Poltergeist Page #8

ANGLE - CHILDREN’S BEDROOM DOOR

Steve takes out a key and feels for the lock. Dr. Lesh and

her assistants are looking around, checking out the hallway

as Steve swings the door open.

CLOSE - DR. LESH

She casually looks in.

40.

INT. CHILDREN’S BEDROOM - DAY

HER POV - INSIDE THE ROOM

Inside is a junk pile of shattered furniture and toys. The

window is boarded up. Objects are in motion throughout the

room... the bed is hopping about, records are flying, a lamp

sails through. The clown is seated upside down on the

boxspring as it spins. Children’s picture books flapping

their covers like wings, cruise the upper reaches. A horse

flies by. Finally, a spinning compass plays a record while

flying toward the roar of the room, creating an eerie melody.

CLOSE PANNING - DR. LESH, TAK AND RYAN

All semblance of clinical cool is gone. They are blown away.

67 INT. DINING ROOM - DAY 67

Diane’s VOICE is heard over two shaking hands trying not to

spill a pot of coffee as it fills a cup.

DIANE’S VOICE

None of us have been much fun to be

around. I guess you can tell I

haven’t slept very much. Steve’s

stayed home from work so much. He’s

been really wonderful. Really.

PAN UP from the shaking hands to Dr. Martha Lesh. She must

now use both hands, steady the coffee she’s just poured. Her

assistants are in no better condition.

.

ANGLE - DIANE

She looks terrific. Her eyes are alert, hair combed back and

held with a bright yellow clip. She sips her coffee with rock

steady hands and softly inquires.

DIANE:

How long have you been

investigating haunted houses?

DR. LESH

(embarrassed,

backtracking)

Well, Mrs. Freeling...

DIANE:

Diane.

41.

DR. LESH

The determination as to whether

your home is haunted is not a very

easy one.

At that moment the coffee pot moves by itself to the table’s

edge but doesn’t spill. Dr. Lesh tries to overlook this, for

appearances sake.

DR. LESH

What I meant to say was this could

very well be a poltergeist

intrusion instead of the classic

haunting.

STEVEN:

There’s a difference?

Two bright flashes of light distract Lesh and her associates.

RYAN:

Anybody see that?

DIANE:

There’ll be two more in a few

seconds. They always travel in

pairs.

Tak sits holding the camera with his mouth hung open. Lesh

nudges him.

DR. LESH

Dr. Casey!

Tak snaps out of it and looks down to adjust the lens setting

just as two more flashes go off in the air.

DIANE:

Gotta be quicker than that around

here.

RYAN:

It’s electrical... you can smell

the charge.

DIANE:

You were saying poltergeists...

DR. LESH

(rattled)

I was saying they are generally

associated with an individual.

42.

DR. LESH(cont'd)

In the general vernacular,

hauntings seems to be connected

with an area... a house usually.

TAK:

Poltergeist disturbances are of

fairly short duration. Perhaps a

couple of months. Hauntings can go

on for years.

Diane takes Steve’s hand, suddenly frightened.

DIANE:

Are you telling me all this could

just end at any time?

.

DR. LESH

Unless it’s a haunting. But as a

rule, there seems to be no living

person around whom haunting

incidents revolve.

DIANE:

Then we don’t have much time, Dr.

Lesh. Because my daughter is alive

somewhere in this house.

69 INT. LIVING ROOM - DUSK 69

THE FAMILY AND THE INVESTIGATORS

Everyone is assembled around the console TV. Ryan has a

Nakamichi cassette recorder on the coffee table and a pencil

microphone taped to the television speaker. Tak has erected

his Nikon on a small aluminum tripod aimed at the screen,

plus two infrared heat seeking cameras and monitors which

scan the entire living room. An electrostatic locator to

measure ionization and a magnometer that measures magnetic

changes. Diane is holding Steve’s hand.

Dana comes into the room with an overnight bag strapped

around her shoulders.

DIANE:

Dana, I’d like you to meet

doctor...

DANA:

(clipped)

It’s getting dark, Mom. I gotta go.

I’ll call you from Trudie’s.

43.

STEVEN:

She won’t stay in the house after

dusk.

ROBBIE:

(disgusted)

She’s got brains!

Diane flips on the set. A local news station is finishing the

report when Diane turns to channel 27.

DIANE:

We receive better on this channel

but don’t ask me why.

Dr. Lesh is thoroughly perplexed. She puts on her glasses as

Steve turns out the lamp and lights a cigarette. Diane

squeezes her husband’s hand. The CAMERA PUSHES IN to the TV

screen and millions of particles of white air.

Diane turns the volume up and Ryan, wearing headsets,

flinches, adjusting down the volume on his recorder.

DIANE:

I’ll call her.

She says this so matter-of-factly that Dr. Lesh gasps. Diane

walks to the center of the living room, folds her hands in

front of her, collecting her thoughts, takes a very deep

breath and calls to the ceiling.

.

DIANE:

It’s mommy, sweetheart. We want to

talk to you. Baby, please answer.

Please talk to me, Carol Anne.

Dr. Lesh looks quickly to Tak and Ryan for their human

responses to this. Tak shrugs unnoticed. Ryan adjusts in his

chair and looks up at the ceiling.

E. Buzz prances into the room, looking up as if following on

the heels of someone with a treat.

DR. LESH

(to Tak breathlessly)

Look at the dog.

He sits up on his hind legs and begs to no one we see.

DIANE:

Are you with us now? Can you say

hello to Daddy? Say hello to Daddy,

baby.

44.

CLOSE - RYAN

He tries hard not to smile. No matter. The suppressed laugh

is slapped away by what he now hears. Ryan grabs his headsets

in two hands, pressing them hard to his ears.

TAK:

(tight whisper)

Good Lord...

Everyone turns away from Diane and back to the TV. They

strain their hearing, leaning forward, watching...

VOICE:

(softly, sweetly, far

away)

Hello, Daddy.

*** PAGE MISSING ***

DIANE:

Carol Anne. Where is this light?

DR. LESH

Tell her to stay away from it!

STEVEN:

Tell her, Diane!!

DIANE:

Sweetheart, the light is dangerous.

Don’t go near it. Don’t look at the

light.

Tak speaks into Dr. Lesh’s ear.

TAK:

I can’t believe it. It’s just a

Zenith. But the voice could be C.B.

broadcasting from somewhere in the

house. I’m taking a look.

DR. LESH

It’s not a hoax.

TAK:

We’ll see.

Tak takes off.

45.

E. Buzz barks into the air twice and catches something in his

mouth. No sooner does Dr. Lesh catch this out of the corner

of her eye when several midair electrical discharges

illuminate the room.

STEVEN:

What’s that?!

70 INT. THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR - DUSK 70

From one of the flashes a number of tiny objects fall to the

carpeting. Jewelry, cameos, broaches, coins, watches, both

modern and pocket, along with many thin, wiry clips, sprinkle

the floor.

71 INT. LIVING ROOM - DUSK 71

E. Buzz immediately starts to sniff whatever it is.

DR. LESH

(to Ryan)

Anything?

RYAN:

(checking readouts)

Nothing’s registering.

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