ParaNorman Page #4

Mr Prenderghast grabs Norman’s arm and leans closer.

MR PRENDERGHAST (CONT’D)

You’ve gotta use your gift of

talking to the dead!

He breaks into a HACKING COUGH, face turning beet red and

bloodshot eyes bulging.

MR PRENDERGHAST (CONT’D)

Because if you don’t the witch’s

ghost...

(COUGHING)

And this is the most important

thing of all... You have to go up

to the old graveyard and...

NEIL (O.S.)

Leave him alone!

An apple bounces off Mr Prenderghast’s head. He turns to

find Neil standing behind them on the path, lunchbox open

in his hand providing leftover low-carb ammunition.

NEIL (CONT’D)

Don’t make me throw this hummus!

It’s spicy!

Mr Prenderghast thinks better of it and turns to flee the

scene. He HISSES out of the side of his mouth at Norman.

ParaNorman 16.

17 CONTINUED:
(2) 17

MR PRENDERGHAST:

This ain’t done with! You’ll see

it soon enough! Watch for the

sign!

As he hobbles away, Neil peers down the street after the

old man.

NEIL:

Jeez, what a dirty old creep!

NORMAN:

He’s my uncle.

NEIL:

So is it true?

NORMAN:

What?

Norman just stares at him.

NEIL:

Can you see ghosts? Like,

everywhere? All the time?

NORMAN:

Uh, yeah?

NEIL:

Awesome! Do you think you can see

my dog Bub? He was run over by an

animal rescue van. Tragic and

ironic. We buried him in the yard.

Could you see him?

Norman frowns disbelievingly, completely taken aback.

NORMAN:

Maybe.

NEIL:

Sweet! Come on!

20 EXT. NEIL’S DRIVEWAY 20

Neil forcibly drags Norman up the front driveway of a

pastel-painted house. A pair of legs spotted in oil stick

out from beneath a pimped-up camper van.

Neil’s brother MITCH calls out from under the van.

MITCH:

Neil? That you?

ParaNorman 17.

20 CONTINUED:
20

NEIL:

Hey Mitch! We’re gonna go play

with the dead dog in the gardenand we’re not even gonna have to

dig him up first!

Mitch sits up. He’s a strapping six-foot jock with

tattooed biceps. The kind of guy who wears year-roundflip-flops.

MITCH:

What’d you say?

Mitch pulls his brother aside so as to exclude Norman,

who stands awkwardly a little way away, surrounded bycheery lawn ornaments and ineptly manicured topiary.

MITCH (CONT’D)

Neil, isn’t he that weird kid?

Y’know, “Look at me, I talk toghosts so people will payattention to me.”

Mitch makes a goofy face and twitches farcically.

NEIL:

Can you stop doing that? It’skinda stupid.

MITCH:

Now listen to me, you don’t need

to be hanging out with weirdpeople. That’s a tip.

Neil scowls at his brother.

NEIL:

Don’t blow this for me, Mitch.

This one’s not weird. He talks to

dead people.

Neil has had enough and defiantly walks away from hisbrother.

21 EXT. NEIL’S GARDEN - LATER 21

Neil rummages around in the bushes of his back yard,

surrounded by a gloriously tasteless menagerie of lawnornaments. Norman stands slightly to one side surveyingthe rows of plastic gnomes and wondering if he shouldhave gone straight home after all.

NEIL:

He’s around here somewhere...

(a beat)

So does everyone come back as aghost?

ParaNorman 18.

21 CONTINUED:
21

Norman hesitates. This level of interest is new to him.

NORMAN:

No. My grandma told me it’s

usually people who still have

stuff to figure out. Or sometimes

it’s the ones who died suddenly,

or in a bad way.

A BARK, and Norman turns to see a translucent puppy

wagging its tail cheerfully, despite being chopped neatly

into two halves.

NORMAN (CONT'D)

Bub?

NEIL:

Is he there? How’s he look?

Bub BARKS, then his front half notices his tail and runs

behind to sniff his own backside.

NORMAN:

Uh... good.

Bub bounds over to Neil, runs clean through his chubby

calves, then doubles back for another try.

NORMAN (CONT’D)

He’s happy to see you.

NEIL:

(”doggy” voice)

Who’s a good boy, huh? Good boy!

(to Norman)

Can he feel it if I pet him?

NORMAN:

Yeah, I guess.

Neil bends over and kisses the air by his ankles, making

a “coochy-coo” face.

NORMAN (CONT’D)

Uh... that’s not his chin.

Neil stops mid-smooch, and quickly stands up.

Norman watches as Neil picks up a stick and waves it in

front of Bub’s nose, even though he can’t see him.

NEIL:

Go get it!

NORMAN:

He can’t fetch it, y’know.

ParaNorman 19.

21 CONTINUED:
(2) 21

NEIL:

Yeah well, it’s still fun. Good

boy! Bring it back! Go get it,

Bub! Good boy!

CLOSE ON Norman as he watches Neil toss the stick back

and forth across the garden. The stick lands near his

feet and he bends down to pick it up.

NEIL (CONT’D)

Why don’t you try?

NORMAN:

‘Cos I don’t really, uh... You can

go.

NEIL:

No, no, it’s fun! Try it!

NORMAN:

No I don’t want to.

NEIL:

You throw it. It’s really easy.

NORMAN:

No it’s okay. You can throw it.

NEIL:

No, c’mon, it’s really fun.

NORMAN:

Here. You go first.

NEIL:

No, you try it. I already went

like fifty times.

NORMAN:

Okay, what do I do?

NEIL:

You get the stick, you pull it

back, and you throw it!

Norman throws it and accidentally hits Neil in the head,

knocking him over.

NORMAN:

Neil? Sorry!

As Norman runs over to him, Neil lies on his back

GIGGLING, the stick held between his teeth.

NEIL:

I fetched it!

ParaNorman 20.

21 CONTINUED:
(3) 21

CLOSE ON NORMAN, as a smile creeps across his face and he

starts to LAUGH.

NORMAN:

Are you okay?

CUT WIDE as the two kids enjoy their play, the sun above

them breaking through the clouds in a bright blue sky.

28 INT. MR PRENDERGHAST’S HOUSE, STUDY - NIGHT 28

PANTING and WHEEZING, Mr Prenderghast staggers into his

study, SLAMS the door behind him and heads for his desk.

MR PRENDERGHAST:

I’ll show him, and that scary

little fat kid...

He shakily rummages around the collected papers and

trinkets, and pulls out the leather bound book, all the

time GRUMBLING crazily.

MR PRENDERGHAST (CONT’D)

Doesn’t he realize we’re running

out of t...

With a strangled CROAK he clutches dizzily at his chest,

then keels over backwards, stiffly hitting the floor with

a THUMP.

Silence, then, a stream of spectral orbs sputter out of

him, sculpting his shape in the air.

With a GASP, Mr Prenderghast’s corpse sucks the spirit

back in, and he staggers back to his feet.

MR PRENDERGHAST (CONT’D)

No! Not yet! Not yet!

He CROAKS again, this time for real, CRASHING back down

onto the ground.

The ghostly shape re-emerges from the body.

He blinks his eyes, looking around as if he’s just been

woken from a deep sleep, then down at the defunct body

lying at his feet.

PRENDERGHAST GHOST

Aw, nuts.

ParaNorman 21.

29 EXT. SCHOOL - NIGHT 29

Lit by spotlights, a large banner over the entrancereads, “THE WITCH’S CURSE - presented by BLITHE HOLLOW

MIDDLE SCHOOL DRAMA SOCIETY - written, produced anddirected for the stage by Margot Henscher”.

A notice beneath it reads “SPELLING BEE - NEXT WENSDAY”.

A chorus of kids’ voices can be heard SINGING from

inside, belting out an operatic rendition of Donovan’s

“Season of the Witch”.

30 INT. SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - SAME 30

Rows of plastic chairs in front of the spotlit stage areoccupied by expectant families. Among the sea of faintlybuzzing video cameras, and a ripple of APPLAUSE, Sandrapolitely smiles at the acting talents of other peoples’children. Next to her, Perry struggles to fit a batteryinto his camera.

PERRY BABCOCK:

Great, now we’ll never get toremember this moment.

ANGLE ON STAGE as Salma, in full witch get-up, waves herhands theatrically at the other children.

SALMA:

I curse you accusers to die ahorrible and gruesome death andrise from your graves as theliving dead; your souls doomed toan eternity of damnation!

The Pilgrims who aren’t dying and rising from the dead

begin to menace Salma with their farming implements, andbegin a slow ominous chant.

KIDS:

Kill the witch! Kill the witch!

Sandra nudges her husband and cheerily points toward thestage.

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Gosh, aren’t they adorable?

Norman hears a HOOTING sound from above. An owl with bigglowing eyes wheels down over the audience from the beamsof the gymnasium.

Norman glances around, wondering why no one else seems tonotice as it glides low and alights in the papier machebranches on Neil’s head. It turns to Norman and HOOTS.

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