Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed
Horror by David Kruschke of the San Francisco Bay area.

A woman buys her dress off Ebay; it arrives haunted by its previous owner.

David, I really liked this one because of the simple, relatable premise. Everyone has purchased something off Ebay (or knows someone who has) and wondered who had this item before. The fact you were able to make this into a horror movie idea is great and shows great potential. Being a recent film school grad you are off to a good start.

That said, you need to refine the logline to reflect that story potential. First, I think what you have here is not a horror movie per se, but a supernatural thriller ala’ The Sixth Sense. I think you would be better off marketing it as such.

What’s also good about your logline (though it does need work) is that it is “open” enough to make you want to ask questions about what happens next. That’s good – you want that in your logline. If it were a bad concept then you’d get nothing. The problem is that you didn’t set up the conflict or the consequences:

Is the dress taking over the woman’s life? How?
Is she single and looking to get married someday or does she have a fiancee’?
How can she get the dress to stop? Where does that lead her? (Could be great twist ending).
Why did the dress come to her?


Here’s my take on your logline:

When Nancy buys a wedding dress off Ebay, she discovers its previous owner will haunt her forever unless she brings the woman’s killer to justice.

I hope this helps you. Something Borrowed has a lot of good elements to it. With the right twists and turns this could be a very tight thriller. You get big points from me for original thinking.

Good Job, David!