The Crow: City of Angels Page #20

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camera table (and subsequently the Crow itself) are rushing at

an unearthly speed. The create a surreal backdrop for the Crow's

frenetically beating wings - in effect, a mockery of the bird

flying.

JUDAH:

Easy, little wing. It will all be over soon.

EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER - NIGHT

Ashe continues to climb. A cluster of PIGEONS take wing, startled

from their roost...

Ashe pulls back, one of his hands slipping free. He dangles there

for a moment, hanging by the tenuous grasp of his fingertips.

SIBYL:

who has been lurking in the shadows, suddenly lifts her head

up...

SIBYL:

(full of portent)

Ashe is here.

Judah grins. This moment has been a long time coming...

JUDAH:

Not for long.

Judah raises the misericord up high. Sarah turns her head away

as...

...Judah plunges the weapon down, pounding it straight through

the bird's right wing!

CUT TO:

EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER - NIGHT

Ten stories up now. Ashe suddenly loses his handhold. He SCREAMS

in agony as he suffers the pain of the Crow through their symbiotic

link. Ashe stares down at his hand in disbelief...

CLOSE ON ASHE'S HAND

Blood seeps from a stigma-like wound on his palm.

INT. JUDAH'S TOWER - CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT

Judah plunges a second misericord into the Crow's left wing...

EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER

Ashe CRIES OUT again as his left hand is seemingly twisted back

against his will. A second stigma wound appears.

He slips, tumbling to the next ledge down but catching himself

on his fingertips. He hazards a look down...

ASHE'S POV

Day of the Dead CELEBRANTS crowd the streets far below.

BACK TO SCENE:

ASHE:

(in agony)

...oh God...help me...

It takes every ounce of Ashe's strength to keep from letting

go. He tightens his white-knuckled grip on the ledge above.

Shaking terribly, trying to fight back the pain, Ashe continues

to climb. He reaches up to a...

STONE MAIDEN:

which protrudes from the building's facade. The maiden's face

has been all but worn bare by the harsh elements.

Ashe clutches the back of the maiden in a parody of a lover's

embrace. Using the statue for support, he drags himself back

up to relative safety. Now Ashe is face to face with the maiden,

staring into its blind stone eyes.

ASHE:

Sarah.

Ashe whispers the word like a mantra, using it to urge him on.

Steeling himself again, fighting the burning pain, Ashe resumes

his climb. He's on autopilot now, just trying to reach the campanile,

which at this point, seems hopelessly unattainable.

THE SKY ABOVE:

seems to churn and roil. A storm of epic proportions is about

to break.

CUT TO:

INT. JUDAH'S CAMPANILE - CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT

The Crow has now been crucified to the camera table, a misericord

staked through each wing.

CROW'S ANAMORPHIC POV

as Judah reaches for a third misericord. He raises it high above

his head, preparing for the coup de grace.

JUDAH:

(WHISPERING)

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down...

As the dagger comes down we hear...

SARAH:

(SCREAMING)

No!!!!

CUT TO:

EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER - NIGHT

Ashe Cries out a final time as a GAPING WOUND appears on his

chest, BLOOD BLOSSOMING outward.

CITY STREET:

The Day of the Dead celebrants swirl around us, Judah's Tower

rising up behind the mob - an unholy ziggurat built to challenge

the gods. The CROWD has been worked up into a frenzy. Everyone

is singing and dancing. MUSIC blasts from loudspeakers...

ASHE:

comes CRASHING DOWN atop a small vending stall filled to the

brim with flowers an sugar skulls. Time slows as a flurry of

golder marigold petals flutter down around his still form.

INT. JUDAH'S CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT

The Crow is dead, transfixed by the gleaming misericords. Blood

is pooling beneath black flight feathers.

Judah steps back, momentarily overwhelmed by the enormity of

his crime.

JUDAH:

It's done.

Judah looks to the camera obscura's table. The blood from the

Crow has completely covered the table's concave surface, filling

it to the brim like liquid in a shallow bowl. The end result

is an eerie reflecting pool.

AS WE WATCH, THE IMAGE OF THE CLOUDS

cast by the camera lens onto the table begins to ripple and dissolve,

only to be replaced by Judah's own, shimmering reflection.

BACK TO SCENE:

With a shaking hand, Judah dips his fingers into the pooling

blood and begins to paint his face. A swatch of blood over one

eye, then a swatch over the other. A long, bloody smear over

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