Ken Russell's Dracula (16 page)

release him.

Quincey reluctantly complies.

QUINCEY

Okay Mister, explain how you

got a’hold of that trinket.

VAN HELSING

He has robbed the dead

and Has suffered the

consequences. Soon we shall

suffer them also.

DR. SEWARD

Speak up, Marlow,

are you guilty?

The freed man nods, speaking
between gasps.

MARLOW

I stole yes; what use

is gold to the dead?

Before I got to the door

I felt her hand on my

shoulder, like ice.

(
he shudders at the

macabre memory
)

She spun me round. I saw

her face - evil it was, and

her teeth were sharp, and

then she threw me against

the slab. Such strength!

My head hit the marble.

When I came to I was like

this. I saw no one.

I remembered the flames,

the door was open,

I escaped...

The three men have been listening
with growing concern and all talk at once.

DR. SEWARD

How about the rest

of the staff?

MARLOW

I saw no one.

VAN HELSING

Dracula is now master of

the sanatorium, and this

is his message of defiance.

DR. SEWARD

Miss Murray, and Harker,

was there no sign of my

guests?

Marlow shakes his head.

DR. SEWARD

... nothing, you saw

nothing? Was there no sound?

Did you hear nothing?

MARLOW

(
reluctantly
)

I heard voice chanting:

“The blood is the life” ...

INT. SANATORIUM GUEST BEDROOM.
NIGHT.

Words now give way to music as the
images of this night of horror orchestrate themselves into a visual symphony of
the macabre. LUCY raises her head. Her mouth drips blood in the moonlight. She
looks like a wild animal disturbed while engorging its prey. Suddenly a
dazzling light in the form of a cross hits her face. Screaming, she drags her
naked body away from that of her victim, JONATHAN HARKER, and sliding from the
bed retreats into a corner.

And all the time the glowing cross
follows her as VAN HELSING with a torch masked to give this cruciform effect
advances on her accompanied by QUINCEY and DR.SEWARD carrying a strait-jacket
of black leather and chains. Her strength drains by the power of the holy
light. Lucy is finally trapped, restrained and manacled. As the Professor
places his golden crucifix once more around her neck, Lucy’s screams and
struggles cease altogether.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SANATORIUM CELLAR.
NIGHT.

QUINCEY and VAN HELSING unlock the
door of a padded cell to find TWELVE members of the STAFF gagged and trussed in
strait-jackets. They set about releasing them.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. LECTURE ROOM. NIGHT.

DR. SEWARD carries the unconscious
MINA draped in a white sheet up the steps of the deserted room towards the
exit.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. OPERATING THEATRE.
NIGHT.

LUCY is strapped down to the
operating table. QUINCEY, eyes closed and trembling with emotion holds a sharp
wooden stake against the tight leather of the strait-jacket directly above her
heart. Lucy’s eyes stare wide with horror as she spits at VAN HELSING who
brings down a heavy mallet onto the stake with all his might. Lucy screams as
blood spurts from the wound.

INT. PRIVATE WARD. NIGHT.

TWO ORDERLIES lift JONATHAN HARKER
from a stretcher and into a bed next to the sleeping MINA who is also still
unconscious. DR. SEWARD turns from attending to her blood transfusion to do the
same for Jonathan.

INT. OPERATING THEATRE.
NIGHT.

VAN HELSING finishes severing
Lucy’s head from her body and places it on the operating table between her out-
stretched legs. QUINCEY turns his eyes away in horror. We see that the stake is
embedded deep in her heart. Lucy’s body quivers into stillness. As the
Professor closes her eyes, the music, which has run as a graphic counterpoint,
ends on a note of repose.

DISSOLVE TO:

THE SEA and the restful sound of
the sea. A lone ship steams toward the horizon followed by a solitary SWIMMER
whose strokes become progressively weaker until with a pitiful cry of
‘Master!’, RENFIELD sinks beneath the waves.

MINA

(
voice-over
)

I hear the sound of rushing

water ... and a throbbing

as that of a great heart.

DISSOLVE TO:

MINA’S FACE, eyes closed, in:

THE PRIVATE WARD. DAY.

VAN HELSING is at her bedside,
questioning her.

VAN HELSING

What do you see?

MINA

I see nothing. It is dark.

JONATHAN HARKER in the next bed,
pale through loss of blood, is more concerned with Mina’s condition than his
own.

JONATHAN

We were both attacked,

Professor. We both suffered

a great loss of blood; why

is she still unconscious?

VAN HELSING

Lucy took your blood.

She is twice dead and

has no claim on you.

The blood of Miss Mina flows

in the veins of another,

and her blood speaks.

If she is the victim of

your Count Dracula as I

suspect, then the seeds of

his own destruction he has

sown.

JONATHAN

You mean she could lead us

to him?

VAN HELSING

Over the water ...

JONATHAN

... to Castle Dracula?

VAN HELSING

If my theory is correct.

As Mina’s eyes begin to flicker
open, there is a brief knock and QUINCEY pokes his head around the door.

QUINCEY

Can you spare a minute,

Professor?

VAN HELSING nods, gets up and has a
final word with Jonathan.

VAN HELSING

I leave you together.

Your turn it is now to be

physician; gently, gently.

Later we will talk.

As the Professor closes the door,
Jonathan gets out of bed and takes Mina in his arms so that when she regains
total consciousness, she will be comforted.

INT. SANATORIUM CORRIDOR.
DAY.

The Professor takes QUINCEY by the
arm and walks him away from the steady STREAM OF PATIENTS being escorted by
members of the STAFF back into their rooms.

VAN HELSING

Well, what news you have

for me? Good, bad, you

found it, yes?

QUINCEY

I tracked down the box,

sure. It was damaged in the

unloading. They were going

to fix it and sent it on to

Carfax today.

VAN HELSING

(
urgently
)

You apprehended it?

QUINCEY

Too late. The order was

countermanded. It was

shipped off at dawn today

on the boat train...

VAN HELSING

That would be the Magyar

Express. My theory is

working out.

But Quincey is too full of his own
theories to ask about the Professor’s.

QUINCEY

... so we’ve got him,

Professor. All we have to do

is fly to France and ambush

the train before the box is

unloaded.

And the Professor has little time
for Quincey’s theory either.

VAN HELSING

I doubt we could make Calais

in time. Our best chance

would be Vienna.

QUINCEY

(
truculent
)

Vienna! How do you know

he’s headed that far?

VAN HELSING

(
positively
)

Because he’s going home!

All the signs point to it

throughout history, from his

defeat in Turkey centuries

ago right up to the present

time. Whenever he was in

danger he fled back over the

sea to Castle Dracula.

QUINCEY

Castle Dracula; what in

tarnation’s that?

VAN HELSING

Dracula’s objective,

Quincey, and yours ...

He catches sight of DR. SEWARD and
a group of his staff and patients at the far end of the corridor and starts
back towards him followed by Quincey.

VAN HELSING

... Should we miss him on

the train you and Dr. Seward

will be waiting for him

there. You will make a

well-balanced team.

Quincey is not so sure.

VAN HELSING

... We will need maps of

the Carpathians, arms and

ammunition; for two parties

- we must divide forces.

Go like the wind and return

like the whirlwind.

QUINCEY

Your darn tootin’ Professor.

The promise of high adventure
quells any reservations Quincey has concerning Dr. Seward as a partner and he
runs off to prepare for the journey. Meanwhile, Dr. Seward has finished his
conversation with STAFF and PATIENTS, who begin to disperse, and turns to the
Professor.

DR. SEWARD

Any progress, Professor?

VAN HELSING Yes, but we must move
fast. Are your patients all tucked up in bed with their Ovaltine?

DR. SEWARD

(
nodding
)

No harm done; they were all

wandering about the grounds

in a hypnotic trance. With

the exception of Renfield;