Devil’s Cinema. Crypt of the Seven Angels

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. Without connections and without money, you can’t get anywhere for one talent, unless people need you for some completely unrelated to professional goals.

Unlike modern actresses, Alais looked like a creature that never slept with anyone. This is probably why she behaved with such royal dignity. What if it’s just a game, just more skillful than everyone else? She can just pretend. Daniel immediately dismissed the thought. It’s incredible to have the talent to play like that. And yet, if he were a producer, he would have spent any money to invite her to the role.

“Do you want to give your soul for success?” voices from the abandoned cinema sounded in his head again.

Such a question could be asked to someone who has not yet had success in life. But Daniel has already experienced his peak of success. When you fall from the top of Olympus, not even the devil can help you climb back. And in general, all these tales about how to sell a soul, it is better to tell starlets and extras from the crowd. Some of them may still buy into dubious promises. And Daniel already knew the cost of the way up. More often than not, it is worth the body, not the soul.

“But your family thought the opposite.”

What did he know about the family? And what demon speaks to him through his mind? Is it possible to pour alcohol into the voice of a demon?

But besides the demon, there was also Cordelia. She played charades and said that she knew about the Rosier family. In Russia, they changed their surname to Rozanovs. She also said that Daniel could have come here to find his relatives’ estate. He knew nothing about the estate. Even if it existed somewhere nearby, it was destroyed during the revolution. Even in troubled times, the first thing they do is begin to destroy the houses of those about whom the notorious sorcerers and warlocks are in the neighborhood.

The Rosier family has surpassed this glory. You could move to different countries and change your surname as many times as you like, but at any time and in any territory the same story was still repeated. The family began to be associated with the devil.

Daniel was not affected by all these family problems. He was born in an era when the ancient curse and dependence on the ancestral line were already considered ridiculous. Try to tell someone in modern Russia, long gone through the revolution, that you are a descendant of a princely family. They’ll just laugh at you and that’s it. There were simply no aristocrats left in the country, and if they did, it was more profitable for them to keep quiet about their origin. Daniel only benefited from this. Indeed, along with the memory of belonging to the nobility or princely families, the memory of ancestral curses was erased.

Until now, Daniel considered all curses to be fairy tales. He was not cursed. He just happened to go through the stages in life through which all the actors go. First, the peak of success, then gradual oblivion. True, he has not yet been completely forgotten, and he still has not had such strong competitors as to be afraid of them. But attention to his films suddenly began to wane. This means that without the next strong work, he will simply fly out of the rating of world stars.

Atenais probably didn’t have such problems. Or did she die before she showed the weakness of her talent? How amazing that she died at the height of her genius. And the film, capable of shaking everyone, never made it to the world distribution. Or the screening for Daniel was preliminary, and the film will eventually be launched in cinemas around the world to make the audience crazy.

How cleverly thought out! There is no psychiatric syndrome in the film, nor any other violations that you can find fault with in order to ban it for wide distribution. However, viewers will be 100% victims. A strong impression arises already when he left the auditorium. You feel that you cannot get out of the world that you saw on the screen.

“Do you want your next film to be the same? Then you will be unmatched again, descendant of Rosier.”

Again voices in my head! Daniel closed his eyes. How to drive them out of consciousness? Voices had lingered on him since he was near the cinema, and now they teased him in every way.

This time they were definitely lying to him. It is no longer possible to shoot something like that film about Egypt. There is something devilish, irresistible in that film, something that you can’t jump higher. You can just bruise your forehead trying to repeat it.

“Alais can do anything,” several voices whispered at once, more like fantasies.

These fantasies need to be distracted. Daniel couldn’t concentrate on studying the script. Thoughts constantly returned to Athenais, from which one charred corpse should have remained in reality. And on the screen, a living and impressive demon remained from her.

Is it easy to cross the line between cinema and the real world? Or is that something only crazy people can do?

Now he’d better think about the scenes with Medea Shai and the director’s growing daughter Eugenia, who will presumably play a young lady who falls in love with the main character, tries to snatch him from the Queen of Hell and naturally sacrifices her life. Unless the scenes with Eugenia are deleted from the script altogether for lack of funds. But it’s up to the producers to decide.

Usually Daniel thought only about his own role, but now he was suddenly very intrigued by the Queen of Hell. Who is she? Where did it come from? There is something serpentine and angelic in it at the same time, as if the writers decided to combine a cobra and a black angel into one. Does she look like Alais? And what would happen to the audience if the dead star suddenly resurrected even for a short while to play this role, and then go back to hell.

“Someone before you already had such thoughts,” whispered again the annoying disembodied voice. “There was a man who called the demon to play a role, and then drive him back. And do you know how it all ended?”

He did not know and did not want to know where these voices were coming from. Even if they are generated by his consciousness, He did not want to discuss this problem with a psychologist. Psychologists exist only to help sort out family problems or get out of depression caused by career breakdowns. You only need to fight demons yourself – this was the motto of all the ancestors of Daniel. But why did he decide that these voices were demonic? Demons have a place near cemeteries, churches, crypts and abandoned chapels, but not at the filming.

Daniel himself did not notice how he fell asleep for the script. For the first time in his life, he dreamed of something pleasant: Jane was replaced by Alais in the role of Medea Shai. Only Alais didn’t play. She performed magic tricks without any special effects. Everything was going well, until some terrible creatures began to crawl out of the darkness behind her.

“I’m not alone,” Alais said to Daniel as if apologetically. “I never come alone. What’s a queen without an army?”

Someone in a purple robe

What if dreams are brighter than reality? Visit a doctor? Taking antidepressants? When you want to go back to the world of dreams, and there is only everyday routine around, you begin to feel like a dog on a leash. Who would have thought that such emotions are experienced by a movie star? In fact, Daniel considered his occupation to be similar to working on an assembly line: you need to play the same scene until the director announces that there is enough for today. In the process of shooting, there is absolutely no romance that the audience will see in the finished and edited film.

“Probably, that is why they take money from the public, but you get it, on the contrary,” the manager once mockingly explained to him. “Work is work. We all adapt.”

However, the film about the Ancient Egypt seemed to have been filmed in one moment. It was impossible to imagine Alais posing dejectedly in front of the camera and playing the same scene madly. In the film, everything happened so naturally, as if he had not been filmed at all, and he created himself.

“Do I even understand my thoughts myself?” Daniel asked himself, looking in the mirror at the hotel. What do you mean, the film made itself? How is this possible? This is the same as saying: the cinema has rebuilt itself. It was naturally rebuilt by people. But for what purpose? So that this film goes on forever, completely fooling the audience’s brains. Were there any other films in the repertoire? You need to crawl in the bins of the cinema, look for posters. Daniel is already used to going to the “Blue Lotus” for free and whenever he pleases. The manager’s words that they take money for watching films completely lost their reality. The cinema itself seemed somehow unreal. A pretentious building with sphinxes and a fountain immediately attracted the eye even in the impenetrable thickets. The hieroglyphs, drawn in bas-reliefs on the facade, sparkled even from afar. Completely European columns and pediments were combined with fabulous arabesques, as if taken from Arabian fairy tales. The building stood like a reminder of the witch’s gingerbread house, which Hans and Gretel fell into. Only here not only children were expected.

Daniel heard on the radio that a group of teenagers disappeared again in the cinema area yesterday. The guys were noisily celebrating something in the beer town and arguing about where to have fun at night: at the nearest cemetery or at the devil’s cinema. It was better to choose a cemetery. From there they could return if drunk they had not killed each other. And from the cinema, judging by the news, no one returned.

Are there people who have been there and survived? As he drove through the town, Daniel watched the groups of young people on the streets. They behaved strangely, like sectarians. Something about their manner was alarming. Many were dressed like Goths. Someone had a suspicious, manic look in their eyes. Halloween is still a long way off, but Daniel saw the teenagers draw with markers some symbols on the walls and asphalt, suspiciously similar to pentagrams. He nearly hit such a child who was drawing something like a hieroglyph with chalk on the road. It’s good that he managed to slow down in time. However, instead of being scared, the child suddenly raised his head and hissed at him.

“Never mind! They are preparing to celebrate All Saints’ Eve, “said a policeman who was patrolling the streets all alone and for some reason trying to stay as far away from children as possible. He touched the visor of his cap and was like that, but the hieroglyph remained on the asphalt. Another teenager had already drawn the same hieroglyph with red paint on the wall, and no one was fined for it. Everyone is crazy here. Daniel more and more asserted in the conjecture that the town was located next to some kind of hospital, patients from which, for some reason, in groups choose to walk without the supervision of nurses or orderlies. Moreover, adults behaved normally, but children and adolescents were strange. Nothing, the hospital could well be a nursery.

He drove along the narrow roads of the city and everywhere noticed the same situation. Young people huddled at the corners in small, silent companies. They didn’t talk, they didn’t make noise. They all looked gloomy. Most of the girls. Sometimes even the guys were letting their eyes black red in the manner of the Egyptians. Combined with European-looking faces, it looked a little scary. Although, who knows, suddenly a particularly fashionable eyeliner is being advertised here, which he has never heard of. Daniel himself was far from the world of fashion, although he was occasionally invited to various advertisements for men’s perfumes, sprays and shaving creams. But that was over a year ago, when he still hadn’t flopped with the latest films. Fashion houses have a strict rule: they invite either very famous actors or those who were supported by influential patrons to the actions. Recently, Daniel has been on his own, so he was stubbornly unlucky.

He drew attention to several antique Goths crowd. Evgenia would have liked them. She loved everything related to the Victorian style and on the set she enthusiastically tried on black corsets and blouses with lace frills. From her, Daniel learned that besides the antique ones, that is, imitating the old Goths, there are more modern post-punk Goths dressing in the style of the eighties, as well as wamp-goths, steampunk-goths, cyber-goths and even jeepy-goths depicting gypsies. Only for business people, as the curious Evgenia explained, the style of corporate goths is more suitable in order to combine gloomy paraphernalia with a dress code. Daniel was confused in the names, went over in his mind everything that Eugenia had told, but he could not remember a single kind of Goths, which, while maintaining the image of punks, seem inseparably connected with the Ancient Egypt.

A creature in a red robe walked among the teenagers and distributed something to them. It looks like invitation cards. In the movie theaters? At such a distance, Daniel could not see exactly, and you can’t drive closer. You can easily bump into a wall. All he saw was gnarled hands with rough black skin and black nails sticking out from under the luxurious red fabric. Under the hood was an animal muzzle that looked more like a bulldog, but this creature had a human body, tall and densely built. He could very well be a boxer who was mutilated by breaking his jaw, hence the resemblance to a bulldog. And the black color of the skin… Yes, there are not many blacks, mulattoes, Africans and African Americans who can be found today anywhere in the world. Now there is no slavery, and they are free to travel everywhere, but for some reason this creature seemed to him a slave. Although there was no collar and shackles, they were replaced by a luxurious robe, but it seemed that its wearer was both bound and fettered, and must serve someone for the rest of his days. Until the end of eternity itself.

How much imagination can run at the sight of something too fanciful. Whoever handed out the tickets looked like an exotic bird in the crowd, a red cardinal or a red peacock. He looked important and mysterious. Daniel looked at him as much as he could until he had to turn around the bend.

It was already deserted here. Where did a passer-by suddenly come from, who rushed right under the wheels? This is the same subject in red robes and a disfigured face. Daniel hit the brakes sharply, but it was too late. An ugly black face slammed into the car’s windshield. And nothing can be turned back. Glazed eyes gazed at the driver from the black muzzle. His bloody tongue stuck to the glass like a red snake. He twitched in convulsions, as if separate from the corpse of the creature. Daniel was sure he had knocked a passer-by to death. Now what? Will the police believe him that this person himself jumped out onto the carriageway right under the wheels? What will happen to the filming of the film when it is detained? The young man closed his eyes to mutter a short prayer. Not that he was a believer, just an out of the ordinary situation. Sticking in trouble, even all terry atheists suddenly begin to remember God. He also remembered. But as soon as he opened his eyes, the glass in front of him was not stained with blood. The corpse disappeared. Daniel even got out of the car to check if the crushed one was lying around in the puddles. There was no body. Only somewhere around the corner flashed the hem of a red robe.

How can a downed passer-by suddenly jump up and run like a sports champion? Probably, he dozed off at the wheel and it just seemed to him? True, before he did not think anything and under no circumstances. The visions began with a visit to this city, or rather to a cinema outside the city limits.

It was reckless to go there again. In addition, Daniel knew that soon he would have to leave the car and walk, because the roads leading to the cinema were overgrown so that you could not drive along them.

And somewhere between the thickets there is that eerie tree, with the figures of angels and demons carved into it.

“Memorial to the fall!”

The phrase sounded clear in his head. What does it mean? He drove onto the main road outside the city, and barely having driven about fifteen minutes, he immediately ran into a wall of boxwood, honeysuckle and some shrub, whose name he did not even know.

All! Then you have to go on foot. He almost left the keys in the ignition, and when leaving the car, he found that there were some scratches on the hood. It looks like a wild animal traced it with its claws.

Only there were no animals around, not even squirrels in the trees. Probably no one lives here except ghosts. For some reason, Daniel again remembered the ash tree and the ghostly children who had taken a round dance on the highway. Sometimes it still seemed that their figures were flickering in the thickets, but they are not denser than the fog that is about to disperse.

One quite tangible creature in front of the cinema nevertheless showed up – some beggar in dirty rags and clearly crippled. He walked with a limp on both legs. Beggars are much more common on the porch in front of churches than at the entrances to cinema, theaters or clubs. But here, apparently, everything is different. Daniel had some cash with him, he called out to the tramp, but he hurriedly trotted around the corner of the building and disappeared into the thickets.

The cinema itself was still free to enter. The luxurious doors with a metal openwork sheathing and stained glass inserts remained unlocked. Was there a lock on them at all? Daniel noticed only a small ring embedded in the nostrils of the head of some mythical bird, like a griffin. The head itself replaced the doorknobs. And such a magnificent building was still going to be demolished, according to rumors. Daniel did not believe there was danger inside. The structure gave the impression of being solid and completely new. It didn’t even need repairs. When he entered, he first noticed the ligature of golden hieroglyphs that adorned the walls and outside. Reliefs and bas-reliefs stretched everywhere here: in the walls, around the stucco molding, on the capitals of the columns, pediments and plinths. Mostly they belonged to the era of the Ancient Egypt, but there were also later periods.

There was no one in the lobby and spacious foyer. Cordelia and Nefert no longer played in the narrow vestibule. The corridors were empty. Only some suspicious black animal, almost the size of a man, suddenly jumped out from somewhere, bumped into Daniel and hissed fiercely, but he didn’t scratch or bite. The guy sighed with relief when it bounced around the corner and did not appear again.

Alais sat in an empty cinema and tossed gold coins. They rained down on her palm and seemed to be singing, not ringing. None fell to the floor. This is real gold. Neither fake nor low purity. Bright yellow gold, as from an ancient treasury.

She either did not notice Daniel, or she pretended not to notice. Tossing coins was like a game to her. The round yellow discs glowed like miniature suns and moons. Their brilliance fell in glare on her face.

What dexterous hands she has. Even jugglers don’t throw balls as quickly as she does small coins. Obviously, he jinxed her, because one coin was still missed. She rolled with clink between the seats and then down the steps that divided the rows. Daniel bent down, hoping to catch it, because it almost reached his feet, but that was not the case. Someone’s black claws poked out from under the seat and grabbed the coin first. It was as if it had never happened. And claws too.

“Alais!” Daniel called her before he noticed that there was no one in the auditorium. Where did the girl go? He looked around helplessly.

Everything is empty. Wherever you look, there are only rows of empty chairs. Where did the rain of gold coins in the hands of Alais go? Was it a dream?

Oddly enough, he again came on time. The light began to fade slowly. This time in stages, not in an instant. At first it became a little darker, then it was semi-dark, and a second before the light went out, Daniel again noticed a vague silhouette in the corner of the auditorium. Before he could see it, the rows of chairs had already sunk into darkness. The credits flashed across the screen. The same film began that had impressed even before the madness a few days ago. “And his name is Dennitsa.” This time, the credits were interspersed with an eerie creature made entirely of gold that crawled across the screen like a cuttlefish, and it seemed that it was about to crawl right into the audience. The first time it was also present in the film, but there was no feeling that it was as real as the chairs and walls around. It seemed that it was nearby, its numerous hands reaching out to the spectator’s throat. And now it is no longer in the frame, the same film is going on about the commander Taor, who returned from the war, where he fought not with people, but with evil spirits. He bows before the throne of Pharaoh, looks up and suddenly sees that the queen of evil is already here, rules Egypt and whispers her decrees to the king.

Not that he didn’t want to watch the movie again, but he felt a little uneasy. The film showed that there are fatal lines of fate in life, and they twist into such a tight ball that it can no longer be unwound.

As planned. Destiny? Taor and Alais. He just won his first big victory, she just experienced the first and grandiose defeat in the fight against heaven and now takes revenge, taking possession of the earth. Two heroes are like two poles. They must become great enemies to each other. But the film is built so that the viewer watched and thought: what kind of lovers they could be!

They were supposed to stay together. Why didn’t the screenwriter bring them together? To shock the audience with an unexpected spooky ending? Nothing affects the psyche worse than a bad ending.

“You just see yourself as Taor. And you don’t want to do what he did.”

Daniel turned around. The radiation from the screen was enough to see that all the rows behind him were completely empty. There was no one to turn to him with words. So maybe it was the voice of his reason. He really wanted to see himself in the role of Taor. A very winning role! How many prestigious awards could one get by playing it. Someone told Daniel long ago that the actor is famous for his successful role in a well-directed film. But this role already belonged to another. Daniel envied both the unique appearance of his opponent and his ability to adequately stand in front of the camera.

Where in the modern world can you find a guy with such a strikingly beautiful face and athletic body. No amount of sports and exercise equipment helped Daniel to develop his figure in such a way. Only scenes with Alais distracted him from contemplating Taor. She played with symbols of royal power and lured the high priest into the net.

“Show me one pure soul in the universe, and then I will not destroy the whole world,” she promised, she promised, believing that such a soul cannot be found. The owner of such a soul, of course, turned out to be Taor.

And then there was a conspiracy in the palace. Alais executed the courtier and priests and bathed in their blood. In the frame, her naked body was almost visible, with wings growing directly from the shoulder blades in the back. How unexpected it is that when you look at the film for the second time, you begin to notice a lot of things in it that you hadn’t seen before. For example, Daniel noticed that the snake bracelet on Alais’s forearm is alive and crawls up and down her arm, and her golden curls move and curl like living snakes.

Someone distracted him from watching. Another spectator entered the hall? Or has he been here before? Someone moved smoothly between the chairs, and the hem of a long robe slid along the floor behind him. The quiet but monotonous steps began to annoy. Daniel looked around. The silhouette in a bright red cape contrasted sharply with the darkness, as if the cape were illuminated from within with electricity. This cape was sewn from blood and fire.

Daniel had already seen this scarlet hood and wide old-fashioned sleeves somewhere. Is this the very same person who handed out tickets to teenagers. What is he doing at the cinema? He probably works here and sometimes goes outside to give out invitations. Nice way to lure the audience into watching, but this is kind of the VIP zone. It is not customary to admit everyone here.