An American Werewolf in Paris

andy

Hey, Sorry if I was out of line.

serafine

You were. I have work to do. The publisher wants the transcripts by Monday. Go. Make yourself at home.

andy

Fine. My mistake. You know, I'm gonna be a writer myself some day.

serafine

Uh-huh. Good for you.

Andy sees he's sunk. He heads for the door, but something on the wall catches his eye. A small flyer on the bulletin board with a big drawing of Medusa. He takes it down.

andy

Medusa... What's this? some kind of club?

serafine

It's nothing. A stupid party. Not really a night club, it's, uh..

andy

Like an underground club?

serafine

Yes. It's a bad place. Weird people. Strange things go on.

andy

And who's Claude?

Serafine looks at him hard, questioning.

andy

I looked through my uncle's date book. Writer's curiosity.

She points to a paperback on the desk. It's French, with a psychedelic cover depicting a man, half King Louis XIV, half witch doctor. The title, (in French) "History Inside Out - Psychic Illumination Through the Ages" by Dr. Claude Roussel. A picture o n the back shows an academic looking Claude in a tweed jacket, with gray hair.

serafine

Professor Claude Rousel. The one your uncle was working with. He teaches cultural history.

andy

In an underground club? I'd like to see that.

He shoves the book in his back pocket. Serafine's emphatic.

serafine

I'm serious. There's nothing for you down there. It's dangerous.

andy

Come on. I'm from New York - the "shoot me" state. Don't wait up.

He starts for the door, She spins him around by the sleeve.

seraFine

(suddenly quite angry)

What good can you do? Why are you being so fucking stupid?

andy

(getting fired up)

Maybe I didn't know him like you did. But he's my uncle. And I owe it to him to get some answers. It's a quest like, uh, Hemingway, the Old Man and The Sea. Except instead of an old man I'm a young man, and instead of the sea, it's a bunch of tunnels u nder Paris. And instead of a big fish it's... who knows? That's what I'm going to find out. Au revoir.

He walks out of the office. She calls after him.

serafine

You're a fucking lunatic!

The front door slams. She looks after him, incredulous.

SERAFINE

(French)

God damned Americans.

cut to:

EXT. RUE D'ENFER - NIGHT

A MEDUSA HEAD is carved in the stone above the doorway of a crumbling old facade in a rundown Parisian neighborhood. Andy tries the front door. It's locked. There's no sounds or signs of life.

andy

(to himself)

Some party.

Andy starts off, then pauses as three PARTY GOERS approach the door. They're "modern-primitives"- tribal tattoos, pierced noses, and weird beaded hair. One fishes a key from the Medusa's mouth, opens the door, and lets the group in.

Andy slips in behind them. One GUY in the group looks Andy over and mutters something in French to his friends. They snigger amongst themselves and walk to a door across the foyer. Andy follows, a few paces behind, through the door, down some stairs, i nto

A DILAPIDATED BASEMENT

Lit with a few candles. They walk past an old boiler, through another door, into

A NARROW STONE SPIRAL STAIRCASE

They proceed down the ancient stairway, also lit only by the occasional candle placed on the steps. They reach the bottom of the steps and enter a dark, drippy stone tunnel, still lit by candles. Some rats scurry away through the puddles under Andy's f eet.

Candles lead the way through the maze of intersecting tunnels. Some graffiti scratched in the wall catches Andy's eye: "Jean Philippe 1803". He pauses to look at it for and loses the group ahead of him. He follows the candles on his own, turning right, left, and left again. A loud, muffled bass beat gets louder. He rounds the corner into

THE WILD UNDERGROUND PARTY SPACE

In an open cavern, lit with torches and strobe lights. Two hundred people are gyrating to eerie techno-tribal dance music. It's a weird crowd, mostly young modern primitive pierced and grungy RAVERS, many wearing day-glo tribal face paint. Clusters of sullen, militant SKINHEADS hang around the periphery.

An attractive, blissed-out WAIF approaches Andy with a paintbrush and a jar of day glo face paint and a brush. She goes to paint Andy's face. He stops her.

andy

That's alright. I'll be a cowboy.

She smiles and pushes his hand down. He shrugs and lets her paint two day glow red stripes on his cheeks.

andy

Alright. Fine...

(with mock enthusiasm)

Ooh. I can feel it tingling.

Andy sniffs and makes a face- the paint has a weird smell.

andy (cont'd)

Phew. What's in this stuff, liquid plumber?

(he pulls the book out of his pocket and shows her Claude's picture)

Do you know this guy? Claude?

waif

Ah oui, le professeur. La bas.

She points to a dark alcove off the main cavern. Andy nods and starts off. We move in on a leather clad young man leaning against the wall, watching Andy go. This is GASTON DUFAUX, a self-styled Parisian thug, who seems to be cultivating a sort of "Mic key Rourke" look. He takes a drag from his cigarette and we see he's missing two fingers.

Andy makes his way through the crowd. People are dancing with wild abandon, and many carry torches. A SKINNY GUY IN A DIAPER and a paper mache skull mask runs through the crowd, ranting and spraying fluorescent silly string. He does a weird dance aroun d Andy and jabbers at him in French.

andy

Uh, lemme get back to ya on that.

Andy approaches the side room and peers in. A small group of young people are listening intently to CLAUDE, whose back is to us. He's expounding about something in a solemn tone.

claude

(French, to group)

...How ironic. A man who dedicated his life to opening the doors of the mind now lies trapped behind them. Locked behind a door without a key.

We follow Andy as he steps around the crowd and sees Claude's face. He looks older than in the photo- he's in his late fifties, with white hair and intense eyes.

ANDY

Excusez moi, I...

Claude notices the book in Andy's hand. He speaks fluent English.

claude

I'm sorry my friend, I'm not signing books right now. There's been a tragedy.

andy

I know. I'm Andy McDermott. Terrence's nephew.

Claude is taken by surprise.

claude

My God, I'm sorry. But how did you find your way down here? Wait, let's go talk...

He excuses himself from his "flock" and leads Andy to a quiet corner of the room. The kids disperse, several looking sympathetically at Andy.

claude

It's horrible. Terrence was one of the most brilliant men I've known.

andy

Yeah, well, why did he hang out here? The cops said it's dangerous-

Claude

The cops. It's their backward laws that force all this underground in the first place, endangering people whose only crime is pushing the limits of perception, exploring new states of psychic awareness.

They're suddenly doused with day-glo silly string as the jibbering idiot in the diaper pops in to deliver a rant at them.

GUY IN DIAPER

(French)

The moon is bleeding! Prepare for the downpour!

He ducks back out. Andy picks the silly string out of his hair.

andy

Psychic awareness. Right.

claude

You think it's silly. But do you realize that young man is actually in a deep sleep?

andy

What?

claude

He's on a new drug called ZBH, or "Daydream". It allows the user to be fully alert and mobile while he's dreaming. He is literally conscious and unconscious at the same time.

andy

Yeah well, that's like really groovy and everything, but who hacked my uncle's legs off?

Claude frowns. He looks grave.

claude

Andy...

andy

Yeah?

claude

Terrence and I came down here to do serious work. For centuries these tunnels have been home to subcultures mainstream society would not tolerate.

He gestures to the main cavern, where people are far gone into various states... some in a trance, some gyrating lustily to the eerily hypnotic music. We intercut with these images as Claude speaks.

claude (cont'd)

These people carry on traditions dating back to pagan times- the ancient quest for expanded consciousness. At the same time they're pioneering a chemical revolution, powerful state-of-the-art compounds... But you know what I mean....

(he gestures to Andy's face paint)

A year ago who would have dreamed of topically applied hallucinogens like TMD? Except Terry of course...

Andy's eyes widen with comprehension. He touches his face.

andy

What!? Hallucinogen? Oh shit...

He rubs the face paint off with his shirt sleeve.

claude

You didn't know? But then why did you... well, don't worry. It's relatively mild.

andy

Yeah, well if I claw my face off, just pack it in ice, okay? Jesus... the cops were probably right. My uncle was messed up with a bunch of fry brains and they went berserk on him.

Claude lowers his voice. He looks grim.

claude

No... We stumbled on something else down here Andy. Something horrible, almost unbelievable. But very real. It's been going on for centuries, though most people wouldn't believe it, or wouldn't want to...

Andy's somewhere between spooked and incredulous. He glances at the book in his hand.

andy

Wait a second, are you like the Steven King of France or something...

serafine (o.s.)

Andy!

Andy turns and sees Serafine run up to him. She looks worried.

ANDY

So you came after all. Just in time, it's getting interesting.

serafine

You must get out of here. It's not safe.

She grabs him by the arm. He resists.

ANDY

Not you too-

CLAUDE

(checks his watch)

My God! Serafine's right. It's time to go. We'll talk soon.

serafine

Bon nuit Claude.

(to Andy)

Come on.

Claude dashes off. Serafine drags Andy into the main cavern.

andy

Hey, chill out a second!

She leads him across the cavern towards the entrance. Andy stops short and pulls away from her. It's not easy- she has a strong grip.

Andy

Alright, hold on. I'm not gonna get dragged around like some kid in a shopping mall. I want you to answer some questions.

Serafine sees something over Andy's shoulder.

serafine

Merde. I knew I shouldn't have come here.

Andy turns to see Gaston approaching. He leers at Serafine.

gaston

(French)

Serafine, mon cher. I hear your boss looks great in cut-offs.

serafine

(French)

Get the fuck away from me, Gaston.

gaston

(French)

First you tell me where the ADM is, eh?

He puts his hand on her shoulder. Andy notices the missing fingers.

serafine

(French)

Fuck you.