
Originally Posted by
Nemesis
EXT. THE EMPTY STREET OF A CITY - DAY
No people. A FEW CARS AND TRUCKS are parked at odd angles, abandoned.
A TITLE FADES IN, one phrase at a time.
FIVE YEARS...
SINCE THE DEAD FIRST WALKED.
2 EXT. THE CITY - DAY
We hear THE SOUND OF A STRONG WIND. DEBRIS flutters through the
streets. A LARGE ALLIGATOR slithers into frame, stops and looks
around.
MONTAGE: as MORE GATORS explore the empty streets, knocking over
GARBAGE CANS, upsetting the MANNEQUINS in A DEPARTMENT STORE WINDOW.
A GATOR crawls out through the open doors of AN ABANDONED BANK. LOOSE
BILLS are dragged along under the animal's tail. They flutter away on
the WIND.
3 EXT. THE CITY - DAY
GATORS crawl over A '79 CADELLIC. A FEMALE SKELETON sits slumped over
the steering wheel. In the back a BABY'S BONES are strapped into AN
INFANT'S SAFETY SEAT. One of the gators THUMPS its tail maddeningly
against the windshield. ANOTHER TITLE APPEAR:
FLORIDA - 1987
4 EXT. THE CITY - DAY
CLOSE ON A SECTION OF PAVEMENT as we hear THE SOUND OF SLUGGISH
FOOTSTEPS approaching. A SHADOW appears at the bottom of the frame.
It gets longer and takes on the shape of a man.
TIGHT ON THE AFTERNOON SUN, blinding us. Into the FOREGROUND lurches
THE FIGURE which cast the shadow. Glare obscures all facial detail
until the head jogs into position directly in front of the fiery ball
in the sky. Then we see its hideous, dead eyes, its blue-grey colour,
the blackened wound where a large portion of jaw has been ripped
away. This is a ZOMBIE! A MUSIC CHORD SOUNDS and THE MAIN TITLE
APPEARS:
DAY OF THE DEAD
5 EXT. THE CITY - DAY
HEAD CREDITS ROLL over A MONTAGE: the CITY STREETS are now populated
by the WALKING DEAD. In every shape, size and colour they wander,
without purpose, up and down the avenues, in and out of buildings.
The city is theirs, they have inherited the place. Man, in his human
form, seems to be gone.
As the CREDITS END, we CUT TO:
6 EXT. A MAIN STREET - DAY
We are looking down from a HIGH ANGLE. The corner of A TALL BUILDING
is in the FOREGROUND. A CORPSE is dangling from A NOOSE. It's been
dead for some time. It's mostly bone now, its blackened flesh picked
clean by scavenger birds and harbour rats. A SIGN flaps against its
chest cavity. Its hurriedly scrawled message reads: TAKE ME, LORD! I
LOVE YOU!
THE ROPE BREAKS suddenly and THE CORPSE FALLS out of frame.
7 EXT. THE STREET - DAY
We're at GROUND LEVEL now...SMACK!!! THE CORPSE HITS THE PAVEMENT and
SHATTERS as though made of potter's clay. BONES bounce over a wide
area. THE SIGN is carried off by the WIND.
8 EXT. AN ABANDONED MARINA - DAY
THE SIGN gallops across the grass of A HARBOUR PARK towards the water
where A FEW DERELICT BOATS sway in the WIND.
Slowly, THE SOUND OF A MOTOR FADES IN.
9 EXT. THE MARINA (CLOSER ANGLE) - DAY
A FISHING BOATS, old and sea-worn, chugs into the harbour.
10 EXT. THE MARINA (CLOSE ON THE FISHING BOAT) - DAY
There are people on board, THREE MEN AND TWO WOMEN. They look like
guerilleros from somewhere in Latin America. They're heavily armed,
unshaven, covered with months worth of jungle crud. They are
obviously exhausted. They gaze up to the city. Their deep-sunken eyes
are too war-weary to show much emotion but we can read their despair.
TONY
Another dead place. I tol' you. Let's get
out to the islands.
MIGUEL
The radio signals were coming from this
area.
TONY
Not from the city. In every city it's the
same. Dead. Let's get out to the barrier
islands. If there are survivors sending
those signals that's where we'll find them.
MIGUEL
Plenty of time for the islands. The rest of
our...life...on the islands...I think.
Miguel is drifting. The sight of the dead city has pushed him a few
inches closer to the brink of insanity. He catches himself and comes
back toward reality.
MIGUEL
We gotta see if there are others here. We
came all this way. We're gonna check it
out.
11 EXT. THE MARINA (AT THE DOCKS) - DAY
CLOSE ON THE OPEN GASOLINE RECEPTACLE in the hull of AN ABANDONED
BOAT. A WOMAN'S HANDS shove a LENGTH OF HOSE down into the hole.
The woman, MARIA, puts the other end of the hose to her mouth and
sucks the air out.
At ANOTHER DERELICT BOAT, TONY sucks on ANOTHER HOSE.
TONY
Ptoooo! Nothing! Dry as a bone. No gas.
Let's get outa here.
MIGUEL
Check them all. And check the tanks under
the pumps.
MIGUEL and the other two guerilleros, SARAH AND CHICO, start to walk
up the dock towards the harbour park, toward the city. MIGUEL has AN
ELECTRONIC BULLHORN in one hand, his AUTOMATIC RIFLE ready in the
other.
12 EXT. THE HARBOUR PARK - DAY
THE TRIO of refugees move across the grass. The WIND blows DEBRIS
around them as they stare towards the downtown buildings. MIGUEL
lifts THE BULLHORN to his mouth.
MIGUEL
HELLO. IS THERE ANYONE THERE? HELLO.
HELLOOOOOOO....
13 EXT. THE CITY - DAY
MONTAGE: as THE WALKING DEAD hear that human VOICE. Throughout the
city they turned towards THE SOUND, at once confused and excited.
MIGUEL (o.s.)
HELLOOOOOOOOOOO....
THE DEAD start to GROAN hungrily, almost pleadingly. All over the
city their VOICES RISE.
14 EXT. THE HARBOUR PARK - DAY
It comes to MIGUEL AND THE OTHERS as A MASSIVE WALL OF NOISE, THE
SOUND of hundreds-of-thousands of damned souls moaning on one solid
voice. The sound of hell on earth.
15 EXT. THE MARINA (AT THE DOCKS) - DAY
TONY AND MARIA hear it as well and feel the familiar grip of cold
fear. Maria makes the sign of the cross.
MARIA
Dios mia.
TONY
I tol' him. I tol' him this is a dead
place. Like all the others.
TONY also said that you're a homo, I heard him.