MAIN TITLES

A glowing triangle is before us. Opening titles roll as we move back slowly from the triangle, eventually revealing a grinning jack-o-lantern. Titles accompanied by the Halloween theme. As the sequence nears its end, we pull back through a small round opening - an eyehole. The camera comes to a stop and the rubber white mask of the shape fills the screen. Through the left eyehole we can still see the jack-o-lantern grinning in the distance, like a fiery orange eye in the socket of the mask.

FADE IN:

October 30, 1998

EXT. LITCHFIELD SANITARIUM-NIGHT

Treetops sway in the windy night. A large, gloomy building is perched high atop a hill. As the CAMERA approaches, a large sign comes into view. It reads:

INT. LITCHFIELD-DARK CORRIDOR

Long empty hallways, surrounded by dingy white walls, stand silent. We glide quietly down a hallway, across the checkered linoleum floor, toward an open door on the right. Light from the interior of the room spills out into the dimly lit corridor. Just before reaching the doorway, we pass a window. The window is covered with a metal cage. Just inside the metal cage a glowing jack-o-lantern grins ominously. We move past the window, and a sign can be seen hanging on the wall. It reads:

CAMERA TRACKS onward, past the sign, and enters the doorway. As we move inward, a counter can be seen to the right, atop of which the jack-o-lantern rests. To the left of the counter, numerous file cabinets line the wall. The back wall of the office contains a bank of television monitors, each showing a different hallway. Two desks are situated in the center of the room. Computers rest on each of the desktops, along with stacks of papers and manila folders. Behind one of the desks, a brown-haired young man, BILLY TURNER, sits with his back turned, as he surveys the monitors. CAMERA moves around over his shoulder to a close-up of Billy's face. Billy's eyes roam nervously over the monitors before him as he brings a cigarette up to his lips and inhales.

BILLY'S POV From left to right over the bank of monitors, only dark corridors fill the screens, except for one. On this monitor, a man can be seen hurrying up the hallway, briefcase in tow.

INT. OFFICE

Billy grabs the cigarette out of his mouth and drops it to the floor, bringing his foot down on it to extinguish it. DR. DAVID SULLIVAN, an elderly man dressed in a navy blue suit, appears in the doorway of the office and steps into the room. He wrinkles his nose.

Billy looks startled.

Sullivan gives Billy a stern look.

Dr. Sullivan moves over to the counter, sets down his briefcase, and picks up a clipboard hanging there.

Billy stands up, fidgets nervously, then sits on the corner of one of the desks.

Dr. Sullivan pulls a pen out of his coat pocket and begins scribbling on the clipboard.

Sullivan looks at Billy over the rim of his glasses.

Dr. Sullivan releases the clipboard, returns the pen to his pocket, and then turns to face Billy.

A young man, GREG WILLIAMS, steps into the doorway of the office. Greg, 21, is dressed in a white orderlies outfit.

Dr. Sullivan turns to Greg and casts him a sardonic smile.

Sullivan casts Greg a disapproving glance.

Greg disappears from the doorway and begins pushing a cart down the hall.

Dr. Sullivan turns back to Billy.

Billy motions with his head to the bank of monitors behind him.

INT. LITCHFIELD-NORTH WING

A seemingly endless, dimly lit hallway stretches out in front of us. Doors line either side of the hallway. Footfalls echo down the corridor as a shadowy undistinguishable figure comes into view. The figure is pushing a cart along before him. The cart SQUEAKS as the figure pushes it along. The figure passes beneath an overhead light and it is Greg Williams. He comes to a stop in front of one of the doors. CAMERA TRACKS slowly down the corridor toward Greg as he unlocks the door. He picks up a tray of food off of the cart and disappears into the room. We continue moving forward slowly. Moments later, Greg reemerges, turns, and relocks the door. He returns to the cart and pushes it down the hall toward us.

As we continue forward slowly, Greg comes to a stop in front of another door. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a keyring and begins to pick through them, searching for the right one.

Greg finds the right key, and inserts it into the lock in the large metal door. He turns the key and pushes the door inward.

GREG'S POV as the door swings open, revealing a pitch-black room.

ANGLE ON GREG Greg's face contorts into a confused stare.

GREG'S POV The interior of the room is totally dark.

ANGLE ON GREG as he grabs a flashlight out of a pouch on the side of his belt. He raises the flashlight and turns it on.

REVERSE POV Greg stands silhouetted in the doorway. The flashlight beam shines toward us as Greg moves it from side to side, searching the room.

GREG'S POV The flashlight beam glides around the room, illuminating one spot and then another. It travels down the opposite wall and across the floor. Shards of glass lay scattered on the floor in the center of the room.

ANGLE ON GREG Greg stands, mouth agape.

GREG'S POV The flashlight beam travels upward from the bits of glass to the light fixture on the ceiling. It has been shattered.

CLOSE-GREG Greg's look changes from confusion to disbelief.

GREG'S POV The flashlight beam now moves down and to the right, illuminating a vacant bed in the far corner of the room. A crumpled piece of shredded white fabric lies on the floor beside the bed. It is a straightjacket-a torn straightjacket.

CLOSE-GREG A look of terror and realization washes over Greg's face.

GREG'S POV The flashlight beam shakes nervously and suddenly a large shape steps into the beam, popping quickly from the right of the door frame. The disfigured face of the shape, MICHAEL MYERS, flashes briefly before us. The emotionless face is burned and horribly scarred.

CLOSE-GREG as he pulls back and opens his mouth to scream. No sound escapes.

ANGLE ON THE SHAPE'S HAND as it shoots out lightning-fast and grabs hold of Greg's hand. The flashlight slips from Greg's grip and we follow the flashlight as it plummets to the floor.

CAMERA TRACKS quickly up from behind and over the shape's right shoulder and focuses on Greg, as he screams.

INT. LITCHFIELD-OFFICE

Billy sits in the center of the room at one of the desks with his back turned to the monitors, engrossed in an issue of FANGORIA.

CLOSE-BILLY Over Billy's shoulder, on one of the monitors, we see Greg jerked forward into Michael's dark room. Billy turns his head to look at the monitors. Only empty hallways. Greg's cart sets just outside Michael's doorway. Billy turns back to his magazine. On the monitor, we see a figure, the shape, emerge from the dark doorway, clad in a white hospital gown.

INT. LITCHFIELD-NORTH WING

The shape turns and pulls the door closed and begins to push the cart up the hallway, toward us. The cart SQUEAKS as the shape pushes it along.

INT. LITCHFIELD-OFFICE

ANGLE ON BILLY as he puts down his magazine. He opens a desk drawer and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. He shakes out a cigarette and places it between his lips. Billy picks a lighter from out of the drawer and lights the cigarette. Then he sits back and begins to puff on it, again flipping through the magazine. Music swells as a blurred figure, dressed in white, appears over Billy's shoulder in the doorway.

Billy turns his head, and CAMERA moves quickly from Billy to focus in on the figure, now identifiable. MELISSA REED, a 22 year-old young woman with short blonde hair, stands in the doorway. She is dressed in an orderlies outfit.

INT. OFFICE

Melissa takes a few steps into the office.

THE SHAPE'S POV as we travel down the corridor. The open office doorway stands twenty feet up on the right. Melissa, visible in the doorway, disappears as she moves into the office.

INT. OFFICE

From out in the hallway, a SQUEAKING is heard, faint at first, but growing louder. Melissa stops and looks back at the open doorway.

CAMERA FOCUSES in on monitors over Billy's shoulder as he turns his head to look. On one monitor a figure moves slowly down the hallway pushing a cart. The figure is dressed in a white hospital gown and has a horribly disfigured face.

INT. OFFICE

Melissa turns to look at the monitors. A look of horror washes over her face.

Billy's face grows serious as he realizes who the figure is.

Billy grabs a radio off of the side of his belt, and barks an order into it.

Billy steps forward and draws his revolver, shoving Melissa back behind him.

BILLY'S POV Beyond the open doorway, the cart continues to SQUEAK loudly. Suddenly, there is only silence.

ANGLE ON BILLY as he moves forward toward the doorway slowly.

ANGLE ON MELISSA Melissa glances at the monitor.

MELLISA'S POV The figure in the hospital gown stands in the hallway just to the right of the open office door, waiting as Billy approaches.

BILLY'S POV The massive figure of the shape suddenly steps into view, filling the entire doorway.

ANGLE ON BILLY Billy raises his revolver at the shape.

BILLY'S POV as the shape moves forward quickly and grabs at Billy's revolver, hand coming at us.

ANGLE ON REVOLVER Billy squeezes the trigger just as the shape's hand grasps the weapon. Sparks fly as the report of the revolver shatters the silence. Melissa screams.

ANGLE ON BILLY Billy is jerked forward as the shape pulls him by the hand face to face.

ANGLE ON REVOLVER We follow the revolver as the shape twists Billy's arm and forces the revolver to Billy's temple. The shape squeezes the trigger. Another BANG sounds out.

ANGLE ON BILLY Billy's eyes go blank as the bullet shatters his skull. Billy's dead body drops to the floor with a THUD.

THE SHAPE'S POV Melissa looks down at Billy's bleeding body and then up at us, at the shape.

Melissa looks to her left and to her right searching for a way out as she backs up.

ANGLE ON THE SHAPE as it steps out of the threshold and slams the door behind it.

EXT. OFFICE

There is a loud WHAM as the door slams shut. CAMERA PANS over slowly to the office window. The jack-o-lantern continues to grin through the metal cage as Melissa's shrieks pierce the silence. Inside the office, shadows flicker across the wall behind the jack-o-lantern. As CAMERA TRACKS in closer to the jack-o-lantern, the sound of furniture being thrown aside and Melissa's screams continue to fill the air.

INT. LITCHFIELD-WEST WING

We move down an empty hallway and just as we reach the end of the hallway, two uniformed security guards burst quickly from around the corner, guns drawn. As they sprint past, CAMERA spins around and follows the security guards back down the hall, their loud footfalls reverberating through the silence.

GUARDS' POV The hallway, lined with closed doors on either side, turns to the left and then back sharply to the right. Up ahead, a wall of metal bars covers the entire hallway.

INT. HALLWAY

As the guards, JACK and PETER, reach the partition of bars, Peter holsters his gun and pulls out a key ring attached to his belt. He fumbles with the keys before inserting one into the lock in the door. He turns the key and shoves on the sliding door. The door slides open creakily on its track, and Jack moves quickly through the opening. Peter returns the keyring to his side and draws his revolver. Peter and Jack move forward cautiously around a final turn to the left.

JACK'S POV The office door is before us, almost completely closed. A sliver of light shines from the crack between the edge of the door and the door facing.

ANGLE ON JACK as he moves stealthily toward the closed door of the office and kicks it open.

JACK'S POV The office is in shambles. File cabinets are overturned, drawers open with paper and folders jutting out. One of the desks is laying on its side. Smoke wafts and sparks fly from the bank of monitors; many of the monitors are shattered or only show streaks or snow. Blood is splattered on the walls. Just inside the room lies the body of Billy Turner.

INT. OFFICE

Jack and Peter move into the office.

Jack pulls a radio from a pouch at his side and brings it to his mouth.

Without answering, Jack kneels down next to Billy's body, and checks for a pulse.

Suddenly a woman's MOAN comes from behind the overturned desk. Jack turns his head in that direction.

JACK'S POV as we move forward toward the overturned desk and around the edge of it. There lies Melissa. Her white outfit is disheveled and is streaked with blood. She is holding her hand to her stomach, covering a gaping wound.

ANGLE ON JACK as he kneels beside Melissa.

CLOSE-MELISSA As Melissa talks, a drop of blood runs from the corner of her mouth.

ANGLE ON PETER Peter stares down at Billy's body.

PETER'S POV Billy's body remains still. Billy's keys are missing from his belt loop.

CLOSE-PETER

INT. OFFICE

Jack turns and looks at Peter.

Jack steps past Peter and hurries out of the room, drawing his revolver.

INT. LITCHFIELD-HALLWAY

Jack runs quickly down the hallway passing through an open door, a sliding door that has been unlocked. He glances worriedly at the metal bars as he passes through.

EXT. LITCHFIELD-NIGHT

The glass doors of the main entrance swing outward suddenly as Jack bursts through them. He looks around and then begins to run down a sidewalk that runs along the exterior of the building. We follow him from the side, briefly, down the sidewalk. As he passes a sign on the outside wall of the building, CAMERA holds on it. It reads:

INT. PARKING GARAGE

Jack runs into the parking garage and stops to look around.

JACK'S POV The parking lot is huge, made to seem even larger by the lack of cars. Only a handful of automobiles are scattered throughout the garage. No sign of movement anywhere. As Jack's gaze passes over the room, a hand can be seen protruding from behind the tire of a car in the center of the garage.

ANGLE ON JACK as he runs quickly across the garage to the car, his footfalls echoing across the silent room.

JACK'S POV as we round the edge of the car. The dead body of an elderly man is lying there.

ANGLE ON JACK

Jack kneels beside Dr. Sullivan.

JACK'S POV Sullivan's throat has been slashed. A blood-stained letter opener lays on the concrete floor beside him.

CLOSE-JACK/SIDE A motor roars to life, unnoticed by Jack. Suddenly, a bright yellow light illuminates Jack's cheek and he jerks his head around in search of its source.

JACK'S POV As tires squeal, an automobile bears down on Jack, headed straight at us.

CLOSE-JACK Terror fills Jack's face as the car speeds toward him, the bright headlights reflected in his eyes.

ANOTHER ANGLE ON CAR as the automobile continues to head toward Jack.

ANGLE ON JACK Jack leaps out of the car's path just as it roars by.

Jack bounces back to his feet and takes aim at the car as it speeds away. Shots ring out as Jack fires his revolver.

JACK'S POV The car zooms away, untouched by the bullets, and out of the garage.

INT. PARKING GARAGE

Jack holsters his revolver and grabs the radio from his side.

EXT. LITCHFIELD SANITARIUM-NIGHT

The dark-colored sedan races quickly down the paved road toward the main gate.

THE SHAPE'S POV A large metal gate looms up against the night sky. A small building stands next to the road just inside the gate. Two uniformed security guards hurry out of the building and stand in front of the gate, revolvers aimed at the speeding vehicle.

The car's headlights illuminate the faces of the guards as the vehicle rushes toward them.

ANGLE ON GUARDS' REVOLVERS Sparks fly from the revolvers as the guards fire their weapons.

THE SHAPE'S POV The windshield is cracked as a bullet smashes into it. The main gate is fast approaching.

ANGLE ON CAR The guards bolt out of the way as the automobile careens past them and slams into the gate.

ANGLE ON GATE-EXT. The gate smashes into pieces as the vehicle bursts through it onto the main road. CAMERA passes over top of car and spins around, watching it disappear into the night, red taillights slowly fading away.

INT. LITCHFIELD-HALLWAY-EARLY FOLLOWING MORNING

Policeman and detectives stand everywhere, talking to various hospital officials and employees. A paramedic pushes along a gurney, a white sheet draped over the dead body it contains. We DOLLY down the crowded hallway and through a doorway into the office. The ransacked room has been straightened up somewhat, but scattered papers still line the floor and blood the walls, evidence of the atrocities committed here only hours before. A weary, bespectacled man, CHIEF ADMIN. ROGER HOFFMAN, stands in the center of the room. CAPT. JOSH TYLER, a 31 year-old policeman, is half-perched on the edge of the newly-upright desk listening intently to the man speak. CAMERA TRACKS toward the two men.

Tyler looks patiently at Hoffman.

Hoffman removes his glasses and rubs his eyes.

Hoffman returns his glasses to his face.

Tyler stands up from the desk.

Hoffman moves over to the file cabinets, and pulls open a drawer. He begins rummaging through a number of files.

Tyler turns to look.

TYLER'S POV The voice belongs to a POLICEMAN who now steps toward Tyler.

CLOSE-TYLER Tyler raises his eyebrows.

TYLER'S POV

Tyler looks from the policeman to Hoffman.

ANGLE ON TYLER

ANGLE ON HOFFMAN

ANGLE ON DESK Both computer monitors rest on one of the desks. The screens on both are smashed and cracked.

CLOSE-TYLER Tyler looks worried.

INT. PICKUP TRUCK-DAWN

A manila folder lays on the passenger seat. As CAMERA pulls back, a label becomes visible at the top. It reads:

CAMERA PANS away from the folder and across the dash of the pickup. A horribly scarred hand clutches the steering wheel tightly. It is the hand of the shape.

EXT. PICKUP TRUCK-HIGHWAY 27-DAWN

A dusty old brown pickup truck speeds down the highway. As the truck passes by, CAMERA PANS over to the side of the road. An old weatherbeaten road sign stands against the dark, brooding clouds, just becoming visible as the darkness evaporates. The sign reads: