MANDY

screenplay by
Panos Cosmatos
and Aaron Stewart-Ahn

story by
Lenora Tor

05/03/17
White Draft

SPECTREVISION/UMEDIA
 THIS MOTION PICTURE IS PRESENTED IN 16MM ANAMORPHIC
CINEMASCOPE.

1 BLACK SCREEN. 1

SILENCE.

A cold and desolate wind begins to blow through the darkness.

A MENACING RHYTHMIC PULSING BEGINS TO RISE ON THE SOUNDTRACK.

Ancient. Primal. Barbaric. From no recognizable time or

place. A PAGAN sound of darkness and oblivion from a time
long since forgotten. ‘Sunday Afternoon In the Park’ by Van
Halen.

A shadowy call to spill blood and take heads.

WORDS appears in the darkness. Red against the black

nothingness of the screen. The spartan blood red of a Cannon
films production.

WHEN I DIE
BURY ME DEEP
LAY TWO SPEAKERS AT MY FEET
WRAP SOME HEADPHONES AROUND MY HEAD
AND ROCK AND ROLL ME
WHEN I’M DEAD

The words appear and disappear into the darkness

The PULSATING reaches a fever pitch and climaxes as we

SLAM CUT TO:

2 EXT. FOREST VALLEY - TITLE SEQUENCE - DUSK 2

WE SPEED LOW AND FAST OVER THE VAST UNTAMED RAIN FORESTS OF
THE NORTH WESTERN WILDERNESS.

‘Starless’ by King Crimson rises gently on the soundtrack.

UNDER THE RED SUN THE JAGGED DARK FOREST OF PINE COVERS THE
LANDSCAPE LIKE A CLOAK OF NAILS.
 2.

We tilt down to see the TREE TOPS speeding by BELOW us in an

almost abstract blur.

We look back up see --

WE ARE APPROACHING

3 EXT. HELILOGGING SITE, MOUNTAIN - DUSK 3

A Heli-bundle Harvesting operation.

A CREW of men work on the verge of a RIDGE.

Pulling RAW TIMBER with a TRACTOR and hacking into the old
growth trees with CHAIN SAWS.

The sound of the song is consumed by the ROAR of FORESTRY *

TOOLS.

We watch them work -- getting a sense of the danger of the

job as well as their harsh but intimate relationship with the
landscape they are carving away at.

Here we find RED MILLER.

A wiry but tough as nails man. His well worn work clothes
look like they have been forged in the heat of battle. His
bearded face is rough and weathered. His eyes hard, but not
unkind.

RED and his SPOTTER prepare to take down an old growth TREE.

RED fires up his intimidating STIHL CHAIN SAW RIG.

His Chain Saw lashes through the bark and in one steady
motion he cuts all the way through the 4 foot thick trunk.

He cuts a WEDGE into the TRUNK.

Red steps back and kills the motor.

He SLAMS his boot into the tree.

 3.

With a loud GROAN the tree topples and CRASHES into the
landscape with a THUNDERING ROAR sending a cloud of dust
billowing all around them.

The VALLEY is DARKENING. *

4 EXT. LOGGING SITE, MOUNTAIN - DUSK 4

A JET RANGER copter descends towards the CREW kicking up a *

swarm of dust and debris.

RED and the CREW run for the copter, throw their gear in the
back of the dirt caked JET RANGER and climb onboard.

It takes off as quickly as it landed.

The crew hees and haws as the chopper takes off speeding over
the valley below.

A CREWMAN busts out a cooler of beer and starts handing out

cans. The men crack their beers and drink heartily.

RED declines. He is clearly an outsider. Lights up a smoke.

The others shoot the shit but we can barely make them out
over the DIN of the ENGINE.

RED looks out the cargo door as

We TILT DOWN to gaze at the DARK FOREST whipping by below.

The credits come to a close as we

DISSOLVE TO:
 4.

5 EXT. FOREST ROAD - NIGHT 5

Beams of light cut through trees casting matchstick shadows

as RED drives his battered 1978 BRONCO home through the
wilderness.

It’s a warm late summer night.

WE DISSOLVE TO

A WOMAN’S HAND puts FLAME to an evil looking hand carved PIPE

and draws a hit.

Her mouth exhales a shroud of tendrilous smoke...

THE WOMAN’S HAND DRAWING --

Her pencil patiently works a detailed rendering of --

A ravaged electrical box by the side of a forest road. It’s

hatch torn asunder. Inside - thick frayed wires. The image
fills with color and comes alive as flickering Ralph Bakshi
style CELL ANIMATION.

The frayed wires hiss and ooze juicy sparks into the night.
As the eyes of strange creatures watch from the shadows
behind the tree-line.

As the Bronco slides by we pan and dissolve back to LIVE

ACTION.

Red rolls the radio dial. We hear a staticy voice.

PRESIDENT REAGAN
(on the radio)
...There's a great spiritual
awakening in America, a renewal of
the traditional values that have
been the bedrock of America's
goodness and greatness...

He gives the dial a turn. Static hums.

VOICES
(on the radio)
Here’s Cal Worthington and his dog
spot.
(singing)
If you need a car or truck go see
Cal.
 5.

VOICES (cont'd)
If you want your payments low, if
you want to save some dough. Go see
Cal. Go see Cal. Go see Ca -

Red kills the deck as it hisses out with an electric click.

He drives on -

WE DISSOLVE TO

THE WOMAN’S EYES GAZING DOWN AS SHE DRAWS --

CELL ANIMATION OF

Headlights pulsing over a giant industrial engine block

abandoned in a clearing. Overgrown and rusted in the
moonlight it looms like an ANCIENT TEMPLE.

Super Title:

The Shadow Mountains, 1983 A.D.

6 EXT. FOREST ROAD / RED & MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 6

Up ahead he can see his HOME in the forest. Glowing warm and
yellow through the windows.

As the Bronco pulls down the drive way we

WE DISSOLVE BACK TO LIVE ACTION

Red pulls up out front, tires crunch softly on the gravel

driveway.

It’s a WOODEN HOUSE nestled amongst the trees at the end of a

long, winding dirt road.

The porch light is on. Moths flutter around it.

RED gets out of the truck toting and grabs his duffel bag.
Heads towards the house.

7 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 7

Red and Mandy built this house together over the course of a
couple of years out of the ruins of an old cabin.
 6.

It’s a cozy two story wooden structure with lots of windows

and they love it. It’s theirs.

One of her best works hangs framed above the couch. An

incredibly detailed and beautiful drawing of a fantastical
landscape dominated by a Hydra.

Red comes in. Drops his gear on the floor.

He looks into the living room and sees Mandy hunched over the
kitchen table drawing. She’s wearing a big pair of headphones
and her glasses. Lost in another world. A record spins
silently on the stereo.

RED MILLER
Yo. I’m home.

Mandy is startled she pulls of her headphones and spins

around.

Mandy. Small town girl to the core. Hard upbringing. She

exudes a bruised charm. A long thin scar runs down her left
cheekbone. She’s been through hell but her eyes are open and
exude warmth and intelligence. We can tell right away she’s
the kind of woman we’d want to hang out with.

MANDY
Red! You scared the hell out of me!

Red apologizes with a look.

RED MILLER
Knock knock.

MANDY
Who’s there?

RED MILLER
Eric Estrada.

MANDY
Eric Estrada who?

RED MILLER
Eric Estrada from Chips.

She smiles and shakes her head.

DISSOLVE TO:
 7.

8 INT. RED & MANDY’S HOME, BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHT 8

A warm, soft light flows in ILLUMINATING the scene.

We are looking down at RED AND MANDY lying in bed naked under
a knitted blanket. The light in the room is dim and warm.

We slowly glide down towards them as they talk. Quietly,

intimately and softly. Red lights a smoke with his Zippo
passes it to Mandy. Lights another for himself.

RED MILLER
How was your day?

MANDY
Pretty good. I was reading that
book about the galaxy.

RED MILLER
That big thick one?

MANDY
Yeah... it’s pretty awesome.

RED MILLER
What’s your favorite planet?

MANDY
Jupiter. No doubt.

RED MILLER
How come?

MANDY
The surface of its atmosphere is a
storm that’s been raging for
thousands of years... and the eye
of that hurricane is so huge it
could easily swallow up the whole
Earth. I think that’s my favorite
planet.

RED MILLER
Wild...

MANDY
What’s your favorite?

Red thinks for a moment.

 8.

RED MILLER
Saturn probably.

MANDY
Yeah... I like Saturn. It was one
of the first planets we humans
discovered... so there’s lots of
ancient myths about it.

Red thinks for a moment.

RED MILLER
I changed my mind...

MANDY
What?!

RED MILLER
I like GALACTUS... cause he eats
planets!

She smiles. He kisses her.

She snuggle closer in the warm dim light.

9 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 9

Slowly we leave the warm little house tracking up INTO THE

NIGHT SKY.

It’s alive with STARS. Soft puffy clouds move by slowly . We

pass by them into the blanket of stars. Lush with colors
shifting as the galaxy seems to sigh.

DISSOLVE TO:

10 INT/EXT. BRONCO/FOREST ROAD - SUNNY DAY - CONTINUOUS 10

RED and MANDY speed down a forest road in the BRONCO. Red at
the wheel.

MANDY leans out the open window. She’s wearing a t-shirt,

cutoff jeans and flip flops. She smiles softly, hair whipping
in the wind.

They zoom down the wide forest road towards the lake. The
ROAR of wind and engine fills the soundtrack.
 9.

The sunlight passes through the trees on her face.

DISSOLVE TO:

11 OMITTED 11 *

12 EXT. LAKE - SUNNY DAY 12

A LITTLE LATER

RED AND MANDY are on a ROW BOAT out on the lake. They relax,
drying off in the warm sunlight.

RED has his fishing pole rigged up and jutting over the side
waiting for a catch.

They look happy. Drifting.

We zoom slowly out until we are at a

Wide high angle.

The little boat floats there with them in it, far away.

MATCH DISSOLVE
TO:

13 EXT. LAKE SHORE - CAMPSITE - NIGHT 13

FLAMES.

Red sits by the fire of their camp site by the lake, stoking
it with a stick.

He looks over. Just at the edges of the fire light Mandy is

swimming in the dark glassy water.
 10.

Red goes back to tending the fire. Smoke dangling from his
mouth. A moment passes.

Red looks up again. Mandy’s Theme begins to shimmer on the

soundtrack.

Mandy is emerging from the lake. Her body glistening in the

light of the fire. Her long hair falling about her bare
shoulders. Here and now she looks like a goddess of pure
sensuality.

Their eyes meet. The smoke drops from his mouth.

She moves towards him.

FADE TO:

14 EXT. LAKE SHORE - CAMPSITE - DAWN 14

RED is asleep. Mandy is lying there wide awake. The ashes of

the fire smolder.

Tree branches sway in a gentle breeze.

She closes her eyes. A faint eerie SOUND in the breeze.

DISSOLVE TO:

15 EXT. LAKE, FOREST - DAWN 15

MANDY walks under the shifting dark shadows of the pine

trees.

She sees a pool of bright light and moves toward it. Emerges
into a clearing.

The air is thick with pollen and insects and dandelion seeds
float in the wind. No trees here, only waist high grass.

The world and MANDY seem to be one. The sunlight on her face,
this bloom of light soaked green, the calls of birds.

She spies bent grass, folded over, a trail in the clearing.

A faint BUZZING can be heard.

She walks forward.

 11.

The warmness of the scene begins to FADE gradually replaced a

BUZZING SOUND.

On the edge of the clearing, in the musty shade there is a

LARGE HOLLOW LOG.

THE BUZZING IS OVERWHELMING

And there, the CARCASS OF A STILLBORN DEER

ROTTING at the base of the log. Its BLOODY GUTS hang out of
its distended gut. Pulsating with MAGGOTS.

Flies SWARM everywhere.

The sound of buzzing CONSUMES the soundtrack getting louder

and LOUDER

SLAM CUT TO:

16 INT/EXT. BRONCO/ROAD - DAY 16

As they DRIVE Mandy gazes out the window still haunted by

what she saw in the forest.

FADE TO:

17 EXT. GAS STATION / GENERAL STORE - DAY 17 *

Red and Mandy pull up in the BLAZER in front of the one story *
cinder block gas station just off the side of a forested main
road.

They get out.

Mandy heads into the store to grab some stuff and Red starts
filling up the Bronco with fuel.

Silently behind Red a POLICE CAR pulls up.

ANGLE on the passenger seat: A PORN MAG with the three cans *
left of a SIX PACK straddling it.

The door of the car opens. A man gets out.

SHERIFF BARREL a large brutal John Wayne wannabe. There’s

something off about him. A sadism in his eyes.
 12.

He notices Red and starts coming over.

SHERIFF BARREL
Well, well, well, if it isn’t Red
Miller.

Red recognizes the voice and his eyes immediately colden.

Barrel kicks the tires on the Bronco.

SHERIFF BARREL (cont’d)

This thing insured?

Red stays put.

RED MILLER
Just filling up that’s all.

SHERIFF BARREL
I could cite you for that... but
you’re lucky I’m in a good mood
today.

Red bites his tongue.

RED MILLER
Thanks Sheriff.

SHERIFF BARREL
Say, I hear you’re shacked up...

Barrel looms closer.

SHERIFF BARREL (cont'd)

...with that little slut Mandy
Bloom.

Red slowly TURNS AROUND TO FACE HIM. Barrel is enjoying this.

SHERIFF BARREL (cont’d)

Seems to me she fucked pretty much
anything with a heartbeat in this
town at one time or another. Kinda
hard to believe she’s all married
like to just one man. What with all
the... fucking... and sucking...
she likes to do... so much.

Mandy watches from inside as she pays, concerned

 13.

Red is staring at Barrel. His eyes are cold. He is keeping it

in check. But inside he is boiling with rage.

SHERIFF BARREL (cont'd)

But when you think about it you
make a perfect couple. A whore and
loser drunk... why you were
practically made for each other.

Red’s hand has unconsciously closed into A FIST.

Red looks down.

Barrel has his hand resting casually on his REVOLVER.

SHERIFF BARREL (cont'd)

You may be keeping your shit
together... for now... but a loser
drunk like you is gonna fuck up
sooner or later... it’s only a
matter of time. Isn’t that right...
Red.

We hear the door jingle and Mandy comes out carrying a

shopping bag.

She sees something’s up and pauses.

MANDY
What’s going on...

Barrel looks her up and down.

SHERIFF BARREL
I was just leaving. Have a nice day
now.

Barrel turns and trudges back towards his patrol car.

Mandy comes over to Red. She puts her hand on his arm.

MANDY
Hey....

Once Barrel is gone Red relaxes a bit...

MANDY (cont'd)
What was that all about?
 14.

RED MILLER
Nothing.

FADE TO:

18 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - LATER 18

The TV is filled with static. Sound low.

Red and Mandy lie asleep on the couch. Mandy’s head rests on
his chest.

One of Mandy’s most beautiful pieces is framed and hanging on

the wall above them.

Red shifts a bit restlessly. Dreaming. Bad dreams.

Mandy’s eyes open. She’s been thinking.

MANDY
Red... You awake?

Red stirs.

RED MILLER
Yeah baby... What is it...

MANDY
You okay?

RED MILLER
Yeah why...

MANDY
You were having a bad dream.

RED MILLER
Uh huh...

MANDY
What about?

Red thinks about it.

RED MILLER
I can’t remember... Sometimes I
wonder if we should move away from
this place.
 15.

MANDY
Where?

RED MILLER
I don’t know...

MANDY
I like it here Red... it’s
peaceful... our little home...

Red smiles a little.

Mandy’s eyes drift, remembering something.

MANDY
Did I ever tell you about the
Starlings... From when I was a
girl?

RED MILLER
No... I don’t think so...

Mandy’s eyes are a little sad.

MANDY
In the neighborhood where I grew up
there were Starlings everywhere. In
all the trees. Chirping and playing
and flying around. They were so
cute. But our neighbor, he hated
em. They were always eating the
cherries from his cherry trees. One
day me and a bunch of the other
kids from the neighborhood were
playing in this empty lot. He came
walking over with a pillow case and
a crow bar. There was something
moving in the pillow case... like
squirming. He made us all gather
round, said he had something to
show us. We all gathered round and
he dumped what was in the pillow
case onto the ground. It was a
bunch of baby Starlings. Told us he
was gonna show us how to kill em.
He lifted up the crowbar and
brought it down right on the little
baby bird... so hard it pushed it
right into the ground... it was
deep in there... like a little
grave...
 16.

MANDY (cont'd)
he handed the crowbar to one of the
kids and they all took turns...
killing a starling each...

RED MILLER
What’d you do...

MANDY
I just watched... but when it came
my turn to go... I ran away.

Red squeezed Mandy to comfort her.

RED MILLER
Come here...

Mandy looks up at Red.

Mandy’s eyes fill with tears and she smiles. Red is choking
up a little too, and smiling.

They embrace each other.

FADE OUT.

19 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - DAY 19

CLOSE on a LOG being SPLIT with a hard crack.

RED is CHOPPING WOOD near the house. His shirt’s off and we
see that he has a few of what appear to be rough and faded
prison tattoos.

He places one log after another on a stump and brings the AXE
down splitting fire wood. This is therapy for him.

20 INT/EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - KITCHEN - YARD - DAY 20

MANDY is cutting up an apple. She slices up her thumb.

Flinches.

MANDY
Godammnit.

She bats the slices into the sink.

 17.

She holds up her thumb and inspects it. A large droplet of

blood forms at the cut.

Mandy puts her thumb to her mouth and licks it off.

Mandy grabs a fresh full apple from a bowl and karate kicks
open the back door.

As she approaches Red senses her and wedges the axe into the
chopping block. Wipes the sweat from his brow as he turns
around.

RED MILLER
Hi there...

MANDY
Hi...

RED MILLER
That for me?

MANDY
Maybe.

Red smiles.

RED MILLER
Thanks.

She’s hesitates.

MANDY
Red...

RED MILLER
Yeah?

MANDY
Why do you never talk about... you
know... your life before we met?

Red gets distant. But he suddenly lights up.

RED MILLER
I’m an introvert.

He’s deflecting but she lets it slide. She can’t help but
smile. He’s lovable.

MANDY
Well that explains it.
 18.

He grins.

MANDY
Well... I’m gonna smoke a bowl...
then head over to work in a bit.

RED MILLER
That’s how to do it.

Mandy tosses him the apple and heads back towards the house.

As he watches her go we can see Red regrets not opening up to

her. He bites into the apple.

21 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - LIVING ROOM - DAY 21

Stoned, Mandy reclines on the couch reading her thick dog

eared paperback. The name of the novel is ‘Seeker of the
Serpents Eye’ by Lenora Tor.

Her sketchbook lays open on the coffee table. The pages LUSH
with ideas. The evil looking pipe and a Zippo next to it.

Her eyes move dreamily over the pages of the novel...

Close on the printed words. The ink bleeding gently into the
pulpy paper stock.

As Mandy reads...

WE DISSOLVE TO:

A DARK FOREST

THICK LIQUID FOG POURS THOUGH THE TREES

MANDY (V.O.)
“...Under the crimson, primordial
sky, surrounded by the jagged black
rocks of the ancient volcanic
mountain, the wretched Warlock
reached into the dark embrace of
the fissure until his hand touched
a smooth glassy surface. Cold as
ice. His fist closed around the The
Serpent’s Eye. Slowly he withdrew
it and held it before him in the
fading light of the blood red suns.
It glowed from within.
 19.

MANDY (V.O.) (cont'd)

A ghostly emerald light. Strange
and Eternal.”

Mandy wanders out onto the deck...

She leans on the railing gazing out over the FOREST. *

She watches THE THICK BLANKET OF FOG spreads quickly through *

the forest like a SHROUD. *

Dreaming...

DISSOLVE TO:

22 INT/EXT. VAN/FORESTED FOGGY ROADWAY - DAY 22

SLOW MOTION. DENSE UNDULATING FOG FILLS THE SCREEN. *

MANDY is walking down the road through the FOG in a summer

dress and flip flops. She looks luminous in the strange light
of the summer MIST. A Blood Crystal hangs around her neck by
a chain.

Out of its depths of the mist in eerie slow motion EMERGES --

A LONG CAB CAMPING VAN, 1977 FORD CHATEAU. CRUISING down a

stretch of paved road surrounded by thick forest and tall
cliffs. The sequence is cut to the song.

RIDING IN THE VAN ARE -- THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW DAWN. Led by
the “Legendary” JEREMIAH SAND. *

They’re dressed casually like “cool” camp counselors. Wolves

in sheep’s clothing.

Driving the VAN is BROTHER SWAN. 40. Sand’s conniving and

viper like right hand man.

We are introduced to the rest of the group -- sitting in the

back are

SISTER RIVER -- 16. Face like a broken doll. She’s the

"daughter" of Sand and Mother Marlene -- and so much more.
Her pretty wavy hair looks like it gets a brushing every day
 20.

BROTHER KLOPEK -- 35. A seven foot tall ghoul of a man with a

bowl haircut. His eyes are dim but his capacity for cruelty
is untold.

BROTHER HANKER -- 28. An aging juvenile delinquent who has

finally found a family. He is deceptively unassuming and
fiercely loyal to Sand.

SISTER LUCY -- 30. Scrawny blank eyed acid casualty with long
stringy hair. The "crazy" one.

TWIN LEWIS AND TWIN LAWRENCE. Pudgy, sullen twins in their

early 20s. They’re very new to the “family” and still wide
eyed tourists.

MOTHER MARLENE -- 44. Sand’s “wife”. She has the sad distant
eyes of a woman who has been forgotten. But cruelty is in her
blood.

She looks over at

JEREMIAH SAND. 59. Their leader. Riding in the passenger

seat. He seems drugged. Decadent. His skin as tanned and
leathery as George Hamilton. His bleach blond, almost white,
hair permed into an absurd but sinister curls. He carries
himself with vanity and arrogance but there is also a very
old bitterness seething in his piercing blue toned eyes.

The VAN CREEPS SLOW down the dirt road.

SLOW MOTION -

Mandy walks lost in a daydream.

SAND lazily turns his head and something catches HIS EYE. THE
BLOOD CRYSTAL hanging around her neck GLINTS in a stray
sunbeam. The red gliting light flashes.

His sickly gaze slides up from the crystal along her body to
her face. She wipes sweat from her brow with her forearm.

Sand becomes by her and WHEN HE DOES the soundtrack is

CONSUMED by a nocturnal, rising ORCHESTRAL SWELL of
CATACLYSMIC EMOTION.

The VAN passes her.

CLOSE on SAND. His eyes are LOCKED on MANDY as they move

towards her, but she’s oblivious to his presence.
 21.

We LINGER on Mandy through his eyes GLIDING up her body

barely concealed beneath the light cotton dress. And up to
her face, her hair moving gently in the breeze.

Mandy happens to look up and their eyes meet. Only for a

moment. Locked together in an abysmal eternity. At first she
seems fine but slowly her eyes become unsettled.

Sands tongue glides across his dry lips.

Then she’s gone. He watches her in the rear view disappearing

into the fog.

We HOLD CLOSE on SAND as they drive away, his eyes welling

with a strange and horrible new NEED.

THE ORCHESTRAL WAVE continues to rise as we

FADE TO:

23 BLACK SCREEN. 23

Letters move across the screen overlapping and bisecting it

like the title sequence of THE DEAD ZONE. Behind the colors
of a KALEIDOSCOPE shifting and turning gently.

THE LETTERS FORM INTO A TITLE:

CHILDREN OF THE NEW DAWN

FADE TO:

24 INT. GAS STATION / GENERAL STORE - DAY 24 *

Silence. Mandy is behind the counter at the small general

store where she works, reading her book. We hold on her for a
moment. The soft sound of the AC and the turning pages of her
book.

She’s startled by a voice.

WOMAN’S VOICE (O.S.)

I really like your dress.

Mandy looks up. Across from her is MOTHER MARLENE carrying a

basket with a couple of items in it. In this context Mother
Marlene looks positively friendly and maternal.
 22.

Mandy smiles.

MANDY
Well, thanks.

MOTHER MARLENE
Whatcha reading?

MANDY
A novel.

MOTHER MARLENE
How do you like it?

MANDY
I love it! I think it’s Lenora
Tor’s best book.

Mother Marlene puts a couple of tomatoes on the counter and a

couple of boxes of mac and cheese and a packet of hot dog
buns.

Mandy starts ringing them through and bagging them.

MOTHER MARLENE
You have such lovely tomatoes
around here.

MANDY
That’s the best thing about living
in the middle of nowhere.

MOTHER MARLENE
I used to grow my own... now I just
buy em at the store. It’s not the
same.

MANDY
Me and Red are hoping to build a
green house soon.

MOTHER MARLENE
Who’s Red, your Daddy?

MANDY
My boyfriend.

MOTHER MARLENE
Oh yeah... what’s he do?
 23.

MANDY
He’s a sawyerman.

Marlene gives her a quizzical look.

MANDY
Like a logger.

MOTHER MARLENE
Oh!

They laugh a little.

MOTHER MARLENE
Must be a pretty tough guy.

MANDY *
Yeah sure... I guess. *

MOTHER MARLENE
You grow up around here?

MANDY
I grew up just outside Beaver
Valley, but I came here when I was
about 16. Ran away to the “big
city”.

Mandy laughs her eyes shining. Mother Marlene laughs too,

studying her.

MOTHER MARLENE
I guess you live around here?

MANDY
Yeah we live down near Crystal
Lake.

MOTHER MARLENE
That sounds lovely.

MANDY
Yeah it’s pretty nice. I like it
anyway.
 24.

MANDY (cont'd)
*

Mandy is starting to get weirded out.

MOTHER MARLENE
It’s good to have a strong man to
look after you.

MANDY
I suppose...

MOTHER MARLENE
Well good luck with the green
house.

MANDY
Thanks.

Mother Marlene collects her bag.

MANDY
Bye now. Have a nice day.

MOTHER MARLENE
See ya later.

MOTHER MARLENE exits, the door jingling. The friendly look on

her face slowly fading as she walks away.

Mandy watches her go. *

The VERY OLD LADY who owns the store pokes her head out from *
behind a shelf. *

OLD LADY *
Who was that? *

MANDY *
Nobody. *

OLD LADY *
Okay. *

A little uneasy, Mandy gets back to reading her book. *

FADE TO:
 24A.

25 INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT 25

Sand and Marlene lie in bed in a dim seedy motel room. The
door to the smoky adjoining room is ajar and we can see the
rest of The Children hanging out in there watching TV and
milling about.
 25.

Sand is moping into his pillow. Marlene puts her hand on his
shoulder.

MOTHER MARLENE
What’s the matter Jeremiah? Are you
alright?

When Sand speaks - his voice is reedy and soft.

SAND
No. I’m not alright.

MOTHER MARLENE
But why? Did I do something wrong?

SAND
Wrong? Everything you do is wrong.
The last time you did something
right was so long ago I can’t even
remember what you doing something
right looks like.

MOTHER MARLENE
I’m so sorry Jeremiah. Is there
anything I can do to make you feel
better?

SAND
There is nothing that you can do.
It’s her. I feel naked without her.
Naked. Do you hear me?

MOTHER MARLENE
I...

SAND
I said... do you hear me?

MOTHER MARLENE
Yes, Jeremiah. I hear you.

SAND
(mimicking her)
Yes, Jeremiah. I hear you.

Mother Marlene winces.

SAND (CONT’D)
Really? Because sometimes I don’t
think you hear anything at all. I’m
truly worried about that.
 26.

MOTHER MARLENE
Jeremiah... I...

Sand sighs deeply.

SAND
Please just be quiet and go fetch
me Brother Swan.

MOTHER MARLENE
Okay... I’ll --

Sand’s entire body tenses and constricts. Marlene pulls away

instinctively.

SAND
I. Said. Go. Fetch. Me. Bruh-ther.
Swannnn.

Mother Marlene slides carefully off the bed and into the
other room.

A moment later Brother Swan comes in. He walks quietly over

to the bed and kneels down close to Sand.

Jeremiah’s eyes are closed. He opens them and sees Swan. His
body relaxes.

SAND (CONT’D)
Ahhhh. There you are.

Swan looks at Sand with total respect and admiration.

SWAN
What can I do for you Jeremiah?

SAND
I need you to get me that girl. I
need her. I need her now.

SWAN
I will.

SAND
Do whatever it takes. Leave nothing
to chance. I need this.

SWAN
Consider it done, Jeremiah.
 27.

SAND
Bring me the Horn of Abraxas.

Swan digs through a duffel bag and pulls out a gnarled wooden
box. Inside swaddled in cloth is an OBJECT.

Swan hands the object to Sand who gently parts cloth

REVEALING an eleven inch HORN. Twisted Ceylon Ebony.
Intricately carved. It feels cursed to the glance.

Swan’s eyes widen at the rare sight of it.

SAND
You know what to do.

SWAN
Yes...

Swan nods. He takes The Horn of Abraxas reverently. It’s

attached to a leather cord and he hangs it gently around his
neck.

SAND (CONT’D)
I knew I could count on you.

Sand reaches out and caresses Swan’s face tenderly.

SAND (CONT’D)
I can always count on you... buddy.

Swan reaches over and clasps Sand’s hand.

SWAN
Thank you Jeremiah. Nothing gives
me greater pleasure.

Swan gets up.

SAND (CONT’D)
Good. Before you go, send in Sister
River. I need something pretty to
play with.

SWAN
Yes Jeremiah. I will.

Swan goes into the other room. We hear talking. A moment

later Sister River is ushered in. River shrinks towards the
bureau trying not to be noticed.
 28.

SAND
River... Come over here... Let me
see you.

River walks over and climbs on to the bed and Jeremiah wraps
his arms around her. He pushes his face into her neck and
hair, smelling her.

SAND
You smell so good.

SISTER RIVER
I...

Jeremiah cruelly clutches her hair and neck.

River tries to pull away but this only makes his grasp more
violent.

SAND
You shut your filthy little mouth
and do not speak unless you are
spoken to. Do you understand?

River nods slowly her eyes filling with tears.

Sand twists her face towards his and forces her mouth open as
he jams his yellowed tongue into her mouth and kisses her
greedily. He whispers in her ear.

SAND
I’m gonna hump you raw.

Swan watches through a crack in the door.

DISSOLVE TO:

26 INT. VAN / EXT. FOREST - CLEARING - NIGHT 26

The Children’s camper van is parked in a gnarled clearing

surrounded by deep dark forest at the end of a long winding
dirt road. The moon is almost full.

Swan, Brother Hanker and the hulking Brother Klopek get out
and look around. Swan looks nervous.

BROTHER HANKER
You sure this is the right place?
 29.

SWAN
Yes of course I am.

Swan hesitantly raises The Horn of Abraxas to his lips.

He pauses then he begins to play. A strange, eerie series of

notes.

Swan lowers the flute and glances into the dark, frightened.

He raises the horn and plays the notes two more times.

The sound echoes off into the darkness seeming to take on a

life of its own within the lightless shadows.

BROTHER HANKER
What now?

SWAN
Now we wait.

We follow as Swan, Hanker and Klopek as they saunter back to

the van and get in. Swan slowly closes the door and the metal
whines and then clicks.

The night is deathly silent and we can hear every tiny sound.

Hanker adjusts his seat. It creaks.

Swan rolls down the drivers side window. Each turn of the
hand crank grinding and whining. Klopek breaths audibly
through his mouth like a dog.

Swan leans back. Caresses The Flute nervously.

A few moments pass as we sit here with them listening to

Klopek breath. Swan staring into the darkness with
anticipation.

Then -

BROTHER HANKER
How long do we -

SWAN
Shhh!

Swan looks out the window.

SWAN
Listen.
 30.

In the distance we hear the sound of faint - ROARING.

GUTTURAL ENGINES - and they are approaching. Slowly they grow

louder and louder -

Swan nods to Hanker who grabs a knapsack. They get out of the
van and stand waiting.

Within a breath A PACK OF FIVE MOTOR BIKES, MATTE BLACK

BOBBERS, roar into the clearing kicking up dust and revving
their engines at an infernal volume.

Then slow to a crawl and stop about twenty feet from the van.

They are driven by shadowy figures dressed entirely in black.

Leather. Aberrant road armor. Long Stringy hair. Dark
helmets.

These are THE BLACK SKULLS. Skin as pale as the surface of

the moon. More like Harkonnen marauders than a biker gang.
As much demons as men.

SKRATCH, the leader, his polished metal helmet has eyes

painted on it’s opaque face plate. He appears to be BLIND.
SCABS, his rotting greasy haired leftenant. SPIDER, a spindly
rail thin demon. FUCK PIG a slovenly fat beast, but with the
powerful build of a sumo wrestler. (He alone rides a modified
QUAD WHEEL ATV). Scabs’ bike has a sidecar. In it sits a
strange female skull - SIS. Head hung. Face obscured by long
greasy black hair. She clutches a shotgun. Their bodies
glistening as if soaked in motor oil. But they appear
shadowed and enshrouded and we never get a clear look at
them. Ever.

THE BLACK SKULLS. Hell spawned super freaks playing out a

ritual only they can understand.

They kill their engines and the clearing is suddenly eerily

silent. Lit now only by the light of the moon.

SKRATCH dismounts and approaches. His boots crunching on the

stoney earthen floor. The others lurk, watching from the
dark.

He comes within spitting distance of Swan. Tilts his head

expectantly at him.

His thin black lips part into a sickly smile revealing pointy
rotting teeth.

Swan is about to speak when

 31.

SUDDENLY

The Skull’s arm whips out and grabs Swan around the back of
the head bringing him close.

Klopek begins to step up but Swan raises his hand telling him
to back down.

SKRATCH leans in.

His other hand rises. The tips of his black gloves pointy and
sharp. He runs the tip of his finger down Swan’s cheek
drawing a thin sliver of blood.

SKRATCH
Blood... for... blood.

His teeth part and a wet tongue extrudes from within the
cavern of his mouth. He licks up an engorged droplet of blood
from the surface of Swan’s quivering face.

SKRATCH releases Swan. Cautiously Swan steps back and motions

to Hanker who kneels down and unzips the backpack. From
inside he extracts a sealed MASON JAR full of murky grey
fluid.

He hands one to Swan. Swan unscrewed the lid and cautiously

hands it to Skratch.

Skratch takes the jar surprisingly delicately. Raises it to

his face and smells the fluid deeply.

He licks his lips then GUZZLES it down. All of it, in two or

three gulps.

A wave passes over him, his head falls, and he drops the
empty jar to the ground.

Swan watches trying to stifle his growing terror.

Then the SKULL slowly raises his head. He stares into Swans
eyes unfeelingly.

SKRATCH (CONT’D)
Mooorrrre...

The Skull takes an aggressive step towards him.

Swan grabs The Horn of Abraxas and raises it. It - GLINTS

BRIGHTLY IN THE MOONLIGHT.
 32.

SKRATCH twitches at the “sight” of it. Surprisingly stepping

back. Sickened.

Swan smiles smugly.

SWAN
First thing’s first.

CUT TO:

27 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - KITCHEN - NIGHT 27

Fat home made sausages fry in a pan.

Red and Mandy cook in the kitchen together. Making mashed

potatoes.

RED MILLER
Why did the hobo sleep under the
tanker truck?

Mandy smiles, rolling her eyes.

MANDY
Why?

RED MILLER
Cause he wanted to wake up oily.

MANDY
That’s so stupid.

But she can’t help herself and bursts out laughing. Red
smiles with satisfaction and breaks up too.

FADE TO:

28 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 28

Red and Mandy watch a re-run of Three’s Company while they

eat their dinner. The episode where Mister Firley eavesdrops
on Jack and Chrissy putting up a shower curtain and thinks
they’re having sex.

MANDY
I love this show.
 33.

RED
Mister Firly...

They smile as they keep watching and eating.

FADE TO:

29 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, DECK - NIGHT 29

Red is smoking. Looking out over the dark valley. He feels

uneasy but doesn’t know why. Probably nothing.

He flicks his smoke over the balcony and goes inside.

FADE TO:

30 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - BEDROOM - NIGHT 30

Red and Mandy lay asleep. It’s a sweltering summer night.

31 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 31

The house sits cozily in the moonlight. The porchlight

glowing warmly. The crickets chirp busily in the distance.

Slowly we begin to PAN towards the FOREST.

We STOP staring into the dark woods ahead.

Then

We begin to ZOOM IN. Past the treeline.

The ZOOM comes to an end like a gravestone being lodged into

the soil. The DEEPEST WOOFER HIT known to man blasts us as we
see standing in the shadows -- a sliver of moonlight across
his face -- BROTHER SWAN. Hanker and Klopek at his heels.

DARK MUSIC REVERBERATES as SEVERAL MORE SHADOWY FIGURES step

into view behind him. THE BLACK SKULLS. SKRATCH, SCABS and
SPIDER. Dark silhouettes, wiry and demonic.

They walk forth.

 34.

Behind them in a sliver of moon are The Children. They are

terrified.

FADE TO:

32 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 32

SPIDER creeps, with eerie fluidity, through an open window

entering the house like LARGE BLACK ARACHNID.

We PULSE in and out of DARKNESS like the beating of a demonic

heart.

FADE TO

FUCK PIG moves silently through the dark house, running his
bony fingers over their belongings.

FADE TO

RED and MANDY asleep, in a bedroom full of blue moonlight.

Mandy sleeps restlessly. Having a nightmare. Soaked in sweat.

FADE TO

MANDY’S EYES slowly open. *

FADE TO

The Skulls loom around over the exposed, vulnerable bodies of

Red and Mandy. Unnaturally silent.

FADE TO

RED WAKES INTO TERROR.

FADE TO
 35.

Ghostly sharp nailed hands cover Mandy’s face as she silently

screams.

FADE TO

RED STRUGGLING WITH THE SKULLS BUT THEY OVERWHELM HIM AND
BEAT HIM DOWN.

FADE TO

The Skulls drag them screaming through the house. They are
fighting with all their might but it’s no use.

FADE TO

RED and MANDY lie on the floor of the living room stomach
down facing each other. Tied. This is the last time they will
ever look into each others eyes.

Tears pour from Mandy’s eyes. Full of terror.

Red watches as they gag her and tie her hands, close enough
to feel her panicked breathing.

Swan and Hanker are in the house now. Swan moves to Mandy and
runs his hands over her inspecting her like a piece of meat.

Fuck Pig is caressing his crotch and licking his greasy lips
as he looks down at Mandy. He starts to move towards her.

Swan spots him, snaps at him as if commanding a dog.

SWAN
NO!

Fuck Pig grunts wetly, enraged but SCABS puts his hand on his
chest, and he succumbs.

Red’s eyes are pulsing with helpless rage. He looks at his

hunting rifle mounted above the fire place. Racks his brain
how to get to it.

SCABS sees him notice it. Takes it down off the wall and
walks over to Red.

Mandy watches as he SLAMS the stock hard into RED’s face,

knocking him cold.

She hears shrill screaming and sobbing and looks up to the

window and her eyes explode in fresh terror.
 36.

Outside SKRATCH stands looking in at her with his covered

blind eyes. But she can feel that he sees her. His mouth is
stretched in a sickening rictus of a smile.

Klopek is dragging one of the twins, TWIN LAWRENCE, towards

Skratch. Lawrence is shrieking and sobbing like a child.

TWIN LEWIS watches red faced with delight. He shrieks angrily

at Lawrence.

TWIN LEWIS
I’m special now! I’m the special
one! You stupid goof!

Lawrence blubbers and weeps as Skratches arms fold around him

in a sepulchral embrace. He smells his blond locks. And then
they fade backwards into the darkness.

Suddenly Scabs is leaning close to Mandy. His face looms

close. He whispers to her a secret...

SCABS
I am doomed...

Mandy’s eyes roll back in her head and mercifully,

unconsciousness takes her.

FADE OUT.

BLACK SCREEN

The sound of Skull engines ROARING UNHOLY and fading into the
distance as we

SLOW FADE IN.

33 INT. RED & MANDY’S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT 33

CLOSE on Mandy as she comes to.

We see she’s still gagged as she raises her head a bit and
slowly looks around. Fighting the instinct to panic.

We hold CLOSE on her she tries to get her bearings. Only the
strangely prosaic sounds of MARLENE and LUCY busy in the
kitchen around her.
 37.

MOTHER MARLENE
(off screen)
No River - You’ve got to let them
cool.

SISTER LUCY
Looks like she’s awake.

Now we see the room. Mandy at the kitchen table, gagged.

Hands and feet tightly bound.

She is still wearing her nightgown. Sister River sits down

across the table from her and stares.

SISTER LUCY
Took ya long enough.

MOTHER MARLENE turns to Mandy.

MOTHER MARLENE
Sister Lucy made treats. D’ya like
treats?

Sister Lucy smiles at Mandy hatefully.

MOTHER MARLENE
She is a really great cook.

Mandy says nothing. Eyes boiling with confusion and terror.

MOTHER MARLENE
Don’t worry, those scary men are
gone now. They got what they came
for... And they’re gone.

Mandy and Marlene look at each other. Marlene is nonplussed.

MOTHER MARLENE
I guess you’re wondering where your
hubby is. Don’t you worry he’s just
fine... and he’ll stay that way as
long as you’re a good girl and do
as you’re told.

Mandy stares at Marlene intensely.

Suddenly Marlene marches over and slaps her hard across the
face.

MOTHER MARLENE
Do you understand me?
 38.

Mandy chokes back her rage and nods reluctantly.

MOTHER MARLENE
You know, he thinks you’re so
special, and I hope you realize
what that means. The responsibility
is on you, buster.

Marlene goes over and angrily digs through her bag.

MOTHER MARLENE
Well you’re awake now so it’s just
about time.

34 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, YARD - NIGHT 34

RED -- Rusty BARBED WIRE has him tied to a CHAIN LINK FENCE
by his wrists. He is on his knees. His ankles are bound by
laundry wire, so tightly he can no longer feel his feet.

He can see the moonlit silhouette of the house.

Only a single warm GLOW comes from the KITCHEN WINDOW. The
dark shape of the house looks like a gravestone.

He GASPS, desperate, through a dirty rag shoved in his mouth,

held in place by barbed wire wrapped around his head.

The FENCE RATTLES once more with his twitches of pain and
panic. Every time he moves the barbs dig in tighter.

He fights against the adrenaline in his body. His face is

battered, caked in dried blood.

His immediate surroundings: the remnants of previous

homeowners. A rusty and bent SWING SET, the seat swinging in
the breeze. A section of CHAIN LINK fence that folds into the
weeds, and a picnic table.

A cloud of hot breath exits Red’s mouth.

35 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - KITCHEN - NIGHT 35

Marlene finishes extracting some things from her bag and

laying them out on the kitchen table.
 39.

She produces a MASON JAR wrapped in cloth. She unwraps it and

places it on the table. A strange murky and cloudy jar
bottomed with compacted dark soil and oily liquids.

She unscrews it ever so gently.

She inserts a DROPPER into the brim full fluid and extracts a
portion.

Mandy’s arms twist against the restraints. The knot is

resolute. Mandy tries to push off the floor. Sister River
watches doe eyes and stunned from across the table.

Mandy is truly terrified. Her breathing is shallow. She

jostles against the chair.

MOTHER MARLENE
Hold her.

Lucy stands beside Mandy and holds the chair down. Marlene
grabs Mandy by the hair and pulls her head back.

She gets nice and close with the filled dropper.

Mandy struggles, refusing to open her eyes.

MOTHER MARLENE
Open... Open...

Sister Lucy pries Mandy’s terrified eye open.

Grey mucousy LIQUID gushes down the glass cylinder as the

RUBBER STOPPER squeezes. The liquid POOLS into tense
quivering blobs and falls -

Right INTO Mandy’s eye.

It burns and Mandy gasps - blinking and clenching her eyes

helplessly.

MOTHER MARLENE
Very good.

Marlene licks the dropper clean and lays it down.

Now - she produces a large pair of veterinary tweezers.

Reaches into the jar. Fishes around until she finds what
she’s looking for.
 40.

SLOWLY the tweezers escape the lips of the jar, so very

careful not to touch the sides, revealing a MONSTROUS BLACK
WASP.

An exotic monster harvested from the most forbidden reaches

of the darkest jungle, brewed in a psychoactive concoction of
its own fluids and other chemicals.

Glistening Black, honeycomb eyes, quivering mandibles, and a

twitching hooked and barbed stinger. As the air hits it
begins to writhe in the clutch of the tweezers, its wings
vibrations a low ghostly thrum.

Mandy really starts to panic and seize in the chair.

Lucy twists Mandy’s hair around her fist and pulls her head
back.

Mandy stops moving. Breathing shallow.

River puts her hands over her eyes.

MARLENE reaches forward with the tweezers.

MOTHER MARLENE
Now just hold still...

With the precision and attitude of an older sister piercing

an ear she sets it just close enough just above the bulging
artery on her neck

The WASP writhes. Marlene squeezes just a delicate touch. It

twitches -

The STINGER jabs into MANDY’S jugular vein. The WASP twitches
terrified and drives it in deeper, pumping it’s venom.

River flinches at the sight.

The wasp sputters in a death spiral.

The sensation is SEARINGLY PAINFUL but she chokes back her

scream in a guttural roar that barely comes out. Refusing to
give them the satisfaction.

Her breathing SLOWS as something comes over her.

LUCY relaxes her grip. Gently lowers Mandy’s head. It flops

forward.
 41.

MANDY weakly raises her gaze, her pupils dilating as Lucy

strokes her cheeks, her hair, tenderly.

MOTHER MARLENE
I like to call that... The Cherry
On Top.

Sister Lucy takes Mandy’s lolling head into her hands.

Marlene drops the dead wasp into the trash bin.

SISTER LUCY
We are but a beautiful dream. A
dream that HE is having right now.

Lucy leans forward into Mandy’s face.

SISTER LUCY
Won’t you join us in that dream?

A STRANGE DISTURBING TONE BEGINS TO FILL THE SOUNDTRACK AND

CONTINUES OVER...

DISSOLVE TO:

36 INT. RED & MANDY’S HOME - HALLWAY 36

The SISTERS lead Mandy down the hallway. Her hands are still
bound but now in front of her, clasped. As they walk the
house FILLS with a STRANGE CRIMSON LIGHT. ACIDIC YELLOW
streaming in through the once darkened windows.

Mandy stares, wide eyed, as the world around her changes.

DISSOLVE TO:

37 EXT. HOUSE BACKYARD - CHAIN LINK FENCE - NIGHT 37

RED struggles against his restraints violently. His wrists

and ankles go bloody from the friction.

RED looks at the house. Realizes he MUST FREE HIMSELF.

TWISTING AGAINST HIS BONDS - every movement agony.

DISSOLVE TO:
 42.

38 INT. RED & MANDY’S HOME - LIVING ROOM - CRIMSON NIGHT 38

MANDY seated in a chair in the center of the room.

The CHILDREN lounge about the room as if they own the place.
The girls join them.

It is clear from their ABNORMALLY DILATED PUPILS that all

have partaken in a dose of ceremonial wasp sauce.

JEREMIAH SAND comes casually into the room. His hair looks
freshly blow dried and he’s wearing only a casual silken robe
worn loosely exposing his chest - and the strange flute
around his neck.

He is carrying a record LP. He places it by the record

player.

SAND
I’m sorry for all this fuss and
muss but when I saw you on the road
the other day you called out
silently to me and I listened.

Mandy tries not to look at him.

SAND
Look at me.

She does not.

Sand’s mask breaks momentarily.

SAND
LOOK AT ME!

She slowly looks up. Eyes filled with rage.

SAND
And tell me... what do you see?

Mandy is high as hell. She can barely control her breathing.

Her eyes are wild and filled with tears. She stares right at
him.

MANDY
I see... the reaper fast
approaching...

This fazes Sand. He ignores her and continues.

 43.

SAND (CONT’D)
You know, He wants His children to
love one another.

He crosses the room and sets something down by the stereo.

He turns the power knob on the HIFI and it HUMS into vacuum
tube powered life.

SAND
I find He allows me to express that
love in many ways... and one of
those ways is music.

He flips through Red and Mandy’s record collection casually.

SAND
You sold your soul to rock n’
roll... Not so much music as mere
noise.

Sand pulls out one record and inspects the picture of the
band inside the gatefold.

SAND
Those are the ugliest chicks I’ve
ever seen.

MANDY
Those aren’t chicks... That’s
Motley Crue.

Sand makes a face and tosses it aside.

SAND
Do you like the Carpenters? I think
they’re sensational. But this... is
even better.

He picks up the record he brought in and unsheaths it. Sets

the LP upon the turntable and gracefully preps the stylus.
Thick burr of SOUND as the needle lays onto the slowly
rotating grooves of the vinyl.

PAN PIPES AND ACOUSTIC GUITAR ooze from the speakers.

He stands in front of Mandy. He shows her the sleeve of the

LP.
 44.

It’s his OWN RECORD. A younger, glamorized SAND with the same
hairstyle but longer, backlit by star flares, sitting with an
acoustic guitar on the COVER. His eyes smug. A smirk upon his
not yet calsified face. The title declares him - ‘JEREMIAH’.

SAND
What do you think?

MANDY
I...

He puts his hand up cutting her off.

SAND
Wait! It’s about to start.

His quivering soft voice emanates from the SPEAKERS -

SINGER’S VOICE
Jeremiah Sand
Was a righteous man
Whose heart was full of love ...
He travelled the land like the
drifting sands
Searching for a dove ...

It is AGONIZINGLY EMOTIONAL Folk Music.

SAND joins in the record, singing along with his younger

self. Eyes rolling back in his head as he caresses his bare
chest lovingly.

Then there’s an instrumental lull in the song. Sand kneels

before Mandy. He takes her bound hands in his. He gazes into
her eyes unblinking.

SAND
I was ready to stand tall with the
great grand glittering ones but
those... scumbags... couldn’t see a
radiant golden light even as it was
cast right down upon them.
Thankfully He showed me another
path. The path I had always truly
been destined for... something
greater than mere fame and fortune.

We are close on SAND. As he speaks we MATCH DISSOLVE back and

forth to a close up of Mandy. She too, preternaturally, does
not blink. Their eyes matched.
 45.

Slowly, hypnotically we pulse back and forth like the

somnolenscent beating heart of the devil himself.

SAND (CONT’D)
When I was at the bottom of the pit
screaming in the darkness, wracked
with unspeakable pain, for having
been denied all that was rightfully
mine... He graced me with his
light. His hot loving light. It
flowed over me like the pulse of a
timeless wave. A wave of pure heat.
A mainline of pure and total
acceptance. And he talked to me.
Addressed me as a friend. He
said... Jeremiah they were wrong...
and you are right... So right. He
blessed me with his holy kiss and
gave me his warmest and deepest
permission to go out into this
world and TAKE what is very much
mine... all of it mine. My wants.
My needs. My pleasure. He showed me
that those things... are the most
holy sacraments that exist on the
face of this wretched and cursed
earth.... And those who are lucky
enough to come in contact with my
radiance... my children... can
bathe in the satisfaction... and
the ecstacy... of knowing that they
are truly looked upon fondly by
Him... And that their eternal souls
are forever in His favor.

Sand slowly leans back. He looks her over.

SAND
You know, I’ve been blessed to know
the comfort of many women but there
are few that have had your
radiance... You’re a special one
Mandy. That I can feel to the very
core of all that is me. Not least
because you have been noticed by
and chosen by Jeremiah. Me. I too
am a special one. Let us be so very
special together.

Clutching her bound hands.

 46.

SAND (CONT’D)
Be gentle. Like me.

The song floods with pan pipes. He stands

Mandy stares in shock and horror at Sand --

He stands before her naked, proudly displaying his flaccid

penis.

MANDY
You made... this song...

SAND
Yes... I did.

MANDY
And... it’s about you...

Sand beams. He strokes his limp cock. It won’t get hard.

SAND
Yes... It is.

Mandy looks incredulous.

SAND
It’s my... masterpiece.

Then...

The RECORD STARTS SKIPPING -

‘a dove... a dove... a dove...’

Sand yanks frantically on his limpid member. To no avail.

Gradually

Mandy laughs. Very quietly at first.

Her laughter grows. A natural, real laugh.

‘a dove... a dove... a dove...’

SAND looks down at himself. For the first time in memory a

wave of shame courses through his body. His bubble of
illusion has been burst and he feels truly naked and exposed.

His shame quickly transforms into anger. Ugly rage.

 47.

He looks around at his flock.

SAND
Don’t you fucking look at me!

They all keep looking. Stunned.

‘a dove... a dove... a dove...’

MANDY LAUGHS UPROARIOUSLY totally overwhelmed by the

hilarity, the insanity, of it -

SAND (CONT’D)
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

THE CHILDREN look mortified. They’re seeing themselves

through her eyes and they don’t like what they see.

Mandy’s reached the end of her rope. She mutters

incredulously UNDER HER BREATH -

MANDY
Fuck... this...

We surge into NIGHTMARISH SLOW MOTION as

Mandy looks up, eyes on fire.

Mandy bolts from the chair and runs for her life.

39 INT. MANDY AND RED’S HOME - HALLWAY - CRIMSON NIGHT 39

Mandy hits the hall as a wave of dizziness washes over her.

Mandy moves down the narrow hall steadying herself against

the wall. She is groggy and rubber legged from the wasp venom
but she manages to find the will to move. Anywhere but there.

The SAME LOOP OF SKIPPING FOLK SONG repeats over and OVER AND
OVER - echoing into infinity.

40 EXT. HOUSE BACKYARD - CHAINLINK FENCE - NIGHT 40

RED’s head lolls, exhausted by pain and exertion.

A billowing cloud of cool breath hisses from the gag in his

mouth flared by moonlight.
 48.

41 INT. RED & MANDY’S HOME - HALLWAY - CRIMSON NIGHT 41

MANDY flees down the length of a hallway - she barely moves

in place.

The LOOPING GUITAR, stuck forever in this moment.

The CHILDREN looming towards her.

42 EXT. HOUSE BACKYARD - CHAINLINK FENCE - NIGHT 42

RED STRAINS WITH ALL HIS MIGHT -

The chainlinks FLEX but do not break.

His muscles push to a point where it seems like they might

tear themselves apart.

43 INT. RED & MANDY’S HOME - HALLWAY - CRIMSON NIGHT 43

Mandy moves down the corridor which becomes narrower and

narrower bottle necking into one door. Her own home an
unfamiliar nightmare maze.

She opens the door. A black void beyond. She fumbles for a
light switch. Finds it but the bulb is dead.

She steps cautiously into the dark. Finds a step. But it

bends under her.

We snap back into 24 FPS as -

She slips and slides brutally down the flight of stairs into
the dark concrete basement.

She lands hard. Her ankle and wrist twisted. She manages to
get up, moving on a wounded leg.

Behind her

We hear the stylus get loudly torn off the record. Shouting.
Overlapping voices.

Turning back she sees shadows at the top of the stairs. They
cannot see her yet.

Mandy moves into the dark.

 49.

SWAN
(off screen)
Yooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooo....

Mandy moves as quickly as she can deeper into the small

seemingly labyrinthine chambers of the basement, trying to
control her breathing.

The space is a nightmare cluster of pipes, insulation and

strange discarded objects.

She hears the creaking wood as their feet descend the stairs.

Faintly, in the corner of a small storage room, she sees a

FREEZER BOX.

A strange WHEEZING RATTLING coming from inside.

A FLASHLIGHT flares on and the ghoulish face of MOTHER

MARLENE probes the darkness, other figures behind her.

Mandy opens the lid.

Luckily the lamp is burned out. In the faint light she can
barely see clumps of rounded old ice. Bags of frozen
vegetables. Vacuum sealed meats.

She slowly climbs in, trying not to make a sound. Silently

closes the lid.

She hears her own BREATHING. Tries to subdue it.

Within the freezer, sounds outside are vague rumbles, echoes.

SWAN
(off screen)
Maaaaaannnnnddyyyyyyy.....

Slowly the lid creaks as it begins to OPEN. Light SPILLS in.

Here she is now, at the bottom of the world, frozen, bathed

in harsh white light, on a bed of packaged peas and carrots
and tater tots. She SHIVERS. Billowing foggy condensation
rises like mist around her.

Huddled and shaking, eyes wild with horror and desolation.

They look down upon her.

Mandy begins to scream with pure ravenous terror.

 50.

44 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, BACKYARD - NIGHT 44

RED hears Mandy. His eyes flood with helpless rage.

He tries again to free himself. With nothing left. But the

more he strains against his bonds the deeper they dig into
his flesh.

Then, the screaming stops. Red listens for a sound. Hope

draining from his eyes.

SLOW FADE OUT.

45 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, BATHROOM - NIGHT 45

Sand is alone in the bathroom. Sitting on the closed toilet

lid. He’s shaken and this disturbs him deeply.

Sand gets up. He runs some water and splashes it on his face.
He looks up into his own reflection.

SAND
Tell me what to do.

He stares deeply into his own eyes.

SAND
Tell me... what to do. Tell me what
to do. Tell me what to do. Tell me
what to do. Tell me what to do.
Tell me what to do. Tell me what to
do. Tell me what to do...

He keeps going until gradually the fear and uncertainty in

his eyes transforms into a dead eyed stare.

SAND
You fucking whore. You’re finished.
Whore.

He smiles a sickly smile, delighted at having found his

answer.

46 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, YARD - NIGHT 46

Red looks up as -
 51.

Sand and Swan come out of the house and stride towards him
purposefully. Sister Lucy following behind.

SAND *
You and that ugly little whore
think you’re so in love. I’ll show
you love. Lucy.

The crazed girl approaches. Sand brushes her chin gently. He

leans in and whispers in her ear.
 52.

She nods and smiles. Swan pulls a pearl handled .38 pistol
from his waistband and dumps all but one of the bullets in
the cylinder out. Snaps it shut. Hands it to Lucy.

SAND
Kneel.

She kneels in front of Red, level with him.

SAND (CONT’D)
Show him how much you love me,
Lucy.

Smiling, she puts the gun to her temple.

Sand leans in and whispers in her ear.

Lucy smiles looking deeply into Red’s eyes.

CLICK.

The gun dry fires.

No bullet.

Red flinches. Lucy’s eyes gleam. Tears pour down her face as
she laughs joyfully. Swan snatches the gun from her, a little
disappointed.

Red looks at Sand with pure hatred. Sand notes his reaction.

SAND
Another pearl wasted before swine.

Sand shakes his head.

Sand puts out his hand expectantly and Swan hands him a *
creepy looking DAGGER *

SWAN *
Take a good look numbskull... *
That’s The Tainted Blade of the *
Pale Night. Straight from The *
Abyssal Layer. *

SAND
You poor stupid pigs. Born without
souls.

Sand leans over and cups Red’s face in his hands and squeezes
the skin tight in frustration and rage.
 52A.

SAND
Condemning you to hell will at
least make you eternal. You really
should thank me.

Sand whispers in Red’s ear.

 53.

SAND
You know what Jesus’ big mistake
was? He didn’t offer up a sacrifice
in his stead.

Sand SUDDENLY without ceremony slides the DAGGER deep between *

Red’s ribs. Withdraws the blade just as quickly.

Red groans through his gag as a stream of blood pours from

the wound.

Sand recoils, hands the dagger to Swan in exchange for a

cloth. He wipes his hands.

SAND
We wasted The Chemists finest on
your whore. But I think you both
shall see the cleansing power of
fire cannot be reasoned with. Bring
the slut.

Sand wipes his bloody hands off casually with a cloth.

SAND (CONT’D)
... and make him watch.

SWAN hollers towards the house -

SWAN
BRING HER!

A moment of horrible uncertainty.

And then

The back door slowly opens.

KLOPEK EMERGES. Dragging something over his shoulder by a

chain.

The remaining Children follow KLOPEK and dance around him

like they’re following a haycart to the fair. He smiles
dully.

On the end of the chain something trails behind him, sliding

along the grass and dirt.

Panic surges anew through Red’s nervous system like a wave of

poison.
 54.

The SOUNDTRACK EXPLODES INTO MUSIC. DARK THROBBING PULSES OF

RELIGIOUS TERROR.

A SLOW MOTION SEQUENCE OF PRIMAL RAGE AND HORROR BEGINS

As they draw nearer his fears come true - ankles bound, it is

MANDY, bound up in a SLEEPING BAG.

RED strains against his bonds -

The barbs dig into his flesh. Blood streams down from his
arms, his torso, his wrists, his cheeks.

They reach the yard and Klopek throws the chain over the top
of the SWING SET. Heaves her up until she dangles by her
ankles.

Tears pour down Red’s face.

She rocks gently in the breeze on the chain. Unconscious.

BROTHER HANKER opens a GAS CAN and starts to DOUSE Mandy in

the pungent fluid, until she is soaked through.

RED bleeds. Strains. Eyes wide with TERROR and RAGE. Close to
blacking out.

Sand studies Red as he watches Swan LIGHT A MATCH and IGNITE

HER. The flames spread with LIQUID SPEED across her entire
body.

The only sounds are the building ROAR of the FLAMES and a
MUSIC of TOTAL APOCALYPTIC INTENSITY.

Red looks away to see

A TRACK IN ON

Each member of the CHILDREN as they watch ENTHRALLED as MANDY

BURNS -- seeing their individual private reactions to this
atrocity. They are ENJOYING it. The images of their faces
burned into our minds and Red’s rage filled heart.

Suddenly

As MANDY’S body burns she AWAKENS -- starts thrashing on the

end of the chain.

The Children smile and laugh with delight.

The cloth dissolves MELTING into her skin. IMMOLATING her.

 55.

Tears and blood pour down RED’S face as HE SCREAMS.

MANDY SCREAMS.

But we cannot hear them.

CUT TO BLACK.

47 EXT. MANDY & RED’S HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT 47

SLOW FADE IN ON

The shadows of trees bend to a softly gathering wind. The sky

howls for a moment like a crashing wave.

Red manages to lift his head to see The Children of the New
Dawn milling outside the house.

Then he falls unconscious.

They load up into their passenger van in the middle of the

night. They carry sleeping bags and snacks, some bits of loot
from the house, like they’re off on a camping trip.

SAND
(impatiently)
Let’s gooo!

Sand clambers into the van, surveying the house and the
smoldering ruins of the pyre nearby. He looks exhausted.

Swan takes the TWIN LEWIS aside.

SWAN
Jeremiah is very pleased with how
you have conducted yourself this
evening. You’re a man now.

Lewis smile awkwardly.

TWIN LEWIS
Thank you sir.

SWAN
You watch over that animal now.
Jeremiah wants him to bleed out
slow. When he’s done burn it all
and find your way back home. Then
you will truly be one of us.
 56.

TWIN LEWIS
Thank you sir. I will.

SWAN
It won’t be an easy task, but it
will be a worthwhile one. I’m so
very proud of you. We all are.

Swan caresses is face then steps into the driver’s seat and
slams the door.

SAND
Let’s get going. I’m so tired.

Some folk music comes on the radio as the van rolls off down
the driveway.

Swan smirks with delight.

SWAN
That stupid porker will never find
us.

SAND
He couldn’t find his nose in a
mirror.

Sand and Swan share a chuckle.

LEWIS watches sullenly as the van goes.

He looks over at Red and sighs. Mutters something and

shuffles off into the house.

We move in on RED.

He sits against the fence. Hunched like an animal. It’s quiet

now. Almost peaceful.

His eyes open. He longs for Mandy. To hold her. To speak to

her.

He lifts his head and looks up at his bonded hands.

He begins to work his already ravaged left hand against the

wires.

The pain is excruciating. Fresh rivulets of blood pour down

his taught forearm. The wire tears at his flesh. His eyes
roll back. He clenches his teeth stifling a scream. He
musters all his will power, all his remaining strength -
 57.

And then suddenly - his hand is finally free. He exhales and

slumps, exhausted.

48 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 48

TWIN LEWIS sits in front of the tv changing channels as

distorted colors and blooms of static wash over his face. He
gets bored quickly and changes channels more rapidly.

49 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - BACKYARD - NIGHT 49

Red sees a pair of RUSTY GARDEN SHEARS in the tall grass *

nearby. He reaches for them.

50 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 50

Twin Lewis shovels potato chips into his mouth while watching
a tractor pull television program.

Lewis hears something from outside.

He stands and moves towards the sliding glass doors of the tv

room.

He opens the sliding glass door. We follow him as he walks

out into the yard.

Looks around. Sees nothing. Silence. Lewis gives up. Wants to *

be inside.

TWIN LEWIS
Goof -

Turns around quickly and walks back -

SLAMS into the NOW CLOSED sliding glass door.

He bounces back shell shocked. Hands going to his face.

TWIN LEWIS
Oweeeeee!
 58.

RED suddenly moves out of the shadows behind him and plunges
the garden shears into Lewis’s collar -- severing his artery
and shattering his clavicle.

We watch from behind the sliding glass door as it is coated

in blood. Lewis’s panicked, breathless shrieks muffled by the *
glass.

He tries to run from Red and keeps running into the glass and
bouncing off it till he collapses in a twitching dead heap on
the deck.

Red looks down at him, bathed in red light. His eyes are dead
with exhaustion.

51 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOUSE, YARD - NIGHT 51

Red staggers to the edge of the PYRE. He falls to his knees

and digs through the HOT ASHES with his BARE HANDS. *

He grimaces but the pain is nothing now.

Gently he brushes away burning embers to reveal MANDY’S

BLACKENED, WITHERED REMAINS.

His skin sears and smoke rises from his fingers. Ripples of
heat rise up, shimmering around him.

He kneels in the circular pit of ash and slowly lifts her

from the pyre - and as he does a wind begins to blow.

The ashes of her form BLOW AWAY leaving him grasping at

nothing.

52 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - NIGHT 52

He opens the glass door tentatively and steps into the house.
Everybody is gone. Everything is gone.

Red looks alien now, standing in his own home.

 59.

53 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, BEDROOM - NIGHT 53

RED comes in and lies on the bed. Trying to pretend nothing

happened.

He closes his eyes.

54 EXT. FIELD - DUSK 54

ROTOSCOPED ANIMATION. *

MANDY. *

Her back to us, is standing in a beautiful field of tall *

grass bathed in the light of the setting sun. *

The sky is burning with orange and purple. *

Her hair moves in a gentle breeze, the last rays of the sun *
shining through it. *

CLOSER *

MANDY starts to turn around to face. We want to see her face *

one last time. *

She turns backlit by the setting sun. *

But as our eyes adjust to the light we see *

That her face is sunken and deteriorated. Dead. Rotting. *

Her eye sockets are sunken and empty. *

SLAM CUT TO:

55 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOUSE, BEDROOM/BATHROOM - NIGHT 55

Red’s eyes open.

Reality comes flooding back --

Hyperventilating Red clambers into the bathroom. For a moment

in the dark he struggles to breathe. He flips on the switch
burning the whole room white with light.
 59A.

He opens the sink cabinet and digs frantically. Finds a loose

board. Flips it open.
 60.

Digs in. Pulls out a hidden bottle of Vodka. Hands shaking he

twists off the cap.

Tears pouring down his face he chugs. Coughs. Burns. His

breathing slows. He pounds almost the whole bottle.

Calmer now.

He looks down at his hands freshly viscous blood pouring from

his ravaged hands into the swirling water below.

Calmer.

Trancelike he pours the rest of the vodka over his head.

He looks at his bloody hands. Then over into his own twisted
reflection.

FADE OUT.

56 BLACK SCREEN. 56

A BLACK METAL DIRGE BEGINS TO THROB AND PULSE ON THE

SOUNDTRACK.

In the darkness FRESH BLOOD begins to FLOW.

Its tendrils reaching out through the darkness like the roots
of a tree.

Gradually they form the TITLE CARD:

MANDY

The tendrils probe and grow making the word become abstract
like a LIVING BLACK METAL LOGO made of blood.

57 INT. WORK SHED 57

The DIRGE continues as

WHITE HOT SPARKS rain through the dusty air.

OUTSIDE the sky is acid white as the sun rises gazing on the
landscape like the unblinking eye of an unforgiving god. But
time has no meaning here.
 61.

Hands and torso BANDAGED, RED is GRINDING METAL on a bench

grinder. It’s a well stocked work shed with BLACKSMITH TOOLS:
small furnace, anvil, trough and vise. There’s also machinist
hardware and some motorcycle & car stuff.

RED makes his own shit.

He stops and lowers a WELDER’S SHIELD MASK.

He puts the COLD BLUE LIGHT of an arc welder to CALTROPS *

(tire spikes). *

He grinds the points to a gleaming shine. *

THE FURNACE IS READY, glowing like a noon day in Hell. *

RED pours MOLTEN METAL into SMITHING MOLD. *

His bandaged hands shake a little with the effort but he *

makes do.

Rivulets of metal track along the mold like contained lava. *

Bursting into flame. *

FIRE is reflected like a vision of hell in his eyes.

He HAMMERS red hot steel with a large SMITHING HAMMER. *

With each blow glowing embers fly. *

He dips the BLADE into a drum of water. Steam jets out like a *
VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

RED raises his newly forged weapon before him.

A demonic BATTLE AXE that looks birthed from hell itself. The *
handle curving down into a PIKE with edges of polished *
bloodthirsty silver.

We will call it THE BEAST.

 62.

He inspects THE BEAST, turning it in his hands, feeling the

weight and balance.

He tightens leather straps to his back and chest and sheathes

his new weapon.

58 INT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME, BASEMENT - DAY 58

Red closes the lid of the floor freezer as we catch a brief

glimpse of Lewis’s body stuffed inside. He casually lights a *
smoke.

59 EXT. RED AND MANDY’S HOME - DUSK 59

Sporting his favorite THREE QUARTER SLEEVE BASEBALL-T, RED *

loads his GEAR into the back of the BRONCO. The setting sun
bathing the forest in blood red light.

He starts the engine which murmurs like a fire. The tires rip *
on gravel as he starts out into the NIGHT -

DISSOLVE TO:

60 EXT. ROAD - NIGHT 60

Red drives a gnarled cigarette dangling from his lips. The

Bronco’s headlights burn into the dark void ahead.

SLAM CUT TO:

61 EXT. CARUTHERS PLACE - DAY 61

Bright blue sky blinds us.

We tilt down to see

Red pulling up in the BRONCO in front of a dilapidated, sun

baked house in the woods. Mirrored Aviators shielding his
eyes.

All the curtains drawn. There are a few wrecked rusting car
husks and empty rusted oil drums at the edges of the long
dirt driveway.
 63.

Red gets out and looks around.

He walks up to the front door. He looks down at the door

bell. Above it is a faded piece of grip tape with the words
“FUCK” and “OFF” written on it.

Red rings the door bell -- miraculously triggering a very

melodious doorbell sound from inside.

No response.

Red rings the melodious doorbell again.

A muffled voice emanates from deep inside.

MUFFLED VOICE
Can’t you read?

Red cocks his head. Rings it again.

MUFFLED VOICE
What the...

He hears shuffling around. Something falls over and breaks.

A moment later the door opens a crack.

A big, bald headed face appears in the crack. Black. The face
belongs to CARUTHERS. 60. Sweat stained wife beater. Dog tags
hang around his large, weary neck. He’s low, looking up. In a
wheelchair. *

CARUTHERS
Oh it’s you... Been awhile...

RED MILLER
I’ve come for The Reaper.

Caruthers sizes up Red for a second.

CARUTHERS
Well... come on in...

Caruthers rolls back into the murky depths of the house

leaving the door open behind him.

62 INT. CARUTHERS PLACE - DAY 62

Red enters and closes the door behind him.

 64.

The inside of Caruthers place is in, to put it politely, a

state of disrepair.

Sunlight tries to force it’s way in through the thick faded

curtains into the dim smoky air.

A large, very old BLOOD HOUND lies on the dingy sofa asleep.
It glances up lazily at Red then drifts off again.

Red and Caruthers stare at each other in the living room. On

TV The Price Is Right with Bob Barker is playing with the
sound low.

Even though Caruthers has seen better days we get the

distinct impression he could easily kill us with his bare
hands.

CARUTHERS
You look like you fell down a long
flight of stairs. In hell.

Red is silent. Caruthers sizes him up.

CARUTHERS
Nice to see you too, Mister
sunshine.

Red glances over. On the coffee table next to Caruthers’ side

table are his WORKS. Hypodermic needle, bent spoon, and zippo
lighter.

Caruthers sees Red notice it.

CARUTHERS
Diabetic.

Red says nothing.

Caruthers gives Red a look, remembering Red knows him, grunts

and wheels into the kitchen.

CARUTHERS
(off screen)
Yeah, it’s around here somewhere...
think it’s in the kitchen...

We hear Caruthers crashing around in there, knocking stuff

over. Red listens impassively.
 65.

CARUTHERS
(off screen)
Oh yeah... here it is...

63 INT. CARUTHERS PLACE - KITCHEN - DAY 63

Red comes in. Next to the refrigerator by a dried up old mop

and a metal bucket full of stank water is --

A WEATHERED CROSSBOW.

THE REAPER. A matte black military spec assault crossbow,

with a large crank lever on the right side for re-cocking the
drawstring.

Red gives Caruthers a “thanks for taking good care of my shit

so well” look.

CARUTHERS
It’s in perfect condition. Just
like you left it.

RED MILLER
Ever heard the expression “treat
someone elses property like you’d
treat your own”?

CARUTHERS
Hey... look around you man.

Red picks up THE REAPER and tests the tension. It pulls nice
and taut.

He winces as his left hand grips the handle shakily.

Caruthers watches that.

Red slackens. Trying not to let it show.

These two strange beasts stand in the kitchen for an awkward

moment.

RED MILLER
Well, I’ll get out of your hair.

CARUTHERS
Ha ha. Real funny.

Caruthers looks at Red. He can tell something’s up.

 66.

CARUTHERS
So whattya gonna do with that
thing?

RED MILLER
I’m going hunting.

This amuses Caruthers.

CARUTHERS
Oh, you’re gonna go hunting huh...
well if you’re gonna go...
hunting... I got some other shit
you might need.

RED MILLER
I was hoping you’d say that.

CUT TO:

64 INT. CARUTHERS PLACE - GARAGE - DAY 64

Caruthers leans over and digs through a pile of dirty laundry

revealing beneath it a dented war torn WEAPONS FOOT LOCKER
with a padlock on it.

Caruthers reaches down and efficiently enters the combo in

the padlock with his thumb, unlocking it with a swift click.

CARUTHERS
Have a look...

Red crouches down next to Caruthers as he swings the lid

open.

Inside are 2 black aluminium shafted ARROWS. The metallic *

tips seem custom made. Large, black, raw and lethal looking.
Just like Caruthers himself.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
I made em myself at Firebase
Bastogne. Hand sharpened steel
heads. Sharper than the gaze of
god.

Red looks at Caruthers. *

 66A.

RED MILLER *
Two arrows? What am I supposed to *
do with two arrows? *

CARUTHERS *
Shove em up your ass for all I *
care. *

Red picks one up and inspects it. Touches the serrated edge. *
 67.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
They cut through bone like a fat *
kid through cake.

Red turns the arrow in his hands. *

CARUTHERS (CONT’D) *
They’re yours, on one condition.

RED MILLER
Oh yeah, what’s that?

Caruthers stares at Red darkly....

CARUTHERS
You put ‘em to good use.

RED MILLER
You can be certain of that. *

CARUTHERS
You sure you don’t want
something... heavier?

RED MILLER
Different tools for different jobs.

Caruthers thinks Red’s lost his marbles.

Red places the arrow back and sits on an old cooler. Suddenly
weighed down. Caruthers is realizing something heavy is up.

CARUTHERS
So what you hunting?

Red is consumed by horror for moment, envisioning his

spiteful quarry. Then he lets it out.

RED MILLER
Jesus freaks.

Caruthers chortles incredulously.

 68.

CARUTHERS
I didn’t know they were in season.

RED MILLER
Yeah... well...

Red is suddenly overcome. He sits down on an old cooler. Head

bowed. Caruthers is getting concerned.

RED MILLER (CONT’D)

(very quietly)
Mandy’s... gone...

Caruthers is shell shocked. He liked her.

CARUTHERS
I... Hey man...

He can’t find the words.

He wheels opposite Red. He gathers himself.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
Tell me.

Red doesn't look up. He takes off his shades.

RED MILLER
Weirdo hippy types. A whole bunch
of ‘em.

CARUTHERS
This zone is lousy with em... Hard
to say.

RED MILLER
Yeah... but then there was the
muscle... Didn’t make sense.
Bikers. But something different
about them...

Caruthers chews on his stogie.

CARUTHERS
Different how?

RED MILLER
Something like I have never seen.

CARUTHERS
You catch a patch or a cut?
 69.

RED MILLER
Nah man. There was nothing. Just...
crazy... evil.

Caruthers thinks it over. Takes a match to his chewed half

cigar. His countenance becomes grim.

CARUTHERS
Black Skulls.

As their name is intoned Red’s eyes glisten with what can

only be described as a glimmer of fear.

CLOSE. Caruthers lights his stogie, puffs and smoke RISES and
FLAME BELLOWS before his mouth. He takes a deep drag and
exhales slowly. A dark sound of doom begins humming like a
bad omen on the soundtrack.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
Lookit man... for a while now words
been coming down from the big rigs,
something dark and fearsome out
there. No one knows where they came
from. First it was stories from the
Interstate, just rumors, that a
crew was boosting trailers off big
rigs with a ferocity never seen
before. Leaving the truckers for
dead. Prostitutes vanishing. Gutted
bodies left on doorsteps. And
always the same - a biker gang.
Black bikes. Only seen at night.
Weird shit. There’s stories, that
there was a chapter that ran
courier for a manufacturer of LSD.
He took a disliking to them. Cooked
them a special batch... And they’ve
never been right in the head since.
Travel from place to place without
a trail. Nomads. Some say they’re
searching for that guy. Shit’s
getting spooky, people saying they
live in the trees, come and go with
the wind. That they commune with
some dark dimension.

Caruthers pauses. Freaked by his own words.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
I seen em once, man. From a
distance. I wish I never did.
 70.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
These are monsters lurking out
there my man. Irrational, unable to
see reality. At least as we see it.
What you’re hunting is rabid
animals. You should go in knowing
your odds ain't too good and you
will probably die.

Red takes this all in.

RED MILLER
Don’t be negative.

Caruthers chuckles wearily under his breath.

CARUTHERS
Last I heard on the CB, they were
spotted near Spirit River.

This get’s Red attention, he raises his eyes.

Caruthers nods knowingly. He looks down at amputated his

legs.

CARUTHERS (CONT’D)
I wish there was more I could do...

RED MILLER
It’s alright.

Caruthers is deep in thought. He glances up. Eyes filling

with darkness.

CARUTHERS
When I saw em... Those things...
Were in a world of pain. But you
know what the freakiest part was?

RED MILLER
What’s that?

CARUTHERS
They fuckin’ loved it.

HOLD CLOSE on Caruthers -- his eyes gleaming --

A PRIMAL DRONE BEGINS TO RISE ON THE SOUNDTRACK AS WE

SLOW DISSOLVE
TO:
 71.

65 EXT. FOREST DEAD ZONE, CLIFF - NEAR DARK 65

THE SCREEN IS ENGULFED BY A LONG LENS SHOT OF A BLOOD RED SUN

SETTING BEHIND THE JAGGED TOPS OF THE TREE LINE.

THE LAST LIGHT FADES.

DARKNESS FALLS QUICKLY ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE.

The SOUND of ROARING MOTORCYCLE ENGINES growing from the

distance like an UNHOLY DEMON’S SCREAM.

In the CRIMSON LIGHT of the fading sun they emerge. The BLACK
SKULLS speeding forth on their BOBBERS. SPIDER, SCABS and
FUCK PIG.

POV THROUGH RED’S SCOPE

Distant, artifacted through glass.

From his snipers nest in the rocks Red tracks them as they
speed through the pitted rocky mountain passes of Spirit
River.

Red zeroes in on the straggler in the pack. Scabs.

Waits a heartbeat then

Squeezes the trigger on the Reaper.

CARUTHERS’ BOLT cuts free from The Reaper, slicing through

the hot night air at LIGHTNING SPEED.

Red watches as -

The arrow PENETRATES Scab’s left check and lodges there,

straight through his face, in one cheek and out the other.

Scabs goes to scream but his face won’t open.

He loses control of the bobber and slams into a rock outcrop

by the side of the road at full speed.

The bike instantly FLIPS - a twisted metal cyclone spinning

Scabs off it like a ragdoll.

His body hits the pavement skidding and flipping along the
blacktop.

The other Skulls don’t see it happen.

 72.

Red tosses The Reaper into the Bronco, jumps in. Keys the
ignition and peels out - burns down the hill at breakneck
speed riding the shocks like a maniac.

Scabs rolls over slowly on the asphalt, leg TWISTED.

Red pulls onto the highway and GUNS IT right towards him.

Then -

Scabs pulls a MAGNUM 44 from his belt.

Before Red sees it - he raises it and lets go a massive

CANNON BLAST.

The BULLET instantly SHREDS the Bronco’s front left tire.

The wheel JERKS. Red loses control of the vehicle and it

FLIPS AT FULL SPEED -

THE BRONCO BARREL ROLLS - RIGHT TOWARD SCABS - HIS JAW DROPS
AS HE SEES IT COMING. WHOOPS!

IT ROLLS RIGHT OVER SCABS - CRUSHING HIM LIKE A BUG.

The BRONCO grinds to a halt on the asphalt. Wheels up.

Red is battered and twisted in the bottom of wreck. His leg

is stuck. Boot caught on the shifter.

He tries to pull free.

Then -

He hears the ROAR of the other skulls doubling back and

speeding towards him.

He struggles to get free as the headlights ENGULF him.

FADE TO BLACK.

66 EXT. LAKE - DAWN 66

ROTOSCOPED ANIMATION. *

No sound. *

The sun hasn’t risen yet. *

 72A.

The light is a pale slate grey. *

 73.

A dark tree line on the far side of the lake silhouetted *

against it. *

The surface of the lake is perfectly still like black glass. *

We pan down to look at the black surface. *

A ghostly figure begins to rise from the depths. *

It is MANDY. *

She is bare and her skin is white and cold like porcelain. *

Her eyes are open. She is looking at us. *

SLAM CUT TO:

67 INT. RANCH HOUSE, BASEMENT - NIGHT 67 *

BLACK SCREEN

SOUND OF DERANGED DOGS BARKING.

Slow fade in.

Red awakens in a murky room. He’s down on the floor leaning

against a radiator.

He tries to move his arm but it’s handcuffed to an exposed

rusty pipe in the wall.

He tries to lift his other hand. A lightning bolt of pain

shoots through his system.

He looks over and sees it’s nailed right to the concrete *

floor, palm up. *

Red’s been stripped of his gear and is barefoot. Even though

he’s in hell he seems strangely rejuvenated. This is where he
belongs now.

Muffled from upstairs is an infernal sound. Music? *

He looks around. *

He hears strained whimpering. *

 74.

Sitting by a misplaced vanity table in the corner is SPIDER. *

Wiry, bald. He freebases a from metal pipe. Washes it down *
with some wasp sauce. He is so beyond sanity he can barely
communicate but he’s making a special effort just for Red.

Head down Red keeps looking around the room for angles.

At 11 O’Clock is a deep CONCRETE PIT . From this angle he *

can’t really see what’s down there but that’s definitely *
where the sound of the DOGS is coming from.

SPIDER turns around sliding on a pair of brass knuckles.

Red watches him come.

Spider punches Red HARD across the face with the brass
knuckles splitting the skin on his cheek bone. A stream of
blood pours down his jaw.

RED MILLER *
Ow. *

Spider takes off the brass knuckles and tosses them onto the
table.

He picks up a SWITCHBLADE and opens it. Checking out the wavy *

KRISS BLADE. *

Spider speaks. If you can call it that. His voice is hoarse

and raspy. Wet. Subhuman. *

SPIDER
You... killed.... my... brother....

In the dim light Spider’s eyes are glassy with monstrous

emotion.

RED MILLER
Your brother... was a pissant. *

Spider kneels down grabbing Red by the scruff his neck. Eyes
wild with rage he waves the blade in his face. Jabbing it
into his cheek.

SPIDER
YOU HAVE... A... DEATH WISH? *

Red is weary.

Spider menaces him with the blade, running it across his

jugular.
 75.

RED MILLER
I don’t wanna talk about it.

Spider slices open Red’s shirt with his switchblade.

Red sighs - looks down at the ripped shirt and then up at

Spider.

RED MILLER (CONT’D)

That was my favorite shirt, man. *

Spider looks at Red. A beat. He wants to laugh but he hates

this guy. An involuntary smile quivers across his grotesque
face.

Red smiles strangely back.

NOW we see Red has braced his arm against the rusty pipe
applying pressure to it. Hand clasped firmly around it’s
length.

SUDDENLY he busts the pipe free and swings it at Spider.

It impacts HARD on his sickly skull. *

SPIDER is shell shocked. *

He staggers backwards right to THE EDGE OF THE PIT. His arms *

flailing for balance.

He teeters on the brink. Red watching. They make eye contact.

Red blows him a soft little kiss and -

Spider plummets BACKWARDS into the HOLE. His head smacking

against the edge, flipping his body forward into the
darkness.

We hear the DOGS go MAD WITH BLOODLUST. Spider screaming as

they tear him apart.

Red looks over at his left hand. Nailed to the floor.

 76.

He reaches over. Grabs the head of the nail and begins to

pull.

Agony surges through him as the rusty nail slides out of his
hand. The friction of metal on wood creating a horrifying
sound.

Finally it pulls free with a THUNK.

He tosses it to the floor and arduously gets to his feet.

He staggers to the edge of the pit. Looks in.

In the shadows below he can see the dogs feasting on Spider’s *

body. Some of them leer up. Shadowy twisted forms, frothing
at their mouths with rabid fury. Their eyes glinting in the
light.

RED MILLER (CONT’D)

Good doggies.

Red approaches the vanity. Among the costume jewelry and

scattered perfume bottles is a BOX CUTTER. He grabs it. No
handcuff key. Must be in the pit with Spider. He sees his
TRUSTY ZIPPO amongst the clutter and pockets it. *

68 INT. RANCH HOUSE, VARIOUS - NIGHT 68

Red ascends a staircase up into the main house. A once quaint *

ranch house it’s been turned into a crash pad, skulls style. *

Red looks out into the garbage strewn hallway. Empty. Dim. *

Clutching the box cutter RED crouches low. He stalks down the
hallway silently. Fighting the pain.

Red hears a sound from behind a door slightly ajar. *

He peers into the room. *

Illuminated by the dim light spilling in from the hall he can

see

An OLD MAN lying on the bed.

RED MILLER
(whispering)
Hey old man... you okay?
 77.

There’s no response.

He open the door a little more. Light spills in.

The old man has his hands tied behind his back. His eyes are
red from an eight ball hemorrhage. Dead.

Red looks over. The old man’s AGED WIFE is bent over a chair.
Dress pulled up to her waist. She is also dead. A blood
chilling expression frozen on her face.

Red sees a family portrait on the wall and his eyes darken as
we realize, with him, this used to be their home. Til the
Skulls took it, along with their dignity and their lives.

Red slowly closes the door and moves on down the hall. The
sounds growing louder.

A flickering light ahead coming from

THE FAMILY ROOM.

A dim ghostly light emanating from a tv: Rancid old porn

blasts on a VHS tape. Also the STEREO is BLASTING at an ear
splitting volume some kind of deafening noise. The speakers
completely blown.

Silhouetted by the TV light is FUCK PIG, his back to Red,

shoveling handfuls of cocaine into his face and snorting
greedily.

FUCK PIG
AAAAAAAHHHH!!

RED stalks in. He creeps closer and closer. RED reaches for
his knife. He’s inches from him.

The man jerks, coked to the gills, like he heard something.

RED tenses and holds his breath. His hands don’t move.

FUCK PIG grunts and chops out another line.

He bows his head HOOVERING it up.

Red moves in silently across the room towards him.

As he comes up for air...

FUCK PIG (CONT’D)

WAAAAAAAAAA!!!
 78.

He sees Red reflected in the TV but before he has a chance to

react -

Red grabs him by a fistful of hair, yanks his head back

leveraging him across the back of the sofa. He’s about to cut
when

FUCK PIG reaches back lightning fast and grabs Red by the arm
and hair. He clamps down HARD and FLIPS Red OVER him and the
couch and back down into the coffee table which SHATTERS into
a million shards. A cloud of coke dust exploding into the
air.

Red drops the Box Cutter. He scrambles around to face Fuck *

Pig. *

We now see Fuck Pig is wearing a strap on BLADE DIDO. *

Red’s eyes widen. *

Fuck Pig lunges on top of Red -- who parts his legs. The *
KNIFE DILDO just misses his groin and LODGES into the wooden *
floor. *

Fuck Pig flails on top of Red trying to pull free. *

Red grasps for the box cutter. Just out of reach. *

Finally he grabbs it. *

Red swipes the BLADE across his neck. *

A moment of silence.

Then a GEYSER of blood explodes from his severed artery

bathing Red’s face in crimson. *

Fuck Pig flails, gurgling on top of him. *

Finally, his giant body twitches and goes limp. *

A moment of calm.

Red clambers heaves the massive body off of him and gets *
painfully to his feet.

A moment of calm. *

Suddenly THE TV SCREEN IMPLODES with a blast. *

He looks over into the kitchen and sees

 78A.

SIS. Shotgun at her shoulder. *

 79.

Dust around her nose. Gnarled mouth black with The Chemist’s
special sauce.

Staring at him. Eyes wide with rage.

She goes to pump another round into the chamber but it JAMS.

Red CHARGES her.

She tosses the shotgun and snatches a CARVING KNIFE off the
counter.

Before he knows it she is on him SLASHING WILDLY.

Red tries to grab her, the knife slashing at his arms. He

grabs her by the head and she starts to buck against his
grasp, arms flailing violently.

Suddenly there is the sickening CRUNCH of her neck breaking

and she goes limp.

Red lets go horrified. Her body slumps onto the floor in a

twitching twisted heap and then abruptly stops moving.

Red can’t move.

He stares at the dead body of the woman. Lying there, hair

splayed across the floor she looks a lot like

RED MILLER
(quietly)
Mandy...

His eyes fill with despair. He cannot look away.

He finds himself descending to the floor. He picks up the

woman’s dead body and cradles her near. Caressing her hair.
Acid tears pouring down his face.

Red takes a breath. He lays her back down.

Leaden, he stands and heads into the kitchen.

He looks in the corner. There’s a pair of BOLT CUTTERS.

Red CLIPS the handcuff chain.

It looks like the SKULLS have dumped a bunch of stuff in

here. Wads of cash. Bags of drugs. Weapons. Garbage.
 80.

Tossed in the corner Red sees his duffel bag. The Reaper sits
on the kitchen table and The Beast in the corner like a
discarded mop.

He puts the duffel on the table and takes inventory.

Red’s CALTROPS, THE REAPER and the FINAL ARROW Also his boots *
and leather Beast harness.

On the table he notices the rare and coveted JARS the SKULLS
acquired from The Children.

Red unscrews one of the jars and smells it. Recoils. He wets
his index finger in the jar. Raises it gently to his tongue.

The INSTANT it makes contact -

The screen EXPLODES into a GRIZZLY HALLUCINATION.

A WRETCHED DEMON, ITS VISAGE A ROILING MASS OF WRITHING BLOOD

DRENCHED BODIES - ITS EYES HOLLOW PITS - STARES INTO HIS MIND
BEFORE A BOILING CRIMSON SKY. THE DEMON MELTS INTO THE
ABYSSAL MAW ABOVE AS WE PULL BACK TO REVEAL -

A RUSTY DECAYING RADIO TOWER SILHOUETTED BY THE ROILING

CLOUDS.

Red snaps out of the vision unable to draw a clean breath.

Stunned. Tears pour down his face. But - he is not afraid.

He KNOWS now where THE CHEMIST is, and only The Chemist can
lead him to The Children.

RED holsters THE BEAST to his back. Picks up THE REAPER.

Still fazed by the vision.

69 INT. RANCH HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 69

Red needs a second wind. He scoops some of the coke off the
carpet and snorts a blast. He clenches his teeth in a
psychotic rictus grin.

Red peers through the curtains and sees -

SKRATCH standing SOLITARY in front of a RAGING ENORMOUS

BONFIRE.

It looks strangely, eerily peaceful.

 81.

70 EXT. RANCH HOUSE - NIGHT 70

Red exits out the back door of the kitchen and climbs up the
wall onto the roof.

The night is pitch black, the only light coming from the
nearby bonfire.

The forest surrounding the grounds is black and wet.

He creeps along the rooftop until he finds a good vantage

point looking down upon SKRATCH, who stands dark and
monolithic before the fire. A spectre of the unsane.

ANGLE on SKRATCH: We can hear a strange pulsing drone echoing

inside the metal chamber of his helmet. He is deep in a dark
trance. Worshipping the flame.

Red wraps a rag around the head of the only remaining arrow.
Soaks it in lighter fluid.

Cracks his neck.

NEEDLE DROP -- *

He ignites it with his zippo -- and as he does we flow into -

ULTRA SLOW MOTION. *

He mounts the SECOND bolt on The Reaper. *

He raises his weapon and carefully takes aim. His eyes

gleaming in the light of the fire.

He pulls the trigger and -

The bolt slides steady and true through the hot night air.

Until -

The bolt PIERCES through the back of SKRATCH’S NECK and out
through his larynx lodging there.

The flames spread onto his body igniting his right arm and
back.

Red lowers The Reaper as he watches.

SKRATCH twitches.

Red’s eyes widen as

 82.

Strangely SKRATCH does not turn around. He stands entranced.

Eerily Still.

He reaches up with his right hand and pulls the bolt forward
out through his neck. He drops it into the scalding dust.

Red can’t believe his eyes. He FEARS this THING. Whatever it

is.

He throws the reaper aside.

He jumps off the roof -

Unsheathing The Beast in mid air.

He hits the ground running kicking up clouds of dust.

SKRATCH slowly draws a brutal looking twelve inch HUNTING

KNIFE from his belt. The flames spread from his arm onto THE
BLADE.

Red continues toward him - Eyes never leaving the blind

demon.

Now he is upon him.

Red swings the blade - but SKRATCH back hands him across the
head sending him sprawling into the dirt.

Shell-shocked - Red scrambles to get to his feet.

SKRATCH’s head twitches. He looks towards the house.

UNNATURALLY he SEES through a NARROW CRACK in the curtains of
the front room. He sees SIS lying there dead.

His mouth opens unnaturally wide in a monstrous silent cry.

Red sees his chance he scrambles forward and without

thinking, without hesitating -

Body checks The Skull with as much speed and force as he can
muster using The Beast as a BATTERING RAM.

SKRATCH STUMBLES BACKWARDS.

Red upper cuts him with The Beast and quickly hits him again
with a kick to the chest.

This sends Red reeling backwards into the dirt and SKRATCH -

PLUNGING INTO THE RAGING FIRE.

 83.

He is completely and instantly ENGULFED by the RAGING

INFERNO.

Red clambers to get his bearings - rolling onto his side. A

beat as he catches his breath and then -

A blood chilling SHRIEK emanates from within the pyre.

He looks up to see -

SKRATCH

Slowly crawling out of the fire on all fours like an animal.

Completely consumed by flame. Even as his body is withered
away by the flames he keeps crawling forward towards Red. A
twitching living carcass. His movements strange.

Red gets to his feet and limps to him. He raises The Beast
and brings it down clean. Taking off SKRATCH’s head. Instant
silence.

His flaming skull rolls across the dirt and his charred
smoking body finally collapses.

Red kneels and pries THE BLACKENED HUNTING KNIFE from his
desiccated claw. Sheaths it in his belt.

CUT TO:

71 EXT. RANCH COMPOUND - NIGHT 71

Red stands, staggers through the smoke.

He looks down, sees a bent smoke lying miraculously in the

dust. He picks it up sticks it in his mouth.

With his DUFFLE strapped to the back -- Red mounts Fuck Pig’s
gnarly JET BLACK FOUR WHEEL ATV. He starts the engine and
GUNS IT.

Peels out at high speed kicking up a shitstorm of dust as he

BURNS away from this accursed place.

DISSOLVE TO:
 84.

72 EXT. FOREST ROAD - NIGHT 72

The blackness is cut away by headlights in the fog.

RED speeds through the darkest of nights on the QUAD.

He winds along an uphill road and a valley of darkness lies

below. Flashes of low atmosphere NIGHT LIGHTNING STROBE -

He has entered a darker, more primeval forest. The trees are

no longer green only glimpsed as full grey and black.

GOD’S EYE VIEW as RED winds through the strange landscape.

DISSOLVE TO:

73 EXT. STRANGE TERRAIN, THE CHEMIST’S PLACE - NIGHT 73

Red turns off his headlights and kills the engine in STRANGE
TERRAIN. ROLLS TO A STOP.

We PAN OVER to reveal THE RUSTY DECAYING RADIO TOWER HE SAW

IN HIS VISION.

He dismounts and moves towards the small, low one story

cinder block building in the distance on foot.

He clutches the HUNTING KNIFE.

There is a metal garage door open a few feet. Some light from
inside, and... a 70s novelty song emanating softly from *
inside.

He kneels down and peers under the door. *

Then ducks under. *

74 INT. THE CHEMIST’S PLACE - NIGHT 74

RED rises and looks around.

A large empty work space.

At the far end of the room stands a wiry man wearing nothing
but a black vinyl apron. Slicked back hair.

THE CHEMIST
 85.

Florescent tubes cast a pall over the table where he stands

before his unusual lab setup. He is dipping a large uncut
sheet of card stock, bare handed, in a chemical tray filled
with murky grey SLIME.

There are stacks of uncut sheets of Lysergic acid

diethylamide on another table. Some hang from clothes pins on
wires.

Sealed Jars with murky dark fluid on some shelves. Aquariums

with strange insects.

To the right of the room is a VETERINARY CAGE with a MANDRILL

in it. It appears very calm.

Red enters the room. His boots scraping on the linoleum

floor.

The Chemist keeps working.

THE MANDRILL looks over at Red serenely.

RED watches as the CHEMIST’S HAND moves slowly out of the

tray and across the counter.

His hand slides across the surface onto A LUGER with a

lightning bolt inset in the handle.

RED grips the handle of his KNIFE and we hear the leather
creaking.

THE CHEMIST registers this.

His hand slides off THE LUGER.

Slowly the CHEMIST reaches over and presses the stop button
on a TAPE DECK. It clicks and echoes through the room loudly
as the music stops.

THE CHEMIST
It’s cool man... It’s cool....

Slowly THE CHEMIST turns around to face RED. He has a gaunt,

pale face. Sunken eyes. We see now that his pupils are
EXTREMELY DILATED. His eyes like black holes into the
infinite abyss of the universe.

He studies RED who looks like some primal beast barfed from
the lungs of hell itself. Cut. Bruised. Caked in dry blood.
 86.

THE CHEMIST
A Jovian warrior brought forth from
the eye of the storm.

He LICKS the Lysergic acid diethylamide from his dripping

wet, bony fingers.

THE CHEMIST
This is my masterpiece... I call
it... Blue Unicorn... stripped away
now is the ragged bleeding flesh of
this dimension.

RED stands staring, saying nothing.

The CHEMIST gazes at RED, his eyes filling with emotion.

THE CHEMIST
You... move... me...

RED glances over at the MANDRILL.

THE CHEMIST
That’s Lizzie... If she’s calm... I
know it’s good...

RED looks back at the CHEMIST.

Something comes over THE CHEMIST.

THE CHEMIST
You’re right... you’re right...

The CHEMIST crosses the room. He opens LIZZIE’S CAGE. She

looks around. We can see that Lizzie is high as a kite.

Lizzie crawls out of the cage and climbs down onto the floor.

She crosses the room towards RED. A savage wild animal, she
pauses for a moment to look at him then goes out under the
door disappearing into the night.

THE CHEMIST looks sadly as she goes.

THE CHEMIST
Bye, Lizzie. It’s not right...
keeping a... living being... in a
cage...

THE CHEMIST is getting more emotional.

 87.

THE CHEMIST
You get... set in your ways...

THE CHEMIST seems almost ashamed. He smiles awkwardly and

apologetically.

He looks back at RED. He is staring into his eyes.

RED stares at the CHEMIST.

The CHEMIST is overcome with emotion.

THE CHEMIST
Oh man... they... wronged you...
why they gotta be like that...

The CHEMIST looks down.

He seems suddenly tired like the whole weight of the world is

bearing down on him.

His breathing seems labored.

THE CHEMIST
You exude... a cosmic darkness...

The floor is slick with a sea of blood. In the blood writhes

a thousand black centipedes.

THE CHEMIST
You see that?

He looks to Red who nods his head slightly. He can see too.

THE CHEMIST
Okay then...

Then something changes.

THE CHEMIST
The Children....

The Chemist takes a deep holy breath.

Lighter. Eyes shining.

He looks at RED, calm.

They are together in this room. Now. Here. He knows what RED
wants and what he has to do.
 88.

CLOSE ON THE CHEMIST.

A strange peace spreading across his face.

THE CHEMIST
North.

THE WORD RESONATES as

We hold on THE CHEMIST eyes shining in the shadows as we

DISSOLVE TO:

75 EXT. FOREST - NIGHT 75

CLOSE UP. SLOW MOTION. THE MANDRILL -- bathed in the firey *

light of the moon. It bares it’s FANGS at the world.

DISSOLVE TO:

76 EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS - NIGHT 76

RED rides his QUAD through the inky blackness of night. His
headlights cutting through the darkness ahead.

Soon he is passing BURNED OUT REMAINS OF CARS.

Skeletal and grey, melted by heat and ash the moment the
mountain erupted.

Into whirls of ash and fog the world goes entirely grey. RED
steels himself and keeps going -

Eventually the clouds parting, here on top of the mountain. A

faint orange glow pulsating against the moonlike greyness of
the world.

Trees turned to cinder, a thick layer of grey snow, black

bubbles breathing in the soil. Thin pillars of smoke seep
from the ground.

The QUAD gets bogged down. Red looks down to see -

The tires of the QUAD are MELTING into the still hot ash.

RED gathers what he can and leaves the QUAD trudging onward.
 89.

He walks out of the grey into dark night back down the
mountain pass...

DISSOLVE TO:

77 OMITTED 77 *

78 EXT. FOREST - NIGHT 78

ROTOSSCOPED ANIMATION. *

We track forward through a dark mystical forest. *

Mandy, naked, hair wild and moving preternaturally in a *

silent wind, stands over the carcass of a massive slain BEAST *
OF MYTH. *

Her eyes shimmer with a supernatural power. *

She shoves her hand into the body of the BEAST and pulls out *
its BLOODY STILL BEATING HEART. *

She raises it above her head - Blood pouring down her arm *
onto her neck and chest. *

The pulsing blood cascading from the heart into her mouth as *
if from a wine skin. *
 90.

Her eyes gleam in the red moon’s light, demonic with *

otherworldly lust. *

SLAM CUT TO:

79 EXT. DRY RIVER BED - DAWN 79

Red awakens suddenly. Eyes opening.

The light is pre-dawn grey and cold.

He lies on a dry riverbed. *

His body looks decimated. Covered in dried blood, bruises, *

dirt and ash. But his eyes are still alive. Still glinting *
with purpose.

Red hears something. *

His eyes drift over.

A strange RED LIZARD, a Blue Ridge Red Salamander, crawls

slowly across the black wet rocks nearby.

Red watches it. Eyes smiling slightly. Mandy would have liked
that.

Then he hears something else.

RED gets to his feet looking towards the FOREST.

A CHAINSAW. Distant but unmistakable it echoes through the

valley.

CUT TO:

80 EXT. FOREST - DAY 80

On foot RED crests a rocky cliff.

He looks down and sees

A small CHURCH in a clearing.

THE CHURCH appears to be INCOMPLETE and newly built from

fresh pine cuts.
 91.

There are two cars parked out front. The VAN and a BUICK
Sedan.

He lies on his belly and watches.

BROTHER ELDRICH is cutting some lumber with the small

CHAINSAW we heard.

BROTHER SWAN, SISTER RIVER and SISTER LUCY - EMERGE from the
unfinished church. They get in the VAN. It drives off down a
narrow dirt road into the forest.

RED watches them go, his eyes shining cold forged hate.

FADE TO:

81 EXT. FOREST ROAD - LATE AFTERNOON 81 *

The VAN with THE CHILDREN approaches. They are singing. SWAN
is driving with SISTER LUCY upfront. SISTER RIVER sits in the
back.

DOWN THE ROAD - Red tosses his CALTROPS scattering them on

the asphalt. He walks toward the van right down the middle of
the road. Covered in ASH BLOOD AND CHARCOAL axe in hand he
looks like a monster.

SWAN spots him and panics - floors the gas. The VAN flies by
RED who turns to watch.

The tires BLOW OUT on the CALTROPS. The van wobbles and veers
IMPACTING WITH A TREE.

Within - SWAN flies forward and blows through the windshield -

Outside - his body slams through broken glass leaning over

the hood of the van. SWAN moans and struggles to free
himself.

RED walks over.

SISTER LUCY fumbles with the glove compartment.

Red pulls Swan out through the window slowly letting his body
drag all over the broken glass.

He sets him up against a big tree. Pulls out The Beast. *

 92.

Red grins at Swan. *

POP!

BLOOD blooms on RED’s shoulder and behind Swan the tree

splinters.

POP! POP!

LUCY fires the SMALL REVOLVER.

RED turns from SWAN to face LUCY.

She fires again, delirious, cackling, grazing RED’s ear.

Calmly Red raises the hunting knife and THROWS IT.

It PIERCES her eye. She freezes in shock. Lets out a soft *

sigh before dropping to the ground, dead.

Swan watches as Red turns back to him. *

SWAN breathes terrified.

SWAN
No. No. No. No. No.

Red raises the The Beast. He brings down the HILT PIKE into *
Swan’s gaping, screaming mouth with a hearty THUNK!

A high pressure jet stream of plasma explodes from his mouth, *

then subsides pumping out of Swan with each pulse of his
quickly fading heart.

Swan gargles as hot blood pumps freely from his mouth.

Sputtering as it fills his lungs.

Red stares into his eyes until he is gone.

He pulls The Beast free.

On the edge of the road he sees SISTER RIVER standing in the

grass nearby. Terrified.
 93.

Her wavy hair and the wild grass ruffle in the soft wind. RED
watches this for a moment. She looks at Red, fearful,
expecting to die.

RED MILLER
Get outta here...

RIVER hesitates. Red motions.

RED MILLER
Go on.

She realizes she’s free and begins to stagger off down the
road. Hesitantly at first then faster.

She slows down, a quiet moment as she glances back -

Sees Red, the barbarian, caked in blood and ash walking away *
down the dark forest road. Blade in hand, every footfall
DOOM.

82 EXT. FOREST CHURCH, DRIVEWAY - NIGHT 82

RED approaches the fledgling compound.

BROTHER HANKER polishes Sand’s prize ‘74 BUICK LeSABRE with a

rag. *

RED stalks low like a predator through the shadows. HANKER is

completely unaware -

RED HURTLES THE BEAST - it whips silently - hilt over blade -

through the cold air - until - it meets HANKERS SKULL.
WEDGING into it like a ripe melon and throwing his body to *
the leafy ground with a soft thud.

83 EXT. FOREST CHURCH, LUMBER PILE - NIGHT 83

RED creeps intently toward the church.

Under construction, the area is full of raw timber and

planks. A noise alerts him.

Brother KLOPEK sits calmly whittling on a pile of logs. His *

pocketknife looks ridiculously small in his enormous hands.
He’s a GIANT. *
 94.

RED spots a chainsaw. He smiles. Pikes The Beast into the *

ground. He creeps to it keeping an eye on Klopek. Slowly *
slips his hand onto the grip. Switches it to on.

RED hoists it up and sharply pulls the STARTER CORD once.

Nothing. *

KLOPEK looks up to see him. Showing no fear. Eyes dull.

Red begins to back away trying to start his saw. *

KLOPEK stands and calmly backs up a few steps, keeping his *

eyes on RED. He looks down and Red sees another chainsaw
handle JUTTING out from behind a stack of lumber.

Klopek closes his massive hand around it.

Slowly withdraws the blade.

Klopek slides the blade out further - *

And FURTHER

And FURTHER

It’s MASSIVE. A CHAINSAW as long as a GREATSWORD. The blade

just keeps GOING AND GOING as it appears from behind the
stack.

Klopek lifts the gargantuan chainsaw out in front of him like

it’s nothing.

Red gives a “maybe I’m fucked” look.

RED holds up the small wood chopper chainsaw, defensively.

KLOPEK calmly pulls the cord ONCE. It ROARS to life *

instantly. *

VRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMHHHH -

*
 95.

Red circles trying to start his saw. *

A few feints and jabs by RED and the BLADES touch, shooting *
sparking metal into the drenching air with a hellish grinding
sound.

KLOPEK smiles dumbly. *

Then

KLOPEK points the saw at Red and charges -

Red backs away fast frantically pulling the chord. *

KLOPEK is almost on him. *

The GIANT BLADE closing fast. *

At the last possible micro second RED’s SAW ROARS to life. He *

guffaws and swings it up *

Just in time to block Klopek’s mega saw. *

Their blades cross shooting GLOWING RED SPARKS into the air. *

The force and weight of Klopek and his saw force Red *
backwards as they grind their blades together jostling for *
supremacy. *

KLOPEK again has the upper hand by size and his blade
pressures RED’S blade back towards Red’s face.
 96.

RED can feel the turbulent air of the blade a hair’s width
away.

RED SLAMS THE CHAIN BRAKE LEVER -

His blade shudders to a stop -

Catching teeth on KLOPEK’S chainsaw linkages. RED’s CHAIN

SHATTERS - WHIPPING the teeth out - *

Klopek’s saw sputters. He yanks on the cord trying to restart *

it. *

Red spots a COIL of CHAIN on the ground. He throws the saw to *

the ground. Quickly grabs up the CHAIN moving backward.

KLOPEK’s saw ROARS back to life. *

Behind a veil of kicked up smoke, and his shrieking blade *

KLOPEK turns to face RED He SMILES once more. *

Red UNSPOOLS the chain and begins to SWING it. When it’s at
speed he lets it FLY.

The chain flies toward Klopek but he swats it away with the
spinning belt of the saw.

KLOPEK SMILES AND SWINGS HIS SAW FROM RIGHT TO LEFT. Moving
faster toward him -- pushing Red to move faster too.

Red hoists the chain again swinging it.

Klopek has had enough. He grunts wildy and CHARGES at Red.

Moving backwards Red whips out THE CHAIN and it connects with
Klopek WRAPPING AROUND HIS NECK.

Red falls back hard, leveraging the chain against his arms
and pulls with all his might.

Klopek’s speed pulls him forward with the chain and the
weight of the saw. He begins to stumble.

Red’s eyes widen in anticipation.

Klopek stumbles forward and BELLY FLOPS right onto the

massive SPINNING BLADE -- splitting him open from neck to
groin.
 97.

The saw sputters, and stops.

They make eye contact as KLOPEK’S bewildered eyes flicker

into death.

RED releases the chain falls to his knees and collapses back
into the mud.

He lies there. The rain beating down upon him.

His breathing is raw but it’s kind of peaceful right now. He

thinks he might stop. The droplets make a nice soft sound as
he listens.

He draws in a deep clean breath. *

Ragged, he slowly gets to his feet and staggers forward *

towards the THE CHURCH.

84 INT. CHURCH - NIGHT 84

Red moves through the rough hewn skeleton of the church.

Empty but for piles of raw lumber scattered around.

At the far end there’s a lectern, covered in a sheet of clear

plastic.

Red approaches it. He rips off the sheet. The lectern is

ornate and finely detailed. Adorned with a wood carved of a
strange visage on it’s face.

Red notices behind the lectern the wood floor gives way
revealing a concrete rimmed hole in the floor. A hazy red
light emanating from within.

He moves towards it and sees there’s a metal ladder plunging

into the abyss.

85 INT. CATACOMBS - NIGHT 85

Red DESCENDS the ladder into a hellish crimson light.

He reaches the bottom where there’s a CONCRETE CHAMBER.

Tunnels branch off it, abandoned from some cold war dementia
long forgotten.
 98.

RED hears distant footsteps echoing off the concrete.

He follows them deeper and down into darker parts of the

cavern system.

The walls are slick with black ooze all through the
catacombs. Red touches his finger to the wall and smells it,
then tastes it. He spits. Poison.

He moves on.

The tunnels are getting narrower and darker and the walls
give way to bare rock.

He peers into a CHAMBER. Inside is what looks like a suburban

bedroom assembled in a subterranean tomb.

Mother Marlene sits there on a bed, sobbing.

She looks up at RED as he walks into the room.

She marvels at his physique and the visage of his avenging

ruin. In a drugged trance she stands slowly and comes near.

She sniffs the air around RED. She wants to TOUCH him. To
EMBRACE him. She places her hands against RED’s skin and
caresses him, watching his muscles twitch.

MARLENE
Jeremiah says I’m the most sensual
lover he’s ever experienced.
Because of my sensitivity and my
empathy I can anticipate my lovers
every move... and meet them like
warm waves... licking the...
rocky... hard.... shore....

She looks up at Red expectantly.

CUT TO:

86 INT. CATACOMBS, CRYPT 86

The most PRIMITIVE CHAMBER yet. Dripping STALACTITES protrude

from the ceiling.

Wearing only a loin cloth, Sand stands by the cavern wall

caressing the SLICK GNARLED STONE SURFACES. He seems drugged.
 99.

He senses a presence. Turns and peers into the dark passage.

SAND
God is in this room. Come no
closer.

From the shadowy entrance MOTHER MARLENE’S decapitated head

rolls across the floor and slides to a rest at Sand’s bare
feet.

A look of terror shivers across his face and eyes like an

electrical current but he suppresses it.

Marlene’s lifeless head watches SAND.

He looks up to see Red emerging out of the shadows into the

chamber.

SAND
Oh, Hi.

RED lumbers into the room certain of his purpose, on the

verge of total collapse.

SAND
What are you going to do... I mean
I offered you salvation but you
chose to wallow in filth. You can’t
harm me. Look at what he provides.
All mine.

Closer. Sand is impatient. This heathen is not worth his

time.

SAND
You’re just meat. Without a soul,
without a mind, without anything...
You’re nothing but a damned animal.
With no spirit everlasting... no
radiant light.... No better than a
damned animal. I possess
elucidations you will never know.

Every single step RED takes requires the remains of his

willpower. He’s shambling, heavy, inching

Closer. Sand is becoming enraged.

SAND
You... unholy... abomination...You
aren’t even worth my spit.
 100.

SAND (cont'd)
You’re finished... All that hate in
your heart... That’s to blame... It
follows you everywhere.

Closer. Sand’s anger rupturing, eaten away by the barely

contained fear beneath.

SAND
You will roast in hell for this
transgression... but I can help
you. It’s not just your life I can
save. It’s your god damned soul...

Red grabs Sand by the sides of his head and pushes him to his
knees. Groveling now.

Red stares at Sand unmoved. He grips SAND’s head in his

ravaged hands.

Sand is coming apart at the seams. His reedy voice breaking.

SAND
Please... please don’t hurt me I’ll
do anything... Can’t you see this
was all part of your journey... a
journey that led you to me... to
claim your salvation... your
cleansing... by my hand...

Sand is weeping uncontrollable now. He claws at Red’s hands

drawing blood but Red’s vice like grip does not falter.

SAND
I’ll blow you man! I’ll suck your
fucking dick. Is that what you
want? Please! Please! Don’t do
this!

Sand is overcome with a wave of crippling, desperate rage and

humiliation.

SAND
I don’t kneel before you. You kneel
before ME. I carry God’s gift in my
heart not you, so you kneel before
me MOTHER FUCKER!

Red BEGINS TO SQUEEZE Sand’s SKULL with all of his power.

Sand begins to SHRIEK in agony and terror. Then mewling like

an animal as the pressure on his skull becomes unbearable.
 101.

RED MILLER
I’m your god now.

RED CRUSHES SAND’S HEAD like a ROTTING MELON. It is almost

sexual in its satisfaction as SAND’s FEATURES IMPLODE AND
SPLIT OPEN. His ruptured brains and eyes gushing forth in a
hot volcanic flow of pulsing blood and electric green slime.

As Sand’s eyes slide out and down his pulverized cheeks his
screams melt into a sputtering wheeze and then stop.

RED tilts his head back, eyes glaze over and roll back. His
jaw slackens.

He drops Sand’s body onto the floor like a limp doll. He

looks down as he raises his shaking blood drenched hands and
gazes at them with the eyes of an animal.

He looks around, dazed.

Red takes out his trusty Zippo. Flicks it to life and tosses
it onto the oily black floor.

It ERUPTS into BLUE FLAMES. They engulf the floor and CASCADE
fluidly up the walls of the cavern.

SAND’s pulverized head with distended open eyes twitches and

burns on the stone floor.

RED moves through the shadowy passages -

Flames following him -

LIQUID BLUE FLAMES engulfing the tunnels in FLUID SLOW MOTION

as he moves through the dark.

87 EXT. CHURCH/FOREST - NIGHT 87

RED emerges from the church and staggers away as flames

engorge it, thick black smoke blooming outwards into the
night sky like an EXHALATION OF CROM.

Red looks up. Eyes illuminated by

THE NIGHT SKY. ALIVE with the light of all the ANCIENT STARS.

RED gets in the BUICK parked on the grounds. The keys are in
the ignition.
 102.

He starts the engine. Sits there in silence. Only the motor

rumbling.

Staring off into space. Remembering.

88 MEMORY - NIGHT 88

The Most Beautiful Song In The World plays as we see The

First Night They Met.

We are in a packed ROAD SIDE BAR. Dark. Smoky. Red lights. A

strange memory of heaven. Gliding softly at 38 frames per
second.

Mandy stands against the wall smoking and drinking a beer.

She has a black eye. Sad eyes.

She sees Red from across the room. He’s alone. Smoking.

Her eyes stay on him.

He looks up and sees her. He looks away shyly then. Then back
again.

She smiles.

They sit together. Talking. Looking at one another. Feeling

lucky to have found each other.

They come together. Holding each other in the shadows.

Blissfully unaware of all around them as unheard music plays.

They kiss softly.

They drive through the night together.

Red looks over at Mandy riding shotgun.

She looks back at him. In love.

89 FOREST ROAD / BUICK - NIGHT - NOW 89

Red driving the buick through the night. He glances towards

the passenger seat.

Mandy is there.
 103.

In her summer dress from the night they met. Gazing towards
him. Her eyes are black and shimmering with a strange demonic
light.

He looks back to the road. Eyes dark and alive and flooded
with emotion beyond time. They have been brutally reborn into
a universe of sensual, unforgiving chaos and he can never
turn back.

WIDE. The car burns down the dirt road.

The image transmogrifies into the SOFT FLICKERING ROTOSCOPED *

CELL ANIMATION of a DREAM.

WIDER. From HIGH ABOVE we see his headlights cutting through

a winding forest. We pull back to reveal -

WIDEST. A RANGE OF DARK ANCIENT MOUNTAINS.

In the FORMATIONS of the rocks we can almost see the shape of

a WOMAN’S FACE. Her face.

A thick bank of CLOUD and FOG rolls over the mountainscape

like her hair blowing in the breeze one summer day.

THE END