Beetlejuice Page #10

Synopsis: Adam and Barbara are a normal couple...who happen to be dead. They have given their precious time to decorate their house and make it their own, but unfortunately a family is moving in, and not quietly. Adam and Barbara try to scare them out, but end up becoming the main attraction to the money making family. They call upon Beetlejuice to help, but Beetlejuice has more in mind than just helping.
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Director(s): Tim Burton
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 11 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
69
Rotten Tomatoes:
83%
PG
Year:
1988
92 min
10,246 Views


But just as they pass the doorway of the master bedroom, a six-

foot chest of drawers sails out on caster wheels, separating

them, plowing on through the open doorway opposite, and smashing

through the window. A moment later we hear its SPLINTERING CRASH

on the ground outside.

BARBARA:

That's been in my family

two hundred years.

ADAM drags her on.

Just outside the door of CHARLES's study, when they have nearly

reached their goal (the second flight of stairs to the attic), a

shower of electrical sparks and a loud crackling pour over them,

from an ELECTRICIAN rewiring for CHARLES's computers.

ADAM's entire body is briefly outlined in the electrical storm.

This quickly subsides, except for a remaining charge on his hand.

BARBARA tries to beat out this painful electrocution, while ADAM

jumps around in evident pain.

When at last the charge dissipates, ADAM finds that his hand is

black and smoking.

ADAM and BARBARA rush up the stairs to the attic, and throw

themselves through the door into their sole refuge.

INT:
ATTIC -- DAY

ADAM and BARBARA.

ADAM:

Barbara, we're trapped in

this house forever.

EXT:
FRONT YARD -- DAY

The entire front yard is filled with trucks and vans and

automobiles. These include vehicles and representatives of the

telehone company, the television cable company, plumbers,

electricians, kitchen supply houses, computer supply services,

Goodwill and St Vincent DePaul, and whatever else there might be.

In the road in front of the house are several cars of

rubbernecking locals, astonished by all the activity. The City

has come to Town.

We see these small vignettes, and perhaps others as well.

Moving men going in with very modern and expensive furniture,

colliding with the charity men coming out with ADAM and BARBARA's

furniture and personal belongings.

CHARLES in deep conversation with several men who stand with long

lengths of cable draped over their shoulders. He is distracted

by a large crane on the side of the house which is trying to get

a stainless-steel refrigerator -- even larger than the Vulcan

stove -- through the broken breakfast nook window.

DELIA is standing at the door of the barn/garage, directing half

a dozen fine art movers in the placement of her gallery of

sculptures. These are colossal, nightmarish images constructed

in an improbably combination of welded steel and feathers.

LYDIA is under everybody's feet, relentlessly photographing the

operation.

CATHY is simply standing out of the way, as if frightened of

being trampled.

CATHY'S POV --

She looks at the whole house from the bottom to the top. And

when she reaches the top, she sees BARBARA and ADAM's faces in

the window.

BACK TO SCENE --

CATHY blinks hard. Her mouth drops open. She looks all around

-- as if she'd just seen a ghost or two.

JANE BUTTERFIELD's car pulls up, and JANE gets out. She surveys

the whole business, and looks pleasantly impressed. She waves to

CHARLES but he doesn't see her. Then JANE catches sight of CATHY

and comes over, squeezing between two vans.

JANE:

Boy, when you city people

do something, you do it

right, don't you?

CATHY:

Did you know the people who

used to live here?

JANE:

They were my best friends in

the whole world. I know they

would have been pleased to

know it was your family

who brought their house.

JANE hands a key to the CATHY.

JANE (cont)

Here, darling.

CATHY:

What is this?

JANE:

It's a key to the attic. Your

father asked me to drop it by.

Actually it's not a key to the

attic, but it's a skeleton key.

It'll open any door in the world.

Will you give it to your father?

And tell him if I can do anything

else, just call.

JANE goes back towards her car. After a few steps, she looks

back.

JANE:

You're going to be very happy

here. I can see it in your

face.

CATHY smiles back, and then her face turns serious as she looks

back up at the attic windows.

CATHY'S POV --

Nothing -- and no one -- there.

BACK TO SCENE --

CATHY is startled by a voice -- LYDIA's.

LYDIA:

Hey!

LYDIA snaps a picture of CATHY.

LYDIA (cont)

You look dazed.

CATHY:

The sun was in my eyes.

CATHY surreptitiously slips the skeleton key into her pocket.

LYDIA:

Delia says Move Your Ass.

Everybody's got to help today.

CATHY looks up. DELIA is impatiently waving her over to the

barn. More sculpture -- worse than before -- is being carted

inside.

INT:
ATTIC -- DAY

ADAM and BARBARA are lying on the floor, looking out of the

window at all that is going on.

BARBARA:

That little girl saw us.

ADAM:

She couldn't have. We can't

make them see us.

BARBARA:

But she saw us. I know.

I could feel it. I thought

she saw me this morning, too.

(Beat) How's your hand?

ADAM:

Already healed.

INT:
BARN/GARAGE -- DAY

The Fine Arts movers are going to it. DELIA in the midst of

everything, berating CATHY.

DELIA:

Buckle down, Cathy. This is

Life. And be a perfect

darling, and go get mommy

some drugs.

CATHY:

Any particular kind?

DELIA:

It doesn't matter. Just remember

though, too many is better than

too few. And a glass of Perrier,

one cube.

Rate this script:3.7 / 10 votes

Michael McDowell

Michael McEachern McDowell (June 1, 1950 – December 27, 1999) was an American novelist and screenwriter described by author Stephen King as "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today". His most well-known work is the screenplay for the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice. more…

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Submitted by acronimous on August 24, 2016

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