Beetlejuice Page #13

BARBARA:

And we can't leave the house.

The MOON over the model town comes on suddenly.

ADAM and BARBARA's gaze follows the directed beams of this moon,

as it shines down into the MODEL GRAVEYARD.

EXT:
MODEL GRAVEYARD -- NIGHT

With shovels and lanterns, BARBARA and ADAM are a very unlikely

pair of graverobbers. ADAM is reading the manual by lanternlight.

The mechanized clouds in the sky move across the mechanical moon,

throwing shadows everywhere. There is also ground fog.

ADAM:

The manual says look for a

grave marked Swallowtail.

BARBARA:

Nobody with that name

was ever buried in this

town.

They pass a small mouldering tomnbstone, askew, half-buried in

the ground, the mound before it covered with rotting white roses.

On the tomb is carved the name BETELGEUSE.

ADAM:

Yeah, but nobody was

ever buried with that

name either.

He tries to pronounce the name, but it comes out something like

ADAM (cont)

Bettle - gooser.

On a wind suddenly blowing through the trees we hear the

ominously whispered pronunciation:

VOICE:

Beetle Juice.

BARBARA:

Beetle Juice.

Moving on, looking around other parts of the graveyard, ADAM and

BARBARA next come to a large, white marble monument crowned by

the Angel Gabriel blowing his horn. Carved on the monument is

the name SWALLOWTAIL. Beneath it is the legend, HOPE FOR THE

HOPELESS.

BARBARA:

Do we dig?

ADAM:

Well, yes, but it says

we have to chant too.

BARBARA:

Chant what?

He turns the page in the book.

ADAM:

I don't think it says.

Some sort of music I

guess.

BARBARA:

That stupid book. All

right. But you start.

They stand over the grave, with spades poised. ADAM thinks for a

moment and then, as he turns the first spadeful of foetid earth,

he sings

ADAM:

"I've got rhythm...

I've got music..."

BARBARA takes it up:

BARBARA:

"I've got my man..."

ADAM & BARBARA

"Who could ask for anything more..."

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT:
MODEL GRAVEYARD -- NIGHT

Sometime later. The grave is now nearly six feet deep, and ADAM

and BARBARA are invisible inside. We see the glint of the moon

on their shovel blades, and we hear them singing. By this time

ADAM and BARBARA have really gotten into it, and they're

performing a rousing, syncopated version of "I've Got Rhythm" as

the earth flies.

-- INSIDE THE GRAVE

ADAM suddenly hits wood.

BARBARA:

It's about time.

They lean down and brush dirt off the face of the coffin.

There's a brass plate that reads SWALLOWTAIL.

ADAM:

I guess we open it.

Right?

BARBARA and ADAM feel a slight tremor beneath their feet.

BARBARA:

It seems to be opening

itself.

BARBARA and ADAM exchange glances, and then start clawing the

sides of the grave in an effort to escape.

-- BACK ON GROUND LEVEL

ADAM pushes BARBARA out, as the ground rumbles and we hear the

splintering of rotten wood. BARBARA helps ADAM out of the grave.

They have just risen to their feet, when a MOULDERING CORPSE

springs out of the grave, and jumps onto BARBARA's back, and

tries to implant a very large kiss on her lips.

ADAM pulls the corpse off BARBARA's back, and the MOULDERING

CORPSE does a Three Stooges hammer to Adam's head.

ADAM staggers backwards. The MOULDERING CORPSE, now between ADAM

and BARBARA, grins insanely at them both, and then flies high

into the air above their heads.

They turn to see where he has gone, and realize that the

MOULDERING CORPSE is merely a jack-in-the-box marionette on a

string and pole apparatus.

The pole is held by BEETLE JUICE. He is small and wiry, dark,

with vaguely Middle-Eastern features. Here, and whenever we see

him again at the beginning of a scene, his eyes are COLD and

YELLOW and SHAPED LIKE A SNAKE'S -- but after a moment, they

melt, becoming human, and liquid, and brown. This is definitely

not a spirit to be trusted.

BEETLE JUICE drops the pole and puppet, takes a long step forward

and produces a deck of cards.

BEETLE JUICE:

Never mind him. Pick a

card.

Stunned, BARBARA and ADAM do as they're told.

ADAM holds up his card. It's the tarot card for death.

BEETLE JUICE:

Death.

BARBARA holds up her card. It's the tarot card of the Falling

Tower.

BEETLE JUICE:

Destruction.

BARBARA glances up at the statue of the Angel Gabriel.

BARBARA:

Are you Swallowtail?

BEETLE JUICE:

He's all tied up. I'm

his second-in-command.

The name is Beetle Juice.

Come on. Let's talk.

He gives an arm to BARBARA and ADAM, and leads them out of the

graveyard.

As they depart, we see the figure of SWALLOWTAIL -- exactly like

the statue of Angel Gabriel -- bound and gagged and out of sight

behind his monument. He stares after the retreating figures of

BARBARA and ADAM with pity -- he's got a pretty good idea of

what's coming.

EXT:
MODEL TOWN MAIN STREET -- NIGHT

BEETLE JUICE has an arm around the shoulders of ADAM and BARBARA.

Main Street is quiet and deserted, of course.

BEETLE JUICE:

All right, you guys need

help. And help is why I'm

here. Who do I gotta kill?

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