Poltergeist Page #2

6.

CAROL ANNE:

Tweety--!!

DIANE:

(barely audible)

Oh sh*t.

20 EXT. FREELING’S BACK YARD - DAY 20

With his own bedroom window facing him, Robbie climbs among

the twisted branches, then looks at the neighborhood and the

sky beyond.

20-A EXT. - P.O.V. OF SKY - DAY 20-A

Storm clouds are gathering in the distance.

21 INT. KITCHEN - DAY 21

CLOSE SHOT - CIGAR BOX

Diane places little Tweety into the cigar box. She starts to

close the lid.

.

CAROL ANNE:

Tweety doesn’t like that smell.

DIANE:

Sweetheart, Tweety can’t smell a

thing.

CAROL ANNE:

(giving orders)

Put a flower with him.

Diane smiles at this thought and takes a red rose from the

vase on the windowsill. Carol Anne pulls into her pocket and

takes out some red licorice. She bites off the end, spits it

out into her hand and places the wet piece inside the cigar

box.

CAROL ANNE:

For when he’s hungry.

She places a Polaroid snapshot of herself and Robbie.

CAROL ANNE:

For when he’s lonely.

She covers him with a napkin.

7.

CAROL ANNE:

For when it’s nighttime.

Carol Anne starts to cry as she closes the lid. Diane looks

on. She really loves this kid.

22 EXT. FREELING’S BACK YARD - DAY 22

Diane has dug a hole in the dirt. Robbie and Dana watch as

Carol Anne places the cigar box into the earth. Dana is

eating celery and Diane throws her a “you’re chewing too

loud” look. Robbie, from up in the tree, watches fascinated

as Diane and Carol Anne refill the hole. In the background

the football game is winding up with loud interludes between

the time-outs of the final quarter.

CAROL ANNE:

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray

the Lord my soul to keep...

DANA:

(rolls her eyes)

Brother...

DIANE:

(to Dana)

Stifle it!

CAROL ANNE:

If I should die before I wake...

DANA:

(a defiant whisper)

It did.

CAROL ANNE:

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

DIANE:

That was lovely, honey.

ROBBIE:

(staring at the freshly

dug earth, calls down

from the tree)

Mom, when it rots can we dig it up

and see the bones?

DIANE:

Robbie!!

8.

CAROL ANNE:

(brightening-- a new

topic)

Can I get a goldfish now?!

23 INT. CHILDREN’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 23

CLOSE UP - GOLDFISH BOWL

Carol Anne stares wondrously as two brand new goldfish nibble

Hertz Mountain from the surface. Robbie sits on his bed in

his PJ's reading a Popeye comic. Distant THUNDER can be heard

as Robbie looks over at his window.

ROBBIE’S POV

A weak flash of lightning outlines the tree he was playing in

earlier. It is not merely the overactive imagination of a

nine-year-old that makes this tree scary to us. The twisted

branches that seem to suggest arms and the split trunk that

appears to suggest horns is all too real even at first

glance.

CLOSE - ROBBIE

He doesn’t want to look. He doesn’t want to scare himself.

But he does.

23-A DIANE ENTERS O.S. 23-A

DIANE (O.S.)

Honey, you’re overfeeding them.

CAROL ANNE:

Tweety-two and Tweety-three wants

seconds.

ROBBIE:

Mom, there’s a big storm headed

this way.

DIANE:

You’ll be asleep by the time it

gets here... if you hurry. Lights

out!

The kids dive for the covers. Diane turns out the light. The

room is overwhelmed by darkness. Carol Anne speaks up first.

9.

CAROL ANNE:

(rapidly)

Closet light! Closet light!

DIANE:

My fault. My fault.

Diane turns on the light in their closet and cracks open the

door. Carol Anne relaxes and waves good-night to her fish.

Robbie looks over at the rocking chair by the bureau. Sitting

straight up is clown doll. It is almost the size of Robbie.

Its stare is devilish and its smile is just a little too

broad for comedy.

Robbie gets up and without looking at the doll, throws a

plaid shirt over its head. He climbs back into bed, outlined

by a blue flash from the window.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

24

24

CLOSE ON DUTCH MASTER CIGAR BOX

Two hands lift it from the shadows and into the light. The

lid starts to open and just as we expect to see Tweety-one we

see the “stash” instead. Steve removes a lid of grass and

some zigzag papers and starts to roll a joint. On the TV is

an old MGM movie.

Diane is reading Carl Jung’s MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS. Steve picks

up a brochure on pool equipment and diving boards.

DIANE:

(taking a hit)

Sleepwalking. Sleepwalking.

Nocturnal Somnambulism. * I’ll

betcha it’s genetic. Carol Anne all

last week and then last night. Me

when I was ten. I once walked four

blocks and fell asleep in the back

seat of this man’s car. He went all

the way to work before discovering

me. God. I started screaming...

people ran over. The police came.

They took the guy downtown. My

father had me examined for bruises,

hickeys, I don’t know. Oh sh*t,

Steven! If we dig the pool and

Carol Anne falls in before there’s

any water... Steven... are you

listening?

10.

Steven takes the joint back from Diane and pulls it down

halfway in one breath -- holding the hit.

STEVEN:

(he talks like Dennis

Hopper)

Ever go off a three meter board?

DIANE:

What’s three meters?

STEVEN:

About ten feet.

DIANE:

Honey, why don’t we just build the

pool closer to the house and let

the kids jump off the roof?

STEVEN:

See, it’s like an air pocket. From

three meters you’re free-falling.

You can maybe squeeze in a half-

gainer, jackknife into a swan,

twist back, tuck, splash.

DIANE:

Splat!!

STEVEN:

Spashhh.

DIANE:

Splurg.

STEVEN:

Honey, we can afford it.

DIANE:

We don’t really need it.

STEVEN:

It’s great for business. We build

the first house. We install the

first pool. Look around us. By

summer

.

(in bass baritone)

“the hills are alive with the smell

of chlorine”.

DIANE:

Yeah and, our pool will be alive

with a thousand guests.

11.

STEVEN:

I’m the wind and you’re the

feather!

*** REST OF SCENE MISSING ***

25 INT. CHILDREN’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 25

Steven flops Robbie onto his pillow just as a flash lights

the room and the tree outside the window. Carol Anne lies

awake, watching.

ROBBIE:

I don’t like the tree, Dad.

STEVEN:

It’s an old tree. It was here for a

long time. Long before my company

built this neighborhood.

ROBBIE:

I don’t like its arms. It knows I

live here, doesn’t it?

STEVEN:

(not aware this scares

Robbie)

It knows everything about us.

That’s why I built our home next to

it. So it could protect you and

Carol Anne, Dana, your mom and me.

It’s a wise old tree.

ROBBIE:

It looks at me. It knows I live

here.

Robbie is visibly frightened now and Steven realizes he’s

scared him. Just then a tremor of thunder rolls through the

bedroom and Robbie snuggles up to his dad.

STEVEN:

Storm’s gonna miss us.

ROBBIE:

How do you know?

STEVEN:

Because I can count.

Then more thunder. Robbie flinches, but tries to be brave.

12.

STEVEN:

After you see the lightning, count

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