The Haunting Page #4

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NELL:

Hello Baby...

She does a peek-a-boo game, and the baby stops crying, the baby

even starts to giggle.

A VOICE from behind.

MOTHER (O.S.)

What's going on, what happened?

Nell turns. The Mother is a busy country mom, arms filled with

stuff from the gas station's market.

NELL:

She's okay. She woke up and she

saw she was alone.

The mother has the car open and the baby is smiling now.

MOTHER:

Say thank you, Spencer.

(too much of an

explanation)

I was getting her something to

drink. She's been crying all

day...

NELL:

That's all right.

MOTHER:

Of course you know, how many

children do you have?

NELL:

None.

MOM:

Then you're a teacher. Nursery

school.

NELL:

No.

MOM:

You just... you seem like someone

who takes care of children, lots

of children.

NELL:

Maybe... maybe someday. I'd like

that.

The woman smiles in something like sympathy, and gets in her car.

When she does, we see a friendly GAS STATION ATTENDANT appear

behind Nell.

NELL (cont'd)

Umm, I'm a little lost.

GAS STATION ATTENDANT

Where you going?

Nell takes out her computer drawn directions and an old map.

NELL:

They sent me directions and I've

got a map, but it's kind of

confusing. Here... it's a place

called Hill House?

His helpful attitude changes dramatically.

GAS STATION ATTENDANT

Hill House.

He takes the map book and tears out the page and crumples it up.

NELL:

What are you doing?

GAS STATION ATTENDANT

You don't want to go there.

He turns abruptly and walks away.

NELL:

Did I say something wrong to you?

Nell slams the Buick door, and breathing hard, starts the engine.

She gets control, and puts the car in gear. She's shaken. Badly.

EXT. COUNTRY LANE - DAY

Nell's Buick bounces over a country road. The car works its way up

into the steep, switchbacking hills.

INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY

Nell looks out at the forest, feels a chill. The road is more like

a tunnel through the forest than a road.

EXT. HILLS - DAY

Nell's car speeds through the trees, climbing the hills, higher and

higher into the awesome solitude.

INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY

Nell takes a final switchback, and something off to the right

catches her eye, then is gone in the trees. She watches again for

it. There. A glimpse of a gray stone property wall set back

twenty yards from the road.

There it is again. Moss-greened, twenty feet high, a wicked array

of iron spikes and glass mortared atop it.

And then out of the tangled forest in front of her looms a pair of

immense stone pillars. Between them, a steel GATE as high as the

wall, chained and padlocked.

EXT. HILL HOUSE GATE - DAY

The gate stands immense. Silent. Forbidding. Beyond them a

gravel drive curves away through the trees. Nell kills her car,

gets out, instructions in hand. No one in sight. A long beat.

She reaches in and blows the HORN.

The HORN shatters the air, rackets off the trees beyond the gate,

echoing. Silence.

Nell blows the HORN a sustained staccato in annoyance. The echo

replies in a terrible, deafening battering of sound. Nell covers

her ears. Silence once again.

In a fit of agitation she goes to the padlock and rattles it. It's

locked good. She turns --

-- and there is a man right behind her. It is MR. DUDLEY, his hair

tied back like an ex-hippie. He stands between Nell and her open

car door, weed spear in hand. He smiles at her -- rough, dirty,

massive.

MR. DUDLEY

What do you want?

NELL:

Oh! You scared me.

MR. DUDLEY

Me? No. What are you doing here?

NELL:

Are you Mister Dudley, the

caretaker?

MR. DUDLEY

Yeah, I'm Mister Dudley, the

caretaker. What are you doing

here?

NELL:

I'm with Dr. Marrow's group. I'm

supposed to check in with Mrs.

Dudley up at the house. Is she

here?

She hands him the directions. He glances at them. She uses the

distraction to get into her car.

MR. DUDLEY

Maybe she is...

INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY

Nell looks at the gate, some part of her aware it's a point of no-

return. Mr. Dudley eases over to her window. Mr. Dudley gives her

one last look and goes to the gate. He produces a keyring and

undoes the padlock.

NELL:

Why do you need a chain like that?

MR. DUDLEY

That's a good question. What is

it about fences? Sometimes a

locked chain makes people on both

sides of the fence just a little

more comfortable. Why would that

be?

He unwinds the enormous chain, heavy turn after heavy turn. The

gates swing in, revealing HILL HOUSE.

NELL:

Is there something about the

house?

MR. DUDLEY

Mrs. Dudley'll be waiting for you.

Grinning, Dudley steps aside and Nell rolls through. And at that

he just grins wider. Nell pulls away. Disturbed, she watches him

in the rearview mirror. She turns and in front of her sprawls Hill

House. At center, the features of the oldest part of the House

dwarf all others: towering, eye-like windows and the jaws of a

Grand Entry with carved ebony doors.

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