Repertory Draft: The Warehouse Thread

The Warehouse

Written and Directed by: Chris Olson
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr. as Det. William Crane
Franka Potente as Det. Jane Lowe
Kurt Russell as Ray Stone
Robert Duvall as James Dayton
Catherine Keener as Marilyn Dayton
Gael Garcia Bernal as Ricky Lobo
Aishwara Rai as Azura

In The Warehouse, Robert Downey, Jr. plays Det. William Crane, the best cop on the force. Franka Potente is his hotshot young partner, Jane Lowe. For the last six months, they’ve been trailing a powerful crime lord by the name of James Dayton (Robert Duvall), trying to uncover evidence of anything that will finally put this career criminal away for good. Dayton is extremely careful, however, and Crane and Lowe haven’t been able to pin anything on him. They’re getting closer, however, and believe Dayton is behind the kidnapping of Ricky Lobo (Gael Garcia Bernal), a hot young fashion photographer, and his supermodel girlfriend, Azura (Aishwarya Rai), both of whom recently went missing.

On this particular night, Crane and Lowe have followed Dayton and his aging but still beautiful trophy wife, Marilyn (Catherine Keener), to an old abandoned warehouse located down on the docks, where Dayton is meeting with Ray Stone (Kurt Russell), a shady character suspected of being an international smuggler of rare antiquities, as well as drugs and weapons. Crane and Lowe soon discover that Dayton is there to purchase a rare statue that Stone has stolen and smuggled in from Eastern Europe, and they figure that they finally have something they can use to take Dayton down. On top of that, though, Crane and Lowe soon stumble upon the kidnapped Tom and Lisa, bound and gagged and being guarded by some of Dayton’s men, and now they know there is nothing standing between the crime lord and a long prison stint.

Just as they are about to bring him down, however, the docks are besieged by Lovecraftian beasts that emerge from the sea. They manage to kill the majority of Dayton’s men, along with the officers that accompanied Crane and Lowe, but the others manage to make it in to the warehouse. For the moment, they are safe, but they know that it is only a matter of time before the monsters make their way inside, so an agreement is quickly struck between the cops, the crime lord, and the smuggler.

They spend the remainder of the night trying to keep the creatures at bay, but their numbers are dwindling fast, and the monsters ranks only seem to keep growing. What’s worse, though, is that the monsters manage to wound Marilyn, and she begins to suffer from some bizarre affliction. Dayton is distraught, and tries to help her, but he soon learns that money and power only get you so far in this life. It turns out Lisa is studying to be a nurse, and she tries her best to take care of Marilyn, but she has never seen anything like this before, and Marilyn’s condition merely continues to worsen.

As the evening wears on, and tensions start to rise, it appears that Stone knows more about this mysterious attack than he originally let on. Crane and Dayton confront him, and he soon let’s slip that they are the guardians of the statue, and they’ve come to claim it. Crane demands to know what is so important about the statue, and why Dayton wanted it so badly, but Dayton initially refuses to disclose that information.

Eventually, Crane wears him down, and Dayton informs everyone that the statue is said to have mystical powers, and that it can transfer a person’s spirit from one body to another. He knows his time on this earth is short, and was going to use the statue to transfer his soul and the soul of his wife into the bodies of Tom and Lisa Bruckner. Crane and Lowe initially agree that the man is crazy, but in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they quickly change their opinion. They demand that Dayton give the statue back to the monsters in the hopes that they will leave, but Dayton refuses. He is determined to be young again, and will not allow anyone to stand in his way, not even these horrors from the deep.

As the creatures press their attack, Crane, Stone, and Lowe begin to form a strategy that will get everyone out of the warehouse alive, but they soon discover a threat from within; it has become clear that Marilyn isn’t dying, but is actually changing into something else…something otherworldly. Now it’s only a matter of time before the dying starts anew, unless Crane and Stone can get the statue away from Dayton and give it back to the monsters. Even then, there is no guarantee they'll survive the night. Will anyone make it out of the warehouse alive, or will it become their tomb?

The Warehouse

CAST:
Chris Tyson (Emile Hirsch) – young, leftist, college student. Idealistic, naïve, trying to make a difference, not quite equal to the task
Hunter Samuels (Aaron Eckhart) – dashing, articulate, handsome head of PR for the Warehouse superstore chain. Always has the right answer, always grinning, hides a big secret
Vivian King (Scarlett Johansson) – Chris’s girlfriend, passionate about politics and a champion of the underdog, loves Chris, loves life, makes you believe in a happy ending
Jeffrey Tullson (Garret Dillahunt) – Extremist left wing anarchist, intense, in favor of violent protest, full of rhetoric and big words, but ultimately a coward and a hippocrit, the sniveling asshole in Horror films that we can’t wait to see get his comeuppance
Sophia Samuels (Jennifer Connelly) – Hunter’s wife, beautiful but somehow odd, comes off as frigid, also more than she appears to be
Kenny Almonte (John C Reilly) – Militant left winger, works for Jeffrey, smarter and more together than he initially seems, a true believer, might be able to save the group, gets the least painful death
Professor Jennings (Nick Nolte) – A left leaning college professor, urges his students to protest the encroaching corporate hegemony, draws the line at violence

The town of Millstone, OR (population 87,567) is the newest location for The Warehouse, a chain of mega-stores that offer everything you need at a discount. Small businesses and political protest groups have mobilized to stop them, but the sheer charisma and reasoned capitalist logic of the Warehouse’s local frontman Hunter Samuels turns public opinion in the opposite direction. We get this information in a video lecture delivered at Norther Oregon University by Professor Jennings, who then strongly urges his students to do everything in their power within the legal bounds to stop the Warehouse. After the lecture, star student Chris speaks to Jennings, and proposes radical action, not unlike what was suggested by infamous former student Jeffrey Tullson, now head of an anarchist group in Eugene. Jennings rebuffs him, and tells him violence solves nothing. Chris says neither does non-violence.

Chris and his girlfriend Vivian attend a protest in front of the soon-to-be-completed site of The Warehouse. A large scale demonstration is in swing, but Hunter Samuels himself shows up with TV cameras and gives reasoned and compassionate answers to every insulting question hurled at him. Chris complains that non-violence does nothing, and proposes joining with Jeffrey’s group to see what they’re doing about it. Vivian expresses doubt, but is too much in love with him to say no. Together they track down Jeffrey, and become involved with his plans to sneak in to The Warehouse the night before the grand opening and destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inventory.

On the night in question, Jeffrey, Chris, Vivian, tough guy Kenny, and perhaps a few red shirts sneak in and start breaking things. But a strange lights and rhythmic chanting emanating from the basement level draw their attention. Together, they find the employees gathered in a black mass to sacrifice screaming victims to some kind of ancient and nameless God. The head of this ceremony is Hunter Samuels, in full High Priest attire, and he is assisted by his wife, apparently the High Priestess. Jeffrey makes a noise on accident, and the cultists turn to see them all. The militants beat a hasty retreat, only to find the doors locked from the outside. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse as Hunter and his minions chase and track the militants throughout the store, killing them off one after another. Jeffrey will prove himself a Grade A piece of shit, Paul-Rieser-in-Aliens style, and likely get skinned alive, or something else equally awful. Ultimately, the only one left will be Chris. After seeing Vivian dispatched, he stumbles half mad with fright into the hands of the cult, who then carry him to the alter and feed him screaming to the Cult’s God, a gaping vaginal maw located underneath the store’s cornerstone. Cut to the grand opening. It goes off without a hitch, and Hunter and his wife wistfully discuss the worldwide Warehouse franchise. They hint at having “a lot of mouths to feed”, and some sort of tomorrow when their God will rule the world.

Player-esque point of reference: Prince of Darkness meets Clive Barker with a hefty helping of Romero social commentary.

"It's time to hope the killers make it out alive."

Second Glance Rep presents
The Warehouse
Written by James Gunn

After supernatural forces attack, the surviving inmates of a supermax prison in Virginia must form an uneasy alliance to stop the oncoming terror.

Starring:
Kyle Chandler as Harrison Scott, the suburban golden boy turned death row inmate after being convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and her sister...crimes he insists he had nothing to do with.
Patrick Wilson as Sean "Numbers" Nostromo, Harrison's closest "friend" in the prison, whose boy-scout face hides a life as a hitman and eventual underboss for the San Diego mob.
Ed Harris as Oliver Voight, decorated Marine and the only American to be convicted of treason during the Vietnam War for going AWOL...then captured while working alongside the Viet Cong.
Rachel McAdams as Lillith Rudolph, the pro-life activist convicted of blowing up four abortion clinics for reasons that have nothing to do with religion.
Peter Dinklage as Roger Allen Fosters, the so-called "Midget Murderer" who turned out to be behind a series of highway serial killings that left police baffled for almost 20 years.
with Russell Crowe as Terrence York, the charismatic leader of one of America's biggest white supremacy organizations.
and Mary-Louise Parker as Holly Houston, the mom who had everything, until her psychotic delusions led her to drive and drown her five children in a nearby lake.

Over logos, a scratchy LP starts up:

Now you may join the Elks, my friend
And I may join the Shriners
And other men may carry cards
As members of the Diners
Still others wear a golden key
Or small greek letter pin
But I have learned there’s one great club
That all us are in...

As Robert Morse sings “Brotherhood of Man,” we are treated to scenes of the sun-drenched Carpenter State Prison, named for the nearby town of Carpenter, Virginia. The prison is a state of the art supermax facility, with concrete cots, plexiglass windows, a cafeteria where everything is bolted down, and gym, library, and yard. The music blares from expensive speakers throughout.

Two things are unique about Carpenter Prison, though: The lights are out throughout the prison, unusual for a supermax facility, where lights are kept on most of the time...

...And there is blood everywhere.

Intercut between these scenes is old tabloid television and footage from the trial of Harrison Scott (Kyle Chandler), a Gulf War veteran and military policeman turned suburban football coach. Scott, a good looking guy in his forties, stands accused of the murder of his pregnant wife while Susan, his mid-twenties daughter from his first marriage, looks on. Time and time again through the footage, Harrison insists he’s innocent, that he has no memory of the night in question.

Just before we hear the jury’s sentence takes place, we end our “tour” of Carpenter State at the guardless gate.

The gates open and Harrison Scott, blood staining his blue jump suit, looking like he’s been through another war, walks out.

The credits sequence is an extension of Harrison’s trial footage, starting in the mid-1970s, where a CGI Walter Cronkite reports on Oliver Voight, a Marine captured working alongside the Viet Cong. He is the only American to be convicted of treason during the Vietnam War.

Bill O’Reilly anchors a segment on the Cherokee County killings, a series of serial slayings beginning in the mid-1980s. Around the same time, Geraldo Rivera interviews Terrence York (Russell Crowe), the unrepentant leader of the “largest and most dangerous white supremacist organization in America.” Several months later, he airs a follow-up after York is convicted for assisting the in murder of a Jewish talk show host.

Court TV makes its bones on the trial of Sean “Numbers” Nostromo (Patrick Wilson), hitman and San Diego underboss. In the summer of 1998, networks go crazy over the hunt for Lillith Rudolph (Rachel McAdams), a college student hiding in the Blue Ridge Mountains after bombing three abortion clinics. Pretty pro-lifers hold up signs saying “Run Rudolph Run.” Barbara Walters offers a tearful exclusive with Holly and Paul Houston, a suburban couple whose five children were kidnapped during a carjacking, an interview undercut by the Chief of Police announcing Holly Houston’s (Mary-Louise Parker) arrest for the murder of her children.

The credits end with two segments: First, O’Reilly, again, announcing that after nearly 20 years, the FBI captured Cherokee County Killer, Roger Allen Fosters, a dwarf (Peter Dinklage) that his media colleagues have already nicknamed the “Midget Murderer.” Second, we return to the reading of the verdict in Harrison Scott’s trial: Guilty.

A judge sentences Harrison Scott to death by lethal injection at Carpenter State Prison.

After this extended sequence, we return to the yard at Carpenter State, where the prisoners enjoy their one hour of free time. Numbers, now a close friend of Harrison, nudges him from a daydream and the two men watch the action, bullshitting about their day.

In the hospital wing, lead orderly Oliver Voight tends to that day’s sick inmates, assisted by Lillith Rudolph. We get a sense of their knowledge, Voight’s from decades of military experience and Rudolph’s survival instincts. Voight’s favorite patient is the still-delusional, possibly insane, Holly Houston. He seems to be the only one who can get through to her and begins to read from her favorite book. It’s clear that his feelings for her go beyond affection.

The action on the yard escalates when Terrence York returns to gen pop after two months in solitary confinement. Eager to impress their “hero,” several white supremacists start hassling a black prisoner. Despite Numbers’s protests, Harrison gets up, steps in, and takes them out. York, not easily impressed, confronts him on the yard, calling him a “n----r lover,” but just as it looks like the two men are about to come to blows, the guards break it up and drag both men away to solitary confinement. York watches as Harrison goes one direction and he’s led in the other.

Transition on York’s face to a book jacket photo of Terrence York as we go to Wheeling High School in Wheeling, West Virginia. A young neo-Nazi reads one of York’s The Last Revolution, a seminal “text” in modern American fascism. At lunch, the teenager conspires with his fellow racists, speaking in hushed tones about “the book” and “rescuing the great man” and making plans to “after school.”

Back at Carpenter State, the warden Aldous Buckley (cameo by Kurtwood Smith) leads several federal representatives on a tour of the prison. He’s making his pitch to have Carpenter upgraded to ADX status, making it part of the federal penal system. He explains that Carpenter State has advanced many times over since the 50s, where convicts and guards alike nicknamed it “the Warehouse.” As warden, he was responsible for the constant stream of show tunes and water music that plays on a loop as a form of “relaxation” for the inmates.

He shows off his newest advancement: cell walls that are LCD-based, able to go from opaque to crystal clear in a matter of seconds, allowing natural light to stream through the prison as well as improving observation. While this feature has been installed in many wings of the prison, some, like the gym, library, and hospital wing, will be part of the upgrade should the feds approve Carpenter State’s status.

They do. Buckley rejoices, and invites them back to his office for a celebratory drink.

A lower middle-class home in Wheeling, West Virginia. Our teenage Nazis gather around a primitive altar, performing a ritual from an old and tattered grimore. We see their shitty Latin translated in subtitles. They intend to summon demons to rescue Young and kill everything that “lacks white,” but they fuck up and the reverse happens. Demons arrive and rip the young men apart for being “in the light.”

In the hospital wing of Carpenter State, Holly Houston’s eyes open wide and she screams. “They’re coming for us all!” she cries, and Voight calls for Rudolph’s help in restraining her.

She is not the only one to feel the terror. In his cell, far removed from the rest of Carpenter State in a perpetual sentence of solitary, Roger Allen Fosters wakes from a deep sleep and begins to prepare for...something.

TO BE CONTINUED

Sheriff Carpenter : The town's sheriff. He doesn't fuck around. Shoots first and asks questions later. - Chiwetel Ejifor
Evil Nazi Scientist Dr. Friedkin - Has been experimenting on humans to create the ultimate undead nazi uber soldier.- Ciaran Hinds
Deputy Landis : New in town. Transferred from Lake Crystal. Has a real sense of Good and honor. Trained by the army's special forces. - Nathan Fillion
Jolie "Dance" Dante : She runs the busiest joint in town. Can go head to head with the worst of them. Develops a soft spot for Deputy Landis. - Maria Bello
Quarterback Craven : High school football star. Fast as a chita and fierce as a puma. Has a thing for the newspaper reporter. - Chris Evans
Reporter Sabrina Hooper : Gorgeous reporter for the local newspaper. Has an habit for getting in trouble. - Carla Gugino
Hunter Scott : A renegade. War veteran who just wants to get away. Lives outside of town. Doesn't normally take sides, but under the right circumstances will side with the law . - David Strathairn.


It's the 70's. Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll seem to be the order of the day in the small town of Jericho. "Jolie's" is the place. The biggest Biker Bar located on highway 69. The air is hot, the women are hotter and the food is greasy. Former pole dancer state champion Jolie "Dance" Dante runs the place with an iron fist and a 12 gauge shot gun by her side.
The bar is filled with biker gangs and thugs, at the back we spot a beautiful woman sitting by herself. She doesn't look like she belongs there. It's Sabrina Hooper, a local reporter. She sits there by herself drinking a beer when Matt Craven approaches. He's the star Quarterback at the local school. He flirts with her constantly but she doesn't respond. She's concerned. A fellow reporter has gone missing a few days ago and she can't get him out of her mind. She tells Matt that his colleague was investigating some rumors that military experiments were happening in a nearby warehouse. Rumor tells that mail carriers around the country get packages every once in a while to be delivered at this warehouse, and every time, the carrier never returns.

The sheriff's deputy stops by, the crowd doesn't like it but he couldn't care any less. He approaches the bar like he does every night and asks "Dance" if everything is Ok. They flirt for a second before he returns to his duties. She regrets that he has to leave so soon. So does him.
He gets a call on the radio. Dispatch tells him that Mr. Scott has been calling again. Complaining about some strange creature roaming his lands. He's going to investigate.
Scott greets him with a sniper rifle aimed at his head. That's how he greets everyone. He doesn't like people. And you'd be a fool to cross him. He lowers his weapon and invites Landis in once he gets a clear look at his face. He offers some scotch, Landis refuses. There's some sort of critter laying on his floor, covered in a bloody blanket. Landis asks Scott if he called him just to show him a deer. Scott laughs, removes the blanket revealing a creature that resembles a deer, but with robotic legs and a human head.
Landis will take the scotch now.
Scott explains him that he's been seeing some weird creatures coming out of the abandoned warehouse a few miles from his land. There's always been rumors of strange activities going on but they never found anything. They decide to go investigate, calling the sheriff first to come along. Back at the bar, Hooper decides to go investigate the Warehouse too, Craven won't let her go alone and tags along. We arrive at the Warehouse were Landis and Scott are waiting for the Sheriff. Carpenter arrives soon, gets off his car with his usual demeanor. Testy, cold, rough. He limps, a souvenir from the war. He doesn't want to be there chasing ghosts. They approach the entrance and see lights inside, very powerful lights. Before they have time to breach in, the door opens and a shadow can be seen at the door. "Please, come in" he says. It's an old tall guy in a white lab coat. Rubber gloves and big glasses. He introduces himself as Dr. Friedkin, a scientist looking for the secrets of life. Sheriff Carpenter tells him that there's been some reports that some weird things have been going on inside the warehouse. Nonsense replies Friedkin, while he invites them to inspect the facility.
Hooper and Craven arrive at the Warehouse too, but stay outside. They find a window and they see the four people inside. They decide to see what happens.


- To be continued.