Screemplays

Excerpt 1 FADE IN: EXT. WINDSOR VILLAGE, CONNECTICUT - NIGHT An orange harvest moon hovers over a 17th Century, New England village. Clouds sweep by it as a storm approaches. SUBTITLE: "WINDSOR VILLAGE, CONNECTICUT, 1684. 12:15 A.M. -- THE WITCHING HOUR." EXT. VILLAGE STREET - SAME Two pairs of Puritan shoes pound their way down a dark dirt road. One pair large, the other, child-size. They quickly turn off the street and onto another one. TILT UP to reveal: SARAH WILLIAMS (27) brown eyed, attractive, with brown hair tucked under her bonnet. She holds the hand of a little girl, her daughter, ABIGAIL (7) the spitting image of her mother. The pair runs frantically. Eyes full of fright. Their rapid breath visible in the cool night air. A block behind them, is the distant flicker of torches carried by a mob of ravenous, WINDSOR VILLAGERS. They charge ahead down the road, uttering the CRIES: WINDSOR VILLAGERS Burn the witches! Abigail turns to look back at their pursuers. Her pace slows as her face fills with fear. Immediately, Sarah wrenches her daughter closer toward her. The girl SHRIEKS in pain. ABIGAIL My foot! Suddenly, Abigail jerks violently and begins to limp. ABIGAIL I just stepped on something mommy! SARAH Keep running my baby! Keep running! Small streaks of blood from Abigail trail behind them. From the rear of the witch hunters, emerges a tall, thin, ice faced man, REVEREND MOULTON (62). Eyes black as coal and a face crowned with a buckled, pointed Puritan hat. He clutches A BOOK in his hands as he pushes his way to the front of the pack. REVEREND MOULTON (to villagers) Move! (Yelling to Sarah and Abigail) Stop I say in the name of Christ! Ahead, Sarah only hurries her pace as they turn another corner. But Abigail starts to lag a couple steps behind her mother. Sarah again yanks Abigail's hand. This time, so hard, she lifts the young girl off the ground. Abigail's feet hit the dirt. She crumples in agony. Immediately, Sarah stops, turns around, picks up her daughter and whisks her off into the trees lining the nearby road. EXT. WOODS - OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN - SAME Holding Abigail, Sarah pushes her way through the thick, dense tangle of trees and brush. Branches slap and slice their faces as they move through to a... EXT. ABANDONED WELL - SAME A small clearing. Old wooden boards line the ground ahead. She sees them along with a sign nailed to a tree that reads: "Beware, abandoned well". She hesitates a second, but continues on full speed taking large strides over several of the rotted planks. BOOM! One CRACKS in half. Her legs drop into the neglected well. She drops Abigail, who lands in the nearby brush. Now Sarah is stuck in the precipice with her upper half exposed and her bottom dangling precariously. Abigail crawls from the brush and over by her mother. As she moves onto the decayed wood, it CRACKS again. SARAH Stop! Don't come out any further! ABIGAIL But... SARAH No! Stay back Abigail! Excerpt 2 INT. WINDING VICTORIAN CORRIDOR - SAME A long, narrow Victorian corridor stretches out before Dan and Karen. He takes his wife by the hand as they venture into the passageway. They walk down the lengthy hallway and reach a turn. Once around it, they come to another just beyond it. They round this corner only to discover yet another. And another. And another. KAREN This is impossible! We've gone in three circles by now. They finally reach a straight-away. Lining the walls are sepia-toned photographs of unknown people. All with a look of extreme terror on their faces. Each picture is illuminated by a small kerosene wall sconce that casts the faces in deep and disturbing shadows. Karen grips Dan's hand tighter. KAREN Who are they? DAN Hopefully, not all the people who got lost in here. Karen looks at each visage with dread. The straight-away terminates with yet another turn, leading to yet another straight-away. These walls are lined with even older portraits -- painted ones adorned with gold frames. This clothing appears at least two hundred years old. But each face has the same terror-stricken look. DAN Where the hell is this damned hallway leading us? A SCRAPING SOUND behind them. They stop dead in their tracks and look back. And wait. Nothing there, but a corner. Then... A small portion of a face peeks around the corner, then pulls back. Karen squeezes Dan's hand so tightly, he winces. KAREN (whispering) Tell me that's one of the kids! A heinous LAUGH. Karen takes off. Dan as well. They race forward through the endless maze of turns. DAN Don't look back! Just go! The LAUGHTER and SCRAPING SOUNDS draw closer. Dan catches up to Karen, grabs her hand and both run for their lives. He points at something ahead. A wall and a door. And the end of the hall. They rush towards it.