- —四川最大高校综合门户网
7.8 磅 0 2 Cell FADE IN: A SPECK OF DUST Grains of sand dance in the wind. As we glide over a VAST DESERT, the speck of dust becomes a HORSE AND RIDER. CATHERINE YOUNG straddles the beautiful black animal, her
other two MIRRORED, the glass covered by thick clear plastic.
The floor is littered with empty food wrappers - candy bars,
juice boxes. In the center
of the floor is a DRAIN and above
her, on the ceiling, a FLUORESCENT LAMP, also encased in
clear plastic.
There is no door.
A mechanism CLICKS. Then a RUMBLING... Anne seems to know
what's coming. She presses
against the wall, removes her
arms from the sleeves of the sweater, hunches down, and
raises the garment over her head, forming a tent.
WATER ERUPTS from
the shower head. There is no
steam, so
this water must be cold.
Shaking, Anne whispers a count to
herself - "One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three..." and
so on. The spray hits
everything in the room - mirror,
toilet, floor - and a food wrapper drifts toward the drain.
ANNE
Thirty.
She peeks up from the tent, but the water has not stopped,
and that isn't what she expected. We hear a soft SUCKING
NOISE and a CLICK. The
wrapper rises on a puddle of water.
Anne POUNDS her fist on the wall.
ANNE (CONT'D)
(angry, scared)
THIRTY!
A puddle forms around her feet and she realizes the drain has
somehow been sealed shut.
Her panic intensifies as we hear
another CLICK and the water pressure increases.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - LABORATORY - DAY
In the darkened procedure room, Miriam finds Catherine
standing between the two suspension devices, alone.
MIRIAM
You okay?
Catherine turns, nods, and tries to smile. Has she been
crying? Miriam steps
further into the room.
CATHERINE
He hates me.
MIRIAM
Lucien Baines?
Catherine nods.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
I wouldn't say "hates."
Dislikes,
distrusts, maybe.
Catherine laughs. Exactly
what Miriam wanted.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
She adores you.
CATHERINE
She thinks I can bring Edward back.
MIRIAM
Someday you can. We all
believe that...
Catherine halfheartedly nods, but her mind is elsewhere,
focused on the two apparatuses.
CATHERINE
I want to try it. Please.
Miriam knows what this is about.
MIRIAM
We've been over this a dozen times. No.
CATHERINE
Why not? Just once. A trial run. What
harm could it do?
MIRIAM
I don't want to find out.
Ever the doctor, Miriam finds herself surreptitiously
examining Catherine's eyes, flesh tone, a slight trembling in
her fingertips.
CATHERINE
Why is it taking so long for us to reach
him? Because we've been
reactive,
that's why. And we need to
be active.
Miriam reaches for Catherine's wrist and takes her pulse.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
(annoyed)
Miriam...
MIRIAM
Shush.
As Miriam examines her, Catherine continues:
CATHERINE
He creates the obstacles, he decides
which games to play.
MIRIAM
I've heard this argument before.
It's
not happening.
CATHERINE
(frustrated)
It could take years for me to get past
the barriers he's created.
MIRIAM
If we reverse the feed and bring Edward
into your mind, it could be devastating
for him. Imagine the shock
of suddenly
existing in a whole other world.
CATHERINE
I do it all the time!
MIRIAM
Yes, but, you're a willing participant.
Picture Edward in a strange place, lost,
frightened...
CATHERINE
I'd be there for him.
MIRIAM
And he might blame you for terrifying
him. That one moment could
erase all
you've accomplished. And if
that
happened, the trust he has in you is
gone.
CATHERINE
(defeated)
Okay, okay...
Miriam takes a penlight and examines Catherine's eyes.
MIRIAM
Besides, I don't know what it might do
to you. You're already
exhausted.
(concerned)
Have you been sleeping?
Catherine nods.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
I can prescribe something...
Catherine shakes her head no.
Miriam shuts off the penlight
and looks at Catherine with professional and personal
concern.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
You're sure? Any more
nightmares?
CATHERINE
(defensively)
No.
MIRIAM
Good. We need you healthy
and relaxed.
You're going to eat well, meditate,
exercise, and watch mindless television.
CATHERINE
Yes mother.
MIRIAM
I don't want you up all night reading
Edward's case file of the nine millionth
time. Balance, dear girl,
is the key.
Leave the work here.
She taps Catherine's head.
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
Don't bring it home in this.
CATHERINE
Okay.
Miriam gathers her belongings.
MIRIAM
Henry wants me to try this Vietnamese
place he's wild about. Want
to come?
CATHERINE
(declining)
I've got to feed my cat.
Besides, I
want to get to bed early.
MIRIAM
That's my girl.
Miriam exits, but Catherine remains, still curious what could
happen if things were reversed.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - HALLWAY - DAY
The corridors are dark and most everyone has gone home. At
the NURSES STATION, a staff member observes the child on a
closed-circuit monitor.
Further down the hall, Miriam and
Henry exit. Wearing a
(chic) thrift store coat and lugging a
worn book bag, Catherine stands outside Edward's room,
watching him sleep.
CATHERINE
Pleasant dreams, Mister E.
EXT. RURAL HIGHWAY - DAY
A GREEN FORD PICK-UP TRUCK cruises down this deserted stretch
of two-lane blacktop, the driver carefully maintaining the
speed limit. He signals and
exits...
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY
The truck rumbles along a stretch of bumpy, unpaved road.
The area is desolate, depressing, and deserted. It feels
like no one's been anywhere near here for years. The pick-up
stops at a RUSTED GATE and the DRIVER, a tall, lean, sinewy
fellow undoes a combination lock-and-chain. We do not yet
see his face.
EXT. ABANDONED FARM HOUSE - DAY
The truck parks inside a charred barn, now hidden from view,
and the driver steps out, followed by his DOG.
A magnificent
WHITE GERMAN SHEPHERD. We notice a
GLINT in
its BLUE EYES - the animal's an albino. The driver points
and whistles. Well-trained,
the Shepard sprints to the gate
and waits, keeping a watchful eye on the road.
INT. THE CELL - OBSERVATION ROOM - DAY
From the outside, a passerby would never know this sanctuary
existed. Within the
foundation of a farm building never
completed, we find a small room in the center of a much
larger space. The
cell. We hear the WHIR of
ELECTRONIC
EQUIPMENT and notice VIDEO CAMERAS mounted on tripods pointed
at the two-way glass. We
follow CABLES to a massive VIDEO
RECORDER - the
type used in surveillance, able to record for
days without maintenance, and an elaborate TIMING DEVICE
connected to a series of VALVES and SWITCHES.
As if in a beatific trance, the driver moves to the window
and gently rests his palm on the glass. ANNE MOVES!
Arms
flailing, mouth gasping, eyes filled with dread. The last
spark of life... The driver JUMPS, startled and frightened.
Almost shamefully, he turns and hides, unable to look at her.
Suddenly, his body tenses and writhes, as if seized by
torturous pain. He opens
his mouth in a silent scream.
And then, quickly as it came, the pain subsides. Hidden in
shadow, he breathes deeply, regaining self-control. He
waits, then moves back to the glass. Anne's dead face floats
past him. Almost
angelic. He watches her and leans
his head
against the window, closer.
And the driver catches his own
reflection in the mirror.
Meet CARL STARGHER.
EXT. CATHERINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Small and isolated, the nearest neighbor a block away.
INT. CATHERINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The place is a mess.
Computer print-outs, dirty dishes,
unopened mail, videotapes, and notepads cover tables, chairs
and floor. On the crammed
bookshelves, psychology texts sit
next to volumes on mythology, religion,
and the occult.
Totems, figurines and artifacts (Central and South American
in origin) adorn the walls and tables.
As Portishead plays on the stereo, we find Catherine
suffering from
insomnia, wearing goofy-yet-hip eyeglasses,
sweatpants and a UCSD T-shirt, sharing a late-night snack
with her pet CAT. She shuts
the refrigerator door and we
linger on an odd POSTCARD taped to the surface. A kitschy
postcard of a warrior/goddess.
INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT
We MOVE out of shadow, toward a bright focused light,
following the albino German Shepherd - VALENTINE - as it
enters a VAST SUBTERRANEAN
ROOM. Most of the walls have been
knocked down, leaving only thick support posts. Valentine
finds Stargher in a DUGOUT PIT - about five feet deeper than
the rest of the room - polishing a stainless steel table. A
bright tungsten work light hangs above, and near it is the
chain, cables and hooks of a customized MECHANICAL HOIST.
The dog picks up an unpleasant scent and follows it to a far
corner where there are
empty jugs of BLEACH sitting next to a
long, deep cast iron TUB.
Stargher WHISTLES and Valentine
obediently retreats to a KENNEL CAGE. Stargher gives him a
chew toy and locks the dog inside before moving to the tub.
Soaking in the bleach is the nude corpse of Anne Vicksey.
The interior of the tub is glazed with gleaming porcelain and
the whiteness of her flesh makes it appear as though she is
floating in nothingness,
but what hypnotizes and appalls are
her eyes. Wide open,
transformed by the chlorine into
something ghostly, they are unforgettable.
As the bleach gurgles down the drain, Stargher lifts Anne
from the tub and carries her to the table. He places her
face up and dries her with a clean white towel. He moves her
limbs, lips, hips, and hands into desired positions then
retreats into shadow. In
the harsh light, against the shiny
table, the bleached body has the quality of an apparition and
we almost expect her to move...
We HEAR Stargher remove his clothes and he steps into the
pool of light. Nude, we see
that his lean, muscular frame is
laced with some rough tatoos.
When he turns his back to us,
we find EIGHT METAL RINGS, thick and strong, PIERCED through
his flesh. Two columns of
four on either side of the spine,
running from shoulder blade to just below the waist. What in
God's name are they for?
Stargher shuts off the work light and moves to an area where
he keeps TELEVISION MONITORS and VCRs. He inserts a
videocassette taken from the surveillance deck and watches
the screen.
In BLACK AND WHITE, we see Anne awaken in the cell. Her
first moments inside.
Disoriented, terrified, trapped, she
examines her surroundings.
Stargher is mesmerized by her fear. Fast-forwarding to her
death, he presses a remote and we get SOUND. Anne screaming,
begging for her life.
Aroused, stimulated, Stargher drinks
it in like a symphony.
Valentine cowers in the back of his
cage, hating this.
INT. CATHERINE'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT
Lying on her bed (a waterbed), Catherine sleepily stares at
the
ceiling, rolls onto her side, and feels herself drawn
into the comforter. The
folds of the fabric become ripples.
Ripples become dunes.
EXT. EDWARD'S WORLD - DAY
And we find ourselves in the DESERT of EDWARD'S WORLD.
We fly over dunes and come up behind Catherine as she
struggles through waves of sand.
The tree trunk is up ahead
and we glimpse someone hiding inside.
Catherine reaches.
MOCKEY-LOCK ERUPTS FROM WITHIN THE TREE
TRUNK! SNARLING! Catherine retreats, silently screaming.
