Private Project

The Doll Keeper

THE DOLL KEEPER is a dark, suspenseful thriller that unfolds in a Pennsylvania city. SARAH LUTZ (12) loses her best friend, DIXIE MARTINEZ (10), and tween girls vanish in an unsettling sync with new releases of a collectible doll series. A disturbed DOLL KEEPER imprisons her ‘perfect matches’ in “doll boxes” -- dressing-room-sized cages with Plexiglas doors. The captor subjects the kidnapped girls to rigid rituals and treats them as living collectibles.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s distressed and frantic mother, JILLIAN LUTZ (30’s), forms a neighborhood task force which conflicts with FBI Special Agent Karla Peterson’s (40s) investigation. Leads take them in separate directions until one clue points them to discover the doll collection is the key.

The Doll Keeper builds to an explosive confrontation that tests the mother’s resilience and the FBI’s resolve, that collides with the “Dolls” plan for escape. By blending claustrophobic terror with a heart-pounding race against time, the story offers a unique, character-driven psychological thriller about courage, hope, and survival with a conclusive twist to suggest a sequel.

  • Diane F Sismour
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    horror, thriller
  • Number of Pages:
    114
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • 2025 Stowe Story Labs / Nyx Horror Collective
    Vermont
    March 13, 2025
    Semi Final
  • 2025Montreal Women's Film Festival - Best Feature Screenplay - Nominee
    Montreal
    October 29, 2025
    nominee
  • 2025 Austin Film Festival Second Rounder
    Austin
    October 18, 2025
    Second Rounder
  • 2025 NYX Horror Collective Semi-Finalist
    New York
    April 21, 2025
    Semi Finalist
  • 2025 WRPN International Women's Film Festival Winner
    Delaware
    September 21, 2025
    Best of Festival - Platinum
  • 2025 Los Angeles Film and Script Film Festival - Suspense/Thriller Feature

    November 5, 2025
    Honorable Mention
  • 2025 Moonrise International Film Festival-Best Short Screenplay Official Selection Thriller/Horror
    Sonora
    November 1, 2025
    Official Selection
  • 2025 Sherman Oaks Film Festival Selection
    LA
    December 4, 2025
    Official Selection
  • 2025 Hollywood Best Indie Film Festival Awarded: Winner Best American Screenplay
    LA
    August 15, 2025
    Best American Screenplay
  • 2025 Austin After Dark Best Dark Drama Winner
    Austin
    October 18, 2025
    Winner, Best Dark Drama
  • 2025 Atlanta Women's Film Festival - Winner Best Horror/Thriller Screenplay
    Atlanta
    September 21, 2025
    Winner Best Horror/Thriller
  • 2026 Jaipur International Film Festival
    India
    February 15, 2026
    selected
Writer Biography - Diane F Sismour

Diane Sismour is an award-winning author and screenwriter who keeps her fans up at night with tales of grounded horror and suspense. Her characters and audiences never know what perils await them or the predicaments they must resolve.

She’s a member of national and local writing and screenplay groups.

Recent awards are:
2025 Nyx Horror Collective Fellowship Semi-Finalist
2025 Stowe Story Lab qualifier
2025 Austin Film Festival Second Rounder
2025 Austin After Dark Film Festival Screenplay: Dark Drama Feature Winner
2025 Atlanta Women's Film Festival Horror/Thriller Feature Screenplay Winner
2025 Hollywood Best Indie Film Awards Best American Screenplay Winner
2025 WRPN Women's International Film Festival Best of Festival – Platinum Screenplay Winner
2025 Sherman Oaks Film Festival Best Screenplay - Feature Film Finalist
2025 Montreal Women Film Festival Best Feature Screenplay Nominee
2025 Moonrise Film Festival Best Feature Screenplay Nominee
2025 Los Angeles Film & Script Festival Script (Suspense/Thriller) Jury Honorable Mention
2025 EuroCine Film & Screenwriting Festival Best Feature Film Screenplay Nominee (1/7/2026)
2025 Oregon Screams Horror Film Festival Best Horror Feature Screenplay Nominee (1/18/2026)
2025 Golden Pen Script Awards Best Feature Script Nominee (12/23/2026)
2025 Cannes Script Festival Winter Best Logline Winner
2025 Cannes Script Festival Winter (Best Feature or Best Horror/Thriller) screenplay Winner
2025 Jaipur International Film Festival-JIFF Best Screenplay Finalist (2/13/2026)

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Writer Statement

The Doll Keeper is cinema meets social urgency.

In 2024, the FBI reported over 460,000 missing children. Most make it home, but an estimated 1,380 were abduction to be kept or killed. In the last five years, the number of missing children reported has increased by 40%.
This escalating crisis inspired me to create screenplay. The project sheds light on the impact of missing children on families and communities, showing how easily children can disappear and the ensuing effects of such violence.

For five years, I’ve contacted the FBI, Human Trafficking, and law enforcement agencies to learn the depths they take to finding these children. I wrote the IP, a claustrophobic-horror short story that made the short-list out of over 10,000 entries for one slot in a Horror Writers Association anthology.

The screenplay is resonating with men and women nationally and abroad. It's dread over gore, a female-forward cast, practical action, and limited sets. It's Gone Girls meets The Boy Behind the Door and The Black Phone for tone.

My key personnel are in place, and we're looking for brand collaboration and funding to bring this story to the screen