DAY OF FRIDAY THE ANIMAL

By M ASSYOUTI

ASSYOUTI PRODUCTIONS - as PROD / FIN

Thriller - Production 2023

Graffiti artist Friday the Animal escapes after 9 years imprisonment. As inmate Block tells Friday's story in an interrogation with US CIA agent Steel & Lieutenant Hassan, Friday is wrecking havoc making mock-“snuff” cinematic parodies to avenge himself.

    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Thriller, Crime, Drama
    • Countries
    • EGYPT
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH-UNITED STATES, ARABIC-EGYPT
    • Duration
    • 130 mn
    • Director(s)
    • M ASSYOUTI
    • Writer(s)
    • M ASSYOUTI
    • Producer(s)
    • Mohamed EL-ASSYOUTI (Assyouti Productions), Amira KUDUMOVIC (Scena [ba])
    • Synopsis
    • Prison party for release of US-Egyptian real estate tycoon El-Kol.

      Afterwards, Friday removes El-Kol’s eye & escapes.
      A mock “snuff” video is online. US FBI agent Steel & Lieutenant Haggag hunt for “terrorist” Friday, once a graffiti artist. Steel & Haggag interrogate Friday’s only friend: Block, a history professor imprisoned for fraud.

      FLASHBACK 1 BEGINS:

      Beaten & raped, Friday is silent.
      He cleans toilettes.
      Sewers clogged, he dives in. Sick. Rumoured to be on hunger strike, he loses 40% of his weight.
      After 18 months, he & Block are framed for smuggling heroin.

      5 years later, a new inmate: Abul-Rouss, former anti-terror general, slaughtered fundamentalism suspects, even when retired. Now on death row, he slays a Jihadist plotting to kill Friday.

      Abul-Rouss poisoned, Friday nurses him while dying.
      Friday ventriloquises in Aramaic, a language he never knew. Prisoners hypnotised fear Friday is possessed by a demon.

      FLASHBACK 1 ENDS

      Steel finds an eyeless bull’s head & Friday’s “shit” list, with 1000 possible targets. Zoo, Friday hugs an enraged lion.

      Private jet: disguised as bodyguard, Friday shoots Khater with a tranquilliser shot.

      Video: Khater’s hand crawls on window over Red Sea.
      Steel in Friday’s flat. Flooded. No electricity. On cell-phone light: cathedral-like murals. In a portrait eyes move. He opens window: only the city behind.
      Chase. Hassan catches Ibrahim, an ex-convict for selling human organs. Ibrahim says Friday was never raped & denies knowledge of organs in videos.
      Video: a prominent opposition figure’s severed ear.

      Back interrogating Block. Friday adolescent challenged heavy-weight champions for mockery.

      FLASHBACK 2 BEGINS:

      A fight near Citadel.

      After a 24-hour return fight, on Muqattam Hill, the highest point in Cairo, Matraqa, squashes Friday’s head. Jaws destroyed. Impossible to laugh again.

      FLASHBACK 2 ENDS

      In traffic Steel suspects a motorcyclist is Friday. Chase. Not Friday.

      Video: TV anchor Hamdi’s tongueless face live on air.
      Block tells of Friday’s childhood. Addicted to gory images, he killed animals for Block to film. His family went to action movies every Friday. As hero/ actor Wagdi burnt rivals, the cinema caught fire. Friday’s parents died.

      The 1997 cinema fire is the common thread between all Friday’s targets. El-Kol bribed corrupt minister Khater to overlook the lack of fire exits. The opposition figure & Hamdi sensationalised the incident, became famous & did nothing to uncover the culprits. Friday’s fifth target is action actor Wagdi.

      While Wagdi is seducing 2 adolescents, Friday fires a tranquilliser shot at him as he fires a real bullet at Friday. Uploading his last video, a sniper’s bullet penetrates Friday’s skull. Block is found hanged in his cell.

      Months later, Steel narrates: all 5 victims appear more sensitive & kind. Steel finds the ventriloquist doll missing body organs. Friday’s corpse re-examined: it misses the same organs in the videos. His teeth & jaws are intact.