"HELLRAISER" (1987)

HELLRAISER

A Screenplay

by

Clive Barker

Paragan Film Productions Ltd

(C) Clive Barker 28.7.86 115 Flood Street,

London.SW3 01-352-4195

1 TITLE SEQUENCE

In darkness, a blood-curdling cacophony:the squeal of unoiled winches, the rasp of hooks and razors being sharpened; and worse, the howlof tormented souls. Above this din one particular victim yells for mercy - a mixture of tears and roars of rage.

By degrees his incoherent pleas are drowned out by the surrounding tumult, until without warning his voice pierces the confusion afresh - this time reduced to naked scream.

And with the sound, an image.

A house:Number 55, Lodovico Street, an old, three storey, late Victorian house, with gaunt trees lining its overgrown garden.Its curtains are drawn, there is newspaper over its top window.The titles begin to run, as we approach the house down the driveway.

We move inside, to the hallway.The cries are louder now.

Room by room, we explore the empty house, while the titles continue to run.It has been left empty for many years, though much of its furniture remains, covered in dust-sheets.On the mantelpiece of one room, a plaster saint.In the kitchen, evidence of life here. Opened tins; bread; bottles of spirits; a glass.

We move upstairs, gliding along the corridor of the lower landing.The din is furious now.On the floor of one room, a makeshift bed: blankets strewn; an open suitcase; more liquor.

We move up a flight and approach a room off the upper landing, the door of which is ajar.The light within swings backwards and forwards, spilling into the passageway.

As we reach the door, the screams from within halt abruptly.

We can hear a bell now, which has been pealing steadily throughout this opening sequence.

As we move through the door, the titles end.

The bare bulbs in the room we've entered swing violently, disorienting us.There are chains - dozens of them – disappearing with the darkness of the ceiling: all are swinging back and forth.Some end in hooks, with

2 Continued

pieces of skin and sinew adhering; some are serrated, others simply drip blood.

The bell tolls on.

On the blood-spattered floor, a box, some six inches square, which resembles an elaborate Chinese puzzle box. Later, we'll learn its name and function. It's called the Lament Configuration, and it's a way to raise Hell.Literally. For now, it remains an enigma.

A hand, its flesh systematically pierced with needles, reaches down and picks the box up.

In close up we see just what an elaborate construction it is, made up of sliding panels and mysterious chambers.It is open at present, its polished innards exposed.Out of it, a banal melody, played on a hidden mechanism.The hands, which belong to one of the demons - aCenobite- move over the box.

Delicately, the hands begin to reconstruct the box, sliding the well-oiled parts back into place, the tune simplifying with each manoeuvre.

The room is getting darker.The chains are disappearing into the gloom.

We see tantalizing glimpses of other figures, turning from the light and fading into the darkness.We catch sight of monstrous faces, but only for the briefest of moments.Then they're gone.

The box is almost returned to its unopened condition.

The last sounds to fade are the tune from the box, and the bell.

It tolls on as the final panel of the box is slid into place.

The light stops swinging. The panel clicks.The tune stops.

At last, a long shot of the room.At the far end the window is covered with yellowed newspapers.There is dust settling through the air.

Otherwise it is empty.

2 Continued

The bell fades.

It's as if nothing ever happened here.

Except ...

Somewhere, very quietly, a creaking that could be the sound of floorboards, or the low, agonized gasp of a thing barely alive.

The wind is blaring as we watch the door of Number 55. From the doorstep, voices.One is that of LARRY COTTON, the other his wife JULIA.Clearly LARRY is attempting to get inside.We hear the sound of keys tried in the lock.

The sound of another key tried in the lock.

The key is turned.

The door swings open.

Voila!

We see the pair on the doorstep.LARRY is an American in his early forties, an attractive man who has lost his edge in recent years.He looks harassed; he smirks

3 Continued

too much.A little, but significant, corner of him is utterly defeated.JULIA, his wife, is English: and looks perhaps ten years his junior.She is beautiful, but her face betrays a barely buried unhappiness.Life has disappointed her too, of late: and LARRY has been a major part of their disappointment.

They step over the threshold.

The door of the Torture Room creaks, as the wind blows it opens an inch.From downstairs, we hear JULIA's voice.

LARRY slams the front door.

The Torture Room door creaks closed again.

He stands in the hallway, not certain which way to go from here.

LARRY picks up some mail - circulars mostly – from behind the door, then leads JULIA through from the hallway to explore the ground floor.

7 Continued

He opens one of the doors, and looks inside.

He continues along the passageway.He opens another door, and steps into a large room.He opens one of the curtains.Light pours in, dust-laden shafts falling on the sheeted furniture.

JULIA lingers in the doorway.

He pulls a sheet off a chair.

Look at this stuff.

The chair is ugly; old fashioned.JULIA is unimpressed.

LARRY is getting more enthusiastic about the place by the moment.He leaves the room, moving past JULIA to explore further.

7 Continued

LARRY pauses.Looks at her.

JULIA shrugs.

She turns back down the hallway. He watches her, then follows.

We are hearing the tip of a debate they've had dozens of times, which immediately annoys them both.

JULIA wanders back to the bottom of the stairs.Then starts to climb.

JULIA climbs the stairs, her face charged with suppressed feeling.She's sick of LARRY; his enthusiasm depresses her, his compromises anger her.What's between them is stale, like this house.

The door opens a fraction.

LARRY has stepped into the kitchen, to find the remains of the food we briefly glimpsed in the titles sequence, now rotted and fungal.It smells, to judge the expression on his face.It also puzzles him. Then, from above:

He leaves the kitchen and retraces his steps to the bottom of the stairs.

Larry!

He starts up the stairs.

LARRY reaches the top of the stairs.

LARRY follows JULIA's voice to the end of the corridor. JULIA is standing in a doorway.Beyond, the 'bedroom' we saw in the titles sequence, untouched since then.

LARRY steps past her, and throws back the blankets. Wood-lice scurry away.He goes to the suitcase, and starts looking through it.Besides clothes there's a lot else that speaks of its owner: bric-a-brac picked up in a lifetime of adventuring; handful of bullets;

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fragments of an erotic statue; coins and notes from a dozen countries.Amongst the stuff, some photographs. LARRY peers at them.One pictures a good-looking intense man in his mid to late thirties, in bed with a naked Chinese girl.

At the door, we see JULIA almost flinch at the name.

The 'phone rings downstairs.JULIA jumps.

That'll be Kirsty.

LARRY stands up and leaves the room, moving past JULIA in the doorway, who is left to stare down at the bed FRANK has slept in, and the suitcase of belongings. As we hear LARRY clatter downstairs it seems JULIA's face is close to tears.

The 'phone continues to ring.LARRY steps through and picks up the receiver.

There's no answer.

Hello ...?

JULIA goes to the open suitcase, and looks at the photographs.

14 Continued

He puts down the 'phone.He goes back out into the hall.

Nervous that LARRY will return and see what she's doing, JULIA is going through the photographs.

The sound of his foot on the stairs.Hurriedly, she selects a photograph of Frank without the girl, and pockets it.

LARRY is climbing the stairs.

The 'phone rings again.

Shit.

Mission accomplished, JULIA leaves the bedroom, taking one last glance at the sweat-stained sheet and the indented pillar where Frank lay.A lone wood-louse crawls over the sheet, navigating the folds.She closes the door on the sight.Downstairs, the 'phone stops ringing.

LARRY has picked up the 'phone.

CUT TO

KIRSTY, the daughter of Larry's first marriage, and his only child, on the 'phone.She is barely twenty, beautiful in an unpretensious way: a dream of a girl- next-door.We can't see much of the room she's in at the moment, the shot is too tight.

We begin to draw back from KIRSTY now, as she continues to speak to her father.She's sitting on a battered chair by the door.The room she's in is cramped and dirty. From outside, the sound of trains going by.

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That it does.The place, now we've got a good view of it, is a total dump.

As she speaks she reaches forward to pull a picture, tacked to the wall, of a ourangoutang, with breasts collaged onto it, down.She succeeds.Beneath there's a large hole in the wall, which the picture was there to conceal.Plaster falls from it.

She puts the receiver down.As she does so the small table on which the 'phone is sitting collapses.She covers her face with her hand.

JULIA is three steps from the bottom of the stairs.

22 Continued

A church bell rings.Off-screen, we hear voices: two men are attempting to move a bed into the house with LARRY masterminding the manoeuvres.Wehear their efforts, but we don't yet see them.Our interest is in JULIA, who is unpacking a tea-chest in a room which is still full of draped furniture.

1ST MAN (O.S.) We're not going to get it in.

2ND MAN (O.S.) Tip it! Tip it!

1ST MAN (O.S.) Look, do you want the bed in or not?

1ST MAN (O.S.) Oh, sod you.

2ND MAN (O.S.) Eh, Chas, slow it down like the man says.

1ST MAN Famous last fucking words.

JULIA's face through this has been almost devoid of expression.She's holding so many feelings inside; deep inside.Now she moves from one box to another, and opens it to find it full of bathroom bric-a-brac. She picks it up and goes through into the hallway.

The bell continues to ring.

The three sweating men have the bed wedged in the door.

2ND MAN (sees Julia) Do you really need this bed, lady?

LARRY turns.Sees JULIA.

2ND MAN Got any beer?

Nobody moves to get it.Certainly JULIA has no intention of being waitress.She goes to the bottom of the stairs.

LARRY disappears through into the kitchen.JULIA starts up the stairs, watched appreciatively by the two men in the doorway.One leans over and whispers to the other, who laughs.JULIA glances back at them. The whisperer licks his lips; the meaning of the gesture perfectly apparent.JULIA heads upstairs.

KIRSTY arrives at the head of the drive.The two men are drinking beers.The bed has not been moved.

She wanders down the drive towards the house.

2ND MAN (seeing Kirsty) It's my lucky day.

2ND MAN Want to buy a bed?

She moves past them, attempting to insinuate herself between the bed and the door-jamb.They watch, enjoying her efforts.

LARRY emerges from one of the rooms, looking harassed. His face lightens as he sees his daughter.

They hug each other.

Another hug.

27 Continued

KIRSTY kisses LARRY, and goes through to the kitchen. LARRY turns back to the door.The men have been watching KIRSTY.LARRY clearly dislikes the scrutiny. 1ST MAN, out-stared by LARRY, looks away.The 2ND MAN is unperturbed.

2ND MAN That your daughter?

2ND MAN (grins oafishly) Got her mother's looks.

2ND MAN's grin fades.

2ND MAN Oh.

2ND MAN (weakly) Lucky man.

The kitchen is chaotic.Cutlery, crockery, utensils, pans and foodstuffs have been heaped on every available surface.KIRSTY has found the kettle, but is having difficulty turning on the tap.She struggles with it.No joy.Just a rattling sound in the pipes as the system lurches into action.

The pipes rattle and chug behind the plaster.The CAMERA moves along the corridor, hugging the wall. At the end of the corridor stands JULIA, in a patch of sunlight.She has the photograph of FRANK in her hands.

She looks intently at it.

A CLOSE-UP of the photograph.Then FRANK's voice.

JULIA looks up from the photograph.

A front door opens.On the step of another house stands FRANK, with two suitcases.It's raining outside;hard.The rain has plastered his hair to his scalp, which only emphasizes his raw good looks. He's unshaven; his eyes are dark, and intense. Again, the line she remembers:

The splash of rain on the step becomes a spurt of water, as we

CUT BACK TO

the present day.

The tap has come on suddenly, spraying KIRSTY with water. She jumps back, soaked.

She reaches to turn the pressure down.

The men are struggling with the bed again.

Again, JULIA returns her gaze to the photograph.

The same scene:FRANK in the doorstep.Now we

CUT TO

the person who opened the door.It's JULIA; a younger JULIA, her hair arranged differently, her clothes brighter.It is two weeks before her marriage to LARRY. She looks at the man on the doorstep without a trace of recognition on her face.

He looks at her, eyes glittering.His hold on her is almost mesmeric.

There is going tobea wedding?

34 Continued

He steps inside.Now he is close to her, rain running down his face.We can hear his breath; sense the almost intimidating intimacy of his presence.

JULIA stares down at the photograph.Off scrren, KIRSTY's voice:

JULIA looks up.At the top of the stairs, KIRSTY soaked from the tap.JULIA looks up, and hurriedly pockets the photograph.

KIRSTY ducks into the bathroom.We

CUT BACK TO

JULIA. It's clear the memory of her first meeting with FRANK has affected her deeply.The tears that threatened earlier are close.

KIRSTY has unbuttoned her blouse and is drying herself.

Silence from outside.

Julia?

(she puts her head out of the bathroom)

JULIA has gone.

The door of the Torture Room is pushed open.JULIA steps inside.

KIRSTY hears the creak of footsteps on the boards above. JULIA's behaviour puzzles her, but she's not about to waste time thinking too hard about it. She starts downstairs again.

We have an odd, hovering point of view of JULIA, as she steps inside the room.Something about the atmosphere distresses her.

There is a scratching sound.She looks down.A wood-louse, recalling Frank's foresaken bed, crawls along the edge of the skirting board.She crosses to the window, and tears away a little spy-hole in the aged newspaper.

From downstairs, the voices of the bed-movers.

1ST MAN Have you got it?

2ND MAN I've got it.I told you -

40 Continued

The light through the window falls on her eye. The screen becomes a white-out, from which emerges:

A bedroom, with afternoon sunlight pouring between the slats of bamboo blinds.Outside we can hear children playing summer games.Inside, a fly buzzes.

JULIA, the younger self, is holding her wedding dress in front of her, displaying it.

JULIA lets the dress drop a few inches in front of her. She stares at FRANK.

Still she doesn't let the 'defence' that the dress offers - a reminder of her imminent marriage - fall. She stares though, and there's an invitation in her eyes.

Now we

CUT TO

FRANK. He is not so beraggled as in the first scene, but the heat of the day has brought a sheen of sweat to his face.Standing half in shadow he looks almost dangerous.

Now JULIA lets the dress drop, putting it on the bed behind her.

FRANK steps towards her.

41 Continued

FRANK takes hold of her.She doesn't resist him, though there is barely disguised fear on her face. He puts his hand inside her blouse.

In extreme CLOSE UP, JULIA blinks into the light through the window, as LARRY's voice from downstairs calls her from her reverie.

Again, a white-CUT, from which emerges:

The two are naked on the bed, both sweating now. Beneath them, the wedding dress, crushed under their weight.

Their love-making is not straight-forward: there is an element of erotic perversity in the way FRANK licks at her face, almost like an animal, his hold on her too tight to be loving.The sequence escalates into a series of strange details from their locked bodies.Nails digging into palms; sweat rivulets running down their torsoes.And once in a while we see their faces.JULIA watching FRANK, mesmerized and amused by his intensity; FRANK almost pained by his desire to push the experienceto the limit.Their passion is rendered stranger still by the way the light through the window falls on their bodies, making striped creatures of them.

At last, as their urgency increases, we move up until we're looking directly down on the bed. From here it is JULIA's face we can see, and the ecstasy of the moment has seized her.Her arms are flung up over her head;her eyes are closed as she murmurs:

The scene whites out.

JULIA is still staring into the light.She sobs, very quietly.

Downstairs, LARRY and the men have moved the bed across the hall to the bottom of the stairs.

All three are weary now, and getting careless.

As they start up the stairs we see trouble ahead for LARRY, whose hand is moving closer and closer to a nail proturbing from the woodwork of the bannister.

He backs towards the stairs - and the nail.

Damn it, will you take the -

The side of his hand is impaled bythe nail.He cries out. The weight of the bed, which he cannot relinquish, drives the nail deeper, and gouges a long cut from the ball of his thumb to his wrist.Blood pours out.

1ST MAN What's the problem?

He drops his edge of the bed, and disengages his hand from the nail upon which he's injured himself.He lifts his hand, from which blood is pouring.

1ST MAN Who are you calling a fucking ass-hole?It's this bastard bed that's your fucking problem!

45 Continued

LARRY isn't listening.He's looking at the wound in his hand.He hates the sight of his own blood. Any moment, he may faint.

But not in front of these bastards.He turns and starts up the stairs, groggier by the moment.

JULIA is standing in the middle of the room.A single dart of light, through the hole she tore in the newspaper, strikes her face.Softly on the soundtrack, the scrabbling noise of the woodlice.

The bed has been put down.1ST MAN and 2ND MAN are putting on their coats.KIRSTY comes through from the kitchen.

2ND MAN We're leaving.

1ST MAN He's fucked off.

2ND MAN (mock chiding) Eh ...language.

1ST MAN Sorry. He's gone upstairs.So we're fucking off too.

2ND MAN takes a sheet of paper from his jacket.

2ND MAN Will you sign for the bed?

LARRY, his hand running with blood, climbs the last flight of stairs.

JULIA hears him, and turns from her silent communing with the room.She crosses towards the door.Too late. It opens.LARRY steps inside, blood pouring from his right hand, which he attempts to staunch with his left hand.

Blood has started to drip, unnoticed by either of them, onto the bare boards.Heavy splashes.

LARRY looks sick; his face clammy with sweat.She stares at him without a trace of feeling for him on her face.

She goes to him.He looks away as she unglues one hand from the other, and looks at the wound.Blood comes faster, hitting the floor between them.

49 Continued

The blood keeps hitting the floor.Slap; slap; slap.

We'll get you out into the fresh air.

He is again clamping his hand over the wound, as JULIA helps him to the door.They leave the Torture Room. We hear their voices receding down the passageway, as we again assume that hovering view point.The floor, is heavily spattered with blood.

KIRSTY is half way up the stairs, as JULIA and LARRY head down.

KIRSTY heads back to the kitchen.JULIA helps LARRY towards the front door.

50 Continued

The CAMERA swings away from them, upstairs, and begins to track ...

... we continue to track, towards the Torture Room.

Downstairs, the front door slams.

From outside, the sound of a car door slamming.An engine starts.The car drives away.

We move towards the blood on the floor.As we watch, it begins to disappear, as if being absorbed by the room. We pan up to the wall.The plaster is not quite smooth; indeed, it now begins to grow restless, and cracks.Something begins to move in the wall ...

An explosion of laughter.We

CUT TO

the remains of a rack of lamb, its gravy now congealed, scraps of meat adhering to the bone here and there. This is the centre-piece of a table reduced to a battlefield by the guests who are laughing off-screen. We pass along the table, taking in dirty plates and cutlery, napkins, glasses and emptied wine bottles. Finally, we reach JULIA, who is still sitting at the table, while the others have retired to more comfortable seats. She looks utterly miserable, and a little drunk.

The room has been spruced up for the party.Candles are burning on tables and mantelpiece, there are pictures on the walls.But this is essentially cosmetic.The place has not been refurnished or re- decorated.

We move to the party guests.Two, we recognize: KIRSTY, and LARRY - who is presently entertaining the gathering with an account of his accident.The others are new faces.An American couple:BILL UNDERWOOD and his wife EVELYN, who are of an age with LARRY, and a younger, bespectacled man - a work colleague of LARRY's - STEVE O'DONNELL.All are drunk.

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A brandy bottle sits on the table between them, and half a dozen other liquer bottles besides.STEVE, it soon becomes apparent, has his eyes on KIRSTY.

LARRY is half-way through his hospital story, gesticulating wildly as he goes through the tale, much to the pleasure of the rest.His hand and lower arm are heavily bandaged.

We

CUT BACK TO

JULIA, who watches her husband, unamused.

Gales of laughter at this.

And it washimwho was looking sick.

51 Continued

LARRY fills up her glass.

STEVE picks up the bottle.

He fills up KIRSTY's glass.

She casts him a sly glance.He smiles.She smiles.

JULIA now stands up.

JULIA nods.

51 Continued

He stands.

JULIA looks frosty, but LARRY does not catch the look. KIRSTY does however.BILL sits down.

There's a chorus of approval.JULIA puts a smile on.

She exits, to a chorus of goodnights.KIRSTY in particular watches her as she makes her exit.JULIA's behaviour confounds her.Meanwhile, the conversation has returned to LARRY's 'wound'.

This wins another round of laughter.

JULIA walks along the landing, while the laughter – muted by distance - wafts up from below.

52 Continued

From the floor above, she hears something more. She stops, puzzled, then starts up the second flight of stairs towards the Torture Room.

She approaches the Torture Room, and steps inside.

The sound of laughter is considerably dimmed in here; it's barely audible.But there is another sound, a shifting sound in the corner of the room.

She reaches for the light switch, and turns it on. The bulb's been broken however.She stares around the room, trying to make sense of the shadows.

Nervously, she approaches the wall, on which four streaks of light from the window fall.Now she looks towards the window and realizes that the newspaper has been torn, as if by four fingers.Her breath catches.Suddenly, she's afraid.

She stands absolutely still, eyes wide in the gloom.

On the far side of the room, a movement in the shadows.

JULIA almost retreats, but something keeps her staring into the murk, assomething- the remnants of a human form made of twisted, blistered strands of flesh, raises its head.It's squatting against the wall, unable to lift itself into a standing position.Its eyes, however, have life in them: and hunger. This, though he's unrecognizable, is FRANK.

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She looks away.

Help me.

JULIA's face registers horror and disbelief.

From downstairs, dimly, laughter.

LARRY has just told another story.General drunken laughter.KIRSTY stands up.

She staggers a little bit.

55 Continued

Further hysteria.

She steps out into the hallway.

She starts up the stairs.She smiles to herself, thinking of STEVE.

FRANK, in the corner of the room, watches JULIA, who is still at the door.

The sound of KIRSTY downstairs, closing the bathroom door.

CUT BACK TO

57 Continued

JULIA's lace as she stares at FRANK once more.She is appalled at the choice before her.

KIRSTY smiles at herself in the bathroom mirror, turns off the tap, opens the door and steps out onto the landing.

She takes a step along the landing, then realizes that there's somebody ahead of her, in the darkness. She stops.From the floor above, a soft sigh.

JULIA moves out of shadow into a patch of patterned light splashing up the stair well.The effect recalls her memory of her lovemaking with FRANK.The light makes her look strange; ominous.

JULIA doesn't smile

Are you all right?

Do we read murder in JULIA's eyes?KIRSTY is uneasy.

Suddenly, a voice from the floor below.

KIRSTY is relieved at the interruption.

59 Continued

JULIA is left on the landing, as KIRSTY heads downstairs.

The station is deserted, but for KIRSTY and STEVE, who are sitting, waiting for the last train.

KIRSTY and STEVE are walking.

61 Continued

STEVE stops walking.

KIRSTY has turned to look at him.Both of them are aware where the banter is leading; smiles play on their faces as they speak.

61 Continued

He kisses her, with considerable feeling.

LARRY snores loudly.JULIA lies beside him, wide awake, staring at the ceiling.

LARRY turns over, muttering to himself.

The door opens.JULIA is standing there, in her night-gown.

FRANK raises his wretched head.

JULIA stares at the thing moving in the shadow.

The door opens.JULIA steps out of the house, and starts towards the street. As she does so, she glances round.

We approach the window, knowing that FRANK watches behind it.

JULIA heads off down the street.

The din of a lunchtime restaurant, with all the tables full, and everyone hungry.In the middle of the melee, KIRSTY is valiantly trying to do six things at once.Somebody wants their order taken;somebody else wants more lager;somebody else is complaining. She's doing her best, but losing the battle.She serves a table with their food, and then starts back to pick up another order.As she does so she's harangued from every side.

1ST CUSTOMER Excuse me, Miss -

2ND CUSTOMER I'd like some more lager.

1ST CUSTOMER Miss!

2ND CUSTOMER Did you hear me?

KIRSTY starts back to the counter.As she does so somebody else's voice cuts through the din.

She wheels round.

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He grins.She grins.

2ND CUSTOMER What do you have to do to get some service around here?

By contrast, a quiet bar.Discreet music;a well-dressed clientele.Several couples occupy booths.Other solitary drinkers are at the bar.

Amongst them:JULIA.

Now we see her more closely, we realize she's gone to some considerable effort to make herself ravishing.There's nothing crude about the change;it's a subtle transformation which shows off her considerable beauty.She drinks soda water.

She has an admirer.Sitting alone at one of the tables is a middle-aged man by the name of PRUDHOE, a nervous, slightly paunchy individual.She glances over at him. His eyes don't leave her for a moment.He's trying his best to get the courage to approach her.

She looks away, and concentrates on her drink.Now she takes out a cigarette, fumbling for it.Her hands are trembling slightly.She lights the cigarette, draws on it, and as she does so she seems to make up her mind that she's not the equal of it.She stubs the cigarette out, puts cash on the bar for her drinks, and gets up to leave.

Suddenly, PRUDHOE's at her side.

68 Continued

He's so nervous he can barely speak.

... as we're both on our own ... we could have one drink together?

JULIA looks at him.He seems to almost be offering himself to her.There's a long pause, while she tries to make up her mind.Then:

She smiles. The smile works wonders.PRUDHOE's nerves diminish somewhat.JULIA's simply increase, now that she's committed herself.Again, she opens the pack of cigarettes, as PRUDHOE calls the BARMAN over.

68 Continued

He stares at her, not certain he interprets her correctly. She stares back.Then:the tiniest of smiles, which he - scarcely believing his luck - returns.

The CAMERA moves across the room. We can hear FRANK's ragged breathing, and as we move in we see, on the floor beside him, the box - the Lament Configuration – its sides gleaming.FRANK, still squatting on the floor, taps a tattoo on the bare boards with his skeletal fingers.

Then, voices outside:JULIA laughs.

He raises his head.

JULIA opens the front door.She is still very nervous, fumbling with the keys.PRUDHOE stands a pace behind her.

They step inside.JULIA closes the door

He approaches her:his gestures made slightly clumsy by the alcohol he's drunk.He kisses her.She presses him off her.

71 Continued

FRANK's view, from the corner of the room.We hear the sound of JULIA and PRUDHOE's approach up the stairs.

JULIA opens the door.

She steps inside.PRUDHOE does as he's instructed.He stares at the bare floor, as JULIA closes the door behind him.

72 Continued

JULIA moves towards him

She slips the knot of his tie.We can hear her pulse on the soundtrack.She glances over PRUDHOE's shoulder.He follows her gaze, but she diverts him with a peck on the cheek.

PRUDHOE, now starts to shed his jacket and trousers, trying not to take his eyes off JULIA for an instant.

We watch from FRANK'S P.O.V. as he drops his underwear. He still wears his shirt, which he starts to unbutton. We move back into a tighter shot.

JULIA smiles.

PRUDHOE stops unbuttoning his shirt.

72 Continued

She steps out of the way so that he can cross to the door.

As he moves to the door, she throws a piece of cloth off a hammer, which lies beside the wall.PRUDHOE takes hold of the door handle.Turns it:it's stuck.

Before he can turn she hits him on the back of the head. He doesn't fall, but the blow sends blood down the back of his shirt.To avoid the following blow he stumbles blindly towards the wall but JULIA's not going to be stopped now.He holds the back of his head - dazed, apologetic, pitiful - while she moves towards him.

She eclipses him.

... I'm so sorry ...

She raises the hammer.

... I don't understand ...

She strikes him.He slides down the wall, his jaw broken, blood pouring from his face.He twitches.Then the twitches stop.

She drops the hammer, and stares down at the corpse.

The room sighs.In the corner, FRANK's shadowy form leans forward.

72 Continued

JULIA backs towards the door, as the broken, skeletal form crawls out of darkness to claim its sustenance.

JULIA steps out onto the landing and leans against the wall, waves of sheer relief breaking over her.

In the room behind her, terrible sounds of feeding.

JULIA steps into the bathroom, and looks at herself in the mirror. Blood is spattered on her face;her hands are similarly stained.She is trembling from head to foot.

Stripping off her blouse, and flinging it over the side of the bath, she douses her face, neck and breasts with cold water.Then she stares up at her face again, examining it.She can scarcely believe what she's done.

She crosses the landing and climbs the stairs to the Torture Room.

She opens the door.

As she does so FRANK retreats into the shadows.We are granted a fleeting glimpse of him, his body fuller than before, but still horribly vulnerable.

JULIA looks at PRUDHOE's corpse.A trail of blood leads away from it into the darkness.The body itself is a grotesquely misshapen husk now, the muscle and fat withered, the eyes sunk into the skull, the lips drawn back to expose the gums. A ghostly sight.

JULIA looks across at FRANK, who is no longer sitting, but standing in the shadows.

76 Continued

She doesn't reply.

He stretches his arm into a passage of light.His flesh glistens and pulses.

He turns his arm over for her appreciation.

Every drop of blood you spill puts more flesh on my bones. And we both want that don't we?

She nods.

Good. Come here.

She stares, unable to move.

Come here, damn you.I want to touch you ...

Still she doesn't move.

She takes a step towards his outstretched arm.His fingers touch her face.She steels herself against them. Now, he starts to trace the line of her jaw, stroking her. Now her lips, caressingly.

Suddenly, a sound from downstairs.The front door is opened.

JULIA withdraws from his touch.

Shot from the stairs of LARRY.He looks up the flight.

77 Continued

He takes a step towards the stairs.

JULIA takes a step backwards, her foot hitting PRUDHOE's corpse.

LARRY is still at the bottom of the stairs.

For a moment it looks as though he's going to climb the stairs, then he thinks better of it, and goes through to the back of the house.

JULIA has wrapped the corpse of PRUDHOE up in its clothes and is now lifting it.The body is lighter now, having been drained of nourishment.Its head lolls back and its dentures drop out, hitting the floor loudly.She freezes. No sound from below.She backs out of the room with her burden.

FRANK's arm reaches for the fallen dentures and peers at them.

Soft laughter from the darkness.

JULIA pushes the door of the Junk Room, which is on the upper landing, open.Inside, a chaos of tea-chests and bric-a-brac.She lays the body down.

LARRY has come through to look for JULIA.He hears a noise above.He looks up.

He leaves the kitchen.

Again, LARRY Steps into the hallway, and gazes up the stairs.

He starts up.

JULIA steps into the bathroom, and then locks the door behind her.

LARRY ascends to the top of the stairs.

He tries the door.It's locked.

Are you all right?

JULIA, still trembling, sits on the edge of the bath.

85 Continued

She listens as his footsteps recede down the landing and stairs. Then she crosses to the mirror and tries to erase the signs of panic.She puts a comb through her hair, and adjusts her blouse.That done, she unbolts the door and steps out into the landing.She doesn't go down however, butup,back to the Torture Room.

She opens the door.

A crunching sound in the shadows.FRANK's hand opens, dropping the pieces of PRUDHOE's dentures, which he has crushed, onto the floor, in a rain of plastic teeth.

JULIA's face registers no horrer at this.

- to heal me completely.Then we can be away from here, before they come looking.

86 Continued

From downstairs, LARRY.

JULIA crosses to the door and calls down.

She returns to her conversation with FRANK.

She crosses to close the door.When she turns round, he's in front of her, silhouetted against the window, his half-formed face terrifying in the gloom.Suddenly he reaches out and catches hold of her arm.She gasps in pain.

He lets go of her.

... like love.Only real.

She goes to the door, and leaves him, locking it behind her.

We move close to FRANK's face.He licks his skinned lips with a bloody tongue.Thunder rolls.

87 KIRSTY'S DREAM

The thunder carries over to a dream.

We are in the Dining Room of Number 55, except that everything is once more shrounded in sheets.

We CUT to KIRSTY, moving through the room, her face pale, her hair glued to her forehead with sweat.

Somewhere, a bell is ringing.Flies buzz.On the dinner table, a form is covered in a sheet.It's clear that the shape is human.She reaches the table, and looks at the body.

Suddenly, blood begins to seep through the shroud, beginning at the head - eyes and mouth - then spreading across the body. There are sobs beneath the shroud.

She reaches for it, to snatch it off the body.

The blood has almost turned the sheet scarlet.

She pulls.

We glimpse only a moment of what'd beneath:a naked body, scarlet and shining with blood from head to foot.

She screams.

Her scream becomes louder, as we

CUT TO

STEVE sits bolt upright in bed, while KIRSTY yells.

The sheet is snatched off him.He looks across the room to see KIRSTY at the end of the bed, with the sheet in her hand.

KIRSTY's eyes are still closed.

Kirsty!

Her eyes open.She looks down at the sheet she's snatched from the bed, and drops it in horror.

KIRSTY, weak with fear, just shakes her head.

A phone is ringing.

LARRY crosses the hallway, bleary-eyed, and disappears from sight. The phone is picked up.

JULIA lies in bed, the pillow empty beside her.She's wide awake, staring at the ceiling.Downstairs, the murmur of LARRY's voice.

FRANK stands in the corner of the room, breathing softly in the shadows.

LARRY is on the phone.

KIRSTY is on the phone.STEVE sits up in bed, having reclaimed the sheet.

LARRY puts down the phone.

LARRY returns to the bedroom.

He goes into the bedroom.

We PAN up the second flight of stairs.

FRANK is sitting at the top, in the shadows.

The front door is closed by JULIA.A man stands in the hallway:anothervictim. He is as nervous as PRUDHOE.

A shock CUT to the naked VICTIM, thrown back against the wall from JULIA's hammer blow.Before he can even slide down the wall, FRANK is upon him.

We don't linger, but CUT away to:

As JULIA closes the door, her face devoid of emotion, we see the VICTIM's body on the floor, with FRANK's hands oh its head, draining out its energies.

JULIA sits, sipping a drink, her face still unreadable.

FRANK is standing in the shadows.The VICTIM's body is in the middle of the room.

JULIA enters.

We pan across the walls as FRANK speaks.

We've moved across to FRANK now.He is dressed, in loose fitting jacket and trousers, through which his blood is seeping.He smokes, taking great pleasure in the experience.

FRANK picks up the box.Vague, tantalizing forms move over the surface, like ghosts.

101 Continued

He turns the box over.The lacquer catches the light.

In the lacquer we see oiled bodies moving.It's difficult to be sure what the forms signify.Is this torture, or some elaborate pleasure?

The images in the lacquer are becoming clearer, and they areappalling.Flesh torn open; blood running across sweating flesh; hooks, and terrible machines.

His voice has begun to tremble.The images in the box are more horrific by the moment.And flowing between them, highly distorted, the CENOBITE's faces, and that of FRANK, screaming and screaming.

He can't speak for a moment.After a pause, he goes on, his voice heavy.

My body was forfeit.But my spirit ... they left that here. In the boards.In the walls. Watching the world, but never able to touch it ...

JULIA looks at the horrors in the box, and understands his desire.

101 Continued

He lifts the box up.

I won't let them take me.

There's a rumble of thunder.

Not in the whole wide world.

More thunder, and the sound of heavy rain against the windows.

The television is on.LARRY and JULIA are sitting on the couch.LARRY is watching a boxing match.He has consumed several beers:the cans are beside his feet; and there's another in his hand.

JULIA reads a magazine, glancing up at the screen to see the match getting more heated.Blood is starting to flow.

LARRY looks at her.

There's a sudden raising of shouts from the screen, as one of the boxers hits the canvas.LARRY turns his attention back to the match.

102 Continued

The thunder rolls on.

The lightning finds its way through the holes in the newspaper.FRANK is watching through the window, his face occasionally washed with light.His hand, on the window frame, taps out the same tattoo he's tapped out before.He turns away from the window, and his foot catches the box.It rolls across the floor.

The boxing match is heating up again.

JULIA looks up from her magazine.

The violence on the screen is horrific, as swollen faces burst beneath punches.

LARRY stands up.

She gets up and crosses to the door.

- I'll go see.

He opens the door, and steps out into the hallway.

In such tight close up we can't sec that FRANK has in fact left the Torture Room, we see his features register that somebody is coming.

LARRY is climbing the stairs.JULIA follows.

LARRY has reached the top of the stairs.He looks up the next flight.

Larry ...

She's desperate to stop him climbing to the Torture Room.

He crosses to her.

He puts his arms around her.She responds.

You're shaking.

He hugs her tight, kissing her lightly. The thunder shakes the house.

There's nothing to be afraid of.

He kisses her neck, his hands restless on her.

I'll just go check upstairs ...

He kisses her again.She, in order to distract him, kisses him back.Her passion is artificial, but he doesn't register that.

106 Continued

He starts up the stairs.

He reaches the top of the stairs.First he throws open the Junk Room.Lightning flashes on boxes inside. Then he moves towards the Torture Room. The thunder rolls more loudly.

She follows him along the landing, desperate to stop him.

Too late.He throws open the door.

Lightning floods the room.It's empty.She stands beside him at the door.

She looks back down the stairs.Where's FRANK gone? LARRY turns to her, holding her again, on the threshold of the Torture Room.

He kisses her, much harder this time; a sexual kiss.

Let's go down.I'll make it better.

He kisses her again.

A shadow moves across the screen as the door opens, and LARRY puts on the light. He has hold of JULIA's hand. He leads her inside.She sits on the bed, illuminated by the light from the landing, and the occasional flicker from the window.LARRY kneels between her legs, and kisses her breasts, his eyes closed.

108 Continued

JULIA glances into the shadows of the room.She senses FRANK's presence.

He starts to unbutton her dress.She's distracted by her suspicions; he has his hands against her almost before she realizes what's happening.

We have her P.O.V. as she looks around the room.The dressing table; the wardrobe; the curtains at the window. Does something move in the shadows?

A flash of lightning.No.There's nothing.

LARRY gets onto the bed and draws her against him, kissing her.This is not the intense, slightly dangerous love-making she experienced with FRANK, but a fumbling, slightly foolish exchange.LARRY is so wrapped in attempting to make the right moves he doesn't register the fact that JULIA's attention is elsewhere.

Now we have a P.O.V. from the far side of the room, of the two figures on the bed, the only sound the thunder and LARRY's murmured words of seduction, which we can barely make out.

Neither of them have undressed fully; there's just a tangle of clothes around them which removes any trace of eroticism from the scene.

A CLOSE UP of JULIA's head, laid on the pillow, shows just how uninvolved she is - while LARRY works, eyes closed. JULIA looks down the length of her husband's body. The door of the wardrobe swings open.FRANK is watching.She registers horror.LARRY is oblivious to all of this, of course.

We have a CLOSE UP of FRANK watching the love-making. Now he steps out of the wardrobe.JULIA makes a moan of horror, which LARRY takes as enthusiasm.

From JULIA'S P.O.V., we see the form of FRANK shamble towards the lovers.

108 Continued

From FRANK'S P.O.V. we see the lovers on the bed, LARRY's back vunerable.JULIA seems to realize what he intends.

LARRY barely hears her.

FRANK is at the very end of the bed now, and JULIA becomes highly agitated.

LARRY stops his love-making.

LARRY is angered and utterly perplexed at this.He disengages his arms from around her.

JULIA'S P.O.V., as FRANK retreats.

LARRY rolls off JULIA.

The wardrobe door closes.Click.

He sits on the edge of the bed.

I just don't understand.

He gets up and leaves the bedroom.JULIA remains where she is. We have a shot of the bed, and her upon it, from FRANK's end of the room.She stares at the wardrobe.Through the crack of the open door, FRANK stares back.A flicker of lightning illuminates his face; his skeletal grin.

109 Continued

Softly, beneath the assault of the rain on the roof, we hear laughter.

KIRSTY and LARRY are sitting eating a meal together, in an intimate restaurant.LARRY has little appetite, to judge by his plate.He looks as if he hasn't slept for several nights.KIRSTY, by contrast, is sparkling

The straight-forward question silences KIRSTY for a moment. She wants to be delicate with her father's feelings, but honest at the same time.

LARRY's face is full of the desire for reassurance. KIRSTY tries to offer it.

If youlove her she must be worth loving.Just give me some time.

LARRY nods, a weak smile on his face

109 Continued

A silence.

FRANK is standing at the top of the stairs, dressed in his stained suit.JULIA is a few steps down, staring up at him.

JULIA nods.

Tomorrow?

She looks at him.

A wind blows, carrying autumn leaves before it.And on the wind, the distant pealing of bells.

JULIA is at the door, turning the key in the lock. Beside her, a third sacrificial lamb, balding and excitable.His name is SYKES.

JULIA opens the door.

At the corner of the street now:KIRSTY.She watches, puzzled.

A long shot of the house, from KIRSTY'S P.O.V.The man on the step seems to having second thoughts. JULIA speaks with him.We can hear none of this exchange, but JULIA manages to coax him inside.She closes the door behind them.

KIRSTY stands, bewildered by what she's seen.

From the top of the stairs we watch JULIA lead SYKES upstairs.

KIRSTY starts towards the house.

In the corner of the room FRANK stands, tapping out the rhythm with his fingers.It's 'Colonel Bogey', and now he hums it too.Outside the door, a footfall.

118 Continued

The humming stops.

JULIA opens the door.

KIRSTY starts down the path.

SYKES is looking at JULIA.

FRANK moves in the corner.SYKES catches the motion from the corner of his eye.He turns.

What ?

FRANK steps from the shadows.

Jesus Christ.

JULIA hits him with the hammer.

KIRSTY hears SYKES scream.She freezes.Then steps back from the doorstep and looks up at the house.

In the Room, pandemonium.SYKES, blood pouring down his face, flails out at JULIA.The hammer flies from her hand.He lunges for the door, but she manages to kick it closed.

KIRSTY makes her way around the back of the house.

SYKES has taken hold of JULIA, and is using her as a shield against FRANK, whos is bearing down upon him. For the first time we see FRANK's true colours where JULIA's concerned -

Casually, FRANK throws JULIA aside.She falls, sobbing.

FRANK descends on SYKES.

SYKES' scream covers the sound of KIRSTY forcing the back door open.She steps inside.

FRANK has SYKES face to the wall.SYKES is sobbing now. The room is covered in blood.

She picks herself up.

JULIA leaves, closing the door.

FRANK seizes hold of SYKE's neck, his fingers entering the flesh either side of his neck vertebrae.SYKES screams.

KIRSTY moves through the house, and starts to climb the stairs.

Half way up the stairs, the scream stops.She climbs the rest of the way surrounded by a graveyard hush.

A soundless, slowed shot, as SYKES, his face wasted by FRANK's feeding, breaks from FRANK's hold and lunges for the door.

KIRSTY starts up the second flight of stairs.

The same slowed, soundless horror, as SYKES reaches the door.FRANK is a pace behind him.

KIRSTY reaches the top as -

The door from inside the room.SYKES pulls it open -

In real time, and accompanied by the most horrific shriek, SYKES flings himself from the Torture Room. The flesh is hanging off his face; his eyes bulge in terror.

Seeing KIRSTY he starts towards her.Behind him, FRANK, his body glistening.He catches hold of SYKES by the neck. SYKES'shrieks stop.The eyes glaze over. The body judders as death claims it.Then FRANK drops the corpse, and looks up at KIRSTY.

She starts to back away down the stairs.

He takes a step towards her.

134 Continued

She's still backing away.He's still advancing.

Her puzzlement, however, has slowed her retreat, and now FRANK reaches for her.At the last moment she backs away again, but he's after her in a beat, and seizes hold of her.

He drags her back up the stairs.

He pushes her ahead of him, into the Torture Room.He closes the door.

She has retreated as far from him as she can get.He advances on her.

135 Continued

FRANK has closed in on her by now.He Lakes hold of her face.

As he leans in to kiss her she snatches hold of the pus and bloodstained shirt that's glued to his abdomen, andpulls.There's a flow of fluids. FRANK's head is thrown back, and he screams. She slips from beneath his grasp.But he's after her in a moment, his hand catching her blouse.It tears. His fingers rake her bare skin.

She stumbles, reaches out for the wall, which is slick with SYKES' blood.Her hand slides over it. She falls, heavily.

Roaring, FRANK comes in pursuit of her.

On the floor in front of KIRSTY:the box.It's a poor weapon, but it's all she's got.As he comes after her again, she stands up and delivers a blow to his head with the box.He howls.She races for the door.But he's after her.He strikes her. She's thrown against the wall.He'sfuriousnow. Strikes her again.She cannot survive much more.

She raises the box to retaliate.FRANK sees what she's holding.His attack stops.

She dimly realizes that she has a bargaining tool.

135 Continued

The monster's eyes glitter.

Fucking have it!

She throws the box.It sails past FRANK and smashes through the window.

He goes to the window.She takes her chance.She's out of the door in a moment.

NO!

KIRSTY propels herself out of the Room, and down the stairs, while FRANK vents his anger above her.

She flings open the front door, and pitches herself – bleeding and bruised - into the daylight beyond.

As she stumbles away down the path, she sees the box at her feet, in a litter of broken glass.She picks it up, and continues to run.

A series of shots from KIRSTY'S P.O.V., as she staggers along the street.The sound-track whines; the image threatens to be eclipsed by darkness.People stare at her as she runs.A child points.

Finally, the CAMERA slows.She stands still.

A voice, off camera:

VOICE (O.S.) Are you all right?

139 Continued

The CAMERA swings giddily around in the direction of the speaker.A WOMAN comes into view.

As she speaks, the picture fades to white.

140 KIRSTY'S DREAM(PART TWO)

The whiteness continues to fill the screen.Distant, incoherent voices are heard, and the thump of blood in the inner ear.

Then darkness seeps into the whiteness, patterns like Rorschach inkblots: ambiguous, yet interpretable as sexual or horrific imagery.With the darkness, soaking over the scene like blood through the sheet in her first dream, fragments of FRANK's previous dialogue.

The darkness is filling the screen.

... take it from me ...

Now, total darkness.

... Come to Daddy ...

And suddenly, she wakes.

KIRSTY is lying in a bed in a private room.A NURSE is at her bedside, monitoring her condition.

She goes to the door.

I'll get the doctor.

141 Continued

She exits.

KIRSTY tries to sit up.Her head hurts, badly.As she achieves a sitting position, the door opens.The NURSE returns, with a DOCTOR.

She looks at him, uncertain of where to start.

The NURSE exits.The DOCTOR brings the box from his pocket.

Maybe this'll jog your memory.

He lays it on the bed.She stares at it, her expression betraying nothing.

I had the Devil's own job getting it out of your hand. Does it ring any bells?

She shakes her head.

Do you want it left?

He offers her a reassuring smile.

141 Continued

He leaves the room.

KIRSTY picks up the box, tentatively.She turns it over in her hand, examining it.

FRANK is standing in the shadows.He is wearing a fresh shirt.He smirks. JULIA watches him.

Downstairs, the telephone rings.JULIA is very nervous now; desperate even.

KIRSTY is sitting up in bed.On the bedside table, a telephone.She is now thoroughly engrossed in the problems of the box.Her fingers speed over the surfaces, looking for some way in, testing its strength.

Suddenly, a click.Her face lights up with pleasure, as she slides a part of the box open, revealing new intricacies.And to accompany the revelation, a tinkling tune.

She smiles.It's a musical box.

The light beside the bed flickers, but she doesn't notice.

The door opens.It's the NURSE.

The NURSE exits.As she does go the light flickers again. The box clicks.A new facet is revealed ...

KIRSTY smiles.

The front door closes.

LARRY stands in the hall.JULIA comes down the stairs. She looks pale; even ill.

145 Continued

She turns and starts up the stairs.He follows.

KIRSTY has opened more of the box.The tune is more complex now.

Somewhere a bell has started to ring.Now, she works the final mechanism of the box.The bedside light flickers and goes out.

The bell rings.Light pours out of the box.She drops it, shocked.

The bedside light comes on again.

She looks up.

In the wall opposite the end of her bed, a very narrow doorway has simply opened in the wall.

Leaving the box on the bed, she gets up and goes to the gap.As she approaches she hears the distant, rhythmical sob of a baby.She stands at the doorway.

We look back at her, a diminutive figure framed against a shot of light, from way, way down the corridor.

The sobbing goes on.KIRSTY stares down the corridor – which is lit brightly in some places, and is absolutely dark in others - not certain of whether to venture down it or not.

148 Continued

She glances towards the door of her room, from the other side of which comes the reassuring sound of the hospital going about its business.What's to fear?

She steps into the corridor.The walls rise into darkness on either side of her, their surfaces like the interior of a pyramid, pitted with age, and rotting away.

She starts towards the sobbing child, bare feet on the impacted earth of the passageway.

The sobbing gets louder as she advances, her form disappearing entirely as she passes through the intermittent darkness.

Once, she glances back towards the Hospital Room, to reassure herself that it's still there.It is, though it's no more than a sliver of light at the far end of the passageway.

She advances a few more paces.The atmosphere is growing denser; smoke thickens the air.

Then, a light glows at the other end of the corridor.

The sound of the sobbing child ceases.

She stops walking.

Ahead, the smoke clears and the light brightens, and we see a creature - THE ENGINEER - hanging in the space between the walls.It is in silhouette against the light, but we can see enough to know that it resembles no earthly animal.Its vast black limbs hold it suspended above the corridor, clinging to the stone. Its front limbs, vestigial by comparison, hang down from beneath its vast head.Its tail is curled over its back.

KIRSTY's expression registers this horror.THE ENGINEER moves into the light.Its irises narrow to slits. From the tail a vast sting, oozing pus - like venom, glides into view.

And then -

- it comes at her, advancing along the corridor by bracing its legs against the walls.Its breath is a growl in its belly, until it moves into darkness, when all sound from it ceases, only to eruptagain as it finds the light.

149 Continued

KIRSTY turns, and starts to run.

It comes after her at speed.Darkness, light, darkness, light; roars and silence -

Its jaws spill its thick saliva; its eyes gleam.

KIRSTY runs blindly down the corridor, back towards the safety of the Hospital Room.But it's very close on her heels, lingering -

As she comes within a few yards of the Room it closes on her.

She flings herself through the door with THE ENGINEER's breath on her back, and turns -

The doorway has gone.The wall is sealed.She approaches the wall. THE ENGINEER scratches on the other side ...

Then, she realises that the bell is still ringing.And there's a foul smell in the air.

She looks around.

She's not alone.

Standing across the room from her, lit by a strange phosphorescence that has no visible source, are four extraordinary figures.

They are CENOBITES.Each of them is horribly mutilated by systems of hooks and pins.The garments they wear are elaborately constructed to marry with their flesh, laced through skin in places, hooked into bone.

The leader of this quartet has pins driven into his head at inch intervals.At his side, a woman whose neck is pinned open like a vivisection specimen.Accompanying them is a creature whose mouth is wired into a gaping rectangle - the exposed teeth sharpened to points, and a fat sweating monster whose eyes are covered by dark glasses.

When the lead CENOBITE speaks, we recognise the voice as that of the creature from the beginning of the film.

KIRSTY stares in amazement.

150 Continued

The CENOBITE gestures.The box is lying on the bed.

At this, the creature with the wired open jaw chatters like a mad monkey.

The chattering CENOBITE steps towards her.

The door opens.It's STEVE.

KIRSTY's face floods with relief.STEVE does not register the CENOBITES' presence however.

150 Continued

He steps between the CENOBITES.

He starts to walk towards her, but the creature in the dark glasses takes a hooked rod from its back and puts the hook to STEVE's neck.STEVE's hand moves to the place; he makes a small sound of pain. The CENOBITE takes off its glasses, to see its trick better.The eyes beneath are sewn shut.It pulls a little more on the hook. STEVE winces.

150 Continued

Mystified, STEVE retreats a step.

Still puzzled, STEVE crosses to the door.

The chatterer comes for her.As it does so desperation brings a plan to KIRSTY's head.

He stops.

150 Continued

The CENOBITE stares at her unblinking.

The sound of THE ENGINEER, scratching on the other side of the wall.The plaster cracks, violently.

We cut back to the cracking plaster, which cracks further. We hear STEVE's voice, and pan back into the room.

The door opens.KIRSTY and the CENOBITES have gone.

STEVE is there, with the NURSE.

The NURSE heads for the door.

He looks round. The NURSE has gone.

150 Continued

His eyes have alighted on the box, which is lying on the bed.

He picks it up.

Lights burn in the house, upstairs and down.

JULIA sits in front of the dressing table mirror. She has a glass of whisky in front of her.She sips from it, studying her face in the mirror.We've seen her in many moods through the story:now we see a mingling of fear and exhilaration on her face.She gets up. Laid out on the bed is, of all things, her wedding gown.

STEVE drives towards Lodovico Street, scanning the streets for sign of KIRSTY.

As his car drives past, KIRSTY turns a corner.He does not see her. KIRSTY hurries along the street.The wind is chilly.Sometimes she hears a bell in it.

STEVE drives up to the house.The lights are still burning.He gets out of the car, and hurries down the path.

He knocks on the door.There's no reply.

Two shadowy, naked figures stand face to face in the bedroom.We can see no detail of their features.We move down their bodies.They are standing in a shining pool of blood.

STEVE starts round the back of the house.

The male of the couple pads towardsthe bedroom door, leaving a trail of blood behind him.We can still see very little of the man.

KIRSTY turns the corner of the street, and starts down it. The wind is strong now.It is full of sibilant whispers, hurrying her along.

JULIA dresses.

KIRSTY reaches the doorstep.As she does so the whispers die away completely.She beats on the door.No reply. She beats again, more urgently.

JULIA steps onto the landing.We can hear KIRSTY shouting on the step.

We hear a voice, off-screen.Is it FRANK or LARRY? Impossible to be sure.

VOICE Answer it.

KIRSTY still beats on the door.

164 Continued

The door is suddenly opened.JULIA is standing there.

We pan across the table.At the end of the table sits LARRY. The light is behind him.His features are shadowy.But we can see that he is badly bruised.

We hear the womens' voices, off-screen.

KIRSTY doesn't answer, but walks through into the Dining Room. KIRSTY sees LARRY at the table.

She glances round at JULIA, who has also entered. (to Larry) I have to talk to you.

165 Continued

LARRY leans forward, and into the pool of light over the table.He looks much the worse for wear.His flesh is raw and bruised.There is blood at his neck and hairline.

KIRSTY stares at LARRY, while in her head she hears the CENOBITE's voice.

KIRSTY is dumb with horror at her situation.

165 Continued

KIRSTY turns away from LARRY.JULIA leads her out into the Hallway.

CUT TO

LARRY, still sitting at the table.His fingers drum a familiar tattoo.Beneath his breath, he hums 'Colonel Bogey'.

JULIA pushes open the door of the Torture Room.It creaks wide.Lying on the floor in the middle of the room is a skinned corpse, in a tangle of torn clothing. It steams.There is blood everywhere.That too, steams.

KIRSTY is revolted.She steps away from the door, back down the landing.

The bell has begun to ring again, distantly, and there is the sound of wings in the air - thousands of birds – beating on the other side of the wall.

KIRSTY starts down the stairs again.

KIRSTY doesn't reply.She merely hurries away.

166 Continued

KIRSTY descends the stairs.LARRY has stepped out of the Dining Room and is moving to intercept her as she makes her way to the front door.

The sound of wings, and bells - and a terrible slow thunder which underpins it all - mounts in volume.

LARRY snatches at her arm.

She shrugs off his arm.The thunder is increasing.

JULIA is on the stairs, watching this exchange.

He touches her face, fondly. KIRSTY I can't stay.

She goes to the door.

She hesitates at the door, and turns.

The thunder fills KIRSTY's head, as she stares at LARRY, who has opened his arms to her.

Her gaze moves up to JULIA, who is on the stairs.

Everything is slowing down.The bells and the thunder fill the soundtrack.

LARRY smiles, as KIRSTY moves towards him.Tears have begun to fill her eyes.She searches for him.His smile decays as he realizes her objective.Her nails rake his cheek.The flesh puckers, and tears along the brow. Blood flows.The mask of stolen flesh he wears slips a little, and FRANK's twisted features come into view.

KIRSTY screams, as FRANK lunges for her.The lights in the hallway flicker, and threaten to go out.

KIRSTY avoids FRANK's blow, but in doing so allows him to get between her and the front door.She's trapped. His torn face flapping, he opens his jacket (the interior of which is blood-stained) and pulls a knife from the lining.

Suddenly, JULIA is behind her, gripping hold of her hair.

FRANK advances on KIRSTY, but in the last moment before the fatal stab KIRSTY twists, avoiding the blow.JULIA shrieks and stumbles forward, the knife gleaming as it's buried to the hilt in her side.

KIRSTY slips from between them.JULIA collapses into FRANK's arms.He holds her up.

KIRSTY makes a dive for the front door, but FRANK lets JULIA slip and intercepts KIRSTY.JULIA falls back against the wall, dying.KIRSTY retreats to the bottom of the stairs.FRANK follows.

169 Continued

As he follows, JULIA reaches out and takes hold of his sleeve.

KIRSTY flees the only route she can, upstairs.The house is creaking in every board and rafter now.

FRANK turns on JULIA, trapping her against the wall.

He puts his hands around her neck, and leans towards her. At the last moment she seems to understand that he intends not to kiss her but to steal what little life she has left.

From the stairs KIRSTY glimpses him battering upon her.

Then she looks away, and runs up the stairs.

When we look back JULIA is withering in FRANK's arms.

The landing is smoky.The lights have taken on a yellowish tinge.The air is full of moans.

KIRSTY is desperate for a hiding place.She tries one of the doors, but it's locked.She opens another, and the din of birds' wings gets louder.

A P.O.V. shot, lunging towards KIRSTY in the doorway. She slams the door in the face of whatever's coming for her.

FRANK hears the door slam.He drops JULIA to the ground.She's dead, her flesh rotting on her face.

FRANK starts to climb the stairs, his eyes burning with hunger.

KIRSTY is cornered.From below, FRANK's voice.

KIRSTY starts up the second flight of stairs, as FRANK's shadow is thrownup on the wall below.

KIRSTY is faced with a choice.The Torture Room door is open, but the skinned body is in there, so instead she heads for the Junk Room, and opens the door.

Moonlight falls through the window, illuminating a chaos of furniture and boxes.She crosses to the window, and tries to get it open.It won't budge.

She looks around for a lever to open the window with -

FRANK reaches the landing and opens the bedroom door, calling for her. Then he starts up the last flight of stairs.

KIRSTY lifts a cloth off one of the boxes.

Staring up from the box is the corpse of PRUDHOE, his eyes and mouth open in a silent shriek.

She reels back from the box, terrified, backing into the shadows.

An arm reaches for her, taking hold of her and dragging her back into darkness as the door opens.FRANK stands on the theshold.His breath is thick.He shambles forward, but he doesn't see her.

177 Continued

We CUT back to the shadows.KIRSTY's eyes are wild with terror.

Back to the door, which clicks closed.

KIRSTY breaks cover, and so does her saviour.It's STEVE. He is sweating with terror.

She shakes her head.STEVE brings the box from his jacket.

She doesn't see what he's produced.She's already moving to the door.She listens.

The landing is empty.The door of the Junk Room opens.

KIRSTY steps out.

The house is strangely still.The lights swing a little; but otherwise ... nothing.She advances along the passageway.STEVE follows.They reach the top of the stairs in safety.

As he speaks, FRANK steps out of the Torture Room, knife in hand.

Roaring, he comes at them both.KIRSTY flings herself out of the path of the knife.FRANK swipes at STEVE, who falls backwards down the stairs.He cries out, head hitting the stairs as he descends.

The box falls from his unconscious hand.

FRANK turns on KIRSTY, who avoids one slice of the knife, and another, but is driven back into the Torture Room.

He's after her in a flash.

She falls beside her father's body, her eyes meeting its skinned face.

KIRSTY has been pushed to the limits of her endurance. She can be terrorized and pursued no longer.Death looks an easy option by comparison with more of FRANK's horrors.

As he speaks the bell begins tolling again.FRANK looks puzzled.

Light begins to pour through the walls of the room.

No.

He starts towards the door.But he's too late.The CENOBITES are standing in his way.He backs off from them.

179 Continued

FRANK turns on KIRSTY.

The pattern of light in the room has become more elaborate, and the CENOBITES move through it towards FRANK.

KIRSTY crosses towards the door.As she reaches for the handle she hears FRANK roar behind her.She turns.He breaks between the CENOBITES, knife in hand, but as he comes within striking distance the air is full of whining sounds and he stops dead.

They have their hooks in him, we see.In his arms and legs; in his back and sides;in his scalp and neck and temples. Hooks attached to countless chains, which arrest his progress.They plough through his flesh as he strives to reach her.But at a gesture from the leader of the CENOBITES, the chains are hauled in.He flings back his head, yelling.The knife drops from his hand.

She turns back to the door and opens it.FRANK is hauled back towards the centre of the room.

The house is growlingfrom basement to eaves now, as KIRSTY steps onto the landing.

Behind her, FRANK howls.

She looks back.

180 Continued

They have him in extremis,his body spread-eagled; hooks in a hundred places, pulling at his flesh.He fights like a wild animal, snarling and cursing.They pull the chains tighter.

A close up of FRANK's face.He suddenly stops fighting. He raises his head, his eyes staring up at KIRSTY from beneath a bleeding, sweating brow.He flicks his tongue over his bloodied lips.

Then -

- he comes apart.

The door slams as FRANK's body is torn apart in a welter of blood and flesh fragments.

Something heavy thuds against the door.

KIRSTY turns and starts down the stairs.

As she reaches the place where STEVE is half-sitting, half- lying, the house starts to growl as though its foundations are about to give way.STEVE's nose is bleeding, and his face is bruised, but he's conscious.

STEVE staggers to his feet.KIRSTY picks up the box, which is on the lower landing. As she picks it up, the FEMALE CENOBITE steps from the shadows.

KIRSTY starts to try and manipulate the box in her hands.

KIRSTY manages to slot one of the pieces of the box back into place.

183 Continued

Her voice becomes a howl, and she's sucked away into darkness.

They start down to the half-landing.There stands the CENOBITE in the dark-glasses, carrying the hooked rod he threatened STEVE with in the hospital.Again, KIRSTY manipulates the box.Again, the CENOBITE howls and is claimed by the darkness.

They hurry down to the hallway, half expecting another creature to step into their path.Dust is falling from the ceiling, and there are cracks opening upin the walls. Any moment, surely, the whole place will be destroyed.

JULIA's body has gone from the hallway;a trail of blood leads into the dining room.

As KIRSTY and STEVE stumble across the hallway, they hear JULIA's voice, off-screen, an eerie, ghostly voice.

KIRSTY hesitates, and looks towards the door of the dining room.

There stands the bride, her white dress soaked in blood, her veil covering her face.

KIRSTY takes a step towards her, but as she does so the veil rises of its own accord, and the chattering CENOBITE is beneath.

KIRSTY slams the box closed.

The CENOBITE howls, and disappears.

STEVE heads for the door.Turns the handle.

As he does so, KIRSTY realizes there's one piece of the box unfinished.

184 Continued

Too late.He turns the handle.The door is flung open, and THE ENGINEER, clinging to the sides of the door, swings down into the hallway.

STEVE is flung backwards against KIRSTY.The box falls from KIRSTY's hand.The beast moves to bite at STEVE, who scrambles out of the way, leaving KIRSTY in the front line.

The box lies between KIRSTY and THE ENGINEER, which now uses its forelegs to crawl over the hallway towards her, its legs still bracing it in the door.

She snatches for the box.THE ENGINEER, its mouth oozing fluids, almost catches her arm.

Again, she tries.This time one of its arms seizes hold of KIRSTY and drags her towards its jaws.

Behind KIRSTY, STEVE snatches up a piece of plaster and flings it in THE ENGINEER's face.It momentarily relaxes its grip on KIRSTY, who slides her hand from its hold and claims the box.She now has slime on her fingers. The box defies her manipulations.

THE ENGINEER crawls towards them.Up above, the din of the roof collapsing.Timbers and dust hurtle down the stairs.

THE ENGINEER is almost upon her.It rears up, its saliva dropping on her.

And then, miraculously, the last piece of the box slots into place.

The same vortex that seized the other CENOBITE seizes THE ENGINEER.Howling its complaint, it is drawn out into the darkness beyond the door, and disappears.

Its voice grows thin, and fades.

Finally, silence.

The house is still.

KIRSTY gets to her feet.STEVE does the same.

184 Continued

Together, they move to the door, and out onto the step.

The door slams behind them, of its own accord.

KIRSTY turns the sealed box over in her hand.

There is a slit in it which has not quite closed.Light suddenly pours from it, up into KIRSTY's face.Her features are momentarily distorted, as if sucked towards the box.From within:shrieks, bells, music.

Between the screams, FRANK's voice.

She slams the panel shut.The distortions cease. So does the din.

A smile crosses her face, and she leaves the doorstep, making her way towards the street.STEVE gazes at her, then follows.

Their figures are erased by the darkness.

Somewhere, a bell rings as ...

THE CREDITS ROLL