Paranormal Activity
COLD OPEN:
A small, one-man operation. There’s a house, a few
outbuildings, corrals and a barn.
TITLE:
VENTURA COUNTY, 45 MILES FROM LOS ANGELESAngle on JIM CROWLEY, a hard-working dairy farmer, 50’s,
dressed in coveralls. He’s opening a gate. DAIRY COWS come
plodding through and head straight towards the milking barn.
They know the routine.
JIM:
Morning, Girls. Let’s move along
now, sun’s been up for an hour.
Jim moves off and doesn’t see the last cow. Her name is
DELILA and she looks like all the rest, except she’s walking
backwards.
Jim making his rounds, moving past the cows in their stalls,
a quaint wooden sign over each: SWEET SUE, OL’ BESS, MAGGIE
MAY, etc. The cows are facing away from us, udders attached
by clear plastic hoses to a complicated milking apparatus. We
can hear the automated pumps shushing rhythmically, see the
milk coursing through the hoses.
Jim reaches Delila. She’s completely still, her milk
stuttering through the hose.
JIM:
You okay, Delila?
Suddenly, Delila turns her head, looks at him, a malevolent
glint in her eyes. She GROWLS.
EXT. DAIRY FARM --MOMENTS LATER
Jim’s wife, ELLEN, hanging clothes on a clothesline. She
hears Jim yelling, then sees him stumbling out of the barn,
scared cows running past him.
ELLEN:
Oh my heavens!
EXT. MILKING BARN --THAT NIGHT
Jim and Ellen have the door open a bit and they’re peeking
in. We hear Delila’s rabid BELLOWING intermixed with
CRASHING and CLANGING. Apparently, she’s wrecking the place.
2.
JIM:
Well it’s not anthrax or hoof and
mouth. I’ve never seen anything
like this in 35 years of dairy
farming.
Ellen wants to say something, is too afraid.
JIM:
What?
ELLEN:
This is not natural, Jim.
JIM:
Not natural? What’s that supposed
to mean?
ELLEN:
Look at her eyes.
Angle on Delila, panting, glaring at them, eyes like molten
orbs, a burgeoning, unnatural fury inside her.
ELLEN:
I’ve only seen that look one other
time. Remember my cousin, Thalia?
JIM:
Aww Ellen --
ELLEN:
Thalia was possessed, Jim. A demon
took hold of that poor woman’s body
and drove her right out of her
mind!
JIM:
Cow’s don’t get possessed, Ellen.
They’re cows.
They hear a BELLOW that’s more like a scream. Delila is
galloping right at them, her face distorted into a snarl,
ears back, teeth bared like a dog. In a panic, they slam the
door shut as Delila rams into it, splintering the wood. Jim
looks at Ellen, realizes she may be right.
JIM:
My God...
END COLD OPEN:
3.
ACT 1
INT. CAMRY --DAY
JOSH KEELING at the wheel, drinking a chocolate milk with a
straw. He’s mid-30’s, casually dressed, attractive, a regular
guy. Music begins, the Talking Heads sing the arrestingly
weird, “Once In A Lifetime” over...
A MONTAGE:
Josh drives through a typical LA suburb, intercut with scenes
of ordinary people doing ordinary things; walking their dogs,
playing tennis, having coffee at Starbucks, talking on their
cells. The scenes are so ordinary they’re almost surreal.
JOSH (V.O.)
Somebody once said, the only normal
people are the ones you don’t know
very well, and how many people do
you know that well? I mean really.
Your family, your friends, the
people you see everyday? Oh sure,
they look normal, but believe me
when I tell you, normal can
disguise the weirdest stuff you can
imagine.
The montage ends.
EXT. PCI --SAME DAY
A small, nondescript commercial building, “Paranormal
Consultants Inc” stenciled discreetly on the door.
COLLIN (V.O.)
I believe all paranormal mysteries
have a scientific explanation...
INT. PCI --CONTINUOUS
A combination office/lab. COLLIN CLARK in the lab area.
20’s, white, geeky, chip on his shoulder. He’s repairing a
homemade device called THE M-PAC. It looks like a cross
between an assault pistol and an ionic blow dryer.
COLLIN:
...and technology will be the key
to unlocking them.
Angle on ATHENA ORTIZ; Latina, 20’s, street edge, hot but not
on purpose. She’s at the reception desk reading a book.
ATHENA:
mysteries, Collin.
(MORE)
4.
ATHENA (cont'd)
The most you can do is harness
their energy and use them for good.
COLLIN:
(scoffs) Is that like the Witch’s
Hippocratic Oath?
ATHENA:
I’m a bruja.
COLLIN:
My mistake. A bruja.
ATHENA:
Runs in the family. My
grandmother’s a bruja too. In the
barrio she’s famous.
COLLIN:
Oh really?
ATHENA:
Yes, really. I’ve seen her do
amazing things and she doesn’t need
any technology made from stuff you
can get at Radio Shack.
Stung, Collin starts to retort but Josh enters with a BAG OF
DONUTS.
JOSH:
Good morning.
ATHENA:
Morning, Josh.
JOSH:
(off the bag) Apple fritter?
ATHENA:
Maybe some other time, like when
I’m skinny and have a dental plan.
(then) Messages. A Mr. Markett
called. He thinks his wife was a
victim of spontaneous combustion
and he’d like you to investigate
and The New Age Society wants you
to submit a paper on The Taos Hum
Phenomenon.
JOSH:
Screen Mr. Markett, see if he
really had a wife and I don’t have
time to submit a paper.
5.
ATHENA:
We also have that consultation with
Jim Crowley, the dairy farmer? We
should leave soon.
Josh crosses to Collin.
JOSH:
Apple fritter?
COLLIN:
The new girl is not working out.
JOSH:
COLLIN:
She claims to be a witch, a bruja
no less.
JOSH:
I know, Collin, and could we keep
an open mind?
New angle. The phone RINGS, Athena answers.
ATHENA:
PCI. (then) Josh, it’s Barbara.
JOSH:
I’ll take it in my office.
INT. JOSH’S OFFICE/PCI --SAME
A cramped jumble of files, tapes, books, maps and photos,
Josh picking up the phone.
JOSH:
Hello?
BARBARA (V.O.)
Colonial, God, that’s so
eighties..is that olive? No, it’s
more like a moss...
JOSH:
Honey? What are we talking about?
INTERCUT:
INT. KITCHEN/JOSH’S HOUSE --CONTINUOUS
BARBARA, Josh’s wife; 30’S, attractive, suburban prim. She’s
looking out of the window, watching the house next door. A
delivery truck is in the driveway, workmen toting a new
living room set (the subject of her comments) into the house.
6.
TED STROUD and his wife, LASANDRA, supervising. They’re
attractive, black, 30’s.
BARBARA:
Ted and LaSandra, our new
neighbors? I invited them over for
lunch tomorrow. They seem nice
enough.
Barbara waves at the Strouds, they wave back. As the
dialogue continues Barb takes dishes out of the dishwasher
and wipes off spots only she can see.
JOSH:
Is that why you called?
BARBARA:
I just got off the phone with the
Vice Principal. Danni skipped
school.
JOSH:
She did?
BARBARA:
It’s the new boyfriend. Cal. He’s
taking advantage of her.
Athena appears in Josh’s doorway, gestures, let’s go.
JOSH:
I’ve got to go. We’ll talk about it
later.
They hang up but we stay with Barbara in the kitchen. ADAM
enters. 7 years old, a smart kid trying to figure out how the
world works.
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"Paranormal Activity" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/paranormal_activity_247>.
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