"THE CROW" (1994)

Based on A screenplay by John Shirley

Based on the comic book created, drawn, and written by JarnesO'Barr

BOOM! A crack of lightning illuminates the silhouette of a perched crow large in f.g.

TIGHT ANGLE - FRESH GRAVE

As a spade smoothes the walls of a new double decker plot.

ANGLE - DIMITRI AND ALEXI

TWO GRAVEDIGGERS. Scoop digger parked f.g. towering Gothic- style church b.g. Rolls of astro turf. They look up toward the sky.

He indicates the mound of fresh dirt. Spits into the grave.

Alexi nods and unfurls the tarp over the dirt.

LOW ANGLE TRACKING SHOT - FLOWERS ON GRAVES

As we MOVE alongside a pair of canvas-sided combat boots, as the

•Sequence.

TIGHT ANGLE - THE CROW

Cemetery DEFOCUSED b.g. Large, glossy-black, the bird follows the arc of movement in the previous shot. Ruffles its feathers as it begins to sprinkle rain.

ANGLE - ELLY - RESUMING HER MOTION

A dirty-blondish tenement KID of eleven, clad in a blend of cast- offs and hand-me-downs;her version of street punk chic. She totes a skateboard under one arm (itself a berserk Jackson Pollock chaos of band stickers, silver marker and graffiti,with ' dayglo wheels), and transfers her impromptu bouquet soshe may

Q unzip a flap and hike up a ragged hood against the rain. She stops to watch the gravediggers pack up andEXIT b.g.

2 •

She looks down o.s. at --

ANGLE - SHELLY WEBSTER'S GRAVE

as Elly places the gathered flowers down. Almost reverent.

RESUME CROW·ANGLE - ELLY B.G.

as Elly takes a single white rose and places it atop the grave near Shelly Webster's.

ANGLE ON GRAVE - AS ELLY LEAVES

TILT UP from rose to the name: ERIC DRAVEN. Rain spatters·½he granite, darkening it.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP~ CROW'S EYE

It blinks in its alien way.

WITH THE CROW

as it takes wing from its unseen perch. Lands atop Eric's headstone. It pecks tentatively at the top of the monument.

ANGLE - ELLY NEAR ERIC'S GRAVE

She hasn't gotten too far before she notices the bird.

The bird blinks at her from the headstone.

Another blink from El Birdo.

CAMERA WITH ELLY - BOOMING BACK HIGH

as she exits the iron gates of the cemetery without looking back. Brutal building facades, like dead eyes, and bad all~yways, like hungry mouths, are gradually revealed as we continue PULLING BACK to unveil that the cemetery is smack in the middle of the city.

CLOSE-UP of a foot-long hot dog being drowned in mustardJ g

ANGLE - ALBRECHT AND MICKEY

ALBRECHT is a black beat cop, 35, in a rain slicker.

MICKEY is the grease-aproned entrepreneur of Maxi Dogs, a steamy open-front fast foodery.

He grabs the dog from Mickey. Mickey puffs his cigar while he cooks. Albrecht methodically spreads a napkin and performs surgery on the hot dog, coating the bun with mustard, rolling the dog in the bun. Flashes Mickey a "gimrnee"look.

MOVING ANGLE - AS ELLY SKATEBOARDS TOWARDS MAXI-DOGS

Elly grabs the stool next to Albrecht. They've done this ::::-outinebefore.

Mickey laughs. Spots Elly a Coke.

Albrecht and Mickey exchange a look re: Elly's matter-of- factness.

Thunder KABOOMS o.s. The crow pecks the top of the stone again and a chip of granite flies off, bangl

EXTREME CLOSE - THE HEADSTONE

as the crow pecks again and draws blood from the rock.

CLOSE-UP - THE CROW

A dot. of bloodon its ebony beak.

LOW ANGLE - HEADSTONE

A .thin,watery·trickle of bl.ood wanders.from.thetop of the stone toward the earth. Rain does not interfere. Lightning plays in the rolling cloud cover, b.g.

RESUME THE CROW

as it takes off from the gravestone, into the rain.

CLOSE-UP - THE BLOOD

It slowly fills the name.E.l:.li; graven into the rock.

CLOSE-UP - FOOT TAPPER

A LOW ANGLE like the SHOT introducing Elly's boots. This time we see cowboy boots, leather chaps. The foot taps .Waiting. Q .

MEDIUM ANGLE - THE FOOT TAPPER

as lightning strikes. Justenough for us to see a figure in a long dust.erand cowboy hat.

RESUME ERIC'S HEADSTONE

DRAVEN fills with blood. Blood continues groundward.

NEW ANGLE - THE FOOT TAPPER

Turning to meet FRAME as the crow alightson his outstretched arm. This is the SKULL COWBOY. We glimpse the deathshead, beneath the brim of the cowboy hat.

RESUME ERIC'S GRAVE

as blood trickles into the turf at the base of the grave.

TIGHT ANGLE - THE CROW

shaking off rain. Watching intently.

CLOSE-UP - SKULL COWBOY'SFREE HAND

Black gloved. It walksa flat silver throwing knife across its knuckles, like a quarter somersaulting.

RESUME ERIC'S GRAVE

The turf stirs beneath the white rose. Magically, a slim white hand parts the earth to grasp the rose.

SKULL COWBOY POV -ERIC'S GRAVE

as the figure of ERICDRAVEN stands up from behind his own headstone.

LOW ANGLE (FROM GRAVE)- .ERIC

Pale. Clad in cerements: .cheap black burial suit, slitopen in back .. Whiteshirt. A nothing tie. No shoes. Rain sluices mud from his upturned face. He looks to the sky. Lightning.

ANOTHER ANGLE -FOLLOW ERIC

as he weaves to lean againsta nearby tree .. Looks o.s.:

ERIC'S POV - THESKULL COWBOY

water-blurred, through the rain, standing with the crow perched on hisarm like a hunting falcon. He releases it and it flies to the tree.

g

ANGLE - ERIC

watching this. Wipes mud from his eyes, tries to clear vision. The crow lights in the tree and they meet eye-to-eye. Eric looksback o.s. and we RACK to include the Skull Cowboy.

NB: The Skull Cowboy speaks in a nicely distorted, buzzlike charnal house whisper. Unsettling and hackle-raising.

Eric turns back to the bird, which takes wing in the rain. His eyes follow it. He looks back, disoriented~ doubtful, but the Skull Cowboy is gone.

LONG DEEP ANGLE - THE CROW I Taking wing in the rain, showing the way.

ANOTHER ANGLE - ERIC

alone in the cemetery. After a moment's hesitation, he lurches off, following the crow.

A candy-flaked muscle T-bird is parked at the curb.

A -MOVINGSHOT .during.o.s.lines. Past dead video and pinball

ashtray -- someone was just there. Then past a WOMAN, trussed with duct tape to her office chair, gagged, hot fear in her darting eyes.

COMPLETE CAMERA MOVE to include SKANK, a blade-thin speed freak with pattern baldness, always loud, jittery, a manic dust puppy. And T-BIRD, an arrogant Aryan, brush-cut iron pumper, who is prepping an incendiary. He exhibits a small squeeze bottle of arson cocktail to Skank.

g Detroit Riverand burn all the way

to the bottom.

INSERT A CLOSE-UP of the bomb in his hands as he works. Silver canisters, an LED timer, wires.

He CLICKS a switch. BEE£. LED countdown blurs.

Skank notices the captive woman's handbag on the floor. Picks it up. Looks through it for valuables.

INTERCUT the woman's increasingly horrified reactions.

T-Bird looks casually at thewoman. Smiles hideously.

ANGLE - THE WOMAN

Her eyes bug in a terrifiedNQ!

As the T~Bird fishtails wildlyaround a corner and eats street.

T-Bird drives. One eye on his digital watch (doingan equally fastcountdown). Skank wrestles their captive, the woman, in the back seat.

(-~ Skank punches her and she sags. Then he looks forward. 'v

As the T-bird slews wide, cutting sidewalk, scattering nightwalkers, immediately ~ttracting everybody's attention.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT - AT MAXI-DOGS

Reacting, with a mouthful.

Mickey grabs the counter phone instantly.

Albrecht is off and running for the corner already.

HOLD ON Mickey. He points at Albrecht's hot dog. Yecch.

The:.carslides to a nose-down panic stop.

S:KANK(O.S.) Dump her, man, dump her!

The woman comes tumbling from the car,which blasts off with a war whoop from theguys inside.

ANGLE - CORNER- ON ALBRECHT

Gun out,hauling ass on wet pavement. Aims at the departing car. Gives it up. Still too far away. PEDESTRIANS in the way.

ANGLE - THE WOMAN

hurting, cut, bleeding,tottering toward a dumpster. Duct tape stuck to her face but cutaway around her mouth. With her as she falls into the alley darkness ...straight into thearms of Eric.

CLOSE TWO-SHOT -ERIC AND THE WOMAN

Their eyes lock. Eric stiffens with his first FLASH.

NB: Eric's flashes ofpast memory are conditioned by the nature of the things with which hemakes physical contact. Hints and fragments in fierce,super-saturated COLOR. Puzzle pieces he must assemble. Each flash keynoted by a BLOWBACK NOISE and accompanied bya degree of pain. It hurts to remember.

FLASH: INT.T-BIRD - WOMAN'S STRUGGLE

The facesof Skank and T-Bird are murky, ephemeral, their voices hideous,distorted echoes. A knife snaps open. We see the blade. Blood. Skank hits her,.I2,IDl!and --

FLASH ENDS.

ANOTHER ANGLE - ERIC AND WOMAN

An airborne crow POV spiralling up and away from them.

MATCH WITH:

ANGLE - THE CROW

perched on a fire escape, high above, watching and waiting.

ANGLE - RESUMING ERIC AND WOMAN

She fades. He lets her drop away, horrified. And staggers back into the cover of the alley. Her blood is orihis hands.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT RUNNING

Skidding in,· spotting thewoman. Kneeling to her.

The woman is no longer in pain. Deathly calm now.

ALBRECHT

("\

What did you say?

'CW

Her eyes roll back and she dies in Albrecht's arms.

HIGH ANGLECROW POV - THEALLEY

BOOMING BACK from Albrecht,the Woman, onlookers, as ·police units SCREECHup to assist.

Eric in lurching flight,panting. Stops and steadies against the wall across from the backside of ArcadeGames.

ANGLE - THECROW {FLYING)

Circling, then lighting on.the fire escape above Eric.

BACK WINDOWS OF ARCADE GAMES - ("CROWVISION")

"Crowvision" is what thecrow "gives" Eric to see. Visually distinct and immediately identifiable.

ERIC'SPOV -BACK WINDOWS OF ARCADE GAMES

Which he's already seen through the crow's eyes.

ANGLE - ERIC

lookingup at the crow. Disoriented. Doesn't understand. Suddenly he cottonsand covers his eyes just in time to shield from:

ANGLE - BACK OF ARCADE GAMES

The r.ea:-rwindowsEXPLODING outward inaspray of fire and debris.

ANGLE - WITH ERIC

as he reels back, crashes into a dumpster. Falls.

ANGLE - THE CROW

landing on the dumpster edge near a pair of discarded combat boots in the trash. Flames.

LOW ANGLE - ERIC

The blood from his hands mars his burial shirt. He tears the shirt away, leaving his tie absurdly intact. Wipes his face with the shirt. Discards it. Stops, held by his discovery

PUSH IN ON ERIC

as his fingers explore the .five puckered bullet punctures in his chest. Almost a circle. Comically, he feels his back for exit wounds. Then hauls himself upright, coming level with the crow. His glance at the bird is almost accusatory.

ANGLE - THE CROW

Inscrutable. We should get the idea that some silent communication is taking place.

ANGLE - ERIC'S FEET

bare, muddied, frozen.. TILT to Eric. His gaze moves from the crow to the boots in the trash. He grabs them, pushes them onto his bare feet. His eyes catch.the firelight. Distant o.s. SIRENS.

We are now within the neon techno-depths of Club Trash. TheBG music is hard, savage, primal: a doom-laden Radio Werewolf band rules. Cabaret Blitzkrieg, packed with death-to-Yup trendazoids. We'll see more of this circus later. Rightnow the BG SOUND is our biggest clue to the flavor of this establishment since we are --

TIGHT CLOSE....;UP-AFRAMED8 X 10

Thinly filmed in dust, mounted among dozens of other band shots. Visible among the posed members of a group called Diabolique is E.ti.c,wielding guitaron the club stage. ND BLUR as people CROSS FRAME.

GRANGE, 45-50, powerful, a seasoned assassin, cruel but loyal. His facade remains stony as he leads three othermen briskly down the corridor: NGO NWA, 50ish, clad Chinese gangster style - white topcoat, white scarf, tinted shades- and twoBodyguards supplying a power perimeter around him, lean, dark-haired Asian killers who would gladly die forNgo Nwa. Which they will, in just a minute.

Q

They have just passed the Diabolique8 X 10. Ngo Nwa's gloved fingers,in passing, leave little skid tracks in the dust that clearthe eyes of Eric in the photo.

As the foursomereaches the DOOR, Grange turns doubtfully suspiciously -- toNwa.

ANOTHER ANGLE - THE DOOR As Grange keys in the enter code The door hisses open. Without aword, Nwa passes inside and the door is pulled shut in Brange's faceby the Bodyguards, who post. themselves to either side.

The doorCLOSES and BG NOISE is GONE. Through a large window (mirroredon the club side) all sorts of activity is visible through automatic mini-blinds. A fly-vision bank of 12 TV monitor5 is hot with surveillance.

LAO, a painfully clean-cut, Armani-clad Asian, impeccable, almost dashing,but the dynamic here is crystal clear: Nwa is the King; Lao, the Dark Prince in this hierarchy.

At the desk, Lao is startled from his contemplation of a tiny, perfect rat skeleton by Ngo Nwa's unheralded entry. The desktop is bare except for an arcane Vietnamese fighting knife, half a meter long with an ideograrnmed blade,dramatically positioned beneath an Artemide lamp. Lao RISES and feigns servility.

NB: The following exchange will play FAST and entirely in VIETNAMESE.

Nwa INDICATES the blade with some ridicule.

Lao turns, staring out the blinds, fighting for control. Deep breath. He turns back to his ~master." Nwa gestures broadly at the opulent office, indicating that Lao should be gratefμl, but is somehow errant. Q

Lao sees the Blade. An idea. He lifts it reverently,bears it to Nwa hilt-first in both hands, as if bestowing a thing of unmeasurable worth.

Nonetheless Nwa accepts the blade. It gleams. Hypnotic. Even Nwa has to admire it. Turns it so the blade is pointed at his sternum. His attitude indicates Lao is too far away todo anything untoward.

Lao SPINS through the air and HEEL-KICKS the blade THROUGH Nwa's chest, pinning him to the door. It's over so fast the gasp of astonishment never escapes Nwa. Lao ismuch more than merely treacherous, he is extremely capable.

Grange, standing out of arm'sreach in the corridor, kills both Bodyguards with a double headshot as they turn in greeting as the door OPENS.

ANOTHER ANGLE'"'.'.CORRIDOR-LAO,GRANGEAND CORPSES

affirmatively.

Lao smiles indulgently. He WIPES the blood from the Blade on the jacket of his ex-lord. Lao now bows to no one.

Eric, wearing the combat boots, climbs as the crow leads him.

g

Blood flows from the gash. He vises his fist shut.

ANGLE - ERIC ON FIRE ESCAPE

Eye-to-eye with the crow. Opens his hand.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC'S PALM

The blood flows back into thewound, which closes itself, leaving another scar.

ANGLE - ERIC

Vising the rail. Speaks to the night. Almost a mantra.

CLOSE-UP - THE CROW

Inscrutable. No answershere.

RESUME ERIC

Almost bemused. Steadier. A hint of friendliness.

As the T-bird grumbles to park curbside. F-1enacing~

A junkyard of loot and dusty discards. Junkie thievings and other people's stereos. Behind a wire-meshed security counter GIDEON reads a racing form, chain-smoking throughout scene. He is pear-shaped, stubbled, unkempt. Food on his shirt. JINGLE of doorbells. Gideon lowers his paper to reveal Skank and T- Bird on approach.

g

G '

Skank riles.

Just as quick, Gideon cocks and levels a Magnum at Skank.

He lifts a small carton onto the counter.

NEW ANGLE - THE COUNTER

Transaction time. T-Bird passes items through the screen slot and Gideon gives each one a cursory, doubtful inspection.

He hands through the bag wrestedfrom the woman.

Q favor. Make Top Dollar smile.

Mention of Top Dollar clams Gideon efficiently up. He hands over the cash to T-Bird with a grimace.

Eric stares upwards at the crow as it drops like a bomber from the night sky, flying past him skimming the roof, leading him on. Eric exhales, shrugs, feeling mocked by the bird.

And he takes off on a run. Only to stumble and fall. But the fall turns into a TUMBLING ROLL that lands Eric back on his feet still movirig. He looks back as if to ask: "did I do that?" and runs out of frame.

ANOTHER ANGLE - PICKING UP ERIC ON THE RUN

as he.squints toward the crow and does his best to keep up. TRACK WITH HIM to the edge of the roof, heavily misted in rain.

He jumps a negligible gap to the next lower roof. The next rooftop is a one-story jump down. Eric clears the jump with a WOOF of air. Keeping his eyes on the flying crow; gaining strength. His next leap is more like a broad-jump. Athletic.

FAST MOVING ANGLE - THE CROW

keeping airborne, keeping ahead.

MOVING ANGLE - ERIC

Eyes confidently on the sky as he- arches out intospace ...

As Eric is seen to jump across a gap at least three storiesup where ther~ is no connecting building.

CLOSE ANGLE - TARGET BUILDING LEDGE

as Eric smashes into it, ·just missing,hinging at the waist, grabbing f6r purchase, suddenly panicked,gravity pulling him downward.

ANGLE - AT ERIC FROM PHONECABLE BRACKET

Eric falls but manages to grab the bracket one-handed. He hangs for another deadlymoment, then slowly, to his own astonishment, executes a one-handedpull-up that will save his ass. Q

\

He completes the pull-up, bringing his chin level with the ledge. As he reaches for it with his other hand the bracket rips from the wall and Eric plummets, with a howl of defeat.

UP ANGLE FROM STREET - ERIC'S DOWNFALL

It's a looooong way down.

ANGLE - ALLEYWAY

as Eric lands and splits a trashcan in two. A beat as we wonder if any bones are left uripulped. PUSH IN as E~ic rolls from facedown to his back.

TIGHT SHOT - ERIC'S FACE

as he completes the roll, gasping, amazed he's still in one piece.

ANGLE - TRASHCAN - ON THE CROW

It flies easily down to tnspect Eric as he slowly sits up, examining his harids. Frustrated and pissed off.

ERIC

~

Thanks.

'J CLOSE-UP - THE CROW

Not "you're welcome," but otherworldly patience. It waits.

RESUME ERIC

Still, dark silence until Eric lands fromABOVE FRAME, feline. The crow lands simultaneously. b.g.,perched near a roof access door with a shaded, dim-yellow bulb.

CLOSE-UP - THE CROW

It just blinks at him.

as Eric yanks open the rusty rooftop door from the outsideand g sweeps down the steps in a swirl of night mist.

ANGLE - FOOT OF STAIRS

Trash and detritus all around, clogging the arteries of the building, which is old, unoccupied, forsaken. The crow lights on a scarred banister knob. Eric's footsteps come down into frame.

ANGLE ON LOFT DOOR - INCLUDE ERIC

A year ago this door was sealed with police barricade tape ... which now sags, faded.

A sticker across the jamb notifies potential trespassers that this is -- was -- a crime scene. Eric slows, stops, his hand on the banister.

ANGLE - THE CROW

as it wafts ahead of Eric, arriving at the door first.

ANGLE ON ERIC, THE DOOR, THE CROW

Eric has had enough.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC'S HAND ON BANISTER

s1iding along, as he speaks, until it hits a cigarette burn.

PUSH IN ON ERIC - TIGHT

stiffening as he suffers his second --

FLASH: IMAGES and·DIALOG are not linked.A rapidfire MONTAGE set in the loft, a year earlier (it is decorated for Hallowe'en). The broken door. The stairwell is filled with cops and cop noise; lab guys bustle. Albrecht is there, making notes as a· DETECTIVE steps over to him.

Albrecht grinds out his smoke on the bannister.

FLASH ENDS.

RESUME ERIC ON THE STAIRS

He sits down hard, hurting from the Flash. His eyes seek the crow. He completes Albrecht's line:

LOW DOLLY of Elly's little combat boots moving toward the entryway of the Pit. MUSIC gradually UP LOUDER O.S. as she nears.

ANGLE - ELLY IN DOORWAY

Luridly-lit. A grown-up's place. A burly BOUNCER appraises her, his tone jokey. He knows Elly.

The Bouncer jerks a thumb. Go on in.

A grungy sawdust-floored shot-and-beer joint packed tight with urban BURNOUTS rushing to drink their lives away. Hammering MUSIC and rude whorehouse lighting. Each predator straining to be badder than the next.

TRACK THROUGH this maze at Elly 1 seye level untilwe reach DARLA, waitressing her heart out, the drug mileage on her obvious.

Disgustedly -- goddamn kids -- Darla fishesup a key and slaps it into Elly's hand.

RACK PAST Darla andMOVE INCLOSE on acorner table -- where sit Funboy, Skank, T-Bird and a black,vested muscle gypsy, TIN-TIN. Q

As Eric shoves the door open from outside. The lock, popped from the frame, spins on the wooden floor. The barrier tape wisps and dust roils. Dark, chilly, damp. A rat's nest of disuse.

PULL BACK THROUGH BROKEN PICTURE WINDOW

as Eric enters. Glass blown out. Shards poking. Jagged.

NEW ANGLE - AS ERIC WALKS IN

He scans the loft. Sees reflecting golden eyes near the floor.

ERIC'S POV - FLOOR NEAR WINDOW

A white longhaired cat walks into a pool of night light.

ANGLE - ERIC AND THE CAT

He kneels. Extends his hand. The cat nears; likes Eric.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC'S HAND

as the cat makes contact. Sudden white jolt - a FLASH.

FLASH: we HEAR Eric strumming his Strat o.s. We see what he saw: Shelly, holding the cat.

FLASH ENDS.

UP ANGLE - ERIC

Wincing. Recovering from the Flash. He purposefully gathers the cat into his arms and braces for more, harder, stronger ...

FLASH: A MAN and WOMAN make love on a big bed amidst a hundred points of candlelight. Shelly and Eric, once upon a time.

FLASH ENDS.

REVERSE ANGLE FROM.BEDROOM DOOR - ON ERIC

as the cat, dropped, hits the'floor and scrambles out of the way.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC

vising his head, teary-eyed, his nose blee~ing.

He whirls and unexpectedly punches his fistcompletely through the masonry wall.

Ci FLASH: Eric and Shelly in a mock waltz. He spins her and they collapse on the bed ...

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - ERIC

slowly pulling his arm out of the wall.

His eyes roll up and he slumps the length of the door frame like a drowning man.

ANGLE - GABRIEL

watching Eric. He hits with an o.s. THUD.

As a gloved hand sets up four bullets next to four shots.

Funboy pops the bullet like a Contac capsule and washes it down. T-Bird turns to Tin-Tin, the new guy.

Into it, almost jazzed, Tin-Tin downs his bullet and shot,.and T-Bird does likewise. Points to Skank.

·T-BIRD No. I'm not the lunatic. He is.

Skank riles, pulls a .hlJ.g:eAutoMag and sticks it in T-Bird's face, cocking.

Just as lightning-fast, T-Bird has hisown gun out and jammed right under Skank' sjawbone. He makes a kissy· face.

g

He's awake. Pushes himself up.

REVERSE ANGLE - THE CROW

Is perched in a dead light fixture, monitoring Eric.

ANGLE - ERIC ON FLOOR

He's awake. Pushes himself up. Realizes he is the center of a faint chalk outline on the hardwood floor. He reaches to touch the dark stain of old blood.

FLASH: Shelly spills into frame, mouth bloodied. T-Bird instantly on top of her,. rough.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - WITH ERIC

as he abandons the outline and staggers to the window •..where he cuts open his hand on jags of glass.

FLASH: Eric held firm in the grasp of T-Bird and Funboy, one arm each. Five bloody bulletholes in Eric's chest. ' The thugs 1-2-3 and hurl Eric backwards through the window, which shatters.

FLASH ENDS .

Reeling backward, same trajectory as in the Flash, but toward the floor, in SLO-MO. Overloaded. Blacking out.

AS ERIC FALLS - INTERCUT MONTAGE

A jumble of good/bad images from the loft: Tin-Tin embeddinga page of paper in the loft wall with a throwing knife ... Shelly's face as she lights a candle ...aPOPPING champagne cork ... the echoingCANNONADE of the shots that killed Eric .•. Skank backhanding Shelly ...Shelly blowing bubbles froma clawfoot tub full of suds ...Eric catching Funboy's first slug high in the chest ...NEW ANGLE of the glass in the window blowing out as T-Bird and Fμnboythrow Eric through ...

ANGLE - ERIC'S REAL-TIME FALL

He plummets to BLACK OUT FRAME. THUMP. Out cold.

Funboy contemplates his drink as the previous scene REVERES.

Tin-Tin's pocket pager goes BEEP and startles them all. Skank nearly shoots it, jumpy. Tin-Tin pulls on a black leather trenchcoat after clicking off the pager.

ANGLE DARLA watching them from a distance as Tin exits. Wary.

An enormous cockroach trundles past, large in frame. RACK to show Eric lying on floor b.g. as his eyes pop open. A flurry of dark motion as the crow flies past frame.

ANGLE -- THE CROW -- having snatched the bug in its beak. Eats it.

ANGLE - ERIC

rising from floor. Careful. Stealthy. Watches his fireplace.

ANGLE ON FIREPLACE

Huge, marble. Cold. Eric's papier mache masques of Comedy and Tragedy still hang there. The Skull Cowboy steps out of the dark and int'othe vague blue light. Shadowy as ever.

The Skull Cowboy prestidigitates a flatthrowing knife (like Tin- Tin1s). Eric's gaze follows it closely

He points to the crow. As Eric looks, Skull Cowboy HURLS the knife at the crow.

ANGLE - THE ONCOMING KNIFE - ("CROWVISION")

Weirdly distorted, a.shared vision between Ericand the crow.

TIGHT ON.ERIC

As he DUCKS out of the path of the knifehe sees through the bird's eyes. He ROLLS.

ON THE CROW

It hops out of theway as the knife embeds in the wall. Eric's ROLL finishes him up nearby.

He GRABS for the knifeas if to use it on the Skull Cowboy, but the knife causes an unexpected painfulFLASH.

FLASH: Eric bouncing off the bedroom doorframe, Tin-Tin's knife stuck in his shoulder.

FLASH ENDS.

RESUMEERIC

vising his head with his hands, in pain. Too much pain.

He looks up. And the Skull Cowboy is still there.

ANOTHERANGLE - ERICAND SKULL COWBOY

A horrible beat between them. Then Eric runs full-tilt across the room, bounding to theopen window and leaping.

ANGLE - SKULL COWBOY

as close to surprise ashe gets. Steps out to watch as --

ANGLE ON WINDOW -ERIC

FLIES feet-first out into space.

CLOSE-UP - BRICKWORKABOVE WINDOWFRAME

Eric's fingers smash into grip the tiny mortared gaps!

High above, Eric's feetshoot out the window, knocking loose stray shards that falltoward frame. He swings into an upside- down pose, impossibly holding himself rigid against the building's side, face-down,by his quarter-inch finger-grip.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC

Every muscle rigid,quivering with tension. Hold. Then he relaxes, and swings back inside.

He arches, flips,to land on his feet. The Skull Cowboy is gone. No knife, either. The crow watches. o.s. "meow." ·

ANGLE~ WITH ERIC AS HE TURNS TO SEE THE CAT

He picks up the cat wary of Flashes, which don't come this time -- and returns to the window. Feeling safer.

He moves to the fireplace. With his free hand, lifts the Tragedy mask off its hook. Puzzles it, face-to-mask.

g

2 6.

Eric walking,the Tragedy mask hanging from his hip. An occasionalPEDESTRIAN passes without comment, brutalized by the city. Eric, more confident, smells the night's bouquet.

Twomen around a trashcan fire. We should recognize Tin-Tin by his black leather trenchcoat. A wonderfully rude RAP tune, "Got aWhite Woman Tied Up In My Closet, Gonna Jab Her With a Stick," RAZZES b.g.

As Eric REACTS to what the crow has just seen. Slows. Stops. And directs his attention toward the mouth of the alley.

He pulls the nickel-plated revolver from the satchel. FOLLOW as he hands it across to RATSO, who removes a suitcase-sized boom box (the source of the music)from his shoulder to accept. Ratso is a feral skull-head; street trash.

•.HIGHANGLE- TIN-TIN AND RAT SO

As though the crow is still watching, yet perched. A brief shove-and-standoff. The gun deal has gone bad.

Tin-Tin has just up-rammed a throwing knife into Ratso.

Tin-Tin lifts Ratso on the knife, gutting him. Ratso goes slack, deader'n hell. Tin-Tin reaches around to click OFF the boom box ...then lets Ratso's corpse fall.

TIGHT ANGLE - TIN-TIN

galvanized by the surprise voice. He automatically draws a fresh knife from the bandolero of knives across his chest inside the coat. Can't yet track the source of the voice.

ANGLE - ERIC IN ALLEY

He steps out from behind another flaming trashcan. Wearing a long black scarf and the Tragedy mask .

Hello, Tin-Tin.

ANGLE ON TIN-TIN - AS.HE RISES (FROM RATSO)

trying to process what he sees. And cover. And buy time.

Tin-Tin blows out a breath. No bluff. Time to kill again.

He shrugs. The shrug becomes the. launch ofa knife!

TIGHT SHOT - MOVING - ERIC

His black-gloved hand slaps away the incoming knife an inch from his nose. It CLATTERS. Eric continues striding toward Tin-Tin.

SHIFTINGANGLE -ERIC NEARS TIN-TIN

as Tin-Tin throws another knife. Eric closing in. He claps hands together, immobilizing the next knife. Opens his hands, almost an "oops" gesture. Keeps on coming.

ANGLE - ERIC AND TIN-TIN

As they meet. Tin-Tin attempts a roundhouse. Eric blocks it and smashesTin-Tin into the alley wall.

They're face-to-face now, sweaty and tense. Eric peels off the Tragedy mask.

Fear. ·Sweat.

For the first time, Tin-Tin starts to lose control.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP - ERIC

2 9.

TIGHT ANGLE - TABLETOP

as Eric's hands place Ratso's boom box on the table and click on suitable weird b.g. MUSIC.

ANGLE - FLOOR-LEVEL

Eric's boots pass frame. An open c.an of catfood CLANKS down big in f.g. as Eric walks b.g. obviously wearing Tin-Tin's trenchcoat. Gabriel noses into frame to eat from the can.

Shelly's vanity. Dusty, disused. The mirror spiderwebbed with cracks but still hanging precariously in its frame. Eric is seated, his image crazily split into many. He pulls on a long- sleeved, skin-tight black shirt.

WIDEN ANGLE to reveal the loft now lit with dozens of candle stubs. Placed all around. Ceremonial and weird.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC

In the mirror, multi Eries. He touches the glass, tightening u~ as he realizes he's in for another --

FLASH: Shelly sleeping on the divan, a year ago, wakes as Eric (O.S.)says "Boo". She cracks an eye open.

FLASH ENDS.

ANOTHER ANGLE - ERIC AT VANITY

Considering old cosmetics. Everything he touches will hurt him. But he's ready to eat .t.hi.spain.He grabs a lipstick.

FLASH: Shelly at the vanity, in happier times.

FLASH ENDS.

RESUME ERIC

wincing. He drops the lipstick to the floor. Grabs a hairbrush.

FLASH: Eric smashes into the street after his death-fall, trailing broken glass.

FLASH ENDS.

NEW ANGLE - ERIC AT VANITY

Later. He's wearing white pancakemakeup on hischeeks, shaky.

FLASH: Eric sucks up Furtboy'sgunshots in the chest. 1-2-3-4.

FLASH ENDS.

RESUMING ERIC AT VANITY

his face a crazy warpaintmaze of white streaks, not blended yet. He looks at his own reflection. Inone cracked, triangular facet of the mirror is not a multiple of his face, but the Skull Cowboy. Just one.

The Cowboy tips his hat,and isn't there. Eric sees the crow perched on the edge of the mirrornow.

He smears the streaks until hisface is uniformly grave-wave white.

ANGLE - GABRIEL THECAT

coming in to sniff around the clutter at the foot of the vanity. Eric looksdown toward him .•.and toward the lipstick he dropped.

CLOSE-UP- ERIC'S HAND

as it glidesdown to pick up the lipstick. CONTACT, and --

FLASH: Eric, smashed on street, T-Bird's car b.g., upside down in Eric's POV as he rolls over and blood courses from both corners of his mouth, a definite foreshadow of the "Crow" face.

FLASH ENDS.

RESUMING ERIC AT VANITY - TIGHT

EXTREME CLOSE - THE MIRROR

We see only a reflected corner of Eric's mouth as he duplicates the blood trail in red lipstick, making one half of a Crow harlequin smile.

A MEDIUM SHOT as lightning strikes; a storm brews.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC'S BOOTS

crossing the floor. Tin-Tin's knife slotted to the bucklework.

CLOSE-UP - VANITY

Eric's hands discard a hairbrush there. He moves off. ~ CLOSE-UP - GABRIEL

looking up o.s., watching his master stalk around with purpose. Thunder RUMBLES long o.s.

ANGLE - AT ERIC IN WINDOW FROM OUTSIDE

The storm boils. Eric framed in broken window.

CLOSER ANGLE - ERIC IN WINDOW

Eric all in black. Firm-wrapped. Tight-wired. The trenchcoat flutters, .cloaklike. His shadowy face framed by the upturned tollar, his hair punkish and spiki.

SIDE ANGLE - ERIC

as he moves forward into the light. The crow lights on his shoulder.

FRONT VIEW - ERIC

Full crow regalia. Face makeup streamlined. Eric'seyes flash.

PULL BACK swiftly, vertiginously, as Eric swan dives from the window, his voice a howl.

UP ANGLE FROM STREET - ERIC'S FALL

Coat winglike. MATCH his dive yell with o.s. crow SCREECH. SLOW MOTION as Eric fills frame and we

Cop lights bounce, competing with the trash fires. Albrecht and several other UNIFORMS assess the double-death scene. A detective, TORRES tries to appear in charge.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT AND TORRES OVERDEAD TIN-TIN

Tin-Tin frozen in deathshock,all of his knives sticking out of him. Dead Ratso b.g., where he fell.

//-··~\ TORRES \:=.j

Q ALBRECHT

(sigh) This isn't Top Dollar's style, anyway. This was somebody else. Somebody new.

Albrecht lights a fresh smoke. Torreswaves the smokeaway.

ALBRECHT_ Whoever made that.

Albrecht points. CAMERA FOLLOWS to wall behind Tin-Tin. A .crm:l silhouette has been daubed in blood there,now dry.

CLOSE-UP of Gideon's thick fingers shuffling grimy currency. Some scratchy 1920s.TUNE plays throughout b.g., likea broadcast from another time and place.

TIGHTER ANGLE - GIDEON

looking up at a sudden metallicSOUND, o.s. Irritated.

As the outside security gate rattles,Gideon draws his Magnum and approaches the frontdoor.

Sudden surprise ashe sees the silhouette of the gate SCREE back against the frosted glass of the front door.

And he hustles to close up the distance between himself and the door, gun up. Before he can touch the door, the crowbar comes rocketing through the glass, pegging Gideon in the forehead and knocking him flah on his ass. He loses the pistol.

Eric walks through thedoor, causing the fractured glass to disintegrate around him. He declaims, thespian.

LOWANGLE - GIDEONON FLOOR

reacting to Eric's weird appearancearuilooking for his gun.

During Gideon's rant,Eric brushes glass cubes from his shoulders,nonplussed. Ndw he flings Gideon across the room.

Gideon crashes into the counterGage. As Eric advances on him:

As Eric comesup behind him, Gideon reaches through the open cage doorand pulls a big combat knife from.beneath the counter.

And he tries to nail Eric with the knife.

NEW ANGLE - BEHIND GIDEON - AS GIDEON SWINGS

No Eric behind him. TILT to reveal Eric hanging off the cage above Gideon. Eric.slams the cage.door against Gideon's head. Drops down like a spider and collects the knife.

IN TIGHT ON ERIC AND GIDEON

Eric twists Gideon's sail-like shirt and Gideon turns bright red.

I

I,

Eric nails Gideon's hand to the counter top. Gideon howls!

Eric jumps through the cage door. Gideon's eyes bug as he sees his own pierced hand, immobilized.

ANGLE - ON ERIC BEHIND COUNTER

scans the shelves. Rows of boxed ammo. Kerosene tins. A shotgun. Knives and assorted knuckle-duster curios. And the ring box.

CLOSE-UP - THE RING BOX IN ERIC'S HANDS

Dozens of gold rings. Eric's fingers sift through them.

TIGHTER ON ERIC

He brings each ring to his face. INTERCUT with Gideon's feeble struggles and invective, o.s.

He tosses each rejected ring over his shoulder. Until:

CLOSE-UP - THE RING IN ERIC'S HAND

Obliterated by a stab of brilliant white light

FLASH: Shelly's face, a perfect vision ...

FLASH ENDS.

RESUMING ERIC

He closes his fist tightly around the ring. A moment of decision. Then he draws theshotgun from beneath the counter. Uses the butt to knock the knife free of Gideon's hand. It goes spinning across the countertop. Eric shucks the shotgun and rams it into Gideon's nose as the bigman slumps to the floor.

Gideon sweats,pants, contemplates the hole in his hand.

CJ Dollar!

Eric seems to go berserk, SMASHING and PUNCTURING cans of flammables and powder while Gideon flinches, nursing his holed hand. Blows just miss Gideon's head. Soon he's cowering.

LOW ANGLE - ERIC

Looking down at Gideon in revulsion.

SMASH! as another tin ceases to exist next to Gideon. Then Eric is gone, past him without further word, ignoring him entirely. As he exits, shotgun snouldered, he pauses to admire a white Fender Strat hanging among the pawnables. He reaches for it.

ON GIDEON

As he summons some last-minute budget bravery.

RESUME ERIC - FRAMED IN THE DOORWAY

The guitar now bowslung across his back, the shotgun levelled at Gideon's position.

MOVE IN TIGHT ON GIDEON

as he realizes what Eric means. Hauls ass and bangs through the rear door with a bleat of terror.

ANGLE - RESUMING ERIC IN DOOR

as he cuts loose with the shotgun.

as seen from across the street. Eric silhouetted, unmoving as the whole store front blows hellaciously out around him, raining glass and debris. Stirring his hair. Eric is the black eye of the fireball.

LOW ANGLE - FRONT OF PAWN SHOP - EMPHASIZE ERIC

lit by flames and residual explosions. He hurls the shotgun into the inferno. Casually brushes flaming/smoking detritus from his own clothes.

NEW ANGLE - ERIC

as he turns, slowly, to see Albrecht, out of reach, gun drawn. Eric's attitude lightens; Albrecht is not the threat here.

Albrecht divides his attention, jumpy, between the odd sight of Eric (guitar on his back), and the raging instant inferno of Gideon's.

(~,.•·.·.._/ --- ALBRECHT

~ the police and I say don't move, Snow White. You're under arrest; I don't~ what else is wrong with you! You move and you're dead!

Eric has begun to pace toward Albrecht. Palms up. A gesture of submission. Albrecht's battle calm begins to waver.

Eric bows, bringing his forehead in line with Jun'smuzzle.

TIGHT ANGLE - ALBRECHT

He gives it up. Can't shoot. This is too weird for him.

NEW ANGLE - LESS THREATENING- ERIC AND ALBRECHT

Albrecht gestures casually, almost comically, with his pointed gun. B.g., the crow lands on a fire escape ,tomonitor them.

SIRENS near, o.s. Eric listens to them, to the night.

39 •.

Eric lifts a chunk of glass from the sidewalk. Slow and easy. Albrecht doesn't completely trust him. Up comes the gun.

Eric slices open his palm. Blood flows. To his fingertips.

NEW ANGLE - ERIC AND ALBRECHT

as Eric quickly daubs a crow silhouette in blood on the wall ... then exhibits his gashed hand to Albrecht.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC'S HAND

as the blood retreats and the wound seals itself up.

TIGHT ON ALBRECHT

and the silhouette. His mouth hangs.

PULL BACK FAST to reveal Eric is gone from frame. Albrecht does a quickly 180°. No Eric. Flashbars from incoming units begin to bounce red and blue off his face.

A night owl pornucopia. T-Bird enters beneath a garish theatre marquee. The 2-bill: RUMP ROMPw.it.hBUTTBUSTERS II. \ \...-:_7

•

T-Bird approaches the snack bar. Wet, breathy mating NOISES from the auditorium throughout, o.s. Looking supremely bored, the counterman, DICKEY BIRD, thumbs a porn tabloid. So what.

T-Bird heads left through a steel door that Dickie buzzes open for him.

T-Bird walks past dust-covered boxy black speakers as we glimpse Lance and Angelique making history in reverse, on the back of th.emovie screen: oratorio as good as porn films can make it ...

ANGLE - CATWALK STAIRS

As T-Bird approaches, the movie SOUNDS DWINDLE o.s. He ascends the skinny metal stairway two steps at a time.

ANGLE - STEEL-FACED DOOR AT TOP OF STAIRS

As T-Bird nears it, a viewplate SNAPS open to assess him. By the time he reaches the top, the door unbolts and admits him.

As T-Bird enters. The room is organized around a long meeting table and flavored with a taste of everything illegal: drug paraphernalia, weapons.

Across the table are a couple of Sentries like theone that admits T-Bird to the room. TRACK PAST them to a lank-haired silhouette as he turns away from awindowshade, backlit by Showtime's exterior neon.

(J This is TOP DOLLAR. Who looks like a Johnny Winter acid casualty but is deadly cold, definitely the man in charge.

Top's eyebrows go up. Oh, really?

..

Taking in the street, The Pit, and a little girl seated on an abandoned car.

ANGLE - STREET LEVEL - ON ELLY

Seated on the looted wheelless car, pl~ying with a small doll.

CLOSER ANGLE - ELLY

She doesn't notice someone is watching her yet.

TIGHT ON DOLL, THEN ELLY

She looks up o.s. at Eric, who is still out of frame.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC

He smiles for what seems the very firsttime. Warm, even past his Crow makeup.

He glances back and logs the location of the Pit forlacer, not in a big hurry justnow .. Turns back to Elly.

WIDEN ANGLE - ERICAND ELLY

He indicates the carhood, a "seat" next to Elly from which he may observe the Pit.

Eric looksbehind himself. Who, .me? Genuinely amused. He shakes his headIl.Qand sitsdown next to Elly.

The musicPOUNDS and smoke is everywhere, like incense. INTERCUTS of the clientele,retro, robotic, clove cigarettes and rubber clothing; fetish casual wear.

ANGLE - TOP DOLLAR

right in the center of this noise,looking downscale and dirty in this milieu.

ANGLE - ANOTHER CUSTOMER

passing Top, appraising him, finding him as boring as life itself. Undertaker chic, she stares at Top.

An Oriental Bodyguard passes him in f.g., motioning to follow~

Lao watches club activity on his flybank of TVs. When Top Dollar shows up at the office door two Sentries try to bar his passage. 'Heshoves through.

Lao'sdemeanor indicates that they should not kill Top.

Anybody violates my turf -- .mu: turf -- I'll rip out their heart and~ it to 'em.

ANNABELLA, a comfortably large spider-in-the-web deskworker, sits typing at a terminal. Miked headphone in one ear, police scanner chatter o.s. She blows and pops a pink bubble of gum.

ALBRECHT (0. S.)

: '\ Annie? '(:::;:}

ANGLE - ANNABELLA AND ALBRECHT

Albrecht enters frame across her countertop.

There is a desperate edge to Albrecht's voice.

Annabella eyes Albrecht doubtfully. Fatalistic sigh.

Still hanging by the car, a bit more familiar with each other now. A low-slung mirror-windowed LIMOUSINE hisses past them and curbs across the street from The Pit.

TWO-SHOT - ELLYAND ERIC- {PITB.G.)

Elly is NOT happy about this. B.G.we see Grange get out of the car, heading to The PIT,and notice in passing the guy with the white face talking to the little girldown the block.

Elly indicates the guitar strapped to Eric's back.

EllyHANDS the doll to Eric and he experiences a WHOLLY UNEXPECTEDFLASH.

FLASH: Elly and Shelly sitting-at Shelly's vanity, goofing with makeup, test-driving lipstick, the doll visible on the vanity.

FLASH ENDS.

RESUME ERIC - AS THE DOLL DROPS FROM HIS HAND

Pain is trying to f{ght its way out of Eric in surges.

Eric snaps out of it. Elly retrieves the doll.

Half-zomboid, half-determined, he exits.

As he circulates to the bar, unimpressed. To the Bouncer:

CLOSE-UP of an 8x10 of the loft slaughter in Albrecht's hands. Subject: a document pinned to the wall with a knife.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT AT DESK

flipping through the file. Smoking.

ANGLE - THE 8X10 IN ALBRECHT'S HAND

Subject: Eric, dead in the street in front of the loft building. The blood on his face reminiscent of his Crow face.

As Albrecht's hand moves the photo we can see in the file several band shots of Eric as a member of Diabolique ... including the shot on Lao's wall gallery of past performers at Club Trash.

A DOUGHNUT on a paper plate suddenly touches down in the middle of all this research, startlingAlbrecht~

-\ \~~=:;)

ANGLE - ANNABELLA BEHIND HIM

Albrecht holds a typewritten page closer to the light.

CLOSE-UP - DOCUMENT, torn by the KNIFE HOLE made by Tin-Tin.

It reads: we. the Undersigned Tenants of 1929 Calderone Court Apartments ...

Albrecht takes up an 8xi0 of Eric's face.

With a felt-tip pen he superimposes a Crow smile, like themake- up, like the blood.

UNDER THIS Albrecht sketches in Eric's spiky Crow hairdo.

PUSH IN on the doctored photo. It's Eric. It's the Crow.

PUSH IN ONALBRECHT

Climbing. Thecrow perched on his shoulder. Not in a hurry.

TIGHTCLOSE-UP - ERIC

Impish. Clown killer.

Grange at a table. Smoking and waiting. N,Qbeer. His back protected, he is stationed near the fire stair door and .hasa good overview of the room.

CLOSE-UP of a base pipe being lit and hit h.a.lli.

Eric's gloved hand slides sinuously up rusted railing.

A hypodermic needle rises into frame. A nicotined fingernail flicks bubbles in the syringe. FOLLOW needle down .andBROADEN ANGLE: Funboy taps up a vein in Darla's arm and shoots her up. Both are naked in a shabby bed. Bare lightbulb above.

CLOSE-UP - THE NEEDLE

As the plunger depresses.

ANGLE - ON THE WINDOW

As the crow quite unexpectedly arrives and perches on the sill, scaring the shit out of our two dopey friends. Funboy pulls a giant auto pistol; mock-aims, calms down, doesn't fire.

She falls back against her pillow, eyes dreamily defocusing. Funboy giggles. Relaxes the gun, which half-disappears into the sheets at his side.

NEW ANGLE - DARLA AND FUNBOY

Except that Eric now stands near their bed, across from the bird's position, the guitar bowslung.

Contained panic as Funboy and Darla both startle. The needle flies and lands at Eric's feet. Empty. Funboy struggles to maintain against his high.

Funboy draws the gun from under the sheets. Suddenly he seems totally in focus.

Eric rips open his shirtfront to reveal the circlet of bullet punctures. This gives Funboy pause.

Funboy tilts the gun off-target. Grins as Eric flat-handedly pats his chest, indicating where to shoot.

In a blur, he sighs and shoots Eric through the heart!

Then his expression sags a little bit.

ANGLE - ERIC

looking down and daubing his hand in the bullet wound in his chest.

ANGLE - DARLA

who starts scrambling to get .Q.Ut..Grabbing clotheson the floor around herself, she runs right into Eric's outstretched hand.

Eric twists her arm.

CLOSE-UP - DARLA'S FOREARM

where we may clearly see the needle tracks.

UP ANGLE - ERIC

He holds her arm captive. Tight, and we PUSH INCLOSER to see the dope evacuating from thepunctures, a reverse of Eric's blood trick. The dope drips from Darla'sarm to the floor. Darla's eyes rollup into unconsciousness. She slumps.

ANGLE - ONFUNBOY, gawping.

Funboy regards Eric's battlescars and guitar.

Eric looks briefly to his chest wound, wincing. He can't seem to make it tie off fast enough. He turns his attention back to Funboy. But his strength is mysteriously EBBING.

Funboy lashes out and broadsides Eric across the temple with the gun. Eric falls, rolls back to a stance, but Funboy is right on top of him, howling like a lunatic and pistol-whipping Eric relentlessly. ·

ANGLE - WALL NEAR BATHROOM

as Eric, caught off-guard by Funboy's hyper high and weakened by his wound, comes slamming into the wall, losing his footing. Here comes Funboy, and we TILT UP from Eric's position as he looms, cocking the pistol, which now has Eric's blood on it.

In a blur,. Eric grabs Funboy'sgun hand. Twists to the

hole .inhis own thigh. Funboy falls back across the bed.

Eric sits on the bed next to Funboy; inspects the ampule of morphine on the nightstand, the needle of the syringe already inserted.

I have some painkiller right here.

And he fills the syringe all the way.

ANGLE ON FUNBOY

as he begins to see the light. He can't get away. Growing terror.

And Eric rams the needle into Funboy's heart, driving home the full dose. Funboy begins to convulse.

Eric falls back on the bed, his force spent. Darla COMES TO in the corner, shock-traumatized. An O.S. COUGH, and Eric opens his eyes.

The Skull Cowboy, standing in the room, tips his hat.

TIGHT SHOT - ERIC'S FACE

streaked with -- mostly -- his mm blood.

ANOTHER ANGLE - SKULL COWBOY AND ERIC

0 SKULL COWBOY

Maybe I waswrong about you.

The Skull Cowboy seems saddened or disappointed. All we get is a little shake of his skull-head.

Darla makes a SOUND and Eric turns toward her. She's reall~ confused. She's looking to Eric for some kind of answer.

She's stunned, utterly speechless. All she can do is look in Eric's eyes, try to ponder the phantoms there.

Darla shoves helter-skelter past Eric and out the door without a glance back at Funboy.

Eric, recovering, follows slowly, staring at the open door, stooping to lift the guitar dropped during the fight with Funboy. The Skull Cowboy has vanished. PUSH IN. Grimly, Eric takes a syringe and begins to DRAW blood from the late Funboy.

As a hastily-dressed Darla BANGS out through the fire stai.r door behind Grange and FLEES the Pit.

Bartender indicates UP with his thumb. Grange moves to the fire stairs door.

Grange has seen the door ajar and now ENTERS gun-first. Freezes when he sees:

GRANGE'S POV - FUNBOY

Half-sheeted, bloody, a hypo hanging out of his heart.

RESUME GRANGE

Eyes darting, drawn to --

GRANGE'S POV - THE WALL NEAR FUNBOY

A crow silhouette spray-painted with a syringe of Funboy's blood. A thin outline, drippy.

RESUME GRANGE

whirling with his gun to bring it to bear on --

ANGLE - GRANGE SEES THE WINDOW

The crow is no longer in the room. Eric is perched on the sill, guitar and all, looking right at Grange as if waiting from him. He winks, holds a finger to his lips -- shhh -- and jumps out into the night.

ANOTHER ANGLE - GRANGE

He almost fires, but doesn't. We see instead the priceless expression on his face as we --

Albrecht lights another smoke, quitting for the night. Waves to the late-working Annabella en route.

Albrecht hasn't gone three steps before Eric appears behind him, cat-silent, matching pace.

NB: Eric has got a new black rock 'n roll shirt on ••.and~ shell casing from Funboy's ·gun tied in his hair.

Albrecht startles; drops his file. Nearly draws his gun.

Albrecht pants, hysterical but calming down. Eric waits.

He retrieves Eric's doctored photo from the spill of papers.

Albrecht gathers up the file. Eric stands there. We realize he is hesitantabout touching the file.

As Albrecht comes up with the file and they walk.

ANOTHER ANGLE - ERIC AND ALBRECHT ON STREET

They stop. Eric didn't know this. Fixes Albrecht with a look.

Eric has grown increasingly distraught over Albrecht's lines. Now he turns to Albrecht and, holding Albrecht's temples with his fingers, puts his thumbs over Albrecht's eyes.

TIGHT ON ERIC - ALBRECHT AGAINST WALL

We™ Eric react to a brutal FLASH... but we don't see the Flash .

•

NEW ANGLE - ERIC AND ALBRECHT I 1- And Eric tears from Albrecht; staggers back, now holding his own head. His Crow face slack in realized horror.

Understandably nervous, Albrecht lights up a cigarette.

ALBRECHT You gotta understand -- I was hoping she'd talk, give me a lead, a clue, something to work with. But she only said one thing to me before she died.

Eric lowers his head, penitent.

TIGHT TWO-SHOT - ALBRECHTAND ERIC

Eric plucks the cigarette from Albrecht's lips,taking a single contemplative puff from it.

Eric nods, keeping his eyeson the cigarette.

•

As a bus grumbles past on the street, Eric pitches the butt and simultaneously ducks out of frame.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT TURNS

to see a blank building wall. Fire escape. Darkness. No Eric. He does a full 360° turn. Eric is gone again.

MOVING ANGLE - FROM BUS ROOF

Coat flapping, Eric is standing on the bus roof as the bus moves away from Albrecht's position.

Lao has the partially disassembled rat skeleton in front of him, as well as •amortar and pestle with some bits of crushed bone, and is smoking powdered rat bone in a pipe as Grange reports to him.

Lao seems strangely unaffected by the bizarre nature of Grange's tale.

Lao's expression is one of sublime content.

•

A LONG SHOT of the T-bird parked across the street from the store as two figures -- T-Bird and Skank -- approach on the store side.

ANGLE - CLOSER ONT-BIRD AND SKANK - STREET LEVEL

They stop walking. Look at each other and sanctimoniously cross themselves. Tin-Tin's big R.I.P. moment. T-Bird indicates the liquor store.

·SKANK Got it.

Skank hustles toward the store. T-Bird crosses to the car.

ANGLE - T-BIRD - THROUGH CAR WINDOWS

WIDEN ANGLE to include the car as he nears it. Behind him, two 12-year-old KIDS, AXEL and CHOPPER, enter the store after Skank, one wearing a long duster.

as the KIDS enter and split between the counter and magazine rack. East Indiari .CLERK.Two.BOYS .fight videogarne wars in the corner. ·skank "browses," grabbing odds and ends.

as T-Bird climbs in, digs the last cigarette from his pack, snaps his Zippo and in the sudden orange light, sees:

INSERT - REARVIEW MIRROR

Eric's purloined Strat in the back seat reflecting the light .

•

n \3 ANGLE - T-BIRD

He tries to spin and draw his gun but Eric is upon him, nestling one of Tin-Tin's throwing knives right inside T-Bird's ear.

INSERTS: Eric liberates T-Bird's automatic from the shoulder holster; Eric's hand closes T-Bird's door for him.

TIGHT ANGLE - T-BIRD'S HANDS

on ignition key and gearshift, making ready. As ordered.

He looks outside and sees Eric as the car fires up, pipes and -~g.lasspacks.grumbling.Skank moves, BRISTLING.

And the car p·eelsout maniacally! Skank tries to pursue -- but the two KIDS draw weapons and freeze everyone in the store.

Chopper hustles up to the counter and relieves Skank of a gigantic Auto Mag.

Off Skank's look of total outfoxed disgust --

Vertiginous windshield POV of onrushing street, highspeed.

Gi

ANGLE - ERIC AND T-BIRD

Eric now holds T-Bird's own gun on him. Eyes locked on T-Bird. T-Bird's jumps between Eric's nightmare visage and the roadway.

Clearly T-Bird would relish bisecting Eric with a meat cleaver as he says this. He's nervous and needs to hold the road.

as theJcar burns up the obstacle.course of pavement, kickinga wake of litter. PEDESTRIANS scurry to clear the way.

Parked in an alley, facing the street. Two cops work on large styro cups of steaming coffee. MJ (driver) and SPEEG.

Speeg-rummages inside a take-outbag.

Theysnap to as the T-bird blazes past, doing ninety.

MJ floors the pedal, drenching Speeg in coffee on takeoff.

as the cruiserROARS out to give chase.

Eric lends thechase car a backward look.

Eric cocks T-Bird's pistol and levels it at his face.

Eric rifles the glovebox, tossing items out the window: clips fo.rthe ..gun...Sunglasses.A giant dildo (brief -eyebrows-up to T-Bird). Then: a roll of (previously established) gaffer's tape. What Eric needs. (j.

as he sees a second cop car join the high speed pursuit.

T-Bird's macho calcifies. He's going to win.

INSERT - SPEEDOMETER

climbing swiftly toward the 100 mark.

A 3-way pursuit until the T-bird reaches the outskirts of the city.

All quiet ... until the T-birdZOOMS past frame. The lead cop car tries to duplicate T-Bird's corner-cut and starts spinning. It clips a light pole. Rebounds into the path of MJ's unit.

'

as MJ stands on the brakes. Collision imminent. They howl.

as MJ's unit broadsides the first cop car.

The T-bird careens thro~gh dockside silence, alone, then fishtails, SCREECHING, to a lung-compressing halt.

CJ T-Bird respirating like a jackhammer. Eric holds stoic.

Eric rips a long strip of tape from the roll .

A HIGH ANGLE of the car as Eric opens the trunk.

ERIC'S POV - THE TRUNK

loaded with plastique, canisters, timers, arson paraphernalia.

SLOW TILT starting with T-Bird's foot, firmly taped to the pedal. Mummified into his seat. Hands taped to the wheel. Throat taped hard against headrest.

The car is now in gear, idling.

ANGLE - ON ERIC FROM WINDOW

He drops an incendiary right into T-Bird's lap. T-Bird squirms. No go. Eric reaches in with a bungie cord.

T-Bird thrashes, but he's immobilized. Can't even budge the wheel.

Eric activates the timer. Yanks up hard on the bungie cord.

INSERT: T-BIRD FOOTWELL

The bungie cord pulls T-Bird's foot all. theway down on the pedal.

ANGLE - ON CAR, FROM DOCKSIDE

_Eric steps back,plucks guitar out as car starts to move. The car ROARS for the edge of the dock, about the distance of a football field. Eric examines T-Bird's auto pistol and pops the clip.

INTERCUTS: as the car speeds.for the water's edge, Eric thumbs bullets from the clip, one by one.

T-Bird's eyes bug in horror and he goes MMMMMMMMMMMHH!

CLOSE-UP - THE CLIP IN ERIC'S HAND

thumbing out the final bullet.

ANGLE - T-BIRD REACHES DOCKSIDE

Lifting off and blowing all to hell, a billion smithereens of phosphorescent fir~ pattering into the dark water. It hits. Sinks. Weird flare glow as the car quickly submerges.

ANGLE - ERIC

heaving the gun into the distant water. Plash. He produces T- Bird's accelerator. Squirts it into the ground. He prestidigitates and I-Bird's Zippo appears in his hand. He flicks it and drops it into the flammable puddle.

HIGH LONG SHOT - ERIC

walking slowly out of the scene as the firepool coalesces into a burning crow shape.

CLOSE-UP of a frying pan busy burning some pretty firebombed- looking eggs. Kinda gross .

not thrilled with her own progress.

ANGLE - ELLY AT LIVING ROOM WINDOW

staring outside at nothing in particular. Yet.

She pauses as she hears a lilting, faraway GUITAR STRAIN. Across the street she can make out the figure of Eric on his roof playing the guitar,

EXTREME CLOSE on a Pignose amp. More soft GUITAR strokes as CAMERA FOLLOWS a patchwork of taped-together, jerry-rigged cables to:

ANGLE - ERIC ON ROOF -- shirtless, crosslegged, his Crow make-up streaked by the night's work. His fingering is unsure and he tries the tune again.

INSERT - We see Shelly's engagement ring on a leather thong around Eric's neck, like an amulet.

ANGLE - ERIC PLAYING

He's got it right this time. Strong, sure CHORDS. Passionate. we can almost imagine him conjuring Shelly via musical sorcery. He holds a stroke, letting it ring. Sun rises behind him.

Eric's eyes, closed with the moment, dart left. Funny.

Later. Elly is seated on a stool. Mickey gives her a chili dog.

Mickey EXITS FRAME.

Elly turns. Grange sits next to her. Lao's mirror-windowed car is parked across the street, b.g.

Grange points o.s., indicating he wants coffee from Mickey.

Elly sizes Grange up.

Grange withdraws a $10 bill from his wallet and slides it across the countertop to Mickey.

No shirt, the ring on the thong around his neck -- workoutmode.

He twirls and performs odd Crow moves of increasing complexity in the.big open living room. On purpose,he stretches hard against the bedroom doorframe.

FLASH: Shelly stands in blue moonlight near the picturewindow wearing a rococo Victorian gown. PUSH IN TIGHT as she is embraced by a nude Eric. He undoes the last few remaining ties that hold the gown in place. FOLLOW THE GOWN as it crumples down the length of Shelly's (also otherwise nude)body to the floor •.

FLASH ENDS.

LOWANGLE -FROM INSIDEBEDROOM - ON ERIC

hanging there, inviting the pain the FLASHES bring. Breathing as though he is pumping iron, pumping up.

ANGLE - LATER - ERIC IN BEDROOM

embracing a ragged full-length dress that used to be Shelly's.

FLASH: Eric and Shelly (wearing thesame dress), exchange an extremely passionate and intimate KISS in the moonlight.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - RESUMING ERIC

as he drops the dress. Absorbing the pain and memories.

ANGLE - LATER - ERIC IN LIVING ROOM

executing a complex roll that winds him up at the windowsill. He grasps it with both hands.

FLASH: A series of CLOSE SHOTS of Eric and Shelly's HANDS, each moving along the other's body. Curves and dips and contours. But Eric's GAZE never leaves Shelly's eyes.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - RESUMING ERIC AT WINDOW

His GAZE similarly FIXED. Bringing his hands away and clapping them together, deep breath, fingertips pressed to his face, like ·Kung Fu prep. When he opens his eyes, the crow is there before him on the sill.

He wipes down his torso with a towel. Looks outside.

He holds his hand in front of his face and flexes it. We can HEAR tendons crackle like a harness. Closes it into a powerful fist.

TIGHT on Skank as he slams his fist down on the table. He has a black eye and facial scuffs from his liquor store encounter.

WIDEN ANGLE to include all present: Lao, Grange, Lao Guards #1 and #2, Top Dollar, and a Sentry. Top dusts up a line and rinses his nostrils with brandy.

Top is angry too, but won't show it to Lao. He rises and goes to the window. Neon glow. Top sees something outside, below, that reall~ torques him off.

A phantom GRAFFITI ARTIST is spray-painting a crow shape on the condemned building right across the street.

Top whip""'.drawingan auto pistoland shooting below.

His gun smoking. Momentary empowerment.

As Top turns from the window, PULL BACK to incorporate the churikyshadows where the lights don't fal.l. Eric is there, perched on the narrow exterior ledge ... butwe don'tknow it until he opens his eyes, two dots of white in the blackness.

LAO AT TABLE -- angered by this macho horseshit, annoyed at his time being frittered.

He SLAMS a palm on the table and the room goes dead silent. Top looks sheepish.

Top rallies to this.

TOI?DOLLAR Whatever you say, I can do.

Skank looks around, nervous and jumpy:,a contradiction to Top's guarantee.

CLOSE-UP - TOP'S SHELL CASING IN ERIC'S HAND

from the ledge. Endstamp is for .45 caliber.

ANGLE - ERIC ON LEDGE

He sniffs the cartridge. We can see Funboy's cartridge in his hair. He fists the shell casing tightly.

ANGLE - DOWN-TABLE, AT SKANK

Jittery, grabbing a clip for his own automatic.

It wasn't anything. Skank loads, stands and jacks the action on his gun. Lao looks questioningly to Top· Dollar.

ANGLE - WINDOW BEHIND TOP DOLLAR

A black blur as Eric arches through, spilling Top.

ANGLE - MEN SEATED AT TABLE

..Eric. back flips the length of the tableand kicks thegun from Skank's hand. All react. Weapons out.

CLOSE-UP - SKANK'S GUN

spinning mid-air to land in Eric's open hand!

GENERAL ANGLE - BIG MOBY SHOOTOUT - (VARIOUS)

Death cleans house. Standing on the table, Eric fires rearward under his own arm to clip Lao Guard #1. He pivots, shooting, and takes out Lao Guard #2 -- who slams backward into the steel door as it is being opened by the Sentry outside. Crash! The door is shut again. Skank paws at the table edge.

ANGLE - GRANGE AND LAO

Grange sprays the room with a Calico 950 Auto, shoving Lao beneath the table for cover.

ANGLE - ERIC

Bullets hit him and demolish everything behind him. Skank hits the deck again. Eric fires and Lao Guard #1 sucks three hits across the chest, firing convulsively at the ceiling, blowing the lights.

ANGLE - TOP DOLLAR

springing up from behind table. but Eric is gone from the field of fire and one shot strikes Skank, rising at the far end.

ANGLE - LAO AND GRANGE

making for the door, Grange as shield. Lao draws a pistol. The door opens and Lao shoots a Sentry to clear him out of the way.

ANGLE - TIGHTER ON LAO

A last look back toward Eric and Grange hustles Lao out.

ANGLE - TOP DOLLAR

Door SLAM o.s. Top is out of ammo as Eric lands from above frame right in front of him and slaps the gun from his hand.

ANGLE - SKANK UNDER TABLE -

Wounded but clawing toward Eric just the same.

ANGLE - ERIC AND TOP DOLLAR, FACE-TO-FACE.

As he speaks, WIDEN FRAME as he turns and grabs the oncoming Skank by the hair.

Without a beat, he PITCHES Skank right out the window! Skank

Damaged from the wreck, limping home, piloted by our pals Speeg and MJ. Skank smashes down into the roof, •imploding the flashbar and windshield. MJ drenches his lap in fresh coffee.

ANGLE - SIDEWALK ACROSS THE STREET - ON ALBRECHT

who watches with slow marvel from the shadows.

0 ALBRECHT

Jesus Christ ...

He runs to assist the demolished cruiser.

Just Top, Eric, corpses, and lazily drifting gunsmoke.

Eric .backhandsTop ..into .the wall.Gets. in his face,seething.

Top Dollar yells right back at Eric's anger.

And he grabs Top's head the way he grabbed Albrecht's earlier, slams Top into the wall. Nose-to-nose.

FLASH: Shelly backing away from oncoming Funboy in the loft, trying to retreat, nowhere to run, herhome invaded,scared.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - TOP DOLLAR AND ERIC

Top is quivering, almost helpless in Eric's hypnotic grasp. Eric winces, hard, and --

FLASH: Shelly cut, bleeding, str~gglingagainst T-Bird. Wild.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - RESUMING TOP DOLLARAND ERIC

Viciously close, more intimateand lethal than anything .

You're a detail man, Top -- you need to see more.

This time Top tries to twist from Eric's grasp butit's no good.

FLASH: Shelly comatose inthe ICU,eyes fixedand staring, hoses darting in and out,cold blue refrigerator light.

Bloody, bruised and broken (from Albrecht'smemory).

FLASH ENDS.

CLOSE-UP - TOP DOLLAR

arching,stiffening in pain.

CLOSE--'UP-TOPDOLLAR AND ERIC

Eric bears down on Top Dollar again. Top screams. Blood begins to leak from his eyes, nose, ears.

FLASH: Rapidfire CLOSE-UPS. A jagged compound fracture, jutting,Shelly's eye, blood-red sclera, purpled and sunken.

Her scraped-raw hand clawing at air. Icebox lighting. A TIGHT SHOT of her monitor going flatline: eeeeeeeeeeeee- ..

FLASH ENDS.

TWO-SHOT - RESUMING ERIC AND TOP DOLLAR

as ,Topsags in Eric's grasp, terror fixing his wide-staring dead eyes. Eric lets him drop like a laundry sack.

o.s. BANG of impact, heavy against the steel door. Eric turns.

ANGLE - STEEL DOOR

as it is battered down by a squad of police using a power-ram. All weapons snap up to bear on Eric.

ANGLE - ERIC AS HE MOVES

using his foot to shove the massive conference table at the incoming SWATS while launching himself into the air, flipping toward the window and arching through cleanly as the cops open fire on command. Bullets tear the room to pieces.

Picking up Eric on his dive through thewindow, bullets chasing him. Immediate police fire from below sparks off the ironwork. Eric ducks slugs balletically and scampers to the roof.

ANGLE - SHOWTIME ROOFTOP EDGE

Eric somersaults over. Bullets chip brick in his wake.

STREET LEVEL - UPANGLE TOWARDROOF

Showtime girded by police carsand MARKSMEN, Eric a distant shadow figure above. Here comes a TEAM LEADER· witha bullhorn.

A fury of law enforcement ordnance cuts loose all around him.

RESUME ERIC ON SHOWTIME ROOF EDGE

A forearm up against the fusillade. Below him --

ANGLE - PIT FRONT FIRE ESCAPE

Here come Lead SWAT and his merryMEN.

MOVING ANGLE WITH ERIC - ADJACENT ROOFTOP

Eric runs for it. Hal£ a story higher. He hits the walland skitters up, gripping tiny cracks in the brickwork.

ANGLE - RESUMING MEN ON SHOWTIME FRONT FIRE ESCAPE

Lead SWAT hesitates -- because of whathe sees.

He tries to pull a bead and fires too late.

MOVING ANGLE - PICKINGUP ERIC ON NEXT ROOF

He sprints to the faredge and dives to the" nextlower rooftop. As he lands he is nailed bya helicopter spotlight, boring in from behind and above therow of buildings.

MOVINGANGLE - THESTREET BELOW

COPS below, COPS in thechopper, everyone rushing parallel to Eric, trying to keep up.

ERIC'SPOV - THESTREET, THE HELICOPTER

PAN QUICK to the next ledge. COPS right behind him on the roof as well.

WITHERIC - AS HE RUNS TO EDGE

and finds the void waiting there. No connecting building.

ANOTHER MOVING ANGLE - ERIC

staying ahead of the searchlight. A fantastic series of artful moves that wind him up at the rear edge of the roof.

ANGLE - SWAT MEN ON NEXT ROOF

sighting Eric as the light picks him out. Eric glances at them ... then jumps.

Q

CLOSE-UP - LEAD SWAT

pulling his weapon off target, because there i.s,no target.

ANGLE - ALLEY - STREET LEVEL

Eric lands like a falling safe, scattering garbage. But he's okay, up and running.

ANGLE - ERIC'S RUNNING POV - END OF ALLEY

as his escape is cut off by a police car that screeches to a stop, blocking exit.

ANOTHER ANGLE - ERIC

as.he backpedals, scanning for an- alternate -escape.

CLOSER ANGLE - POLICE CAR

We can see Albrecht. Eric dives inside and the car burns rubber.

Albrecht harried and frantic, but in control.

He twists and turns the car, glancing rearward for pursuit. Gradually calms down.

Eric looks up at him from his half-concealed crouch.

Eric sits up as the car gains distance. Grabs the cigarette out of Albrecht's mouth. Takes his single puff.

He pitches the smoke out the open car window.

Eric turns back to Albrecht.

Albrecht shoots him a doubtful look.

It hangs a turn and their escape is made.

Lonelier, less traffic, more deserted.

ANGLE - ON ALBRECHT AND ERIC - THROUGH WINDSHIELD - TRAVELLING

Eric is obviously fighting to stay centered, stay conscious. His last fight has caused him a great deal of damage, taken a lot. out of .him.He needs to recharge.

HOLD on their two kinds of determination, as we

High blue sky. It might even be pretty if it wasn't Detroit.

The TV flybank pulses with videotaped imagesClub Trash's of various performers -- including Diabolique. On several screens, one by one, various images ofa guitar-playing Eric Draven FREEZE~FRAME aswe PULL BACK to the desk. Lao has the 8x10 from the corridor gallery. He places it withing eyeshot and resumes work on the deskBELOW FRAME; we can't see it yet. among other scattered research and incunabula.

ANGLE - GRANGE

Entering and crossing to the desk. As he comes up on the desk, he DRAWS BACK.

7 9.

.. G

NEW ANGLE - LAO AND GRANGE

Revealing Lao with a sealed cage, holding a large, live cobra in his hands. The Killing Blade is nearby.

Grange makes a face. Can't keep his eyes off the cobra.

Lao chuckles indulgently.

ZZLIPt Lao smoothly BEHEADS the snake with the Blade against the stone surface of the desk and discards the writhing body. He squeezes behind one of the eyesand aVENOM SAC protrudes like a dark pimento.

Lao pulls it free of the milky, clinging tissueand EATS IT. Off Grange's stunned expression:

Lao exhibits the Blade toGrange as though it explains all.

Lao POPS the second venom sac;swallows it. Pleased.

Lao SHRUGS. Grangecan handle it.

Finally, an assignmentGrange can comfortably understand.

Same pretty day. Elly, standing on the sidewalk, looks·· up at the broken window and then pulls open the front door.

Eric, barechested, emotionally tapped, clean of makeup and blood but exhausted, his movements retarded and slack. Staring fixedly into the fireplace, where he burns everything he could find of his past: the junk from the makeup table, the masques, photos of himself and Shelly.

MOVING with Elly as she nears the open loft door. She PEEKS cautiously inside.

RESUME ERIC

Without looking toward the door, he speaks.

And Eric consigns to the fire the DRESS we saw earlier.

Holds a photograph in a broken frame. Cracked glass. Subject: Eric and Shelly, goofing for the camera.

He chucks it into the fire. Draws a deep breath.

Elly is clearly uncomfortable, groping for an excuse just to see Eric. Eric is staring at her, intently.

CLOSE-UP - FIREPLACE

The photo burns and blackens in the grate.

He draws her close. Wipes away an errant tear with histhumb.

He taps Elly's temple,then his own.

Elly gives Eric a hug.

Her quizzical expressionamuses him.

GABRIEL the cat haswandered near the fireplace to join them. Elly is immediately smitten. Happy.

The cat seems to like that idea. Elly wraps him hugely up in her arms, talking to him: How're :iQllGabriel,whatcha .w:2.in'•••

ANOTHER ANGLE - TIGHTER ON ERIC

While Elly is preoccupied with the cat, Eric gives up his last bit of Shelly to the fire - a portrait photo of her, small and creased. He puts it in the fire, watches it burn for a beat, then turns to Elly.

RACK FOCUS as Eric lifts off his neck Shelly's ting for Elly's inspection. The ring twirls large in F.G.

Eric places it around her neck. Elly BEAMS.

Elly TAPS her own temple with a smile, keeping one hand on the ring.

Blowing wind. TRICK-OR-TREATERS wisp past. Ghosts, witches, demons out for Hallowe'en.

ANGLE - CEMETERY FENCE

walking home with Gabriel zipped up inside her coat is Elly. A fire.engine WAILS past in the opposite direction.

ANGLE - ELLY ON BROWNSTONE STEPS

Strictly downscale building. Elly to Gabriel:

A car curbs across the street as she enters the building.

ANGLE - PUSH IN ON CAR

as the window cranks down to reveal Grange at the wheel.

Darla nervously smoking.doing her best to stay clean, but jittery. Elly enters the shabby living room with Gabriel in her arms.

Darla points. As Elly goes to close the door itopens.

NEW ANGLE - FAVOR THE DOOR

Grange enters accompanied bytwo Asian martial arts STRONGARMS (Lao Guards 3 &4). Grange looksaround, bemused, his manner avuncular.

Elly's surprise is evident. Darla is just plain pissed off.

ANGLE - DARLA

Mouth stalling. in the.cmposition asLao Guard #3 pulls a gigantic gun. drawsand cocks •

(panicked) MQm -- !

ANGLE - GUARD #4 AND ELLY

as he scoops her up, captive.

ANGLE - GRANGE AND GABRIEL

He strolls the circuit of the room, stopping near the window.

Grange pitches Gabriel right out the window!

Grange pulls out a compact Polaroid camera

ANGLE - ELLY AND GUARD #4

As she struggles mightily, to no avail, as Grange moves in to snap his shot.

He snaps. On the SX-70 WHIRR and flash white-out, we--

Dark clouds have gathered to highlight the sunset. Eric plays

before it was wandering, uncertain, now it's bold and heartbreaking. Definitive. Pain replaced by strength and a sense of homecoming.

As Eric gets to the end of it, the.notes are flying out••. At the climax, he rips the guitar up over his head and brings it down -- SMASH -- on the Pignose. He's finished here.

ROOF EDGE - FROM STREET

As the broken guitar SAILS OUT over the building edge.

As Eric comes down the stairs. Notices the open door.

He enters, cautiously, to find an envelope laying in the middle of the floor. He opens it.

INSERT - THE POLAROID OF ELLY

With a note.

UP ANGLE AT ERIC READING THE NOTE - FROM FLOOR

The crow flies past behind him as his expression hardens.

NEW ANGLE - A MOMENT LATER - FAST AND HARD

Eric brutally crisscrosses his arms with black vinyl tape.

ANGLE - ERIC DRESSING

Pulling on black night-fighting clothes, skintight.

ANGLE - THE VANITY

as Eric (seen in the mirror) jabs his fingers into the white makeup and smears it on.

Eric marches along in plain view since everyone around him seems to be in costume. The wind whips his coat. KIDS bustle around him with trick-or-treat bags. The crow perched on his shoulder.

ERIC'S POV - CITY SKYLINE

Somewhere, a,.few.blocks over,a building is burning.

ANGLE - ERIC WALKING

A fire engine races past on the street. He steps cut in its wake and crosses over to

MEDIUM MOVING SHOT - THE CEMETERY '

waiting for him as he crosses to the fence. Beyond the fence, in the distance, the church looms.

ANGLE - ERIC

He pauses. A KID in a Creature From the Black Lagoon mask comes, passes Eric,-then comes back for a touch.

Eric smiles. Not tonight.

Eric is standing over the grave of Shelly Webster, looking down. He holds for a moment, then moves on.

Eric ascends toward giant oak doors, tres Gothique. The crow flaps past, leading him.

NEW ANGLE - TOP OF STEPS -- where waits the Skull Cowboy. As Eric approaches, the Skull Cowboy interposes himself between Eric and the huge double doors.

Eric glares up, defiant. Moves up the steps. The Skull Cowboy extends a skeletal hand: STOP.

TIGHT ON ERIC

Angry, ready to battle: You talkin' to ME?

STAIR ANGLE - ERIC AND SKULL COWBOY

Eric lower, Skull Cowboy superior, the storm wild around them.

He ADVANCES a step up; the SkullCowboy holds fast.

Througha castle keep-like slit, Grange, monitors Eric's arrival. He speaks into a headset.

GRANGE'S POV -ERIC

Eric talking to dead air. Almost arguing with it. Eerie.

RESUMEGRANGE

As he talks into his mike he heftsa nightscoped, laser-sighted sniper's rifle.

Eric,eyes steely, stares down the Skull Cowboy.

And the wind kicks up around them both, powerfully.

ANGLE~ SKULL COWBOY (EFFECT)

As the force of the storm dust-devils around him and begins to. disass.ernb.le him.The fire in hiseye sockets goes out. His hat

disintegrate and blow around, rotten cerements falling apart in mid-air.

ANGLE - ERIC ON STEPS transfixed by this unexpected development. A shard of the Skull Cowboy blows past Eric's face and transmutes to dust!

RESUME SKULL COWBOY AT TOP OF STEPS (EFFECT)

Transparent, ancient bones, crumbling and blowing away.

ANOTHER ANGLE - ERIC ON STEPS

As Eric lunges·for what's left of his mysterious, smart-ass mentor.

CLOSE-UP - ERIC'S LUNGING HAND

Meeting only a swirl of vaporous dust where the Skull Cowboy's heart would have been.

TIGHT ANGLE - ERIC ON STEPS

He has time to register the dust in his palm before it, too, renders down to nothingness, leaving a vague green glow that dies. And as he looks to the sky --

UP ANGLE - THE CROW

flappingdown to land on Eric's shoulder. Eric is astonished.

CLOSE-UP - THE CROW

No answers in the crow's eyes.

RESUME AND FOLLOW ERIC

That's good enough for Eric. He marches to the double doors and shoves them back.

The high breeze blows in with him, disturbing dust in the disused Gothic dark. Hollow cathedral ECHOES to sounds. A giant 27" TV positioned on the altar, broadcasting static.

LONG SHOT - ERIC AS HE APPROACHES THE ALTAR - ("CROWVISION")

Leery of potential danger from a thousand dark places.

ANGLE - THE TV - AS ERIC ENTERS FRAME

Onscreen: Elly, gagged with duct tape and handcuffed to an iron ring bolted to a flagstone wall. Could be anywhere inside the church.

ANGLE - GRANGE IN THE GALLERY -- in darkness. The running lights on his night-scoped, laser-sighted sniper's riflewhich THROWS vague sprays of eerie red and green light.

Grange SIGHTS his weapon.

CROSSHAIR POV - ERIC AT THE ALTAR

Blurring as Grange re-sights. Eric isIl.Q.t.the target.Blur FINDS the crow at the far end of the nave,perched in front of a giant stained glass window.

NEW ANGLE - GRANGE -- squeezing off two quick SILENCED shots.

ANGLE - STAINED GLASS WINDOW -- The first shot blows a hole in some pastoral religious representation. TINKLE of glass.

ANGLE - ERIC -- Spinning at the quiet pfut! sound, to witness:

AN.GLE-:INCOMING DART -·c'CROWV.ISION")

Spinning and hissing venomously.

ANGLE - ERIC DUCKS

As before, but the crow is not as fast.

TIGHT ANGLE - THE CROW

As it CATCHES the dart and goes down in a flurry of feathers.

LOW ANGLE - ERIC AT ALTAR - INCLUDETV

His knees buckle. SympatheticPAIN from the hit.

ANGLE- RESUMING GRANGE INGALLERY

Swapping his tranquilizer gun fora more lethal rifle, similarly scoped. He SIGHTS the fallen Eric ina spray of green light.

HIGH ANGLE - HAND-HELD - ERIC AT ALTAR

Groping for support to drag himself back to standing.

HIGHANGLE - THESANCTUARY -- as -LaoGuards #3 and #4 move into light,CLOSING on Eric's position in the center of the aisle. Both wield Calicosand one bears a sword.

CLOSEANGLE -ALTAR -- Lao makes his entrance from shadow wearing a brisk pugilist get-up,a practical fighting outfit. Makes a show of drawing the Killing Blade.

Eric CRAMPS UP, CLUTCHING his throat in obvious pain.

ANGLE - GRANGE AT STAINED GLASS WINDOW

Holding the crow by the neck, TIGHTLY. He plucks the tranq dart from its body.

ANGLE - RESUMING ERIC AS LAO MOVES IN CLOSER

Crashing to one knee, invisibly bludgeoned, struggling to breathe. Lao has no fear, walking around the stricken Eric.

Lao motions toGrange with the Killing Blade. Grange RELAXES his deathgrip on thecrow. MOVE IN CLOSE on Eric so we may perceive a palpable degree of relief.

Eric IMMOBILIZEDas Lao DRAWS BACK the Blade. To Grange:

ANGLE - RESUMING GRANGE AT WINDOW .ashe prepares to do dirty on the bird.

Over his shoulder, we PUSH IN to the BULLETHO.LEfrom the first dart until we're in TIGHT CLOSE-UP of an-~ watching through the hole.

Albrecht DIGS through a sling bag of weaponry, trying to simultaneously monitor the "peephole," muttering sotto to himself.

It begins to RAIN. Albrecht glances resentfully toward the sky.

And hefts a machinegun, clipped over and under. CUTS LOOSE on full auto into the Madonna on the window.

As the window EXPLODES toward Grange and he sucks big hits from behind, DROPPING the crow. The bird hits the ground, flapping weakly.

LAO GUARDS #3 & #4 exchange a look and whip up their Calicos, RETURNING FIRE.

Albrecht takes cover as a lot of religious stuff is noisily destroyed allaround his position. Chunks of the window continue to disintegrate.

Eric tuck-and-rolls out of the way as we go CLOSE on Lao, screaming.

Then he'sducking bullets himself as Albrecht STEPS IN through the blown-outwindow, the machine-gun stuttering out slugs.

The sanctuarycomes apart around Lao. He RETREATS to the altar andEXITS whence he came.

TIGHTON PEW -- ERIC DIVES just as Guard #4 comes after him with the sword, which CHOMPS into the wood and gets stuck there. Guard #4 releases it and cross-draws his Calico as ERIC springs back into frame- STRAIGHT UP.

TIGHT ON GUARD #4 as Eric's lancing foot propels him backward before he can fire.

INTERCUTS -- ALBRECHT AND GUARD #3 scrambling to reload. Guard changes magazine; Albrecht swaps clips. ·

ANGLE - DOWN LENGTH OF PEW -- Guard #4 slides. sits up with his gun as Eric, down-pew, grabs the sword.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT AT WINDOW firing now with a gun in each hand.

RESUME ERIC AND GUARD #4, who eats it from Albrecht's gunfire, but not before he puts a round through Eric.

Eric staggers back from the impact but keeps his feet.

'

RESUME ALBRECHT as he tosses away the dry pistol. His machine gun jams,- he fights to get the clip.·

ANGLE - GUARD #3 -- reloaded and rising, having caught Albrecht dead-bang in the open by the window.

MOVING ANGLE - WITH ERIC. A complex leap with the sword flashing. He lands near Guard #3 and SLASHES UPWARDS, blade up.

CLOSE-UP GUARD #3 -- screaming in pain, gaping DOWN o.s.

TIGHT ON ALBRECHT looking UP, following the trajectory of something AIRBORNE toward him.

CLOSE-UP - GUARD #3'S Calico spinning mid-air with Guard #3's HANDS STILL ATTACHED, severed mid-forearm by Eric's devastating strike.

ANGLE - ALBRECHT DROPS GUARD #3 -- to REVEAL Eric in the background. Eric salutes Albrecht with the tip of the sword.

WITH ALBRECHT as he moves into the nave, which has been torn apart by gunfire. Hazy smoke. Two dead guys. And Eric.

Eric stares dead-on at Albrecht, acidly, then BREAKS the Guard's sword, dropping the piece.sand turning his back on Albrecht, who pursues Eric to:

The crow FLAPS UPWARD through the void. Eric grabs the thick bellrope, testing it. A final look to Albrecht.

Eric shimmies up the bellrope, ignoring Albrecht.

ON ALBRECHT

Watching as Eric disappears from view, fast. Grumbles.

He hefts his arsenal bag of hardware and begins to PLOD up the steps.

ANGLE - MOVING WITH ERIC ON THE ROPE -- A weird perspective of his speed climb. Zip! All the way to the top.

Slanted, shingled~ slippery, dark. Lightning deep in turbid clouds. The crow circles as Eric RISES INTO FRAME.

DOWNFRAME lightning STRIKES an ornate LIGHTING ROD (large, Victorian, lance-like) at the far end of the roof from the bell tower.

SILHOUETTING Lao and Elly standing in front of it. Elly flinches at the strike.

He stops his ascent to light a cigarette.

Lao SNAPS Elly's free handcuff to the DIMLY GLOWING lightning rod.and advances, one foot on either side of the peak of the roof, his blade brandished.

CLOSE MOVING SHOT -- ERIC -- Hands up to grapple, but weaponless. He spiders to meet Lao, suddenly PICKING UP SPEED and RUNNING along the precarious peak.

Lao sees him coming, braces to strike, but Eric executes a BROAD FLYING LEAP right over Lao's head.

ERIC LANDS, SLIPS, sprawls sideways, clinging to the peak of the roof. Lao hurries in to slash with the blade, as Eric averts. The steel RINGS. Eric converts his dodge into a low spin kick that DUMPS Lao.

Eric spread-eagles to keep from falling. Distantly, Lao similarly saves himself.

NEW ANGLE -- THE FIGHT -- Here comes Lao, crabbing back toward the peak. Eric ROLLS to Elly's position, GRABS the lightning rod and tries to wrest it lose.

SIZZLEOF FLESH as Eric's hands are scorched: the metal still blue-hot.

MOVING WITH LAO as Eric battles to free the lightning rod. Lao closesup distance, gives a warcry and prepares to SWING as -

Eric WRENCHES the rod loose and turns to DEFLECT Lao's blow. Theweapons SPARK when they meet ...and there goes Elly, her handcuff freed, SLIDING DOWN THE ROOF SLOPE.

ANGLE -- ROOF SLOPE -- WITH ERIC as he dodges Lao by using the lightning rod to vaultdown to where Elly is about to slip off the roof.

With the rod embedded in the roof, Eric hangs on, and Elly hangs on to Eric.-

UP ANGLE -- LAO, a dark figure against the night sky, raising the sword.

Eric guides Elly to the top of one of the flying buttresses. When he looks up, Lao is gone.

ANGLE -- BELL TOWER -- Albrecht's head pokes up at last. Looks around, finally spots Eric below and to the left. YELLS, serio- comic.

INSERT --ALBRECHT'S HOLSTER -- as Lao's hand draws Albrecht's gun·quickly.

ANGLE -- ALBRECHT AND LAO -- Lao has blindsided Albrecht.

He jams the gun into the base of Albrecht's neck and fires three times.

CLOSE ANGLE -- ERIC -- He's too far away to matter. Shock.

INSERT -- ALBRECHT'S CIGARETTE as it rolls down the slope, trailing sparks, snuffing out.

ANGLE -- ERIC holding onto lightning rod as lightning CUTS the night above him.

ANGLE -- LAO AT BELL TOWER, triumphant and a bit wild, SHOUTING.

ANGLE - ELLY ON FLYING BUTTRESS

The base of a triangle - Lao, Eric, Elly.

RESUME ERIC

Rage over the loss of Albrecht. He RISES, hurting but mad as hell. GLARES UP toward Lao.

PUSH IN TIGHT ON ERIC

Eyes alight with hatred for Lao.

As lightning strikes, Eric fires his gaze TOWARD THE SKY.

HIGH ANGLE - LA.OON ROOFTOP - ("CROWVISION")

SEEING the crashdive toward Lao through the crow's eyes.

ANGLE - LAO ON ROOFTOP

As the crow wings down INTO FRAME and lights on Lao's head, CLAWING!

CLOSE-UP -- THE CROW ON LAO'S HEAD slashing with its claws. Pecking out Lao's eyes!

WITH ERIC -- on roof slope as he totters but maintains his climb, the crow/Lao UPFRAMEB.G.

RESUME LAO -- as the crow abandonshim. Lao STAGGERSAND FALLS down the roof - toward Eric.

SLANTEDANGLE -- ERIC AND LAO -- Eric ARRESTS Lao's fall, fisting lapelsand bringing him nose to nose. Fury.

Lao's face isa hideous bloody mask with black holes where the eyes used to be. He SMILES gruesomely.

He EMBRACES Eric and RAMS the Killing Blade deep into Eric's back!

ON ERIC as he looks down to see the blade protruding from his sternum. Tight grimace. A lot of pain.

He pulls Lao into a backward roll down the roof, HOLDING HIM TIGHT.

MOVING ANGLE -- INTERCUTS -- ERIC AND LAO FALL

Eric lands on his .back,forcing the blade THROUGH himself and INTO Lao. Eric completes the roll and KICKS Lao off INTO SPACE, the Killing Blade still embedded in himt

WITH LAO as crashes, sliding, sprawling down PAST Elly's position. Gets to his knees atop a flying buttress. Sees the Blade in his own chest.

CLOSE-UP -- ELLY -- She sees it all happen.

RESUME LAO -- a regretful ·look toward Eric. He PLUMMETS off the roof e~ge.

ANGLE -- ERIC SLIDES DOWN ROOF He slows, stopping when Elly is.in frame. He clutches his own chest. Regards his own shaking hand, drenched in his own blood. Glazed.

ON ELLY, as she finally gets the duct tape off her mouth, trying to get to Eric. She flails and cries out.

CLOSE-UP -- Their hands finally meet and GRASP TIGHT.

A low angle TRACKING SHOT (as when we first met Elly).

Eric's and Elly's feet pass graves. Eric's pace is slow, crippled,limping. They STOP at a grave where Elly BENDS INTO FRAME to steal the flowers there.

Eric is bloodyand out of it. She helps him walk.

Eric's response is h~lting and uncertain. But he tries to give her hope. He reaches for Shelly's ring around her neck, holds itup to her.

Eric is amused by this in spite of his grievous injuries~

He grasps Elly's face in his hands and bends, painfully, to kiss her on the forehead.

MOVE W.ITHERIC

Spent, empty, he holds the rose determinedly, but he's never going to make it the few yards back to.his own grave. So close, but no.

His legs finally go and he COLLAPSES onto the humus. One groping HAND tries to drag him an inch further.

ANGLE - ELLY

Tears on her face. She can't watch this. She TURNS and drops the flowers on Shelly's grave

ERIC'S POV - HIS OWN GRAVE

Still too far away to matter. CJ

RESUME ERIC ON GROUND

He gives it up,his face sinking to the wet grass for a beat before SHELLY'SHAND intrudes INTO FRAME to GRASP his hand.

No ethereal glow,no heavenly choir ...just a near-dead Eric's blank-faced astonishment,and he moves forward.

ANGLE - ELLY- SHELLY'SGRAVE BG

She's struggles to get herhood up against the rain and roughly wipes the moisture from herface with her sleeve. She TURNS toward Eric's grave. Then, surprise as she looks closer.

ANGLE ....:.ERIC'SGRAVE

Eric is gone. The whiterose lies neatly on top of the undisturbed earth there.

HIGH ANGLE - CEMETERY

Emphasizing that Elly isnow_,ALONE in the graveyard.

LOW ANGLE on Elly,ROSE in the foreground

She walks OFF. HOLD on the rose.

A grey day butno rain. Elly stands wistfully by thewindow, her doll on standby. The apartment is in order and perhapswe notice a fewnew items. Gabriel the cat, miraculously ALIVE,is sprawled ona chair liqking himself. Darla BUSTLES INTOFRAME B.G. Her wardrobe more upscale, ,her hair done.Her manner is hectic but natural. ,

__, DARLA Worktime, kiddo. First day, new job, gotta go.

This does not get the expected smilefrom Elly.

Elly turnsfrom the window and NODS silently.

ELLY'SPOV - OUTSIDE

The aforementioned grey day in thecity.

ANGLE - DARLA and ELLY AT THE WINDOW

Darla comes up. Arm around Elly. Cheer up; her attitude much more connected and loving. PUSH IN ON ELLY so we know she is clutching Shelly's RING tightly in her hand. Darla looks past Elly, out the window.

Darla kisses Elly on the temple and is out the door. Elly OPENS her hand to consider the ring. When she looks back out the window -

ANGLE - THE CROW ON THE LEDGE

Elly is looking right at it. Same crow. We're positive. So is Elly. It TAKES WING and flies away.

An UP ANGLE from Eric's grave toward the tree as the crow FLIES INTO FRAME and perches there, shucking water. PUSH IN on the crow. Watching. Waiting.

SLOW FADE TO DEAD BLACK. FA