Paranormal Activity Page #4

JOSH:

Hey, Cal, how are you?

Cal shrugs, too cool.

JOSH:

Listen, we’re a little concerned

about Danni skipping school.

Cal REVS the engine, drowning out Josh’s voice.

JOSH:

It’s really important that she keep

up her attendance --

Cal keeps REVVING the engine, Josh trying to talk over it

until finally:

DANNI:

We gotta go, Dad!

Cal gives Josh a f***-you sneer and peels out of the

driveway. Josh watches after the car, confounded.

JOSH (V.O)

People ask me all the time. Have

the aliens landed? Are they living

among us disguised as human beings?

(beat) Yes, they are.

INT. BEDROOM/JOSH’S HOUSE --THAT NIGHT

Josh in bed. Barbara at the dressing table, moisturizing.

BARBARA:

What are we going to do? We can’t

let her keep seeing him.

JOSH:

Telling her not to will only make

it worse.

20.

BARBARA:

You mean we can’t do anything? We

have no control at all?

JOSH:

Speaking of control, don’t you

think your contract with Adam is a

little much?

BARBARA:

No, he needs clear-cut boundaries.

JOSH:

And what happens when you’re not

around to threaten him with

lawsuits?

Barbara gets into bed.

BARBARA:

That was exactly your attitude with

Danni. Just let her do whatever

she wants. Never mind that she

doesn’t care about her appearance

or her grades or...herself.

She puts her head on Josh’s chest, sighs a parents’ sigh.

BARBARA:

How did that happen?

JOSH:

I don’t know.

Josh kisses her, then turns out the light.

JOSH V.O.

It’s human nature to try and

control your life and the people

you love. The mistake is thinking

you had any in the first place.

We hold here in the darkness. Faintly at first, we hear an

odd CRUNCHING SOUND. The camera moves off Josh and Barbara,

following the sound out of the bedroom and through the house,

the crunching getting louder and louder. Now we’re in the

kitchen heading towards the fridge, pushing through the door

to the little red cooler, then into the cooler itself to a

CLEAR PLASTIC PETRI DISH, nestled in ice, some WORMS inside.

SNAP ZOOM --THE WORMS

They’re eating through the plastic.

END ACT 1

ACT 2

21.

EXT. DAIRY FARM --DAY

Delila in small metal corral. She’s bellowing angrily,

ramming the gate with her head. Jim and Ellen watching.

ELLEN:

She’s getting worse, Jim.

JIM:

What the hell are those PCI people

doing?!

INT. STUDY/JOSH’S HOUSE --SAME DAY

Josh on the phone with Collin. On his computer screen is a

PHOTO OF A WORM that looks just like Delila’s worms.

JOSH:

Delila’s worms are just your run-ofthe-

mill coccidia. No reason they

should be causing anything worse

than a stomachache.

INTERCUT:

INT. PCI --CONTINUOUS

Collin on the speakerphone with Josh.

COLLIN:

We’ve got a bigger problem.

Jim Crowley called. Delila is

deteriorating fast.

JOSH:

How did her blood panel come back?

COLLIN:

Negative. It’s not an infection,

drugs or toxicity.

JOSH:

Which leads us back to the worms.

COLLIN:

(grudging) Athena has a theory.

Athena appears alongside Collin. She has a large, antique

BOOK; the leather cover crumbling, pages yellow with age.

ATHENA:

I had a chat with my Grandmother,

Josh.

(MORE)

22.

ATHENA (cont'd)

She said the worms reminded her of

something she heard about,

something to do with an Indian

tribe called the Michaguas. I

found them in one of her books.

As Athena continues we FLASH TO PRIMITIVE DRAWINGS in the

book appropriate to her narration.

ATHENA:

The Michaguas lived in Peru about

the time Columbus sailed for

America. They used insects in their

religious ceremonies; hornets,

scorpions, army ants --and worms.

JOSH:

Interesting.

ATHENA:

The high priests extracted the

worms from the stomachs of their

most ferocious bulls and then

performed a blood rite, basically,

black magic, which transformed the

worms into pequeños demonios, or

little demons.

COLLIN:

Oh please -

ATHENA:

The worms were fed to the dairy

cattle and then their milk was

given to the tribe’s warriors just

before a big battle. It made them

super-aggressive.

JOSH:

And Delila is acting like a super-

aggressive bull. (then) What

happened to the dairy cattle?

ATHENA:

The worms made them so crazy the

priests eventually had to kill

them.

JOSH:

Doesn’t bode well for Delila.

COLLIN:

Okay, let’s suppose Delila’s worms

are somehow related to your

ferocious-bull-black-magic-demon

worms. How does that help us? Jim

said he might have to put Delila

down.

23.

JOSH:

That’s a point. (beat) So let’s

skip the diagnostics for now and

find a way to kill the worms. Try

commercial de-wormers first.

COLLIN:

I’m on it.

They hang up. We stay with Josh, thinking...

EXT. (FLASHBACK) LIVING ROOM/APARTMENT --SAME EVENING

Young Josh looking out of the window. Below, he can see

Rachel emerge from the building, clusters of KIDS in

Halloween costumes moving past her. She stops, looks up at

him and waves. He waves back.

JOSH (V.O.)

I’ll always remember my Mom’s face

that night. In a way, it was the

last time I’d see it.

EXT.(FLASHBACK) APARTMENT BUILDING --A MINUTE LATER

Young Josh comes out of the building wearing his backpack.

He looks to see that Rachel is really gone, then runs off in

the other direction.

INT. KITCHEN/JOSH’S HOUSE --SAME DAY

Back to the present. Barbara arranging potato chips on a

platter in a precise pattern, Adam bringing a bowl of creamy

SOUR CREAM DIP out of the fridge. We catch a glimpse of the

red cooler.

BARBARA:

I’ll tell you what, if you help me

serve snacks to Ted and LaSandra?

We’ll forego 14B and 14C and use

the ad-interim clause to credit you

with compliance.

ADAM:

I accept.

Barbara takes the bowl of dip from Adam and sets it in the

center of the platter.

BARBARA:

There, that’s perfect.

We hear Cal’s Acura ROAR up to the house and then the HORN

honk. Barbara stiffens, can’t stand that sound.

24.

INT. HALLWAY/JOSH’S HOUSE --CONTINUOUS

Danni comes out of her room, responding to the HORN. As she

starts down the hall, Josh comes out of the study. They stop,

look at each other, Josh perplexed, Danni defensive.

JOSH:

You could do so much better, Danni.

DANNI:

Actually, Dad, I can’t.

JOSH:

Your Mom is right about him. He’s

a jerk.

DANNI:

Mom doesn’t care. She just doesn’t

want me to embarrass her.

JOSH:

That’s not true at all.

The phone in Josh’s study RINGS.

JOSH:

I have to get that.

DANNI:

So get it.

She walks past him and exits.

EXT. JOSH’S HOUSE-- SAME DAY

Cal sitting in the Acura, HONKING the horn. A HAND REACHES

INTO FRAME and takes the key out of the ignition.

New angle:
Barbara, standing at the driver’s side window,

keys in hand. Cal sneers.

CAL:

What’s up, Barb?

BARBARA:

Call me Mrs. Keeling and if you’re

going to pick up my daughter the

least you could do is knock on the

door.

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