Dark City

INT. OPENING MONTAGE

OVER BLACK a low rumble increases in volume.

FADE UP:

A GLOVED HAND wraps around a bulky scissor-switch, thrusts

DOWN.

SNAP! - Electricity arcs through darkness.

OS SOUND of MACHINERY turning on.

TITLES OVER:

MONTAGE OF CLOCKS - VARIOUS. The clocks are frozen, then second

hands turn - TICKING gets louder...

EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT

The streets are empty - no sign of life. Eerie silence.

A DOORWAY opens in the side of a building, then:

A line of shadowy figures walks out. Men, dressed in black full-

length coats, bald...

The STRANGERS walk silently out into the city.

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

SHADOWS DANCE - in and out of darkness. A hooded light-bulb

swings IN SLOW MOTION from the ceiling, its dim light REVEALS:

A GLASS SYRINGE - broken on the floor.

Clothes on a chair...

Puddles of water on the floor...

ANGLE ON SLEEPING EYES - Between waves of light they snap open and

dart about in confusion.

ON JONATHAN WALKER as he sits up. Water splashes. He's in a tub

of long-cold water. His neck aches like he's been sleeping forever.

TIGHT ON WALKER - he's in his early thirties, dark featured.

HIS P.O.V. - looking around the room. Everything's strange,

unfamiliar.

He stands, steps from the tub.

ANGLE - THE SWINGING LIGHT BULB. Walker's hand ENTERS FRAME,

stops the bulb mid swing.

ON HIS REFLECTION in a cracked wall mirror. He moves to the mirror

and looks at himself. A line of blood runs across his face, from a

point between his eyes. he wipes it away, and notices a tiny pin-

prick wound on his forehead.

WALKER'S P.O.V. PUSHES TOWARDS a circular window. The glass is

cracked, covered in grime. His hand wipes it, this only smears the

dirt, but the window is unlatched and swings open with a creak.

It's dark out there.

EXT. BUILDING - NIGHT

WALKER - from outside the window - ANGLE BECOMES A RAPID FLYING

P.O.V. PULLING BACK in silence until the window is a SPECK on the

side of a vast grey tower.

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

Walker shivers, cold. He picks up the clothes lying on the chair

and puts them on. Loose trousers with braces, a plain shirt,

leather shoes with HOLES in both soles.

Now he steps to the door, hesitates, hand inches from the doorknob.

He leans down.

TIGHT ON HIS EYE - blinking through the key-hole.

P.O.V. OF AN EMPTY ROOM - A glimpse of motion - the door across

the room (leading to a corridor?) is shutting.

INT. HOTEL - NIGHT

WALKER pushes the door open, steps into the adjoining room. No sign

of life.

He's unsteady on his feet, doesn't notice a fishbowl on a table near

the door, bumps it.

THE BOWL falls to the floor. Water goes everywhere.

TIGHT ON A SMALL GOLDFISH flapping at his feet. WALKER'S HAND

ENTERS FRAME and picks the fish up.

He steps back into the bathroom and throws the fish into the murky

water in the tub.

BACK IN THE OTHER ROOM - SERIES OF ANGLES ON WALKER

He moves cautiously through the room. He turns a light on.

A CLOSET - Walker's hand opens it. A grey coat hangs inside. He

goes through the pockets and finds a WALLET.

TIGHT ON THE WALLET - There's no I.D. in it, just:

A laundry bill;

Some money;

A business card for something called "Neptune's Kingdom";

And a postcard from "Shell Beach", a sea-side town.

With trembling hands, Walker puts everything back into the wallet

and looks around the room once again.

As he does this, he notices something on the floor.

HIS P.O.V. follows a dark stain on the floorboards, to a woman's

bare foot behind the bed. In the shadows there lies a WOMAN'S BODY,

naked, in a RAPIDLY EXPANDING pool of blood. Her eyes stare

lifeless.

Walker throws his hands over his mouth.

INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT

Walker staggers from the room, grabs a wall for support.

DING!

At the end of the corridor, elevator doors open TO REVEAL: TWO

SHADOWY FIGURES - ONE TALL, ONE VERY SHORT.

Walker instinctively flattens himself against the wall.

The figures step from the elevator - still in shadow - he can't

see them clearly.

Walker makes for the stairs.

INT. LOBBY - NIGHT

Walker rushes past a deserted front desk. A VOICE from the back

room stop him in his tracks:

HOTEL MANAGER O.S.

You gotta message.

Walker looks uncertainly towards a bead curtain.

MANAGER O.S.

(Cont.)

Message! You deaf?

Walker looks to a series of nooks for messages in front of him. In

one he sees a little folded note. Reaching across the desk, he

glances through the beads into the manager's office. RADIO SOUNDS

O.S.

HIS P.O.V. - hard to see - the man sits in a chair, lit by the

glow of a T.V. set.

Walker grabs the note, looks at it. It says: JOHN WALKER - PLEASE

CALL - .. That's all - no number. Walker thrusts the message

in his pocket.

MANAGER O.S.

(Cont.)

When you gonna pay up? That's three

weeks y-owe me!

Totally confused now, Walker sees something.

WALKER:

I...

WALKER'S P.O.V. - a painting on a wall (cheap print variety) -

waves on a beach. A breeze rustles the pages of a calender, pinned

beside the picture.

TIGHT ON WALKER - MOVE IN on his ear. O.S. surf crashes on

shore. A WOMAN'S VOICE WHISPERS:

VOICE O.S.

What's your name... What's your

name...

He backs away from the painting, looks around in panic - sees a

sign:
TOILETS. An outlined hand points the way.

A PHONE on the front desk starts ringing.

The MANAGER, a squat man with glasses, steps through the bead

curtain just in time to see Walker run from the lobby.

MANAGER:

(calls after him)

Hey!

He grabs the receiver aggressively and barks into it.

MANAGER:

(Cont.)

Yeah. What?

INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT

ANGLE FOLLOWS Walker as he pushes shakily through a red door, runs

down a corridor.

Pipes on the walls steam and drip water.

Walker rounds a corner, slips, nearly falls.

INT. MENS' ROOM - NIGHT

Puddles on the floor, stains on the walls.

Walker bursts through the door and into a cubicle. He bends over a

toilet bowl and VOMITS.

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