NIGHT OF THE MULLETS!


a screenplay by:

Jason P. Preu



EXT – BASEBALL FIELD – DUSK, LIGHT RAIN

MUSIC: AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’

A dirty brown mullet-headed nineteen-year old, dressed in a sleeveless Queensryche T-shirt, faded, hole-riddled jeans, and dark-tinted, aviator sunglasses, throws baseballs to himself and bats them into the outfield.

Mullet-head looks at the storm clouds overhead, hits the final ball from his bucket, and walks into the outfield to retrieve them. His mullet stands on end.

Lightning strikes the mullet. The bolt scalps the mullet from the head and brings the mullet to life.

The mullet scurries away, leaving the rain to fall on the mullet-less body.

ROLL TITLE SEQUENCE

INT – CAR – NIGHT

MUSIC: Snoop Dogg’s ‘Lodi Dodi’

CHRIS, a white boy wanna-be gangbanger and BECKY, a cardboard cheerleader, make out together at a dead-end road that overlooks the city park.

CHRIS

C’mon, girl. Let me get up in there.

BECKY

Oh, Chris. You know I want to. But I made a promise to myself and to the Lord that I wouldn’t before I was married.

CHRIS

That’s wack, yo.

BECKY

I’m sorry. I know it’s frustrating. Here-

BECKY goes down on CHRIS.

CHRIS

Aww...hells yeah.


CHRIS closes his eyes and leans his head back.

A loud noise occurs outside of the vehicle.

BECKY

What was that?

CHRIS

Aw hell, girl. It ain’t nuttin’. Don’t stop now, baby lova. You the bomb diggity bomb bomb.

A loud CRASH is heard as the mullet comes smashing through the driver’s side window. The mullet secures itself to CHRIS’S head.

BECKY

What was that?

CHRIS’S eyes roll back into his head as the mullet takes control. He now sports dark sunglasses and a sleeveless t-shirt. CHRIS reaches toward the radio dial and turns it until the hard rockin’ sounds of Foreigner’s ‘Hot Blooded’ fills the car.

BECKY

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

BECKY raises her head to see CHRIS, mulletized, and screams again.

MULLET CHRIS

Bitchin’.

MULLET CHRIS wraps his hands around BECKY’S throat, cutting her off mid-scream. The two struggle. BECKY pulls CHRIS’S hair. He lets her go. She uses the opportunity to twist the radio dial and the music changes to Peter Cetera’s ‘Glory of Love’.

MULLET CHRIS

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

MULLET CHRIS lets go of BECKY in order to mess with the radio. She grabs her purse and bolts from the car into the dark of the night. The sounds of Rick Derringer’s ‘Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo’ follow her out from the car’s open door.

EXT – FARMER JONES’ FRONT PORCH – NIGHT

MUSIC: Garth Brooks’ ‘The Thunder Rolls’

FARMER JONES and his wife, OPAL, sit out on their front porch in a swing. A transistor radio sits on the railing.


JONES

What a day, what a day.

OPAL

Yes, dear. Them hogs shore was a handful.

JONES

I tell you what, Opal. I shore could use a –

OPAL

Yes, dear.

OPAL goes down on FARMER JONES.

JONES

Aw, galdurnnit, Opal. You’re a peach.

FARMER JONES closes his eyes and leans his head back.

They hear a car coming in the distance. They see its headlights come around the bend. The car flies by their house at 100 mph and then screeches to a halt. The car backs up and pulls into FARMER JONES’S driveway. OPAL raises her head. FARMER JONES grabs the shotgun at his side and points it at the parked car. MULLET CHRIS gets out. Golden Earring’s ‘Radar Love’ screams from the car stereo.

JONES

Who the hell are you, boy? This ere’s private property.

MULLET CHRIS

{Moans}

MULLET CHRIS walks toward the couple, arms outstretched.

JONES

Goddamn druggie longhairs.

FARMER JONES fires his double barrel into MULLET CHRIS’S chest.

MULLET CHRIS is unfazed and pauses only to light a cigarette. He draws ever closer. OPAL screams. FARMER JONES scrambles to reload. MULLET CHRIS steps onto the porch and the mullet atop his head begins to reproduce by dividing itself. One mullet jumps from his head and onto OPAL’S. Another jumps onto FARMER JONES’S. The change in the couple is instantaneous.

JONES AND OPAL

Bitchin’.

MULLET CHRIS plays with the radio dial until he stumbles upon Kansas’s ‘Carry on Wayward Son.’ He then turns around. FARMER JONES and OPAL rise and follow him to the car. They back out of the driveway and roar off into the night.

EXT – BACK ALLEY OF THE BROWN EYE, A GAY BAR – NIGHT


Music: Erasure’s ‘Chorus’

ALEX and ROB hug and kiss in the alley behind The Brown Eye.

ALEX

Mmmm...I love this song.

ROB

Me too.

ROB goes down on ALEX.

ALEX

Oh Rob, what will our wives say?

A ruckus sounds from inside the bar. The music comes to an abrupt halt. Erasure is replaced with Foghat’s ‘Slow Ride’.

ALEX AND ROB

Oh my goodness!

The Brown Eye’s back door flies open. A mullet army streams out from inside. MULLET CHRIS is there within its ranks as are Mullet FARMER JONES and MULLET OPAL. ALEX and ROB huddle down behind a dumpster.

ALEX

What are they? And what’s wrong with their hair?

ROB

They’re some kind of mullet-headed zombies! Look!

ROB points to a pair of mulletheads walking through the door.

ROB

There’s Cisco and Davíd. And look! It’s Julio. Good lord. Are those cut-off camouflage shorts he’s wearing? What happened to those nice, form-fitting, ostrich-skin pants?

ALEX

Oh, Rob! This is unbelievable!

The mullet zombies continue to march out from inside the bar. ALEX and ROB wait in hiding. When the last mullet zombie leaves the alley, the two men rise from their hiding spot, holding hands. They are frantic.

ROB

What are we going to do? The whole city is in danger.

ALEX

Those mullets are a virus. And one way or another, Rob, it’s up to us to avert this disaster.

The two men hug, kiss, look around, then ROB goes down on ALEX again.

EXT – OVERHEAD OF CITY – LATE NIGHT

Music: Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’

The city is in flaming chaos. Mullet zombies, in their aviator sunglasses and sleeveless shirts stalk the streets in search of fresh prey and music that doesn’t rock.

The mullet zombies begin to congregate in the city square. They arrive on foot, by Chevy Camaro, and in the beds of pickup trucks.

EXT – OVERHEAD OF CAR DRIVING DOWN CITY STREET – LATE NIGHT

Music: Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Suburbia’

ALEX and ROB, together, driving down a street of an affluent suburb. The street ahead becomes clogged with stalled cars.

INT – ALEX AND ROB’S CAR – LATE NIGHT

Music (faded): Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Suburbia’

ALEX

What the hell’s going on here? It’s three in the morning. Why is there a traffic jam?

ROB

I smell axle grease! It’s got to be those mullets, Alex! Let’s check it out.

They agree, look into each other’s eyes, nod once, smooch, and open their doors. Wailing guitars can be heard up towards the intersection.

EXT – SUBURBAN STREET – LATE NIGHT

Music (faded, growing louder): Bachman Turner Overdrive’s ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’

The street is clogged with cars as ALEX and ROB make their way to the intersection in hopes of finding out why they’ve encountered a traffic jam.

In the middle of the intersection the two men spot the problem. Stalled smack dab in the cross section is a Chevy El Camino. On its roof stands GARY BLACK, a tall, tanned man, dressed all in leather, pitch-black hair tied back in a ponytail, and wielding two katanas. Piles of slashed and sliced mullet zombies lie about his car. Three more mullet zombies draw near him from behind.

ROB

Look out behind you! Mullets at your rear!

With no hesitation, GARY BLACK spins around to scalp two of the mullet zombies. Then, with a dandy double poke, he removes the eyes from the still-standing mullet zombie. The zombie wanders away in blind confusion. GARY BLACK spins and points his eyeball-tipped katanas at ROB.

GARY BLACK

You, in the silk shirt, turn off that goddamn radio!

ROB locates the source of the music and rushes over to the open car door to shut off the radio.

GARY BLACK

Jesus, thank you. I was about to go ballistic.

ALEX

What happened here?

GARY BLACK

Hold the questions, hot pants. I got the swords. I’ll do the inquisitin’. Where are you guys headed?

ALEX

A mullet swarm almost got us at the club so we decided to follow them. They seemed to be headed towards the square.

ROB

And they looked absolutely dreadful!

GARY BLACK

That’s unavoidable in this situation.

ALEX

What do you mean? You’ve seen this before?

GARY BLACK

Unfortunately, yes. Twenty years ago in Akron. Goddamn mullet zombies killed my family.

ROB

How do we stop them? If I hear one more late 70’s rock anthem, I’m going to have a hissy.

GARY BLACK

(jumping down from the El Camino)
You and me both, Susie. Look, we have to remove their hair. It’s the only thing that stops them. You said the mob you saw was headed toward the city square? You two have to get there fast. Here, take my katanas.

ROB

(handing his katana to ALEX)
No thanks. These hair care nightmares are going to have to face me like the newly enrolled cosmetology student I am. I’ve got an emergency hair kit in the trunk that’ll make short work of any short-longs.

ALEX

(to GARY BLACK)
You’re not coming with us?

GARY BLACK

No. I have to get to my garage. I’ve been working on something just in case I ever again ran into a problem like the one I faced back in Akron. I haven’t tested it yet, but I think it just might work.

ROB

Oh! This is just too much. Good luck, uh, what was your name again?

GARY BLACK

Gary. Gary Black.

ROB

(reaching out to shake GARY BLACK’S hand, leaning in, obviously interested)
Pleased to meet you, Gary. I’m Rob. This is Alex. So, are you from Akron orig-

ALEX

(grabbing ROB by the arm)
Let’s go, sailor boy. Good luck, Mr. Black. I hope we see you soon.

GARY BLACK

Shit yeah.

EXT – CITY SQUARE – PRE-MORNING

Music: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘That Smell’

The mullet zombies crowd the city square. All the cars, trucks, and motorcycles blare the same radio station. The mullet zombies chug cans of beer, shout, “Show us yer tits!” and inspect the engines of the various hot rods in the area. Any hapless wanderer into this scene is quickly overtaken by the mullet zombies, turning the unsuspecting chump into a mullet zombie, complete with Hockey Hair, dark shades, and a sleeveless Blue Oyster Cult T-shirt.

Into this mob of malicious mullets stumble ALEX, with GARY BLACK’S two katanas, and ROB, himself holding a cordless trimmer in one hand, scissors in the other, and a mannequin head/supply case under one arm. The mullet zombies smell the pair’s good, albeit slightly flamboyant, taste. ALEX and ROB welcome the mullet zombies’ advance. The two men are a dynamic duo.

ALEX

You ready for this, sweetie?

ROB

You betchyer sweet ass I am.

ALEX and ROB snip, slice, bang, butcher, poke, and prune the mullet zombie onslaught. And though they fight as if they are possessed by the spirited offspring of Bruce Lee and Liberace, the sheer masses of mullets soon outnumber them. Backed into a corner and at their wit’s end the two franticly look for respite from the hairy throng bearing down upon them.

ALEX

Rob, there’re too many of them! I can only swing these blades so fast!

ROB

Bitch, quit complaining! My blades dulled about twenty neck warmers ago. Would you look at these haircuts I’m handing out? Professor Hector would be livid!

The mullet zombies continue to press in. The duo seems doomed when, in the distance, a faint humming can be heard.

INT – GARY BLACK’S SECRET WEAPON – PRE-MORNING

Music: Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’

From the cockpit of a flying, giant Flow-bee, a bird’s eye view of the mullet zombies closing in on ALEX and ROB.

GARY BLACK

SHIT YEAH!

EXT – ALEX AND ROB’S CLOSE QUARTERS – PRE-MORNING

ALEX

Look, Rob! It’s Gary Black!

ROB

Look, Alex! It’s a flying Flow-bee!

GARY BLACK swoops down low upon the masses of mullet zombies. His flying Flow-bee sucks up and mows down mullets by the tens and twenties. Like the crop duster for a squad of fashion police, GARY BLACK takes dive after dive, dropping mullet zombie after mullet zombie.

ALEX

C’mon, Rob! We’ve got to help!

ROB

(in a raging Rebel Yell)
Ayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayay!

The fighting is so fast, furious, and full of flayed follicles that ALEX and ROB don’t notice that during GARY BLACK’S last dive several mullet zombies grasped onto the flying Flow-bee’s landing gear and breached the cockpit.

GARY is able to land the Flow-bee, but shortly thereafter the mullet zombies infect him and turn him to the dark side.

ROB

What happened to Gary, Alex?
(into the mullet throng)
Yoo-hoo, Gary? Gary, are you OK?

MULLET GARY BLACK rises his now mulleted head behind ROB’S unsuspecting shoulders.

MULLET GARY BLACK

Bitchin’.

ALEX

ROB! Mullet!

ALEX wastes no time. He pushes ROB down.

ROB

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauh!

ALEX uses both katanas to reverse V-scalp MULLET GARY BLACK. MULLET GARY BLACK falls to a lifeless heap at ALEX’S feet.

ALEX

No one can rock a mullet with class, Gary Black. Not even you.

ALEX pulls ROB to his feet.

ROB

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauh!

ALEX

C’mon, Rob. We’ve got to get to the Flow-bee. It’s our only chance now!

ROB

(running after ALEX, arms flailing)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauh!

EXT – CITY SQUARE – SUNRISE

Music: Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’

ALEX and ROB successfully make it to GARY BLACK’S flying Flow-bee. ALEX pilots and ROB leans out the side, snipping stray mullets. He takes down a few as the Flow-bee rises.

ALEX

We’re up, Rob. Let’s fix this city.

ROB

God, yes.
(looking into the rear-view)
Do I have something in my teeth?

The new pilots swoop, sweep, suck, and save. After a few passes and much destruction, the machine begins to sputter.

ALEX

Damn it. We’re running low on fuel.

ROB

Great. And not a Kum-N-Go in sight.

ALEX

There’s only a small patch of those mullet bastards left, Rob. We’ve got to pilot the Flow-bee into them. The heat from the crash will sear their hair to the roots, killing them all, and saving the city!

ROB

But what about you and me, Alex? You’ll kill us both!

ALEX

I know, Rob. I know.
(ALEX pauses)
Rob, I was going to wait until after my divorce went through, but fuck it...
(turning to ROB)
Rob, will you marry me?

ROB

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauh!

ALEX

Is that a yes?

ALEX’s face grows grim and determined. He steers the Flow-bee into the last group of mullets alive in the city square. He closes his eyes and –

ALEX

Whu?

EXT – ABOVE CITY SQUARE – Sunrise

Music: George Michael’s ‘Faith’

ALEX and ROB float above the city square in a hot-air balloon ROB haphazardly crafted from rainbow-colored, vinyl neck-rest liners, a butane torch, and a basket built from plastic curlers. The city square is aflame below them and completely devoid of mullet zombies.

ALEX

Rob, you...you saved my life.

ROB

You got that right, honey. I’ve got a wedding to plan.

The two men hug each other tightly and float out over the outskirts of the city square’s flaming mess. They are all smiles.

ALEX

Rob...

ROB

Alex...

The camera pans out to silhouette the two men inside their plastic curler basket against the backdrop of a rising sun. The end credits begin to roll and we see ALEX’S silhouette go down on ROB’S.

ROB

Alex...

ALEX

WRUOB...

END CREDITS


Music: Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’

EXT – CITY SQUARE – DAY

Close up of a 70’s car stereo face. It lights up. A death-colored hand reaches out to push one of the tuning switches. Then the hand turns up the volume. It’s the rockin’ jam section of Lynyrd Skynard’s ‘Free Bird’.

THE END