Beetlejuice Page #11

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
10,441 Views


CATHY takes her marching orders and goes off towards the house.

INT:
UPSTAIRS HALLWAY -- DAY

A BLAST OF STEAM --

fills the hallway, because WORKMEN are going at the wallpaper

here, too. CATHY emerges from it.

All the doors are open, with MOVING MEN and WORKMEN in every

room.

Down at the end of the hall stands CHARLES, directing WORKMEN who

are carrying computer components into the room that will be his

study.

CATHY starts to go into the bathroom -- to get her mother's drugs

-- but there are at least three PLUMBERS in there, and the whole

place is torn apart.

CATHY continues down the hall.

CHARLES sees her.

CHARLES:

Where is your sister? She

could be a little help around

here.

CATHY:

In her room?

LYDIA's door is the only one closed. CHARLES goes over and

without knocking, flings open the door.

INT:
LYDIA'S ROOM -- DAY

On LYDIA's bed is a very muscular MOVING MAN, clad only in

jockey shorts. LYDIA is moving quickly all around the bed,

taking rapid-fire photographs of him.

CHARLES:

Lydia, moving day is no time

to make one more attempt at

losing your virginity.

LYDIA:

I have a concept for a moving

man calendar.

CHARLES:

I want you and Cathy --

As the MOVING MAN gets up from the bed, nonchalantly reaching for

his trousers, CHARLES looks around for CATHY. She's no longer

there.

CHARLES (cont)

Now I've lost her.

INT:
STAIRCASE TO ATTIC -- DAY

CATHY creeps upward, taking the skeleton key from her pocket.

She stops momentarily when she hears her father's voice.

CHARLES (o.s.)

Cathy! Cathy!

Then when that voice is covered by other sounds of the moving,

CATHY continues upward.

INT:
ATTIC LANDING

CATHY quietly inserts the key in the lock of the attic door. She

turns it. The key is stiff. She turns harder. It's stuck.

CATHY tries the door -- it's no go. She turns the key again.

This time it goes all the way around. CATHY grins. Then she

puts her hand on the knob and tries to turn it. It's stuck.

Then the key pops out of the lock and falls to the floor.

CHARLES's head suddenly appears behind her.

CHARLES:

What are you doing?

INT:
ATTIC

ADAM is holding on tight to the knob of the door. With an awl

(or some similar object) BARBARA has poked the key out. The two

stand absolutely still, listening, terrified of the living

intruders -- pretty unseemly behavior for a pair of honest-to-

goodness ghosts.

INT:
ATTIC LANDING

CATHY and CHARLES.

CATHY:

I was just trying to open the

door. Mrs. Butterfield brought

over a skeleton key. But it

doesn't work.

She hands her father the key. He waves it away.

CHARLES:

Skeleton keys never work.

Now, hop to it, Cathy, your

mother wants her drugs. And

we're all going to feel better

if she gets them.

He starts down the stairs, and Cathy starts to follow.

INT:
ATTIC ROOM

ADAM and BARBARA, having heard this, pull back from the door in

relief. But that relief is short-lived, for at that moment, the

door swings open of its own accord.

Right outside on the landing, they see CATHY's back as she's

starting down the stairs.

CATHY turns at the sound of the opening door.

ADAM and BARBARA disappear.

REVERSE ANGLE --

CATHY looks into the attic room, and sees the model town.

She enters very quietly, looking around.

The room is dim, and filled with dust motes. There are shadows

in all the corners.

The first thing she sees, of course, is the model town. She's

entranced. She peers at it from different angles, and is

dumbfounded with pleasure, her fear forgotten. She continues to

walk about the model, oblivious to everything else.

IN THE MODEL --

BARBARA and ADAM are hiding in the doorway of their appliance

store on MAIN STREET. They look up at CATHY's enormous face

peering down at them.

They see CATHY stop, her gaze focused on them.

CATHY'S ENORMOUS HAND --

reaches down out of the sky towards them.

ADAM:

Barbara. Stand very still.

BACK TO SCENE --

CATHY is reaching down into the model. She picks up the BARBARA

figure out of the model. BARBARA does her best imitation of a

wooden Indian. CATHY peers at her very closely.

BARBARA'S POV --

A close-up of CATHY's eye. She sees herself reflected.

BACK TO SCENE --

CATHY puts BARBARA down in the street, and picks up ADAM. ADAM

has plastered a weird smile on his face.

IN THE MODEL --

BARBARA stands in the middle of the street, pretending to be

carved of wood, but she's looking up at CATHY holding ADAM.

BARBARA:

(Under her breath) Don't

hurt him, little girl. Please

don't hurt my husband.

CATHY puts ADAM down in the street, but not very near BARBARA.

He doesn't quite have his balance and tips over, falling flat on

his face. CATHY conscientiously rights him.

Despite her fear of being overheard by CATHY, BARBARA calls out

in a hiss.

BARBARA:

Are you all right?

ADAM:

No. Yes.

BACK TO SCENE --

CATHY continues around the model. She finds a button on the side

of the table on which the model rests, and presses it. The

artificial sun comes on, and bathes the model of Winter River in

sunlight. Then...

A LOUD CRASH --

behind CATHY. She whirls around, barely stifling a scream,

confronting only a push broom that she has brushed from its hook

on the wall.

In recovering from this false scare, she kicks something. She

ducks under the table and comes up with the manual.

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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