Oooo, kiddies! It's time for another scary script excerpt from a screenplay
written by yours truly!
The perfect title for this would have been
Halloween:
Resurrection, because it was written to send the series off in a new
direction for about three more movies. Then part 8 stole that title, and it
didn't even mean anything there. *sigh*
I wrote this in 2002 and 2003,
trying to finish it for the 25th anniversary of the first movie's release. I got
it written by then, but not produced and on theater screens.
I think an
aspect of the first few pages of this script have actually worked against me -
the opening sequence is supposed to be a schlocky movie version of the opening
minutes of John Carpenter's classic - in other words, what if the story of
Michael Myers was real, but when filmed it was by filmmakers much less talented
than the people who made the real Halloween in 1978?
So, the dialogue in
these scenes is supposed to be a poorly written reflection of the real movie's
lines. I fear that some may have started reading this and thought this was my
real dialogue - then closed the script as it was obvious I couldn't write for
crap?
So - I think if I send this out again it will have a post-it on the
first page explaining this.
FADE IN:
EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT - POV
- MOVIE SEQUENCE
A sinister jack-o-lantern grins from the
porch of this modest midwestern home. Whoever has been staring at it would seem
to be fairly short as he turns away and walks over to a side window.
Inside, a teenage girl dressed in rather
theatrical 1960’s era clothes sits on a couch and giggles as a teenage boy
dressed in the same theatrical style nuzzles her neck. JUDITH playfully pushes
JOHN away.
JUDITH
Stop! Michael’s around here somewhere. He is
only six years old. He might see us and be upset.
John grabs up a clown mask lying nearby and
puts it over his face as renews his assault on Judith. She can’t help but giggle
as she pushes him away again.
JOHN
Let’s go upstairs to your bedroom and have
sex.
JUDITH
All right. Yes. That sounds good.
She grabs him by the hand and they run for
the stairs.
The watcher waits a moment at the window,
then steps back and looks up. The light in the upstairs window winks out, and
there is a MUSICAL STING underscoring it.
The watcher turns and walks toward a back
door. He steps inside, and looks quickly around the semi-dark kitchen. He makes
his way over to a drawer and opens it. His hand reaches inside and pulls out an
almost ridiculously large butcher knife.
The watcher walks with it through a
connecting door to the living room.
After crossing the living room, the watcher
finds the clown mask lying in the doorway to the hallway where the stairs are.
As he bends down to pick it up, he pulls back around the corner of the door and
peers carefully around it.
John bounds down the stairs, pulling his
shirt on. He pauses and looks back up the stairs.
JOHN
I’m sorry, I’ll try to last longer next
time.
JUDITH
Okay. That sounds good.
JOHN
I’ll call you on the telephone.
JUDITH
Okay!
John pounds down the last couple of stairs
and out the front door. As soon as it is closed, the watcher starts for the
stairs.
He slips the mask on, and the POV is now
through the mask’s eyeholes as he climbs the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, the watcher
unerringly walks into one of the bedrooms.
Inside the room, Judith sits at a dressing
table, brushing her hair and humming to herself. She finally notices that
someone has come into her room and turns to see who it is.
JUDITH (CONT’D)
Michael? Is that you, you little scamp?
Michael?
Suddenly, the watcher raises the knife high
over his head and whips it down. Judith’s head fairly well leaps from her
shoulders, gouts of blood spraying the room.
INT, STUDIO
SCREENING ROOM - NIGHT
Suddenly we cut out of the film as an
audience comprised mostly of teenagers screams at the decapitation they just
witnessed. Behind the crowd stand two men, both middle aged, in suits, and
smarmed to perfection. They are the film’s producers, LEE CUSHING and PRICE
CARRADINE. They smile knowingly at each other. Cushing leans in close to
Carradine.
CUSHING
He didn’t really cut off her head, you
know.
CARRADINE
You know it, and I know it, but they don’t
know it, and it sure does make the rugrats
scream, so what the hell?
CUSHING
True enough.
The crowd screams again.
CARRADINE
With reactions like that, I’m almost not
nervous about opening night.
CUSHING
Let’s see what the reaction cards say. We’ve
still got a week to play around with the
picture in the editing room is we need to.
The crowd screams yet again.
CARRADINE
I don’t think we’re going to have to
worry about that.
EXT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT
Starting out in the leaves of a treem the
camera CRANES down, bringing into view a marquee which reads “Starts Tonight -
Trick or Treat: The Michael Myers Story”
A subtitle informs us that this is “October
22nd.”
The line waiting to get into the movie is
around the block. Lee Cushing and Price Carradine are near enough to the
entrance to be spotted as they grin and grin at the crowd buying
tickets.
INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT
The auditorium is packed. Onscreen, a young
woman sits in a doorway, spent and tired. The onscreen character is LAURIE
STRODE (MOVIE).
The shot is wide, and allows the audience to
see what she doesn’t. A tall, imposing figure in coveralls and a white mask sits
up on the other side of the room. The crowd in the theater reacts to this
audibly.
LAURIE
Thank God it’s over.
The crowd’s tension mounts as behind Laurie
the figure stands and begins to shuffle toward her. She stands, taking the
tension level to an all time high. The masked figure reaches out for
her..
We cut away from the scream and to the
audience as they walk the knife edge of terror, finally releasing it in another
shattering scream in unison.
INT. MOVIE THEATER LOBBY -
NIGHT
Cushing and Carradine stand outside the
theater doors and react visibly each time there’s a scream from inside.
CUSHING
I told you we had nothing to
worry about!
CARRADINE
I guess so. I like how you stacked
the deck anyway.
CUSHING
What are you talking about?
Cushing nods at the auditorium
door.
CARRADINE
Michael Myers.
CUSHING
I’m totally lost now.
CARRADINE
The Michael Myers you hired. He walked
right in like he owned the place. Sat right
down and managed to clear a couple of
seats all around!
CUSHING
Are you telling me someone dressed as
Michael Myers is in there right now?
CARRADINE
Yeah. Didn’t you hire him?
CUSHING
No. We talked about it
but decided there’d be too much
potential for trouble?
CARRADINE
I thought you’d changed your mind.
Cushing starts to walk away.
CUSHING
Stay put. I’m getting the manager.
INT. MOVIE THEATER AUDITORIUM -
NIGHT
Cushing and Carradine enter, followed
closely by a nervous THEATER MANAGER. They walk down the aisle, Cushing in the
lead.
CARRADINE
I don’t see him now, he was sitting
right up there.
He gestures to a seat a few rows away. No
one sits there, but there is a figure slumped in the seat in front of the empty
one.
The tension builds as the trio comes to a
stop by the seat in question. Cushing starts to reach for the slumped figure,
but Carradine stops him.
CARRADINE (CONT’D)
Hang on, it’s almost over.
Onscreen, the young woman playing Laurie
turns to an older actor - a very miscast George Hamilton type - playing DR.
LOOMIS.
LAURIE
Was that the boogeyman, or something?
DR. LOOMIS
Yes. That’s exactly who he seemed
to be. Most definitely just like
a boogeyman.
Laurie screams a bone shattering shriek as
the screen fades to black and the credits start.
In the theater, the lights come up slightly
as the crowd gets up almost in unison to go. Cushing and Carradine hide their
fears as they nod and grin at the departing audience members.
After most of the crowd has dispersed,
Carradine nods to the slumped figure.
CARRADINE
Go ahead.
Cushing reaches out to the slumped figure.
He touches the shoulder...
...and the man snaps awake, the last bit of
a snore ripping out of his mouth.
Cushing and Carradine sigh hugely, then turn
to each other as the man rises to leave.
CUSHING
Can’t please them all, I guess.
THEATER MANAGER
Sonofabitch!
The two producers whirl to the
man.
CARRADINE
What?
THEATER MANAGER
That!
He points to the back of the seat directly
in front of the seat the alleged Michael Myers sat in. Scratched deeply and
savagely into the wood is the word “sister.”
CUSHING
Some people take these horror movies
way too seriously.
As they turn to go, the familiar notes of
the “Halloween” theme start their ominous cadence...
BEGIN
CREDITS
After this opening, we meet Jennilee Bennett - the young
actress who was playing Laurie Strode in that movie we were seeing bits of. She
heads home to rural North Carolina for a visit with her mother and father and
some friends. The Bennetts live in a big walled compound - within its walls are
the Bennett home; the home of Jennilee's paternal grandmother, recently
deceased; the house of Jennilee's Great Aunt Judy, a crabby old jackwagon who
lives to cause trouble; and a trailer for the compound maintenance man,
Lou.
Across the next week, while we get to know Jennilee and her friends,
they begin planning a big Halloween party to be held on the grounds of the
compound on Halloween night. Jennilee's parents are going to be away, and they
just need to duck Lou and Aunt Judy to have some real fun.
While the
party preparations are underway, Jennilee is unnerved when she starts to see
images of Michael Myers nearby, watching her. Shaken, she retreats into the
compound walls, confident in the security of the twelve foot wall around the
place.
She'd be less secure if she saw what happened to Lou as he
patrolled the perimeter - he finds a tree cut down and propped against the wall,
giving anyone easy access to the compound. As Lou starts to call the sheriff,
Michael Myers appears and gives Lou a personal lesson in how he chopped that
tree down. Lou is no more.
Later, Jennilee spends some time in her
Grandmother's house, reminiscing. She leaves to see her parents off on their
trip, and forgets her cell phone and house keys at Grandma's. Later, after dark,
at the urging of her boyfriend Mitchell, who has been unable to reach her on her
cell and is forced to call the house phone - Jennilee realizes she must have
left the phone and keys at Grandma's and walks up alone in the night to retrieve
them. Aunt Judy's house is at the other end of the compound, but Lou's trailer
is not far away. Still, this is little comfort when the night beckons to her
with a chill wind. Finally, she makes it to Grandma's house. It is October
30th.
INT. GRANDMA’S HOUSE - NIGHT
The house is exactly like it was when we
last saw it, only darker. Jennilee turns on a light in the back porch area, then
walks over to kitchen. She turns on a light there, but it immediately flashes
out in a bulb burnout, scaring her again.
JENNILEE
Great!
She walks over to the door leading into the
living room. The small lamp is still on, throwing a light around the room that
can only be called feeble when compared to the darkness surrounding
it.
Jennilee walks into the room and over to the
table where she left her phone and keys. She scoops up the phone, but the keys
are nowhere to be found. She looks all around the table, but cannot find
them.
JENNILEE (CONT’D)
Keys...keys...
While thinking about the problem, Jennilee
notices a picture of Aunt Judy in a frame nearby.
JENNILEE (CONT’D)
Aunt Judy? Would she have come up here?
But if she did, why would she pick up
my keys and leave my phone here?
Shaking her head at the mystery, Jennilee
turns off the lights an
d heads back through the kitchen and onto
the back porch. Once there she pauses, lost in thought. Suddenly she perks up at
something she sees outside.
EXT. BENNETT COMPOUND -
NIGHT
Across the back yard, Lou’s trailer is
visible in the illumination from the security light in between the two
dwellings. A tall, dark figure with a very pale face walks the length of the
trailer, headed for the front door.
JENNILEE (CONT’D)
There’s Lou! Maybe he grabbed my
keys!
She whips the back door open as the figure
across the way mounts the steps to the trailer.
JENNILEE (CONT’D)
Lou!
The figure pauses on the steps for a split
second, then steps on into the trailer.
A confused Jennilee walks forward, then
makes a decision and strides resolutely towards the trailer. She reaches the
door and knocks. She waits a moment, then pulls the front door open.
JENNILEE (CONT’D)
Lou?
INT. LOU'S TRAILER -
NIGHT
No answer. She steps cautiously inside. A
small touch lamp burns in the corner in front of her on the lowest setting,
casting a dim glow over the living room.
Jennilee looks into the bedroom on her
right. From the glow of the secruity light outside she can see it is stacked
with boxes that fill the room and cover the twin bed and dresser. No room for
anyone in there.
Jennilee turns and looks into the small
kitchen and dining area. The light from the touch lamp barely reaches the far
wall. Jennilee walks past the kitchen area and peers into the small hallway
leading to the bathroom and Lou’s bedroom in back.
JENNILEE (CONT’D)
Lou! For God’s sake, it’s
Jenn! Lou!
Still no answer. Jennilee walks into the
hallway, passing the back door, which is closed. Working through the narrow
hallway, she casts a quick glance at the darkened bathroom, but sees nothing in
the gloom filling the tiny space. That only leaves the bedroom before
her.
Jennilee steels her resolve, very nervous
now. Why won’t Lou answer her? She walks into the frame of the doorway and
reaches for the light switch. She flicks it on, the instantly squints as her
eyes try to adjust to the light.
But even with her eyes squinched she can see
the room is empty. The bedroom is rather spartan, just a double bed and two
dressers. Jennilee is boggled. Where the hell could Lou have gone?
As she stands in the bedroom doorway, behind
her, a vague Shape passes silently out of the bathroom and through the back
door.
Jennilee turns, trying to figure out the
mystery, She gets even with the back door before she realizes it is open! She
looks at it in amazement, then steps out onto the back deck.
EXT. LOU’S TRAILER - NIGHT
The back yard to the trailer is shrouded in
darkness. As Jennilee looks around for some sign of her father’s friend, another
chill wind blows up, making her clutch her jacket tighter.
Finally, she turns and walks back through
the door, casting one last look at the back yard as she pulls the door
closed.
INT. LOU’S TRAILER - NIGHT
Jennilee is at the front door, and stands in
the doorway, overwhelmed by the darkness and shadows she must pass through to
get back to her house.
Finally, she just goes, rushing out of Lou’s
trailer. She gives the door a push, not caring if it closes or not. She dashes
across the lawn between her trailer and Grandma’s house keeping a sharp eye out
on all sides.
She steers around Grandma’s house and
carport and all of the hiding places they hold, and trots to the hill leading
down to her house.
She nearly stumbles going down the hill, but
stays on her feet and now flat out runs for the back porch. Reaching the door,
she maneuvers through it in the fastest possible time.
INT.
BENNETT HOUSE - NIGHT
Jennilee slams the back door shut. She takes
a deep breath, and leans against the door, trying to cast off the fear that
brought her here running. We haven’t seen into the house at all. Jennilee turns,
and there is a moment of absolute certainty that Michael Myers will be standing
behind her.
But he is not.
Jennilee walks into the kitchen, then
remembers something and marches back to the back door, which she pointedly
locks. Feeling somewhat safer, she walks on into the house. But that door was
unlocked the whole time. Anybody could have come through that door before
Jennilee returned. And what did happen to her keys?
EXT.
BENNETT HOUSE - NIGHT
A short time later, all of the lights in the
house are off except for the one in Jennilee’s bedroom. A shadow passes the
window, then this light goes off too. The darkened house settles down as the
midnight hour begins. It is now October 31st. Halloween.
That's about 8-10 pages of the script, roughly 10-15% of the whole
magilla. If you have something in 8 figures lying around that you're not using,
we could try to get Dimension to release the rights to us, or get them to
co-produce with us - your name will look good above the title with a "Presents"
under it!
Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!
