LOGLINE: Following a brutal attack in which her husband and children are murdered and she is left for dead, Rebecca Falcon rises from the carnage of her former life hellbent on revenge as a bloodthirsty vigilante called “Mia”.
LONG SYNOPSIS
“Vengeance Turns: Volume One” reveals the heartbreaking, often horrifying transformation experienced by REBECCA FALCON following a brutal attack in which she is left bloody, broken and dying; her husband and children slaughtered. The once devoted mother and loving wife becomes “Mia”, a bloodthirsty, claw-wielding vigilante who lives for nothing except revenge.1876.
Blaketon, California. Tranquility explodes into chaos. Marauders masquerading as local natives murder the sweet DUBOIS FAMILY, further stoking the already high levels of violence toward any indigenous person found in or near their town. As Rebecca Falcon approaches the general store, she overhears its proprietor MRS. PAINE boasting that her boys have been shooting displaced Kumeyaay on sight for weeks already.
The conversation sickens Rebecca, and because she is secretly part Kumeyaay, makes her feel threatened when drunk men join in saying they plan to “shoot and scalp every injun they can find”. As she flees, overcome with anxiety, Rebecca hears HESTER BLAKE, widow of the man who ran the gold mine around which the town is built, offering those men five dollars for every scalp they bring her. Once home, Rebecca is soothed by her caring husband Michael and distracted by her wonderful children, Edward and Emma. Unknown to all, this would be their last day and final meal together as only hours later the same group of badly disguised thugs would slaughter her entire family and leave her for dead.
During the brutal attack, the ringleader JEFFERSON COLETRAIN, reminds Rebecca that he had seen her earlier at the store. Then he partially scalps her, bragging that he will add this to a collection on his wall at home. Coletrain summons his son, SIMON, to come in and expects him to rape the near-dead Rebecca, but the young man rejects this idea completely which only increases his father’s rage. Simon barely escapes the home alive, his father shooting after him into the night and vowing to kill him if he ever sees him again.
Some spark of life remains inside Rebecca even though she is bloodied and broken in almost every way possible. She instinctively crawls away, barely able to drag herself away from the carnage that had once been her whole world. Simon finds Rebecca in this condition and misunderstanding the words “Mi Amor” as “Mia”, while she hallucinates seeing her husband, calls her by this name from that point on. Part Kumeyaay himself, when he hears this word from her, he vows to get her to someone from that people in hopes that they may take her in and heal her.
Instead of finding the Kumeyaay reservation, Simon stumbles onto a group who refer to themselves as the “Lost People” and are led by the very charismatic, very dangerous "Delicate Poison" and her brother “Ghost with Silent Knives Protects”. The Lost People do take Mia and Simon in and help Mia to heal. Both of them train, but unsatisfied with her progress on traditional weapons due to her arm which was crushed in the attack, Mia designs and builds her own “Falcon Claw” weapon from scrap wood, old nails and leather straps. Her only focus on bloody revenge, Mia struggles to control her rage even around her camp and new allies with the Lost People. This leaves Simon more determined than ever to protect Mia, even if it is from herself.
Following a violent outburst during a training session, Mia decides it is time for her to return home and convinces Simon to take her back. During the trip, the duo run across a family under attack by a pair of cowboys, and Mia begins hallucinating about her own attack and immediately loses control, attacking them both. Her attack on one of the men is so brutal– even ripping out the man’s eye– that the child she is attempting to protect cries out in terror that she believes Mia to be a monster, only causing her to pause briefly enough to scream at the mother and daughter both to run away immediately. Simon races in and shoots the first cowboy that Mia injured before he can grab his gun and retaliate. He then shoots and kills the second man simply to put him out of his misery, as Mia sits on top of him pounding her claw into him over and over again, screaming like a feral animal.
Lost in rage, Mia throws her claw away and charges Simon, attacking him and accusing him of stealing this kill from her. At this point, Simon can hold it in no longer and breaks down, revealing everything to Mia regarding who it was that attacked her and that the man was his father. He shows her a locket that he took from her as he ran for his own life from his father during the attack on her family. She snatches the locket and grimly states that they need to move on before they “lose the sun”, and the two continue on back to the Falcon Family home.
A grave-site with a nice marker for “Michael, Edward & Emma Falcon” greets the two outside the home, and they move inside barely speaking. Memories come flooding back to Mia and she shares stories about her daughter, Emma and her husband, Michael with Simon. He asks her if she wants everyone to start calling her Rebecca now, but she tells him that “Rebecca” had died here with her family, and they create a gravemarker to plant beside the one for her family. Mia hangs the locket over her gravemarker and they ride away back to their camp.
Delicate Poison and her brother await them holding hot cups of tea, and the four enter a nearby tent while Mia and Simon regale them with their adventure. After being encouraged to finish their tea, Simon stands, removes his shirt and begins howling like a wolf. He insists on leaving the tent and asks everyone to follow him. Mia agrees that she still needs more training, and asks Delicate Poison when they will begin. She spirals in confusion as Delicate Poison, smiling slyly, tells her “You began when you took your first sip of tea from the vine” and leaves the tent with her brother.
Outside the tent, Simon bonds with a horse which seems to have appeared out of nowhere before he drops to the ground and passes out with an enormous smile on his face. Mia’s continues spiraling and can barely comment on Simon before passing out, guided gently to the ground by a still smiling Delicate Poison.
Everything Stops.
“What do the Lost People Have Planned for Mia?”
“Will Simon ever see his cruel father again?”
“Will Mia get her bloody revenge?”
Find out in “Vengeance Turns: Volume Two”!
Scheduling a 3 week shoot meant that some days the cast and crew were filming various points in time from Mia’s life. It really took everyone involved to help make sure that everything was kept straight showing her injuries as they healed, especially the scar on her head. Every scene taking place inside a tent or an ewaa (in both Volume One and Volume Two) were filmed on the same day, in the backyard of the house belonging to Director of Photography, Mr. David Ruano.
CONTACT Robert Christopher Smith karaokecrime@gmail.com
