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                              THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS           
          

                                     Written by

                            David S Goyer & James O'Barr


           
          
          FADE IN:
          
          EXT. LIMBO - DAY/NIGHT
          
          A heavy mist hangs before us - endless and impenetrable. And
          out of that primordial fog a CROW materializes, flying toward
          the camera in slow motion.
          
           
          
          SARAH (O.S.)
          
          I believe there's a place where the restless souls wander. Burdened
          by the weight of their own sadness, they cannot enter Heaven...
          
           
          
          Presently a second shape materializes - a FIGURE ON HORSEBACK.
          A warrior whose baleful eyes shine behind the familiar irony
          mask war paint.
          
           
          
          SARAH (O.S.)
          
          And so they wait, trapped between our world and the next, endlessly
          searching for a way to rid themselves of their pain - in the
          hopes that somehow, some day...
          
           
          
          The figure on horseback sweeps past us, disappearing once again
          into the mists of time.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          ... they will be reunited with the ones they love.
          
           
          
          DISSOLVE TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Present day. The Crow settles on a shipping container, tilts
          its head, watching...
          
          SUPER TITLE:
          
          "CITY OF ANGELS - OCTOBER 29TH - LA NOCHE DE SAN LUCAS"
          
          CLOSE ON A PAIR OF HANDS tearing open a tiny glassine envelope
          filled with powder - our drug du jour - Trinity. The face of
          the envelope has been stamped with an image - a cartoon imp with
          a shit-eating gring giving us the thumbs-up sign.
          
          A MAN lowers his face to the envelope, snorts up the powder.
          The man discards the glassine envelope...
          
          FOLLOWING THE ENVELOPE
          
          as it flutters to the ground, landing "imp-side" up. Let the
          rush begin.
          
          PULL BACK TO REVEAL
          
          Garbage-poisoned waters wreathed in fog. Although once part of
          a thriving shipping industry, decades of decline have seen these
          docks become a hellish dumping ground. Case in point:
          
          A FATHER AND HIS YOUNG SON
          
          are kneeling next to one another at the end of a pier, their
          arms linked together, then tied behind their backs. DANNY CORVEN
          (8) is quietly sobbing. ASHE (late 20s), tries to calm the frightened
          boy.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          I'm sorry, Dad...I'm sorry... I didn't mean to look...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          It's okay, Danny. It's okay...
          
           
          
          NEMO (O.S.)
          
          Lights...
          
           
          
          A bright light comes on. Ashe and Danny turn their heads to avoid
          the glare.
          
           
          
          NEMO (O.S.)
          
          ...camera...
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON
          
          A camcorder lens as it auto-focuses, bringing Danny's distorted
          face into view via the lens' reflection.
          
           
          
          NEMO (O.S.)
          
          ...action.
          
           
          
          CAMERA FINDS Ashe and Danny's executioners, CURVE, KALI, SPIDER
          MONKEY, and NEMO.
          
          NEMO, a post-modern sleaze-hound, circles Danny and Ashe with
          a camcorder. He Pats Ashe's face.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          Make-up.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY, lean and gangly, crouches next to Ashe, holding
          a marigold in his hand.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Flowers for the dead, Senor?
          
           
          
          CAMERA POV (CLOSE ON ASHE'S EYE)
          
          Ashe stares directly into the camera.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          No? Suite yourself, then.
          
           
          
          Spider Monkey tucks the flower behind his ear. Danny is praying
          now, MUMBLING a Catholic School litany.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          You're wasting your breath, angelito. Nobody up there's listening.
          
           
          
          WHOOSH!
          
          We cut to an extreme high-angle shot - God's omniscient POV,
          perhaps.
          
          CURVE
          
          leans up against his motorcycle a few yards away - big, burly,
          shaved head, a ciggie hanging from his lips. He's got a custom
          paint-job on his pearl drop gas tank - a buxom blonde doing the
          "wild thing" with the Grim Reaper. Curve's also the one who just
          dusted himself
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          (hyped on drugs)
          
          Let's get this over with. Judah's waiting.
          
           
          
          Kali, a cold-eyed heavy-metal femme with a killer's casual stoicism,
          is methodically loading bullets into her revolver. She's taking
          her own sweet time, in defiance of Curve. There's a tension between
          them. Finally, she flicks her wrist, snaps the revolver shut.
          Kali walks up to them...
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          I'm scared, Dad.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I know...
          
           
          
          Ashe turns to his executioners, pleading with them...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Listen to me, please. He's just a kid. Let him go. He can't hurt
          you. He doesn't even know who you are...
          
           
          
          ...and puts a bullet through Danny's chest. Ashe SCREAMS.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          NO!!!
          
           
          
          Danny's body slumps forward, dragging Ashe down next to him.
          Ashe stares into his son's lifeless eyes.
          
          Curve saunters over, stares down at Ashe, flicks his cigarette
          butt off into the water.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Nothing personal, sport. Guess you were just in the wrong place
          at the wrong time.
          
           
          
          BANG! BANG! BANG! Curve FIRES a gun into Ashe's back. As Ashe
          crumples...
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Dump 'em. Let's get this cluster-fuck on the road.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          motions to Kali and Spider Monkey. Together, the three of them
          heave Ashe and Danny into the ocean.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Bon voyage, shitheads.
          
           
          
          EXT. OCEAN DEPTHS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe and Danny sink down into the murky underworld, taking their
          place amongst a thousand other deep-sixed dreams.
          
          ASHE'S POV
          
          falling further and further away from the light of the surface
          world. Bit by bit, Ashe's struggles subside. All we hear now
          is an ever-slowing HEARTBEAT. Darkness begins to close in around
          us, womblike, peaceful...
          
          ...AND OUT OF THE DARKNESS,
          
          something takes shape - a CROW. Winging its way from Ashe's dream-like
          death up through watery depths into a smog-bound cityscape...
          
           
          
          EXT. CITY OF ANGELS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Crow flies over a bridge with spans the Styx - the city's
          polluted, man-made river.
          
          THE CROW
          
          rides the thermals above an urban sprawl riven by fires, floods,
          and earthquakes. Smog hangs in the air like an army of ever-present
          ghosts. We pass over a roof where someone has painted a smart-ass
          welcome mat for the benefit of anyone flying overhead - "GO BACK".
          Nevertheless, we continue on.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          They say that time cancels pain. I don't know about that. Eight
          years ago I lost two of my best friends. Two thousand miles later
          I find I'm still living in the past...
          
           
          
          THE CROW
          
          sweeps down into man-made caverns of pigeon-shit concrete and
          grimy glass. Through the bird's eyes we glimpse the city's silent
          HOMELESS. Automobile hulks littering the streets like insect
          husks. The shifting searchlights of police helicopters...
          
          WE PASS OVER SARAH'S ROOFTOP
          
          The Crow circles downward...
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          Every night when I close my eyes the dreams come. That's how
          the dead talk to us, I guess. In the dark, when our souls are
          off wandering...
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Crow lands next to an open window. It perches on the edge,
          looking into the loft.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          I just wish I understood what they were telling me.
          
           
          
          CROW'S POV (ANAMORPHIC)
          
          SARAH, early 20s, lies asleep in bed. She stirs, troubled by
          uneasy dreams, rolls over, opens her eyes...
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT, SLEEPING AREA - NIGHT
          
           
          
          As Sarah rises the Crow flits away like yesterday's memory. Sarah's
          not sure whether or not she dreamed the bird. GABRIEL, the cat
          Sarah inherited from Eric and Shelly, is perched on the end of
          the bed.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Hey, Gabriel...
          
           
          
          Sarah gives the cat an obligatory behind-the-ear scratch, then
          climbs from bed, making her way across the loft.
          
          SARAH'S ARTIST LOFT
          
          is furnished in thrift-store treasures. The loft has an earthy
          warmth to it, in stark contrast to the urban decay outside -
          an island amidst a sea of unrest, dominated by an arching half-circle
          window through which Sarah can view the local wildlife on the
          streets below.
          
          ON SARAH'S CANVASSES
          
          Turbulent oils reminiscent of history's brooding symbolist painters.
          Give Sarah's childhood inspiration, the subject matter is no
          real surprise.
          
          CAMERA ISOLATES a work-in-progress. The painting depicts a woman
          resembling Sarah being cradled in the arms of her pale-faced
          lover, surrounded by a sea of watchful dead.
          
          SARAH
          
          reaches the shower, strips off her clothes. Her back and upper
          arms are decorated with graceful tattoo work - a pair of black
          angel wings sweeping over her shoulder blades. She's got a ring
          in her navel, another in a nipple...
          
          In short, the skate-waif we knew back in Detroit has matured
          quite a bit since that fateful Devil's Night. Sarah shuts here
          eyes, turns her face up into the spray. For a brief second we
          see a flash of...
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe's death. Plunging into the icy waters, down into darkness.
          Just as suddenly we are back in...
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah's eyes snap open. She holds a hand out to the shower wall,
          takes a moment to collect herself.
          
          Troubled, Sarah climbs from the shower, shrugs on some clothes.
          Among her accourterments is a necklace featuring a silver ankh,
          the symbol of eternity.
          
          As Sarah sites in front of her vanity we catch sight of the irony
          mask that used to hang by Shelly's mirror. Next to the mask is
          a...
          
          TARNISHED WEDDING RING
          
          Once Shelly's. There's an inscription inside - "FOREVER".
          
          Sarah fingers the ring a moment, glancing at the irony mask.
          Lots of memories. Lots of ghosts.
          
          Gabriel creeps up, MEOWING forlornly.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (WISTFULLY)
          
          Me too.
          
           
          
          She threads the ring onto her necklace, letting it fall next
          to the ankh, then slips the silver chain over her head. Sarah
          stands, pulls on a jacket, heads out.
          
           
          
          EXT. SARAH'S LOFT, STREET - DUSK
          
           
          
          An ill-wind kicks up trash and grit. Sarah glances down. Dozens
          of the glassine imp envelopes swirl around Sarah's feet like
          confetti. One of the envelopes has stuck to her heel. As she
          peels it off, she catches sight of...
          
           
          
          A PALE FACE
          
          in a shadowed entryway. It's a TEENAGED GIRL (16), strung out
          on drugs. The girl cowers in a narrow stairway, hugging herself,
          shivering from withdrawal.
          
          Sarah draws closer, notices some of the grinning imp drug sachets
          at the girl's feet. The girl shies away, frightened, suspicious.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (DRYLY)
          
          Nice place you've got here.
          
           
          
          GRACE
          
          (a muttered whisper)
          
          No place else to go.
          
           
          
          Sarah can't help but recognize a part of herself in this lost
          soul.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Gotta name?
          
           
          
          GRACE
          
          Grace. So what?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Listen, Grace, how does some hot coffee sound? Maybe a little
          food?
          
           
          
          GRACE
          
          What do you want?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Nothing. Guess you just remind me of someone I used to know.
          
           
          
          After a moment, Grace offers a reluctant nod. Sarah helps her
          from the entryway, into the warmth of the dying light. Grace
          blinks, shields her eyes.
          
          As they walk away down the street, camera rises up to include...
          
          THE CROW
          
          perched on a nearby rooftop, watching them.
          
          CUT TO:
          
          EXT. GRAY GARGOYLE TATTOO SHOP - NIGHT
          
           
          
          the Gargoyle is an usassuming ink shop - the sole oasis of light
          in an otherwise desolated block populated by derelict warehouse
          buildings. Flickering neon BUZZES in the window.
          
          Nearby is a battered road sign - "END CITY LIMITS". Someone has
          spray-painted "OF THE FUCKING WORLD" over "city limits". In the
          distance, the bridge of the River Styx rises through the mist
          like a skeletal dinosaur.
          
          SUPER TITLE:
          
          "OCTOBER 30TH - LA NOCHE DE LA SANTA MUERTE"
          
           
          
          INT. GRAY GARGOYLE TATTOO SHOP - NIGHT
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON a sparking tattoo "gun", the needle WHIRRING as it travels
          over a patch of Vaseline-smeared skin.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          Almost finished. Doing okay?
          
           
          
          CUSTOMER (V.O.)
          
          Yeah, stings a little.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          That's why they call me the Mistress of Pain.
          
           
          
          PULL BACK TO REVEAL Sarah expertly guiding the needle, wearing
          glasses, surgical gloves, concentrating.
          
          Sarah's buzz-headed CUSTOMER sits in a ratty dentist's chair.
          Sarah is finishing coloring a Japanese dragon which winds its
          way over the man's forearm. She makes another line of color then
          sits back, smoothing more Vaseline over the man's arm. She picks
          up a jeweler's loupe, makes an adjustment on her needle...
          
          Behind Sarah we glimpse the cluttered tattoo shop - walls covered
          with sheets of flash (ready-made art), bookshelves crammed with
          reference works. Sarah's partner, NOAH, a chain-smoking proto-punk
          Brit, consults with a YOUNG GRUNGE COUPLE.
          
          LATER -
          
          Noah is closing up shop, while Sarah sterilizes some needles
          in an autoclave.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          What a downer - this kid wanted me to tattoo "If you're reading
          this, you're too close" on his bleedin' bum!
          
           
          
          Sarah smiles. Noah fires up a fag, flops down into a dentist
          chair. The two slip into a familiar, good-natured banter.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          Christ, I'm knackered.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Beats pushing ink in Detroit.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          That it does, Princess, that it does.
          
          (REMEMBERING)
          
          Oh, I bought you a little present...
          
           
          
          Noah reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls something out. It's
          a handmade candy sugar skull with a little strip of paper glued
          to the bottom - a fortune.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          They do 'em for the Day of the Dead.
          
          (tossing the skull to Sarah)
          
          Nice, huh? Necrophagia, Princess. Eat the dead.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (reading fortune)
          
          "Life is just a dream on the way to death." I like that.
          
           
          
          Sarah studies the skull, then pops it in her mouth, nodding.
          Noah rises, stretching.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          Want to grab a beer, then?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          No, I gotta go home. Haven't been sleeping much lately.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          So, what's the dirty dog's name?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I've just been having some weird dreams.
          
          (REFLECTING)
          
          You ever dream that you're dying someone else's death?
          
           
          
          Outside we hear a MOTORCYCLE pulling up, then someone KNOCKS
          on the front door.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          (calling out)
          
          Sorry, we're closed.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          appears outside. He POUNDS harder on the door.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Open the fucking door!
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          stands, moves to the door.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          Look, I said we're...
          
           
          
          BANG! Curve kicks open the door and storms in. He PUNCHES Noah
          in the nose, then heads straight for Sarah.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          You think what you did to me is funny? Some kind of joke?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          What are you talking about?!
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          I'm talking about the fucking tattoo you gave me! I took off
          the bandages. Look...!!!
          
           
          
          Curve rips open his shirt, revealing his chest.
          
          CURVE'S TATTOO
          
          It's a crow, rendered in bold slashes of black. Or is it? Upon
          closer examination the crow looks like something else - two demons
          fighting. The design is a classic ambiguous figure - like the
          picture of the woman in front of a vanity which can also be seen
          as a skull.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          A crow...
          
          Damn right, it's a crow. And did I ask for a fucking bird on
          my chest? Did I?!
          
           
          
          Sarah shakes her head.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Then what-the-fuck is it doing there?!
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I don't know, I was just going from the design you gave me...
          
           
          
          SMACK! Curve backhands Sarah across the face. Noah rushes forward,
          blood still running from his nose.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          Stop it!
          
           
          
          Curve pulls an automatic from his waist-band and points the gun
          at Noah. Noah freezes...
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          What's it going to be, hero? Ready to kiss your faggot-ass good-bye?
          I think so. I think you're shitting yourself you're so goddamn
          ready.
          
           
          
          Curve snaps open an imp bag of his favorite drug, snorts up the
          contents. He presses the gun against Noah's forehead.
          
           
          
          SARAH (O.S.)
          
          Over here, ass-hole...
          
           
          
          As Curve turns, Sarah squeezes a bottle of tattoo ink into the
          killer's eyes, blinding him.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Agh!!! SHIT!!!
          
           
          
          Sarah plants one of her Doc Marten boots in Curve's groin. He
          SCREAMS, doubles over. Sarah pulls the automatic from his grasp
          and trains it on him.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Get up.
          
           
          
          Curve cups his balls, slowly rises. His eyes are glowing with
          manic intensity. A slow smile creeps across Curve's face. He
          backs away towards the front door.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Shoulda killed me while you had the chance, sugarplum. Be seeing
          you.
          
           
          
          Curve smashes his fist into the neon sign, then ducks out thedoor.
          Moments later we hear his motorcycle ROAR to life. He takes off,
          ENGINE SCREAMING away into the night.
          
          Sarah lowers the gun, takes a deep breath, looks to Noah.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          You okay?
          
           
          
          Noah wipes his bloody nose, looks to the floor where Curve discarded
          the drug sachet, shakes his head in disgust.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          Fuck me, wonder what they'll be snorting next?
          
           
          
          Sarah shakes her head, at wits end.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I just can't do this anymore... I'm so tired of this.
          
           
          
          Noah pulls Sarah toward him, gives her a big hug.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          Easy there, luv. It'll all work out.
          
           
          
          EXT. GRAY GARGOYLE, - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah, still clutching Curve's gun, hurries to her Galaxy 500
          which is parked along the nearby train tracks.
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S GALAXY - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah moves behind the wheel, dumps the gun on the seat, and
          rests her head in her hands. As Sarah raises her head...
          
          SARAH'S POV (THROUGH WINDSHIELD)
          
          The Crow is perched on the hood of her car. Sarah HONKS her horn
          in frustration. The Crow doesn't move.
          
           
          
          EXT. GRAY GARGOYLE, ALLEYWAY - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah rushes out of her car, screaming at the bird.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Get out of here! Go!!!
          
           
          
          Sarah FIRES a wild shot into the sky. The Crow files off into
          the night. Sarah collapses against the hood of her Galaxy and
          starts to cry.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. CITYSCAPE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Crow soars away from the Gargoyle, toward the beckoning lights
          of Downtown. In the distance, a flashing "JESUS SAVES" sign draws
          our attention to a monolithic tower.
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Crow makes its way towards the decaying tower, which is crowned
          by a weather-worn campanile. The campanile is a complex arabesque
          of rusted iron scrollwork, like something Antonio Gaudi conjured
          up from an art nouveau fever-dream.
          
          Just as the Crow is about to reach the campanile, it banks away.
          We, however, continue to rush onward, right through one of the
          dark openings in the scrollwork...
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          SCRITCH! SCRITCH! All we see is black, then some vague, shiny
          reflections...
          
          CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal a stag beetle, imprisoned within
          a box, leashed to a nail with a piece of thread. We were tight
          on its shiny carapace. The beetle strains at its leash, moving
          in a perpetual circle around the nail.
          
          CAMERA MOVES UP
          
          over the side of the box. Although mere inches in height, this
          enclosure might as well be the Great Wall as far as our little
          member of the Coleoptera is concerned.
          
          AS THE CAMERA CONTINUES TO PULL BACK
          
          we see crime lord Judah Earl's lair in all its sepulchral glory...
          
          Dark, filled with shadows. The decor is a cross between ruinous
          palatial splendor and a SoHo industrial art installation. The
          upper reaches of the campanile are laced with a spiderweb network
          of steel girders.
          
          Look close enough and you might see PEOPLE bound to the supporting
          pillars, like the half-glimpsed shapes crouching at the foot
          of your bed in the middle of the night.
          
          VOICES draw our attention to an area partitioned off by chain-mail
          curtains. CAMERA MOVES IN towards a break in the curtains. We
          linger there for a tantalizing moment...
          
           
          
          JUDAH (V.O.)
          
          Talk to me, Sibyl. Tell me what you see.
          
           
          
          SIBYL (V.O.)
          
          I see Death returning from the veil of tears. He has your name
          on his tongue.
          
           
          
          Now we plunge in through the curtains...
          
          The "camera" consists of a series of lenses and mirrors which
          project images from the outside world onto a circular table,
          offering the ultimate voyeuristic view of the crumbling cityscape.
          TWO FIGURES stand with their backs to us, studying the camera's
          view. The first is...
          
          JUDAH EARL,
          
          A sinewy, slash-mouthed Byronic figure with a guttural voice.
          Old before his time, touched by childhood visions of his own
          death. The tower is Judah's prison in more ways than one.
          
          SIBYL, Judah's blind oracle, waits by his side. Attractive, though
          of indeterminate sex. His/her dour features are hidden beneath
          a black cowl.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          (FATALISTIC)
          
          It's finally beginning, isn't it? What mask will Death wear,
          can you tell me that?
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          I see the face of one of your victims.
          
           
          
          Judah lifts his head up and we see his luminous amber eyes for
          the first time. A kind of madness dances within them.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          All my sins remembered.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah sits in bed, cigarette burning in one hand, a half-filled
          wine glass in the other. She turns out her light, looks to the
          window and the cityscape beyond - as if the answers were lying
          out there in the steam-cloaked streets.
          
          CUT TO:
          
          SOMEONE'S SPEED-INDUCED POV. Performers flaunt their flesh on
          a raised stage. CROWDS OF SEXUAL LIBERTINES and CUTTING EDGE
          FETISHISTS writhe as one on the dance floor. Lots of rubber,
          latex strap bodices, Victorian hoop skirts - it's a modern-day
          De Sade's wet-dream.
          
          REVERSE ANGLE
          
          on Curve as he pushes his way upstairs and through the tangle
          of flesh.
          
          He pulls up to a bar, takes a seat alongside Kali and Spider
          Monkey (who's amusing himself with a Viewmaster). CLICK, CLICK
          - we see
          
          MONKEY'S POV - as the 3-D tableaus rotate into position
          
          THE BARTENDER,
          
          a barrel-chested Samoan, sets a drink down in front of Curve,
          nods a greeting. Curve sits back, opens his shirt, nudges Spider
          Monkey.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Spider Monkey, what's this tattoo look like to you?
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          This a test?
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Come on, man, just tell me what you see.
          
           
          
          Spider Monkey inspects Curve's chest.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          A bird.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          (ANNOYED)
          
          Think about it a minute. Don't you see two demons?
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Nope. I see a bird.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Ah, fuck you, then.
          
           
          
          Curve lifts up his beer bottle. ECU from within the beer as the
          amber liquid rushes towards us...
          
          DISSOLVE TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. UNDERWATER REALM - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Air bubbles escaping, blood. Ashe is drowning again, the orbs
          of his eyes bulging outwards. Over this we hear a WOMAN'S SCREAM
          and...
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah bolts up in bed, knocking her wine glass to the floor,
          SHATTERING it. She's choking, gasping for breath. Her heart is
          hammering within her chest.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          ...ohgodohgodohgod...
          
           
          
          Suddenly she catches sight of a shadow on the wall before her
          - a GIANT BIRD slowly spreading its black wings.
          
          Sarah turns to the window. The Crow is perched just outside.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          What do you want from me?!
          
           
          
          The Crow CAWS, then takes flight.
          
          CLOSE ON SARAH
          
          Calm now, realization and a sense of purpose dawning.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          We descend towards the empty docks, pushing out into the mist-shrouded
          water, then down into the ocean's murky depths.
          
          PRESENTLY THE BODIES OF ASHE AND DANNY
          
          come into view, caught up in a tangle of razor wire.
          
          CLOSE ON ASHE'S FACE
          
          Unaltered by the ravages of time. His eyelids flicker, dreaming.
          A SINGLE TEAR escapes, flowing down his cheek. We push on INSIDE
          HIS HEAD...
          
          We see brief MEMORY FLASHES of he and Danny together...
          
           
          
          INT. ASHE'S GARAGE - NIGHT/DAY (MEMORIES)
          
           
          
          Danny stretched out on the floor of their garage, painting a
          picture...
          
          Danny and Ashe rough-housing, having a water fight...
          
          Danny sitting in Ashe's lap as Ashe reads aloud from a story.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (READING)
          
          "...midway through our life's journey I came to myself within
          a dark wood where the straight way was lost..."
          
           
          
          Danny asleep, curled up next to his father. Ashe reaches out
          and strokes Danny's hair...
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON ASHE'S FACE
          
          His dead eyes suddenly open. Confusion. Pain. Fear. A stream
          of bubbles rushes from his mouth, obscuring our view.
          
          ASHE'S POV
          
          As the bubbles clear, Danny's face comes into focus just a few
          inches from his own.
          
          Ashe panics, jerks back. The razor-wire barbs cut into his flesh.
          The more he struggles, the tighter the coils become, slashing
          his hands and face, shredding his clothes. He's caught in his
          son's embrace, the two of them thrashing about in a grotesque
          underwater ballet.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. RIVER STYX BRIDGE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The headlights of Sarah's Galaxy cut through the fog. She pulls
          up just in time to see the Crow disappearing into the mist which
          cloaks the bridge. Sarah follows, trying to keep up with the
          bird.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. UNDER WATER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe's struggles become more and more violent. He thrashes, churning
          up a cloud of bubbles. We are intercutting quickly now, between
          Ashe's turmoil and...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah reaches the pier where Ashe and Danny were executed. She
          climbs from her car...
          
          THE CROW
          
          flies on ahead, landing atop one of the piles, staring down into
          the water.
          
          AND AS SARAH
          
          starts toward the bird we...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. UNDER WATER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe tears his hands free, clawing his body away from the barbwire,
          swimming to the surface in a storm of bubbles...
          
          FLASHBACKS
          
          of subjective POVs. The killers walking down the jetty, marching
          Ashe and Danny to their deaths and...
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL DISTRICT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          We are beneath the jetty now in the present, looking up through
          the slats as a FIGURE (Sarah?) makes its way to the water...
          
          Camera CRANES UP from beneath the jetty to reveal Sarah standing
          there in silhouette...
          
           
          
          EXT. UNDER WATER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe is propelled towards the surface.
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe suddenly bursts from the sea with his arms outstretched.
          A hellish Venus on the half-shell. Gasping, full of terror and
          rage. He lets loose a TORTURED HOWL.
          
          ASHE
          
          digs his fingers into the wood-rot pulp of the pilings and claws
          his way up to the jetty. He collapses down onto the wooded slats.
          
          ASHE
          
          crouches before us, his face hidden from view. He reaches out
          his hand, touching an unmistakable BLOOD STAIN... Danny's blood
          stain. This triggers more painful memories...
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Images from Ashe and Danny's execution assault him. BANG!!! Kali
          FIRING her gun. Ashe SCREAMING. Danny's body slumping forward
          like a marionette whose strings have been severed.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT (PRESENT)
          
           
          
          Ashe lifts his head, WAILING. He's covered from head to toe in
          ocean-bottom silt. Blood from the razor-wire wounds has smeared
          across his face in patterns which eerily recall the Crow make-up.
          Strips of the wire still cling to his arms and chest, the barbs
          buried deep in his flesh.
          
          Reliving the violent moment is more than his mind can bear. Ashe's
          eyes roll up into his head. The world spins around him. But even
          as the lights are going out, Ashe glimpses...
          
          A DARK FIGURE
          
          standing in front of him. It's the last thing Ashe sees before
          consciousness escapes him.
          
          SARAH
          
          emerges from the shadows, staring down at Ashe in wonder.
          
          CUT TO BLACK:
          
          SUPER TITLE:
          
          "OCTOBER 31ST - ALL HALLOWS EVE"
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - DUSK
          
           
          
          Ashe opens his eyes. The mud-silt which covers his face has dried
          and cracked, causing it to crumble away in flakes.
          
          Ashe is lying on a cot in the middle of the loft. We see scattered
          images: candles burning, a reilgious altar overflowing with trinkets,
          mirrors, mannequins, canvases, and finally...
          
          GABRIEL
          
          perched at the end of the bed, watching Ashe intently.
          
          SARAH
          
          sits on the other side of the loft in a paint-smeared work-shirt,
          brush in hand. She's studying a half-finished canvas, contemplating
          her next move.
          
          CANVAS
          
          The eerie scene depicting a woman on her death-bed being cradled
          in the arms of her ghostly lover.
          
          Sarah tenses, feeling Ashe's eyes burning into the back of her
          neck. She turns around, sees Ashe.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (DISORIENTED)
          
          ...who are you?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          My name's Sarah. I had a dream about you. I saw them shoot you
          and your son...
          
          (BEAT)
          
          ...I saw you drowning.
          
           
          
          Ashes shuts his eyes a moment, trying to recall the imagery.
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
          
           
          
          BANG! BANG! BANG! Curve FIRES a gun into Ashe's chest. Ashe crumples
          and we are back at...
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - DUSK
          
           
          
          Ashe looks down at his chest, tracing his fingers over the area
          where bullet holes should be. Instead, he finds a series of indented
          welts.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          How did I survive?
          
           
          
          Sarah suddenly comes to the terrible realization that Ashe does
          not know he has died.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (coming towards him)
          
          You didn't.
          
           
          
          Ashe looks up at Sarah, uncomprehending.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          You're dead.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          No...
          
           
          
          Ashe stands, enraged. He starts toward Sarah. She backs away...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Stop looking at me that way -- stop looking -- this isn't real,
          none of this is real! I'm dreaming this.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (shaking her head, frightened)
          
          No.
          
           
          
          The two of the struggle a moment, Ashe pushes Sarah back. Sarah
          reaches for him, trying to restrain him, trying to somehow keep
          his rising terror in check... she's not getting through to him,
          he can't be made to listen...
          
          Finally, Sarah grabs a kitchen knife from the counter and plunges
          it into Ashe's chest.
          
          Ashe gasps. He stares down at the incongruous sight of a knife-handle
          stickout out from his sternum, then he yanks the knife back out.
          No pain. No wound. A moment of shock, then...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (looking at her, a tortured whisper)
          
          I'm dreaming this.
          
           
          
          Sarah tries to reach for Ashe again. He tears away from her,
          flinging her back and running for the door.
          
           
          
          EXT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe stumbles from the doorway out onto the sidewalk. He rushes
          blindly up the street.
          
          CAMERA WHIP-PANS
          
          from the fleeing Ashe to Sarah's window. On a pillar outside,
          the Crow is waiting...
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah rushes to the window, watching Ashe run. She SEES the Crow
          perched below her. It takes wings, flying after Ashe...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. BRIDGE/GARAGE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Beneath the arching span of a freeway bridge is a series of corrugated
          iron sheds. CAMERA FOLLOWS as Ashe, exhausted fro his run, makes
          his way towards them. The Crow flies on ahead, landing next to
          one of the doors, beckoning...
          
          Ashe slides one of the RATTLING doors open...
          
           
          
          INT. GARAGE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          As light spills in, we catch a glimpse of the humble auto repair
          garage - tools, a few wrecks-in-progress, a motorcycle...
          
          CAMERA ISOLATES a tempera painting on the floor that's been executed
          on construction paper. A brush and a collection of paint canisters
          are scattered around it, like the kind you might find in a primary
          school art class. Ashe kneels next to the painting...
          
          CLOSE ON PAINTING
          
          An image rendered by a child's optimistic imagination - a crude
          father and sone, respectively labeled "DAD" and "ME". A FOOTPRINT
          mars the otherwise perfect memento. Ashe touches the figure labeled
          "ME", which triggers...
          
           
          
          INT. GARAGE - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
          
           
          
          Ashe is working beneath a car. Danny is sprawled on the floor.
          He holds up the painting in question.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          Hey, Dad...what color should I make the sun?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Blue.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          There's no such thing.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (PLAYFUL)
          
          No. Well there should be.
          
           
          
          Just then we hear a GUNSHOT coming from outside.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          (wide eyed)
          
          What was that?
          
           
          
          Danny climbs to his feet, moves outside...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Danny, wait!
          
           
          
          Ashe slides out from under the car.
          
           
          
          EXT. GARAGE - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
          
           
          
          From the back doorway, Ashe and Danny catch sight of Curve and
          his crew executing someone beneath the freeway overpass. Curve's
          face is splattered with blood. He turns and sees them...
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          See no evil.
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
          
           
          
          Now we're back at the pier. The memory flashes are coming faster
          and faster. Danny is sobbing once again.
          
           
          
          DANNY'S VOICE
          
          I'm sorry, Dad...I'm sorry...
          
           
          
          We see Kali raise her gun. BANG! There's the muzzle flash! Ashe
          SCREAMS...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          NO!!!
          
           
          
          CURVE'S VOICE
          
          Nothing personal, sport.
          
           
          
          SMASH CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. GARAGE - NIGHT (PRESENT)
          
           
          
          Ashe is tearing the place apart, sobbing, knocking over racks
          of tools. Finally, he sinks to his knees, his face a mask of
          tears.
          
          Ashe spins, murderous rage in his eyes. Never startle an animal,
          right?
          
          SARAH
          
          stands in the doorway.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Why are you here?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I don't know.
          
           
          
          She stops herself -- she does know, she just didn't want to admit
          it to herself.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I want to help you. I need to.
          
           
          
          Sarah approaches, dropping by Ashe's side. She sees Danny's painting
          which Ashe cradles protectively.
          
          Ashe looks up at Sarah, his eyes full of questions.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Everything's so confused...
          
          (anguished, touching the drawing)
          
          Danny...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          He's not here anymore.
          
           
          
          Sarah draws closer, touched by Ashe's inner struggle. She reaches
          out to him, drawing him into her arms. He stares up at her, eyes
          distant.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          There's no moon...
          
           
          
          Sarah touches Ashe's face, calming him, trying to reach through
          his pain.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          You've been given another chance, Ashe -- to put the wrong things
          right...
          
           
          
          Sarah's eyes drop to the canisters of paint which have been scattered
          nearby. She reaches for the canister of white and unscrews the
          lid, dipping her fingers inside...
          
          Sarah's re-creation of the irony war mask has an oddly ritualistic
          feel to it. Yet the act is also quite erotic, for the mutual
          attraction between these two battered souls is almost palpable.
          
          As Sarah continues to speak, she begins to paint Ashe's face
          using Danny's art supplies.
          
          We see this transformation in bits and pieces - an eye here,
          fingers dipping into the canister of white there, ruby lips being
          smeared with black...
          
          ...the face that is taking shape is both similar to and different
          from Eric's. It's the legacy of the Crow, as funneled through
          Ashe's own, unique pain.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I believe there've always been people like you...
          
           
          
          Sarah has finished. She sits back, surveying her work...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          It's the pain that brings people back. It makes us strong again.
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON ASHE'S FACE as he turns towards us. A slash of light
          illuminates the signature black and white war-paint of the Crow
          in all its glory. Ashe looks like a dark saint.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. FREEWAY OVERPASS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe rockets beneath the gothic arches of the freeway overpass
          on his motorcycle, hellfire burning in his eyes, his coat flapping
          behind him like a fallen angel's wings.
          
          THE CROW
          
          flies alongside Ashe.
          
          THE CROW
          
          lands on a telephone wire, studying the warehouse.
          
          Presently we hear Ashe's MOTORCYCLE approaching, then we see
          the front wheel of his bike pulling into the foreground.
          
          CROW'S POV (ANAMORPHIC)
          
          Ashe turns to the Crow, slyly giving the bird the thumbs-up sign...
          
          MATCH CUT TO...
          
          INT. SPIDER MONKEY'S WAREHOUSE LAB - NIGHT
          
           
          
          CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK. CLOSE ON a sheet of glassine drug
          bags as a hand-powered printing press comes down, mass-producing
          the image of the imp giving us the thumbs up...
          
          PULL BACK TO REVEAL the lab set up in a maze of barrells. The
          walls are stained from the toxic fumes. Blacked-out windows sweat
          with moisture. There are heating mantles rigged with flasks and
          condensers, vacuum pumps - along with ingredients like battery
          acid, paint thinner, and Epsom salts. Nearby are dozens of 50-gallon
          drums containing the finished product.
          
          Spider Monkey is working away at the printing press, pausing
          to snoot some of Judah's drug. Nearby is an old TV featuring
          lurid videos of amateur bull riding - we watch as a drunken participant
          gets gored.
          
          Suddenly the power in the lab goes out, the TV screen sputters
          and goes dark.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Ono!
          
           
          
          ASHE (O.S.)
          
          'My mother was accursed the night she bore me and I am faint
          with envy of all the dead'.
          
           
          
          Spider Monkey whirls around, startled. Ashe is sitting cross-legged
          on one of the tables, grinning like a black leather Buddha.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Tell me, Monkey. Does the corpse have a familiar face?
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Who the fuck are you?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You have to learn to look beyond the mask.
          
           
          
          Ashe jumps down from the table, walking into the light. Spider
          Monkey's eyes widen in recognition.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          No way, man...we put you under...you and that little snot-nosed
          kid...
          
           
          
          Ashe dips his hand into one of the 50-gallon drums. He blows
          a handful of the Trinity dust at Spider Monkey. Spider Monkey,
          terminally spooked, reaches back to the counter behind him, searching
          for something...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Looking for this?
          
           
          
          Ashe holds up a pistol and puts it to his head.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (an evil grin)
          
          Don't try this at home, kids.
          
           
          
          BOOM! ASHE
          
          puts a bullet through his own forehead. His head snaps backward
          and his body collapses onto the floor. Spider Monkey creeps forward
          toward Ashe's body...
          
          ASHE
          
          springs from the ground, SLAMMING Spider Monkey against a table
          of chemicals. Bottles SHATTER on the floor, spilling their toxic
          contents.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          What are you?! What the fuck are you?!
          
           
          
          Ashe leans in so he's eye to eye with Spider Monkey.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I wasn't sure at first. Now I know. I'm the boiling man, Monkey.
          I'm the plague of Darkness and the death of the first-born. All
          your nightmares rolled into one.
          
           
          
          Ashe removes a wooden match from his inside coat pocket. He scrapes
          his thumb-nail over the head, igniting it.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Whoa...this shit's flammable! Look, look, what do you want?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          The others. Who are they?
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Nemo. Kali. Judah. And Curve.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I'll start with Nemo, then work my way up the food chain. Where
          is he?
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Nemo? Nemo's an old gash-hound. He hangs out at the Peep-O-Rama
          on Deacon Street!
          
           
          
          WHOOSH! Ashe blows the match out.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Congratulations, monkey. You just bought yourself a fighting
          chance.
          
           
          
          Ashe reaches into his coat pocket, pulling out a deck of cards.
          He fans them out, points...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Pick a card, monkey.
          
           
          
          Spider Monkey slowly extends his hand, half-expecting Ashe to
          pounce on him. He pulls a card out.
          
          Spider Monkey tosses the card down, face up. He's got the Jack
          of Hearts. he smiles tentatively. Ashe pulls out a card of his
          own and flips it around - the King of Clubs.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Lady Luck's a bitch.
          
           
          
          Ashe produces another wooden match.
          
           
          
          SPIDER MONKEY
          
          Aw, Jesus, c'mon, man!
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You're wasting your breath, angelito. Nobody's up there listening.
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON MATCH
          
          as Ashe scrapes his thumb-nail over the head...
          
           
          
          EXT. SPIDER MONKEY'S WAREHOUSE LAB - NIGHT
          
           
          
          An EXPLOSION rips through the front of the lab, spilling roiling
          CLOUDS OF FIRE out into the street. The blackened windows SHATTER
          OUTWARDS in a HAIL STORM OF GLASS... ASHE
          
          emerges from the raging conflagration, walking right through
          the flames, indifferent to the heat. A flurry of the tiny glassine
          drug bags swirl around him like snow.
          
          THE CROW
          
          spirals down from a telephone wire, landing atop the handlebars
          of Ashe's motorcycle.
          
          ASHE
          
          lifts his head to the night sky, laughing. His clothes are still
          smoking.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. GRAY GARGOYLE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah is working at one of the drawing tables. Noah is mixing
          pigments.
          
          SARAH'S SKETCH PAD
          
          She's working on a rendering of Ashe. She sits back...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          ...and all the world will be in love with night...
          
           
          
          SARAH STARES AT THE DRAWING.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Do you believe in fate, Noah?
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          (CONSIDERING)
          
          Seeems to me it's more a question of fate believing in you.
          
           
          
          Sarah rises, reaching for her bag. As she heads for the exit,
          Noah reaches for the sketch. He smoothes it out, studies the
          image awhile as we...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. SPIDER MONKEY'S WAREHOUSE LAB - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The demolished building is still burning strong. Curve arrives
          on the scene, dismounting his motorcycle.
          
          CLOSE ON CURVE
          
          as he studies the shattered glass which litters the asphalt.
          The fire is reflected in the fragments. With a growing sense
          of dread, Curve looks from the glass to the tattoo on his chest.
          He touches the Crow tattoo.
          
          SCENE FROM ABOVE -
          
          Now we see that the glass shards have fallen in an array that
          is anything but random. The shards have taken the shape of a
          large crow.
          
          CUT TO:
          
          THE CROW
          
          flys past a line of palm trees which burst into flames.
          
          CUT TO:
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          TWO ZIPPER-MASKED WOMEN are frolicking on a bed, acting out an
          elaborate bondage fantasy. Pull back to include...
          
          A VIDEO CAMERA
          
          recording the pornographic act for posterity. Pull further back
          to include...
          
          JUDAH
          
          lounging on a couch a few dozen yards away, watching the women
          on four video monitors, detached and twice removed from the sex
          play.
          
          CURVE
          
          enters from out of the shadows. Judah looks up to him.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Bad news.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Illuminate me.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Someone torched the lab on Manchester. Spider Monkey's a fucking
          crispy critter.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Monkey I could care less about. What about our merchandise?
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          A total loss.
          
           
          
          SIBYL (O.S.)
          
          He left a sign, didn't he?
          
           
          
          Judah looks to Sibyl who is standing nearby.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          (rising, uneasy)
          
          I don't know what you're talking about.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          Yes you do. You've seen it.
          
           
          
          Sibyl points an accusing finger at Curve's chest.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          You've been marked.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          (even more agitated)
          
          Jesus Christ, Judah, why the fuck to you listen to her?!
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Because she speaks the truth.
          
           
          
          Judah rises swiftly from his chair. He snags a handful of Curve's
          shirt and rips it open, revealing the Crow tattoo.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          What's this, Curve? A beauty mark?
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          Your enemy wears the mask of the Crow. The bird of ill-omen.
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON Judah as the words sink in. He strides across the floor,
          sweeping aside one of the curtains surrounding the camera obscura.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          The Crow. Death's avatar. I've heard the legends.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          looks down at a view of the seething landscape.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Let him come, then.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
          EXT. PEEP-O-RAMA PORN SHOP - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Peep-O-Rama occupies an old Japanese movie house. A geisha-girl
          sign flashes over the marquee. Beneath that is a blinking neon
          eye which opens and closes. Other signs offer enticements like
          "ONLY 25 CENTS A PEEP!" and "REAL GIRLS WORKING THEIR WAY THROUGH
          COLLEGE!"
          
          As Nemo approaches, a laconic HINDU with a throat microphone
          sits outside, reciting his tired schpiel.
          
           
          
          HINDU
          
          Tokens for the buddy booths, live girls. Tokens for the buddy
          booths, live girls...
          
           
          
          Nemo hands the Hindu a twenty.
          
           
          
          INT. BUDDY BOOTH - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Nemo enters a cramped booth, clutching a handful of tokens embossed
          with the Peep-O-Rama eye logo on them. There's a seat, a box
          of Kleenex, a phone, and a grimy Plexiglas window with a metal
          shutter over it.
          
          Nemo starts popping tokens into the slot next to the window,
          pockets the rest of them.
          
          With a WHIR the metal shutter rises, revealing a WOMAN in a garter-belt
          get-up perched on a stool. In a forgiving light, she might even
          be beautiful.
          
          An LED display starts counting down from sixty - the seconds
          remaining on the metered shutter. Nemo picks up the receiver.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          You got a name?
          
           
          
          WOMAN
          
          Holly Daze. Do you want me, baby?
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          I need to see some sugar.
          
           
          
          Holly shrugs out of her bra, plants her scuffed-up high heels
          on either side of the window, runs her hands up and down her
          body, utters some tired-ass MOANS.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          Right on, sister...
          
           
          
          Nemo unbuckles his belt, drops his drawers...
          
           
          
          HOLLY
          
          (eyeing his endowment)
          
          Mmmm. Is that for me?
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          Yeah, we're gonna celebrate Christmas a little early this year.
          
           
          
          HOLLY
          
          Keep doing that, honey, you'll go blind.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. PEEP-O-RAMA BUDDY BOOTH - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Holly is still MOANING. Over on the LED display, Nemo's time
          has just about expired.
          
           
          
          HOLLY
          
          Time's almost up, lover. Better hurry up with those tokens.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          Shitfire...
          
           
          
          Nemo fumbles with his pants, scoops out some more tokens...
          
          Too late, the shutter is already closing. Nemo feeds some more
          tokens into the slot. Nothing happens. Nemo punches the LED display.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          Come on, fucker!
          
           
          
          The shutter starts rattling up again, only this time...
          
          ASHE
          
          is standing on the other side of the Plexiglas. His mouth splits
          into an evil grin.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          "Do you want me, baby?"
          
           
          
          Nemo's eyes just about pop from his skull.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          You.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Me.
          
           
          
          CRASH! Ashe slams his fists through the Plexiglas window, reaching
          for Nemo's throat.
          
           
          
          INT. PEEP-O-RAMA, HALLWAY - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Nemo comes flying out the booth door. He struggles to rise. A
          CHORUS OF ORGASMIC SIGHS and cheesy SURF MUSIC drifts out from
          the other booths.
          
           
          
          ZEKE
          
          (o.s.)
          
          Hey, mime boy.
          
           
          
          AT THE FRONT COUNTER.
          
          ZEKE, the Peep-O-Rama's corpulent manager, is cradling a sawed-off
          shotgun. BOOM! He blows a blast into Ashe's chest!
          
          Ashe starts toward Zeke, unfazed. Zeke moves to fire again...
          
          Ashe snatches the shotgun from the fat man's grasp, smashing
          him in the face with the butt-end. Zeke falls back into a video
          display, sending an avalanche of porno tapes raining down on
          top of him.
          
          Seizing the moment, Nemo rushes for the exit...
          
          Ashe spins, pumps the shotgun, blows out one of Nemo's kneecaps.
          Nemo collapses on the floor, wailing like a child. Ashe strides
          over to him.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          One crow sorrow...
          
           
          
          He HEAVES Nemo through a glass display booth filled with sex
          toys. Ashe punctuates each line of the nursery rhyme with a new
          assault on Nemo.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          ...two crows joy...
          
           
          
          Nemo starts dragging his broken body across the floor. He finds
          himself face to face with an anatomically-correct blow-up sex
          doll - the kind with a built-in pre-recorded memory chip.
          
           
          
          DOLL
          
          Ooh, oh baby, I like it like that. You're so good. You're so
          good...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Three crows a letter, four crows a boy...
          
           
          
          Ashe HEAVES Nemo back the other way, sending him SMASHING into
          the front counter. Peep-O-Rama tokens go flying, bouncing and
          spinning every which way...
          
          CLOSE ON A SPINNING TOKEN
          
          On one side of the coin the eye is open, on the other it's closed
          - this creates the illusion of the eye blinking.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Five crows silver, six crows gold...
          
           
          
          Nemo utters a half-sob and rolls over, feebly wiping away the
          blood which is clouding his eyes.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Seven crows a secret never to be told.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          ...please, please just stop...
          
           
          
          Ashe pries open Nemo's eyes with his fingers.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You killed my son, Nemo. You took away the only piece of light
          left in my soul.
          
           
          
          NEMO
          
          We had to! Judah's orders. Never leave any witnesses! We didn't
          have a choice!
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          We always have a choice.
          
           
          
          Ashe plunges his fingers into Nemo's eyes - killing him off-camera.
          He lifts up his now blood-covered hands and turns...
          
          Just then, Holly Daze bursts out into the hall. She sees Ashe
          and YELPS, certain her number's up. Ashe grabs her by the wrist,
          spinning her around.
          
           
          
          HOLLY DAZE
          
          (CRINGING)
          
          ...no...
          
           
          
          Ashe touches her face and sees a split-second FLASH of...
          
          HOLLY DAZE DANCING
          
          Jump-cut bump and grind, CAT-CALLS, LAUGHTER, the distorted faces
          of men leering with their hungry eyes, tongues and sweaty palms
          and heavy breath and I wanna be your fucking dog, baby, and...
          
          BANG! ASHE
          
          shuts his eyes, reeling...
          
          Ashe looks up at Holly - one victim to another. His eyes burn
          a laser beam into her soul.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          If you value what you've lost, you'll walk away from this place
          and never look back.
          
           
          
          Holly Daze nods with conviction. Ashe releases her. She bolts
          like a rabbit flushed from cover.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. PEEP-O-RAMA - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve ROARS UP on his motorcycle, followed by Kali and a car-load
          of ENFORCERS. The team grab their weapons, head for the porno
          shop...
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Inside!
          
           
          
          Kali leads the crew of killers into the porno shop. But Curve
          stops, sensing something. He spins around...
          
          THE CROW
          
          is sitting atop one of the cars, watching him.
          
           
          
          INT. PEEP-O-RAMA, BACK CORRIDOR - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Kali and Curve move down the dark corridor. The PORN ACTRESS
          VOICES from the vid-booths continue their ORGIASTIC MOANS, but
          one voice in particular stand out.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Nemo?
          
           
          
          DOLL'S VOICE
          
          Ooh, oh baby, you're so good...
          
           
          
          CAMERA FINDS NEMO'S BODY
          
          at the end of the corridor, lounging in the arms of the sex doll
          which is still repeating its tinny refrain. Nemo's neck has been
          snapped and his head hangs at an awkward angle.
          
           
          
          DOLL
          
          ...oh! Oh yea, that's the spot. Do me, baby. Do me.
          
           
          
          There's a folded piece of paper shoved into Nemo's mouth. Curve
          pries it out. The paper unfolds like one of those snowflake cut-outs
          we used to make in grade school - only this cut-out is of a crow.
          
          Written across the paper crow are the following words:
          
          " I KNOW WHY JESUS WEPT"
          
           
          
          A phone on the wall is RINGING. RINGING and RINGING. Finally,
          Curve leans in, snatches up he receiver...
          
           
          
          ASHE'S VOICE
          
          Do you know what they call a gathering of crows, Curve?
          
           
          
          At the sound of Ashe's voice, Curve's eyes widen with fear.
          
           
          
          ASHE'S VOICE
          
          A murder. A murder of crows. Think about it.
          
           
          
          CLICK! The line goes dead. Furious, Curve tears the phone from
          the wall, HEAVING it across the porno shop.
          
          CUT TO:
          
          
          EXT. STREET/CHURCH - NIGHT 
          
          Ashe exits a phone booth, leaving the receiver dangling. A DOG
          BARKS nearby, followed by the sound of CHILDREN LAUGHING. Ashe
          turns and sees...
          
          A GROUP OF CHILDREN running away, giggling, their FOOTSTEPS receding
          into the night.
          
          A BLACK DOG trots toward Ashe. The children have tied a plastic
          skull mask to the dog's head. The skull dog trots up the street
          towards...
          
          A SMALL, INNER-CITY LATINO CHURCH
          
          sandwiched between two derelict buildings. The doors are open
          - there's a path of marigold petals leading up the front steps.
          The skull dog trots up the steps and enters.
          
           
          
          INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe moves into the sanctuary. He watches from the rear, entranced.
          PEOPLE are scattered amongst the pews.
          
          At the altar is a lavish offrenda - an offering of food and drink
          for the wandering dead decorated with sugar skulls and floral
          garlands. Amidst the decorations are photos of departed loved
          ones. There are tiers of candles surrounding these, scores of
          them.
          
          An ELDERLY PRIEST emerges from a confessional, looking to Ashe
          with a raised eyebrow..."Next?".
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          Can I help you?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I'm sorry, Father, I was just watching...
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          Our doors are open.
          
           
          
          The Priest moves to a candelabra and lights some tapers.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          What is this for?
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          Dias de los Muertos, the Days of the Dead. We light the candles
          for our loved ones - so that they might find their way back to
          earth and share in the pleasures of the living.
          
           
          
          Ashe watches an OLD WOMAN place a toy motorcycle in front of
          a picture of a child.
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          Tomorrow night we will celebrate. The people will dance, sing...
          
          (indicating Ashe's makeup)
          
          ...many will wear masks.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Why?
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          Some spirits linger here too long. They become confused, mistaking
          themselves for the living. They have to be frightened away.
          
           
          
          The priest nods to Ashe and moves down the aisle to the next
          candelabra.
          
          A LITTLE BOY
          
          is watching Ashe from one of the back pews. He clutches a striped
          ball. He drops it.
          
          The boy rolls the ball across the floor to Ashe. Ashe kneels
          and catches it, rolling it back. The boy smiles.
          
           
          
          BOY
          
          Santa Muerte.
          
           
          
          Unnerved, Ashe retreats out of the sanctuarly, letting the night's
          shadows swallow him up once more.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah sits by her paintings. Gabriel suddenly stands, arching
          his back, hair standing on end.
          
          ASHE
          
          appears on the ledge of the broken window, crouching there like
          a gargoyle in silhouette.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (hesitant, but relieved)
          
          You came back...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Heaven wouldn't have me and Hell was afraid I'd take the place
          over.
          
           
          
          Ashe drops into the loft.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I needed to see you again.
          
           
          
          Ashe moves towards Sarah's paintings, pausing to study the one
          of the woman being cradled in the arms of her ghostly lover.
          He touches the woman's face.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          She looks like you.
          
           
          
          After a long moment, Sarah responds.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I paint what I see.
          
           
          
          Ashe approaches Sarah. He points to the wedding ring which hands
          from her neck.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Were you married?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          It belonged to a friend.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Where are they now?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          A better place.
          
           
          
          Sarah turns the ring around her finger, fidgeting with it.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          What about you?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Danny's mother left after he was born. She was a drug addict.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (NODDING)
          
          I lost my mother the same way.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Small world.
          
           
          
          Sarah reaches for a cigarette and lights up, taking a long drag.
          Ashe notices a number of scars on her forearm, possibly some
          track marks...
          
          Sarah catches him looking, self-consciously pulls her hand back.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (meeting his gaze)
          
          I left Detroit because I wanted to put the past behind me.
          
          (STRUGGLING)
          
          The problem is, I know how it ends. Blood. Violence. I don't
          want a part of it anymore.
          
           
          
          Gabriel approaches Ashe. He crouches, runs his fingers along
          the cat's back.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          What happens to me when I finish what I'm supposed to do here?
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          You go back.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          What if I don't want to go back?
          
           
          
          Sarah looks away.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Then you're damned
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          CLOSE ON A VIDEO MONITOR. We're watching the tape documenting
          Ashe's death. We see Ashe's face sinking beneath the water's
          surface. The image freezes.
          
           
          
          CURVE (O.S.)
          
          It was him. It was that son of a bitch we dumped off the pier.
          I know it.
          
           
          
          PULL BACK TO REVEAL Judah, Curve, and Kali gathered around the
          monitor. Sibyl waits nearby. Curve is snapping open an envelope
          of Trinity, sniffing up the contents.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          I thought you killed him.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          I shot him in the head!
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          He's a ghost.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          No such thing as ghosts.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          (POINTEDLY)
          
          Then who killed Spider Monkey and Nemo?
          
           
          
          Curve starts pacing, growing more apprehensive.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          All I know is, he's fucking with us. The Crow's his symbol, right?
          That means I'm marked. It means he's coming for me now!
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          I thought you said you didn't believe?
          
           
          
          Curve turns on Kali, furious, ready to strike her. In a flash,
          Kali has one of her katanas out.
          
          Curve backs away, bristling.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Look, you want to tell yourselves some bullshit fairytales, that's
          your business. But i'm not gonna sit here with a fucking target
          on my chest. I'm going to take this motherfucker out!
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          You won't stop him with bullets or knives. He doesn't feel pain.
          He doesn't bleed. Don't you see? His soul has crossed over. He's
          come back from the other side.
          
           
          
          Curve looks like he's going to be sick from fear. But Kali and
          Judah are listening intently.l
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          So how do you stop a man who's already dead?
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          Can you look destiny in the eye without flinching?
          
           
          
          Judah studies Sibyl's shadowed face.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          You tell me.
          
           
          
          A stare-down ensues. Judah doesn't avert his gaze.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          The Crow is the source of his power - his link between this world
          and the next. Sever that link and he's as vulnerable as the next
          man.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe pushes through a curtain, turns towards Sarah's vanity --
          SEES the knick-knacks and mementos gathered there, then SEES
          the ceramic irony mask which hangs above. Ashe approaches, reaching
          a hand out to trace its features.
          
          At the bottom of the mirror, a FADED POSTCARD has been tucked
          between the frame and the glass. Ashe pulls it free, studying
          it...
          
          CLOSE ON POSTCARD
          
          A carnival midway set on the beach, people strolling along a
          boardwalk, golden sand and blue skies. WORDS at the top of the
          picture read: "WISH YOU WERE HERE".
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I've been here.
          
           
          
          Ashe stares at the picture, entranced, caught up in a moment
          of wistful nostalgia for the life he's lost.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I took Danny last summer. We went up on the bike, rode all the
          way up the coast...
          
          (BEAT)
          
          It was cold up there. I remember we could see each other's breath.
          
           
          
          Ashe catches himself, setting the postcard down. He turns his
          back to Sarah, hiding his face form her, overcome by emotion.
          
          Sarah stands, drawing near. She reaches out to console him, touching
          his shoulder. She alone, among all the souls of the world, understands
          the isolation that is consuming Ashe.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Look at me.
          
           
          
          But Ashe won't.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Ashe. Look at me.
          
           
          
          Ashe finally turns around, a sense of deep and profound loss
          in his eyes...
          
          Something unspoken passes between them. Sarah leans into Ashe,
          tentative, eyes searching. It's one of those fragile moments
          where things could go either way. And then...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (pulling back)
          
          No...
          
          (turning away)
          
          We can't do this...
          
           
          
          The spell has been broken. Ashe starts away from her.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I have to finish what I started. I have to find the others.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I know.
          
           
          
          Ashe moves to the door, hesitant, a terrible sense of longing
          gnawing at his heart.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I wish I'd met you before.
          
           
          
          Ashe nods, then turns to leave. There's nothing else to say.
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah watches from her window as Ashe strides to his motorcycle.
          She raises her hand up, as if to say good-bye.
          
           
          
          EXT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          As Ashe climbs aboard his bike, he catches sight of himself in
          the...
          
          DISPLAY WINDOW OF A BAKERY
          
          Within the bakery are mountains of sugar skulls, candy skeletons,
          and pan de muerte (bread of the dead). Ashe's reflection is superimposed
          over this morbid tableau.
          
          Ashe fires up the bike's engine. He takes off down the street...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Judah moves back to the stag beetle, watching its Sisyphean efforts.
          SCRITCH! SCRITCH!
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          So the Crow is Ashe's familiar...
          
          (to Sibyl)
          
          Can his power be taken?
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          The bird is the key, the life-force that flows within it...
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          (UNDERSTANDING)
          
          The blood of the Crow.
          
           
          
          Judah whirls around, his eyes glowing with a manic fervor.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          (to Curve)
          
          The tattoo on your chest, who gave it to you?
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Some bitch down at the Gargoyle, but what's that got to do with...
          
           
          
          Judah grips Curve's shoulders tightly, shaking him.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Everything, you idiot! Find her. If she gave you his mark, then
          she's connected to him in some way. She can lead us to him.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. DOCKS, COMMERCIAL WATERFRONT - DAWN
          
           
          
          Ashe stands at the end of the pier, staring down into the silent
          waters where his natural life ended. He takes something from
          his coat...
          
          THE PAINTING
          
          which Danny had been working on. It's got bullet holes in it
          now.
          
          Ashe throws his arms back and lifts his face to the heavens,
          SCREAMING, cursing his fate.
          
          ON ASHE,
          
          as seen from afar. A tiny figure dwarfed by the endless expanse
          of ocean and sky.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. GRAY GARGOYLE TATTOO SHOP - MOMENTS LATER
          
           
          
          SUPER TITLE:
          
          "NOVEMBER 1ST - NOCHE DE LOS MUERTOS"
          
          Curve and Kali have duct-taped Noah to one of the dentist chairs
          - even his mouth and nose have been sealed shut. Curve lets Noah
          thrash a moment, then violently rips the tape from Noah's face.
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          (frightened, gasping)
          
          Look, what do you people want?
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          A house in the country, a dog, a wife and two kids...
          
          (GRINS)
          
          ...your fucking head stapled to my saddlebags.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          We're looking for Sarah. Where is she, Noah?
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          I'm not going to tell you that...
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Oh, but I think you are...
          
           
          
          Kali sites astride Noah. She reaches for one of the tattoo machines.
          She motions to Curve, who hits the treadlight foot switch. Noah
          eyes the sparking tattoo machine with rising apprehension as
          Kali moves it towards his face.
          
          CLOSE ON THE NEEDLE
          
          a vibrating blur just a few centimeters from Noah's blinking
          eye. Noah tries to shut his eyes. Kali forces an eye open with
          the thumb and forefinger of her other hand.
          
          BACK TO SCENE
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Last chance, "love".
          
           
          
          NOAH
          
          (DEFIANT)
          
          Get bent, you dried-up bitch.
          
           
          
          From behind, we see Kali lower the vibrating needle towards Noah's
          eye. His SHRILL SCREAMS split the night as we...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. GRAY GARGOYLE TATTOO SHOP - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve and Kali are leaving the shop. Suddenly Curve clutches
          at his chest, wincing in pain. He opens his coat, looks down
          at his chest...
          
          THE CROW TATTOO
          
          is dripping blood from its beak and talons.
          
          Curve staggers back, horrified. Kali is watching him.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          No...no...
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          What is it?
          
           
          
          But Curve isn't listening. He leaps onto his motorcycle and hits
          the ignition. He takes off with a ROAR...
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Curve!
          
           
          
          It's no good. Curve is long gone.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           NOTE: The following scene appears here in the script, but in
          the film it appears in Chapter 12. 
          
           
          
          INT. SECOND COMING FETISH CLUB - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve makes his way to the bar. He rips open a glassine bag of
          Trinity and vacuum snorts it. His eyes roll up in his head as
          the chemicals flow. Another wave of pain washes over him. Curve
          claws at his chest, falls against the bar...
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          ...goawaygoawaygoawaygoaway...
          
           
          
          TIME SLOWS TO A CRAWL
          
          The MUSIC fades to a muted echo of distant WAR DRUMS. As a feeling
          of inexorable doom settles over him, Curve lifts his head and
          sees...
          
          ASHE
          
          reflected in the bar mirror, materializing out of the narcotic
          haze. He's wading through the ocean of bodies. In his face paint
          and black leather Ashe looks like he's just another part of the
          twisted scene. people are stroking him, brushing up against him
          - like they can leech off some of his morbid angel charisma.
          
          Ashe lifts his hand - he's clutching House o' Peep Zeke's sawed-off
          shotgun.
          
          Curve DIVES to the floor as Ashe's shotgun blast shatters the
          bar mirror, taking out his own reflection. Curve rolls, climbs
          to his feet, starts running...
          
          The Samoan bartender grabs a semi-auto pistol, opens up on Ashe.
          Now some of the other ARMED DOORMEN are FIRING too...
          
          ...but Ashe keeps on coming, trudging through the HAIL OF GUNFIRE.
          Bullets are EXPLODING over his body at an insane rate. Ashe is
          a human roman candle. Nothing is going to stop him from reaching
          Curve, nothing.
          
          The Samoan stops firing. He takes one look at Ashe, who's still
          coming at them...
          
          Fuck this. He turns tail and run.
          
           
          
          EXT. SECOND COMING FETISH CLUB - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve comes storming out the back door like a bat out of Hell.
          He takes the rear stairs three at a time, spilling into a couple
          of back-alley JUNKIES. He stumbles into a pile of garbage, scatters
          some rats...
          
          Curve makes for his bike, which is parked nearby. He fumbles
          with the key, hits the starter switch...
          
          Ashe comes flying off from a second story fire escape, landing
          atop a car roof on all fours, popping the windows.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Time's up, Curve.
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          Fuck you, bird-dick!
          
           
          
          Curve jerks his bike towards the street and guns it...
          
           
          
          EXT. STREET - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve zooms by a bridal shop-sees his own reflection in the window.
          
           
          
          EXT. STREET - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve SHRIEKS, turns into the Alley, tachometer red-lining. He
          glances behind him...The crow flies by.
          
          THE CROW
          
          plunges down from the night sky, wings flapping madly, quickly
          gaining on Curve like the breath of death.
          
           
          
          EXT. CITY STREETS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe, in a dream-like state, races along.
          
           
          
          EXT. OVERPASS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve leans in low, trying to urge his bike on by will-power
          alone. He races by a warehouse, veering off the road onto the
          railroad tracks.
          
          UP ABOVE,
          
          Ashe appears on the overpass, riding on his own motorcycle, matching
          Curve's speed.
          
          THE CROW
          
          soars higher for a bird's eye view, tracking Curve's progress
          as it sweeps past chimneys, swerves around billboards, ducks
          under laundry lines...
          
          ON ASHE
          
          as he ROCKETS along the overpass. The Crow lands on his shoulder.
          Ahead is a break in the guard rail. Ashe cuts sharply to the
          right, taking the motorcycle airborne through the break in the
          rail and...
          
          ASHE
          
          ...lands on the surface street some thirty feet below! Ashe is
          now just behind Curve.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah is back at work on the painting of the woman being cradled
          by her lover. Gabriel, who's lounging nearby, suddenly looks
          up and HISSES.
          
          UP ABOVE THEM
          
          the Crow lands on the skylight, staring down at Sarah, watching...
          
          There's a KNOCK at her door. Sarah approaches, looks through
          the peephole...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Who is it?
          
           
          
          SARAH'S POV (THROUGH FISH-EYE PEEPHOLE)
          
          Kali stands there, cradling an automatic. She's flanked by TWO
          IDENTICAL TWIN THUGS. Kali FIRES into the lock...
          
           
          
          EXT. TUNNEL MOUTH - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The chase continues. Curve approaches the bridge doing well past
          ninety. Abruptly, he cuts down a roadway which parallels the
          river. There's a chain-link running across the mouth of the tunnel.
          
          Up ahead is a hole in the fence leading down to a tunnel spillway.
          Curve guides his bike through the hole...
          
           
          
          INT. TUNNEL - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Curve speeds into the dark tunnel, splashing through puddles
          of water, whipping past graffiti. As he nears the mouth at the
          other end, Curve brakes hard, TIRES SQUEALING, almost going down...
          
          CURVE'S POV
          
          We are now beneath the bridge. It's a stone-cold dead-end. The
          roadway slopes sharply downward, spilling out into the concrete
          river bed which is filled to capacity with rushing flood waters.
          
          BACK TO SCENE
          
          We hear the ROAR of an approaching motorcycle, then an engine
          cutting out. Curve looks back the way he came...
          
          AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE TUNNEL
          
          Ashe's siilhouette steps into view. He's on foot now, clutching
          the sawed-off shotgun. He lets loose a LAUGH which chills Curve
          to the bone.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          "I have a rendezvous with Death, on some scarred slope of battered
          hill..."
          
           
          
          Ashe starts into the tunnel. His WET FOOTSTEPS echo off the weeping
          walls...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          "God knows, 'twere better to be deep where love throbs out in
          blissful sleep, pulse nigh to pulse and breath to breath..."
          
           
          
          As Ashe draws closer, his death-like face emerges from the gloom
          - a ghastly visage floating in the ether...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          "But I have a rendezvous with Death. And I to my pledged word
          am true..."
          
           
          
          Ashe stops some twenty feet away, grinning like the Cheshire
          Cat.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          "I shall not fail that rendezvous."
          
           
          
          Silence like knives. Ashe and Curve facing one another. Curve
          is tense, dry-mouthed...
          
           
          
          CURVE
          
          You think i'm afraid of you, you fucking freak?! YOU THINK I'M
          AFRAID?!!
          
           
          
          Curve SCREAMS and guns his cycle forward, rolling the throttle
          all the way open - a kamikaze run aimed straight at Ashe.
          
          Ashe stands his groupd, lifts the shotgun, FIRST at Curve's customized
          teardrop gas tank. There's the woman doing the wild thing with
          Death and...
          
          BOOM! CURVE'S MOTORCYCLE
          
          disintegrates beneath him, breaking apart into a RUSHING COMET
          OF FLAMING WRECKAGE. Shrapnel skids along the tunnel walls, SPEWING
          SPARKS.
          
          CURVE
          
          lies on the garbage-strewn tunnel floor in a spreading pool of
          blood - burnt, battered, a barb of steel sticking up from his
          chest. Still, Curve has one glorious, giddy moment where he thinks
          he's actually succeeded in defeeating Ashe, then...
          
          CURVE'S POV
          
          as Ashe steps through the gasoline flames.
          
          Curve's elation vaporizes.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Can you hear me, Curve?
          
           
          
          Curve offers a weak nod.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You're going to die now.
          
           
          
          Curve tries to speak, blood spills from his mouth. Ashe places
          a finger to his lips.
          
          Ashe drops down, kneeling over Curve's chest.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          People used to put coins in the mouths of the dead. Do you know
          why? So they could pay the ferryman to take them across the river
          Styx.
          
          (reaching to Curve's ear)
          
          What's this?
          
           
          
          In a parody of a stage magician, Ashe retrieves one of the Peep-O-Rama
          tokens from Curve's ear. The embossed eye logo flashes.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Open your mouth, Curve.
          
           
          
          Curve,s eyes are wide, filled with terror. He MOANS.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Shhh. It's not so bad. Trust me. I've been there.
          
           
          
          Curve slowly opens his mouth. Tears run from his eyes. Ashe places
          the coin on Curve's tongue, like a priest administering a Holy
          wafer.
          
          Ashe stands, grabs Curve by the coat collar. He pulls him back
          towards the end of the tunnel...
          
           
          
          EXT. TUNNEL MOUTH/RIVER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe drags Curve down the sloping end of the spillway to the
          waters edge.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I want to thank you for showing me my pain, Curve. You made me
          what I am.
          
           
          
          ON ASHE
          
          As he releases Curve, letting the current carry him away. Ashe
          stands, tracking Curve's progress.
          
          ON CURVE
          
          as he floats downstream, limbs outstretched, consciousness fading
          fast.
          
          CURVE'S POV
          
          GHOSTLY FACES stare down at him from the girders - people who
          have made their home in the underbelly of the bridge which stretches
          overhead.
          
          A WOMAN lets loose a cloud of marigold petals. They flutter down
          around Curve, swirling in the currents.
          
          PULL BACK TO REVEAL
          
          the petals have clustered around Curve's body in the shape of
          a Crow. Curve continues to float downstream towards an estuary,
          borne away on the wings of the bird.
          
           END OF MOVED SCENE 
          
           
          
          INT. TUNNEL - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe starts back into the tunnel. He pauses a moment, kneeling
          down, lowering his head. Whether out of respect for the dead
          or his own condition, we'll never know.
          
          After a minute, Ashe lifts his head again and stands. It's time
          to see his mission through to the end.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. TUNNEL - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe is heading back from the river when he's struck by...
          
          A VISION OF THE CROW'S POV OF SARAH
          
          ASHE
          
          is seeing what the crow is witnessing - Sarah in danger.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Sarah!
          
           
          
          Ashe starts to run, back toward his bike...
          
          CUT TO:
          
          EXT. CITY STREETS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe is on the motorcycle, racing through the streets. He takes
          a corner on a skid, zipping past the Gray Gargoyle and the neighboring
          train tracks.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe pulls up on the motorcycle, SCREECHING to a stop. He leaps
          from the bike, rushing into Sarah's building.
          
           
          
          INT. SARAH'S LOFT - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe stumbles through the doorway into the loft...
          
          The loft has been trashed. Furniture turned over, paintings slashed,
          the ceramic irony mask smashed into pieces...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (alarmed, desperately looking for her)
          
          Sarah?!
          
           
          
          KALI (O.S.)
          
          Sarah's gone, ghost man.
          
           
          
          Ashe whirls around
          
          KALI
          
          who had been standing still amidst the shadows, now moves from
          behind Sarah's paintings.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Where is she?
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Judah's tower. He's waiting for you there.
          
           
          
          As Kali steps closer we see that she's dressed for war -- a katana
          secured in a black scabbard, twin daggers on each hip, a bandoleer
          of throwing stars.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You took my son's life.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          (GASPING)
          
          Some people are born victims.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          It takes two to make a murder.
          
           
          
          Kali unsheathes her katana. The blade edge catches the streetlight's
          glare coming in from the window.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Shall we dance?
          
           
          
          Kali comes at Ashe blindingly fast. She spins and cartwheels
          end over end, somersaulting. As she lands, Kali shifts into Ginsu-mode,
          her blade a whirling blur...
          
          Ashe ducks under the blade, trapping Kali's sword arm. He twists
          his hands, SNAPPING her arm...
          
          As Kali CRIES OUT, Ashe pivots, THROWING HER towards the half-moon
          window looking out over the street...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. CAMPANILE - JUDAH'S TOWER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah's eyelids flutter open with a start. She's waking on the
          heels of a dream.
          
          PULL BACK to reveal Sarah curled up on the cold tile floor, a
          number of candles burning nearby. Sarah sits up, disoriented.
          Upon moving her arm she finds that it's been shackled to one
          of the pillars via a long chain.
          
          Sarah wastes a few moments tugging at her tether, trying to snap
          one of the links, but it's no good.
          
          Frustrated, Sarah looks around, trying to get her bearings...
          
          SIBYL
          
          is standing a few yards away, cloaked in darkness, head bowed.
          Sarah didn't notice her at first.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Where am I?
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          The Tower. Everyone finds their way here eventually.
          
           
          
          Sarah rises from the floor, a little unsteady. She moves towards
          Sibyl, reaches out to touch her shoulder. The prophetess abruptly
          lifts her head, causing her hood to fall back. Sarah takes a
          step back, GASPING...
          
          SIBYL'S EMPTY EYE SOCKETS
          
          have been sewn shut with black thread.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          My God. What happened to you...?
          
           
          
          JUDAH (O.S.)
          
          Fate happened to her.
          
           
          
          Sarah spins...
          
          JUDAH
          
          emerges from the gloom, almost as if he were materializing from
          the shadows themselves.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Sibyl's been cursed with the gift of prophecy. She sees things
          that are fated to happen...
          
          (BEAT)
          
          She cut her eyes out with a carving knife because she wanted
          to make the visions stop...
          
           
          
          Judah brushes the back of his hand affectionately against Sibyl's
          cheek.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          ...but that only made the visions stronger, didn't it, dear?
          
           
          
          Sibyl turns her head away from Judah, shunning his caress.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          I've learned to live with my affliction.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Don't we all.
          
           
          
          Sarah backs away from Judah, wary.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Judah Earl.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          My reputation precedes me.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (DISGUSTED)
          
          I've seen what your drugs have done to this city.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          (SHRUGGING)
          
          I saw a need, I exploited it. It's all economics, Sarah. Supply
          and demand.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Why did you bring me here?
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          I'm glad you asked that, Sarah. You've got a very important part
          to play in this little drama of ours. You see, I intend to capture
          the Crow...
          
           
          
          Judah draws near, devouring Sarah with his hungry eyes. USING
          A JAGGED FINGERNAIL, HE INCISES A CROSS INTO HER FOREHEAD.
          
           
          
          JUDAH (O.S.)
          
          ... and you, my dear, are the birdseed.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. SARAH'S LOFT/ALLEY - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Kali comes CRASHING through the window, falling down to the sidewalk
          below. She lands atop a wrecked car, snapping her back in two...
          
          CLOSE ON KALI
          
          lies on the ground, her limbs twisted at awkward angles. She
          MOANS, somehow still alive.
          
          KALI'S POV
          
          as Ashe approaches. The Crow flits in from off-screen, landing
          on his shoulder. Watching Kali with it's curious golden eyes.
          
          As Ashe draws near, Kali tries to rise. The most she can do is
          lift her head.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          (GASPING)
          
          I...can't...move...
          
           
          
          Ashe stares at her, dispassionate.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Kill...me, then...finish...it...
          
           
          
          Ashe simply shakes his head.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          You...have to.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          My job is to send you to hell. You're in it.
          
           
          
          Kali stares at Ashe in disbelief, her stoic warrior's mien quickly
          evaporating.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          There's no...honor in this. It's my...death. I've won it..
          
           
          
          Ashe turns and starts away.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Me, too.
          
           
          
          KALI
          
          Wait! Where are you going?! Wait! You can't...do this! You can't
          do this!!!
          
           
          
          But Ashe doesn't turn back. He leaves Kali in the cold, wet street,
          ignoring her pathetic laments.
          
          Ashe continues on to the end of the alley...
          
          THE CROW
          
          lands on Ashe's outstretched hand.
          
          The Crow takes wing, lifting its way up into the night.
          
          Ashe fires up the motorcycle's engine, tearing away from Sarah's
          apartment in a cloud of smoke.
          
          CUT TO:
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The scene resumes. Sarah stares at Judah, horrified.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Why are you doing this?
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Have you ever read Dante's Inferno? It says that the only true
          path through Hell lies at its center. If you want to escape it
          -- you have to go further in.
          
           
          
          Judah lowers himself into a chair.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          When I was a boy I fell through the ice of a lake. I remember
          seeing the sky through the ice above me, close enough to touch.
          The world grew cold around me. Dark. Eventually my heart stopped
          beating. And in that moment, I died.
          
           
          
          Judah sweeps his hand through one of the candle flames, then
          pinches the flame out of existence. A tiny wisp of smoke trails
          up into shadow.
          
          Judah settles back in his chair, overcome by a memory that for
          him has never lost its vibrancy.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          A half-hour later I awoke on an operating table. I had returned
          to the world of flesh and bone -- But I brought a knowledge back
          with me...
          
          (tapping his forehead)
          
          Forbidden knowledge.
          
           
          
          Judah leans in close to Sarah, his lambent eyes glowing like
          hot coals. As Judah continues, Sarah fingers the ankh which hangs
          from her neck.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          I've been living on borrowed time ever since. I've always known
          Death would be coming for me.
          
          (BEAT)
          
          I see now that your friend is the one I've been waiting for.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          You can't stop him.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          You're wrong, Sarah.
          
          (RISING)
          
          There is a way to defeat Death... and that's to trade places
          with him.
          
           
          
          Sibyl turns her head towards the east.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          The Crow is coming.
          
           
          
          Judah looks back at Sarah.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. CITY STREETS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe comes screaming over a hill on his motorcycle, the image
          of Judah's face burned into his mind...
          
          A HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE
          
          piloted by a man in a devil mask suddenly looms up in front of
          Ashe. The street ahead has been cordoned off with flashing wooden
          barricades. There's some kind of street fiesta going on...
          
          Ashe swerves, BRAKING HARD to avoid hitting the carriage. Ashe's
          bike slips out from under him and Ashe goes CRASHING into the
          barricades. But even as the carriage's skull-faced costumed occupants
          rush up to help him...
          
          ... Ashe is up and running, leaping over the barricades into
          the crowd beyond...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER - JESUS SAVES SIGN - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Crow lands atop the buzzing "JESUS SAVES" sign. It cocks
          its head, as if considering its next move, then flies toward
          the campanile.
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The Crow enters through one of the openings in the grillework,
          settling on one of the rafters.
          
          CROW'S POV
          
          Sarah sits within one of the pools of illumination far below,
          still bound to the bed by the chain. Judah and Sibyl are nowhere
          in sight.
          
          THE CROW
          
          flies down from the rafters, landing on the floor at Sarah's
          feet. It CAWS at her, trying to communicate.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          ...go...please go...
          
           
          
          The Crow tilts its head as if trying to understand...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (shaking her chain)
          
          GO!!!
          
           
          
          WHOOSH! A steel cage on a wire and pulley system CLATTERS down
          from above, SLAMMING to the floor and trapping the bird within
          it. The bird CAWS angrily, flitting from one side of the cage
          to another, but its efforts are futile.
          
          CROW'S POV (ANAMORPHIC)
          
          as Judah emerges from the darkness, crouching down on the floor
          to study the Crow. He grins.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Look who's come home to roost.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. STREET - DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION - NIGHT
          
           
          
          A massive street festival is under way with Dia de los Muertos
          CELEBRANTS mobbing the area. Paper "BIENVENIDOS" banners are
          strung overhead. CHILDREN light strings of firecrackers. Masked
          MUMMERS in garish costumes dance, MUSICIANS stroll. People are
          holding giant papier-mache skulls on sticks along with torches
          and calavera placards.
          
          There are stalls offering marigolds and cockscomb, black beeswax
          tapers, dangling toy skeletons, mountains of calaveras de azucar.
          
          ASHE
          
          pushes through the throng of revelers, invisible amidst the carnival
          atmosphere. In his makeup he's just another face in the crowd.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S CAMPANILE/CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Judah, now carrying the cage which contains the Crow, sweeps
          aside the curtain of the camera obscura. He reaches up to a lever
          which opens the camera's lens. Moonlight shines down on the camera
          table. With another lever, Judah adjusts the camera's view.
          
          CAMERA TABLE
          
          The camera lens is now trained on the night sky. A churning landscape
          of night-sky coulds drifts across the table's surface, creating
          an eerie effect.
          
          JUDAH
          
          sets a package wrapped in velvet on the camera table. He peels
          back the cloth, revealing a set of ornately decorated, tapered
          daggers. He looks back at Sarah.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Do you know what these are called? Misericords. Wonderful name,
          isn't it?
          
           
          
          Judah removes one of the blades from its sheath, running the
          glinting edge along his finger.
          
           
          
          JUDAH In the Dark Ages, these were used to deliver the death
          stroke to the mortally wounded. They were considered tools of
          mercy.
          
           
          
          Judah turns to the steel cage in which the Crow has been trapped.
          
          He pulls on a leather falconer's glove and opens the door to
          the cage. The Crow flaps his wings madly, desperately trying
          to strike at Judah with its beak and claws...
          
          ... but Judah secures his grip around the bird's throat, pulling
          it out. He pins the Crow to the focusing table of the camera
          obscura with his gloved hand.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. STREET - DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe fights his way through the crowd. A drunken, MASKED WOMAN
          grabs hold of him, spins him around, dancing. Ashe shoves her
          aside, making his way to...
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER, STREET LEVEL - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The black sky beyond shimmers with turbulent yellow thunderheads.
          The entry way to the tower has been gated and chained. The only
          way in is up.
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER, STREET LEVEL - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe grabs a hold of one of the ornamental statues which crowd
          th ebuildint's facade. He pulls himself up, starting the daunting
          task of scaling the tower.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S CAMPANILE/CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Back to Judah and the Crow. The clouds being projected onto the
          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
          his lips...
          
          The action harkens back to the moment when Sarah painted Ashe's
          face - a parallel ritual turned on its head.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S CAMPANILE - CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Judah turns towards us, his transformation now complete. We see
          that he has painted himself a parody of Ashe's irony mask in
          the Crow's own blood.
          
          SARAH
          
          watches with a mixture of mounting horror and morbid curiousity.
          
          JUDAH
          
          scoops up a handful of the Crow's blood and brings it to his
          lips.
          
          CLOSE ON JUDAH'S LIPS
          
          as he drinks, letting the overflow trickle down over his chin
          and neck.
          
          CLOSE ON JUDAH'S FACE
          
          his once-pallid features now glow with a kind of beatific radiance.
          
          WE RISE UP
          
          from Judah, up and up into the darkest reaches of his tower.
          Judah is LAUGHING, laughing in the face of Death itself.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER - STREET
          
           
          
          Ashe lies amidst a field of shimmering glass shards and flowers.
          
          THE MASKED CELEBRANTS
          
          slowly gather around Ashe, craning their necks for a view of
          the fallen angel.
          
          CLOSE ON ASHE'S FACE
          
          Relaxed, peaceful, even. For a moment, we aren't sure whether
          or not Ashe's soul has fled.
          
          The peripheral noise from the street festival dies away. We're
          in the eye of the hurricane now. Once again, time seems to shudder
          to a stop. And the only thing we hear are...
          
          THE CROWS
          
          Thousands of them, filling the heavens with their KEENING WAILS.
          
          Ashe slowly opens his eyes, tentative. When you're this deep
          in the bosom of bliss, the last thing you want to do is waken,
          but waken he does...
          
          ASHE'S POV - THE SKY ABOVE JUDAH'S TOWER
          
          is black with crows. And endless army of carrion-creatures, swirling
          madly about.
          
          BACK TO SCENE
          
          Ashe sits up, stares at the crows, fascinated, frightened. Then
          his eyes fall to the faces of the people around him. We are in
          dream-time now, blurring the edges of reality.
          
          A CHILD
          
          wearing a skull mask pushes to the front of the crowd. He stares
          at Ashe a moment, then lifts the mask from his face...
          
          It's Danny.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (CONFUSED)
          
          Danny...?
          
           
          
          Ashe rushes to Danny's side, holding him tight, his disbelief
          overpowered by the unfettered joy of seeing his son once again.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          What are you doing here?!
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          It's time to go back, Dad.
          
           
          
          Ashe looks up at the screaming crows above them.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Is that why they're here?
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          (NODDING)
          
          They're the souls who came before you. They're crying for the
          people they've lost.
          
          (BEAT)
          
          Now they're crying for you.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          But Sarah still needs me.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          You don't understand, Dad. You work for the dead, not the living.
          Your work here is done.
          
           
          
          Ashe reaches for his son's shoulders, all but pleading with him.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I can't go, not yet, not now...
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          You have to.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Danny, I can't leave her like this...
          
           
          
          The CRIES of the crows grow louder as the sky above becomes darker.
          
          A shadow passes over Danny's face. He Seems Saddened. For a moment,
          it seems as if another entity creeps into Danny's voice.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          If you turn your back on the dead now, you'll be trapped between
          the worlds. You'll never be allowed to cross over.
          
          (BEAT)
          
          You'll be alone, Dad. Forever.
          
           
          
          Ashe hesitates a moment, realizing the enormity of what he is
          about to do. It's an agonizing choice.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          I have to stay.
          
           
          
          Danny nods.
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          I know.
          
           
          
          Danny reaches out to touch Ashe's painted face...
          
           
          
          DANNY
          
          (FORLORN)
          
          Good-bye, Dad.
          
           
          
          As Danny says his parting words, the SOUNDS of the world around
          them come rushing back with startling clarity. Danny starts to
          turn away...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Danny, wait...!
          
           
          
          WHAM! Ashe bolts up from the bed of flowers and glass. The spell
          is broken. Was he dreaming...?
          
          No, there's Danny slipping back into the crows, the mask pulled
          down over his face once again.
          
          Ashe reaches for Danny, spinning him around, pulling off the
          mask...
          
          ...only it's not Danny! It's a drunken DWARF with fucked-up teeth
          who's laughing his ass of at Ashe. Ashe recoils, horrified, then
          spins around, suddenly finding himself face to face with...
          
          JUDAH
          
          standing just a few yards away, emerging from the doorway of
          his tower. He got the anti-Crow blood mask on his face. His eyes
          are glowing like twin stars and his lips are curled back in a
          feral snarl. In his hands, he holds one of the chains from his
          campanile.
          
          Judah grabs Ashe by the lapels of his coat, draging him close
          so they're eye to eye -- close enough to breathe the same beath
          -- two sides of a coin.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Tell me, Ashe. Do you every get the feeling we're all just dead
          men on leave?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (seething with hatred)
          
          Judah.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          In the flesh.
          
           
          
          Judah flings Ashe backwards...
          
          Ashe reaches his hand into his coat, pulling out a .45. He FIRES
          into Judah's chest - once, twice, thrice...
          
          Judah doesn't even stagger, he just keeps on grinning. Wisps
          of smoke rise up from the holes in his chest.
          
          Ashe stares at Judah, dumbfounded.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          What...are...you?
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          I'm your shadow, Ashe. Every angel's got a devil. Didn't you
          know that? Or maybe you just slept your way through Sunday school?
          
           
          
          Judah lashes out with the rope. Ashe spins and falters. Incredibly,
          he finds himself feeling pain.
          
          Judah follows with a series of blows, each more savage than the
          next, driving Ashe back...
          
          Ashe stumbles, falls to his hands and knees. He reaches to his
          mouth, his hand comes away spattered with blood. Ashe shakes
          his head to clear it.
          
          Judah kicks Ashe in the face, knocking him onto his back...
          
          ...but Ashe springs back to his feet. He tries to strike Judah.
          Judah catches Ashe's hand and squeezes tight. We hear bones snapping.
          
          CRACK! Judah smashes out with his other fist, Ashe spins around
          and collapses...
          
          Ashe tries to push himself up by his hands. He coughs, spitting
          up more blood, crawls forward...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          What... did you do to me...?
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          I've tasted the blood of the Crow and taken your power.
          
           
          
          WHOOSH! Judah whips the rope about, snapping the end around Ashe's
          neck, dragging him off his feet.
          
          Judah pulls Ashe forward, crouching over him like a spider ready
          to devour its prey.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          You're flesh and blood now, Ashe. You can die like any other
          man.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Go to hell.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Already been there. And I must confess, I liked what I saw.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah sobs quietly, still chained to the pillar. A figure suddenly
          appears at her side -- Sibyl. Sarah looks up...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          What...?
          
           
          
          Sibyl produces a key from within her robes. She places the key
          in the lock on Sarah's manacles. With a turn of the key, the
          manacles fall away and Sarah is free.
          
          Sarah looks back at the blind oracle, uncertain.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Why are you doing this?
          
           
          
          Sibyl fixes Sarah with her blind stare.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          Ashe needs you now. More than ever.
          
           
          
          Sibyl raises her other hand. She's holding one of the misericords
          which she extends to Sarah.
          
           
          
          SIBYL
          
          Go to him.
          
           
          
          Sarah takes the misericord and racees for the end of the campanile,
          towards a beckoning doorway and a stairwell beyond. Printed on
          a grime-smeared placard nearby are the words...
          
          "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT"
          
           
          
          Sarah rushes through the doorway, heedless.
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CITY STREETS - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Judah plants his foot on Ashe's chest, tightening the chain around
          Ashe's throat.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Looks like the dead have forsaken you, my friend.
          
           
          
          Ashe clutches at the rusty chain links which bite into his flesh,
          choking.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Look at you, bleeding like a stuck pig. Where's your precious
          strength? Where's your power?
          
          (drawing closer, whispering)
          
          You're nothing now, Ashe, not even a ghost.
          
           
          
          Judah rises. He grabs a hold of the chain, pulling...
          
          ASHE
          
          down the street. Ashe SCREAMS as his body is dragged across the
          asphalt...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, ELEVATOR - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah rushes into a rickety old elevator, pulling the accordion-style
          security gate shut. She punches the "DOWN" arrow on the tarnished
          control panel. With a lurch and HUM the elevator car starts its
          journey downward.
          
           
          
          EXT. CITY STREET, MOVIE PALACE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Judah has dragged Ashe over to the East side of the street, in
          front of an old movie palace. He leaps atop one of the vending
          stalls and clambers onto the marquee itself.
          
          JUDAH
          
          shouts to the crowds below, his eyes on fire.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          You want death?! Here he is, people!!! Take a good look!!!
          
           
          
          Even as Ashe fights to free himself of the chain, Judah loops
          one end of it over a street lamp. He jumps from the marquee,
          using his body weight to pull Ashe from the ground...
          
          ASHE
          
          is dragged up into the air, dangling above the faces of the crowd.
          
           
          
          EXT. CITY STREET, JUDAH'S TOWER - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah rushes out the front entrance of the tower, into the Day
          of the Dead crowd which swarms below. She pushes through the
          mob, trying to fight her way across the street.
          
           
          
          EXT. CITY STREET - MOVIE PALACE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Ashe swings like a puppet from Judah's improvised hangman's noose.
          His coat and short have been all but torn to shreds.
          
          Judah drags down on the chain harder, lifting Ashe even higher,
          tightening the noose. He secures the chain on a hydrant, then
          strolls forward, inspecting his work. Judah circles Ashe, grinning
          like the cat who swallowed the canary.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Now don't we look pretty...
          
           
          
          Ashe struggles, choking, causing...
          
          THE TATTERED PAINTING
          
          of Danny's that Ashe had kept in his coat pocket to fall free.
          It flutters to the ground, landing at Judah's feet.
          
          Judah kneels, picking it up. As he unfolds the painting, we see
          that it has been stained with Ashe's own blood. He tilts it this
          way and that -- as if he were appraising the craftsmanship of
          the piece.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          Nice. If you prick him, does he not bleed?
          
           
          
          Judah looks up at Ashe, his eyes full of crazed humor, then he
          very deliberately tears the painting to shreds, letting the pieces
          fall away into the night wind.
          
          Judah reaches for metal rod, lashing out at Ashe's bare, bloodied
          back...
          
          WHACK! Ashe SCREAMS. Judah is hell-bent on beating Ashe into
          oblivion. With every stroke of the switch the crowd CHEERS.
          
          CLOSE ON ASHE
          
          His eyes are rolling to whites as consciousness begins to recede...
          
          ASHE'S POV
          
          The swirling faces of the masked celebrants, with Judah front
          and center. Mob mentality, everyone drunk and LAUGHING, jeering
          at Ashe, the dangling fool. It's a scene out of Hell...
          
          .. and behind Judah, a familiar figure pushing her way to the
          front of the crowd...
          
          SARAH
          
          lunges forward, clutching the misericord, shoving a reveller
          aside...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Get away from him!
          
           
          
          Judah turns. Sarah drives the misericord into Judah's eye. Judah,
          momentarily blinded, falls back...
          
          Sarah unlashes the end of the chain from the hydrant...
          
          ASHE
          
          falls to the street as the chain CLATTERS over the street lamp.
          He unravels the chain from his throat and drags himself back
          up...
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Sarah, get back!
          
           
          
          Too late. Judah has torn the misericord from his eye. He rushes
          up to Sarah and...
          
          ...THUNK! Drives it deep into her chest.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          SARAH!!!
          
           
          
          Sarah gasps, drops to her knees, clutching at the dagger's handle.
          She pulls the misericord out. Blood begins to well up from the
          wound. She stares at her blood-covered hands in disbelief, then
          falls back.
          
          Silence now as the crowd begins to back away. The mood has shifted.
          
          Ashe drops by Sarah's side. She stares up at the sky, eyes wide
          with wonder...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          The crows...I can see them coming...
          
           
          
          SARAH'S POV
          
          Once again, the crows are wheeling around the ceiling of the
          sky.
          
          BACK TO SCENE
          
          Ashe looks up at Judah, fueled by a righteous rage that's been
          burning since the moment of his resurrection. He rises. All reason
          is gone. The only think that remains for Ashe is an unbridled
          animal fury.
          
          Ashe launches himself at Judah, sending the villain tumbling
          back into a nest of scaffolding. One of the pipes punches clear
          through Judah's chest, impaling him!
          
          Judah hangs there, transfixed like a butterfly with a pin stuck
          through it. He struggles to pull himself from the piping, but
          even so, he's laughing hysterically...
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          You can't stop me anymore, Ashe. You don't have the power.
          
           
          
          Ashe's eyes boil with hatred.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          If it were just me, you'd be right, Judah. But I have an eternity
          of pain to call upon...
          
           
          
          Ashe lifts his hands up, exposing his bleeding palms.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          And the pain gives me strength.
          
           
          
          ASHE'S PALMS
          
          As we watch the stigmata close themselves up, blood drawing itself
          back into the wounds.
          
          Ashe raises his arms to the sky, gesturing to the crows which
          spin high above his head.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          TAKE HIM!!!
          
           
          
          EXT. JUDAH'S CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          The murder of crows spirals down from the sky like a black tidal
          wave. They descend on Judah as one entity, SCREAMING down from
          the heavens like a storm of razor blades.
          
           
          
          JUDAH
          
          NO!!!
          
           
          
          We get one final glimpse of horrified Judah's face, eyes wide
          with terror, before the tidal wave of black wings engulfs him.
          
          JUDAH
          
          lets loose a DEATH-SHRIEK that all but splits the sky as the
          myriad beaks and talons rend him limb from limb.
          
          DOWN IN THE STREET,
          
          Ashe returns to Sarah's side, lifting her up off the ground and
          cradling her in his arms.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You can't die, Sarah... I stayed for you.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          (GASPING)
          
          There's a balance that needs to be kept...someone had to cross
          over...
          
           
          
          Sarah takes a ragged breath, wincing as a wave of pain washes
          over her.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I didn't want it to be you...
          
           
          
          Sarah looks up at Ashe, tries her level best to smile. She's
          at death's door now - one foot already over the threshold. Her
          face is pale, having lost so much blood. Tears spill down Ashe's
          cheeks, causing the war-paint makeup to run in rivulets.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (in anguish)
          
          I can't go with you, Sarah. I have to stay here now.
          
          (cursing his fate)
          
          I have to stay.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Do you love me?
          
           
          
          Ashe nods.
          
          Sarah reaches down to the wedding ring which hangs from her neck
          on the chain. She tugs at the chain, snapping it apart. She holds
          the ring out to Ashe.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Take...this...
          
           
          
          Ashe takes the ring from Sarah. She closes Ashe's hand around
          the ring, gripping his fist tightly.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          I'll wait for you. Forever, if I have to.
          
           
          
          She shuts her eyes, riding through another wave of pain.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Oh God...
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          Listen...if two people really love each other...
          
           
          
          She inhales sharply. Breathing has become a labor for her now.
          
           
          
          SARAH
          
          ...nothing can keep them apart.
          
          (her voice fading)
          
          ...nothing.
          
           
          
          Ashe nods, trying to let this thought reassure him. It's the
          only thing he has left to cling to.
          
          SARAH'S POV
          
          Ashe's face, surrounded by a nimbus of light. We're falling away
          from him. Down, down, down. And as we fall, we hear a FLUTTERING
          OF WINGS.
          
          ON SARAH'S FACE
          
          Her eyes lose focus. Her head goes slack in Ashe's arms. She's
          gone.
          
          Ashe lowers his lips to her, kissing her one final time.
          
          Ashe cradles Sarah's lifeless body in his arms, gently rocking
          back and forth, tears streaming down his cheeks.
          
          And as we pull back from them, we realize that the scene mirrors
          the prophetic image from Sarah's own painting - the woman dying
          in the arms of her lover, surrounded by a gallery of skull-masked
          celebrants.
          
          Ashe stands, lifting Sarah in his arms. He turns to leave...
          
          THE DAY OF THE DEAD CROWD
          
          slowly part for him, revealing a path of marigold petals leading
          away down the street. It's almost as if, by silent consensus,
          the crowd has come to understand what has happened here this
          night.
          
          ASHE
          
          moves through the crowd carrying Sarah in his arms. The people
          close ranks behind him and we...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMERA OBSCURA - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sibyl stands over the camera obscura. On the table's focusing
          surface we see the street below.
          
          ASHE
          
          is carrying Sarah in his arms, moving through the crowd of silent
          witnesses.
          
          SIBYL
          
          nods to herself, satisfied. We see what might be a trace of a
          smile cross her lips.
          
          Sibyl turns and exits the camera obscura.
          
           
          
          INT. JUDAH'S TOWER, CAMPANILE - NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sibyl approaches the table where the stag beetle is tethered.
          Removing a pair of scissors from within her robes, Sibyl cuts
          the thread which binds the beetle.
          
          THE STAG BEETLE,
          
          free at last, quickly scurries out of the box and across the
          table, disappearing into the shadows.
          
          Sibyl follows suit, gathering her robes about her and stepping
          on into the darkness.
          
          DISSOLVE TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. INNER-CITY CHURCH - DAWN
          
           
          
          The same church we visited the night before. Ashe, still carrying
          Sarah in his arms, enters the sanctuary.
          
          The church is aglow with candles. Ashe lays Sarah's body down
          in front of the offrenda, folding her arms across her chest,
          leaving her in a state of repose. He stands, taking in one last
          look.
          
          As Ashe moves to leave, he sees the elderly priest he had spoken
          to earlier.
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          Why are you still here?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          Because I have nowhere left to go.
          
           
          
          Ashe steps past the priest, moving towards the doorway and the
          daylight beyond.
          
           
          
          PRIEST
          
          What will you do, then?
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          (looking back)
          
          This city is filled with shadows. One more won't make it any
          darker.
          
           
          
          EXT. CHURCH - DAWN
          
           
          
          Ashe exits the church, finding haven in a shadowed doorway. He
          reaches into his pocket, removing the wedding ring Sarah had
          given to him...
          
          CLOSE ON THE RING
          
          as Ashe turns it over in his hands, seeing the word "FOREVER"
          inscribed on the inside of the band. He slips it on his finger.
          
           
          
          GRACE (O.S.)
          
          (CONCERNED)
          
          Are you all right?
          
           
          
          Ashe looks up to see...
          
          GRACE,
          
          the drugged-out girl that Sarah helped at the beginning of the
          film. She's looking good now, clean of the poison that once possessed
          her. And damned if she isn't holding Gabriel in her arms.
          
           
          
          GRACE
          
          Long night, huh?
          
           
          
          Gabriel MEOWS to Ashe. Ashe reaches out and scratches the cat's
          ear.
          
           
          
          GRACE
          
          Isn't he cool? I found him on the street. I was going to take
          him home with me.
          
           
          
          ASHE
          
          You should. Looks like he needs a home.
          
           
          
          GRACE
          
          Well, see ya.
          
           
          
          She smiles at him and starts off down the street. Gabriel turns
          around in Grace's arms and peers back at Ashe from over her shoulder.
          
          Ashe moves out from the shadows into the steadily growing light,
          watching them. We see just a hint of hope in his eyes - hope
          that someday he and Sarah will be reunited.
          
          As we hold on Ashe's face, Sarah's VOICE-OVER begins.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          I believe there's a place where the restless souls wanter...
          
           
          
          DISSOLVE TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. LIMBO - DAWN
          
           
          
          The same scene as the beginning of our film. We've made a circle.
          A heavy mist hangs before us - endless and impenetrable. And
          out of that primordial fog a CROW materializes, flying towards
          the camera in slow motion.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          Burdened by the weight of their own sadness, they cannot enter
          Heaven...
          
           
          
          Presently a second shape materializes - a FIGURE ON HORSEBACK,
          galloping after the Crow.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          And so they wait, trapped between our world and the next, endlessly
          searching for a way to rid themselves of their pain - in the
          hopes that somehow, some day, they will be reunited...
          
           
          
          As the dark rider comes towards us, we realize that it's Sarah
          whose baleful eyes are now shining behind the irony mask war
          paint.
          
           
          
          SARAH (V.O.)
          
          ...with the ones they love.
          
           
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. FREEWAY OVERPASS - DAWN
          
           
          
          Ashe is back on his bike, racing beneath the cathedral-like arches
          of the overpass. As he sweeps past a concrete pillar we...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. LIMBO - DAY/NIGHT
          
           
          
          Sarah on her horse, galloping in parallel action. As she sweeps
          last a tree we...
          
          CUT TO:
          
           
          
          EXT. FREEWAY OVERPASS - DAWN
          
           
          
          Ashe on the bike. Now we intercut between the two doomed lovers,
          each on their respective steeds. Worlds apart, and yet, somehow
          traveling the same road.
          
          We are intercutting faster and faster, until the sound of HOOFBEATS
          and the MOTORCYCLE'S ROAR are indistinguishable.
          
          Until the two figures themselves begin to blur.
          
          Faster and faster and faster until we...
          
          CUT TO BLACK.
          
          Over the darkness we hear Sarah's final words to Ashe:
          
           
          
          SARAH'S VOICE
          
          If two people really love each other, nothing can keep them apart...
          
          (BEAT)
          
          Nothing.
          
           
          
          THE END
          
           


Crow: City of Angels, The



Writers :   David S Goyer  James O'Barr
Genres :   Action  Fantasy  Thriller  Crime


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