Corpse Bride Page #3

BARKIS:

I beg your pardon, sir. These are most important...

FINIS:

(waving him off)

Not now, Barkis.

BARKIS:

The pre-nuptials.

Finis quickly signs the papers and hands them back, all the while scowling at Victor. Barkis TUT-TUTS in sympathetic disapproval. (We sense a private scheming thought.)

VICTOR:

With this candle... this candle...

Victor tries to light the other candle. He's having a hard time. For several long seconds he fiddles with the wick as the others watch. Finally, leaning close, he gets the candle to light.

Victor sighs with relief, accidentally blowing the candle out.

From her chair, Nell groans.

PASTOR GALSWELLS

(exploding)

Do you not wish to be married, Master Van Dort?

VICTOR:

No! No!

Victoria looks up in surprise.

VICTORIA:

You do not?

VICTOR:

No! I meant no, I do no, er, _not_ wish to be married, that is, I very much want -­

Pastor Galswells HITS him with the holy scepter.

PASTOR GALSWELLS

Pay attention! Have you even remembered to bring the ring?

VICTOR:

The ring... yes! Of course...

He pulls the ring out of his pocket, and fumbling, drops it. Everyone GASPS at this sacrilege.

PASTOR GALSWELLS

(thundering)

Dropping the ring! This boy doesn't want to be married!

Even Victoria is starting to get worried now.

VICTOR:

I'll get it!

Victor scrambles on his hands and knees, desperately grasping for the ring as it rolls under Maudeline's chair. He reaches, fumbling blindly under the hem of her long dress as she stares at him with barely-contained outrage.

Victor scrambles to his feet, holding up the ring triumphantly.

VICTOR:

Got it!

As he does this, Victor accidentally KNOCKS OVER the other lit candle and Maudeline's dress starts to CATCH FIRE. Everyone tries to put it out.

PASTOR GALSWELLS

(furiously)

Enough! This wedding cannot take place until he has properly prepared!

Pastor Galswells POINTS wrathfully towards the door.

PASTOR GALSWELLS

Young man, _learn your vows_!

Humiliated, Victor STUMBLES out. All this being too much, Victoria faints, then almost in unison Nell, Maudeline and finally William FAINT dead away.

CUT TO:

EXT. EDGE OF VILLAGE - EARLY EVENING

The Town Crier watches a distraught Victor as he crosses the old stone bridge, passing the Village Church, and heads toward the dark woods beyond.

Victor plunges into the woods. Spindly birches give way to dark foreboding trees. Victor mutters desperately to himself.

VICTOR:

With this hand, I will... I will...

He tries it again.

VICTOR:

With this hand, I empty your cup. No. That's not it. Your cup will never empty, for I will light your way. No. With this candle, I lift your sorrow... no, no. Oh, it's no use.

CROWS flap from tree to tree, following him as he wanders through the darkening forest. There is a haunted feel to the forest as if someone else is watching him.

DISSOLVE TO:

A DESOLATE CLEARING

where, long ago, an ancient tree had toppled over. Moonlight streams in through the gap in the forest canopy. CROWS roost in the surrounding trees, CAWING noisily.

Victor sits, mumbling the vows. The CAWING of the CROWS becomes more insistent. Victor looks up, and realizing that he now has an audience, decides to really go for it. He stands with a theatrical flourish.

VICTOR:

With this hand, I lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, I will be your wine...

The SQUAWKING GROWS LOUDER from the branches overhead.

VICTOR:

(looks up to the crows)

Thank you.

(continuing)

With this candle, I will light your way in darkness...

Victor begins to get his confidence back.

He takes the ring out of his pocket. Tangled with it is the jasmine from the music room. Victor stares at it for a moment, and gathers strength for the grand finale. With a dramatic flourish, he kneels.

VICTOR:

With this ring...

He slips the ring on a small twisted root that extends from the ground.

VICTOR:

(triumphantly)

I ask you to be mine!

Suddenly the crows fall silent. A faint WIND RUSTLES through the trees.

Victor looks up into the branches, where the crows silently stare down at him. The root TWITCHES, unnoticed. Still watching the crows, Victor reaches for his ring...

The root suddenly encircles his wrist.

Horrified, Victor tries pull free as the CROWS SCATTER with a cacophonous CAWING, wings FLAPPING.

Victor desperately PULLS, ripping a MASS OF ROOTS AND DIRT from the ground.

Sprawling backwards, he sees a skeletal arm clamped around his wrist.

Victor SCREAMS and flings it away as the ground splits open in front of him.

A ROOT-COVERED FIGURE, wearing a tattered wedding gown, SPRINGS from the frozen earth to reveal the CORPSE BRIDE. The ring sparkles in the moonlight.

CORPSE BRIDE:

You may kiss the bride!

Victor scrambles backwards, turns and RUNS frantically, stumbling through thickets and branches.

He falls and, getting up, realizes that he's tripped on a GRAVESTONE in an old abandoned graveyard.

The Corpse Bride moves towards him.

Victor runs for his life, dodging between the crooked tombstones. He CRASHES blindly through the branches of the bare, brittle trees that seem to block his escape. He stumbles across a small creek as the Corpse Bride pursues him.

As Victor dashes blindly through the trees, the crows fly in his path. He reaches the edge of the woods and sprints towards the footbridge.

CUT TO:

Victor reaches the footbridge and stops to catch his breath. He turns back, peering at the dark forest. It is oddly silent.

Suddenly, the crows BURST from the trees, flying straight at him. He turns to run, and freezes in horror...

The strangely-alluring figure approaches him from the other side of the bridge.

CUT TO:

EXT. VILLAGE SQUARE - SAME TIME

The Town Crier peers towards the footbridge, holding his lantern. He can just barely see Victor, and what seems, from this distance, to be a woman in a long gown embracing him. The Town Crier frowns disapprovingly.

CUT TO:

EXT. VILLAGE FOOTBRIDGE - CONTINUOUS ACTION

The Corpse Bride moves towards Victor as the crows gather, swirling around them. Overcome by fear, Victor stands motionless. She slowly lifts her veil. On her skeletal hand the wedding ring glistens in the moonlight.

Huge eyes dominate her pale face.

She leans towards him, her bony hand touches his chest as the crows encircle them, forming a solid field of black...

CUT TO:

EXT. THE LAND OF THE DEAD - PERPETUAL TWILIGHT

The crows EXPLODE away in a gust. Victor and the Corpse Bride are standing in another land entirely, with misshapen buildings in the b.g.

The Corpse Bride is gabbling, giddy and elated.

CORPSE BRIDE:

You were wonderful. So passionate. It was everything I dreamed of.

As the Corpse Bride talks, a BLACK WIDOW SPIDER descends from her veil.

Victor takes a couple of steps back, looking fearfully at the Corpse Bride's face.

The Black Widow fires a strand of web at Victor's chest. The sticky strand is incredibly strong. The tiny spider is able to reel him back in.

BLACK WIDOW:

Now, dear, where do you think you're going?

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