Poltergeist Page #10

I suppose, the most irresponsible

sixty-one-year old woman I know.

DIANE:

You were so funny. Your hands were

shaking a mile a minute.

Diane starts to giggle. It’s a release and Dr. Lesh joins

her.

DR. LESH

It isn’t over. I’m perfectly

terrified. It’s all these things we

don’t understand. I feel like the

protohuman, stepping of the forest

primeval and seeing the moon for

the first time. Throwing rocks at

it.

52.

DIANE:

You mean someday we’ll understand

these things?

DR. LESH

When it’s recognized for what it

is. As any science. Understanding

and sponsorship seem always to be

one hundred years behind ridicule

and doubt. Out of this experience,

should we capture a high resolution

photograph of a genuine

manifestation Time Magazine will

still put President Reagan on its

next cover.

ROBBIE:

If I got killed would I come back

as a ghost and get stuck in the

house like my sister?

DIANE:

Your sister isn’t dead, Robbie.

ROBBIE:

If I got killed could I visit her

and show her how to get back here

if you tied a rope around me and

held it tight? Then somebody could

come get me and we could move

somewhere else?

DR. LESH

Some people believe that when you

die your soul goes to heaven.

ROBBIE:

When Grampa was dead I looked at

him on the hospital bed and I was

watchin’, but nothing went out of

him.

.

DIANE:

His soul was invisible. You

couldn’t see it going to the sky.

ROBBIE:

How come Grandpa isn’t on

television with Carol Anne?

DR. LESH

Some people believe that when you

die there is a wonderful light.

53.

DR. LESH(cont'd)

As bright as the sun but it doesn’t

hurt to look into it. All the

answers to all the questions you

want to know are inside that light.

And when you walk into it... you

become a part of it forever. Now,

some people die, but they don’t

know they’re gone.

ROBBIE:

They think they’re still alive?

DR. LESH

That’s right. Maybe they didn’t

want to die. Maybe they weren’t

ready. Maybe they hadn’t begun to

live yet or lived a long, long time

anyway, but wanted more life. They

resist going into the light no

matter how hard the light wants

them. They hang around, watch TV,

watch their friends grow up,

feeling all unhappy or jealous and

those feelings are bad, they hurt.

And then some people just get lost

on the way to the light. They need

someone to lead them there.

ROBBIE:

So some people get angry and throw

things around like in my bedroom.

DR. LESH

Yes. Just like in school. There are

people who are nice to you. And

people who are mean.

ROBBIE:

I got beat up once by three kids.

They took my lunch money. Maybe

they got hit by a truck and are

upstairs right now.

DIANE:

Let’s get some shuteye, whad’ya

say, partner?

ROBBIE:

Goodnight, Mom. ‘Nite lady. ‘Nite,

Dad. ‘Nite, E. Buzz.

Robbie puts his head down on the pillow and Diane and Dr.

Lesh share a warm look over him. Robbie sits back up suddenly

and looks at the TV set.

54.

ROBBIE:

‘Nite, Carol Anne.

INT. BOTTOM OF THE STAIRCASE - ON TAK - NIGHT

77

77

Flanked by four banks of monitors and oscilloscopes, Tak’s

stomach growls. He turns back looking over his shoulder at

the kitchen.

ANGLE - TAK

He leans his chair back on its hind legs until his head

reaches around the corner. Tak “pfffts” to Ryan. Ryan looks

up from a Penthouse Magazine that he is studying by penlight.

Tak gestures for Ryan to relieve him for a few minutes.

FULL SHOT - BOTTOM OF STAIRCASE

Tak gets up and Ryan sits down, getting right back into his

Penthouse after a cursory look at the monitors and readouts.

Ryan puts a Walkman over his ears and pops a Herbie Hancock

tape in the cassette.

78 INT. KITCHEN - TAK - NIGHT 78

The refrigerator is the perfect target for Tak’s

housebreaking skills. He turns once, looking over his

shoulder before opening the Amana... the light inside bathes

everything in white. Tak takes out a salad bowl and noshes

from that, but his chewing is too loud so he opts for a

beautiful New York steak wrapped in cellophane.

Placing the steak on the dark counter, Tak stuffs a chicken

leg into his mouth and searches the kitchen for a steak

knife. He pulls his flashlight from his hip pocket and beings

pulling drawers...

A new sound is added to his search. A CRAWLING GUSHY SOUND

that bubbles and softly hisses. Tak turns and sees a shape

moving along the counter where he put the steak. Approaching,

Tak tilts his flashlight so the beam hits the object moving

on the counter.

78-A CLOSE ON KITCHEN COUNTER - NIGHT 78-A

Tak’s POV

The New York Steak is alive with CANCER! It actually crawls

over and over its own rampant cell growth.

.

55.

78-B 78-BINT. KITCHEN

He starts to gag looking at it and realizes the chicken is

still in his mouth. He spits it onto the floor and shines his

flashlight on top.

78-C 78-CCLOSE - CHICKEN LEG

A thousand maggots crawl away from it into the dark corners

of the kitchen. Tak starts to retch and flails into a small

powder room.

79 79INT. UTILITY ROOM - NIGHT

Tak turns the light on and retches into the sink.

80 80INT. BOTTOM OF THE STAIRCASE - NIGHT

Ryan is reading the letters to Forum and hasn’t noticed the

activity on the first readout. Slowly, the equipment comes

alive, purring softly, images vibrating. Ryan is too involved

in Penthouse to notice the change. Herbie Hancock leaks from

his headphones.

81 81INT. UTILITY ROOM - NIGHT

Tak is catching his breath, his head lowered in frame. He

stands up suddenly checking his complexion in the mirror.

SMASH CUT TO:

HIS MIRRORED REFLECTION

His reflection is a ROTTING CORPSE, hair wild and streaming,

his mouth open in a crazy way, teeth hanging by leathery

threads, a funeral suit from the neck down.

The bulb over the mirror CHANGES HUE from white to yellow to

orange to pink. In a burst of electricity it EXPLODES over

the sink as Tak wheels around showing us his LIVE IMAGE, BACK

TO NORMAL.

82 82INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

CLOSE - RYAN

Aware of nothing, reading, tapping his foot.

56.

83

INT. VIEW UP THE STAIRS - NIGHT 83

ANGLE- BEHIND RYAN

Something is aglow at the top of the stairs.

Something is starting to descend.

Something ectoplasmic and blue-green.

84

INT. ON THE EQUIPMENT - NIGHT 84

The oscilloscopes are sine-waving like crazy. The remote

cameras are triggered and click on. Tape machines roll

automatically.

.

85

INT. TOP OF THE STAIRS - PAST RYAN - NIGHT 85

The substance is heading down.

86

INT. BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS - NIGHT 86

Tak walks forward, his eyes riveted to the staircase. He

feels in the dark until his hand touches Ryan’s head. Ryan

turns around to see who’s behind him and shines his

flashlight up into Tak’s face.

CLOSE - TAK

Lit from below adds a demented aspect to Tak’s already

terrified expression. Ryan looks immediately in the direction

Tak is fixated... THE TOP OF THE STAIRS.

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