Deep Rising

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OPEN TO:

A FLASH OF LIGHTNING rips the HOLLYWOOD PICTURES LOGO away, and we

find ourselves in the middle of...

1EXT. STORMY SEA - NIGHT

SUPERIMPOSED:
SOUTH CHINA SEA

The dark blue waters roil and boil and foam. THUNDER CRACKS. LIGHTING

FLASHES.

CUT TO:

2EXT. UNDERWATER - NIGHT

An enourmous Japanese BATHYSCAPHE free-falls through the water. An

autonomous fifteen-man submersible. Almost futuristic in its design.

The nose cone is an amazing ultra-high-pressure plexi-dome. LETTERING

along the side tells us this is the "SHINKAI 90000."

COMPUTER PRINTED across the SCREEN are the WORDS:

ASSIGNMENT:
GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION.

SUB-OCEANIC SEISMIC RESEARCH.

TECTONIC PLATE SURVEILLANCE.

ADDENDUM:
ABOUT TO BREAK THE WORLD'S RECORD

FOR THE DEEPEST DIVE...

3INT. SHINKAI 9000 - NIGHT

The JAPANESE CAPTAIN watches a DLD laser tracking system and barks

one-word questions to his JAPANESE CREW. The Sailors work the consoles

and give clipped monosyllabic answers.

The JAPANESE SCIENCE OFFICERS go over charts on the electronic

position board, a contiuously-shifting graphic representation of the

ocean contours below.

Behind them is an elaborate DEPTH GAUGE with computerized graphics.

READ:
34,000 feet and dropping. The Crew works at a fevered pitch.

An ALARM SOUNDS as the depth gauge sounds 35,000 feet. All eyes on the

depth gauge. Several Science Officers share excited looks.

4INSERT ON THE DEPTH GAUGE: 35,100 -- 35,200 -- 35,300 -- 35,400...

The excitment builds. Even the Captain's weathered eyes widen. And

then, as the depth gauge hits 35,801 feet below sea level, the entire

Crew breaks into CHEERS, WHOOPS, HANDSHAKES AND HIGH-FIVES.

CUT TO:

5EXT. SHINKAI 9000 - NIGHT

As it continues its descent, it passes corroding metal drums leaking

toxic waste, radioactive waste, dumped in the depths, away from prying

eyes, and populated areas.

The vessel drops into the SULU BASIN. Imagine the Grand Canyon under

forty thousand feet of water. But the Sulu Basin is ten times the size

of the Grand Canyon. Down here, ten thousand fathoms below the storm,

all is calm.

The dual TURBO-PROPS on the ear of the submersible KICK ON. The

Bathysaphe is now mobile. It glides down the side of an enormous rock

face, carefully avoiding massive sandstone pinnacles which jut up from

the ocean floor far below.

DISSOLVE TO:

6EXT. DEEP SEA - NIGHT

THE SHINKAI hovers near a gigantic tectonic plate.

A ROBOTIC ARM extends out from under the plexi-dome. Its "hand" is a

high-tech LASER CUTTER. It approaches the plate, steadies, then fires

a direct BLUE BEAM at the bedrock, burns the rock into magma and cuts

a perfect round pattern.

Another ROBOTIC ARM reaches forward, its CLAW rips out the cut rock

from inside the pattern, then takes the sample and sets it inside a

hydro-basket on the submersible's port side.

DISSOLVE TO:

7EXT. MINDINAO DEEP - NIGHT

A desolate, barren, spooky place. Nothing breathes. Nothing lives. Or

so it would appear. The creepy, foreboding MUSICAL SCORE tells us

otherwise. The Shinkai ENTERS a huge ROCK FISSURE.

CUT TO:

8INT. SHINKAI 9000 - NIGHT

The Captain and the Science Officers stare through the plexi-dome and

out into the freezing, cobalt blue of the PALAWAN TROUGH. The MUSIC

intensifies as they round each curve. Then, dead ahead, is the end of

the trough, which is half-blocked by a rock-encrusted embankment. The

MUSIC builds.

The Shinkai approaches the embankment. Slowly starts to glide up the

side. The Captain and Science Officers seem mesmerized by all the

lonely creepiness. They crest the embankment.

And the plexi-domed VIEW FILLS with an unimaginable horror. As far as

the eye can see, the entire murky landscape is filled with WHALE

BONES. A valley of death. Cluttered here and there, carelessly flung

about, are the rusting hulks of several ships. Seemingly ripped apart.

Clusters of shark cartilage float through the water like white ghosts.

The Captain, the Science Officers and the entire Crew just stare,

frozen in place by the strage horror before them.

CUT TO:

9INT. SHINKAI 9000 - NIGHT

The vessel cruises through the valley of death.

Everyone is nervously taking readings, making calculations and

adjusting equipment. Gone is the excitement and euphoria of the record

breaking. Several Crewmen cast nervous glances out through the plexi-

dome. Giant skeletons everywhere.

CUT TO:

10EXT. SHINKAI 9000 - NIGHT

The Shinkai approaches an eerie-looking rock formation. The robotic

arm comes out. The laser cutter steadies, aims, then shoots out its

blue beam and cuts into the rock.

WHOOSH!! A HUGE JET STREAM OF INKY BLOOD BLASTS OUT OF THE FORMATION!

CUT TO:

11INT. SHNKAI 9000 - NIGHT

The Captain and the Science Officers recoil as the inky stuff

envelopes the plexi-dome, completely blotting out the VIEW.

CUT TO:

12EXT. PALAWAN TROUGH - NIGHT

The Shinkai VANISHES into a huge cloud of inky blood. We HOLD for a

LONG OMINOUS BEAT. And then, like a slow-motion earthquake, large

boulders and giant crevices begin to shift in the murky waters. WHALE

BONES TOPPLE and SCATTER. Several feet under the ancient silt,

something is coming alive.

CUT TO:

13INT. SHINKAI 9000 - NIGHT

Everything outside the plexi-dome is still BLACK. Everyone is staring

at the position board, which shows a large section of the OCEAN FLOOR

STARTING TO MOVE, its contours incogruous with the rest of the graphic

representation. The Science Officers look stunned.

The Captain barks commands. The Crew leaps into high gear. Then the

Captain reverses the trottle, and petal-to-the-metal he starts to back

out. The inky blood swirls past the plexi-dome.

Then suddenly, and impossibly, the SUBMERSIBLE JERKS TO A HALT.

Everybody goes ass-over-teacups. EQUIPMENT SHATTERS. SPARKS FLY. GLASS

BREAKS. Lots of YELLING in Japanese.

The SHINKAI starts to ROCK and SHAKE. Something has a hold on it. More

EQUIPMENT SHATTERS. Men are thrown about.

Then it stops rocking. The Sailors stop yelling. Everything goes dead

quiet. Frightened eyes share terror-filled looks. A SOUND is HEARD

coming from the exterior of the ship, like feet runing across the

outside of the hull. Very creepy. The HULL starts to MOAN and CREAK

from an UNSEEN PRESSURE.

And then the sub begins to be crushed like it's a beer can.

The metal HULL TORQUES on all sides. RIVETS POP and SNAP. WATER SPRAYS

and SHOOTS. More SPARKS FLY. The STEEL PLATING DIMPLES, CRUMBLES and

SCREAMS in agony. CHAOS. PANDEMONIUM. And then the SHINKAI IMPLODES. A

massive CHURNING SWIRL of water, metal and men.

SMASH CUT TO:

14EXT. SOUTH CHINA SEA - SUNSET

THE SAIPAN, a tricked out Jet Foil, built for speed not looks,

gunmetal blue, lean and mean, rips across the choppy water. The

Rolling Stones STREETFIGHTING MAN pours out of the jet foil,

reverberating over the waves, as the CAMERA rushes right at the

windsheild and into...

CUT TO:

15INT. PILOT HOUSE - SUNSET

Stripped down, low frills, high tech...

...where JOHN T. FINNEGAN, bathed in the last light of day, all taut

muscle and sinew, all business, with every one of his 38 years etched

on his rugged, good looking face, is harnessed into the steering

pylon, wrestling with his steering-sticks, holding the bouncing

jetfoil steady as he can, hauling ass, propelled, it seems, by the

music blasting out of four state of the art speakers bolted to the

metal walls.

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