Hellbound: Hellraiser II

FADE IN:

1 TITLES

The screen is composed of large, straight-edge areas of black

and white that rest against each other in a manner that suggests

some kind of pattern, without making a final sense; it is as if

we are too close to something that, could we see it from a

distance, would be clear to us.

These areas shift and change - both their own shape and their

relationship to their neighbors. New patterns are being made,

new solutions found - but they are just beyond our comprehension.

The effect should be aesthetically pleasing but simultaneously

frustrating and, perhaps, a little unsettling.

Shortly into this sequence, and subsequently inter-cut

throughout, we begin to see, in FLASHBACK, the story of

HELLRAISER. Arriving first as very short shock-images, these

brief sections eventually convey to the audience all the

necessary emotional and narrative information they will need to

understand the background to HELLBOUND.

Meanwhile, the black and white shapes are still moving, the

unseen patterns still shifting.

Over this constantly mobile background, the TITLES begin to

appear.

As the TITLES unroll, another change comes over the puzzle pieces

behind them. Where before they moved and related only in two

dimensions, gradually we see that they are now claiming depth as

well. The puzzle we are looking at is now a three-dimensional

one. The pieces are now solid blocks of various geometric

shapes, locking together, moving apart, finding their final

position.

Finally, as the TITLES come to their conclusion, the camera pulls

back until we can see clearly what we have been looking at. As

the final piece clicks into positions we see it is THE LAMENT

CONFIGURATION from HELLRAISER.

The closed box rests before our eyes a moment and then the circle

in the centre of the side that faces us gives way to an image

of a dusty street with a market. Simultaneous to this, the camera

TRACKS into this image until it fills the screen

2 EXT A STREET BAZAAR DAY

The TRACK continues up through the market and then turns through

the stalls to find a store behind them. As we TRACK through the

store's doorway, we pass through a beaded curtain that

momentarily reminds us of the TORTURE ROOM in HELLRAISER.

3 INT. STORE DAY

Once we are in the store itself, though, this impression disappears.

It is an ordinary, slightly seedy, junk shop.

The stall seems to sell an odd mixture of items; native trinkets

share space with second-hand items from European colonists. These

second-hand goods give us some sense of period. They suggest the

late 'twenties/early 'thirties. This is reinforced by the

sounds coming from one of them, an old-fashioned mahogany-cased

wireless. A foreign voice speaks from it in a language we don't

understand, though perhaps the words "BBC world service" are

discerned in the middle, and then a dance-hall tune of the period

begins to play. (Depending on availability, it would be nice to

have something relevant - 'I'll follow my Secret Heart', perhaps,

or 'Dancing in the Dark'.)

Into shot comes an ENGLISH OFFICER. His uniform, too, suggests

the 'twenties, the last days of Empire. He is tall, thin, and

dark-haired, but at no stage do we see his face clearly. He

stands in front of the stall.

The TRADER suddenly stands behind the counter. He has been

crouched beneath it, as if checking or preparing something. He

is a big, impressive-looking black man. His face is totally

impassive as he stares at his customer.

Neither of the men speak. Obviously, a deal has already been

struck and today is the pay-off.

The OFFICER, a little arrogantly - suggesting racist contempt,

slaps down a bag of gold on the stall's counter.

Keeping his eyes firmly on the OFFICER, he reaches beneath him

and brings something up from under the counter and places it In

the OFFICER'S outstretched hand. He is holding a LAMENT

CONFIGURATION.

The OFFICER turns and leaves. The camera TRACKS out of the store,

looking at the TRADER as he watches the departing OFFICER.

4 INT THE OFFICER'S QUANSETT HUT DAY

It is typical of temporary military quarters, complete with a

curved ceiling of corrugated material. It is stripped of furniture.

The blinds are down.

The OFFICER, still in uniform, sits cross-legged, the BOX held

before him.

He is already well into the solving process and very soon after

the shot begins the BOX begins to speed its own solution.

Finally, two sections of the BOX shoot upwards and begin to peel

apart from each other, ready to reveal its secret.

The OFFICER, suddenly nervous, drops the BOX and scuttles back

across the floor to stare at it. The BOX lands upright, its

extended parts still open above it. For a beat of two, nothing

happens. We become aware of the OFFICER'S pulse, throbbing

excitedly on the soundtrack.

5 INT THE OFFICER'S QUANSETT HUT DAY OFFICER'S P.O.V.

Slowly we, the camera, and the OFFICER, move towards the still,

silent, but menacing BOX.

We approach it until finally we are above it, looking down into

the opening it has made in itself. There is undefined movement

inside.

Suddenly, something flies up directly at us. We glimpse it only

briefly, but enough to see its nature. Unlike the hooks that

flaw at FRANK in HELLRAISER, this is more organic than metallic.

Pink and flesh-like but on a long gray-blue stalk, it

flies upward, its lips peeling apart gapingly to reveal scores of

yellow, discoloured, and viciously sharp teeth-like hooks.

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