|
TITLE SEQUENCE
As the credits run, we INTERCUT the following two sequences:
EXT. NEVADA DESERT - IDOLS - DAY
A SLOW DRIFT through a collection of crudely constructed,
surreal, six-foot tall "IDOLS." Like modern
demons.
Grotesque. Disturbing. WE LAP DISSOLVE between details of
their twisted anatomies: headlamp eyes, bright metal claws,
broken glass teeth.
EXT. NEVADA ROADS - DESERT - DAY
Two vehicles, one a Volkswagen "bus" decorated with stylized
flames, the other a '66 Thunderbird, speeding along a series
of eerily empty desert roads, somewhere in a wilderness of
sand and heat.
END CREDITS.
CUT WIDE TO;
EXT. NEVADA DESERT - DAY
A violent WIND HOWLS around, but through the sand we-can just
make out a large, ominous building: the HOUSE of William
Nix. Its walls are white-washed and scrawled with GRAFFITI.
The "family" of IDOLS surrounds the doorway, guarding it. ON
SCREEN, the words: '"Nevada - Thirteen Years Ago"
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - DAY
We're at the front door now, which stands open. Leaning
against the door-frame is a scrawny, wild-eyed YOUTH, about
sixteen. His name is BUTTERFIELD. He's got a brooding,
almost sultry look on his face. One of his eyes is black,
the other milky blue. He's whittling something with a
scalpel. Distantly, the sound of CAR ENGINES. Butterfield
narrows his eyes.
BUTTERFIELD'S P.O.V.
The Volkswagen "bus" and Thunderbird are approaching the
house.
BUTTERFIELD
(softly)
Swann...?
He turns from the door. In his haste he drops the WOOD he's
whittling. He's been carving a DEATH'S HEAD.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - ROOMS AND CORRIDORS - DAY
The house no longer serves any domestic function. It has
become the temple and dormitory of Nix's small apocalyptic
cult. As we go through the house with Butterfield we glimpse
a little of what life here is like.
The rooms are murky, and chaotic. The walls, PAINTED with
scenes of cities and landscapes BURNING, and creatures from
some unspeakable nightmare ATTACKING, RAPING, and DEVOURING
helpless humanity. The atmosphere is joyless, and
oppressive.
The passages become progressively darker as the boy makes his
way to the heart of the house. Only OIL LAMPS, set on the
floor, light these claustrophobic corridors.
BUTTERFIELD
Master?
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - DAY
A dozen CULTISTS sit cross-legged on the floor in front of
their leader, WILLIAM NIX. His black hair grows to his
shoulders. His eyes are deep and glittering, his voice
seductive. A terrifying yet charismatic presence.
All the Cultists - who are a cross-section of obsessives -
wear the same simple T-shirts, painted with the cult's SIGIL.
They watch Nix in adoration.
As Nix speaks, he juggles a FLAME, passing it from hand to
hand with casual ease...
NIX
And the fire said to me: Nix, Nix,
you're my instrument. From now on,
you'll be called the Puritan...
CULTISTS
(murmuring)
Puritan...
NIX You will find a few good men and women, and together,
together you will cleanse the world.
CULTISTS
Yes...
Butterfield enters.
BUTTERFIELD
Master?
Nix looks up.
BUTTERFIELD
Swann's here.
Nix rises, smiling.
NIX
(to Cultists)
We'll come back to this. Get about
your business.
As the Cultists disperse, Nix and Butterfield exit into
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
A place of nightmares. Hanging from the middle of the ceiling
is another grotesque SCULPTURE, three times the bulk of a
large man, and made of metal, fly-blown animal parts and
knotted rope. It is vaguely cruciform, but its swaying,
creaking bulk is not even faintly Christian. It is a
perverse, sickening image, evoking insanity and agony.
From the shadows in the corner, we hear a young girl's soft
SOBBING.
NIX
Hush...
Nix goes to the GIRL. She is twelve; beautiful, blonde, and
presently in a state of mortal fear. She sits, bound, in a
fetal position, her face soaked with SWEAT and TEARS, her
mouth BLOODIED, her cheek BRUISED.
NIX
I said hush.
GIRL
Please. Let me go.
From the opposite corner the SCREECH of Nix's pet BABOON.
Nix goes to it. The animal is large and lethal.
NIX
(to Baboon)
What is it?
The Baboon pulls on its chain, staring at the Girl and baring
its teeth as it screeches.
NIX
(to Girl)
I think he's in love.
He unshackles the Baboon. The animal pads toward the Girl,
trailing its chain.
GIRL
Keep it away from me.
Nix catches hold of its chain. Holds it back. The Baboon
starts screeching again, scrabbling at the Girl, its NAILS
catching her arms and legs, drawing BLOOD.
GIRL
Please... please...
Nix watches her terror dispassionately.
BUTTERFIELD
(also watching, wide-
eyed)
Want me to shoot Swann?
NIX
You don't like him, do you?
BUTTERFIELD
He wants your magic.
NIX
Maybe. Go fetch him.
Butterfield exits. Nix advances on the Girl.
GIRL
What are you going to do?
CUT TO:
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - DESERT - DAY
The two vehicles come to a halt outside Nix's house.
From the Thunderbird steps PHILIP SWANN, a nineteen- year-old
with shoulder-length hair and brilliant blue eyes. He's not
conventionally handsome, but he's certainly striking.
From the passenger seat steps CASPAR QUAID, a black man,
studious and intense. From the bus emerges MURRAY PIMM,
skinny and jittery, and JENNIFER DESIDERIO, a woman with a
steely gaze.
SWANN
(to all three)
Are we ready?
JENNIFER
(cool)
Say the word.
PIMM
(very nervous)
Look, maybe we should think this over.
On Swann, as he brings from his car three very bizarre pieces
of METALWORK. We get only a tantalizing glimpse of them, as
he slips them into his pocket.
SWANN
No. He's gone too far.
PIMM
So he took a child.
JENNIFER
He'll kill her.
PIMM
No he won't.
SWANN
(determined)
He's not going to get the chance.
Quaid checks a gun, then slips it into his belt.
QUAID
If he gets in our fucking heads he'll drive us crazy.
SWANN
So stay out here.
Swann starts towards the House. Jennifer is the first to
follow, with the other two on her heels.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY
Butterfield comes to the door, as Swann steps inside.
BUTTERFIELD
He's expecting you.
Behind Swann, Quaid and Pimm exchange nervous looks.
SWANN
(to others)
Look around. If you find 'the
child, yell. She's got blonde
hair, that's all I know.
Butterfield turns away, smiling to himself. Swann follows
him.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - "MEDITATION" ROOM - DAY
Quaid looks into a large circular room where FIVE CULTISTS
(three men and two women) still sit. One of the women is
breast-feeding a baby.
1ST MAN
Hey, Quaid. I thought you said you
weren't coming back.
QUAID
I changed my mind.
1ST WOMAN
Come and join us.
She smiles a crazy smile. Reaches out for Quaid. A SNAKE
appears from around the back of her neck. Quaid recoils.
And now we see that there are snakes everywhere. In the
Cultists' clothes and hair. Even on the baby. Quaid turns
away. And - shock! - there's a SNAKE on the door frame,
winding around his hand. He strikes it to the ground, and
drives his heel down on its head.
SNAKE-HANDLER CULTIST
(angry)
Don't do that!
The Snake-Handler gets up. Quaid retreats from the door.
Snake-Handler picks up the dead snake and, lifting it above
his head, dribbles its BLOOD onto his face.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE -
"BEDROOM" - DAY
Jennifer enters a gloomy room. She goes to a mattress where
a BLONDE GIRL lies with her bare back to us.
JENNIFER
Don't be afraid.
The Blonde Girl, BARBARA, turns over. She has a dirty cloth
pressed to a wound between her breasts. It is not the Girl,
of course. She stares up at Jennifer, clearly drugged.
BARBARA
I'm not... want to see?
She pulls the cloth away. She has carved the cult SIGIL into
her FLESH. The BLOODY KNIFE lies beside her. Jennifer
retreats to the door, and exits back out into --
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
Pimm is standing against the wall, clutching a CRUCIFIX. He
is ashen with terror. Jennifer snatches the crucifix from
his white-knuckled fingers.
PIMM
He's going to kill us all...
JENNIFER
Where did Swann go?
Pimm points down the passageway towards Nix's room.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY OUTSIDE NIX'S SANCTUM - DAY
Swann wipes sweat from his upper lip, then reaches down to
his belt, to check the GUN tucked out of sight at his side.
He turns the door handle.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
Swann steps inside. Nix's chair has its back to him. The
folds of Nix's robe are visible, however. Swann hears a
muffled SOBBING from the far side of the room.
On the Girl, now gagged and lying amongst bones and filth.
Swann starts towards her, his footsteps barely audible. As
he approaches the chair - the Baboon leaps at him screeching!
He reaches for his gun. The chair topples. The Baboon, half
dressed in Nix's robes, bounds towards Swann.
Swann FIRES at it. The bullet blasts off half its head.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
On Quaid, who draws his GUN as three CULTISTS appear in the
passageway that leads to Nix's Sanctum.
QUAID
Stay the fuck away!
(yells)
Pimm! Get over here!
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
PAN UP from the twitching Baboon corpse to Swann as he
struggles with the Girl's gag. He has laid his gun on the
ground beside her.
SWANN
You're going to be okay.
Out of focus, behind him, the cruciform sculpture swings
round. Nix is hanging on it, like an idol on a grotesque
altarpiece.
The Girl sees Nix over Swann's shoulder. Terror crosses her
face. Swann turns.
NIX
I knew you'd come.
He reaches down to Swann.
NIX
I've got so much power to give
you, Swann. All you have to do
is...beg.
SWANN
Fuck you.
NIX
You don't think I've got it to
give?
SWANN
No!
Suddenly. Nix swoops down on Swann. apparently defying
gravity.
NIX
You're wrong.
He catches hold of Swann with one hand and drives him back
against the wall.
NIX
I could eat your fucking soul,
Swann.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
Jennifer, reaches the door of the Sanctum. Butterfield steps
from the shadows. His KNIFE flashes as it strikes Jennifer's
hand. BLOOD SPURTS.
JENNIFER
Fuck!
She retreats, staunching her bleeding hand.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
Nix has Swann trapped against the wall and is working his
fingers against Swann's temples. Working, working, like a
psychic surgeon plying against the belly of a patient.
NIX
You want to know what the world
really looks like?
Swann struggles, but he can't get free of Nix's hold.
And now -- horribly -- Nix's fingers slide beneath the skin
of Swann's temples, without a drop of blood being spilt.
NIX
Want to see flesh with a god's
eyes?
Swann SCREAMS as Nix's mind-hold seizes him.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
Quaid levels his gun at Butterfield, who is guarding the
Sanctum door. Jennifer is at Quaid's side.
SWANN (V.O.)
Aah!
QUAID
Get away from the door!
Butterfield shakes his head. Quaid FIRES. The bullet.
strikes the wall beside Butterfield's head. He retreats,
growling like a rabid animal. Quaid kicks the Sanctum door
open, and enters.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
QUAID
Swann?
NIX
(to Quaid)
Here he is.
Swann stumbles into the middle of the room, the whites of his
eyes blood-red.
NIX
Take a look, Swann! These are your
friends.
On Swann, reeling like a drunkard as he looks up at Quaid and
Jennifer.
JENNIFER (V.O.)
What have you done to him?
SWANN'S P.O.V.
of Quaid and Jennifer. To Swann's eyes, their faces seem to
be MORPHING. Their humanity is MELTING AWAY. What's left is
like a jellyfish with black, soulless eyes: PRIMEVAL MUCK.
QUAID (V.O.)
Swann. It's okay.
Quaid reaches for Swann, who retreats in horror, shaking his
head violently.
SWANN
Don't touch me. He's got... got
into my head.
NIX
You want to be like that, Swann?
Mud and shit?
Swann turns away from Quaid and Jennifer in disgust.
SWANN'S P.O.V.
of Nix, his arms outstretched in welcome. His face has an
aura of pulsing light.
NIX
Come here. Share the power.
ON a GUN, leveled. .We don't see by whom. The trigger is
pulled.
The bullet strikes Nix's back and explodes out of his chest.
ON SWANN, staring at Nix.
SWANN'S P.O.V. of Nix, as the aura of light dies.
Just for a moment - a terrible moment - Swann glimpses
something else. MORPHING out of Nix's features. A NIGHTMARE
FACE with waves of DARKNESS emanating from the middle of its
forehead.
Swann covers his eyes.
NIX
(raging, terrifying)
Swann! Swann!
Nix staggers, letting out an ungodly HOWL, and drops to his
knees, clutching the WOUND. As he falls, he reveals the
ashen Girl, who is still holding Swann's smoking GUN.
NIX
(a roar)
Help me!
Swann shakes his head, ridding himself of Nix's mind-
control.
SWANN
Jesus-
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY OUTSIDE SANCTUM - DAY
Pinon stands guard, his gun pointed on several cultists.
1ST CULTIST
(with distressing
confidence)
You can't kill him.
2ND CULTIST
He'll just rise up again!
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
On Nix, doing just that: rising up. Right hand clamped to
his bloody chest, left hand reaching for Swann.
NIX
Help me!
Quaid FIRES at him again. Strikes his shoulder. And again.
Strikes his leg. Nix collapses to the ground,
JENNIFER
Quickly!
They have come prepared for this. Swann now takes from his
jacket the three strange pieces of METALWORK. There are
SCREWS in then all.
NIX
(seeing)
Swann? What are you doing?
SWANN
Binding you.
He clamps one of the pieces over Nix's EYES. It fits like an
eyeless mask. Nix thrashes and SCREAMS. Swann lays his
hands on the side of the mask, and — LIKE MAGIC -- his touch
makes the screws tighten of their own accord, grinding into
Nix's flesh and bone with a gut- wrenching SOUND. BLOOD runs
from the screw-holes.
NIX
Fuck you, Swann! Fuck you!
Now the second piece, over his MOUTH.
NIX
Sw—
He's silenced. The piece screws itself into-his head, like
the first. And now comes the third and final piece: over
the nose and into the ears. Again, it screws itself into
place.
Swann has done all he can. He retreats from Nix's body, as
it continues to convulse. We go from face to ashen face, as
each man and woman watches and waits. Why won't he die?
And now, at last the violence of Nix's death-throes
diminishes. Nix's body bends like a bow, arching off the
ground, and with one last, terrible spasm, he dies.
GIRL
(quietly)
Is it finished?
SWANN
It's finished.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
The Cultists' faces slacken, as though some mental hold Nix
had upon them has disappeared. Then they start to retreat,
their confidence and courage gone.
Pimm steps into the Sanctum.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY
The five assassins, including the Girl, stand around Nix's
body. Swann has his arm around the Girl.
PIMM
Dead?
QUAID
Dead.
PIMM
What now?
SWANN
We bury him so deep no one will
ever find him.
CUT TO:
EXT. NIX'S .HOUSE - WIDE SHOT - DUSK
The wind has died away. It's eerily calm. Butterfield
dashes towards camera, then halts.
HE LOOKS BACK, as Nix's killers load his huge, limp CORPSE
into the back of Murray Pimm's bus.
ON Butterfield. He watches, with a feral look on his face.
FADE OUT
FADE IN
EXT. LOS ANGELES - MONTAGE - DAY
The city looks magical in the spring light, its palms and
gleaming towers, its rivers of sun-baked traffic, evoking
some fantastical metropolis. This, for all its smog and
congestion, is a city of exoticism and enchantments.
ON SCREEN, the words: "LOS ANGELES - THIRTEEN YEARS
LATER"
EXT. STARDUST HOTEL - DAY
The facade of this small HOTEL off Hollywood Boulevard needs
a lick of paint, and the neon sign is blinking fitfully, but
it has a certain charm.
INT. STARDUST HOTEL - LOBBY - DAY
A large deteriorating mural of Hollywoodland, depicting a
host of 50's movie stars, dominates the lobby.
At the front desk - with his back to us at present - stands
HARRY D'AMOUR. He is having difficulty getting the pretty
but vacant BLONDE at the reception desk to comprehend his
name.
BLONDE GIRL
How'd you spell that again?
HARRY
D.A.M.O.U.R. D'Amour. Harry
D'Amour.
BLONDE GIRL
D'Amour.
HARRY
Right.
BLONDE GIRL
Isn't that French for something?
ON THE BELLBOY, approaching Harry from the front door.
BELLBOY
Mister D'Amour?
HARRY
(to Blonde)
Yeah. It's French.
BLONDE GIRL
For love, right?
BELLBOY
Mister D'Amour?
HARRY
(to Blonde)
Right.
BLONDE GIRL
(grinning)
That's so cool.
BELLBOY
Mister D'Amour?
Harry turns. He's wearing a washed-out Grateful Dead t-
shirt, an Italian cut linen suit, and glasses. He's
handsome, unshaven, 35-ish, with an open easy smile.
HARRY
Yeah?
BELLBOY
You haven't paid the cab. He won't
give us your bags 'til you pay him.
HARRY
How much?
BELLBOY
Thirty-five bucks.
HARRY
Tell him he can keep them. The
Bellboy looks puzzled.
HARRY
Just kidding.
Harry gets out his wallet and hands over four ten-dollar
bills.
HARRY
I've got my life in there.
INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - DAY
On the suit-case, which is now on the bed. Harry flings it
open. Inside, mingled with the clothes, a bizarre collection
of items, which he tosses out onto the coverlet. A GUN. A
CRUCIFIX. A STATUE of Shiva, the Hindu Lord of creation and
destruction.
ON HARRY, as he heads into the bathroom. Turns on the
shower. Starts to undress.
EXT. STARDUST HOTEL - DUSK
Harry, his hair still wet from his shower, steps out into the
sun. Squints. Puts on sunglasses.
HARRY
Hello, L.A.
BELLBOY
Have a nice evening, Mr. D'Amour.
HARRY
You bet.
EXT. MELROSE RESTAURANT - NIGHT
Harry stands, in a shabby doorway across the street from a
classy restaurant. It's RAINING.
ON TAPERT, a middle-aged, balding man with a very pretty
WOMAN opposite him, sitting at a table close to the window.
Tapert makes a joke (unheard). The woman laughs.
ON HARRY, chewing on a hamburger, as he speaks into his tape
recorder.
HARRY
Nine-eighteen p.m. Tapert's either
got a great sense of humour or he's
paying her to laugh.
(looks at hamburger in
disgust)
Jesus.
On Tapert, as he rises from the table.
HARRY
(into tape recorder)
He's finished.
Tapert exits the restaurant, and crosses the street. Harry
tosses his half-eaten hamburger away, and goes to his car.
EXT. HARRY'S CAR - MELROSE - NIGHT
Harry pulls the parking ticket off the windshield, screws it
up and gets in.
INT. HARRY'S CAR - MELROSE - NIGHT
HARRY
(into tape)
Nine twenty-six p.m. He's off
again.
He turns the key in the ignition.
CUT TO:
EXT. QUAID'S OFFICES - SILVERLAKE - NIGHT
In neon blue and purple, a sign blazes in a store window. It
reads: TAROT CARD AND CRYSTAL READINGS - $15 SPECIAL
ON TAPERT, as he hurries across the street, and through the
door beside the store window.
WE PAN OFF the door as Harry's car comes to a halt on the far
side of the street.
Harry gets out of the car. Stares at the sign in the window,
puzzled.
HARRY
Superstitious?
He starts across the street. Suddenly:
TAPERT (V.O.)
Oh my God!
Tapert emerges, his face white with terror. He stumbles to
his car, and he's away. Harry freezes, caught between the
need to follow Tapert and sheer curiosity. He gives in to the
latter, and steps inside.
INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - STAIRWELL - NIGHT
An illuminated ARROW points up the stairs. Harry ascends,
past faded PHOTOGRAPHS of Caspar Quaid with famous faces.
At the landing, the passageway turns ninety degrees. Harry
halts, and takes out his GUN.
There's a strange RUMBLING SOUND approaching from round the
corner. Harry chances a look. There's a short length of
passageway, leading to an open door. From the threshold a
CRYSTAL BALL rolls towards Harry, BLOOD- SMEARED. This is
the source of the rumbling. Harry stops the ball before it
falls down the stairs.
Dead silence. After a beat, Harry creeps towards the open
door. He pushes it open. Inside, chaos. The fake
antique
FURNITURE is splintered, the ASTRAL CHARTS slashed.
INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - WAITING ROOM - NIGHT
There are two offices. In the front, a Waiting Room, into
which Harry now steps. Beyond it, through a door that stands
narrowly ajar, the Fortune Telling Room.
From out of the Fortune Telling Room, a MOAN.
QUAID (V.O.)
Ahh. . .
Harry crosses the Waiting Room, reaching into his jacket for
his gun. Suddenly, a nightmarish FIGURE leaps from the
shadows.
His name is RAY MILLER. He's as crazy as a rabid dog, teeth
sharpened, eyes wild. Nix's SIGIL is tattooed on the middle
of his forehead. He STRIKES the GUN from Harry's hand and
goes for his throat.
Harry reaches out behind him, picks up a phrenologist's BUST
and SMASHES it on Miller's skull.
Miller reels back. Harry makes a dash for the door to the
Fortune Telling Room.
MILLER
Fuckhead.
INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - FORTUNE-TELLING ROOM - NIGHT
A mysterious, candle-lit space. In the middle of the room, a
table. At it sits Quaid. thirteen years older. He has been
tortured close to death. Several small SCALPELS protrude
from his chest and neck. His life is ebbing away. On the
table in front of him, a fan of TAROT CARDS, BLOOD-SPATTERED.
Harry races in through the open door from the Waiting Room.
HARRY
What the fuck!?
Harry picks up the PHONE. It's dead. Miller charges at the
door.
HARRY
Shit!
Harry SLAMS the door in Miller's face, and locks it.
As he does so, the candles FLICKER. Harry looks up. A
FIGURE looms from the darkness behind Quaid. He's in his
late twenties: an androgynous, disturbing sight. His long
hair is drawn back into a pony-tail. His mismatched eyes -
one black, one milky blue, tell us that he is Butterfield.
His hands are BLOODY, and he carries one last SCALPEL.
HARRY
(to Butterfield)
Don't touch him."
Butterfield strokes the wounds on Quaid's cheek. Quaid sobs
in pain.
BUTTERFIELD
What are you going to do about it?
Miller's hand tears at the wood around the lock from the
other side. His fingers appear, scrabbling to tear the lock
out. Harry doesn't move, or Miller will be through.
BUTTERFIELD
(to Harry)
Ever watched a man die? If you
watch very closely, you can
sometimes see the soul escaping.
And if you're very quick, you can
catch it.
QUAID
Please... Butterfield... I wasn't
there. Ask Pimm.
BUTTERFIELD
Pimm's dead. Jennifer Desiderio's
disappeared. They knew the Puritan
was coming home.
As this exchange goes on, Miller pulls the lock out of the
door and starts to THROW HIMSELF against it from the other
side. It's all Harry can do to keep himself from being
pitched across the room. He looks around for some means of
defense. There's a crack in the drapes to the left of the
table. Behind it a WINDOW.
BUTTERFIELD
So do you. You've seen the future.
Haven't you?
QUAID
Yes.
BUTTERFIELD
And are you afraid?
|
