TITLE: GARDYLOO

FORMAT & GENRE: Feature | Supernatural Horror

COMPS: THE OTHERS meets THE CONJURING  with a SIXTH SENSE twist

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LOGLINE

When his pregnant wife awakens a centuries-old curse tied to stolen children’s remains, an Edinburgh ghost tour guide must track down the missing relics before a vengeful spirit fully returns, forcing him to choose between ending the curse forever or saving his family.

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WHY NOW

After years taking part in Edinburgh ghost tours and documenting its history in a best tour book, GARDYLOO brings the city’s real hauntings and Celtic folklore to life through a grounded, modern horror story.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

• Simon (25): Ghost tour guide; practical, grounded, and unknowingly tied to the curse.

• Claire (28): His pregnant wife; becomes the living anchor that allows the curse to manifest.

• Lady Elspeth: A 19th-century woman whose final ritual set the curse in motion to free her children.

• Lord Fraser: The man who murdered the children, rebuilding himself through the curse.

• Bean-Nighe: A death-washer spirit who ensures the curse continues beyond any one story.

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SYNOPSIS

In 1865, as her manor burns and her children are murdered, Lady Elspeth MacRae binds a final act of blood magic to ensure their souls can one day be freed.

Present day, Edinburgh ghost tour guide Simon inherits the manor. When his pregnant wife Claire discovers a hidden letter in the attic, she unknowingly awakens the ritual, and becomes the living doorway through which something begins to return.

That night, Simon starts seeing figures no one else can. When Claire reveals what she has uncovered, he realizes the haunting is not random, it is rebuilding.

To stop it, they must recover three stolen teeth belonging to Elspeth’s children and return them to rest. But each tooth disturbed strengthens the entity behind the curse, allowing the long-dead Lord Fraser to reassemble himself through Claire.

Driven across Edinburgh’s most infamous haunted locations, Simon is pulled into a nightmare where every choice escalates the threat. As Claire weakens, Fraser grows from a distant presence into a physical force.

At the graveyard of MacRae Manor, with Fraser fully returned, Simon faces an impossible choice: end the curse forever by sacrificing Claire, or save her and let it continue.

He chooses Claire. By mirroring Elspeth’s ritual and binding the curse to himself, Simon destroys Fraser and frees the children, but becomes the vessel that contains it.

Peace returns, but only briefly.

Because the curse was never just one man. As Simon returns home, a letter is delivered once more, carried by something older, the Carnan. The Bean-Nighe watches as the cycle continues, and the burden Simon chose begins to spread beyond Edinburgh.

CLOSING

Rooted in real Edinburgh hauntings—from the Mackenzie Poltergeist to Half-Hangit Maggie—Gardyloo weaves authentic ghost lore into a chilling, cinematic nightmare.

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