Script Files

WALK AT NIGHT

Two women walk home at night as a zombie apocalypse unfolds around them. A short comedy/ horror about the potential violence women are expected to put up with, simply navigating public space.

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Charlie and Bea walk home at night, unknowingly navigating the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse.

However ironically, due to years of ingrained vigilance (simply as women who have to navigate public space) at first the women don’t even notice the undead: Their attention is far more caught up by the predatory men they’re used to encountering.

In fact, Charlie’s anxiety is connected to something else: An incident of violence on a recent walk home, far more traumatic than any zombie could ever be, especially as her attacker asked for ‘a hug’ afterwards. This has tormented Charlie ever since, in how immediately he seemed to normalise the violence. In fact, after becoming aware of the zombies Charlie and Bea express surprise that they’re not as scared as they should be, because, as ‘walks home at night go’, this hasn’t been the worst…

Charlie finally sees her attacker, within the crowd of zombies, and when this zombie screams at her Charlie screams back. Now, with the world literally reflecting the monstrosity she experienced she finally feels able to express her rage: Not just at what happened to her, but at a world that accepts this violence against women as an acceptable part of daily life; and even asks them to participate in normalising it once it happens.

We end with Charlie finally letting her mum know that she’s ‘got home safe.’ Which is, unfortunately, as true as can be in a world where - even without zombies - safety for women is always conditional.

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Walk at Night is a dark comedy/ horror short about the potential violence women are expected to put up with, simply navigating public space. Inspired by real experiences of women and the disconnected way these experiences are often shown in the media, particularly in the horror genre.

Both the comedy and the horror are drawn from the absurdity of the way in which, for many women, their lack of safety in public space means any night could suddenly become a horror movie.

  • Annie Hammond
    Writer
    Stages (2021), Sorry for Your (2023), Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye (2024)
  • Sophie King
    Director
    Disability Benefits (2022), Buffering (2023), To Speak Her Mind (2023), Does Your Condom Make You Fat (2023)
  • Jack Pollington
    Producer
    A Film about a Pudding (2021), The Fools Mate (2022), Nosepicker (2023), Small Gods (2025), Duck Press (2025)
  • Project Type:
    Short Script
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Drama, Horror
  • Number of Pages:
    15
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer - Annie Hammond
Writer Statement

Walk at Night was written in response to a real incident of violence committed against a friend as she walked home. It draws on experiences of sexual harassment; and most directly the street harassment I experienced while living in London. As well as being created more broadly in response to the rising cases of violence against women in the news. Every woman I know has suffered some kind of violence, often occurring seemingly out of nowhere and often told to me in a very matter of fact way: Spoken about over dinner, in line at the supermarket, walking home: Spoken about with horror, often even humor, but nearly always with mundanity …

This the realisation that shocked me most when I heard about this incident, perhaps even more so that the incident itself. It is absurd that this kind of violence is part of our everyday lives, and Walk at Night comes from this absurdity: That in the act of just walking home, life can suddenly become a horror movie. And, in fact, for many, a horror movie might actually be preferable: At least in a zombie flick, the monsters actually look like monsters, you can see them coming and if they attack you they won’t ask you for a hug afterwards… you won’t have to face seeing them in your local corner shop the next day; or have someone tell you, ‘they just don’t look like the type.’ You wouldn’t have wonder if it was your fault it happened, or if you even have a right to be upset about it; in a world where this violence is part of our everyday lives, yet is designed not to listen to the victims of it.

The current media landscape doesn’t currently have many films made by women about this subject: Instead when we see this violence depicted it is often romanticized, sensationalized or even eroticised. Especially in the horror genre, where sexual violence against women is often used as cheap backstory or titilation. Despite it being part of many women’s experience, sexual violence narratives are still rarely depicted by women; or explored with sensitivity, compassion or complexity. Moreover, they are also almost never depicted for women. I wanted to create a film that says to the women I know who have been through these experiences, ‘I see you’ and ‘I understand.’ Not just that this stuff happens, but the specific way it makes you -and the world- feel when it does.

Walk at Night comes from the anger I have for the people that have to experience this fear and violence, as well as from the incredible resilience and sense of humor of the survivors I know: While absolutely emphasizing that there is no right way to be a ‘survivor’, because no-one should be put in a situation where they have to ‘survive’ in the first place: Not simply walking home, not ever.