Recycled Precis
The world was so beautiful, once.
While an idealistic young woman tries to reconnect with her ailing father, she takes up residence in an Eco Lodge belonging to her father’s ex-lover. Here she becomes ensnared in her landlord’s sinister plan to redesign the world.
A contained thriller with minimum cast, maximum tension, and the promise of new horrors around every corner.
Recycled is a gripping, modern-day “cautionary tale” about how good intentions, when pushed to extremism become true evil.
Recycled Synopsis
Recycled is set in a time not too distant from where we are now. A world scarred by climate change and pandemics, frightened of what’s to come. It is also a world that has not learnt from its mistakes and done little to rectify them. Our main protagonist, Nikki yearns to make things right, while her girlfriend Keira only wants to savour it while it lasts. When Nikki meets an experienced “eco-warrior”, Jan, she falls instantly under her spell.
This film explores the duopoly of nature and of ourselves. Everything and everyone has the means of great good and bad within them. It has genuine scare moments, and a level of horror that only comes from the audience’s recognition of themselves in the characters and the situation. Our complacency. Our self-righteousness and it leaves us questioning – how far would we go to save this planet and who deserves to be saved.
Set in Sydney’s urban inner west, where grit, grime and beauty exist side-by-side. The palate for this thriller is luscious and visceral. Deep green moss, taking over unkempt walls. Century old houses leading to lush secret gardens. The props hand-crafted to lend it a feel of authenticity and ingenuity.
Recycled is a unique thriller, a drama, a mirror. Where the ultimate monsters are ourselves.
The characters
Nikki is a flawed heroic figure. She believes in standing up for what’s right, no matter the cost and sees Jan as the epitome of the Eco Warrior she aspires to be. Her beliefs are manipulated and tested as she becomes a pawn to destroying the world.
Jan is the perfect Eco Warrior. She will lay down her life for her cause. She has grown tired of being constantly disappointed by her fellow human’s inability to sacrifice for the greater good. So, she’s going to sacrifice them instead.
Keira is full of energy and a love of life and is impatient to see the world, she sets the world a-light whenever she walks in the room. A natural athlete, she will need all that strength to escape Jan’s clutches.
Frank is teetering on the brink of oblivion. Unable to trust his memory anymore, he is forever slipping between the present and the past, but ultimately he is there for his daughter.
Leon is our perfect red herring. A person that we believe is bad until we realise, too late, that he’s one of the good guys.
Sarah has grown up having to fight for every gain she’s made. She makes no bones about grabbing life for herself. She deserves it.
Margo is a fresh faced volunteer. She is bubbly and innocent, and incredibly caring. Not that this helps her in the end.
Sam is a nonbinary friend who loves a bit of mischief. She’s our window into the normal world outside the walls of the Eco Lodge.
Location
The inner west (Sydney, Australia) is the perfect setting for this urban thriller. The streets are filled with world-class street art. Bohemians live beside up-and-coming capitalists and still hiding behind the facades you can find exquisite secret gardens.
It’s the perfect place to plan the destruction of the world as we know it.
Director’s Vision for Recycled
Recycled is a tense thriller with solid scares and a plot that’s grounded in relationships, both nourishing and toxic. Empathy for our beleaguered planet is at odds with our own fight for survival and the gorgeous timelapse photography of growing fungi that punctuates the narrative represents the true victor of the story.
Hand crafted elements lend this story an authenticity and the rich, saturated colour palette makes the film not only terrifyingly visceral but visually stunning. The eco lodge’s abundant vegetation is seen as layers of green on green. The hospital is a clinical aqua blue. Nikki’s room is an oasis of sunlight. The compost shaft is a velvety brown with thin rivers of phosphorous.
The SFX throughout Recycled are baked into the look and feel of the environment. And the camera work jars us between observing and subjective points of view, keeping the audience off balance and at the mercy of the twisting plot.
Climate in crisis
By 2050, outdoor air pollution particulate matter and ground-level ozone is projected to become the top cause of environmentally related deaths worldwide. Already we are witnessing irreversible climate change.
New viruses
On 25th Oct. 2022, WHO published a report high- lighting the first-ever list of fungal “priority pathogens” – a catalogue of the 19 fungi that represent the greatest threat to public health.
The effects of COVID 19
COVID 19 despite being a bane for humans, can be thought of a boon for living beings. Reduced road traffic and road traffic accidents, lowered levels of air pollution which led to lowered heart attack rates and rejuvenating the environment. Other areas of positive impact include – crime rate reduction, sanitation, hygiene, and better online and distance education.
This film speaks to the issues of today and one person’s insane solution.
Jan’s mantra that “everything in nature has two sides” is equally true for the situation and the characters.
“Humanity doesn’t deserve to inherit this new world.”
Jan
