Sleepy Hollow
Ichabod gets under the windmill, helping Young Masbath up the ladder and in. Katrina next.
The Horseman is almost there.
Ichabod follows Katrina. He gets in, feet dangling. The Horseman dismounts…
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
Ichabod leaps up and struggles with the heavy trap door… slams it. He closes the latch just as the Horseman hits. The door buckles.
YOUNG MASBATH It won’t hold.
Ichabod goes to a large GRINDSTONE against a wall. He struggles to roll it.
Young Masbath helps him roll it to the trap door. It falls on top with a thud. The Horseman’s sword jabs up through the grindstone’s center hole.
The sword withdraws. A POUNDING begins.
EXT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The Horseman chops at the door with his axe.
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
POUNDING CONTINUES. The grindstone shifts. Katrina and Young Masbath back away. Ichabod holds his lantern up, desperate for ideas, searching.
Above, to the right, is the milling platform, where grain is ground and bagged. To the left is the crooked staircase.
Ichabod picks up a bailing hook, a plan forming. He gives his lantern to Katrina and points.
ICHABOD Get up those stairs. Open the door to the roof and wait.
Katrina and Young Masbath obey. Ichabod crosses and climbs the ladder to the milling platform. He grasps a wooden lever, pulling it. Gears above begin to turn.
EXT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The windmill’s rotors CREAK to life, spinning.
UNDER THE WINDMILL, the Horseman keeps chopping. His axe exposes grindstone, throwing sparks.
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
Katrina looks down from the stairs.
The Horseman’s axe pries at the seam of the trap door.
KATRINA Ichabod…
ICHABOD Keep climbing. I will follow…
Ichabod pulls bags of grain, lining them up at the edge of the milling platform.
ICHABOD (under his breath) Hopefully.
ABOVE, Young Masbath reaches the ceiling, throws open the door to the roof.
BELOW, Ichabod cuts holes into the grain bags, so milled grain spills out and falls to the floor, creating dust.
He grabs one open bag and dumps it. More grain dust.
EXT. WINDMILL ROOF-NIGHT
Masbath and Katrina come out. Rotors spin behind them.
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
Ichabod sees below… the Horseman sticks a hand through, trying to push the grindstone aside, then withdrawing. The RACKING axe continues. Won’t be long.
Ichabod grabs one half-full bag of grain, swings it with effort, throws…
The bag smashes on the grindstone, busting the door…
EXT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The grindstone falls through, SLAMMING the Horseman down…
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
Ichabod slices into a sack hanging from a pulley system. More and more dust rises.
Below, the Horseman enters. Katrina shouts from above.
YOUNG MASBATH Look out!
The Horseman moves toward the ladder milling platform ladder, but Ichabod grabs it, pulling it up…
The Horseman just misses the final rung.
Ichabod throws the ladder aside as the Horseman backs off.
Ichabod looks to the staircase. No way to climb down from the milling platform and get there.
The Horseman runs and leaps, grabbing a hanging chain…
The Horseman climbs the chain, swinging…
Ichabod runs across the platform, jumps…
Ichabod grasps the frail rail of the staircase, barely.
The rail creaks, about to break. Behind, the Horseman lands on the milling platform.
Ichabod is losing grip. Young Masbath races down the stairs, grabs his hand. He pulls Ichabod up.
Ichabod’s pistol slips from its holster and falls.
Ichabod and Young Masbath look…
The Horseman, following Ichabod’s lead, runs across the milling platform and leaps…
Grabs the staircase rail, only a few feet from Ichabod and Masbath. Ichabod kicks the rail, breaking it…
The Horseman falls in billowing dust, crashing below.
Ichabod pushes Masbath up the stairs.
EXT. WINDMILL ROOF-NIGHT
Katrina helps them onto the roof.
KATRINA Quickly, close it.
ICHABOD No. (takes lantern, points) Get to the crest of the roof and be ready to jump.
YOUNG MASBATH Jump? Jump where?
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The Horseman runs, agile, up stairs.
EXT. WINDMILL ROOF-NIGHT
Ichabod shepherds Katrina and Young Masbath to the edge where the rotors spin close.
ICHABOD The blades will carry us to the ground. Face front and wait for me.
KATRINA I… I can’t do this.
ICHABOD We have no choice.
Ichabod moves back to the trap door.
Katrina and Young Masbath look at the rotors, and down at the long distance between them and the ground.
ICHABOD Be ready…
Ichabod throws the lantern into the windmill and runs.
ICHABOD Now!
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The Horseman continues up. The lantern falls past.
EXT. WINDMILL, ROOF-NIGHT
Young Masbath jumps. Ichabod grips Katrina and jumps…
They hit one rotor and cling to the frame and cloth. The rotor begins its downwards swing.
INT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The lantern hits the ground and shatters. FLAMES EXPLODE!
Grain dust is consumed instantaneously-FLAMES ROAR upwards, filling the windmill…
Engulfing the Horseman.
EXT. WINDMILL-NIGHT
The rotor is halfway to its lowest point. Masbath, Katrina and Ichabod hang on as the entire structure trembles.
BOOM-flames shoot out the windows, doors and seams, lighting up the night.
On the rattling rotor, Ichabod struggles to hold the frame with one hand and keep a grip on Katrina.
Masbath drops. Ichabod releases Katrina, then drops.
They hit the ground. Ichabod rolls, gasping, holding his
