THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
By David Self
Revisions by Michael Tolkin
Based on the Novel by Shirley Jackson
11/10/98
Initial Shooting Script
NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS.
THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR THIS SOFT COPY.
BEGIN MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE.
At the very edge of hearing, the tone of human VOICES.
Unintelligible, babbling, eerie. Then a loud FLAPPING SOUND. It
shifts from one side of the theater to the other, like something
moving among the wall hangings.
As the TITLE appears, the noise mounts, drowning out the VOICES,
agitated, becoming violent, banging... inhuman.
FADE IN:
EXT. HOUSING PROJECT, CHARLESTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS - DAY
ON a housing project in the industrial outskirts of Boston. The
BANGING seems to flutter away, leading us along, searching... to a
tiny balcony, one of dozens, ten stories up. And there, the source
of the sound --
-- A SHEET, snapping in the wind. The umbrella-like clothes line
on which it hangs bangs against a dirty glass door as if trying to
get in.
THROUGH THE GLASS DOOR a woman paces inside, agitated. The VOICES
rise over the banging, becoming intelligible --
INT. LIVING ROOM, NELL'S APARTMENT - DAY
-- becoming a fight. JANE, 30s, dark-haired, furious, wheels
across a diminutive, neat, but poor living room.
JANE
It'll take a month to probate the
will, Nell! A month! Even if
Mother left you something, you
won't get it in time to pay the
rent. So instead of complaining,
you should be thanking Lou for
getting you these two weeks to get
Mother's things packed.
At first we can't even see who she's yelling at. At first we don't
even notice her. Then we do...
Holding herself, in a dim corner away from the light, small, plain,
like a part of the faded room is ELEANOR VANCE, 20's -- Nell.
She stares at the door. The clothes line raps at the begrimed
glass.
JANE (cont'd)
Nell?
The wind dies, the banging stops. Nell seems to hear Jane and
peers over at her, then across the room to Jane's bored husband,
LOU. He's turning a Franklin Mint commemorative coin set in his
hands, studying it.
LOU
You're still going to have to
settle with your mother's landlord
on the back rent.
Nell watches Jane's little boy, RICHIE. Unpacified by the
cartoons on the TV, he plows a plastic tank across a shelf through
neat rows of delicate PORCELAIN DOLLS.
NELL
I'm not going to stay. I'll get a
job. I'll get my own apartment.
Richie knocks a porcelain DOLL off, and it breaks all over the
carpet. His parents don't notice. But Nell feels it in the soul.
Richie stops. A long beat. He looks at her, insolent, then plows
on with his tank.
JANE
Nell. A job? Two months and
where is this job? You have no
degree, you've never worked --
Nell explodes in outraged fury, startling us.
NELL
-- I've never worked? --
JANE
You have no experience in the
world... the regular world. What
would you put on a resume?
(beat, softening)
Now we all appreciate what you did
for Mother. Isn't that right,
Lou?
LOU
Eleven years. Long time.
JANE
That's why we've been talking.
With me getting more time in
Accessories, and Lou at the shop
all day, we need somebody to take
care of Richie, do a little
cleaning and cooking. And in
return you can have the extra
room.
She goes to Lou, puts a hand on his shoulder, proud of her
generosity. All Nell can do is stare.
And then: KNOCK KNOCK. Like a shot Nell is out of the chair and
turning for a set of FRENCH DOORS across the room. It's all
reflex. Nell catches herself.
KNOCK KNOCK. Richie, lying on the couch like he's sick, raps on
the wall with a wooden CANE and squeals:
RICHIE
Eleanor, help me! I've got to
pee!
Nell REACTS, but rather than being amused or annoyed, a wave of
TRAUMA flickers over her face. The reaction is so strong we
instantly know something is very wrong.
LOU
Richie, knock it off before I beat
the crap out of you!
Nell turns away, sick, breathing hard.
Jane picks up a JEWELRY BOX from a dresser.
JANE
You're sure this is all of
Mother's jewelry? The lawyer said
to make sure we took it to him...
(beat)
He said there might be some
antique pieces. Have you seen
anything? Some of it might be
valuable.
Nell knows what is going to happen to that jewelry. Jane no longer
can bear the weight of Nell's stare, checks her watch. She nods at
Lou. Lou rises, pocketing the coin set. Richie follows him out.
JANE (cont'd)
Think about our offer, Nell. You
don't know how hard it is out
there.
INT. NELL'S KITCHEN - DAY
Nell rams through the door into the small kitchen, spotless, empty.
And then bursts into tears. Shaking, she digs in her back pocket
and pulls out a FINE FILIGREE NECKLACE. Her mother's. It's from
an age gone by.
Clutching the necklace, she goes back out the door.
INT. LIVING ROOM, NELL'S APARTMENT - DAY
Nell crosses the living room straight for the closed French doors,
the glass obscured by gauze curtains. She throws them open and
enters --
INT. SICK ROOM - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
-- what once was a dining room. Transformed into a sick room.
Drawn shades. Dim. The first traces of dust.
Nell lingers in the doorway a beat, daunted.
A perfectly made bed. The PILLOW, however retains the IMPRESSION
of a head. Lodged between the bed and a nightstand, a CANE. On
the opposite side of the bed is a plastic toilet. I.V. stand.
Shrouded white shapes.
On the wall above the bed, a framed needlepoint counsels: A PLACE
FOR EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE. A bit of wisdom. A way
to live a life.
A way Nell has lived for too long. Seeing it galvanizes her into
movement. She goes to an old armoire, a medicine chest, opens it,
removes a BOTTLE OF TYLENOL WITH CODEINE and marches out.
INT. LIVING ROOM, NELL'S APARTMENT - DAY
Nell closes the doors on the chamber of horrors, exhales. She has
been holding her breath.
INT. NELL'S KITCHEN - DAY
Nell sits at her tiny kitchen table, water glass and Tylenol in
front of her. The necklace dangles from her fingers. She stares,
mesmerized by it. Then she undoes the hasp. The clothes line
outside BATTERS louder --
-- and, defiant, Nell puts the necklace on. She closes her eyes.
Silence. The battering has stopped. A BEAT. And then the PHONE
RINGS. Nell opens her eyes. The phone RINGS. Keeps ringing.
Nell, feeling the drug, finds her way to the phone and picks up.
NELL
Hello? Yes, this is Eleanor.
-- Where? Yes, it's right here.
Nell listens for a long moment. She picks up the classifieds,
flips through. And there it is:
TROUBLE SLEEPING?
WANTED - RESEARCH SUBJECTS. $900.00/.WEEK + RM.&BD. @ BEAUTIFUL
OLD HOUSE IN BERKSHIRES. PSYCHOLOGY STUDY.
END MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE
INT. PSYCH OBSERVATION LAB - DAY
The lab feels more like the video center of a security office than
a psychologist's laboratory. Two banks of black and white monitors
give us images of men and women, different ages, different races,
wired to electrodes. They are taking psychological tests, although
we never see the Testers. The subjects are working through
variations on object manipulation and pattern recognition tests.
There are subtle differences between the two banks of monitors. On
the left, the subjects are all twitching at exactly the same time,
on the right, the subjects are also twitching, but in no
discernible sequence. The subjects on the left are better able to
concentrate on their tasks. The subjects on the right keep
stopping, and going over what they have done.
Two men, MALCOLM KEOGH, in his 50's, is a graying professor, the
head of the department; someone we trust.
He faces PROFESSOR JAMES MARROW. He is a man whose confidence
rests uneasily on his ambition, and in the tension between the two
is the power that makes him the teacher students love. Right now,
though, he is defending himself before a Department Review. This
is not a court martial with judges behind a desk, it's more free
form.
The men are having a fight, and they are watched by OTHER
PROFESSORS.
MALCOLM
It's still an electric shock!
MARROW
Come on Malcolm, it's only seven
ohms, it's nothing, it's like a
joy buzzer! And it's not about
the pain, it's about the
interference with concentration...
Malcolm looks at the monitor. This is Marrow's chance to explain
it again.
MARROW (cont'd)
Look, look at what it does! The
subjects on the left, because they
anticipate the shocks, make the
adjustment, and lose nothing on
their scores. The subjects on the
right, because the shocks are
random, can't anticipate, and the
distraction throws them off.
MALCOLM
Stop defending your science after
the fact, Jim. The department
protocol for research is very
clear about this, and you violated
the rules. I know, I know, I know
that "Fear and Performance" is a
big sexy idea, but as long as I'm
chairman here you will need this
department's endorsement to
publish it, and right now I can't
do that.
At this moment, MARY LAMBRETTA, late 20's, Marrow's pretty T.A.,
opens the door with an armload of files. Whatever else she's
wearing, she wears glasses. Marrow, seeing her, motions for her to
go away. He doesn't break eye contact with Malcolm. Mary
hesitates...
MARROW
Malcolm, this is essential work
I'm doing. Just think what my
research can do for education.
Elementary school classrooms near
train tracks or airports, where
loud noise is random; this helps
to prove the need for sound
insulation if the children are
ever going to learn to read.
MALCOLM
And that will be a good place to
end this study.
MARROW
No, Malcolm! Individual
performance is only part of it. I
know why baseball players choke
for no reason, I know why
violinists throw up with fear
before every concert, and need to,
to give a great performance, but
what I want to know is, how fear
works in a group...
MALCOLM
Not the way you've constructed
your group, it's just not ethical!
MARROW
But if the group knows it's being
studied as a group, you
contaminate the results. The
deception is minor.
Malcolm sees Mary Lambretta.
MALCOLM
Are you working with her?
MARROW
Mary, I'll meet you outside.
She understands, and she closes the door.
MALCOLM
Why are you working with her?
Mary Lambretta was thrown out of
the department for trying to get a
Ph.D. in psychic studies.
MARROW
And after she was thrown out, she
needed a job.
MALCOLM
You don't believe in the
paranormal.
MARROW
No, but she does, and that's all
that matters.
MALCOLM
Does she know that's why you're
using her?
MARROW
No.
MALCOLM
I, I just can't...
MARROW
She needed a job, Malcolm. And
she's smart. And she helps me.
MALCOLM
I have a bad feeling about what
you're doing.
MARROW
This is the last chapter. Please,
please give me clearance. It's
for science.
Marrow waits.
MALCOLM
I'm gonna hate myself for this.
But he nods. Permission granted.
MARROW
Thank you.
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE LAB - DAY
They open the door. They walk out. Mary is there. She closes her
eyes, and does a gypsy voice.
MARY
I see a hostile man... he's (she
describes him). The hostile man
does not believe in Madame Velka.
This relieves the pressure. Malcolm is not listening anymore and
storms off.
MARY
You know what he's really upset
about?
MARROW
What?
MARY
You're going to publish, he's
going to perish... And why did you
hire me for this?
Marrow has a sly smile. They go into his office through another
door in the lab.
INT. MARROW'S OFFICE - DAY
Long, narrow, badly lit, it's filled with filing cabinets, stacks
of unread textbooks still in publisher's plastic, a desk with
computer. As soon as they enter, Mary looks at the phone.
MARY
It's for you.
And then the phone rings. He doesn't pick it right up, he lets it
ring.
MARROW
You hear the vibrations in the
wire. There's a magnetic pulse in
the wires, you feel it. I could
test it.
MARY
Test it.
The phone still rings. Marrow answers.
MARROW
Yes, this is Doctor Marrow.
MARY
How'd I know it was for you?
MARROW
(quickly)
Because it's my phone.
(back to the phone)
Yes... Mrs. Dudley, just leave the
boxes inside, thank you. See you
soon. Thank you.
He hangs up.
Marrow is trying to read the first file as he goes to his desk.
Mary shows him a huge CORKBOARD covered with photos, articles, and
various items.
MARY
Here's how they're organized.
Groups of five, very different
personalities: scored all over the
Kiersey Temperament Sorter just
like you asked for. And they all
score high on the insomnia charts.
MARROW
Good.
A PHOTO OF NELL falls on the floor. Marrow scoops it up. He holds
the photo of Nell up to Mary, and look at the written notes and
studies the graphs that go with it.
MARROW (cont'd)
This is correct?
MARY
Her mother died two months ago.
She says she really wants to do
this. I didn't know if it'd be
taking advantage...
Marrow considers the lonely image for a long moment and then looks
at the graph of her test scores.
MARROW
(meaning the graph,
not the face)
What a beautiful profile. How do
you feel about her? What does
your intuition say?
Mary balks at his teasing.
MARY
I put my favorites on the top.
Marrow continues to study the files.
MARROW (OC)
Okay... this one's good...
Extrovert Feeler... Okay... This
one I like, too...
We don't pay as much attention now to the cork board as to other
images on the wall. We find clinical-looking shots from Stanley
Milgram's experiments: subjects appearing to scream in response to
electrical shock.
Rows of weeping prisoners in the Stanford prison experiment.
Photos of victims crushed under the stands of a soccer stadium, the
aftermath of a riot. A picture of the Fuhrer before his mesmerized
masses. Mary opens a large envelope. She takes out a photograph
that we can't see.
MARY
What's this?
(has to get his
attention)
What's this... this picture?
MARROW
That? That's Hill House.
MARY
This is where we're going?
MARROW
Yes. It's perfect, isn't it?
Mary studies the picture, and she can't answer him. In her
glasses, we get the thinnest reflection of the photograph, a
glimpse of dark brick and high chimneys.
INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY
Nell, in a rust-wormed old Buick, glances from the road to
computer-drawn DIRECTIONS TO HILL HOUSE. She HUMS A TUNE, soft,
lonely, like a lullaby but eerie, off-key.
EXT. ROUTE 39 - DAY
The car speeds down the country road, past old stone walls, out
into rolling meadow, its winding route taking it across the western
Berkshires, farther and farther into the glorious hills.
INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY
Countryside speeds by. She passes an antique store in a barn. A
handpainted sign warns MELBY'S APPLE FARM 100 YARDS. Nell grabs
for the window handle, letting in air.
She snorts, smelling, breathing like it was the first time in her
life... sounding like a pig. And it makes her burst out in
embarrassing, animal laughter.
EXT. HILLSDALE - DAY (ESTABLISHING)
The white-steepled church, five stores and gas station of Hillsdale
lie in a forgotten notch in the hills.
EXT. GAS STATION - DAY
Nell is pumping gas at a country station. She is alone at the
pump. As she finishes, she hears a BABY CRYING. She looks up.
She is immediately drawn by the sound.
She moves to a car at another pump. The car is empty. The windows
are rolled up. She peers into the car, through the window, and
sees a toddler in a car seat. The child is crying. Nell looks
around, no one is there. She makes faces at the baby, coos to it.
NELL
Hello Baby...
She does a peek-a-boo game, and the baby stops crying, the baby
even starts to giggle.
A VOICE from behind.
MOTHER (O.S.)
What's going on, what happened?
Nell turns. The Mother is a busy country mom, arms filled with
stuff from the gas station's market.
NELL
She's okay. She woke up and she
saw she was alone.
The mother has the car open and the baby is smiling now.
MOTHER
Say thank you, Spencer.
(too much of an
explanation)
I was getting her something to
drink. She's been crying all
day...
NELL
That's all right.
MOTHER
Of course you know, how many
children do you have?
NELL
None.
MOM
Then you're a teacher. Nursery
school.
NELL
No.
MOM
You just... you seem like someone
who takes care of children, lots
of children.
NELL
Maybe... maybe someday. I'd like
that.
The woman smiles in something like sympathy, and gets in her car.
When she does, we see a friendly GAS STATION ATTENDANT appear
behind Nell.
NELL (cont'd)
Umm, I'm a little lost.
GAS STATION ATTENDANT
Where you going?
Nell takes out her computer drawn directions and an old map.
NELL
They sent me directions and I've
got a map, but it's kind of
confusing. Here... it's a place
called Hill House?
His helpful attitude changes dramatically.
GAS STATION ATTENDANT
Hill House.
He takes the map book and tears out the page and crumples it up.
NELL
What are you doing?
GAS STATION ATTENDANT
You don't want to go there.
He turns abruptly and walks away.
NELL
Did I say something wrong to you?
Nell slams the Buick door, and breathing hard, starts the engine.
She gets control, and puts the car in gear. She's shaken. Badly.
EXT. COUNTRY LANE - DAY
Nell's Buick bounces over a country road. The car works its way up
into the steep, switchbacking hills.
INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY
Nell looks out at the forest, feels a chill. The road is more like
a tunnel through the forest than a road.
EXT. HILLS - DAY
Nell's car speeds through the trees, climbing the hills, higher and
higher into the awesome solitude.
INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY
Nell takes a final switchback, and something off to the right
catches her eye, then is gone in the trees. She watches again for
it. There. A glimpse of a gray stone property wall set back
twenty yards from the road.
There it is again. Moss-greened, twenty feet high, a wicked array
of iron spikes and glass mortared atop it.
And then out of the tangled forest in front of her looms a pair of
immense stone pillars. Between them, a steel GATE as high as the
wall, chained and padlocked.
EXT. HILL HOUSE GATE - DAY
The gate stands immense. Silent. Forbidding. Beyond them a
gravel drive curves away through the trees. Nell kills her car,
gets out, instructions in hand. No one in sight. A long beat.
She reaches in and blows the HORN.
The HORN shatters the air, rackets off the trees beyond the gate,
echoing. Silence.
Nell blows the HORN a sustained staccato in annoyance. The echo
replies in a terrible, deafening battering of sound. Nell covers
her ears. Silence once again.
In a fit of agitation she goes to the padlock and rattles it. It's
locked good. She turns --
-- and there is a man right behind her. It is MR. DUDLEY, his hair
tied back like an ex-hippie. He stands between Nell and her open
car door, weed spear in hand. He smiles at her -- rough, dirty,
massive.
MR. DUDLEY
What do you want?
NELL
Oh! You scared me.
MR. DUDLEY
Me? No. What are you doing here?
NELL
Are you Mister Dudley, the
caretaker?
MR. DUDLEY
Yeah, I'm Mister Dudley, the
caretaker. What are you doing
here?
NELL
I'm with Dr. Marrow's group. I'm
supposed to check in with Mrs.
Dudley up at the house. Is she
here?
She hands him the directions. He glances at them. She uses the
distraction to get into her car.
MR. DUDLEY
Maybe she is...
INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY
Nell looks at the gate, some part of her aware it's a point of no-
return. Mr. Dudley eases over to her window. Mr. Dudley gives her
one last look and goes to the gate. He produces a keyring and
undoes the padlock.
NELL
Why do you need a chain like that?
MR. DUDLEY
That's a good question. What is
it about fences? Sometimes a
locked chain makes people on both
sides of the fence just a little
more comfortable. Why would that
be?
He unwinds the enormous chain, heavy turn after heavy turn. The
gates swing in, revealing HILL HOUSE.
NELL
Is there something about the
house?
MR. DUDLEY
Mrs. Dudley'll be waiting for you.
Grinning, Dudley steps aside and Nell rolls through. And at that
he just grins wider. Nell pulls away. Disturbed, she watches him
in the rearview mirror. She turns and in front of her sprawls Hill
House. At center, the features of the oldest part of the House
dwarf all others: towering, eye-like windows and the jaws of a
Grand Entry with carved ebony doors.
EXT. HILL HOUSE DRIVEWAY - DAY
The car rumbles up the drive toward the carport.
INT. NELL'S CAR - DAY
Nell stops the car in front of the entrance, right inside the
carport. In the silence all we can hear is her breathing.
EXT. HILL HOUSE - DAY
Her car sits in front of the house, tiny, alone. Its brake lights
go off.
The finger-like pillars of the car port seem like a hand pinning
the car in place under the House's gaze.
Nell gets out of the car.
Nell stares, daunted... yet there is something about the House. A
romance in its lilac heavy Gothic decay. Nell feels it, is drawn
to it.
EXT. GRAND ENTRY - DAY
Nell, suitcase in hand, climbs the steps to the front doors. On
closer inspection, the snaking shapes of the carved doors depict a
Garden of Eden. At center on the knocker, a tarnished silver Adam
takes the forbidden fruit from his counterpart Eve.
Nell lifts Adam and knocks heavily. There is no answer. Nell
looks around for some sign of life.
Off to one side is a LADDER and PAINT CANS. Somebody must've been
touching up the window trim.
When she looks back the door is AJAR a fraction of an inch.
NELL
Hello? Hello? Mrs. Dudley? Mrs.
Dudley, are you here? Anybody?
Tentative, she pushes it open into --
INT. GRAND ENTRY - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
-- a vast entry towering away to a ceiling lost in shadow far
above. Rays of light filter through floor-to-ceiling curtains.
Doors lead off in a half dozen directions.
Every piece of woodwork or plaster in the house is carved,
filigreed, painted or ornamented in wild, ornate fashion. It
overwhelms the eye.
NELL
Wow...
She turns around, sets her suitcase on the marble floor. A short
hallway straight ahead seems to let onto some vast space, dimly
lit.
And then Nell hears a SOUND. Carrying through the empty halls from
some distant place: a low, plaintive MOAN.
Nell freezes. The MOANING stops. Nell strains her ears. And then
the MOAN again. It comes from the short hallway ahead. Nell
starts for it. The Moan stops.
INT. HALL FROM ENTRY TO GREAT HALL - DAY
Nell moves down the hall. It's dim, stale, lined with pier tables,
candelabra.
NELL
Hello? Hello? Mrs. Dudley?
Her voice echoes from the room beyond. She follows her own voice
into --
INT. GREAT HALL - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
-- A long, oval great hall. Passages and doors lead off in all
directions to God-knows-where. A double-grand staircase at the far
end ascends to a landing shrouded in darkness before turning up the
next floor. Magnificent ANIMAL HEADS carved on the newel posts
glare at her.
Nell makes her way past clusters of furniture, stops at the center.
Silence. An ENORMOUS FIREPLACE dominates one wall. Large enough
to stand in. An iron mesh SCREEN hangs in its mouth. Mantle and
chimney rise in dark, baroque masonry, becoming lost in the shadows
above.
The MOANING sound. Nell spins away from the fireplace. The sound
rises from the door at the very back of the hall. Nell takes a
step toward it.
NELL
Mrs. Dudley?
She moves up to the door, puts a hand out to it. The MOANING
rises. Nell pushes through --
INT. 1ST FLOOR HALLWAY TOWARDS KITCHEN - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
-- into a much narrower, curving hallway. Doors all along it. The
sound comes from the door right there across from the one Nell just
came through. She flings it open --
INT. KITCHEN - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
-- and comes through into a vast kitchen. A woman in black with
her back to Nell stands at a counter. The moaning comes from a
disreputable old CAN OPENER.
Nell breaths, feels stupid. The woman senses her, turns from her
cans of potatoes. She is MRS. DUDLEY, sallow, unsmiling.
MRS. DUDLEY
It's make the soup or answer the
door. Can't do both.
NELL
Mrs. Dudley.
MRS. DUDLEY
So far.
Mrs. Dudley wipes her hands, regards Nell, nods.
NELL
I'm Eleanor Vance, I'm with --
MRS. DUDLEY
-- Dr. Marrow's group. You're the
first.
Mrs. Dudley just stares with her sunken face. It unsettles Nell.
MRS. DUDLEY (cont'd)
I'll show you your room.
INT. GRAND STAIRWAY/MEZZANINE - DAY
Mrs. Dudley glides up the stairs. Nell follows, hoisting her
suitcase after her. It appears the mezzanine ahead leads to a
hallway. But as we draw closer what we thought was a hallway is an
ENORMOUS OIL PAINTING. In it stands a man, his features lost in
the shadows above, only his body visible.
The nameplate reads HUGH CRAIN.
NELL
Hugh Crain.
Nell looks up: Mrs. Dudley waits coldly at the top of the stairs.
INT. 2ND FLOOR HALLWAY, NORTH WING - DAY
Mrs. Dudley leads Nell down a curved hallway, over aged Persian
carpets and turns to a door on her left. She throws it open,
stands back. Nell enters.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - DAY
Nell lowers her suitcase.
MRS. DUDLEY
The Purple Room. You're going to
be the first visitors that Hill
House has had since Mister Crain
died.
The room is spacious, in a rococo gothic style with low-relief
woodwork on the walls rising to a dark, coffered, ceiling of carved
ivory. A king-size bed, furniture, all in blue purple. An open
door gives a glimpse of a bathroom.
A large fireplace dominates one wall. Its mantle is carved with
the faces of children, happy, at play, alive. Nell touches the
wood, loving.
NELL
They're so beautiful. Aren't
they?
MRS. DUDLEY
I've seen 'em. Lot to dust.
NELL
Well, I've never lived with
beauty. You must love working
here.
Mrs. Dudley peers at her. A beat. And then, cryptic:
MRS. DUDLEY
It's a job. I keep banker's
hours. I set dinner on the dining
room sideboard at six. You can
serve yourselves. Breakfast is
ready at nine. I don't wait on
people. I don't stay after
dinner. Not after it begins to
get dark. I leave before dark
comes. We live in town. Nine
miles. So there won't be anyone
around if you need help. We
couldn't even hear you, in the
night.
NELL
Why would we --
MRS. DUDLEY
-- no one could. No one lives any
nearer than town. No one will
come any nearer than that. In the
night. In the dark.
And with that Mrs. Dudley grins, rictus-like. She turns and closes
the door after her.
Nell stands there a long moment, the room silent, heavy, old. She
goes to the windows, peers out. Nothing but forest for miles. The
sun is setting.
Nell removes her windbreaker, opens her suitcase, takes out a
blouse and skirt. Decent enough clothes, but cheap, the tags still
on them.
INT. 2ND FLOOR HALLWAY, NORTH WING - DAY
Nell emerges from her room in her new clothes. The hallway curves
away into the distance, lined with massive, ornate doorframes like
the one to her room.
Trying to get a better look, Nell searches the walls for a light
switch, but can't find one. She follows the chair rail back to --
INT. MEZZANINE - SUNSET (CONTINUOUS)
-- the mezzanine at the top of the stairs. She searches in vain
for a light switch there. Finally she spots a set of curtains and
slings them open.
The light, late-day though it is, makes her wince. The window
looks down on the driveway. Outside a BEIGE CAR crunches over the
gravel. Somebody else has arrived.
Nell watches the car move past, trying to get a glimpse of the
driver, but from up here, all she can see is roof.
NELL
Finally.
She backs away from the window, spins around --
-- and out of the darkness, powerful, mad, looms the visage of Hugh
Crain. It is the painting. It is only from up here on the second
floor with this curtain open that the FACE is visible in the late-
day sunlight.
Despite the artist's discretion, the lines in the man's skin, his
eyes, his posture, cry of unspeakable sickness.
Unconsciously, Nell takes a step back. In the far b.g., near the
end of one of the halls, a DOOR stands open, the second or third
set of doors in the Gothic Hallway left of the painting. Just as
it starts to come into view, and we're starting to see it, it
swings silently shut.
But Nell has caught the movement out of the corner of her eye.
INT. 2ND FLOOR HALLWAY, NORTH WING - DAY
Nell stares down the long hallway. Which door was it?
NELL
Hello?
No response. She starts down the hall, slow at first, then faster.
She passes door after door, shadow after shadow, and as she nears
the end of the hall... there is no door here. Not within 20 feet
of, where we thought we just saw it.
A WHISPER. VOICES. Nell backs away. And then LAUGHTER. Behind
her. It's coming from another stairwell. Very real... and very
human.
INT. BACK STAIRWAY - DAY
Nell looks down from the top of the stairs. Below Mrs. Dudley and
THEO, 20s, exotic, sophisticated, in Vera Wang leather, wrestle with
a pile of designer luggage. Theo peers up. She's dark, sexy in an
amused, worldly way: someone who has seen and done it all.
THEO
You may think I have a sickness
about packing, but asking people
to help me shlep the stuff I take
with me everywhere is a cheap and
exploitative way of making new
friends. My name's Theo.
Theo foists a very heavy bag off on Mrs. Dudley who looks like she's
been handed a snake. That makes Nell smile. She comes running down
to help with the bags.
NELL
I'm Eleanor but everyone calls me
Nell. Eleanor Vance. Nell. I'm
really glad you're here. Really.
Theo is a little thrown by Nell's gushing.
NELL (cont'd)
What a beautiful jacket.
Theo looks her over... and understands. Nell is desperate to be
liked.
THEO
And what you're wearing, that's
great, too.
NELL
This? It's from a thrift shop.
THEO
What did it cost?
NELL
Fifteen dollars.
THEO
That'd be seventy in New York.
You stole it!
NELL
(embarrassed by the
simple truth)
It's all I could afford.
THEO
Wait. You're not wearing that
ironically? This is really you?
NELL
I don't know what you mean.
Mrs. Dudley, walking ahead, looks back at them. Then continues up.
Theo makes a face at Mrs. Dudley's back. Nell smiles, a little.
THEO
A week. You and I? We're going
to have fun.
INT. THEO'S ROOM - DAY
Mrs. Dudley opens the door, letting Theo and Nell into a large
bedroom, a mirror-image twin of Nell's room, except it's decorated
in rich red-orange velvets.
THEO
This is so twisted.
She dumps her stuff on the floor, grabs a banister on the four-
poster bed, swings cat-like onto its high mattress.
MRS. DUDLEY
I set dinner on the dining room
sideboard at six.
Mrs. Dudley lays Theo's suitcase on a luggage stand.
MRS. DUDLEY
Breakfast is at nine. I don't
stay after dinner. Not after it
begins to get dark.
Theo, back to Mrs. Dudley, rolls her eyes at Nell.
MRS. DUDLEY (cont'd)
I leave, before dark. So there
won't be anyone around if you need
help.
NELL
We couldn't even hear you.
Mrs. Dudley looks up at Nell who mimics her scary smile.
MRS. DUDLEY
No one could. No one lives any
nearer than town.
NELL
No one will come any nearer than
that.
Mrs. Dudley smiles at Nell, but it's softer than before.
MRS. DUDLEY
In the night. In the dark.
Theo leans on the bed, musing at the exchange. And then Mrs. Dudley
backs out of the room, shuts the door.
NELL (cont'd)
My room is right next door. I
think we share a bathroom.
Theo has an interesting eye on Nell, she's studying her.
THEO
Don't worry, I probably won't be
in here much. Light sleeper.
NELL
That's why we're here.
THEO
What do you do?
NELL
I'm between jobs right now. My
last job... it... the person I was
working for... the job ended.
Over. So... And you?
THEO
That depends.
Theo pops a dress bag on the bed, unzips it. Theo takes off her
coat, and is only wearing a black bra underneath. Nell reacts,
turns away. Back to the camera, Theo flicks off her bra, stretches.
THEO (cont'd)
I'm supposed to be an artist, but
I've been really distracted from
work by love. Do you know what I
mean?
NELL
Not really.
THEO
Don't tell me Boston is different
from New York.
NELL
(she knows this
from magazines)
Ohh, sure, you have trouble with
commitment.
THEO
My boyfriend thinks so, my
girlfriend doesn't. If we could
all live together... but... they
hate each other. It's hard to be
Miss Perversity when you're the
only one at the party. D'you know
what I mean?
NELL
No.
THEO
(delighted)
A blank canvas! I could paint
your portrait, directly on you.
Or maybe not. So, you? Husbands?
Boyfriends? Girlfriends? Where
do you live?
NELL
I don't have anyone.
(beat, lying)
But I do have a little apartment
of my own. It has a little flower
garden. You can just see the
ocean. At night, when the wind
comes in just right, you can hear
the buoys in the harbor.
Nell peeks, sees Theo is decent, turns around.
THEO
That sounds really nice. You're
lucky. But you know that.
Theo comes over, straightens Nell's seams; this is an intimate,
forward gesture.
THEO (cont'd)
(with meaning)
Come on, we've seen enough of the
bedroom for now.
INT. 2ND FLOOR HALLWAY - DUSK
The long hall is lost in shadow, its long rows of doors waiting in
the deadening silence. A lamp on a pier table casts a small pool of
light. The walls glow in rich tones, the low-relief carvings a
worm's-wood of shadow.
Nell runs her hand over a wall panel as Theo peeks into a
neighboring room.
NELL
So much carving. It's everywhere.
On everything.
Theo starts down the hall. Nell follows.
INT. RED PARLOR - DUSK
Nell and Theo enter a room just off the landing, a lavish parlor
with the omnipresent panelled walls, lush red carpet, velvet
curtains sweeping floor to ceiling, heavy pieces of furniture. Nell
watches Theo explore. As Theo moves through the room, Nell's eye
lands on another painting of Hugh Crain. Inside it's ornate golden
framework, distinctive little cherubs are embedded. Cherubs of
Death... She runs her fingers over it.
THEO
Maybe you shouldn't touch --
Theo twirls out of the room, Nell, anxious, behind her.
INT. MEZZANINE - DUSK
As they come out of Crain's study Theo stops at the top of the
stairs, Nell behind her.
THEO
Jeez.
NELL
I know.
They stare out at Hugh Crain, the cracking and shadowing of the
swirls of oil that compose his face. The figure is daunting, but
dead. Just a painting. Four different hallways lead into the
mezzanine, all dark and endless in the stray light.
NELL (cont'd)
Maybe we should wait for them
here.
Theo walks out, swings around.
THEO
Which one? Pick any.
Nell looks from one to another. She doesn't want to. But she
forces a smile and points to one on the left. They both disappear
into the dark gothic hallway.
INT. SMALL PARLOR (CONFUSING ROOMS) - DUSK
Theo breezes into a small parlor with heavy green velvet curtains,
panelled walls, rich settees. Other doors lead off the room. Nell
follows.
THEO
This is a serious question, but do
you think the Dudleys ever make
love in this room? They're alone
in the house, no one watching. No
one... no one watching. You can
do what you want.
Theo goes running for another door and is out.
Nell, realizing she's being left behind, springs after her into
another mysterious hallway --
INT. STATUARY HALL - DUSK (CONTINUOUS)
-- into a wide hall lined with niches and classical statuary. Theo
strides down it pointing left and right, bending over, straddling
the pieces, provocative:
THEO
Here. Here. Here.
(under a leering
gargoyle)
Oh yes! Oh yes oh YES! Here!
Nell laughs -- appalled and loving every minute of it.
THEO (cont'd)
Can't you just see it?
NELL
Theo!
INT. HALL OF MIRRORS - DUSK (CONTINUOUS)
Through a narrow passageway, and large double doors they suddenly
stand at the threshold of a fantastic ballroom lined with mirrors
and chandeliers. Rows of mirror-coated octagonal pillars, rise to a
vaulted, mirrored ceiling far above. With the door opening, there's
a CLICK, and a mechanism of some sort is activated. The FLOOR
begins to MOVE like a slow turntable.
Theo comes right up, looks over Nell's shoulder. Nell steps out.
She traipses out across the room, her million reflections waltzing
with her into infinity. Theo dances after her. They dance, not
quite together. Nell stops and pronounces:
NELL
I love this house. I really love
this house.
THEO
(gently, recognizes
that Nell is
different)
You're okay.
Nell blushes... and they burst out laughing. They take off running,
their reflections with them, stampeding for an archway on the far
side of the room and out --
INT. 1ST FLOOR HALLS (VARIOUS) - DUSK (CONTINUOUS)
-- into yet another hallway. They race down the hall, turn into
another hall, then another, all dimly lit by the very last rays of
day, all furnished in the House's dark, impossibly complicated,
impossibly ornate fashion. As they go, the mood is growing darker,
the women unaware that they are getting lost.
THEO
(having fun)
Rats! We're rats in a maze!
That's what this experiment is
going to be!
They open a door to --
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE LOCKED ROOM - DUSK (CONTINUOUS)
They stand at the end of a long hallway to one of the House's
forgotten outlying wings. It is dark. Too dark. Nell and Theo
regard the darkness.
At the far end of the hall stand a pair of MAHOGANY DOORS, closed,
almost black, oily-looking. Surrounding them, an enormously complex
geometrical frieze.
The doors themselves are plain. In their simplicity there is
something about them enormously disturbing. It is as if the doors
are looking back at them, Nell goes cold. Theo holds herself.
NELL
We should go back.
Theo nods. They turn around, Theo opening what she thinks was the
door they came through.
INT. NARROW STAIRCASE - DUSK
They hurry down a narrow staircase, Theo first, Nell right behind.
NELL
Theo, I'm scared --
They fly down a set of steps, Theo flings open a final door -- and
SCREAMS!
INT. GRAND ENTRY - NIGHT
The Grand Entry, where they bump into LUKE SANDERSON, 20's, charming
and cynical.
LUKE
Hi, Luke Sanderson, bad sleeper,
I'm your basic tosser-turner, and
you are...
NELL
Uh... Nell Vance...
LUKE
And what kind of sleeper?
NELL
Well, I... uh...
LUKE
Obsessive worrier. Join the club.
(to Theo)
And you? I'd guess...
THEO
You'll never guess.
She won't answer.
Marrow comes in the front door. He looks at the house like
MacArthur studying a beachhead.
MARROW
There we are. You're Eleanor,
you're Luke, you're Theo.
ALL
Hi... hello... Dr. Marrow...
MARROW
And this is Todd, he just came up.
TODD comes in.
TODD
Hi. I'm Todd Aubochon.
LUKE
(1950's alien
spaceman)
Greetings fellow insomniac.
TODD
(playing)
Greetings fellow sheep counter.
MARROW
And this is my assistant, Mary
Lambretta.
LUKE
Greetings.
And Mary enters. Crossing the threshold, she catches her breath,
and when she comes into the hall and sees everyone, she also sees
the house in its detail. And she has a bad feeling.
Marrow is still putting everyone at ease.
MARROW
Eleanor, how was the drive?
NELL
You can call me Nell, Dr. Marrow.
MARROW
Nell. Good enough. And I'm Jim.
NELL
I'm really... honored to be part
of this study, Jim.
MARROW
Well... we're glad to have you.
His smile is devastating. Nell reddens, instantly taken by Marrow's
warmth, observant sensitivity. Theo notices.
MARROW
Have either of you seen David
Watts?
THEO
No, but Nell's been here longer
than I have.
NELL
I only saw Theo drive up.
LUKE
Who's Watts?
MARROW
The man who completes the group.
For a long moment they stand there, silent, looking at each other --
polite smiles, but awkward, even Marrow. One by one they all look
to him for a cue.
MARROW (cont'd)
Well, why don't we get some dinner
while we're waiting for him?
(beat, backing
through the doors
to the Great Hall)
Welcome to Hill House, everyone.
INT. GREAT HALL - NIGHT
Marrow leads the way across the hall. The others check out the
furnishings as they pass.
TODD
These old Victorian houses are
great, aren't they?
LUKE
(points to details;
ADJUST FOR SET)
It's not Victorian, everyone
thinks that the whole nineteenth
century was Victorian. This is
gothic, this is English Craftsman,
this is Romanesque. This is...
insane. Who lives here?
MARROW
Nobody. A local mill owner, Hugh
Crain, built it in 1830. He had
no heirs, but he put the house in
trust, and the farmland around it,
with the stipulation that it never
be altered or sold. Crain's
executors made good investments
and for the last hundred and
twenty years, Hill House has taken
care of itself.
Mary is shaken by the house, but she's honoring Marrow's request.
Everywhere she looks, she feels the presence of something.
TODD
So what's this study all about
anyway? Mary described the kind
of tests we'll be doing, but
didn't fill us in on the big
picture. She said you needed bad
sleepers, but this wasn't about
curing the problem.
MARY
I can tell you what this is about.
MARROW
Eat first, questions later, Mary,
please.
They exit the hall, Mary and Nell last, and as they do, Nell sees
Mary's strange look. She stops.
NELL
Is something wrong?
MARY
No. Just... when I saw your
picture I had a feeling about you,
and now that I meet you, I know I
was right.
NELL
What?
MARY
Eat first, questions later.
And suddenly awkward, Mary exits after the others.
INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT
A chandelier hangs unlit over a long dining table. LAUGHTER. At
the end Nell and the others sprawl over the remains of a dinner
which has been going on for hours. Luke is opening another bottle
of jug wine.
LUKE
You know what I love about wine
that comes in bottles like this?
TODD
What?
LUKE
Every year is a good year.
MARROW
Theo? It's your turn.
Theo twirls her wine glass, licks the dregs inside the rim,
thinking.
THEO
The rest of you may hate your
insomnia, but I find it the best
time of the day for me. I'm
alone. Nobody's talking to me but
myself. My mind is racing with
ideas, and I can think.
LUKE
Nah, you're going crazy with
doubt, all of your mistakes are
coming back up the pipes, and it's
worse than a nightmare. --
Nell isn't used to people being so direct and at the same time,
playful. She glances at Marrow's LEFT HAND: NO WEDDING RING.
THEO (cont'd)
Excuse me.
LUKE
Don't give me that look, it's
everybody's problem, we just have
different variations, I for
example. I fall asleep easily.
But I wake up around two or three
in the morning, every morning.
It's that time of night that
Fitzgerald called the deep dark
night of the soul. I stare
into... the abyss. Every night.
(breaks his own
somber mood)
It's the price I pay for being
such a jolly fellow.
(to Mary)
Y usted?
MARY
I think I'd fall asleep easily,
but just as I start to feel
comfortable, I see things in the
dark.
Nell hears this, Nell is tuned into Mary.
MARY
I feel the presence of something
watching me. It's not... scary...
not by itself but... I don't want
to go to sleep because I'm worried
about the thing attacking me. So
when I finally do fall asleep, I'm
like a soldier who's fallen asleep
at her post. I feel like I've
betrayed myself. Nell?
Nell wishes she could hide under her plate.
NELL
All of you have such interesting
problems.
There's laughter.
NELL (cont'd)
No... Please, I know how that
sounds but... You're all so
articulate. You know how to talk.
I feel like I'm here under false
pretenses. It's silly, it's not
like... well, all of you have
trouble sleeping because you live
in the world, and the world is
complicated and scary, but
nothing's ever happened to me. So
I don't have a reason to sleep
badly.
MARROW
You wrote that you had trouble
sleeping.
NELL
Yes, because someone was always
keeping me awake. Ever since I
was little. That was my job. I
took care of my mother and I had
to be there for her all night
long, and she woke up all the
time. And after she died, well,
it's been a few months, but I
still, I still wake up, it's... a
habit.
(beat)
I know we've only known each other
a couple of hours, but I'm really
glad to be with people who let me
talk about this. I'm really happy
to be here with you.
Silence. The others are embarrassed by her sincerity. She's right,
Nell is not of their world.
MARROW
We're glad you're here.
He says this with enough sympathy for Theo to see his interest in
the girl in the thrift shop dress.
MARROW (cont'd)
Why don't we move to another room?
INT. RED PARLOR - NIGHT
The HARP sings out, lively, expertly played by Mary. Theo, Luke,
Todd and Nell are impressed with her skill.
MARY
It's an Erard. Late 1870s.
She plays, and as she does, she's aware of the room, and the house,
and she sees something in a curtain or the fireplace, or a window,
something at the edge of perception. She suddenly stops.
NELL
What's wrong?
MARY
The harp is out of tune.
She finds a key and begins TIGHTENING the strings -- as Marrow bangs
open the door, briefcase in one hand, CELL PHONE in the other. He
can't conceal his irritation. Marrow removes folders from his
briefcase, passes them around while she plays. Nell again studies
the Cherub of Death on the spine of the leather bound books.
MARROW
I'll have to count David Watts as
a no-show. So let's start. Thank
you, Mary.
That was a little abrupt, she feels it. Everybody finds a chair or
spot on the sofa. Mary remains on the stool by the harp. Marrow
sits in a large winged-back chair.
MARROW (cont'd)
All right? So, to answer your
earlier question, Todd, why are we
here? What do we all need in
life, what are the basics? We
need food, we need water, we need
sleep. Sleep. All of you resist
it? Why? What does that mean?
Why do we resist sleep? My field
of study is the individual's
psychology of emotion and
performance.
LUKE
So why did you need the Addam's
Family mansion for a scientific
test?
MARROW
I thought it best to be isolated,
to be in a location with a
definite sense of history, and I
wanted to make sure that it wasn't
so pleasant you'd all sleep too
easily. You'll be taking a
variety of tests, none of them
harmful, and you've got the house,
the grounds, and each other to
keep you company.
THEO
When do we take the tests?
MARROW
Every day. Basically we'll be
hanging out together like we have
so far this evening.
Nell and Theo are looking through their folders: sheets of paper,
bizarre geometric puzzles.
MARROW
Also, there is no phone service to
the House and no TV. I have the
cell phone for emergencies. We'll
begin the tests after breakfast
tomorrow.
The others shuffle through papers, Nell and Todd intent on them,
Theo interested but not overly so, Luke, bored.
MARY
Dr. Marrow, what is this house?
When she says this, we should be seeing her from an odd perspective,
the house's POV.
MARROW (cont'd)
There was once a king who built a
palace. The King's name was Hugh
Crain. A hundred and thirty years
ago, when the Merrimack Valley was
the center of American industry,
Hugh Crain made two hundred
million dollars. That's forty-
three billion dollars in today's
money. He could have anything he
wanted. And what he wanted, was
Rene, his banker's beautiful
daughter. Rene, and a house
filled with children.
NELL
All the carvings.
MARROW
But there's a sad catch to the
story.
MARY
What happened?
MARROW
There were no children. Rene
died, and then Hugh Crain built
all of this, and then he died.
His heart was broken.
Nell shifts, looks at the house with a strange feeling.
NELL
That's so sad.
This has been tense between them, a gunfight. POP! A LOG in the
fireplace makes everyone jump. Theo relishes it, but Nell shudders.
MARY
I think there's more to the story.
This house has its own music,
Doctor Marrow, I can play it for
you, I can hear it.
Mary plays, channeling unholy music from the house, from the walls,
from the curtain, from the air. Her fingers fly down the harp to
the THICKEST WIRE and --
-- TANG! Like a steel whip the wire SNAPS.
Mary SCREAMS in pain.
MARY
My eye... oh... my eye... my
eye... oh... No...
The others leap up in shock. Blood lines the wall behind her. She
clutches at her eye, more blood spilling out from between her
fingers.
TODD
Oh Jesus.
Marrow and Theo rush over to her as she shrieks in pain.
Todd is frozen, pale, like he's about to be sick. Nell turns the
OTHER WAY, but not because she's scared -- she's searching for a
shot glass on a side table.
Marrow wraps Mary in his arms. Her shrieking becomes a terrified
but quieter wail.
MARROW
Mary, let me see your eye.
Nell appears by his side with the glass. Marrow pries Mary's hand
from her face.
Blood flows freely from the eyelid, but her eye is intact.
NELL
Here, cover it. Don't let her
touch it.
EXT. HILL HOUSE DRIVEWAY - NIGHT
Marrow slams the door on the passenger side of Todd's car. Mary
sits there, moaning, glass covering her eye, blood spilling out
around the edges. Luke is on her side of the car.
LUKE
Keep your head back, that's it.
Todd opens his door. Marrow hands him a key.
MARROW
Here's my key to the gate. Call
me the second you know anything.
Todd takes it, jumps in. The two men watch the car drive away.
LUKE
That could have been worse.
MARROW
Yeah.
As they turn back, Marrow taps Luke.
MARROW
Luke, can I talk to you?
LUKE
Sure.
MARROW
Because... well, I know I can
trust you.
LUKE
Why?
MARROW
I've read your tests.
That was half a joke, and both men smile. Now they're bonded.
MARROW (cont'd)
There's something... I... I didn't
tell you everyth1ng about the
house, and about Hugh Crain... but
I'm asking you not to repeat it.
LUKE
I can keep a secret.
They go in. The house is outlined by the sky and clouds and the
moon.
INT. MEZZANINE - NIGHT
Luke catches up with Nell and Theo as he reaches the mezzanine. The
painting of Hugh Crain, barely visible in the shadows, looms right
behind.
LUKE
He said that Hugh Crain... Hugh
Crain was a monster. He said that
he was a brutal, horrible man. He
told me that Crain drove his
workers to early deaths. Crain
had children chained to the looms
in his mill. And listen to this:
his beautiful Rene killed herself.
THEO
And why didn't Marrow tell us?
Doesn't he trust women? That
fuck.
NELL
(she's thinking
about the story,
not Marrow)
A monster? But he built this for
the woman he loved, like the Taj
Mahal.
THEO
The Taj Mahal wasn't a palace, it
was a tomb. Why didn't he tell
us?
LUKE
He's trying to protect the
experiment. Personally, I don't
think he's got a large enough
sample for valid results, but as
long as the money's good, and the
food is good, I'm in.
He heads off. Theo turns to find Nell staring at the animal heads
on the stairs. Theo touches her. She starts.
THEO
Nell, it was an accident.
INT. MARROW'S BEDROOM (PART OF CONFUSING ROOMS) - NIGHT
Marrow, sitting at a desk, speaks into a digital voice recorder.
His voice is cold, analytical.
MARROW
Icebreaker exercise conducted over
dinner. Observed initial bonding
among subjects and experimenter.
After dinner first bland history
of House relayed. Nell appears
most susceptible to suggestive
history. Luke, who tested at the
bottom of the Levy-Mogel
Confidence Reliability Scale was
given the second part of the
story. We should see some results
tomorrow. Accident with harp,
while unfortunate... complements
the experimental fiction.
He turns off the machine, and then he says, ruefully:
MARROW (cont'd)
Publish or perish.
He turns off the light. The shadows in the room are too much for
him. He turns the light on, and then pulls the blanket over his
head.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - NIGHT
Nell finishes putting things away in drawers. Theo watches, leaning
in the doorway. Nell looks around at the room: and this is her new
family's new home. Theo smiles sweetly at her, comes over. An
awkward moment, as the seriousness drains away.
THEO
Ever try putting your hair up in a
French twist?
Theo reaches for Nell's hair. Nell pulls away. Theo pauses. Nell
realizes she shouldn't have pulled back.
NELL
Sorry. I'm not used to being
touched.
She moves closer to let Theo examine her hair. Theo takes Nell's
hair, holds it up in a French twist.
THEO
You've been out of the world for a
long time, haven't you?
NELL
Yes. I've missed it.
THEO
No. The world has missed you.
Cautiously, Nell peers in a mirror at herself... and likes what she
sees. Theo lets Nell's hair drop. Theo moves for the door.
NELL
Good night, Theo.
THEO
You, too. Happy tossing and
turning.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - NIGHT
As Nell steps OUT OF FRAME and starts undressing, the CAMERA finds
the carved mantle, the densely-packed scene of children at play,
their faces frozen in dark wooden smiles, their eyes blind but
staring OC where we sense Nell changing.
Now in a long tee-shirt, Nell crawls up onto the high bed. Its
headboard is heavy, dark, engraved with fan-like shapes, maybe
plants.
She draws the covers about her and peers up at the ornate headboard.
Something about it bothers Nell, but she can't put her finger on it.
She twists over on her side and turns out the light on the
nightstand. For a moment, all there is in the darkness is her
breathing --
INT. GREAT HALL - NIGHT
-- then almost silence. We pull back from the CHILDREN'S FACES on
the doors of the Great Hall to reveal the vast room standing in
darkness. Covens of strange shapes consort in the shadows, things
that in the day would be lamps, the stuff of life. But now, at the
very deepest limit of human hearing, it is as if SOMETHING EXHALES.
INT. GRAND STAIRWAY - NIGHT
It is black at the top of the stairs. The carved animal heads on
the balusters are all turned UP THE STAIRWAY, eyes starting in fear.
Waiting for something to walk down out of that blackness.
INT. HALL OUTSIDE LOCKED ROOM - NIGHT
Eyes. Eyes of all the mythological figures. STARING down the long,
black hallway. Awaiting something. Afraid.
At the end of the hallway, where all eyes are staring, the double
doors, the ones that scared Nell and Theo stand shut.
That something gathering at the edge of our hearing RISES. Rises as
if the House itself is breathing.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - NIGHT
BUMP. The sound thuds the stillness of the House. Bump. Bump.
Bump. Deep, hollow, distant like a dream. Nell sits up, still
asleep, body moving by reflex.
NELL
Coming, Mother!
WHUMP. The noise jars her consciousness, lighting up her mind, VERY
REAL. Nell remembers where she is.
Bump bang. It's coming from somewhere far off in the House. Nell
listens in cold dread.
THEO (OC)
Nell!
Nell spins to the bathroom door, goes through --
INT. NELL'S BATHROOM - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)
-- the unlit bathroom, slamming the door to her room behind her,
across and out the other door --
INT. THEO'S ROOM - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)
-- into Theo's room. THUMP BUMP BUMP. Nell finds Theo right in
front of her, hair wet, kneeling in the bed, clutching her covers to
herself.
THEO
What is it!?
The sound grows nearer. Out in the hall. Like something searching.
Coming toward them.
Nell lunges at the door. Theo grabs to stop her, and Nell sees the
door is DEADBOLTED. There's a RUSHING sound on the other side of
the tall door. Right there. Nell freezes. BUMP! BUMP!
THEO (cont'd)
Nell!
Nell recoils to Theo's side, drags Theo out of bed to the corner of
the room.
Nell and Theo stare out AT US in terror. BUMP. BUMP. BUMP. BUMP.
Nell and Theo's eyes travel over the walls, following whatever it is
which now seems to be moving out here in the theater.
The SOUND moves along the wall to the right, reaching its loudest as
it crosses the back of the theater, then seems to come down the left
side.
Theo shivers. Nell clutches her close. Nell writhes, unable to
stand it any longer. She jumps up.
THEO (cont'd)
Nell!
Nell charges the door, screaming:
NELL
No!
SILENCE. The bumping goes dead. Nell blinks, looks back at Theo.
But Theo is looking at her hands.
THEO (cont'd)
Cold. Oh, God. Feel it.
She looks up in horror at Nell. Their breath FOGS in the air. Nell
holds her hand up in front of her, and as we watch HER HAIR PRICKLES
UP, GOOSEBUMPS WITH THEM.
Her eyes turn up to the door, and: BAMBABAMBAM BABBA BAM! The DOOR
JARS in its frame, leaping from the blows of whatever's on the other
side.
Nell backpedals but slips on the rug, falls there on the floor right
in front of the door. Theo SCREAMS.
Silence. The BANGING stops. With a RUSH, whatever is outside the
door is no longer there.
Nell looks at Theo.
Then Theo looks at the bathroom.
Nell starts for it, grabs Theo's door, but it's designed to be
locked from the BATHROOM SIDE. Nell looks up --
INT. NELL'S BATHROOM - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)
-- and takes a step into the pitch-dark bathroom. Theo appears in
the doorway behind her. Across the bathroom the door to Nell's room
is closed. Nell dashes for it --
-- but A SUDDEN SCUTTLING SOUND stops her dead. On the other side
of the door. Rasping over wood. Like a thing without hands trying
to turn --
-- THE DOORKNOB. A long beat. The metal creaks as something takes
hold of it on the other side.
Nell, mouth open in cold horror, sees the deadbolt. It's open.
She's in no-man's land: too far from the door to lock it, too close
to run.
The doorknob TURNS, but just as the door starts to open NELL FLAILS
FORWARD AND SHOOTS THE DEADBOLT HOME.
The door jams against it. Nell jumps back. Theo grabs her back
into --
INT. THEO'S ROOM - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)
-- her bedroom and slams the door. A long, deadly silent moment.
NELL (cont'd)
It's in my room.
But their BREATH no longer fogs. Theo seems to notice the fact just
as Nell starts for her room and... KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Behind them.
At the door to the hall.
LUKE (OC)
Hey! I heard screaming...
THEO
Luke.
She grabs for the door and lets Luke in.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - NIGHT
Nell's room stands silent, dark. The door to the bathroom is shut.
The lock slides open. The door swings in. Luke stands there, the
two women behind him.
Luke turns on the lights. The room is perfectly ordinary, no sign
that anything has been in here. The door to the hall is shut. Nell
reacts.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
Nell and Theo, wrapped in blankets, sit over mugs of tea at the
kitchen table. Marrow, across from them, clicks off his digital
recorder. Luke paces behind the women.
NELL
You really didn't hear anything?
Marrow takes his glasses off. Luke looks at him, then goes to the
kitchen sink. He turns both faucets on full blast and leans up
against the sink, arms folded. Theo and Nell turn to look at him.
A beat. And then:
BUMP. Bump bump. It's the sound. Luke goes over to the door,
pushes it open.
LUKE
Oh, look! There he goes, ol' Hugh
Crain!
INT. GROUND FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
VARIOUS SHOTS as the bumping seems to travel down the hallway. A
rushing sound with it. They're the same sounds, from the scene
before, but somehow have none of the impact, none of the presence as
they did in Theo's bedroom.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
Luke lets the door shut, turns off the faucet. The sounds of the
plumbing die away.
LUKE
Do you need me anymore? Cause I'm
going to bed. They can stay up
talking another 45 minutes if they
want, but I gotta try to get some
sleep.
MARROW
Go ahead.
Luke leaves the kitchen. Theo and Nell watch him go.
THEO
If this was some sort of joke, I'm
going to kill him.
NELL
You know it wasn't a joke, Theo.
Marrow watches the exchange closely.
MARROW
The cold sensation. Who felt it
first?
NELL
Theo I think. You've asked us
that three times, Doctor Marrow.
What's going on?
MARROW
How do you feel about Luke's
suggestion that it was just the
old plumbing? Water hammer,
something like that?
Theo and Nell look at each other in frustration. But Theo tries to
get her mind around the question.
THEO
I did just take a bath. I don't
know.
INT. THEO'S ROOM - NIGHT
The room is a lot less frightening now, especially with the lights
on. Nell sits on Theo's bed. Theo looks at the walls, silent,
normal.
THEO
I did just take a bath.
When Nell doesn't respond for a moment, Theo turns to her, sees her
wrestling with herself.
NELL
Mother always banged on the wall
when she needed me. The night she
died... I heard her, but I
pretended I didn't. I was just so
sick of it all. And then the
banging stopped. And in the
morning... she was dead. This is
the first I've ever said this to
anyone. That was the job I had,
Theo, it's the only job I've ever
known, and I failed. I'm actually
a bad person, Theo. The world
doesn't need me.
Theo shakes her head, brushes at her eyes. The confession, on the
top of the fright, has moved her deeply.
THEO
Oh, Nell. Eleven years. With all
due respect to your mother who I'm
sure was a saint, I'd have called
Doctor Kevorkian, if not for her,
for me.
It's such a horrible thought it makes Nell smile, and they share a
tearful laugh.
INT. NELL'S BATHROOM - NIGHT
Nell stands in the door to her room.
NELL
Good night, Theo.
Nell shuts the door. Theo is about to close her door, but
hesitates. She puts on the light and goes to the tub. She turns it
on, waits. Just the sound of the water. And no bumping.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - NIGHT
Nell lies asleep under her sheet, the blankets off the end of the
bed. HOVERING OVER HER, on the headboard, the carved faces of
children, peering DOWN.
FLAP. FLAP flap. The fan-light at the top of the window right next
to the bed is OPEN a crack. The sheer curtains flap listlessly in a
gentle breeze. The flapping grows louder, and with a sudden gust
the curtain BILLOWS OUT. In its flowing form, we sense the SHAPE OF
A GIRL'S FACE, fleeting, so insubstantial we know we just saw her,
but maybe our eyes are playing tricks on us.
The CURTAIN blows straight out, touching the bedposts at the foot of
the bed, and there the wind catches the fabric hanging from them.
The Wind seem to sneak under the bedcover and the shape follows...
Nell sleeps, oblivious, the WIND filling the room, stirring the
tinkling crystal beads on the candelabra. The shape of the little
girl's face now travels underneath the bedsheets toward the pillows,
toward Nell.
Nell turns, restless, the AIR catches the edge of the pillowcase,
and travels towards Nell's face. And for a split second there is a
lifelike IMPRESSION OF A SMALL GIRL'S FACE. Nell almost awakens.
The crystal beads stir, and in their tinkling, in the sigh of wind,
we hear:
GIRL VOICE
Find us, find us Eleanor.
Nell's eyes open. And like that, the pillowcase deflates, the air
rushes up the curtain to the window, and is gone.
Nell sits up, looks about her. Everything seems normal. Just her
sheets, just the curtains, but on the headboard remain the carved
faces. Benevolent. Nell settles back down on her pillow with a
sense of peace.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
Morning sun filters in through heavy drapes, falling on Marrow at
the dining table. Nell squeezes behind him and the sideboard behind
him to get at the coffee. Nell wears MAKE UP, badly applied, and
her HAIR IS UP in a French twist.
NELL
Sorry.
MARROW
For an American you do a good
imitation of the British at their
most apologetic.
(Veddy British)
Pardon me. Excuse me, sorry,
sorry...
Nell smiles. Theo walks in the door, sees Nell and Marrow, Nell
squeezed in behind him.
NELL
Am I that bad?
Theo is aware of Marrow's curiosity and fascination with Nell.
There's a jealousy brewing.
THEO
Well this is a cozy breakfast.
MARROW
Good morning, Theo. Luke.
Luke comes in behind Theo, tired-looking also. He goes to the
sideboard, starts helping himself to breakfast.
LUKE
After I went to bed, the second
time, after the... noise... I had
the best night's sleep of my life.
Anybody?
Marrow slept badly, we can see it in his eyes.
NELL
Yes. I feel realy rested, too.
Theo?
THEO
I guess. Oh, your hair! It looks
good.
But she means exactly the opposite. Marrow looks over Nell's hair,
but she can't stand it. Luke comes over to the table, drops into a
chair next to Nell, digs into breakfast. Theo's face turns into an
artificial smile.
THEO (cont'd)
Your makeup too.
Nell sits there flustered. Marrow senses the jealousy, isn't quite
sure what to make of it, and intervenes.
MARROW
Eat your breakfast, Theo, then
we'll get started on the tests.
INT. GREAT HALL - DAY
CLOSE ON the complex PUZZLE of a field-cognition test. Nell
scratches solutions, erases, and finally looks up in frustration.
She sits alone, tiny, in the murk of the vast vaulted Great Hall.
The enormous chimney occupies half the wall on one side of the room.
Clusters of furniture -- overwrought chairs with animal heads,
splay-footed coffee tables, limbed lamps -- huddle in strange,
silent covens throughout. Nell, in a plush chair, lays the work on
a table beside her. The CLATTER of stone on stone makes Nell look
up.
The fireplace looms just beyond her cluster of chairs, large enough
for a man to stand in. A piece of mortar must have come loose.
Nell stares at the chimney. And a VOICE lets out a loud groan.
Nell JUMPS. She pops out of the chair. It came from another circle
of furniture in the shadows. A figure stands and comes over. It's
Luke, stretching.
LUKE (cont'd)
I've been thinking about these
carvings. Kids. Lots of kids.
Fat little angel kids. Wild kids.
Kids with furry animals.
NELL
The children. The children Hugh
Crain built the house for. The
children he never had.
LUKE
Come on. These are the typically
sentimental gestures of a depraved
industrialist.
He puts his hand on a CHAIR, the back of which is heavily carved in
the motif he just described.
Nell turns him an appalled look.
LUKE (cont'd)
Theo was working in the dining
room. She's probably done by now.
You finish?
NELL
Couldn't get the last ones. You?
LUKE
I did okay.
Nell looks at the test, tries to digest this.
LUKE (cont'd)
We could do this stuff anywhere.
I don't know what he's up to yet.
But like I said, that's the fun.
It has something to do with this
environment.
Luke just smiles, rises. We'll see.
He walks off, his footsteps echoing in the vast room. The door
shuts after him.
Nell sags in her chair. Then something catches her eye. On a table
opposite, a SET OF KEYS. Nell goes, picks them up. Car keys, house
keys. Must be Luke's. She pockets them, thoughtful, but just as
she does --
-- something MOVES in the fireplace. So fleeting Nell can barely
see it, and we only catch a frame of it. But the iron MESH CURTAIN
hanging in front of the hearth is STILL SWAYING.
Nell stands there FROZEN. The massive fireplace LOOMS before her,
like a monstrous mouth, black as pitch beyond the black metal
curtains.
The swaying metal scrapes over brick floor. Its eerie, repetitive
screep cutting to the nerve.
Nell sits paralyzed, rooted to the chair. SCREEP. SCREEP. SCREEP.
A SINGLE STRAND of NELL'S HAIR stirs toward the fireplace, and --
-- SOMETHING INSIDE THE FIREPLACE MOVES BEHIND THE MESH!
Nell CRASHES back over her chair, knocking over a lamp and table,
tripping, stumbling out of the furniture.
Holy shit. Whatever moved in there was real. Big, dark, like
something's head. It goes out of focus and we can't see it as we
follow --
-- NELL flying away, across the room in headlong terror.
INT. FOYER - DAY
Nell slams out of the room, skidding as the door slams behind her.
She sways up off the floor to run --
-- right into Marrow and Theo's legs. Nell aborts a scream,
realizing who it is. Theo stands there in surprise, holding papers
in her hand.
NELL
There's someone in there! There's
someone in there in the fireplace!
INT. GREAT HALL - DAY
Nell and Theo stand behind Marrow and Luke across from the
fireplace. Theo glances at Nell. Nell is shaken.
Marrow nods to Luke, and they start forward together, Marrow among
the furniture to the left, Luke down the right side.
The iron screens hang silent in the fireplace, black, impenetrable.
Marrow and Luke come up on either side, Luke ducking this way and
that trying to get a glimpse through the mesh.
They stop before it, neither breathing, both listening. Marrow
steps forward and pulls one screen aside far enough to look in.
DARKNESS.
Nell and Theo watch, apprehensive.
NELL
Jim...
Marrow sticks his head into the fireplace. For a long moment,
nothing happens.
IN THE FIREPLACE: pitch darkness. Marrow feels up the chimney.
AND THEN SOMETHING SWINGS DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS FACE! Marrow
doesn't flinch.
He FLINGS back the screen, revealing the only things in the
fireplace: two massive andirons, and the still-swinging FLUE. It's
cast-iron, forged in the shape of a LION'S HEAD.
Luke throws back the other screen. Theo comes over. Nell follows.
There's nothing else in the fireplace.
Luke and Theo stare at Nell. Marrow squats to study the hearth.
The large iron ASH-DROP is coated in soot.
Not a mark on it. He opens it. Inside, a glimpse of ASHES and
CHARRED WOOD. Marrow stands, looks at Nell.
NELL (cont'd)
Somebody was in here. I saw him.
Marrow looks at her, not sure what to believe. Nell turns to Luke
and Theo for help. Not from that corner. Then Nell remembers,
reaches into her pocket and produces the KEYS. She holds them up to
Luke.
NELL (cont'd)
Are these yours? I found them
right over there.
LUKE
Who drives a Toyota?
Theo shakes her head. They aren't Marrow's. Marrow takes the keys
from Nell, turns them over.
THEO
Maybe they're Mary's.
MARROW
Mary came with me.
NELL
When I first got here I saw a gray
car pull up. I thought it was one
of us.
EXT. HILL HOUSE - DAY
They stand on the front steps. Nell's car is right there under the
car port.
NELL
This is my car.
Theo gestures to a sports car on the circular drive. Two other cars
are with it. They walk out into the driveway.
MARROW
And those are Luke's and mine.
LUKE
There's a carriage house around
back.
EXT. CARRIAGE HOUSE - DAY
Together they approach a stable/carriage house off to one side of
the main House. It looks old, unused. They enter through a small
door.
INT. CARRIAGE HOUSE - DAY
Light filters in through gaps in the wood. Luke opens one of the
main doors with a loud SQUEAK, the sun revealing a TARP-COVERED
SHAPE, a carriage. Unused in a hundred years. A row of tarp-
covered carriages fill the stalls into the distance.
LUKE
Well, this lot is full!
THEO
He must have left. Didn't like
the looks of the place or
something.
NELL
How could he have left without his
keys?
THEO
Two sets. I don't know. Maybe
they're not even his.
LUKE
Then he's got to be in the
house...
As they leave, the CAMERA LINGERS on a covered shape in one of the
stalls, SMALLER than the other carriages, it could be a car. A
broken wagon wheel leaning against it.
INT. STATUARY HALL AND SHORT MONTAGE THROUGH HOUSE - DAY
Marrow, Theo and Luke move down the hall, opening doors left and
right as Nell stands at the center of it all.
MARROW
Watts!
No answer. The statuary peers down on Nell. Dead faces on busts.
Blind marble eyes.
INT. VARIOUS ROOMS AND HALLS - DAY
Luke calls out.
LUKE
Watts! Oh Watts! Here Wattsy...
INT. VARIOUS ROOMS AND HALLS - DAY
Marrow is looking for him, too.
MARROW
Watts! Can you hear us?
INT. VARIOUS ROOMS AND HALLS - DAY
Nell and Theo, walking into rooms.
THEO
Watts?
NELL
What's his first name?
THEO
David.
NELL
David? David Watts? Can you hear
us? David! Daviiiiid!
INT. KITCHEN - DAY
Marrow comes through the kitchen. Mrs. Dudley, chopping carrots,
stands by the counter. Only the slightest pause in the rhythm of
her chopping says she's noticed him.
MARROW
Do you know who these keys belong
to?
MRS. DUDLEY
No.
MARROW
I was expecting another guest
yesterday. A man, David Watts.
Did you see him?
MRS. DUDLEY
No.
MARROW
Is your husband around? I'd like
to --
MRS. DUDLEY
-- Haven't seen him.
MARROW
Thank you.
Frustrated, he continues on.
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE LOCKED ROOM - DAY
Nell and Theo walk down the long hallway behind, opening doors,
checking rooms.
NELL
David?
THEO
Maybe he never came in. If he'd
come in, he would have left his
bags at the door, right? Or maybe
he got here early, and went for a
walk, and fell. Maybe he's
outside.
Nell closes a door on the right, and then stops dead. Staring.
The shut, dark, door, the one that scared Nell and Theo earlier,
awaits them at the end. Ominous.
Nell approaches. Closer and closer. The door nears.
Nell wraps her arms tightly about herself and try's to open the
door. It's locked. Her BREATH FOGS THE AIR. She doesn't notice
it. But then she suddenly GAGS. With a look of horror she recoils
from the door, choking, covering her face.
Then Theo smells it. The women are both sick from the smell.
THEO (cont'd)
Oh my God, what is it? Oh, the
smell... ohhh.
Marrow comes into the hallway. He sees them from a distance.
ON the two women.
THEO
(looks to Nell for
an answer)
Is it over?
NELL
No, it's getting worse.
MARROW
Nell! What's wrong?
NELL
That smell... oh, God.
Theo blanches, looks at Nell. She smells it too, and in mirror
image fashion backs away from the doors also. Marrow notices the
exchange, and watches them, intense. And then, in a heartbeat, the
moment is over.
EXT. VERANDA - DAY
The RED LIGHT on Marrow's DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER blinks. The device
is in Marrow's jacket pocket, CONCEALED from Nell. They're sitting
in Adirondack chairs on the long veranda behind the House. Marrow,
beside her, observes.
MARROW
What did it smell like?
NELL
It was very specific.
MARROW
(so tell me...)
All right...
NELL
In the bathroom in my mother's
room, the toilet was next to an
old wooden table. It smelled like
that wood.
MARROW
So... smell... is... Smell is the
sense that triggers the most
powerful memories. And a memory
can trigger a smell.
NELL
I wasn't thinking about my
mother's bathroom.
MARROW
What happened after you smelled
it?
NELL
I looked at Theo. She had a look
on her face.
MARROW
Like she smelled it too?
NELL
Yes.
MARROW
And then what happened?
NELL
I got more scared.
Marrow thinks about this.
MARROW
Hmm.
NELL
I'm sorry. I'm messing up the
study.
MARROW
No you're not. Something moved
you. You saw something.
Nell looks to him. He's sincere. He believes her.
NELL
I don't know. Maybe I...
"Didn't" she almost says. She struggles, embarrassed.
NELL (cont'd)
I haven't been with people in a
long time.
Marrow settles in his chair, looks out at the forest.
MARROW
I really haven't either.
Nell peers at him, doubtful. Is she being made fun of?
MARROW (cont'd)
I mean, I'm surrounded by people,
day in, dayout. Students,
colleagues.
(beat)
But most of the time, even when
I'm with them... you know... It's
all about power, there's not much
room for actually getting to know
someone or having someone getting
to know you.
Nell's face flushes with compassion. With longing. Marrow looks at
her. He's vulnerable. Needing. She doesn't dare hope. The moment
lasts a few heartbeats.
He looks away. A flicker of distress crosses Nell's face. And then
she realizes Marrow is looking at --
-- Luke.
LUKE (cont'd)
You have to see something.
INT. GRAND STAIRWAY - DAY
Luke, Nell and Marrow mount the stairs, climb up and up. They find
Theo in the mezzanine staring at the wall at the painting. She
turns and looks at Nell strangely.
Nell, confused, turns around. On the wall and the painting are dark
stains. Black. Blue. Runny. Almost like something leaking from
the roof has run down.
Nell steps back. The stains are the letters N and O. Pulling back
farther: the rest of the word ELEANOR.
NELL
My name.
She follows the streaking substance up, blinking in rising fear as
more running letters appear. The word: WELCOME. And higher up, the
last: HOME.
NELL (cont'd)
No...
But the substance doesn't come from the ceiling.
It is as if the oils on the PAINTING OF HUGH CRAIN have been boiled
by a heat gun and blasted off, running down from there. Hugh's face
is gone. In place of the face, the underlying ivory of the canvas
glares out... like a skull.
Nell SCREAMS and runs away, the others calling out after her in
alarm. As they vanish around the corner, the camera tilts down and
we discover smeared paint on the floor. Smeared, it seems, WITH
LITTLE FOOTPRINTS in it.
INT. RED PARLOR - DAY
Nell, panic rising in her voice, confronts the others.
NELL
Welcome Home Eleanor. Welcome
Home? I've never been here. Who
did this?
LUKE
It's somebody's idea of a joke.
She looks at all three of them.
NELL
Who did this? Why are you doing
this? I don't know any of you.
You don't know me. Why are you
doing this to me?
Luke shakes his head. Theo starts getting pissed. Marrow stands
there, arms folded, observing.
LUKE
I didn't do it.
THEO
You could have.
LUKE
So could you! Is this some fucked
up idea of art, putting someone
else's name to a painting?
THEO
No.
NELL
Theo... Did you?
THEO
Maybe you did it yourself.
NELL
Why?
THEO
I don't know. You've been alone
for a long time, maybe you want
attention.
(pointing to
Marrow)
Maybe he did it...
MARROW
I didn't. You know that, Nell.
This is horrifying to Nell, being doubted and accused of something
so ugly if it were true.
NELL
I don't know anything. Whoever
did this, please, just... just say
so... just... please... this is
cruel. Don't be cruel to me. I
can't stand it. You don't know
me.
And she runs out.
Nell grabs for the door to leave.
She flings open the door. MONSTROUS arms seem to grab at her. But
it's only a wild-looking coat rack in the hall.
EXT. 2ND FLOOR BALCONY - DAY
Nell stands at the railing of a stone balcony on the house's second
floor. The air stirs her hair. She peers up at the House's
roofline, its clusters of misplaced windows and other features like
so many screaming heads.
Chilled, she pulls her sweater closer. Marrow comes out onto the
balcony from twin French doors behind her.
NELL
Are you coming to confess?
MARROW
I wish I were. I wish I had done
it, then I could confess and you'd
be at peace. That great moral
philosopher Frank Sinatra once
said to someone he loved, I wish
you had an enemy, so I could beat
him up.
She smiles.
NELL
Let's say it wasn't you. Who did
it?
MARROW
I don't know.
NELL
It was a stupid thing to do.
MARROW
It was.
NELL
(for the absurdity
of the idea)
Welcome Home.
MARROW
You'll never see it again. Mr.
Dudley's taking care of it.
(beat)
I'm sorry, Nell. Can I show you
something you'd like to see?
NELL
(still too shaky
for enthusiasm)
Sure.
INT. GREENHOUSE - DAY
Marrow lets Nell into a long, Victorian-era GREENHOUSE. It's
overgrown, lush, the leaded-glass panes above stained with years of
condensation and pollen. Vines and trees climb up the sides. Beds
of flowers and plants line narrow footpaths of brick.
Nell leans down to look into a WATER GARDEN with a STATUE OF A MAN
bursting from the surface, grasping for the air as if he had been
drowning. A sudden rumble runs throughout the greenhouse. And A
CAVALCADE of water comes out of the STATUE'S mouth surprising Nell.
She lets out a little yelp, and then laughs with Marrow.
Nell loves the greenhouse. It takes her breath away.
NELL
Oh... it's so beautiful...
Nell makes her way among the plants. She looks up at a TOWERING,
DOUBLE-HELIX STAIRCASE which rises from the floor to a platform
which gives access to the roof. Below the staircase are planters
filled with violets.
NELL (cont'd)
Violets. Somebody must've died
here.
And then, out of the corners, comes Mister Dudley.
MR. DUDLEY
That's where she hanged herself.
NELL
Who?
MR. DUDLEY
Rene Crain. Up there. Rope.
Ship's hawser. Hard to tie.
Don't know how she got it.
MARROW
That's enough, Mister Dudley.
MR. DUDLEY
She stepped off the platform.
(he looks up, with
a suggestive leer)
They had long skirts in those
days.
MARROW
Thank you, Mister Dudley,
please...
MR. DUDLEY
House is full of stories. If you
know how to read these things,
it's an open book. Just a
different library than the kind
you're used to.
NELL
Why?
MR. DUDLEY
Why'd she kill herself?
NELL
Yes.
MR. DUDLEY
(what other reason
is there?)
She was unhappy.
NELL
Why?
MR. DUDLEY
Can't say. Haven't been here that
long.
(he's off)
Well, it's Labor Day, gotta get to
work.
And off he goes.
MARROW
That's a horrible story.
Nell looks up, and smiles.
MARROW (cont'd)
You're smiling.
Marrow watches her as she moves about, takes a heavy, ripe bloom in
hand, lifts it to her face. While she talks, she walks, and Marrow
follows.
NELL
I was just thinking how happy I am
right now. All my life, I've been
waiting for an adventure. And I
thought, oh, I'll never have that,
adventures are for people who
travel long distances, that's for
soldiers, that's for the women
that the bullfighters fall in love
with. And here I am, and
something is happening to me.
Strange noises in the night.
Paintings are calling to me. And
all it cost to get there was five
gallons of gas. I'm getting my
adventure.
For the first time since we've seen Nell, there is something to her
which is simply... erotic. Marrow follows her down one of the
footpaths. She smiles back at Marrow as he trails her. She reaches
a transept in the greenhouse, and as she turns down it, there's the
slightest sway to her gait. Marrow follows her around the corner
into the transept. At the far end the wall is completely overgrown.
Nell looks up through the ceiling at Hill House looming grim
outside, distorted in the old glass.
MARROW
Someone is playing with you.
NELL
Why?
MARROW
I don't know.
NELL
It doesn't matter. Even if
they're tormenting me, someone
wants me. What I do with this is
up to me. I can be a victim, or I
can be a volunteer. And I want to
be the volunteer.
Nell glances at him, and for that split second she is raw,
passionate woman. She walks away, the sway in her gait aching,
powerful. Marrow is surprised by what Nell just said and stares at
her as she comes to the overgrown end. Nell reaches out to the
hanging vines, pulls them aside...
...and A FACE stares out. Gastly. White. Nell takes an
involuntary step back, a little gasp.
The face is marble. Blind eyes stare from stained cheeks. It is a
STATUE OF CRAIN. Marrow comes over.
It's an enormous stone tableaux of Hugh surrounded by cherubim. The
plants have attacked it as if trying to wipe its funerary presence
from the greenhouse.
NELL (cont'd)
Hugh Crain. Can't seem to get
away from him.
She laughs a little at herself. Marrow joins in. He helps her pull
the plants back to reveal more of it.
She reaches out, touches the marble cheek. Then daring, grins, and
begins to hum her TUNE.
Marrow steps back to watch her do a sensual slow-dance with Hugh
Crain, pirouetting, her hips sliding past... hypnotizing Marrow.
MARROW
What is that tune?
NELL
I don't know. A lullaby I guess.
My mother used to hum it to me.
And her mother before that, and so
on.
(to the statue)
Hugh Crain, would you care to
dance?
She hums another two notes, and BANG! The door behind her SLAMS
OPEN in a gust of wind, jolting Nell. She stops and stares.
Outside the window, through the glass, she sees Mr. Dudley, staring
at her, he's been watching her dance. The spell is broken. Nell,
embarrassed, can't bear to look at him.
A beat, and then Marrow goes over and shuts the door. When he turns
back --
-- Nell is just vanishing around the corner, her rapid footsteps
echoing in the vaulted room.
EXT. REAR LAWN - DAY
Nell hurries away from the House, across the rear lawn, ashamed at
herself as much as she is spooked.
In the distance Mr. Dudley is walking toward the House with cans of
paint cleaner an a ladder. Nell stops, watching him. He senses
her, pauses, and smiles.
Nell reacts. Sees the ladder. Then Mr. Dudley disappears into the
House.
Nell once again starts to hurry away, but looking back over her
shoulder, almost impales herself on the rusted iron fence of --
EXT. FAMILY CEMETERY - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
-- the tiny Crain family cemetery. Nell catches herself. A small
swinging gate bars the way. She hesitates.
Nine moss-covered headstones show the wear of a long century. Eight
small headstones, one large one. A half dozen unmarked stones in
the grass: stillbirths.
Nell is drawn into the graveyard. The large stone is RENE CRAIN'S.
The smaller ones are her children's.
Nell's heart is breaking as she moves among them: the various names.
One reads ADAM CRAIN APRIL 5th 1874 -- ... The rest of the date is
covered by growth. She clears it away. April 6th, 1874.
NELL
Only two days.
There is an EPITAPH, almost wiped out by lichens. Nell kneels to
read it.
NELL (cont'd)
The blest are the dead / Who see
not the sight / Of their own
desolation...
Nell, disturbed but not knowing what to make of it, rises from the
gravestone, turns to the next. ELISA CRAIN AUGUST 21ST, 1878 -- She
clears it away: August 21, 1878. The blasphemous epitaph here:
NELL (cont'd)
A father's joy unjustly snatch'd
by a jealous God...
Nell is shaken, and dreading what she will find next, whirls to the
one behind her: WENDY CRAIN JANUARY 1 , 1880 -- She clears it away
-- January 1, 1880. And its graven commandment, so familiar, so
comforting, now rings with terrible, malevolent promise:
NELL (cont'd)
Suffer the little children unto
me.
There are three more grave stones, and after clearing away the
brush, they too show that the babies died after a few hours, or a
day. There's the same symbol on the graves of the children, a
cherub of death. We've seen this image before. Nell backs out of
the cemetery, afraid.
INT. MEZZANINE - DAY
Nell hurries down the mezzanine to the doorway which leads to the
Red Parlor.
INT. RED PARLOR - DAY
She stands there a beat staring in at the volumes upon volumes of
books. Nell is unsure of what she's looking for. She looks at
Crain's painting and recognizes the same Cherubs inside the ornate
frame. The background in the painting IS THE RED PARLOR. Then
recognizes in the painting an OPEN BOOKCASE BEHIND CRAIN.
Intuitively, she turns toward the same bookcase across from her and
is able to push it open. Inside a small stairwell...
INT. CRAIN'S SECRET STUDY - DAY
Down the circular stairs Nell enters a very small dusty room.
Velvet curtains drawn shut, only a sliver of sunlight showing
through. As her eyes adjust, she makes out the furnishings of a
late-nineteenth century office, Crain's secret office.
The bookcases filled with business ledgers. The business ledgers
are stamped with the cherub of death.
At the end is an enormous desk. Behind it a massive, carved chair
covered with a sheet, only its lion-head arm rests protruding from
underneath. Nell realizes it's:
NELL
Crain's study.
She moves for the desk. An ENORMOUS MIRROR, its silver inner
surface flaking with age, tarnished, reflects the room, the desk,
and FOR A SPLIT SECOND, A SHADOW IN THE CHAIR. Nell steps in front
of it, blocking our view.
And when she steps past, there is only the dim, flaking image of the
chair, the natural shadow of the room.
Nell goes around the desk, stands over it. The chair sits silent
behind her, shrouded.
On the desk sits a set of ledgers marked with mill names -- Lowell,
Haverhill, Manchester -- and years: 1884, '85 and so on. She flips
one open.
THE LEDGER is a payroll account. Names upon names of workers
rendered in sepia by Crain's severe cursive. Notations in the
column beside it indicate man, woman, or child and the appropriate
wage for each class of worker. Many of them, at least a third, are
children.
NELL reacts. Disturbed by it. She shifts closer to that damn chair
behind her. The sheet hangs over it in such a way that someone
could be sitting there under it.
She turns the page. Columns indicate pay, and so on. But one
column, at the very center of the book, hidden in the binding, is
unlabeled. Down the column, some names have a line drawn through
them, and at the end of the line, a CROSS.
Nell follows them back, eyes searching across the ledger.
She turns the page, pushes the book down revealing that concealed
column, more crosses. And more. Her eyes flick back and forth.
The crosses are paired with entries for CHILD. She looks their
names...
NELL (cont'd)
Erin, Peter and Sean and Emily and
Elizabeth... who are you? And
you? What happened to you? You
died... How did you die?
Nell turns the pages. More and more crosses. Dozens. Scores.
Nell sinks down into Crain's chair and tears come to her eyes. We
see the book.
INT. GRAND STAIRWAY - NIGHT
The painting is right there now. The letters have been erased.
INT. NELL'S ROOM - NIGHT
We see the ledger, and pull back, and the ledger is in Nell's lap.
Nell sits on the bed in her sleeping tee-shirt and undies. Theo
looks at the book with her.
THEO
That's so sad.
NELL
There's hundreds of them. This
must be a record of the children
who died at the mills, like Luke
said.
THEO
Before he painted your name over
Mister Crain.
Theo hands her the bottle. Nell takes it, tops off her glass,
spilling. Her face is red. She grimaces as she tosses back a big
swallow.
NELL
You really think it was Luke?
Theo takes another swig. She holds bottles of nail polish up next
to Nell's bare feet, testing the colors.
THEO
Well, it wasn't me. Mister Dudley
had to clean it and he knows that
he's in charge of all the messes
so why would he make more work for
himself and...
(beat)
You said the Good Doctor was with
you.
NELL
(pondering)
I don't know what to think
anymore.
THEO
Just think about one thing right
now: What color?
Nell finally puts the book down and takes a drink.
NELL
I've never had a pedicure before.
THEO
Well?
NELL
Red.
(into this now)
What else?
Theo smiles and takes Nell's foot gently in her hand. She begins to
paint her toenails.
THEO (cont'd)
See, isn't this better than a hit
on t