THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU

by

Richard Stanley
&
Michael Herr

Revised by Walon Green

Based upon the novel by H.G. Wells

4/26/94
FADE IN:

EXT. SOMEWHERE IN NEW ENGLAND - DUSK

A curtain of rain falls across the treetops descending upon the

soft green hills and the patchwork farmsteads.

A dog comes running along the crest of a hill, rejoicing, barking

at the rain.

The dog skids to a halt, shaking itself, turning its snout outward
toward the fading light.

CUT TO:
INT. THE COTTAGE - DUSK

A log spits on the hearth, sending firelight across the untidy room
and the gaunt figure of EDWARD PRENDICK, who sits hunched in the
semi-darkness, half listening to a COMPACT DISC RECORDING of a
bluesy romantic ballad.

Prendick glances down at the tabletop, at the piles of notepaper

and the dense, crabbed handwriting that covers them, at the
repeated sketches and doodles representing what we will come to
recognize as the emblem of the Tree of Life; at the
empty coffee cups, the overflowing ashtray and the dismembered
pieces of the 38 pistol that lie before him.

He touches a button on a REMOTE CONTROL and the singing stops. He

next touches the button on a TAPE RECORDER which whirrs to
life.

As Prendick speaks as he reaches down and begins to assemble the

gun, his eyes unreadable, his lids red and bruised from lack of
sleep, a week's growth of stubble on his waxy cheeks. His movements
are slow and deliberate.

PRENDICK
In a spirit of complete honesty, I want to say
right from the start that I think we've made
some really incredible mistakes about God. We
tell ourselves that He's all-powerful, when we
really should be questioning His competence.
Believe me, I'm not asking for miracles. A
little adult leadership would do.

Prendick brushes aside the papers on his desk and gropes around
impatiently for a box of cartridges.
 PRENDICK
As for God's love, all I know for certain is
that He loves our suffering. And as for His
power... well, maybe He can do whatever He wants
with us, but there's one thing I'm pretty
certain He can't do. When he's sick of existing,
He can't end it. Only we can do that...

Prendick opens the box and begins to load the revolver; six
cartridges. Then he stops, laughs, shakes his head, and empties out
all but one cartridge.

PRENDICK
My name's Edward Prendick. Until about ten years
ago I was a lawyer, specializing in what was
mis-named Human Rights. In August of 2007, I was
travelling as Special Envoy for the United
Nations as a part of the effort to stop the
bloody civil war in Micronesia. That's where it
began. This is where it will end.

Prendick raises the revolver and almost touches it to his lips,

savoring the moment of his obliteration.

THUNDER CRASHES on the soundtrack.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE SOUTH PACIFIC - DAY

We are flying.

Soaring above tropical rainclouds, mist stretching away beneath us,

illuminated from within by pulsing veins of lightning.

The canopy of cloud parts, giving way to a limitless vista of

open sea, a horizon so vast that one can almost see the curve of
the earth.

PRENDICK (V.O.)
Our plane went down in a magnetic storm just
above the equator at roughly 165¤ longitude.

We see a yellow dot in the distance now, a tiny life raft adrift in
a world of water.

There are THREE MEN aboard, two of them wearing the uniform of the
United Nations peacekeeping force and the third, Prendick, dressed
in the remains of a bedraggled threepiece suit, a life jacket
around his neck.
The two soldiers, one Nordic, the other vaguely Hispanic, are
locked in a violent struggle while Prendick tries ineffectually to
separate them.

PRENDICK (V.O.)
We'd been adrift four days when the fever hit
us.

SOLDIER l(Hispanic)
Stay away from me!

PRENDICK
Leave him.

SOLDIER 2
He can't last. His water can save us.

PRENDICK
Leave him! We can make it through this.
They'll find us!

Soldier 2 doesn't reply; instead he makes a lunge for his comrade's

throat. Prendick tries to grab the soldier's legs but the dinghy
rolls heavily and he loses his grip. The soldier administers a
savage kick to his head and he goes down, one hand raised to
protect his face, the other reaching for the flare gun. The second
soldier has his hands around the first soldier's throat and the two
of them grapple desperately, locked in a death grip.

Prendick raises the flare gun, levelling it at soldier 2's head,

his hand shaking.

PRENDICK
Let him go, you son of a bitch!

The man releases his companion who crumples to the floor of the
raft, retching and gasping for breath.

He turns slowly to face Prendick, staring with sun-glazed eyes down

the wavering barrel of the flare gun.

SOLDIER 2
You're some fucking lawyer. Don't 'you know the
first law of nature is survival.

PRENDICK
We're not animals!

The soldier eyes Prendick up and down, afraid to call his bluff.
Then, with a yell, the soldier 1 springs at him, a survival knife
glinting in his hand.
 PRENDICK
No!

SOLDIER 1
Cabron!

Both men are screaming now, soldier 2 is driven back as his former
comrade drives his blade into him, blood going everywhere.

The soldier pulls away, staring in disbelief at his wound. He tries

to get to his feet but the first soldier plunges the knife into him
again. He doubles up, emitting a grunt, his hands grasping now at
his assailant.

The dinghy pitches heavily to one side and the wounded soldier goes
overboard, dragging his comrade with him.

He sinks like a stone but his murderer struggles for a moment,

breaking free of his grip and trying to stay afloat as Prendick
reaches out to him.

Then there is a white flash in the water and he is dragged under

with barely a yell, the life raft shivering as the creatures of the
deep brush against its underside, jostling each other as they feed.

Prendick collapses to the floor of the dinghy with a groan.

He lies staring at the sky for a moment, alone now with the open
sea. Slowly he begins to laugh, his laughter growing gradually
louder and more uncontrollable.

He raises the gun and squeezing the trigger sends a white magnesium
flare arcing up into the vault of the sky.

DISSOLVE TO:
THE DISC OF THE SUN

A dazzling, overexposed white.

The SOUND of the hissing flare.

DISSOLVE THROUGH WHITE TO:

EXT. THE SAME OCEAN - DAY (TWO DAYS LATER)

Prendick lies in the bottom of the dinghy watching the swaying

horizon, his eyes unfocused, his face raw and blistered from the
relentless sun.
His head sways with the rise and fall of the ocean and all the
horizon seems to sway with him, the earth and the sky and the
shining crack that separates them.
A dark smudge appears on the far horizon. Dancing. Drawing nearer.

He closes his eyes.

When he opens them again he sees the side of the freighter looming
over him, a row of figures gathered at the rail, outlines shadowy
against the sun.

A MAN with a droopy Zapata moustache and sad eyes, his long flaxen
hair tied back in a tail, an OLDER MAN, his angry, freckled face
framed by red hair and lastly, standing beside them as if in a
fever dream is the third man, a DARK MAN whose eyes shine
feverishly.

Hands lift Prendick. Dark, powerful hands.

His head lolls back and he knows no more.

CUT TO:
INT. CABIN - DAY

We see a CLOSEUP of the MAN with the moustache, (MONTGOMERY)

looking solicitously down at Prendick.

Prendick groans.

MONTGOMERY
Easy now, ole' buddy.

Prendick opens his eyes to find himself in a small untidy cabin

crammed with specimen jars containing gaudy tropical orchids.

A low animal SNARL comes from somewhere outside the cabin and
Prendick glances around himself uneasily.

MONTGOMERY
Feel better?

PRENDICK
Where am I?

MONTGOMERY
You're okay. Don't worry.

Prendick looks nervously down at himself as if to make sure he's

all still there. Montgomery smiles reassuringly.

PRENDICK
Who are you?
 MONTGOMERY
My name's Montgomery.

PRENDICK
What ship is this?

MONTGOMERY
This shitbucket's the Ipecacuanha. Sounds like a
drug doesn't it?
(smiles)
We all dropped Ipecacuanha and bayed at the
moon.

Prendick is aware that he's in the company of a real character.

PRENDICK
My name's Edward Prendick. I have to get to
Bougainville... I'm an international lawyer on
assignment for the U.N.... they'll be looking
for me...

Prendick sits up, tries to stand. Montgomery gently pushes him

back. Prendick is now aware he's on an IV.

MONTGOMERY
Easy, Eddie, just relax. I'm still hydrating
you. In two days you'll be in Port Moresby, you
can contact your people there.

PRENDICK
Moresby's our first stop?

MONTGOMERY
Second. They have to land me first.

PRENDICK
Where?

MONTGOMERY
An island... where I live. But there's limited
communications... no one you could call from
there.

PRENDICK
A remote island...
(dares a smile)
Everyman's dream.

MONTGOMERY
Right, now it's your turn to dream. I'm gonna
give you a shot.
Montgomery holds up a hypodermic needle, tenderly pats Prendick's
arm, and administers a shot.

PRENDICK
What is it?

MONTGOMERY
Trust me blindly. You'll like it.

PRENDICK
Are you a doctor?

MONTGOMERY
Let's say I'm a para-medic.

There is another burst of feral SNARLING from outside and this time
there is a man's voice as well.

DAVIS
GOD DAMN IT! SHUT THEM UP!

Prendick glances up at the cabin ceiling and the direction of the

muffled yells.

MONTGOMERY
That's a great shot I just gave you, Edward.
I've known people who'd sell their grandmothers
for a shot like that, so don't piss it away. Try
and get some sleep.

Prendick relaxes and the cabin goes blurry around the edges once
more as the sleeping potion begins to take effect.

MONTGOMERY
There you go, Eddie... Dream...

Prendick's eyes wander down onto the lettering stencilled on

one of the packing cases: 'DESTINATION: U.S. BIOSTATION, BRAVO RIO
DELTA VIA SUVA.' And from somewhere on deck the cries start up
again, as Prendick drifts slowly down into oblivion.

CUT TO:
INT. THE SAME CABIN - DAY (A DAY LATER)

Consciousness washes slowly back into Prendick's mind as he finds

himself watching a puddle of sunlight stretch slowly across the
cabin ceiling.
Prendick sits up to see that the cabin door is standing ajar and a
fresh set of clothes are laid out for him at the foot of the bed.
He gets slowly to his feet, rubbing his head catching a brief
glimpse of his sun-scarred face in the cabin mirror.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE DECK - DAY

Prendick glances about the freighter deck, blinking in the

sunshine, not prepared by the SOUNDS for what he sees.

The whole deck is littered with scraps of carrots, shreds of green

stuff and indescribable filth.

All along the starboard bulwark are big hutches filled with rabbits
and there is a solitary llama squeezed into a cage forward. A
number of grisly staghounds are fastened to the rail by muzzles and
chains and in the center of the deck a huge black leopard sits
cramped in a small iron cage. A short FIGURE (M'LING) sits beside
the cage.

There is something particularly arresting about M'Ling's face, the

slightest elongation of his features and an almost feral intensity
that informs his expression.

He gets to his feet and starts suddenly towards Prendick, a curious

glow of excitement in his face.

Prendick takes a step backwards and almost bumps into Montgomery

who has appeared from the hatchway behind him and who now pushes
past to come between Prendick and M'Ling.

M'Ling steps back as if afraid.

MONTGOMERY
God damn it, M'Ling, what the hell's the matter
with you? I told you to stay forward.

M'LING
They... won't have me forward... They say I
disturb the animals.

MONTGOMERY
Come on, man, don't give me that bullshit. I
told you to fucking STAY FORWARD! You want me to
tell Dr. Moreau about this?

M'Ling turns slowly and moves away. Montgomery turns, glancing

nervously back at Prendick.

PRENDICK
What are these animals?
They are interrupted by a loud YELP and a VOLLEY OF CURSES from the
companionway. M'Ling runs pathetically back onto the deck pursued
by a heavy, red-haired MAN in a white cap. M'Ling hesitates when he
sees Montgomery and the red haired man
catches up to him, striking him between the shoulder blades and
sending him sprawling into the midst of the furiously barking
staghounds.

The red-haired man staggers onto the deck and Montgomery steps
towards him angrily.

MONTGOMERY
Hey, Captain, lighten up. That man is a paid
passenger. So tell your crew to keep their
filthy hands off of him.

DAVIS
Or what?? I do what I like on my own ship!

Davis turns away and staggers across to the rail, Montgomery

following him.

MONTGOMERY
You've been hassling my man there since we got
on board.
(Under his breath,
to Prendick)
Most obvious case of drug psychosis I've ever
seen.

DAVIS
Drug what!? What're you talking about there?

MONTGOMERY
Maritime Law. This man happens to be a lawyer.

DAVIS
Here's the maritime law on my ship.
(He pulls out a pistol.)
I don't like freaks aboard, you hippy burn-out.

Montgomery turns away as Davis shouts after him.

DAVIS
He comes to this end of the ship again and I'll
cut his guts out! The animals go crazy when they
smell him.

Prendick feels impelled to step in.

 PRENDICK
Just a minute. I'm a Special Envoy for the
United Nations...

DAVIS
You're tits on a bull so you stay out of this...
United Nations... Freeloading bastard, taking up
space on my ship. Side with him and you'll sink
with him. Hear me?

Speechless, Prendick watches Davis stumble back down the

companionway.

When he glances around he sees that both Montgomery and M'Ling

are watching him silently.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE FREIGHTER'S RAIL – NIGHT

Prendick stands beside Montgomery on the quarterdeck, staring up at

the awesome canopy of stars overhead.

Montgomery passes him a smoldering joint.

MONTGOMERY
Try some of this.

Prendick waves it away.

MONTGOMERY
I guarantee it. I grew it myself.

Prendick takes it out of good manners but declines to smoke

it. He casts an eye over Montgomery's crumpled outfit, the
unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, bare feet, gold cross around his neck
and a portion of a "Princeton Flag", tattooed on his chest.

PRENDICK
I haven't seen many Princeton tattoos.

MONTGOMERY
Yeah, it's not the ivy league thing. Maybe
that's why I did it.

Montgomery looks at him, at the joint he's still holding.

MONTGOMERY
You’re supposed to smoke that thing.

PRENDICK
(handing back the joint)
 I remember a post game party at Harvard... I was
taken suddenly drunk and I begged a Radcliff
senior to carve her initials on my chest...

MONTGOMERY
(brightly)
Silver spooner, right?

PRENDICK
Well, I wasn't on a scholarship.

MONTGOMERY
I can always tell. When we fished you out of the
water, I could smell the money on you. Old
money. The best kind! The nose knows... What did
you study?

PRENDICK
I got a degree in Humanities.

MONTGOMERY
Humanities? Isn't that a licence to jerk off?

PRENDICK
(Laughing)
No. I had law school for that. Were you pre-med?

MONTGOMERY
Biology. But that was a long time ago.

He returns his attention to the sea.

PRENDICK
Listen, you know... you saved my life...

MONTGOMERY
(recoiling)
I wouldn't get choked up about it.

PRENDICK
Yeah, well, thanks. In any case I owe you my
thanks.

MONTGOMERY
You don't owe me anything. You lucked out. I
happened to be bored that day... looking for a
little action. If I'd been feeling differently,
you'd still be out there. I'd have stood here
and waved you bye-bye.

PRENDICK
 That's Bullshit.

MONTGOMERY
Believe whatever you've got to believe. I know you
liberals need your little fairy tales.

The two men look awkwardly away from each other.

PRENDICK
How did you happen to come out here?

MONTGOMERY
You know, Eddie, I see us more like ships that
pass in the night... not assholes who meet on a
plane and tell each other the story of their
lives.

PRENDICK
(shrugs)
Whatever.

They lapse into awkward silence.

MONTGOMERY
Ever get yourself in real trouble?

Montgomery gives him a look of anticipation.

PRENDICK
I helped draft the constitution for a small
African nation. There was a coup... My staff and
I were held hostage by a warlord. They shot one
of us each day... Six people.

MONTGOMERY
But not you. You're a survivor.

PRENDICK
So far. But it's not over.

MONTGOMERY
Sure it is. You'll be back in the States eating
at Rodney Rockets and I'll be...

PRENDICK
On your island Paradise.

MONTGOMERY
(smiles)
 Paradise. That's Moreau's dream alright.

PRENDICK
Moreau?

MONTGOMERY
Man I work for. He once did for me what I did for you.

PRENDICK
Pulled you out of a lifeboat?

MONTGOMERY
Pulled me out and asked no questions. Anyway
it's a boring little story and it's not like you
and me are friends.

PRENDICK
We could be.

MONTGOMERY
Wouldn't work.

PRENDICK
Why's that?

MONTGOMERY
'Cause it's plain as the nose on your face that
you think I'm crazy.

Montgomery throws the joint into the sea and Prendick turns away,
his eyes lighting now on the dark shape of M’Ling, who is leaning
over the taffrail. M'Ling turns towards him for an instant, his
eyes glowing a pale luminous green in the light of the wheelhouse.

DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. THE SOUTH PACIFIC - DAWN

There is a CLATTER of chains and a tortured, hydraulic WHINING

followed by a scarcely human clamor of SHOUTS AND GRUNTS as a cage
holding a frightened black leopard is hoisted skyward by a crude
rig of chain and cable, spinning in the air above the rising sun.

CUT TO:
INT. THE CABIN - DAWN

Prendick wakes from an uneasy slumber and sits up in his bunk,

rubbing his head, hearing HOARSE SHOUTING and PATTERING FEET
overhead. As he gets to his feet there is a violent CREAKING SOUND
and the freighter lists uneasily.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE DECK - DAWN

As Prendick comes up the ladder, the first thing he sees is the

flushed sky and the rising sun over the broad back and red hair of
the Captain who stands, arms upraised, while above him the black
leopard spins in its cage.

DAVIS
I don't give a shit! Off load all of them. Now,
we'll have a clean ship!

Prendick pushes past him and Davis turns with a start, staring
drunkenly at him.

DAVIS
Hullo... why, it's Mister... Mister?

PRENDICK
Prendick.

DAVIS
Mr. Prawn-dick. You too. You're off my ship.

PRENDICK
(shocked)
What do you mean? Off where?

DAVIS
Where do you think? Back into the sea, that's
where. Plenty of room for you there...

PRENDICK
Wait a minute, you can't...

DAVIS
(rolling his eyes)
Oh Mother, here we go again. Mr. Prawn-dick's
telling me what I can and can't do on my own
ship. My own ship!

Prendick looks past Davis and sees the island for the first time,
the jagged crest of a submerged mountain rising sheer from the
ocean, its flanks covered with palm trees and dense scrub, a thin
streamer of smoke rising from the treetops.

A large motor launch lies under the lee of the freighter and it is
into this that the SAILORS are busy loading the last of the caged
animals.
M'Ling is already aboard the launch, helping three brutish-looking
BOATMEN with the staghounds while Montgomery stands on the gangway
talking with a NEWCOMER dressed in slightly grey white flannels and
a battered Panama hat. The man's blazing eyes stern expression and
long grey hair and beard remind Prendick of a prophet out of the
Old Testament.

DAVIS
Right this way, Mister!

PRENDICK
Fuck you. I'm not getting off here. Get away
from me...

He looks to Montgomery.

MONTGOMERY
(to the captain)
Take him to Moresby, he'll pay you.

DAVIS
He can swim.

MONTGOMERY
Look, I'll pay you.

DAVIS
I don't want your money... I piss on your money.

Montgomery looks at Moreau who says nothing. He shouts back to

Davis.

MONTGOMERY
You'll have to take him. He can't come here.

PRENDICK
(desperate)
Montgomery! For Christ's sake!

Montgomery, already boarding the launch, nods towards Moreau as if

to indicate that he is powerless to intervene.

MONTGOMERY
Eddie, I'm really sorry.

Prendick glances around to see that he is loosely ringed now by

belligerent-looking sailors. Two of the sailors take him by the
arms and he begins to struggle.

PRENDICK
God damn it, get your hands off me!
He pulls free from the sailors and hits one of them hard enough to
land him on the deck. Before he can go for the other one, several
more are on him. The decked sailor rises and hits him in the
stomach.

DAVIS
Adios, Mr. Prawn-dick. Give my regards to the
U.N... Great work you people are doing... I
really hold you in awe....

Davis laughs maniacally as Prendick, doubled over, is hauled, still

struggling, to the gangway, but the launch is fully laden now and
shoves off hastily. A broadening gap of green water appears beneath
Prendick who pushes back with all his strength now, trying to grab
hold of the ship's rail.

Stronger hands pry loose his fingers and he plunges from the ship.

Bubbles explode around him and he goes under for a moment before
kicking his way back to the surface, gasping at the sudden shock of
the water.

Above him he sees the steep side of the freighter, already starting
to come about, its engines throbbing, Davis standing at the rail
still shouting unintelligible abuse at him.

He turns and strikes out for the island, trying to distance himself
from the ship's propellers.

Then, with relief, he sees that the launch has turned back towards
him. As the launch draws nearer he is able to make out the figure
of Moreau sitting cramped up with the dogs in the bow staring
fixedly but not without kindness at him, M'Ling's face watching him
intently from the stern.

The launch comes alongside him and the three brutish boatmen haul
him awkwardly aboard where he crouches shivering, glancing around
uneasily at his rescuers.

There is something strange about the features of the boatmen. They

seem to be of some queer, brown-skinned race, their elfin faces
peering out at him from beneath dirty turbans, lank black hair
almost like horse hair framing their bright eyes.

As he meets their gaze, first one and then the other turn away from
him in a deferential manner.

Moreau smiles at him.

MOREAU
(over the engines)
 I couldn't let you drown, could I? I had no idea
he'd really throw you in.

Moreau turns away and looks to the crates. Looking up, Prendick
catches Montgomery's eyes as the launch comes about once more and
starts back towards the island. He is serious, even grim.

MONTGOMERY
This wasn't my idea. Remember that.

There is a soberness to Montgomery's voice that only deepens

Prendick's unease as he turns his attention towards the approaching
beach.

Prendick turns towards Moreau as if to speak, but the Doctor fixes

him with a look, part smile, part warning, and Prendick says
nothing.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE ISLAND - DAY

Several LOCALS have assembled on the narrow jetty to meet the

launch, some of them hopping up and down in undisguised excitement.

One of the boathands throws a rope ashore and the launch cuts its
engines and makes fast.

Prendick steps ashore, looking dazedly about himself as the boatmen

begin to unload, jabbering excitedly in their curious guttural
voices, Montgomery and Moreau shouting the occasional command above
the clamor of the staghounds.

The island has the immediate lush beauty of all tropical Pacific
islands. Birds call melodically from the surrounding lush
vegetation, giving one the impression that life teems just beyond
view.

Prendick hears the SOUND of a grumbling engine and looks up to see

a battered military flatbed come bouncing down the narrow track
that connects the jetty with a fenced compound on the ridge
overlooking the beach.

At the center of the compound is an old colonial-style building and

a cluster of Nissan huts painted in a manner reminiscent of either
camouflage or Aboriginal art. Beyond the roofs of the Nissan huts
Prendick can see the top of a radio mast and two rusting satellite
dishes.

The main house is surrounded by a wide lawn enclosed by an electric

fence. At the bottom of the lawn is a wooden rostrum overlooking
the compound gate and a flagpole from the top of which flies the
emblem of the Tree of Life.

M'Ling passes him now, bearing a packing case and talking

enthusiastically with one of his fellow BEARERS, a man with oddly
doglike features who wears a white jacket.

He looks again to the beach and sees Moreau approaching him, his
expression benign but formal.

MOREAU
I regret we really have no facilities for
guests, but we can feed you. You look like you
could use some breakfast.

PRENDICK
I won't be here for long. I'm overdue as it is.

MOREAU
Yes, Montgomery told me you work for the UN... a
lawyer. Fascinating. I know very little of law
myself.

PRENDICK
Once I call I'm sure they'll send a boat or a
plane.

MOREAU
Yes, unfortunately at the moment our COMSAT
equipment is down, but we're working on it.

He looks absently out to sea.

MOREAU
Since the ozone layer started going, we've had
communication problems. Something about magnetic
storms... I'm a biologist, I don't really
understand electronics.

M'Ling returns now, having loaded his burden onto the parked
flatbed. He kneels beside Moreau.

M'LING
Father... I am so glad to see you again.

Moreau pats M'Ling's arm and then incredibly the manservant takes
the doctor's hand and kisses it.

MOREAU
Yes, M'Ling. I'm glad to see you too.
 M'LING
Father... I have seen the strangest things out
there... So confusing...

MOREAU
Yes, M'Ling, You must tell me all about it.

The doctor glances back at Prendick, who is watching.

To make the scene complete, in the background, a few of these

strange men are holding a softball practise; one of them bats
the ball to the others, who race around clumsily trying to catch
it.

Moreau's eyes wander across the curious islanders, fixing now on

the man in the white coat.

MOREAU
I'd better get busy. Azazello, see what Mr.
Prendick would like for breakfast.
(Glancing back at Prendick)
Oh, and I have to ask that you restrict yourself
to the main house. It's because of our insurance
coverage. The people who fund us are afraid you
might twist your ankle and sue us.

PRENDICK
(smiles)
Unfortunately, it's a litigious world.

MOREAU
Yes, I'm sure you know all about that.

We hear the crack of a bat and happy shouting.

PRENDICK
Are these people native to this island?
(off Moreau's look)
They're very unusual looking.

MOREAU
Yes, many areas of the Pacific have very limited
gene pools.

Moreau moves off as Azazello approaches Prendick, awaiting his

order.

AZAZELLO
Sair, you want breakfast?
 PRENDICK
Uhm... two eggs... some bacon...

AZAZELLO
(snickering nastily)
No bacon here. No eggs.

PRENDICK
Then whatever there is... Some fruit?

AZAZELLO
Fruit and granola?

PRENDICK
Fine.

Azazello grins with inappropriate good humor.

AZAZELLO
Yaba daba doo!

Azazello turns away and follows Moreau toward the big house passing
the rest of the group who are loading the flatbed now with the
caged animals from the boat.

Montgomery, who has been supervising the islanders, breaks away

from his work and comes over to Prendick.

MONTGOMERY
So... You okay?

PRENDICK
Yeah, and thanks once again you saved my life.

MONTGOMERY
Well that depends on how you look at it. I’d
watch myself if I were you. Strictly eyes down,
know what I mean?

PRENDICK
(shrugs)
He seems nice enough.

MONTGOMERY
(suddenly serious)
He's one of the greatest men alive.

He pauses for a moment, then changes tack.

MONTGOMERY
Give me a hand with these, will you?
He crouches beside one of the crates stacked near the end of the
jetty and lifts it. Indicating another, Prendick lifts it and
follows Montgomery a short distance from the jetty where he sets
his burden down in a clump of brush on the beach near some hastily
constructed hutches and the rusting remains of pickup truck.
Montgomery opens one of the crates and starts removing white
rabbits and putting them into the hutch.

MONTGOMERY
They're for the black leopard. Damned cat will
eat better than I do.
(off Prendick)
Didn't you see the old man's earth shoes? I'm a
protein freak stuck with a fanatical vegetarian.

PRENDICK
None of the other animals are eaten?

MONTGOMERY
Seal your lips at the thought...

Montgomery opens another of the crates. Several animals bolt out

the open door and escape. He and Prendick grab for them but they
make it to the surrounding jungle.

MONTGOMERY
Alright little ones, "Go ye forth and
multiply... Born to fuck, and they're so-o-o
cute...

Montgomery returns his attention to the crate. Reaching in he

removes the last rabbit, a large buck. The animal kicks and
struggles in an attempt to join the others who have fled.
Montgomery kneels, letting the rabbits feet touch the ground. He
strokes the animal and calms it.

MONTGOMERY
Lusting for those runaway bunnies, big guy?

With a conspiratorial smile he looks at Prendick.

MONTGOMERY
Think this fellow'd be missed?

Thinking Montgomery plans to release the rabbit, Prendick smiles,

shrugs.

PRENDICK
Who's to know?
 MONTGOMERY
Right, who's to know.

With a quick twist Montgomery breaks the rabbits neck. The

animal screams and dies. Prendick reacts.

MONTGOMERY
(off Prendick's look)
What, you don't like barbecued bunny?

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - DAY

The flatbed inches its way back up the hill, laden down with a
deadweight of cages and packing cases.

Prendick stands on the back of the truck as they pass an area where
jungle borders the sides of the road. Among the trees he sees
several spectacularly beautiful tropical birds, which seem totally
unafraid, only curious at his passing. As they drive beneath a low
bough, a large Bank's Cockatoo dips his head in a friendly gesture,
causing Prendick to extend his hand, returning a gesture of
friendship.

Clearing the jungle they reach the clearing and pass a main gate
and a pipe corral where a grey-white thoroughbred crops at grass.

Further on Prendick is able to get a closer view of magnifiscent

bright green aloes that surround the big house. As they pass close
by one of the plants he can hear a low TRILLING SOUND emanating
from its fleshy, tendrilled branches that seem to quiver in the
breeze even when Prendick can feel no breeze.

The flatbed winds around the side of the big house and pulls up in
a shady courtyard.

Montgomery ushers Prendick into the house.

CUT TO:
INT. THE HOUSE – DAY

Prendick finds himself in a large hall-turned-dining area, its

walls lined with bookshelves and specimen cases.

Montgomery hesitates for a moment in the doorway.

MONTGOMERY
 Stay here. And I mean, stay right here. I won't
be long.
(calls out)
Moreau.

He leaves Prendick who wanders the library. As his gaze wanders

over a series of old photos, Moreau in his thirties with an
attractive woman, both holding the reins of their horses while the
wind whips their hair in some wilderness setting. In another,
Moreau embraces a conductor and first violinist beside a piano on a
concert stage. While Montgomery can be heard calling "Moreau" off
screen, Prendick examines a row of framed academic certificates
hanging beside a row of crucified butterflies and Da Vinci
anatomical sketches. One yellowing certificate is from the Nobel
Committee, beneath it set against blue velvet is a medallion, the
prize.

Somewhere in the background a song is heard from a CD player, the

same love ballad heard in the opening scene.

Prendick turns slowly, drawn towards the source of the music.

On the far side of the room an open doorway leads through a small,
densely planted arboretum to a sun drenched veranda facing the sea.
Through it, beyond the foreground foliage, Prendick glimpses a
figure moving gently to the music. A beautiful young woman,
barefoot and clad in a sarong, turning slowly in a puddle of
sunlight. Her eyes are closed, her only audience a bright green
parrot watching from its perch at the far end of the veranda.
Transfixed, Prendick moves towards her.

He stops amidst the foliage of the arboretum, taken by a sudden

reverie.

Something moves in the dense verdure near his head. Prendick turns
to see a pair of disturbingly human eyes set in a wizened face,
belonging to a small arboreal creature about the size of a large
galago or lorus that peers from the foliage.

Prendick's curiosity elicits an sudden aggressive response. Teeth

bared, the creature threatens with a rasping growl and a terrier-
like snap, causing Prendick to take a quick step back. As he
regains his composure he hears a young woman's laugh.

Prendick turns.

The dancer, a beautiful YOUNG WOMAN, barefoot and clad in a sarong,

faces him from a few feet away. At his glance her smile quickly
fades to something akin to fear.
Prendick sees now that she has the same unusual tan as the
islanders while her high, vaguely oriental cheekbones and light
green eyes give her a somewhat feline cast further enhanced by the
slightest deformation of her upper lip, as if she has had a harelip
surgically corrected in childhood.

PRENDICK
Is it some kind of pet?

He takes a step towards her. Like a child who has spoken out of
turn, she demurs and backs away.

Prendick raises his hands to show he means no harm.

PRENDICK
Wait, it's all right...

AISSA
Who are you?

PRENDICK
I just got here.

She looks questioningly at him, still apprehensive.

PRENDICK
This morning. I came on the boat.

AISSA
Did the doctor bring you?

PRENDICK
Yes.

AISSA
Have you come from the sea?

PRENDICK
I come from New York.

AISSA
(brightly)
Oh yes, New York! That is another island!

PRENDICK
That's right, it is.

She looks intently at Prendick's'hands, then holds up her own

hands, counting her fingers.

AISSA
 One... two... three... four... five! You're a
Five Man!

Prendick looks at her in bewilderment.

PRENDICK
My name's Edward Prendick.

AISSA
Pren-Dick.

PRENDICK
Pren-dick.

She kneels suddenly before him and, taking his hand, presses it to
her lips in a curious form of greeting.

AISSA
You have small hands. It is good.

He looks with real interest at Aissa, and at that moment there

comes something like a low GROWL from behind him. He turns to see
Azazello and M'Ling (who has changed into white coat) emerge from
the study with his breakfast and a steaming pot of coffee on two
serving trays.

Aissa draws away from them.

AZAZELLO
Your breakfast, Sair.

PRENDICK
Put it... uh... out here.

AZAZELLO
Yes, Sair.

Azazello and M'Ling lay his breakfast on a nearby table while Aissa
keeps a cautious distance. There is an unmistakable tension between
her and Azazello.

Prendick sits down and pours himself a coffee, motioning for Aissa
to join him once M'Ling and Azazello have withdrawn to the study.

PRENDICK
Please, sit down. Will you have some coffee?

She shakes her head, and seats herself opposite him, peering in
undisguised fascination at his face and hands.

AISSA
 Your hands are so beautiful.

Prendick is charmed by this, amused, and quite turned on.

PRENDICK
Thanks. No one's ever noticed them before.

Azazello peers in at them once, furtively, from the study door.

Aissa doesn't see him, but bristles slightly, knowing he's there.

PRENDICK
Are you from this island?

AISSA
My father brought me here when I was very young.

PRENDICK
Where are you from originally?

AISSA
Father says I was born in Suva.

PRENDICK
Will you tell me your name?

She looks away shyly, raising her hands to her mouth.

Then M'Ling calls her from the study, inadvertently answering

Prendick's question.

M'LING (O.S.)
Aissa!

Aissa shoots Prendick a swift, somewhat coquettish glance.

AISSA
They need me now. I have to rehearse.

PRENDICK
Rehearse what?

AISSA
Alice in Wonderland. I'm Alice.

She slips away, her movements swift yet strangely graceful, her
bare feet making scarcely a sound as she pads across the verandah.
Prendick looks after her, fascinated.

Exiting through the study door she almost collides with Montgomery,
who glances amusedly from her to Prendick, a smoldering joint
poised between his thumb and forefinger.
 MONTGOMERY
Well, I see we're getting acquainted.
(He sighs.)
Lovely thing, little Aissa.

Montgomery offers the joint to Prendick, who declines it.

PRENDICK
I saw the awards... a Nobel Prize.

MONTGOMERY
Moreau's a famous name in genetics. Or infamous,
depending on who you listen to.

PRENDICK
Why infamous?

MONTGOMERY
He's a genius, so everybody who's not a genius
hates his guts... Most scientific research is
totally motivated by jealousy and greed. And
vanity... don't want to forget vanity. He came
out here to escape that.

PRENDICK
How long has he been on this island?

MONTGOMERY
Eighteen years. The animal rights boobies drove
him to it. Got so in the States you couldn't
cage a rat without reading him his rights.

PRENDICK
And you?

MONTGOMERY
Almost ten years for me.

He offers the joint to Prendick.

PRENDICK
No, thanks.

PRENDICK
(cautious)
Listen, Montgomery...

MONTGOMERY
(not liking the tone)
What?
 PRENDICK
Your assistant, M'Ling. There's something kind
of... His ears are strange... they're sort of
pointed.

MONTGOMERY
What?? Pointed ears?? You're shitting me...

PRENDICK
So what is he, a Vulcan?

MONTGOMERY
No, and, I think it's incredibly insensitive of
you to bring it up. How would you like it if
someone made remarks about your ears?

PRENDICK
And the guy who brought my breakfast acts very
weird. What is it, they don't like their wages?

MONTGOMERY
What are you suddenly, Amnesty International?
Trust me. No one complains.

Montgomery offers the joint. Prendick waves it off.

MONTGOMERY
No? You're missing out. Back when we dabbled in
plant genes I created this. Like everything else
on this Island some serious method went into
this shit.

Montgomery's expression hardens noticeably and he stands now,

motioning for Prendick to follow him.

MONTGOMERY
Come on, man. I think it's time I showed you
your room.

PRENDICK
God damn it, Montgomery... Talk to me!

MONTGOMERY
Sssh!... Dig it...

Prendick joins Montgomery in the study door to see M'Ling and Aissa
sitting at one end of the room, reading determinedly from Lewis
Carrol.

AISSA
 "And thou hast slain the Jabberwock? Come to my
arms, my beamish boy O Frabjous day! Callooh!
Callay!" He chortled in his joy.

Prendick looks across at Aissa and their gaze meets for an instant
before she returns her eyes to the page, reading artlessly aloud,
placing odd stresses on phrases that were never meant to be
stressed.

AISSA
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble on the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogroves,
and the mome raths outgrabe.

As she finishes M'Ling crosses to her holding his hands like a

rabbit and mustering a rabbit like expression in his face.

AISSA
(acting anxious)
Oh, Rabbit, it's so hard to understand, but it
seems somebody killed something.

M'Ling mimes removing a watch from his vest.

M'LING
By my ears and whiskers I'm late, I'm late. The
Duchess will be in such a state...

MONTGOMERY
(affectionately)
What a crew. Ya gotta love 'em.

Prendick lingers for an instant, fixing on Aissa.

Montgomery glances back noting his expression.

CUT TO:
INT. THE GUEST ROOM - DAY

Montgomery leads Prendick across the hall to the open door of a

small apartment, plainly but comfortably furnished.

Some clothes have been laid out for Prendick, and there is a filled
bookshelf, which Prendick studies for a moment.
There is a low bed in the darkest corner of the room shrouded in
mosquito netting and a small barred window looking out towards the
sea.

PRENDICK
Barred windows... You don't trust the locals?
 MONTGOMERY
You don't like your room?

PRENDICK
What's the update on the COMSAT equipment?

MONTGOMERY
Not my area of expertise.

At that moment a third figure appears in the doorway. An agitated-

looking ISLANDER dressed in a surgical smock.

WAGGDI
Mr. Montgomery, Sir, you must come at once. The
contractions have started.

MONTGOMERY
Thank you, Waggdi. I'm on my way.
(To Prendick)
Oh Christ, here we go again.

He steps lightly out of the room, drawing the door shut behind him.

Just before it closes Prendick catches a glimpse of Montgomery's

face through the narrowing crack.

MONTGOMERY
Sorry about this, Eddie.

Prendick starts towards him but Montgomery closes the door in his
face and he hears the SOUND OF A KEY being turned.

PRENDICK
Hey, Montgomery. C'mon, open the damn door.

MONTGOMERY
It's for your own good.

Prendick rattles the door furiously.

PRENDICK
Come on, Montgomery. If it's about the damned
insurance I'll sign a waver. Shit!
He turns to face the room, the barred window, the brilliant
sunlight and the green fans of the trees beyond. Suddenly, a
piercing howl of pain comes from somewhere outside. Prendick's eyes
search the surrounding jungle for the source, but there
is nothing.

CUT TO:
INT. THE GUEST ROOM - DUSK (A LITTLE LATER)

Prendick sits on the bed, glancing through a pile of dog-eared

magazines that are on the table beside the bed. As he takes another
TIME, he reacts to the cover. A picture of Moreau surrounded by a
tableau of helixes and medallions with profiles of Nobel.

We see him flip through the pages to the article which is

headlined: "Moreau, Future hopes... or fears?"

Prendick tries to read as the howl comes again followed by others.

Some creature in agony, perhaps closer to death than before as they
build to such an exquisite expression of suffering that it is as
though all the pain in the world had found a single voice.

He drops the magazine and goes to the window. As he looks out into
the crepuscular gloom of the jungle, the howls diminish and
gradually stop. Prendick goes to the bed and lies down, releived by
the returned silence of the approaching night.

Through drifting mosquito netting,

DISSOLVE TO:

We see the following (PRENDICK'S P.0.V) as though through a

nightmare:

Prendick is alone, deep in sleep, through which he can hear the

SCREAMS, now at an unbearable pitch.

INT. THE WOMB - NIGHT

An unborn CHILD pushes through the red-veined darkness, eyes still

closed, squeezed shut as if anguished by this transition from one
world to another.

In the darkness of the womb the child twists and SCREAMS.

CUT TO:

INT. THE GUEST ROOM - NIGHT

Prendick sits bolt upright on the bed. It takes him only a moment
to realize that the pitch of the cries has changed. They no longer
sound like the howling of man nor beast, but have become instead
the screams of a child in pain.
Prendick turns and goes to the door a bit unsteadily. He tries it.
Still locked.

Kneeling down, he examines the old style lock. In reaction to

something he's seen, he reaches to a hat stand beside the door and
removes a wire coat hanger. Quickly bending it, he pokes it into
the lock and works it around. A few thrusts and he forces the key
out the other side. It clangs on the hallway floor.

Making a hook out of one end of the hanger, he slides it under the
door and draws it back with the key.

The screaming subsides as Prendick unlocks the door and opens it.
After a beat of hesitation he exits into the empty hallway.

CUT TO:
INT. DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY - PRE-DAWN

Prendick comes down a stairway into the empty gloom of the house.
He moves along toward a large window that opens off the hallway.

Peering out, Prendick sees --

EXT. A KITCHEN COURTYARD - PRE-DAWN

In the dim light of morning, Azazello is cutting up the skinned and

gutted rabbit which bears a disturbing resemblance to the fetus of
Prendick's nightmare.

The kitchen courtyard is an area nearly touched by the surrounding

growth of the jungle. As Azazello works he reacts to an animal
movement in the surrounding brush. A vague shadowy face appears,
staring at the preparation of the meat.

AZAZELLO
Get away!

Azazello pitches a stone. The face disappears and the creature

retreats noisily into the brush.

INT. HALLWAY - PRE-DAWN

Another scream is heard from outside the hduse and Prendick moves
on.
CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - JUST BEFORE DAWN

Prendick stands in the lighted doorway of the big house for a

moment, realizing now that the cries are coming from the lighted
complex of Nissan huts across the yard.
 PRENDICK
Moreau!

As he starts toward the huts Aissa emerges from the shadows of the
porch. Knowing his purpose, she takes his arm.

AISSA
Oh no, please! You can't!

PRENDICK
That's a child screaming!

AISSA
It's forbidden to go there!

PRENDICK
What the hell are they doing? Someone's being
tortured.

Prendick starts towards the source of the screams, breaking free of

Aissa, who does not dare to follow him further.

Behind the house, he stumbles across the pile of baseball

equipment; gloves, a catcher's mask, some bats. He grabs a bat and
goes on.

AISSA
No Prendick! You can't go there! It's the House
of Pain!

CUT TO:
INT. THE LABORATORY - JUST BEFORE DAWN

Prendick's entrance is drowned out by the clamoring of caged

animals, going mad with fear at the sound of the screaming child.

He stalks slowly down an aisle between the cages, baseball bat

raised, looking around in the light of the naked bulbs overhead,
noting the occupants of the cages. Dogs, monkeys, big and small
cats and in the last of the cages the black leopard, lying on its
side and panting as if desperately ill.

He sees movement up ahead and his knuckles whiten on the handle of

the bat.
Beyond the cages is a laboratory area, a maze of computer consoles
and arcane apparatus linked by suspended tubes and cabling to a row
of glass tanks and glowing incubators. At the far end of the
laboratory area a group of figures in stained surgical smocks are
ringed about an eccentric, custom-built operating table.

The figures shift slightly and for a moment Prendick catches a

glimpse of hairy legs that might be human fastened to raised steel
stirrups that have more in common with medieval torture than
obstetrics. Then Moreau, completely absorbed, watches as Montgomery
draws a vinyl sheet across a body, obscuring it from view.

Moreau turns from the table and Prendick sees at last where the
cries are coming from.

Moreau is cradling a screaming mutant child in his arms.

A wriggling, squalling thing, more dog than man, umbilical cord

still dangling from its distended belly, eyes already open and
hideously aware.

Prendick staggers back with a groan and Moreau catches sight of

him, his face growing white and terrible.

PRENDICK
(shuddering)
Oh, my God!

Montgomery sees him.

MONTGOMERY
Oh shit...

Montgomery starts forward, trying to come between Prendick and

Moreau. Prendick takes a defensive stance with the bat.

PRENDICK
Stay the hell away from me!

MONTGOMERY
Whatever you think is going on here, you're
wrong.

PRENDICK
You sick bastards.

Prendick retreats toward the exit, brandishing the bat to keep them
at bay.

He backs into a large assemblage of tubes and glass retorts which

crashes to the floor. Monkeys shriek and animal sound erupt from
all sides as Prendick, totally freaked, beats a retreat to the
door.

CUT TO:
EXT. COMPOUND - DAWN
As Prendick backs out the door he is touched from behind by Aissa
who startles him. He spins and nearly swings on her with the bat.
She cowers. Prendick reaches out and takes her wrist.

Aissa stares at him wide eyed as he pulls her away from the lab.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LABORATORY - DAWN

Moreau places the mutant infant on a scale. He speaks to

Montgomery.

MONTGOMERY
He's freaked. You'll have to talk him down.

MOREAU
(nods)
Find him.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - DAWN

Prendick leads Aissa to an area of tropical overgrowth near the

main house.

PRENDICK
Listen, you've got to help me. I have to get
away from here!

AISSA
I can't help you! You've broken the Law!

PRENDICK
I've broken the law??? What law?

AISSA
I don't know what to do. He's my father! I'm
afraid...

She takes Prendick's hand, holds it.

PRENDICK
Just show me the way out of here and I'll take
care of you. I promise.

Aissa looks with terrible confusion at the house.

PRENDICK
 Aissa, there's no time... They'll be coming
after me.

Aissa grabs his hand. They break into a run. Aissa stops and turns
once, looking back at the house with some incredible longing. Then
she runs on.

Montgomery comes dashing out of the laboratory and tries to

intercept them, but Prendick swings the baseball bat at his face
and he ducks out of the way, stumbles back and falls.

MONTGOMERY
Eddie! Come on, don't be an asshole! I'll tell
you what it's all about.

Prendick keeps running, following Aissa past the singing aloes

towards the dark wall of the rain forest.

MONTGOMERY
Come back! I'm warning you man, there's some
really unstable phenomena out there.

Aissa leads Prendick to a section of the fence where the trees have
invaded the compound and he sees a jagged gap in the wire mesh,
hidden from the house by luxuriant foliage.

He starts through the hole, pinning back a loose flap of the fence
with the handle of the baseball bat.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE RAINFOREST - EARLY MORNING

The forest is so dense that after going only a few yards the
compound is already lost from Prendick's sight.

AISSA
Where can we go? They'll find us.

PRENDICK
We have to get to the launch.

AISSA
To the sea? You'll take me with you?

Prendick looks at her for a moment.

PRENDICK
Yes.

AISSA
To New York?
Prendick almost smiles at her innocence.

PRENDICK
Yes. New York.

They reach the edge of the forest now and through the trees
Prendick can see the dawn coming up over the sparkling ocean. Up
ahead, the beach seems deserted save for two sleeping ISLANDERS who
lie some way off beside the smoking embers of a campfire. Prendick
slows, looking cautiously around his eyes fixed on the jetty and
the launch bobbing at its moorings.

PRENDICK
We'll need fuel to make it to the shipping lane.
Do you know where they keep the Diesel?

Aissa points toward a storage shed well back from the water.

AISSA
In that shed.

Prendick is about to start towards the shed when the SOUND OF

A TANNOY comes drifting down the beach followed by the low GROWL of
a diesel engine. The two sleeping figures beside the camp stir now,
starting to their feet and coming to attention.

PRENDICK
Shit.

He draws back into the undergrowth as the flatbed comes rattling

down the track from the big house, Montgomery standing in the back,
a loud hailer in one hand. The flatbed pulls up beside the jetty,
disgorging a host of doglike FIGURES carrying electric cattle
prods. They fan out across the beach, the rising sun at their backs
while Montgomery bark instructions to them through the loud hailer.

MONTGOMERY
The Man from the Sea has broken the Law! Find
him for me and bring him back!

The two figures beside the campfire prostrate themselves on the

sand, crying out in unison.
ONLOOKERS
Back to the House of Pain, Master! To the House
of Pain!

Aissa tugs urgently at Prendick's shoulder and he turns, following

her deeper into the forest.

PRENDICK
 Is there anywhere we can hide?

AISSA
The village. The men there will know what to do.

PRENDICK
Who are they? Do they work for Moreau?

AISSA
They are good. You can trust them.

Still not totally convinced he can trust her, Prendick follows

Aissa, weaving through the undergrowth as they climb the flank of a
densely forested ridge. Prendick glances around at the vegetation,
the rustling and scurrying of myriad unseen lives.

They emerge from the trees onto the bank of a shallow stream and
Aissa freezes suddenly in fear.

A naked MAN, his skin covered in patches of spotted fur, crouches

on all fours beside the stream, supping up water like an animal. He
senses their presence and glances up guiltily, his eyes going at
once to Prendick. He starts to his feet, wiping his mouth, and
Prendick sees his lips are rimmed with blood.

Prendick takes a step towards him, looking him steadfastly in the

eye, clutching the baseball bat with both his hands.

LO-MAI
No!

He turns and goes bounding away through the undergrowth.

Prendick, startled, looks back now to see Aissa sniffing the air,
her brow furrowed, a curious far-off look in her eyes. He follows
her gaze, seeing a trail of bright crimson drops dotting the
foliage.

The trail leads to the body of a dead rabbit, its remains wedged in
the fork of a tree. It is one of the rabbits from the beach but it
has been savagely mutilated, the carcass glistening with flies.

Aissa glances back at Prendick, her face growing solemn.

AISSA
He's a bad one, that man. He's broken the Law.
He's going back to the House of Pain.

A staghound BAYS from somewhere behind them and Prendick glances at

her uneasily. Aissa darts forward once more, beckoning for him to
follow her.
She sets off swiftly through the trees, moving at such a quick pace
that Prendick has to struggle hard to keep up with her.

AISSA
Quicker, you have to run.

At length they come to an open space in the forest and Aissa pauses
once more to let him catch up. Ahead in the center of the glade
surrounding the fungoid ruins of a huge, fallen tree are THREE
TAILED FIGURES, more like attenuated sloths walking on their hind
legs than men, their naked bodies covered in a fine silvery fur,
their long necks surmounted by odd chinless faces and eyes like
dark pools of honey.

They are engaged in picking some kind of fruit, pulling down

prickly husks from the trees and scooping out the fleshy contents.

Prendick looks questioningly at Aissa.

AISSA
The Silent Ones. They were the first of his
children but he didn't give them speech.

Prendick is about to return his attention to the creatures in the

clearing when a FIGURE in a bright Hawaiian shirt steps from the
surrounding undergrowth.

ASSASSIMON
You! You! You! You!

The furry figures in the glade take fright and go sloping off into
the trees. Prendick turns to face the newcomer, a curiously simian
individual with long forearms and a heavy brow overshadowing
bright, curious eyes.

ASSASSIMON
You. In the boat.

PRENDICK
Right... I came in the boat.

ASSASSIMON
You play ball with us now?
Prendick glances awkwardly at the bat he's holding.

ASSASSIMON
Can you hit the ball?

PRENDICK
(going with it)
 Sure, I batted two ninety three when I played
for the Cards.

ASSASSIMON
It's good. We need a power hitter very much to
hit the long ball.
(Smiling conspiratorially)
I am the pitcher. My name is Assassimon.

AISSA
He's a Five Man like you!

She takes Prendick's hand and holds it out so Assassimon can see.
Assassimon counts Prendick's fingers carefully, holding out his own
for comparison.

ASSASSIMON
It is very good! We must tell Kiril!

He swings around, gesturing for them to follow and then goes

trotting off, his hands hanging down and his jaw thrust forward.

AISSA
See, you're alright here. You'll be safe with
me.

Prendick turns to Aissa and takes her hand.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE SETTLEMENT - DAY

Drawing nearer, Prendick sees that a small village of wooden

shanties and lean-tos made from matted palm fans is hidden amidst
the volcanic boulders. Several of the villagers come shambling from
their hovels to watch them as they enter the ravine and a group of
deformed, dog-like children follow jibing at their heels.

The walls of the ravine shelter are a wasp's nest of more complex
mud-walled homes and it is into the doorway of one of those that
Assassimon disappears.

Prendick glances around, wrinkling his nose at the pungent odor.

The ground is covered with decaying fruit pulp and other refuse and
the air here is thick with smoke.
Something brushes his leg and he starts violently down to see a dim
pinkish thing resembling a flayed looking child pawing at his
trousers.

Assassimon reappears, and Aissa tugs him by the arm.

AISSA
 Here. This is our home now.

PRENDICK
Oh great. Looks like the Hospitality Suite at
the Bronx Zoo.

She gives him an uncomprehending, almost hurt look.

AISSA
What is wrong?

PRENDICK
(melting)
Nothing. It's fine.

She leads him towards the shadowy aperture and he takes a deep
breath.

CUT TO:
INT. KIRIL'S DEN – DAY

Prendick finds himself in a semi-circular space shaped like the

half of a beehive. Rough vessels of lava and wood stand about the
floor and one on a rough stool. In the darkest corner of the
chamber sits a shapeless mass of darkness that GRUNTS as Prendick
enters.

KIRIL
Hey!

Assassimon stands in the dim light of the doorway and holds out a
split coconut to Prendick as he crawls into the other corner to
crouch beside Aissa. The little pink Sloth Creature stands peering
in from the aperture, and something else with a drab face and
bright eyes comes to stare over its shoulder.

KIRIL
Hey!

ASSASSIMON
It is a man! Look, it is a man!

KIRIL
Shut up.
Kiril pulls himself upright, his head brushing the ceiling forcing
him to hold his huge, bearish frame in a melancholic stoop.

He peers short-sightedly down at Prendick who looks him in the eye

in as friendly a manner as he can muster. Kiril rummages in the
shadows beside his bed and produces a battered portable stereo.
 KIRIL
You have batteries? I need the Energizer.

PRENDICK
No... I'm sorry...

AISSA
He's new. He came on the ship.

KIRIL
Then you must learn the Law.

PRENDICK
That's really not necessary. I'm a lawyer and
I...

KIRIL
(dismissive)
That way...

Kiril turns and motions towards a passageway leading deeper into

the hillside.

KIRIL
Through there...Go!

Prendick starts forward with trepidation.

CUT TO:
INT. THE CAVE - DAY

With Kiril showing the way, they enter a corridor that widens and
grows gradually brighter, letting out into a huge, natural chamber
lit by a fissure open to the sky.

The galleries of the cave are lined with crouching FIGURES, their
eyes glinting in the half light, their outlines made hazy by the
greasy smoke rising from the embers of a fire on the floor beyond.
Prendick sees now that the walls of the cave are covered with
elaborate paintings. Innumerable twisted stick figures dance across
the rock faces, rising from four legs to two, from beast to man and
encircling on the far wall a huge rendition of the Tree of Life,
the spiralling ladder of the D.N.A. double helices.

The bear man turns now towards Prendick, who stands awestruck.

KIRIL
This is the House of the Law. I am the Keeper of
the Way. Only a few can ever enter here.
Kiril takes down a conch shell that hangs beside the entrance and,
placing it to his lips, blows a mighty BLAST, setting off a
MURMURING that ripples throughout the cavern.

A FIGURE appears now before the painted helices, stepping into the
shaft of light that falls from the crevice high above. A bearded
figure in a stained white suit and battered Panama hat who is
holding a grisly fetish staff.

PRENDICK
Moreau...

He starts to raise the bat, but then sees that it is not the doctor
after all. The suit is too filthy and the beard he now realizes is
made from tufts of dyed hair affixed to a painted wooden mask. The
mask, however, fails to disguise the two huge ram horns that curl
from the sides of this grotesque head.

SAYER OF THE LAW

Who is there?

KIRIL
A Five Man, from the sea! He's come to hear the
Law!

At this, a sudden clamoring of pipes and drums comes from the

gallery above and several of the shadowy figures closest to them
turn towards Prendick, crowding around him, touching his hair and
clothes, taking him by the hands and dragging him further into the
chamber.

A corpulent SOW LADY, her heavy thighs painted with grey mud,
approaches him, draping a garland of wild flowers around his neck.
She makes as if to embrace him, and he recoils in revulsion, as
Aissa lashes out at her, forcing her to withdraw.

AISSA
Get away from him! He's mine!

Prendick looks back at her uneasily, catching an unmistakable feral

gleam in her eyes. There is a lull in the clamoring and the Sayer
of the Law calls attention by banging his fetish staff against the
rocks.

SAYER OF THE LAW

Not to walk on all-fours; that is the Law.

Prendick says nothing; Kiril nudges him firmly.

KIRIL
 Say it.

PRENDICK
What?

KIRIL
Repeat the law.

PRENDICK
(annoyed)
Not to walk on all-fours.
(Then, after prompting
from Kiril)
That is the Law.

The crowd echoes his words and the ceremony begins.

The Sayer of the Law intones the mad litany, line by line, and the
crowd repeats it, swaying from side to side and beating their
hands on their knees.

ALL
Not to walk on all-fours; that is the Law. Are
we not men? Not to suck up drink; that is the
Law. Are we not men? Not to eat flesh nor fish;
that is the Law. Are we not men? Not to claw the
bark of trees; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to chase other men; that is the Law. Are we
not men? Not to couple any which-way; that is
the Law. Are we not men?

Prendick is transfixed by this powerful and moving travesty of

human ritual. He stares amazed as the crowd sways, faster and
faster. There is a loud MUSICAL PUNCTUATION from the upper gallery
and the chanting swings to a new formula.

SAYER OF THE LAW

The punishments of those who break the Law are
terrible. None escape.

ALL
None escape. His is the House of Pain. His is
the Hand that makes. His is the Hand that
wounds. His is the Hand that heals. None escape!

Assassimon comes forward, as if to confess to the congregation.

ASSASSIMON
None escape! See, I did a wrong thing once, it
was a little thing... I jabbered... I stopped
talking. No one could understand me. Look! (He
 holds out his hand.) I am burned, branded here
on the hand. And now I talk! He is great! He is
good!

SAYER OF THE LAW

Sooner or later, every one will want a thing
that is bad. What you will want, we do not know.
Some want to follow things that move, to watch
and slink and spring, to kill and bite, bite
deep and rich, sucking all the warm blood... It
is bad. Not to chase other men; that is the Law.
Are we not men? Not to eat flesh nor fish,
never; that is the Law. Are we not men? To
couple only with one; that is the Law.

The congregation is hypnotized by the ritual of this.

SAYER OF THE LAW

Some go scratching at the graves of the dead,
some go fighting with foreheads or claws, some
bite suddenly without or warning, some go
snuffing at the earth, some love uncleanness,
some make wild and random fornications every
which-way...it is bad.

ASSASSIMON
None escape!

Suddenly, there the SOUND OF GUNFIRE is heard outside. A murmuring

starts amongst those assembled and above their voices Prendick
hears the distant BAYING of staghounds.

ASSASSIMON
He's coming! He’s coming!

There is a cacophonic CLASH OF PERCUSSION from the upper gallery

and the entire congregation starts towards the door at once in a
furry tumult of struggling, misshapen forms, almost trampling
Prendick underfoot.

He swiftly loses sight of Kiril and Aissa, allowing the crowd to

suck him towards the door, hearing now the SOUND of the loud hailer
come from somewhere outside.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE SETTLEMENT – DAY

Prendick bursts blinking into the daylight, the last stragglers of

the congregation still lurching past him to join the crowd that is
gathering at the mouth of the canyon.
Prendick pushes through them, peering over the hunched shoulders
and pointed ears to see a nightmarish procession approaching.

It is led by Moreau, cantering astride the horse, his awful face

shadowed by the brim of his Panama hat, a bullwhip in his hands, a
hunting rifle in a scabbard, the villagers supplicating themselves
before him, throwing dust over their heads and laying palm fans
before the horse's hooves as he rides into the settlement. Moreau
is flanked by a retinue of DOG MEN who carry whips as well as by
M'Ling, Waggdi and Azazello, who control the leashes of the
snarling staghounds.

Montgomery walks sullenly behind them, a gun in one hand and the
loud hailer in the other.

Prendick turns to see that his way back through the canyon is
blocked by more of the villagers. He ducks down, trying to hide
himself in the crowd.

Beyond the huts the wall of the rainforest is tantalizingly close

yet hopelessly far away. Moreau is almost parallel with him now,
his eyes like splinters of ice as he surveys the crowd. Behind him
Montgomery raises the loud hailer.

MONTGOMERY
I know he's in there. Better give him up. I mean
now!

SAYER OF THE LAW

Evil is he who breaks the Law!

MONTGOMERY
And you know what happens when you break the
law, don't you? You shaggy little fucker...

ALL (CHORUS)
Back to the House of Pain! Back to the House of
Pain, Master!

MONTGOMERY
You got it, boys and girls... back to the House
of Pain. Come on now. Where is he?

The villagers slowly turn their snouts towards Prendick who tries
to make a run for it, dashing his shoulder into one clumsy figure
and flinging him forward into another.

The little pink Sloth Creature grasps at his legs and he delivers a
savage blow to its face with the baseball bat.

MOREAU
 STOP! HOLD HIM!

He looks with incredible severity at Aissa. She looks imploringly

back.

AISSA
Father, please...

Moreau smiles tenderly at her, then turns sharply away.

Hands clutch at Prendick. He pitches headlong through the crowd and

tackles Montgomery, both of them going down almost beneath the
horse's hooves, grappling desperately for the gun.

MONTGOMERY
God, Eddie, you're turning into a real pain in
the ass. We just want to...

Prendick strikes him on the jaw and, wrestling his fingers from the
trigger guard, regains his feet just as the Dog Men come loping up
to him, brandishing their cattle prods. He raises the gun, firing a
round into the air.

PRENDICK
Back, You fucking freaks!

He fires another round and Moreau's horse panics, rearing

dangerously and causing the Dog Men to scatter.

Prendick turns and makes a break for it, sprinting across a millet
patch towards the shelter of the trees, where he turns and fires
another shot, while Moreau struggles to get his horse back under
control.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE RAINFOREST - DAY

Prendick runs full tilt through the undergrowth, the automatic

clutched in one hand, the air behind him filled with threatening
cries and the baying of staghounds. He zig-zags through the trees,
pausing and changing course as he hears BRANCHES CRACKING up ahead,
then turning again as he hears Moreau and Montgomery SHOUTING from
somewhere behind him and the NEIGHING of the horse.
Some of the islanders are ROARING AND SCREAMING now like beasts of
prey as they hurl themselves after him through the foliage,
primitive cudgels clasped in their hands.

As Prendick forces his way through the thick undergrowth of the

forest, shadow figures brachiate through the trees above him.
WHOOPING, HOWLING, GIBBON-LIKE BEAST MEN quickly overtake him and
cut off his escape, menacing him from the canopy above.
Prendick turns and fights through a tangled thicket of thorns
toward a break in the trees.

Breaking from the undergrowth which tears at his clothes, he

reaches the edge of a narrow gully and falls headlong into the
steaming waters of a murky, sulphurous stream. The gun falls into
the muck. The sound of the pursuing dogs grows louder as he gets to
his feet. Gasping with pain as the steaming mud clings to his
flesh.

Shoving his hands into the sulfureous mud to find the gun he is
forced to withdraw them quickly before they are cooked by the
viscous, almost boiling water. Suddenly, a HYENA-SWINE MAN breaks
from the surrounding brush and, seeing Prendick, gives a loud roar.

As the creature lunges into the mud Prendick stumbles away,

bleeding profusely now from a wound in his scalp.

The YELPING of the dogs and Dogmen and a CHATTERING AND A GIBBERING
followed by the CRACK of a whip and VOICES.

Prendick sets off again, splashing ankle deep through the scalding
water, crying out to himself as he runs, seeing the blue line of
the ocean now through the trees.

CUT TO:
EXT. BEACH - LATE AFTERNOON

Prendick splashes across the delta and does not stop running until
he is up to his knees in salt water, staring out at the setting sun
and the unreachable horizon. He turns westward, stumbling along the
water's edge.

Then, suddenly, far in front of him, he sees figures emerging from

the rainforest. Moreau on his horse, then Montgomery, then some of
the Dog Men with their snapping charges. They see him and begin
advancing.

Prendick starts to turn only to see a posse of villagers emerging

from the tree line behind him to cut him off.
He looks towards the horizon once more and, having nowhere else
left, wades straight out into the water.

Moreau addresses him from the water's edge.

Aissa stands beside him, frightened and confused.

MOREAU
Mr. Prendick, please...There's no escape from
here.
His eyes wander over the massed ranks, over Aissa and M'Ling,
Waggdi and Azazello and further up the beach Assassimon, Kiril and
the others.

PRENDICK
They were men... But you've mutilated them, made
slaves of them.

MOREAU
That's not it at all. You've got it wrong.

Prendick shouts at the gathering.

PRENDICK
Listen! There's a hundred of you, and two of
them! You have nothing to fear from them. You
don't need to obey!

MOREAU
Prendick!

The islanders seem puzzled, staring wonderingly at Prendick. They

edge closer to the tide line and Moreau cracks his whip, causing
them to retreat once more.

PRENDICK
These men aren't gods! You have the power to
free yourselves.

MONTGOMERY
Back off, man. Don't start something that might
end in tears.

Moreau moves his horse forward. When he is near Prendick he

indicates the rifle in its saddle scabbard.

MOREAU
Mr. Prendick, this rifle is loaded. Please, take
it.

Prendick hesitates.

MOREAU
Take the rifle and put your mind at ease. We are
not the enemy. It mustn't appear that there's
conflict between us.

Cautiously, Prendick moves towards him and slips the rifle from the
scabbard. He aims it at Moreau who nudges his horse closer.
 MOREAU
(whispering fiercely)
Those are not men. Do you understand me? They're
Chromatic hybrids... experiments in a humanizing
process. Don't excite them or it could be bad
for all of us.

PRENDICK
They're animals?

MOREAU
Please, Mr. Prendick, they're not without
sensitivity.

Montgomery moves towards them; Prendick swings the rifle to cover

them both, but he comes slowly closer.

MONTGOMERY
Eddie, we hunted you for your own good. This
island is full of... unstable phenomena.

MOREAU
You might not have survived the night.

PRENDICK
That woman I saw on the operating table...

MOREAU
You didn't see a woman. What you saw was not a
human. You're certainly entitled to ethical
reservations about our research, but at least
hear us out.

MONTGOMERY
C'mon Eddie, stop pointing that thing at my
head.

MOREAU
We mean you no harm. Our only intention is to
get you safely on your way.

PRENDICK
Oh, right... but I suppose the COMSAT equipment
is still down.

MOREAU
Yes, it is down. Do you want to know the reason?
There's been a nuclear exchange between India
and Pakistan. We heard it on the short wave
radio.
Prendick is stricken.

MOREAU
All COMSAT communication is restricted to
military usage.

Prendick looks away at the distant sea, trying to imagine the world
beyond the island.

PRENDICK
A war?

MOREAU
So far it's only the rumble of a distant storm,
but it brings a new imperative to our
survival... to the work we do.

CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - DUSK

Moreau gingerly lifts the vinyl sheet, and Prendick peers down with
distaste bordering on revulsion at the mutilated body strapped to
the operating table. The automatic is still clutched in his hand.

Moreau watches him cooly.

MOREAU
You tell me, is that human?

PRENDICK
I don't know what she is.

MOREAU
Actually, she's a genetic hybrid. We call them
Chimaeras.

Prendick looks uncomprehendingly at him.

PRENDICK
Very poetic. What does it mean?
MOREAU
Animals, engineered in the image of humans.

PRENDICK
I've always heard you people are desperate for
grant money. But animals into humans, don't you
think that's a reach?

Moreau draws the sheet over the woman's remains again and turns
away from the operating table; Prendick follows.
 MOREAU
If I'm to to succeed at improving mandkind, then
what I create must have human form.

PRENDICK
You'll only succeed in filling tabloid
headlines. There's no market for home made
people. Creating these things is immoral.

MOREAU
War and death generated by the twisted laws of
nations... is that the moral highground?

Prendick has no response. Moreau rubs his eyes wearily.

MOREAU
I can't believe I'm having to explain myself
like this. Montgomery told me what you did, I
hoped you believed that humanity can be
improved?

PRENDICK
I don't see this as improving it.

MOREAU
Why not? I've improved other living things...
created wheat that grows in the Sahara, other
plants that kill and eat their own predators.
Everything has to start with basics, like
creating a new race without the evil or venality
of our species.

PRENDICK
This half dissected thing was sacrificed to that
goal?

MOREAU
Growth must be accelerated, centuries of
evolution compressed into minutes, the process
takes its toll on the organism.
PRENDICK
And the screams?

MOREAU
Deliberate pain serves only as a training tool.
It will fall away from us one day, along with
it's depraved twin, pleasure.

Prendick gives him a sharp look.

MOREAU
 Why do you doubt me, Mr. Prendick, because you
failed improve humanity with laws?

PRENDICK
I only set out to solve a few local problems. I
leave improvements on the human race to a higher
authority.

MOREAU
I choose to believe that authority works through
me... pushes me to finish my work.

Moreau stops by the pen that holds the black leopard from the boat.
The animal is comatose now, its belly already hideously distended,
kept alive only by nutrients fed directly into its veins by a row
of drips.

MOREAU
I chose this creature for its strength to
withstand the rigors of accelerated fetal
growth.

PRENDICK
It's not doing well. Maybe you chose wrong.

MOREAU
She's being devoured by a fetus growing at over
fifty times the normal rate. Her life will end
to give new life. That seems cruel to you
doesn't it?

PRENDICK
Yes, it does.

MOREAU
And to me. But I have no choice. My own clock
runs at accelerated speed. I must finish before
I'm finished.
(passionately)
And I'm close... I'm very close...She's going to
me my breakthrough. I know it...

CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - DUSK.
Moreau dons a curious pair of goggles. He hands a pair to Prendick.

MOREAU
Do you know the term nanotechnology?

PRENDICK
I know enough Greek to know nano means small.

MOREAU
Very small... It involves mechanically shifting
things on a molecular level.

Moreau demonstrates the laboratory's centerpiece, a combined laser

and electron microscope, its needle thin blue beam focused minutely
on a tiny slide, its glow bathing the room in an eerie bluegreen
luminescence.

MOREAU
Nanotechnology enables us to isolate and
transfer specific gene sequences. Then through
artificial insemination and surrogacy we can
create hybrids that would be impossible in
conventional crossbreeding.

The beam of the laser moves down into a subatomic world that is
suddenly ablaze with light. Rising before them are the spiralling
helices of the DNA molecule, the fundamental building block of life
spinning in the laser's glare.

MOREAU
My work will form the basis of a renaissance in genetic
engineering that will transform the new century.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LAB - A MONITOR - NIGHT

We are watching the early days of the experiment. Moreau, younger

now, oversees the work of a chain-smoking behaviorist.

MOREAU
I won’t bore you with our early efforts.
Basically we moved through herbivores to
carnivores to capitalize on the intelligence
that goes with predation. Then, taking a
gorilla, I made my first "Man".

The videotape CUTS to a shaky handheld SHOT of a squat, dark-

skinned APE MAN walking on the front lawn, holding hands with
Moreau.

MOREAU
 Everything our race has forgotten is being found
again, here on this island as if for the very
first time. That's Prima, our first real
success... We took him from the surrogate mother
at birth and raised him here in the compound.
Dr. Conway was with me then.

Prendick watches now as an attractive chain-smoking woman, DR.

CONWAY, submits Prima to a battery of intelligence tests,
flashcards, and reading-readiness tests.

MOREAU
By the age of five, Prima could speak English at
least as well as the average human child of the
same age. Conway was incredibly gifted in
communicating with him.

Dr. Conway holds up a drawing of a suburban street. All appears

normal in the picture save for the presence of a car with square
wheels and an elegant-looking woman who is strolling down the
sidewalk with a tiger on a leash.

DR. CONWAY (ON TAPE)

Now, Prima, can you see anything wrong with this
picture?

Prima scratches his head.

DR. CONWAY (ON TAPE)

Come on, Prima. Big thinks, baby. Big thinks.

Prima extends his hand to touch the square wheel but ignores
the tiger.

PRIMA (ON TAPE)

Car?

DR. CONWAY (ON TAPE)

Ver-ry good!
She makes a mark in her notebook, the shadow of a frown crossing
her face.

MOREAU
It's impossible, really, to gauge non-human
intelligence by human standards.

Moreau's eyes shine with intense feeling as he watches Conway on

the screen.

MOREAU
 Conway worked tirelessly with them. She was so
dedicated... inspired.

Dr. Conway produces another drawing, a depiction of several

objects, a house, a chair, a tree, a flower and a hat.

DR. CONWAY (ON TAPE)

Now, Prima, which one do you go to when there's
a storm? When it's wet and raining?

PRIMA (ON TAPE)

Tree.

He touches the drawing and Dr. Conway shakes her head.

DR. CONWAY (ON TAPE)

No, Prima. You go to the house when it rains.

Prima frowns and bows his head, his shoulders hunched.

PRIMA (ON TAPE)

Damn me good.

Prima takes one of Dr. Conway’s cigarettes and lights it smoking

nervously as though afraid it might be taken from him.

MOREAU
Today the population of our island stands at
more than sixty. That's not counting the
creatures without human speech or form.
Altogether I've made more than a hundred and
twenty, some had to be destroyed.

Prendick reacts to this word.

PRENDICK
What happened to Dr. Conway?

MOREAU
Dr. Conway died.
The video images give way to scenes of carnage, the laboratory
floor awash with blood.

MOREAU
(with difficulty)
An experiment that got out of control. A thing
with a human face that moved like a snake.
Incredibly strong, enraged by the pain of its
creation... It killed her here, then escaped. We
cornered it and destroyed it in the northern
part of the island. In the chaos other creatures
 escaped as well. Regrettably, there was some
hybridization beyond my control.

Moreau reaches for the remote control and stops the tape.

MOREAU
Her death was a personal tragedy for me. I must
see that it wasn't for nothing.

PRENDICK
The people who fund you know nothing of this.

MOREAU
The Foundation for the Humanities? ...Surely you
know of them?

PRENDICK
(bothered)
They've sponsored UN work involving human rights...

MOREAU
Including your own?

Prendick says nothing, but it's probably true.

PRENDICK
Aren't you ever afraid?

MOREAU
Of what?

PRENDICK
That you’re going too far... That you’ve already
gone too far.

This slightly changes the temperature. Moreau seems from here on to

be drifting away from Prendick.

MOREAU
I was researching. It led this way and I
followed it. That's what good science is, Mr.
Prendick. It takes a man way beyond fear.

A feral CHITTERING comes from behind him now and Moreau glances
around. On a bookshelf, an arm's reach away, two tiny, hunchbacked
mice men, their bodies covered in a fine, brown fur, are squaring
off over a mate. One of the mice men picks up a pin and shakes it
at his companion, emitting a threatening SQUEAK.
 MOREAU
On occasion I succeed. I bring them very close
to real humanity. But unless instinct is
controlled chemically or with pain, the animal
returns. But I will eventually prevail. Violence
will be channelled into courage and duty.
Sexuality transmuted into religious ecstasy. The
potential for refinement is limitless.

He seems to no longer be speaking to Prendick, or to anybody else.

The black leopard WHIMPERS softly from somewhere deep in its
trance. Moreau faces Prendick. He seems weary.

MOREAU
You've heard it all, Mr. Prendick. I have no
more secrets.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - DUSK

We see a time lapse view of the enclosure as dusk shelves off into
night; the Plant People creeping across the lawn, trying to flee
the lengthening shadows. Their SINGING gradually dies away and they
draw their branches tight around themselves as the night deepens
and the lights come on behind them in the big house.
The sound of a CNN broadcast can be heard intoning World News.

CNN(O.S.)
Reports have put casualties as high as six
hundred thousand in what is now the third day of
continuous conflict...

CUT TO:
INT. PRENDICK'S ROOM - DUSK

Prendick is on his bed watching a small portable TV on the bedside

table. Aissa steps silently into the room. Apparently uninterested
in the TV, she watches Prendick.

CNN(O.S.)
Emergency sessions of the UN Security Council
have brought no promise of a truce, but an
increasing threat that neighboring nations may
join the conflict. For an on scene assessment we
go to Molly Zuckerman, in Kabul...

Prendick settles back on the bed and Aissa's hand reaches and turns
the TV off. He lies in the near darkness over preferring the
sighing song of the plants and wild animal noises to the voice from
the world beyond.
As his gaze drifts to the open door of his room, the sight of
something brings a trace of smile to his face.

Aissa stands at the doorway, watching him in large-eyed silence.

Prendick extends his hand. Aissa pads quietly into the room and
takes his, gazing down at him on the bed.

AISSA
Are you sad, Prendick?

PRENDICK
Sad?

AISSA
Sad about what has happened in the world you
came from.

PRENDICK
It seems a long way off.

AISSA
It doesn't matter what happens out there.

Aissa smiles and gently rubs the back of his hand against her
cheek.

AISSA
Is there some one you miss?

PRENDICK
No one special, Aissa.

AISSA
And you no longer wish to runaway... to New
York?

Prendick looks into her eyes.

PRENDICK
Sit here.

Aissa settles on the bed, still holding Prendick's hand.

AISSA
Even if you don't run away, you will go someday
and leave me.

PRENDICK
(smiles)
 Hey, didn't I make you a promise, about New York.

AISSA
That was only to get me to help you. That was a
lie.

Seeing her, feeling her caress, Prendick is very aroused. His

gently cups her chin then gently draws her lips to a tender kiss.
Their lips part and Prendick whispers softly.

PRENDICK
That was then. This is not a lie.

His lips again touch hers. Their mouths open and with the slightest
touches of lips and tongue tips they taste each others taste.
Prendick sighs as he traces the strange sensual contours of her
mouth.

His hands barely brush the top of her sarong and it drops away
revealing small, firm, perfect breasts. Aissa arches her back with
a sudden rush of feeling as Prendick's palms gently brush her erect
nipples.

In sudden arousal, Aissa’s hands search down Prendick's body inside

his shirt; agile fingers glide down his chest to find the hairy
centerline of his muscular abdomen. He guides her hand further
forcing an awareness of his desire. Aissa gasps, perhaps with fear
of the unknown or perhaps with instinctual longing.

While she kisses him, Prendick's hands settle on her buttocks and
he positions her over him. Then, slowly and gently he settles her
loins to his own. Aissa whimpers at sensations that are both new
and part of her basic desire. Both she and Prendick are caught up
and equal in their pleasure. Their movements reflect intense hunger
for more of what they both are feeling. Thought is abolished by the
frantic pulses of instinct.

Prendick's kisses Aissa's shoulders and neck, tasting the flavor

and texture of her skin, the soft curves of her musculature. Then
his lips find the hard bud of her nipple and the pleasure is beyond
control.

Aissa feels a current course her body. She stretches forward, lying
atop Prendick with her arms extended above his head. As she
releases a feral cry which excites Prendick's own release, her
hands clutch the bedding, her nails extend from her fingers and she
draws them down in catlike expression of her orgasm. They have
become claws that tear long deep rents in the sheets.
A figure, watching from the shadows of the hallway, turns and moves
away as the lovers settle, exhausted, into each others arms.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Moreau sits at the piano playing out the gentle layers of

Gnossienne No-l, by Satie. His expression is distant, wistful, lost
somewhere in his own past.

CUT TO:
INT. THE BEDROOM - NIGHT

The door to the bathroom is open. Prendick watches as Aissa steps

from the shower and begins toweling herself dry. As he watches her
she licks her palms and runs her hands quickly through her hair in
a distinctly cat-like gesture of grooming. Prendick's gaze lowers
to the bed, to the rents torn into the bedding by her nails.

PRENDICK
Aissa, who was your mother?

Aissa answers as she steps into the room.

AISSA
I don't know!

PRENDICK
You don't know?

AISSA
I don't remember her... He took me away from her
when I was born. He said she was from Fiji.

For an instant her pointed ears are revealed, she shakes her long
hair down over her shoulders, covering them. She looks down at him,
nervously.

AISSA
Why do you ask me this?

Prendick says nothing.

AISSA
I'm as human as you are!

Prendick looks at her, unable to eliminate the question of her

origins from his mind.
 AISSA
(deeply earnest, in tears)
Prendick. I love you. Is this the way an animal
behaves? Do animals cry?

PRENDICK
I don't know, Aissa. But I'm not sure it matters.

He reaches out to her and holds her. As she cuddles in his arms she
speaks.

AISSA
He will never use me like he has used the others. If I am
ever pregnant it will be by you.

Off Prendick's look.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE VERANDAH - NIGHT

Like characters from a Conrad novel, Montgomery and Moreau are

finishing drinks. M'Ling comes out with a tray. As he takes up
their glasses, Moreau preps a cheroot.

MOREAU
Personally, I think that what goes on in that
village like some grotesque cartoon of the human
condition.

MONTGOMERY
Being a bit hard on them, don't you think?

MOREAU
I'd rather he hadn't seen it.

M'Ling, having cleared the drinks, lights Moreau's cigar then

shambles into the house with his tray.

MONTGOMERY
I'd rather he'd drowned. There was no reason to
turn the launch back. But you ordered it.

Moreau smiles at him.

MOREAU
It never hurts to have a fresh view on what one
does and thinks. I was intrigued when you told
me what he did, I thought he could bring and
interesting perspective to our work.
Aissa moves quietly from a side door of the house. She pauses by
the vegetation which surrounds the veranda and listens.

MONTGOMERY
He can bring us a shitload of trouble. I don't
see him just going on his way and sending us the
occasional postcard.

AisSa strains to hear them.

MOREAU
I agree, his leaving the island could be
problematic.

MONTGOMERY
His staying is a problem too. He's knocking toes
with Aissa.

Moreau's eyebrows go up in exaggerated surprise.

MOREAU
Oh, now I know why he suddenly bothers you.

MONTGOMERY
I'd remind you, she's your daughter.

MOREAU
Yes, there's much of me in her. But mainly
because of a shortage of genetic material. I'm
fond of her, but that's all, just fond. The day
will come when she'll be useful as a surrogate.
Perhaps he could b e useful too... a fresh
source of uncorrupted DNA.

Aissa winces as she hears this.

MONTGOMERY
So his is "Uncorrupted DNA"... Not very subtle
are we, Moreau?

MOREAU
I'm not being judgmental but I think all those
drugs have left a mark on you.

Montgomery stares ahead in obvious jealous rage.

MOREAU
Easy now, Monty. If I could have engineered her
sexual preference, I'd have put her in your
arms.
A gong sounds off screen. Moreau rises.

MOREAU
It's dinner time.

CUT TO:
INT. THE DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Moreau sits at the head of the long table which has been laid for
dinner, holding a cigar. Prendick sits across from him, while
Montgomery sits somewhere between them.

MOREAU
Our islanders have been given speech, the
beginnings of a society, morality, laws...

PRENDICK
That chanting is a legal system.

MOREAU
Admittedly it's primitive but it's a beginning.
I invite you to improve on it.

PRENDICK
I'll leave the drafting of your Bill of Rights
to someone else.

MONTGOMERY
Eddie only wants to be involved here in a very
selective way.

Prendick senses Montgomery's hostility.

MOREAU
I'm sorry Mr. Prendick declines my offer. But I
can create in the laboratory an innate a respect
for law. Which is the first facet of a whole and
healthy society.

PRENDICK
A whole and healthy society. This place doesn't
really have that look.

MONTGOMERY
Don't worry Eddie. Later we'll really jazz them
up... color co-ordinate them and accesorize
them, you won't be able to tell the little
buggers from anybody else you'd run into at the
mall.
(He looks toward the door)
In fact there's a look you don't mind.
Moreau and Prendick turn to see Aissa emerge awkwardly from the
study door, followed by Azazello and M'Ling, who carries a steaming
platter of curiously colored vegetables.

MOREAU
Ah, darling. Please come and join us.

AISSA
(slightly cool)
Thank you, father.

Aissa seats herself at the table, her eyes downcast.

MOREAU
Vegetables, Mr. Prendick? Our own produce. We
are all vegetarians here.

As Moreau speaks, Azazello lays a silver serving dish on the table

and lifts the lid to reveal an ill-cooked rabbit resting on a bed
of herbs.

Moreau's eyebrows go up. He flashes a look at Montgomery.

MOREAU
Montgomery, couldn't this have waited?

MONTGOMERY
You said I could use my discretion.

MOREAU
Your indulgence was to be personal, not shared.

MONTGOMERY
I felt generous. I think sharing the rabbit is a
very civilized gesture, don't you Eddie?

PRENDICK
No doubt about it. Actually you shared one you
don't know about. It was in the undergrowth at
the back of the enclosure with its head torn
off.

MOREAU
(alarmed and angry)
Torn off? Hear that, Montgomery.

MONTGOMERY
I swear. None of them saw me kill.

Prendick picks up on the rift between them.

 PRENDICK
Just before I found the rabbit, I saw a man
drinking from the stream.

MOREAU
Sucking his drink?

PRENDICK
Slurping it right up. Down on all fours.

MOREAU
After a kill they drink. It sweetens the salt
taste of blood...

MONTGOMERY
Well, there's another carnivore out of the
closet. So much for the Law and control of baser
instincts, Moreau.

MOREAU
(to Montgomery)
With you for a role model, I'm not surprised.
(to Prendick)
This man you saw, would you know him again?

AISSA
Lo-Mai! It was Lo-Mai who drank from the stream.

MOREAU
Thank you, Sweetheart. I thought so... Well,
we'll have to make an example of him.

AISSA
(fiercely, rapidly, under her
breath like a catechism)
Punishment is swift and sure!

Prendick stares at her.

MOREAU
I've had my eye on Lo-Mai for awhile. He's been
sloping off with the Hyena- Swine and making all
kinds of trouble. We'll call a special assembly
tomorrow. Mr. Prendick, identify him. I'll ask
you to formally.

PRENDICK
Forget it. Leave me out of this.
 MONTGOMERY
You're a witness, man. Consider yourself
subpoenaed.

MOREAU
(passionately)
I'm afraid I can't leave you out of it. Just
being here makes you one of us.

Moreau stubs out his cigar and gets to his feet.

MOREAU
If they get a taste for blood, we're finished.

Moreau leaves the room, exchanging a covert conspiratorial look

with M'Ling. Aissa follows.

Montgomery glances at Prendick, who is picking uneasily at the

rabbit.

MONTGOMERY
How's the rabbit?

PRENDICK
A little pink.

But Prendick's eyes are on Azazello who is standing in the study

door, licking his hands, clearly excited by this new and
dangerously addictive taste.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - NIGHT

Prendick walks out onto the steps of the veranda. He stares out at
the distant moonlit sea. Hearing something, he turns and Aissa
approaches. He smiles, but her expression is dark. Seeing her eyes
which have the faintest trace of glow, Prendick reacts.

AISSA
Why do you look at me like that?

PRENDICK
Nothing...I...

AISSA
You mustn't trust them... They are bad men.

PRENDICK
Why do you say that?
 AISSA
They lie. I have heard them.

PRENDICK
What did they lie about?

Aissa steps close to him.

AISSA
They will not let you leave, ever. They will use
you. They use everyone.

PRENDICK
Aissa, do you know how to use the radio?

AISSA
M'ling knows...

CUT TO:
INT. THE RADIO HUT - NIGHT

M'Ling sits hunched over a two-way radio, wearing an ill-fitting

set of headphones and barking into the transmitter.

M'LING
This is Biostation Echo Rio Delta calling on all
channels. Come in? Is anyone receiving me?

Prendick, seated beside him waits, but nothing comes. Aissa watches
from the background.

M'LING
There's nothing but static. Been that way for
five days.

Montgomery's voice suddenly booms from the back of the shack.

MONTGOMERY
Unless we're jamming our own radio to keep you
from leaving.

M'ling looks suddenly terrified. Aissa backs away and Montgomery

steps up to the radio set.

MONTGOMERY
You've got some real paranoia going, Eddie. Ever
think maybe there's nothing out there anymore...
Maybe we've really gone and done it this time.
Maybe we're the only ones left. You and me and
the Doc.
 PRENDICK
And Aissa.

MONTGOMERY
Yeah, let's include her. We'll need a female
entity to start it up again.
(He turns to Aissa)
Post-nuclear family values is what we're after
here.

Aissa backs out the door and M'ling retreats to the shadows then
out to the surrounding jungle. Montgomery faces Prendick.

MONTGOMERY
They're always a bit fearful. In my opinion the
veggies have corrupted the old man's seed.

PRENDICK
They're both his children.

MONTGOMERY
All his children. Since all I do is drag my big
muddy boots in and out of the temple of my body,
I guess he figures my DNA wasn't all there.

PRENDICK
Who was Aissa's mother?

MONTGOMERY
(smiles)
Given the oddities of this place it's an amazing
thing to speculate about, isn't it?

Montgomery proffers a joint. Prendick is so preoccupied that he

takes a deep drag without realizing it.

MONTGOMERY
There you go, man. Isn't that better than taking
all this shit on the natch?

Prendick turns towards the door, stepping out into the night He's
deeply troubled.

EXT. THE VERANDAH - NIGHT

Aissa is waiting for Prendick in the shadows beside the door. As he

approaches, she glances up at him, her eyes study glistening.

AISSA
What did he tell you?
 PRENDICK
Who?

AISSA
Montgomery. What did he say about me?

PRENDICK
Nothing.

AISSA
He told you I'm one of them, didn't he?

Prendick looks hard at her.

AISSA
Some kind of animal.

Aissa makes a movement that is terrifyingly cat-like, her hands

flying towards Prendick's face. He grabs her wrists. She calms
instantly.

PRENDICK
Aissa, we've got to get off of this island.

AISSA
We can steal the launch.

PRENDICK
It's three or four days to New Guinea. We'll
need diesel and food and water.

AISSA
I can get food. There's diesel in the storeroom.
Tomorrow night there will be big screen after
the play. Everyone will be there. That would be
the time.

Aissa touches the remote on a CD and the romantic ballad heard

earlier begins.

AISSA
Stay with me tonight, Prendick...
(She takes his hand.)
My Five Man. We still have time.

She moves closer. Prendick touches her face, and she draws him
gently into her embrace.

AISSA
Dance with me. Nothing else matters now.
And for a while they dance together in the narrow puddle of light
at one end of the long verandah. The power of Aissa's close
physical presence seems to overwhelm Prendick's concern; He looks
into her eyes with an intensity and tenderness that seems beyond
his control. Slowly, he surrenders to it; with one hand he gently
strokes her hair, lifts her head back and kisses her softly, then
deeply, while beyond in the tropical night, the howling of some
great, unseen beast rises now to greet the moon.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - DAY

Moreau's flag, the emblem of the Tree of Life, billows against the
blazing blue sky. The sound of a HORN; followed by a mounting
CLAMOR of bestial voices.

Moreau stands on a wooden rostrum beneath the flagpole the horn

raised to his lips, Prendick, Montgomery, and M'Ling flanking him.
Waggdi, Azazello and the other Dog Men are posted around the base
of the rostrum on crowd control duty.

At the sound of the horn, the Beast Folk bow on their knees and
elbows and begin flinging dust over their heads. Montgomery,
clipboard in hand, checks them off one by one.

MONTGOMERY
Sixty-two, sixty-three... We're coming up short
here.

MOREAU
There are four more.

PRENDICK
I don't see Lo-Mai.

MONTGOMERY
No big surprise there, buddy.

Moreau sounds the HORN again and the Beast Folk writhe and grovel
with renewed fervor. Then, slinking through the main gate, comes
Lo-Mai and the HYENA-SWINE followed by Assassimon, dressed in white
linen trousers. The other animals shoot vicious glances at him.
Moreau passes the horn to M'Ling.

MOREAU
Silence!

The Beast Folk sit back on their haunches now and rest from their
worshipping.
 MOREAU
Where is my Sayer of the Law?

The horned man bows his face to the dust.

MOREAU
Say the words.

SAYER OF THE LAW

Not to go on all fours; that is the Law.

The kneeling assembly recites the words after him swaying from side
to side and striking up the dust with their hands.

ALL (CHORUS)
Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we
not men? Not to slurp up drink, that is the Law.
Are we not men? Not to eat flesh nor fish; that
is the Law. Are we not men?

MOREAU
STOP!

Silence falls at once.

The Beast Folk know what's coming and glance furtively at one
another, a feeling of dread creeping over the assembly.

MOREAU
That Law has been broken.

SAYER OF THE LAW

None escape!

ALL (CHORUS)
None escape!

MOREAU
Who is he?

Moreau CRACKS his whip for effect as Lo-Mai and the Hyena-Swine
glance at each other nervously.

MOREAU
WHO IS HE?

SAYER OF THE LAW

Evil is he who breaks the Law!

Moreau meets Lo-Mai's gaze, looking him steadfastly in the eye.

 MOREAU
Whoever breaks the Law goes back to the House of
Pain.

ALL (CHORUS)
Back to the House of Pain! Back to the House of
Pain, O Master!

AZAZELLO
(pathetically, eagerly)
Back to the House of Pain! Back to the House of
Pain!

Moreau turns his attention to Lo-Mai once more.

MOREAU
Do you hear?

The terrified Leopard Man springs to his feet now and leaps
desperately towards the rostrum, his eyes aflame, a row of ivory
fangs flashing out from beneath his curling lips.

Waggdi raises his cattle prod to block the Leopard Man's path, but
Lo-Mai sweeps him aside, sending him sprawling to the dust, yelping
and clutching at his bleeding snout.

Azazello and the Hyena-Swine are watching with expressions of pure

malice on their faces. They turn to one another conspiratorially.
Lo-Mai mounts the rostrum, coming face to face now with Moreau who
resolutely stands his ground. Moreau looks into the Leopard Man's
eyes, and it is as if he is looking into his very soul.

MOREAU
My son...

Then with a snarl Lo-Mai lunges at Moreau, but Azazello strikes him
down with his cattle prod. He cringes, trying to protect himself as
the Dog Men surround him. Azazello pins his arms behind his back
while Waggdi grabs him vengefully by the hair, pulling his head
back so that Moreau can look him in the face once more.

The Hyena-Swine has been joined by other Chimaera, who are watching
with threatening expressions. Assassimon looks on with something
close to pity.

Lo-Mai's eyes are wide and glazed with fear.

LO-MAI
(imploringly)
Father...
Moreau pats Lo-Mai's head soothingly.

MOREAU
It's all right, my son. I forgive you for
everything.

With one fluid motion, Moreau draws his revolver and puts it to Lo-
Mai's head, squeezing the trigger. There is a deafening concussion
and the Leopard Man falls. Assassimon, the Hyena-Swine and other
Chimeras recoil as if they've been shot too.

For a moment, all is quiet.

MONTGOMERY
(almost to himself, with bitterness)
He's with the program now...he's really a
believer now, man...

Moreau gives him a hard look, then looks to the Sayer of the Law.

SAYER OF THE LAW

The gun has spoken! It is good!

AZAZELLO
Hallelujah!

Assassimon, the Hyena-Swine and the Chimaera standing with them are
looking on with undisguised hatred now.

Prendick looks in mounting horror from Azazello, who is already

bending over Lo-Mai's twitching body as if excited by the smell of
his blood, to Moreau who stands over them, the smoking gun in his
hand, his white suit specked with blood, his eyes filled with cold
fire, the VOICES of the chanting congregation rising around him.

ALL (CHORUS)
His is the hand that wounds! His is the hand
that heals! flash! His is the lightning His is
the House of Pain!

Prendick stares in horror.

Assassimon, the Hyena-Swine and the others look meaningfully at

each other.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - MID-AFTERNOON

Prendick stands waist-high in a field of marijuana plants watching

as the ball game gets under way on the front lawn, Assassimon
coming up to bat. Beside him, Azazello and Montgomery, his long
hair tied back by a greasy bandana, are busy watering the plants.

There is a CRACK of wood against horsehide, followed by a

spattering of APPLAUSE and Montgomery glances up in time to see the
Monkey Man reaching first base.

Montgomery plucks a joint from his bandana and fires it up.

MONTGOMERY
Assassimon's in his element. Fantastic
knuckleball. But then, look at his knuckles. Oh
shit. Here comes trouble.

Prendick follows Montgomery's gaze, to see Kiril and the Hyena-

Swine wading towards them through the marijuana field.

KIRIL
Hail, to the Other with the whip.

MONTGOMERY
Hail to you, too. There's a Third with a whip
now, so you'd better watch yourself.

HYENA-SWINE
Was he not made? He said... he said he was made.

KIRIL
The Third with the whip, he that walks weeping
into the sea, has a long thin face.

MONTGOMERY
He has a long thin whip, and it hurts.

KIRIL
Yesterday he bled and wept.

HYENA-SWINE
You never bleed or weep. The Master does not
bleed or weep.

MONTGOMERY
You'll fucking bleed and weep if you don't shut
up!

He turns away, passing the joint to Azazello. The Dog Man smokes it
greedily.
 PRENDICK
You think that's a good idea?

MONTGOMERY
I don't know. Maybe I'm too liberal...

PRENDICK
I don't think you know what you're doing. That
was a crazy fucking thing, showing Azazello how
to skin and gut a rabbit.

MONTGOMERY
Well, shit... It's not like he killed the damned
thing. He gets to have a few perks, too. He
works hard. Don't you Azazello, old sock, old
buddy... you’re a goddamned good old son-of-a-
bitch.

He scratches Azazello behind the ear, calling him jocular names as

the Dog Man fawns on him in extraordinary delight.

AZAZELLO
Yes, yes, most certainly so, Master.

Azazello passes the joint to the Hyena-Swine.

KIRIL
The Law says you must not destroy life.

MONTGOMERY
Yeah, that's right. You know it is.

KIRIL
None must not take another life but you... By
the water...You.

MONTGOMERY
I what? You fuzzy bastard!

Kiril makes the motion of breaking the rabbit's neck and gives an
incredibly accurate imitation of its scream.

There is an awkward silence as Montgomery meets Kiril's gaze, the

Hyena-Swine watching them intently. Behind them the BISON MAN steps
onto the pitcher's mound. Going to the plate, Assassimon holds the
bat unsteadily in his hands.

MONTGOMERY
Are you judging me? Are you fucking daring to
compare yourself to me?
 KIRIL
No, no! Everyone does it sometime, I turn over a
rock once in a while and lap up an insect or
two.

MONTGOMERY
Insects don't really count. Everybody kills them.

PRENDICK
Yeah. But we don't all necessarily eat them.

The Bison Man pitches the ball at Assassimon, striking him in the
head with a resounding CRACK.

BISON MAN
Howzat!

There is a raucous clamoring of JEERS AND APPLAUSE as Waggdi and

the Sloth Man pick up Assassimon's twitching body and carry him off
the field.

BISON MAN
How was that?

Prendick turns his eyes towards the middle distance where

Assassimon lies in the arms of the FOX LADY, while the Sloth Man
dabs ineffectually at his bleeding head. Out on the field, with the
game interrupted, the Bison Man starts to run around and around the
bases, a relentless force of nature scuffing up dust in the lazy
afternoon air.

He looks to the Hyena-Swine, who is watching him with a barely

concealed menace.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - DUSK

Prendick stares out across the compound towards the jetty and the
launch that will take him to freedom; beyond, the fiery rim of the
setting sun. Then he sees the figure of Moreau in his white suite
standing at the end of the jetty, his eyes turned towards the same
horizon. A small posse of Beast Folk crouch at a respectful
distance behind him, watching in bewilderment as if incapable of
understanding what holds their master's attention.

Prendick is filled with sympathy, almost awe, as he watches

Moreau's lonely, terrifying courage.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE JETTY - DUSK

Waggdi comes loping up to Moreau and bows before him.

WAGGDI
You must come at once, Master. The contractions
have started.

MOREAU
Thank you, Waggdi. See that the entertainments
begin on time.

Waggdi turns and lopes away, happy on his errand. Moreau turns away
from the setting sun and, for a moment, his mask slips, the
weariness in his eyes showing through. Then his face hardens and he
starts back towards the house.

CUT TO:
INT. THE GUEST ROOM - DUSK

Aissa sits in front of the dressing table mirror. She closely

examines her face. She appears distressed as her finger touches a
small cluster of catlike whiskers that has begun to grow from her
cheek.

She frowns and picks up a heavy tweezer. In what is obviously

painful she plucks them out, then daubs away a spot of blood with a
tissue.

There comes a knock at the door and she turns with a start.

The door opens a crack to admit Waggdi's snout.

WAGGDI
You're on in five.

AISSA
Thank you, Waggdi.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - NIGHT

A performance of "Alice" is under way before a small crowd. The

Sayer of the Law in his Moreau mask is shaking his rattle at
Azazello who crouches on his haunches before the small portable
screen from the Nissan hut.

Aissa faces Azazello whose face is painted in a Cheshire Cat's huge

grin. Prendick looks on from the back of the crowd.

AISSA
What sort of people live here?
 AZAZELLO
To the right lives a Hatter, to the left a March
hare. You can visit either if you like. They're
both quite mad.

AISSA
But I don't want to go among mad people.

AZAZELLO
Can't be helped. We're all mad here. I'm mad.
You're mad.

There are some nervous giggles from the audience.

AISSA
How do you know that I'm mad?

AZAZELLO
You must be or you wouldn't have come.

Aissa looks to Prendick, catching his eye for a moment. He smiles

at her. Azazello notices the interchange, and smiles obscenely
within the exaggerated Cheshire smile. His next line carries a
trace of menace.

AZAZELLO
This place demands madness.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LABORATORY - NIGHT

The convulsing body of the black leopard is strapped to the

operating table, ringed by Moreau, Montgomery, Waggdi, and another
of the Dog Men, all of them clad now in surgical masks and gowns.
Montgomery leans over the animal, then glances up at Moreau, sweat
beading his forehead.

MONTGOMERY
We've got to cut her, Doc. We've got no choice.

Moreau nods and looks to Waggdi.

MOREAU
Caesarean, Waggdi. Scalpel.

Waggdi hands him the blade and, bending over the stricken animal,
the doctor begins the operation.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE VERANDAH – NIGHT
Prendick and Aissa standing at one end of the lon talking in hushed
voices as Prendick checks their bundles.

AISSA
How was I?

PRENDICK
Terrific. You were the best "Alice" I've ever
seen.

AISSA
And how many Alices have you seen?

He holds her by the shoulders.

PRENDICK
It's time, let's go.

Aissa shoulders her bundle and follows him on tiptoe through the
study door.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - NIGHT

A screen is set up for a CD ROM projection system.

Azazello punches a keyboard and shouts.

AZAZELLO
Yaba daba doo!

The "animated" Fred Flintsone appears on the screen and echoes the
shout which is then excitedly repeated by the gathering. As Fred
reacts to something off screen, Azazello pushes another key and --

A colorized clip from the film "Blonde Venus.' A dancing gorilla on

the stage of a thirties nightclub.

The audience GASPS in awe as the gorilla delicately removes its

head, revealing itself to be Marlene Dietrich. Then, before their
widening eyes, she strips off the rest of her gorilla suit and
launches into a song called "Hot Voodoo." The beast people watch,
transfixed.

Giggling with barely contained excitement, Azazello punches wildly

at a keyboard and—

Godzilla appears. To gasps and applause he begins destroying Tokyo.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LABORATORY - NIGHT
The black leopard is close to death now, a gaping wound in its
abdomen pinned open by surgical clamps as Moreau reaches inside it
to retrieve its premature offspring.

WAGGDI
The incubator is ready, Master.

MOREAU
Alright, I'm going in.

He turns his attention to the large throbbing life form that is

still coiled within its mother's dying shell. Moreau reaches down,
cutting into the membrane. He has performed a hundred similar
operations but even he is unprepared for what comes next.

There is a terrible, wet tearing SOUND and something upwards from

the incision, lunging towards Moreau. A explodes malformed,
squealing thing, bifurcated, far bigger than it should be, its
skinless snout opening wide to reveal a double row of jagged teeth.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - NIGHT

Prendick and Aissa struggle with jerry cans of diesel to the

flatbed truck. When they have humped the last of the cans, Prendick
goes to the cab.

Aissa stands watch beside the open door as Prendick puts his
beneath the dashboard of the flatbed. There are sparks as he begins
hot wiring the truck.

There is a low GROWL and the flatbed RUMBLES into life causing
Prendick to sit up too suddenly, banging his head on the dashboard.

PRENDICK
Let's go!

Suddenly, both of them freeze, hearing the sounds of SCREAMS and

BREAKING GLASS coming from the laboratory. Prendick turns towards
the Nissan hut in time to see one of the Dog Men appear in its
lighted doorway. The figure is drenched in blood, its eyes wide and
terrified. It makes as if to step towards Prendick but then with a
ROAR something red and half glimpsed brings him down. The Dog Man
SCREAMS, hanging onto the doorframe for a moment. Then, with an
awful RENDING SOUND he loses his grasp and is dragged SCREAMING
back into the laboratory. An instant later his screams are cut
short and low, bloodcurdling SNARL ripples across the courtyard.

PRENDICK
Get back!
Aissa retreats into the safety of the big house and Prendick is
just starting back towards the flatbed when the hunched shape of
something not unlike a huge, flayed cat appears in the laboratory
doorway, walking on its hind legs and slowly pulling itself to its
full height, its talons glistening with blood. It stretches itself
and Prendick's mind reels as he sees that the creature seems to be
actually growing in bulk before his very eyes, its muscles rippling
in the half light.

He reaches for the door of the flatbed but the Chimaera sees him
now and launches itself at him with the speed of an express train,
its nostrils flaring.

He catches a fleeting glimpse of an awful face, not human, not

animal. Prendick flings up one arm to defend himself but the
Chimaera flings him headlong, wafer thin talons laying open his
chest and forearm.

He rolls over and over, his hands clasped over his head. A volley
of shots is heard. Then the beast is gone, bounding towards the
main gate. Prendick tries to sit up and then collapses again.
Moreau comes running up, a rifle in his hands, his white face dewed
with blood.

There is a loud CRASH of rending metal and the night is lit up for
a moment by an explosion of sparks from the electrified fence.

Moreau stops in his tracks and Montgomery joins him, breathless and
clutching an automatic in one hand.

MOREAU
It's gone through the perimeter... Waggdi! Sound
the alarm!

Moreau and Waggdi both make a dash for the big house while
Montgomery kneels beside Prendick, examining the lacerations in his
chest and arm.

MONTGOMERY
Jesus Christ, Eddie, that thing is loose... It's
unbelievably strong...

PRENDICK
(groaning)
Yeah, tell me about it...

MONTGOMERY
Let me see that... Oh Jesus... you gotta get
some disinfectant on these... Aissa!
Aissa, who is cowering in the doorway of the big house, snaps to
attention.

MONTGOMERY
Get the first aid kit! Fast!

Aissa ducks back into the house and Prendick grimaces, closing his
eyes.

PRENDICK
Ah fuck... I feel like I'm on fire...

MONTGOMERY
Just hold on, buddy.

Prendick grinds his teeth together as Aissa runs to him, carrying

the First-Aid kit. Montgomery swabs his wounds with antiseptic.

AISSA
Hold still.

Aissa presses her hands against Prendick's forehead.

There is a CLATTER OF HOOVES and Moreau goes riding past on his

white horse, hunting rifle slung over one shoulder, a pack of
BARKING Dog Men brandishing cattle prods following at his heels. He
sees Montgomery attending to Prendick.

MOREAU
Never mind him! Leave him!

Montgomery starts up, abandoning Prendick for a moment.

MONTGOMERY
Wait! I'll come! It's too dangerous!

Moreau glances back at him and there is something in his face,

white as a death's head in the moonlight, that causes Montgomery to
fall silent.

Moreau turns away, the Dog Men spurring his horse towards the main
gate, running at his heels, in dismay. Montgomery staring after him

CUT TO:
INT. THE GUEST ROOM - NIGHT

Montgomery and Aissa lower Prendick onto the bed.

He is naked now, sweat standing out on his forehead, his chest and
arm swathed in bandages. He tries to open his eyes, wincing as if
blinded by the yellow flare of the paraffin lamp.
 PRENDICK
God... why is that light so bright?

Seeing the hypodermic Prendick starts to react as Montgomery slides

a needle into his forearm.

MONTGOMERY
Easy Eddie, you're in shock... There...

Prendick relaxes as Montgomery gets up and starts hastily towards

the door.

Aissa touches his face, soothing him as the drugs draw a chemical
curtain across his pain. He sighs, looking up at her, haloed by the
hallucinatory glare of the lantern. She smiles, taking his hand and
placing it against her bosom.

AISSA
Sleep, Prendick. My poor Five-Man. I will make
you well. Sleep...

Aissa lies beside him, forming herself cat-like against him.

He slowly draws an arm over her.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE ISLAND - DAWN

A seething, volcanic sun rises above the rim of the earth SOUND OF
A HORN and the BAYING OF HOUNDS rising to greet it the from below
the canopy of the rainforest.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE RAINFOREST - MORNING

A flock of parrots scatter in dismay as a line of Beast People come

CRASHING through a cane break, beating the foliage to drive out
their quarry.

Moreau follows at a distance on horseback, Waggdi walking fast

beside him.

Up ahead the undergrowth quivers and Waggdi freezes, sniffing the

air.

WAGGDI
He’s close, Master. I smell him. Just a breath
away.

Moreau reigns his steed to a halt, cocking the hunting rifle.

Waggdi steps forward towards the wall of greenery, his cattle prod
raised defensively. He reaches out to touch the crushed leaves and
when he draws back his fingers they are sticky with drying blood.

He turns to Moreau, nodding his head as if to signal him, but at

that instant the wall of the rainforest erupts behind him.

With an ear-splitting SHRIEK the Chimaera plunges from its hiding

place, wrenching Waggdi from his feet.

The horse rears in panic, and Moreau is flung backwards from his
saddle. He strikes a tree trunk, landing awkwardly, the breath
driven from him, the hunting rifle still clenched in his hands.

His horse bolts past him.

Waggdi screams, his cattle prod, trying to fend off the Chimaera's
jaws with but the creature drags him down, tightening its coils
remorselessly around him.

Moreau regains his feet, levelling the rifle as the Chimaera begins
to ingest the struggling Dog Man. He catches a last glimpse of
Waggdi's bulging eyes, curiously calm now as if hypnotized by the
immensity of what is happening to him. His body spasms and, with a
HISS, the Chimaera casts him aside, turning its attention now
towards Moreau.

Moreau meets its gaze and the creature hesitates, fear sparking in
its eyes. Then it raises its bifurcated snout and HOWLS.

Moreau shivers, his expression faltering as the full pain and

horror of what he has created comes home to him.

MOREAU
(under his breath)
God... Forgive me...

There is a terrible pity in his eyes now.

The rifle wavers in his hands.

Then with a feral snarl the Chimaera launches itself at him. He

pulls the trigger and the rifle jumps in his hands, punching a hole
the size of a fist in the beast's torso. The creature is upon him
before he can get off another round, driving the rifle from his
hands, its jaws closing on his body from side to side as it savages
him.
Moreau goes limp and the creature drops him, gathering itself to
full height, bellowing in mindless rage. Moreau's eyes flicker
open, hazy with shock. His good hand goes to his holster, drawing
his pistol, his eyes calm as he looks the Chimaera in the face,
seeing the beast's glistening jaws widen before him.

MOREAU
Thy will be done.

The beast pounces and he raises his gun. Plunging it into the
gaping maw, he fires.

The Chimaera shrieks, rearing backwards, its maimed head lashing

from side to side. Then, its rage spent, it relinquishes its brief
tenure on life, crumpling to the forest floor with a final hiss,
pinning Moreau beneath the quivering carcass.

The doctor groans, dragging himself from beneath the fallen

creature and trying to stand but his legs give out and he falls to
his knees. Looking up he sees a row of impossibly gaudy parrots
regarding him from a branch above. He sighs as if overwhelmed by
the terrible fertility of the island.

Gazing around he sees that a silent ring of Beast Folk have emerged
from the shadows and stand watching him. In their dull animal gaze
is silent brooding contempt. Cudgels and machetes are clutched in
their misshapen hands.

Moreau recognizes Azazello, the Boar Man and the Hyena-Swine

amongst the ranks and reaches out to them with a blood streaked
hand, motioning them to come nearer.

MOREAU
Help me...

HYENA-SWINE
The master bleeds.

AZAZELLO
If he bleeds he can die.

HYENA-SWINE
He can die?

MOREAU
Help me... for the love of God.

HYENA-SWINE
Do you love me father? Do you love your son?
The Hyena-Swine pads across the clearing towards Moreau, its
hackles rising, its tiny, pig like eyes sparkling with bloodlust. A
machete glints in its hand.

MOREAU
I love you.

HYENA-SWINE
Then let your son embrace you.

Moreau bows his head.

MOREAU
Children of the law...forgive me...

HYENA-SWINE
Law no more!

The machete swings in a gleaming arc and the good doctor's body
falls to the waiting earth. The Hyena-Swine raises the machete,
seeing the master's blood glistening in the tropical sunshine.

HYENA-SWINE
Now I am God.

He licks Moreau's blood from the blade and begins giggling

hysterically while his comrades abandoning their fear close in and
beat the doctor's fallen body. Taking up the Hyena-Swine's chant
they release years of rage in animal savagery.

ALL
Law no more! Law no more!

The parrots shift nervously on their perches taking flight one by

one as the beast folk dance in bizarre celebration around Moreau's
body. The birds rise up through the leafy canopy of the trees to
the sky and the heavens beyond.

Afterwards, something like snowflakes falls and melts in the

Pacific sun and the distant thunder of an approaching storm rumbles
over the scene.

CUT TO:
INT. THE GUEST ROOM – DAY

THUNDER crashes outside and warm rain squalls against the glass.

Aissa turns over, kissing Prendick on the forehead.

He opens his eyes and she smiles at him.

He looks at her, and his eyes widen.

Some strange reversion has begun; The imperfect upper-lip has

become exaggerated, and a distinct fur-like down appeared has on
her face, but she is nonetheless still beautiful.

Prendick stares. She draws him close and he kisses her again. His
face is guided by her hands down to her breasts. His lips find her
nipples and she twists with arousal, then she guides his face
further down her body to another set of breasts, vestigial buds
that have erupted on the smooth skin of her torso.

Prendick reacts, balancing on a knife edge of revulsion and desire,

then he gives in to the latter, kissing wildly at her feral
mammaries, aroused beyond any point of return.

Again, louder, there comes the sound of THUNDER.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE RAINFOREST - DAY

The THUNDER becomes the sound of hooves and we see the riderless
white stallion racing through the trees, its flanks wet with foam.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND - DAY

A violent storm lashes the island. A WAILING procession of Beast

Folk, led by the Sayer of the Law, trudge slowly through the
driving rain, their heads bowed as they bear Moreau back to the big
house, his body held aloft, his arms outstretched as if crucified,
his head tilted back, rain falling in his sightless eyes and
washing the blood from his face in pink rivulets.

Montgomery stands waiting for them on the front lawn, his features
twisted in despair.

Behind him Prendick comes slowly down the driveway, supported by

Aissa. He is barefoot, dressed only in a blanket and a damp pair of
flannel trousers.

MONTGOMERY
It's all over. Oh god...

The procession comes to a halt and the Sayer of the Law steps
forward to address Montgomery.

SAYER OF THE LAW

He is dead.
 AZAZELLO
Is there a Law now? Is it still to be this and
that?

SAYER OF THE LAW

Is there a Law, thou Other with the whip? Is
there a Law now that He is dead?

Montgomery looks to Prendick, his jaw hanging slackly.

Prendick steps forward, Aissa clinging to his arm, and tries to

take command of the situation.

PRENDICK
Of course there's a Law.

HYENA-SWINE
Law no more!

PRENDICK
There's a law! Listen to me! He isn't dead!

The Beast People turn their sharp eyes upon him.

PRENDICK
He's here! Now! He isn't dead. He's left his
body, but he's here. You can't see him, but
Right there!

Prendick points towards the leaden sky. Montgomery looks at him

with amazed admiration.

MONTGOMERY
Good, buddy. That's good. Jesus, that's qreat!

PRENDICK
You can't see him, but he can see you! He's
watching you right now!

KIRIL
Fear the Law!

There is a flicker of lightning and the Beast People look nervously

to the sky.

Assassimon stares in terrible suspicion and uncertainty.

KIRIL
He is great, He is good!
 PRENDICK
Come with me! We must bring his old body up to
the big house. Then he'll tell us what to do.

He motions for them to follow, setting off at the head of the

procession. Reluctantly, Assassimon joins them.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COURTYARD - DUSK

The rain has stopped now but the sky is still dark and threatening.
The remaining Dog Men, under the command of M'Ling are busy making
a pyre of brushwood and broken furniture. Moreau's body, dressed in
a pristine white suit and garlanded with flowers, is laid out on a
pallet at the top of the pyre.

Aissa kneels beside him now and places his Panama hat on his chest.
Prendick watches her closely, almost desperately, for a sign of
human grief.

Tears start down Aissa's cheeks. Prendick looks on, moved.

CUT TO:
INT. MONTGOMERY'S QUARTERS - DUSK

Montgomery sits hunched over the paraffin lantern, swigging from a

bottle of vodka and downing pills by the handful, his gun on the
tabletop beside him.

Prendick sits opposite him, his eyes wandering over the disarray
that surrounds them, the tattered posters and pathetic remnants of
the counter-culture and Montgomery's past life. From outside rises
the SOUND OF DRUMS and bestial VOICES howling and keening in
lamentation.

PRENDICK
We're going to have to go out there -- and light
that thing soon. I mean, if he starts getting
ripe and they smell it, it's all over.

MONTGOMERY
They're all waiting... the whole damn island...
Without the endorphins he put in their food
they'll revert quickly. They'll need a firm hand
with a whip in it. But I've really gotta hand it
to you, Eddie, you're a survivor. This
resurrection bit is fucking brilliant... perfect
thing for a primitive intelligence. They'll eat
it right up.
 PRENDICK
Or they'll eat us right up.

MONTGOMERY
Yeah, whatever... Jesus, what a fucking life
this is... Spend twenty years living in squalid
little rooms, living on cheap thrills, man, I
have to say, life is a big mistake. Big mistake.
And to end up in this, this shit! This fucking
island, ten years! What for?? Eddie, we're
nothing. We're just nothing. We're bubbles blown
by a baby.

PRENDICK
We're getting off of this island.

MONTGOMERY
Oh yeah? And going where? Look at me, man...
Where the fuck am I going to go?

PRENDICK
Anywhere you like.

MONTGOMERY
(He laughs.)
That's a tough one, Eddie. I get off this island
about once every two years, and I can't make it
out there. People disgust me, man. I can't stand
to be anywhere near them. Even the women. I rent
them, then I can't bear to touch them. And I'll
tell you something man... You and your
girlfriend are gonna find it mighty hard
"fitting in". I mean, just for openers, who's
gonna rent to you? It isn't like you come from
different religious backgrounds, if you know
what I mean... Here, have a toke for fuck sake.

PRENDICK
Can we help her? Is there anything we can do
to...

MONTGOMERY
To what, man? Keep her sweet? I know Moreau gave
her special treatments. It's in his notes...

PRENDICK
What about the rest?
 MONTGOMERY
They'll change, their D.N.A. will just start to
unravel... Come on, man, have a toke... help
yourself to my stash. I've got everything you
could possibly want right here. Speed,
methadone, morphine, mescaline, reds, blues,
'ludes acid, lysergic and my own special brew...
The Montgomery Cocktail! you want to go? Come
on, which way Try the Cocktail, you'll go all
over the fucking place...

PRENDICK
I just want to go home.

MONTGOMERY
Well, fuck you then! You won't party with me,
I'll party with them. I'll show you what a real
party animal is! I'm handing in my resignation
from the whole fucking human race, effective
immediately.

Montgomery gets to his feet, clutching at the bottle, filling his

pockets with pills.

PRENDICK
You're not going to hand those out!

MONTGOMERY
What? Are you gonna stop me? Jesus Christ, man,
you're not a lawyer, you're a fucking
missionary... save her, him, why don't you just
open up a local branch of the S.P.C.A.?

PRENDICK
You really are crazy.

MONTGOMERY
Did I ever say I wasn't?

Prendick rises, facing him, and Montgomery snatches up the

automatic, waving it at his head.

MONTGOMERY
Hey, man, you're standing between me and the
party lights. Get out of my way.

PRENDICK
Sure. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Montgomery flings the door open, his eyes blots of deep

black in the yellow light, the gun trembling in his hand.
 MONTGOMERY
You know, man, you've got no view. With you it's
all survival. We're right on the edge here, and
I ain't gonna miss it may be dead tomorrow, but
I'm gonna live it up tonight.

He turns and goes out into the moonlight.

M'Ling, who is waiting outside, rises to meet him.

MONTGOMERY
M'Ling! M'Ling, my man! Bring the flatbed around
at once. It's party time!

Prendick follows him to the doorway, looking out into the night.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE BEACH – NIGHT

The crowd parts as Montgomery walks amongst them, dispensing

pills.

MONTGOMERY
Free drugs! Come on! Who wants to get high?
Let's see some hands.

A forest of misshapen appendages rises around him and he fills each

hand indiscriminately with whatever he pulls from his pockets.

MONTGOMERY
There you go... a little Uptown for you, some
Downtown for you... Cat food for the dogs and
dog food for the cats... What's science without
a few drugs, huh, Eddie?

He addresses the assembly of Chimaera.

MONTGOMERY
It's the dawning of a whole new deal, boys and
girls. I'm the Man now and we're gonna have fun
around here for a change. We'll be laughing
tonight...

The Beast People press tight around him, pawing at him helping
themselves now to the contents of his pockets.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COURTYARD – NIGHT
Prendick, Aissa, and the remaining Beast People, still loyal to
Moreau, stand ringed around the pyre. For a moment they're
motionless, their heads bowed in a prayer, then Prendick tosses a
lighted torch into the brushwood at the base of the mound and the
flames begin to climb hungrily around Moreau's body. The
congregation remains silent, watching until More au's body
is lost in flame and smoke.

Prendick turns to Aissa now, seeing her eyes glinting like an

animal's in the firelight.

AISSA
Will we go now?

PRENDICK
Yes.

They look at each other, a terrible awareness in Aissa's face.

AISSA
I know, Prendick. I know what is happening to
me... I can feel it.

PRENDICK
It doesn't matter.

AISSA
Yes, it matters.

PRENDICK
There's a way to fix it, in your father's notes.
I'll find it. We'll bring you back. Now, go to
the house. Get whatever you need to take.

AISSA
(apprehensive)
Where are you going?

PRENDICK
There's something I have to do.

He turns to address the assembly.

PRENDICK
Children of the Law! Listen to me! The Master
has left a task for you!

He turns towards the laboratory, motioning for the Beast People to

follow him.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LABORATORY - NIGHT

Prendick strides down the aisleway between the cages, Kiril and the
Sayer of the Law leading the remnants of the Beast People behind
him.

PRENDICK
Empty the cages! Free all of them!

The Beast Folk go to work at once, scooping rabbits from their

hutches, dogs and cats and monkeys from their cages. Prendick
stalks slowly through the devastated laboratory, flipping the
switch on a Nagra as he passes, hearing Moreau's VOICE, nothing
more now than a magnetic ghost.

MOREAU'S VOICE
Systolic pressure 3.2. Diastolic pressure up to 4.
Pulmonary pressure stands at 5.8.

Prendick stops at the shelf, lifting Moreau's black book.

It falls open in his hands and he casts an eye over the chemical
equations contained there, an escaped monkey scampering up to him
to perch on his shoulder, mimicking his puzzlement at Moreau's
notes.

Behind him, the Sayer of the Law opens the incubators one by one,
handing out the mewling mutant infants to a line of island women
who bear them out into the safety of the orange night.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE BEACH - NIGHT

The awesome SOUND of the Jimi Hendrix Experience throbbing from a

tinny set of speakers, supplemented by a line of DRUMMING Beast
Folk, tangling with the SOUNDTRACK of "King Kong" that is climbing
on a screen set before the CD-ROM projector that has been set up
for a rapt, tripped-out animal audience. A great bonfire is raining
sparks into the sky farther up the beach, ringed by furiously
dancing creatures. Beside the bonfire, an axe-wielding Dog Man is
chopping up the remains of the beached motor launch and feeding
them into the flames.

Montgomery stands near the fire, burning of the boat, supervising

the ritual a garland of flowers around his neck and a joint
dangling from his lower lip.

The Sloth Creature drags at the hem of his coat and he

smiles sadly, turning out his pockets.
 MONTGOMERY
All gone. See. All tapped out. We're in the same
boat now,
(points to the burning launch)
and there it is right there! Up the creek
without a paddle. Any of you ever hear that
expression?

He starts to get undressed, throwing his clothes to the Beast

People who grab at them eagerly, fighting for possession of the
more treasured articles.

Montgomery lifts his head up and shouts.

MONTGOMERY
How do you like this, Moreau? Isn't this some
wild shit!

The Beast People press tighter around him, reaching out to touch
his pale skin. He giggles, looking up at the stars.

MONTGOMERY
All flesh is grass, boys and girls. You blink
and it's all gone...

He grabs an already disheveled Beast Woman and breaks into a

demented, frenzied and very dirty boogie.

The flatbed goes rumbling past, headlights blazing, circling

dangerously close to the fire, joyriding through the night, going
nowhere, M'Ling at the wheel.

CUT TO:
INT. THE STUDY – NIGHT

Azazello unbolts the gun locker and opens it up to display its

contents to his fellow conspirators: the Hyena-Swine, a bristly
black Boar Man and a pair of the surviving Dog Men who still wear
waiter's coats. Behind them, the rest of the room is already in
chaos as several of the Beast People root through Moreau's papers,
flinging the books from the shelves, the unleashed parrot flapping
wildly around their heads. The Hyena-Swine hefts a Kalashnikov, his
eyes glowing in anticipation.

HYENA-SWINE
Now we have the fire that kills. Now we are
Gods!

Azazello weighs a hand grenade in his palm, his face cracking in a

terrible, gap-toothed grin.
 CUT TO:
INT. THE HALL – NIGHT

Aissa crosses the hallway on her way to her room.

There is a sudden rattle of automatic GUNFIRE followed by a sudden

peal of raucous LAUGHTER from the direction of the study and she
stiffens, drawing back against the wall with a HISS.

Azazello appears now in the study door, clutching a bottle of

brandy, the other two Dog Men following him at a pace.

AZAZELLO
Trip-trap, trip-trap... and where are you going
in the woods today, little girl?

Aissa edges towards the door but the Dog Men cut her off.

AZAZELLO
Looking for your five-finger man? He can't help
you. There are no masters anymore.

He advances and she raises a hand as if to strike him. Her claws

extend from her fingertips and her eyes glint in the firelight. The
hair on her back raises as she emits a long catlike hiss.

AZAZELLO
Nicely now little kitten-Aissa or I'll hurt you.
Remember how the master hurt me? Oh, how he
whipped me.

He gives an oily CHUCKLE, his voice becoming a growl.

AZAZELLO
But he spared your soft skin.

One of the Dog Men reaches out to grab her hair and she bares her
teeth in a feral snarl. Lashing out at Azazello, her claws rake his
face nearly blinding him.

Azazello stumbles back with a canine yelp, pawing at his snout. The
other two Dog Men lunge at her, the blood lust rising in their
eyes.

Aissa turns. Finding no way out of the room she leaps toward the
curtains. Locking her claws in the heavy material, she scrambles up
toward the valence while the Dog Men try to grab her and pull her
back.
She tries to reach the large chandelier, but the curtains
and valence give way and she falls back toward the floor;
in mid- fall she twists catlike to land on all fours in a
crouch.

A low threatening growl boils from her throat as she faces Azazello
and the Dog Men, holding them at bay like a cornered cat as they
maneuver cautiously to surround her.

Suddenly, with a shriek she springs at Azazello. Her claws tear

with lightening speed at his face while he staggers back. His hand
goes into his coat and he pulls an automatic.

As Aissa claws for his throat, he shoots her at zero range. There
is a deafening concussion. Her eyes widen, revealing the green fire
of her rage as she convulses with the impact.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COURTYARD – NIGHT

The remainder of the Beast People, standing before the blazing

pyre, turn as a burst of gunfire shatters the night.

The Hyena-Swine stands in the doorway of the big house, brandishing

his Kalashnikov. As the congregation watches he fires a second
burst at the stars.

HYENA-SWINE
Bow to me! I send the fire that kills.

He squeezes off another burst for effect and several of the Beast
People drop to their knees. Kiril moves forward pulling the
groveling figures back to their feet by the scruffs of their necks.

HYENA-SWINE
Bow to me!

KIRIL
Who are you that I should bow to you? We are
brothers.

He turns to face the congregation.

KIRIL
Children of the Law, we must stand firm. We must
uphold the Law and work together now. We must
rule with love, not hate. We are brothers, all
of us.

The Hyena-Swine switches the Kalashnikov onto single fire and

shoots Kiril in the back. He pitches forward.
The congregation GASPS.

The Hyena-Swine CHUCKLES, slides in a new banana clip.

Some of the Beast People start to shout now, falling to

their knees and wringing their hands.

SAYER OF THE LAW

No! This is wrong! You are breaking the Law!

HYENA-SWINE
If It Feels Good, Do It, is the Law! Montgomery
told me so.

SAYER OF THE LAW

We must have Laws! We are not animals!

HYENA-SWINE
Law no more!

SAYER OF THE LAW

(with incredible feeling)
Are we not men?

The Hyena-Swine laughs, switches his Kalashnikov onto full auto and
empties its magazine into the crowd, the Boar Man at his side
excitedly joining in the massacre with his own AK-47. All those who
are still standing are caught in a withering rain of bullets, their
bodies jerking in the glow of the funeral pyre.

The Sayer of the Law is among the first to fall, his mask shattered
by a bullet between the eyes.

A spray of bullets punch into fuel cans stockpiled in the yard, a

rivulet of gasoline creeps away, leading back towards the big
house.

The Hyena-Swine is laughing and laughing, the gun growing hot in

his hands, fire leaping in his eyes.

CUT TO:
INT. THE LAB - NIGHT

Prendick takes a crowbar to a metal file and rips it open. He tears

through the papers and finds several note books. He begins
frantically flipping through them.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE BEACH - NIGHT

Things have started to slip at the beach party.

Several of the Beast Folk lie shaking on the sand, gripped by
epileptic seizures, while one of the Cat People has torn out its
own eyes and sits screaming beside the projector. The flatbed is
stuck in the sand, smoke pouring out of it, M'Ling limping back
towards the fire in open embarrassment.

Montgomery stands naked in the midst of the admiring Chimaeras,

staring back towards the big house, his attention drawn by the
sound of GUNFIRE.

MONTGOMERY
What the fuck now...?

M'LING
Master!

M'Ling steps towards Montgomery but the Bison Man cuts him off,
striking the Dog Man over the head with an empty bottle.

MONTGOMERY
No! Don't hurt him!

He makes as if to go to M'Ling's assistance, but the Bison Man

blocks his way.

BISON MAN
No more Masters!

Montgomery turns to see the other Beast Folk crowding in on him, an

awful hunger flaring in their eyes. A low growl ripples across the
beach, rising into a snarl of rage.

MONTGOMERY
Hey I come on, man, lighten up... This is
supposed to be a party!

The little pink Sloth thing steps suddenly forward and shoots
Montgomery in the chest with his own automatic.

He staggers backwards, staring in disbelief at the puckered hole in

his breastbone.

MONTGOMERY
Shit! You... You were always such a sweet little
fucker, too... Jesus... Thanks a lot...

He falls against the CD-ROM projector and the image goes into gross
distortion.

He slips to his knees and, with a SHRIEK, the Beast People fall
upon him, ripping and ravaging.
 CUT TO:
INT. THE LABORATORY - NIGHT

Prendick is edging towards the door Moreau's black book clutched to

his chest, his automatic in his hand when the Hyena-Swine and the
Boar Man burst into the room, levelling their rifles. He dives for
the cover of the overturned operating table, a bullet meant for his
heart hitting instead in the leather cover of Moreau's journal.

He hugs the ground, covering his head as the renegades pump round
after round into the laboratory, shattering the overhead lights and
laboratory equipment.

The big tank cracks and comes apart, spilling a wave of warm
amniotic fluid across the floor, the gilled mutations flopping and
writhing amidst the broken glass.

The Hyena-Swine pauses to reload, padding on the tips of its toes

towards Prendick's hiding place, its teeth bared.

HYENA-SWINE
Come out and face me! Let us see who is the
Master, now!

Prendick crawls gasping for the safety of the ruined bank of audio-
visual equipment, prompting a hysterical burst of GUNFIRE from the
Hyena-Swine.

Prendick cringes, bullets RICOCHETING and sparking all around him.

There follows another lull as the Hyena-Swine fumbles for a fresh

clip. Prendick uses the breathing space to reach for the Nagra. The
Boar Man turns, levelling his rifle, but at that moment Moreau's
icy voice fills the room.

MOREAU'S VOICE
Diastolic pressure up to 4. Pulmonary pressure
stands at 5.8. Heartbeat irregular.

The Boar Man freezes, turning to the Hyena-Swine.

HYENA-SWINE
No! It is a trick! He is dead! We killed him!

He opens fire once more but Prendick has already ducked safely out
of sight, crouching behind a console and pulling on a pair of
goggles.
The Hyena-Swine glances about himself uneasily, then as he steps
forward, Prendick reaches out and throws the switch on the laser,
its light filling the room with a brilliant blue-green glare. The
renegades yell, trying to cover their eyes as Prendick springs
from behind the console, shooting the Boar Man in the throat. The
Boar Man topples backwards.

The Hyena-Swine screams, blindly loosing a burst of gunfire in

Prendick's direction. One of the bullets damages the laser's
housing and Prendick decides to take a chance, diving across the
room towards the door and tilting the laser from its bearings as he
passes.

The laser cuts the Hyena-Swine across the face and he tumbles
backwards with a shriek, clutching at his face.

Then Prendick shoots him in the stomach and he goes down, falling
amidst the tendrils of the tank dwellers, still kicking and
screaming, one paw grasping for a hand grenade.

Prendick takes a step back as the Hyena-Swine pulls the pin and
draws back his arm to pitch the grenade, but then one of the
tentacles coils around his wrist and holds it tight. Prendick leaps
for the door.

The Hyena-Swine's last shriek of pain and fear is cut short by an

ear-splitting CONCUSSION and the laboratory is torn apart in a ball
of fire and flying shrapnel.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COURTYARD – NIGHT

Prendick steps over the mound of corpses, eyes narrowed against the
smoke, the gun in one hand, Moreau's black book in the other.

PRENDICK
Aissa!

He scans the faces of the dead but does not see her among them.
The flames are spreading now from the blazing laboratory to the
other huts, climbing towards the radio mast. Up ahead, the big
house is already on fire and Prendick battles his way towards its
door.

CUT TO:
INT. THE HALL – NIGHT

Prendick stumbles coughing through the doorway, one arm raised to

protect his face from its burning frame.
 PRENDICK
Aissa!

Then his eyes to adjust to the smoke-filled room and what he sees
seems to rob him of what little sanity he has left.

Aissa's body lies on the dining table, her entire torso an open
wound, Azazello and the Dog Men sitting around her, as if about to
feed on her flesh.

Prendick reacts with a bellow of primal rage. He raises his gun and
blasts at the Dog Men. One is struck in the head. Another is shot
when he runs for the door. Wounded, he runs yelping to a corner
where other shots bring him down.

Prendick turns the gun on Azazello who glares at him with canine
menace. He pulls the trigger but the chamber CLICKS on empty.

Azazello turns with a SHRIEK and throws himself through the

rear window, fleeing YELPING into the night.

Prendick stands over Aissa, beyond grief, beyond any emotion.

Taking the compass from her fingers, he holds her hand, as the
flames move across the walls around him.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND – NIGHT

A series of EXPLOSIONS rip through the enclosure, engulfing the big

house, the singing aloes rising screaming in tongues of living
flame.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE BEACH – DAWN

Prendick stands watching the rising sun. He seems transformed by

grief and by his exposure to horror. The big house is burning
behind him. Montgomery's remains are at his feet covered in a
blood-soaked blanket. M'Ling kneels beside him, weeping.

M'LING
They are mad! They are fools! They say there is
no Law. No Master. No whips. No House of Pain
anymore. We love the Law and will keep it now
but there is no more pain, no more whips forever
again, they say. But I know, Master, I know. You
still live. You have walked in the sea and
lived.

Prendick pats M'Ling's head.

 PRENDICK
You're a good man, M'Ling.

M'LING
You will kill them all?

Prendick turns his eyes towards the burning flatbed and the
remnants of the motor launch. There are bodies strewn all over the
beach.

PRENDICK
No. Not all.

M'LING
The Master's will is sweet.

Behind them the radio mast collapses, sending a flurry of sparks

climbing into the heavens.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE COMPOUND – DAY

The SOUND of the HORN rises once more into the morning air.
Prendick, M'Ling, Assassimon and two of the remaining elders stand
on the rostrum, Azazello bound and kneeling at their feet.

The rest of the islanders gather uneasily before them. There are
fewer than thirty of them left.

PRENDICK
He’s not dead! He's speaking to me right now!
The House of Pain will be back again! You can't
see the Master, but he's watching everything you
do!

M'LING
True! True!

The Fox Lady steps forward, cradling one of the children from the
incubators.

FOX LADY
The Man Who Walks in the Sea now leads.

PRENDICK
The Master speaks through me. For those who
break the Law!

ASSASSIMON
Back to the House of Pain! Back to the House of
Pain!
The congregation takes up the chant, their voices swelling.
Prendick stares in cold fury as Azazello slinks forward contrite
and very frightened. He kneels before Prendick, who touches his
head with barely-controlled hatred.

ALL (CHORUS)
Back to the House of Pain! Back to the House of
Pain!

AZAZELLO
(looking imploringly at Prendick)
Back to the House of Pain! Back to the House of
Pain!

He tries to lick Prendick's hand. Prendick puts the gun to

Azazello's head and the Dog Man whimpers.

The gun jumps, spitting fire, and Azazello falls, blood jetting
from his temple. The audience falls silent.

FOX LADY
The gun has spoken! It is good!

They fall into a new rhythm, their chant rising and rising.

ALL (CHORUS)
His is the hand that wounds! His is the hand
that heals! His is the lightning flash! His is
the deep salt sea!

Prendick stands looking out over them, Moreau's book still clutched
under his arm, the gun clenched in his free hand. It's as though
he's staring at something a thousand miles away, as tears start
down his cheeks.

The crowd bows down, the sky filled with black smoke rising from
the ruins behind them, the emblem of the Tree of Life still
fluttering from the flagpole above.

DISSOLVE TO:
INT. THE CAVE - DAY

Prendick stands in the shaft of light at the center of the cavern,

the fetish staff in his hands, leading the chanting congregation.
His hair and beard have grown long and wild now, his and his
clothes are embroidered with bones and tassels, face bedaubed with
paint.
 PRENDICK (V.O.)
After that day I became the Sayer of the Law.
Every day for nine months I stood in front of
the Tree of Life and talked to them.

DISSOLVE TO:
INT. THE CAVE – NIGHT

Prendick is observing the moon through a cleft in the rock and

marking the lunar calendar painted on the cavern wall.

PRENDICK (V.O.)
I rewrote the Law and tried to teach them new
ways to survive on their own. The Law I gave
them was the Law I dreamed of as a boy, that had
made me want to be a lawyer, a Law that never
really existed anywhere in the real world,
except here.

DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. THE ISLAND – DAY

Prendick stands thigh deep in the river teaching M'Ling and the
others the finer points of spear fishing, a lesson interrupted when
two of the onlookers start to squabble over a particularly juicy-
looking barbel.

PRENDICK (V.O.)
I taught them all I could, but day by day the
animal returned to take over that which was
human. Like it always has and always will. Like
Moreau said it would.

DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. THE SETTLEMENT – DAY

Prendick, M'Ling and several others huddle beneath a fan of woven

palm leaves, sheltering from a torrential downpour.

PRENDICK (V.O.)
About thirty of them had survived and eight of
those were dead by the end of the hurricane
season, most from untreatable illnesses caused
by their genetic disorders. I knew that if Aissa
had lived she would have shared their fate, but
that didn't take the pain away. By the time the
trade winds blew again from the west, only
M'Ling and Assassimon still clung to the power
of speech, and were able to help me in my work.

DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. THE BEACH – DAY

Moreau's horse has been employed in dragging logs down from the
rainforest to where M'Ling and Prendick are shaping them with
makeshift axes.

Assassimon sits nearby, emptying barrels of diesel into the sand.

There follows a MONTAGE of activity as the raft slowly takes shape,

Assassimon rigging its sails as it lies at berth next to the jetty,
while Prendick and M'Ling load it with supplies.

PRENDICK
I'll be back with help. Give me three months.

M'LING
It is good. Go well, Master.

PRENDICK
Go well yourself, M'Ling. Good M'Ling.

He embraces M'Ling. The Dog Man fawns upon him, whimpering. Then he
pulls away and, clambering aboard the raft, makes ready and casts
off.

Assassimon comes running down the jetty, shouting at the top of his
lungs.

ASSASSIMON
He is going! He is good! He is going! He is
great!

Prendick strikes an offshore current, unfurling a bright sheet of

homespun from the mast, a gaudy representation of The Tree Of Life
painted in its center. The wind fills the sail and he adjusts the
tillers, turning the raft's prow towards the open sea.

M'Ling sits down, his big feet dangling over the edge of the jetty,
looking a little dejected, watching until Prendick is far away.

M'LING
We must read. We must keep speech for his
return.

Then he lifts a battered copy of Alice in Wonderland and begins to

read aloud once more while Assassimon, hopping from foot to foot,
pretends to mouth the words over his shoulder.
 M'LING
(reads, haltingly)
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all
the King's men.
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty
together again."

M'Ling's voice falters, tapering off into a bestial whimper.

He sits for a long while in silence, the book sagging in his hands,
watching the sail of Prendick's raft until it has disappeared from
sight.

DISSOLVE TO:
THE DISC OF THE SUN

A dazzling, overexposed white.

DISSOLVE THROUGH WHITE TO:

EXT. THE PACIFIC OCEAN - DAY (TWO DAYS LATER)

Prendick lies on his back on the raft, the sail flapping slackly
now; his face raw and blistered from the sun. His head sways with
the rise and fall of the ocean and all the horizon seems to sway
with him, the earth and sky and the shining crack that separates
them.

A dark smudge appears on the horizon. Dancing. Drawing nearer. He

closes his eyes.

When he opens his eyes again he sees the side of a freighter

looming over him, a row of figures gathered at the rail, outlines
silhouetted against the sun.

Hands lift him now. Twisted, misshapen hands tipped with curious
nails.

His eyes focus on his rescuers and he sees the intent faces of
beasts of prey glaring down at him, their faces snoutish and
porcine, back covered with a sickly pink skin, their lips curling
from yellowed teeth.

He looks at them, completely blank.

CUT TO:
INT. THE SANATORIUM - DAY (THREE YEARS LATER)
Prendick blinks, opening his eyes to find that he is still sitting
on his chair in Dr. Murnau's office, the beasts have become the
CHIEF DOCTOR and two of the staff psychiatrists, DR. WIENE and DR.
MOCH, sitting facing him. He is clean shaven now and is wearing a
brand new suit and tie.

MURNAU
I'm glad we're in agreement. You finally
understand you've been suffering an acute form
of post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by
the plane crash and your terrible ordeal at
sea... You should be able to gradually unlock
the memory of what really happened to you during
that lost year.

PRENDICK
I have. I see that nothing much happened at all.
I was simply adrift.

DR. MOCH
Perhaps as a young man you read about the real
Doctor Moreau, who won Nobel Prize in 1989. The
controversy surrounding his work could have been
incorporated into your fantasies.

Prendick smiles, nods.

PRENDICK
So I guess now it's on with my life.

MURNAU
You've come a very long way.

PRENDICK
Thank you, Gentlemen. Thank you all, for
everything.

He stands, folding his coat over his arm. When he looks back at the
doctors, however, it is to find them transformed into scabrous
carrion birds staring hungrily at him across the desktop with their
vulpine, bespectacled eyes, their dark wings stirring
threateningly. He maintains his smile.

CUT TO:
EXT. THE STREET - DAY

Prendick stands on the corner of a busy city street, his coat still
folded over his arm, staring at the hubbub of life that surrounds
him.
 PRENDICK (V.O.)
I was released from the hospital in October
2010. The world hadn't come to an end, although
there had been a nuclear exchange. Everything
else, it seems, had been a symptom of my
psychosis.

We see the crowded street now through Prendick's eyes.

Weary DEER MEN and CATTLE PEOPLE shambling past him with wounded
eyes, dripping blood, OLD PEOPLE, bent and dull murmuring to
themselves, prowling WOMEN mewing after him and dancing packs of
jibing MONKEY CHILDREN skipping through a gridlocked traffic jam of
barking CANINE MOTORISTS, belligerent PORCINE TRAFFIC POLICE trying
to maintain order. Prendick turns now, seeing his own reflection in
a shop window, the reflection of a rather melancholy-looking
sheepdog lost that has its flock, its eyes tired and lonely.

CUT TO:
INT. THE COTTAGE - DUSK

The fire is low on the hearth. Prendick sits hunched in the semi-
darkness, the loaded gun still cradled in his hands, finishing up
his final message running through the Nagra, a dog barking in the
distance.

Moreau's notebook lies open on the table before him, a reproduction

of Draper's "Lament for Icarus" tacked on the wall behind him. All
over the desk, on crumpled pieces of paper, are sketches of the
Tree of Life.

PRENDICK(V.O.)
On the island, I had thought that Moreau was the
loneliest man on the earth. But that was before
I became what I've become... I've spent my time
in reading, and studying biochemistry only to
realize that what Moreau did was in fact
possible. What happened can't be dismissed as a
nightmare. So I've had no choice but to live
alone with the horrible truth.

Prendick raises the gun, closing his eyes.

PRENDICK (V.O.)
(haltingly)
Now I find there is simply no way to bear the
loneliness.

In the near background we hear the barking of a dog.

Prendick squeezes his eyelids shut, trying to blot out the noise.
He draws the hammer back with an audible click. Suddenly, there is
the sound of a pair of paws hitting the pane of glass in a French
door. The barking is now very loud, almost in the room.

Prendick opens his eyes once more. The barking goes on. It has a
strange, pleading quality.

Prendick lowers the gun and looks toward the door.

The dog is looking in. It sees him and barks with sudden
recognition. Prendick can't avoid the animal. He rises and the dog
paws wildly at the doorpanel with obvious joy at his approach.
Prendick tries to muster a stern look.

PRENDICK
I locked you out for a reason. I can't very well
kill myself with you pestering me.

The dog barks imploring, then looks at Prendick and cocks his head.
He whympers for Prendick's affection.

PRENDICK
What? You'd miss me?

The dog responds with a short, decisive bark.

Prendick steps to the door and opens it. The dog rushes away with
wild joyous excitement.

It begins a wild frolic on the hillside before the cottage. The

downright silliness of the animal's joyful exuberant forces a trace
of reluctant smile to Prendick's lips.

CUT TO:
EXT. SOMEWHERE IN NEW ENGLAND - DUSK

A curtain of rain falls across the downland, turned to motes of

gold by the dying light, descending as a blessing upon the soft
green hills and patchwork farmsteads.

The dog comes running along the crest of a hill, rejoicing, barking
at the rain, eyes brimming with a simple animal happiness. It skids
to a halt, shaking itself, turning its snout towards the dying
light. The rain has stopped, the sky is clearing.

Its master walks now to stand beside it, his hands in his pockets,
contemplating the same awesome view. Then Prendick bends down to
pat the dog as it leaps up, putting its paws against his chest, to
lick his face that is wet with rain or tears.
Prendick looks deep into the sweet liquid eyes of the dog.

FADE TO BLACK.
ROLL END TITLES.
THE END