THE MORNING AFTER
a very short HELLRAISER film
scene: a darkened bedroom. morning sunlight creeps in under the
curtains. the room is an absolute mess, blankets, pillows,
clothes scattered all over the place. a bump under a blanket
on the bed suggests a human form underneath.
CU: Alarm clock balanced on top of a stack of SANDMAN trade
paperbacks. the display clicks over to 7:00 a.m and the clock
buzzes annoyingly.
Cut to: the bed
MIKE BARNES emerges from under the blanket, a man in his early twenties with long black hair and spanish eyebrows. he looks like the survivor of last night's party, which he is (only just). as he gets up, a film poster for ERASERHEAD half-falls, and is left hanging from one thumbtack. he wraps the blanket around his shoulders like a superman cape and crawls out of the room, kicking the clock on the way past.
MIKE: That must have been a good party… I don't remember a thing.
Scene: the hallway. MIKE passes a dead body, played by LoKi T
Unsworn. the body has one of those party noise-makers in its
mouth.
Scene: the kitchen, only marginally less messy than the bedroom.
MIKE crawls up to the fridge, manages to get it open.
CU: Fridge, interior, viewed from inside. the fridge is empty
except for a glass with a stick of limp celery in it and a
small, cubical carton of milk, with a familiar design on its
sides. MIKE appears, wrapped in the blanket. he searches the
fridge, despite the lack of contents.
MIKE: I need calcium…
Scene: the kitchen. grabs the milk carton, closes the fridge door. he turns the carton over a couple of times, then forces his thumbs under the fold in the top, trying to open it without success. he tries various different strategies over the next twenty seconds, getting more frustrated with his inability to open it.
CU: Mike's face, frustrated.
MIKE: I can never figure out how to open these fucking things…
CU: The milk carton in his hands. we briefly see the words
LEMARCHAND MILK COMPANY set inside the folds of the carton.
FX: an electric tearing sound. the box is outlined in jagged blue
fire, streams of which fly out in all directions with a loud
ZAP! sound.
MIKE: Jesus!
MIKE throws the carton across the room and falls over backwards, sitting up against the kitchen door. the carton sits on the floor, on its side.
CU: milk carton lying on its side,top facing towards MIKE. it
slowly opens. no milk pours out
EXTREME CU:
a low-angle shot of the milk carton, from behind. at the
other end of the kitchen we see MIKE on his knees, his head
close to the floor, peering inside the milk carton.
CU: the front of the carton, fully opened. semi-subliminal shot
of large hooks on the ends of chains flying out of the carton
with a rushing sound.
CU: MIKE'S face. we don't actually see the hooks embedding
themselves in his skin, but we do see them flying around his
head, his look of terror.
screen fades up to white with the sound of horrific screams and chain clanks.