(FEATURE)
A small town Minnesota waitress is haunted by guilt when some tourists she served go missing, but the true reason for her tortured soul is one of many intertwined mysteries in this often nonlinear story where the clues point to both murder and monsters.
FARGO X MEMENTO (with werewolves)
For the first 10ish pages, Once Bitten appears to be the setup for a solid if not wholly original college monster flick with the hot co-eds heading off into the woods for a weekend of ill-fated debauchery. Instead, we leap ahead to after they have already been killed or taken, and we learn that the locals already suspect werewolves are to blame. It becomes the audience’s job to figure out what happened in the missing time by returning to the fateful afternoon from different perspectives before uncovering the greater conspiracy that threatens an entire species.
At its core, Once Bitten is a story about withholding and revealing your true self, which is why there is so much cinema “trickery” and nonlinear techniques baked into its DNA. This is NOT a second-screen type of film. The style requires the audience to pay close attention and rethink their earlier conclusions as moments are revisited and the true nature of relationships are revealed. Although there are werewolves in this story, they are more of a metaphor for in-groups and out-groups than they are there for spectacle, which elevates and distinguishes Once Bitten from other “monster movies.”
Red herrings and backstories finally come to a head where the baddies get their comeuppance through the combined efforts (and multi-timeline intercuts) of a cult survivor/waitress, two charming middle-aged podcaster besties, and a mysterious stranger with secrets of his own. Although the body count is high, the ending is surprisingly wholesome.
Status: Available
Format: Feature, 127 pages (but limited locations)
Genre: Psychological mystery, thriller
Themes: Identity/Self, family
Top accolade: Runner-up Best Unproduced Screenplay Imaginarium 2026
Materials available upon request:
– Script
– One Pager
– Pitch Deck (coming soon!)
