Total Recall

FADE IN:

1EXT. DESERT - DAY

All we can see, filling the entire frame is a flame-orange sky...almost

like the sky from the burning of Atlanta in "Gone with the Wind".

SUPERIMPOSE:
Presenter credit.

PAN DOWN lower and lower until we see the terrain below... the desert.

There is no vegetation whatever, just sand and odd-shaped rock

formations. The air is filled with red dust, which alternately

obscures and then reveals the image. CAMERA MOVES FORWARD optically -

enlarging the film grain in the process.

SLOW DISOLVE:

OPENING CREDITS BEGIN.

ANOTHER SHOT of a barren landscape, once more with bizarre rocks. Dust.

Sound of wind. CAMERA MOVES FORWARD again. DISSOLVE.

ANOTHER LANDSCAPE, but this time, in the distance are some enormous

plastic domes. Sunlight striking them and reflect- ing causes brilliant

rainbows. CAMERA optically tracks toward the dome, seen in

tantalizingly indistinct fashion through the red dust. DISSOLVE...

ANOTHER ANGLE, and, in the distance, on the horizon of the arid

landscape is a huge SPHINX-LIKE STRUCTURE. (It is reminiscent of the

Egyptian sphinx, but both body and face, though gargoyle-like, are

different in design.) There are some large pyramids not far from the

sphinx. CAMERA MOVES optically FORWARD. DISSOLVE.

CAMERA is much closer to the sphinx and is directly in front. It moves

(combination of zoom and optical printer move) towards the eyes, which

appear to be red gems.

As CAMERA APPROACHES one of the eyes, it appears to be stained red

glass, as in a temple. Suddenly there is a terrific explosion and the

glass shatters into millions of fragments which hurtle toward the

camera...

2INT. CATACOMB BELOW "SPHINX" - DAY

A MAN wearing a LIGHTWEIGHT THERMAL SUIT is RUNNING THROUGH THIS

LABYRINTH of TUNNELS. The GROUND TREMBLES under him, as if in an

earthquake. We cannot clearly make out his face, especially since he

wears some kind of BREATHING APPARATUS over a portion of it.

The surface of the tunnel's "walls" is curious; the walls are, again,

bright reddish orange, and a composite of two different substances:

rough-textured, clay-like material and red quartz, which glistens like

crystal.

The man throws a backward glance over his shoulder, fear- fully, as he

runs. His HANDS are SPLATTERED with BLOOD. Because of this, the RED

GLOW, the air of FEAR to the man, and the GROUND HEAVING and BUCKLING,

there is almost a SATANIC suggestion to the scene.

Suddenly, up AHEAD of the man, there appears a BRILLIANT WHITE LIGHT.

He SEES IT, and runs even faster towards it.

We are ALMOST UP TO THE LIGHT, and we SEE HANDS REACHING OUT OF THE

LIGHT TOWARDS US... that seem to beckon him to SAFETY.

ABRUPTLY, the ENTIRE SCREEN GOES RED, BUT IN REVERSE NEGATIVE; with

YELLOW LAYOVERS. (So that all the images we see -- ENTIRE FRAME -- are

small YELLOW AREAS diffused on a RED BACKGROUND.) It is much like

looking at a tableau made out of molten lava.

SUPERIMPOSE MAIN TITLE:

TOTAL RECALL:

HOLD.

DISSOLVE TO:

3INT. BEDROOM IN SMALL APARTMENT - MORNING

DOUGLAS QUAIL and his wife KRISTEN, are asleep in bed.

Gradually the room lights BRIGHTEN. The CLOCK CHIMES and begins

SPEAKING in a soft, feminine voice.

CLOCK (sweetly) Tick, tock, seven o'clock. Time to rise and open your

eyes.

They don't budge. Shortly, the clock CHIMES again.

CLOCK (continuing) Tick, tock, seven-oh-one. Time to get up, the day

had begun.

Quail's wife stirs. Maddeningly, the clock CHIMES a third time.

CLOCK (continuing) Tick, tock --

Quail reaches out and shuts the clock off. Then he sits up in bed.

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