|
CUT TO:
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
She sits up on her bed, dressed in a silk robe, and nothing
else, drinking a SCOTCH, talking on the phone. The primary
source of illumination is the massive T.V. set in the wall
opposite the bed.
DOROTHEA
Harry... I know it's late.
INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION
There should be a subtle eroticism pervading this exchange.
Both of them on beds, in different bedrooms. Each aroused by
the other's voice, and frustrated not to be able to see and
touch them.
HARRY
That's okay.
As he speaks, Harry scrawls Jennifer Desiderio on the title
page of the Gideon's Bible beside the bed.
DOROTHEA
How did it go today?
HARRY
I went up to the Magic Castle. You
were right. He didn't have a lot
of fans up there.
CUT TO:
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - KITCHEN - NIGHT
Valentin, on the kitchen PHONE, is listening in.
DOROTHEA (V.O.)
They were jealous of him.
HARRY (V.O.)
Why? Because he had you?
BACK TO:
INTERCUTTING: HARRY - DOROTHEA - VALENTIN
DOROTHEA
He... didn't have me.. I told you-
HARRY
You didn't marry him for love.
DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM
She's a little uncomfortable now.
HARRY
So why did you marry him?
DOROTHEA
That's my business. Harry.
HARRY
Just curious.
(a beat)
Back to business. Ever heard of a
man called Nix?
(silence)
Dorothea?
DOROTHEA
Yes... I'm here. And no. I don't
know the name.
HARRY
What about Jennifer Desiderio?
DOROTHEA
It doesn't ring a bell. I have to
go.
HARRY
Okay. I'll keep digging.
DOROTHEA
(uneasy)
Yes. You do that.
She puts down the phone, and swallows a mouthful of scotch.
She's shaking. She gets up. Paces the room. Then she picks
up the phone again.
INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
On the pad beside the bed, Jennifer's name, surrounded by
Harry's doodles. The phone RINGS.
CUT WIDE: The room is empty.
EXT./INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - STAIRWELL - NIGHT
The Tarot Card and Crystal Readings sign is dark now. Harry
heads up the stairs, past the PHOTOGRAPHS, to the door of
Quaid's Waiting Room.
It has been locked and taped by the police. Harry has come
prepared. He takes out a small crowbar and levers off the
locks.
INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - WAITING/FORTUNE TELLING ROOMS - NIGHT
Harry enters, FLASHLIGHT on. He crosses the Waiting Room and
enters the Fortune-Telling Room where Quaid died. On the
TRACK -- a remote, eerie presence -- we hear Quaid's SOBS,
Miller's SHOUTS, and, as Harry's flashlight illuminates the
blood-spattered table:
BUTTERFIELD (V.O.)
If you watch very closely, you can
sometimes see the soul escaping.
Harry is spooked. He starts to search the room, opening
cabinets and drawers. Quaid's hordes of mystical bric-a-brac
are stashed everywhere. Boxes of crystals, religious
statues, elaborate cards, incense, etc.
He pulls open a drawer, and notices that a rosary is wedged
in a niche at the base of the drawer. He pulls the drawer
out, empties its contents on the table, and examines it.
Using the crowbar, he forces the drawer apart. It has a
false bottom.
HARRY
(smiles)
Yes...
In the secret compartment, some papers and an address book.
He flicks to "D."
HARRY (CONT'D)
Desiderio...
There it is. Jennifer Desiderio, and an address. He pockets
the book. Then, sensing a presence behind him, he pulls out
his gun and whirls around, his flashlight beam revealing --
-- Valentin!
HARRY (CONT'D)
What the fuck are you doing here?
VALENTIN
Looking for you. I tried the
hotel.
HARRY
Why'd you come here?
VALENTIN
You're a detective, with no clues.
Where else are you going to look?
I'm going to keep this brief.
(he takes out an envelope)
Here's thirty thousand dollars.
HARRY
What for?
VALENTIN
A ticket home,
HARRY
You didn't hire me. She did.
If she wants me off the job, I
want to hear it from her.
VALENTIN
She doesn't want to see you. She's
had enough pain. Enough churning
over the past. She wants it all
left alone.
HARRY
Left alone? Somebody's been
murdered.
VALENTIN
Yes. It's regrettable
HARRY
Fuck regrettable! I want to know
why.
VALENTIN
What for? You need to stay busy?
HARRY
(a confession)
I like to know why things happen.
VALENTIN
Why people die?
(shakes his head)
Give it up, D'Amour. Go home.
HARRY
No.
Harry crosses to the door, brushing past Valentin.
VALENTIN
Don't try and see her, D'Amour.
Just leave her alone. Let her
heal.
He glances back at Valentin.
HARRY
Lock up, will you?
CUT TO:
EXT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM, PASADENA - DAY
ON THE ADDRESS BOOK, in Harry's hands.
Harry looks up - with some surprise - not at a house but at a
building, the sign on which reads, "St. Luke's Sanitorium".
INT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - DAY
The place is bland and functional throughout, the walls
decorated with sun-faded reproductions of great paintings.
Nothing disturbing. Harry is talking to D.A. TOFFLER -
black, fortyish, softly spoken - and a Nurse.
TOFFLER
Jennifer's only ever had one
visitor.
HARRY
A Mister Quaid?
TOFFLER
Right. And he's dead, isn't he? I
saw it on the news. Jennifer
doesn't know. And frankly, this
isn't the best tine for her to be
told.
HARRY
I won't say anything.
INT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - CORRIDORS AND WARD - DAY
Toffler excorts Harry through -the place. There are
distressing scenes on every side. Nothing melodramatic no
screaming, no fits. Just a subtle, pervasive air of despair.
Blank, empty FACES in blank, empty rooms.
TOFFLER
Jennifer's been with us four years.
She was coming on nicely.
But just the last month or so,
she's worse than ever.
HARRY
What's her problem?
TOFFLER
She has no real grip on reality.
HARRY
(a joke)
Does anybody?
TOFFLER
(deadly serious)
Oh yes. We have to agree what's
real and what's not. That's what
holds us together.
HARRY
And what does Jennifer think's
real?
They've come to french windows, which are wide open. Sitting
outside in the sun is Jennifer, with her back to us.
TOFFLER
(quietly)
Jennifer thinks the Devil's coming
for her.
(louder)
Jennifer?
Jennifer turns. She looks terrible.
EXT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - GROUNDS - CITY STREET - DAY
Harry and Jennifer walk amongst the flower-beds, with the
Nurse keeping a watch from a discreet distance. Throughout
the scene we HEAR the SOUND of earth being dug, which
steadily gets louder as they walk.
JENNIFER
Have we met before?
HARRY
No.
JENNIFER
Only I forget. They give me pills,
you know, to keep me... even...
and... I forget things,
HARRY
Well, you didn't forget me. I just
came because I wanted to know if
you knew a man called Butterfield.
JENNIFER
Maybe... I... don't...
HARRY
What about Philip Swann?
JENNIFER
I knew Swann.
(sudden vehemence)
He's a fucking liar.
A WORKMAN saunters past, carrying pipes.
HARRY
Why's that?
JENNIFER
He said he knew how to protect us.
But he didn't know anything. He
made us think it was over and done
with.
HARRY
What is?
JENNIFER
(tears nearing)
I don't want to think about it. If
I think about it he'll hear me.
He'll find me.
HARRY
Swann?
Ahead now, the site where the workmen are digging a hole,
laying pipes. The CAMERA doesn't focus on this action, but
we're aware of it.
JENNIFER
I told you. I don't --
She stops. Looks ahead of her. Her face is suddenly ashen
and clammy. Harry follows her gaze to:
The hole. Somebody is in it, digging. Earth emerges in
shovelfuls, piling up beside the hole.
JENNIFER (CONT'D)
(screaming)
God no! Oh God no!
She backs away from the hole. The Nurse grabs hold of her.
NURSE
Calm down!
She delivers the Nurse a backhand SWIPE. The Nurse is flung
back.
JENNIFER
He's not going to get me!
She races down towards the street. Harry goes after her.
JENNIFER (CONT'D)
He's not! He's not!
HARRY
Who's not?
He catches up with her.
JENNIFER
Nix! Nix!
HARRY
Is he the Puritan?
JENNIFER
Yes! Yes!
HARRY
And he's dead?
JENNIFER
No. He's coming back. He's
digging his way out!
The Nurse appears behind Harry.
NURSE
I'll take care of her now.
Jennifer struggles in Harry's grip.
NURSE
Let go of her, Mr. D'Amour!
The Nurse breaks Harry's hold on Jennifer, who slips away
instantly, racing towards the street.
HARRY
Jennifer!
She scrambles up over a wall, and flings herself from the
top. There's a SCREECH of brakes, then the smashing of
metalwork and glass. Harry gets to the wall before the
Nurse. Hoists himself up onto it. Looks down.
HARRY'S P.O.V. OF STREET
Jennifer is dead in the middle of the street, beneath the
wheels of a car. The DRIVER is out, and yelling
incoherently.
HARRY
Jesus.
He slips back down the wall, and leans against it.
He looks towards the hole. The Workman has stopped digging.
His mud-encrusted hands emerge, and for a moment, before his
head appears, the image is eerily like somebody climbing from
a grave. Harry closes his eyes.
HARRY
(very quietly)
Jesus.
EXT. LOS ANGELES - DUSK
The sun is setting, the city giving way to night.
INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - DUSK
Harry's on the phone.
HARRY
I want to speak to Dorothea.
VALENTIN (V.O.)
I'm afraid she's not in.
HARRY
When will she be in?
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - STUDY - NIGHT
Valentin on the phone in the study.
DOROTHEA
Who is it?
Valentin puts the phone down.
VALENTIN
Crank call. I'll get the number
changed.
DOROTHEA
No word from
D'Amour?
Valentin shakes his head.
VALENTIN
It's better he's gone. He would
have done more harm than good.
DOROTHEA
Harm to whom? Me? I don't think,
so. Try him again at the hotel.
VALENTIN
I left three messages already.
Dorothea nods, plainly sad at Harry's desertion. She turns
and leaves the room.
INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
ON BILLY WHO'S CARD, in Harry's hand.
HARRY
(on phone)
Billy? It's Harry. Suppose I
wanted to get into the repository
at the Magic Castle?
CUT TO:
INT. MAGIC CASTLE - SKYLIGHT ROOM -
NIGHT
THE PLACE IS EERIE BY NIGHT: ALL MASKS AND SHADOWS.
PAN UP TO THE SKYLIGHT. HARRY IS CUTTING AWAY A PANE OF
GLASS. BILLY'S BEHIND HIM. THE PANE STARTS TO FALL. WITH
LIGHTNING REFLEXES, BILLY REACHES THROUGH AND CATCHES IT.
HARRY
You've done this before.
BILLY
I've had my moments.
INT. MAGIC CASTLE - HALLWAY OUTSIDE REPOSITORY - NIGHT
Harry's manipulating the lock.
BILLY
I'm sure they'll have this place
rigged.
HARRY
How?
BILLY
It'll be something hokey.
CLICK! The door opens.
BILLY
Houdini'd been proud of you.
INT. MAGIC CASTLE - REPOSITORY - NIGHT
Undusted shelves piled high with manuscripts, old books, and
posters in every direction.
BILLY
(impressed)
Whoa...
On the wall, plaster LIFE-MASKS. In glass cases, the tools
of the great magicians: KNIVES, KEYS, GUNS, WANDS, even an
IRON MAIDEN. Billy is in awe. He wanders around wide-eyed
while Harry scans the shelves. The dialogue runs as they
investigate.
BILLY
I hear Mrs. Swann's quite a babe.
HARRY
You heard right.
BILLY
You ever been married?
HARRY
Yeah. She was killed in a car
crash. Her lawyer was driving. She
was filing for divorce.
BILLY
Why?
HARRY
My life was too weird for her.
BILLY
(grinning)
I love weird.
Harry has seen a small SIGIL carved onto one of the shelves.
HARRY
Billy? This was on Miller's
forehead. Any idea what it is?
BILLY
Nope.
Harry presses it. The entire bookcase opens up, CREAKING.
BILLY
What did I tell you? So fucking
hokey.
Inside, there is a small shelf. On it, FILES and PAPERS.
HARRY
What have we got here?
Ever-eager, Billy steps into the recess. And --
two spiked, latticed gates close on his arm!
Harry grabs the gates before they snap closed, inches from
skewering Billy's flesh and bone! He keeps them open, his
sinews straining.
HARRY
Grab the files!
Billy reaches in and pulls out a handful of the files. As he
steps out of range. Harry lets go and the gates close with a
CLANG!
BILLY
Jesus!
He slams the files down. He's trembling.
BILLY
I could have lost my fucking hands.
HARRY
That would have kept you out of the
Magic Circle.
(he studies the files)
Which was presumably the idea.
(a beat)
These are about Nix.
Harry takes a sheaf of papers, and hands them to Billy.
HARRY
You go through these. Go on!
Reluctantly, Billy does so. Harry picks up a faded
PHOTOGRAPH of the doorway to Nix's HOUSE (with the sigil
painted on it) and BUTTERFIELD the child standing in the sun.
There are other CULTISTS standing around. And in the DOORWAY
-- a barely visible figure (and all the more intimidating for
that) - is NIX.
HARRY
Wait a minute...
He stares at the boy's face. The eyes are clearly different
colours.
HARRY
That's Butterfield...
BILLY
(points to nan in)
doorway)
And who's that?
ON HARRY, staring at the ambiguous presence.
ON THE PHOTOGRAPH of the shadowy figure.
HARRY
At a guess? The Puritan. Nix.
Billy picks up an ETCHING, water-stained and dirty. It shows
a horror we recognize: a man's HAND pressed into the FLESH
of another man's HEAD.
BILLY
Take a look at this.
HARRY
(looking at it)
A Nix specialty?
Billy is getting subtly spooked now. He puts the etching
down and starts to go through others in the series. We
glimpse them as he does so. In one, a MAN regurgitates a
serpentine form made of FLAME. In another, a MAN stares at
his own HAND which is STRIPPED OF FLESH. There is no bone
beneath. Only a form of solid blackness. In a third, we see
a HEAD with a slit in the middle of the brow, emanating
DARKNESS.
BILLY
I don't know any of these tricks...
Harry studies the etchings.
HARRY
(a slow burn)
Maybe they're not tricks.
BILLY
(mystified)
I mean, there's no instructions--
(realizes what Harry said)
What do you mean, they're not
tricks?
HARRY
What did Vinovich say? Something
about walking a path between --
BILLY
Trickery and divinity. Yeah, he
says that all the time.
HARRY
That's because he knew. He'd seen
these files and knew.
BILLY
Knew what?
Out of the corner of his eye. Harry sees a motion between the
book-stacks. Billy frowns. Harry puts his fingers to his
lips. Gestures for Billy to take cover. Billy backs away.
Harry slowly turns in the direction of the motion.
Something eerily sepulchral is gliding between the stacks. A
figure in a straight-jacket with his head bowed.
Harry takes out his gun.
Billy disappears around the back of one of the stacks. Harry
goes after the apparition.
The TRACK is completely silent.
Suddenly, the creature appears behind Billy! It looks up,
its face that of a psychotic: burning eyes, manic smile.
It tears open its straight-jacket and reaches for Billy, who
backs away.
BILLY
Harry!
Books tumble on top of Billy as he stumbles against the
shelves.
BILLY
Where the fuck are you?
Harry appears, and puts his gun to the PSYCHO'S head.
HARRY
Okay. Hold it right there.
The gun goes through the Psycho's skull, as though it's made
of smoke.
Harry waves his hands through it. It's completely ethereal.
But it's still terrorizing Billy.
BILLY
(in mortal terror)
Get it off me!
Harry glances around. Sees a LIGHT flickering between some
books. FIRES at it. The light goes out. The
"Psycho"
vanishes. Billy is left hyper-ventilating on the ground.
HARRY
Hokey enough for you?
BILLY
I'm out of here, man! Are you
coming?
Harry picks up a handful of papers from the Nix file.
HARRY
I'm coming.
Billy is already out of the room. For a moment. Harry pauses
to look back at the other files, sealed behind the spiked
gates.
As he does so --
-- the proiector sparks into life one last time, and the
"Psycho" appears --ROARING - at Harry's shoulder.
HARRY
Ah, shaddup!
He FIRES at the projector a second time.
On the GUN SHOT --
CUT TO:
EXT. MAGIC CASTLE - NIGHT
Billy and Harry are parting.
HARRY
Thanks, Billy.
BILLY
Hey, anytime.
(a beat)
Actually, no. This was enough.
They shake, and part.
EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT
Harry waits on the doorstep. Valentin opens the door.
VALENTIN
(quietly)
I can't let you in.
HARRY
(stepping in)
Yeah, I know.
VALENTIN
You want more money, is that it?
Harry pushes him aside.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - VARIOUS - NIGHT
Harry starts to go through the house, opening doors.
HARRY
Dorothea?
He sees candle-light through a partially open door. Starts
towards it.
VALENTIN
Leave her alone --
HARRY
Shut up!
He pushes open the door.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - CASKET ROOM - NIGHT
The room is a museum of Swarm's career. Posters, and
memorabilia everywhere. And in the middle of the room,
Swann's sealed CASKET, surrounded by flowers and candles.
Dorothea is standing beside it, head bowed.
DOROTHEA
This is the way he wanted it... no
autopsy, no embalming. Nobody
meddling with his body...
Harry approaches, slowly.
DOROTHEA
Flesh is a trap. That's what he
used to say. Flesh is a trap and
magic sets us free.
(a beat)
Why did you come back?
HARRY
I didn't leave. I was just digging
around.
Dorothea looks up at him.
DOROTHEA
(uneasy)
What did you find?
HARRY
Jennifer Desiderio, for one.
(he watches her for a
response)
She threw herself in front of a car
this afternoon.
Dorothea can't disguise her distress.
DOROTHEA
Oh Christ.
HARRY
(a beat)
Why don't you tell me the truth?
INT. SWANN'S MANSION- STUDY-- NIGHT-
Dorothea pours herself a drink, while Harry spreads the
PHOTOS and the PAPERS from the repository on the table.
HARRY
Nix ran some kind of cult, right?
Some kind of Charlie Manson deal?
DOROTHEA
It was more than that, I think.
HARRY
He was the real thing, right?
DOROTHEA
Swann said he could do stuff, yes.
HARRY
Stuff?
DOROTHEA
He could get into people's heads.
Make them see things. Terrible
things. And he could levitate.
Juggle fire.
HARRY
He taught all this to Swann?
DOROTHEA
Some or it.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - HALLWAY OUTSIDE STUDY - NIGHT
Valentin is listening at the door.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION- STUDY-- NIGHT-
HARRY
So Swann was performing magic. not
illusions?
(Dorothea nods)
And what? You thought he should be
using it to cure cancer, not making
millions.
DOROTHEA
I told you --
HARRY
Too much fame. Yeah, I guess
that'd turn anybody's head.
Including yours.
DOROTHEA
No.
HARRY
You said you weren't with him for
love.
DOROTHEA
I wasn't.
HARRY
What then?
DOROTHEA
I was grateful to him. I owed him
my life. And he loved me. He
couldn't always show it, but he
felt it.
HARRY
He thought Nix was coming back,
didn't he?
Dorothea is pouring herself another drink. The glass slips
from her hand. It SHATTERS. Harry goes to help her.
They
stoop together, very close. The sexual attraction is almost
palpable. Dorothea cuts herself on a shard of glass.
DOROTHEA
Shit!
They are very close to each other.
HARRY
(reassuring)
It's okay.
DOROTHEA
No it isn't. You can't help me.
HARRY
(tenderly)
I'm here, aren't I?
He kisses her. She kisses him back, hard.
HARRY
Nothing's going to happen to you.
DOROTHEA
(seductive)
Nothing?
HARRY
(smiles)
Nothing you don't want.
They kiss again, passionately.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - LOBBY - NIGHT
Valentin breaks into the shadows, as Harry and Dorothea cross
the darkened lobby and head upstairs. Then Valentin crosses
to the phone and dials.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
A room of illusions. Walls lined with mirrors, and warm,
flattering lighting, bathing the naked forms of Dorothea and
Harry as they make love, sitting on the floor.
It is a deeply passionate, but slow, sensual coupling.
INT./EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - LOBBY - NIGHT
Valentin opens the front door. There's a wind blowing. The
palms churn against the night sky...
INTERCUT
Roiling, wind-filled pains with the glistening, urgent bodies
of Harry and Dorothea.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Harry cradles Dorothea in post-coital languor.
DOROTHEA
(whispers)
I was so afraid.
HARRY
Don't be. Nix can't hurt you now.
DOROTHEA
Are you sure?
HARRY
I'm sure.
(kisses her)
He's dead.
DOROTHEA
I know. I'm the one who shot
him.
ON HARRY. He's startled, to say the least.
DOROTHEA
I was twelve. Nix took me hostage,
to get Swann to come to him.
HARRY
(realizing)
And they all came...
DOROTHEA
Yes.
HARRY
Quaid and Jennifer--
DOROTHEA
And Pimm and Swann. Only Nix was
ready for them.
There's a NOISE downstairs.
DOROTHEA
(nervous)
What was that?
HARRY
It's okay.
Harry slips out of bed.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - STAIRS - LOBBY - NIGHT
Harry descends the stairs, buttoning up his trousers (which
is all he wears). He has his gun.
HARRY
Valentin?
Dorothea appears behind him.
DOROTHEA
Harry? Wait!
Harry's at the bottom of the stairs now. Across the hall, in
a passageway, an eerie SILHOUETTE. We can make out no detail
of clothing or face.
HARRY
What the hell-?
Suddenly, the shadowy FIGURE comes at Harry. A BLAST of
ENERGY bursts against Harry's face. As it breaks against his
skin, we see (for three frames or so) a glimpse of Harry's
skull.
HARRY
(in pain)
Aah!
Harry FIRES at the figure. The shadows fold up around the
Stranger like an origami puzzle. He's gone.
DOROTHEA
It's him! It's Nix!
Harry goes out into the passageway.
HARRY
Valentin! Get some lights on!
As if in reply to the command, a burst of vivid white FIRE
erupts behind Harry. He swings round to see the Stranger
"unfolding" out of the shadows again, defying physics and
physiology to do so. The FIRE is at his feet, like a serpent
writhing on the ground. It comes at Harry. Harry FIRES at
it, but it comes at him faster still, rising to burn Harry's
leg. He retreats, the FIRE racing after him. He makes for a
door, and flings it open. He's in --
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - CASKET ROOM - NIGHT
The FIRE follows him across the ground and STRIKES his hand.
Harry drops the GUN. Looks up to see the Stranger in the
doorway, arm raised to will the fire-serpent on. But then,
he hesitates. Harry glances round, and sees that the
Stranger - whose face is still a dark smear - is staring at
the CASKET.
HARRY
Somebody you know?
Dorothea appears behind the Stranger. Sees Harry, burned and
sweating, cornered against the casket.
DOROTHEA
Oh my God!
The Stranger looks round. Harry snatches up the GUN,
supporting his burned hand with -his good hand. Levels the
gun at the Stranger. The FIRE raises its head, like a cobra.
HARRY
Which goes first? My face or
your heart?
The Stranger draws a deep breath. The Fire-Serpent withers
and dies.
DOROTHEA
Who in God's name are you?
She reaches for the Stranger, who simply folds up again; gone
into darkness. The WIND blows through the house, masking his
exit.
DOROTHEA
Are you all right?
HARRY
Find Valentin! Find him! Get him
in here!
Dorothea disappears. Harry takes one of the candle-holders
and jams it under the casket lid. Wood splinters. He starts
to force off the lid.
Valentin and Dorothea enter.
VALENTIN
What are you doing? This is
sacrilege.
He starts towards Harry. Dorothea goes after him and catches
hold of his arm. Her expression is a mingling of fascination
and dread, as Harry gets his fingers under the casket lid and
pulls.
Inside, Swann's corpse.
VALENTIN
Are you satisfied now?
HARRY
No.
Harry holds Valentin back with one hand, and puts his finger
into the corpse's mouth.
DOROTHEA
Harry?
HARRY
It's all right. It's not
hurting...
He now has four fingers in Swann's mouth and seizes hold of
his lower jaw. It cracks --
-- and comes away in a little rain of plaster and latex.
HARRY
...plaster doesn't bleed.
He tosses the jaw to Valentin.
HARRY
(to Dorothea)
It looks like you're not a widow
after all.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - STUDY - NIGHT
Harry interrogates Valentin in a white fury, while Dorothea
binds Harry's hand.
HARRY
You rigged the illusion to fail,
right?
VALENTIN
Yes.
HARRY
You paid off the doctor. You set
up the fake body. Yes?
VALENTIN
Yes.
HARRY
And then... because I was
getting too close to something --
(at Dorothea)
--or someone, you called Swann
VALENTIN
I tried to pay you off.
HARRY
Was that Swann's idea?
VALENTIN
No. It was mine. I didn't want
any more bloodshed. That's why we
went to all this trouble, so
there'd be no one for Nix to come
after.
HARRY
Nix is dead and buried, for
fuck's sake.
VALENTIN
Haven't you seen enough to know
that doesn't matter?
ON HARRY. He looks as though he's beginning to think maybe
Nix's resurrection is plausible.
HARRY
I want to see Swann face to face.
VALENTIN
Why don't you leave this alone? Let
everybody think it's over?
DOROTHEA
What about me?
VALENTIN
Nix was never interested in you.
It was always Swann.
A beat.
HARRY
(to Dorothea)
Maybe Valentin's right. We should
let it alone.
A BELL starts to TOLL-
HARRY
(con't.)
He went to all that trouble to be
dead. Maybe we should let him stay
that way.
The TOLLING carries over into
EXT. HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - DAY
WE CRANE DOWN from a high angle on a GRAVE, surrounded by
MOURNERS. The graveside service has just ended, and the
Mourners are beginning to disperse. Dorothea is there
amongst them, of course. So are several faces we recognize:
Vinovich, Wilder, Billy Who, Swann's Stage Manager, his
Dancers, his Technicians. There are also several members of
the PRESS, and thirty or fourty other Mourners, some of whom,
to judge by their dress and manner, are also illusionists.
Harry stands some distance from the crowd, watching (hidden)
from the doorway of a mausoleum. His eyes are on Dorothea as
she goes amongst the Mourners, receiving unheard words of
condolesence.
EXT. WILTERN THEATRE - DAY
The standee of Swann is being demolished by two WORKERS. They
are taking hammers to it, smashing it to pieces.
INT. WILTERN THEATRE - STAGE - DAY
The stage is starkly lit with working lights, the auditorium
in darkness. Swann's equipment - including the partially
dismantled Dragon's head - is heaped on the stage.
Valentin wanders through the boxes to the place where Swann
"died." He stares down at the BLOOD on the stage.
EXT. WILTERN THEATRE - DAY
THE 1st WORKER throws the cut-out head of Swann's standee
down into the street.
1ST WORKER
Watch out!
On the HEAD, as it strikes the sidewalk at somebody's feet.
We don't see who.
EXT. HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - DAY
Harry catches sight of somebody close to the gates of the
cemetery. Dark glasses, a beard, an anonymous black suit.
Harry smiles slightly, and slips off between the mausoleums.
EXT. HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - PARKING LOT - DAY
The BLACK-COATED MOURNER gets into his car.
On Harry, as he gets into his.
INT. WILTERN THEATRE - STAGE - DAY
Valentin hears something in the auditorium. Looks up.
VALENTIN
Who's there?
He reaches into his jacket to draw a GUN. There's a NOISE.
He swings round. Too late.
Butterfield has a scalpel at his throat. He kicks Valentin
to the ground.
BUTTERFIELD
(conversationally)
I've sometimes thought, if I'd had
another profession, I would have
been a surgeon.
On Valentin, staring up in terror.
Valentin's P.O.V.- of Butterfield, upside down, above him,
the scalpel glittering.
BUTTERFIELD
To be able to heal with one little
cut.
On Valentin again, as Butterfield's blade touches his cheek,
just beneath his eye.
VALEMTIN
No. . .
BUTTERFIELD
Let's say those eyes of yours were
giving you trouble.
VALENTIN
Please.
BUTTERFIELD
I could scoop them out.
VALENTIN
Don't.
BUTTERFIELD
So tell me where Nix is buried.
VALENTIN
I don't know.
Butterfield pushes the blade into Valentin's skin.
CUT WIDE, as Valentin thrashes, his face obscured by
Butterfield's body.
VALENTIN
Wait!
On Valentin again. There is a small cut beneath his eye, but
that's all.
VALENTIN
I'll tell you.
BUTTERFIELD
You'll do more.than that.
EXT. L.A. STREET - SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - DAY
A bad neighborhood, to judge by the state of the streets.
Harry gets out of his car and crosses to a gate, topped with
barbed wire. He peers through the bars.
Harry's P.O.V. of the STRANGER from the funeral disappearing
into the building. He glances back towards the street. We
get a glimpse of a bearded face beneath the brim of his hat.
Harry slides out of sight. Waits until the Stranger has gone
inside. Then he's up, over the gate, braving the barbed
wire.
INT. -SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING -
DAY
It's been a hospital. Now the echoing corridors and wards
are deserted, littered with reminders of old suffering.
Rotting mattresses; spilled boxes of surgical supplies.
Harry explores this tiled labyrinth, looking for some sign of
the Stranger.
He enters a shadowy room. Birds fly UP into his face!
As he retreats, another SOUND, a little distance from him.
GUN in hand, he heads towards it, and steps into
INT. SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - OPERATING THEATRE - DAY
Narrow shafts of light through the circular viewing window
fall on an operating table, and looming pieces of discarded
equipment. Eerie. Disturbing.
Harry scans the shadows as he advances into the room.
HARRY
I knew you wouldn't be able tn stay
away.
Silence. Harry notices the beard and glasses on the
operating table.
HARRY
You had to see who wept for you the
most.
Silence.
HARRY
A lot of people are going to be
really pissed off when they
discover you're still alive.
SWANN (V.O.)
They'll never find out.
Harry looks up.
Svanrt is hovering in the air above him. The veins in his
temples bulge and throb. This trick requires a lot of
concentration.
HARRY
Look, Ma, no wires.
SWANN
You shouldn't have followed me,
D'Amour.
HARRY
How the fuck do you do that?
SWANN
Now I'm going to have to kill you.
HARRY
I don't think so. You need me
alive.
SWANN
Why? So you can fuck my wife?
Swann swoops down towards Harry, who levels his gun.
HARRY
Be careful. Funerals make me
trigger-happy.
Swann stops, inches from the ground.
HARRY
You know, it's such a fucking
waste. You can do shit most of us
can only dream about, and you go
around pretending it's some trick.
SWANN
Illusionists get. Las Vegas
contracts, D'Amour. Magicians get
burned.
HARRY
Or murdered, like Nix.
SWANN
He deserved it.
HARRY
Maybe he doesn't see it that way.
Maybe he's digging his
way out of the hole you put him
right now. That's what you're
hiding away from, isn't it?
SWANN
I did it for Dorothea.
HARRY
Oh yeah?
SWANN
Now that I'm dead, the spotlight's
off her.
Harry grabs Swann, literally pulling him down to earth. Now
they're face to face. Eye to eye. Swann, for all his
posturing, is afraid.
HARRY
So Nix won't come looking for her?
SWANN
It's me betrayed him.
HARRY
And she shot him I I think that'd
piss me off if I were Nix.
SWANN
(despairing)
I don't know what else to do.
HARRY
Help me.
On Swann, his face a churning mass of rage and fear.
HARRY
Listen. If he's back from the
dead, then he is some kind of god.
And he'll find you, wherever the
fuck you are.
And if he's just another phony
Messiah, then you can stage the
greatest come-back in history.
ON Swann. This doesn't sound like such a terrible idea.
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON
A car comes to a halt outside the house, where six vehicles
are already gathered. The SNAKE-HANDLING Cultist gets out.
SNAKES seethe out of the open car door.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - LATE AFTERNOON
We MOVE THROUGH the shadowy interior, catching sight of
several CULTISTS as we go. They all have looks of barely
suppressed ecstasy on their faces.
We are moving towards the Sanctum, and it's getting darker.
A MATCH is struck, and an OIL-FLAME sputters into life. We
see NORMAN'S gleaming face. On the wall is a PICTURE of Nix,
floating over a scene of apocalyptic destruction.
Norman brushes away thirteen years' accrual of DIRT. Beneath,
Nix's expression is as rabid and terrifying as ever. Norman
grins.
CUT TO:
EXT. LIQUOR STORE - LATE AFTERNOON
A small, garishly-lit liquor store. Harry's car pulls into
the lot. Swann gets out, his disguise back on. Heads into
the store. Harry, agitated and impatient, follows him.
INT. LIQUOR STORE - LATE AFTERNOON
Swann is at the cashier's desk, with a bottle of cheap
brandy.
SWANN
Is this the best brandy you've
got?
CASHIER
If that's what's on the shelves.
Swann produces a thousand dollar bill out of thin air.
SWANN
Can you change a thousand for me?
CASHIER
(amazed)
You're shittin' me.
HARRY
Can we go?
Swann starts to COUGH. A QUARTER falls from his mouth.
HARRY
Oh Jeez.
SWANN
Will that do? No?
Swann coughs again. Puts his hand to his mouth. A DELUGE of
QUARTERS runs between his fingers.
SWANN
That better?
The Cashier gapes.
CUT TO:
EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - POOLSIDE - GROUNDS - DUSK
The house could not look more reassuringly calm. A SWAN
struts beside the pool. A long, HUSHED MOMENT...
SHOCK CUT TO:
DOROTHEA'S DREAM
A BABOON SHRIEKS, its mouth filling the frame.
CUT WIDE, to reveal the Baboon, racing around Nix's Sanctum,
crazed.
Hanging on the sculpture that swings from the roof is a
shadowy figure. Is it Nix? We can't quite see. Black
BLOOD
runs from the figure and splashes on the ground.
NOW WE SEE DOROTHEA, being pulled by the Cultists towards the
falling gouts of dark fluid --
-- she struggles, SOBBING --
CUT TO:
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
She tosses around on the bed
BACK TO:
DOROTHEA'S DREAM
-- Dorothea has a GUN in her hand. The Cultists shake it
from her grip, and pull her directly under the BLOOD -- as it
SPLASHES on her upturned face --
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
A SOUND. Dorothea wakes, distressed by the dream. She gets
up and goes out onto --
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - LANDING - DUSK
Looks down the stairs.
DOROTHEA
Who's there?
Silence. Then, Valentin speaks behind her. She jumps.
VALENTIN
I'm sorry.
BLOOD runs from his cut face.
DOROTHEA
Jesus. Valentin. What did you do
to your face?
BUTTERFIELD (V.O.)
It was me.
She turns. He's on her in a heartbeat, pressing her back
against the wail.
BUTTERFIELD
Guess who we're going to see?
INT. HARRY'S CAR - DUSK
Harry drives. Swann takes a throatful of brandy. Then he
stares at Harry.
SWANN
You think I'm an asshole.
HARRY
Didn't know you read minds.
SWANN
(a warning)
I can do a lot of shit, D'Amour.
But you know that.
(an apology)
So I like playing games with
people. Gives them something to
wonder about...
HARRY
Is that all?
SWANN
I distract them from their banality
for a few minutes. It's like a
public service. It doesn't mean
much in the end. They're all going
to die.
HARRY
And you're not?
Silence for a moment.
SWANN
Oh, I was going to discover the
secret of the universe. That's why
I liked Nix. He promised me all
these explanations.
HARRY
And he didn't have them?
SWANN
He had something. He showed me how
to bend the rules. A little
levitation. A few fireworks.
HARRY
Is that all?
SWANN
No.
(a beat)
At the end... when we had him
cornered, he got into my head. He
showed me what we really look like,
when the veneer's gone. Jelly.
Shit...
HARRY
And you believed him?
SWANN
I saw it with my own fucking eyes!
See, that's his best trick. No
illusions. Just the truth.
(he looks at Harry)
Are you ready for that?
Harry grabs the brandy bottle from Swann.
SWANN
Hey!
Harry drinks.
SWANN
Thought not.
EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - NIGHT
PAN DOWN from the palms to Harry's car, outside the front
door.
INT. SWANN'S MANSION - VARIOUS - NIGHT
Harry puts his head in the study, the library, the bedroom.
HARRY
Dorothea?
Now he's on the landing. Swann's below.
SWANN
She's not here.
Harry spots Valentin's BLOOD on the carpet.
HARRY
Did she know where Nix was buried?
SWANN
No.
HARRY
Who else did? Did Valentin?
SWANN
Yes.
HARRY
Jesus!
EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY -
NIGHT
Butterfield's SEDAN crosses the desert, under a sky full of
stars.
INT. BUTTERFIELD'S SEDAN -
NIGHT
Valentin drives. Butterfield and Dorothea are in the back.
Dorothea is handcuffed.
He has a bag open at his feet. One by one he takes out a
series of extraordinary instruments. Dorothea looks on,
confounded.
BUTTERFIELD
Like the look of these? I made
them myself, to set him free.
DOROTHEA
Why did you wait so long?
BUTTERFIELD
I didn't have the skill to
resurrect him. I had to teach
myself. And that took time.
DOROTHEA
And you think he'll be in a fit
state to resurrect, after thirteen
years?
BUTTERFIELD
If he was just a man like me, then
no. But he's not.
DOROTHEA
What is he?
BUTTERFIELD
Maybe he'll show you.
ON DOROTHEA, terror in her eyes.
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Now there are a dozen vehicles parked around the house.
Through the windows, the flickering of oil-lamp FLAMES.
There is a low, ominous CHANT floating from the house.
It has no words, but it is steadily BUILDING in intensity.
We DRIFT towards the front door.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
Now we move down the passageway to the Meditation Room.
Inside, SEVENTEEN CULTISTS kneel in a circle. They are all
CUTTING OFF THEIR HAIR, and throwing it into the FIRE that
blazes in the centre of the circle. They hack
indiscriminately, with KNIVES, SCISSORS and RAZORS, their
eyes wild. BLOOD runs down their faces and necks from nicked
ears and scalps.
And still the CHANT BUILDS, and BUILDS...
NORMAN
He will come! He will come! He
will come!
EXT. DESERT - NIX'S GRAVE - NIGHT
Wide. A few rocks, and emptiness.
The headlamps of Butterfield's sedan burn in the darkness,
illuminating the dig. Valentin is in the grave, digging.
ON Butterfield, as he stands at the edge of the hole,
watching the work. Dorothea stands a yard or two behind him.
BUTTERFIELD
Anything?
VALENTIN (V.0.)
Not yet.
Butterfield squats at the edge of the hole and suddenly
reaches out for Valentin, hauling him close.
BUTTERFIELD
If you've lied to me to me --
VALENTIN
I swear... this is the place Swann
told me about. The rocks...
On Dorothea, who uses Butterfield's distraction to take a few
steps back towards the open car door.
Dorothea's P.O.V. of Butterfield, back to her, interrogating
Valentin.
BUTTERFIELD
Five more minutes. Hear me? And
you'd better not --
A SOUND behind him. Butterfield wheels round. On the ground
beside the open car door, the instruments.
BUTTERFIELD
What the fuck are you playing at?
He goes to pick them up. Dorothea steps from behind the
door, with the sharpest in her hand. She slashes at him.
Opens a WOUND across his arm.
BUTTERFIELD
Aah!
He comes at her suddenly, striking the instrument from her
hand, and slamming her against the car. He hits her. Once.
Twice. Then --
VALENTIN (V.O.)
Butterfield!
Butterfield goes to the edge of the grave, picks up the
flashlight and trains the beam on Valentin.
VALENTIN
(blinded)
In the corner...
The beam goes to the corner of the grave.
A mummified HAND is sticking out of one of the walls.
BUTTERFIELD
(to Valentin)
Keep away from it.
Butterfield jumps down into the grave, and goes to the hand.
The TRACK is silent, but for Butterfield's shallow breath.
He reaches out to touch Nix^s fingers...
Closer...
Closer...
He touches the hand - and the wall of sand comes down with a
ROAR!
He jumps back as Nix's corpse, his head still sealed by the
mask rolls into view.
VALENTIN
Oh Christ! Oh Christ!
BUTTERFIELD
(reverentially)
It's him... it's him.
On Dorothea, sliding down the car in despair.
CUT TO:
INT. HARRY'S CAR - NIGHT
The car is static; the engine still running.
HARRY
They got here before us.
SWANN
Looks that way.
EXT. NIX'S GRAVE - NIGHT
Harry gets out of the car and starts towards the open grave.
HARRY'S MOVING P.O.V. OF THE GRAVE
Harry reaches the grave's-edge. It's totally dark. He peers
in. On his heel, as the ground CRUMBLES beneath his weight.
Harry slides into the grave.
HARRY
Shit!
He's in darkness now. He gets to his feet, and starts to try
and scramble out.
HARRY
Swann? Swann!
Silence.
Suddenly, a hand is laid on his shoulder! Harry swings
round. It's Valentin. He has been badly cut up.
VALENTIN
D'Amour --
HARRY
Shit...
VALENTIN
Help me.
He collapses into Harry's arms.
HARRY
Swann!
INT. HARRY'S CAR - NIGHT
Indecision is written all over Swann's face: to help or not
to help?
HARRY (V.O.)
Swann!
He decides. Gets out.
EXT. NIX'S GRAVE - MIGHT
Swann goes to the graveside, terrified.
HARRY
Give me a hand. I got Valentin.
Together, Harry and Swann lift Valentin out of the grave and
lay him in the blaze of the headlamps.
VALENTIM
He's got Dorothea.
SWANN
And Nix?
VALENTIN
Him too.
HARRY
We've got to get you to a hospital.
VALENTIN
Don't bother.
HARRY
Shut up. We've lost enough lives
already.
VALENTIN
I'm sorry, D'Amour...
HARRY
What about?
VALENTIN
... Looks like you're going...
to lose... one more.
Valentin dies.
HARRY
(despairing)
... no...
SWANN
He's better off this way.
HARRY
(furious)
Nobody's better off this wav!
SWANN
You don't get it, do you? We're
shit. D'Amour.
He puts his foot beneath Valentin's body. It rolls back into
Nix's grave.
SWANN
That's where we're all going.
HARRY
In my time, and nobody else's.
ON THE EMPTY GRAVE, as we HEAR the SOUND of Harry and Swann
getting into the car. The doors SLAM. The CAR LIGHTS
retreat. The grave is left to DARKNESS.
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The house is silent now.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAYS - NIGHT
We TRACK through the house. The CULTISTS, all Seventeen of
them, stand in the passageways, looking toward Nix's sanctum.
ON THE SANCTUM DOOR. Butterfield emerges. He is wearing
WHITE now.
BUTTERFIELD
Do you wish him to be amongst us?
CULTISTS
Yes...
BUTTERFIELD
Will you come to him on your
knees?
CULTISTS
Yes...
BUTTERFIELD
Be ready.
Now we see that the Cultists have BOTTLES in their hands.
With looks of ecstatic fervour on their faces, they SMASH the
bottles to the ground at their bare feet. Then they pick up
MORE BOTTLES, and SMASH them, littering the ground with razor
sharp pieces of GLASS.
ON Butterfield, smiling. He steps back into the Sanctum.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT
HIGH, WIDE SHOT of the room, as Butterfield approaches the
BODY of Nix. It lies on a table, surrounded by bowls of OIL.
Bandages, soaked in oil, are laid over its limbs. Beside its
head, Butterfield's INSTRUMENTS are laid out.
ON Dorothea, crouched in the corner of the room, terrified as
she watches Butterfield remove the multi- part MASK screwed
into Nix's face. He works with surgical precision.
DOROTHEA
Listen. You've got everything you
want. You don't need me. ..
A piece of the mask comes away from the cheek. A subtle
POWER plucks at dust around the room, disturbing it minutely.
We CUT CLOSE to Dorothea's face throughout this sequence (on
occasion her eyeball fills the screen) as she sees these
signs of disturbance in the ether, growing in magnitude.
BUTTERFIELD
No, but he will. After what you
did to him.
He pulls a piece of the mask from Nix's mouth.
BUTTERFIELD
He'll want vengeance. Simple PS
that.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAYS - NIGHT
The bottle-breaking has ceased. The Cultists stand,
breathless with anticipation.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT
On Nix's emaciated mouth. The lips TWITCH.
On Dorothea. The DUST moves around her.
And Nix DRAWS BREATH.
On Butterfield, TEARS in his eyes.
BUTTERFIELD
Oh my Lord. He's coming home...
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
The whisper runs through the congregation:
CULTISTS
He's coming home... he/s coming
home...
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT
ON Dorothea, eyes wide.
DOROTHEA
Christ in Heaven.
ON Nix, as his body starts to thirstily soak up the oils.
His withered flesh starts to REHYDRATE; his veins start to
THROB.
Butterfield is watching the process in amazement. Nix's HANDS
move up to his face, where the last portion of the mask is
still screwed over his eyes.
BUTTERFIELD
He's with us...
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
CULTISTS
He's with us... He's with us...
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT
Unnoticed by Butterfield, who has his eyes on Nix, Dorothea
gets to her feet and creeps away to the door. Very quiet
TRACK.
Suddenly, the snake-handling Cultist steps into view, snakes
coiled around his face and fingers!
DOROTHEA
Oh God!
Butterfield looks up.
BUTTERFIELD
Hold her!
On Nix, as he starts to pull at the mask on his face. It
comes away with a moist, WRENCHING SOUND. At last, we see
his eyes.
NIX'S P.O.V.
The candle-lights blaze, BLINDING his sensitive eyes.
NIX
(fury to agony)
Aaarrrgh!
He gets up and flings himself around the room, knocking over
all the lights but two. Then he strikes Butterfield to the
ground, and slams his foot on Butterfield's neck, knocking
him unconscious. It's a terrifying, almost demoniacal
display of instant physical superiority. Throughout, he
literally ROARS in rage.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
The Cultists SCREAM in sympathy, letting out years of
repressed frustration. Many of them are dancing on the
shards of glass now, crazed.
CUT TO:
EXT. DESERT NEAR NIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Harry's car is parked a quarter mile from Nix's house. He is
getting out. Swann stays put.
The SOUND of SCREAMING is carried towards them on the wind.
HARRY
(spooked)
Jesus... what the hell's going on
in there?
SWANN
At a guess... they just resurrected
him.
HARRY
Fuck.
Harry starts towards the house. After a beat, Swann gets out
of the car and follows.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM- - NIGHT
On Butterfield, as Nix removes his foot. Butterfield is out
for the count.
On Nix, as he stops screaming. His face is grotesquely
disfigured by the mask, the flesh stained and corrupted.
The SCREAMING of the Cultists is dying away.
NIX
Children...
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
The Cultists all face the Sanctum door, awaiting instruction.
NIX
Will you suffer to come unto me?
One by one, the Cultists fall to their knees. We never see
flesh pierced by broken glass. But we HEAR IT, and see the
agony on the Cultist's faces. They start to sob.
Then, Nix appears in the doorway, mostly hidden by shadow.
NIX
I've come back to share the wisdom
of the grave. Will you hear it?
CULTISTS
Yes... yes...
NIX
Follow me then.
He steps out of the doorway. The Cultists let out sobs of
adoration. Nix locks at Dorothea.
NIX
Do I know you, child?
He reaches for her. Pulls her close to his body. Dorothea
keeps her self-possession; but only just.
NIX
Oh yes... I do, don't I? No gun
this time, child?
(a beat)
Where's Swann?
DOROTHEA
I don't know where he is.
Nix picks her up, so that her feet are inches off the ground.
NIX
He'll come. We've got unfinished
business, he and I.
Then he carries her down the passageway to the Meditation
Room, walking on the glass, apparently indifferent to the
wounds he's receiving.
The Cultists follow.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
Nix strides into the middle of the room.
NIX
(whispered to Dorothea)
Something terrible's going to
happen. But if you hold on to me,
very tight, you may live a little
longer.
The Cultists enter the room, knees and hands BLOODY.
NIX
(to Cultists)
Are you ready for my wisdom?
CULTISTS
Tell us... tell us...
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT
Harry pushes open the window, and climbs in. Swann follows.
He is frozen by the memory of what happened here.
ON SWANN, as the TRACK fills with eerie ECHOES of that
terrible event. Nix's SCREAMS. The GUN-SHOTS. The
sound of
the SCREWS GRINDING into Nix's flesh.
SWANN
(in terrified awe)
This is where we killed him.
HARRY
(looking at table)
You didn't try hard enough.
SWANN
I can't... I can't go any
further...
Harry nods, and gently detaches his arm from Swann's panicked
grip. He crosses to the door.
Suddenly. Butterfield reaches out of the darkness, and
catches hold of Harry's leg. throwing him to the ground.
He has one of the INSTRUMENTS in his hand. He STABS at
Harry, striking the ground between Harry's legs.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
NIX
Here is my wisdom.
He stamps on the ground. CRACKS spread from his foot in all
directions. ON THE CULTISTS, amazed by this manifestation of
power.
BARBARA
Show us. Puritan.
NORMAN
Yes, show us!
ALL
Show us! Show us!
With a ROAR, a PIT four or five feet across opens up beneath
Nix and Dorothea. Nix HOVERS over it. It's utterly dark;
perhaps bottomless.
Dorothea SCREAMS!
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM- - NIGHT
Hearing Dorothea's CRY, Harry looks back towards the
passageway. Butterfield pulls the instrument out of the
ground and stabs at Harry a second time. But Swann catches
hold of his arm.
SWANN
(to Harry)
Whatever he's doing to her, stop
him!
And Harry's up and away --
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
-- he dashes over the glass --
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
On Nix, Dorothea clasped close to him. He REVOLVES as he
floats over the chasm below then.
NIX
(to unseen Cultists)
You see, I escaped the grave. So I
have to give something to the grave
in return.
On the Cultists, listening to their lord with love in their
eyes.
A SLIT OPENS in the middle of Nix's forehead, above the
bridge of his nose (this is an image we saw in the prints in
the library), and from it comes a WAVE OF DARKNESS. As Nix
REVOLVES, the darkness STRIKES the GROUND around the
Cultists.
At first they don't realize what's going on. They think this
is some kind of bizarre blessing.
Then the ground starts to LIQUIFY beneath them.
NORMAN
What's happening?
NIX
I have to give something back. So
I'm giving you.
They're starting to SCREAM now as they sink into the ground.
They struggle, of course, but the earth seems to be hungry
for them. They are dragged down, THRASHING as they SINK.
BARBARA
(sobbing)
Why? Why?
NIX
You're not worthy. None of you.
Only Swann was worthy. You just
waited like lambs.
Harry appears in the doorway. Nix, still swinging round, has
his back to Harry.
NIX
Well I'm not your shepherd.
Harry surveys the horrific scene in front of him. The ground
is now re-solidifying around the Cultists, some of whom have
disappeared from view completely, some of whom still reach up
out of the dirt. The scene has a surreal beauty to it
despite its horror. SCREAMING FACES locked in the solid
ground. TWITCHING HANDS the same. Harry starts towards Nix
and Dorothea, GUN levelled. So far, he has avoided Nix's
gaze.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT
Butterfield and Swann are locked in a life-or-death struggle.
They tumble back against the table upon which Nix was
resurrected. It collapses under them, and for a moment Swann
is stunned. Butterfield snatches up one of the instruments
and STABS at Swann, who rolls out of the way in the nick of
time.
The BLADE catches him in the arm, however.
SWANN
Aah!
BUTTERFIELD
Go on, bleed.
(he slashes at Swann
again)
Go on! Go on!
Butterfield comes after him, and Swann backs off against a
wall. He SPITS out a serpentine FLAME, which races across
the floor and leaps at Butterfield's face!
BUTTERFIELD
(screaming)
No!
He falls backwards, his face ON FIRE. Swann doesn't wait to
watch him die, but races out into the passageway, BLOOD
running from his wound.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
Harry is staring up at Dorothea as he very gingerly crosses
the still-sticky ground. He's a yard from the edge of the
pit now.
Nix swings round.
NIX
You're not Swann. Who are you?
(a beat) )
Oh... I know what you want. He lets
Dorothea slip from his arms.
Harry flings himself towards the hole and CATCHES HOLD of
Dorothea's arm before she falls away into the abyss. His GUN
goes spinning across the ground, back towards the door
leading to the passageway.
DOROTHEA
Oh God!
HARRY
Hang on!
Nix reaches down to torment Harry. But before he can make
contact
SWANN (V.O.)
Nix!
Nix looks up.
NIX
There you are.
Suddenly, Nix isn't interested in Harry and Dorothea. He
steps onto solid ground, and walks towards Swann, his tone
suddenly conversational.
NIX
I've had a lot of time to think
about you. Where I went wrong...
With Nix's back turned, Harry pulls Dorothea back out of the
chasm.
SWANN
And?
NIX
I should have been honest with you,
right from the start. I wasn't
born to show people the error of
their ways. I was born to murder
the world.
ON HARRY, as he leads Dorothea to the door. Harry glances
back into the room.
NIX
You could still help me do that.
SWANN
Why would I want to?
NIX
Because you've got nothing else to
live for.
SWANN
Not true.
NIX
The woman has a new love in her
life. Your friends are dead.
Nobody's left to save you, but me
He lays his hands on Swann. Draws him into an embrace.
ON HARRY and Dorothea.
HARRY
(to Dorothea)
I've got to help him.
DOROTHEA
You can't.
HARRY
Nix has got to have a weak spot.
Everybody's got a fucking weak
spot.
A NOISE. He turns, and suddenly --
Butterfield is there! His face is horribly burned, but he's
still very much alive.
BUTTERFIELD
Bastard!
He launches himself at Harry, driving them both back into the
BROKEN GLASS. A FIGHT ensues, carrying them out into the
Passageway.
Nix has Swann in a bear-hug.
NIX
Will you help me?
A beat. Then Swann nods.
SWANN
Yes.
Nix lets him go.
NIX
You know I'll kill you when we're
done. I have to.
SWANN
Yes.
NIX
But until then... it's you and
me... the way it always was.
SWANN
Yes.
Dorothea, at the doorway, watches this bizarre exchange.
Swann's eyes flicker towards her. Nix turns.
NIX
Wait... you still feel something
for that bitch?
SWANN
No!
NIX
Liar!
Nix makes a gesture, and Swann is flung against the wall,
pinned there like a fly, legs off the ground.
NIX
Will! You! Never! Learn!?
With each word, Nix almost casually throws a gesture in
Swann's direction, and though there is six feet between them,
they have the force of terrible blows. One to the ribs.
They CRACK. One to the face. It BLEEDS. One to the
legs,
one to the arms. They all BREAK. Then Nix turns towards
Dorothea.
NIX
She's just flesh, Swannnie-boy.
I'll show you!
He moves towards Dorothea. Swann falls to the ground,
broken.
SWANN
Harry!
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
The fight between Butterfield and Harry continues.
SWANN (V.O.)
Harry! Stop him!
Harry looks up. Sees Dorothea retreating from the door, and
running off into the darkness.
Butterfield comes at Harry again. Harry's got no more time
for this creep. He delivers Butterfield a backhand swipe,
and Butterfield lands face down in the glass. We don't see
the impact. HEARING it's enough.
Harry looks down at the body. Then --
NIX (V.O.)
Where is she?
Harry turns.
Nix is on him like a luoaernaut. treading on Butterfield's
body as he comes at Harry!
NIX
Where did she go?
Nix GRABS hold of Harry's head with one hand and PRESSES the
fingers of -the other hand against Harry's TEMPLES. He
struggles to get free, but Nix is simply too powerful.
Nix's fingers slowly SLIDE BENEATH the skin of Harry's
temples. As before, there's no blood.
NIX
You've got Swann's disease. You
think a little courage, a little
love, and it'll all be all right.
Wrong!
His fingers slide all the way in!
HARRY
Oh God!
Harry wrests himself free of Nix, and stumbles away. His eyes
are BLOOD-RED. Nix is a few yards behind him.
NIX
Tell me where she is... and I'll
make it go away...
Harry is reeling around in the grip of a nightmare.
HARRY'S P.O.V.
The apocalyptic images on the walls seem to move! A face
SCREAMS! FIRE blossoms!
ON HARRY, verging on insanity.
HARRY
Oh God... oh God...
HARRY'S P.O.V.
Harry sees a WOMAN, wrapped in the sickly-sensual embrace of
some glistening, barely visible OBSCENITY. We can't see her
face. Only her mouth is visible in the coils of her
devourer.
ON HARRY
as he approaches the wall, on which this woman is painted.
Reaching out for the image.
HARRY'S P.O.V.
The Woman reaches for Harry.
WOMAN
Help me.
ON HARRY
as he touches the wall.
HARRY
Dorothea!
He starts to SCRATCH out the plaster on which the image is
painted.
HARRY
Dorothea! Dorothea!
HARRY'S P.O.V.
Darkness swallows the image of the woman. She is still
screaming when she disappears.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
ON SWANN, dragging his broken body to the door.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
ON HARRY
literally beating his head against the wall!
HARRY
No! No! No!
DOROTHEA (V.O.)
Harry...
Harry stops. Dare he believe this is truly her voice?
DOROTHEA
It's not real, Harry-
Harry turns around. Dorothea is there.
HARRY'S P.O.V.
For a moment, he sees Dorothea as she is.
ON HARRY, relief flooding his face. Then --
HARRY'S P.O.V.
-- the image MORPHS. Dorothea's beauty is replaced by
primeval muck.
ON HARRY, appalled. Dorothea grabs hold of him.
DOROTHEA
Harry. Listen to me. Whatever's
good between us, believe it.
Harry's face is deathly white, and pouring SWEAT. He's
fighting the delirium. Or doing his best.
HARRY
... oh... God...
DOROTHEA
I'm here, Harry.
HARRY
...yes?
DOROTHEA
Yes.
Nix steps from the shadows of the doorway behind Harry.
NIX
(to Dorothea)
There you are, child.
Harry starts to look round.
DOROTHEA
Don't look.
HARRY
I... have... to.
NIX
Come on, child. I want Swann to
see you die.
Harry turns and looks at Nix.
HARRY'S P.O.V.
Nix's face darkens as it MORPHS. And the flesh in the middle
of his brow UNFOLDS, revealing a dark, pulsating THIRD EYE.
NIX
(to Harry)
What are you looking at?
ON DOROTHEA, who has gone to the door of the Meditation Room
and now slips inside.
ON HARRY, staring up at Nix.
ON DOROTHEA, re-emerging from the Meditation Room. In her
hand, Harry's GUN. Harry looks round at her.
HARRY
(points to his brow)
There... there!
ON NIX, as he looks up at Dorothea.
ON DOROTHEA, as she raises the GUN. She FIRES.
The bullet STRIKES Nix's FOREHEAD. He sinks to his knees,
BLOOD pouring down his face from the hole where his third EYE
used to be.
ON HARRY, as Nix's mind-hold falters. He leans against the
wall, shaking.
DOROTHEA
Harry?
HARRY
I'm okay. I'm okay.
Harry opens his eyes. Looks up at her.
HARRY'S P.O.V.
The last of the MORPHING fades. He sees Dorothea as she
actually is. Dorothea goes down to comfort him, and they
embrace.
Suddenly, a ROAR from Nix. They look towards him --
-- it isn't over.
One last, terrifying transformation is overtaking Nix as he
kneels in the GLASS. His sallow flesh is running in STREAMS
up his body towards the DARK HOLE in the middle of his
forehead --
NIX
One... last... illusion...
-- his humanity is disappearing, vanishing into the vortex of
the bullet wound.
DOROTHEA
Oh my God.
Harry and Dorothea start to get up...
Nix is no longer human. He is a shape of gleaming DARKNESS,
stripped of features. He opens his mouth, the only visible
element on his body is his toothed maw, which looses an
utterly inhuman SHRIEK!
SWANN (V.O.)
... D'Amour...
Harry glances through the door into the Meditation Room.
Swann is on the threshold.
Nix RISES now. He is a terrifying spectacle, his bulk
somehow more intimidating than ever in this simplified form.
He comes at Dorothea, who has no choice but to back away into
the Meditation Room.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
The pit still yawns in the middle of the floor. Dorothea is
backed towards it by Nix.
When Nix SPEAKS, his voice is not remotely human. It is
DEMONIACAL.
NIX
I am the purest of the pure. I am
the darkest of the dark...
Harry is at the door now, starting towards Nix.
SWANN
Harry. You can't kill him.
Harry crouches beside Swann.
HARRY
(whispers)
He did something with the ground.
SWANN
Yes?
HARRY
Can you do it?
SWANN
I don't know.
HARRY
Try.
ON DOROTHEA. She's a couple of yards from the pit now.
NIX (V.O.)
I'm beyond Heaven. I'm beyond
Hell.
Suddenly, Harry lunges at Nix, grabbing hold of his legs.
Nix topples.
ON SWANN, who puts his hands on the ground. Closes his eyes.
A wave of LIQUIFICATION runs through the ground from Swann's
broken fingers --
-- the Cultists' bodies MOVE in the softening ground, like
corpses in surf, and ROLL towards the pit, their dead faces
resurfacing --
Barbara's body floats past Nix, and disappears
over
the edge of the pit.
HARRY
(to Dorothea)
Get out of here!
The ground is very liquid now, and the corpses are lodging
around Nix as they're all carried towards the pit. So's
Harry, of course.
Nix tries to get up, but he's too late. The corpses weigh
him down, the ground is too fluid for him to get a proper
hold, and Harry still clings to his legs.
NIX
No! No! No!
He's at the edge of the pit.
DOROTHEA (V.O.)
Harry!
Harry looks round. Dorothea's behind him, risking the
flowing ground to offer him a hand.
Nix starts to fall into the pit. At the last minute, he
reaches for Harry, as --
-- Harry is pulled out of reach bv Dorothea.
Together they stumble to THE DOOR, where Swann still lies.
They look back to see
NIX, as he goes over the edge of the pit and FALLS SCREAMING.
At the door, Dorothea lifts up Swann's head. He's dead. She
closes his eyes.
CUT TO:
INT. THE PIT
What we are about to witness is the longest fall-to-his-
death by any villain in the history of cinema...
Nix is falling through rock. Still SCREAMING. He CRASHES
against a layer of stone, which his body smashes to
smithereens. And as he falls --
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
DOROTHEA
Is it finished?
HARRY
I think so.
No it's not. Nix keeps falling, breaking through another
layer of rock as he descends deeper and deeper into the
earth.
And now... there's a hint of FIERY LIGHT below. He's
approaching MAGMA.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
DOROTHEA
Come on...
She puts her arms around him. Kisses him, sobbing with
relief.
INT. THE PIT
Nix hits a layer of molten rock, and, SCREAMING, he
disappears. A BURST of dark, roiling ENERGY erupts from the
spot where he sank, and starts up the pit --
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
The room TREMBLES. There's a ROAR in the earth.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
HARRY
What the fuck?
DOROTHEA
Harry-?
HARRY
Out! Out!
They race for the front door --
INT. THE PIT
-- the wave of ENERGY, like a howling, dark WIND, ascends at
a breath-taking rate
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
Harry and Dorothea race for the open air, as
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
The ENERGY ERUPTS from the pit.
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT
Harry and Dorothea stumble out, into the night --
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - NIGHT
The ENERGY howls from room to room, ERODING the images off
the walls, BLOWING out the doors, DESTROYING all the
resurrection equipment in the Sanctum --
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - DESERT - DAWN
Harry and Dorothea stumble to the car. They look back at the
house, as the cacophony of destruction dies down.
ON THE RIM OF THE SUN, as it peeps over the desert horizon.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - DAWN
The SUNLIGHT creeps through the rooms as the DUST settles.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - DAWN
The hole in the floor CLOSES UP, and is SEALED... SILENCE
reigns.
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - DESERT - DAWN
Harry and Dorothea get into the car. Harry glances back at
the house. Nothing.
HARRY
(quietly)
It's finished.
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - IDOLS - DAWN
ON THE IDOLS and the FRONT DOOR, virtually destroyed by tine.
WE DRIFT THROUGH THEM, INTERCUTTING WITH:
EXT. HARRY'S CAR - DESERT ROAD -
DAWN
Harry's car speeds away, leaving a plume of dust as
THE CREDITS ROLL
|
