Paranormal Activity Page #3

EXT. (FLASHBACK) COAL MINE --DUSK

Young Josh crawling out of an old coal mine, blackened with

soot, sputtering, BATS flying past him.

JOSH (V.O.)

If somebody said Big Foot was

living in the old abandoned mine?

I’d crawl in there and take a look.

RESUME SCENE:

Josh puts a THERMOMETER in Delila’s mouth.

JOSH:

When I was ten years old I even

camped out in the cemetery on

Halloween night. I wanted to see a

ghost.

JIM:

How did your folks feel about that?

13.

INT. YOUNG JOSH’S ROOM/APARTMENT --SAME EVENING

Josh still reading his comic book.

JOSH (V.O.)

My Mom raised me by herself and she

worked nights.

Josh’s mom, RACHEL enters. Attractive and warm, early

thirties, nurses uniform. She’s putting on her coat.

RACHEL:

Are you sure you don’t want to go

trick or treating?

YOUNG JOSH:

I’m sure.

RESUME SCENE:

JOSH:

She never knew and I never told

her.

Josh checks Delila’s thermometer.

JOSH:

Low grade fever, her tongue is

discolored too. I’ll need a blood

sample.

JIM:

And did you? See a ghost?

COLLIN (O.S)

Josh, over here!

JOSH (V.O.)

I saw a lot of things that night

MOMENTS LATER:

Everyone gathered around Collin, kneeling in the wreckage of

Delila’s stall, a MOUND OF MANURE in front of him. He shines

a UV light on the manure illuminating HUNDREDS OF TINY WORMS.

COLLIN:

Worms.

JIM:

Cows get worms all the time and

they don’t act like Delila.

COLLIN:

I found these in Delila’s stall and

nowhere else.

14.

JOSH:

I want them collected, Collin.

Every single one.

Delila stirs, groans.

JOSH:

She’s going to wake up pretty soon.

Can we put her someplace secure?

JIM:

I’ve got a breeding corral. We

could roll her on to a tarp, drag

her in there with the tractor.

EXT. MILKING BARN --SAME DAY

The group comes out.

JIM:

Do you think she’s possessed?

JOSH:

She’s showing some of the signs;

anomalous aggression, preternatural

strength --but the worms, I’m not

sure how they fit in. (then) You’ve

got to stop selling milk.

JIM:

Okay, but I can’t do it forever.

I’ve got a small operation here.

JOSH:

We’ll work as fast as we can and

I’ll call you as soon as we know

something.

Jim and Ellen move off.

COLLIN:

I’ll do a blood panel and full workup

on the worms.

ATHENA:

How come Delila is the only one

that got them?

JOSH:

Gut feeling? She was deliberately

infected. (to Collin) Make up a

separate worm sample for me. I’ll

get started at home, see if I can

identify them.

15.

ATHENA:

You sure you want to take those

things into your house?

COLLIN:

(patronizing) Worms are coldblooded.

On ice they’ll be inert.

INT. CAMRY --THAT EVENING

Josh driving, A LITTLE RED COOLER on the seat beside him.

JOSH (V.O.)

Spending Halloween night at the

cemetery was one of those things,

it seemed like a good idea at the

time.

INT. (FLASHBACK) LIVING ROOM/APARTMENT --NIGHT

Young Josh seeing Rachel to the door.

RACHEL:

You can still change your mind.

Mrs. Webberly will take you trick

or treating with her kids.

YOUNG JOSH:

No thanks. I’ll be okay.

RESUME SCENE:

JOSH (V.O.)

I’ll always wonder how my life

would have been different if I’d

gone trick or treating with Mrs.

Webberly.

Josh arrives at his house, turns in the driveway.

INT. LIVING ROOM/STROUDS HOUSE --CONTINUOUS

Angle on a SHOULDER HOLSTER WITH A GUN IT, hanging over a

chair, an LAPD DETECTIVE’S GOLD SHIELD CLIPPED TO THE

HOLSTER.

TED (O.S.)

I had a conversation with Bob

Fletcher, insurance guy, lives

three houses down?

New angle:
LaSandra moving her new sofa. Ted at the window,

watching Josh get out of the car.

16.

TED:

He told me Josh calls himself a

paranormal consultant. Whatever

that is.

LASANDRA:

Really? His wife told me he was a

scientist. (beat) Are you going to

help me move this sofa?

TED:

(helping her) I worked a long time

so I could afford this house, so I

could get away from noise and

pollution and the traffic and most

of all? The nutcases.

LASANDRA:

Ted -

TED:

So here I am, in my dream house,

mortgaged to the hilt and who is my

next door neighbor? A nutcase!

LASANDRA:

You don’t know that, Ted. You don’t

know that at all. Now we’re going

over there for lunch tomorrow and

you’re going to behave yourself,

you understand?

INT. KITCHEN/JOSH’S HOUSE --MOMENTS LATER

Josh crosses, puts the red cooler in the fridge.

JOSH (V.O.)

You’d think it would be a problem,

coming home after a day at work,

making the transition from the

strange and supernatural to the

mundane routines of normal life.

Adam appears.

ADAM:

Mom and I have a disagreement over

certain implied terms and

exclusionary clauses. You may be

asked to mediate.

JOSH (V.O)

Actually, I have trouble telling

the difference.

17.

INT. DINING ROOM/JOSH’S HOUSE --SAME NIGHT

Josh, Barbara and Adam having dinner.

BARBARA:

We have a clean slate with Ted and

LaSandra and I’d like to keep it

that way. As far as they’re

concerned we’re a perfectly normal

family.

JOSH:

You mean we’re not?

BARBARA:

Nobody else in the neighborhood

seems to think so.

JOSH:

If you’d just let me talk about my

work it wouldn’t be such a big

mystery.

BARBARA:

There’s only so much people can

accept, Josh. It’s one thing to say

you believe in UFO’s, it’s another

thing to say you’ve been on one.

DANNI enters. 16 years old, slovenly, not quite cute, a

poster child for low self-esteem.

JOSH:

Hey, kiddo.

DANNI:

Hey.

Danni sits down, starts eating. Barbara shoots a look at

Josh, then:

JOSH:

You skipped school, Danni?

DANNI:

Everybody skips school, Dad. It’s

like, what you do?

ADAM:

Didn’t your contract stipulate

penalties?

DANNI:

Don’t tell me you signed that

stupid thing.

18.

BARBARA:

(to Josh) Cal made her skip school.

DANNI:

Cal didn’t make me do anything.

ADAM:

(to Danni) Mom said I had to sign

it or I wouldn’t get my allowance.

BARBARA:

We negotiated, sweetheart. It was

give and take.

JOSH:

So why’d you skip, Danni?

DANNI:

Cal’s band was rehearsing and he

needed me to like, do stuff.

BARBARA:

He treats you like a maid servant.

DANNI:

He does not!

BARBARA:

(to Josh) She cleans his house,

which by the way, is down by the

landfill.

DANNI:

Okay, Mom, we get it. You hate my

boyfriend, just like you hate

everything else about me.

BARBARA:

(hurt) Danni!

They hear a car ROAR up to the house, the horn HONK.

DANNI:

That’s Cal. I have to go.

JOSH:

I think I need to talk to him.

Danni groans.

EXT. JOSH’S HOUSE --SAME

Josh and Danni come out of the house, cross to the driveway.

19.

DANNI:

(whispers) He’s the first cool

boyfriend I’ve ever had. Don’t

embarrass me!

JOSH (V.O.)

Don’t embarrass her, like I’m the

freak here.

They approach a tricked-out ACURA, a guy named CAL in the

driver’s seat. 18, unshaven, unwashed, tats, thinks a lot of

himself. Danni gets in. Josh moves up to the driver’s window.

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