NORTH OF HOPE
A Screenplay by Coleman Luck & Carel Gage Luck
Genre: Supernatural Drama / Mystery / Spiritual Thriller
It began in 1890, with a priest who walked into a blizzard to keep a promise. Father Zell’s death on a frozen lake became a local legend, witnessed by Ojibwa hunters, remembered for the mysterious light that surrounded him as he died. Decades later, that story still echoes in the frozen north, calling another priest, Father Frank Healy, back to his hometown and to the abandoned church on Sovereign Lake.
Now a former seminary teacher returning to lead a forgotten reservation parish, Father Healy is drawn into a landscape of spiritual silence and personal reckoning. The little church is a shambles, the furnace is dead, and the people have waited ten years for a Mass. But it’s not just the building that needs restoration. Healy’s first night back brings a tragic death, an estranged love from his youth, and the first stirrings of something dark and supernatural beneath the surface.
North of Hope is a story of buried sins, second chances, and the thin places between worlds. Its strength lies in its emotional depth, lyrical writing and richly drawn characters, especially Frank, a man whose priestly calling was once shattered by love and now faces tests that go beyond anything he imagined. His return ignites long-dormant tensions in the community and uncovers mysteries tied to the death of Father Zell, the light in the blizzard, and the spiritual condition of the land itself.
What sets North of Hope apart is its tonal precision: a masterful blend of poetic voiceover, naturalistic drama, and the eerie pulse of a spiritual thriller. It is emotionally raw and thematically fearless, exploring the cost of faith, the ache of unfulfilled love, and the power of supernatural hope in the face of despair. The world is textured with the cold beauty of a remote place where miracles and monsters walk side by side, and where Mass might be celebrated with frozen fingers in an abandoned sanctuary.
North of Hope offers mystery, heartbreak, and something rarely seen onscreen: a serious, lived-in portrayal of a priest’s inner life and the weight of grace in a fallen world. Make no mistake: this is a deeply original work. One that doesn’t chase trends but offers something deeper, more timeless. It’s not about cheap scares or easy grace. It’s about the price of light in a dark world.
Coleman and Carel Luck were commissioned by Producer Warren G. Stitt (The Spitfire Grill) to adapt the novel by John Hassler. It was never produced and the current owners of this work are unknown.
Thorncrown Studios 