Beetlejuice Page #16

ADAM:

(Pleased) I certainly did.

CATHY:

And this used to be your house,

I bet.

BARBARA:

I don't think it would be a

very good idea if you told your

parents or your sister that

we're up here.

ADAM:

Unless you think we could scare

them.

CATHY:

Why do you want to scare

everybody?

ADAM:

We want to frighten you away.

So that you'll move out.

CATHY:

You don't know my family very

well, do you? (Beat) I like

it up here. Can I visit you

sometimes?

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EXT:
HOUSE -- DAY

Like all the other shots, but there's a quality of waiting about

it. Full sun.

EXT:
SIDE OF HOUSE -- DAY

Shaded by a tree.

EXT:
BASEMENT WINDOW -- DAY

Heavily in shadow.

INT:
BASEMENT -- DAY

Shadowed, potentially filled with terror as are all basements in

horror movies. CAMERA moves over to a little shed-like room in

the corner. Noise of a FAST-MOVING CLOCK.

INT:
UPSTAIRS BATHROOM -- DAY

DELIA shrieks. Going through the dirty clothes, she's just come

across the sheets with the eye-holes cut in them.

DELIA:

Lydia! Cathy! Cathy!

INT:
DARKROOM -- DAY

A photograph coming up in the developing tank -- the ghosts in

the hallway.

LYDIA:

Oh my God... oh sh*t...

No feet...

INT:
DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY -- DAY

LYDIA, pounding up from the basement with the wet print, collides

with DELIA, rushing down from the second floor with the scissored

sheets.

LYDIA:

Oh God, Delia. They were

ghosts! Ghosts! They didn't

have any feet!

DELIA:

Lydia, I'm going to kill you,

honest to God I'm going to kill

you. I'm going to lock you in

that basement like you were a

goddamned hyacinth.

LYDIA stands open-mouthed with the wet photograph. DELIA turns

on her heel and storms up the stairs.

DELIA (cont)

Cathy! Cathy! I'm going to

kill you too.

INT:
CHARLES'S OFFICE -- DAY

Later in the day. LYDIA has calmed down, changed clothes. She

now has a number of the prints. CATHY's there too, looking at

the prints, saying nothing, and certainly not giving away the

fact that she talked to the ghosts.

CHARLES is seated before the word processor, vainly trying to

work.

LYDIA:

Can you believe it? I mean,

this is the weirdest --

CHARLES:

Lydia, I don't know what it

is with you and these practical

jokes, but --

LYDIA:

THIS IS NOT A JOKE!

CHARLES:

This is air-brushing. This is

a result of that class you took

in air-brushing last fall. It's

pretty good, but I've seen better.

Now would you two please --

The door of the room flies open, and there stands DELIA, carrying

several sets of sheets.

DELIA:

I want you two girls to know

that there is no Ralph Lauren

outlet in Winter River. Which

means that Otho and Evelyn

-- our very first overnight

guests in this house -- are going

to be sleeping tonight on a

polyester blend.

She flings the sheets at LYDIA and CATHY.

LYDIA:

Delia, look at these pictures.

Please. Just for a minute.

Honest. There are ghosts in

this house.

CATHY:

There are. I've seen them.

The family stare at her for a minute.

CATHY (cont)

I talked to them. They're

very nice. (Beat) Their names

are Adam and Barbara, and they

live --

In the midst of this, DELIA explodes.

DELIA:

I can't believe you two are doing

this to me! Ghosts. Ghosts.

Otho and Evelyn will be here in

half an hour and I haven't even

begun to salt the ducks and

you are coming to me with this

bullshit about ghosts! I can't

believe that you two are trying to

undermine my self-esteem in this

way.

She storms out of the room.

CHARLES looks at his two daughters.

CHARLES:

Great. Fabulous. It's going to

be a terrific evening. I can tell

already.

He goes out, after DELIA.

CATHY is left alone with LYDIA. LYDIA flings the photographs at

CATHY.

LYDIA:

You jerk. That would have believed

me if you hadn't thrown in all that

other crap. They'll never listen

to me now.

LYDIA storms out.

CATHY:

But it's true. They're...

She's all alone in the office.

One of the printers sputters to life, and begins to spew out

pages.

CATHY slowly walks out of the room, looking through LYDIA's

photographs.

INT:
THE ATTIC -- DAY

ADAM and BARBARA are looking at the photographs.

CATHY:

Those are the pictures my

sister took, and even when

she showed them to Mom and

Dad, they didn't believe

you were real. And then I

said I had met you, and they

still didn't believe us.

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