of her.

Aino almost smiles.

AINO
Still protecting each other.

She looks toward the mine.

AINO
That's how this began.

Antti looks at the townspeople.

ANTTI
You don't have to keep doing this.

Nobody responds.

AINO
Don't embarrass yourself.

Antti looks at Oskari.

ANTTI
He does.

Oskari looks at him.

ANTTI
He knows.

Aino turns toward her son.

AINO
Don't.

Antti continues.

ANTTI
Pentti knew.

Some townspeople look at one another.

ANTTI
How many others?

Aino's voice sharpens.

AINO
Enough.

Helena looks at the crowd.

HELENA
That's the problem, isn't it?

She raises Tomas's memory card.

HELENA
Too many people know.

Murmurs.

Aino sees it.

AINO
Take it.

Kari steps forward.

Then—

A distant sound.

ENGINES.

Everyone stops.

Aino turns.

Headlights appear through the trees.

One.

Two.

Five.

Ten.

More.

Police vehicles.

Ambulances.

News vans.

The townspeople stare.

Helena's phone vibrates.

Signal.

UPLOAD COMPLETE.

She looks at Aino.

HELENA
Forty-three seconds.

Aino says nothing.

HELENA
That's how long your motel Wi-Fi came back while we were underground.

More vehicles arrive.

Blue lights fill the snow.

Aino looks around.

For the first time—

Afraid.

A MAN in the crowd points at Oskari.

MAN
It was the motel.

Oskari turns.

OSKARI
Don't.

A WOMAN begins crying.

WOMAN
My husband never wanted—

AINO
Quiet.

KARI
The Vuorelas started it.

AINO
QUIET!

Markku backs away.

MARKKU
I only worked at the pub.

OSKARI
You brought people to us!

MARKKU
Because you told me—

The entire conspiracy fractures.

Voices.

Accusations.

Confessions.

People running.

Police pour from vehicles.

POLICE OFFICER
HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!

Weapons drop.

Aino remains standing.

Alone amid chaos.

Helena approaches.

Aino looks at her.

AINO
You think this changes anything?

Helena looks at the mine.

Then the motel.

Then the frightened townspeople.

HELENA
Not what happened.

Aino waits.

HELENA
But silence doesn't belong to you anymore.

Police take Aino.

She doesn't resist.

As she's led away—

She looks toward the mountain.

Not Helena.

Not Oskari.

The mountain.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — DAWN

Police everywhere.

Crime-scene tape.

Search teams.

Salla sits in an ambulance.

Blanket around her.

Mira beside her.

Helena approaches.

Salla looks at the memory card.

SALLA
Tomas wanted people to see.

Helena sits.

HELENA
They will.

Mira looks toward the motel.

MIRA
Elias is still there.

Antti approaches.

He heard.

ANTTI
Where?

Mira points toward the laundry.

---

INT. MOTEL LAUNDRY — MORNING

Antti enters with two officers.

Blood.

Broken machinery.

A bent drying cage.

No Elias.

Antti sees a trail.

Follows.

Behind a washing machine—

A hand.

Antti stops.

Elias lies there.

Motionless.

Antti kneels.

Checks.

Nothing.

Then—

Elias coughs.

Antti nearly falls backward.

ELIAS
You police?

Antti stares.

ANTTI
Yes.

Elias closes his eyes.

ELIAS
Took your fucking time.

Antti laughs.

Despite himself.

ANTTI
Ambulance!

Elias opens one eye.

ELIAS
Mira?

ANTTI
Alive.

Elias exhales.

ELIAS
Salla?

ANTTI
Alive.

Elias waits.

ELIAS
Tomas?

Antti doesn't answer.

Elias understands.

He closes his eyes.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD — MOMENTS LATER

Paramedics wheel Elias out.

Mira sees him.

Freezes.

MIRA
Elias?

His eyes open.

She runs.

MIRA
You idiot.

ELIAS
Correct.

She takes his hand.

Salla sees.

Laughs and cries.

Elias looks toward her.

ELIAS
Tomas?

Salla shakes her head.

Elias's face changes.

The victory becomes smaller.

More human.

He looks toward the mountain.

---

MONTAGE — THE KAAMOSVAARA INVESTIGATION

— Police enter the motel shed.

Suitcases.

Hundreds.

— Forensic teams descend into Shaft 6.

— Human remains are carefully recovered.

— Investigators photograph names scratched into stone.

— The Below are brought to the surface.

Some resist.

Some are terrified.

Children see daylight.

One child—

The same child who helped Salla.

Salla sees him from an ambulance.

Their eyes meet.

Neither waves.

— Oskari is placed into a police vehicle.

He looks at the motel.

His life's work.

Then at Aino in another vehicle.

Aino never looks back.

— Excavators dig behind the motel.

— Old company records are boxed.

— Television cameras arrive.

— Families of missing travelers gather behind barriers.

— Photographs are compared.

Names restored.

People identified.

---

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

THE KAAMOSVAARA FILES

DECADES OF DISAPPEARANCES LINKED TO LAPLAND TOWN

POLICE INVESTIGATE 1978 MINE COVER-UP

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND BENEATH ABANDONED MINE

FORMER OFFICIALS QUESTIONED

SURVIVORS DESCRIBE "SYSTEM OF SILENCE"

---

INT. HELSINKI NEWSPAPER OFFICE — NIGHT

Weeks later.

Helena sits alone.

Snow outside.

Her computer screen contains a long investigation.

Headline:

THE TOWN THAT FED THE MINE

She stares at it.

Deletes.

Types:

THE PEOPLE KAAMOSVAARA TRIED TO ERASE

Below—

Photographs of missing people.

Not Jarmo.

Not Aino.

Victims.

Helena reads the final paragraph.

Then presses:

SEND.

She leans back.

Her editor approaches.

EDITOR
You know what happens tomorrow?

Helena looks at him.

EDITOR
Every newspaper in Europe steals it.

Helena looks at the photographs.

HELENA
Good.

---

INT. HOSPITAL — DAY

Elias lies in bed.

Mira enters carrying coffee.

ELIAS
Is that mine?

MIRA
No.

She drinks.

ELIAS
Cruel.

She sits.

Silence.

ELIAS
Norway's probably nice this time of year.

Mira stares at him.

ELIAS
Too soon?

MIRA
Considerably.

He smiles.

Mira puts a second coffee on his table.

He looks at it.

Then her.

ELIAS
You said it wasn't mine.

MIRA
I lied.

ELIAS
You've changed.

She smiles.

Then the smile fades.

MIRA
Tomas's funeral is Friday.

Elias nods.

ELIAS
I know.

Mira takes his hand.

No joke.

---

EXT. CEMETERY — DAY

Snow.

A small funeral.

Tomas's photograph beside flowers.

Salla stands after everyone else has gone.

She holds Tomas's battered camera.

She places it on the grave.

Steps away.

Stops.

Turns back.

Picks it up.

SALLA
You'd hate that.

She wipes snow from it.

Looks toward the mountains.

Raises the camera.

CLICK.

A beautiful photograph.

Nothing frightening.

Just winter light.

---

INT. POLICE OFFICE — EVENING

Antti sits at a desk.

Stacks of Kaamosvaara files.

A younger detective approaches.

YOUNG DETECTIVE
They're saying there could be forty-seven cases.

Antti looks at the files.

ANTTI
There'll be more.

YOUNG DETECTIVE
How do you know?

Antti looks toward a box labeled:

UNIDENTIFIED PROPERTY

ANTTI
Because people don't start counting until somebody asks what's missing.

The detective leaves.

Antti opens a file.

A photograph:

MIKKO AND ANNA.

He writes:

REOPENED

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA — WINTER

Months later.

The town is empty.

Snow buries cars.

Windows boarded.

Police tape flaps.

The Lantern is closed.

The church doors chained.

The mine entrance sealed behind forensic fencing.

The Polar Night Motor Lodge stands alone.

Its neon sign dead.

Wind blows snow through the courtyard.

SUPER:

SIX MONTHS LATER

---

EXT. POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE — DAY

A demolition truck arrives.

Three WORKERS climb out.

One looks at the building.

WORKER #1
Beautiful.

WORKER #2
You should've seen it before.

WORKER #1
You were here?

WORKER #2
No.

Beat.

WORKER #2
Saw it on television.

They laugh.

Enter.

---

INT. MOTEL ROOM 6 — DAY

Walls stripped.

Furniture gone.

WORKER #1 uses a crowbar.

RIPS away old paneling.

Dust.

Behind it—

A cavity.

WORKER #1
Hey.

Worker #2 enters.

WORKER #2
What?

They shine a light.

Inside—

An old mining coat.

Black.

Covered in dust.

Worker #1 pulls it out.

Something falls.

TING.

A brass identification tag.

He picks it up.

Looks.

62

WORKER #1
What's this?

Worker #2 takes it.

WORKER #2
Mining tag.

WORKER #1
Thought the guy was sixty-one.

Worker #2 looks at him.

WORKER #2
What guy?

Worker #1 laughs.

WORKER #1
Never mind.

Behind them—

CREAK.

Both turn.

Empty doorway.

Nothing.

Worker #2 shakes his head.

WORKER #2
Old building.

They return to work.

The camera remains on the dark doorway.

Silence.

Then—

A CHILD'S VOICE.

Very faint.

From inside the wall.

VOICE (O.S.)
You found it.

Both workers freeze.

They slowly turn.

BLACK.

CLANG.

A long silence.

Then—

CLANG.

Closer.

Another.

CLANG.

---

ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE — 1978

The original mining crew photograph.

The camera slowly moves across the faces.

One.

Two.

Three.

Dozens.

The damaged portion of film.

The unidentified man.

The image trembles.

But this time—

The frame continues slightly farther to the right.

At the very edge of the photograph—

Another man.

Almost cropped out.

Around his neck:

62

The projector stops.

Film burns.

WHITE.

Then BLACK.

TITLE:

BLACK AUTUMN

A final line appears:

Some stories survive because somebody tells them.

A beat.

Then:

Others survive because somebody doesn't.

FADE OUT.

THE END

BLACK AUTUMN

SCRIPT DOCTOR DIALOGUE PASS

Dialogue approach

ELIAS uses humor defensively. His best lines are spontaneous, irreverent and occasionally stupid. As the danger becomes real, the jokes become shorter.

MIRA is precise. She doesn't try to be funny, which often makes her funnier than Elias. Under pressure she becomes brutally practical.

SALLA starts playful and talkative. By the final act she has learned when not to speak. Her final one-liners should therefore land hard.

TOMAS has intellectual curiosity that becomes horrified fascination. He sometimes recognizes the terrible significance of something before the others do.

OSKARI speaks like a hotelier even when threatening somebody. Politeness is his defense mechanism.

AINO should rarely raise her voice. Her most frightening lines sound reasonable.

JARMO / NUMBER 61 speaks very little. Giving him fewer lines makes each one matter.

ANTTI has dry police humor. He doesn't perform cleverness.

HELENA is verbally aggressive because questions are her weapon. She is good at finding the sentence people don't want spoken aloud.

---

ACT ONE — REVISED DIALOGUE

INT. VOLVO — DAY

Salla points her camcorder at Elias.

SALLA
Elias Korhonen. Thirty-one. Occupation?

ELIAS
Between opportunities.

MIRA
Between employers.

ELIAS
Same thing with worse branding.

SALLA
Reason for unemployment?

ELIAS
Creative differences.

MIRA
He called his foreman an alcoholic moron.

ELIAS
Those were the creative differences.

Tomas takes Elias's photograph.

CLICK.

ELIAS
Delete that.

CLICK.

ELIAS
I'm serious.

CLICK.

ELIAS
That's going in your obituary.

TOMAS
Good. Use the horizontal one.

Mira laughs.

Elias notices.

ELIAS
There. She remembers happiness.

MIRA
Keep driving.

---

EXT. ROADSIDE REST AREA — DAY

Mira and Elias drink coffee overlooking the frozen lake.

MIRA
You know what your problem is?

ELIAS
Currently? Instant coffee.

MIRA
Nothing matters until you're about to lose it.

Elias looks at her.

The joke almost comes.

He decides against it.

ELIAS
That's not true.

MIRA
Good argument.

She walks away.

---

EXT. KAAMOSVAARA ROAD JUNCTION — EVENING

The sign:

TURN BACK BEFORE DARK

Salla films it.

SALLA
Well, that's encouraging.

MIRA
We're taking the detour.

ELIAS
This is the detour.

MIRA
This is how missing-person documentaries start.

TOMAS
Usually with better cameras.

Salla points her camcorder at him.

SALLA
Fuck you.

They drive toward Kaamosvaara.

Mira watches the warning disappear behind them.

MIRA
When we die, I'm haunting all three of you.

ELIAS
Fair.

---

ARRIVAL IN KAAMOSVAARA

They pass the mutilated billboard:

KAAMOSVAARA — A GOOD PLACE TO

Salla reads it.

SALLA
"A good place to..."

ELIAS
They ran out of reasons.

---

POLAR NIGHT MOTOR LODGE

INT. MOTEL OFFICE — EVENING

Oskari appears silently behind them.

OSKARI
Once is enough.

Elias turns.

ELIAS
Sorry?

Oskari indicates the bell.

OSKARI
Once.

ELIAS
Right.

Oskari studies him.

OSKARI
Elias Korhonen.

Elias's smile disappears.

ELIAS
Have we met?

OSKARI
Registration plate.

Beat.

ELIAS
You could've led with that.

OSKARI
Then I wouldn't know how observant you are.

Oskari opens the register.

OSKARI
Destination?

ELIAS
Tromsø.

OSKARI
People expecting you?

Mira looks up.

MIRA
Why?

OSKARI
People usually travel toward someone.

MIRA
Sometimes they travel away.

Oskari looks at her.

A small smile.

OSKARI
Those are the interesting guests.

He gives them keys.

OSKARI
Six and seven.

SALLA
Anything we should know?

OSKARI
Breakfast at seven. Hot water takes a minute.

Beat.

OSKARI
And don't go behind the motel after midnight.

SALLA
Why?

OSKARI
Mine shafts.

ELIAS
You have open mine shafts behind a motel?

OSKARI
Only the dangerous ones.

Nobody laughs.

Oskari smiles.

OSKARI
Sleep well.

---

THE LANTERN

INT. PUB — NIGHT

Pentti joins them.

PENTTI
You staying with Vuorela?

ELIAS
Apparently.

Pentti drinks.

PENTTI
Then you're not staying.

Elias looks at him.

ELIAS
That's unnecessarily mysterious.

Pentti points toward the mine photograph.

PENTTI
How many?

Tomas counts.

TOMAS
Sixty.

Pentti smiles.

PENTTI
That's what killed them.

TOMAS
What?

PENTTI
Counting wrong.

Markku approaches.

MARKKU
Pentti.

Pentti ignores him.

PENTTI
Sixty names on the list.

He leans toward Tomas.

PENTTI
Sixty-one men underground.

TOMAS
Who was the extra man?

Pentti's smile disappears.

PENTTI
Extra men don't get names.

Markku grabs him.

MARKKU
Home.

Pentti points at Tomas as he's dragged away.

PENTTI
If you hear bells underground, don't follow them.

TOMAS
Why?

Pentti looks directly at him.

PENTTI
Because down there, a bell doesn't mean come.

Beat.

PENTTI
It means run.

---

THE CAMERAS

INT. ROOM 7 — NIGHT

Mira discovers the hidden camera.

Elias removes it.

Salla stares.

SALLA
Tell me that's normal motel equipment.

ELIAS
Sure.

He examines the wire.

ELIAS
It's the Finnish hospitality camera.

Mira glares.

ELIAS
Sorry.

Salla finds the second camera.

Silence.

MIRA
Now you can stop joking.

Elias looks at it.

ELIAS
Already did.

---

TOMAS FINDS THE SHED

EXT. MOTEL — NIGHT

Tomas sees Number 61.

Raises his camera.

FLASH.

The killer advances.

Tomas backs away.

TOMAS
Okay.

FLASH.

Closer.

TOMAS
You don't like photographs.

FLASH.

Closer.

Tomas lowers the camera.

TOMAS
Understood.

He runs.

---

EXT. MOTEL COURTYARD

Tomas reaches Oskari.

TOMAS
Call the police!

Oskari sees Jarmo approaching.

Does nothing.

Tomas realizes.

TOMAS
You know him.

Oskari says nothing.

TOMAS
Oh.

Beat.

TOMAS
That's worse.

Oskari kills the lights.

---

MORNING AFTER

INT. MOTEL OFFICE

ELIAS
Where's Tomas?

OSKARI
He left.

ELIAS
Without his camera?

OSKARI
People leave things behind.

MIRA
Not Tomas.

OSKARI
Then perhaps you don't know Tomas as well as you think.

Elias places the final photograph on the counter.

Oskari sees himself behind the killer.

Elias watches him.

ELIAS
Maybe we know you better.

Silence.

Oskari pushes the photograph back.

OSKARI
You should check out.

ELIAS
Best idea you've had.

---

GARAGE

ELIAS
Somebody cut the fuel line.

KARI
Martens.

Elias stares.

ELIAS
Martens.

KARI
They chew rubber.

ELIAS
This one use wire cutters?

Kari says nothing.

MIRA
Can you repair it?

KARI
Tomorrow.

MIRA
We need it today.

KARI
Then you needed it yesterday.

Elias steps toward him.

MIRA
Elias.

ELIAS
I'm beginning to hate Finnish people.

Mira looks at him.

MIRA
You're Finnish.

ELIAS
Exactly. I know what we're like.

---

THE TOWN CLOSES RANKS

INT. THE LANTERN

Elias confronts the locals.

ELIAS
Our friend disappeared.

Nothing.

ELIAS
His camera was found covered in blood.

Nothing.

ELIAS
Pentti's house looks like somebody killed him.

Nothing.

He looks around.

ELIAS
And somehow I'm still the rude one.

Aino enters.

AINO
You are a guest.

Elias turns.

ELIAS
Your hospitality needs work.

AINO
Guests aren't prisoners.

MIRA
Good.

Aino looks at her.

MIRA
Then we're leaving.

Aino smiles.

AINO
Of course.

Mira understands immediately.

MIRA
You're not going to stop us.

AINO
No.

Beat.

AINO
The road will.

---

THE FIRST DESCENT

They discover the hidden passage.

Salla looks inside.

SALLA
No.

ELIAS
Strong argument.

SALLA
I'm serious.

ELIAS
So am I.

She looks into the darkness.

SALLA
Nothing good has ever been hidden inside a motel wall.

Mira shines her flashlight.

MIRA
Tonight's been full of firsts.

---

FINDING TOMAS

Tomas is chained inside the mine.

Salla hugs him.

SALLA
I thought you were dead.

TOMAS
So did I.

Elias works on the chain.

ELIAS
What happened?

Tomas looks at him.

TOMAS
I found the guests who never checked out.

Silence.

MIRA
What does that mean?

TOMAS
It means this isn't a motel.

Beat.

TOMAS
It's a pantry.

---

THE BELOW

The underground settlement is revealed.

Salla whispers:

SALLA
People live here?

Tomas:

TOMAS
"Live" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

The Old Woman approaches.

OLD WOMAN
Vuorela sent you?

MIRA
No.

The woman looks at Tomas.

OLD WOMAN
That one came before.

Elias raises the iron bar.

ELIAS
And now he's leaving.

The woman smiles.

OLD WOMAN
Nobody leaves hungry.

Elias looks around at the bones.

ELIAS
I was afraid you'd say something like that.

---

NUMBER 61 UNMASKED

Jarmo's mask comes off.

Elias stares at the ordinary face beneath it.

ELIAS
That's it?

Jarmo breathes.

ELIAS
You're just some guy.

Jarmo looks at the mask.

JARMO
Today.

TOMAS
There is no Sixty-First Man.

Jarmo looks at him.

JARMO
There is when I put this on.

He raises the mask.

MIRA
That's not a legend.

Jarmo puts it on.

JARMO
Neither are most legends.

---

CHURCH REVELATION

Aino faces the outsiders.

AINO
There was never a curse.

SALLA
You expect us to believe that?

AINO
Curses are comforting.

They stare at her.

AINO
A curse means nobody chose this.

That lands.

Aino gestures toward the congregation.

AINO
A driver looked away. A policeman lost a report. A doctor changed a date. A motel owner forgot a name.

She looks at Oskari.

AINO
Nobody agreed to everything.

Then at Mira.

AINO
Everyone agreed to something.

MIRA
And that makes you innocent?

AINO
No.

Beat.

AINO
It makes us a town.

Mira stares at her.

MIRA
No.

Aino waits.

MIRA
It makes you witnesses who decided being witnesses wasn't enough.

Silence.

---

LATER

TOMAS
So what's Number 61?

Aino looks toward the mountain.

AINO
A story.

TOMAS
You murdered people to protect a story?

Aino looks back.

AINO
No.

Beat.

AINO
We told a story to protect the murders.

---

OSKARI'S BREAKING POINT

ELIAS
How many?

Oskari says nothing.

ELIAS
How many people did you put in those rooms?

OSKARI
I don't know.

ELIAS
Try.

OSKARI
I stopped counting.

Silence.

Tomas looks at him.

TOMAS
That's the first honest thing you've said.

Oskari's eyes fill with anger.

OSKARI
Honesty doesn't make anything better.

TOMAS
No.

Beat.

TOMAS
But lying made all of this possible.

---

TOMAS'S LAST STAND

Salla tries to carry him.

TOMAS
Leave me.

SALLA
No.

TOMAS
I'm heavier than I photograph.

SALLA
Shut up.

The door begins breaking.

Tomas gives her the memory card.

TOMAS
If you get out—

SALLA
When.

Tomas smiles.

TOMAS
There you go.

He puts the card into her hand.

TOMAS
Make them look.

Salla fights tears.

SALLA
At what?

Tomas looks toward the approaching killer.

TOMAS
Everything they worked this hard to hide.

Elias drags Salla toward the window.

Tomas picks up the iron bar.

Jarmo enters.

Tomas raises his camera.

TOMAS
One more.

FLASH.

---

ELIAS AND MIRA

At the repaired Volvo.

MIRA
You're coming.

ELIAS
I'd love to.

He sees Jarmo approaching.

ELIAS
Schedule's terrible.

MIRA
Elias.

He looks at her.

No joke now.

ELIAS
You were right about me.

MIRA
This is a terrible time for personal growth.

ELIAS
I know.

She kisses him.

MIRA
Don't die.

ELIAS
Finally, a clear instruction.

He closes the car door.

---

ELIAS VS. NUMBER 61

Elias traps Jarmo in the industrial drying cage.

Jarmo crashes against the bars.

Elias is exhausted.

Bloody.

Terrified.

But smiling.

ELIAS
Sixty-one?

Jarmo stares.

ELIAS
You're going to hate what comes next.

The cage starts bending.

Elias's smile disappears.

ELIAS
Sixty-two.

The latch breaks.

ELIAS
Shit.

---

SALLA'S UPLOAD

99%.

Jarmo climbs toward her.

UPLOAD COMPLETE.

Salla looks at the message.

Then at him.

Her terror changes.

She raises Tomas's camera.

SALLA
Too late.

Jarmo stops.

FLASH.

CUT TO BLACK.

---

ACT THREE — ANTTI AND HELENA

INT. POLICE CAR — DAY

HELENA
You don't believe me.

ANTTI
I believe eleven seconds of video.

HELENA
That's not the same thing.

ANTTI
That's why I'm driving.

Helena studies him.

HELENA
You don't like journalists.

ANTTI
I like newspapers.

HELENA
Almost charming.

ANTTI
Don't print it.

---

MOTEL INTERVIEW

Antti shows Oskari the four photographs.

ANTTI
Recognize them?

OSKARI
No.

HELENA
Look again.

OSKARI
I don't need to.

Helena immediately:

HELENA
That's interesting.

Oskari looks at her.

HELENA
People usually need to look at strangers before deciding they've never seen them.

Silence.

Antti glances at Helena.

A tiny approval.

---

DISCOVERING THE BULLET

Helena sees it drop from the fresh plaster.

HELENA
Eleven seconds.

Antti bags it.

ANTTI
Now twelve.

---

SABOTAGED POLICE CAR

Helena looks at the cut wiring.

HELENA
So what do we do?

Antti closes the hood.

ANTTI
Give them what they want.

HELENA
Which is?

ANTTI
Two frightened idiots in Room Seven.

Helena looks at him.

HELENA
Can you do frightened?

ANTTI
No.

HELENA
I'll do both.

---

DISCOVERING SALLA

Antti raises his pistol.

ANTTI
Police.

Salla holds the piece of metal.

SALLA
Prove it.

Antti considers.

Slowly places his gun on the ground.

ANTTI
Police.

Salla stares.

Helena steps forward.

HELENA
Salla Niemi?

Salla's eyes widen.

SALLA
How do you know me?

HELENA
You sent us eleven seconds.

Salla's voice breaks.

SALLA
Only eleven?

Helena nods.

Salla begins crying.

Then laughing.

SALLA
Tomas would've complained about the edit.

---

SHAFT 6

Helena sees the names carved into the wall.

HELENA
This is the story.

Antti looks at the names.

ANTTI
No.

She looks at him.

ANTTI
These are people.

Helena lowers her camera.

That changes how she photographs the rest.

---

FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH JARMO

Helena has the Number 61 mask.

Jarmo approaches.

JARMO
Give it back.

HELENA
Why?

JARMO
It's mine.

Helena looks at the mask.

Then him.

HELENA
No.

Beat.

HELENA
That's the problem.

Jarmo steps closer.

JARMO
Give it back.

HELENA
Without this, what are you?

No answer.

HELENA
Jarmo Vuorela.

His name stops him.

HELENA
Not a ghost.

She holds the mask over Shaft 6.

HELENA
Not a curse.

Jarmo trembles with rage.

HELENA
Not even a good story.

She drops it.

HELENA
Just Jarmo.

He lunges.

The platform collapses.

Jarmo falls.

CLANG.

---

FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH AINO

Police lights approach.

Aino realizes the evidence escaped.

AINO
You think telling people will change what happened?

Helena looks at her.

HELENA
No.

Aino almost smiles.

Then Helena continues.

HELENA
It changes who gets to lie about it.

Aino's smile disappears.

AINO
People forget.

HELENA
That's why we write things down.

---

ELIAS FOUND ALIVE

Antti discovers Elias behind the laundry machinery.

Checks his pulse.

Elias coughs.

ELIAS
You police?

ANTTI
Yes.

Elias closes his eyes.

ELIAS
Finally.

ANTTI
You've been waiting?

Elias opens one eye.

ELIAS
No. I just have several complaints about the motel.

Antti almost laughs.

ANTTI
I'll get the manager.

ELIAS
Don't.

Beat.

ELIAS
One star.

---

ELIAS AND MIRA — HOSPITAL

ELIAS
Norway?

Mira stares.

ELIAS
Eventually.

MIRA
I'm never getting in a car with you again.

ELIAS
Train?

MIRA
No.

ELIAS
Plane?

MIRA
No.

ELIAS
Ferry?

She considers.

MIRA
Maybe.

Elias smiles.

ELIAS
Progress.

Mira hands him coffee.

MIRA
Tomas's funeral is Friday.

The humor disappears.

ELIAS
I know.

Mira takes his hand.

MIRA
He got us out.

ELIAS
Yeah.

Elias looks toward the window.

ELIAS
He got everyone out.

---

SALLA AT TOMAS'S GRAVE

Salla places Tomas's camera on the grave.

Looks at it.

SALLA
This is stupid.

She takes it back.

SALLA
You'd come back and haunt me for leaving the lens in the snow.

She raises the camera toward the mountains.

CLICK.

---

ANTTI'S EPILOGUE

YOUNG DETECTIVE
Forty-seven possible victims.

Antti looks through the evidence.

ANTTI
Possible?

YOUNG DETECTIVE
That's the estimate.

Antti sees another unidentified passport.

ANTTI
Then stop estimating.

He hands it over.

ANTTI
Start naming them.

---

FINAL MOTEL SCENE

The demolition workers find the brass tag.

62.

WORKER #1
Thought the killer was sixty-one.

WORKER #2
What killer?

Worker #1 looks at the tag.

WORKER #1
Long story.

A CREAK inside the wall.

They stop.

WORKER #2
Mouse.

Another CREAK.

Closer.

WORKER #1
Big mouse.

Silence.

Then a child's voice from inside the wall:

VOICE (O.S.)
You missed one.

The workers freeze.

BLACK.

CLANG.

CLANG.

CLANG.

BLACK AUTUMN

Some stories survive because somebody tells them.

Beat.

Others survive because somebody doesn't.

FADE OUT.

THE END