Nic Donner is a rock star who hasn’t had a hit in five years. He and his wife, Grace, buy a castle that was once owned by a 60’s rock star – the infamous Silas Gore – who drove his wife to suicide and murdered nine other women before hanging himself.
Catbrain Ccastle is now a ruin having stood empty for over forty years.
They settle in and Nic begins composing a rock opera based on the Silas Gore murders – TOMMY and THE WALL meets PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and SWEENEY TODD. To give the music the exact touch of authenticity, Nic immerses himself in the personality of Silas Gore. He wants to see what he saw, to feel what he felt...almost to become the man himself.
To do this Nic reads books, listens to the rock star’s music, watches old TV interviews, speaks with people who knew him. But it’s not enough. The music he writes is second rate. He’s not getting to the core of the man and what made him do what he did.
Five years ago, after his one and only hit album, Nic was diagnosed a being bi-polar. His mood swings and personality disorders nearly cost him his marriage. But, thanks to therapy and medication, his personality is now stable. But Nic believes that his creativity is being blocked by the drugs.
So he comes off the pills. And starts drinking again.
Now, the deeper Nic delves, the more of Silas Gore’s personality he takes on. He can’t sleep, he doesn’t eat...he sees visions of the murdered women.
When Nic is at his lowest, Silas Gore appears.
At first he helps Nic with his music which becomes inspired and brilliant. But, gradually, Silas’s personality begins to take over. He convinces Nic that Grace is having an affair – as his own wife (Susie) did over forty years ago.
At first Nic resists him but, like Iago to Othello, Silas Gore’s voice drips poison . Nic is powerless to resist him. His mind disintegrates and Silas takes over.
Silas/Nic imprison Grace and her would be lover in the castle crypt feeding them on...the corpses of people they have murdered.
And this is only the beginning...
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