Oooo, kiddies! It's time for another scary script excerpt from a screenplay written by yours truly!
Halloween 9!
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. Remember, 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 - on The Day Itself - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!
