An American Werewolf in Paris

serafine

You too.

She kisses him. They're both sweating heavily now. She starts off to the right. He watches her go for a moment and then walks down the other skull lined tunnel.

cut to:

EXT. PETIT PONT - NIGHT

The CHARRED BODIES of Gaston and the two cops lie on the river bank, near the wreck. Leduc surveys them with a few other cops. Napier leans out of a nearby car with a radio handset. The bells of nearby Notre Dame begin to ring.

Napier

(French)

It's headquarters sir. They got a report.

Leduc rushes over and grabs the handset.

LEDUC

(French- into radio)

What've you got?

desk officer (V.O.)

Just a crazy call from a girl, probably fucked up on drugs. I wouldn't bother you but you said call with anything unusual.

LEDUC

What did she say?

desk officer (V.O.)

Something about a monster, underground, in the catacombs under Place Denfert.

LEDUC

I need two tactical assault squads at Place Denfert immediately. You can tell the commissioner it's a code red.

DESK OFFICER (v.O.)

But Inspector, this girl, I wouldn't call her reliable.

LEDUC

Now!

desk officer (V.O.)

Yes sir.

Leduc throws the handset back at Napier. The church bells strike twelve.

cut to:

INT. CATACOMBS

Andy walks along carefully, shining the flashlight ahead of him, his gun at the ready. His breathing gets heavier. His face gets redder. More sweat. His heart pounds in his ears.

The tunnel follows a serpentine path, with many smaller passages and anterooms off to the sides.

Andy sees some flickering light reflecting off the wet skulls up ahead. He approaches it. It's coming out of AN ANTECHAMBER. He holds his gun out in front of him and steps quietly. He peers into the antechamber and finds

TWO HALF EATEN BODIES

It's the old hag and the wino he saw in the tunnels at the first party. They've been killed very recently- blood still drips from their gaping wounds.

He kneels over the wino's body. There's a big chunk missing from his neck. Andy stares at the BLOODY FLESH, transfixed. He shudders with a sudden spasm. His breathing gets quicker. More sweat. He reaches towards the wound, his hand shaking, and touches the flesh. Blood runs down his fingers. He slowly brings his hand back towards his mouth.

TERRENCE (o.S.)

Don't do it, Andy. Fight it with everything you've got.

Andy looks up to see UNCLE TERRENCE, stumps and all, sitting across from him.

andy

Uncle Terrence, you're...

TERRENCE

Yeah, I finally "checked out", thank God. But there's a bit of unfinished business.

andy

Claude.

TERRENCE

I never thought I'd ask this of anyone, Andy, but do me a favor and kill the evil son-of-a-bitch, will you?

A SNARL cuts him off. Andy jumps up, steps out into the main tunnel and shines his light.

THE BEAST

rounds a curve and comes into view about thirty yards away. It's running straight at Andy and closing fast. Andy aims the gun. BANG! A miss- the bullet shatters a skull on the wall. BANG! Another miss. BANG! The bullet hits the beast in the shoulder. I t stumbles but keeps coming. BANG! A miss. Andy aims carefully.

ANDY

C'mon you mother...

BANG! A direct hit in the chest. The beast falls. Snarling in pain.

BANG! Andy blasts again, but the beast drags itself to the safety of a recessed area off the tunnel, out of Andy's line of fire. Andy walks forward, listening to the horrible wails of the beast, thrashing around in a puddle on the floor.

Andy aims his gun and his flashlight as he nears the corner of the recess. The wailing and thrashing settles down. Andy proceeds cautiously. He rounds the corner, and shines the light on

SERAFINE

naked, bleeding from bullet wounds in the chest, shoulder, and neck. She lies still. Andy sighs with anguish. He drops to his knees.

andy

No! Oh God!

He puts down his gun and cradles her head in his hands. She's breathing- just barely. She looks into his eyes. Her voice is weak.

ANDY

Oh God. Shit...

serafine

Andy...

She reaches up feebly and manages to grab the SWITCHBLADE from his back pocket. She clicks it open and hands it to Andy.

serafine

Do it.

Andy's shaking, shuddering- his breathing erratic.

andy

No. It's over.

He shakily presses the gun to his own head.

TERRENCE (O.S.)

Don't, Andy. Stop Claude.

Andy looks up. Terrence, Marcel, Amy, and a dozen other mutilated, rotting undead, presumably Serafine's victims, stand in the tunnel, looking on solemnly.

marcel (o.s.)

Either way works for us...

amy

But you better hurry.

Claude's stentorian voice echo's from beyond a curve in the tunnel.

claude (O.S.)

You can't turn back Andy.

CLAUDE

in human form, walks towards the glow from Andy's flashlight around the bend. His naked body is taut and muscular- it looks thirty years younger than it should. His face is younger too- he looks the picture of a powerful young warrior.

claude

"Man is something to be surpassed! A rope, stretched over the abyss between the animal and the Superman". Neitzche was right, Andy. And now, I have crossed that abyss. I am no longer man OR beast, but man AND beast. ADAM has lived up to its name . I am the first new man, and my God it is FUCKING MAGNIFICENT! You're already half way there Andy. Feel the power in your veins. With ADAM, you could harness it. Master it. Let it transform you into something more glorious than your wildest dreams!

ANDY

is shaking violently- on the brink of transforming. Serafine raises the blade to him again. She's fading fast.

serafine

Don't let me die for nothing...

Andy winces with pain- his brow bulges, his teeth enlarge, the transformation is starting. Uncle Terrence is worried.

TERRENCE

Andy!

CLAUDE

still walking. The light is getting brighter- he's almost around the bend. He's buzzing with a scary kind of euphoria.

claude

The choice is yours Andy: deny your own blood, die an unfulfilled child, or face the challenge of mind and body united at last. Which will it be?

He rounds the corner and sees Andy hunched over Serafine's body. He keeps walking.

claude (cont'd)

Don't be confused by old beliefs. This is beyond mere words like good or evil. You have to feel it!

ANDY

whips around, BLOOD streaming from his mouth, gun aimed, grip rock solid, his features back to normal, eyes locked on the beast with determined, controlled rage.

andy

Feel this.

BLAM! BLAM! He pumps out two shots. One hits Claude in the upper left part of his CHEST. The other hits his CHEEK, exits at the back of his jaw and shatters the cheekbone of A SKULL on the wall behind him. He screams in pain and dives for cover into a SMALL INTERSECTING TUNNEL.

Andy gets up, pausing for a second to look back at Serafine's face. It looks peaceful. The undead are gone. He starts after Claude.

CLAUDE

sits leaning against a wall of skulls. The face wound is bleeding but not mortal.

claude

Stupid boy...

With an awesome rage he grimaces and starts to TRANSFORM HIS LEFT SIDE- his muscles swell around the chest wound and THE BULLET actually squeezes out of the hole and falls to the ground. The wound closes up as the flesh keeps morphing and growing hair.

ANDY

creeps around the corner, gun and flashlight aimed, towards the small tunnel.

When the flashlight beam falls on Claude, he's in mid pounce- rocketing at Andy with bad intent. BANG! Andy gets off a shot- it hits Claude in his THIGH as he tackles Andy.

They wrestle, Claude in mid-transformation, his left side further along, hairier, his facial bones shifting. His thigh swells and ripples and THE BULLET SQUIRTS OUT of its wound.

His left arm, mostly transformed, grips Andy's gun hand. BANG! Andy squeezes off a shot, blowing off the tip of Claude's transforming THUMB.

CRUNCH! Claude clamps his vice like grip and crushes the gun. Andy wrenches his hand away as Claude hurls him off like a rag doll.

Andy flies through the air and SMASHES into the tunnel wall. The wall of ancient SKULLS and BONES shatters and collapses around Andy- burying him in ossified fragments.