Beetlejuice Page #32

THE DRAGON leaps at the MATRON, knocking her out of her chair,

and claws at her exposed face until it is kicked off by another

GUEST.

The DRAGON flies back to BEETLE JUICE, perching on his top hat,

and begins to TWITTER.

BEETLE JUICE:

You'll leave when I tell

you to.

Behind BEETLE JUICE, we see LYDIA, crouching almost out of sight

at the top of the stairs leading the second floor. Her eyes are

wide, and after a moment, she silently retreats.

INT:
UPSTAIRS HALLWAY -- NIGHT

OTHO, carrying the HANDBOOK, half runs, half rolls down the

stairs from the attic. LYDIA flies down the hall from the

opposite direction. The two collide at the door of CATHY's room,

and do a fat man's dance trying to squeeze through the door.

INT:
CATHY'S ROOM -- NIGHT

LYDIA and OTHO pop through the door together.

OTHO:

Party's over, people. There's

a demon loose in this house.

LYDIA:

We've got to get out of here.

DELIA:

This is my house. I'm not

leaving.

CHARLES is standing at the window. He glances out.

CHARLES:

Holy sh*t...

DELIA:

What is it?

CHARLES POV --

DELIA's sculptures are arranged in a circle around the house.

They rock back and forth impatiently on their sawhorse legs. The

high wind blows their feathers frantically.

BACK TO SCENE --

OTHO:

Delia, darling, it's all in

here. (Indicates the Handbook).

His name is Swallowtail.

CATHY:

No, it's Beetle juice.

LYDIA:

I don't know what his name

is, but he's downstairs right

now. And he just turned a

canary into a dragon.

DELIA:

But what does this Bottle

Juice want with us?

CATHY listens a moment to the invisible BARBARA and ADAM.

CATHY:

He's going to destroy this

house and kill everybody's

who in it.

DELIA:

Like hell he is. We're

gonna fight. We paid cash

for this house.

OTHO:

I think you've figured out some-

thing you can do. But Cathy os

going to have to convince her

ghosts to help us.

CHARLES:

Why should they help us? They've

been trying to get rid of us since

the day we moved in.

CATHY listens a moment to the invisible ADAM and BARBARA.

CATHY:

They'll help. Otho, tell us

what to do.

INT:
LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

The GUESTS are fearful, and some of the women are weeping.

BEETLE JUICE is still performing his tricks. He reaches over to

a woman, on the verge of hysteria, and from her ear pulls the

world's biggest and ugliest catterpillar. He drops it into her

drink.

BEETLE JUICE:

Hey, this is a party. Why

isn't anybody having fun?

I know. Let's dance.

He looks at the DEETZs sound system. LOUD ROCK MUSIC comes on

instantly.

For a moment, everyone is still.

BEETLE JUICE:

Dance, I said.

In the far corner of the room, two guests begin a spasmodic,

frantic dancing. This continues in a wave across the room, until

all the guests are participating in this physical insanity --

crarshing off one another, smashing againt the walls, some of

them flying up to the ceiling and hitting their heads, nose-

diving along the carpets. BEETLE JUICE, with a wicked laugh and

cackle, dances amongst them all.

On the stairway appear, in this order, LYDIA, DELIA, CHARLES

carrying CATHY, and OTHO bringing up the rear.

BEETLE JUICE looks up at them. A wicked smile crosses his face.

BEETLE JUICE:

Party's over.

The MUSIC stops. The dancers collapse like puppets whose strings

have been severed.

BEETLE JUICE:

Everybody leave.

The windows all shoot up in their frames, smashing frames and

glass.

The doors of the house fly open with crashes.

EXT:
HOUSE -- NIGHT

One beat, and then from every door and open window, frantic

GUESTS pour out of the house.

They scatter in all directions in the yard, and chased by DELIA's

lumbering sculptures, they race towards their cars.

It is pandemonium.

INT:
LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

A deadly silence seems to have overtaken the house.

BEETLE JUICE stands in the middle of the empty living room.

BEETLE JUICE:

I tell you, you guys sure

know how to throw a party.

The DEETZs just look at him.

BEETLE JUICE:

Come closer. I won't bite.

CHARLES looks at OTHO. OTHO gives him the go-ahead. CHARLES

cautiously comes closer, and puts CATHY in a chair immediately in

front of, and facing BEETLE JUICE.

CHARLES:

You don't have to do this.

CATHY:

I do have to. This house

belongs to us. All of us.

CHARLES retreats. BEETLE JUICE grins. He sprouts an enormous

pair of LEATHER WINGS. His face alters -- and become a truly

malicious mirror of his twisted soul.

BEETLE JUICE:

Who are you, little girl?

And what do you have to

say to me?

CATHY doesn't answer.

BEETLE JUICE:

Where are your friends?

Hiding out in the attic, I

suppose. Don't worry about

them. Once I've done with

you, I've got a few surprises

in store for our ghosts.

CATHY:

As sudden thunder / Pierces night;

As magic wonder / Mad affright

Rives asunder / Men's delight:

Our ghost, our corpse, and we

Rise to be.

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