URBAN LEGEND 2: Final Cut
Paul Harris Boardman & Scott Derrickson
For use ONLY at Where Legends Rule

EXT. A SOUTHERN COLLEGE CAMPUS -- 1977 -- NIGHT
AUTUMN in East Tennessee. Fallen leaves blanket the quads beneath Gothic buildings of stone. It's late, only a few LIGHTED WINDOWS in the dorms, and...

FRATERNITY ROW

is also quiet -- except for the fine old SOUTHERN MANSION at the end of the street. MUSIC filters through thick windows of leaded glass, and SHADOWS play against the curtains.

We PUSH IN ON ONE WINDOW until we find ourselves...

INT. INSIDE THE OLD MANSION -- SAME
Home of the wealthy, traditional KAPPA ALPHA FRATERNITY -- and tonight is their annual "OLD SOUTH JAMBOREE." Banners hang on the walls, and COLLEGE STUDENTS drink and fool around as "Sweet Home, Alabama" plays on the stereo.

They wear "Gone With the Wind" attire: long, wasp-waisted dresses for the girls, plantation suits and Rebel uniforms on the boys.

A GROUP OF SENIOR GUYS

hold court next to the FIREPLACE. Their late 1970's grooming - longish hair, sideburns, and a scruffy beard or two -- is perfectly in keeping with the 1860's theme.

Above the fireplace is a portrait of Robert E. Lee, and TWO SMALL EQUESTRIAN STATUES perch on the mantelpiece: One's a Yankee cavalryman, and holds a miniature UNION FLAG; the other carries the REBEL FLAG of the Confederacy.

TRIPP, the fraternity president, is dressed just like General Lee.

TRIPP
(well-bred Southern accent)
...and I say disco sucks. All that fag-
dancin'...

He imitates a "Saturday Night Fever" finger-pointing dance move.

DARLA, a lush Southern belle with deep cleavage, drawls:

DARLA
I don't know...I thought Barbarino looked
awful cute.

GIGGLES from the other GIRLFRIENDS. Another SENIOR GUY pipes up:

SUMTER
Hey, Tripp...it's almost midnight...

TRIPP
Oh, yeah -- hey y'all listen up, now!

The party-goers gather round. Tripp raises his bottle of Jack Daniel's and addresses the group:

TRIPP
A toast: To the pledge class of 1977 --
may you boys prepare to go through Hell!

WHOOPS and CHEERS from all the boys.

DARLA
Now Tripp, let's not forget our new
"Little Sisters"... C'mon and show
yourselves, ladies, don't be shy.

A handful of FRESHMEN GIRLS step forward from the crowd -- including ELIZABETH, an innocent blonde whose gaze betrays her crush on General Tripp.

Sumter and the boys eye the tasty frosh with drunken lust...

DARLA
Don't they get "initiated," too?
(eyeing Tripp)
I know I sure did...

More WHOOPS and CHEERS from the guys.

Tripp winks at Darla, then looks up at the statues on the mantelpiece. He plucks the tiny UNION FLAG from the YANKEE soldier's hands, starts twirling it around in his fingers...

TRIPP
Now, y'all know the old Civil War
graveyard at the end of Campus.... Well,
legend has it that if anybody plants a
Union flag on one of the Confederate
graves, the rebel soldier will rise up
from the dead, and... pull you under!

CATCALLS -- "Bullshit!", "Come on!" -- and a few GIGGLES.

Tripp notices Elizabth watching him with adoring eyes.

TRIPP
What about you, uh...

ELIZABETH
(he spoke to me!)
E...Elizabeth...

TRIPP
You up for it, Elizabeth...?

He draws out her name, caressing the syllables. Darla smiles, enjoying this... After a long moment, Elizabeth nods.

EXT. OLD GRAVEYARD -- NIGHT
All alone, Elizabeth enters the graveyard, carrying a UNION FLAG on a small flagpole.

STORM CLOUDS crowd the MOON, and trees shiver in the WIND...

Elizabeth hugs herself, goose-pimply cold in her strapless formal dress. As she passes between rows of GRAVESTONES and FAMILY TOMBS, her mind begins to play tricks...

She JUMPS when dead leaves SKITTER through the SHADOWS, blown by the wind -- then shakes her head, MUTTERING:

ELIZABETH
It's okay...it's okay...it's okay...

Nearing the neglected back rows of the cemetery, she sees...

A LEANING TOMBSTONE

engraved with a faded epitaph:

BEAUREGARD AUGUSTUS CLAYTON, III
Born August 4, 1941. Died July 4, 1863
"THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN!"

Trembling, Elizabeth stands over the grave. The WIND MOANS.

ELIZABETH
C'mon, 'Lizbeth. You can do this...

And she drops to her knees, PLUNGING the flagpole into the earth.

She waits, breathing hard, looking around in fear...

Nothing happens.

She stands. Laughs at herself in relief.

And, as she turns and starts to walk away...

SOMETHING

yanks her off her feet! Face in the dirt, she scrambles with her hands and knees, trying to crawl forward -- but something's got a-hold of her, and it ain't lettin' go.

As she SCREAMS bloody murder, we...

CUT TO:

INT. A RAMSHACKLE CABIN -- SAME
...as a HANDSOME YOUNG MAN -- barefoot and shirtless in a pair of overalls -- enters with an armful of firewood.

He hears the distant SCREAM. Drops the wood, and grabs a SHOTGUN from above the fireplace...

CUT TO:

EXT. GRAVEYARD -- SAME
Terrified, Elizabeth finally turns to see what's pulling her down...

THE FLAGPOLE

is stuck through the bottom of her dress and into the ground, pinning her to the grave.

Elizabeth stops screaming and breathes a sigh of relief. She yanks the flagpole out of her dress, examining the hole in the cloth --

ELIZABETH
Ruined.

Still sitting on the grave, she looks around.

ELIZABETH
(embarrassed)
God, I hope nobody heard me...

Then suddenly...

A ROTTED HAND

BURSTS out of the ground and GRABS her leg!

She lets out a BLOODCURDLING SCREAM...

And ANOTHER HAND EMERGES, grabbing her other shapely calf - followed by a HIDEOUS WITHERED HEAD with BULGING YELLOW EYES...

Elizabeth THRUSTS the flagpole INTO THE UNDEAD EYE -- and it POPS like a water balloon, oozing thick BLACK BLOOD.

SCREAMING, she kicks free of the clutching hands and scrambles to her feet. She turns to escape, but -- BAM! -- runs smack into...

ANOTHER CONFEDERATE SOLDIER

Tattered uniform hanging off its bones, the skeletal zombie grips her by the shoulders, opens its hungry mouth and LUNGES at her, sinking its teeth into her face. HER BLOOD SPURTS, as we...

CUT TO:

AN AUDIENCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

as all their heads JERK BACKWARDS at the same time.

INT. UNIVERSITY SCREENING ROOM -- PRESENT DAY
The hundred-or-so FILM STUDENTS scribble notes as they watch the horror film. All of their clipboards have TINY LIGHTS at the top, casting an eerie underglow on each student's face.

ONSCREEN

the Handsome Young Man RUNS toward the graveyard, carrying the SHOTGUN and wincing as his bare feet hit the gravel road...

HANDSOME YOUNG MAN
Sure do wish I had me some shoes.

IN THE AUDIENCE

DIRK and STAN, a pair of geeky first-year film students, watch the movie with jaded expressions. They wear matching "Star Trek" t-shirts, and look like Siskel & Ebert as 19-year-olds.

DIRK
(the tall, skinny one)
The guy with the gun... that's Taylor
Browning, right?

STAN
(short fat one)
Yeah...

DIRK
Didn't he die while making this movie?

STAN
(annoyingly accurate)
No. This is "Undead Soliders". Nineteen
seventy-EIGHT. Taylor Browning was
mysteriously murdered on the set of
"Vampire Discotheque" -- nineteen
seventy-NINE.

DIRK
Oh, yeah... I knew that...

ONSCREEN

A few dozen CONFEDERATE ZOMBIES are rising from their graves and lurching toward the distant frat house.

Now the actor, Taylor Borwning, arrives at the graveyard and starts BLOWING THE ZOMBIES AWAY...

AMY MAYFIELD

a thoughtful 21-year-old beauty, is one of the students watching the film. Perceptive and quiet, she's the kind of person who always has more behind the counter than she has on display.

She looks very upset by what she sees. After a moment, she gets up and hurries out of the auditorium.

Sandra, a good-hearted gal of 21, follows her.

INT. WOMEN'S RESTROOM -- DAY
Amy is splashing water on her face when Sandra walks in.

SANDRA
Amy, you all right...?

AMY
(slight Southern accent)
I really hate those Southern stereotype
characters, y'know? It's insulting...

SANRDA
(hands Amy a towel)
It's okay, hon...it's just a movie.

AMY
(after a beat)
I know. I guess I just... scare easily
sometimes.

CUT TO:

A SQUARE OF SIDEWALK

in which someone carved three words with a stick while the concrete was still soft:

REALITY ENDS HERE

And now we TILT UP TO REVEAL...

EXT. BEACHWOOD UNIVERSITY FILM SCHOOL -- DAY

A COUPLE OF STUDENTS carry a wooden scenery flat into an open SOUND STAGE, and ANOTHER struggles to unload a camera dolly from the trunk of a car as we APPROACH...

THE "ORSON WELLES BUILDING"

It's doors open, releasing a flood of book-laden STUDENTS, including Amy and Sandra. They're both heading toward...

THE EQUIPMENT STOCKROOM

where handsome 22-year-old TRAVIS STARK is checking in a camera and lighting kit. Unshaven, Travis wears an old black sweatshirt full of holes, and looks absolutely exhausted...

Sandra and Amy have stopped to stare at him.

SANDRA
Poor Travis... He must've finished
shooting his film this week.

AMY
Yeah...looks like he hasn't showered in days.

SANDRA
I'd like to pour him a nice, hot bath...

AMY
(joining the fantasy)
Grab a big...thick...scratchy loofa sponge...

SANDRA
"Oops! Now where did I drop that soap...?"
(beat)
You should go talk to him. I've seen him
looking at you -- just tell him you want it.

AMY
Yeah, right. I can't do that, Sandra.
I'm not like you...
(off Sandra's look)
I mean that as a compliment.

SANDRA
C'mon, I'll buy you a frozen latte.

AMY
No, I gotta get back to the room -- I got
my own film to worry about.

SANDRA
(watching her go, concerned)
Cheer up, okay? I'll see you tonight.

CUT TO:

A COMPUTER SCREEN

as the words "FADE IN" are typed. Then the cursor returns and just sits there, blinking...

INT. AMY AND SANDRA'S DORM ROOM -- AFTERNOON

Amy stares grimly at the computer screen. Frustrated, she gets up and walks over to her bed, plops down on her back, and we...

DISSOLVE TO:

Amy, sweating through a "Tae Bo" workout, STEREO BLASTING...

DISSOLVE TO:

Amy, hair wet, finishing off a quart of Ben & Jerry's and reading Premiere.

DISSOLVE TO:

Amy, back at her desk, staring numbly at the computer screen.

Still "FADE IN"...and nothing else.

Slowly, her head tips down until it rests on the keyboard, and lines of jumbled letters begin to fill the computer screen...

MORE COMING SOON!