nothing bad happened to him. Nobody even tried to attack him. Well, unless the film watched there hit hard in the head, suspiciously resembling the effect of a drug, after which a withdrawal occurs. He wanted to look at something like that again with just one eye. But for this he need to go to the “Blue Lotus” again.
“By the way, have many people disappeared there lately?”
The caretaker tried to remember everyone, even bent his fingers.
“Some couple, an old film fan, various young hooligans and many teenagers – lovers of scary films. Even the police patrol disappeared there once, and no trace. No car, no radio. And last year a whole senior class disappeared there. The brave guys went to celebrate the end of school there. Moreover, neither the students nor the teachers returned.
“And someone was looking for them?”
“Of course! Someone is looking for all the missing, but they have not yet managed to find at least one.”
“Everyone was eaten by the cinema? Does he swallow people like a monster?”
“Do not laugh! Local people believe that some technical force of the future dwells there. Something cosmic or demonic. Young people in the city can even beat you up. If you start to insist that there is nothing like that in the cinema, and it is just an old building. Young townspeople are looking for legends there. By the way, it is young people who are drawn there the most.”
“Is it permissible that they become casual spectators, for example, at some night show, which is not widely announced. And only those who enter the cinema at the call of curiosity get on it.”
“Ruled out! Films have not been shown there for a long time. The last premiere was in 2013. It all ended there. A fire started in the building. All is lost.”
“Sorry, I’m bothering you like a real detective,” Daniel was making calculations in his brain. Not everything they say is true. The sessions are going on there. But even if we assume that spectators who accidentally wander into the cinema disappear on them, how? Are they being carried away directly from the session by some cosmic forces? Is a certain funnel opening between dimensions that sucks people in without returning? Or more simply: some sectarians or maniacs hiding in the cinema grab and kill everyone who wanders there? Then why did none of this happen to him? He was in the Blue Lotus and came back. No one even bit or scratched him.
“I would like to know where they all disappear,” Daniel expressed his desire aloud.
“Just don’t go there, otherwise you will also disappear like everyone else.”
Daniel was definitely not going to follow this good advice. He crumpled his invitation in his pocket. Did he have it, and did other casual spectators come to the cinema without him? Or some demonic creature roamed the city and handed out tickets to them.
Does hell have a queen
Filming began as if delirious. He was impatient to break free to once again go to the abandoned cinema. Well, or almost abandoned. During the morning, Daniel managed to ask many people and, according to the generally accepted version, the cinema, it turns out, was closed and boarded up a long time ago, and, of course, no films were shown there.
He knew something else, but prudently kept silent. In addition, while working, it is better to concentrate on revealing your character, and not on dreams about how he will spend his leisure time. The agent who convinced him to play this role disappeared somewhere. If he had been here, Daniel would have fought with him already. It was necessary to read the script in advance and much more carefully. A horror movie is not an action movie. Here, in addition to harsh phrases and shootings, you need to discuss too complex topics and think about too contradictory things. You will have to learn long monologues, even memorize poetic lines and play a former war hero, who does not yet know who he is in the plans of otherworldly forces. The plot itself touched something painful in Daniel’s mind. As if this was not a horror movie plot at all, but a metaphor for something that had already happened to him in his life. Or about to happen.
“Do you even like it?” The director patted him on the shoulder. The cameras were already preparing for shooting. For some reason, the view of the cameras immediately reminded of the rustle of a spinning reel in the devil’s cinema and Alais’s voice.
“Well, yes, interesting,” Daniel responded bleakly. It is a pity that you do not always have the opportunity to express aloud the opinion that you have in your head.
The name “Queen of Hell” would not hurt to change, if it was not intended to advertise the actress who plays the main role. The script was trivial. It was rewritten many times, but this did not give it originality. Nonsense in the spirit of Anna Rice, Tom Holland, Sheridan le Fanu and a whole list of authors who worked in the genres of historical mysticism. A handsome Russian aristocrat who has just returned from the war for Serbia finds in his father’s estate, who has died in a strange way, an ancient box with an incredibly large ruby on the lid. Of course, some creepy-looking strangers, including a gypsy fortuneteller, warn not to open it. And, of course, in his dreams a delightful woman begins to appear to him, who convinces him to open this box. With great difficulty, he finds a way to break the lock (by the way, for this he has to make a bloody sacrifice). Daniel’s hero accidentally kills a maidservant who was innocent, her blood dripping onto the ritual circle. The ruby ignites with a bloody light, the box opens and the ashes of the ancient fairy queen Medea Shai burst out of it. Once she was burned, now she is alive again, just formed from a column of ash, beautiful, thirsty for blood like a vampire and harboring such anger at the whole world that from her steps the earth begins to ignite, buildings collapse, prints of burning feet streak the pavement. Thanks to the release of Medea Shai from the box, the First World War begins, then the revolution. People are dying, and Daniel’s hero must stop her, but this is almost impossible, because he has already managed to fall in love with her. The scenes of seduction both in dreams and in reality promised to be spectacular. The blood-red lips of Medea Shaya will press against his lips in the frame, bloody wine will pour, the beauty will convince him that she alone is more important to him than the whole world. One should forget the duty to the king, to the fatherland, to the family (after all, she brought his father and many ancestors to the grave, even being in captivity she was very strong and appeared to the members of the chosen family through dreams). Of course, all eternity she waited for him, the main character of the film. But what if she’s lying? Her tongue is like a snake when kissing, during love scenes she inflicts wounds on him with claws, and fire worms start in these wounds.
Daniel never finished reading the script. Probably, the ending will be rewritten more than once in search of something more impressive. The film has only one chance at the box office. You need to impress the audience. And he has only one last chance to succeed. Or oblivion awaits him. Like an old abandoned movie theater.
Ideally, the film should have been shot in St. Petersburg, but it’s much cheaper in the wilderness. Then the scenes will be combined.
Jane, even if she is the mistress of the chiefs a hundred times, does not look at all in the role of Medea Shai. Too vulgar. The queen of hell must have dignity, grace, become… The queen of hell must be Alais.
Daniel closed his eyes dreamily, imagining how he would act in tandem with her. If she becomes his partner on the set, then he will definitely insist on the fatal ending. Let the whole world collapse, let him perish, and she herself will rule hell on the earth left after the revolution. After all, it is impossible to fight it.
Jane is not fit for such an exalted role. Could a woman who stood naked in front of the camera and surrendered herself to everyone behind the scenes play the queen? This is probably why the films suffer losses at the box office. Prostitutes are not suitable for the role of noble persons, the falsity is noticeable to the sensitive public.
Although not for him to judge. Who is he himself? In order to get the first role, he had to give way to many in almost everything. This is the world.