"POLTERGEIST" (1982)

Poltergeist

Story by Steven Speilberg

screenplay by Steven Speilberg

1st Draft

AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT

"FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSESONLY"

FADE IN:

EXTREME CLOSE-UP -TELEVISION SCREEN

The National Anthemresounds over the precision maneuvers of the Navy’s Blue Angels. When Old Glory fills the frame the local announcer identifies the station, signifies the megahertz and signsoff for the morning. Transmission ends and a BLAST of disturbing static rules the airwaves. It is 2:30am on a Sundaymorning.

CAMERA SLOWLY WITHDRAWS

The TV set appears.A fireplace is off to the right, trophies of outstanding achievement in annual home sales on the mantel; STEVEN FREELING asleep in his convertible chair, an open briefcase onhis lap, real estate maps and lease contracts spread outon the floor by his stocking feet.

CAMERA CONTINUES TOWITHDRAW until we are moving out of the living room of thissuburban two-story home and up the stairs.

CAMERA MOVES alongthe hallway, past the guest bath and over to a partially opendoor. We explore this room, if only for an instant, to catchDIANE FREELING, 32, tossing in her sleep, a tangle ofhair covering her face.

CAMERA moves awayand slithers into another bedroom. DIANA FREELING is sixteen,very beautiful, and snoring unevenly. She is surroundedby potato chips and homework.

The SOUND OF TELEVISION STATIC leaks as the CAMERA moves into the last bedroom.ROBBIE FREELING is just a seven-year-old lump under the covers. With the sheets tucked around him, he looks like a ghostand where his head should be there is a Dodgers baseball cap. The closet light is on and the closet opened only a crackto let in the safe night light as we pass beyond Robbie to CAROL ANNE FREELING. The STATIC SOUNDS from the O.S. TV seem toarouse this pert six-years-old from a sound and regularsleep. Her eyes snap open. She listens, flicks some sleepfrom her eyes, and rises out of bed.

CAMERA TRACKS AHEADOF HER as if drawing her OUTSIDE the safety of her bedroom and roommate brother.

The STATIC crackleslouder and a BLUE GLOW dawns across Carol Anne. She could besleepwalking. Her eyes are riveted and her breathing quickens.The STATIC BOOMS now and Carol Anne stops at the TV set in front of her sleeping dad. She stares into the white snow, trying to see beyond the color dots. Carol Anne opens her mouthuntil we are certain she is going to SCREAM. Then

ANGLE - STEVEN FREELING

His eyes open.

Diane starts and sits up quickly.

She is already swinging her legs out of bed and moving into the hallway.

Robbie looks overto see Carol Anne’s bed empty.

The entire familygathers and watches their youngest child yelling through thestatic at 2:35 in the morning.

Anyone outside ofManhattan is familiar with this setting. Sunday in suburbia.A neighbor mows his lawn, another washes his car, and a groupof kids play soccer in the street. The middle America WorldWar II bought and paid for.

Then; an irregularglitch to this setting. A man, JEFF SHAW, is running as furiously as his jelly-bowl paunch will allow. In his arms, a largebrown shopping bag. Barely avoiding a collision with thepaper boy, he cuts across the lawn, jiggling the lettering. He crashes into the front door, finding it locked.He turns and runs around back, just as Steve opens the front door.

Shaw blasts past Dana, dressed in a terrycloth robe. She is eating potato saladright out of the bowl in front of the refrigerator.

Shaw almost loseshis footing turning into this room. His breath exploding inwheezing puffs. He falls into a chair next to Steve Freeling and FIVE OTHER MALE NEIGHBORS who tear into the brown shopping bag, surfacing with Michelob Lites.

Diane is straightening things in here when she notices something that causes her to sadly catch her breath. She walks forward to thebird cage slowly letting it out. Carol Anne’s yellow canaryis feet up on the bottom of the cage.

Robbie is next toa tall, misshapen oak tree that has grown bent forward, a little too close to the house. Robbie is marching in circlesaround the tree, acting brave. He starts to climb.

The Sunday FOOTBALLCROWD is on its feet. Haden has the ball again and the passis a “bomb”.

The channel changesall by itself to Mister Rogers.

Steve turns it backto football. A second later, “Mr. Rodgers” is singing.Steve walks over to the wall, and points his remote controland fires!

From the other sideof the wall comes a muffled ROAR.. The voice of BEN TUTHILL.

Steve opens the sliding glass door and yells over the fence. Tuthill, a robustman in a tank top and sunglasses, yells out his window, the remote control brandished in Steve’s direction.

Tuthill clicks atSteve through his window.

Steve’s channels change and the gathering SCREAMS again.

Steve fires his remote at the Tuthills and a muffled “goddammit!” is heard.

Diane has Tweety byhis little claw feet at arms length. With a sour grimace shemoves into the bathroom and raises the toilet seat, aimsTweety and... Carol Anne steps into the doorway catching herMom red-handed.

With his own bedroomwindow facing him, Robbie climbs among the twisted branches, then looks at the neighborhood and the sky beyond.

Storm clouds are gathering in the distance.

CLOSE SHOT - CIGARBOX

Diane places littleTweety into the cigar box. She starts to close the lid.

Diane smiles at thisthought and takes a red rose from the vase on the windowsill. Carol Anne pulls into her pocket and takes out some redlicorice. She bites off the end, spits it out into her handand places the wet piece inside the cigar box.

She places a Polaroid snapshot of herself and Robbie.

She covers him witha napkin.

Carol Anne startsto cry as she closes the lid. Diane looks on. She really lovesthis kid.

Diane has dug a holein the dirt. Robbie and Dana watch as Carol Anne placesthe cigar box into the earth. Dana is eating celery andDiane throws her a “you’re chewing too loud” look. Robbie,from up in the tree, watches fascinated as Diane and CarolAnne refill the hole. In the background the football gameis winding up with loud interludes between the time-outs of thefinal quarter.

CLOSE UP - GOLDFISHBOWL

Carol Anne stareswondrously as two brand new goldfish nibble Hertz Mountain fromthe surface. Robbie sits on his bed in his PJ's reading aPopeye comic. Distant THUNDER can be heard as Robbie looks overat his window.

ROBBIE’S POV

A weak flash of lightning outlines the tree he was playing in earlier. It is notmerely the overactive imagination of a nine-year-old thatmakes this tree scary to us. The twisted branches that seemto suggest arms and the split trunk that appears to suggesthorns is all too real even at first glance.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

He doesn’t want tolook. He doesn’t want to scare himself. But he does.

23-A DIANE ENTERS O.S. 23-A

The kids dive forthe covers. Diane turns out the light. The room is overwhelmedby darkness. Carol Anne speaks up first.

Diane turns on thelight in their closet and cracks open the door. Carol Anne relaxes and waves good-night to her fish. Robbie looks overat the rocking chair by the bureau. Sitting straight up is clowndoll. It is almost the size of Robbie. Its stare is devilish and its smile is just a little too broad for comedy.

Robbie gets up andwithout looking at the doll, throws a plaid shirt over itshead. He climbs back into bed, outlined by a blue flash fromthe window.

CLOSE ON DUTCH MASTER CIGAR BOX

Two hands lift itfrom the shadows and into the light. The lid starts to openand just as we expect to see Tweety-one we see the “stash” instead. Steve removes a lid of grass and some zigzag papersand starts to roll a joint. On the TV is an old MGM movie.

Diane is reading Carl Jung’s MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS. Steve picks up a brochure on pool equipment and diving boards.

Steven takes the joint back from Diane and pulls it down halfway in one breath -- holding the hit.

*** REST OF SCENE MISSING ***

Steven flops Robbieonto his pillow just as a flash lights the room and the tree outside the window. Carol Anne lies awake, watching.

Robbie is visiblyfrightened now and Steven realizes he’s scared him. Just then a tremor of thunder rolls through the bedroom and Robbiesnuggles up to his dad.

Then more thunder.Robbie flinches, but tries to be brave.

A flash of lightningis seen.

ROBBIE/STEVEN/CAROL ANNE One, two, three...

Thunder is HEARD.

Steven exits leavingthe door open. Lightning occurs. Steven waits by the partially open door and listens as Robbie counts.

Distant thunder isHEARD. Robbie is more relieved.

He feels real goodabout himself. He KNOCKS on Dana’s door. Music is HEARD. Thedoor opens.

Robbie looks out thewindow. The tree stands there in the wind. Another flashof lightning, Robbie controls his fear and concentrates.

CRACK! BOOM! An explosive jolt of thunder rocks the house. The closet light goes out as the tree outside the window suddenly bends forward as if looking in. Robbie sits bolt upright. Carol Annewakes up SCREAMING.

Carol Anne and Robbie are asleep next to Diane and Steve. The TV has been left onand the National Anthem starts to play...

CLOSE - FAMILY

Various positions,asleep.

28-A SLOWLY MOVE IN CLOSER TO THE TELEVISION 28-A

The pre-recorded voice of the station manager signs off. A beat... Transmissionceases and the soft roar of dead air fills the room asthe static white snow colors the walls, making shadows flicker and warp.

It is only now thatwe first hear it. A SOUND intermingling with the TV hiss,like a bad connection from far, far away. A whisper. Not one,but hundreds of them. They say nothing. It’s a chorus, tonaland inviting.

She turns on her side. And her eyes opensurreally. Ever so slowly, she turnsher head fully facing the TV. Carol Anne smiles. A smile muchtoo sophisticated for a five-years-old child.

The snow mixes withnew imagery. Forms. Vague but luminous. Always mingling. Impressionistic. Never hard-lined.

The picture tube starts to SNAP! Little flashes momentarily blind Carol Anne.She blinks and tries to see deeper. SNAP! CRACK! It’s as ifflashbulbs were being emitted. Steven and Diane turn fitfullybut remain asleep. FLASH! POP! Robbie is close to waking.

Smiling, on her knees now... she reaches out toward the TV screen when... SOMETHING REACHES BACK. A Substance. A form, like a wispy, smokytentacle twists forward, EXTENDING FROM THE PICTURE TUBE andsnaking into the Freeling bedroom. Transparent and cold, it gives birth to itself, builds upon its own energy, growing brighter as it seems to hover above Carol Anne, then tower over the family asleep in the king- sized bed.

She must bend herneck to look all the way up at the ceiling where this cyclonicshape waltzes... studying.. at the room, then Carol Anne...

AN EXPLOSION fromthe TV set. The brightest flash yet experienced. A forcethat expels the intruder from the set and into the room.Catapulting it past the family and into the wall RIGHT OVERTHE BED, where it leaves a dark pencil dot stain. The entire room shakes and the family is awake and panicked.

The window cracks,the curtain rod slips. Books and mementos fall from the openhutch. The medicine cabinet opens and prescription medicine splatters on the tiled floor. The room lights flare thendie. Every picture topples from the walls.

28-F Just as quickly asit began, the episode ceases. A HUSH 28-F descends. Everyonelooks at Carol Anne. Carol Anne looks at everyone... then intones, almost matter-of-factly.

CLOSE STUDY - FOURGEARSHIFTS

A work glove shifts.

CLOSE STUDY - CLUTCH

A steel-toed workbootslowly withdraws.

CLOSE-STUDY - STEEL-BELTED TREADS

Lurch forward, dripping sod and wet grass.

The shovel of thebulldozer touches the earth and scrapes a deep swathe.

CAMERA MOVES CLOSERas the cigar box coffin is cruelly exhumed in the ever-growing tidal wave of back yard turf.

Steve is on the phone, nervously smoking a cigarette as the bulldozer can be seen out the window, digging the new pool. Diane is serving waffles around the breakfast table. E. Buzz sits at Robbie’s feet, watching the waffles hopefully. Only Carol Anne seems tohave an appetite.

Carol Anne exaggerates her chewing; smiling with her mouth full.

Diane is gently coaxing some information out of Carol Anne who mostly has hermouth full of waffles and blueberries.

Robbie picks up hismilk to take a sip when the bottom of the glass drops out, themilk splashing back onto Robbie’s cereal bowl, overflowingcereal all over the table and onto Dana’s blouse in a burst,perhaps slightly strong for the small amount of spilledmilk.

Carol Anne has a bigdripping splash of milk running down her forehead. Obliviousto this she just keeps eating, goes over to the kitchen TV...turns it on to the “Today Show”, then switches to an “inbetween” channel and watches the snow.

Robbie shrugs, reaches for his spoon to resume eating and notices somethingunusual. The spoon is bent. He looks around the table. Every spoon is bent. Shrugging it off, Robbie lifts his cereal bowl and drinks right out of it, two tiny trails dripping offhis chin, spotting his school shirt.

A big man, PUGSLEY,thirties, bald, steps out of his pool install action truckwearing combat boots, a Teamster T- shirt, mirrored sunglasses and a baseball cap turned around backwards on his head. He motions to the bulldozer driver to “take a gander”. Dana grabs her bike and rides off. The workmen pause to stare at her.Pugsley and the dozer driver share a salaciousgrin and the dozer driver pops his clutch rapidly, the dozerlurching suggestively several times.

Diane has witnessedthis sloppy display through the open back door. Choosing topass over it, she turns toward the kitchen table to clean up.E. BUZZ, the dog, is sitting on a pulled- out chair eating from everyone’s plates. Diane sighs and shoos E. Buzz away.

Carol Anne is tryingto fine-tune the snow on television.

She turns the setto another channel where a WAR MOVIE is showing. Soldiersblowing up and screaming.

Diane is cleaningup. Broken glass surrounds her. She cups her left hand andpicks narrow shards out of the shag when the GROWLING begins.Diane turns and sees...

DIANE’S POV

E. BUZZ is growlingat the wall. Looking up at something we don’t see. Diane sidesteps the broken vases to follow E. Buzz’s eyeline rightup the wall and onto the stain.

CLOSE - DIANE

She cocks her headcuriously.

MOVE IN - THE STAIN

It has grown sincethis morning. Like a Rorschach pattern. Diane tries to rubit out with a pillowcase. She slips into the bathroom and wets one corner, then returns when...

Diane stops. Carefully, she watches E. Buzz, who has ceased growling.

FULL SHOT - DIANEAND E. BUZZ

Never removing hisspaniel eyes from the wall, E. Buzz’ tail starts wagging. Hebacks a scoot away from the wall and executes and obedient “roll-over”. Diane herself retreats.

E. Buzz turns, buthis mind is not on Diane. He runs out of the room between Diane’s legs immediately returning with his chew-ball. E. Buzzsidles up to the wall and sets his chew- ball down, “speaks”and executes a double roll-over.

Diane enters, seesPugsley drinking a cup of coffee from one of her China cups.

Pugsley breaks outlaughing. Diane grabs the cup out of his hands and drops theblinds in his face.

Diane turns to findall the chairs are withdrawn from their intended places. Shelooks for Carol Anne then jumps halfway out of her skin.

Carol Anne is rightbehind her, tapping her on the side.

Carol Anne shakesher head... slowly.

Carol Anne shakesher head slowly.

Diane replaces thechairs in their proper places and returns to the sink. She opens the cupboard under the sink, and brings out a bottleof 409. She stands and turns around...

34-B FACING HER IS THEKITCHEN TABLE 34-B

The chairs are stacked one atop the other, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. Diane jams her fist into her mouth to press back the natural reaction. Carol Anne stands below her smiling up at thepyramid.

WIDE ANGLE - IDENTICAL KITCHEN

In a disconcertingjump, all of the furniture, Carol Anne and Diane disappear. Thebasic structure of the kitchen remains exactly the same forthis is a model home somewhere in Cuesta Verde Estates.

Steve Freeling walksinto the empty setting with a family of prospective buyers.Only the wallpaper is different from the Freeling residence.

DIALOGUE FADE WITHDISSOLVE

ESTABLISHING SHOT

Sparse lightning over the mountains as the storm clouds begin to roll in. The neighborhood is quiet. Warm window light spill is out acrossthe well manicured lawns. You can almost smell two hundreddinners in all of the ovens of Cuesta Verde.

Steve Freeling’s Oldsmobile station wagon turns down the block heading home.

ANGLE - FREEWAY DRIVEWAY

Three empty trashcans block the drive... Steve groans as he parks half on, halfoff the curb, climbs out, and starts removing obstacleswhen from nowhere Diane is there, literally pullingtoward the house.

We have never seenDiane focused and again so frazzled. Her words are coming inspurts. She must constantly catch her breath. The thrillin her voice is backed up against an oppressive fear.

Carol Anne suddenlyappears from around the corner looking exhausted and cranky. In her hand is a San Diego Charger football helmet.

ANGLE - STEVE

Looking around hesees chalk marks all over the kitchen floor. Arrows andsquares and numbers in two colors.

Diane’s breathingquickens as she steadies herself. Skipping to the kitchen tableshe takes one of the colonial country chairs from the breakfast table and scrapes it along the floor to the centerof the room where four circles have been described in chalk.Diane places each leg in one of the proscribed circlesand looks up at Steve.

She removes her hands from the back of the chair and steps aside. Steve watchesDiane as much as the chair. He starts to step forward whenDiane throws both of her hands out to stop him.

The chair begins totremble. It virtually jitterbugs in place... then beginsto move forward picking up speed until it traverses the entire length of the kitchen ending up right in front of Steve’sbullfrog eyes.

ANGLE - CAROL ANNE

Yawning.

CLOSE - DIANE

With hysterical victory in her eyes.

CLOSE - STEVE

Looking for wires.He kneels and feels the chair legs, then immediately looksto Diane for the answer.

Carol Anne shrugsand puts on the football helmet. Diane runs over to Steve’s sideand pushes the chair out of the way. Carol Anne sits onthe floor in a circle with her name on it in yellow chalk.

ANGLE - STEVE

Starts to run forher protectively. Diane restrains him.

LOW ANGLE - CAROLANNE

She starts to tremble as if on a funhouse ride. Her little body begins to moveforward, faster, and all the way across the kitchen floorright into Diane’s arms.

He looks behind thedoor in the dining room. Nothing. Steve just stands for along moment in hapless silence, then...

Steve sidesteps thechalk marks, removing himself from the active area.

Carol Anne adjustsher helmet and sits inside her launch circle. Diane andSteve are having the discussion across the room and aren’t aware of her.

They turn but it’stoo late. Carol Anne shoots across the room faster than before, and with no one to catch her.

ANGLE - KITCHEN WALL

At a sickening speedher helmet smashes into the wall. Diane SCREAMS. Steve runsover.

An eight-inch holein the wall and the cracked plastic on the helmet testify tothe force of impact. Carol Anne is dazed but unhurt.

The front door opensand Tuthill steps into the bug light. An obvious strain inthis conversation.

The motives various,the feelings mutual. About a thousand mosquitos chow downon the Freelings while they talk.

Meanwhile Diane andSteve are being massacred.

Suddenly, there isa crash from somewhere inside the Tuthill home. Tuthill glances causally over his shoulder, turns back to Diane and removesa wet piece of cigar tobacco from the tip of his tongue.

Diane is applyingcalamine lotion to Steve’s neck and wrists.

Robbie is wide awake. He is staring out the window from under the covers. Thereis a flash of lightning. Robbie begins nervously counting.

The SOUND of rollingthunder. Robbie tenses and watches the tree.

ANGLE - WINDOW

A wind rustles thegnarled branches. The sky is a rolling mass of gray and black.

A second flash oflightning and Robbie whispers to himself.

CRACKLE! RUMBLE! Thewindow pane vibrates as the shock wave from the thunder bears down and the wind begins to dance with the tree.

Robbie is watchingthe tree. Carol Anne is asleep but she’s tossing and moaninglike the wind outside the window.

Another FLASH OF LIGHTNING. Robbie pulls the covers up over his nose and mouth.His little breath pushing the fabric up and down as he counts.

KA-BOOM! The roomvibrates and Robbie takes his eyes off the window for just amoment, looking at the open bedroom door and the light downthe hall from his parent’s room. He could be out of bed andthere in six seconds if he hurried.

A SAVAGE CRACK OFLIGHTNING. THE EXPLOSION OF THUNDER RIGHT ON TOP OF IT.

Robbie snaps a lookat the window just in time to see it happen.

46-A ROBBIE’S POV 46-A

A hurricane BLASTof wind hits the monster oak. The two branches resemblingarms fold forward aiming at the window. The disfigured crownwith the horns and knotty eyes bends back before tippingforward.

The finger-twigs atthe end of the arms reach out hungrily.

THE ENTIRE TREE CRASHES THROUGH ROBBIE’S WINDOW.

A FURNACE OF LIGHTNING accents the assault. Robbie starts SCREAMING. The finger-twigs wrap around him like skeleton hands and lift himright out of bed.

Carol Anne sits upand SCREAMS for Diane.

The tree seems tobe exhaling. Its breath enveloping Robbie in a phantom haze.The arms begin to retract pulling Robbie toward the mouth andeyes.

Just then, Steve andDiane appear in the doorway. Diane SCREAMS as...

The tree pulls Robbie right out the window and into an eighty- mile-per-hour night.The ROAR of wind is almost unbearable... drowning Robbie’sSCREAMS and those of his parents and Dana who suddenly appearsin the doorway.

Carol Anne is suddenly forgotten as Dana, Diane and Steve hurl themselves downstairs and through the kitchen, only to find the door blocked by several large branches.

They scramble backthrough the kitchen, out the sliding glass door and into theraging storm.

The force from theshattered window shoves Carol Anne against the headboard of herbed where she hugs her clown doll with all her might, itsbroad smile suddenly disconcerting as it appears to be looking toward the closet in her room.

The closet door opens revealing the most feared and dreaded space in this five-year-old’s tiny, tiny world. Carol Anne looks where her dollis looking and SCREAMS horribly.

The storm lashes thetree. The tree lashes Robbie. RAIN and WIND and CONDENSATION make it difficult to see everything.

Sixty branches forma briar prison that starts to tear and strangle. Steve races outside. A WALL of WIND makes his run SLOW MOTION.

ANGLE - THE CLOSET

The light inside grows to a supernatural intensity and a SOUND unlike anything anyone would ever want to hear blasts through the velocityof the storm. It is the closet sucking the bedroom into itsmurderous glare. Anything not tied down is swallowed. CarolAnne grabs her covers, and SCREAMS. NO SOUND comes out.

She is lifted completely off the bed by the suction. Only her death-grip on thesheets keeps her away. Unbelievably, her clown doll is notaffected by the vacuum pull. It just sits on the floor whereCarol Anne dropped it and stares up at her, smiling.

ANGLE - TREE

Steve reaches thetwisting trunk and starts to climb. Diane’s SCREAMING from thepatio is lost in the storm.

Steve reaches Robbieand the fight is defined only by the flare of stroboscopic lightning. Every time it appears as though Robbie willbe freed, branches envelop him and wind him tighter.

CLOSE - CAROL ANNE’STINY HANDS

The sheets start topeel back. The closet swallows toys and posters of Darth Vaderand R2D2, then sucks harder, the NOISE something like a colossal straw pulling at the last drop from a deep, deep well.Only now does the bed give way, flipping into the air and flying across the room, slamming Carol Anne inside and blockingthe opening with its frame and springs.

ANGLE - TREE

Steve tears at thebranches, trying to free Robbie. A crimson fluid pumps thickfrom the branches that Steve destroys. As suddenly as it began, the final burst of wind passes the tree like the caboose atthe end of a runaway train. He frees his son and they toppleout of the tree. Robbie throws his arms around his Dad andthe two hold on for their lives, gasping, hugging, choking onthe rain and sap. The tree is uprooted before them and disappears into the storm.

Steve and Robbie lieon the ground. Both are numb and buzzing. Diane runsover and hugs them. Then Dana looks in the sky and pointsto the horizon.

Diane and Steve lookoff into the sky miles away.

A funnel cloud ismoving away from Cuesta Verde Estates, breaking up as ithits the outlying hills.

STEVE + ROBBIE Carol Anne!!

Everyone runs to thehouse.

Steve and Diane arefirst into the room. Their expressions say it all.

FULL SHOT

With the exceptionof the two beds blocking the closet, Robbie and Carol Anne’s room is stripped clean. Diane lets out a muffled shriekand throws herself against the barricade, pullingback mattresses, boxsprings and blankets.

Steve joins her andtogether they work side by side, panting, crying and callingfor Carol Anne.

ANGLE - ROBBIE

Still in a state ofcomplete dislocation, Robbie walks back into his bedroom andlooks at the window. The tree is there no longer. E. Buzz,the dog, joins Robbie, whimpering at his feet.

ANGLE - THE CLOSET

Over Diane, SCREAMING out Carol Anne’s name, Steve does the muscle work, pullingoff end tables, Lone Ranger lamps, chest of drawers, toys andstuffed animals, working his way to the bottom of this innocent debris.

CAMERA STARTS TO MOVE IN. Going beyond Steve to his hands at work as he lifts thelast layer of mayhem off Carol Anne’s favorite pink blanket.

There is a foldedlump beneath it. The lump doesn’t stir. Diane covers her mouth and hyperventilates as Steve gently removes the fuzzyblanket and...

IT IS THE CLOWN DOLL, SMILING UP AT THEM OUTRAGEOUSLY.

Dana goes to the shattered window and calls out.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

Robbie’s expressionnever changes as everyone pushes past him on the run. He slowly walks to the closet and looks in.

ROBBIE’S POV

The clown.

Steve swings intothe room. The television set is on but the local transmittermust be out. There is only static snow.

No answer.

Dana opens the door.

She walks over tothe shower stall and suddenly parts the curtains. There isnothing inside.

Diane passes the TV.Snow, but no transmission. She checks the bed, the closet,the bathroom, becoming more frantic with every dashed hope.

Everyone breaks running. Again passing Robbie in the hall. Robbie turns intohis mother’s room. The SOUND OF TV STATIC and blue video glowgrowing stronger with every step.

Dana, Steve and Diane race to the edge. The rain has softened the edges and Dana’sfeet slide out from under her. She starts to fall whenDiane grabs her wrist, Dana simply dangles above thedeep end, filled with two feet of rainwater and mud. Steve slides down the steep muddy shoot from three to nine feet and plunges his hands into the quagmire.

He finds nothing.

CLOSE ON ROBBIE

The blue TV lightflattens Robbie’s features, accentuating his lingering catatonia.

The TV HISS is growing steadily and Robbie starts to register something. From theback of his eyes, awareness regains awareness that shifts to terror. Robbie opens his little mouth and producesa low MOAN that slides relentlessly to the upper registers ofprimal release.

CLOSE ON DIANE

She almost has Danapulled out when the SOUND reaches her. A preferential instinct forces Diane to let go. Dana falls four feet into her father’s arms.

Diane is already inside the house and heading down the hall.

Robbie is stationednot six inches from the nineteen-inch screen, hysterical,holding his hair in his fists. Diane grabs him up and locks her eyes to his.

The STATIC HISS isalmost unbearable. Through it all we can still make out “thevoice”.

VOICE Mommy...

Diane franticallysearches the room.

Diane puts Robbiedown and runs in a wide circle looking. The HISS is everywhere.E. Buzz growls at the TV.

VOICE Mommy...

Diane is hystericalnow. The first time we’ve seen her lose control.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

Walking to the TVscreen again.

Diane turns to look.She freezes, and only the rivulets of perspiration moveacross her. Diane doesn’t even breathe.

TV SET - SLOW PUSHIN

Carol Anne’s voiceis heard again, buried deeply behind the horizontal blurring,the electron bombardment, the swirls of snow and noise.

VOICE I can’t see you. Mommy. Where are you?!

EXTREME CLOSE SHOT- DIANE

Her eyes roll white,her head lulls and we

FADE IN: (3 DAYS LATER)

Three banks of coldfluorescent purr down from the ceiling.

CAMERA PANS DOWN,past rows of metal bookshelves from which reams of notes, files and textbooks hang in no organized manner. Finally, theview STOPS on DR. MARTHA LESH, Professor of Psychology at theUniversity of California at Irvine. Wearing a purple afghan to hide the urge for jelly beans and souffles, Norm looksup from her questionnaire and takes off her reading glasses.She is sixty-one and full of pep. Next to her are two long-haired graduate students, TAK and RYAN.

Dr. Lesh writes fiveyears old on the form.

ANGLE - STEVE FREELING

His eyes are darkshadows and the unflattering light features the patches of stubble and parched lips. He speaks in hoarse whispers, viewingthese surroundings with great suspicion.

FADE IN:

Dr. Les is mountingthe stairs, followed by her two associates, TAK andRYAN. Steve is in the lead while Robbie keeps his distancein the rear.

ANGLE - CHILDREN’SBEDROOM DOOR

Steve takes out akey and feels for the lock. Dr. Lesh and her assistants arelooking around, checking out the hallway as Steve swings thedoor open.

CLOSE - DR. LESH

She casually looksin.

HER POV - INSIDE THEROOM

Inside is a junk pile of shattered furniture and toys. The window is boardedup. Objects are in motion throughout the room... the bed ishopping about, records are flying, a lamp sails through. Theclown is seated upside down on the boxspring as it spins. Children’s picture books flapping their covers likewings, cruise the upper reaches. A horse flies by. Finally,a spinning compass plays a record while flying toward theroar of the room, creating an eerie melody.

CLOSE PANNING - DR.LESH, TAK AND RYAN

All semblance of clinical cool is gone. They are blown away.

Diane’s VOICE is heard over two shaking hands trying not to spill a pot of coffee as it fills a cup.

DIANE’S VOICE None of us have been much fun to be around. I guess you can tell I haven’t slept very much. Steve’s stayed home from work so much. He’s been really wonderful. Really.

PAN UP from the shaking hands to Dr. Martha Lesh. She must now use both hands,steady the coffee she’s just poured. Her assistants are inno better condition.

ANGLE - DIANE

She looks terrific.Her eyes are alert, hair combed back and held with a brightyellow clip. She sips her coffee with rock steady hands and softly inquires.

At that moment thecoffee pot moves by itself to the table’s edge but doesn’t spill. Dr. Lesh tries to overlook this, for appearances sake.

Two bright flashesof light distract Lesh and her associates.

Tak sits holding thecamera with his mouth hung open. Lesh nudges him.

Tak snaps out of itand looks down to adjust the lens setting just as two more flashes go off in the air.

Diane takes Steve’shand, suddenly frightened.

THE FAMILY AND THEINVESTIGATORS

Everyone is assembled around the console TV. Ryan has a Nakamichi cassetterecorder on the coffee table and a pencil microphone taped tothe television speaker. Tak has erected his Nikon on a smallaluminum tripod aimed at the screen, plus two infraredheat seeking cameras and monitors which scan the entire living room. An electrostatic locator to measure ionizationand a magnometer that measures magnetic changes. Diane isholding Steve’s hand.

Dana comes into theroom with an overnight bag strapped around her shoulders.

Diane flips on theset. A local news station is finishing the report when Dianeturns to channel 27.

Dr. Lesh is thoroughly perplexed. She puts on her glasses as Steve turns out thelamp and lights a cigarette. Diane squeezes her husband’s hand. The CAMERA PUSHES IN to the TV screen and millionsof particles of white air.

Diane turns the volume up and Ryan, wearing headsets, flinches, adjustingdown the volume on his recorder.

She says this so matter-of-factly that Dr. Lesh gasps. Diane walks to the centerof the living room, folds her hands in front of her, collecting her thoughts, takes a very deep breath and calls tothe ceiling.

Dr. Lesh looks quickly to Tak and Ryan for their human responses to this.Tak shrugs unnoticed. Ryan adjusts in his chair and looks upat the ceiling.

E. Buzz prances intothe room, looking up as if following on the heels of someonewith a treat.

He sits up on hishind legs and begs to no one we see.

CLOSE - RYAN

He tries hard notto smile. No matter. The suppressed laugh is slapped away bywhat he now hears. Ryan grabs his headsets in two hands, pressing them hard to his ears.

Everyone turns awayfrom Diane and back to the TV. They strain their hearing, leaning forward, watching...

VOICE (softly, sweetly, far away) Hello, Daddy.

*** PAGE MISSING ***

Tak speaks into Dr.Lesh’s ear.

Tak takes off.

E. Buzz barks intothe air twice and catches something in his mouth. No sooner does Dr. Lesh catch this out of the corner of her eye when several midair electrical discharges illuminate the room.

From one of the flashes a number of tiny objects fall to the carpeting. Jewelry,cameos, broaches, coins, watches, both modern and pocket,along with many thin, wiry clips, sprinkle the floor.

E. Buzz immediatelystarts to sniff whatever it is.

VOICE Mommy... there’s somebody here.

VOICE Mommy... is it you?

VOICE (the voice is afraid) Somebody’s coming!!

He goes room to roomlooking for pranksters. When he gets to the active bedroomhe hesitates, listens through the door, pulls in his courageand turns the knob. Of course, the door is locked. Tak isnever without a trick. He slips a file from his utility belt andstarts to jimmy the door. The lock gives and Tak easily turnsthe knob, and lets out an agonizing SCREAM! He falls backward holding his side, rolling over and over until he is atthe top of the carpeted staircase.

VOICE Help! No, no, no, no...

The little voice hidden behind all the static SCREAMS.

CLOSE - RYAN

His eyes light up.

CLOSE - MONITORS ANDREADBACKS

Come to life and start registering wildly.

Diane can’t standthe screams. She holds her ears, in tears now, imploring Dr.Lesh with her eyes.

Steve holds Dianeto him, she pushes away and SCREAMS at the ceiling.

VOICE Mommy! Mommy!

We HEAR soft FOOTSTEPS running across the ceiling and down the wall. Two lampsare turned over and smash to pieces on the library table.

We next HEAR colossal FOOTFALLS BOOMING in pursuit. A gust of interior wind racesthrough Diane’s clothes and hair. She SCREAMS in combinedjoy and horror.

Diane runs back toSteve and grabs his shirt, pulling him to her.

Steve smells and can’t believe it.

The footsteps in pursuit grow louder. Diane turns to face the sound. Dr. Lesh turns. Steve and Ryan turn. A perfectly foul smell precedes animplosion of displaced air. Almost the sound of thunder,the impact is so great. Lesh, Diane and Steve blow backward,their clothes flapping in the gale as the force passes through each one of them and out the picture window that cracksin a dozen places but does not shatter.

Lesh practically rolls up her sleeves and heads for the stairway, the restfollowing.

As they come aroundthe corner they run smack into Tak, just coming down the laststep, rubbing his side.

Robbie gets very scared.

Tak turns to facethe hall light and untucks his shirt, rolling it up. Thenrolling up his T-shirt. Everyone crowds in to see.

ANGLE - TAK’S STOMACH AND SIDE

Teeth marks bear outTak’s story. The unusual thing is, the bite wraps all theway around his side from kidneys to navel. A pink and partiallybruised eleven-inch crescent impression.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

Eye level with it,his little mouth hanging open.

Dr. Lesh takes a tentative step up the stairs then turns back demonstratively.

Dr. Lesh has returned to the living room. She bends over and grabs the apron offthe couch and pulls. It folds out. A convertible bed.

LATER THAT NIGHT

Robbie and Diane arecurled up together in the convertible bed. Steve has puttwo chairs together and sleeps fitfully. Dr. Lesh looks overTak’s shoulder at the oscilloscope and electro hygrometerthat is used for measuring changes in the humidity.

Ryan sits in a chairfacing the staircase and the upper level of rooms

His spectroscopiccamera equipment is aiming directly up the stairs. Lesh patsRyan on the shoulders, he nearly jumps out of his skin. Theyspeak in whispers so as not to disturb the others.

Lesh goes to the console TV and, assuming everyone is asleep, she turns it off.In a very small voice Diane leans on her elbow.

Dr. Lesh smiles, it’s the first time we’ve seen her do this and it reminds Dianeat once of her favorite story-book grandma who bakescookies and knits comforters.

CLOSE - DIANE

She smiles back andmotions for Dr. Lesh to come over.

Diane starts to giggle. It’s a release and Dr. Lesh joins her.

Robbie puts his headdown on the pillow and Diane and Dr. Lesh share a warmlook over him. Robbie sits back up suddenly and looks at the TVset.

Flanked by four banks of monitors and oscilloscopes, Tak’s stomach growls. Heturns back looking over his shoulder at the kitchen.

ANGLE - TAK

He leans his chairback on its hind legs until his head reaches around thecorner. Tak “pfffts” to Ryan. Ryan looks up from a PenthouseMagazine that he is studying by penlight. Tak gestures for Ryan to relieve him for a few minutes.

FULL SHOT - BOTTOMOF STAIRCASE

Tak gets up and Ryansits down, getting right back into his Penthouse after acursory look at the monitors and readouts. Ryan puts a Walkmanover his ears and pops a Herbie Hancock tape in the cassette.

The refrigerator isthe perfect target for Tak’s housebreaking skills. He turns once, looking over his shoulder before opening theAmana... the light inside bathes everything in white.Tak takes out a salad bowl and noshes from that, but hischewing is too loud so he opts for a beautiful New Yorksteak wrapped in cellophane.

Placing the steakon the dark counter, Tak stuffs a chicken leg into his mouthand searches the kitchen for a steak knife. He pulls hisflashlight from his hip pocket and beings pulling drawers...

A new sound is addedto his search. A CRAWLING GUSHY SOUND that bubbles and softly hisses. Tak turns and sees a shape moving along the counter where he put the steak. Approaching, Tak tilts his flashlight so the beam hits the object moving on the counter.

Tak’s POV

The New York Steakis alive with CANCER! It actually crawls over and over itsown rampant cell growth.

He starts to gag looking at it and realizes the chicken is still in his mouth.He spits it onto the floor and shines his flashlight on top.

A thousand maggotscrawl away from it into the dark corners of the kitchen. Takstarts to retch and flails into a small powder room.

Tak turns the lighton and retches into the sink.

Ryan is reading theletters to Forum and hasn’t noticed the activity on the first readout. Slowly, the equipment comes alive, purring softly, images vibrating. Ryan is too involved in Penthouse to notice the change.Herbie Hancock leaks from his headphones.

Tak is catching hisbreath, his head lowered in frame. He stands up suddenlychecking his complexion in the mirror.

HIS MIRRORED REFLECTION

His reflection isa ROTTING CORPSE, hair wild and streaming, his mouth open ina crazy way, teeth hanging by leathery threads, a funeralsuit from the neck down.

The bulb over themirror CHANGES HUE from white to yellow to orange to pink. Ina burst of electricity it EXPLODES over the sink as Tak wheels around showing us his LIVE IMAGE, BACK TO NORMAL.

CLOSE - RYAN

Aware of nothing,reading, tapping his foot.

ANGLE- BEHIND RYAN

Something is aglowat the top of the stairs.

Something is starting to descend.

Something ectoplasmic and blue-green.

The oscilloscopesare sine-waving like crazy. The remote cameras are triggered and click on. Tape machines roll automatically.

The substance is heading down.

Tak walks forward,his eyes riveted to the staircase. He feels in the darkuntil his hand touches Ryan’s head. Ryan turns around to seewho’s behind him and shines his flashlight up intoTak’s face.

CLOSE - TAK

Lit from below addsa demented aspect to Tak’s already terrified expression. Ryan looks immediately in the direction Tak is fixated...THE TOP OF THE STAIRS.

BEHIND BOTH TAK ANDRYAN

The crawling masscoming down the stairs resembles a giant hand with long, searching fingers, flowing down the stairs and heading rightfor the two technicians.

Ryan stands and backs away two steps.

CLOSE - TAK

He wants to screamout but cannot find the breath. The air in the room is suddenlythin and electrostatically charged.

The fingers are almost to the bottom. The smoking fingertips suddenly rise straight up into the air like sky-writhing. Rising right up tothe ceiling. Another tentacle of ectoplasm seems to come forward. Larger and thicker than the rest and still growing, itstudies the VTR and Panasonic camera, waltzing above it,hovering curiously close, then retracting suddenly like a KingCobra.

Dares to look at themonitor. His mouth drops open. He sees something we don’t.His eyes shift back and forth between the manifestation andthe monitor. He bears his teeth to scream and...

EXTREME - CLOSE SHOTS

DR. LESH

Her eyes open andshe immediately pulls out her glasses.

STEVE

Falls between twochairs trying to stand.

DIANE

Rising to her kneesshe looks out into the hall and hugs Robbie protectively.

Ectoplasmic mist wanders aimlessly, passing under tables, chairs, circling lamps.

At this moment everylightbulb in the room comes on. The brightness growingto blinding levels. Everyone covers their eyes.

The hum of electrostatic charge races up the scales to what sounds like feedbackoverload, then...

FLASH FLASH - FLASH

Everything is darkagain. The episode ended. The room is very quiet.

Dr. Lesh breaks thesilence.

Tak hits the rewindswitch on both VTRs.

Diane, Steve and Robbie all run to the display panel.

WE MOVE from the faces of the Freelings and Lesh to:

We SEE the empty hallway and staircase in black and white on one screen. One theother a spectroscopic breakdown of color patterns in infrared.

The picture on thescreen becomes grainy, smoky. A bright glowly substance begins to form into tendrils that move down the stairs and veryclose to the cameras. The black and white monitor shows whatthe human eye captured. The color infrared shows what the technology captured.

MOVE IN TO HER asshe watches the color monitor.

The smoky substancetwists and melts and forms what appears to be the shape ofa man’s back. The shape moves in front of the CAMERA and wesee what could be an OLD MAN looking over his shoulder witha suspicious expression, and then walking past a little girl,not Carol Anne, holding a ball. She wanders through theliving room as if lost. Suddenly, the living room is filled with manifestations. FOUR MEN in burlap type coats, floppyhats, denim and boots face away from the CAMERAS, a WOMAN dressed in the style of the1920’s moves through the room,tears on her face -- people of all ages and descriptions wanderaimlessly, lost and sad through the living room.

No manifestation makes contact with any other. They don’t even seem to be aware that others exist -- an OLD WOMAN glances at the CAMERAS disinterestedly -- and a YOUNG BOY moves toward the CAMERA and evaporates.

The screen suddenlybecomes BLACK, filled by two glowing beams -- the beampull back and we realize they are EYES of a scary old man. Itis the face of pure chaotic horror. A vision of madnessand murder.

She covers Robbie’seyes and SCREAMS continuously, out of control, for thisis the pit of her nightmare.

ANGLE - FULL

Steve is holding Diane now, stroking her hair until her SCREAMS turn intoSOBS. Lesh and the technicians look on silently. Steve leads Diane and Robbie back into the living room. Dr. Lesh takesout the two tapes and puts them into a briefcase and locksit with a key.

CLOSE - DUST PAN

Crowded with a mixture of filled and decayed teeth from last evening’s hailstorm,Steve closes the trashcan and wipes his hands against hisshirt. The portable TV is on, turned, as usual, to a staticchannel.

FULL SHOT - ROBBIE

Dressed to travelwith a little suitcase in hand. At his side is E. BUZZ on leash.

Diane and Steve watch Robbie and E. Buzz go out the door. Steve starts to follow, reaching out to help with the bag. Robbie waves him off.

Robbie and E. Buzzclimb into a taxi. It pulls away from the curb.

Dr. Lesh sorting through the brooches, stickpins, hail combs and cameos. Brassbuttons, pocket watches and cufflinks.

Diane returns fromthe door and cocks her head to examine the jewelry.

Dr. Lesh holds upa twist-o-flex digital wristwatch.

Steve enters the kitchen.

The front doorbellRINGS.

ANGLE - FRONT DOOR

Steve opens it andis immediately uncomfortable. An older MAN, with gray hairand a pleasant smile, is standing there, briefcase in hand.

Steve just standsthere like a schoolboy caught playing hooky.

TEAGUE’S POV

Teague can see pastSteve and into the living room and staircase. All sortsof scientific equipment is strung around. The big console TV is tuned to a static channel, so is the kitchen portable, also visible from Mr. Teague’s vantage.

Teague looks overSteve’s shoulder and Steve tries to subtly block his view.

Behind Steve the couch moves across the room gently bumping up against the babygrand piano which produces a musical vibration.

Steve immediatelysteps outside with Mr. Teague and closes the door behind him.The porch light comes on and even in the bright daylight itglows to amazing intensity.

Diane hangs desperately onto any tangible reality. She moves carefully throughthe house, cleaning up. When she passes Carol Anne and Robbie’s room Diane hesitates. She listens through the door.She knocks softly and prays.

Diane slips her handdown to the doorknob. Knowing it is always locked shefeels safe in trying it -- the knob turns in her hand. Tak never locked up after his episode. Diane GASPS and jumps back. As much as she wants to, Diane won’t go in. She backs intoher own bedroom and shuts the door.

She turns and seesthe bed is not made. Diane pulls off the covers and the sheets, making them ready for the washing machine. Dust risesoff the bed and Diane SNEEZES. As she tilts her head backfor a second sneeze she freezes looking at the wall over herhead. The sneeze never materializes.

ANGLE - THE WALL

The STAIN HAS GROWN.It is three feet in diameter and shaped like a black rose.Little black, wiggly lines, like veins, scribble away fromthe black pistil in all directions. Diane flinches and stepsaway from it. She sees a picture on her other wall and determines to hang it over the stain.

STEVE AND TEAGUE

Steve and Teague stand on a hill overlooking the entire Cuesta Verde Estates. Teague’s Bronco sits off to one side.

Steve doesn’t knowwhat to think. So much is piling up so suddenly. It’s a golden opportunity that two weeks ago would have meant a Hawaiian vacation and days of happiness and celebration. Steveturns around to take in the view.

CAMERA PANS AROUND180 DEGREES

This whole conversation has taken place just inches outside a quiet little cemetery with picket fences and both ancient and recent headstones.

Steve scratches andgestures to the three-acre memorial park.

Steve is speechless.He looks back and forth between the existing cemeteryand Cuesta Verde Estates below.

- DAY

Students mill aboutbetween classes. It’s a beautiful day at Irvine.

DR. LESH AND A SENIOR ADVISOR, ANTHONY FARROW.

They are sitting inan empty lecture hall. Monitors are everywhere. Severalpeople are filing out. Lesh is exhausted. Apparently she’s been through quite an ordeal. Anthony Farrow is twenty years oldthan Dr. Lesh, which puts him into his early eighties.

He puts a comfortingarm around her and sits on the desk, smiling like the wizened sage he is.

He hands her backthe video tapes.

She gestures to thedozens of jewelry pieces on the desk. Farrow picks up abeautiful brooch. He holds it up to the light.

Farrow pins the brooch on Lesh’s sweater and takes an antique ring, placing it onher finger.

Dr. Lesh starts tolaugh and punches Farrow on his leg.

She picks out a setof earrings and stuffs them into her change purse. Farrowlaughs as Dr. Lesh starts to fold up the napkin containingthe stones and jewelry. Suddenly Farrow stops her, reachingfor something in the pile.

He picks up a thin,wiry clip that looks like it could be a dog muzzle for a miniature poodle.

He turns it over inhis hand.

This time we are framing the first row of headstones, PUSHING PAST them to the warm suburban glow that reaches for miles into the hills, joined by a sprinkling of stars on this moonlit night.

MOVING SHOT

We are following Steve and Diane. They seem to be gazing down as they walk throughtheir home. CAMERA WIDENS to reveal Ryan and Lesh ahead ofthe Freelings. They appear to be following something, also looking down at their feet. CAMERA PANS DOWN, expecting to findE. Buzz at the head of this train. Instead...

We meet TANGINA BARRONS, astrologist, clairvoyant, midget.

She is dressed ina California Hawaiian print dress, wears her hair in a beehive, dons aviator sunglasses and casually sips coffee from amug as she explores the Freeling home.

Tangina stops andlooks at her followers. She speaks with a very polite Southernaccent.

They oblige and Tangina waddles her way down the hall and up the stairs unaccompanied.

Diane is becomingmore and more distraught over something.

Steve looks up thestairs, he’s about to answer but instead decides to concentrate. A pause.

Tangina appears atthe upper rail and looks down between the banister posts.

Tangina turns awayand continues her search.

ANGLE - LIVING ROOM

Steve turns to Dianeand Lesh and Ryan, pulling them into a circle of whispers.

From far away andwell out of earshot Tangina answers.

The CAMERAS are allset up. The Zenith console is now the centerpiece of thisroom. The rest of the furniture has been piled against thewalls although we’re not sure if this is Diane’s work or early poltergeist disturbances. Tangina sees herself on the videomonitor and smiles into the CAMERA. She waves and watchesherself waving on the monitor. She makes a funny face and getsa huge thrill at seeing it in black and white. Diane and Steve stand divorced from this. They have become bit playersas Tangina takes center stage.

Thinking this is ascientific request, Ryan ZOOMS IN filling the monitors withTangina.

Tangina pulls outa lipstick and freshens her makeup, all the while watching herself in the monitor.

She steps back andlooks into the CAMERA. She adds to her already thick Texasaccent. The melodrama gushes out of her.

No one is laughing.Especially Diane and Steve. They are rather appalled. Tangina immediately pulls back. She becomes an adult again andwalks into the center of the room.

Diane hesitates andlooks over at Dr. Lesh.

Diane slowly walksto Tangina and reaches down with her hand.

Diane smiles and kneels. She is eye level with Tangina.

The tears come immediately. Diane breaks down, sobbing, the first confirmationof her own belief from the outside.

Tangina hugs her,patting the back of Diane’s head reassuringly. Stevestarts to come over to comfort but Tangina waves himoff and mouths...

ANGLE - DR. LESH

She sits down andsmiles. Relieved, looks to Ryan. Ryan is filming it.

Dr. Lesh points tothe air just above Tangina’s head.

Diane laugh-criesand rises. Tangina starts to rise but then realizes...

CLOSE - TELEVISIONCONSOLE

Static snow gratesagain on our nerves.

ANGLE - FULL

Diane is in her self-appointed position, the center of the room awaiting noticefrom Tangina Barrons who checks through a lot of items laidout on a tablecloth on the living room floor.

Ryan and Dr. Leshare painting numbers on each of six tennis balls and then carefully signing their names. String hangs across the ceilingand to each wall coming together in the air six feet abovethe floor to form a square.

Steve runs in withseveral pounds of rope slung around his shoulder.

In the low light ofthe living room, Diane stands in the center like a frightened contestant about to audition a song. She says a prayerunder her breath and looks skyward.

TV CONSOLE - STATIC

Nothing.

TV CONSOLE - STATIC

Nothing.

CLOSE - TANGINA

Her eyes are closedand her breathing becomes irregular. She licks at her dry lips and motions to Diane.

CLOSE - TANGINA

Shaking her head.

This news hits likea shock wave. Steve and Diane almost answer at one.

Tangina still hasher eyes closed. She motions Steve to come over.

Steve obeys. Dianeis lost. Dr. Lesh has never experienced anything like thisbefore. Ryan has his eye to the video tape camera.

Steve is uncomfortable in speaking to thin air. He clears his voice.

CAROL ANNE’S VOICE (far away from the TV speaker) Mommy, help me!

CAROL ANNE’S VOICE He’s chasing me, Mommy... (screams)

CAROL ANNE’S VOICE Mommy!! Are you in the light?

Diane is now cryingout of angry frustration and deceit.

Dr. Lesh, Ryan, Steven and Diane. TanginaBarrons is in the lead, outdistancingeveryone.

Everybody crowds around. Tangina turns to Steve, her breathing coarse with phlegm and wheezing.

This time Steve doesn’t hesitate. He has the key already in the lock and swingsopen the door.

It is like a stormat sea inside. So much destroyed minutia speeds through theair it is not unlike a blizzard at night. The SOUND is a CHORUS of MOANING; and RAVING.

A VOCAL ASYLUM FROMA BLACK PLACE WHERE ALL SOULS WAIT FOR TRANSIT.

A CACOPHONY OF MUSICREVERBERATES THROUGHOUT. Nothing specific, only madness and nonsense.

INTO THIS WALL OFNOISE AND TORMENT TANGINA BARRONS APPEARS.

She looks around theroom, squinting in the low in blowing dust and particles.Things, objects, plasma globules fly at her. She sees...

THE CLOSET. THE LIGHTIS THERE! It is so bright there is no looking into it without retinal damage. Great blue-yellow shards of light spill into the room, defined by the thick atmosphere.

A heavy section oflamp hurls from the other side of the room right for Tangina’shead. Just as it reaches her it slows down to a winsome“hover” and falls to the floor at her feet.

Ryan runs in and stands under the circle of string.

Tangina takes thetennis ball and ducking as other objects are coming at hermore aggressively... THROWS IT INTO THE FURNACE LIGHT OF THECLOSET!

Ryan looks up. Thereis a flash and immediately a tennis ball falls from mid-spaceand lands on the floor at his feet. He picks it up and looks at the inscriptions.

Diane cannot believewhat is going on. She looks back into the blizzard.

Tangina tosses balls#2 and #3 together into the closet light.

There is a mid airflash as ball number two materializes from thin air and Ryancatches it. As he inspects the signatures, there is another light flash and ball number three follows and hits him on thehead.

Diane relays Ryan’sshouts...

Steve goes to workon this.

Steve hands it toher. Tangina won’t wield it. It is too strung out and sheis too small.

Steve enters the blast furnace of energy and wind and takes one end of the rope.

He throws in the whip holding onto one end.

There is another midflash and the end of rope thrown biolcates out frombetween the string and falls in a pile on the living room rug.Ryan picks up his end and yells back...

Tangina and Steveare holding the other end and the red ribbon is very closeto the closet entrance.

Tangina is markinginches and feet onto the rope with her lipstick, just totheir side of the red ribbon. She nods to Steve.

The ROAD OF WIND inside grows stronger.

Ryan has heard andstarts to gently take up the slack. When it is taut he is fedthe rope one inch at a time.

The flag is disappearing into the VIBRANT LIGHT inside the closet. Tangina counts off inches as her lipstick calibrations clickoff into the void.

The flag appears from the air in the center of the string opening. The calibrations follow...

Diane transfers theinformation.

Tangina looks at thelast calibration.

A look of horror crosses Diane’s face.

Diane steps into theroom, blasted back by two several GUSTS OF WIND aimed specifically at her.

Steve has alreadystarted to tie the rope around his own waist. He’s decidedto go.

Steve realizes it’strue. Diane pulls the rope from Steve and secures it aroundher waist. Steve ties two clove hitches and faces his wife.

They kiss, part, andSteve and Tangina get a hold of the end of the rope.

Dr. Lesh runs intothe storm and helps to hold.

Dr. Lesh runs downstairs and Diane takes one look back at Steve.

ANOTHER ANGLE - CLOSET AND DIANE

She moves into it...the light swallowing her. Tangina watches the calibrations and stops feeding when the indications are thatDiane is in the center of the infinite void.

Dr. Lesh runs aroundin back of Ryan and takes hold of the taut rope. They waitwithout breathing.

Tangina is back inher trance. Sweat beads across her brow, only to be blown into horizontal rivulets by the eighty miles an hour interior wind.

Tangina doesn’t answer... she starts her irregular breathing.

Tangina’s trace doesn’t include Steve. She does not hear him. He thinks she is leading his family into the light and beyond.

Steve panics and starts to pull the rope back.

Tangina snaps outof her trance to find Steve withdrawing the rope with all hismight. She lets out a SCREAM.

Steve gives one moretug and a flash of electrical energy explodes from thecloset. A LOW GROWL is heard from the light. The GROWL HITS THE LOWER SOUND REGISTERS AND THE ENTIRE ROOM SHAKESFROM ITS VERY FOUNDATIONS.

THE FACE OF THE BEAST EMERGES FROM THE CLOSET LIGHT. FACE IS THE ENTIRE LENGTHAND WIDTH OF THE OPENING.

THE HEAD EMERGES,SMASHING THE DOOR FRAME.

Steve freezes at thesight and SCREAMS for the first time. He drops the rope and...

Ryan takes his cueand pulls. Dozens of electrical discharges blossom in midairand there is a primal CRY. A CRY OF BIRTH! RYAN AND DR. LESHPULL THE ROPE.

DIANE, HOLDING CAROLANNE IN HER ARMS, EXPLODES FROM THE AIR AND FALLS INTO THECENTER OF THE LIVING ROOM.

Steve carries Dianewho still holds Carol Anne. Both are crying and not awareof their surroundings.

They are covered from head to toe in a jellied substance, pink and red, thatoozes down Steve’s legs to the floor, leaving a trail behind.

Steve turns on thewater and puts Diane and Carol Anne into the tub. Ryan follows him behind with his portable table video equipment. Thewater quickly turns into a bright pink as the jelly substance dissolves and foments likebubblebath.

CLOSE - STEVE IS CRYING

CLOSE - DIANE’S EYESOPEN

CLOSE - CAROL ANNE’SEYES OPEN

Tangina and Dr. Leshlean against the door, exhausted.

FADE IN:

The title card “TwoWeeks Later” FADES ON then OFF.

The Freelings aremoving. Bekins boxes are stacked all around, and packinglists lie on the kitchen counter. The entire family hasgathered in front of a large roast. E. Buzz sits by Robbie. Theyare bowed in prayer, holding hands.

Everybody LAUGHS.Diane, with an enormous amount of gray in her hair, reachesinto her purse, almost as an afterthought and takes out an envelope addressed to the Freeling family.

Diane passes a colorPolaroid around the table.

Tangina is standingagainst the sun and surf in a muu muu. Beside her is a good-looking, normal-sized man in his early thirties. If you didn’t know Tangina was a midget you’d think the man was nine feet tall. There is writing accompanying the photo which Dianereads.

Diane finishes theletter.

LATER

Through the lace curtains, Steve climbs into Teague’s Bronco and they pull away.

Diane watches himleave and walks up the stairs to the upper bedroom.

Taking the pins fromher hair, Diane passes Carol Anne and Robbie’s bedroom.The door is closed and warm light filters through at the bottom jamb. She listens in, hears nothing and starts to turn theknob, but thinks twice and continues into her bedroom.

Diane has done someredecorating in here. The first thing we notice is that thestain is gone and the curtains are lace yellow with whitefor borders. The bedspread is a happy sunlit color withsmiling moons and planets.

Diane reaches downinto the bathtub.

CLOSE UP - DRAIN

Diane squeezes therubber stopper into the drain.

CLOSE UP - HOT ANDCOLD HANDLES

She mixes the temperatures until we see steam rising from the filling tub.

WIDE ANGLE - BATHROOM

Diane unbuttons hershirt. She hangs it over the mirror. Kicking off her sneakers, Diane peels off her sweat socks and unzips her Levi jeans.

Diane comes into thehall in her robe. Her hair is pinned up for the tub. The bathwater can be heard inside. Tying off the robe, Diane returnsto Carol Anne and Robbie’s room and puts her hand on the knob. This is hard for her and will always be. She turns it andthe door slides open. Diane sticks her head in tentatively.

DIANE’S POV

Robbie and Carol Anne are quietly playing SPACE INVADERS on their new Atari video game. They both turn to see what their mother wants.

She turns to go andsees that the closet light is off. Diane reaches into the closet with her hand... feeling for the switch. Her hand flails in the dark until it feels something. Diane flinches andpulls. The closet light comes on and Diane lets go of the pullcord. She smiles again at her children and leaves.

ANGLE - DIANE’S BAREFEET

The robe falls ina bundle around her feet. She steps out of it and into the tub.Sucking in her breath several times as she inches her wayinto the hot water up to her neck, Diane sighs. She closesher eyes. The steam rises to the ceiling.

The tub water gurgles into the overflow drain just under the spigot. Diane takesa washrag, throws it by her feet, and uses her big toe toclog the overflow drain to stop the annoying sound.

ANGLE - FLOOR

E. Buzz comes in andfolds his legs up under him nestling into the soft arearug. He closes his eyes.

CLOSE - DIANE

She closes her eyes.Her breathing becomes steady and regular. We hold...and HOLD.

Robbie yawns and climbs into his new bed. Carol Anne imitates her older brotherand climbs into her new bed.

The TV game is stillon and the tiny white and blue rockets race silently through video space.

Robbie looks overat the new rocking chair. The old clown doll is sitting there quietly. Robbie takes the shirt by his bed and tries tossing it over the head of the clown doll but he misses. The shirtfalls across the arm rest and starts the chair rocking. Robbie shrugs and turns out the light by his bed. Only the softmoonlight from the window and the warm light from the partially opened closet give any ambient illumination to theroom. Outside the SOUND of a car passing, the TICKING of CarolAnne’s new “man in the moon” clock.

CLOSE ON E. BUZZ

He is sleeping. Hiseyes open. His ears perk up and he raises his head.

UP ANGLE - DIANE

She is drying herself outside the tub. She looks down at her dog and blows hima kiss.

E. Buzz’s tail wagsas he follows Diane into the bedroom where she sits infront of her vanity table and takes the clips from her hair.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

He turns over butcan’t sleep. He yawns and sits up on one elbow looking towardCarol Anne. She is out like a light. Robbie casually looks over at the clown in the rocking chair. The rocking chairis empty.

Dressed in her nightgown and robe, Diane combs out her long, silky hair. She throws her head forward so all the hair in the back can coverher face. Stroking from the back of her neck, Diane gets outall the tangles. Satisfied, Diane flips her head straightup so all her hair can fly back around her shoulders. The shinygray-brown hair flies straight up into the air and upon reaching its full height... it freezes and doesn’t come down.

E. Buzz turns andruns out of the room. DIANE IS LOOKING AT HERSELF IN THE MIRROR WHEN THIS HAPPENS.

147-A In the background,just above the headboard to her bed, a147-A BLACK SPOT startsto SPREAD. Like an ink blot it gathers speed in all directions sending wiggly black veins like a man- of-war over the ceiling and onto the floor.

DIANE IS GOING TOFAINT. HER EYES START TO ROLL INTO HER HEAD WHEN...

Four deep impressions collapse her cheek unevenly against her jaw. The left sideof her mouth is pressed against her front teeth as if someonewas attempting to twist her head halfway around the left shoulder.

The STAIN STOPS GROWING AND STARTS TO BREATHE, moving in and out like the hairybody of a mutant tarantula.

CLOSE - DIANE’S FACE

Diane’s lips are pressed flat against her gums and mushed in counter-clockwisecircles, how a kiss might appear if only the receiver werevisible.

Her hair is allowedto fall around her shoulder and she struggles away fromthe force that has held her. She goes straight for the door. It CLOSES IN HER FACE. Diane turn insanely when herarm is nearly wretched from its socket. She us flung onto herbed right under the spider stain.

Robbie, sitting upin bed, looks all around for the clown doll. He dares evento look on the floor. It is nowhere in sight.

Robbie’s breathingquickens. He knows where he now must look. After all no childcan ever sleep until knowing the night is in order. Lying onhis stomach, Robbie slowly lowers himself head first to thefloor of his bed, in preparation to look under it. He very,very carefully lifts the dust ruffle and lets the top of hishead touch the rug. Robbie is upside-down as he looks into thedarkness under his bed.

148-A UNDER ROBBIE’S BED 148-A

The clown is there,face to face with him, smiling sardonically.

In the split secondit takes for a child to draw a breath and let it out throughthe vocal chords, the clown doll wraps its five foot extensionarms four times around Robbie’s neck, cutting off half hisair.

Struggling now forhis life... Robbie is dragged inexorably under his own bedand out of sight.

Waking up suddenly.A light interior breeze ruffles her hair. Carol Anne sees thecloset.

The closet grows brighter.

Diane lets out a chilling SCREAM. Her robe is torn away from her nightgown andhurled into the air. Diane tries to get up but a pressure uponher chest defeats her best effort.

CLOSE - DIANE’S BREASTS

The nightgown is suddenly torn away revealing her breast. They are kneaded andflattened. Hulking finger impressions can be seen sinkingdeeply into her. Diane’s hysteria doesn’t make any difference.Now her legs are spread apart and a great pressure overher pelvic bone crushes her deeper and deeper into the mattress over and over again.

Diane is fightingall this time when everything suddenly stops. She is leftfor dead, on the wet, sweat-stained sheets. Then... itbegins again, but this time...

Diane is pulled toher feet. Standing tiptoes above the pillows she is DRAGGED UP THE WALL AND ONTO THE CEILING. IN DEFIANCE OF EVERYKNOWN LAW OF PHYSICS.

Diane is dragged across the mandibles of the spider stain and onto the ceiling.There she is slammed repeatedly, her rear end pounding the ceiling, her back arched, her head torn back from her shoulders,held invisibly by the hair.

Without a breather,she is then pulled across and down the opposite wall. Dianeis just as quickly released. She drops onto the floor. Likejello are her legs. Diane struggles, crawling off the bedto the door, reaching, straining to open it.

Mercifully “it” letsher get out. She BELLOWS her children’s names.

CLOSE - DOORJAM TOMASTER BEDROOM

From beneath the door of Diane’s room a rush ofECTOPLAMIC SMOKE snakes aheadof her, cutting her off from her children’s room. There, it forms an eerie blockade and begins to MANIFEST.

Diane looks up intothe face that forms and the hands that reach out to her andsees the beginning of the “great beast”. She retreats on herrear end backwards down the hall, pursued by the phantom twister.

Diane rolls down thecarpeted staircase and grapples for her footing as she headsdown toward the back door.

It is raining andDiane is instantly soaked as she backs up looking at the houseSCREAMING.

Diane’s feet loseher footing in the mud and she falls into the shallow end ofthe unfinished swimming pool, sliding all the way down the wetmud to the puddle in the deep end.

THE POOL LIGHTS COMEON. Backlighting the rain and Diane’s flopping actions asshe regains her balance is the quagmire.

Then, A GUSHING BUBBLE EXPLODES next to her in the mud. She stares at it as asecond bubble bursts revealing within it, the leathery faceof a corpse, in its burial clothes, rising like a weed straightout of the gushing mud. Diane SCREAMS and backs into ANOTHER FACE who’s mouth stretches open revealing tiny wirejaw clamps that make popping SOUNDS like a jew’s harp. Witha terrible SLURP, the top of a metal coffin pushes outof the mud, its lid hinged open, tossing bones and dirt andburial jewelry all over Diane.

CLOSE - CAROL ANNE

She is SCREAMING WILDLY. A white hot light erasing her features as she onceagain fights the phantom wind that begins to suck theroom toward the closet.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

Wrestling on the floor with the clown. He tears the stuffing from its middle, shredded bits of white cotton flying at terrifying speed toward the closet opening.

The closet is becoming a living, terrifying organism as bits of flesh grow likemoss along the squared off door frame. Fatty tissues form,veins escape into the soft pink skin until we are lookinginto a living mouth, all gims and blinding light andat the very back, a pale yellow esophagus that spirals to abysmal depths.

Some sort of seismicupheaval is forcing dead things up from the ground in evengreater numbers. Diane is climbing up the steep, slick inclinetoward the metal ladder at the shallow end. With every couple of steps to safety, she slips back in the rain, turningback to see the black tie crowd that awaits her. Diane turns back reaching out her hand to dig in deeper when...

ANOTHER HAND GRABSHERS.

Diane shrieks andlooks into the face of Ben Tuthill from next door.

Mrs. Tuthill runsover in her night clothes.

Ethereally, the SCREAMS from Carol Anne and Robbie sound almost angelic inthe rain.

She pulls away fromTuthill and races back inside the house. Ben starts to followbut then Mrs. Tuthill stops him.

Diane hits the staircase and races up. The door to the children’s room isshut and ultra-bright light is streaming from under the jamb.Diane opens it and is immediately sucked in.

Robbie and Carol Anne hold onto their bedposts with all their might. Everythingis loose and circulating the room a full revolution beforesurrendering to the closet and bottomless pit. Diane SCREAMSto her children.

Robbie reaches outwith his one hand and Diane tries to work her way against therip to get into position. She looks at the closet.

THE CLOSET

It sucks harder andRobbie and Carol Anne’s beds start to move toward the hotpink opening. Diane lurches the final inch and grabs Robbie’s little wrist with both hands.

Robbie reaches forCarol Anne, who reaches out to Robbie. They are but inchesapart.

ANGLE - CLOSET

One last powerfulinhale and the two beds shoot out from under the childrenjust as Robbie grabs his sister’s hand and Diane pulls them from the room.

Diane drags her children down the stairs and toward the front door. The staircaseis rolling as in an earthquake, knocking them off balance andonto the landing face down. Diane sees the front door through a sudden cut over her left eye. She leads the childrento it slow in motion as a phenomenally intense headwind tries to prevent their escape.

THE RAIN HAS STOPPED.

Teague’s Bronco pulls up to the driveway of theFreeling home. Steve gets out, sees the house in turmoil, and runs to the front door. Teague gets out of the car, his eyes afloat.

Diane finally reaches the front door. She throws it open and is about to step outwhen...

THE FRONT STEPS CRACK OPEN, AND SUDDENLY SOMETHING EXPLODES. ONE ORNATE CASKETRISES UP OUT OF THE GROUND SENDING A GEYSER OF DIRT AND SPLINTERS INTO THE HOUSE, SHOWERING DIANE, THE KIDS, AND STEVE WHOHAS JUST ROUNDED THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE.

Diane picks up CarolAnne and she and Robbie run toward the kitchen.

Steve turns and isknocked off his feet by an exploding casket. Bones, mud,and decaying flesh spill over him.

As the family runsfor the side door, the kitchen tile bulges horrifically, splitsopen with a MOAN and two caskets shoot into the clean eating area, lids blowing off and rotten, rotting corpses reaching out at Diane as they pitch forward. As they reach thedoor, the kitchen wall explodes with the impact of the BEAST.

Steve claws his wayup out of bones and flesh and runs to the front of the garage.

Dana steps out ofa car with two young men and stands with her mouth agape.

Steve looks back atthe house then at Teague.

Every window in thehouse blows outward with bright flashes in every room.

Diane, carrying Carol Anne, and Robbie come running from the back yard. Two coffins pop up in their path. They dodge the cascading bodies andscramble towards the station wagon.

Steve jumps behindthe wheel as the rest of the family piles into the car. He throws the car in reverse just as a coffin blasts through thegarage door in front of them.

The station wagonroars back, crashing into Teague’s Bronco shoving it into thestreet. Steve guns the car forward past Teague who staresafter them.

ON TEAGUE

He turns as a coffinlaunches out of the lawn ripping up wires and cables andcausing electrical shorts and flashes all around it.

It flies open anda hideous corpse lurches across the sidewalk at Teague.He falls backwards into a hole, the corpse landing ontop of him.

Teague tries to scream but only night breath gushes out.

As the Freeling carpasses the house, a coffin explodes from under Tuthill’s VWknocking it out into the street. Steve swerves but cannotavoid hitting the VW, causing it to spin on it’s top. Stevefights for control of the car.

The car continuespast a fire hydrant. Another casket bursts out of the ground,sending mud and water 30 feet into the air. Steve slams onthe brakes, stopping inches from the coffin and mud thatblock their path. Steve jumps out to clear the path. Anincredible noise blasts forth from down the street. He turns...

STEVE’S POV

The children’s window is glowing with an almost radioactive intensity.

The entire hose starts to suck inward, imploding at an angle that suggest thatthe closet is consuming everything in its lust and anger.

CLOSE - STEVE

He is stunned by what he sees.

A CONCUSSION OF SUCHAWESOME POWER BLOWS ALL SHINGLES OFF THE ROOF AND A CLOUD OFTHIN BLUE ECTOPLASM, LIKE FINGERS AND ARMS REACHING UPWARD, ESCAPES LIKE A GREEN COMET TO THE HEAVENS.

CLOSE - TEAGUE

Dripping mud and putrefying flesh he looks up at the house. The imploding housecreates a whirlwind around him. Teague stumbles backward,but cannot lock away power of the house.

STEVE’S POV

THE ENTIRE FREELINGHOUSE IS TOTALLY CONSUMED BY AN AREA IN SPACE FOURTEEN FEETFROM THE FOUNDATION THAT WAS ONCE THE CLOSET.

Water rains down onSteve from the broken hydrant. He jumps back in the car, backs up, and drives through the coffin and mud that were blocking their exit.

The street is in chaos. Neighbors are streaming from their houses, cars careening out of driveways. A gas main is broken. Water shootshigh in the air from the broken hydrant. Coffins and corpseslie everywhere. The Freeling car turns a distant corner anddisappears.

Everything is hysteria in here. We can’t make out what is being said. The rainlashes at the windshield and Steve tries to see out.

The street crackswide open and an old wooden coffin is launched upward. Itcomes crashing down onto the hood of the station wagon. A hideously deformed carcass stares crazily through the rain andwind at Steve.

SCREAMING WELLS UPinside. Steve throws the car into reverse.

The ground opens uptrapping the car on a narrow island. Five coffins rise to block it... a body falls into the open rear tailgate window andamong the family. Steve plows right into the coffin, flattening them and using them as a wooden bridge to cross the chasm.

ON ROBBIE - CORPSE

No longer is Robbieafraid. He’s fighting mad and takes the dead remains, flinging them out the back window as the car heads out of town.

“You are Now LeavingBeautiful Cuesta Verde Estates”. Steve’s Oldsmobile stationwagon shoots past this point, its tail- lights diminishinginto the vanishing point.

There is a mist inthe air as CAMERA MOVES TO THE SIGN

ANGLE - ROOM 237 -NIGHT

CAMERA SLOWLY MOVESINTO the door and number.

The Freelings, Dana,Robbie, Steve, and Diane are asleep, on two beds still inthe clothes we last saw them wearing. It is very quiet exceptfor the snoring. The nightmare has ended. CAMERA PANS aroundthe room to Carol Anne who is the only family member notsleeping.

Carol Anne is fiddling with the RCAVistacolor television trying to get it towork.

POP. IT COMES ON.

The room is bathedin cold blue TV light and we HEAR the last few bars of The National Anthem.

CAMERA PUSHES PASTthe sleeping Freelings to a view over Carol Anne’s shoulder.

The Anthem ends andthe station manager identifies the station, signifiesthe megahertz and signs off the morning.

THE CAMERA PUSHESPAST CAROL ANNE’S HEAD UNTIL THE TV IS FULL SCREEN.

THERE IS A MOMENTOF VISUAL STATION ID -- BUT ONLY A MOMENT.

FLASH! EVERYTHINGTURNS TO WHITE STATIC SNOW.