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Voting Rules
Thank you to everyone who participated and everyone who is going to vote. You did not have to be a participant in the draft to vote on the final products. All you have to do is send me a PM with your picks for the following categories. I will tally up the votes and reveal the results on 12/22 (date subject to change). For Best Picture, send me your top 5 choices, ranked. Number 1 should be your pick for best movie. I would say to maybe wait until Friday to send in votes to make sure people who wanted to post their writeups get the chance to. Ultimately it's up to you though.

Categories:
Best Picture: Pick the movie that you think would be the best based on plot, overall vision, actor-role cohesion, whatever criteria you deem most important. Send me your top 5 picks ranked in order from best to worst.
Best Director: Pick the director you think will be best given the film they've been given to direct.
Best Actor: Pick the lead actor you think will be best in the role given to them.
Best Actress: Pick the lead actress you think will be best in the role given to them.
Best Supporting Actor: Pick the supporting actor you think will be best in the role given to them.
Best Supporting Actress: Pick the supporting actress you think will be best in the role given to them.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Pick the adapted story idea that you think would make the best movie.
Best Original Screenplay: Pick the original story idea that you think would make the best movie.

Posting Rules
For those who participated in the draft, you need to post your writeup and your cast in a post in this thread. I will then tag them in the second post of this thread. Feel free to use spoiler tags if you'd like either to hide certain parts of the script or to keep your writeup from taking up half the page. I would suggest this for people with incredibly long writeups.

[*spoiler]

 

[*/spoiler]

remove the asterisks

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Dome and Malfatron present Hangmen
 

Pickle Rick presents
 

Mwil23 presents Ultimatum
 

Daniel presents Ubik
 

The Orca presents
 

Deadpulse presents Saga
 

Outpost31 presents Things
 

MikeT14 presents Oedipus
 

JoshstraDaymus presents The King of Horror
 

Elky presents Heart of Ice
 

bcb1213 presents 
 

Adrenaline_Flux presents
 

Fresh Prince presents Treasure Island
 

FinneasGage presents
 

daboyle250 presents 007: Once Upon a Spy
 

rackcs presents The Toughest Town in the West
 

AlexGreen#20 presents
 

Edited by rackcs
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Movie Title:

Ultimatum

Directed by:

Christopher Nolan: Nolan will evaluate the dichotomy between the worth of an individual's life and sacrificing for the "greater good"

Starring:

*Jean Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux: This former marine force recon and homeless veteran whose motives in regards to his country, which hasn't treated him well, makes him an enigma. His survivor and wilderness expertise mixed with martial arts mastery and weapons ability makes him a dangerous competitor in this man-hunt tournament. 31 on screen kills, most dangerous game/survival 

*Sylvestor Stallone as John Rambo: This one man 1/2 Italian and 1/2 Navajo poster child for inclusive and political statement on the trauma of PTSD, is a former Vietnam veteran drifter. He is reckless, disregards orders, uses violence to solve problems, enters dangerous situations alone, and is exceptionally tough, callous, raw and aggressive. His country needs him, but will he come willingly? 191 on screen kills

*Arnold Schwarzenegger as Alan "Dutch" Schaefer: This mercenary and leader of a private military team is a specialist in guerrilla engagements and camouflage. Prolonged interrogation has made him virtually impervious to any type of pain. 34 on screen kills including Predator

*Steven Seagal as Casey Ryback. This former decorated Navy SEAL Team Four leader turned cook is 6'5 and 220 and is an expert in special warfare.  55 on screen kills

*Bruce Willis as John McClane. Known for his sardonic one liners and for being "just another American who thinks he's John Wayne", this foul-mouthed, wisecracking, no-nonsense New York cop with an itchy trigger finger, and a never-say-die maverick spirit with a vigilante propensity and blatant disregard to authority is a darkhorse in this tournament. The last hing he wants is to be a hero, but once again, he doesn't have a choice. 73 total on screen kills

*Chuck Norris as himself. On screen kills unknown. Embodies true Patriotism, grit, and is virtually immortal. Since 1940, the year Chuck Norris was born, roundhouse kick related deaths have increased by 13,000%.

*Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs.  This U.S. Army Special Forces veteran turned maniacal depressed cop is an expert in weaponry and hand to hand combat. These skills would later serve him well when he became a police officer. Most of Riggs's time in special forces was in Vietnam, where he served as an assassin under the CIA's "Phoenix Project". The first time he became a killer when he shot a man to death with a sniper rifle from a long distance in Laos; while his ability as a trained killer would later affect his mental health, he thought of it as "the only thing I was ever really good at". 40 on screen kills without Murtaugh.

*Jet Li as Gabe Law: Believing Life goes in a circle for perfect balance, Gabe works in the Los Angeles county Sheriff's Department. For the last two years, he's experienced enhanced versions of strength, speed, and agility. He put in prison in an alternate universe the other version of himself who killed 123 versions of himself. It's unclear whether or not Law has the lack of conscience in this tournament to take another human life.

*Nicolas Cage as President Nicolas Cage

*Samuel L. Jackson in two roles as Jules Winnfield and Dr. Ray Arnold

PLOT:

On the brink of total economic collapse and millions without social security, President Nic Cage (Cage) is put in an even bigger quandary when China calls the national debt from the United States due and gives him a final notice:

An 8 man tournament to the death broadcasted on live television, or an all-out war with China.

Seed/Tournament:

1. John Rambo vs. 8. Martin Riggs

2. Chuck Norris vs. 7. Gabe Law

3. Casey Ryback vs. 6. John McClane

4. Alan "Dutch" Schaefer vs. 5. Chance Boudreaux

Upon his initial refusal (President Cage) Dr. Ray Arnold will reveal to the President that there is a plus side to our military deficit spending in that our military grade serum  that he's been engineering and overseeing will transform each of the 8 to their "prime condition" (Translation: Their prime selves in their 80's or 90's form) for the tournament. Due to his tremendous advantage, Norris will be only allowed to be frozen in his physical/mental state of 50 years of age. 

President Nic Cage, recently coming off of his soon to be 5th divorce, has decided to selectively use his extremely liberal ideology, and justify the 8 man tournament to the death, after eloquently pondering the value of human life, while eating a bag of chips and drinking a Coors Light, insisting on watching the tournament himself since "I'm the one who has condemned these 7 American heroes to death. BLAME ME!!!"

*Insert scene reminiscent of the "bring them in" scene in Armageddon, with the head of the Secret Service, Jules Winnfield, as the point man. One (Norris) comes willingly. Riggs and McClane resist at first, but resign themselves to their fate, at least 3 drinks in. The other 5 do not come willingly. ***CUE**: Motley Crue: Kickstart my Heart*

*Insert serum and transformation scene on “The 8”: Cue Music: My Heart will go On by Celine Dion (Celine a Scene Montage of past moments from characters)*

*President Cage reluctantly calls in “The 8” the tell them of the bad news, but first, he calls in his eldest son Kal-El to witness the mandate, so that way he understands the burden of being a Cage and that with great power comes great responsibility. Norris has only one stipulation:

That the highest seed in the 8 man tournament be granted a "Home Turf Advantage" in any location of their choosing, WORLDWIDE.*

*Round 1*

Match 1: 1. John Rambo vs. 8. Martin Riggs

*Cue Music: Whiskey in the Jar: Metallica*

Rambo in a geopolitical statement about tyranny chooses Venezuela. Rambo refuses any weapon other than his bow and a Bowie knife. Riggs asks for two sidearms and a pack of smokes with a lighter. In a tough and climactic battle, Rambo stands over Riggs, who has a facial laceration and maniacal/depressed smile on his face, and from a distance, ends it with his knife, immediately looking at the camera yelling “IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT???”. You can faintly see Riggs go limp. Rambo makes direct contact with the camera and smashes his knife into it, rendering static on the TV.

Match 2: 2. Chuck Norris vs. 7. Gabe Law

*Cue Music: Wild West Show Big And Rich*

Norris defers and refuses. Law, as a tribute to his ancestry, as well as a blatant Anti-Communist message, picks Beijing. In what would be construed as a squash match, Norris renders Law incapacitated with a roundhouse kick, and out of sympathy while he’s unconscious, so that his body isn’t maimed by the angry Chinese, grabs an RPG from the cache of weapons, and from approximately 100+ yards away, blasts Law in a tremendous explosion. Norris quietly and calmly strolls off-set.

Match 3: 3. Casey Ryback vs. 6. John McClane.

*Cue Music: American Bad *** Kid Rock*

As a tribute to his SEAL heritage and to make it as fair as possible from a terrain standpoint, as McClane thrives in unique building/non terrain setups, Ryback chooses a battleship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In an absolute stunner, McClane is able to overpower Ryback in close quarters, apply a chokehold, and with tears in his eyes, render Ryback limp. He then proceeds to put Ryback into what appears to be a torpedo tube, and bury him “at sea”, pulling down a lever.

Match 4: 4. Alan "Dutch" Schaefer vs. 5. Chance Boudreaux

*Cue Music: Rage Against the Machine Renegades of Funk*

In the best match of Round 1, Dutch decides that he and Boudreaux need to come to a consensus together, and thus they choose Myanmar. The combination jungle and swamp/marshy conditions are a tribute to Dutch the Vietnam Vet and Boudreaux’s Louisiana/swamp heritage. It’s also a place where as a whole throughout history, our government doesn’t acknowledge as a country. What message are they trying to send? Anti-American? Anti-Communist? Both? After a long/drawn out melee, with camouflage, a shootout, and finally, hand to hand combat, Boudreaux emerges victorious, submerging Dutch’s head into the bog until his body goes limp. 

*Round 2: The Semi-Finals*

Match 5: 1. John Rambo vs. 5. Chance Boudreaux

*Cue Music: Metal Health by Quiet Riot*

In Venezuela, Rambo faces off in a terrain that is eerily similar to the Dutch/Boudreaux showdown. In a 3 day standoff (insert montage cat and mouse game), Rambo eventually surprises and overpowers Boudreaux, and the same finishing move/cut from Riggs is displayed.

Match 6: 2. Norris vs. 6. McClane

*Cue Music: Guerrilla Radio Rage Against the Machine*

In the streets of Beijing, Norris gives McClane a 3 hour head start with the suggestion that he “makes good use of it”. McClane cockily retorts “You’ll find me at The Forbidden City. You’re about to have a very bad day.” Norris smiles and says, “Nice Santa hat”, to which McClane smirks and says, “Thanks, I got it from your mother.” A stoic Norris nods to his worthy adversary. Exactly 1 hour later, the two meet up at the palace museum. Once again, Norris, after a shootout, grabs an RPG and blows up the entire Palace Museum, as a once entertained Chinese government looks on with horror. Norris walks away, the former landmark building smoldering in ash and smoke.

*Round 3: The Finals*

Match 7: 1. Rambo vs. 2. Norris

*Cue Music: Against the Wind Bob Seger* 

In Venezuela, Rambo and Norris have their culminating match. After a crazy back and forth with lots of explosions, exit lines, grimacing, and ammunition, it boils down to hand to hand combat. Finally, to no avail, both men decide to take a break, since Rambo is tired, while Norris stands on stoically. Rambo begs Norris for a quick death, acknowledging his mentally diminished state. Norris walks with Rambo up the Tabletop Mountains, and on the count of three, Norris pushes Rambo off the ledge into the clouds below.

*The Semi-Ending*

With tears in his eyes, a crushed President Cage and son Kal-El watch in dismay, eating a Big Kahuna Burger, sipping a Sprite, and noisily offering his head of the secret service, a visibly irritated Jules Winnfield, some French fries. The debt now settled with China, and with the earnings from the TV ratings, the rest of the debt is paid off. At what cost? *(Insert monologue about the value of human life*).

As he prepares for his second term in office, Cage can now run the country the way he sees fit/is optimistic about a bright future for our country. Norris stands stoically bye the President, and as Cage starts to exit the monument dedicated to 7 of the fallen 8, his Chief of Staff, Mr. Tom Hanks, delivers him some urgent foreign relations news:

The entire Chinese governmental syndicate have been assassinated, and simultaneously, both those that claim the presidency in Venezuela have been killed in an explosion.

Thirty seconds later, a package is delivered. Enclosed is a note, that the following be delivered to him upon their deaths. He peers inside, and sees a folded red bandana, along with a police badge, SEAL Trident, sheriff’s badge, cigarette lighter, a cigar, and a live rattlesnake. The President peers for a moment, and then looks up as dramatic music plays:

*Cue Music: The Usual Suspects flashback music*

*Obvious context clues/scenes via montage about Ryback (The Pacific), Boudreaux (Venezuala, Rambo (Venezuala), Law (China), Dutch (Myanmar), and McClane (Beijing) scroll back. It’s ambiguous, but possible, that the seven orchestrated fake deaths and two different coup d'etats in Venezuela, the #1 country in both oil and gold in the world, and China.

Cage looks up crazily at Norris, who smirks, dons his Stetson, and quietly exits, while the credits roll.

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Ubik

Adapted from the novel by Philip K. Dick

Teaser: Corporate espionage, psychics, anti-psychics, half life.  Joe Chip, agent of Runciter and Associates Psychic Company has to navigate a dangerous feud between his employer Glen Runciter, and his business rival Ray Hollis. When an explosion on the moon leaves Runciter near death, but unable to enter the cryogenic comatose half-life, Joe and the survivors find themselves experiencing deviations in time and space, all while being pursued by someone or something that is sucking the life out of them, one by one.

 

Director Terry Gilliam brings another dark and dreamy look at a dystopian future in the mold of Brazil and 12 Monkeys.  When asked to describe the feel of his movie, he described it as "Blade Runner meets Inception."  He remarked how happy he was to be working with so many familiar faces (Gilliam has worked with Skarsgard, Law, Stormare, and Connelly before), and that the cast's experience in similar roles made shooting especially enjoyable.

Mychael Danna reunites with Gilliam to do the soundtrack.  When asked, he compared the film's music to his Oscar winning score in Life of Pi.  "This is a very psychedelic film, and psychedelic music has its roots in Indian classical music, so I drew a lot of inspiration for this film's score from the same places as Pi."

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Robert Downey Jr. as Joe Chip, a debt ridden, burnout technician of Runciter and Associates.  The disappearance of Runciter's top telepath has put his livelihood in jeopardy.  Downey commented that he was thrilled to be working on another Philip K. Dick project after A Scanner Darkly.

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Stellan Skarsgard as Glen Runciter, the owner of a psychic/anti-psychic agency.  

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Natalie Portman as Ella Runciter, the wife of Glen, she has been in half-life for 20 years, but still helps her husband run the company.

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Allison Williams as Pat Conley, a powerful young anti-psychic who can manipulate time.  She is Runciter's newest hire.

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Paul Dano as Jory Miller, a young man in half-life.  He has begun to interfere with the visitations of the other patients in cold pack.

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Jude Law as GG Ashwood, and agent for Runciter.  He is a friend and frequent collaborator of Joe's.  Law said that the role of Ashwood was combined with that of Al, a small character we see in the second half of the novel.

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Peter Stormare as Stanton Mick, a lunar mining baron who wants Runciter to help him rid his company of psychic interference.

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Jennifer Connelly as Wendy Wright, a psychic in the employ of Runciter, and an old flame of Joe's.

 

Plot summary:

Spoiler warning: If you want to read Ubik in the future (and it's my favorite sci fi book of all time, so I'd recommend that you do), don't read the long synopsis below.  Just read the rest and vote for another film if that's not enough info.

 

Glen Runciter goes to the cold-pac infirmary to visit his wife.  They discuss (via headphones) the disappearance of Dole Melipone, the best telepath in Runciter’s company, and how it affects their financial future.  Their conversation is interrupted by the voice of a boy named Jory Miller, who wants to talk to Runciter and cuts him off from his wife.  Leaving the infirmary, he talks to the nurse about it, but she says she can’t do anything.

Joe Chip is stuck in his apartment, unable to pay the door opening fee to leave because he’s broke.  He is visited by his friend and associate GG Ashwood who has brought along Pat Conley, a new anti-psychic he wants to recruit.  Joe tests her, and she reveals that she knows all the answers to the questions he’s going to ask since she can manipulate time.  Suddenly, Chip finds himself years in the future, married to Conley, who tells him she’s just showing off, and returns them to the present.  He writes a symbol on her acceptance form meaning “danger.”

Runciter meets with a hologram of billionaire Stanton Mick, who wants Runciter’s anti-psychics to purge his company, which was infiltrated by Ray Hollis, his rival.  He gives a noncommittal answer and leaves to meet with Chip, who introduces Conley.  Runciter is intrigued, and hires her for the mission.

Runciter gathers Chip, Conley, Ashwood, and Wendy Wright, another anti-psychic, and they head to Luna (the moon), where Mick’s company is based.  Once they begin to work, Mick appears, surprising them.  After a brief conversation where Mick’s answers become increasingly bizarre, he floats to the ceiling and explodes.

Chip wakes up, injured, but not seriously, with the others.  Runciter is unconscious and near death, so they rush him back to earth to put in cold pac, only to find they can’t connect with him.  Chip and Ashwood flee to Des Moines, and Ashwood promises to send Wright to keep Chip company.  The next day, Chip finds his calendar is wrong, the money in his wallet has Runciter’s face on it, and an aerosol can labeled “Ubik”.  Ashwood arrives, and asks about Wright, who never showed.  They open the closet to find her corpse, shriveled and mummified.  They panic and leave.

They try to buy things with the Runciter money, but the coffee tastes expired and the cigarettes decay in their hands, and they now appear to be in the early 1980's, during Chip's mother's childhood.  Someone that sounds like Runciter keeps trying to call Chip and Ashwood, but the connections are bad and they can’t hear.  Conley joins them as they head to New York via cab to find Ella Runciter.  The cabbie talks about Hitler, and they realize it’s 1939 now, and Runciter’s company doesn’t exist.  They regroup, but Ashwood disappears, leaving only he and Conley.  She leaves to look for Ashwood, and Chip sees Runciter on an infomercial, selling a product called Ubik. Runciter turns and speaks directly to Chip, telling him it was them that died in the explosion, but that someone is interfering with him trying to help, and that Ubik is the answer.

The TV cuts off and Conley confronts Chip.  He tries to spray her with Ubik, but it has turned into an old medicine dropper, and she incapacitates him immediately. She admits that she’s the one killing his friends and jumping in time as she is really a double agent for Ray Hollis. She takes his Ubik, and leaves as he starts to shrivel.  As he loses consciousness, a woman comes in the room, sprays him with more Ubik, and leaves.  He recovers, hears a scream, and comes into the hallway, which is now a hospital room, where he lies on the bed.  The doctor tells him he’s been under psychosis, and asks him to give him the spray bottle, which he says is an ordinary cleaning solution.

Chip sprays him instead, and the image of the doctor melts away to a young man with a gaping mouth devouring Conley’s corpse.  He laughs, introduces himself as Jory Miller, the real force behind the happenings, and attacks Joe, biting off his hand.  He manages to spray the last of the Ubik, which wards off Miller, and flees.

He runs into the street, pursued by Miller, until a the woman from before grabs him and pulls him into a peaceful coffee shop.  The patrons are all in cold pac, and she reveals herself to be Ella Runciter.  Ubik is something that she and the others in half-life created together to ward off Jory, who feeds on their life forces.  She gives him an infinite spray can of Ubik, restores his hand, and holds him as he weeps.

In the cold pac infirmary, Runciter removes his headphones and leaves.  He heads to a coffee shop himself, but when he pulls out his wallet, he finds Chip’s face on it.

 

Production notes/Easter Eggs:

Every time location and time period changes, Chip, Conley, and Ashwood automatically change into period appropriate clothing.  The score also changes to mirror the time of the setting, though the musical litemotifs are consistent.

Throughout the film, after the explosion, Glen Runciter appears in the background on every television that can be seen, in the same infomercial selling Ubik and trying to get Chip and Ashwood's attention.

Another background feature is that Paul Dano and Natalie Portman (in different clothes and with different makeup and hairstyles) are among the crowds following Chip, Ashwood, and Conley as they run around.

 

Edited by Daniel
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Listen to this YouTube Link while listening to the plot description. 

Sorry, Mods, for the swearing.  I wrote this without doing the swear filter's job. 

Back when The Thing from Another World was going to get remade, lots of scripts and treatments and ideas were thrown around.  Carpenter was on again off again as director, and what hooked him was going back to the shapeshifting creature from the original source material Who Goes There by John Campbell.  William F. Nolan wrote a treatment for it, and that treatment started with MacReady and the rest of the poor bastards outside playing baseball.  My movie starts the same way with about a dozen of the 15 characters playing baseball outside on a cold, but sunny day.  They look ridiculous playing baseball in heavy winter clothing, but they do it nonetheless.  Bottin (Jared Harris) is catcher.  Robson (Oldman) steps up to bat.  Johns (O’Connell) talks **** and makes fun of Robson with an ageist joke.  Oldman responds with a crack about hitting the ball right at Johns’ face.  Shaw (Menzies) chuckles at first base.  

A lone dog runs calmly through the snow.  The Thing theme starts.  Dun.  Dun dun.  Dun dun.  Dun dun.  Camera zooms out, up and pans in the direction the dog runs to show the distance between the camp and the coming ultimate in alien terror.  

A swing and a miss.  Robson swears.  Johns taunts and jeers.  Campbell (Fogerty, the big bald dude that was also a heavyweight boxer in real life) walks up to replace Robson, who struck out.   Johns cracks a joke along the lines of, “From brains and brittle to brawn and (insert appropriate B-word that fits here).  Campbell, with a scowl, tells Johns, “Keep the alliteration for your diary you fairy **** and pitch the ball.”  Johns obliges.  Campbell swings and CRUSHES the ball.  Bottin jumps up and shouts, but not because of the hit.  The dog brushed up behind him.  “Boyle, could you control your dogs?” he shouts.  

Inside, Flanagan (Ready) looks out a window and sees the ball players trying to wrangle the dog.  He walks through the camp, giving a sense of its layout, until he gets to a room where Boyle (Hardy) reads with those old *** headphones over his ears.  He motions for Boyle to take them off.  He does.  “One of your dogs is outside.”  Boyle furrows his brow and heads out to investigate.  

Stone (Kirby) lunges at and grabs the dog by its tail.  The dog responds by viciously snarling at and biting Stone’s hand.  Stone yells in pain; the dog immediately lets go and turns timid, as if regretting the bite.  Boyle steps outside and squints into the sunlight.  He’s not as pretty as he’s often portrayed, and instead has that rugged masculinity look of a MacReady.  It’s a classic hero shot; he takes up the frame and purveys the scene, clearly suggesting he is the MacReady of this movie.  Carter (Gee) steps out right after Boyle and tries to get a sense of what’s going on as Boyle walks calmly up to the dog.  The dog reacts immediately to Boyle by running up to him and sitting down like a well-trained dog.  Bottin berates, “You need to take better care of your dogs.”  Robson attends to Stone, whose hand bleeds.  Boyle shakes his head, “Not my dog.  Not our dog.”  Carter, “What are you on about?”  Boyle points to the dog’s doghood, “All ours are female.”  Stone asks, “Whose dog is it and what if it has rabies?”  Boyle asks, “Are you dense?”  Carter says, “He’s got a good point.      Boyle says, “He doesn’t.”  Carter tells him to just put the dog in with the others.  Boyle remarks, “You’re concerned the dog may have rabies and you want to put him in with eight female dogs for the winter?”  Carter tells him, “The ******* shack then, Boyle.  Okay?  Just get it out of here.”  Boyle leads the dog to the shack.  

Inside the camp, some time has clearly passed.  It’s darker through the windows.  Gentle (comparatively) wind blows against the walls from outside.  Pinster (Peck) and Campbell argue over a wall outlet that Campbell works on.  Pinster says, “Just replace the whole outlet.”  “Are you going to go get it?”  Carter and Flanagan walk by.  Camera follows them as they walk towards the radio room.  Flanagan says, “I don’t understand how a dog could get that far.”  Carter says, “There are other camps out here.  I know of at least three.”  Flanagan says, “And not one of them closer than 50 miles.”  Carter says, “I don’t care how or why it’s here, I just care about getting ahold of its owner to make sure it doesn’t have rabies or parasites or any number of things Bottin says are possible.”  Flanagan says, “Bottin’s a biologist.”  “Enough.”  Flanagan shrugs and says he’ll try to get ahold of someone, but he hasn’t heard anything from anybody for a while.”  Carter turns and heads back from where he came.  He passes Pinster and Campbell again, who stare at the outlet like it’s calculus.  Carter stops and says, “Both of you have been working on that ******* outlet for a week now.  What’s the malfunction?”  Pinster says, “We need to replace the-“ Carter shakes his head and interrupts, “Not with the outlet, what’s the malfunction with the two of you?  Fix it, then work on the other hundred things wrong in this camp.”  Carter walks away.  

Middle of the night now.  Most of the crew is in the rec room now.  Klemish (Beck) chocks up his cue.  Robson with a steaming mug in front of him and a book.  Bottin and Wells (Eldon) play chess.  Stone waits with a cue in his bandaged hand.  Matt Milne sits by the pool table with a cue. Shaw sits alone with a bottle of whiskey, a tumbler with ice in it and a nice metal top.  He spins it and watches it while he pours himself a drink.  His life is in balance, as the perfectly-spinning top symbolizes.  Johns tosses a dart at a dartboard while Pemberton (Kitchen) waits beside him.  Howard (Moran) reads a book in the darkest, most secluded corner of the room.  Pinster and Campbell play a pinball machine and an arcade respectively (the 1982 version had them I just realized).  Pinster says for everyone to hear, “Why don’t they just test it for rabies?”  Robson says, “You’d have to euthanize the dog.”  “Why?”  “Only way to test for rabies is with brain tissue.”  Bottin says, “Just euthanize it and be done with it then.”  Stone says, “Yeah, and Boyle’d euthanize you.”  Klemish says, “You can’t kill the dog.  That’d be like the seagull in the old ship book.”  Howard mumbles something under his breath.  Klemish shouts, “What’d you say, HOWARD?”  Howard tries to speak up for himself, but speaks as meekly as a mouse, “Stop calling me that like that.”  “It’s your name, isn’t it?”  Howard thinks about saying something, but instead looks back at his book.  After a second he says, “It’s called Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.  And it’s a poem.”  More quietly he says, “And it was a ******* albatross.”  Oldman says, “You can’t be serious about wanting that dog tested for rabies.”  Bottin says, “I am serious.”  Oldman scoffs and says something like, “Just because you weren’t allowed a puppy as a kid means you have to go around wantonly killing them as an adult?”  Bottin, in full condescending *******ry, says, “I think more alarming and disconcerting than a biologist wanting to test a dog for rabies is a physician caring more for the safety of an animal than a human patient.”  Stone says, “Yeah.”  Robson shakes his head and drops it.  

Carter goes to Boyle in Boyle’s room.  It’s early the next morning.  Tells him unless Flanagan can get ahold of its owner by tomorrow, they’re going to have to test it for rabies.  Can’t jeopardize the safety of one of his crew for someone else’s dog.  Boyle fights it bringing up all the good points and telling him the dog clearly has no rabies, one of the camps could have people nearby in trouble or else the dog ran 50 miles etc.  Carter says Boyle said it himself; can’t keep with the others, can’t keep in shack, can’t keep it out with the others.  Asks if it’s possible this is the most humane thing to do.  Boyle says no, not only is it inhumane, it’s inhuman, dumb, etc.  Carter says his mind is made up.  Boyle gets up and heads for the door.  Carter asks him where he’s going.  Boyle says, “To give the dog a hell of a last day alive looks like.”  Carter tells him to not let the dog go.  They need to know.  Boyle says, “Get ****ed.”  

Follows Boyle as he angrily walks through the camp.  This whole paragraph is a nice long tracking shot.  Pinster and Campbell are working on the same electrical stuff.  Pinster throws up his hands and says simply, “Wire.”  Campbell says, “Ah, ****, who’s gonna get that?”  Yes, all these times they pass by Pinster and Campbell has a point.  Boyle walks into the kitchen, where Johns plays some 80’s music.  Asks Boyle a bunch of questions as Boyle starts grabbing meats and cheeses.  Boyle stops and asks, “Don’t you have dinner to be cooking or something?”  Johns says, “Nah, it’s a stew.”  Boyle fills up a bowl and walks out of the kitchen.  He walks past Pinster and Campbell again, who are playing paper rock scissors.  “This is the last one,” Pinster says.  Campbell nods.  Boyle walks outside, snow crunches beneath him and it shows the exact distance between the entrance and the shack.  He opens the shack door, where the dog reacts excitedly.  Maybe a jump scare, but I hate wasted jump scares.  Boyle shuts the door behind him.  The dog pants and wags its tail and jumps up, looks out the window.  Suspense kicks in here.  Is it going to turn?  Is it going to attack?  What will be obvious to fans of The Thing is that, no, the dog does not want to be let out of the shack.  He’s staring through the window to see if anyone else is coming.  He wants to assimilate Boyle.  Oblivious, Boyle tells it to calm down.  Can’t let it out.  It’s cold out there anyway, wants him to be warm and comfortable.  Tries giving the dog some treats, some water.  Dog won’t settle down.  A very subtle crack, as if the dog is changing on the inside.  Another one.  Boyle says, “Not doing a great job of pleading your lack of rabies if you won’t drink some water.”  Boyle looks around, finds a bowl he’d left in there earlier.  It’s still full of water.  Then, something out the corner of his eye.  It looks like a shirt.  There’s blood on it and all around it.  Boyle moves in to investigate.  The dog starts shaking.  Blood starts seeping out its jaw as it’s in the beginning stages of changing in order to assimilate.  Boyle is oblivious.  Then, through the window, at the entrance to the camp, somebody BALD (Pinster or Campbell, camera obscures the rest) puts on a hat just outside.  The dog immediately settles down just as Boyle walks up to it to check it.  Notices the blood around its mouth.  A look of grave concern.  The blood is frothy, too, which is a sign of rabies in dogs.  

Carter and Boyle in a room with the dog.  They’re both very somber.  Carter says, “I hope you can understand my perspective.  Stone hasn’t had his booster in over 2 years and it’s a precaution I have to take.”  Boyle breathes in, says nothing.  “And no, I can’t just send Stone to McMurdo to get a booster.  Not with this weather coming in.  It might be months before he could come back.”  In a matter-of-fact tone, Boyle says, “I’ll administer the shot.  It will be like he’s falling asleep.  Then, he’ll jolt up, like coming back to life.  This is normal.  He’ll then die.”  Carter bows his head, clearly feeling bad about what has to be done.  Tension is laid on thick here.  Everyone is expecting a reaction.  The dog is calm, looks almost cheerful as it pants and looks around.  Carter holds the dog, even pets it as Boyle administers the shot.  Boyle then embraces the dog, petting it as it dies.  Just as Boyle said, it jolts back, seemingly alive, and this is a jump scare moment.  The dog then peacefully dies.  Immediately, Boyle stands and makes for the exit.  “Where are you going?”  Boyle says, “You’re quick to remind everyone of their job.  I’m a dog handler.  I’ve handled it.  You do the ******* rest.  That smell you’re smelling is its ****.  That tends to happen when something dies, and you’ll have to remove its head.”  Boyle storms out.  

Bottin and Matt Milne enter the same room.  Carter stands over the dog’s body with a saw in hand.  The dog’s head is in a tray on a table.  Bottin asks, “What did you cut its head off for?”  Carter lets out a grunt and points, as if pointing at Boyle.  Bottin cracks a smile, “You only cut off the head if you’re sending it into a lab for testing.  All I need is brain tissue.  Get the body out of here I suppose.”  Milne and Carter push the body of the dog onto a tarp and pull it out of the room while Bottin sits and prepares to get the brain tissue sample or however the hell that works.  

Carter and Milne pull the tarp past Pinster and Campbell, still at work on the outlet or electrical issue in the same spot.  They drag it outside.  

-Boyle sits in the kennel with the other dogs visibly depressed.
-Robson and Shaw play cards in the rec room.  A top spins away from the cards.  Robson stares at it, seemingly transfixed, as Shaw shuffles the deck.  
-Johns sings out loud to himself in the kitchen while stirring something.  
-Howard in a lab studying something.  

Carter comes back inside.  Gets on the wall intercom thing and asks for Shaw to meet him outside.  

Crosscutting here.  Shaw walking out of the rec room, down the hall.  Carter and Milne preparing to burn the dog’s corpse.  Bottin working on removing brain tissue from the dog head.  So now I’ll explain why I’ve shown Pinster and Campbell working on that outlet so many times.  It’s basically a direct homage to both Hawks/Nyby and Dean Cundey.  In The Thing from Another World, Nyby/Hawks normalized opening doors.  They showed characters opening doors so many times it became normal, expected, and they removed all suspense from the act only to open them and show the monster, completely unexpected.  It stands as one of the best scares ever in film history because there was no suspense to it, it was unexpected.  Same thing with The Thing (1982).  That scene where MacCready is talking on t he radio?  It’s almost the exact same camera angle and location as when/where you see the Norris thing head monster.  So by crosscutting between burning the dog’s body and Bottin working on the head, I’d hope to have what happens next come as a surprise.  

Right as Pinster goes to work on the outlet he says something like, “You got the power right?” to which Campbell nods.  Pinster starts at the outlet or some whatever I’m not an electrician, and he starts shaking violently as it electrocutes him.  This starts while Shaw is walking by.  Shaw takes a step to help him, but Campbell shouts no, it’ll get him, too.  Campbell acts quickly, shuts off the power, but Pinster keeps shaking just like Palmer shook in the blood test scene; then, just like Palmer thing, it throws itself against the opposite wall and sticks there with no regard for gravity.  Somewhere in all this Shaw drops his top.  

Cuts to Carter and Milne.  Eh, I guess I’ll just have them use a flamethrower.  I don’t have time to make it harder on myself.  They torch the dog, and instantaneously it reacts.  The Thing scream.  Its bones start cracking, it starts contorting, changing, trying to escape the flame.  

Back to the Pinster thing.  It’s hands bend backwards inhumanly, elbows bend back with a crack.  Each of Pinster’s legs split right down the middle like the Norris thing’s stomach did with rows of teeth and tentacles within.  Campbell and Shaw are in a little bit of shock.  TL;DT, Shaw basically comes up with some way to torch it in a quick-acting way, maybe paint thinner is by the wall or something, and he saves Campbell’s life.  

Outside, Matt Milne’s character isn’t so lucky.  Fifth and sixth legs shoot out from its torso, raising it off the ground.  Right where the head was cut off, the body splits with teeth all along the perforation, and from further down a tongue shoots out, grabs Milne’s character by the neck, pulls it in and clamps down around Milne’s head.  Milne’s bloodcurdling screams shake Carter from his stupor enough to torch the dog thing, but too late to save Milne.  Milne actually takes a while to die though.  Carter kinda just stares at Milne as he dies.  It's important that Milne does not die right away because The Thing starts assimilating him and (Copper precedent), it would not do that if he died right away. 

All hell breaks loose inside.  Alarm sounds, people start shouting asking questions, etc.  Carter walks in, slams his back up against a wall, looks at Pinster’s burnt corpse without much of a reaction as he’s trying to take it all in.  Then, a realization strikes.  He runs to where Bottin is.  Once he gets there, Bottin is fine with a puzzled and grumpy look and asks, “What?”  

Next scene has everyone standing/sitting in a room, all facing the dog’s head in a glass box centered in the room on a table.  Johns looks over at two occupied body bags on tables on the other side of the room.   Menzies, sitting next to Carter, lights a cigarette and tries spinning his Zippo lighter obviously without much luck.  He’s clearly distressed.  Carter asks if he has to smoke that in there right now.  Menzies says nonchalantly and without looking, “**** you, Carter.”  Klemish says, “I told you we shouldn’t have killed that dog.”  Boyle says, “It clearly wasn’t a dog.”  “wasn’t even terrestrial I don’t think,” Eldon says.  Somebody scoffs, he pleads his case.  Pemberton says it could be an Earth life form hitherto undiscovered, to which someone, probably Eldon, says, “You’re a paleontologist, Pemberton,” as an insult.   Squabble squabble, argue argue.  Carter tries to defuse the situation by saying there’s a perfectly normal explanation for all this.  Gary Oldman goes Gary Oldman and shouts, “This is not ******* normal!”  It’s quiet for a bit.  Then Bottin takes charge.  He lays it all out with deduction skills fitting Sherlock, except he played Moriarity in that movie.  He tells them all that either Pinster was never human, or somehow, some way the dog changed him.  Each scenario is as unlikely as the next, so they need to know if Pinster came into contact with the dog.  Campbell confirms he had.  Bottin says that everybody who came into contact with the dog could somehow have been changed or effected.  This starts a round of yelling and accusations aimed mostly at Boyle and Stone.  They defend themselves, shouting, yelling all that fun stuff that ought to happen in a The Thing movie.   Bottin tries again to restore order by telling everyone they don’t even know its intentions and it may have killed Matt Milne in self-defense.  Even goes so far as saying if it is some intelligent life form, killing someone trying to torch you would hold up in the court of law as self-defense.  Robson brings up Pinster and says he hopes no jury would consider changing a human into whatever in God’s name Pinster became as self-defense.  Most of them agree with this.  Most of them are pretty scared naturally.  Johns is confused how it could have done it and admits he doesn’t know what they’re talking about.  He’d spoken with Pinster minutes before.  After the dog was dead.  They talked about stuff that happened before they even got to the camp.    The scene ends with Carter instilling his will on everyone.  Tells everyone no answers are going to come from sitting around and yelling at each other.  Tells Klemish and Campbell to go clean up the mess the Pinster thing made (fix wall, whatever).  Tells Shaw to go smoke in his own shack, tells Boyle to look after his dogs, Johns to go cook.  Tells all the scientists in the room, and Robson, to find out what they can about that head and whatever Pinster is.  Flanagan says, “We all want to know what’s going on here.”   “You’re a radio operator.  Your job is to speak or to listen, and right now it’s not to speak, so shut up and listen.  I’m not going to have a mechanic or a radio operator or a pilot interfering with finding out what’s going on.  This could be time sensitive, so just do your job and let scientists and medical professionals figure out what’s going on.”  Klemish says, “Howard’s a geologist.  What the **** do rocks have to do with any of this?”  Howard says quietly like a nerd standing up to a bully twice his size, “I have more doctorate’s than you’ve brain cells.”  Carter yells enough and ends the bickering.  
Everybody leaves.  Bottin figuratively rolls up his sleeves and asks those who remain, “What do we know, and what do we need to find out?”

THIS IS PRECISELY THE MOMENT I RAN OUT OF GAS.  EVERYTHING AFTER THIS IS HALF-***.  

Robson falling asleep, but trying to stay up.  Stone asleep on the couch and snoring.  Howard shakes himself awake as he pours another cup of coffee, then goes back to the microscope.  Bottin looking under the microscope when realization strikes.  He pushes himself away from the desk to digest it all.   Moments later, Howard looks up from his microscope equally stunned.  He opens his mouth.  Bottin gets his attention and tells him to hush (nonverbally).  He motions towards Stone.  Howard nods back.  Bottin yells at Stone, who jolts awake.  “We can’t get any work done with you sitting there snoring.  Go to bed.”  Stone says, “**** you, Bottin,” as he staggers out all sleepy.  Bottin immediately starts laying out a plan.  “Pull the tarp over Pinster’s corpse.  Wells, get Carter in here.”  Howard asks, “Are you sure?”  Bottin says, “Completely.  I was with him or had him accounted for all night.”  Bottin goes on with plans and preparations until finally Wells asks something British, however they speak, like, “Would someone kindly tell me what in the Devil is going on?”   

Robson, Bottin, Carter, Howard and Wells stand outside in front of the Pinster and Matt Milne cadavers.  Howard explains,  “The first thing we did was we examined Pinster’s blood. Human in every way.”  “That’s not possible,” Carter says.  “But it is,” Bottin says, then continues, “Now obviously, that thing is not human.  It’s something else, but its blood is (can’t think of the word here for not in any way different) from human blood.  That’s the first problem.  Second problem is Matt Milne.  His blood is changing.”  Carter asks, “What the **** do you mean it’s changing?”  Bottin holds up his hands, “Rather, it’s being changed.  On a cellular level.  Cells are being absorbed, then imitated, then multiplying.  Obviously at an exponential rate.  One cell copies another, then both copy two more and so on.  Something is changing Matt Milne, yet replicating him at the same time.  Creating a copy.  Imitation.”  Carter asks what that means.  Wells explains, “It means we have a very serious problem.”  “What problem?”  Robson is exasperated and impatient and says bluntly, “They’re trying to tell you that some of us may not be human anymore.”  Rabble rabble, Bottin asserts control here.  At this point, he is the true leader of the camp because he is the smartest remaining in the camp.  He says they’re still working on everything, still figuring out how to figure this all out, but for now they need to burn the bodies.  Why?  Because the cells are still alive, and that’s not humanly possible.  Because whatever they were when they died, and I think Matt Milne was still human when he died, they are not human anymore.”  They torch the bodies.  Bottin tells everyone to stay together.  Don’t be alone with anyone.  For any reason.”  Someone suggests that might be difficult.  Bottin says not seriously, “If you take a ****, I want you holding someone’s hand.”  Carter asks how they can tell who is what.  Bottin is about to explain, but a light in the pilot’s shack goes on.  Shaw steps out in the doorway and looks down at the burning corpses.  He walks over.  Everyone is very quiet.  Shaw asks what’s going on.  Everyone’s dodgy, give him short answers.  Not the whole truth.  Shaw gets impatient.  He notices Wells pointing the business end of a flamethrower at him.  Pretends he doesn’t notice.  Asks what they found out, same type of responses.  Shaw finally says, “You’re not telling me everything you know.”  Bottin looks at him ruthlessly and says, “You’re right.”  Shaw gets the hint and leaves.  Bottin says, “We’ve got some things we can work on to figure out how to tell, but in the morning.  We’re all very tired and any work we would do tonight would be bad work.”  Carter asks if they should even wait on something like this and not just power through until they have answers.  Wells asks if they should tell everyone now.  Some of them have to be humans.  They should know.”  Robson says, “At this point it’s triage.  We have to keep the five of us safe and hope for the best on the rest.”  Howard says, “Just assume Stone and Boyle are no longer human.  Suspect the rest.”  Robson nods, “Especially Shaw.”  Carter, “Why Shaw?”  Robson says, “To do what it did to Pinster I feel takes privacy.  If I was one of those things, that shack up there would be the first place I’d look for a victim.”  Bottin says, “We don’t know this thing means us harm.  Neither the dog nor the Pinster thing harmed anybody or reacted violently until threatened.”  Robson says, “That’s where you and I disagree, Bottin.  I’d consider turning me from human into one of those things pretty ******* harmful.”  

Next day.  Dog head is cut down the middle, but not apart.  Bottin explains, “The dog didn’t react to the poison.  Maybe because it knew it wouldn’t harm it, maybe because by the time it did it was too late, but I suspect the former.  The injection was meant to stop the heart.  For all we know, that’s unimportant to this lifeform.  We know fire harms it, we know at least it thinks electricity harms it.  If I know what I think I know…”  He tilts his head.  There’s an ear in a closed container thing above a bunsen burner.  He turns it on.  Eventually, the ear reacts in some kind of jump scare.  Bottin says, “It’s as I suspected.  Before the heat, it was just imitation of a dog ear.  After it sensed a threat, it changed, trying to escape.  And look at it.  That’s not reflex, that’s thought.  It is actively trying to escape this container, it’s thinking.  As I thought, every individual part of it is a whole when separate from the rest of it.  I have no way to prove this, but I believe each central nervous system and its capabilities depend on the overall size of the thing in question.  Pinster was speaking, working, higher functions, intelligence etc…”  Bottin moves to the rest of the head.  He’s got some sort of electricity something.  I’m not an electrician.  Wells says he shouldn’t be doing that, it’s going to freak out like the ear did.  Bottin says that’s what he’s been trying to tell them.  It won’t react.  Dog didn’t react until after it was torched, etc.  He’s about to give it a lethal dose of electricity that would kill anything, and by the time it realizes it’s harmful it will already be dead.  He says it really confidently and as soon as he’s done speaking, the dog head turns, something shoots out and gets Wells.  Wells looks down at his wound, then up, nobody (not even the viewers) really know what happened until the dog head starts shaking and reacting further, then Wells starts screaming, it’s chaotic.  Others rush in to see what’s going on.  Eventually they get it all under control and torch the dog head, but Wells dies.  

After this there’s that proverbial coming to Jesus meeting with everybody.  At one point Carter says to somebody this is not a democracy, to which Shaw responds, “I think, given the circumstances, things need to get a little more democratic around here.  Flanagan says something, to which somebody responds, “Are you tuned to the wrong frequency?  Listen with your ears, not your *******.”  By the end of this conversation, everyone fully understands what is going on, except with a few slight misinterpretations on how The Thing works.  

Cannot think of what happens between here and here except for shots of some of the characters considerably more jumpy.  Flanagan with only one ear thing while listening/trying the radio.  Shaw spinning some makeshift top he found that’s kinda like a long bolt with a smooth bottom like the thing I found at work.  

The next tense moment is when someone kills the power or locks a group out or something somehow happens to create tension and suspense and yelling and shouting and paranoia and distrust.  Boyle really needed some more scenes to try to establish him as the fake hero, but during this whole thing Boyle gets an axe right in his head, killing him, and Stone somehow gets shot.  Camerawork and pacing in this part while they’re trying to save Stone’s life, cutting back to the lifeless body of Boyle with an axe sticking out of his head.  Everybody watching it who has seen The Thing (1982) expects something to happen here, but nothing does.  Shaw chastises whoever killed Boyle and Stone with a cutting, yet brief, insult, then walks away.  

At one point when hostilities are really high, somebody (probably Bottin) takes over with a gun/flamethrower.  Carter is probably his lackey.  Bottin has a test to administer to all of them to find out who is the thing and who isn’t.  Shaw is highly skeptical.  Robson, Johns, Campbell and Shaw are all in a clique or whatever you’d call it.  Howard and Flanagan lean towards Bottin, but they’re very uncertain of everything.  Pemberton is probably dead at this point, and maybe Klemish, too, but I did have Klemish taunting Howard one more time by saying, “He’s crying again,” while Howard was panicking.  Anyhoo, Bottin and company have the rest under a tight watch.  Shaw whispers to Robson, “Get the defibrillator.”  “Get the what?  Why?”  Built up to make people think they’re going to use the defibrillator as some sort of electric weapon, but instead Shaw sticks like a fork in an outlet, but then grabs onto Bottin’s wrist so Bottin gets electrocuted.  Bottin turns here, revealing he’s a thing.  He gets torched, Shaw’s side gains control.  Robson resuscitates Shaw.  

I’ve thought up a lot of possible tests for this part.  Everybody electrocute themselves and get brought back, but I don’t know if that’s even realistic or if you’d die or whatever.  Either way, the test would be a sham, and Shaw would know it’s a sham, but he’d do it anyway.  Throughout the movie, he has a top / makeshift top / pens/ whatever he can balance.  It’s like an addiction, but it’s more than just a character quirk.  It’s basically all leading up to this point because whenever he would spin the top or balance the pen or whatever it was, he would always knock it over.  He’d set it up, get it perfectly balanced, and then he would destroy that balance by knocking it down.  That’s what he does here in the test.  He sets up the thing (whomever it may be) in perfect balance and comfort only to pull the rug out from under it at the end.  It would just take incredibly keen-witted and intelligent audience members to get it because, as you’ll see, I wouldn’t telegraph this.  

Anyway, everybody left alive passes the test.  At that point, Shaw says, “We have to decide whether or not we want to **** ourselves or the rest of the world.”  Meaning, they have to keep The Thing from escaping.  And so, the final task is for all of them to destroy the helicopter, destroy any means of escape, etc.  Why would they have to do this if all of them perceived everyone as human?  Because at some point, during a Thing reveal, it split in two and they lost a part of it.  So they know there’s at least one part of the thing out there.  The climax of the movie would take place over a few hours, so there’d be times when not everyone was together, and there would be one more surprise assimilation attempt where somebody would die, but kill the thing trying to assimilate it in the process.  

The final three characters would be Robson, Shaw and Johns.  It would be a similar situation as the 1982 version, but not as bleak and not as hopeless.  Parts of the camp would be intact.  They wouldn’t be doomed to freezing/dying.  Robson would suggest doing the test again and say something like, “We know it works now,” to which Shaw would respond, “Actually, I have a different theory.”  

Dun.  Dun dun.  Dun dun. 

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Oedipus Rex

Directed by: Angelina Jolie

Cast:

King Laius - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Queen Jocasta - Angelina Jolie
Shepherd - Tommy Flanagan
King Polybus - Sean Harris
Oedipus - Richard Madden
Oracle - Monica Belluci
Sphinx - Alfre Woodard
Creon - Sebastian Arcelus
Tiresias - Christopher Plummer

 

When Oedipus is born, the king Laius (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) consults an oracle as to his fortune. The oracle reveals that Laius "is doomed to perish by the hand of his own son". Laius binds the infant's feet together with a pin, and orders Jocasta to kill him. Unable to kill her own son, Jocasta (Angelina Jolie) orders a servant to slay the infant for her. The servant then exposes the infant on a mountaintop, where he is found and rescued by a shepherd (Tommy Flanagan). The shepherd brings the infant to Corinth, and presents him to the childless king Polybus (Sean Harris), who raises Oedipus as his own son.

As he grows to manhood, Oedipus (Richard Madden) hears a rumour that he is not truly the son of Polybus and his wife, Merope. He asks the Delphic Oracle (Monica Belluci) who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire". Desperate to avoid this terrible fate, Oedipus, who still believes that Polybus and Merope are his true parents, leaves Corinth for the city of Thebes.

On the road to Thebes, Oedipus encounters Laius and his retainers, and the two quarrel over whose chariot has the right of way. The Theban king moves to strike the insolent youth with his sceptre, but Oedipus, unaware that Laius is his true father, throws the old man down from his chariot, killing him. 

Before arriving at Thebes, Oedipus encounters the Sphinx (voiced by Alfre Woodard), a legendary beast with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lioness, and the wings of an eagle. The Sphinx was sent to the road approaching Thebes as a punishment from the gods, and would strangle any traveler who failed to answer a certain riddle.Bested by the prince, the Sphinx throws herself from a cliff, thereby ending the curse. Oedipus' reward for freeing Thebes from the Sphinx is its kingship, and the hand of the dowager queen, Jocasta.

Oedipus, now King of Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon (Sebastian Arcelus), to ask advice of the oracle at Delphi, concerning a plague ravaging Thebes. Creon returns to report that the plague is the result of religious pollution, since the murderer of their former king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for causing the plague.

Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias (Christopher Plummer) for help. When Tiresias arrives he claims to know the answers to Oedipus's questions, but refuses to speak, instead telling him to abandon his search. Oedipus is enraged by Tiresias' refusal, and verbally accuses him of complicity in Laius' murder. Outraged, Tiresias tells the king that Oedipus himself is the murderer.. Oedipus cannot see how this could be, and concludes that the prophet must have been paid off by Creon in an attempt to undermine him. 

Creon arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed; however, he lets Creon live. Jocasta, wife of first Laius and then Oedipus, enters and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he should take no notice of prophets. As proof, she recounts an incident in which she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. The prophecy stated that Laius would be killed by his own son; however, Jocasta reassures Oedipus by her statement that Laius was killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi.

The mention of this crossroads causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. Oedipus then sends for the one surviving witness of the attack to be brought to the palace from the fields where he now works as a shepherd.

Jocasta, confused, asks Oedipus what the matter is, and he tells her his story. Oedipus has hope, however, because the story is that Laius was murdered by several robbers. If the shepherd confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus is in the clear.

A man arrives from Corinth with the message that Oedipus's father has died. Oedipus, to the surprise of the messenger, is made ecstatic by this news, for it proves one half of the prophecy false, for now he can never kill his father. However, he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus's mind, tells him not to worry, because Merope was not in fact his real mother.

It emerges that this messenger was formerly a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron, and that he was given a baby, which the childless Polybus then adopted. The baby, he says, was given to him by another shepherd from the Laius household, who had been told to get rid of the child. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows who this man was, or where he might be now. They respond that he is the "same shepherd" who was witness to the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had already sent for. Jocasta, who has by now realized the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions, but he refuses and Jocasta runs into the palace.

When the shepherd arrives Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave without answering further. However, Oedipus presses him, finally threatening him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was Laius's own son, and that Jocasta had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside. 

Everything is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself. Jocasta enters the house, she runs to the palace bedroom and hangs herself there. Shortly afterward, Oedipus enters in a fury, calling on his servants to bring him a sword so that he might cut out his mother's womb. He then rages through the house, until he comes upon Jocasta's body. Giving a cry, Oedipus takes her down and removes the long gold pins that held her dress together, before plunging them into his own eyes in despair.

A blind Oedipus now exits the palace and begs to be exiled as soon as possible. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done. Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters), Antigone and Ismene, are sent out, and Oedipus laments their having been born to such a cursed family. He asks Creon to watch over them and Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back into the palace.

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BASIC PLOT

A British official finds himself in a botanical garden where he gets killed after failing to give incentives to Guntham Shatterhand's company. James Bond 007 is called in and his latest assignment is to investigate mogul Guntham Shatterhand and his tech empire, GSI Tech. Shatterhand is accused of using his power to coerce, threaten, or kill numerous government officials in order to receive tax breaks and establish a global monopoly of technology. Shatterhand intends to use his products to spy on members of the world in order to build a new personal empire and kill everyone else. Bond travels to Japan, where he meets his old friend, Tiger Tanaka (the head of the Japanese Secret Service). Tanaka warns Bond of the potential dangers that comes with facing a man like Shatterhand, but Bond dissuades any worries. Bond goes to GSI Tech’s headquarters, posing as an industrial representative, and obtains a list of factories that provides materials where GSI Tech creates their innovative technology. Later that night, Bond sneaks back into the offices to find further information regarding their methods where he would be caught and Shatterhand's guard Mr. Flint and others give chase, however Bond escapes using his gadget laden car.

Bond travels to Munich for a GSI Tech event where he meets Shatterhand and his wife, Alice, a world renowned botanist who specializes in poisonous plants. He would also meet the film’s leading lady here, Sam Fischer. Fischer is a financial analyst who works for GSI and has found numerous financial irregularities in their finances. Bond seduces her and asks her to look deeper into GSI’s finances to see what these irregularities are and if GSI has any role in the disappearance of these officials. As Bond continues to pose as this representative, he begins to earn Shatterhand's trust while getting the necessary information from Fischer regarding some of the deadly activities Shatterhand is involved in. When Bond meets up with her, he realizes that he's been caught and gets shot by a tranquilizer by Ana Sanchez, Alice’s secretary/security guard. 

When Bond wakes up, he finds himself and Fischer in Shatterhand’s so-called Garden of Death, where numerous officials were previously killed. Bond and Fischer tries to run out of the Garden and towards Shatterhand's adjacent residence but numerous traps are placed and Bond works to avoid them. He is near a way out but finds Sanchez working poisonous gas tanks towards Bond but he manages to avoid the gas and kills her. Once he gets back in the residence, Bond finds Flint and engages in a brutal fight where he wins. Bond and Fischer runs to Shatterhand's base and they both engage in battle with the Shatterhand duo. Bond and Fischer kills the Shatterhands and they kiss. Bond's boss, M, wants to congratulate Bond with a medal for preventing a potential apocalypse but his secretary, Miss Moneypenny tells him that Bond has still yet to check in. We find that rather than check in, Bond and Fischer are in bed together.

Edited by daboyle250
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Domatron Studios Presents:
Hangmen
By Martin McDonagh

 
On 11/4/2019 at 5:21 PM, Dome said:

Harry Allen, the Second Best Hangman in England. Played by Brendan Gleeson.

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Mooney, the Stranger. Played by James McAvoy.

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Syd, the Hangman's Assistant. Played by Robert Pattinson

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Fry, the drunkard Cop. Played by Martin Freeman

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Arthur, the Pensioner and Bill, the Regular. Played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

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Alice Allen, the wife of Harry Allen. Played by Sally Hawkins

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Albert Pierrepoint, the Best Hangman in England. Played by Daniel Craig

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Shirley Allen, the daughter of Harry Allen. Played by Daisy Waterstone

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Charlie, the Kid. Played by Barry Keoghan

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Hennessy, the Last Man Hanged in England. Played by Jordan Prentice

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Steven York, the Reporter. Played by Steve Coogan

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Michael Pitt and Brian Gleeson as The Two Guards

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Sam Rockwell and Domhnall Gleeson as The Two Officers.

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And Željko Ivanek as the Prison Governor.

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Wikipedia Stype Plot Synopsis:

 

The Last Hanging in England

Harry Allen: “They never made Pierrepoint hang a damned midget.”
Hennessey: “I have dwarfism. I prefer to be called a dwarf.”
Harry: “Alright, alright” …. “They never made Pierrepoint hang a damned dwarf.”

Executioner Harry Allen (often referred to as the Second Best Hangman in England) and his assistant Syd perform an execution at Walton Prison. The man to be executed is a dwarf named Hennessy, he’s been convicted of murdering several young women in the area. After a brief struggle Harry and Syd get Hennessy to the gallows. Hennessy notices Albert Pierrepoint (often referred to as the Best Hangman in England) in attendance and makes a final plea to the Prison Governor to have Pierrepoint hang him instead of Harry. Harry is embarrassed and angered by this comment and quickly hangs Hennessy with elite precision. Harry smirks at a scowling Pierrepoint and walks back into the prison. 

The Second Best Hangman in England

Steven York: “How many men have you hanged? A hundred?”
Harry: “Oh, loads more!”
Steven :“A thousand?!”
Harry: “Don’t be daft! This isn’t bloody China!”

Several years later, executions have recently been abolished in England. Harry has retired and now runs a small pub in his hometown, he lives in a home in the pub’s second story with his wife Alice and his daughter Shirley. Tonight a reporter is at his pub interviewing him about his career as a hangman and what he plans to do in retirement. Harry tells stories and reminisces about his career, the pub locals know most of the stories by heart. Frye the alcoholic cop, Arthur the wealthy retiree, Bill the drunk and Charlie the kid egg Harry on while Alice tries unsuccessfully to keep him humble. Eventually the reporter runs out of questions, and begins to drink with Harry and the regulars.  Harry continues for hours until the reporter finally has had enough. He thanks Harry and leaves the pub.

The Stranger

Mooney: “Pierrepoint hanged two hundred more men than you. How do you figure that makes you the Best Hangman in England?”
Harry: “Pierrepoint’s knots are prone to breaking, th-”
Mooney: “Pierrepoint’s knots hanged two hundred more men than you. They were good enough.”
Harry: “Good enough for war criminals, sure.”

As the reporter exits a Stranger walks in. He holds the door open for Shirley, Harry’s daughter, and makes a comment that nobody but Shirley hears. The comment makes her blush and this doesn’t amuse Harry or any of the regulars, Alice just rolls her eyes at all of them. The Stranger sits down and calls Shirley over to order a drink, apparently aware that she works at the pub. He introduces himself as Mooney and orders a drink. He makes small talk with Shirley before she leaves to get a drink. Mooney stands up and walks towards the bar where the regulars are seated, he asks Frye (who isn’t in uniform) if it’s smart for a police officer to be drunk when criminals could be around, this disturbs everyone in the bar. Mooney turns to Bill next and mocks him for spending all his time in the pub. He warns Charlie not to turn into Bill, but says he knows Charlie is just here for “the view” and nods towards Shirley, embarrassing Charlie. Mooney asks Charlie about Pierrepoint “The Best Hangman in England” and why Harry thought he deserved the title instead. He mocks Harry’s answers and says he thinks Pierrepoint is better. Seeing that things are getting tense, Mooney retreats to his own table.

The night goes on, things are tense but calm. The regulars aren’t pleased with Mooney’s presence but Harry doesn't like kicking out paying customers. Mooney calls Shirley over and the two chat for a few minutes in private, he makes her giggle and blush and whispers something to her at one point. Harry hates this, and glares at Shirley and Mooney the entire time. Eventually it’s time to close the pub, Harry lets Mooney know it’s time to leave. Mooney asks for one last beer but Harry tells him no. This sends Mooney into a rage, he yells at Harry and slams his chair into the bar, angering all the regulars. Shirley isn’t impressed by this outburst and has second thoughts about Mooney. Regardless of Shirley’s second thoughts, she’s seen exiting the pub a short time after closing to meet Mooney outside. The two talk by his car for a few minutes before Shirley gets in and they leave together. 

Shirley

The next morning Shirley is gone. Harry asks Alice if she knows where Shirley is and Alice assures him she’s a young woman now and she will come home when she damn well pleases. The regulars begin showing up around their regular times and they all notice right away that Shirley wasn’t there. Bill and Charlie immediately begin to speculate that maybe Mooney has something to do with it. Frye reminds them that she’s only been absent for a couple hours and chastises them for jumping to wild and dangerous conclusions. Arthur jokes that maybe she’s with Mooney because she wants to be with Mooney, this upsets Charlie. Alice tells all the men to stop worrying, she mocks them for being too overprotective. Eventually the men talk some sense into each other, they begin to drink and talk about yesterday’s interview and the upcoming story about Harry.

Syd

Syd shown outside of Harry’s pub early in the afternoon. The relationship between he and Harry now was resentful and cold as he was fired shortly after the Hennessy hanging, when Harry caught him engaging in sex acts with a corpse and reported him to the morgue director.  As he walks towards the front door a police officer spots him and waves him down from his patrol car. The officer informs Syd that there were two murders in a small town up north over the weekend. He tells Syd that the murders match the killings that Hennessy had been executed for. Syd scoffs at the idea and assures the officer that the man responsible for the Hennessy murders was Hennessy, and that he had already been hung for his crimes. The officer doubts this and it gives Syd something else to ponder, there was a witness this time. The officer describes the suspect, a clean cut man in his 30’s, fit but small in stature. Syd considers what the officer is telling him, but doesn’t say anything. Syd enters the bar and the officer drives away. 

Harry and the regulars aren’t happy to see Syd, and Syd is happy that the regulars aren’t happy to see him. He immediately teases Harry about losing his job and retiring as the “Second Best Hangman in England” and Harry returns with his own jabs about Syd’s necrophilic past. Syd exchanges unplesantries with the regulars and eventually asks if where Shirley was, before anyone else could answer Charlie tells Syd that Shirley didn’t come home. Harry mentions Mooney’s visit the night before and asks Syd to keep an eye out for either of them. Syd had no ill will towards Shirley and agreed to send her home if he saw her. Harry describes Mooney to Syd, and Syd runs pale and quickly leaves the pub. Harry’s description of Mooney was uncannily similar to the officers description of the killer. As Syd walks down the road outside the pub he thinks back to the night before. A flashback across the street for Harry’s pub with Mooney. He offers Mooney money to cover a night of drinking if he promises to crash Harry’s interview night. Mooney agrees and Syd fills him in on everything he needs to get under Harry’s skin, including the name of his daughter Shirley.  Syd wonders if Mooney had anything to do with Shirley’s disappearance, he is so deep in his thoughts he doesn’t even see Mooney drive down the road back towards the pub. 

Shirley’s Killer

Mooney parks his car on the street outside the pub and heads inside. He’s immediately accosted by Harry, who is asking him about Shirley’s whereabouts. Alice and Frye try to calm Harry down, but it’s no use. Seeing their efforts to keep his attacker calm, Mooney thanks them both in ingratiating manner. This annoys them both much to Mooney’s amusement. Harry eventually lets go of Mooney, who denies knowing anything about Shirley’s whereabouts. He tells Harry that he was quite drunk and doesn't even remember Shirley, and tries to insult Harry by telling him that Shirley really wasn’t memorable to him. When this doesn’t work Mooney tells Harry he does remember something, he says he remembers her asking for a ride up North to see a friend in the mental hospital up there, but he thought she was just looking for some non-committal sex so he turned her down. This sends Harry into a rage, and before Alice or Frye can grab him he leaps across the pub and slams Mooney against a wall. Mooney begins to laugh and says again to Harry “I turned the broad down for sex, what are ya so mad about?!” Harry slams Mooney’s head into the bar and Mooney, knocking him a bit silly for a few moments. Frye grabs Harry and escorts him back to the bar. Charlie and Bill each grab one of Mooney’s arms to keep him upright against the bar. As Mooney’s head begins to clear from being slammed into the bar, he asks Harry why he’s so mad. “Surely you know Shirley will be home at any minute. I mean, unless the murderer got her.”

The whole room went silent when Mooney mentioned a murderer. Harry asked him to repeat himself, so he tells Harry about two murders up north over the weekend. He tells Harry and the regulars that Hennessy was innocent, that Harry and Syd had hung the wrong man. Frye spoke up, as a police officer he knew some details of the case. He assured Mooney that Harry had hung the correct man, but Mooney refused to believe him and continues telling the group about the killing up north. Harry gets tired of this story and grabs Mooney by the collar, he asks him one last time where Shirley is. Mooney finally admits he drove Shirley up north to see her friend, when Harry asks Mooney to prove it Mooney says he can’t remember the name of the town. Harry and Frye doubt his claim, Harry reluctantly lets go of him until Mooney says “The name of the town is on the… tip of my tongue.”

Fry froze when he heard the final four words. He stared at Harry for a few moments, neither reacted, but only for a short while. Deciding quickly on what to do next, Harry viciously slams Mooney headfirst into the bar, knocking him unconscious instantly. Frye tries to stop Harry but is far too late, Mooney is unconscious before Frye even reacts. The group is stunned by Harry’s assault, but Frye explains to them that the Hennessy murderer took the tip of his victims tongue. It wasn’t a detail known to the public, but Hennessy used it to mock Harry. Frye isn’t sure Harry did the right thing, but he doesn’t know if what Harry did was wrong either. There was a discussion on what should happen next but Harry overrules all of them, he drags Mooney’s unconscious body to the back room before the others have much say in it. The regulars, not sure how to react to this unfolding story stay in the pub to talk about what they would do next. Frye is vocal about taking Hennessy to the police, but Bill and Charlie think Harry is better equipped to deal with Mooney. Alice leaves the pub to look for Shirley, desperation had begun to set in at this point. 

Another Last Hanging in England

As the regulars talk and Alice leaves to look for Shirley, Harry ties Mooney up in the back room. He props a wooden keg upright so it’s standing in the middle of the room, he places Mooney’s unconscious body on the top of the keg and ties a noose around Mooney’s neck before securing it it to a beam in the rafters. Harry grabs a rag and stuffs it in Mooney’s mouth, then dumps cold water on his head to wake him up. Mooney’s yells are muffled through the rag in his mouth, he struggles to get his hands free but leaning too far in any direction makes the noose around his neck start to constrict his breathing. Harry stands up and puts his hands on each of Mooney’s knees, the rim of the keg digs deep into Mooney’s legs as Mooney lets out another muffled scream. Harry begins to beat Mooney, alternating between punching him repeatedly to putting more weight on Mooney’s legs. Mooney’s legs begin to turn purple after a few minutes of pressure against the keg rim, he’s still struggling and screaming as Harry questions him about Shirley. The regulars in the pub can hear the commotion and look around at each other, not sure if any of them should intervene. 

After several more minutes of beatings, some of which are shown while others are heard by the regulars through the back room door, Mooney finally tells Harry that he is responsible for the Hennessy killings. Harry doubts him and continues the beating, barely stopping to allow Mooney to talk. Eventually Mooney gives up details about the killings to Harry that only the killer would know, Harry stops beating him for a moment while trying to think of a way to refute Mooney’s claims, but he can’t. He continues to beat him and asks repeatedly about Shirley, Mooney laughs and won’t answer him but does remind Harry that Hennessy’s first victim looked a lot like Shirley. This comment sent Harry into a rage, he punched Mooney several times until Mooney lost consciousness. Just then he hears the front door open in the pub, he walks over to the backroom door and listens to what was going on up front. The regulars loudly greet Syd as he walks into the pub, loud enough to warn Harry in the back that they were no longer alone. Harry props Mooney’s unconscious body up against a wooden upright, checks that his hands are still tied together, and heads back out to the pub.

In the pub, Syd tells Harry that there have been two murders up north and the police think they may be related to the Hennessy killings. Harry plays dumb and asks Syd if he’s just here to gloat again. Syd denies that, and tells Harry they got a description of the killer. Syd describes Mooney to Harry, carefully watching Harry for any sort of reaction. He asks Harry if he’s seen anyone who looks like that around the bar. Harry denies seeing anyone like that, Charlie and Frye shoot Harry looks like they want him to tell Syd about Mooney, but Harry says nothing. At this point, Syd admits to Harry that he had paid Mooney to come to the bar last night to bother Harry, he asks Harry why he didn’t admit to seeing Mooney. Harry states again that he has no recollection of Mooney, this comment is very suspicious but Syd can’t really do anything about it. Harry asks Frye to help him move a keg in the back room, then he and Frye head to the back room where Mooney was still tied up.

On the way to the back room Harry explains to Frye everything that Mooney had said, and how he was sure that Mooney was the killer and had done something with Shirley. When they enter the back room they see that Mooney has slipped off the barrel and hung. Mooney was dead. Frye begins to panic and Harry assures him everything will be OK. He tells Frye to leave the pub and not come back a few days and that he would deal with Mooney somehow. Frye is reluctant and wants to call the police but Harry tells him it’s far too late for that now. Frye leaves the pub with Charlie, saying nothing in front of Syd that would indicate a problem. However Frye and Charlie’s exit indicated to Bill and Arthur that there was a problem, they quickly followed Frye and Charlie to the exit leaving Harry in the pub with Syd.

Harry tells Syd to follow him. Syd is confused and a little nervous, but follows Harry to the back room. When they reach it Harry turns the doorknob and pushes the door open, revealing the body of Mooney hanging in the back of the room. Syd leaps into action, trying to remove the rope and get Mooney down, but Harry stops him. Harry explains to Syd the events of the previous two nights. He explains that Mooney admitted to the killings and knew details only the killer could know and that he admitted to taking Shirley the night before. It takes some convincing but eventually Syd comes to terms with the fact that Harry is telling the truth and wouldn't have hung Mooney if he wasn’t certain. Harry tells Syd to take the body, he knows Syd is a necrophile and won’t be able to resist, as well as making him an accomplice. Not seeing any other good option and not wanting to risk being killed by Harry if he refused to participate, Syd takes him up on the offer. They cut the body down and roll it up in a rug. Syd leaves the pub to drive his car around to the back exit at the same time Harry drags the rolled rug down the pub’s main hall towards that same exit. Together they lift Mooney’s body into the trunk of  the car, but turn around when they hear someone walking up behind them.

Shirley

Shirley is frozen, she stares at Harry and Syd in disbelief. She can clearly see they are lifting a body into the back of Syds car, there’s no doubt about it. Harry rushes in and hugs her before she can ask what’s going on, he begins to sob as she continues gathering herself. Syd doesn’t know what to say, he just watches Shirley and Harry for a moment before going back to loading Mooney’s corpse into the trunk. Harry asks Shirley what happened, he’s still crying and hugging her and Shirley is still wide-eyed and silent. After a few moments to get her bearings Shirley describes last night’s uneventful ride up north to see a friend, a ride from Mr Mooney. She stops the story there and demands to know who the body was and asks them about what happened. Harry starts to explain, but Shirley presses forward before he can stop her. She looks into the trunk and sees that the body is Mooney, she collapses in the back alley in a fit of hysterical tears. Desperate not to draw attention to themselves Syd and Harry quickly drag Shirley into the bar, covering her mouth to silence her screaming. 

They sit her down and uncover her mouth when she stops screaming. Harry explains to Shirley that Mooney was a murderer and they thought he had killed Shirley. Shirley doesn’t believe them when Harry calls it an accident. Harry raises his voice and tells Shirley that Mooney was a killer and deserved to die. Shirley broke down crying and ran upstairs. Harry apologizes but she doesn’t acknowledge it, Harry apologizes to Syd as well. Syd assures Harry that Mooney deserved to die, and Syd leaves the pub. Harry sits alone in silence for several minutes, before breaking down in a sobbing fit of his own. 

The Last Hangman in England 

Several months have passed since Mooney’s hanging. His disappearance went largely unreported and the killings stopped, chalked up in the media to a Hennessy copycat who is unlikely to be caught. Alice tries to support Harry, but he’s changed since that fateful day. He’s no longer the boastful executioner he once was, proud of his job and eager to tell you about it. He’s cold and angry now, he rarely talks about any of his executions any more and never about Hennessy. Shirley barely speaks to her father these days, just a handful of times since Mooney was killed, and it’s been very rare to see a smile on her face since it happened. The pub regulars have become disillusioned with Harry, they all understand why he did what he did but have a hard time coming to terms with it being the right decision. Frye retires from the police force, stricken with guilt about what he knows, he begins drinking even more. Charlie follows suit with the drinking, seeing what this event has done to Shirley has hurt him deeply. Arthur drinks more out of despair for seeing Charlie drinking so heavily and Bill drinks more because he doesn’t want to be the only one sober. The pub is dying, it’s no longer warm and inviting, it’s cold and it feels abandoned. Only Harry and the regulars remain, new customers were almost non-existent, things had gotten quite grim. Then one day, Pierrepoint showed up. 

Pierrepoint

Pierrepoint enters the pub early one morning. Harry has opened upbut none of the regulars had arrived yet. Harry is quite drunk for this hour in the morning.  Pierrepoint came to question Harry about a story he’d heard from Syd and began to prod him. Presuming it was about Mooney, Harry cut him off. Harry explained what he’d done, and explained how he knew Mooney was the killer. Pierrepoint said nothing, just listened. 

After hearing everything Pierrepoint assures Harry his secret is safe, but having lost the enthusiasm for riling up Harry, Pierrepoint prepares to leave. Before he can, Harry stops him. Harry tells Pierrepoint that Alice is going to leave him when Shirley goes back to school. He tells Pierrepoint he wants to die, his wife and daughter hate him, his regulars are drinking themselves to death out of loyalty to him and his career was taken away from him. He pleads for Pierrepoint to do it. He tells Pierrepoint that dreams and every thought are haunted worse than any killer either of them ever hanged. Tears well up in his eyes and Pierrepoint can see how broken he is. Pierrepoint agrees.

They head to the back room where Harry retrieves a length of rope and hands it to Pierrepoint. Working quickly he pushes some chairs together and carefully balances a table on top of them under a rafter about 15’ in the air, near the highest point of the angled ceiling. Pierrepoint heads up top of the makeshift gallows and fashions his noose to the rafters. Harry slips the noose over his neck and looks at Pierrepoint, he tells him the regulars would be there soon and he needs to leave quickly when it’s done. Harry nods to one of the chairs and signals for Pierrepoint to finish it. Pierrepoint steps down and kicks a chair out from under the platform. The table comes crashing down and the rope goes taut. 

The knot cinches and the noose tightens, but breaks under the weight of Harry. He crashes onto the floor with the chairs and table, letting out a scream when one of their legs find his ribcage. He rips the noose of his neck and curses at Pierrepoint. Pierrepoint curses back and scolds Harry for having such cheap rope. Harry demands Pierrepoint lock the front door now, knowing the regulars would be there any minute. He begins to tie his own noose as Pierrepoint exits the room and heads heads towards the front door.

Pierrepoint scans the pub, it’s empty, he makes his way to the front door and latches it. A crashing sound coming from the back room shakes the entire pub, Pierrepoint rushes back and opens the door. Harry’s lifeless body hangs over a mountain of tables and chairs. A grotesque scene makes it quite obvious that Harry’s neck is broken. His eyes bulge out of his head and his lips are already turning blue. Pierrepoint stares blankly for quite a long time but after the initial shock wears off, Pierrepoint smiles. He uses Harry’s phone in the front of the pub to dial the police, he reports a body in the back of Harry’s pub, gives them the address and leaves out the back door before locking it behind him as well.

The regulars arrive at the pub just a few minutes after Pierrepoint leaves, and the first police officers show up shortly after that. The regulars inform the police that never since Harry bought the pub has he failed to open on time. When they can’t get either of the doors to budge they decide to pry open a window. One of the officers searches the pub and finds Harry’s body, he returns with the news and after just a few short radio calls later the block was lined with police and reporters. Famed Hangman Harry Allen was dead by hanging.

The Best Hangman in England

Pierrepoint sits at home when his phone rings. He answers it and has a short conversation before hanging up and leaving the house. He arrives at the police station a short time later and is greeted by two police officers, they ask him to come inside. The police officers take Pierrepoint into a small interrogation room which upsets Pierrepoint greatly.  He demands to know why they’ve called him down here, so they assure him it’s the only room available and he’s not being interrogated. They inform Pierrepoint that they investigated Harry’s hanging and know he killed himself. Pierrepoint scoffs, annoyed they called him down to point out the obvious. They explain they have a lot of examples of Harry’s nooses from all his executions and easily matched it to the noose that he was hung with. Pierrepoint demands they make their point, he stands up and threatens to leave.

One of the officers reaches into a small box on the floor next to his chair. He pulls out a small length of rope with a noose tied on one end, the noose was broken from a frayed knot. Pierrepoint immediately recognizes the knot but asks what it was. The police tell him they compared this noose to his executions and know that he tied it.  The police question him heavily about why his broken noose was in Harry’s pocket. Pierrepoint explains that it was one of Harry’s first nooses, from when Harry was his protege, and that’s why it’s Pierrepoints signature know. Pierrepoint tries to pass it off as a keepsake Harry wanted to die with. 

Police confront Pierrepoint with the fact that the broken noose was the same kind of rope that Harry hung himself with, about the same age and condition as well. One of the officers pulls out the noose Harry used to kill himself and holds it up to Pierrepoint’s broken noose. The rope is identical, even Pierrepoint can’t deny it. He hesitates for a moment, but ultimately concedes that he tied a noose for Harry. He points out that no crime was committed and his noose wasn’t used to kill Harry, because it broke. Pierrepoint stands up again and prepares to leave, as he heads for the door one of the officers reassures him that there is no investigation for any and he had nothing to worry about. This comment confused Pierrepoint even more and the stupid grin on one of the officers didn’t offer him any relief either, he reaches his boiling point. He demands to know why he’s been called down here for something he was told was urgent.

With a smug grin on his face one of the detectives answers him:

“We just wanted to meet the Best Hangman in England… well, best now that ol’ Harry’s dead.”

The officers burst into laughter and Pierrepoint slams the door on the way out of the interrogation room.

Credits roll.

Edited by Dome
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Treasure Island
Director: Peter Jackson
Long John Silver: Christian Bale

Jim Hawkins: Timothee Chamalet
Captain Smollet: Toby Stephens
Dr. Livesey: Dominic West
John Trelawney: David Harbour
Ben Gunn: Kim Coates
Billy Bones: Josh Brolin
Black Dog: Billy Zane
Jim's Mom: Famke Jannssen

 

The movie opens where we meet Billy Bones arriving at the Admiral Benbow Inn. There we meet Jim Hawkins, who works at his mothers Inn.  During the course of a few days, where Bones is getting drunk and telling pirate stories he is confronted by an old pirate mate Black Dog. A sword fight insures and Black Dog is chased out of the Inn. A few days later Bones is met by a blind beggar named Pew who gives him the “black spot” Shortly after bones suffers a stroke and dies. While cleaning out Bone’s room Jim spots a chest. Realizing it must be of some importance, Hawkins opens it and finds a map. Soon after he hear’s men outside, and him and his mother escape out the Inn.

 

Hawkins heads to Dr. Liveseys house, where him and John Trelawney discover its a map to Captain Flints treasure. Deciding to go after the treasure Hawkins wants to make sure his mother is safe before he leaves. He heads back to Inn, where the blind beggar was waiting for him and again attempts to attack Hawkins. Except it’s a trap and in the aftermath of the battle Pew is killed.

 

We then meet Long John Silver the owner of the local establishment near the shore, when Hawkins, Livesey, Trelawney come to meet there crew that will be joining them on the voyage. At the bar Hawkins recognizes Black Dog who is then chased off by Silver. Hours later they set sail on the ship Hispaniola lead by Captain Smollet.

During the voyage Hawkins overhears Silver discussing his plans to take the treasure for himself, along with the rest of the crew who turn out to be bandits. Once on the island Hawkins mentions to Dr. Livesey what he overheard and along with Trelawney and Smollet they devise a plan to attack the pirates. On the island Livesey, Smollet, Trelawney and Abraham Gray (one of the shipmates) are held up in a small blockade, made by the pirates so they can defend themselves once attacked.  Hawkins heads off into the woods where he meets Ben Gunn another former shipmate of Flint who has been stuck on the island for a few years. He brings Gunn back to the Blockade, where Silver tries to negotiate with Livesey but is turned down. 

Over the course of the next day a battle ensures as the pirates attack the Blockade. Captain Smollet is wounded, and eventually succumbs to his injuries. Hawkins again runs off to find Gunns man made ship to head back to the Hispaniola.  After boarding the ship Hawkins fights a pirate left on watch. After killing him, Hawkins sails the ship to the other side of the island where he can rescue the men inside the blockade. 

Arriving back at the blockade, Hawkins finds that Silver and his men are now there, and that Silver made a treaty with Livesey to handover the map to save their lives. Silver and his men take Hawkins to look for the treasure. Upon reaching their destination they find that the treasure cache is empty. The remaining pirates are furious and try to attack Silver and Hawkins. Shots are fired by the nearby ship and Gunn who was hiding in the bushes chases of the remaining pirates. Gunn has already found the treasure years earlier and had it hidden in a cave. It was loaded onto the ship by Livesey, Trelawney, and Gray.

Upon the voyage back, Silver steals a bag of treasure and escapes at the first port they reach never to be seen again.  The remaining men return home and divide up the treasure.  End.

 

 

Edited by Fresh Prince
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