Coraline Page #19

ANGLE ON CAT as he's thrown on armoire bug.

ON BELDAM, hands covering her face.

BELDAM:

NOOOOOOOOO!

Her hands pull away to show EMPTY, FLAT SOCKETS and TORN

THREAD!

BELDAM (CONT'D)

You horrible cheating girl!

She furiously STOMPS the floor which FLIES UP in a spiral

of floorboards that drive Coraline to the room's center.

A huge WEB TRAP LIES BENEATH THE FLOOR!

The web trap STRETCHES DOWN into a FIFTY FOOT DEEP PIT.

There is nothing beyond but PALE NOTHINGNESS.

The cat scrambles along the tops of falling furniture

straight to the little door and disappears into the

tunnel.

Coraline falls the very bottom of the web.

Fifty feet above, the Beldam LAUGHS MANIACALLY and LEAPS

DOWN like a huge, flying spider!

Coraline manages to pull herself to the outside of the

trap JUST AS THE BELDAM LANDS.

The witch - furious her prey has escaped - spins around,

grasping blindly.

BELDAM (CONT’D)

Noo!! Where are you? You selfish brat!!

Coraline, nearing the top, looks up and spots the LITTLE

DOOR, still in the corner wall of the Other Living Room.

She goes to climb back inside the web, when her bag GETS

CAUGHT on a barb. She pulls and pulls until it breaks

free, sending a STRONG VIBRATION DOWN THE SPIRALING WEB

TO THE VERY SENSITIVE HAND OF THE BELDAM.

BELDAM (CONT’D)

Hahahaha...

The Beldam smiles - she knows where her prey is now!

Coraline makes it to the little door, but the BELDAM IS

COMING UP BEHIND HER VERY FAST!

BELDAM (O.S.) (CONT’D)

YOU ... DARE ...

INT. PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS

Coraline SCRAMBLES through the door, KEY IN HAND, and

grabs the door's handle. Before she can shut it, the

BELDAM'S HEAD THRUSTS INSIDE.

BELDAM:

... DISOBEY YOUR MOTHER??!!

Coraline KICKS HER IN THE FACE, knocking her back. The

cat takes off down the tunnel.

Coraline nearly shuts the door, when NEEDLE FINGERS GRAB

HOLD THROUGH THE CRACK. The door STARTS TO PULL OPEN!

CORALINE:

PLEASE...SHUT!!

The ghost children’s FLUTTERY, DISMEMBERED HANDS FLY OUT

FROM HER BAG and GRAB HOLD OF CORALINE’S HANDS that grip

the door's handle. And her STRENGTH IS QUADRUPLED.

The door STARTS TO SHUT. The Beldam SNATCHES DESPERATELY

at Coraline, reaching through the closing gap with one

thin claw. There’s a final moment of resistance - the

Beldam's wire-thin wrist caught in the door - and then

SNAP! The DOOR SHUTS, and the Beldam's hand drops to the

ground!

She SCREECHES like a metal rake on pavement!

Coraline just manages to lock the door in the dark when

it is POUNDED from the other side, green light coming

through cracks! She takes off down the tunnel, stooped

down, as fast as she can.

The pounding grows more insistent, green light flashing.

BELDAM (O.S.)

DON’T LEAVE ME! DON’T LEAVE ME!!! I’LL

DIE WITHOUT YOU!!!!

And then the tunnel behind coraline STARTS TO GROW

SHORTER, like a collapsing accordion and the pounding far

door with the blind, one-handed Beldam on the other side

STARTS TO CATCH UP TO HER!

Ahead, DAYLIGHT APPEARS, and then the LITTLE DOOR TO THE

REAL WORLD!

INT. REAL LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Coraline FLINGS HERSELF through the doorway, SHUTS AND

LOCKS THE DOOR and BRACES HERSELF AGAINST IT. A split-

second later, the OTHER WORLD DOOR CATCHES UP WITH A

CRASH! Coraline is THROWN BACK. But the real-world door

and lock, hold. It's over...

Coraline lies on her back, as beat-up and tired as she's

ever been, GULPING in breaths of air till her heart slows

a little. The room is brightly lit by sunlight, the first

since she moved here, and the sky out the windows is blue

with white clouds.

She smiles, remembering, and turns to her bag with the

ghost eyes and snow globe with her parents inside.

She opens it up, and searches, shoving aside ghost eyes

and garden shears. But the snow globe is GONE!

She gets on all fours, starts searching the floor. Her

hand hits a small PUDDLE by the fireplace, with tiny

bits of BLUE SNOW. A drip plops down, then another. She

looks up to the mantel and spots the MISSING SNOW GLOBE.

She stands up and finds that it’s BROKEN OPEN, and

neither her parents or the fountain bears are inside.

As the last of the snowy liquid drains from the globe,

Coraline's face clouds with confusion and fear: What does

this mean and where are her parents? Then her WONDERFULLY

REAL MOTHER calls to her.

MEL (O.S.)

Coraline? We’re home!

Her TRUE PARENTS enter the room from the hallway, a

dusting of snow on their shoulders and hair.

CORALINE:

Mom! Dad! I missed you so much!

Coraline runs to her parents and throws her arms around

them.

MEL:

Missed us?

C.U. ON CORALINE. Huh?

Mel notices the broken snow globe.

MEL (CONT'D)

Oh no, you broke my favorite snow globe.

CORALINE:

I didn’t break it. It must’ve broke when

you escaped.

Mom spots her bloody knee.

MEL:

And cut your knee.

Charlie crouches low, clutching his briefcase.

CHARLIE:

Coraline, I asked you to count all the

windows, not put your knee through them.

CORALINE:

But-

Mel tells her.

MEL:

Well, get yourself cleaned up,

(warms)

we’re going out tonight.

CHARLIE:

We gotta lot to celebrate!

Coraline, confused, takes a stab.

CORALINE:

You’re talking about... your garden

catalog?

MEL:

Of course! What else?

Her parents turn to leave the room.

CORALINE:

But look at the snow on your clothes...?

But the snow melts without a trace.

MEL:

(confused)

What’s gotten into you, Coraline?

Her parents walk off. Coraline shrugs her shoulders and

looks back to the broken snow globe on the mantel. She

c*cks her head, deeply puzzled, then leaves the room.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT HOUSE - NIGHT, SKY CLEAR

The VW is parked out front, its interior light fading as

light in Coraline's bedroom window switches on. We HEAR

Charlie make a strangled sound.

INT. CORALINE’S BEDROOM - NIGHT FULL MOON RISING

Coraline sits in bed -- pajamas washed and PATCHED,

wounds-dressed, hair shining. The KEY hangs from a string

around her neck. A gibbous moon shines in the clear night

sky.

Charlie wrestles with a blue stuffed-toy squid like it's

an alien face-hugger then, FEIGNING DEATH, falls on the

bed. Coraline LAUGHS.

CORALINE:

So, gonna order the tulips?

He opens one eye, pretends he’s never heard about this.

CHARLIE:

What’s that?

CORALINE:

For the garden party!!

He sits up and kids her, tickling her face with the

squid.

CHARLIE:

I have no idea what you’re talking about.

CORALINE:

Dad!

She turns to Mom, arranging things on a shelf.

CORALINE (CONT’D)

So, Mom. Invitations? Don’t forget the

invitations.

Her mother nods, points up.

MEL:

Even Bobinsky?

CORALINE:

Mr. B’s not drunk, Mom, he’s

just...eccentric.

Charlie LAUGHS. He bends down to kiss her.

CHARLIE:

Good night, Coraline.

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