"PET SEMATARY" by Stephen King
"PET SEMATARY"
by
Stephen King
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.
ELLIE (raptuous voice)
Wheee!
LOUIS
Ellie, you heard your m---
His eyes widen.
EXT. ELLIE
ELLIE
Wh--
SOUND: A heavy twang! as the rope breaks. The tire swing--with
ELLIE still inside it--goes crashing to the grass. ELLIE screams
and begins to cry--a little hurt and a lot surprised.
LOUIS and RACHEL run to her.
LOUIS RACHEL
Ellie! Are you all right? Honey? Are you okay?
EXT. ELLIE, RACHEL, LOUIS, A CLOSER SHOT
ELLIE'S parents reach the tangle of tire, rope, and six-year-old
girl.
ELLIE
Hurrts! It hurrrrts!
LOUIS
Anyone who can scream that loud isn't
ready for intensive care just yet--
looks like she just skinned her knee.
Nevertheless, he begins to rapidly disentangle his daughter from
the tire. RACHEL helps.
EXT. GAGE
He's standing in the driveway by the front of the car, utterly
forgotten in the heat of the moment. His diaper is sagging quite a
bit; the boy needs a change.
He stares toward the scene of the accident for a bit, then loses
interest. CAMERA FOLLOWS as he walks down the side of the station
wagon, little bare feet slapping on the asphalt. He stops for a
moment at the back, looking at the cat-carrier, which LOUIS never
got around to opening. CHURCH is staring hopefully out through the
mesh.
GAGE
Hi-Durch!
CHURCH
Waow!
GAGE bends down and tries to open the cat-carrier's door. No soap.
Either he can't solve the latch or his fingers don't have the
strength. Anyway, he stops trying after a moment.
SOUND: Growing thunder of an approaching truck - a big one.
EXT. THE ROAD (GAGE'S POV)
A big tanker truck--silver body, ORINCO written on the side in
blue letters--blasts by.
EXT. GAGE, BY THE CAT CARRIER
The windlash if the passing truck blows GAGE'S hair back from his
forehead. We should be scared here--not by the truck, but by
GAGE'S lack of fear. He's smiling, happy.
GAGE
Druck!
He starts down the driveway toward the road.
EXT. LOUIS, RACHEL, ELLIE (AT THE SWING)
ELLIE has been disentangled from the swing. She's sitting by the
wreckage at the end of the driveway, weeping hysterically (as much
from tiredness as from pain, I think) as LOUIS and RACHEL examine
her scraped knee. The wound doesn't look too serious.
LOUIS (to RACHEL)
Would you get the first aid kit?
ELLIE (screaming)
Not the stingy stuff! I don't want the
stingy stuff, daddy!
RACHEL suddenly looks around toward:
EXT. THE FRONT OF THE WAGON (RACHEL'S POV)
No one there.
EXT. RACHEL, ELLIE, LOUIS, BY THE SWING
RACHEL
Gage's gone!
LOUIS
Jesus, the road!
They get up together.
EXT. GAGE, AT THE EDGE OF THE ROAD
A truck is coming. A great big one.
EXT. ANGLE ON THE TRUCK, CU
The grille looks like a tombstone that's learned how to snarl.
EXT. GAGE
He takes a step into the road...and then big, gnarled hands grab
him.
GAGE looks rather surprised at this, but not worried--this kid is
used to being picked up and treated humanely. To GAGE strangers
are as interesting as...well, as interesting as Orinco trucks.
EXT. GAGE AND JUD CRANDALL
The fellow who has picked GAGE up is a man of about eighty in old
blue jeans, a faded Bruce Springsteen t-shirt. Over this he wears
a faded khaki vest with bright silver buttons. His face is deeply
wrinkled and kindly.
JUD CRANDALL (to GAGE)
No you don't, my friend--not in
that road.
But he softens this with a grin. GAGE grins back at him.
GAGE
Drucks!
JUD (low)
No shit, Sherlock.
JUD carries him up the driveway to the station wagon. Here he's
joined by LOUIS and RACHEL, out of breath and really scared. ELLIE
brings up the rear. She's still sniffling.
RACHEL
Gage!
JUD (hands him to her)
He was headed for the road, looked
like. I corralled him for you, missus.
RACHEL
Thank you. Thank you so much.
LOUIS
Yes--thanks. I'm Louis Creed.
He sticks out his hand and JUD shakes it. LOUIS takes it easy--no
crushing JayCees grip, or anything like that--the old guy looks as
if he might have arthritis.
JUD
Jud Crandall. I live just across the road.
RACHEL
I'm Rachel. Thanks again for saving
the wandering minstrel boy, here.
JUD
No harm, no foul. But you want to watch
out for that road. Those damn trucks go
back and forth all day and most of the
night.
He leans over toward ELLIE.
JUD
Who might you be, little Miss?
ELLIE
I'm Ellen Creed and I live at 642
Alden Lane, Dearborn, Michigan. (Pause)
At least, I used to.
JUD
And now you live on Route 9 in Ludlow,
and your dad's gonna be the new doctor
up to the college, I hear, and I think
you're going to be just as happy as a
clam here, Ellen Creed.
ELLIE (to LOUIS)
Are clams really happy?
They all laugh--even GAGE.
RACHEL
Excuse me, Mr. Crandall--I've got to
change this kid. It's nice to meet you.
JUD
Same here. Come over and visit when
you get the chance.
As RACHEL, carrying GAGE, moves away:
ELLIE (worries)
Daddy, do I really have to have the
stingy stuff?
LOUIS
No-I guess not.
ELLIE
Yayyy!
She goes belting off.
JUD (amused)
I guess your daughter there ain't
going to die after all.
LOUIS (also amused)
I guess not.
JUD
House has stood empty for too long.
It's damn good to see people in it again.
SOUND: A truck engine, gearing down.
EXT. A MOVING VAN
It blinks and comes lumbering into the Creed's driveway.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
LOUIS
Hey--they actually found the place!
JUD
Movin' in's mighty thirsty work. I
usually sit out on my porch of an evening
and pour a couple of beers over m'dinner.
Come on over and join me, if you want.
LOUIS
Well, maybe I----
RACHEL (voice)
Louis, what's this?
EXT. RACHEL AND GAGE
GAGE has been changed, and RACHEL is following him as he explores
the nearest edges of the new homestead. They are fairly close to
the wreckage of the tire swing, and here is the head of the path
ELLIE has already glimpsed.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
They cross to the van. The FIRST and SECOND MOVERS are just
climbing out of the van.
FIRST MOVER
You Mr. Creed?
LOUIS
Yes. Just a second.
EXT. RACHEL AND GAGE, AT THE HEAD OF THE PATH
She's holding GAGE on her hip now, and both of them are looking at
that strange (and oddly enticing) path which disappears into the
deepening twilight. LOUIS and JUD join them.
LOUIS
The movers--
RACHEL
Yes--I know. This path, Louis? Where does
it go?
LOUIS
I don't have the slightest idea. When I saw
the house, this field was under four feet
of snow.
RACHEL (smiling)
I bet Mr. Crandall knows!
JUD nods. He smiles, too, but underneath the smile we sense that
he is serious.
JUD
Oh, ayuh! I know. It's a good story, and
a good walk, too. I'll take you up there
sometime, and tell you the story, too--
after you get settled in.
He smiles at them and they smile back--it is a look of
understanding and real liking, in spite of the age difference
between the CREEDS and JUD.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE NIGHT
SOUND: Crickets. Ree--ree--ree-ree...
There's one light upstairs, one downstairs. Perhaps we see the
path, glimmering away into the field? Either by virtue of it being
mown, or by virtue of some gentle optical trick? Maybe.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM NIGHT
There's a light on in the kitchen, but it just casts a dim glow in
here. The room has a fireplace and a lovely wooden floor. It's
going to be nice, but now it's just a big bare box with movers'
cartons stacked all over the place.
LOUIS is drinking a can of Pepsi, and he looks pretty damned
tired--anyone who's ever moved house and can remember the first
night in the new place will understand.
He finishes the last of the Pepsi and surveys the living room. He
sits on one of the bigger boxes, takes cigarettes from his pocket,
and lights one. He drops the spent match in the empty can, and
taps into the can during the scene.
SOUND: Feet coming down the stairs. The door on the far side of
the room opens and RACHEL comes in, wearing a nightgown.
RACHEL (crossing to LOUIS)
Kids are asleep, doc.
LOUIS
Great.
He hugs her. She hugs him back warmly--for a moment they are just
two good people in all the big darkness of their new house.
RACHEL
You're not really going over to have a
beer with that old guy, are you?
LOUIS
Well, I've got a million questions about
the area, and---
RACHEL
---and you'll end up doing a free
consultation on his arthritis or urinary
problems and---
LOUIS
Did you see his shirt?
RACHEL (giggles)
Sure. Bruce Springsteen.
LOUIS
I really do have a million questions
about the area...but the thing I'm
really curious about is how come this
octogenarian Yankee is decorating the
slumped remains of his pecs with the
Boss.
She laughs.
EXT. THE PATH OF THE CRANDALL HOUSE NIGHT
Pervasive SOUND of the crickets as LOUIS comes rather hesitantly
up the crazy-paved path from the road's edge.
JUD (voice)
That you, doc?
EXT. THE SCREENED-IN PORCH OF THE CRANDALL HOUSE
We hear the SQUEAK of a rocker; we see the dim red fitful glow of
JUD'S Pall Mall. We see by its glow that he is wearing Walkman
earphones.
EXT. LOUIS
LOUIS
It's me.
INT. THE PORCH, WITH JUD
The Walkman is in his lap. He switches it off and puts the
headphones casually around his neck, like a kid.
JUD
Well, come on up and have a beer.
INT. THE PORCH, A SLIGHTLY WIDER SHOT
LOUIS comes on up. JUD has got a pail of ice beside his chair with
some cans of beer in it. He opens one and hands it to LOUIS.
JUD
You need a glass?
LOUIS
Not at all.
JUD
Good for you.
LOUIS drinks half the can at a draught.
LOUIS
God, that's fine.
JUD
Ain't it just? The man who invented
beer, Louis, that man was having a
prime day for himself.
LOUIS
What were you listening to?
JUD
Allman Brothers.
LOUIS
What?
JUD
The Eat A Peach album. God, they were
good before drugs and bad luck caught
up with them. Listen to this, Louis.
He passes the headphones over. LOUIS puts them on. JUD presses the
Walkman's PLAY button.
SOUND: Ramblin' Man blasts us out of our seats.
LOUIS winces and rakes the spidery earphones off his head.
JUD
I'm sorry. Wait.
He turns it down.
JUD
Try that.
LOUIS puts the earphones back on and listens for a few moments.
It's the instrumental break. Gregg and Duane Allman dueling hot
Fenders. LOUIS takes the earphones off.
LOUIS
Nice.
JUD
I like rock and roll. No...I guess
that's too mild. I love it. Since
my ears started to die out on me,
it's the only music I can really hear.
And since my wife died...I dunno, some-
times a little rock and roll fills up
night. Not always, but sometimes. (Pause)
One more time--welcome to Ludlow. Hope
your time here will be a happy one.
LOUIS (great sincerity)
Thank you, Mr. Crandall.
He drinks again--they both do. There's a moment of companionable
silence here, broken by the SOUND of a big truck. They look
toward:
EXT/INT. THE ROAD (THROUGH THE PORCH SCREEN)
One of those big tanker trucks goes rumbling by--now there are
little amber running lights on top of it. It's going fast, too--
sweeps by in a blast of air.
INT. THE PORCH, WITH LOUIS AND JUD
LOUIS (wincing)
Jesus!
JUD (lights a cigarette)
That's one mean road, all right--you
remember that path your wife commented on?
LOUIS
The one that goes into the woods--sure.
JUD
That road--and those Orinco trucks--
are the two main reasons it's there.
LOUIS
What's at the end of it?
JUD (smiles)
Another day--after you get settled in a
bit. Meantime, doc---
Here JUD raises his glass in a toast.
JUD (continues)
Here's to your bones.
LOUIS clinks his glass against JUD'S.
LOUIS
And yours.
They drink.
EXT. ROUTE 9 NIGHT
LOUIS crosses from the CRANDALL side to his own, and the CAMERA
FOLLOWS as he walks slowly up the driveway and past the wagon. He
pauses for a moment, looking thoughtfully--hopefully--at his new
house. Then something--the CRY of an OWL, perhaps--draws his
attention the other way...toward the path.
He walks to its head and stands looking out at it--it glimmers in
a wide cut swath that's a bit ghostly in the dark.
A SHAPE suddenly lurches out of the high grass at him, and LOUIS
recoils with a startled, muffled cry.
EXT. CHURCH
The cat, sure; who--or what--else? We see his big green eyes in
the dark as he cries his strange feline hello: Waow!
EXT. LOUIS AND CHURCH, AT THE HEAD OF THE PATH
LOUIS
Church! God, you scared the life
out of me!
CHURCH
Waow!
LOUIS bends and picks up the cat. As he does, that truck SOUND
comes again and he looks toward:
EXT. THE ROAD, LOUIS'S POV
Another Orinco tanker drones by, fast.
EXT. LOUIS AND CHURCH
LOUIS (to the cat)
I know one thing that will keep you
home, good buddy.
He starts toward the house.
BLACK. And in that blackness, we see a second title card: THE DEAD
SPEAK.
INT. A KITCHEN BLACKBOARD, CU DAY
Written on it is: MONDAY 1.) CHURCH SPAYED 10 A.M. QUENTIN
JOLANDER, D.V.M. And below, in even bigger letters: 2.) ELLIE'S
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!
THE CAMERA PANS LEFT, showing us the kitchen. There are still a
few cardboard cartons around, but the place is getting in shape.
We look out the window and see the CREEDS, led by JUD CRANDALL,
climbing the path toward the woods. LOUIS has got GAGE in a
Gerrypak.
EXT. AT THE TOP OF THE HILL, WITH CREEDS AND JUD
They are also at the edge of the woods. JUD stops and lets them
catch up.
JUD
Take a look behind you.
They turn around, and their faces express their wonder.
LOUIS
My God!
RACHEL
It's beautiful!
EXT. THE VIEW
It is indeed beautiful. The CREED house is in the f.g., Route 9
just behind it (with one of the ever-present Orinco trucks droning
along), but behind that is the great sweep of the Penobscot river
valley, dozing under a fall sky of clear blue.
EXT. AT THE TOP OF THE HILL, WITH JUD AND THE CREEDS
JUD
You folks ready to go on?
LOUIS
Sure.
ELLIE
But where are we going, Mr. Crandall?
JUD
You'll see soon enough, hon.
They go into the woods, still following the path.
EXT. FOREST DAY
These are old woods indeed--huge trunks with dusty sunlight
shafting through them. It looks as though man has never made his
mark here.
THE CAMERA PANS SLOWLY DOWN to them, on the path. Here it is
carpeted with pine needles, but it is just as clearly marked.
JUD stops. LOUIS looks glad of the rest; he's sweating and there
are wide dark patches under his arms where the Gerrypak's straps
are.
LOUIS
Who owns the woods up ahead? Paper
companies?
JUD
Nope. The Micmac Indians. What's up
ahead is all that's left of their
tribal lands.
ELLIE (giggling)
Micmac, Ricmac, Kickmac, Sickmac.
JUD (smiles)
Ayuh, it's a funny word, ain't it?
You tired of totin' that yowwen yet, doc?
LOUIS
Not yet...how much further is it?
JUD
Aw, you'll be okay. Less than a mile.
He starts off again, fresh as a daisy. ELLIE scampers after him.
LOUIS rolls his eyes at his wife and RACHEL rolls hers back. Then
they press on.
EXT. THE ARCH READING PET SEMATARY
EXT. JUD AND THE CREEDS, ON THE PATH
JUD (stopping)
This is the place, honey.
ELLIE is of course second. Se tries to read the words on the arch
but can't. She whips around to look at her mother.
ELLIE
What's it say, mommy?
A strange expression has come over RACHEL'S face--she doesn't like
this. Not a bit.
RACHEL
It says Pet Cemetery, hon. It's
misspelled, but...that's what it
says.
She runs for the arch. RACHEL starts; looks more uneasy than ever.
RACHEL
Ellen--!
EXT. ELLIE
She's almost under the arch. She looks back, questioning.
EXT. RACHEL, LOUIS, JUD
RACHEL (a bit lame)
Be careful.
EXT. ELLIE
She goes racing into the Pet Sematary.
EXT. RACHEL, LOUIS, JUD
JUD lights a cigarette with a wooden match, using his thumbnail.
JUD
I told you it was a bad road,
Louis--it's killed a lot of pets
and made a lot of kids unhappy.
But at least something good come
of it. This place.
ELLIE (excited voice)
Mom! Dad! Y'oughtta see it!
EXT. ELLIE, AT THE EDGE OF THE SEMATARY
She surveys the rude markers with puzzled delight, then runs
toward the center, pausing to investigate some of the markers as
she goes. We clearly see the symmetrical pattern of rings.
EXT. RACHEL, LOUIS, JUD
They are walking slowly toward that rude archway. LOUIS is
extremely interested in all this, but it's becoming clearer and
clearer that RACHEL is troubled. They stop and look in.
RACHEL
How can you call it a good thing?
A graveyard for pets killed in the
road! Built and maintained by broken-
hearted children!
JUD
Well, but Missus Creed! It ain't
quite that way, deah!
LOUIS
I think it's rather extraordinary.
RACHEL
Extraordinarily morbid, maybe.
She's growing more and more upset. JUD looks at her curiously.
JUD
Well...they have to learn about death
somehow, now don't they, Missus Creed?
The little ones?
RACHEL (coldly)
Why?
JUD
Well...well, because--
ELLIE (voice)
Mommy! Daddy! Look at me!
EXT. ELLIE, ON THE DEADFALL
She has begun to climb it, and this looks like an extremely
dangerous proposition. ELLIE, however, is having the time of her
life. A branch breaks under one of her feet and she switches
nimbly to the next one up.
EXT. THE GROWNUPS, AT THE ARCH
JUD (alarmed)
No, honey! You don't want to go
climbing on that! Come on down!
He hurries in.
EXT. ELIIE, ON THE DEADFALL
She looks back at JUD.
ELLIE
It's okay, Mr. Crandall--
EXT. ELLIE'S FOOT, CU
The branch she's on breaks with a dry CRRRACK. Her foot drops down
suddenly.
EXT. ELLIE AND JUD
She totters backward, pinwheeling her arms, and JUD catches her as
she falls. Not much of a catch because she wasn't too far up.
LOUIS joins JUD and ELLIE. GAGE jounces along on his back.
LOUIS
Have you got a death-wish, Ellen?
ELLIE
Well, I thought it was safe--
JUD
Best never to go climbing on old blowdowns
like this, Ellie--sometimes they bite.
ELLIE
Bite?
JUD
Ayuh.
EXT. RACHEL, STANDING AT THE ARCH
Her discomfort makes one thing very clear--she doesn't want to
come in.
RACHEL (calls)
Is she all right, Louis?
EXT. LOUIS, JUD, ELLIE
LOUIS (calls back)
Fine! Come and see!
EXT. RACHEL, STANDING AT THE ARCH
RACHEL (calling)
I think I'll sit this one out, doc.
EXT. LOUIS, JUD, ELLIE--BY THE DEADFALL
ELLIE
I want to look around, daddy--
may I?
LOUIS
For a little while.
JUD looks toward:
EXT. RACHEL AT THE ARCH (ELLEN IN F.G.)
RACHEL has retreated a bit. She sits on the pine needle carpet of
the path, opens her purse, and draws out cigarettes.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
JUD looks at LOUIS as if to say "What's all this about?" LOUIS
looks away.
ELLIE (voice)
Dad! Daddy! Look! A goldfishie!
EXT. ELLIE
She runs from one tombstone to the next, cheerful as maybe only a
kid could be in such a place. She looks at BIFFER'S tombstone; at
SMUCKY'S.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
They are walking slowly toward her. LOUIS is looking at the
tombstones.
LOUIS
I can hardly read these.
JUD
Ayuh--they get older as you go
toward the middle. (Points) Pete
LaVasseur's dog is buried there...
(points) the Stoppard boys' racing
pigeon that Missus Cowley's cat
got...and I think that's the cat
himself right there, although it's
been so many years I can't tell for
sure.
(calling)
Missy Ellen! Come over here just a
minute!
EXT. ELLEN
She runs amid the tombstones--they have worked their way near to
the center and there are quite a few of them--and joins the
adults.
JUD
I see you're quite a reader for such
a little girl. Can you read that?
He points again, and Ellen goes over for a look-see.
EXT. ELLEN, AT THE GRAVE MARKER
It is a small slate marker slanted to one side. ELLEN reads the
words laboriously, tracing them with her finger.
ELLEN
"Spot a good fellow we love you boy."
(Pause) "Owned by Judson...Judson..."
Gee, I can't read the rest.
EXT. JUD AND LOUIS
JUD
Last name's Crandall, little missy.
LOUIS looks at him sharply as ELLIE rejoins them.
JUD
That's where I buried my dog Spot
when he died of old age in 19 and
14. Dug it good and deep. By the
time I finished, I had blisters all
over my hands and a hell of a crick
in my back. Soil's stony up here.
ELLIE looks awed. LOUIS looks a little awed, too.
JUD sweeps a hand around, indicating the whole sematary, but is
still looking at ELLEN.
JUD
Do you know what this place is,
Ellie? Oh, I know you know it's a
boneyard, but a bone ain't nothing
and even a whole pile of 'em don't
amount to much. Do you know what a
graveyard really is?
ELLIE
Well...I guess not.
JUD
It's a place where the dead speak,
Missy.
He sees her startled, uneasy expression and laughs. He ruffles her
hair reassuringly.
JUD
No--not right out loud. Their stones
speak...or their markers. Even if the
marker ain't nothing but a tin can
someone wrote on with a Magic Marker,
it speaks. Ain't that so, Louis?
LOUIS
I think it is so, Ellie.
ELLIE
What if you can't read what's
written on there anymore?
JUD
Well, it still says some animal got
laid down here after, don't it?
ELLIE
Yes--
LOUIS
And that someone cared enough about
that animal to mark the spot.
ELLIE
To remember.
JUD (smiles)
Yes. To remember. This ain't a scary
place, Ellie. It's a place of rest
and speaking. Can you remember that?
ELLIE (a little awed)
Yes, sir.
They start to walk slowly back toward the arch.
EXT. RACHEL, OUTSIDE THE ARCH
It's clear she's impatient and out-of-sorts with the whole thing.
RACHEL (calls)
Louis, can we go? I'm tired!
EXT. LOUIS, ELLIE, JUD
ELLIE
Mommy! This is a place where dead
animals talk! Mr. Crandall said so!
EXT. RACHEL AND ELLIE
But RACHEL is not amused. She doesn't like any of this.
RACHEL (soft)
Did he.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
LOUIS
My wife is not crazy about cemeteries
of any kind. As you may have noticed.
JUD
Me neither. But I believe in knowing
your enemy.
LOUIS looks at him, startled, then decides this is a joke. He
laughs. JUD smiles, a trifle thinly.
EXT. THE ARCH, A NEW ANGLE
The men rejoin RACHEL and ELLIE.
LOUIS (voice)
Did we take too long?
RACHEL (curt)
Well, if supper's burned, I'm not
the one going out for pizza.
They move away.
EXT. THE DEADFALL, FROM THE ARCH
The face we saw at the beginning of the movie wasn't there when
the visitors were there...but it's sure there now, leering at us.
INT. THE KITCHEN TRASH CAN NIGHT
There are two greasy boxes poking out with NAPOLI PIZZA stamped on
them. Guess dinner was burned.
THE CAMERA PULLS BACK and we se LOUIS sitting at the kitchen
table. The table is covered with newspapers. On it, LOUIS is
putting together a complicated model boat, using glue and
tweezers. He's wearing glasses.
ELLIE comes in, wearing a nightgown. She watches him for awhile.
LOUIS (not looking around)
Hi, babe.
ELLIE
Daddy, that Pet Sematary is there
because of the road, isn't it?
LOUIS looks around at her, surprised.
ELLIE
That's what I think. I heard
Missy Dandridge tell Mom when
Church was fixed he wouldn't
cross the road so much.
LOUIS
Well, it's always better to take
precautions--but I'm sure Church
will be all right, honey...
INT. JUST OUTSIDE THE KITCHEN DOOR
RACHEL is coming along with some dirty dishes. She hears voices
and stops, listening, her face troubled and afraid.
ELLIE (voice)
No he won't! Not in the end! He won't
be all right in the end no matter how
you fix 'im!
INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE
Ellis has started to cry.
ELLIE
In the end he's gonna croak, isn't he?
LOUIS
Lovey...Church might be still alive when
you're in a high school...and that's a
very long time.
ELLIE
It doesn't seem long to me. It seems
short. I think the whole thing about
pets dying s-s-sucks!
Poor kid's bawling her eyes out now. LOUIS folds her into his arms
and she hugs him tightly, wanting his comfort.
LOUIS
If it was up to me I'd let Church live
to be a hundred...but I don't make up
the rules.
ELLIE (muffled)
Well who does? God, I suppose. But he's
not God's cat! He's my cat! Let God get
His own, if He wants one! Not mine! Not
mine! Not--
She breaks down completely, sobbing, and LOUIS rocks her back and
forth.
INT. THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE KITCHEN, WITH RACHEL
She is crying silently.
INT. ELLIE'S BEDROOM NIGHT
She is a dimly perceived hump in the darkness. An oblong shaft of
light falls on her, illuminating her more clearly. She's asleep
with her teddy encircled by one arm and her thumb corked into her
mouth.
INT. THE DOORWAY, WITH RACHEL
RACHEL looks at her daughter with infinite love and then quietly
closes the door.
INT. LOUIS'S AND RACHEL'S BEDROOM NIGHT
LOUIS is in his pajamas, propped up on pillows on his side of the
bed. There a number of medical books scattered around him and he's
making notes from one as RACHEL comes in.
RACHEL
She's finally asleep.
LOUIS
She was a little over-excited,
that's all. Poor kid.
RACHEL
It was that place. That creepy cemetery
up in the woods. Whatever disease the
kids in this town have got, I don't want
Ellie to catch it.
LOUIS
Jesus, Rachel, what's got into you?
RACHEL
Do you think I didn't hear her tonight,
crying as if her heart would break?
Here she is thinking Church is going to
die.
It should be clear to us by now that, despite her words, RACHEL is
much more upset than ELLIE was. LOUIS slowly puts his notebook
aside and caps his pen.
LOUIS
Rachel...someday Church is going to
die.
RACHEL (whirls on him)
That is hardly the point! Church is
not going to die today, or tomorrow--
Never mind. I can see you don't have
the slightest idea what I'm talking about.
She stalks to the bathroom, which adjoins. LOUIS follows. She goes
in and slams the door. He goes for the knob.
LOUIS
Rachel--!
SOUND: CLICK OF THE LOCK.
LOUIS stares at the door, bewildered and upset.
EXT. ROUTE 9 NIGHT
Here comes a big Orinco truck, droning along, headlights glaring.
INT. LOUIS'S AND RACHEL'S BEDROOM
The headlights of the truck illuminate the room and we see LOUIS
and RACHEL asleep, each as far over to his/her own side as he/she
can get, with a big empty space in the middle.
Lights and TRUCK SOUNDS slowly fade.
INT. GAGE MORNING
Cheerful little clots of scrambled eggs are scattered all the way
across the tray of his high-chair--it looks a little like a map of
the Pacific islands done by a guy who only had a yellow crayon.
Now he scoops up a handful and throws them.
INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE, WITH ELLIE
Splat! Eggs on the serving plate of toast.
ELLIE
Yee-uck! Gross!
INT. THE KITCHEN, A WIDER SHOT
RACHEL is at the sink, doing dishes (we see the blackboard with
its message near her).
LOUIS comes in, wearing a sport-coat and slacks, ready for his
first day on the job...and ELLIE is in a pretty first day of
school dress.
LOUIS
He can't help it, babe. Emily Post is
going to be beyond him for a few years.
INT. BY THE KITCHEN DOOR
Here is the cat-carrier with CHURCH inside it. He waows unhappily.
INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE, WITH ELLIE AND GAGE
ELLIE gets down and goes across to the cat-carrier.
ELLIE
I don't want him to get his nuts
cut, daddy! What if he dies?
INT. RACHEL AND LOUIS, BY THE SINK
LOUIS looks shocked and amused by ELLIE'S colorful choice of
words.
LOUIS
Good God! Where'd you hear that?
INT. ELLIE
ELLIE
Missy Dandridge. And she says it's a
operation!
INT. RACHEL AND LOUIS, BY THE SINK
LOUIS tries to kiss RACHEL'S mouth. She turns her head slightly so
he gets her cheek instead. She's still mad. LOUIS'S amusement
dies.
RACHEL
Honey, Church will be fine.
INT. ELLIE, BY THE CAT CARRIER
ELLIE
But what if he dies and has to
go to the Pet Sematary?
INT. LOUIS AND RACHEL, BY THE SINK
She gives him a look as if to say: "There! Now do you understand
what you did?"
RACHEL
Don't be silly. Church is not going
to die.
LOUIS
According to what Mr. Crandall says, the
road's a lot more dangerous than the
operation. Church will be just the same.
Well--almost the same--and we won't have
to worry about him getting turned into
catburgers by one of those damn Orinco
trucks.
At this RACHEL tightens up still more in that funny way--she's
actually angered by LOUIS'S reference to catburgers--but under the
anger we sense she is deeply shocked, as a prudish woman might be
shocked by a dirty joke. For RACHEL, that's just what death is.
RACHEL
That's enough of that kind of talk!
LOUIS
I just said--
RACHEL
I know what you just said. Ellie,
clear your place.
ELLIE goes slowly back to the table.
ELLIE (sets the plate down)
I'm scared. What if school here isn't
like in Chicago! I'm scared and I want
to go h-h-home!
ELLIE bursts into loud tears and puts her hands over her face.
INT. THE KITCHEN, A NEW ANGLE (FEATURES LOUIS AND RACHEL)
THE CAMERA FOLLOWS as they go to the table to comfort ELLIE.
RACHEL
You'll be fine, Ellie. Now you can be
excused. Go and wash your face.
LOUIS
And Church will be fine.
ELLIE (anxious)
Do you promise, Daddy?
LOUIS
Well, honey...you know that...
RACHEL
Don't shilly-shally, Louis. Give
the little girl her promise.
LOUIS (reluctantly)
Church will be fine. I promise.
ELLIE
Yayyyy!
She runs off, cheered up. And RACHEL is cheered up, too.
RACHEL
Thank you, Louis.
LOUIS
Oh, you're welcome. Only if some-
thing should go wrong while he's under
the gas--it's a one-in-a-thousand shot,
but it happens--you explain to her.
He gets up and leaves the table. She looks after him, stunned and
a little frightened.
INT. GAGE
GAGE (conversationally)
Here, Durch!
He picks up a large glob of scrambled eggs from his tray and
throws it in the direction of the cat-carrier.
INT. THE CAT-CARRIER
CHURCH is close to the mesh, looking out. Scrambled eggs hit the
mesh, driving him back, surprised.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE MORNING
The school bus pulls up, red lights flashing. ELLIE runs toward it
across the lawn, with her lunch-box.
EXT. LOUIS, RACHEL, AND GAGE, IN THE FRONT DOORWAY
RACHEL
Have a great day!
LOUIS grabs GAGE'S hand and makes him wave it.
GAGE
Bye-bye!
EXT. THE BUS
ELLIE climbs aboard. The red flashers go out and the bus pulls
away.
EXT. THE CREED DRIVEWAY MORNING
The station wagon is parked there. LOUIS comes out with a heavy
briefcase in one hand and the cat-carrier in the other. He opens
the wagon's doorgate.
A small car turns into the CREED driveway and parks beside LOUIS.
A rather sour-looking middle-aged woman gets out and crosses the
front of her car. Her color is bad. This is MISSY DANDRIDGE. She
looks at the cat-carrier.
MISSY
Gonna get his--
LOUIS
--nuts cut, yes. Thank you, Missy,
for introducing that colorful phrase
into my daughter's vocabulary.
MISSY
Don't mention it.
She opens the passenger side door of her car and we see a big neat
pile of folded sheets. She reaches for them, then winces and
presses her hands against her midriff for a moment, as if with an
attack of indigestion.
LOUIS (sees this)
How's that belly-ache of yours?
MISSY (gets the sheets)
No better and no worse.
LOUIS
You ought to see a doctor about it.
MISSY
It'll pass. They always do.
She starts toward the house with the sheets.
EXT. THE SIDE YARD MORNING
RACHEL hurries past MISSY, who turns to look and then goes on into
the house. LOUIS has just put the cat-carrier into the back of the
wagon and closed the doorgate as RACHEL reaches him.
RACHEL (anxious)
Still friends, doc?
LOUIS appears to consider this seriously for a moment...and then
he smiles and hugs her. They kiss.
RACHEL
Thank God. I was a little worried
there. Have a great first day at
school, doc. No broken bones.
LOUIS (smiles)
Not so much as a sprain.
EXT. VICTOR PASCOW AND FRIENDS MORNING
PASCOW is in a blanket that is being carried by three boys and one
girl. They are all yelling at each other not to joggle him, not to
drop him. A small knot of horrified college kids moves with the
bearers.
PASCOW'S head is upside down to the CAMERA, which retreats ahead
of the advancing students. Fixed eyes stare. Half of his head has
been shattered inward. Before the catastrophe he was a husky male
of about twenty. He's dressed in a U of M muscle shirt and red
jogging shorts.
THE CAMERA PULLS JERKILY TO ONE SIDE, allowing the bearers to
mount the steps of a brick building. The infirmary. The lookers-on
break to either side. The infirmary doors open.
EXT.. NURSE CHARLTON, AT THE DOORS
She's the head nurse, a tough old babe of about fifty.
CHARLTON
Holy Jesus.
(turns)
Steve! Steve! Dr. Creed! Dr. Creed,
we've got a mess here! Stat!
The bearers sweep past her and inside, leaving a red smear of
blood across the midriff of MARCY CHARLTON'S uniform.
INT. THE INFIRMARY RECEPTION AREA
THE CAMERA will show us all we need to see, but its movements will
seem almost random; this is like being in the hotel kitchen after
Sirhan shot Bobby.
As the students bring in PASCOW, LOUIS comes running, followed by
STEVE MASTERTON, his P.A. Standing to one side are two student
nurses in candystriper uniforms. They're boggled and horrified.
LOUIS kneels. THE CAMERA RUSHES FORWARD, shoving between
onlookers. LOUIS looks at the wound. There's shattered bone and
pulsing brain tissue beneath.
There's a scream; the girl who was carrying one corner of the
blanket is having hysterics.
GIRL
Vic! Vic! Oh Christ! Vic!
LOUIS (to CHARLTON)
Get her out. Get them all out.
CHARLTON puts her arms around the girl.
GIRL (struggling)
No! No! He can't die! He can't die!
THE CAMERA MOVES BACK DOWN as LOUIS takes an opthalmascope from
STEVE and shines it in PASCOW'S bulging, fixed eyes.
CHARLTON is just pushing the last of them gawkers and bearers out
the door.
LOUIS
Steve, get the ambulance over here
right now. He's got to go to EMMC.
STEVE
The ambulance is at Sonny's Sunoco
downtown, getting--
LOUIS
--a new muffler, oh shit--
PASCOW makes a weird gargling noise. Blood suddenly spurts out of
his mouth. He begins to seizure.
One of the candystripers shrieks. THE CAMERA JERKS UP TO COVER the
student nurses. One turns and throws up on the wall.
CHARLTON rushes over.
CANDYSTRIPER
I can't look at it...I can't stand it...
CHARLTON (slaps her)
Yes you by God can. Go get the hard
stretcher!
As they start away, one helping the other down the hall, and as
CHARLTON starts over to where PASCOW lies dying on his blanket,
THE CAMERA DROPS TO LOUIS AND STEVE.
LOUIS
Help me hold him.
They hold PASCOW'S spasming body.
STEVE
It wouldn't matter if we did have
the ambulance.
LOUIS
It wouldn't matter if we had the SST.
PASCOW begins to quiet.
LOUIS
He's going. Steve, go call the motor-
pool. Marcy, roll out the crash wagon.
CHARLTON
It won't--
LOUIS
I know it won't! But let's for God's
sake do it by the rules!
She leaves. LOUIS is alone with PASCOW. CHARLTON has drawn the
drapes, so the doctor and the dying man have complete if temporary
privacy.
INT. LOUIS AND PASCOW, A CLOSER SHOT
LOIS
There wasn't even supposed to be a
sprain today, my friend--that's what
I told her.
PASCOW'S fixed eyes suddenly roll and his left hand bear-traps
LOUIS'S right wrist. The dying man pulls him slowly but
relentlessly down, until their faces are only inches apart.
PASCOW
...Pet Sematary...
LOUIS recoils, breaking the grip of the hand...but he cannot quite
snap the grip of those bright dying eyes. Blood leaks from
PASCOW'S mouth.
LOUIS (whispers)
W-What did you say...?
PASCOW struggles hard to speak again. At first he can only gurgle.
PASCOW
It's not the real cemetery...
(Long pause) The soil of a man's
heart is stonier, Louis...a man
grows what he can...and tends it.
LOUIS leans forward again, terrified, yet needing to know.
LOUIS
How do you know my name?
PASCOW (gurgling)
I'll come...to you.
LOUIS grabs PASCOW'S bloody shoulder.
LOUIS (low but urgent)
Dammit, how do you know my name?
INT. HALLWAY ENTRANCE TO RECEPTION, WITH STEVE
STEVE
Louis, they're sending a--
INT. LOUIS AND PASCOW
PASCOW begins to spasm again.
LOUIS (snaps)
Help me!
PASCOW spews more blood as STEVE kneels beside LOUIS.
INT. THE MAIN INFIRMARY HALLWAY
CHARLTON is pushing along your basic MEDCU goodie-cart, covered
with emergency life-saving gear.
INT. LOUIS, STEVE, PASCOW
PASCOW'S spasms are weakening.
LOUIS (to CHARLTON)
Never mind. He's going.
PASCOW'S hand comes up and paws at LOUIS'S shirt, leaving a bloody
handprint. Then it falls limply back. PASCOW is dead.
LOUIS
Steve, will you get a sheet to cover
him with?
STEVE leaves the frame and LOUIS stares fixedly down at the body
of VICTOR PASCOW. He closes the eyes.
EXT. A COUNTRY ROAD, LATE AFTERNOON
It's the leading edge of Maine fall, sunny and wonderful. Here
comes LOUIS'S station wagon. As it reaches THE CAMERA, it swivels
to TRACK.
RADIO (voice-over)
Tragedy struck on the first day of the
University of Maine's fall semester
when Victor Pascow, a nineteen-year-old
sophomore--
INT. THE CAR, WITH LOUIS
He still looks shocked by the tragedy. The dying man's bloody
handprint is partly visible on LOUIS'S shirt in spite of his
sport-coat.
LOUIS abruptly turns off the radio and swerves over to the side of
the road.
EXT. THE STATION WAGON
IT comes to a slueing, shuddering stop, almost going in the ditch.
INT. LOUIS, BEHIND THE WHEEL
LOUIS
He said my name. I heard it. He
said my name.
He stares blankly through the windshield.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE NIGHT
All lights are off. It's late.
INT. THE CREED BEDROOM NIGHT
LOUIS and RACHEL are asleep, each on his/her own side of the big
double. THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON LOUIS.
SOUND: Loud, hollow BANG. It's very loud--loud enough to wake the
dead.
LOUIS sits up. Beside him, RACHEL sleeps on. LOUIS'S eyes widen in
terror as he stares at:
INT. THE DOORWAY, WITH PASCOW
He's exquisitely dead. Now pallid as well as smashed up.
PASCOW
Come on, doc. We got places to go.
INT. LOUIS
He is in terror...but he is also in a state of near-trance.
INT. PASCOW
PASCOW
Come on, doc--don't make me tell you
twice.
INT. LOUIS
He glances at RACHEL. Although PASCOW has spoken in a fairly loud
voice--and the opening door was like a bomb--she's still fast
asleep. LOUIS looks back toward PASCOW...and then gets out of bed.
He's naked except for a pair of pajama bottoms.
INT. PASCOW
He turns and leaves the doorway.
INT. LOUIS
He reaches the bedroom doorway himself and looks back at:
INT. THE BED, LOUIS'S POV
RACHEL is sleeping as before, and LOUIS himself is also in bed
asleep, although his rest is uneasy...as if he's having a bad
dream.
INT. THE DOORWAY, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS (relieved)
Oh. Thank God.
PASCOW (Voice)
Hurry up, doc.
INT. THE KITCHEN
LOUIS enters and crosses toward the door which gives on the
shed/garage. This door stands open. LOUIS pauses by it.
PASCOW (low)
Come on, doc...
LOUIS goes into:
INT. THE SHED/GARAGE
The station wagon is a dark hulk. LOUIS crosses to it and stands,
perplexed.
PASCOW looms softly behind him and puts an arm around him. LOUIS
turns... and suddenly his face is less than an inch from PASCOW'S
mutilated face.
PASCOW
Let's go, doc.
LOUIS (moans)
I don't like this dream.
PASCOW
Who said you were dreaming?
He begins to move toward the garage door. After a moment LOUIS
follows him.
EXT. THE FIELD BEHIND THE HOUSE, LONG NIGHT
We can see two shapes moving up the path toward the woods--PASCOW
and, behind him, LOUIS.
EXT. THE PET SEMATARY ARCH
CAMERA HOLDS, THEN PANS DOWN as LOUIS passes under the arch.
EXT. LOUIS, CLOSE
He looks around, obviously afraid.
EXT. THE PET SEMATARY, LOUIS'S POV
We can see why. By starlight this is one scary place.
EXT. LOUIS
He suddenly sees something else, and now his fear is close to
terror.
EXT. THE DEADFALL, LOUIS'S POV
The face is back in the tumbled branches. It yawns and snarls.
EXT. LOUIS
He walks toward the deadfall as if hypnotized. PASCOW'S hand falls
on his shoulder. LOUIS turns, terrified.
EXT. PASCOW, CLOSE
He really is a dreadful mangled mess.
PASCOW
This is the place where the dead speak.
EXT. LOUIS
He closes his eyes.
LOUIS
I want to wake up. I want to wake up,
that's all. I--
EXT. LOUIS AND PASCOW
PASCOW
The door must not be opened. The
barrier must not be crossed. Don't
go on, doc. No matter how much you
feel you have to. There's more
power here than you know.
He points at:
EXT. THE DEADFALL
That grinning face--and perhaps now there are other effects as
well, subtle but there? Dim red light? A misty smoke drifting
through the tumbled dead branches? The director will know.
After a moment there is a HUGE GRUNTING ROAR from the woods behind
the deadfall--it sounds like no animal we've ever heard before.
There is the sound of something huge shifting and snapping a tree
like a toothpick.
EXT. PASCOW AND LOUIS
LOUIS has crumbled to PASCOW'S feet. His eyes are squeezed tightly
shut.
LOUIS
Please, I want to wake up. Leave me
alone. It's not my fault you died; you
were as good as dead when they brought
you in--
PASCOW
The power of this place is old and
always restless. Sometimes the dead
do more than speak. Remember, doc.
CAMERA BEGINS MOVING SLOWLY IN ON LOUIS.
LOUIS
Leave me alone!
PASCOW
Remember.
CAMERA IS TIGHT ON LOUIS.
RADIO (voice)
--another beautiful day in Maine!
This is Michael O'Hara sayin' that
the git-go ain't gonna be that bad.
Temps are going all the way up to 70...
We got the Ramones for Ludlow...here's
"Sheena."
As the Ramones start blasting "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker":
INT. LOUIS, IN BED
His eyes snap open. He's in his own bedroom. As he sits up THE
CAMERA ANGLE WIDENS OUT so we can see that he's in bed alone; the
covers on RACHEL'S side are thrown back.
After the initial confusion and fear, LOUIS looks deeply relieved;
he looks the way I suppose we all look upon waking up and
realizing our worst dreams were only dreams after all.
RACHEL (calls)
You up, doc?
LOUIS
Getting there.
RACHEL
I got eggs down here!
LOUIS
Good d--
He throws the covers back and freezes.
INT. LOUIS'S FEET, LOUIS'S POV
They are covered with mud and pine needles. The sheets are greased
with woods-muck.
INT. LOUIS, CU
Utter terror.
INT. THE LAUNDRY CHUTE, CU
LOUIS'S hands enter the shot and dump a bundle of sheets into the
chute.
INT. LOUIS, IN THE UPSTAIRS HALL
He's naked but for a towel around his waist. He's obviously fresh
from the shower.
He starts down to the bedroom to dress.
BLACK. And on it a third title card: CHURCH.
Over this the SOUND of a RINGING TELEPHONE.
LOUIS (voice)
Hello?
INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM AFTERNOON
There's a bowling match on TV. LOUIS, dressed in his Saturday
afternoon grubs (jeans and a Maine sweatshirt), has the phone to
his ear.
JUD CRANDALL (phone filter)
Louis? 'Fraid you may have a spot of
trouble.
LOUIS (frowning)
Jud? What trouble?
INT. THE CRANDALL LIVING ROOM, WITH JUD
He's on the phone, looking out his window.
JUD
Did you tell me Rachel took the
kids back to Chicago for a few days?
INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS
For Ellie's birthday, yes. I didn't
go because her old man thinks I'm a
shit and the feeling is heartily re-
ciprocated...they'll be back tomorrow
night. Jud, what's this about?
INT. THE CRANDALL LIVING ROOM, WITH JUD
JUD
Well, there's a dead cat over here on
the edge of my lawn, Louis. I think it
might be your daughter's.
INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS
Church? Oh. Oh, Jesus.
EXT. THE CRANDALL HOUSE, MEDIUM-LONG
We're looking across from the CREED lawn. LOUIS waits for one of
those trucks to go blasting by and then crosses. It's cold and
windy. Downed autumn leaves fly.
LOUIS and JUD stand over a small furry body like mourners.
JUD (voice)
Well?
EXT. THE CAT'S BODY
It's lying on its belly and doesn't look much damaged. Hands--
LOUIS'S--come into the frame. He puts one hand under the cat's
head and lifts it so the open eyes, now a dull green, stare into
THE CAMERA. There's some blood on its ruff. That's all.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD, ON THE EDGE OF THE CRANDALL LAWN
LOUIS
It's Church.
JUD
I'm sorry. At least it don't look like
he suffered.
LOUIS
Ellie will, though. She'll suffer plenty.
From his jacket pocket he takes a green plastic garbage bag and
hands it to JUD. JUD holds the bag's mouth open on the ground
while LOUIS kind of shoves the body in. During this:
JUD
Loved that cat pretty well, didn't she?
LOUIS
Yes.
LOUIS twists the bag shut and puts one of those plastic ties on
it. Then he holds it up.
LOUIS
Bagged cat. What a mess.
JUD
You going to bury him in the Pet
Sematary?
LOUIS (a little bitter)
I guess that's what it's there for, huh?
During all of this JUD has grown peculiarly intense.
JUD
Going to tell Ellie?
LOUIS
I don't know.
JUD
Seems like you told me about a promise
you made--
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN MORNING
GAGE is in his high chair. ELLIE, in her first-day-of-school
dress, is in her place. LOUIS is sitting at his own place staring,
hypnotized, at the middle of the table, where there is a large
serving dish. On the dish is scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, and
CHURCH'S corpse--staring eyes, bloody ruff and all.
RACHEL (impatiently)
Don't shilly-shally, Louis. Give the
little girl her promise.
EXT. THE CRANDALL LAWN, WITH JUD AND LOUIS
LOUIS (defensive)
That was a mistake. But Rachel...
she doesn't like to talk about
death, or even think of it. Her
younger sister died of spinal
meningitis when Rachel was eight.
Rachel was there when it happened.
Alone. I guess you could say it
made a complex.
JUD
Cat's just as dead, Louis.
LOUIS (snaps)
Well that's a big help! (Pause) I'm
sorry, Jud.
JUD
No need to apologize.
LOUIS
Maybe when they call I'll just tell
Ellie I haven't seen the damn cat
around. You know?
JUD (after a long pause)
Maybe there's a better way.
EXT. THE START OF THE PATH TO THE PET SEMATARY, LONG EVENING
LOUIS and JUD cross the road from the CRANDALL side. LOUIS is
carrying the plastic bag in one hand and a flashlight in the
other. JUD has a pick and shovel in one hand and a flashlight of
his own in the other.
Evening shadows have grown long. It's maybe an hour until dark.
JUD and LOUIS stop near the replaced tire-swing.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
JUD has a Walkman clipped to the belt of his pants and earphones
slung around his neck.
LOUIS
Jud, this is crazy. It's going to
be almost dark before we get back.
JUD
It's going to be dark before we even
get where we're going, Louis. But
we can do it...and we're going to.
LOUIS
But--
JUD
Does she love the cat?
LOUIS
Yes, but--
JUD
Then come on.
He puts the earphones on, effectively forestalling further
argument, and pushes the PLAY button on the Walkman. We can hear
Marshall Crenshaw singing "Crystal Girl." JUD starts away. After a
moment, LOUIS follows.
EXT. THE PET SEMATARY AND THE BACK OF THE ARCH LATE EVENING
The SOUND of crickets...ree-ree-ree...
The SOUND of footfalls.
Faintly, the SOUND of Huey Lewis and the News, singing "Working
For A Living."
It's now almost twilight.
JUD and LOUIS enter the Pet Sematary. LOUIS is looking around
curiously.
LOUIS
Well, folks, here we are, in Louis
Creed Dreamland.
JUD snaps off the Walkman and puts the earphones around his neck
again.
JUD
What say, Louis?
LOUIS
Nothing. (Pause) Do we plant him on
the outer circle or start a new one?
JUD
We're still not where we're going.
He walks past LOUIS and toward the deadfall. LOUIS follows.
LOUIS
What do you mean?
JUD
The place we're going is on the
other side of that.
He points at the deadfall.
LOUIS
We can't climb over that. We'll break
our necks!
JUD
No. We won't. I have climbed it a time
or two before, and I know all the places
to step. Just follow me...move easy...don't
look down...and don't stop. If you stop,
you'll crash through for sure.
LOUIS
I'm not climbing that.
JUD
Give me the cat. I'll take care of it
myself.
He holds out his hand and LOUIS sees the old man means exactly as
he says. After a moment he says:
LOUIS
Let's go.
JUD starts up one side of the deadfall, and in spite of its
snarled tangles, he mounts as easily as a man climbing a flight of
stairs. After a few second, LOUIS follows.
LOUIS (low)
Thank God my Blue Cross is paid up.
EXT. THEIR FEET
First JUD'S pass THE CAMERA, then LOUIS'S, partly obscured by the
swinging cat-bag. Their feet unerringly find the right branches
and just as unerringly miss holes which look like ankle-breakers.
EXT. LOUIS
He's grinning, exhilarated.
LOUIS
God, this is amazing!
EXT. JUD
There are beads of sweat on the old man's face. He looks both
stern and a little scared.
JUD
Just don't stop and--
EXT. LOUIS
He looks down.
EXT. LOUIS'S FEET
A dead branch snaps under one of them like a gunshot and that foot
plunges down maybe six inches.
EXT. LOUIS
He lurches to the edge of balance, then regains it.
LOUIS
And don't look down. Right.
He continues.
EXT. THE DEADFALL, REVERSE TWILIGHT
JUD reaches the top and starts down the far side. LOUIS reaches
the top.
EXT. LOUIS
LOUIS (amazed)
Holy...!
EXT. BIG GOD WOODS, LOUIS'S POV
In the dying glow of twilight, this should be a mystic, awe-
inspiring shot. There's no more scrub underbrush and junk pines
and juniper-bracken here; ancient firs rise almost like Sequoias.
The sunset light shafts among them. This is a real forest... an
old forest. And winding upward among the trees along that needle-
carpeted floor, clearly marked by large white stones, the path
goes on.
EXT. LOUIS
He's stopped on top of the deadfall, still surveying all this with
frank amazement.
EXT. JUD
JUD (turns to look)
Come on, Louis--don't stop!
EXT. LOUIS, ATOP THE DEADFALL
LOUIS (grinning)
I'm all right! I'm f--
EXT. LOUIS'S FEET
One of the branches snaps. LOUIS'S foot plunges. His cuff rips.
EXT. LOUIS, JUD'S POV
We're looking up at a fairly steep angle as LOUIS staggers off-
balance. He steps with his other foot, misses, and goes flying.
EXT. LOUIS, CLOSER
He does a half-somersault in the air and hits the deadfall on his
back, the green garbage bag flying out of his hand. His flashlight
also goes. Branches crack. White dust puffs out from under him.
EXT. JUD, AT THE BASE OF THE DEADFALL
LOUIS thumps to the ground nearby. JUD kneels beside him.
JUD
Louis! You all right?
LOUIS sits up groggily. His pants are torn. His sweatshirt is
torn. His ankle is bleeding.
LOUIS (dazed)
Sure. I guess I just lost my happy
thoughts for a second there.
LOUIS gets slowly up and retrieves the bag, which is rather
shredded now--and we can see catfur through some of the rents.
LOUIS (continues)
I shouldn't have stopped...and it
does bite.
He whaps the flashlight against his palm a time or two and the
light comes on. Satisfied, he shuts it off.
JUD
No, you shouldn't have stopped. But
you got away with it. Important thing
is are you sure you're all right?
LOUIS
Yes. (Pause) Where are we going, Jud?
JUD
You'll see before long. Let's go.
He starts off up the path. After a moment LOUIS follows, carrying
the bag.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD, FROM THE DEADFALL
Again, there should be a sense of awe and mystery as they go
tolling up the path into the twilight, dwarfed by those ancient
firs.
SOUND OF CRICKETS, LOW at first, then UP TO LOUD: Ree-ree-ree...
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD, AT THE EDGE OF LITTLE GOD SWAMP TWILIGHT
Lots of undergrowth here, and creeping ground-mist, too. The SOUND
OF CRICKETS is now only a part of the soundtrack: BUZZ OF CICADAS,
THUMP OF FROGS. Swamp-sounds.
LOUIS looks frankly doubtful.
JUD
This next bit's like the deadfall, Louis--
you got to walk steady and easy. Just follow
me and don't look down.
EXT. LITTLE GOD SWAMP, LOUIS'S AND JUD'S POV DEEP TWILIGHT
Mysterious...awesome...scary. Dead trees poke out of the murk like
twisted hands. There's scummy water standing around tussocks
covered with long grass, most of it dead. There's a lot of choking
underbrush.
All of this fades away into a grim, obscuring fog.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD
JUD
Micmacs used to call it Little God Swamp.
LOUIS
Is there quicksand?
JUD
Ayuh.
LOUIS (nervous; joking)
Are there ghosts?
JUD looks at him expressionlessly.
JUD
Ayuh.
JUD starts off, stepping to the first tussock. After a moment,
LOUIS follows.
EXT. JUD, CU
His face is set, strange.
JUD
There's a lot of funny things down
this way, Louis.
EXT. LOUIS, BEHIND JUD
LOUIS
You're telling me.
EXT. JUD
JUD (still walking)
The air's heavier...more electrical...
something. You might see St. Elmo's
Fire...what the sailors call 'foo-lights.'
It makes funny shapes, but it's nothing.
EXT. LOUIS
HE looks up and his eyes widen as he sees:
EXT. ANGLE ON LITTLE GOD SWAMP, LOUIS'S POV
A faintly glowing, ethereal shape hangs in the branches of one of
the dead trees. It looks a bit like a corpse. In fact, I think it
looks quite a bit like PASCOW'S corpse.
As we watch it fades...fades...is gone.
EXT. LOUIS
He's somewhere between being mystified and puzzled and being
scared. Now a weakly glowing fireball rolls slowly across the
surface of the standing water toward him...and then just fades
into the thick mist.
LOUIS
It's funny, all right.
EXT. JUD
JUD
Just don't stop, Louis. You don't
ever want to stop down here in
Little God. (Pause) And you don't
ever want to look behind you,
whatever you hear.
EXT. JUD AND LOUIS, LONG ANGLE NIGHT
We see them moving through the mist like wraiths, JUD with his
digging tools, LOUIS with his light and his Hefty-Bag coffin. The
whole swamp is glowing dimly.
EXT. THE FAR SIDE OF LITTLE GOD SWAMP NIGHT
In the extreme f.g. we can see firm ground sloping up. Ahead is a
thick white mist. And here comes JUD and LOUIS slogging through it
and out of it. Both of them are wet from the knees down. They head
into the woods on the far side.
EXT. A LOW, STONY BLUFF OR STEEP HILL
In the book this is described as being almost a cliff, but a rocky
hill rising out of the woods would serve just as well. We can see
steps cut into the side, and two figures--LOUIS and JUD--toiling
up them.
EXT. JUD AND LOUIS, A CLOSER SHOT
JUD'S panting and out of breath; LOUIS is, if anything, in worse
shape.
JUD
Almost there, Louis.
LOUIS
You keep saying that.
JUD
This time I mean it.
He tops the last step and stands on a rocky level under the stars,
the wind blowing his hair off his deeply lined brow. A few moments
later LOUIS joins him and stares with undisguised wonder.
EXT. THE MICMAC BURYING GROUND, LOUIS AND JUD'S POV
The top of this hill or bluff is rocky and bare, but there are a
number of rocky piles. But for every pile of rocks we can see,
there are ten littered heaps, as if the neat piles had been burst
apart. There's a shape to all of this, and it is the shape of the
Pet Sematary: concentric circles.
SOUND: The wind, blowing ceaselessly.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD, AT THE EDGE OF THE BURYING GROUND
LOUIS (awed)
What is this place?
JUD
This was their burying ground, Louis.
LOUIS
Whose burying ground?
JUD
The Micmac Indians. I brought you here
to bury Ellen's cat.
LOUIS
Why? For God's sake, why?
JUD
I had my reasons, Louis. We'll talk later.
All right?
LOUIS
I guess so...but...
JUD
You want to rest a bit before you start?
LOUIS
No, I'm okay. Will I really be able to
dig him a grave? The soil looks thin.
JUD
Soil's thin, all right. But you'll manage.
He hands him the pick and shovel.
JUD
I'm going to sit over yonder and have a
smoke. I'd help you, but you've got to
do it yourself. Each buries his own.
That's how it was done then.
JUD walks away, leaving LOUIS with the digging tools in one hand
and the flashlight in the other. After a minute, LOUIS walks out
into the burying ground.
EXT. LOOKING DOWN INTO A SHALLOW HOLE NIGHT
SOUND: The wind. It blows ceaselessly up here.
The hole's about two and a half feet deep. Stubby rocks protrude
from the sides. The pick comes down, hits a rock at the bottom,
and flashes fire.
EXT. LOUIS
He drops the pick and sticks his hurt hands in his armpits. Beside
him we see a low pile of rocks and earth.
JUD (voice)
Should be deep enough.
He joins LOUIS. He's got a lot of rocks in his arms.
LOUIS
You think so?
He notices the rocks.
LOUIS
What are those for?
JUD
Your cairn.
EXT. THE MICMAC BURYING GROUND, LOUIS'S POV
Those tumbled piles of rock are very obvious.
EXT. LOUIS AND JUD, BY CHURCH'S GRAVE
LOUIS
Doesn't look like they last long.
JUD
Don't worry about that.
LOUIS
Jud, why am I doing all this?
JUD
Because it's right.
He walks off again.
LOUIS looks after him for a moment, then kneels down.
EXT. LOUIS, BY THE GARBAGE BAG
He opens it and looks in at CHURCH'S stiffening corpse.
LOUIS
Pax vobiscum, Church old buddy. You
were a hell of a god cat. I doubt if
you were worth all this aggravation,
but you were a hell of a good cat.
He tumbles the bag containing the body into the grave, and then
begins pushing the stony soil over it with the spade.
EXT. THE CAIRN, CU NIGHT
LOUIS'S hands come into the frame and add a final two or three
stones.
EXT. LOUIS, BY THE CAIRN
He looks at it for a moment and stands up. JUD is right there.
JUD
That's fine. You did real good.
LOUIS looks at him.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE NIGHT
There's a light on in the kitchen, but that's all. There's silence
at first, and then the PHONE STARTS RINGING.
EXT. LOUIS'S FIELD NIGHT
LOUIS and JUD are coming down the path with their tools and their
lights. They are both clearly fagged out.
SOUND, FAINT: The telephone.
LOUIS
Oh, shit! Rachel!
He drops the tools and sprints.
EXT. THE CREED'S SIDE YARD, BY THE TIRE SWING
LOUIS runs into the side yard. SOUND of the phone is louder.
EXT. THE KITCHEN DOOR OF THE CREED HOUSE, WITH LOUIS
He runs to the door and inside.
EXT. THE END OF THE PATH, WITH JUD
He stands there, eyes inscrutable.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM, WITH THE PHONE
It stops. A beat later LOUIS enters the room. He picks it up,
although he already knows it's too late. He listens to the SOUND
of the dial tone and then drops it back into the cradle,
disgusted.
He starts to dial a number from memory.
JUD (voice)
Louis.
INT. THE KITCHEN/LIVING ROOM DOORWAY, WITH JUD
JUD
When you talk to 'em, not one word
about what we done tonight. 'S'far's
you know, the cat's still fine.
INT. LOUIS, BY THE PHONE
After a moment he lowers it into the cradle.
INT. JUD
JUD
You'll understand. In the meantime,
keep your peace. What we did, Louis,
was a secret thing. Women are supposed
to be the ones who are good at
keeping secrets, but any woman who
knows anything at all would tell you
she's never seen into a man's heart.
The soil of a man's heart is stonier,
Louis--like the soil up there in the
old Micmac burying ground. A man
grows what he can...and tends it.
During this, he's come across the room to LOUIS and dropped his
hand on LOUIS'S shoulder.
LOUIS
But--
JUD
No buts! Accept what's done, Louis.
What we done was right. Another time
it might not be, but tonight it was...
at least I hope to Christ it was. Now
you make your call...but not a word
about tonight.
EXT. THE ROAD, WITH JUD
SOUNDS: Boops and beeps of a touch-tone telephone. Ringing. Then:
DORY GOLDMAN (voice)
Goldman residence.
LOUIS
Hi, Dory...it's Louis--
During this, another SOUND has been growing: an approaching truck.
As JUD gains his side of the road, he looks back, and we read fear
on his face--no matter what he said to LOUIS, he's sorry for
tonight's piece of work.
A moment later a highballing Orinco truck cuts between THE CAMERA
and JUD.
INT. LOUIS, IN THE LIVING ROOM NIGHT
He's on the phone, smiling and happy.
RACHEL (voice)
You want to talk to the birthday girl?
LOUIS
That'd be real fine.
ELLIE (voice)
Hi...daddy?
LOUIS (sings)
Happy birthday to you/Happy birthday
to you/Happy birthday, dear Ellie/Happy
birthday to you!
ELLIE (voice)
That was awful, daddy.
LOUIS
Yeah, I know...how are things out
there in Chicagoland?
ELLIE
Fine...except when Mom was airing
Gage's diaper rash, he walked away and
got into Grampa's study and pooped in
Grampa's favorite chair.
LOUIS (grinning broadly)
Way to go, Gage!
ELLIE (voice)
What?
LOUIS
I said that's too bad. What did you
get for presents from Gramma and Grampa?
ELLIE (voice)
Lots of stuff! I got two dresses...and
a Chatty Cathy doll...
INT. THE GOLDMAN LIVING ROOM, WITH ELLIE
She's dressed for bed, in fuzzy pink pajamas. Her Chatty Cathy is
crooked in one arm. In her lap is a Garfield transistor radio.
ELLIE
...and a Garfield radio! How's Church,
dad? Does he miss me?
INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS
The smile fades off his face. It's replaced with a look of
combined guilt and unhappiness. He's looking at his hands, which
are still dark with the dirt from CHURCH'S grave.
LOUIS
Well...I guess he's just fine, Ellie.
I haven't seen him this evening, but--
INT. THE GOLDMAN LIVING ROOM, WITH ELLIE
RACHEL, holding GAGE, sits on the arm of ELLIE'S chair.
ELLIE
Well, make sure you put him down
cellar before you go to bed so he
can't run out in the road and get
greased. And kiss him goodnight for me.
LOUIS (voice)
Yuck! Kiss your own cat!
ELLIE
Want to talk to Gage?
Before he can answer, she puts the phone in GAGE'S hand. ELLIE and
RACHEL watch, amused, as GAGE gobbles into it. Perhaps RACHEL
encourages him to say a few words.
INT. THE CREED LVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS
From the telephone comes the sound of GAGE talking and chortling.
LOUIS is not listening. His eyes--and his mind--are far away.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE MORNING
LOUIS is raking leaves on the side lawn, near the tree with the
tire swing. After a moment or two of this he props the rake
against the tree and starts toward the garage. He goes in.
EXT. THE GARAGE, WITH LOUIS
It's dim in here. LOUIS is crossing to the door which communicates
to the kitchen. As he passes the station wagon, he hears a cat
HISS. He turns.
INT. CHURCH, ECU
He's on top of the car, but at this point we probably don't
notice; THE CAMERA is so close that CHURCH looks like he's coming
right down our throats. He's hissing angrily.
INT. LOUIS
He recoils and stumbles backward with a cry. He hits a tool-rack
on the wall and a lot of them fall down with a LOUD JANGLING
NOISE.
INT. ON TOP OF THE STATION WAGON, WITH CHURCH
He jumps down, frightened by the noise, and the CAMERA TRACKS as
he goes flying out the garage door into the sunlight.
INT. LOUIS
He gets slowly to his feet again. He's getting over his fright but
we can see he's totally freaked out by what gave him that fright.
He goes to the garage door and looks out.
LOUIS (calls)
Church?
EXT. THE SIDE YARD, LOUIS'S POV
Grass and fallen leaves. No sign of CHURCH.
EXT. LOUIS'S STUNNED FACE, CU
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS
He's spooning cat-food into a dish. He goes to the door--there
should be a total of three doors in the kitchen: one to the living
room, one to the shed/garage, and one which leads directly
outside. LOUIS uses this latter door now.
EXT. THE KITCHEN STOOP, WITH LOUIS
He puts the dish of food down and sits beside it.
LOUIS
Food, Church...food!
SOUND: Miaow.
EXT. THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE, LOUIS'S POV
CHURCH comes slinking out of the bushes and comes slowly toward
THE CAMERA. He stops, looking mistrustful.
EXT. LOUIS
LOUIS
Come on, Church! Chow down!
EXT. CHURCH
He crosses to the stoop and begins eating the food.
LOUIS (to himself)
Christ. I don't believe this.
He picks CHURCH up. CHURCH miaows again--he wants the food.
LOUIS (wincing)
God, you stink, Church.
CHURCH is looking at the food, trying to get out of LOUIS'S arms.
LOUIS
In a second.
He tilts the cat's head back so he can get a look at CHURCH'S
neck.
EXT. CHURCH'S NECK, CU (LOUIS'S POV)
There's some sort of mark here--a clear remnant of the crash. A
line of white fur, or perhaps a dark red scar where no fur at all
grows.
EXT. LOUIS AND CHURCH, ON THE STOOP
LOUIS sees something else as he lets the cat's neck go. He tweezes
something out of CHURCH'S whiskers.
EXT. LOUIS'S HAND, ECU
It's a shred of green plastic.
EXT. LOUIS AND CHURCH
LOUIS
Chewed his way out. Jesus Baldheaded
Christ, he ch--
CHURCH suddenly claws at his face.
LOUIS
Ow!
He claps his hand to his face. CHURCH leaps for the food. LOUIS
slowly takes his hand away. There are claw marks on his cheek,
welling blood. He looks at the cat.
EXT. JUD CRANDALL'S GARDEN, WITH JUD
The garden is a plot of about half an acre. JUD comes trundling
slowly along a row, pushing a wheelbarrow. There are several
pumpkins in it. JUD is wearing old khaki gardening pants and a
Ramones sweatshirt. He's wearing his headphones and we can hear
the Romantics doing "What I Like About You." JUD is singing along
and bopping a little--as much as his arthritis will allow, if you
can dig it.
He sees a real big pumpkin, stops, and bends over to get it.
He takes out his pocket-knife and slits the pumpkin-vine. He gets
the pumpkin in his arms and stands up. He turns...and LOUIS is
right there (kind of a cheap jump, but always fun), looking
totally stunned.
JUD, startled, drops the pumpkin. LOUIS reaches out and slides the
phones off JUD'S ears.
LOUIS
What did we do?
INT. THE CRANDALL KITCHEN
LOUIS is sitting at the kitchen table. JUD is at the fridge. JUD
comes back with a couple of long-necked bottles of beer and opens
them.
JUD
I most generally don't start before
noon, but this looks like an exception.
LOUIS
What did we do, Jud?
JUD
Why, saved a little girl from being
unhappy...that's all. Drink up, Louis!
LOUIS drinks about half the beer.
LOUIS
I tried to tell myself I buried him
alive. You know--Edgar Allan Poe meets
Felix the Cat. But...
JUD
Wouldn't wash?
LOUIS
No. I'm a doctor. I know death when I
see it, and Church was dead. He smells
horrible and he uses his claws, but
he's alive...and I feel like I'm going
crazy. It was that place, wasn't it?
JUD
Ayuh. It was the rag-man told me about
the place--Stanley Bouchard. Us kids
just called him Stanny B. He was half
Micmac himself.
LOUIS drains his beer.
LOUIS
Can I have another one?
JUD
I guess it wouldn't hurt.
He gets up and goes to the fridge.
INT. JUD, AT THE FRIDGE
JUD
The Micmacs used to bury their dead
up there long before the whites came.
He returns to the table with the beer.
JUD
They buried their dead and for a long
time their dead stayed buried. Then
something happened. Half the tribe died
in a season. The rest moved on. They
said a Wendigo had soured the ground.
LOUIS
Wendigo?
JUD
Spirit of the north country. Not a good
spirit. Wendigos are great liars and
tricksters, according to the stories.
And if one touches you...
JUD pauses, perhaps a flustered, and gathers his thoughts.
JUD
Maybe it really was a Wendigo--
I ain't the one to say it wasn't--
or maybe it was just some disease.
Whatever the reason, those that were
left moved on. But they left that
place...the way it is now.
JUD shrugs, and drinks.
EXT. JUD AS A BOY, CU/SEPIA TONE DAY
The time here is about 1910. JUD is wearing short pants. He's
crying, not in any big-deal histrionic way, but as if he means to
keep doing it for a long time. I mean he looks really sad.
JUD (voice)
I loved my dog a lot, Louis. When Spot
died, I thought I was gonna die.
JUD is sitting on the front stoop. It's the same house JUD lives
in now, but the porch hasn't been added yet, and the road is dirt
rather than tar.
Along this road comes a horse-drawn wagon--STANNY B.'S wagon. The
wagon's full of junk, rags, bottles...stuff to sell and swap.
Strung across the top are bells, and we can hear their CHIMING
SOUND...but faint, like bells heard in a dream.
STANNY B. is old and drunk. Dust spumes up behind the wagon as he
draws up to the CRANDALL house and stops. He gets down, almost
falls, takes a bottle out of his back pocket, drinks, and
approaches JUD. We can see him speaking.
INT. JUD'S KITCHEN, WITH JUD AND LOUIS
LOUIS
You and this old Indian rag-man--
JUD
Stanny B. did for me what I did for
you last night, Louis. Only I wasn't
alone when Spot came back.
EXT. THE CRANDALL BACK YARD/SEPIA TONE DAY
JUD'S MOTHER is back to THE CAMERA, hanging sheets on the line.
The sheets billow. And suddenly, pushing out from behind them,
quite near her, is a small mongrel dog. SPOT. He's covered with
graveyard dirt. His eyes are red and rolling. He splashes the
sheets with the muck of his passage.
JUD (voice)
My mother was with me.
She sees who it is--what it is--and backs away, screaming,
horrified.
EXT. SPOT, CLOSER/SEPIA
JUD (voice)
He'd got caught in bobwire that infected.
You could still see the marks on him.
And so we can, around his neck and along the side of his head.
These marks are the counterpart of the marks we've already seen on
CHURCH.
SOUND of JUD'S MOM SCREAMING. Like the bells, these are screams
heard in a dream.
EXT. THE BACK STOOP OF THE CRANDALL HOUSE/SEPIA
The BOY JUD comes running out, dressed in a night-shirt.
EXT. JUD'S MOM/SEPIA (JUD'S POV)
She's cringing against the fence at the rear of the yard. SPOT
stands in front of her, swaying from side to side, as if doped.
JUD'S MOM (dim; far)
Get your dog, Jud! He stinks of the
ground you buried him in! Come here
and get your dog!
She is in utter terror.
EXT. THE BOY JUD/SEPIA
Horrified...ashamed.
EXT. JUD'S MOM/SEPIA
JUD'S MOM (terror)
COME AND GET YOUR DOG!!
INT. JUD AND LOUIS, IN JUD'S KITCHEN
LOUIS
How did your mother take it, Jud?
How did she take it when your dog
came back from the dead?
JUD'S face is a complication. He's lying to LOUIS, certainly--but
is he also lying to himself? Yes, I think so.
JUD
Well, she was a little upset at first,
and that's why I thought you ought to
hold your peace when you talked to
your people last night...you did, didn't
you, Louis?
LOUIS
Yes.
JUD
Why, then, things should be fine.
LOUIS
A little upset is all she was? Because
I'll tell you, Jud, my brains feel a
little like a nuclear reactor on the
edge of a meltdown.
JUD
She got used to the idea. Spot lived
another four years. He died peacefully
in the night that second time, and I
buried him in the Pet Sematary...where
his bones still lie.
EXT. THE ROAD BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES, WITH LOUIS AND JUD
We see them crossing.
LOUIS (voice)
You still haven't told me why you
did it.
EXT. JUD AND LOUIS, ON THE CREED FRONT LAWN
JUD
A man doesn't always know why he does
things, Louis. I think I did it because
your daughter ain't ready for her
favorite pet to die.
LOUIS
What?
JUD
Ellie's a little scared of death. And
the main reason Ellie's that way is
because your wife is a lot scared of
death. Now you just go ahead and tell
me I'm wrong.
But LOUIS'S reaction tells him he's not wrong--in fact, JUD has
hit the nail right on the head.
INT. BATHTUB FIXTURES, CU
LOUIS'S hands come into the frame and turn the spigots.
INT. THE BATHROOM, WITH LOUIS
He starts to undress, still looking troubled. We should notice
that the door behind him is firmly shut. The bathroom has no
windows.
INT. THE BATHTUB SPIGOTS
The hot water is steaming. LOUIS'S hands enter the frame and turn
off the faucets. SOUND of LOUIS climbing in.
INT. LOUIS IN THE TUB
A big sigh and an expression of exquisite pleasure. He relaxes in
the hot water. After a few moments he puts a wet washcloth over
his face.
INT. BY THE KITCHEN SINK, WITH RACHEL
RACHEL
Don't shilly-shally, Louis. Give
the little girl her promise.
INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE
GAGE is in his high chair. ELLIE is at her place, crying. In
RACHEL'S place sits VICTOR PASCOW, bloody and wrecked. LOUIS sits
in his place. On the platter of bacon and scrambled eggs is
CHURCH'S mangled body.
PASCOW
The door must not be opened. The
barrier must not be crossed.
LOUIS
You don't understand--
INT. THE BATHTUB, WITH LOUIS
The washrag is slipping, but it still covers his face.
LOUIS (mutters)
--I'm a doctor.
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN TABLE
In attendance: PASCOW, LOUIS, ELLIE, GAGE in his high chair. Lying
in the middle of the table, clotted with dirt and blood, eyes
staring, neck a gory mess of infected wounds, is SPOT. He's also
dotted with clots of scrambled egg and bits of bacon.
PASCOW
Sometimes the dead do more than speak.
Remember, doc.
INT. RACHEL, AT THE KITCHEN SINK
RACHEL (with great force)
Don't shilly-shally, Louis. Promise me.
Promise me. Promise me.
INT. THE BATHTUB, WITH LOUIS
The washcloth has slipped enough so we can see his eyes are
closed--he's dozing.
LOUIS
Promise...
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN TABLE
To LOUIS, ELLIE, PASCOW, GAGE, and the corpse of SPOT enters JUD,
his eyes shocked and staring.
JUD (to LOUIS)
You do it for all the best reasons,
but that ain't why. You do it because
it gets hold of you...you do it
because you have to.
INT. LOUIS, IN THE BATHTUB, CU
The washrag has worked its way down to his mouth by now. His doze
is deepening; he's started to snore a little.
SOUND: A splash. Something has been dropped into the bath.
LOUIS opens his eyes. Looks puzzled. Looks down. Eyes widen in
shock.
INT. THE BATHWATER, LOUIS'S POV
A very large and very mangled dead rat floats in the bath,
actually brushing against LOUIS'S chest. Blood has begun to stain
the water.
INT. LOUIS
Turns his head, preparatory to leaping out.
INT. THE TOILET LID, WITH CHURCH
Its mouth yawns open. It hisses, showing bloodstained teeth.
INT. THE BATHROOM
LOUIS leaps from the tub. Grabs a towel and begins to rub himself
frantically. He's grossed out. The cat tries to arch against him
and he hits it. CHURCH falls to the floor, hissing.
LOUIS looks at the closed door.
LOUIS
How the hell did you get in?
He may not know that, but he knows how it's going to get out. He
opens the door to the upstairs hall. If CHURCH doesn't go at once,
LOUIS helps it with his foot.
Then he looks down at:
INT. THE BATHTUB WITH BRER RAT, LOUIS'S POV
INT. LOUIS
Staring at the rat. Over this: THE SOUND OF JET ENGINES.
EXT. A DELTA 727
Its landing gear unfolds preparatory to touching down at Bangor
International Airport.
INT. A DEPLANING AREA DAY
Lots of people making their way up the jetway.
INT. LOUIS, OUTSIDE THE SECURITY POINT
He's looking anxiously for his people. In one hand he's got half a
dozen roses. His face lights up.
INT. THE DEPLANING AREA, LOUIS'S POV
Here comes LOUIS'S family. ELLIE is a little ahead. RACHEL is
pushing GAGE in his stroller. ELLIE sees LOUIS and lights up.
ELLIE
Daddy!
She runs for him.
INT. JUST OUTSIDE THE SECURITY POINT
ELLIE comes belting up to LOUIS, weaving among the deplanees like
a slalom skier. She leaps into his arms. LOUIS swings her
cheerfully.
LOUIS
Hi, sugar!
She smacks him noisily. He smacks her back just as noisily.
ELLIE
Daddy, is Church all right?
LOUIS'S face changes. All at once he's watchful.
LOUIS
Yes...I guess so. He was sleeping
on the front porch when I left.
ELLIE
Cause I had a bad dream about him.
I dreamed he got hit by a car and
you and Mr. Crandall buried him in
the Pet Sematary.
LOUIS (trying to smile)
That was a silly dream, wasn't it?
ELLIE
Is he really all right?
LOUIS
Yes.
ELLIE
Because you promised.
LOUIS
I know.
RACHEL reaches them. She's pretty tired. Hair hanging in her face,
good travelling clothes now looking a bit wrinkled and a bit
stale.
RACHEL
Want to take your son, doc?
LOUIS does. GAGE is ecstatic.
LOUIS kisses RACHEL deeply.
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN, NIGHT
CHURCH at the door, waiting to be let out. ELLIE does the honors.
CHURCH oils out into the shed/garage. ELLIE closes the door. She
looks distressed. She crosses the kitchen again.
INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM, NIGHT
RACHEL, in a flannel nightgown, is watching TV. LOUIS is reading a
medical tome and making notes. GAGE, zipped into a warm blanket
suit, is sacking on the couch.
ELLIE (entering)
Can cats have shampoos?
RACHEL
Yes--you have to take them to someone
who grooms animals, though. I think
it's pretty expensive.
ELLIE (still upset)
I don't care. I'll save up my allowance
and pay for it. Church smells bad.
LOUIS
I've noticed it, too. I'll cough up
the money, Ellen.
ELLIE
I hate that smell.
INT. LOUIS, CU
He looks both grim and sad--a man discovering that what you pay
for you own, and what you own always comes home to you.
LOUIS
Yes--I hate it, too.
BLACK. And on it, a fourth title card: MISSY DANDRIDGE.
SOUND: A pen scratching over paper.
INT. A STUDY DESK, CU
A single sheet of lined paper is spotlighted by the glow of the
desk-lamp. On it, MISSY'S right hand is just finishing: "Dr. says
Intestinal Cancer. Cannot face this Pain. Sorry."
The hand puts the pen down. It tears the paper in two, leaving
just the half with the message.
INT. THE DANDRIDGE CELLAR, NIGHT
A light comes on and we see a hangman's noose strung over a beam.
It dangles above a kitchen table which has been relegated to
cellar duty.
SOUND: Descending footsteps.
INT. THE NOOSE, CU
SOUND of MISSY climbing onto the table.
Her face enters the frame. She looks very sick. She puts her head
into the noose and rakes it tight at the hyoid bone.
EXT. THE DANDRIDGE HOUSE, NIGHT
One light on...a cellar light.
SOUND: Ree-ree-ree...then...
SOUND: Kick! THUMP!
SOUND: Ree-ree-ree...
INT. THE CELLAR, WITH MISSY DANDRIDGE
She hangs limply, hands dangling at her sides, above the table,
which now lies upon its side. We can see the note clearly. She
pinned it to the bodice of her housedress.
SOUND: Car engines starting up.
EXT. IN FRONT OF THE GRACE METHODIST CHURCH DAY
People are coming out and getting into their cars and turning on
the headlights, even though it is only mid-morning.
In the immediate f.g. is a hearse. Four pallbearers are loading a
coffin into it.
EXT. LOUIS AND ELLIE, ON THE CHURCH STEPS
ELLIE
They're all turning on their lights!
Daddy, why are they all turning on
their lights in the middle of the day?
JUD, dressed in a rusty old black suit and a black tie, comes out
and stands with them. He looks haggard and old.
JUD
They do it to honor the dead, Ellen.
ELLIE
Is that right, dad?
LOUIS
Yes. To honor the dead.
EXT. THE CHURCH PARKING AREA
More cars start up; more lights come on; the back doors of the
hearse swing closed.
EXT. LUDLOW CEMETARY DAY
[NOTE: In the book LOUIS finds it difficult to enter at night
because of a high iron fence. Here we should see there's no such
problem; there's only a low stone wall between the graveyard and
the public road.]
The mourners are of course gathered around the grave of MISSY
DANDRIDGE. The coffin rests above it on runners.
MINISTER (voice)
May the Lord bless you and keep you;
may the Lord make his face to shine
upon you, and comfort you, and lift
you up, and give you peace. Amen.
EXT. LOUIS, ELLIE, JUD
As the mourners begin to break up, these three start back toward
LOUIS'S car.
JUD
Rachel not feeling well?
LOUIS
Well...a touch of the flu...
ELLIE
She's in bed. She was throwing up.
Ever since Mrs. Rogers called and said
Missy--
LOUIS
That's enough, Ellen.
They've reached the CREED station wagon.
JUD
Out of the mouths of babes, Louis.
LOUIS
This babe has said enough.
He opens the front passenger door.
LOUIS
Hop in, Ellie.
She does, and LOUIS closes the door.
JUD
Poor Missy. God, I was sorry to
hear. I remember when she was
no older'n Ellen there, walking down
to the store with her Raggedy Anne
doll draggin' behind her in the dust.
I don't know why God takes someone
like her, who should have a bunch of
years still in front of them, and lets
an old shit like me just go on and on.
LOUIS
My father used to have a saying, Jud--
"God sees the truth, but waits."
JUD
Ayuh...how is your cat, Louis?
LOUIS
It's Ellie's cat.
JUD
Nope. He's your cat now.
JUD opens one of the back doors as LOUIS goes around to the
driver's side.
INT. THE BACK SEAT OF THE WAGON
JUD has tilted over in one corner and is snoring. His Walkman
'phones are on and we can hear the tinny sounds of Billy Idol. A
little old man's drool trickles down from one corner of his mouth.
SOUND: ELLEN< crying.
INT. THE FRONT OF THE WAGON, WITH LOUIS AND ELLIE
Tears are spilling freely down ELLIE'S face.
LOUIS
Ellie? What's wrong?
ELLIE
No more chocolate chip cookies.
LOUIS
Huh?
ELLIE
Missy made the best chocolate chip
cookies in the world--even Mom said
so. Now there won't be any more
because she's gonna be dead forever!
She cries harder. LOUIS reaches out and strokes her hair.
EXT. THE STATION WAGON, DAY
Moving up the country road toward home through blazing fall
foliage.
INT. TV SCREEN, CU NIGHT
On it is a scene from "Night of the Living Dead."
NEWSCASTER
Bizarre as it may seem, it now seems
almost beyond doubt: the dead are
returning to eat the living.
ELLIE (voice)
Daddy?
INT. THE CREED LIVING ROOM NIGHT
There's a VCR on top of the TV; LOUIS has been watching "Night."
Now he quickly uses the remote control to shut down the TV.
She's dressed for bed, and comes toward him slowly.
LOUIS
What's up, sugar?
ELLIE
Daddy, do you think Missy Dandridge
went to heaven?
LOUIS
What?
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH RACHEL
She's putting away the last of the supper things. She hears this
and moves toward the living room door to listen. She doesn't look
at all well. Her eyes are red from crying and her face is haggard.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM, WITH LOUIS AND ELLIE
She's gotten up into his lap.
ELLIE
At school Michael McDowell said she was
gonna fry in hell. Michael McDowell says
all sewersides fry in hell.
LOUIS
Well, I think Michael McDowell is so full
of shit he probably squeaks when he walks,
my dear.
INT. RACHEL, AT THE DOOR
She smiles a little at this.
INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE, IN THE LIVING ROOM
LOUIS
But don't you dare say that.
ELLIE
I won't...is Missy in heaven, do you
think?
LOUIS
I don't know, honey. Different people
believe all sorts of different things
happen to us when we die. Some believe
in heaven or hell. Some think we're
born again as little children--
ELLIE
Sure, carnation. Like in that movie
you rented, Audrey Rose.
LOUIS
Well, it's actually reincarnation, but
you get the idea. And some people think
we just wink out...like a candle flame
when the wind blows hard.
ELLIE
Do you believe that?
LOUIS looks toward:
INT. THE LIVING ROOM SOFA, WITH CHURCH, LOUIS'S POV
CHURCH is sleeping.
INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE
LOUIS
I think we go on. I'm not sure
what happens after we die, but yeah--
I have faith in that.
ELLIE
You believe in it.
LOUIS
Oh, faith's a little more than just
believing.
INT. RACHEL, AT THE KITCHEN DOOR
Listening intently.
INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE
LOUIS (continues)
I'll tell you what faith is--it's the
evidence of the heart; the assurance
of things not seen.
ELLIE
I don't get it.
LOUIS
Well, here we are, sitting in my
chair. Do you think my chair will
be here tomorrow?
ELLIE
Yeah, sure.
LOUIS
Then you have faith in that. But
we don't know it will be; after all,
some crazed chair-burglar might break
in while we're away and steal it, right?
ELLIE'S giggling.
INT. RACHEL, AT THE DOOR
She's smiling, too...but tears are running down her cheeks.
INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE
LOUIS
But we plan on that chair. We believe
in that chair. And I plan on going on
somehow as Louis Creed, after I die.
I believe I will.
ELLIE (awed)
You have faith in that.
LOUIS
Yes ma'am. Just like I have faith that
it is now time for Ellen Creed to get
ready for bed. So buzz.
He gets her off his lap.
ELLIE
I'm not tired!
LOUIS
I'm sure you're not.
ELLIE
Then why do I have to go to bed?
LOUIS
Because your mother and I need
the rest, sugar. Now buzz.
She heads toward the stairs.
INT. LOUIS AND RACHEL'S BEDROOM
LOUIS is in bed, reading. RACHEL, wearing a robe over her
nightgown, comes in.
RACHEL
I heard you tonight.
LOUIS
I thought maybe you did. I know
you don't approve of the subject
being raised--
RACHEL
That's not true. The subject
scares me. Because of Zelda.
LOUIS puts his book down and looks at her thoughtfully.
LOUIS
Your sister, I know.
RACHEL sits down on the end of the bed. She's clasping her hands
nervously together.
RACHEL
Sometimes you're so good with her,
Louis--so straight with her--that
you make me ashamed of myself.
LOUIS sits up and scoots down the bed to her. He tries to put an
arm around her. She rejects it--but gently.
RACHEL
I'm sorry I couldn't go with you
to Missy's funeral. And that I
blew up when we went to that
silly animal graveyard.
LOUIS
That's forgotten.
RACHEL
Not by me, it isn't. I know how
badly I acted, how unfair I was.
It's just that I..you know.
LOUIS
Yes, I guess I do.
He makes a place for her beside him and hugs her. They lie
silently together for awhile, taking comfort from each other.
RACHEL
I'm going to try to do better.
LOUIS
You're doing fine.
DISSOLVE TO:
BLACK. And on it, a fifth title card: GAGE.
SOUND: An idling truck motor.
EXT. THE GRILLE OF A TRUCK DAY
It looks monstrous...as high as a mountain.
EXT. THE TRUCK, A NEW ANGLE
It's an Orinco tanker. The driver, a young man in khaki fatigues
and a baseball cap, climbs up into the cab. He slams the door and
jams the truck into gear.
IRWIN GOLDMAN (voice)
I knew something like this would happen.
EXT. THE ORINCO SHIPPING YARD DAY
The truck comes rolling slowly toward the main gate...stops so the
driver can look both ways...and then pulls slowly out onto ROUTE
9.
IRWIN (voice continues)
I told her when you were first married.
'You'll have all the grief you can stand,
and more,' I said.
INT. A FUNERAL CHAPEL, WITH IRWIN GOLDMAN AND LOUIS DAY
There are others here, but they are in the b.g., and concentrating
on the scene the old man is making. He's RACHEL'S dad. LOUIS is
sitting in the aisle seat of a pew-like bench. He looks terribly
shattered--they both do, actually. He's staring at the old man as
if he cannot in the least comprehend what he's saying.
IRWIN (continues)
And now look at this!
He gestures toward:
INT. THE FRONT OF THE FUNERAL CHAPEL DAY
Here, half-buried in floral tributes, is a child-sized coffin.
GAGE'S.
INT. IRWIN AND LOUIS DAY
IRWIN (weeping)
Run over in the road like a...a
chipmunk!
EXT. ROUTE 9, W/TRUCK DAY
Getting up to speed.
EXT. A KITE, CU
There's a hand holding it--LOUIS'S. The kite begins to move and
THE CAMERA TRACKS IT. It flaps and flutters.
EXT. THE FIELD BESIDE THE CREED HOUSE, WITH LOUIS
He runs with the kite beneath a gorgeous fall sky in which fat
clouds move like airy ocean liners.
ELLIE (voice)
Go, daddy!
EXT. A PICNIC TABLE DAY
The remains of a picnic lunch are spread here. Looks like everyone
ate well. In attendance: RACHEL, ELLIE, GAGE, and JUD CRANDALL.
GAGE
Go, dayee!
They all laugh--JUD ruffles the kid's hair.
EXT. LOUIS, RUNNING WITH THE KITE
He's paying out string--and the kite is going up.
LOUIS (voice)
Where's Rachel?
INT. THE FUNERAL CHAPEL, WITH LOUIS AND IRWIN
IRWIN looks toward:
INT. THE BACK OF THE CHAPEL, WITH RACHEL AND DORY GOLDMAN
They are by the sign-in book. Both are dressed in black. Both look
haggard. But RACHEL looks more than haggard; she looks damned near
insane with grief and horror.
INT. LOUIS AND IRWIN
IRWIN (leaning forward)
With her mother! Where she should be!
As for you, I hope you rot in hell!
In hell, do you hear me?
We should; by now he's screaming his head off.
INT. THE CAB OF THE ORINCO TRUCK DAY
The driver is whistling. A transistor radio hangs from the rear-
view mirror on a strap. He turns it on. The Ramones. "Sheena."
Hey-ho, let's go.
EXT. ROUTE 9, TRUCKER'S POV
Unrolling before us at a good clip--too good, maybe.
INT. THE TUCKER'S FOOT
Stamping the pedal closer to the metal.
EXT. THE ONCOMING TRUCK
Belting toward THE CAMERA. SOUND of the GROWLING ENGINE.
EXT. THE SKY, WITH THE KITE
LOUIS has clearly gotten it up okay.
EXT. LOUIS, IN THE FIELD
He's holding the string, looking up at the sky. Now he looks back
at the picnic table.
LOUIS
Hey, Gage!
EXT. THE PICNIC TABLE
GAGE gets down and runs toward his father.
EXT. ROUTE 9 WITH THE ORINCO TANKER
Belting along fast. SOUND of the Ramones.
EXT. THE FIELD, WITH LOUIS AND GAGE
GAGE runs to his dad, chubby legs working. He reaches him, and
LOUIS transfers thee ball of string to GAGE'S hands.
GAGE
Dat?
LOUIS
String! You're flying it,
Gage--you got the hammer, my man!
GAGE
Gage fline it?
LOUIS
Bet your boots. Look--
LOUIS puts his hands over GAGE'S hands and pulls them down.
EXT. THE KITE
It dips in the sky.
EXT. LOUIS AND GAGE
LOUIS
See?
GAGE
Gage fline it!!
LOUIS (tenderly)
Bet your ass, little hero.
He kisses his son. They look up at:
EXT. THE KITE
Dipping and drifting in that gorgeous fall sky.
IRWIN GOLDMAN (voice)
Where were you while he was playing in
the road? Thinking about your stupid
medical articles? You stinking shit!
You killer of children!
INT. THE FUNERAL CHAPEL, WITH LOUIS AND IRWIN
IRWIN
You--
But there is no way he can express his outrage with mere words. As
LOUIS sits staring numbly up at him, IRWIN punches him in the
nose. LOUIS sprawls backward, falling out of the pew onto the
floor.
INT. THE REAR OF THE CHAPEL, FEATURING RACHEL AND DORY
RACHEL screams and starts forward. DORY pulls her back.
RACHEL
Louis! Daddy! Stop it! STOP IT!
INT. LOUIS AND IRWIN
LOUIS is getting up groggily. Hs nose is pouring blood.
IRWIN
How do you like that, you son
of a bitch? I should have done
it sooner!
IRWIN punches him in the stomach. LOUIS "oofs" and doubles over.
INT. ANGLE ON THE OTHER MOURNERS
Among them we see STEVE MASTERTON and MARCY CHARLTON.
STEVE (getting up)
Hey!
INT. LOUIS AND IRWIN
LOUIS is slowly straightening up. IRWIN is in a sour frenzy of
glee.
IRWIN
How do you like that? How do--
LOUIS pushes the old man with both hands.
INT. IRWIN GOLDMAN
He goes stumbling and flailing backwards...strikes the coffin...
knocks it off its bier. A SCREAM goes up from the mourners.
INT. RACHEL AND DORY
RACHEL screams. Her mother struggles to hold her but RACHEL easily
breaks free and goes running down the aisle.
INT. ANGLE ON MOURNERS, WITH MARCY AND STEVE
MARCY
Stop them. Right now.
STEVE gets up and goes toward:
INT. THE FRONT OF THE CHAPEL, WITH IRWIN
He's picking himself out of a tangled mess of coffin and
overturned floral tributes. His suit is wet from spilled water.
He's weeping.
LOUIS has just reached him, and that stunned look is gone. I think
he intends to do the Cool Jerk all over IRWIN GOLDMAN'S puny
little body. IRWIN strikes a Gentleman Jim Corbett pugilistic
pose.
IRWIN
Come on! I'm ready for ya! I'll
take y'apart!
As LOUIS wades in, STEVE MASTERTON gets between them...at the last
possible moment.
STEVE
Stop it!
LOUIS swings. STEVE manages to block the punch with his body.
STEVE
Stop it! Jesus, what's wrong with
you, Louis? It's your son's funeral,
not a boxing match!
That gets to LOUIS. He drops his fists. That stunned expression
creeps over his face again--that look that says he doesn't have
the slightest clue as to what's going on or how it could possibly
have happened.
INT. LOUIS
PASCOW (voice)
The soil of a man's heart is stonier,
doc--
LOUIS turns toward:
INT. THE FRONT PEW, WITH PASCOW AND CHURCH
PASCOW, bloody and ruined in his jogging shorts and muscle shirt,
has the pew to himself...except for CHURCH, who is sitting on his
lap and PURRING.
PASCOW
A man grows what he can...and tends it.
INT. LOUIS, CU
A sense of horrible awareness comes into his face...and then he
covers it with his hands and begins to SOB.
SOUND, COMING UP: A TRUCK MOTOR.
INT. THE CAB OF THE TANKER
The trucker is singing along with the radio.
INT. THE GAS PEDAL
It's closer to the floorboards than ever.
EXT. LOUIS AND GAGE WITH THE KITE, IN THE FIELD
We are at some distance--far enough to see that the two of them
have moved quite close to the road.
EXT. LOUIS AND GAGE, A NEW ANGLE (KITE'S POV)
We can see their faces upturned to us--we can hear the AMPLIFIED
RATTLING SOUND of the kite itself.
THE CAMERA PANS TO THE LEFT--to the road. And we can see the
truck, fairly close by now, and coming closer.
EXT. THE PICNIC TABLE, WITH RACHEL, ELLIE, AND JUD
JUD'S lighting a cigarette. His Walkman 'phones are around his
neck.
ELLIE
I want to fly it! Can I fly it now,
mommy!
RACHEL
In a minute, hon. Let Gage finish his
turn.
EXT. LOUIS AND GAGE
This is the last moment of happiness in this man's life--so let's
make it very happy. As he and GAGE stare up at the kite:
IRWIN (voice)
Jesus. Louis. I'm sorry--
INT. THE FUNERAL CHAPEL
The fight has gone out of IRWIN and STEVE has backed away--but
cautiously. He's ready to jump back in if one or the other goes
mad again. But IRWIN is shuffling toward LOUIS, hands out--
everyone else has gathered in a knot near the front of the chapel.
Among them is RACHEL and her mother, weeping in each others' arms.
IRWIN
I don't know what happened to me.
Louis, please--
LOUIS brushes by him with no acknowledgement that IRWIN even
exists. He kneels down slowly by the coffin and puts his head
against it.
LOUIS (weeping)
I'm sorry, Gage--I'm so sorry,
little hero.
EXT. LOUIS AND GAGE, IN THE FIELD
There's a strong gust of wind. The ball of string falls out of
GAGE'S hand.
EXT. THE KITE, BLOWING AWAY
EXT. THE PICNIC TABLE
ELLIE
It got away from him! That numb shit!
RACHEL (outraged)
Ellen Creed!
EXT. THE BALL OF KITE TWINE
It is bouncing and unraveling. More importantly, it is being
carried directly toward the highway.
EXT. GAGE
He takes off after the ball of twine.
GAGE
Kite fline too fast!
SOUND: The oncoming truck.
EXT. THE TRUCK
Slamming toward us--a brutal leviathan on eighteen wheels.
EXT. LOUIS
He's looking--looking toward his people at the picnic table.
LOUIS (shrugs, good-humored)
What can you d-
TRUCK SOUND CONTINUES.
EXT. THE PICNIC TABLE
TRUCK SOUND LOUDER.
Alarm hits JUD'S face. He rises.
JUD
Don't let him go in the road, Louis!
RACHEL looks; registers terrible alarm.
RACHEL (screams)
Get him, Louis!
EXT. GAGE
He's still scampering after the bouncing ball of kite-twine, which
has now almost reached the road.
TRUCK SOUND LOUDER.
EXT. LOUIS
The SOUND is loud enough so he's having trouble hearing.
LOUIS (cups his ear)
What?
EXT. THE PICNIC TABLE
RACHEL (shrieks)
GET THE BABY!!
JUD is running toward the road, although he'll never get to GAGE
in time; only LOUIS has a chance.
EXT. LOUIS
Horrible understanding dawns on his face. He whips around and
sees:
EXT. GAGE, LOUIS'S POV
The kid's almost in the road; the ball of twine is in it.
RISING DRONE OF THE TRUCK.
EXT. THE ONCOMING TRUCK
EXT. GAGE, RUNNING INTO THE ROAD
GAGE (cheerful)
Geddit-geddit-geddit!
EXT. EVERYONE, KITE'S POV
GAGE reaches the middle of the road as the truck comes around the
corner. LOUIS is running across the field, getting close to the
side of the road. RACHEL is clutching ELLIE by the picnic table.
JUD is helplessly trying to wave the truck down as it passes him.
EXT. GAGE, IN THE ROAD
As he reaches the broken white line he grabs the ball of string.
SOUND OF THE ONCOMING TRUCK.
GAGE turns his head.
GAGE (not afraid)
Druck!
EXT. THE ONCOMING TRUCK AND THE DRIVER, GAGE'S POV
Suddenly THE DRIVER'S face turns into a Halloween mask of horror.
He BLASTS THE AIR-HORN.
EXT. LOUIS, ON THE VERGE OF THE ROAD
LOUIS (shrieks)
NO!!
EXT. GAGE
BLARE OF THE AIR-HORN. A shadow falls over his face. There is an
audible CLICK! and we FREEZE FRAME. What we have now is a tremen-
dously winning photograph of a little boy, not quite two, with a
ball of string in his hand...and a shadow lying across his face.
EXT. PHOTO MONTAGE
a.) LOUIS is pushing RACHEL out of a hospital door. RACHEL is in a
wheelchair and looks radiantly happy (so, for that matter, does
LOUIS). I think we may safely assume that the small blanketed
bundle in RACHEL'S arms is GAGE.
b.) LOUIS, bare to the waist, is tubbing a two-month-old GAGE in a
baby-tub. He's laughing. The infant looks confused but calm.
c.) The whole family by the Christmas tree, following an orgy of
present-opening. ELLIE, about five, has a doll in each hand. LOUIS
and RACHEL are in pajamas. GAGE, about five months, is lying in a
drift of wrapping paper. He looks confused but calm.
d.) A child's sneaker lying in the road. It's splashed with blood.
e.) GAGE--he's about nine months old in this snap--is propped up
in the angle of a sofa. There's a big white rabbit in his lap.
GAGE looks c. but c.
f.) ELLIE and GAGE, bundled up against the Chicago winter. ELLIE
is pulling a child's chair-sled. GAGE is propped up in the chair.
He's about eleven months old in this snap. He's laughing.
g.) The Orinco tanker, overturned on the far side of Route 9.
h.) This one was taken at Gage's first birthday party. He's
wearing a party-hat and looking at a birthday cake with a single
candle on it while LOUIS kisses one cheek and RACHEL kisses the
other.
i.) LOUIS, in the road. He's holding GAGE'S jumper, which is torn,
blood-soaked, and inside out. LOUIS is looking up toward the sky
and screaming.
j.) Here is a full-face studio portrait of GAGE. He is smiling at
us, heartbreakingly lovely. CAMERA HOLDS ON THIS while:
JUD (voice)
Sedative finally took hold. She's asleep.
INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE, WITH LOUIS
He's holding the studio portrait in his hands and looking at it
fixedly. The other photos (the good ones, that is; not the
screamers--those, we may assume, exist only in LOUIS'S tortured
memory) are scattered on the table. We only saw a few; there are
actually hundreds.
LOUIS puts the photo down as JUD comes in and crosses to the
fridge. LOUIS'S nose is badly swelled. He also has a black eye.
JUD gets a couple of beers and comes back toward the table.
JUD
Your father-in-law packs a wallop,
for an old guy. He and his wife gone
back to Chicago?
LOUIS
No...squatting out there at the
Holiday Inn like a couple of vultures.
He really thinks Rachel's going to go
back with them. Her and Ellie.
JUD
Louis--
The swing door opens. They look toward:
INT. ELLIE
She looks dazed and shocked. There are brown circles under her
eyes, but otherwise her complexion is much too white. She's
wearing fuzzy pj's. She's carrying the picture of her pulling GAGE
on the sled.
INT. JUD AND LOUIS, AT THE TABLE
ELLIE (coming to the table)
I want to go back to my own room.
I can't sleep with mommy. She
keeps stealing the covers.
JUD
What you got there, Ellie?
At first she doesn't want to show him, but JUD is very kind.
JUD (studying it)
Why that's real nice...you pullin'
him on a sled. Bet he liked that,
didn't he?
ELLIE nods. She is starting to cry. JUD is also leaking at the
eyes.
ELLIE (crying)
I used to pull 'im a lot.
LOUIS, looking down at his hands, nods.
ELLIE
I'm going to carry this picture,
Mr. Crandall, until God lets Gage
come back.
JUD reacts violently. And LOUIS looks up, dully curious...but
hasn't the thought already passed through LOUIS'S mind? Yes--I
think it has.
JUD
Ellie...God doesn't do things like
that. I know you loved y'brother, but--
ELLIE
He can if He wants to. He can do
anything, just like Inspector Gadget
on TV. But I have to keep things ready
for him, that's what I think. I've got
his picture and I'm going to sit in
his chair--
LOUIS
Ellie--
ELLIE
And I'm going to eat his breakfast
cereal, too, even though it tastes
like boogers. And...and...
She bursts into tears.
JUD
Louis, take care of your little
girl...she needs you.
INT. LOUIS, CU
His face is stricken.
INT. ELLIE'S BEDROOM NIGHT
LOUIS comes in with ELLIE in his arms. He puts her gently into her
bed and pulls the covers up. She's already mostly asleep.
LOUIS (kisses her)
Good night, Ellie.
ELLIE
G'night daddy.
He starts for the door.
INT. ELLIE, CU
ELLIE
God could take it back if He wanted
to, couldn't He? If He really, really
wanted to? Can I have faith in that?
INT. LOUIS, AT THE DOOR
He stands looking at her for a long time, apparently thinking
about this quite deeply.
LOUIS
Yes--I suppose you can. Good night,
Ellie.
He steps out, closing the door.
INT. ELLIE, IN BED
In some sense comforted--it may be a poison comfort but she surely
doesn't know this--she turns over on her side to go to sleep. We
can see the picture of GAGE under her arm.
INT. THE UPSTAIRS HALL, WITH LOUIS
The light here is fairly dim. LOUIS goes down and opens another
door. He pokes his head in.
INT. THE MASTER BEDROOM, WITH LOUIS
He reacts first with surprise, then a species of horrified
disgust.
INT. LOUIS AND RACHEL'S BED, LOUIS'S POV
CHURCH is crouched on RACHEL'S sleeping form.
INT. THE BED, A NEW ANGLE
LOUIS comes in and swats the cat a damned good one.
LOUIS (low snarl)
Fuck off, hairball!!
INT. CHURCH, CU
It hisses at him through a mouthful of fangs, its eyes big green
balls...and then it flees. CAMERA FOLLOWS IT out the door.
INT. LOUIS, BY THE BED
RACHEL stirs and mutters thickly, then lies still again...she's
doped to the gills. LOUIS bends over and kisses her gently.
He leaves the room and closes the door behind him.
INT. THE UPSTAIRS HALL, WITH LOUIS
He tries the door a couple of times to make sure it's firmly on
the latch (his face wears an expression of "How'd he get in there
in the first place?"). Then he walks down the hall to the stairs.
INT. ON THE STAIRS, CU
The cat is on one of the risers. LOUIS trips over it.
EXT. ON THE STAIRS WITH LOUIS, WIDER
For a moment he's pinwheeling madly for balance, on the verge of
falling. He regains his balance as the cat goes shooting across
the dining room toward the kitchen.
LOUIS regains his equilibrium after a bit and continues on down.
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH JUD AND LOUIS AND CHURCH
As LOUIS enters through the swing door from the dining room, JUD
is just letting CHURCH out the back door. As JUD closes the door:
LOUIS (slightly antagonistic)
I thought you'd be gone by now.
JUD
I got you a fresh beer out of the
fridge, Louis.
He indicates the table, where there is indeed a fresh beer.
LOUIS
Jud, I buried my son today and
I'm very tired. I wonder if we
could just--
JUD
You're thinking of things best
not thought of, Louis.
LOUIS
I'm thinking about going to bed.
But he begins pouring the beer into a glass.
JUD
You never asked me if anyone had
buried a person up there in the
Micmac burying ground--
LOUIS'S hand jerks. Beer goes foaming across the kitchen table.
JUD
--but I think the thought
has crossed your mind.
LOUIS
Shit! Look at this mess!
JUD
Ayuh--it's a mess, all right.
As LOUIS goes to get a cloth to wipe up the mess:
JUD
I know the Micmacs thought it was a
holy place...and then they thought
it was a cursed place. That's why
they moved on.
LOUIS
Because something called a wendigo
soured the ground.
JUD
And because the dead walked.
LOUIS stops sopping and looks at him.
INT. JUD, CU
JUD
Oh, ayuh. It's been done. What you've
been thinking of has been done.
EXT. A COUNTRY RAILROAD STATION/SEPIA DAY
The time is the late summer of 1944, although I don't believe we
need to know that specifically. The sign on the station reads
LUDLOW. There are a few 40s cars parked near the station--they
have gas-ration coupons on the windshields. And a hearse.
A train is coming.
EXT. THE HEARSE, WITH UNDERTAKER AND BILL BATERMAN/SEPIA
We can see the UNDERTAKER is trying to talk to BILL BATERMAN, a
man in his forties who periodically wipes his brow with a bandana.
BILL walks away. He doesn't want to talk; he doesn't want comfort.
He's a grief-stricken, bitter man.
JUD (voice over)
Timmy Baterman was on his way home
from the war with his Purple Heart
when he got killed in some stupid
car accident down in Georgia.
EXT. THE TRAIN, IN FRONT OF THE DEPOT/SEPIA
The door of the mail-car is open. The UNDERTAKER and three
trainmen are unloading TIMMY BATERMAN'S coffin, which is draped in
a 48-star flag. BILL BATERMAN stands by, watching balefully as
they carry his son's final apartment to the back of the hearse and
load it in.
JUD (v-o continues)
Bill was bitter--his son had been in
the thick of it two years and then got
shot in the leg--a clean flesh-wound.
He was supposed to be coming home safe
and sound. Instead, he come home in a
box after all.
EXT. THE REAR OF THE HEARSE/SEPIA
The doors close. The hearse pulls away. THE CAMERA PANS TO BILL
BATERMAN, who stands staring balefully after it and mopping his
brow.
JUD (v-o continues)
He wasn't able to get to the bottom
of the truth, Louis.
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS AND JUD NIGHT
LOUIS is now sitting down, drinking a beer, staring at JUD.
LOUIS
I'll bite--what's the bottom of the
truth, Jud?
JUD
Why...that sometimes dead is better.
That's all. Sometimes dead is better.
LOUIS (bitter)
Tell that to my wife and little girl.
JUD
It ain't your wife and little girl
that's got me worried, Louis.
EXT. THE LUDLOW CEMETARY/SEPIA DUSK
We're featuring a fresh grave...that of TIMMY BATERMAN. A truck,
showing only parking lights, turns into the graveyard and drives
slowly up to it. It stops, and BILL BATERMAN gets out. HE looks at
the grave and then goes to the back of his truck.
JUD (voice-over)
Timmy was buried on July 22nd, as
I remember.
EXT. BILL BATERMAN AT THE BACK OF HIS TRUCK/SEPIA DUSK
He reaches in...and brings out a pick and shovel.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. MARGIE WASHBURN, ON HER PORCH/SEPIA DAY
She's a middle-aged woman dressed in mid-forties style. She's got
a rug-beater in one hand; the other is up to her eyes to shade the
sun. She's staring at something, horrified.
JUD (v-o continues)
It was four or five days later when...
EXT. A COUNTRY DIRT ROAD, WITH TIMMY BATERMAN/SEPIA DAY
A young man dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt is shambling up the
road. His eyes are vacant. His shirt is half untucked. His hair is
sticking up in a wild crow's-nest thatch. There is an ugly mess of
healed scars on his neck and one side of his face. I think one of
his ears may be gone--torn off in the accident.
JUD (v-o continues)
...Margie Washburn seen him walking
up the road toward Yorkie's Livery.
EXT. MARGIE/SEPIA
She's screaming--we hear her faintly.
EXT. TIMMY/SEPIA
He turns toward her and we see a green light like the St. Elmo's
fire in the Little God Swamp glow dimly deep in his eyes. He grins
at MARGIE.
EXT. IN FRONT OF THE LUDLOW TOWN OFFICES, WITH MARGIE/SEPIA
She hesitates for a moment or two and then walks up toward the
door.
JUD (v.o.)
Lots of people saw Timmy Baterman
walking back and forth between the
home place and the town line. But
it was Margie...
INT. THE TOWN OFFICES, WITH MARGIE/SEPIA
She's in a hallway in front of a door with LUDLOW SELECTMEN
printed on the frosted glass. After a moment she opens it and goes
in.
JUD (v.o. continues)
...who finally got up enough guts to
talk to the town fathers about it.
She knew it had to be stopped, Louis.
INT. THE SELECTMEN'S OFFICE/SEPIA
MARGIE and four men are grouped around a desk. She's talking;
they're listening. THE CAMERA LAZILY PANS the four men--one, of
course, is JUD as a YOUNG MAN.
JUD (v.o. continues)
She knew it was an abomination.
George Anderson, the town postmaster,
was there...and Alan Purinton...Hannibal
Benson...and me. I was there.
EXT. THE BATERMAN PLACE/SEPIA SUNSET
It's a ramshackle old farm which looks remarkably like the estate
of that gentleman farmer Jordy Verrill.
An old Ford pulls into the driveway, and the four men get out.
SOUND BLEEDS IN: Most of all the SOUND OF THE CRICKETS.
They go to the door, and JUD is wordlessly elected as the prime
honcho. He knocks. No answer. Again. No answer.
SOUND: Crazy laughter.
BILL BATERMAN (voice)
Stop that, Timmy!
The four men look at each other.
JUD
Come on.
They start around to the back.
EXT. THE BACK YARD, WITH BILL AND TIMMY/SEPIA
TIMMY BATERMAN is staring directly into the setting sun, his eyes
glowing with green fire. He's laughing like Goofy gone insane.
BILL, scared, is trying to make him stop, to turn away from the
sun.
EXT. THE BACK YARD, A NEW ANGLE/SEPIA
The four men come around the side of the house. They freeze when
they see BILL and TIMMY.
ALAN
Oh holy Jesus lookit that.
BILL whirls around and sees them.
BILL
You men get out of here!
JUD
I heard your boy was killed down
Georgia.
BILL (agitated)
That was a mistake!
HANNIBAL
Was it?
BILL
You see him standing there,
don't you? Now get out! Get the
Christ off my land!
Now TIMMY turns around and comes shambling forward.
TIMMY (laughing)
Ge ow! Ge Cwise off eye an!
GEORGE (revolted)
Oh Jesus, Jud! He's dead! I can
smell him!
BILL
He ain't dead! Give him a day or two
and he'll be fine! Don't you say that!
JUD
Bill, this ain't right--you can see
that yourself--
BILL (screaming)
GET OUT! YOU HEAR? GET OUT!!!
EXT. TIMMY BATERMAN/SEPIA
TIMMY (laughing)
Dead! We love dead! Hate living!
Abruptly he reaches up with both hands and scratches down his
cheeks, goring deep grooves in his flesh. Blood flows sluggishly
out. Very weird blood.
EXT. THE ENTIRE GROUP/SEPIA
BILL grabs TIMMY, who's still laughing wildly, and gets him turned
around. TIMMY shambles back to where he was originally standing.
BILL goes with him like a man who has charge over a trained
baboon. A stupid trained baboon.
BILL (over his shoulder)
You want to get out of here before I get
my shotgun! You boys are trespassing!
EXT. THE FOUR MEN/SEPIA
JUD
God help you, Bill.
EXT. BILL AND TIMMY BATERMAN/SEPIA
BILL (snarls)
God never helped me. I helped
myself.
EXT. TIMMY BATERMAN, CU/SEPIA
Staring directly into the setting sun and laughing wildly,
mindlessly.
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS AND JUD
LOUIS
What happened?
EXT. THE BATERMAN PLACE--MONTAGE NIGHT
a.) A car pulls up with its lights off and stops.
JUD (v.o.)
There was a fire.
b.) We see legs as people get out of the car, and hands holding
tin cans of gasoline.
c.) Hands splash gasoline from the cans along the sides of the
house.
EXT. THE BATERMAN PORCH NIGHT
JUD (as a young man) rings the bell--an old-fashioned twist type.
BILL (voice)
Who's there?
TIMMY (laughing, screeching voice)
Ooo air? Ooo air?
JUD
Get out, Billy--the place is
going up.
He walks away. BILL BATERMAN, wearing a strappy tee-shirt, looks
out the window.
BILL
I seen you! I seen you, Jud Crandall!
EXT. THE BATERMAN PLACE--MONTAGE NIGHT
a.) A match is struck...and applied to wet boards. Whoosh!
b.) The other side of the house: The same.
c.) In the back yard, JUD lights a torch and heaves it through the
kitchen windows. Ka-PLOOM!
d.) The men draw away toward the front, their faces grim and
judgmental.
EXT. THE BATERMAN PLACE NIGHT
Burning. Going up fast.
EXT. THE MEN
ALAN
You think Bill's gonna get out, Jud?
JUD (stony)
If he don't, he don't.
EXT. THE FRONT DOOR
It bursts open. We see two men struggling at the forefront of an
inferno--correction, one man and an undead monster. TIMMY is
giggling and screaming, trying to pull his father back into the
flames.
BILL (struggling)
No! No, Timmy! Let me go!
TIMME (laughing)
Love dead! Hate living!
He sinks his teeth into his father's arm. BILL screams.
A beam falls on TIMMY, lighting him afire. BILL breaks free and
runs down the porch steps.
INT. THE FRONT HALL, WITH TIMMY
He's burning and laughing.
TIMMY
LOVE DEAD! HATE LIVING!
And into the fire he goes, still shrieking and laughing.
EXT. THE FRONT YARD NIGHT
BILL BATERMAN is collapsed on the lawn as sparks drift down around
him, his face hidden against his thighs, weeping.
CAMERA MOVES SLOWLY IN on the four men, who are grouped at the end
of the driveway by the road and staring with awe at:
EXT. THE BLAZING FARMHOUSE NIGHT
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS AND JUD
JUD (softly)
Sometimes dead is better, Louis.
BLACK. And on it, a sixth title card: THE DEAD WALK.
SOUND BLEEDS IN: JET ENGINES.
EXT. BANGOR INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL DAY
A jet plane rises into the sky from behind the building.
GATE AGENT'S VOICE
This is the final call for United's
flight 61 to Chicago...
INT. A BOARDING GATE, WITH LOUIS AND RACHEL
In the b.g. we can see IRWIN and DORY GOLDMAN waiting by the
jetway with ELLIE as the last few passengers board. RACHEL looks
confused and grief-stricken. She also looks punchy, doped up. I
imagine she's floating on a sea of Valium, and that makes her
easier to deal with. LOUIS'S battle-scars are fading a little.
The GATE AGENT is standing by the jetway with a mike in one hand
and a bunch of boarding passes in the other.
GATE AGENT (concludes)
All passengers should now be aboard.
LOUIS
You better get going, hon.
RACHEL
Oh Louis, I just don't know about
this--
LOUIS
I told you last night--this can be the
start of patching things up with your
folks. If something good doesn't come
of Gage's death, I think I'll go crazy.
RACHEL
Louis, are you sure?
LOUIS
I'm sure.
INT. THE GOLDMANS, WITH ELLIE
ELLIE
I don't want to go to Chicago,
Gramma Dory.
DORY
Why not, darling?
ELLIE
I had a bad dream last night. A
nightmare.
IRWIN (kindly)
About what?
ELLIE
About Daddy. (Pause) And Gage.
DORY and IRWIN exchange a knowing, sad glance over the child's
head.
ELLIE
And someone named Paxcow.
INT. RACHEL AND LOUIS
LOUIS guides her to the jetway.
LOUIS
Come on, you guys--before you miss
the boat.
He kisses DORY. IRWIN hugs him.
IRWIN
Louis, I am sorry. What can I say?
That I lost my mind? It's the truth,
but no good excuse.
LOUIS (hugs him back)
We all lost our minds, Irwin.
LOUIS kisses RACHEL. Then he kneels and hugs ELLIE.
LOUIS
Be good to your mother, darlin'.
She needs you.
ELLIE
Come with us, daddy. Please come
with us!
LOUIS
I'll be there in three days--four
at the most. I've got to get the
electricity shut off and square
things with your school so the
truant officer ain't after you, and--
INT. ELLIE, CU
ELLIE (crying)
Please, daddy! I'm scared!
INT. LOUIS AND ELLIE
LOUIS
Of what?
ELLIE (crying harder)
I don't know.
LOUIS (great emphasis)
Everything's going to be all right,
Ellie. Now go on--get aboard.
ELLIE
Do you swear?
LOUIS
I swear.
The Voice of Authority has spoken. We can tell by ELLIE'S face
that while things are still not all right, they are a little
better. She joins her mother.
The four of them--RACHEL, ELLIE, and THE GOLDMANS--start down the
jetway. ELLIE looks back once, as if begging him to come...and
then they're gone.
INT. LOUIS, CU
LOUIS'S face changes. Now it is a stony and contemplative face.
Not, when you get right down to it, a very nice face.
He turns and strides away.
INT. THE AIRPORT PARKING LOT, WITH LOUIS
The family station wagon is in the f.g. We hear the SOUND OF JET
ENGINES, and as LOUIS reaches the wagon he turns and watches:
EXT. THE TERMINAL,, LOUIS'S POV
From behind it a United Airlines jet lifts into view and banks
away.
EXT. LOUIS, IN THE PARKING LOT
Face set, he gets into the wagon and drives away.
EXT. ROUTE 15 IN BREWER
The CREEDmobile pulls up across from the Brewer Tru-Value Hardware
and LOUIS crosses to it.
INT. THE HARDWARE STORE COUNTER, CU
On it: A six-cell flashlight, Duracell D-batteries, a pick, a
shovel, and a nylon drop-sheet in cellophane packaging. Now the
CLERK'S hands come into the frame and drop a pair of heavy work-
gloves into the pile.
INT. LOUIS AND CLERK (SMALL PUN, HEE-HEE)
CLERK
Anything else for you today?
LOUIS (after a look)
I think we got it all.
The CLERK starts to ring things up.
CLERK
Looks like heavy work.
LOUIS
It could be.
The quality of LOUIS'S reply is somehow unnatural. The CLERK looks
at him, momentarily unsure and uncertain. Then he starts ringing
things up again.
INT. A UNITED JETLINER, WITH ELLIE AND RACHEL
ELLIE is in the window-seat, asleep. RACHEL is holding a paperback
but not reading it. Her eyes are red. She's looking into space.
CAMERA DRIFTS TO ELLIE. Her sleep is not easy. Her head turns from
side to side, as if in negation. She becomes steadily more upset.
She's starting to mutter. Suddenly her eyes flare open and she
screams.
INT. JETLINER, SLIGHTLY WIDER
We can see the GOLDMANS in the seats behind the CREEDS. They are
startled. So are other passengers. A stewardess comes running.
ELLIE
Paxcow says it's almost too late!
RACHEL
Ellie...Ellie...what...
ELLIE
Paxcow says it's almost too late!
We have to go back! Paxcow says it's
almost too late!
EXT. LUDLOW CEMETARY DAY
The CREED wagon turns in and drives up one of the lanes. It stops
and LOUIS gets out.
EXT. LOUIS
He walks to a fresh grave on which the first flowers are already
starting to wilt. He sits down and takes a flower. He plucks it,
looking at the grave steadily. He says nothing for a long time.
LOUIS
It's wrong. (Pause) What happened
to you is wrong.
EXT. GAGE, IN THE FIELD
He runs toward THE CAMERA, happy and laughing, in SLOW MOTION.
EXT. LOUIS, BY GAGE'S GRAVE
LOUIS is now weeping, but he seems calm just the same.
PASCOW (voice)
Remember, doc.
LOUIS looks at:
EXT. A TOMB, LOUIS'S POV
PASCOW, bloody and mutilated, is standing by it.
PASCOW
The barrier was not meant to be
crossed. The ground is sour.
EXT. LOUIS, BY GAGE'S GRAVE
He is not put out of countenance in the slightest by PASCOW'S
appearance; he probably knows PASCOW is just a figment of his
conscience or imagination, and so do we.
LOUIS
I'll tell you where the ground
is sour--the ground in my heart
is sour. Let me tell you something
else, Vic-baby: Wrong is wrong.
EXT. PASCOW
PASCOW
Timmy Baterman. That was wrong.
EXT. LOUIS, BY GAGE'S GRAVE
LOUIS
Don't talk like an asshole even if
you are just a bit of underdone
potato or a blot of mustard.
EXT. PASCOW, BY THE TOMB
He stands mute, just looking.
EXT. LOUIS
LOUIS (weeping)
He was my son! He wasn't even two
and he was run down in the fucking
road and he was almost in pieces,
and if you don't think I'm going
to try...
EXT. THE TOMB, SANS PASCOW
VIC has put on his boogie shoes.
EXT. LOUIS, BY GAGE'S GRAVE
He's crying harder. Abruptly he reaches out at the floral tributes
and knocks a bunch of them over.
LOUIS
If it doesn't work--if he comes
back like Timmy Baterman--I'll
put him to sleep. But I'm going
to try. (Pause) And if it doesn't
work...they don't ever need to know.
EXT. THE GOLDMAN HOUSE IN LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS NIGHT
INT. UPSTAIRS HALL NIGHT
THE CAMERA MOVES LEISURELY along this hallway, which is lined with
pictures of RACHEL, ELLIE...and GAGE (there may even be a couple
in which LOUIS is featured, but damned few). Near the end of the
hall a door is open and light spills out.
RACHEL (voice)
Honey, you just had a bad dream. You
know that, don't you?
ELLIE (voice)
It wasn't a dream. It was Paxcow.
THE CAMERA GOES THROUGH THE DOOR and into the room where ELLIE is
staying. She's in bed, still badly upset. RACHEL is sitting on the
bed beside her. There's a single lamp on the bedside table.
ELLIE
Paxcow says Daddy's going to do something
really bad. He--
RACHEL
Who is this Paxcow? Is he like the
boogeyman?
ELLIE
He's a ghost. But he's a good ghost.
RACHEL turns off the bed-lamp.
RACHEL
There are no ghosts, Ellie. I want you
to go to sleep and forget all this
nonsense.
ELLIE
Will you at least call and make sure
daddy's okay?
RACHEL
Of course I will.
She kisses ELLIE.
RACHEL
Now will you try to go to sleep?
ELLIE (turns over on her side)
Yes, Mom.
RACHEL gets up and leaves the room.
INT. THE UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
PASCOW is here, halfway down the hall to the stairs, bloody as
ever. RACHEL doesn't see him. She looks perplexed, a woman trying
to think of something. She stops very near him.
RACHEL (to herself)
Paxcow, why do I know that name?
PASCOW
Pascow.
RACHEL suddenly straightens. She looks startled and afraid.
RACHEL
Pascow? Was she saying Pascow?
She suddenly heads for the stairs, fast.
EXT. THE CREED HOME IN LUDLOW NIGHT
SOUND: A car starting up.
The station wagon backs out and heads down the driveway. As it
passes THE CAMERA, we see LOUIS driving. The wagon turns onto
Route 9 and heads off.
CAMERA HOLDS ON THE HOUSE. A beat of silence. Then: the telephone
starts ringing.
INT. THE GOLDMAN LIVING ROOM NIGHT
IRWIN and DORY are watching RACHEL with some anxiety. RACHEL is
holding the phone to her ear. We can hear the FILTERED SOUND of
one ring after another. She hangs up.
RACHEL
He's not home.
DORY
Why, he probably went out for
a hamburger or a chicken dinner,
dear. You know how men are when
they're alone.
Good old IRWIN'S face says that maybe LOUIS went out for a couple
of grams of coke and a whore in Nazi SS boots.
RACHEL is dialing another number.
EXT. THE CRANDALL HOUSE NIGHT
SOUND: Phone starts to ring.
INT. THE CRANDALL KITCHEN, WITH JUD
He shuffles to the telephone. His Walkman 'phones are around his
neck. He's got a bottle of beer in one hand.
JUD (picks up)
Hello--you got Judson.
INT. THE GOLDMAN LIVING ROOM, WITH RACHEL
RACHEL
It's Rachel Creed, Jud. I'm
calling from Chicago.
JUD (surprised voice)
Chicago! Is Louis with you?
RACHEL
No...we're going to be here
awhile, and he wanted a few days
to wind up our affairs there.
I just wondered if he was with you.
INT. THE CRANDALL KITCHEN, WITH JUD
His face says this is very serious.
JUD
No--but if he drops by, I'll tell
him to call you.
INT. THE GOLDMAN LIVING ROOM
RACHEL
Jud, do you remember the name
of the student that died on Louis's
first day at work? The one that was
hit by a car?
JUD (voice)
I don't--
RACHEL
Was it Pascow?
INT. THE CRANDALL KITCHEN, WITH JUD
JUD
Ayuh, I think 'twas. If I see Louis
come home before I go to bed, I'll
tell him to--
INT. THE GOLDMAN LIVING ROOM, WITH RACHEL
RACHEL
Don't bother. I'm coming home.
JUD (alarmed voice)
Rachel!
RACHEL
Thank you, Jud. Goodbye.
She hangs up.
INT. THE CRANDALL KITCHEN, WITH JUD
JUD
No! Rachel! Don't do that!
Rachel--!
The buzz of an open line. Connection broken. JUD slowly replaces
the receiver. The man looks very grim.
INT. THE FRONT HALL OF THE GOLDMAN HOUSE
RACHEL comes down the stairs, dressed for travelling. She's
carrying a suitcase in one hand. Her parents meet her at the foot
of the stairs.
DORY
Rachel...darling...you're upset...
a night's sleep...
RACHEL
I have to go. The connections are
tight, and I have to be at O'Hare in
forty minutes. Will you drive me,
daddy?
IRWIN
You know something's wrong, don't you?
You know. And Ellie does, too.
RACHEL
Yes.
IRWIN
I'll drive you.
ELLIE (voice)
Mommy?
They all turn to:
INT. ELLIE, ON THE STAIRS
ELLIE
Please hurry.
INT. RACHEL AND THE GOLDMANS
RACHEL
I will. Come and kiss me.
ELLIE races into her arms.
EXT. LUDLOW CEMETERY NIGHT
SOUND Of a car engine, THROBBING AND LOW. It cuts off.
CAMERA MOVES IN on the low stone wall between the cemetery and the
road. Beyond it we can see the roof of the CREED station wagon.
LOUIS appears, dressed in dark clothes. He looks both ways, then
tosses a big duffle bag over the wall. Stuff clanks inside.
LOUIS climbs over the wall, grabs his bag, and checks out the
scene.
EXT. LUDLOW CEMETERY, LOUIS'S POV
A quiet city of the dead. Spooky. SOUND of crickets: Ree-ree-
ree...
EXT. LOUIS
He heads for GAGE'S grave.
INT. THE GOLDMAN CAR, WITH RACHEL AND IRWIN
IRWIN
I'll come with you if you want,
honey.
RACHEL (shakes her head)
I've got three planes to catch and
I got the last seats on two of them.
It's like God saved them for me.
EXT. O'HARE UNITED AIRLINES TERMINAL, WITH IRWIN'S CAR
IRWIN'S car heads for it.
EXT. THE GRAVE OF GAGE CREED
LOUIS approaches it slowly and sets down his bag of grave-robbing
equipment. He sets aside the remaining floral tributes and then
opens the bag and takes out the spade. He looks down at the grave
for a long second.
LOUIS (low)
Gonna bust you out, son.
He starts to shovel.
EXT. THE SHOVEL, CU
Digging...throwing...digging again. Already the shape of the
excavation is beginning to show. The work is easy; this earth is
new and fresh.
EXT. JETLINER, IN A LINE-UP OF JETLINERS
INT. JETLINER, WITH RACHEL
Everyone looks impatient, but RACHEL looks half crazy.
PILOT (voice)
This is the Captain speaking.
I'm sorry about this delay, folks,
but we've got a real low ceiling
tonight and air traffic control's
playing it safe. Looks like it's
going to be about half an hour before
we get on a roll, so I'm turning off
the NO SMOKING sign.
SOUND: Bing!
There's a general groan. CAMERA MOVES IN ON RACHEL, who has closed
her eyes. I think she's praying.
EXT. GAGE'S GRAVE NIGHT
Now it's pretty deep. Four feet, maybe. LOUIS is standing in it.
We see his feet as the shovel goes up and down, up and down.
EXT. LOUIS NIGHT
He's sweating and dirt-streaked. He's tossing dirt on a big pile.
Suddenly, as he takes another shovelful, we hear a SCRAPING SOUND.
He tosses the shovel aside and squats.
EXT. IN THE GRAVE, WITH LOUIS
There's a white streak on the bottom of the grave--the top of
GAGE'S coffin. LOUIS swipes his hand through the loose dirt,
uncovering more, and then he begins to sweep off the top of the
coffin with his hands.
EXT. THE CRANDALL PORCH
JUD comes out. He's wearing a light jacket. His Walkman 'phones
are around his neck. He's got a six-pack. He looks at:
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE, JUD'S POV
It's dark.
EXT. THE CRANDALL PORCH, WITH JUD
He sits down.
JUD
You done it, you stupid old man...
now you got to undo it.
He puts his earphones on. Cracks a beer. Lights a cigarette.
Pushes the PLAY button on the deck. Faint SOUNDS of The Clash
buzz-sawing "Rock The Casbah."
JUD begins to watch.
EXT. LOUIS
He climbs out of the grave and opens his duffle bag. He starts to
pull out the pick.
SOUND of an approaching car.
LOUIS freezes.
EXT. THE ROAD OUTSIDE OF THE CEMETERY
A police car comes cruising slowly along. The spotlight on the
driver's side comes on and runs along the graveyard's stone wall.
EXT. LOUIS
Watching. Waiting. Hardly breathing.
EXT. THE POLICE CAR
It reaches the end of the wall. Everything looks jake. The
spotlight goes out and the police car speeds up.
EXT. LOUIS
He relaxes perceptibly. He gets the pick and drops back into the
grave.
EXT. THE TOP OF THE COFFIN, CU
LOUIS inserts the tip of the pick in the flange of the coffin and
levers it. CRACKING SOUND. Again. More CRACKING. Again. And the
lock breaks. The coffin lid comes up a little, dirt gritting in
the hinges.
EXT. LOUIS, CU
Here's a man on the thinnest edge between sanity and madness.
EXT. JETLINER LIFTING OFF FROM O'HARE
INT. RACHEL AND HER SEATMATE
SEATMATE
Think you'll make your connection
in Boston?
RACHEL
I have to.
EXT. LOUIS, BY GAGE'S GRAVE
He's lying on his stomach, reaching in. We hear the SOUND of dirt
grating in hinges again.
EXT. LOUIS, CU
We're looking up into his face. If GAGE had a POV, this would be
it. LOUIS'S face fills with a terrible grief.
LOUIS
Oh, Gage--oh, honey.
EXT. JUD CRANDALL, ON HIS PORCH
His chin slips to his chest, even though we hear Creedence on his
'phones and to him the sound must be at blastoff levels. There's a
long round ash on his cigarette in the tray. A couple of empty
beer cans on the table beside him.
A truck blasts by, startling him out of his doze. He jerks his
head up suddenly...and slaps himself. He's okay...for now.
EXT. THE GRAVEYARD, WITH LOUIS
He is sitting on the edge of the grave, holding his dead son in
his arms, rocking him. GAGE is back to us. We see only a small
limp figure in a dark suit. Hair flops limply.
LOUIS
It's going to be all right...I
swear it's going to be all right...
The canvas tarp has been spread open to the right. LOUIS begins to
lay his son down on it.
EXT. THE GROUND BESIDE THE TARP, CU
It's littered with flower petals. One limp hand appears among
them.
EXT. LOUIS
He closes the tarp over GAGE, making a roll. He then produces rope
from the duffle bag. He cuts the rope and begins to tie one piece
around one end of the canvas roll containing the corpse of his
son.
EXT. JETLINER IN THE NIGHT SKY
PILOT (voice)
Good evening again, ladies and
gentlemen...
INT. THE JETLINER, WITH RACHEL
Her seatmate is knitting something. Across the aisle sits VICTOR
PASCOW, bloody but serene, hands clasped in his lap, looking
straight ahead. RACHEL looks around tensely.
PILOT (continues)
I'm delighted to tell you that we've
got a strong tail-wind tonight and
we expect to arrive at Boston's
Logan Airport almost on time.
PASCOW clenches his fist in a "That's one for our side!" gesture.
RACHEL (softly)
Thank God.
Her SEATMATE looks at her a bit strangely.
EXT. THE GRAVEYARD, WITH LOUIS
He's got the bundle containing his son and the duffle-bag with the
tools. He runs bent over. He reaches the wall and there's the
SOUND of another motor. He crouches at the base of the wall.
EXT. THE ROAD
Here comes that same police car. The spotlight runs along the
wall.
EXT. LOUIS
Crouching against his side of the wall and sweating.
EXT. THE POLICE CAR
It stops. The COP gets out. He walks slowly toward the wall.
EXT. LOUIS
Crouched. Now we see the COP looking over the top. If he looks
down...but he doesn't. Instead he turns around so we see his back.
LOUIS looks up, miserably scared, pouring sweat.
Silence. Then: SOUND of the cop taking a whiz.
EXT. THE COP
Ah! Relief. SOUND of his fly being zipped. He looks back at the
cemetery for a moment.
COP
I ain't afraid of no ghost.
He walks back to his cruiser, gets in, and hauls ass.
EXT. LOUIS, BEHIND THE WALL
He collapses with relief. Then he gets up and looks cautiously
over the wall. Nothing there but his car, parked a little way down
on the other side of the road.
He tosses the duffle bag over the top of the wall. He puts the
canvas roll containing GAGE on top of the wall. Then he vaults
over.
EXT. THE STREET SIDE OF THE WALL, WITH LOUIS
He takes the roll, gets the duffle bag hooked over his shoulder by
the string, and runs across the road like a soldier crossing enemy
territory. He goes to the rear of the wagon.
EXT. THE REAR OF THE WAGON, WITH LOUIS
He puts the body down. He feels in his pocket for his keys. No
keys. Mild consternation. He looks around, feeling exposed. The
other pocket. Still no keys. More consternation. He begins to hunt
feverishly through his pockets. Maybe in his jacket? Nope.
SOUND: An approaching car.
EXT. PASSING CAR
A civilian--not the ubiquitous cop.
EXT. LOUIS
He turns his pockets out, spilling change everywhere. Nothing.
Suddenly a little light goes on in his eyes. He goes to the
driver's side of the car and looks in at:
INT. IGNITION, LOUIS'S POV
The keys are in the switch.
EXT. LOUIS
He snatches the keys and returns to the back of the wagon. He uses
the key to open the doorgate. He puts GAGE'S body in gently, then
the duffle bag. He closes the doorgate and returns to the front of
the car. He opens the driver's door and freezes.
LOUIS returns to the rear, gets his keys from the doorgate, comes
back to the front, gets in, and drives away.
INT. A JETWAY AT LOGAN INTERNATIONAL
People are debarking into the gate area. Through them comes
RACHEL, running fast, pushing some people, excusing herself
incoherently. PASCOW is walking near her.
PASCOW
There's just time. If you run.
Without looking at PASCOW, RACHEL takes off her shoes and runs.
INT. THE CONCOURSE, WITH RACHEL
She's sprinting down the concourse--look out, Joanie Benoit!
INT. GATE 27, WITH FEMALE GATE AGENT AND PASCOW
The FEMALE GATE AGENT is starting to close the jetway door.
PASCOW
Don't do that, babe.
The GATE AGENT looks puzzled, as if she just had a thought (or
maybe a gas pain). She stops closing the door. RACHEL runs into
the area. She sees:
INT./EXT. THE JET PLANE, THROUGH THE GATE WINDOWS
It is just starting to swing ponderously away from the jetway.
INT. RACHEL AND FEMALE GATE AGENT (PASCOW IS GONE)
RACHEL
Make it come back!
FEMALE GATE AGENT
I can't--
RACHEL bolts down the jetway. The GATE AGENT stares after her, and
then runs for her stand, where we can see FLIGHT 61 and BANGOR on
the slide-cards. She picks up her mike.
EXT. THE JETWAY NIGHT
RACHEL stands all alone at the end of it.
AMPLIFIED SOUNDS OF JET ENGINES.
RACHEL (screams)
COME BACK, MOTHERFUCKER!!
EXT. THE JET, RACHEL'S POV
It starts to swing back to pick her up.
EXT. RACHEL
PASCOW appears behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder.
PASCOW
You're doing just fine.
EXT. JUD CRANDALL, ON HIS PORCH
He's fast asleep with the tinny sound of Graham Parker coming out
of his Walkman 'phones.
SOUND: An approaching car.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE
The station wagon turns in and parks. LOUIS gets out. He opens the
back, removes the body in the tarp and the duffle bag filled with
tools. He manages to get everything together and walks to the edge
of the path. He looks at:
EXT. THE PATH TO THE PET SEMATARY, LOUIS'S POV
Off it goes, glimmering in the dark.
EXT. LOUIS
He holds the corpse of his little boy to him.
LOUIS
Please God--let this work.
He sets off.
EXT. JUD, ON HIS PORCH
Zonked out. He missed the whole thing. Nice going, Jud.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE ARCH TO THE PET SEMATARY, WITH LOUIS
Louis passes under like a ghost.
EXT. THE PET SEMATARY, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS is crying. He crosses to the deadfall.
LOUIS
Ain't gonna stop, Gage. Ain't
gonna look down.
He begins to mount the deadfall.
EXT. LOUIS, A NEW ANGLE
He reaches the top. And woven into the deadfall, behind him,
facing the Pet Sematary, is that snarling face.
LOUIS descends the other side.
EXT. THE FOOT OF THE DEDFALL, WOODS SIDE
LOUIS reaches the bottom and looks at:
EXT. THE WOODS, LOUIS'S POV
The path winds onward through those gigantic trees--it glows
slightly.
EXT. LOUIS, MOVING UP THE PATH
EXT. LOUIS, AT THE EDGE OF LITTLE GOD SWAMP
That phosphorescent glow is a lot more pronounced. SOUNDS of
CRICKETS and FROGS. The water is mucky and still. Hummocks stick
up like knobs on the back of a creature best not seen. Fog drifts
through the dead trees. LOUIS doesn't want to go in there. Smart
man. I wouldn't either.
But he does.
INT. THE HERTZ DESK, AT BIA WITH RACHEL AND CLERK--AND PASCOW
PASCOW is lounging back against the rack of folders--and getting
some of them bloody.
HERTZ CLERK
I'm sorry...it's been very busy
tonight. I really don't have
anything.
PASCOW
What about the Aries K with the
scratch on the side?
The CLERK starts looking through her papers.
CLERK
I do have an Aries K, but it came
in sort of beat up--there's a long
scrape up one side--
RACHEL
I'll take it.
EXT. LOUIS, IN LITTLE GOD SWAMP
He comes walking toward THE CAMERA with GAGE in his arms and the
duffle bag over his shoulder. Mist swirls around him. The
landscape is weird, surreal. CRICKET SOUNDS, AMPLIFIED. In fact
there are a lot of swampy, marshy SOUNDS--too many. It sounds
almost prehistoric.
SOUND: HARSH, SCREAMING LAUGHTER
LOUIS stops. He looks slowly around at:
EXT. MIST-FACE, LOUIS'S POV
A demonic face takes shape in the mist and FLOATS SLOWLY TOWARD
THE CAMERA. It runs out a tongue that's about nine feet long.
Its eyes blow out. Blood and thick, gooey stuff runs from the
sockets.
EXT. LOUIS
He closes his eyes. After a moment he opens them.
EXT. LITTLE GOD SWAMP, LOUIS'S POV
Nothing there.
EXT. LOUIS
LOUIS
See? Just imagination. Just--
EXT. LOUIS'S FEET
We can barely see them because they are thick in mist, but he is
standing on a couple of low, marshy tussocks. Suddenly a thick
tentacle slimes its way out of the standing water and slithers
around his ankle.
EXT. LOUIS, LOOKING DOWN
LOUIS
Nothing...there.
He turns around and begins to walk again.
EXT. LOUIS'S FEET
The tentacle falls away.
EXT. LOUIS, IN LITTLE GOD SWAMP
MYRIAD SOUNDS, none of them pleasant--laughter, gobbling howls,
screams. Sounds like the swamp has been invaded by a pack of
escaped lunatics. LOUIS continues on regardless.
EXT. WOODS
LOUIS comes into the frame. He's obviously tiring now, but he
keeps moving along.
SOUND: Approaching footsteps. Big ones. Thudding ones. Something
is coming which sounds approximately the size of a Tyrannosaurus
Rex. And it just keeps getting louder and louder and louder. LOUIS
looks plenty scared.
SOUND: A falling tree.
EXT. WOODS, LOUIS'S POV
Those SOUNDS keep getting closer and closer. Another tree falls--
we see this one. And now we see a SHAPE--just a SHAPE.
EXT. LOUIS
He's scared almost to death. His face turns up...up...up.
EXT. THE WOODS--AND THE SHAPE, LOUIS'S POV
It is vaguely manlike: perhaps sixty feet tall, perhaps eighty. We
don't see it very well, nor do we have to--I'm not even sure it's
flesh and blood. But there is a clear suggestion of a head. Now it
turns and looks down...looks at LOUIS CREED. We see great yellow
eyes the size of lighthouse lamps.
It makes a huge GRUNTING SOUND...and then walks on.
EXT. LOUIS
The SOUND OF FOOTFALLS is slowly diminishing.
LOUIS
It was the Wendigo. Dear God, I
think the Wendigo just passed
within sixty feet of me.
Slowly he begins to walk again.
EXT. LOUIS, A NEW ANGLE
In the extreme f.g. is a tree which has just fallen--it is no
small tree, either, but a great big old fir.
LOUIS approaches it. Stops. Looks at the tree. Looks down at:
EXT. THE FOREST FLOOR, LOUIS'S POV
Here is a gigantic animal track--if it was full of water, LOUIS
could swim in it. It looks like no animal track we've ever seen
before. Three big claws at the end of it.
EXT. LOUIS
Looks up again. His face is set and hard.
LOUIS
It doesn't matter. Come on, Gage.
He starts to walk again.
EXT. THE MICMAC BURYING GROUND
SOUND: The wind, lonesome and keening.
THE CAMERA MOVES SLOWLY toward the slope, dreaming its way over
those rocky cairns...most of them burst apart.
SOUND: Tortured breathing. Panting.
LOUIS toils his way into view, carrying his bundle. He reaches the
top. He makes his way slowly into the burying ground. He stumbles
over a rock. Falls down. Slowly gathers his things together and
gets up again. He goes a little further and then stops and looks
at:
EXT. A BROKEN CAIRN AND THE GRAVE BENEATH, LOUIS'S POV
We can also see the shredded remains of a green garbage bag.
EXT. LOUIS
He slowly kneels down. He puts the canvas tarp to one side and
slowly takes the pick and shovel from the duffle bag. By now he is
clearly a man approaching total exhaustion.
EXT. A COUNTRY ROAD, WITH AN ARIES K
It tracks past THE CAMERA.
INT. THE ARIES K WITH RACHEL AND PASCOW
Both of them look tense. RACHEL is bolt upright behind the wheel.
Suddenly, BANG! as one of the tires blow.
EXT. THE ARIES K
It goes skidding and slueing across the road, the rear tire half
off the rim. IT climbs the curb and hits a tree.
INT. RACHEL
She lurches forward, but she's wearing her seat-belt--good girl!
She unbuckles it and gets out.
EXT. RACHEL
She looks at the car, which now has quite a bit more wrong with it
than just a scratch up the side.
RACHEL slumps, near tears. LOUIS isn't the only one who's been
through a lot tonight.
RACHEL
Now what?
PASCOW comes from around the tree as RACHEL walks to the road,
looking for cars, or something. He looks urgent and upset.
PASCOW
It's trying to stop you. Do you
hear me? It's trying to stop you.
RACHEL looks around uncertainly...a little afraid. As she scans
the scene she looks at--and through--PASCOW.
RACHEL
Is anyone there?
After a moment of silence she turns back to the road. Lights
appear and brighten as a car approaches. RACHEL steps to the
shoulder and after a moment she sticks out her thumb, surely for
the first time in her life.
The car sweeps by her without slowing.
EXT. GAGE'S CAIRN, CU
LOUIS'S hands enter the shot and put a few more rocks on it. THE
CAMERA PULLS BACK and we see him surveying his work. Beside him is
the canvas tarp, now open and empty.
Absently, LOUIS stuffs the tarp into the duffle bag (where his
tools have also been replaced) and stands up with a wince. One
hand goes to his lower back. He looks down at the cairn.
LOUIS
Come back to me, Gage. Come back
to us.
He turns away toward the stairs.
EXT. RACHEL, ON ROUTE 9
She's walking down the shoulder with her high heels in one hand.
Lights. An approaching car. She turns, thumb out. The car blasts
by.
RACHEL (shouts)
MAY THE SEWERS OF RANGOON BACK UP
IN YOUR BEDROOM, ASSHOLE!
She starts walking again.
EXT. THE FIELD BESIDE LOUIS'S HOUSE
LOUIS is moving down the path. As he passes the tire swing he
pushes it, setting it in motion.
INT. THE GARAGE
LOUIS slings the duffle bag wearily to one side and goes into the
kitchen. CHURCH is under the table but LOUIS Doesn't see him.
INT. THE UPSTAIRS HALL
SOUND of LOUIS slowly plodding up the stairs. He comes into view,
dirty and exhausted, his hair hanging in his face. He walks down
the hall toward the master bedroom.
INT. THE BEDROOM
The clock on the bedtable reads 2:17 A.M. LOUIS falls face-first
on the immaculate bedspread and lies still.
In this shot we should note the closet door is standing open.
EXT. THE MICMAC BURYING GROUND, FEATURING GAGE'S CAIRN
THE CAMERA MOVES IN SLOWLY. Holds. Nothing for a beat. Then:
A small white hand slams up through the rocks, hopefully scaring
the living shit out of us.
CAMERA MOVES CLOSER as the hand begins to feel around. It takes
one of the rocks and pushes it aside. Another. Another. Another.
The SOUNDS are not encouraging. It is GRUNTING and GROWLING. There
is nothing human here.
Rocks begin to tumble as GAGE starts to come out of his grave.
INT. THE CREED BEDROOM, WITH LOUIS
Fast asleep on the coverlet in his dirty jeans and black sweater.
EXT. RACHEL
My babe is still takin' a hike. But here comes another vehicle.
EXT. THE DEADFALL IN THE PET SEMATARY
THE CAMERA MOVES IN on that snarling face.
SOUNDS: GAGE coming. Dead dry breath. Low snarling noises.
Now we see small feet in dirty black shoes walking down the
deadfall.
EXT. RACHEL
Suddenly, as the lights appear, she does a Claudette Colbert,
pulling her skirt up and exhibiting a very lovely leg.
Lights--it's an Orinco truck, naturally--spotlight her. The truck
stops.
EXT. RACHEL AND THE TRUCK
The driver leans over and opens the door.
DRIVER
Hop in, baby.
RACHEL
Thank you.
She does.
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN, WITH CHURCH
He's under the kitchen table, green eyes gleaming. I think he
loves dead, hates living.
SOUND: The doorlatch. CHURCH MIAOWS.
INT. THE KITCHEN, A NEW (LOW) ANGLE
GAGE'S shoes grit slowly across the linoleum, leaving dirty
tracks. CHURCH turns to watch GAGE'S passage, and then follows.
INT. THE BEDROOM, WITH LOUIS
CAMERA HOLDS ON LOUIS as those gritting footsteps approach. Then
we pan to the closet. On the floor is LOUIS'S little black bag. We
hold on this as the footfalls near. A small white hand enters the
frame and pulls the doctor-bag out of the closet. Now another hand
enters the frame and opens the bag. The hands search around inside
and bring out a scalpel.
They hold it up. The GAGE-THING makes a contented SOUND.
EXT. THE ORINCO TRUCK, ON ROUTE 9 NIGHT
It sweeps past THE CAMERA
INT. THE CAB, WITH RACHEL AND DRIVER
RACHEL
Can't you go any faster?
TRUCKER
Lady, I got nine points on my
license right now.
RACHEL
I understand. It's just that--
She looks at him, pleading. The TRUCKER speeds up.
RACHEL
Thank you. If you only understood
how important this is--
TRUCKER
That's all right, babe. Only if we
get stopped, next time I'll be the
one hitchin' and you can give me a
ride.
EXT. JUD, ON HIS PORCH
More deeply asleep than ever. Suddenly, from inside, comes the
sound of Quiet Riot singing/screaming "Bang Your Head." It's the
stereo, and boy, is it cranked.
JUD straightens up so suddenly he almost falls off his chair. His
hands go first to his earphones--his first thought on waking is
that it's coming from there--and then he hurries inside.
CAMERA PANS DOWN to small muddy tracks on the porch floor.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM, WITH JUD
He hurries in, turns on the light, and rushes across to his stereo
system, which is state-of-the-art digital--it looks like a flying
saucer among the more traditional furnishings of the room. He
shuts it off and looks around, frowning.
SOUND: Todd Rundgren, singing "Bang on the Drum All Day" at the
top of his voice.
JUD'S head snaps toward the SOUND.
INT. A SONY RADIO, CU
THE CAMERA PULLS BACK as JUD hurries across the kitchen to the
counter, where the radio is. He turns it off, looking around, more
bewildered than ever.
JUD (sharply)
Who's here?
He walks toward the door which gives on the hall.
INT. THE HALL, WITH JUD
It's dimly lit by light-spill from the living room and kitchen.
JUD
Come on, stop playing games!
SOUND: Molly Hatchet, "Flirtin' with Disaster," being played top
end, from upstairs.
JUD hurries up. Let me suggest that there is a certain psychology
at work here--for the moment he's more concerned about waking the
neighborhood with all this high-decible rock and roll than with
the prowler...and he would certainly know who--or what--that
prowler was, if he had time to think.
INT. JUD'S BEDROOM
He enters and turns on the light. We see a portable phonograph
with the record, turning. JUD rushes over and turns it off.
He looks around, and we see by his face that he knows.
JUD
Gage? (Pause) Are you the one
playing games?
He goes to the window and looks out at:
INT./EXT. THE CREED HOUSE, WITH THE STATION WAGON, JUD'S POV
INT. THE BEDROOM, WITH JUD
He turns slowly and walks toward the bed.
JUD
Gage? Come on out.
He reaches in his pocket and brings out a pocket-knife. He unfolds
the blade.
JUD
I want to show you something.
SOUND: Miaow!
INT. THE DOORWAY, WITH CHURCH, JUD'S POV
INT. JUD, BY THE BED
JUD (to the cat)
How did you--?!
INT. JUD'S FEET
A small hand holding a scalpel shoots out from beneath the skirt
of the coverlet and slashes JUD'S calf,
INT. JUD
He screams with pain and staggers backward.
INT. JUD'S FEET
The other hand shoots out. GAGE grabs one of JUD'S ankles and
pulls.
INT. JUD
With a startled yell, he falls.
INT. JUD AND GAGE
This one's gotta be pretty rough. George will know what to do. We
finally see GAGE, but it should be clear to us that it's not
really GAGE at all. Some daemonic presence is riding inside the
mouldering, disfigured shell of GAGE.
There is a struggle. JUD is repeatedly slashed with the scalpel.
Perhaps he gets GAGE a time or two with the pocketknife.
GAGE screams and gibbers--nothing intelligible here; only sounds.
JUD expires.
GAGE sits on top of him...and then bites into his throat.
EXT. ROUTE 9, BETWEEN THE CRANDALL AND CREED HOUSES
Headlights. RACHEL'S truck has arrived. It pulls up.
RACHEL opens the passenger door, which is on JUD'S side.
EXT. ANGLE ON THE CAB
We can see PASCOW sitting in the passenger seat where RACHEL just
was.
RACHEL
Thank you so much.
TRUCKER
I didn't get a ticket, so you're
welcome, lady.
(And, more seriously)
Whatever your problems are, I hope
they work out.
PASCOW
It's the end of the line for me,
too--I'm not allowed any further.
RACHEL (to the trucker)
I'm sure things will be fine.
PASCOW
I'm not.
She closes the door and steps down.
The truck starts off with a HISS OF RELEASED AIRBRAKES. As it
pulls past her, RACHEL starts across the road, when:
GAGE (soft voice)
Mummy!
She stops, startled. Her face wears a "did I hear that?"
expression. She looks back toward JUD'S house.
GAGE (soft voice)
Mummy!
RACHEL walks halfway up JUD'S paved walk and looks at:
EXT. JUD'S HOUSE, RACHEL'S POV
The one place in the whole world we do not want RACHEL to go.
EXT. RACHEL
She goes. Up the steps to the porch. All through this she's been
travelling with two bags: her handbag and a light tote with her
initials on it. Now she sets the tote down on the top step and
opens the porch door.
She looks very uncertain. This is the wee hours of the morning,
and someone else's house. But...that voice...
GAGE (voice)
Mummy, I need you!
RACHEL looks stunned--rocked. She steps onto the porch.
RACHEL
Who--
The door to the house swings open. After a moment CHURCH comes
into the doorway and sits down.
CHURCH
Miaow!
RACHEL
Church!
GAGE (voice)
Mummy, I need you!
She crosses to the open door.
RACHEL
Gage? Gage?
No answer. RACHEL steps in.
EXT. THE CREED HOUSE MORNING
INT. THE CREED BEDROOM, WITH LOUIS
He's restless, having a very bad dream, from the look. He rolls
back and forth. Closer and closer to the edge. Finally, with a
wild yell, he goes over onto the floor.
INT. LOUIS, ON THE FLOOR
He comes awake. Sits up. Ouch! He's aches from top to bottom and
side to side...but his back is worst. His hands go to it.
LOUIS
Jesus!
He starts to get up very slowly, and this his eyes fix on:
INT. GAGE'S TRACKS ON THE BEDROOM FLOOR, LOUIS'S POV
They enter the house, go to the closet, then leave again.
INT. LOUIS
LOUIS
Gage--?
He scrambles for the closet, his aches and pains forgotten. He
stares in wildly.
INT. THE DOCTOR-BAG
It's open.
INT. LOUIS
He pulls the doctor-bag out. His original hope is now tempered
with the first signs of fear. He begins to go through the doctor-
bag. Suddenly he brings out a case and opens it. The case is
empty, but the indented shape is clear. There was a scalpel in
this case...but not anymore.
LOUIS
Oh my God. (Pause) Gage!
INT. THE HALL, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS
Gage!
LOUIS stands there, tensely listening, for a moment or two, but
there's only silence. He rushes down the hallway and opens the
door to GAGE'S room.
INT. GAGE'S ROOM, LOUIS'S POV
Empty.
INT. LOUIS, ON THE STAIRS
He goes downstairs, yelling GAGE'S name.
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS
Nothing. The phone RINGS. LOUIS almost jumps out of his skin
reaching for it.
LOUIS
Hello!
IRWIN (voice)
Hello, Louis--it's Irwin.
I just wanted to be sure Rachel
got back all right.
As IRWIN says this, LOUIS'S eyes fix upon something.
INT. THE FLOOR, WITH TWO SETS OF GAGE-TRACKS, LOUIS'S POV
One set comes in from the shed-garage and heads for the parlor and
upstairs. The other comes out of the parlor and crosses to the
kitchen door giving directly on the outside.
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS
In his eyes we suddenly see that he understands everything...or
almost everything.
IRWIN (voice)
Louis...are you there?
LOUIS (slowly)
Yes--I'm here.
IRWIN (voice)
Did she get there all right?
LOUIS
Yes, she's fine.
IRWIN (voice)
Well, put her on at that end and
I'll put Ellie on at this one.
Ellie's very worried about her
mother. (Pause) She's almost
in hysterics.
LOUIS
She...Rachel's asleep.
IRWIN (an edge in his voice now)
Then I suggest you wake her up.
Ellie...I think she had a dream that
her mother was dead.
LOUIS
I'll call you right back.
IRWIN (voice)
Louis--!
But LOUIS, whose last few responses have been almost trancelike,
hangs up. He looks at the tracks, then goes into the parlor.
INT. THE CRANDALL LIVING ROOM, WITH THE PHONE
Tiny bloody hands lift it off the cradle. A tiny bloody finger
dials.
INT. THE CREED KITCHEN
The phone starts to ring. After two or three ringy-dingys, LOUIS,
looking extremely upset, comes out of the parlor and picks it up.
LOUIS
Irwin, you'll just have to--
GAGE (voice)
I'm at Jud's, daddy. Will you come
over and play with me?
LOUIS is dumbfounded...slack-mouthed with terror.
LOUIS (a bare whisper)
Gage?
GAGE (voice)
Mommy already came. We played, daddy.
First I played with Jud and then mommy
came and I played with mommy. We had
an awful good time. Now I want to play
with you.
GAGE begins to giggle...a really awful sound.
LOUIS
What did you do? What did you--
CLICK! The GAGE-THING hangs up, still giggling.
INT. THE CREED BED, CU
He puts the doctor-bag down on the bed and roots through it. He
comes up with three syringes, still wrapped in paper, and puts
them aside. Then he roots around some more and comes up with
several ampoules. He holds one up for inspection and we can read
the word MORPHINE on it very clearly.
INT. THE BEDROOM, WITH LOUIS
He carries the syringes and ampoules of morphine over to the
window. His hair has gone partially white.
He fills all three syringes with morphine (using two ampoules for
each syringe--i.e., enough to kill a polar bear) and puts them in
the left breast pocket of his shirt. He puts the spare ampoules in
the right breast pocket of his shirt.
LOUIS is slowly going insane. What remains of his rationality is
like a rapidly fraying rope.
LOUIS
What you buy is what you own, and
sooner or later what you own comes
home to you. Wasn't that what you
said, Jud? Wasn't that pretty much it?
He leaves the room.
EXT. THE FRONT DOOR OF THE CREED HOUSE
LOUIS comes out the door. In one hand he's got a raw pork chop. In
the other he is carrying a pair of Playtex rubber gloves. He walks
to the soft shoulder and waits for an Orinco truck to pass. Then
he crosses.
EXT. THE CRANDALL WALK, WITH LOUIS
He walks most of the way to the house, then stops.
EXT. CHURCH, LOUIS"S POV
He gets up, humping his back warily.
EXT. LOUIS
LOUIS
Hi, Church. Want some grub?
He tosses the pork chop onto the grass.
EXT. CHURCH
He hurries down the steps, goes to the chop, sniffs it, and starts
to chow up. He looks up at:
EXT. LOUIS
He is pulling on the rubber gloves.
LOUIS
Don't mind me. Eat it while you can.
Eat all you want.
EXT. CHURCH
He starts worrying the chop again. Smack-smack-smack.
EXT. ANGLE ON LOUIS AND CHURCH
LOUIS
Eat all you can...all you want...
that's right...today's Thanksgiving
day for cats, but only if they came
back from the dead...
He finishes with the gloves, gets one of the loaded syringes out
of his breast pocket, holds it up, squirts a drop out of the tip,
then moves toward CHURCH.
CHURCH looks up. LOUIS stops moving. CHURCH starts eating again,
and LOUIS starts moving again as soon as he does. All the time he
talks to the cat in that soothing voice. He bends down...and grabs
him.
CHURCH begins to squall and fight. LOUIS holds onto him. He tries
to get the syringe into the cat and CHURCH almost gets away.
LOUIS
No, you don't!
EXT. CHURCH, CU
The syringe plunges into his haunch.
EXT. CHURCH AND LOUIS
The needle is still dangling out of CHURCH'S haunch. The cat looks
dazed. It tries to walk and falls over on its side. It tries to
get up...and then falls over again.
LOUIS
Go on. Lie down. Play dead. Be dead.
He walks to the porch steps and picks up the tote-bag.
EXT. THE TOTE-BAG, LOUIS'S POV
Any doubt he might have allowed himself the luxury of having is
erased by the initials--R.C., same as the cola.
EXT. LOUIS
Twang! One of the few remaining strands of sanity has now parted.
He looks back at:
INT. CHURCH, ON THE PATH, LOUIS'S POV
Dead.
EXT. LOUIS
He climbs the steps and goes onto the porch.
EXT. LOUIS, ON THE PORCH
He strips off the rubber gloves. He tosses them onto the table
beside JUD'S beer-cans as he goes inside.
INT. THE FOYER OF THE CRANDALL HOME, WITH LOUIS
It's dark in here, and spooky.
LOUIS
Rachel? (Pause) Jud? (Longer pause)
Gage?
No answer. He looks down and sees:
INT. A SHOE, LOUIS'S POV
One of RACHEL'S shoes. It lies by the foot of the stairs.
INT. LOUIS
He goes over and picks up the shoe. It's a three-quarter heel, and
it's pretty badly scuffed. RACHEL, after all, did some pretty hard
travelling to get here.
There's a spot of blood on it.
SOUND: A low giggle.
LOUIS looks up:
INT. THE STAIRS, LOUIS'S POV
Mighty dark. Mighty shadowy.
SOUND: Another giggle.
INT. LOUIS, AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS
LOUIS
Gage?
INT. THE STAIRS
GAGE (voice)
Let's play, daddy! Let's play hide
and go seek!
INT. LOUIS
He takes one of the loaded syringes from his pocket.
LOUIS
All right, Gage...let's.
He begins to climb the stairs.
INT. UPSTAIRS, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS arrives on the landing. We begin the nerve-wracking business
of checking rooms. First, the bathroom...and the shower curtain is
of course pulled. LOUIS yanks it back. Nothing.
He checks the linen closet. Nothing. Goes back to the hall. Looks
down it. He walks slowly along it. He checks one room. It's a
guest room. Shadowy and empty.
Down the hall. A closet door. A bag falls off the top shelf, and a
bunch of ceramics inside it SHATTER LOUDLY. LOUIS flinches back.
Down the hall. Now he's at JUD'S room. He goes in.
INT. JUD'S ROOM, WITH LOUIS
He checks the closet. No go. He steps around the bed and sees:
INT. THE FLOOR, LOUIS'S POV
A bloodstain.
INT. LOUIS
He gets down on his hands and knees and examines the bloodstain.
He sees the skirt on the bedspread. He lifts it. He is nose to
nose with JUD, who is dead with his eyes open, an expression of
incredible horror on his face.
The DOOR SLAMS.
LOUIS bolts to his feet as GIGGLES fade down the hall.
Slowly, he kneels down and speaks to the skirt of the spread,
which has mercifully fallen back into place.
LOUIS
I'm sorry, Jud. I'm so sorry. I'm--
There's a SQUEAKING, SQUEALING SOUND.
LOUIS turns around. He gets up again. He starts for the door. Then
he turns back and speaks to JUD again.
LOUIS
I'm going to set things back in
order. I...I know just what to do.
He goes out.
INT. THE HALLWAY, WITH LOUIS
He takes one of the two remaining loaded syringes from his breast
pocket.
LOUIS
Gage?
Another SQUEAKING SOUND. And another GIGGLE.
LOUIS starts slowly forward. He gets about halfway down the hall--
and our nerves are tuned to the breaking point--when there is a
SQUEALING CREAK and a GRATING THUMP from overhead.
INT. CEILING TRAPDOOR
This happens fast. The trap--which presumably gives on the attic
with a set of folding stairs--rises, and RACHEL'S body plunges
down through and then hangs, swinging: she has been bound around
the armpits and as become a grotesque parody of MISSY DANDRIDGE.
Half her face is gone. Eaten.
INT. LOUIS
He SCREAMS and backs against the wall. Twang! The last silver
thread parts.
INT. THE TRAPDOOR, WITH GAGE
He leaps down, crashes on the floor, and then picks himself up. He
is waving the scalpel.
GAGE (screeching)
Allee-allee-in-free! allee-allee-
in-free! Allee-allee-in-free!
INT. LOUIS AND GAGE
I won't choreograph all the moves, but GAGE slashes his stunned
father up pretty badly with the scalpel. He's screeching the whole
time. LOUIS finally begins to react. He grapples with the little
critter, and tries to get the syringe into him. No good. It's
batted out of his hand just before he can do it. It breaks.
LOUIS and GAGE fall to the floor. LOUIS gets the other syringe out
of his pocket, but it's also knocked out of his hand. Only
consolation is this one isn't broken. It rolls off along the
floor. LOUIS finally manages to get it again as the struggle goes
on, and plunges it into GAGE'S neck.
GAGE
No fair! NO FAIR!
He gets to his feet, clawing for the needle lolling out of his
neck. He's lost all interest in his father. He goes staggering
away. He's slowing down. He goes to his knees...and falls on his
face.
LOUIS watches this... and then his vacant, half-catatonic gaze
goes to:
INT. RACHEL, LOUIS'S POV
She swings slowly back and forth.
EXT. THE BACK YARD OF THE CRANDALL HOUSE
Time has passed. It's late afternoon. LOUIS comes out with a
sheet-wrapped form in his arms. RACHEL, of course.
He sets the body down and goes back inside.
INT. THE KITCHEN, WITH LOUIS
He's splashing around a can of coal-oil. When he's got the room
wetted down to his satisfaction, he goes to the door, lights a
match, and tosses it.
Flame runs across the floor. The fire is slow at first, but then
it begins to gain rapidly.
LOUIS goes out.
EXT. THE BACK LAWN, WITH LOUIS
He picks up the sheet-wrapped form of his wife and walks around
the side of the house as flames shoot through the kitchen windows.
EXT. THE FRONT OF THE CRANDALL HOUSE, FROM ACROSS THE ROAD
LOUIS appears with his shrouded burden and approaches the road.
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PAGE 134 MISSING FROM HARD COPY
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EXT. THE SMOULDERING RUINS OF THE CRANDALL HOUSE NIGHT
CAMERA HOLDS FOR A MOMENT, then rises and looks toward the CREED
house. There's one light on--in the kitchen.
TOLLING CONTINUES: Three...four...five...
INT. THE KITCHEN TABLE, WITH LOUIS
LOUIS is filthy, covered with dried blood. He is playing at
Patience. He holds a handful of cards.
TOLLING CONTINUES: Six...seven...
SOUND: The back door opens.
SOUND: Crickets from outside. Ree-ree-ree...
SOUND: Gritting footsteps.
LOUIS looks up. He doesn't look behind, at what's coming. He looks
straight ahead.
LOUIS
And what you own always comes home
to you.
He flips up one card.
TOLLING CONTINUES: Eight...
INT. THE CARD
It's the Bitch, the Queen of Spades, she who supposedly poisoned
the laddies in the Tower.
LOUIS'S hand falls upon it.
TOLLING CONTINUES: Nine...ten...
INT. LOUIS, CU
A hand clotted with grave-dirt falls on his shoulder. A woman's
hand.
TOLLING CONCLUDES: Eleven...twelve...
RACHEL (voice)
Darling.
FADE OUT ON THE SOUND OF CRICKETS.
