River Runs Red

Treatment

Two pubescent boys, Ted and Kenny, discover a severed woman's arm on the river bank. The nails are freshly painted a brilliant shade of red.

At the Flying Horse Bar, Dawn Redbird, a singer recently returned from L.A., and Violet Green, an old friend and professor at the local university, exchange tales of love gone bad. On the television above the bar, the sheriff, Steve Von Eichenburg, talks about the severed limb and its possible connection to recently missing women.

Violet tells Dawn about the sheriff's missing wife. He was seen digging a trench behind his house, but "no one had the balls to dig her up."

Meanwhile, a band rehearses on stage. Hubble, the band leader, berates Billy Wilkes, for messing up and being late. Billy knocks Hubble over and charges Dawn, accusing her of trying to steal his job. The bartender, Jack Hayes, leaps over the bar and intervenes. Dawn replaces Billy as the lead singer.

That night, after the performance, Billy practically assaults her in the parking lot. Jack rescues her again and sends Billy packing. Violet becomes livid when Jack takes Dawn home.

The next morning, Violet shows up at Dawn's cabin. She warns Dawn to stay away from Jack. Later, Von Eichenburg visits Dawn. He asks her if she noticed anything suspicious about Billy's car. He cautions her to be careful of Billy.

Impulsively, Dawn drives to Jack's cabin. She tells him about Von Eichenburg's visit, but not Violet's. As they become violently passionate, Von Eichenburg searches for the missing body. He shines a search light across the river and in to the cabin as Dawn and Jack make love.

In the morning, Jack seems withdrawn. When he tells Dawn he's not supposed to date the staff, she storms off. As she drives toward town, she passes Von Eichenburg and a wonderment of officers looking up at a billboard. A neatly severed leg had been nailed to the gaping jaws of a lifelike Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Dawn returns to her cabin and dresses for rehearsal. Her Pathfinder won't start. The distributor cap is missing and her phone is dead. When a car approaches, she grabs her gun and slips outside. It's Jack. He says he's come by to apologize.

As Jack drives Dawn to town, they see Kenny, one of the pubescent boys, trying to pull Ted out of the river. Jack plunges is and plucks Ted out.

When Dawn and Jack finally make it to the Flying Horse, she discovers that Hubbell has given Billy his job back, supposedly because Dawn was late and didn't call.

That evening, Dawn goes back to the cabin. She discovers Jack on the river bank with candles, music and a bottle of Cuervo. Dawn spritzes him with the tequila. As she begins to lick it off, Jack takes the bottle and douses her breasts. He tosses the tequila aside. It lands in the fire. As the flames flare up, they claw at each other's clothes.

Violet stumbles in to the scene. Jack runs off. Violet turns on Dawn and says, "You can fuck him, but you'll never have him."

The next morning Hubble phones and offers Dawn another gig.

On her way to the rehearsal, she passes Von Eichenburg sitting in the field where the severed leg was found. He's meditating on a partially-used bottle of Deep Cut Red nail polish. He says he'd like to hear her sing. She says she wouldn't mind.

At the rehearsal, Billy shows up and denies sabotaging her Pathfinder. He says he has no hard feelings toward her and even suggests they do a song together, sometime.

Dawn returns to her cabin to get ready for the performance. When she slides her foot in to her boot, something gets stuck to her toes. She pulls out a severed hand. The finger nails are painted a brilliant shade of red.

Having been called to investigate, Von Eichenburg escorts Dawn to her performance, but does not stay.

On her way home, a pick-up bumps Dawn's Pathfinder and runs her off the road. As the driver gets out of the pick-up and approaches Dawn, she guns the Pathfinder out of the ditch. She notices the driver wearing a duster and cowboy hat, just like Violet's.

Chased by the pick-up, Dawn turns in to the road to Jack's cabin. She tells him that Violet my be trying to kill her. They hear a vehicle approaching. Jack goes out to see who it is. Dawn grabs a rifle from the rack and charges out in to the darkness. When the vehicle's lights flash on them, she shoots out one of the pick-up's lights. The pick-up hurtles back up the road.

Back in the cabin, Dawn and Jack make tender and romantic love.

They hear a noise outside. Jack gets up to investigate. Dawn grabs her jeans and starts to put them on. Billy, wearing a duster and a cowboy hat, bursts past Jack in to the room. Jack reveals Billy as his step brother!

Billy knocks Dawn down and tapes her to the bed. He takes a bottle of Deep Cut Red nail polish from his pocket and makes Jack paint Dawn's toe nails.

When Jack and Billy leave to dispose of Dawn's Pathfinder, Von Eichenburg tries to rescue her. Jack and Billy return and knock him out. They stash him in the trunk of Billy's car.

Dawn breaks free and steals out of the cabin. She tries to rescue Von Eichenburg, but he appears to get shot. He falls in to the river.

Billy and Jack recapture Dawn and imprison her in a shed. When Jack comes back to kill her, she tries to convince him that she's really in love with him and that they should run away. Billy overhears and bursts in. He accuses Jack of betrayal.

As Billy and Jack fight, Dawn frantically looks for a weapon. Clawing at the shelves in the shed, she finds body parts floating in jars of formaldehyde. She hurls a jar at Billy. It strikes him in the head. The jar smashes on the floor, and Violet's head rolls out. The lips are painted red.

Dawn grabs Jack's shotgun and runs toward the river. A hand reaches out of the water and grabs her ankle. It's Von Eichenburg. She pulls him out of the river.

As Billy lurches out of the woods and goes to shoot Von Eichenburg, Dawn blasts Billy with the shotgun. As Billy tries to shoot back, Jack explodes out of the woods and takes the bullet intended for Dawn. Dawn swings the shotgun at Billy and knocks him in to the river. He disappears in to the raging dark water.

Jack dies in Dawn's arms.

The next night, at the Flying Horse, Von Eichenburg watches as Dawn sings of love and betrayal. Her nails are painted Deep Cut Red.

For coverage of this screenplay, go to Mike.

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