Episode 21.0 - Movie Night
Episode Credits:
Episode 21.0 - Movie Night. Buckle up as we return to the day everything changed in this absolute rollercoaster of an episode! I mean, what's a movie without some tension, cute moments, funny ones and maybe even a bit of horror and heartbreak!?
While you're in the wasteland, follow us on Twitter for news and updates! Better yet, if you're on Bluesky you can find us there! Join us in hitchhiking on the Red Fathom discord to hang out with cast and crew! Want to support the show? Please check out our Patreon to find our new Red Fathom Entertainment subscription model that gives you access to EVERYTHING we make!
Hannahpocalypse is intended for mature audiences on account of mature language, theme and violence and horror elements. Please be advised.
Episode Credits:
Amanda Hufford as Hannah
Abigail Turner as Cali
Jordan Rudolph as Mel
Will Handford as Jameson, Bogart, Ol' Blind Pete
Tom Schalk as Rictor, Charles
Ryan Hoyle as Reggie
Yenni Ann as Ashley
James Holyoake as Billy
Leslie Gideon as Morgan
Thank you to our volunteer zombies from the Fable and Folly Network, Russ More and Beth Crane!
Writing and Sound Design by Damian Szydlo
Sensitivity and Script Reading by Mak Shepard (where required)
Special thanks to Velvet Moon & Argle Bargle Studios for providing music for Hannahpocalypse! Listen to Velvet Moon on Spotify and find Argle Bargle Studios on Instagram.
The 'Movie' that was being watched in the theater is Episode 2, Season 2 of Cybernautica!
Intro Song: A Florentine Story by Michele Nobler & Luis Berra
Instrumental in Act 2: Hush You (Instrumental) by Velvet Moon
Outro Song: If it Matters (Instrumental) by Velvet Moon
Special Thanks to Russ More & Beth Crane for assorted zombie sounds!
TRANSCRIPT
[FADE IN]
[HANNAH is dreaming along with the listener, returning to Goldengate prior to Cali getting shot by Bogart.]
HANNAH
“I know where we are. Or, more importantly, ‘when’ we are. Goldengate. Pre-zombification. Before… ‘We’ happened to it. I’m not gonna lie, Listener… Not exactly thrilled about seeing what we missed out on, you know? I mean, I really could go the rest of my unlife without seeing ‘exactly’ how this particular chapter ended. Pretty content with just letting it be one of those ‘cover your eyes during the really scary part of the movie’ kind of moments.
For the record, when I asked for your help without actually asking for your help… I didn’t expect it to be so immediate and without any sort of proverbial chill. Like maybe we could have eased into things a little more? As a therapist, you’re not the best. I’m not an expert, but the all gas and no brakes thing isn’t the best approach to dealing with trauma.
And I see we’re not budging. Alright. Ripping off the bandaid it is.
[sighs nervously before shaking it off and gathering herself]
Look. I’ve come a long way over the last fifty years. I have. Learned a lot about who I am. What I am. Something I feel is an important perspective to have. Things are more ‘Me’ than ‘We’ these days, in general. This moment right here? This one that’s about to happen? It changed everything… You saved me from living through this by taking me with you. Back to your world or reality or… whatever sorcery you magicked up. I love you for that. So if it’s time to pay the piper… If I have to see this to come to terms with the here and now… I want to do that with you. I’m… I’m ready. Let’s do this!
[CONTEXT: Flashback scene. We revisit the moment after Cali was shot from the viewpoint of Charles and Bogart as they descend into panic throughout the scene.]
BOGART
“Woopsie.”
CHARLES
[Distressed]
“Woopsie? What do you mean, woopsie? Give me those binoculars!”
HANNAH
“Ugh. I hate these guys. They’re the actual worst.”
BOGART
“Well. You’re not going to enjoy what you see. Not in the slightest.”
[Passes the binoculars to CHARLES.]
“Here.”
CHARLES
[adjusting the focus]
“Well, that’s an understatement! You were supposed to hit the damned zombie, Doctor. Not the girl!”
BOGART
[Upset but more angry at a loss of face then the accident]
“Obviously, Charles! A… It was a slight miscalculation… that’s all. She got in the way, is what I mean to say! There’s a lot of wind! I’ll have you know it’s a difficult shot even without Calista getting in the way.”
CHARLES
“Shut up! Do you hear yourself? Got in the way? This isn’t about your ego, Mr. Bogart. Use your eyes, man! You killed that poor girl down there. Look at her! How are we going to explain this?”
BOGART
“Let me try again. We can’t leave that zombie to… feast. Actually, no. That works, doesn’t it? We can tell anyone who asks about it that the little green monster turned on her. That’s what you get when you play with fire, afterall! Give me the word and I’ll make the shot, Councillor. We’ll take out this little problem and be done with it.”
CHARLES
“I don’t like it, but… I suppose it’s for the best. The greater good. You’d better make it quick, though. I think… unless my eyes deceive me, she’s finished her… meal… already. That thing- I think it’s coming right for us. And fast!”
BOGART
“Roger, that. Taking the shot now.”
[sound of the gun jamming and sounds of Bogart struggling with the rifle.]
“Damn. It’s- Piece of junk! That mutant sold me a lemon! A lemon, I say! It’s jammed!”
[Throws down the gun]
CHARLES
“Pick that up! Can’t you fix it?”
BOGART
I’m a doctor, not a gunsmith.”
CHARLES
“Oh, good Lord preserve us. Just look down there! That zombie can really move, can’t it!? She’s already managed to cross the distance. It’s a good thing we built that wall. Everyone said it was too expensive. A bunch of no good critics. Who’d pay for it? Who would pay for it indeed! Walls aren’t only good for stopping refugees, you know. I told them all! The wasteland never sends its best.”
BOGART
[goes pale]
“She’s climbing it.”
CHARLES
“What did you say?”
BOGART
“She’s. Climbing. The. Wall. We need to block the door. Post haste!”
CHARLES
“Surely she can’t… You’re not saying she somehow knows where we are. That she’s coming for us?”
BOGART
[starting to panic]
“I’m not saying anything, Charles. Now help me with this desk.”
CHARLES
[full panic]
“This can’t be happening! Oh God! I don’t want to turn into one of those… those things! Do you hear me? Promise you won’t let that happen!”
BOGART
[straining as he can’t move the heavy desk alone]
“Help me with this damned desk!”
CHARLES
“Right… Right! The desk.”
[CHARLES joins in, grunting and heaving with BOGART as they move the desk against the door.]
BOGART
“That ought to do it.”
[ZOMBIE-ME hits the door, full zombie rage, splintering it immediately. CHARLES cries out in impotent fear.]
BOGART
“Well, that didn’t last long, did it?”
CHARLES
“Doctor! Do something!”
BOGART
“What would you have me do, exactly? We’re, to put it plainly, royally fucked.”
[ZOMBIE-ME finishes smashing her way through the door.]
CHARLES
“Watch your language, Doctor.”
BOGART
“Really? You’re going to chastise me? Even now? As an actual zombie beats down our very door?”
CHARLES
“Well… there’s no need to be crass about it…”
[ZOMBIE-ME scrambles over the desk, prompting CHARLES to cry out again.]
BOGART
“I think it’s about time to do something I should have done years ago! Bon voyage!”
CHARLES
“Wait, what are you doing!?”
[Pushes CHARLES towards ZOMBIE-ME. Sounds of CHARLES screaming as he gets eaten.]
BOGART
“Disgusting. Now, time to find a way out of here while that monster is otherwise occupied. Ahh, the window! Of course!”
[BOGART climbs through the open window. Talking to himself as he steps out onto the ledge.]
“I’m far too important to be zombie food, anyway. I’m sure you’d understand… You’re always talking about the greater good, afterall.
Oh, this… isn’t the widest ledge, is it? One step at a time, I suppose. Tally-ho.”
[Zombie noise as ZOMBIE-ME pops her head out the window.]
BOGART
“You… You… Don’t even think about it! Stay right where you are!”
[ZOMBIE-ME climbs out th
e window, crawling after him on the ledge]
BOGART
“Of course! Of course you’d be some sort of zombie trapeze artist, wouldn’t you? Typical!”
[BOGART pauses as he takes another couple steps]
“Let’s try ‘reason’, then. This should be a real treat. I didn’t have communing with zombies on my year of 2182 Bingo list.
[clears throat]
Look here, zombie-woman. You understand me don’t you? Yes, of course you do. Preliminary studies in zombie tyrants, according to the Redmond papers, noted a cognitive response to certain speech patterns so… Just talk like you’re speaking to a rather dim child, Tristan. Here goes nothing…”
[talking down to ZOMBIE-ME]
I didn’t mean to shoot your little friend out there. I apologise for the big bang-bang. It was an acc-i-dent. She got in the way! A real ‘Oopsie-daisy, silly me’ moment. I’m terribly sorry, but there’s no sense crying over spilled milk, is there?”
[ZOMBIE-ME keeps approaching, slowly]
No, stop… Hear me out, damn you! If you’d just wait for one moment I’ll explain it in a way your gormless, shrivelled mind can understand!”
[The next line is said as a sudden outburst that finally stops ZOMBIE-ME]
“She was mine before she was yours!”
[BOGART’s now sneering demeanour after realising the zombies' seeming distress.]
“That’s it, isn’t it? Ha! Of course it is! That’s why she got in the way of the shot… Oh, Calista. I knew you were a degenerate, but this? This is a new, final low. My would-be wife. The wretched zombie philanderer.”
[ZOMBIE-ME has heard enough]
HANNAH
“I’d heard enough. I’ve had enough.”
[ZOMBIE-ME pounces, BOGART panics in pure fear in the face of the zombies' fury.]
BOGART
“Get off of me! Get off! What are you… what do you think you’re doing?”
HANNAH
“He didn’t deserve to become a zombie. She… I… killed him. Threw him from the wall, from the bridge. To make sure he didn’t come back. But how… do I remember this? I wasn’t there. I was with you, Listener. Wasn’t I…?
[realises now that a part of her had to deal with this, that she’d abandoned herself. BOGART screams, being thrown from the wall and off the Golden Gate Bridge itself.]
It wasn’t her fault. I blamed her but… Look at her. She’s frenzied. She didn’t even know who or where she was. That wasn’t me, wasn’t even Zombie-Me. It was too much to handle, even for the part of me that remained. Had to stay behind. Alone. Had to endure… all of this.
I always knew. Deep down I never got away from this moment. Not really.
This is so, so broken, Listener. How do we even start to fix any of this? No matter what I do or how hard I work…
Wait. I’m not ready to go back yet-”
[SCENE: FADE IN: Sounds of a movie playing in a theatre environment]
[NOTE: Voices hushed]
HANNAH
[frustrated/off center]
“I can’t go back like this. Bring this back with me. She’ll know. If you can just give me a minute to pull myself together! This isn’t fair!”
CALI
[excited, watching an action scene]
“Oh, this is my favourite part! Watch this. Ohhhh, man! Did you see that?”
[CALI is concerned as she notices Hannah had drifted off]
You okay, Hannah? Hannah?”
HANNAH
[lying/poorly playing off what she experienced]
“Yeah… I just… got lost there for a sec. You know me. Wild awkward-flashback-daydream-girl again. No biggie… I mean some people have to pay for that kind of trip, right? No need for hard drugs here. This is just another part of the modern day Hannah experience!”
CALI
“Okay… Actually, do you want to get out of here for a minute? Maybe get some air or something?”
HANNAH
“No… no, I think I’m alright now. It’s over. We can talk about it later if you want. I’m here. I promise.”
CALI
[hesitant but trusting]
“Alright. Got it. Five by five.
But, if this gets too much or anything, you only gotta say the word and we’ll jet. Whatever you need.”
HANNAH
“Whatever I need?”
CALI
[playfully wholesome]
“Yeah, you heard me, Miss Boden.”
HANNAH
“Can you… just hold my hand? And maybe not let go?”
CALI
“Yeah. I can swing that. Until the wheels fall off.”
[let the scene breathe before monologue]
[NOTE: Monologue, tone can return to a conversational one]
CALI
[to the Listener]
“I love movie night. For a lot of reasons, actually. Date night is clearly a big one. Another, obvious reason being that it’s the only thing that shuts these guys up. I mean, have a listen! Hear any moaning? Groaning? Not a peep! I don’t know if it’s a general zombie thing, or maybe it’s just a Goldengate quirk that rolled over, but they love this stuff! I’d even do it more than once a week if it wasn’t such an absolute fucking trial to herd these guys in here every Thursday. Seriously, getting a few hundred zombies into a makeshift theatre isn’t easy. I feel that I need a sheep dog or something. Seriously. Wait, why the fuck don’t I have a dog!?
Anyhow, pupper revelation aside, there are other reasons we do this, too. If we’re looking for excuses to justify doing this, then we’ve got multitudes. The quiet time is obviously a big checkmark, not to mention it’s good for the community to peacefully be in one place together for reasons that don’t involve eating roadkill. I feel those things alone would be enough… but, there's more than a little selfishness in this mix. And I’m fine with that.
See, when I was a little girl, before I was allowed to watch the cool flicks the council had labelled as ‘culturally sensitive’ films… which you could pick out because they were always the ones with the parental advisory warnings.
[says in a mock parental advisory disclaimer tone]
‘This film contains violence, coarse language, and nudity. Parental discretion is advised.’
That disclaimer thing was how you knew you were about to watch one of the really good ones. I mean, I’m pretty sure one of those movies is directly responsible for my bi-wakening. How am I not supposed to feel a certain way when you show my gay-ass movies like The Mummy or The Craft? And Ellen Ripley being a badass in Aliens? Come on! I ran around for weeks pretending to be Ripley. Let me tell you, that went over like a brick with the locals. “Get away from her, you bitch!” wasn’t exactly what your parents were looking to hear from you while you’re roughhousing with your stupid brothers.
Back to the movies though. I had this tried and true method of sneaking in. Teenage me would wait to creep into the film booth after old Mr. Flannery passed out, flask full o’ hooch still gripped tight in his wrinkly old hands. Most of the time I’d be able to watch a whole double feature. He’d eventually come-to and give me some half-hearted trouble about it but couldn’t rat me out ‘cause the council would know he was slacking off again. I got to see all the classics! The Terminator, Die Hard, Friday the 13th… so many others. That’s actually how I met Bogart. He was a big Terminator fan. Too bad he turned out to be, in the timeless words of John Conner, a ‘douchebag’.
Still, movie night in Goldengate was the one time everyone here stopped worrying about the rules and just had some fun watching stuff that obviously clashed with the weird culture we were legally obligated to play along with. Movies were one of the only things that were allowed to be improper.”
[NOTE: Voices hushed again]
HANNAH
[finally recovering from the flashback]
“Question.”
CALI
“Shoot.”
HANNAH
“I caught a little bit of what you were just telling the Listener. Do you think it’s weird that I was alive when these movies came out?”
CALI
“You know… I never really thought about that. Not much, anyway. It’s actually a little wild now that you say it out loud. Counter-question for ya.”
HANNAH
“Alright, go.”
CALI
“What were they like? The actors, I mean. If you guys even knew about them? Clearly the Terminator is the same guy as Harry from True Lies… but what were they like when they weren’t being all cool in the movies? I bet it was pretty damn swanky.”
HANNAH
“Hmmm. There were levels to it, I guess? A lot of the faces you see were minor celebrities. Everyone imagined that being an actor meant you were all rich and famous, but most of the people in movies were living from gig to gig. Some of them, though, the… umm… ‘Terminator’, were ultra-famous. Always in the spotlight. Sometimes it seemed like their real lives were their own kind of movie. We even got so obsessed with wanting to know about different lifestyles that we started a whole craze called ‘Reality TV’. Don’t ask. It wasn’t exactly an entertainment high point. That guy though? Arnold Schwarzenegger? He was a special case. Even became a politician! [Bad Arnold Impression] ‘The Governator of California’.”
CALI
[suppressing laughter]
“The Governator. Are you serious?”
HANNAH
[amused]
“It was a dark time, okay?”
CALI
“Are you kidding me? That sounds awesome. I’d rather have the Governator running things then a guy like Charles. I mean, look at him.”
CHARLES
“I heard that.”
CALI
“Yeah, yeah.”
HANNAH
[Suddenly very uncomfortable]
“God. Please don’t mention Charles right now.”
CALI
[sternly concerned]
“Alright, spill.”
HANNAH
[sighs, reluctant]
“Fine. That flashback I said I had? It was about what happened after you… after what happened on the bridge when we first got here.”
CALI
“When I… alright, we’re getting that air I talked about. Now.”
HANNAH
“But what about… everyone? Them?”
CALI
“Are you kidding? They’ll be stunlocked for at least another forty-five minutes. You’re more important.”
HANNAH
[reluctant, feels like a bother]
“Okay…”
[HANNAH and CALI leave the theatre, pushing through the double doors, tone no longer hushed]
HANNAH
“Hey, slow down!”
CALI
“Sorry. It’s just… what the actual fuck?”
HANNAH
“It was a surprise to me too. I think it was the Listener. What I mean is that they were there with me. Usually, when I get that kind of flashback it’s for a reason. Even if I don’t understand, or sometimes even remember them fully.”
CALI
[Upset on Hannah’s behalf and concerned]
“I need you to focus. Are. You. Okay? Don’t worry about anything else.”
HANNAH
“Yeah… yeah, I think so. It was really… REALLY strange. Remember when I told you that… when ‘it’ happened the Listener took me away? So that I didn’t have to be there? To have to ride along as my body did… things?”
CALI
“Yeah?”
HANNAH
“Turns out that was only partially true. Like, part of me was still there and I just repressed it or something. My brain was disassociating, and was somewhere else, but I was still there. Doing those things. It’s super confusing and I-”
CALI
“No, no. Hannah, that’s a lot, okay? And it shouldn’t have happened. We’re sorting this out right now.
[regards the Listener]
Hey, you! Yeah, Listener. What’s the big deal? You show up out of the blue yesterday, and what, get right back to traumatising her? I thought we were cool but now, you know, I’m not so sure!”
HANNAH
“Cali- I don’t think- It’s not true.”
CALI
“Oh, it’s true. It’s damn true. What else could it possibly be? We’re just a different kind of Movie Night. We’re basically stand ins for those celebrities you were talking about. Reality TV. Our lives, in the spotlight, and on full display whenever they want it. We’re the fucking entertainment, Hannah.
So, are you having fun or what? Are you enjoying yourself up there? I’ve just gotta know! What’s it feel like to play around with people like dolls in a sandbox?”
HANNAH
“Listen. It’s not like that. I’m- I’m not explaining it right.
[Hannah is frustrated at not having the right words]
The Listener is just helping… like a Ghost of Christmas Past kind of thing! Showing me what I need to see so that I can get better. Figure all of this out for the both of us.”
CALI
“No. Fuck that. This is done. I want you gone. Do you hear me? Take off! We got on fine without you for fifty years. We sure as hell didn’t need ya then, we sure don’t need ya now. Complicating things. Messing with us. Getting involved. It’s not okay anymore, and I’m not sure if it ever was.”
HANNAH
“Cali…”
CALI
[pacing]
“What!?”
HANNAH
“Calm down. Think about it. They’ve only ever helped us. Back when your spinner crashed? It was the Listener that led me to you. They found me in the first place. They’re…. They’re a catalyst for change and healing and- Please calm down, okay?”
CALI
[confrontationally questioning]
“Are you sure about that?”
HANNAH
“Yes. I’m sure.”
CALI
“Why? What if all of that happened to us- what if it was going to happen anyway? Maybe they just dialled into the best time to watch the wild show we call our fucked up life?”
HANNAH
“I don’t-”
CALI
“What did they change, Hannah?”
HANNAH
[unsure/holding back]
“Lots of things…”
CALI
“Oh yeah? Like what? Can you think of one thing that would have been different if we never met them?”
HANNAH
[Bottled up outburst]
“Me! They changed me. I was dead when they found me, Cali. Inside and out. All that time, where you couldn’t hear me? Through everything that happened, they were there for me. Listening. For the first time in so long someone could hear me. Someone cared. Then, when you woke up, the Listener went away. Now they’re back and maybe it’s because we’re not doing a great job listening to ourselves anymore.”
CALI
[Frustrated at the situation]
“Just… FUCK!”
[cooling down]
“I’m sorry. That sounds… right. It’s that- oh, to hell with it, you know? I didn’t mean to cross a line, there. I really, really hate this for you. And for us. We can’t even get a moment without something truly bizarre coming into our business. Into our lives. There’s always something getting in the way.”
HANNAH
“I know. It feels less than great. But we’re still here, right? Figuring it out. I’m still here. Loving you.”
CALI
“I love you too, Zombie-Girl. I’m just not sure if I love… ‘them’, the Listener, right now. I’m going to take a couple days out of the spotlight, if that’s alright with you. Figure this out without them peeping in on me all the damn time.”
HANNAH
“I know they’ll respect that. Whatever you need. Until the wheels fall off.”
CALI
“Thanks… thanks, Hannah. I’m… I’m going to go.”
[CALI leaves the scene]
HANNAH
[lets out a deep breath she was holding]
“That could have gone better. For what it’s worth, I don’t think she means it. It’s probably best if you give her some time, though. Like she asked. Just… don’t go. Don’t leave us. We definitely need you. If this is a movie, I have a feeling it’s just getting started.”
[FADE OUT]