The Stitching - a Take on the Howling with Frankenstein I Once Wrote, Maybe Redraughted

1. EXT. CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN, GERMANY, MORNING, PRESENT DAY
The film begins with an AERIAL SHOT of the fairytale gothic CASTLE, two spindling spires, one topped with a bell and clock-face, the other with a simple steeple. We hear a NARRATOR over the 360-rounding CAMERA SHOT.
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (OOV, stern, British, BBC-like)
The real Frankenstein was a lowly butcher, Clement Oskar Frankenstein, who acheived notoreity by selling homunculi, such as mermaids, dead women's heads stitched onto the bodies of fish and cats with bird-feathers. His attractions were sold to wealthy men, circus owners, superstititous gypsies and indeed Percy Shelley, who bought one, a gift to his wife Mary, who was inspired to write her own novel of living homunculi - she called it Frankenstein. therefore inspiring Clement's grandson - Inigo. I am Dr. Fred Francis, and wanted to find the truth.
CUT - The CAMERA pulls out to reveal it is not period-set but circa 1980. Outside the castle, we see a muddy old 70s-era LAND ROVER, a dirtied British Racing Green. a black-rimmed bespectacled, sideburned, curly-haired archaeologist, DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS arrives, in his thirties, in a mangy old trenchcoat, a real British Boffin.
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (standing in front of the CASTLE, only seen from the back)
This is it, Castle Frankenstein.
CUT - A middle-aged, hunchbacked West German construction worker, MERGRAVE wanders in, carrying a hod.
CLOSE-UP - MERGRAVE.
MERGRAVE (scratching his head)
Yes, Dr. Francis, and it seemed impossible, didn't it, being the stuff of myth and legend.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS looks up, relieved and slightly astonished.
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (smiling, chin-stroking)
Indeed, Mergrave, especially as the work of the true scientist, the one who learnt from the Shelley work, Dr. Inigo Frankenstein was conducted here, literally by a conductor.
CUT - We see the two positioned infront of the castle, MERGRAVE on the left and DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS on the right.
MERGRAVE (sad, shaking his head)
Ah, unfortunately, Doctor, that's not here.
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (scratching his head)
Em, that gives us a problem. Who is the current descendant of the Frankenstein dynasty?
MERGRAVE (struggling to think)
Countess Irina Frankenstein, a Bohemian type who lives abroad.
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (curious)
Where abroad?
MERGRAVE (hands over his eyes)
I heard it was in Great Britain, in a junkyard. She hid the generator, because it was unstable, still alive, sparking.
CUT - DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS sits back on the LAND ROVER.
CUT - MERGRAVE reaches down to the ground, throws away the mud to reveal in the ground hides a crate. The CAMERA follows as he takes it out - opening it up to reveal the cross-stitched brain of the MONSTER.
MERGRAVE (shocked, exclaiming)
It's a brain, Doctor Francis, it's a brain!
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (walks over MERGRAVE's shoulder)
A cacophony of brain cells, from different brains. He didn't use one brain, he used several.
MERGRAVE (confused)
Why?
DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS (thunderous, takes the brain in the crate)
To increase the intelligence, of course, or to make it stupid! I'll take this for research. Must have been unused. It is impossible to work. I got to get back to London.
CUT - DR. FREDERICK FRANCIS places the crate in the back of the LAND ROVER and prepares to drive off.
CLOSE-UP - MERGRAVE looks worried. He blesses himself.
2. EXT. HEATHROW AIRPORT, LONDON, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - STOCK SHOT of a 1970s British Airways flight taking off.
CUT - We see DR. FRANCIS, pulling a trolley full of suitcases outside a terminal. He puts his hand up, and BLACK TAXICAB stops.
3. INT. DR. FRANCIS' OFFICE, LONDON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, LONDON, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - A STOCK SHOT of BIG BEN, TOWER OF LONDON, TOWER BRIDGE, etc. to set the scene that we are in LONDON.
CUT - In a thickly-carpeted, floral-wallpapered narrow-walled OFFICE at the LONDON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, DR. FRANCIS is studying over a map of Europe, a book of "EUROPEAN ARISTOCRATIC DYNASTIES". There is a window looking out to LONDON, and an armchair, and an old antique deck.
CLOSE-UP - We see a page of "EUROPEAN ARISTOCRATIC DYNASTIES", profiling the FRANKENSTEIN FAMILY. We see a photo of the beautiful lustrous-dark-haired, pale COUNTESS IRINA, in a low-cut dress. We see FRANCIS' hand using a hand to highlight TEXT - reading "COUNTESS IRINA FRANKENSTEIN (b. 1951) is now resident in Ireland, in the town of Bray."
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS looks relieved, and then turns to a map of IRELAND.
CLOSE-UP - We see a map of Ireland, where DR. FRANCIS' highlighter pen/hand marks the coastal town of BRAY, CO. WICKLOW.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS' superior, PROFESSOR GERALD ST. CLAIR appears, a tweedy, roly-poly sixty-ish man. He stands, while DR. FRANCIS sits on the desk.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (sitting back on an armchair)
Hello, Frederick, how's life?
DR. FRANCIS (unsure-looking)
Well, the Frankenstein project, the Countess has been located.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (querying)
Where?
DR. FRANCIS (stroking his chin)
In the "Brighton of Ireland", Bray, a seaside resort on the Southeast coast...
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (nodding)
Good, you'll be in Ireland then?
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Why is that, Morrissey?
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (angry)
Don't call me Morrissey, and it's Morris, Charles Barton Morris St. Clair!
DR. FRANCIS (disappointed)
You call me FREDERICK.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (points his finger up)
Yes, but I am the teacher. For years, you were my student, and to an extent, you still are.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Why is it good that I'll be in Ireland then?
CUT - PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR slams a newspaper down on the table - perhaps the London Evening Standard - its headline reading "VETERAN CROOK GRADY RUMOURED TO BE ALIVE", its sub-headline being "Del Grady seen for the first time in thirty years, barely changed."
CLOSE-UP - PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (deadpan)
Unfortunately, "Disturbing Del" has been seen prowling Europe, apparently spotted in Amsterdam, in a club owned by one Herbie Strock...
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS looks bemused.
DR. FRANCIS (thinking)
Yes, very odd, and he doesn't seem to have aged. Good genes are common, though. Got to go. Professor, I must be going to research.
4. EXT. BACK STREET, EAST GERMANY, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY/ INT. DR. FRANCIS' OFFICE, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - We see a subtitle, "West Germany". Through a back street connecting a junk yard to the rest of the city, we see a worried-looking MERGRAVE.
CLOSE-UP - MERGRAVE pauses and breathes in.
CUT - We see some officious INTERPOL AGENT in uniform chasing MERGRAVE who is rushing towards a telephone box.
MERGRAVE (trying to ring DR. FRANCIS, phone ringing)
Frederick, it is me, Hermann Mergrave. I found the conductor.
SPLIT-SCREEN - We see DR. FRANCIS' OFFICE in LONDON, where DR. FRANCIS answers the phone, on the right side of the SCREEN, MERGRAVE in GERMANY on the left. PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR is behind him.
DR. FRANCIS (nodding)
Where is it, Mergrave?
MERGRAVE (rushing)
Interpol have found out.
DR. FRANCIS (shocked)
Why?
MERGAVE (worried)
They think that I helped revive Del Grady. Scotland Yard said they had located a body resembling him in Wapping, but now that body is gone!
DR. FRANCIS (worried)
Christ! And how did they find you?
MERGRAVE (whispering, troubled)
They had a whistleblower in the tourist department, HW Koch. They think I'm defecting. The Conductor is powerful, could be used for a weapon. It is not in Britain or in Germany.
DR. FRANCIS (stressed)
Where is it?
MERGRAVE (trying to think, struggling, INTERPOL AGENT rearing up)
In Ireland!
DR. FRANCIS (quick)
Near the house of the Countess?
MERGRAVE (clueless)
Perhaps, but it is hidden. No one knows what it is. It must be big though, about seven feet tall, with a large rectangular central power unit.
CUT - Suddenly, the INTERPOL AGENT grabs MERGRAVE, and pulls him away. The split-screen breaks away so only the scenes in London can be seen.
CUT - In LONDON, DR. FRANCIS looks solemn.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (unaware)
What is it, Geoffrey?
DR. FRANCIS (overwhelmed)
Nothing.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (angry)
Of course, there is. Be quick. Branagh needs her files. Alf Adamson needs some biology equipment, Gerry Warren is in hospital, crashed his Honda, needs to be filled in for the lecture.
DR. FRANCIS (rushing)
And I'd say Kenton wants you to help with his homework. I know!
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (feigning interest)
Alright, so what did he say?
DR. FRANCIS (solemn)
Interpol arrested MERGRAVE as they believe the conductor was used in reviving Del Grady.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (huffing and puffing in mockery)
How ridiculous. Always looking for an excuse.
DR. FRANCIS (rolls eyes)
I need to get to Ireland.
CLOSE-UP- PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR nods.
PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR (stern, teacher-like)
Get a tugboat. Don't arouse suspicion among the East German spies back at Irish Ferries...
CUT - PROFESSOR ST. CLAIR prepares to leave, while DR. FRANCIS takes out a battered suitcase.
5. EXT. BRAY BEACH, NIGHT, PRESENT DAY
CUT - We see outside a BOATHOUSE, MEL WELLES, an old Irish seadog, beard fringed with breadcrumbs smoking a pipe outside the town BOATHOUSE.
CUT - Across the sea, we see a tugboat.
CUT - We see DR. FRANCIS sitting on a deckchair on the starboard of the ship, against the cold waves. He is waving.
CLOSE-UP - Tossing gray waves in the cold, wet wintry sea.
CUT - The ship washes up on the sandy BEACH. WELLES jumps out, with his suitcase, dressed in a dinner suit, his jacket blowing in the wind against the rocky, coal-strewn BEACH.
DR. FRANCIS (to WELLES)
Excuse me, where is the Countess Irina?
WELLES (walking towards DR. FRANCIS)
I'm Welles, Mel Welles, and I don't know what you are talking about.
DR. FRANCIS (clearly spoken, deadpan, a little confused)
Countess Irina Frankenstein, I believe she lives nearby.
WELLES (laughing)
Stop codding me, "Frankenstein", it's not Halloween, boy!
DR. FRANCIS (apologetic)
Sorry, I must have gotten the name wrong.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS is trying to think.
CUT - While DR. FRANCIS is trying to think, we see WELLES being attacked by a creature, a spider made up of eight stitched-together arms with long fingernails. The ARM-SPIDER, a stop-motion HARRYHAUSEN-type monster jumps onto WELLES' chest.
WLLES (screaming, in pain)
Help me, you English fool!
CUT - DR. FRANCIS turns around, alerted by the screaming. He looks horrified and confused.
CUT - The ARM-SPIDER pulls out WELLES' intestines, strung out two of its arms so the other arms can play the intestines like a guitar. It jumps towards a lamppost, dragging WELLES' carelesly-dismembered, bloody-faced corpse with it. The ARM-SPIDER scratches the lamppost, getting a relieving electric shock that makes it jump.
CUT - We see the ARM-SPIDER jolt with electricity, lightning around it, looking excited. WELLES is thrown away.
CUT - WELLES explodes, gushing a fountain of blood onto the beach.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS tries to flinch, but he is so fascinated that his eyes remain on the tragedy.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS follows the ARM-SPIDER along the beach, hoping that it will lead him to COUNTESS IRINA.
6. EXT. BACK STREET, BRAY PROMENADE, NIGHT, PRESENT DAY
CUT - By a dingy terraced back street, we see DR. FRANCIS pressed against the wall on the right side, by a sign advertising "Cunha Hawaiian Snacks", while the ARM-SPIDER walks, which now has a scissor impaled into one of its hands.
CLOSE-UP - The ARM-SPIDER scratches its back (emblazoned with a tattoo reading "Unbound") with one of its hands, unaware that it is with its scissor-hand. It does not make a squeak, as it has no mouth.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS looks relieved. `
CUT - DR. FRANCIS grabs the ARM-SPIDER. Its arms flail around, but DR. FRANCIS reaches in for the centre, its torso, a huge electric bolt used to conduct electricity.
CLOSE-UP - We see DR. FRANCIS' hand rip out the bolt from the ARM-SPIDER's eight-legs, in which it nestles at their center.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS drops the disembodied arms now separated from the coil and prepares to walk down.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS' worried eyes.
FADE TO BLACK.
7. INT. BACK ROOM, STRAND HOTEL, BRAY, NIGHT, PRESENT DAY
FADE-OUT - DR. FRANCIS wakes up. He looks around. He is in a really tacky bedroom, very 70s, a wicker chair by a desk, a 1970s-era TV, a bed with Polar Bear bedcover, and floral wallpaper, that "Chinese Girl" painting print, another picture of a Weeping Orphan. It is clearly a hotel run by an old couple, the wife of the couple keeping it pretty and stuck in the past. There are even doilies on the desk, some sachets of sauce, a Goblin teasmade and a draft excluder in the form of a plush snake.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS looks bored.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS checks under the bed. There is nothing there.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS gets up and turns on the TV. There is no remote control.
CUT - We see on the TV, bad reception, a BBC NEWSREADER reading a report.
BBC NEWSREADER (RP, reading lines off a clipboard)
The East End criminal Delbert Grady who went missing in 1980 has been sighted in Ireland, over thirty years after he vaniseed, and has according to rumours come to explain his disappearance, perhaps to exploit his ties with the IRA.
CLOSE-UP - We see DR. FRANCIS' horrified face.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS reaches out and changes channel once more to late-night BBC 2, where they are showing a FRANKENSTEIN film, possibly Hammer or Universal.
DR. FRANCIS (to himself)
Ah, the irony...
CUT - Suddenly, an elderly waitress, IDA comes in with a tray, her hands visibly shaking. She'll almost drop it. The CAMERA follows her.
IDA (in throaty Irish accent)
Hello love!
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Are you the waitress?
IDA (walking over towards DR. FRANCIS' bed, CAMERA follows)
Yes, I'm Ida. The manageress sent me up.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
You mean the Countess?
IDA (nodding)
Is that what she calls herself? No wonder, she's as uppity as the Blackpool Tower, Jessica. Doing weird stuff.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Jessica?
IDA (nodding)
That's her name, Jessica Franco. Must be Spanish or summat. Then again, she is weird.
DR. FRANCIS (scratching his head)
What weird stuff?
IDA (whispery)
Transplants, monsters, maybe even the odd murder...
CLOSE-UP - IDA, taking a teacup from the tray suddenly drops her little finger off her hand, into the cup.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS realises IDA is not as human as she looks.
CLOSE-UP - In the teacup, a WORM climbs out of IDA's severed finger.
IDA (apologetic)
Oh, I must explain...
CUT - DR. FRANCIS looks bemused.
DR. FRANCIS (bemused)
Did she do surgery on you?
IDA (clearly lying)
Yes, well she is a Frankenstein! I lost me finger while knitting.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS runs out of the room.
8. INT. HOTEL LOBBY. STRAND HOTEL, BRAY, NIGHT, PRESENT DAY
CUT - We see the dark stairway, lit only by a few mounted candles. DR. FRANCIS walks down atmospherically.
CUT - We see in the darkened HOTEL LOBBY, lit only by mounted candelabra, the beautiful, striking COUNTESS IRINA, dark-haired, her hair tossed into a ballerina bun.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Are you Irina?
COUNTESS IRINA (sarcastically)
No, I'm Jessica Franco. Of course I'm Irina! Jessica's my alias to avoid being found out.
DR. FRANCIS (nodding)
I see. I won't tell.
COUTNESS IRINA (in Mid-Atlantic accent)
Mr. Francis, I've been expecting you.
DR. FRANCIS (seen only from the back, across from COUNTESS IRINA
It is Dr. Francis, actually.
COUNTESS IRINA (relieved)
Ah, a higher class of citizen. You may wonder what is wrong with IDA, my housekeeper/maid, well she is a relative...
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
What do you mean?
CUT - We see IRINA and DR. FRANCIS beside each other.
COUNTESS IRINA (nervous)
She's the Bride.
DR. FRANCIS (laughing)
But that's only a story, the Bride of Frankenstein...
COUNTESS IRINA (deadpan)
It's a story, but it did inspire truth. Ida was the bride of Inigo Frankenstein, my grandfather, but she was struck by lightning and died. By putting bolts in her skeleton, he was able to revive her, going by the book of Shelley inspired by his grandfather Clement.
DR. FRANCIS (thinking)
Yes, that sounds accurate. I did know he was married to an Irish woman named Ida.
COUNTESS IRINA (pouring out a glass from out of nowhere)
Indeed, my family is indeed fractured. She is my grandmother, but I don't think people would believe me, as we come from different worlds.
DR. FRANCIS (smiling)
I believe you.
CUT - In the dark, we see some candlelight pouring on the floorboards, where we see two ants stitched together to form a sort of SIAMESE-CONJOINED ANT. Suddenly, we see COUNTESS IRINA's foot squash it down, with her pointe-heel shoe.
CLOSE-UP - COUNTESS IRINA feigns a smile of recognition.
COUNTESS IRINA (nodding)
Thanks.
DR. FRANCIS (threateningly in ffront of COUNTESS IRINA)
Irina, where is the Generator?
COUNTESS IRINA (mockingly)
Where I put it! It gives my good genes to keep me young.
DR. FRANCIS (sarcastic)
Yes, it pressed you some Levi's!
CUT - DR. FRANCIS and COUNTESS IRINA get into a brief fight, IRINA pushing DR. FRANCIS to the ground and keeping him down.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS gets up and turns on the light-switch.
CLOSE-UP - COUNTESS IRINA looks horrified.
CUT - We see the room is bleached red in blood, patches of garish emerald shamrock wallpaper visible, the blood pumped via a collection of lurid yellow pipes into the concierge desk, over which hangs a disturbing frayed painting of the mad-grey-frizz-haired, badly-burned, grey-skinned, bespectacled INIGO FRANKENSTEIN and another portrait, of his son CESARE (pronounced Ches-air-ray), a tall, moustachioed handsome gent.
CLOSE-UP - COUNTESS IRINA is upset, hands on her eyes.
COUNTESS IRINA (bemoaning the situation)
My family is about to fall! I could have lived to the age of a hundred, like my father, who used electricity to keep himself fresh, spent years trying to find a woman to birth a child, until twenty-nine years ago. There were other INSUFFICIENT heirs, abandoned, not worthy of the Frankenstein name. Brutus, come here!
CUT - The paintings of INIGO and CESARE FRANKENSTEIN burn away to reveal a hole, out of which BRUTUS, a tiger with dog's legs but metallic hooked feet that act as hands, and a zebra-tail.
DR. FRANCIS (rushing in front of Brutus, horrified)
What sort of lion is it, a compote of monstrous madness?
COUNTESS IRINA (wryly smiling)
Like any single-woman, my favorite pastime is cross-stitch.
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA rips out a whip.
COUNTESS IRINA (lashing BRUTUS with the whip)
Haaaalt! Kiiiiilll!
CUT - BRUTUS leaps out and attacks IDA, ripping her shoddy-sewn body-parts away to reveal the metal joints.
COUNTESS IRINA (angry, then relieved)
That's for being a bad grandmother. Don't worry - she was dead anyway, and about 120, if the last count was done...
DR. FRANCIS (threatened by BRUTUS)
Where is the conductor, where did you put it?
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA looks tired and about to put herself up.
COUNTESS IRINA (thinking, stopping BRUTUS)
It is a grave, the family grave, the bodies of Clement, the original inspiration, Clement's son Heinrich, Heinrich's son Inigo, Inigo's son and my father and the myriad sisters and brothers, Elizabeth, Fantasia, dear, dear Uncle Partario, Calvin, Rowland, James, Terence, Jacinto, Igorre Klimovsky, all of them...
DR. FRANCIS (quizzical)
Is that in Ireland?
COUNTESS IRINA (serious)
It was 3 crosses all made out of metal to conduct electricity, so it could become the grave masthead. I have the middle cross. The other two remain in Germany, but I have it planned to be shipped.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
How, wouldn't it be heavy?
COUNTESS IRINA (laughing)
Ha ha ha, actually, many of them were cremated, except my father and Igorre, a distant aunt who died aged 17. It isn't heavy, not that heavy, at least. I must sedate Brutus.
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA uses a buzzer-type device to sedate BRUTUS, who falls across her.
DR. FRANCIS (hard, quick)
What about the bodies of the homunculi, the creations?
CLOSE-UP - A tear rattles off COUNTESS IRINA's left eye.
COUNTESS IRINA (sad)
Many of them were burnt by locals as witches, but one escaped...
CUT - DR. FRANCIS, standing beside IRINA looks at her, curiously.
DR. FRANCIS (electrified by the revelation)
What was it?
COUNTESS IRINA (wistfully)
Clem, he called him, after his grandfather, the original human stitch-together, containing some parts of Clement and Rowland, the reason why they were cremated so they would not look weird as corpses! (briefly titters) However, he went missing, gained intelligence, though he was alive in the 1880s, he lived to the 1940s, a wanderer, but in the late 1920s, early 1930s, he fell in love, of all things, now old enough to pass as human, having gained intelligence, and met an ex-hooker, Daphne Fisher.
DR. FRANCIS (curious)
And then, what happened?
COUNTESS IRINA (smiling)
She had a child!
DR. FRANCIS (in shock)
Of course, they can reproduce - that's the truth I've been trying to find any evidence of this, but I wasn't so sure, given that technically, the sex cells would be dead.
COUNTESS IRINA (laughing, pulling DR. FRANCIS' cheek)
The sex cells can be revived by the force of the electricity, silly!
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Who was this child, and where is he or she?
COUNTESS IRINA (thinking)
No records show the gender. Shortly, after the child was born, Daphne's old boyfriend came in, and booted Clem out, snatching Daphne and her child. Daphne and Clem kept in contact, until 1940, in which Clem was killed by a Nazi bombing raid, on London.
DR. FRANCIS (suddenly gets a brainwave)
Is the child alive?
COUNTESS IRINA (thinking)
No one knows, Daphne was killed in the raid, so was the child, I presume.
DR. FRANCIS (cunning)
It's Del Grady, the reason why he stopped aging in his forties. His mother was Daphne Grady.
COUNTESS IRINA (laughing)
How do you know?
DR. FRANCIS (convinced, determined)
It was in the papers. She was an ex-prostitute killed by a bomb in the Blitz.
COUNTESS IRINA (bemused)
Really? I have no contact with the underworld. I am above it all, to be frank.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS lifts open the desk of the lobby.
CUT - The pipes around the lobby fold down and drop.
CUT - The desk moves away to reveal three large metal crosses protruding out of it, built on a metal slab with two spinning wheels connected with electric wire.
DR. FRANCIS (ecstatic)
You lied, you had the Generator, all of it!
COUNTESS IRINA (contradicting DR. FRANCIS, obsessed)
Not the central control, which allows all of the crosses to operate as one magnetic device, not three separate ones!
DR. FRANCIS (removing wire from the wainscoting of the floor, tying up the crosses)
Here, that'll do!
CUT - DR. FRANCIS opens up one of the pipes, some thunder flying through it.
CUT - The thunder hits the crosses of the Generator.
COUNTESS IRINA (seductive)
I'm sad!
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
What do you mean?
COUNTESS IRINA (seductive)
Kiss me!
CUT - As DR. FRANCIS and COUNTESS IRINA embrace, COUNTESS IRINA pulls him towards a loose pipe, about to knock his head off it.
DR. FRANCIS (getting up, swinging his head)
You duplicitious bitch! Don't you see the danger, this Generator is beckoning Grady.
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA looks mad.
COUNTESS IRINA (confused)
I will continue the reign of Frankenstein.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS leaves the hotel through the broken lobby door.
9. EXT. STRAND HOTEL, BRAY BEACH, EARLY MORNING, PRESENT DAy
CUT - We see DR. FRANCIS standing on the steps of the HOTEL EXTERIOR, looking around in the dawning early morning. As he walks behind, he hears something.
COUNTESS IRINA (00V, only a scream)
Heeelpp!!!
CUT - Some lightning thunders out of the chimney and the roof of the HOTEL goes on fire. DR. FRANCIS runs out.
FADE-OUT.
10. EXT. STRAND HOTEL, BRAY BEACH, LATE MORNING, PRESENT DAY
FADE-IN - "7 HOURS LATER", according to a pop-up SUBTITLE, and the hotel is a smoking ruin. All that is left is the Generator. We see a burly bearded FIREMAN, RANDALL escort DR. FRANCIS.
DR. FRANCIS (threatening)
Where is the manageress?
FIREMAN (Irish, easygoing)
Missing, presumed dead. We found the old maid.
DR. FRANCIS (wearily)
Her grandmother, as fragile as a shattered whalebone corset.
FIREMAN (nodding, surprised)
Really, such a strange woman, that manageress!
DR. FRANCIS (quizzical)
Did you also find a lion?
FIREMAN (nodding)
Yeh, a full-sized stuffed one, badly burnt! (To his men) Gaffney, Hessler, get that lion out in one shot!
CUT - We see the destroyed BRUTUS being carried out by two other FIREMEN in 1970s fire gear. DR. FRANCIS walks over to the Generator.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS is kneeling by the Generator, patting it and smiles. However, a figure rears up to him - DEL GRADY, a 50-ish man, balding with sideburns, greying-black-haired gangster in a long trenchcoat, not unlike HAROLD SHAND (BOB HOSKINS) in The Long Good Friday. For a while, without few or any CLOSE-UPS, he is hung over DR. FRANCIS, standing by the Generator.
DEL GRADY (holding a gun to DR. FRANCIS' head, Cockney, lairy)
You IRA? I had a feeling you were based here.
DR. FRANCIS (pushing away the gun carelessly)
I'm English, can't you see?
DEL GRADY (harsh)
I know.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
Where were you?
DEL GRADY (hushed)
In Amsterdam. And if you are wondering about the youthful looks, apparently me dad had good genes.
DR. FRANCIS (curious)
Why did you come here?
DEL GRADY (tough)
Just a gut instinct. They say I'm psychic.
DR. FRANCIS (curious)
Why?
DEL GRADY (pulls the gun in further towards DR. FRANCIS)
Why you wondrin'?
DR. FRANCIS (nervous)
Just out of curiosity?
DEL GRADY (quiet but threatening)
They say my mother had it.
DR. FRANCIS (slightly shaky, nervous)
Just again out of curiousity, was her name Daphne?
DEL GRADY (confused)
Yes, you know her?
DR. FRANCIS (nervous)
She's dead, isn't he?
DEL GRADY (quiet, nervous but pretending to be confident, moves gun away)
Yeah!
DR. FRANCIS (confident)
And she was killed in 1940, in a bomb blast when you aged between seven and ten.
DEL GRADY (nodding, quiet, harsh, emotionless)
Yeh, and I was taken in by Aunt Val.
DR. FRANCIS (nodding in recognition)
Now that I didn't know.
DEL GRADY (hard-man image, tough, threatening, moves gun back in)
How do you know this stuff?
DR. FRANCIS (breathing in and out)
Did you know your father?
DEL GRADY (confident, quiet)
Well, he left when I were little. I don't remember much of him.
DR. FRANCIS (curious)
His name?
DEL GRADY (enthusiastic all of a sudden)
Frank!
DR. FRANCIS (underwhelmed)
I was expecting the name Clem.
DEL GRADY (baring arm)
Yeh, Clem Frank, I think that was his name, or at least what they called him. I think he was an immigrant.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS, looking at DEL GRADY's wrist is horrified.
CLOSE-UP - We see on DEL GRADY's wrist a stitch-like birthmark.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS tries to hide his amazement.
DR. FRANCIS (anguished)
His name was Frankenstein, Clement Frankenstein Junior!
CUT - DEL is positioned, still hung over DR. FRANCIS.
DEL GRADY (cocky, laughing DR. FRANCIS off, still hung over DR. FRANCIS)
What, you messing?
DR. FRANCIS (nodding, tired)
No, no, I'm serious.
DEL GRADY (shakes head cockily, laughs)
What, was he a monster?
DR. FRANCIS (nodding)
In a way, your grandmother just died. She was the maid, the wife of Inigo Frankenstein, who created your father. They were carnival men, who made pigs with cats' bodies, stitched-together animal corpses, inspiring a visiting Mary Shelley, before inspired by her book, the original's grandson Inigo did the same, creating your father, a revivication of the original Clement Frankenstein, the carnival man who inspired Shelley...
DEL GRADY (laughing)
Silly...
DR. FRANCIS (serious, overwhelming)
That stitch birthmark is a sign you are a product of the Generator. It birthed your father, thereby it birthed you!
CUT - DEL GRADY mockingly kicks the Generator, only for it to spring to life and a thrust of blue lightning hits him in the chest. DEL GRADY faints.
DR. FRANCIS (looking down on DEL GRADY)
I need to get to Germany.
FIREMAN (laughing)
The Countess is probably dead, burnt to a crisp.
DR. FRANCIS (snide)
She's a clever sort.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS attempts to hitch a ride.
CUT - A wedding cab pulls up.
11. INT. WEDDING CAB, BRAY, MORNING, PRESENT DAY
CUT - DR. FRANCIS enters the cab to see that it is driven by a young, attractive, brown-haired bride, ELLEN, her hair in a neat bun, in a frothy white dress.
DR. FRANCIS (amused)
The bride is driving the car?
ELLEN (hushing)
Hush it, I'm undercover. I'm Ellen Brooks Saxon, reporter for the Conspiracist Herald, A Roddam publication.
DR. FRANCIS (in recogntion)
Oh, yes, that publication on the unknown, supernatural stuff. Are you forced to declare it as a Roddam publication since Roddam took it over from the Mancinis?
ELLEN (nodding)
Yes, I am, by the way. I know it is a mouthful. By the way, I think this hotel is connected to the Frankenstein family.
DR. FRANCIS (wearily)
You couldn't be more right.
ELLEN (surprised)
Really?
DR. FRANCIS (serious)
Yes, Countess Irina is the last of them.
ELLEN (laughing)
She a Countess? I knew they were related to the Frankenstein aristocracy, but she a Countess?
DR. FRANCIS (scholarly)
Clement left the family as he hated the aristocracy, so she is technically Countess, but none of the others went by that name. I wonder will Del Grady do so, now he knows the truth.
ELLEN (curious)
What, that London gangster's a Frankenstein?
DR. FRANCIS (light-hearted)
No, not quite, he's the son of Inigo's Frankenstein creation, as Inigo's grandfather Clement who inspired Shelley only made for carnivals and occultists, cats' heads on fish-bodies and so on to ostensibly ward off psirits. Inigo, inspired by Shelley revived the corpse of Clement, with some other body parts put in for good measure and created Clem, who wanted for fifty years and bedded Daphne, Del Grady's mother.
ELLEN (overwhelmed)
So, that's where the birthmark comes from?
DR. FRANCIS (nodding, serious)
Yes, it is, the stitch is the single remnant of his unholy legacy.
ELLEN (curious)
Where are you planning on going?
DR. FRANCIS (doubting his opinion)
To Germany, back to the Frankenstein castle, and to see if my contact there, Mergrave is alright.
ELLEN (smiling)
Alright, I will accompany you.
DR. FRANCIS (charmed)
I will accept that offer.
12. EXT. AIRPORT, GERMANY, EARLY AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - Stock footage of a 1970s plane flying to Europe accompanied by jazzy giallo-esque muzak (think Stelvio Cipriani's Baron Blood soundtrack).
CUT - ELLEN, still in her dress and DR. FRANCIS exit the plane and run onto the tarmac, with a single suitcase between them.
CUT - On the tarmac, ELLEN rips her dress off to reveal a full skirt-suit underneath.
ELLEN (relieved)
Always be prepared.
CUT - MERGRAVE appears with a trolley.
MERGRAVE (old, doddery)
Hello Dr. Francis!
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS looks relieved.
DR. FRANCIS (happily)
Oh, Mergrave, you're alive.
CUT - MERGRAVE walks up to ELLEN and DR. FRANCIS.
MERGRAVE (excited)
Yes, they freed me, once Grady reappeared. And I have found some interesting news.
DR. FRANCIS (excited)
What is it?
MERGRAVE (excited)
The Frankensteins and Del Grady have returned to the castle with the Generator.
ELLEN (shocked)
That was quick.
MERGRAVE (hopeful)
There are two Generators. One half in Ireland, and the other half of the grave is here, in the Castle, buried in the roof.
DR. FRANCIS (happy)
Of course, I knew the grave was too small, even for cremation. It'd still have to house two or three corpses.
MERGRAVE (matter of fact)
Yes, there are six crosses, but the three here are TV aerials.
ELLEN (relieved)
That's an interesting case of multiple usage.
MERGRAVE (charmingly)
Who is this attractive young lady?
ELLEN (nodding)
I'm Myra Brooks, a soap opera actress.
MERGRAVE (suspicious)
I get more of a journalistic ring.
ELLEN (slightly stressed)
Ah, I was bound to reveal it anyway, I'm Ellen actually, a journalist.
MERGRAVE (smiling)
Oh good, I'll still take you in the Land Rover.
ELLEN (whispering in DR. FRANCIS' ear)
He seems a mite too easygoing.
MERGRAVE (shaking his head, stil whispering)
You should see him drunk.
CUT - A SHOT of the Land Rover leaving the airport and entering country roads.
13. EXT. CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN, EAST GERMANY, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - Another SHOT of the Land Rover going through GERMANY, before reaching the magisterial CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS and ELLEN get out of the LAND ROVER, ELLEN being in the back, as there is not enough room in the front.
DR. FRANCIS (looking up, seen only from the back, the CASTLE dominating the screen)
Still in the same state of disrepair, I see.
CLOSE-UP - ELLEN looks amazed.
ELLEN (looking up)
Jeez, that is a big castle! Like some medieval skyscraper!
CUT - MERGRAVE escorts them to the drawbridge.
MERGRAVE (excited, cracks in the surface showing)
I must show you the back entrance.
CUT - As they reach the drawbridge, we see something odd, CESARE FRANKENSTEIN, his head placed on a bulky electric body with claw-arms, fizzing with electricity. He is dead-eyed, brainless, aerials hanging out of his head where his brain should be.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS' jaw drops.
DR. FRANCIS (shocked)
Oh, so that's where his head went to. They must have put an aerial where his brain was.
ELLEN (confused)
What is this?
DR. FRANCIS (serious)
Not what, who! This is Cesare Frankenstein, reliving his days as a Nazi officer.
CUT - MERGRAVE nods.
MERGRAVE (nodding)
Indeed, he was a Scientific Advisor to Hitler.
CUT - CESARE FRANKENSTEIN trundles onto the drawbridge.
CUT - ELLEN pulls up the drawbridge.
CUT - CESARE FRANKENSTEIN is flung off the drawbridge and into the river, exploding into a river of shock waves.
DR. FRANCIS (relieved, walking towards the river)
That was good work, Ellen.
CUT - ELLEN nods in recognition.
ELLEN (flirty)
I know, buck.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS looks displeased.
DR. FRANCIS (angry)
Don't call me buck!
CUT - CESARE FRANKENSTEIN's mechanical arm climbs out of the water and pulls in MERGRAVE.
MERGRAVE (screaming)
Help! Help! Help!
CUT - Suddenly, COUNTESS IRINA, in a black leather catsuit appears.
COUNTESS IRINA (sinister)
I'm only keeping it in the family.
MERGRAVE (screaming in the river)
She's just a pawn.
COUNTESS IRINA (laughing)
A pawn, brother?
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS is confused.
DR. FRANCIS (shocked)
Cesare is Mergrave's father?
CUT - MERGRAVE nods, his father still holding him.
MERGRAVE (nodding)
I know! He was young, before he became a scientist, when he was a student. My mother was a student too at the same university. Mergrave was the name of my stepfather. Being a Frankenstein was seen as shame. However, it is nepotism why I work here. I am old enough to be my sister's father.
CUT - ELLEN tries to pull away the mechanical arm in the river, but she is not strong enough.
ELLEN (curious)
Did your family connections help you?
MERGRAVE (laughing)
Well to escape the Stasi during the olden days!
CUT - The arm's mechanical claw loosens and MERGRAVE jumps out onto the ground.
MERGRAVE (grateful)
Thanks, Father!
CUT - We see the arm fall in, accompanied by CESARE's dying gurgle.
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA looks angry.
COUNTESS IRINA (horrified)
Oh god, why why why?
DR. FRANCIS (curious)
Who are you a pawn of, Irina?
MERGRAVE (angry)
Del Grady has subsumed her!
DEL GRADY (appearing out of nowhere)
I certainly 'ave. Come on in!
14. INT. GREAT ENTRANCE, CASTLE FRANKENSTIEN, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - In the huge GREAT ENTRANCE, like a cavern, we see the long dinner table, opposite the staircase, where DEL sits, reading an issue of the Daily Mail. We see at the top of the ceiling, the Generator.
CUT - At the table, ELLEN rips from it two bits of wood and using sellotape, fashions an old-fashioned bow and arrow.
CUT - ELLEN fires the arrow at the Generator. It falls down, and breaks the table.
DEL GRADY (anguished)
No, my power is gone!
CUT - Suddenly, DEL GRADY becomes something, his head flattened, his chin rectangular.
ELLEN (confused)
What is happening?
MERGRAVE (clever)
He's become his idea of what the Monster is, the traditional Karloffian image.
DEL GRADY (sounding disabled, his chin's new shape blocking him from speaking properly)
Hulp may!
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA jumps out and strangles DEL GRADY.
COUNTESS IRINA (thoroughly evil)
Now I have the power!
DEL GRADY (being choked, pushes away COUNTESS IRINA)
Schtep awee, yar trollop!
CUT - DEL GRADY gets up and walks about, his arms misshaping and paralysed. He can only stand upright, standing increasingly Karloffian.
CUT - ELLEN whispers in DR. FRANCIS' ear.
ELLEN (confused)
I don't think Irina's a pawn of Del.
DR. FRANCIS (nodding)
I know what you mean. I think there's room for a mystery.
CUT - MERGRAVE stands up, trying to stop the carnage.
CLOSE-UP - DEL GRADY's eyes inflate.
CUT - DEL GRADY walks into the Generator and is electrocuted, his body covered in stitches.
DEL GRADY (creepy)
I'm about to blow!
CUT - DR. FRANCIS runs outside.
CUT - ELLEN and MERGRAVE chase COUNTESS IRINA and the dying, flaming DEL GRADY into the cellar, down a staircase.
15. EXT. CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - A brief CUTAWAY SHOT of DR. FRANCIS outside the castle, hyperventilating in relievement.
16. INT. UNDERGROUND LAB, CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN, AFTERNOON, PRESENT DAY
CUT - In the traiditonal cellar lab, a retrofitted cavern, we see a stretcher, KENNETH STRICKFADEN-type electric equipment, wheels, surgical lights. Through a trapdoor, the Generator is lowered down on a platform, by a coffin on a conveyor belt.
COUNTESS IRINA (dominating and chewing the scenery, OTT)
I shall conquer.
ELLEN (confused)
Conquer what?
COUNTESS IRINA (insane)
Conquer the modern world!
ELLEN (unhappy)
But why...
COUNTESS IRINA (insane)
It's fun! And anyway, technology needs to be reversed, so that a new Golden Age can begin! (Turns theatrical, points away) Flame on, Del!
CUT - Suddenly - DEL GRADY begins to turn into a living flame, HUMAN TORCH-style. He pounces on ELLEN, who uses a surgical lamp hung from above as a shield.
CUT - DEL GRADY burns to a crisp, screaming and runs out through a window.
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA laughs. Suddenly, in front of her walks ELLEN. They have a catfight, rolling around, breaking equipment and turning the lab into a bombsite, until ELLEN manages to disable COUNTESS IRINA by sliding a stretcher over her.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS walks in, carefully, trying not to be noticed and prepares to use the lab-phone.
MERGRAVE (angry)
Don't ring the authorities!
DR. FRANCIS (careless)
Why not?
MERGRAVE (sudden)
I am not the son of Cesare.
ELLEN (confused)
Who are you then?
MERGRAVE (sinister)
Who do you think I am?
ELLEN (honest)
We do not know.
MERGRAVE (mock-weeping)
I just killed my son.
CUT - MERGRAVE reveals a scar on his chest, and some stitches.
CLOSE-UP - DR. FRANCIS is horrified.
DR. FRANCIS (horrified)
You're Clem! No wonder that brain was unused. Clement Frankenstein's original brain was used.
CUT - MERGRAVE smiles to a confused ELLEN.
MERGRAVE (nodding)
Yes, I was the one behind it all. There were all my pawns, and I too am a pawn.
ELLEN (confused)
A pawn of who?
MERGRAVE (warm, nice)
The combined spirits of Inigo and the original Clement Frankenstein, they plan to dive the world into a new Golden Age. Will you join me, as King and Queen of a new technological age of peace, of control, of prosperity?
CUT - ELLEN and DR. FRANCIS look unsure, and are halfway-between smiling.
17. INT. GREAT ENTRANCE, CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN, EVENING, PRESENT DAY
CUT - ELLEN, MERGRAVE and DR. FRANCIS walk up the stairs, the disabled IRINA brought up in the Coffin on the conveyor belt.
CLOSE-UP - ELLEN looks relieved.
CUT - MERGRAVE is tired and wearily drops his head down.
MERGRAVE (sad)
I guess it's a no from you.
CUT - ELLEN and DR. FRANCIS shake their heads sadly.
CUT - COUNTESS IRINA gets up, out of the coffin, angered and powerful.
COUNTESS IRINA (suspicious)
I shall take power back from a corpse!
CUT - Behind ELLEN and DR. FRANCIS' backs, COUNTESS IRINA opens up a wall to reveal the Emergency Radiator, twice as large as a normal radiator.
CLOSE-UP - MERGRAVE looks horrified at IRINA.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP - MERGRAVE's eyes looks angry.
CUT - MERGRAVE, once again monstrous leaps onto IRINA and plugs her hand into the Radiator. Both are electrocuted, screaming and armoured in lethal blue thunder.
MERGRAVE (both relieved and screaming with pain)
Go on, Frederick! Run!
CUT - IRINA is firmly trapped and enmeshed in the wires of the Radiator. MERGRAVE, his body fried and chargrilled is fired from the Radiator. As it hits the ground, his corpse collapses into ash.
CUT - ELLEN and DR. FRANCIS run out, ELLEN taking some nunchuks off a wall (used as decoration), but out of a trapdoor rise other guardian homunculi, an OWL-BOY, a human head on an owl's body with little hands strapped onto the wings and the SMILER, a circus clown with inflated cheeks.
DR. FRANCIS (confused)
These must be the other homunculi.
CUT - As ELLEN leaves, she is chased by the SMILER, wraps the nunchuks around the clown's head and breaks it off the neck.
18. EXT. CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN, EVENING, PRESENT DAY
CUT - The CASTLE, lashed with electricity explodes, a minor MUSHROOM CLOUD hanging over it, the historic pile falling down, its gargoyles dropping down, bricks beginning to rain down, the roof cracked with thunder and lightning, the screams of COUNTESS IRINA echoing around it.
CUT - ELLEN fights the OWL-BOY and tosses it into the Coffin, which due to the closed Conveyor Belt, is stuck and eventually explodes.
CUT - ELLEN and DR. FRANCIS stand by the remains of the castle, relieved.
CUT - DR. FRANCIS walks over to the lake, following a MOUSE with two stitched tails.
DR. FRANCIS (looking at the lake)
I think we need a rest.
CUT - Suddenly, wearing the remains of CESARE's machine, the burnt DEL GRADY jumps out for a SHOCK ENDING, and jumps on DR. FRANCIS. ELLEN throws a stone at DEL GRADY.
DEL GRADY (again Human)
You fool, you underestimated the power of... (In Mid-Sentence, he is brained by the stone and starts to bleed, falling back into the river!)
CLOSE-UP - ELLEN.
ELLEN (smiling, helping out the tired, almost unconscious DR. FRANCIS)
Ellen and Frederick...
CUT - DR. FRANCIS begins to wake up.
DR. FRANCIS (tired)
Thank god, is it all done?
ELLEN (nods)
Yessum, better get you to a hospital!
CUT - ELLEN carries DR. FRANCIS into the LAND ROVER, and drives away.
CUT - We see among the ruins of the castle, a CAMERA TRACKING ALONG, a hand trapped among the rubble, beginning to grip. The hand then falls down.