Posted by charles diggs
on June 25, 2011, 6:41 pm
75.36.46.2
Reaper
By Charles Diggs
In this script there are three main characters: the two starring heroes and the villain the screenplay in named after. The film starts with a couple walking the city streets at night before they meet up with a mugger. He demands their valuables and they hand them over. Instead of letting them go he kills the couple even as the woman begs for her life. The mugger leaves the scene and returns to his home in an apartment building upstairs. As he moves up the stairs he feels something brush by him, yet sees nothing. Without cause for alarm he continues up the steps until he finds and opens his door, closing it behind him. He dumps out his valuables before beginning to look through them, and Reaper chooses this moment to reveal himself by speaking to the mugger. His words indicate that he has been following the evil man as he has collected his ill gotten goods and perhaps killed others, just like the unfortunate couple from the beginning of the movie.
The mugger produces his gun, frightened by the stranger's sudden appearance from out of nowhere and asks the intruder's identity. Reaper ignores the weapon as if it were no threat to him and continues to speak. The mugger threatens him with the gun and demands he leave. Reaper laugh's at the threat. And informs the man what will happen to him and that Reaper won't be the one who dies, he even mentions how sweet the man's blood will taste. The man fires only to find Reaper has disappeared right in front of his eyes. Reaper whispers in the man's ear after reappearing behind him in the blink of an eye and the man cries out in shock and fear. Reaper plunges his hand into the mugger's body with great speed and force until it bursts out the the man's stomach spraying blood all over the carpet. The mugger collapses and tries to escape by crawling away.
Reaper licks and sucks the blood from his fingers and continues to speak to the injured man. The man looks back to sees Reaper's fangs appear, a sight which causes him to beg for his life, just like the poor woman he killed. Reaper notes this with an amused smirk before his fingernails turn into claws. He then uses them to slice open the mugger's throat in one sudden movement. The dying man chokes to death on his own blood while Reaper watches. Dipping his fingers into the blood he writes a message on the wall addressed to the police. A siren can be heard as he finishes and he exits the room.
Detective Ortez who is the youngest of the two heroes is then introduced. He enters a crime scene he is working and starts looking around. Others are at the scene collecting evidence and taking pictures. Ortez goes to the window and looks down at the street. Ortez notes the Chief's car as it pulls in and parks. He sees the Chief and a stranger as they step out of the car and head into the building. The Chief and the his companion head upstairs past the reporters and meet up with Ortez inside of the room.
The Chief introduces the Detective to the older hero of the film: David Graves. He is a Necromancer and is introduced as such by the Chief in a serious tone. Ortez takes this as a joke, but it isn't. While the detective looks at the scene Graves takes charge, addressing the Chief directly. The two men speak with friendliness and familiarity. The two shake hands before the Chief leaves.
Now Ortez and Graves focus on each other. Their conversation starts out adversarial because Ortez is still not taking Graves seriously. Graves gives Ortez some allowances but puts his foot down when the detective shows total disrespect. Ortez's face shows anger but he controls it. He then continues the conversation in a more respectful tone. Graves takes the opportunity to crouch and look over the body. The Necromancer directs Ortez to come over to the dead man before he passes a hand over it without touch it. A focused look appears on his face as he does so. Ortez questions him and Graves directs the younger man to take his hand after leaving his hand hovering over the puncture wounds on the fallen man's body.
The detective reluctantly complies, but immediately lets go, visibly shaken by some ordeal. He shows curiosity despite being obviously frightened. This is an example of much of their communication as the two men seek to fulfill what each of them views as the common good. At times it is adversarial, but for the most part the two get along and come to develop a deep respect for one another. Graves plays the part of mentor and protector for most of the movie, while Ortez plays the part of the brave student who tries to learn all he can while trying to solve the case. After meeting a Revenant informant, who is from the same race of beings as Reaper the heroes find out that the serial killer will react badly to the police cover up that is already in place.
The audience meets Reaper again in the same form he was in after killing the mugger, so they will easily recognize him. A bar patron wants the bartender to change the channel, but Reaper stops him by supernatural means, using the man's level of evil to control him like a puppet. Reaper watches the false news report and as predicted is furious that his work has been downplayed and twisted. He notes a particular patron walking to the restroom with special interest and follows him off screen.
The serial killer reappears later as the man among a group of bank robbers. The audience may not track this at first, but they will understand as he uses trickery and time honed skills to kill all but two of the criminal crew and tortures the last two before police arrive and shoot him. The shooting itself is not shown, but Graves tells the audience exactly what happened by using his supernatural abilities by going giving a summary version of the murders. Reaper's former body is found smiling even as it lays now dead on the floor and a cop is seen puking outside of the bank.
Reaper shows up in the home of a political rival of the mayor's in the middle of the night, giving him quite a scare before he realizes who it is. Eckers lowers his gun and the two talk about Graves and Ortez. Reaper tells Eckers not to harm the Detective and seems eager to face the two heroes. A woman named Nadia and her boyfriend's mob bodyguard Alexi park in a secluded area. The girlfriend expresses concern about not meeting with her mob boss boyfriend before Alexi pulls a gun on her. The woman begs for her life and he shoots her. He checks for a pulse to make sure she is dead and relaxes for a moment, putting his gun away. Reaper takes over her body and sits up from a slumped position, catching Alexi by surprise.
He speaks to Alexi after he was the one the man had shot and shows his growing fangs. Alexi goes for his gun, but is not fast enough. Once Reaper is done feeding he pulls Alexi's body out of the car and flips the body onto its back. He commands the dead man to get up and he does. At first Alexi tries to resist his new master's directions, but after Reaper causes him great pain with a mere flex of his will that resistance immediately ends. Like a whipped dog Alexi opens the door for his master and they leave the scene.
Enroute to the boyfriend's apartment Reaper calls Ortez and Graves to set the rules of his game, including the consequences if they fail or decide to quit. His tone is jovial and polite while Graves' tone is annoyed. Reaper ends the call and allows the two heroes to discuss what is going on. When Reaper in the form of Nadia arrives at Yuri's apartment he is already cheating on his now late girlfriend. The woman sees what she believes is Nadia and tries to explain she was only there because she was afraid of Yuri. Reaper kindly convinces her to leave and let Nadia deal with the boyfriend. Reaper is now playing the part of Nadia with no one other than Alexi the wiser. Reaper tells Alexi to keep everyone else out and Alexi obeys first by killing the bodyguard outside of the door. The Thrall takes position in front of the door guarding it.
Yuri is understandably surprised to find Nadia there, especially without a scratch on her. He tries to talk to the guard now dead outside of the room, but Reaper expertly convinces him not by playing the part of a wounded girlfriend. Using conversation and sexual innuendo Reaper leads Yuri to the bed. Believing he is about to get very spicy sex Yuri is again caught unawares when his body becomes immediately frozen and contorted with pain after a simple touch from Reaper. Unable to speak above a whisper he cries for help, but his voice is too soft to be heard by anyone who might come to his assistance.
Reaper talks as if he is Nadia, telling Yuri all about how Nadia felt about the betrayal. Yuri begs for forgiveness and mercy, trying to explain everything. Reaper seems to identify with Nadia and actually becomes angry, and throws a chair at one of the windows, shattering it. Reaper then leads the weak Yuri to the window allowing him to look down at the street at night far below. Yuri begs for his life. Reaper talks to him and lets up on his powers enough to allow Yuri to speak normally. Nadia/Reaper provides Yuri with hope and even kisses him to reinforce it, before whispering to him to scream and throws him out the open window. Yuri screams on the way down before he dies on impact. More screams can be heard from the hallway as Alexi the Thrall dispatches Yuri's henchmen who have heard the scream.
Reaper had managed to set a psychic trap in Yuri's body and leaves it for the heroes to find. Ortez not recognizing the danger tries to read the body alone while Graves is talking to the higher ups of the police department. Graves senses the psychic attack too late to stop it and rushes to his student's aid. Reaper calls after Ortez is put in the hospital and talks to an upset Graves who accuses him of setting up the whole thing. Reaper politely points out that if the Necromancer had been more careful his student would never have been allowed to be alone with the body until he was properly trained.
Reaper hints that he is also a Necromancer and insists that the game continues. Reaper questions Graves about the clue he left behind and the hero answers correctly guessing the next victim will be a priest. Since Reaper can only kill evil people unless he finds a loophole in the rules like with the detective the audience can be sure the priest did something that warranted Reaper's attention. Reaper again politely ends the call and Graves slams the phone down into its cradle. A short scene shows exactly what Ortez was doing before he was injured and another with Graves trying to visit his still unconscious student. His face shows worry when he finds out that the detective is in a coma.
The story takes the audience to a grave site where a mother and father are mourning over the grave of their son. After they leave a small hand bursts out of the earth and the audience is allowed to read the grave stone. Reaper in the guise of a small child molested by the priest he targets begins tormenting the man out on the street and then again in the man's home. The priest begs for the child/Reaper to leave him alone and passes out on the bed, exhausted from the whole ordeal. Reaper uses his powers to enter the room without using the window or the door by emerging from the shadows, though he lies to the priest about entering through the window. He seems to want to comfort the guilty priest, but this is only a trick as the audience sees the serial killer smother the full grown man to death with a pillow. After the murder Reaper calls Graves to tell him the deed is done and where to find the body.
Ortez wakes up from his coma in a hospital bed to find Reaper waiting for him in the guise of one of the hospital staff. They talk and Reaper as always when dealing with the heroes address the detective with a tone of politeness. He informs the inexperienced practitioner what has happened at provides him with an opportunity to sacrifice himself for his beloved city and its people, and last but not least help his new teacher who is being hampered by the local politics. Before he leaves he removes the protection he had temporarily placed over Ortez's mind, keeping the voices of the dead out. Ortez is in great pain when Graves arrives, coming to his rescue. Graves forces his way out of the hospital with the still suffering Ortez in order to save his now vulnerable student.
Graves and the Chief talk over the phone and the Chief is forced to ask Graves to return the young man to the hospital. Graves in turn is forced to refuse because he knows what will happen to Ortez if he does. The two men are clearly trapped by their responsibilities and Graves is informed that he is being charged with kidnapping. Ortez and Graves have a conversation about everything that has happened. Ortez describes a flashback that Reaper hid in Yuri's body along with the psychic trap. It provides a clue about Reaper's past, meanwhile Reaper is taking advantage of the situation. When he calls knowing full well that both heroes are out of the picture he insists they be brought back into his game and sets off a bomb in a dirty cop's desk, killing many cops in the station's squad room. The heroes are told of the bombing and that they are back on the case. They discuss new developments and come up with some vital realizations about their foe.
Reaper show's up again in Eckers' study apparently in the middle of a conversation. Eckers is upset about the bombing, but Reaper is able to control him and point out how the attack benefits his ally. He then suggests that Eckers provide evidence of the mayor's decision to hamper the police's investigation by not giving them everything they need. The heroes see the speech Eckers delivers on live television accusing the mayor of misuse of power.
The mayor reacts like Reaper wants by blaming Graves for the leak and throwing him off the case. Graves points out that in the treaty the mayor signed with the nearest City-State, that they have a vested interest in the case and that the mayor has violated the terms of the agreement. Graves leaves the mayor huffing and puffing before directing Ortez to drive them to the City-State ruled by a vampire from another race called the Nissians. Through many conversations the detective finds out how different the City-State government is and is surprised by how safe it is. Graves give him a short summary on the vampire races that rule the City-State as part of a ruling council with the head Nissian Queen Quenha as the ruler.
Graves explains the situation to the Council and the heroes are finally provided with the help they need to very possibly stop Reaper. While they are away though Reaper has not kept silent. Murdering a drug dealer on the street in cold blood he acts like he is insane when he confesses his crime to a couple of cops near the scene. Placed in a mental hospital he lets the violent inmates loose to go on a rampage, leaving only one survivor behind who was carefully locked up by Reaper himself. With this last event the Mayor's resistance to the Council's wishes melts and the heroes and a team of hunters are allowed to return openly to the human ruled city. Among this team is a love interest for Ortez. She is an attractive and capable Nissian female. Graves has also found a love interest in the form of Qenha who puts a marriage proposal to him, along with offering a home and a future for his people. For the most part the heroes are friends by this point of the movie and trust each other.
Graves is forced to remove his own protections from Ortez's mind in order to up their chances of catching Reaper. When Sestral is forced to save him from an almost complete mental breakdown, she threatens the Necromancer that if Ortez dies as a result she will take revenge. Ortez wakes in Sestral's lap and is told how she saved him and why Graves did what he did. The hunt continues as Ortez forces himself to recover quickly. He leads the team to a warehouse that he believes Reaper is hiding in. When they enter Reaper springs his trap and the two heroes and Sestral barely escape with their lives thanks to the abilities of all three. Reaper escapes by using his powers on the Revenant member of the team and not even Ortez's new abilities can track him now. The heroes believe that is it possibly over, but Reaper has one more surprise for them by providing a video recording and evidence to the detective, by leaving it in his home, which he finds when he brings Sestral there for a visit.
The movie winds down with Reaper confronting his master, who has been hiding in the form of the mayor the entire time and cripples him so he can be captured and punished by the authorities. The heroes facing a new future both choose to stay in the City-State and see where things take them. Reaper has said he is retiring but I imagine the audience will wonder if he willing to stay that way for long.
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