Original subtitles

In late May of 1980, May 23rd to be exact, The Shining opened, and I wanted

to see it as soon as possible.

I was obsessed with Stephen King's seminal book, and it remains one of the

key novels that made me want to be a writer.

In fact, as soon as I was done reading The Shining for a third time, I began

writing my own novel, which would ultimately become Less Than Zero.

This would be the first time I drove to Westwood to see a movie without the

game, and I felt incredibly adult as I raced across Mulholland on that Saturday

morning in my father's black Mercedes 450 SL, a two-door tank that was hardly

the sporty vehicle I longed for as it seemed.

I remember, and I don't know why, that I was wearing a fashionable new Ralph

Lauren shirt, brown with a touch of white grey stripes and Calvin Klein

jeans with goofy loafer.

One second, please.

Thank you.

I sat in reverent silence and stared at the 70mm screen.

Writing this now, I can't believe I was left to my own devices for 20 minutes,

just idly sitting there, thinking about things, about my friends, Tom and Susan,

waiting without wanting something to distract me, like smartphones or social

media.

The lights in the theater slowly darkened.

And that's when I saw the boy.

This is the reason why I've never forgotten seeing The Shining on May

24th, 1980, at the theater in Westwood at 10 a.m.

I was off to the side, near the aisle, when I saw him.

A guy so stunningly handsome, I thought at first he was a movie star or a model

from GQ magazine.

He was tall.

He was undoubtedly tan everywhere.

This boy aroused something primal in me that I'd never felt before.

I had to own him.

The Warner Brothers logo headed toward us as the opening credits began over

aerial shots of the family's Volkswagen heading toward the overlook.

He had to be older than me. A UCLA student, maybe.

I watched, mesmerized, as this boy, this god, disappeared from my sightline.

He noticed me staring and glanced away.

But not before a lingering gaze took me in and I fantasized that he was

interested in me, too.

After the movie was over, I was underwhelmed. It was nothing like the

book. I felt cheated. I walked into the lobby hoping to find the boy, but he

wasn't anywhere.

I waited outside the theater, but he wasn't there either.

What I didn't know then is that I would actually meet this boy again, and his

name was Robert Mallory, and that his arrival at my high school and into my

life would coincide with a season of horror and murder that would destroy us

all.

It has occurred to me when talking about what happened to us in 1981 that one

thing is evident.

Kids today have it fucking easy.

Sure, being a teenager is hard now because you have to deal with puberty

and sexuality and online bullying. But our generation had it tougher because we

had to deal with serial killers.

The early 80s was the golden era for serial killers.

All the legends were on hunting sprees.

The Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler. Shadow!

As I prepared to enter senior year... Shadow!

I had no idea that my friends and I would be hunted, too, by perhaps the

most sadistic serial killer of them all.

This is our story.

Some of us survived high school.

Some of us died.

But none of us made it out alive.

Darling.

Hello?

Who is this?

I remember it was a Sunday afternoon before Labor Day, and our senior year

was about to begin on that Tuesday morning of September 8th, 1981.

And I remember that the Westridge stables were located on a bluff above

Malibu, where my girlfriend, Deborah Schaefer, was boarding her new horse,

Spirit.

I was driving solo, following Susan Reynolds and Tom Wright along Pacific

Coast Highway.

Everything sped up when you got your car at 16th and Los Angeles.

You were now autonomous in ways you hadn't been. You could take care of

yourself.

You'd become an adult.

This encouraged our parents to work longer hours or travel with less

restriction, leaving all of us behind in beautiful, empty houses in Bel Air and

Beverly Hills or Benedict Canyon.

And that was okay with my friends and I.

We were the family.

We raised each other.

We would usually start our day by meeting for lunch at Hamburger Hamlet,

where we'd crowd into the red booths for patty melts after buying our tickets for

the next movie at the Bruin.

Dinner was usually at the food court, with breaks at the arcade playing Space

Invaders and Pac-Man.

Or look for new music at Tower Records, leaping through the paperbacks at any

number of the large bookstores that dotted the streets.

There were five or six in 1981.

There are none now.

I kept behind Tom's car up the winding road at the stables, where we parked

next to Deborah's gleaming brand new BMW.

We located Debbie trotting Spirit by his ring. He was wearing her riding attire.

I was aware of Spirit being yet another example of Debbie's carelessness and

privilege. The cost of maintaining and housing the animal was astronomical, but

I don't think she even cared.

In a way, Debbie was an experiment.

I wasn't determined to have a girlfriend my senior year, except if it had been

Susan Reynolds.

And yet, Debbie had become, somewhat inexplicably, just that.

We were at a party at Anthony Matthew's house and she just started making out

with me on a shave lit by a pool.

I was stoned on a quaalude. She did a bump of coke.

It was midnight.

Put it in.

I'm stoned.

What? And I was at a point where I still tried to be attracted to girls.

There's people around. I want it.

I want you.

I surprised myself and went with it.

Debbie always broke the rules.

By senior year, her hair was a shade of platinum inspired by blondie.

If you were in 11th or 12th grade, makeup was minimally allowed.

But because Debbie was so rich, she got away with murder and wore her lipstick

hot pink or blood red.

Always defying.

Seriously. Cut it out.

Look,

Debbie, I'm you. You guys, cut it out. You're going to spook the horses.

Susan, please get off his back. Okay. This is a $1 million horse from Arabia,

and you're going to spook him because you can't get off Tom's back for five

minutes.

Tom Wright and Susan Reynolds had been dating since they were sophomores and

were now the most popular people, not only in our class, but in the overall

student body.

It was obvious why.

Tom and Susan were casually beautiful, all American, and they both came from

wealthy families.

For about two years, they were in love, until that fall of 1981, when one of

them wasn't.

Tom was always the ideal of teen boy handsome, and what was so alluring about

him was that he didn't seem to care.

He had an intriguing blankness that was attractive and soothing.

He was the opposite of Susan. School class president, effortlessly straight-A

student.

She kind of knew I was secretly in love with her, and I knew everything about

her. When she got her period, the problem with her mother, every imaginary

slight and deprivation she thought she was enduring.

Her crushes on classmates before Tom.

She was, to me, the most beautiful girl ever.

And to this very day, the person I think I've loved the most in my entire life.

Have you heard from your parents?

This morning, Bill and Fran headed to Venice next week.

They're staying in Europe indefinitely.

My mom said that she still thinks she wants to divorce him. My dad said that

the trip has been good. They weren't coming home until their marriage went on

the solid ground, I guess.

I hope it works out for them.

Sucks having divorced parents.

I miss my dad a lot.

My God, it's my dream. All that freedom.

Who's cooking your food? You don't cook.

Rosa makes all my memes. Did I say?

I just ride all night after she goes home.

Do whatever I want.

Are you coming to Debbie's house tonight? The last party of the summer.

Labor Day always makes me blue.

It's the end of something.

Oh, but this year is the beginning of our senior year.

We're coming, although, God, Debbie's dad makes me super uncomfortable.

So goddamn gay.

Tom. Sorry, he is.

Last time I was there, he asked me if I wanted to take a jacuzzi with him in his

bathroom. Not the one by the pool.

Pretending I got food poisoning and left.

Yeah, I get gay vibes from him, too.

I don't think Debbie's mom knows if you could believe it.

She likes the house, the trip, going to the Oscars every year.

How many does he have again?

Oscars? Two.

You know that book I'm writing?

I want him to buy it. Let me write the movie.

God, I hate coming here every weekend just to watch her ride this dumb horse.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Because we are nice people.

And this year, we're going to rule the school.

Don't we already?

I don't understand.

I just think we need to cool it for a while.

Maybe gotten out of hand.

I agree.

Just remember we're good friends.

Always will be.

So what was that about? Science?

Nothing.

We were just talking about how excited we were to graduate and get the hell out

of Los Angeles.

Finally started a lot.

For sure, I'm going to school on the East Coast.

Not even a question.

Oh, my God.

In your resume.

started and i'm already exhausted it's gonna take so much planning like what

well homecoming is in october and i have some rad ideas for the past load and

then of course susan and tom will be crowned homecoming king and queen well i

don't want to be homecoming queen and wear some weird tiara there's an

authorial party at the beverly hills hotel and then we're doing an after

party thing on dominic thompson's poppers yacht okay how much coke have

you done oh my do you want some duh

We've all worked so hard. We deserve a nice

time. We deserve nice things.

Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside the parts of the Caribbean, right?

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Four vodka sodas, please.

Oh, don't forget to invite the new guy to Disney.

What?

There's a new guy coming in on Tuesday.

A new addition to our senior class.

That's great.

You never get a new kid's senior year.

What's his name?

Um, Robert something.

Oh, Robert Mallory.

How do you know this?

Well... I was having a meeting with Principal Croft about my student body

presidential duties this year, and he told me he lives in Century City with

his aunt or stepmother or something.

Well, that's weird.

What's weird about it? If he lived in Century City, he would have been

eligible to attend Beverly Hills Hot.

Why opt for our school? Why drive all the way to our school?

Well, you better be cute.

Like you.

When we eat in my bedroom in town, I'm so horny.

What did you mean when you said you didn't want to be homecoming king and

queen? Oh, God, Tom, it's so corny. Hey, this Tuesday night, this is what we've

been waiting for for four fucking years. It's the coronation. Everybody wants

this.

Okay, for you, I'll think about it.

That night in September was one of the last nights where there was no fear.

And the story of O.

You ever heard the story of O?

Brad.

Hi, Mr. Schaefer.

You call me Terry, buddy.

Sit down.

There's something I wanted to talk to you about.

You guys go off, watch your movies. Tell me the details.

I want to know your favorite.

So.

Debbie tells me you're a writer or you want to be one.

Yes. Yeah, I'm writing a novel. Amazing.

Maybe you and I should go talk about that at lunch or something.

I'm always looking for new young voices.

Our business needs that. The movies need that.

I've always had my eye on you, Brett.

Stephen.

Stephen, what?

What in the fuck are you doing?

Debbie asked me to take pictures of her guests. She wants to make a scrapbook.

You know Debbie.

Brett and I are going to go to lunch, talk about his future. We put it down on

the schedule, okay?

Lidl. Sure thing.

Yep, yep.

Thanks, Mr. Schaefer.

Oh.

Hi, Mrs. Schaefer.

I asked you a question.

Where is my husband? Have you seen him?

Yes, he's down by the pool.

Who was my husband with?

I don't know.

You don't know?

Was he in the bushes?

Sucking some young guy's dick?

Or did he proposition you?

Liz, have you been hitting the wine coolers again?

You seem very tired. Let's put you to bed.

You can go, Brent.

Okay.

Good night, Mrs. Schaefer.

Wait, what? You're not staying for the movie?

I've already seen it.

Don't you walk away from me, you little asshole!

Where are you going? Are you going to meet him upstairs?

I've known you since you were ten years old. Don't you dare walk away from me!

Enough. I'm putting you to bed now. You can take your night-night pills.

Your mom is a psycho.

Ignore her.

I do.

Are you staying for the movie?

No. I've already seen Continental Divide.

I want to get home, do some writing.

Unless you had another idea.

I thought you never asked.

You got muscular this summer.

Oh, you know, push-ups. That's what I mean.

Oh, I get a full stretch here.

Debbie

always

came fast.

Within minutes, she could thrash out an organ.

Don't be a fool. It took barely anything to make her come, and this was happening

now.

You have to remember, being gender fluid was not something that was allowed back

then. You had to be two people, which was fucking exhausting.

And you had to compartmentalize.

My relationship with Debbie was my public persona, and my relationship with

Matt Kellner was my secret forbidden one.

Did you hear? There's a new kid starting school.

Isn't that weird?

Why is that weird?

Who cares?

It's just weird if someone enrolls in senior year.

Whatever.

That's all you ever say.

About anything.

Whatever.

It's not too much pot, Matt. You're officially the class donor, did you know

that?

Whatever. Why don't you socialize, Matty?

Why didn't you come to Debbie's party tonight?

Well, I told you, I just wanted to, you know, hang here and listen to the new

Elvis Costello album.

And get high, Matt.

It's so tedious.

You're so smart, but you don't let anybody in.

Oh.

We're friends, right?

Only when I drive over and we fool around in the shadows.

You have lost potential, Matt.

I'm worried about you.

I'm the most real person in that school.

You know it.

I think we should stop this.

Stop what?

This.

You don't need to say that.

Well, I wouldn't want you to think that I don't care.

I don't think anything.

I don't think anything.

What happened to the aquarium?

Uh, I don't know.

You don't know why your aquarium is empty?

No. I came back the other day and noticed all the fish were gone.

What are you looking for?

A bug.

And here it is.

What happened to the water?

I don't know. My mom usually takes care of it.

Do you think maybe the cat got them?

You think Alex ate all my fish?

I don't know.

Maybe we'll never know.

Why?

Well, the cat's missing too.

Not this time?

Yeah, what about last week? Oh, last week I wasn't feeling good.

So is the next week.

Good afternoon.

Good

afternoon.

The identity of the young woman has not been released, and police refused to

comment pending an investigation into the homicide.

Viewers will remember that last summer, the body of missing girl Catherine

Latchford was found in a dumpster in Redlands.

That case remains unsolved, and police declined to comment at this time whether

the abductions and murders are related.

What's wrong?

Did you see the math class that she was from on Britswood? Yes, I talked to the

principal about it. It's just some stupid prank by a kid at Harvard or

something. Want a pint?

Sure.

Oh, my God.

Hey, what'd you get?

A song for Pam.

Why does my... Stupid mother always packed me pate for lunch. I always call

it pate chai. She knows I'm dieting. She's trying to sabotage me.

Pate is not on the Beverly Hills diet. You want it?

Sure. No, Tom, you don't want that. These are great.

Well, we can always get what we want.

I am not eating any more fat for six weeks straight.

It gets more round if you continue to eat fat. You're going to pass out. Try

and more angularize the side profile of your boo.

Can I smell a chip?

You can taste one.

I just want to smell it.

She thinks that this works.

Have you noticed that ever since I cut fat, my tits from the side are more

angular? You should know.

I smelled them before I thought.

It was theater and sandalwood.

As if you had just walked through a forest of fitra.

You must be Robert Mallory. You must be Susan.

Principal Cross showed me your picture. The one on his desk.

From the yearbook.

I was just in Principal Cross' office. He told me I should come say hi.

So hi.

He wore black leather pants like a second skin with his school blazer. I

was speechless.

I couldn't believe it. It was him. The magical, mystical boy I saw at the

Shining a year ago.

Hi.

Brett.

Nice to meet you, Brett.

You want to join us? I'd love to.

So, Robert, where do you come from?

Oh, I'm from Chicago, originally.

Robert laid out his background for us as if it were a job interview he needed to

pass. The last time he'd been in L.A. for any sustained length of time was ten

months ago, when he came out for the holidays and stayed with his aunt. Oh,

so why are you living with your aunt now?

Funny story, but I got kicked out of my previous school when I was back. Funny

and smooth.

His parents were divorced.

His mother had then died in a tragic accident.

His father wanted to send him to a military academy, but his aunt

intervened, suggesting Robert relocate to Los Angeles and live with her, and

she would enroll him somewhere for his last year of high school.

Have we met before?

At the Whiskey or the Odyssey or something?

I'm not much of a club guy.

Oh, I never forget a thing.

i don't really know anyone in la i don't go out much did you not bring lunch

i forgot

first day jitters right do you want half on one level robert was intriguing

enough to make me forget about the great streets with gore he was one of the most

charming people i'd ever met the other thing i gleaned was that he was a

complete and utter liar oh i know where i saw you Last summer, did you see The

Shining at the Village Theatre when it first came out?

No.

Are you sure? I'm positive I saw you there.

Really? Positive.

Really? You're positive?

Why would you remember me there? Did I say something to you?

No. No. You just left an impression.

Haven't seen that movie.

Well, I'm almost positive I saw you in the theater on a Saturday

It wasn't me Weird

very weird That was wacky hmm

saved by the bell

I have to meet your brat.

You too.

Good afternoon.

Let's start the first assembly of the year by welcoming Senior President Susan

Reynolds.

voted for me as your student body class president.

We have a very exciting year ahead of us. Don't forget our Thanksgiving

fundraisers following the last football game before the holiday.

Let's support our varsity team.

It became clear to me after our second introduction that Robert Mallory was

like a virus, a new kind of insidious, invading agent who was here to destroy

the very cellular structure of my friends, my school, and me.

He was up to something.

And it was up to me to find out exactly what that was.

Don't you ever think about the cops again.

That's the kind of stuff the world's made out of.

That's the kind of stuff the world's made out of.

Get up!

Bad boys get back!

Bad boys get back!

Don't be a punk on your own.

Say yes, ma

'am.

Say no, ma'am.

Hey. That was you, right?

Following me?

I wasn't following you.

I was heading to the Galleria and I happened to be behind you, I guess.

You were in the porch.

Yeah, that was me.

I was just fucking with you.

I don't like being followed.

Yeah? You don't like being followed?

Yeah.

Freaks me out.

What are you doing here at the mall today?

Shopping for some school clothes.

What brings you to the gallery on this Tuesday afternoon?

There's a lot of hot girls.

I was going to see a movie, but I realized I've seen them all.

Which one?

The Shining?

You sure you weren't there? I know I saw you.

Dude, you gotta let it go. It wasn't me.

Pretty sure I saw you.

Dude.

I haven't seen that movie.

What were you talking to Matt Kellner about today?

Oh, yeah? You saw that?

You guys friends?

Is that innuendo?

He seems like a very confused guy.

You know, the kind of guy you could use as a friend.

What? He's just very laid back, very easygoing. He's a pothead.

Interesting.

Is Tom Susan Reynolds' boyfriend?

Um, yeah.

How long have they been seeing each other? How long have they been dating?

About two years.

So serious.

Very.

Why are you asking me this?

Because she's hot. She's quite the little honey, don't you think?

At that point, I couldn't breathe. At that point, I needed to get away from

it. Hey, Brett.

Yeah? I've just figured something out about you.

What have you figured out about me?

When you talk to me, you're really talking to yourself, dude.

After the upsetting car chase with Robert Mallory on that sweltering and

fateful September afternoon, I remember I went home and popped on the local

news.

What I learned that day made my blood run cold.

The city had become paralyzed with fear.

Margot Tyler had been missing since June of that year.

and her body was found behind a local tower record.

She was the third victim. There would be countless more.

The serial killer hunting young people was nicknamed by investigating officers

as the Trawler.

Suddenly, the epidemic of missing pets made sense.

He would use them in a satanic way. He trawls for victims effortlessly, like a

fisherman casting a wide net.

That's the catchy nickname.

Hello? Hello?

Elevate.

Once you're dead.

Sun and trees and sex have gone straight to my head.

It feels like Hollywood wants my neck.

A noose is a girl in a school with a brand new set.

This town may be yours, but baby, it's mine too.

I want to go shopping.

Feels like L.A.

wants me dead.