The Cell Page #10

INT. STARGHER'S WORLD - LIGHTED ROOM

A mottled HORSE stands with its head down, nose kissing the

floor, allowing the BOY to caress its neck. This sweet

animal is an incrongruous vision in this hellish world and

Catherine approaches with respect.

CATHERINE:

Hello?

The frightened child retreats into a corner of the

claustrophobic room, but the horse does not startle.

Surprisingly - to the boy - the horse takes an affectionate

step toward Catherine, inviting her to take over. Catherine

allows the mare to smell her, then vigorously scratches along

the mane and shoulder, much to the horse's delight.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)

Yeah, you like that, don't you?

She can see the boy hiding in the corner, stealing glances at

her from the shadows.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)

Is your name Carl?

The boy - YOUNG STARGHER - is startled and intrigued by the

question - How did she know that?! - but says nothing.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)

Another little boy I know, he has a

horse, too.

The boy reacts to an unusual SOUND coming from the CEILING.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)

His name's Edward. The boy, not the

horse...

The boy takes a few steps toward her, out of the shadows, but

he seems more concerned about something in the ceiling than

"connecting" with Catherine. Very anxiously, he looks at the

wall behind Catherine and watches an old wind-up kitchen

TIMER click down.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)

What's the matter, Carl?

Again, a sharp SOUND from the ceiling.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)

What's wro---?

Young Stargher RUNS at her and SHOVES her hard! Catherine

FALLS BACK just as EIGHT SHEETS OF GLASS drop from the

ceiling! Like oversize razor blades, they slice the horse

into four clean sections. They separate and compact the

quadrants until four glass-contained sections of dissected

horse stand within the room. Catherine SCREAMS, but the mare

barely acknowledged what happened. Betraying no emotion, the

boy runs. The shaken Catherine takes a moment to collect

herself, then gives chase.

INT. STARGHER'S WORLD - THE LABYRINTH

Young Stargher knows his way around the landscape, but

Catherine has difficulty simply keeping him in sight. She

runs, climbs and crawls. Until she's utterly lost and

disoriented. Tired and having difficulty breathing, she

drops to her knees and "cools down." She hears a NOISE

nearby, gets to her feet, and finds a GEARED MECHANISM

connected to some kind of SHUTTERED DOOR composed of an

almost metallic-looking glass. Curious yet cautious, she

examines the nearby walls, floor, and ceiling for any signs

of "traps" akin to the glass blades. Finding none, she pulls

the mechanism and quickly steps back.

The shutter opens and Catherine knows there's something alive

in the tiny cubicle beyond. She retreats into shadow,

hiding. Released from the chamber is a WOMAN. As she moves

out of a darkness, we see VICTIM ONE.

Ghostly pale and adorned in eerie fetish garb, she appears to

"sense" the presence of a stranger, targets Catherine in the

shadows, and ATTACKS!

Catherine's had enough and moves to press the implant, BUT

THE VICTIM IS ALREADY THERE!

She brutally grabs Catherine, THROWS her against the wall and

SMACKS her head against it. Catherine drops to the floor

like a rag doll.

Victim One hefts Catherine onto her shoulder and with great

purpose, carries her deep into the labyrinth, toward the

core. Passing in and out of consciousness, between darkness

and light, a dazed Catherine is taken on a "tour" of

Stargher's world. Passing mausoleum-like chambers filled

with IMAGES of unspeakable horror and/or disturbing

intensity. At one of the rooms, we think we see Young

Stargher silently observing...

Sitting of standing in individual cubicles are STARGHER'S

OTHER VICTIMS (TWO thru SIX), each woman resembling the

grotesque porcelain dolls glimpsed in the cubbyholes in

Stargher's basement. Dressed by a fetishistic sadist (Nine

Inch Nails meets the Brides of Dracula), they resemble bored

housewives, barely acknowledging the new member of the

"harem."

INT. STARGHER'S WORLD - THE CORE

VICTIM ONE drops Catherine in the center of the room and, job

done, crawls away.

Groggy, feeling sick, Catherine sits up. Unbeknownst to her,

she is sitting at the base of a pedestal with her back to the

kind of THRONE. And someone is there. In the dim pool of

light above the pedestal, we see a MAN rise from the throne.

The wall behind him is covered in BLOOD RED CLOTH, and as he

descends, we realize it is a CAPE connected to EIGHT METAL

RINGS pierced through the flesh of his back. In a fluid

motion, waves of red give way to harshly textured concrete as

the man reaches the floor. Catherine knows he is there.

Unable to stop herself, she turns. And sees the terrifying

face of STARGHER. But no the same Stargher.

This is STARGHER KING.

STARGHER KING:

(primitive, guttural)

Where you come from priddy thing?

In a split second, Catherine presses the implant on her hand.

INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY

Apparently capable of staying awake if properly caffeinated,

Novak sits cross-legged on the floor, shoes off, analyzing

RECENT PHOTOS AND DOCUMENTS sent to him via courier.

Ignoring a snoring Ramsey napping on a nearby cot, Novak

looks at blow-ups from the videos, blueprints of Stargher's

house, detailed shots of the basement, and a draftsman's

conceptual drawing of the cell itself.

HENRY (V.O.)

Gentlemen?

Novak looks at an INTERCOM SPEAKER.

HENRY (V.O.) (CONT'D)

She's back.

Novak doesn't wait for his just-stirring partner and moves.

INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - LABORATORY

As he enters, Novak sees a concerned Henry checking a print

out of the procedure.

NOVAK:

What happened?

HENRY:

Must've been rather unusual.

Noting Novak's confusion, Henry points to a CENTRAL MONITOR

resembling a futuristic V.U. meter, gradiated in sections of

white, yellow, orange, and red.

HENRY (CONT'D)

(re:
white/yellow area)

If her neural activity stays within this

range, I know she's self-cognitive.

(clarifies)

As if she were having a dream, but she

knows she's dreaming. She can "wake up"

any time she wants to...

As Ramsey joins them, Novak nods, understanding, but his eyes

are on Catherine, who's just coming back to consciousness.

HENRY (CONT'D)

(re:
orange section)

However, if her level of involvement is

rather intense, as it was just now, she

can perceive things as true. It's

difficult to keep perspective.

As Novak lingers on that question, Ramsey gestures at the red

section.

RAMSEY:

What happens here?

HENRY:

We don't talk about that.

NOVAK:

What happens?

HENRY:

Well, Theoretically, while she's inside.

If she came to believe that Stargher's

world is her world, her mind has the

power to convince the body that anything

done to it is, um, actually done.

Novak doesn't like the sound of that.

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