Red Planet

FADE IN ON:

that most persistent summer SOUND: crickets in high grass--

ree-ree-ree-ree... This in dark which slowly

DISSOLVES TO:

EXT. A GRAVE MARKER SUMMER DAY

It's a plywood cross leaning aslant. Written on the crossarm in

black paint which has faded: SMUCKY HE WAS OBEDIENT. The letters

are faded. They are also straggling and ill-formed--the work of a

child.

MAIN TITLES BEGIN.

EXT. ANOTHER GRAVE MARKER

A child's printing again, this time on a chunk of warped crating:

BIFFER BIFFER A HELLUVA SNIFFER UNTIL HE DIED HE MADE US RICHER

1971-1974.

MAIN TITLES CONTINUE

EXT. TWO MARKERS

I think all these shots are LAP DISSOLVES. All is silence but for

the crickets and the wind stirring the grass. Around the markers

themselves, the grass has been clipped short, and by some markers

there are flowers in cheap vases. Crisco cans, Skippy peanut

butter jars, etc.

These two markers: IN MEMORY OF MARTA OUR PET RABIT DYED MARCH 1,

1965 (on a wide flat board) and GEN PATTON (OUR! GOOD! DOG!) APRIL

1958 (another board).

MAIN TITLES CONTINUE

EXT. FIVE OR SIX MARKERS

We can't read all of them; some are too faded (or the

"gravestones" themselves too degenerated), but we can see now that

this woodland clearing's a rather eerie -- and well-populated --

animal graveyard.

We can see:
POLYNESIA, 1953 and HANNAH THE BEST DOG THAT EVER

LIVED. HANNAH'S tombstone is part of an old Chevrolet hood,

painstakingly hammered flat.

MAIN TITLES CONTINUE.

EXT. ANGLE ON THE PET SEMATARY

From here we can see most of the clearing, which is surrounded by

forest pines. We can see that the graves--maybe 80 in all--are

arranged in rough concentric circles. On the far side of this

clearing is the end of a path which spills into this graveyard

clearing. The end of the path is flanked by wooden poles which

hold up a crude arch. We can see no writing on this side -- the

words on the arch face those arriving along the path.

MAIN TITLES CONTINUE

EXT. THE ARCH, FROM THE PATH SIDE, CU

MAIN TITLES CONCLUDE. Written on the arch in faded black paint is

the work of some long-gone child: PET SEMATARY.

THE CAMERA HOLDS ON THIS FOR A MOMENT OR TWO, THEN PANS SLOWLY

DOWN to look through the arch. From this angle we are looking

across to a deadfall--a tangle of weather-whitened old dead

branches at the back of the graveyard. It's maybe twenty-five feet

from side to side and about nine feet high. At either end are

thick tangles of underbrush that look impassible.

AS MAIN TITLES CONCLUDE, THE CAMERA MOVES SLOWLY IN on the

deadfall. And as it does, we realize that there is a horrible

snarling face in those branches. Is this an accident? Coincidence?

Our imagination? Perhaps the audience will wonder. THE CAMERA

HOLDS ON IT and then we

DISSOLVE TO:

BLACK. And a white title card: MOVING DAY.

EXT. A HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY EVENING

SOUND of crickets: ree-ree-ree-ree...

To the left of this house: a big empty field. Behind it: the

woods. Before it: a wide two-lane road.

The house is a pleasant two-story New England dwelling with a

shed/garage attached. In front of it is a sign which reads QUINN

REALTORS 292 HAMMOND STREET, BANGOR. A big SOLD strip, like a

bumper sticker, has been plastered across it diagonally.

GROWING SOUND:
the rumble of a truck. A big, big truck. It belts

between the CAMERA and the house -- a tanker truck with a silver

body and the word ORINCO written on the side in blue letters. Its

short-stack is blowing quantities of dark brown smoke. Behind it

comes a Ford wagon, which slows, signals, and turns into the

driveway of the house we've been looking at.

EXT. REAR OF THE WAGON

As LOUIS CREED brings it to a stop we get a good look at the

license plate (Illinois) and a bumper sticker (HAVE YOU HUGGED

YOUR M.D. TODAY?)

The ENGINE SOUND stops. For a moment or two we hear only the ree-

ree-ree-ree of crickets. Then:

ELLIE CREED (voice)

Is this our new house, daddy?

LOUIS CREED (voice)

This is it.

EXT. THE WAGON, A NEW ANGLE

The two front doors and one back door open. LOUIS CREED, about 32,

gets out from the driver's side. RACHEL CREED, his wife, gets out

from the passenger side. From the rear door comes ELLIE CREED, a

girl of 6. They are staring, fascinated, at the house.

They come together, the three of them, by the front of the wagon,

still staring at the house. LOUIS is clearly nervous.

LOUIS:

So...what do you think?

RACHEL begins to smile. She turns to LOUIS and hugs him.

RACHEL:

It's gorgeous!

ELLIE:

Am I really gonna have my own room?

LOUIS:

Yes.

ELLIE:

Yaay!

She looks toward the side lawn and sees a tire on a rope hanging

down from the bough of a tree.

ELLIE (to RACHEL)

Is that a swing?

RACHEL:

Yes, but the rope might be--

ELLIE:

Yaay!

She goes running toward it. RACHEL gives LOUIS a tired smile.

LOUIS:

Let her go. It's cool.

RACHEL:

Louis, the house is beautiful.

They kiss--gently at first, then more passionately. As he draws

her more tightly against him, a baby--GAGE--begins to cry from the

car. LOUIS and RACHEL break the clinch.

RACHEL:

The Master of Disaster awakes.

This SOUND is joined by the unhappy yowling of a pent-up tomcat.

LOUIS:

And Buckaroo Banzai.

RACHEL:

Come on--let's parole 'em.

They walk to the car, RACHEL going to one of the back seat doors,

LOUIS to the rear of the wagon.

INT. THE FRONT SEAT, WITH RAHEL AND GAGE

GAGE is sitting in his car seat, not exactly crying but certainly

yelling to be let out. The seat, dash, and floorboards are

littered with roadmaps, soda cans, Big Mac boxes, and similar

crud. These folks have driven all the way from Chicago to Maine in

this station wagon, and the wagon looks it.

RACHEL:

Decided to wake up and see what home

looks like, huh?

She begins to unbuckle the straps and harnesses. GAGE is just

wearing a t-shirt and a diaper. He's fifteen months old.

EXT. THE REAR OF THE WAGON, WITH LOUIS

He opens the doorgate and lifts out a cat carrier. We see a big

tomcat inside--mostly what we're aware of are shining green eyes.

ELLIE (voice)

Daddy! Mommy! I see a path!

LOUIS, cat carrier still in hand, turns toward:

EXT. ELLIE IN THE TIRE SWING

She's got it penduluming back and forth in long wide arcs.

EXT. THE VIEW UP TOWARD THE WOODS, ELLIE'S POV

We see the field, and a clearly marked and mown path leading up

its flank and into the dark woods.

THE CAMERA DIPS AND PENDULUMS as ELLIE swings.

EXT. RACHEL AND GAGE (FRONT OF THE CAR)

RACHEL (irritated)

Not so high, Ellie! You don't know

how strong that rope is.

She puts GAGE down. He totters a bit on his little legs and then

stands there, looking at his sister.

EXT. THE ROPE AND THE BRANCH, CU

The bark has rubbed off the branch--it looks like a bone peeping

through decayed flesh. The rope is old, discolored. And it is

fraying away as we look at it. Soon ELLIE, like Humpty Dumpty, is

going to have a great fall.

EXT. LOUIS (REAR OF THE CAR)

He's set the cat-carrier down and is straightening up.

Rate this script:5.0 / 5 votes