CHAPTER 01:
EXT. NEVADA DESERT - IDOLS :
DAY A SLOW DRIFT through a collection of crudely constructed, surreal, six-foot tall "IDOLS." Like modern demons. Grotesque. Disturbing. WE LAP DISSOLVE between details of their twisted anatomies: headlamp eyes, bright metal claws, broken glass teeth.
EXT. NEVADA ROADS - DESERT - DAY:
Two vehicles, one a Volkswagen "bus" decorated with stylized flames, the other a '66 Thunderbird, speeding along a series of eerily empty desert roads, somewhere in a wilderness of sand and heat. END CREDITS.
EXT. NEVADA DESERT - DAY:
A violent WIND HOWLS around, but through the sand we-can just make out a large, ominous building: the HOUSE of William Nix. Its walls are white-washed and scrawled with GRAFFITI. The "family" of IDOLS surrounds the doorway, guarding it. ON SCREEN, the words: '"Nevada - Thirteen Years Ago" .
EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - DAY :
We're at the front door now, which stands open. Leaning against the door-frame is a scrawny, wild-eyed YOUTH, about sixteen. His name is BUTTERFIELD. He's got a brooding, almost sultry look on his face. One of his eyes is black, the other milky blue. He's whittling something with a scalpel. Distantly, the sound of CAR ENGINES. Butterfield narrows his eyes. BUTTERFIELD'S P.O.V. The Volkswagen "bus" and Thunderbird are approaching the house. BUTTERFIELD (softly) Swann...? He turns from the door. In his haste he drops the WOOD he's whittling. He's been carving a DEATH'S HEAD.
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - ROOMS AND CORRIDORS - DAY:
The house no longer serves any domestic function. It has become the temple and dormitory of Nix's small apocalyptic cult. As we go through the house with Butterfield we glimpse a little of what life here is like. The rooms are murky, and chaotic. The walls, PAINTED with scenes of cities and landscapes BURNING, and creatures from some unspeakable nightmare ATTACKING, RAPING, and DEVOURING helpless humanity. The atmosphere is joyless, and oppressive. The passages become progressively darker as the boy makes his way to the heart of the house. Only OIL LAMPS, set on the floor, light these claustrophobic corridors. BUTTERFIELD Master? INT. NIX'S HOUSE - MEDITATION ROOM - DAY A dozen CULTISTS sit cross-legged on the floor in front of their leader, WILLIAM NIX. His black hair grows to his shoulders. His eyes are deep and glittering, his voice seductive. A terrifying yet charismatic presence. All the Cultists - who are a cross-section of obsessives - wear the same simple T-shirts, painted with the cult's SIGIL. They watch Nix in adoration. As Nix speaks, he juggles a FLAME, passing it from hand to hand with casual ease... NIX And the fire said to me: Nix, Nix, you're my instrument. From now on, you'll be called the Puritan... CULTISTS (murmuring) Puritan... NIX You will find a few good men and women, and together, together you will cleanse the world. CULTISTS Yes... Butterfield enters. BUTTERFIELD Master? Nix looks up. BUTTERFIELD Swann's here. Nix rises, smiling. NIX (to Cultists) We'll come back to this. Get about your business. As the Cultists disperse, Nix and Butterfield exit into
INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - DAY:
A place of nightmares. Hanging from the middle of the ceiling is another grotesque SCULPTURE, three times the bulk of a large man, and made of metal, fly-blown animal parts and knotted rope. It is vaguely cruciform, but its swaying, creaking bulk is not even faintly Christian. It is a perverse, sickening image, evoking insanity and agony. From the shadows in the corner, we hear a young girl's soft SOBBING. NIX Hush... Nix goes to the GIRL. She is twelve; beautiful, blonde, and presently in a state of mortal fear. She sits, bound, in a fetal position, her face soaked with SWEAT and TEARS, her mouth BLOODIED, her cheek BRUISED. NIX I said hush. GIRL Please. Let me go. From the opposite corner the SCREECH of Nix's pet BABOON. Nix goes to it. The animal is large and lethal. NIX (to Baboon) What is it? The Baboon pulls on its chain, staring at the Girl and baring its teeth as it screeches. NIX (to Girl) I think he's in love. He unshackles the Baboon. The animal pads toward the Girl, trailing its chain. GIRL Keep it away from me. Nix catches hold of its chain. Holds it back. The Baboon starts screeching again, scrabbling at the Girl, its NAILS catching her arms and legs, drawing BLOOD. GIRL Please... please... Nix watches her terror dispassionately. BUTTERFIELD (also watching, wide- eyed) Want me to shoot Swann? NIX You don't like him, do you? BUTTERFIELD He wants your magic. NIX Maybe. Go fetch him. Butterfield exits. Nix advances on the Girl. GIRL What are you going to do? .