House on Haunted Hill Page #4

PRICE:

Tell 'em I'm right there.

He mouses his cursor up to a box marked "SEND", the list

disappears, his hard drive starts chugging, and he gets up

from his chair and exits. CAMERA remains on the working

screen.

Beat. And then a SHADOW flashes across the screen for a

moment.

Another beat. And the sound of clicking computer keys is

heard. A "message box" appears on screen:

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE guestlist.doc?

The Cursor clicks on YES. ZAP! A blank screen. And then the

keys start clicking again, and we see a new Guest List being

typed in.

Starting with the name:

Ms. Jennifer Jenzen

Executive Vice-President of Marketing

Paragon Pictures

MATCH CUT TO:

EXT. FILM SET - DAY (WE NEED TO RE-WORK THIS SCENE FOR

LOCATION)

The name "Ms. Jennifer Jenzen" etched in gold-leaf cursive on

the top of a small CHROME AND ONYX-INLAID CUBE.

WOMAN'S VOICE (O.S.)

Gorgeous.

PULL BACK - and we see MS. JENZEN -- a rodent-eyed, thin

lipped 30-something Exec who only needs "Screaming B*tch"

stamped on her forehead to complete the picture. She's

sitting staring at the Cube, the elegant paper it came in

torn to shreds on her desk.

JENZEN:

So what the f*** is it?

She's addressing her "assistant," a lovely, but harried-

looking young Woman of 19, SARA WOLFE.

SARA:

I don't know, Ms. Jenzen.

JENZEN:

Well, who's the damn thing from?

SARA:

(shrugs)

Messenger just dropped it off.

No return address.

JENZEN:

You didn't think to ask?

SARA:

I was in the middle of --

JENZEN:

-- being utterly f***ing useless,

what else is new.

Sara's face flushes with anger, but she keeps her cool.

SARA:

There's something there on the side --

She's pointing to a small, SILVER CRANK jutting out of one of

the Cube's sides. A legend is etched beneath it:

Rotate Once To Operate

JENZEN:

I'm aware of that.

Well, she is now, anyway. She twists the crank and a tinkling

music box-like TUNE begins to play: Lennon/ McCartney's

"Birthday," but in 3/4 time, like some schizoid Viennese

waltz.

JENZEN:

It's not my goddamn birth --

-- and she stops herself in mid-word as, suddenly: the top

of the Cube pops open like a jack-in-the-box! And, slowly,

like it's on some mini-hydraulic lift, ANOTHER CUBE,

identical to this one, starts to inch up into view --

-- which has its own tiny SILVER CRANK in its side. But

etched beneath this one is a warning:

Do Not Rotate Under Any Circumstances!

Without a nanosecond's hesitation, Jenzen reaches out her

hand --

SARA:

-- I wouldn't --

-- and turns the smaller crank. Beat. Nothing happens.

JENZEN:

-- no kidding:
that's why you're

making ten bucks an hour and I'm --

-- and BANG! A SKELETAL ARM comes FLASHING OUT from the

smaller cube and SLASHES HER FINGER with a RAZOR!

JENZEN:

Jesus!!

-- it's no more than a paper cut, but it's bleeding and it

hurts -- and then they both see written on the tiny razor:

Learn To Follow Instructions!

Sara can't help herself -- lets loose a little snort of

laughter. Jenzen goes ballistic, smashes the lid shut on the

Cube.

JENZEN:

You think this is f***ing funny??

SARA:

No, no, it's just --

JENZEN:

-- well, here's a better one: you're

fired.

SARA:

What?

JENZEN:

And here's your goddamn severance!

She slams the Cube hard into Sara's hands.

CUT TO:

INT. SARA'S CUBICLE - JUST AFTER (WE NEED TO RE-WORK THIS

SCENE FOR LOCATION)

The Cube sits in a wastebasket next to the desk that Sara's

angrily cleaning out. She's SLAMS her entire blotter into the

trash -- which hits the Cube's crank and starts the music

playing again. Sara, startled, looks over -- and sees:

AN ORNATE IVORY-COLORED CARD - begin to ascend from the

Cube. It starts with the words:

Now Try And Follow These:

And then all we see are Sara's wide, growing-wider, eyes as

she reads the rest.

SARA:

...wow....WOW! Hey, Ms. Jenzen -- ?

JENZEN (O.S.)

Are you still f***ing here??

Sara starts to flush with anger again -- and then stops, a

small smile coming to her lips as she continues to stare at

the card.

SARA:

On my way out. Thanks for the

valuable parting gift.

She snatches the ivory card and stuffs it in her purse.

SMASH TO:

INT. HEARSE #1 - MOVING - NIGHT

Where Sara Wolfe sits, decked out in near-dead-ringers

clothes and hair-do as we last saw on Jennifer Jenzen: black

silk suit, stiletco heels and an up-sweep -- holding that

same ivory-colored card in her hand:

Steven K. Price

COMMANDS YOU TO ATTEND

A Very Unique Birthday Celebration For

Mrs. Evelyn Stockard-Price

And then the CAMERA WHIPLASH CRANES BACK from Sara and the

vehicle in which she's sitting, to reveal the grand vista of:

EXT. WINDING ROAD - NIGHT

which snakes crazily up the Pacific Palisades, the crashing

waves of the ocean seen in the background. We see that the

vehicle Sara is riding in is the lead car of a MOTORCADE

comprised of four '50's vintage HEARSES.

MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)

The man's insane.

And we whip back towards the source of this voice:

INT. HEARSE #2 - MOVING - NIGHT

where we see this Man's well-tanned hand holding the same

ivory card, which continues:

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes