CUT TO:
EXT. THEATRE SAME
Gale approaches the side theatre door. She pulls on it. It's locked.
GALE Shit.
She moves down along the theatre to another door.
CUT TO:
INT. THEATRE A MINUTE LATER
Hallie and Derek move around Sid, taking turns filming her with the camera.
DEREK We met on the internet.
HALLIE He sent me the cutest e-mail.
DEREK I read her postings on the horror movie chat boards and fell hopelessly. Hook, line...
HALLIE We have our own website now. We dedicated a whole page to you.
DEREK You'd me amazed at how many of us there are out there. It's a whole world, Sid. You're really popular amongst the demented.
HALLIE You're the one who got away.
DEREK Until now.
COTTON You guys are fucked.
HALLIE Actually Cotton, and I think critics would agree, it's the other way around.
DEREK Poor Cotton, could life be a little more cruel?
SIDNEY You're not going to get away with this.
HALLIE Of course not. Who wants to? What's the point if we don't get caught? Where's the glamour in that?
DEREK The way I see it. We'll be arrested. Go to prison. Cash in on the home footage. Secure a book deal. If all goes as planned, our trial should coincide with the release of STAB II.
HALLIE A verdict and premiere all on the same day. I love it.
DEREK We're hoping for the death penalty. I have this whole DEAD MAN WALKING swan song exit planned.
HALLIE And now, drum roll please...
DEREK Hope you're ready, Sid. We got one last surprise for you.
Cotton pull and twists on his bound wrists. Sid had loosened them somewhat. He tries to finish undoing them.
HALLIE A twist ending if you will.
DEREK Yeah, we really had our work cut out for us. It really is the curse of the sequel. The Billy/Stu thing's been done.
HALLIE ..so we had to be different but yet the same because if you venture to far away from your orginal story you completely alienate the audience...
DEREK And we didn't want to do that, Sid. We wanted to give you your money's worth.
HALLIE So we found a compromise.
DEREK Or it found us.
HALLIE We have a surprise guest star waiting in the wings.
DEREK Just for you, Sid.
HALLIE Wait a sec, Derek. We forgot to flip.
Derek reaches in his pocket for a coin.
DEREK Oh yeah. (to Sid) We figure the one of us that actually kills you will get a little more press. It's been an ongoing discussion. (to Hallie) Heads or tails?
HALLIE Tails.
He flips the coin.
DEREK Shit! You win.
IN THE AUDITORIUM Gale emerges from the lobby. She found a way in. She eyes the proceedings on stage. She sees Sidney standing over Cotton. And then Hallie and Derek on either side...knives in hand. She races down the aisle.
GALE Sidney!
ON STAGE They all turn, spotting Gale. Sid moves forward, happy to see her.
SIDNEY Gale!
IN THE AUDITORIUM Gale moves down the aisle, not sure what's going on.
ON STAGE Sidney moves down center. Derek cuts her off just as...
THE CURTAIN DROPS
Gale glimpsed the terror on Sidney's face just as the curtain separates them.
ON STAGE Derek grabs Sidney, holding her, the knife at her throat.
HALLIE It's about time she showed up.
IN THE AUDITORIUM Gale moves to the exit door and into the...
INT. STAIR WELL SAME Gale eyes a door that's marked STAGE DOOR. She opens it and steps in coming face to face with a...
A LARGE AUTOMATIC REVOLVER
Gale's eyes move down the end of the gun to find...
DEBBIE SALT standing, lips pursed.
DEBBIE SALT Hello, Gale, we've been waiting for you.
Gale's face is a mass of confusion.
INT. STAGE SAME Derek releases Sidney, shoving her, she falls to her knees, next to Cotton. CLOSE on Cotton's hand
SIDNEY Okay, look, you guys--I applaud your methodical expertise but I have a question. What's going to happen after I die? I thought the heroine is supposed to live.
HALLIE Not this time.
Hallie moves in on her.
DEREK Yeah, we're trying to send a message to Hollywood. I'm really getting tired of all the happy endings. It's just not reality. In the real world the good guys die, the innocent are punished, and the murderers inherit the earth.
SIDNEY But nobody wants to see that. It'll never go. They'll rewrite you. You don't want that.
HALLIE Oh, Sid, you're sounding desparate. I guess fearing death makes one anxious.
SIDNEY You fucking freaked out movie nut psychos..
VOICE (off camera) Don't blame the movies, Sid. Movies don't create pyschos.
Sid stops dead in her tracks as these words still her very soul. The Voice comes from the wings. They all turn as Gale Weathers appears. Behind her, with gun in hand, is Debbie Salt. Derek grabs the camera. He doesn't want to miss a second.
DEBBIE SALT Don't you know that by now? It's about family. It all starts at home. It starts with the father...and the mother.
Sidney mouth drops, her face aghast, as she looks to Debbie Salt. She recognizes her immediately.
SIDNEY Mrs. Loomis?
Gale stops cold.
GALE What?
SIDNEY Oh my God.
Gale turns to Debbie Salt.
GALE Jesus. It can't be.
HALLIE Told you we had a guest star. Didn't see that coming, did you?
DEREK Everything's taken on a hyper-reality, hasn't it?
GALE You're Billy's mother?
DEBBIE SALT I couldn't believe you didn't recognize me. You even interviewed me for your book.
GALE You're all in this together?
DEREK We had to have financing.
HALLIE Tuition's expensive.
SIDNEY Why Mrs. Loomis?
DEBBIE SALT Where should we start? Your mother ruined my marriage by sleeping with my husband. You ruined my family by killing my son. Gale aired it to the world. Should I go on...isn't that enough?
GALE Jesus, you're just as whacked as your son.
DEBBIE SALT Where do you think he got it? Mental illness is heriditary. Who do you think incouraged him to kill your mother? He was a smart kid but children need parental guidance.
Sidney is completely horror stricken. She stands in total disbelief.
DEREK Yeah, she's been great, Sid. We never would have been able to it without her.
Debbie Salt/Mrs. Loomis looks to both Derek and Hallie, smiling.
DEBBIE SALT And I couldn't have done it without you two. Now who won the coin toss?
Hallie raises her hand.
HALLIE I did.
Debbie points the gun at her, quickly, simply...and FIRES. Sid and Gale SCREAM as a bullet through the forehead sends Hallie flying back against the flat wall. Her body drops to the floor. Dead.
Derek drops the camera, completely taken back. He looks to Debbie.
DEREK What are you...
Debbie turns the gun on him. FIRES AGAIN. Derek moves, the bullet catches him in the stomach. He drops to his knees. Debbie FIRES again. Derek takes another bullet. This time dropping. Very dead. His body falls near Cotton who has remained suspiciously quiet through this ordeal. He eyes Derek's knife that now lay near his wrists.
SIDNEY AND GALE turn to Debbie in complete horror.
DEBBIE SALT Nice kids but a little out there.
GALE What are you going to do?
DEBBIE SALT Finish what my son started.
GALE But you'll never get away with it.
DEBBIE SALT Enter Cotton Weary.
Cotton looks up.
DEBBIE SALT (cont'd) Think about it. An innocent man wrongly accused. Spends time in prison where he justs sits with his righteous anger, waiting, planning his revenge. His life so incomprehensively ruined he's forced to take revenge on the people responsible. It's perfect.
COTTON No...not again.
DEBBIE SALT Sorry, Cotton. I guess you were just meant to be a killer.
SIDNEY You'll never get away with this.
Debbie moves to Cotton, shrugging.
DEBBIE SALT Who would you like to shoot first, Cotton?
Just then, Cotton leans up, freed from his bindings. With the knife in hand, he lunges for Debbie Salt. It strikes her, lodging into her chest. She goes back. Cotton doesn't stop, he stabs her again and again. She goes down. Dead.
GALE Thank God.
Gale rushes to Cotton as he jumps to his feet. She helps him with the last of his bindings. Sid looks about at the body count on stage. It's mounting. She takes a deep breath. Relieved.
GALE (cont'd) God, Cotton, what a nightmare. I'm so sorry.
COTTON Yeah...
Gale gives him a hug. CLOSE ON Cotton's face.
GALE Thank you.
He hugs her back. She doesn't see as he rises the knife behind her, bringing it down in one swift, maniacal move. Gale's body jerks, a moment of shock and then she goes limp as the knife lodges in her back.
Sidney turns just in time to see Cotton toss Gale's body down into the orchestra pit. He turns, facing Sidney. The bloody knife in hand.
SIDNEY NOOO!
Cotton moves to Derek's body where the video camera lay, he pulls the tape from it.
COTTON It's perfect, Sidney. No one will ever suspect me. I have proof. I'm the victim.
SIDNEY Please, Cotton, don't do this.
He holds up the video cassette. Murder in his eye.
COTTON I get my revenge and make some fast cash.
SIDNEY It's over, Cotton.
COTTON Not until you're dead.
Cotton lunges for her. Sid tears off, slipping through the set door to...
BACKSTAGE Sid runs to the rear of the stage. She moves in the narrow space that exists between the scrim and the back wail. She races down it.
She almost reaches the end when
COTTON RIPS THROUGH THE SCRIM
Sidney ducks, bypassing him. She comes to the stage door. It's locked. She turns, seeing the metal ladder that's attached to the wall. It leads to the catwalk above. Sid goes for it. She climbs up the ladder with lightning speed.
Cotton, up and running, is close behind.
INT. CATWALK SAME The catwalk sits above the open fly space where flats and a large chandelier are stored in the air.
Sid reaches the top and takes off running down to the ending
AND THAT'S AS FAR AS I'VE GOTTEN. WHAT HAPPENS IS SID AND COTTON FIGHT TO THE FINISH, HE CHASES HER THROUGH HANGING FLATS, THEN DOWN THE FLY RAIL, BACK TO THE STAGE. SID FINDS A KNIFE AND STABS COTTON A FEW TIMES.
HE STABS HER BACK. THEY FIGHT, CONTINUING TO STAB EACH OTHER UNTIL THEY BOTH DROP CENTER STAGE. THEY LAY NEXT TO EACH OTHER, NEITHER ABLE TO MOVE. THEIR EYES SLOWLY CLOSE.
THE END (FOR NOW)
