Short from the Done Deal Halloween contest, Oct 2013 "Mating Call" FADE IN EXT. PARTY HOUSE - NIGHT Loud music, raised voices, squeals of laughter, shadows moving around inside. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT And it's Halloween, everyone's wearing costumes, Spiderman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Princess Leia, etc. all licensed of course. Drink flows, people dance, butts get groped. DALE, wearing a grinning plastic pumpkin head, stops CHARLIE who wears a silver robot costume with a square box head and cardboard tube arms. DALE Great party, man! Hey whassup, you on your own tonight? Where's what's-her-face? CHARLIE Didn't work out. DALE That sucks, I thought you two were into each other? CHARLIE No worries man, I've moved on. Charlie has his eye on FOXY LADY, who is dressed as a vixen with a big bushy tail. Foxy Lady returns Charlie's interested look over her shoulder. Dale sees this. DALE Give her one for me, will ya? CHARLIE I'll give her one for both of us. Dale fist-bumps Charlie and moves on. At the booze table, VAMPIRE LADY searches for a bottle that isn't empty. No luck. INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT Vampire Lady searches the fridge. Dammit no booze. She asks a bandage-swathed MUMMY DUDE who shuffles by, VAMPIRE LADY Where's a girl got to go to find a drink around here? Mummy Dude spreads his bandaged hands and MOANS, I dunno! A HEADLESS HORSEMAN with big shoulders pushes by going the other way. HEADLESS HORSEMAN Try the cellar. Vampire Lady looks around, where's the cellar? INT. CELLAR STAIRS - NIGHT The door at the top creaks open. Vampire Lady looks down into the darkness. She fumbles for the light-switch, finds it. A bare bulb reveals the cellar below. Wine bottle racks. Another fridge. A big chest freezer. She gingerly descends, it's awkward to navigate stairs in vampiress spike heels. INT. CELLAR - NIGHT Vampire Lady makes it down in one piece. She examines a couple of wine bottles, reads the labels, puts them back. Nah. She opens the fridge. Here be booze. Big smile. VAMPIRE LADY Jackpot! The brick wall, just behind her, looks different from the rest of the cellar. The brickwork, the cement, is new. And not the work of a master builder. The pointing is poorly done, the concrete's uneven. The bricks seem to want to give way, as if there's some kind of pressure behind them. Vampire Lady selects bottles of vodka, whiskey and gin, trapping them between her arms and her chest. She manages to hang two six-packs from her fingers. She shoulders the fridge door shut and heads for the stairs, struggling to bear the weight. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Charlie talks with Foxy Lady, she's into him, swishing her tail around. INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT Vampire Lady pushes past the Mummy and Headless Horseman, carrying her precious cargo. VAMPIRE LADY 'Scuse me, coming through. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Vampire Lady makes it to the booze table and puts the bottles and six-packs down. Charlie's intimate conversation with Foxy Lady is ignored for a second as he sees Vampire Lady, and wonders... A cheer goes up, booze! Everyone crowds around her like crazy, filling up their glasses, Vampire Lady is pushed out. VAMPIRE LADY Hey! When the crowd thins, Vampire Lady is left looking for a drink for herself, she shakes the bottles. Dammit, empty! A hugely tall dude dressed as FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER comes up to her. He has two glasses, he offers her one. Vampire Lady takes the glass and smiles up at him. INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT Mummy Dude makes out with a LADY MUMMY, the bandages are slowly coming off. Charlie ignores them and passes through the kitchen. INT. CELLAR STAIRS - NIGHT The door opens again -- this time it's Charlie looking down. The light bulb is still on. Charlie hurries downstairs. INT. CELLAR - NIGHT Charlie stands motionless, just his eyes move, scanning the cellar. He focuses on the new brickwork. The shoddy pointing. That pressure bulge. INT. HALLWAY - CELLAR DOOR - NIGHT Charlie closes the cellar door and locks it. He takes the key and slips it into his pocket. INT. PARTY HOUSE - NIGHT A montage of party goings-on, dancing, drinking, making out. Foxy Lady leads Charlie into a room and closes the door. A pile of bandages lies on the kitchen floor. Dale captures a PRINCESS LEIA who allows him to disarm her and interrogate her body. Vampire Lady's glass is empty. She pouts, then smiles up at the Frankenstein's Monster. VAMPIRE LADY I know where we can get more. She gestures for the Monster to follow her, he lumbers after her with arms outstretched, like his namesake. MONSTER Muuuuuuhhh. INT. HALLWAY - CELLAR DOOR - NIGHT Vampire Lady pulls the handle, discovers the door's locked. VAMPIRE LADY Aw! The Monster gently moves her aside, takes hold of the handle, and tugs hard. CRACK! Splintered wood. He opens the door. VAMPIRE LADY You are very useful! She finds the light-switch and descends into the cellar. The Monster follows. INT. CELLAR - NIGHT Vampire Lady raids the fridge, putting bottles into the Monster's waiting arms. VAMPIRE LADY Oooh bourbon. Behind them, in the glow from the fridge light, mixed with their moving shadows, the new brickwork looks even more obvious. The Monster can't carry any more, he's fully laden. Vampire Lady grabs another two six-packs and closes the fridge door. VAMPIRE LADY Let's go, big guy. They head for the stairs. Vampire Lady stops, listens, looks back. VAMPIRE LADY Did you hear something? MONSTER Muuuuuuuh-uh. VAMPIRE LADY Ohmygod you think there are rats down here? She pushes him toward the stairs. VAMPIRE LADY Let's get outta here. INT. HALLWAY - CELLAR DOOR - NIGHT They emerge from the cellar, Vampire Lady kicks the door shut a little too hard, it BANGS. INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT Charlie and a half-dressed Foxy Lady make out on the bed. Charlie abruptly sits up and becomes still, listening. FOXY LADY Yip yip yip yip. CHARLIE What? FOXY LADY Mating call. Charlie is torn... CHARLIE I gotta go check on something. FOXY LADY Yip yip? INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT Charlie bumps into the Headless Horseman, pushes past him. The Headless Horseman turns around and around, hard to see from inside those big fake shoulders. INT. HALLWAY - CELLAR DOOR - NIGHT Charlie discovers the damaged cellar door. He opens it. The cellar light is still on. Paranoia settles on Charlie and makes him bug-eyed and shaky. INT. CELLAR STAIRS - NIGHT Charlie pulls the door shut behind him. He pauses for a moment. Then he descends the stairs. Gradually, as we descend with him, Charlie sees that the newly construction section of wall has collapsed, there's a heap of bricks, and a hole that leads to a dark hiding place. Charlie's knees turn to rubber, he has to hold onto the hand-rail to stop himself from falling downstairs. He forces himself to continue down. His breathing is ragged as he cautiously approaches the hole in the wall. He passes by the fridge, passes by the chest freezer. The lighting is so bad down here that whatever might be inside the hole in the wall can't be seen. It's a spot of inky blackness. Wait, Charlie knows there's a flashlight. He finds it on a shelf. He switches it on. The bulb glows, and flickers, and glows -- and goes out. Charlie shakes the flashlight, no, not now! The flashlight bulb glows again, and stays on. Charlie sighs with relief. He points the beam into the hole in the wall. It illuminates another wall, the far side of a recess. Bolted to this wall are chains, attached to dangling manacles. The manacles are dark with blood. More blood has dripped down the wall, creating thin dark streams. Charlie stares in horror and disbelief. He moves to one side to shine the beam into the darkness there, then moves to the other side to shine the beam into that spot of darkness. Nothing. Charlie figures it out. Whoever was entombed here slipped out of their manacles, using blood as lubricant, and pushed until the wall gave way. Yes this is telling instead of showing, but it adds atmosphere. Behind Charlie, unseen by him, the chest freezer lid slowly opens. Someone with long, dark hair slowly sits up. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT The party's in super full swing, dancing's crazier, bodies are pressed more tightly together. Vampire Lady hug-dances with the Monster. Or at least with his chest, 'cause his head is so high it's out of shot. Foxy Lady taps Vampire Lady on the shoulder. FOXY LADY You seen Charlie? VAMPIRE LADY Maybe he went down to the cellar, that's where he keeps the booze. Foxy Lady nods thanks and moves on. INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT Foxy Lady has to shuffle around the Headless Horseman, who doesn't seem to know where he's going. HEADLESS HORSEMAN Hello, can you point me to the toilet? Hello? But Foxy Lady is gone, he's alone. INT. HALLWAY - CELLAR DOOR - NIGHT Foxy Lady looks down the stairs. FOXY LADY Charlie? No answer. INT. CELLAR STAIRS - NIGHT Foxy Lady cautiously descends. FOXY LADY I'm not in the mood for games, Charlie. No answer. INT. CELLAR - NIGHT Foxy Lady looks around. She sees the hole in the wall, doesn't think anything of it. No sign of Charlie. FOXY LADY Dammit. She turns and heads back upstairs. She didn't notice the dead flashlight lying on the floor. She didn't notice the streaks of blood on the side and lid of the chest freezer -- streaks that might have been made by someone frantically clawing to try to stop themselves from being pulled inside and trapped in the icy darkness. INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT Foxy Lady grabs the Headless Horseman and pushes him up against the wall. FOXY LADY Yip yip yip yip. She makes out with his bloody severed neck. FADE OUT