ORIGINAL OPENING SEQUENCE:
EXT. A SOUTHERN COLLEGE CAMPUS -- 1977 -- NIGHT
AUTUMN in East Tennessee. Fallen leaves blanket the quads beneath Gothic buildings
of stone. It's late, only a few LIGHTED WINDOWS in the dorms, and...
FRATERNITY ROW
is also quiet -- except for the fine old SOUTHERN MANSION at the end of the street.
MUSIC filters through thick windows of leaded glass, and SHADOWS play against the
curtains.
We PUSH IN ON ONE WINDOW until we find ourselves...
INT. INSIDE THE OLD MANSION -- SAME
Home of the wealthy, traditional KAPPA ALPHA FRATERNITY -- and tonight is their
annual "OLD SOUTH JAMBOREE." Banners hang on the walls, and COLLEGE STUDENTS drink
and fool around as "Sweet Home, Alabama" plays on the stereo.
They wear "Gone With the Wind" attire: long, wasp-waisted dresses for the girls,
plantation suits and Rebel uniforms on the boys.
A GROUP OF SENIOR GUYS
hold court next to the FIREPLACE. Their late 1970's grooming - longish hair,
sideburns, and a scruffy beard or two -- is perfectly in keeping with the 1860's
theme.
Above the fireplace is a portrait of Robert E. Lee, and TWO SMALL EQUESTRIAN
STATUES perch on the mantelpiece: One's a Yankee cavalryman, and holds a miniature
UNION FLAG; the other carries the REBEL FLAG of the Confederacy.
TRIPP, the fraternity president, is dressed just like General Lee.
TRIPP
(well-bred Southern accent)
...and I say disco sucks. All that fag-
dancin'...
He imitates a "Saturday Night Fever" finger-pointing dance move.
DARLA, a lush Southern belle with deep cleavage, drawls:
DARLA
I don't know...I thought Barbarino looked
awful cute.
GIGGLES from the other GIRLFRIENDS. Another SENIOR GUY pipes up:
SUMTER
Hey, Tripp...it's almost midnight...
TRIPP
Oh, yeah -- hey y'all listen up, now!
The party-goers gather round. Tripp raises his bottle of Jack Daniel's and addresses the group:
TRIPP
A toast: To the pledge class of 1977 --
may you boys prepare to go through Hell!
WHOOPS and CHEERS from all the boys.
DARLA
Now Tripp, let's not forget our new
"Little Sisters"... C'mon and show
yourselves, ladies, don't be shy.
A handful of FRESHMEN GIRLS step forward from the crowd -- including ELIZABETH, an innocent blonde whose gaze betrays her crush on General Tripp.
Sumter and the boys eye the tasty frosh with drunken lust...
DARLA
Don't they get "initiated," too?
(eyeing Tripp)
I know I sure did...
More WHOOPS and CHEERS from the guys.
Tripp winks at Darla, then looks up at the statues on the mantelpiece. He plucks the tiny UNION FLAG from the YANKEE soldier's hands, starts twirling it around in his fingers...
TRIPP
Now, y'all know the old Civil War
graveyard at the end of Campus.... Well,
legend has it that if anybody plants a
Union flag on one of the Confederate
graves, the rebel soldier will rise up
from the dead, and... pull you under!
CATCALLS -- "Bullshit!", "Come on!" -- and a few GIGGLES.
Tripp notices Elizabth watching him with adoring eyes.
TRIPP
What about you, uh...
ELIZABETH
(he spoke to me!)
E...Elizabeth...
TRIPP
You up for it, Elizabeth...?
He draws out her name, caressing the syllables. Darla smiles, enjoying this... After a long moment, Elizabeth nods.
EXT. OLD GRAVEYARD -- NIGHT
All alone, Elizabeth enters the graveyard, carrying a UNION FLAG on a small flagpole.
STORM CLOUDS crowd the MOON, and trees shiver in the WIND...
Elizabeth hugs herself, goose-pimply cold in her strapless formal dress. As she passes between rows of GRAVESTONES and FAMILY TOMBS, her mind begins to play tricks...
She JUMPS when dead leaves SKITTER through the SHADOWS, blown by the wind -- then shakes her head, MUTTERING:
ELIZABETH
It's okay...it's okay...it's okay...
Nearing the neglected back rows of the cemetery, she sees...
A LEANING TOMBSTONE
engraved with a faded epitaph:
BEAUREGARD AUGUSTUS CLAYTON, III
Born August 4, 1941. Died July 4, 1863
"THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN!"
Trembling, Elizabeth stands over the grave. The WIND MOANS.
ELIZABETH
C'mon, 'Lizbeth. You can do this...
And she drops to her knees, PLUNGING the flagpole into the earth.
She waits, breathing hard, looking around in fear...
Nothing happens.
She stands. Laughs at herself in relief.
And, as she turns and starts to walk away...
SOMETHING
yanks her off her feet! Face in the dirt, she scrambles with her hands and knees, trying to crawl forward -- but something's got a-hold of her, and it ain't lettin' go.
As she SCREAMS bloody murder, we...
CUT TO:
INT. A RAMSHACKLE CABIN -- SAME
...as a HANDSOME YOUNG MAN -- barefoot and shirtless in a pair of overalls -- enters with an armful of firewood.
He hears the distant SCREAM. Drops the wood, and grabs a SHOTGUN from above the fireplace...
CUT TO:
EXT. GRAVEYARD -- SAME
Terrified, Elizabeth finally turns to see what's pulling her down...
THE FLAGPOLE
is stuck through the bottom of her dress and into the ground, pinning her to the grave.
Elizabeth stops screaming and breathes a sigh of relief. She yanks the flagpole out of her dress, examining the hole in the cloth --
ELIZABETH
Ruined.
Still sitting on the grave, she looks around.
ELIZABETH
(embarrassed)
God, I hope nobody heard me...
Then suddenly...
A ROTTED HAND
BURSTS out of the ground and GRABS her leg!
She lets out a BLOODCURDLING SCREAM...
And ANOTHER HAND EMERGES, grabbing her other shapely calf - followed by a HIDEOUS WITHERED HEAD with BULGING YELLOW EYES...
Elizabeth THRUSTS the flagpole INTO THE UNDEAD EYE -- and it POPS like a water balloon, oozing thick BLACK BLOOD.
SCREAMING, she kicks free of the clutching hands and scrambles to her feet. She turns to escape, but -- BAM! -- runs smack into...
ANOTHER CONFEDERATE SOLDIER
Tattered uniform hanging off its bones, the skeletal zombie grips her by the shoulders, opens its hungry mouth and LUNGES at her, sinking its teeth into her face. HER BLOOD SPURTS, as we...
CUT TO:
AN AUDIENCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS
as all their heads JERK BACKWARDS at the same time.
INT. UNIVERSITY SCREENING ROOM -- PRESENT DAY
The hundred-or-so FILM STUDENTS scribble notes as they watch the horror film. All of their clipboards have TINY LIGHTS at the top, casting an eerie underglow on each student's face.
ONSCREEN
the Handsome Young Man RUNS toward the graveyard, carrying the SHOTGUN and wincing as his bare feet hit the gravel road...
HANDSOME YOUNG MAN
Sure do wish I had me some shoes.
IN THE AUDIENCE
DIRK and STAN, a pair of geeky first-year film students, watch the movie with jaded expressions. They wear matching "Star Trek" t-shirts, and look like Siskel & Ebert as 19-year-olds.
DIRK
(the tall, skinny one)
The guy with the gun... that's Taylor
Browning, right?
STAN
(short fat one)
Yeah...
DIRK
Didn't he die while making this movie?
STAN
(annoyingly accurate)
No. This is "Undead Soliders". Nineteen
seventy-EIGHT. Taylor Browning was
mysteriously murdered on the set of
"Vampire Discotheque" -- nineteen
seventy-NINE.
DIRK
Oh, yeah... I knew that...
ONSCREEN
A few dozen CONFEDERATE ZOMBIES are rising from their graves and lurching toward the distant frat house.
Now the actor, Taylor Borwning, arrives at the graveyard and starts BLOWING THE ZOMBIES AWAY...
AMY MAYFIELD
a thoughtful 21-year-old beauty, is one of the students watching the film. Perceptive and quiet, she's the kind of person who always has more behind the counter than she has on display.
She looks very upset by what she sees. After a moment, she gets up and hurries out of the auditorium.
Sandra, a good-hearted gal of 21, follows her.
INT. WOMEN'S RESTROOM -- DAY
Amy is splashing water on her face when Sandra walks in.
SANDRA
Amy, you all right...?
AMY
(slight Southern accent)
I really hate those Southern stereotype
characters, y'know? It's insulting...
SANRDA
(hands Amy a towel)
It's okay, hon...it's just a movie.
AMY
(after a beat)
I know. I guess I just... scare easily
sometimes.