Poltergeist Page #5

DIANE:

No, goddammit, you sit down! I

mean... stand right there. And

just... just have an open mind.

Reach back into our past when I

used to know you with one and use

it for the next coupla minutes.

Carol Anne suddenly appears from around the corner looking

exhausted and cranky. In her hand is a San Diego Charger

football helmet.

CAROL ANNE:

Mommy didn’t cook any dinner.

DIANE:

(loud)

We’ll go to Pizza Hut, all right?

ANGLE - STEVE

Looking around he sees chalk marks all over the kitchen

floor. Arrows and squares and numbers in two colors.

Diane’s breathing quickens as she steadies herself. Skipping

to the kitchen table she takes one of the colonial country

chairs from the breakfast table and scrapes it along the

floor to the center of the room where four circles have been

described in chalk. Diane places each leg in one of the

proscribed circles and looks up at Steve.

DIANE:

(last words)

Okay... okay now, watch!! Watch!!

She removes her hands from the back of the chair and steps

aside. Steve watches Diane as much as the chair. He starts to

step forward when Diane throws both of her hands out to stop

him.

DIANE:

Look!

The chair begins to tremble. It virtually jitterbugs in

place... then begins to move forward picking up speed until

it traverses the entire length of the kitchen ending up right

in front of Steve’s bullfrog eyes.

ANGLE - CAROL ANNE

24.

Yawning.

CLOSE - DIANE

With hysterical victory in her eyes.

CLOSE - STEVE

Looking for wires. He kneels and feels the chair legs, then

immediately looks to Diane for the answer.

DIANE:

It’s okay. It’s okay. Look!

(to Carol Anne)

Sweetheart, show Daddy.

CAROL ANNE:

(angry now)

I’m hungry.

DIANE:

Don’t argue!!

Carol Anne shrugs and puts on the football helmet. Diane runs

over to Steve’s side and pushes the chair out of the way.

Carol Anne sits on the floor in a circle with her name on it

in yellow chalk.

ANGLE - STEVE

Starts to run for her protectively. Diane restrains him.

LOW ANGLE - CAROL ANNE

She starts to tremble as if on a funhouse ride. Her little

body begins to move forward, faster, and all the way across

the kitchen floor right into Diane’s arms.

CAROL ANNE:

(rubbing her fanny)

That burned!

DIANE:

Sorry, baby, floor needed more wax.

STEVEN:

What the f***!!

DIANE:

You try!

STEVEN:

What???

25.

DIANE:

You can’t believe the feeling.

STEVEN:

What’s the gag? There a magnet back

there?

He looks behind the door in the dining room. Nothing. Steve

just stands for a long moment in hapless silence, then...

STEVEN:

I hate Pizza Hut! Where’s supper? I

don’t understand, Diane. What the

hell’s going on around here?

Steve sidesteps the chalk marks, removing himself from the

active area.

DIANE:

I figured I’d never explain it to

you. So I showed you instead, but

don’t ask me how or what. Just help

me figure out what to do.

STEVEN:

You mean there’s no gimmick?

DIANE:

Not from inside the house. Maybe

Tuthill got himself a super remote

from the Radio Shack.

Carol Anne adjusts her helmet and sits inside her launch

circle. Diane and Steve are having the discussion across the

room and aren’t aware of her.

STEVEN:

Maybe the shake-up and this

thing... relate.

DIANE:

No sh*t.

CAROL ANNE:

Daddy, look at me!!

They turn but it’s too late. Carol Anne shoots across the

room faster than before, and with no one to catch her.

ANGLE - KITCHEN WALL

At a sickening speed her helmet smashes into the wall. Diane

SCREAMS. Steve runs over.

26.

An eight-inch hole in the wall and the cracked plastic on the

helmet testify to the force of impact. Carol Anne is dazed

but unhurt.

CAROL ANNE:

You promised pizza.

39 OMITTED 39

40 OMITTED 40

41 OMITTED 41

42 EXT. BEN TUTHILL’S FRONT PORCH - LIGHT 42

The front door opens and Tuthill steps into the bug light. An

obvious strain in this conversation.

The motives various, the feelings mutual. About a thousand

mosquitos chow down on the Freelings while they talk.

STEVEN:

Hi, Ben.

DIANE:

Mr. Tuthill.

TUTHILL:

TV’s off in here. If your set’s

acting up again...

STEVEN:

(laughing nervously)

No, no, uh-uh. Nothing like that.

We were wondering... although this

is going to sound strange coming

from me.

TUTHILL:

I doubt it.

STEVEN:

(swatting the mosquitos)

These mosquitos... Jesus.

TUTHILL:

(so nonchalantly)

They never bothered me. I never

been bitten by one.

27.

TUTHILL(cont'd)

Far as I know, no member of my

family’s effected by ‘em.

.

(grabs his fourteen-yearsold

kid)

Mosquito ever suck on you, son?

KID:

Heck, I don’t know, Dad.

Meanwhile Diane and Steve are being massacred.

TUTHILL:

He don’t know.

Suddenly, there is a crash from somewhere inside the Tuthill

home. Tuthill glances causally over his shoulder, turns back

to Diane and removes a wet piece of cigar tobacco from the

tip of his tongue.

DIANE:

Mr. Tuthill, what my husband was

wondering...

STEVEN:

(breaking in)

Yes. You see, Ben, something funny

in our house... next door.

Something...

DIANE:

You been having any disturbances

lately?

TUTHILL:

(suspiciously)

What sort of disturbances?

DIANE:

(trying to be casual)

Oh, dishes or furniture moving --

around by themselves?

43 INT. FREELING MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT 43

Diane is applying calamine lotion to Steve’s neck and wrists.

DIANE:

I had to say something. I was

losing a pint of blood every few

seconds.

28.

STEVEN:

I think we should keep this thing

in the family. In the morning I’ll

call someone in.

DIANE:

Who for instance? I’ve already

looked in the yellow pages.

Furniture movers we got. Strange

Phenomenon... there’s no listing.

STEVEN:

Okay. I have a plan. I have a plan.

Something’s occurring here that we

can’t explain. If Carol Anne wasn’t

wearing that helmet...

DIANE:

Okay, stop it.

STEVEN:

What if she wasn’t? Jesus, Diane.

We’d be at County Emergency and not

getting ready for bed.

DIANE:

Okay already!

STEVEN:

Right. Okay. Let’s wake the kids.

No big deal! Let’s wake them, spend

tonight at the Travel Lodge in

Broxton. And come back tomorrow

with experts! Experts who can tell

us what it is that’s happening and

if it’s safe to go home.

.

DIANE:

Now you’re scaring me. Don’t try

and scare me, Steve.

44 INT. CHILDREN’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 44

Robbie is wide awake. He is staring out the window from under

the covers. There is a flash of lightning. Robbie begins

nervously counting.

ROBBIE:

One... two... three... four...

five...

29.

The SOUND of rolling thunder. Robbie tenses and watches the

tree.

ANGLE - WINDOW

A wind rustles the gnarled branches. The sky is a rolling

mass of gray and black.

A second flash of lightning and Robbie whispers to himself.

ROBBIE:

One... two... three...

CRACKLE! RUMBLE! The window pane vibrates as the shock wave

from the thunder bears down and the wind begins to dance with

the tree.

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