House on Haunted Hill Page #7

EVELYN:

Haven't they already?

Price just smiles.

PRICE:

Sure is a funky old house, ain't it?

She glares back at him, steaming.

EVELYN:

Could we have a word?

PRICE:

Oh, I think we're going to have several.

Evelyn doesn't have to be invited, she's already stomping

halfway up the stairs. Price smiles down at the Guests:

PRICE:

This'll just take a moment -- you'll

find food and booze in the main salon,

knock yourselves out.

Evelyn grabs him hard by the arm and yanks him back into the

shadows; they disappear from sight. The Guests just stand

there.

EDDIE:

So, what? The thing with the glass?

Price did that?

MELISSA:

I hope not.

SARA:

Of course he did, for God's sake.

(beat)

Didn't he, Mr. Pritchett?

PRITCHETT:

I can't comment until I get paid.

BLACKBURN:

I'm surrounded by idiots.

Blackburn walks off into the Main Salon near the Foyer. The

others shrug and follow him, except for Pritchett, who shouts

upstairs:

PRITCHETT:

Mr. Price???

No response from anyone. Pritchett's eyes jitterbug all

around him -- he sees he's standing there alone. As

nonchalantly as he can, he quick -- steps towards the Salon

and the others -- passing right by a barely perceptible

black dot in the wall, no larger than a dime --

TRAVELING THROUGH WALLS

-- and we PUSH IN on this DOT, until we're inside it, on

the OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL and see that's it's connected to a

COAXIAL CABLE, which we FOLLOW past ancient, decaying beams

and mortar, past VERMIN -- rodent and insect, both -- that

skitter maniacally right in our faces -- and then right

into the innards of the multi-wired CABLE itself -- emerging

out near...

A VIDEO MONITOR:

-- that's atop a table with several other monitors and a

literal Circuit City's worth of electronic and computer

equipment, all of it inside a --

INT. SMALL GRIMY ROOM

-- in which sits Steven Price's engineer SCHECTER, in his

coveralls, eating a sandwich, as he mans Haunted House

Central Control. He hits a combination of keys on the

computer. On one of the Monitors we see a door somewhere

inside the House rapidly open-and-shut, open-and-shut.

Nods with satisfaction, then YELPS! as he spots a MILLIPEDE

wriggling out of his tuna salad, straight into his mouth.

SCHECTER:

Jesus!

He flicks the insect away, nearly gagging. It lands on

another VIDEO MONITOR that is trained on a room on the upper

floor of the place. Some space that looks like it was going

to be a bedroom, once upon a time: a lot of strange, ultra-

modern furniture: all of it metal and of bizarre angles and

shapes. And then into that room storms Evelyn and Price.

PUSH IN on that video screen and suddenly we're there:

INT. EVELYN'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

As Evelyn slams the door behind her.

EVELYN:

I gave you a goddamn guest list two

pages long -- where the hell are they?

PRICE:

Shredded. Sorry. Decided to whip up one

of my own:
a group so hungry for money

that they'd be willing to do anything. I

thought you'd be more comfortable with

your peers.

EVELYN:

I guess it was stupid of me not to

expect something this twisted from you.

Well, congratu-f***ing-lations, Steven:

Round One, you win.

PRICE:

Well, not quite. See, those people down

there:
they aren't the ones I invited.

EVELYN:

Then who are they?

PRICE:

You tell me. I don't know how you

managed to hack into my Mac, but: bravo.

EVELYN:

What are you talking about? You

think I invited them?

PRICE:

Sure know it wasn't me. And if you say

it wasn't you -- then who the hell did,

Evelyn?

EVELYN:

It you really loved me, Steven, you'd

find a way to drop dead in the next

three seconds.

PRICE:

Finding ways for me to die at these

things is really your deal, isn't it?

The "O.J." knife with the not-quite-

retractable blade? Your "Jim Jones Kool-

Aid" that was exactly that?

EVELYN:

All accidents until proven otherwise.

He goes to her and begins brushing her hair with his

fingers.

PRICE:

You know how happy I'd be if that was

really true, Evelyn? And how positively

goddamn delirious if you weren't f***ing

every living thing in our area code at

the same goddamn time!

EVELYN:

Which part of that fantasy turns you on

most:
me with other men -- or just the

other men?

PRICE:

You know everything you do gets me hot.

His grip on her hair suddenly tightens and twists.

PRICE:

-- just not always in the sexual sense.

EVELYN:

You're hurting me.

PRICE:

I know.

She jabs his hand with a plasma-red, Dragon Lady-length

thumbnail. He lets her go and sucks on a knuckle -- she's

drawn blood.

PRICE:

Now, there's the simple country gal I

married. Let's go back down and greet

your guests -- show them the real you:

corny as Kansas on the Fourth of July.

EVELYN:

My guests were shredded. It's your sick

little scene now, Steven: enjoy. I'm

going to go run scalding water on the

places you just touched me, and then I'm

calling a cab.

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