House on Haunted Hill

                           EDDIE
                 -- of this place, goddamnit, Pritchett!

                           PRITCHETT
                Yes.

     Pritchett drains the last drops of his tumbler of Scotch.

                           PRITCHETT
                Alcoholic coma, if you hurry.

     He starts to pour another --

      -- Eddie swats both glass and bottle out of his hand; they
     SHATTER on the floor. In this tension-packed room, the sound
     is magnified a hundred-fold. Blackburn all but jumps out of
     his skin.

                           BLACKBURN
                Jesus H. Christ!

                           PRITCHETT
                Oh dear.

                           BLACKBURN
                     (to Eddie)
                If you don't calm the hell down I'm
                gonna strap you in for electro-shock!

                           EDDIE
                     (waving his pistol)
                How you gonna manage that with a new
                blow-hole in your dome?

                           SARA
                Hey, if everybody's gonna kill each
                other, could you do it in another room?
                I'm trying to get something accomplished
                here.

     We see that Sara's sitting at a desk in the room, fiddling
     with the innards of Melissa Marr's camcorder.

                           EDDIE
                What the hell good is fixing that
                gonna get us?

                           SARA
                An answer, I hope: exactly what -- or
                who -- Melissa was taping.

                           EDDIE
                And then where are we?

                           BLACKBURN
                Put it this way: if it's your face on
                that tape, Mr. Moses, we're one gunshot
                away from solving all our problems --

                           EDDIE
                 -- fuck you!

                           SARA
                I got it! Something, anyway...

     The room goes silent -- on the PLAYBACK SCREEN on the side of
     the CAMCORDER, an erratic, wildly rolling IMAGE can be seen.

     Everyone present, Pritchett included, starts gravitating
     towards Sara and the desk. She hits the STOP button on the
     Camcorder.

                           SARA
                The motor's working, but the tape's
                pretty much D.O.A. -- I could only
                rewind it back a couple of feet. Don't
                blink, this is probably the first and
                only showing.

     She punches PLAY. And we see on the

     CAMCORDER'S PLAYBACK

     soundless: a vision of free flight -- the lens capturing
     what it saw as it dropped to the ground: a wild, herky-
     jerky, ass-over-teakettle melange of --

     WALL/CEILING/MARY'S HAIR -- and, finally: FLOOR as the
     lens smacks TILE, fractures into a starburst of cracks,
     topples onto its side. And through this veil of JAGGED,
     SPIDERY LINES, we see:

     MARY'S HAND drop into frame -- lie still for a moment --
     and then start VIOLENTLY SPASMING, as a BLOODSTORM starts
     spattering it from O.S. Until the color of her flesh can
     no longer be seen --

     A METAL CRUNCH is heard from inside the CAMCORDER, and the
     image on the screen goes to BLACK.

     INT. MAIN SALON - CONTINUOUS

     No one moves -- they're all frozen there, staring at the dead
     screen. Beat. And then: the sound of light APPLAUSE is heard.

     Heads turn towards its source, and we see:

     EVELYN STOCKARD-PRICE leaning against one of the walls, her
     hands slowly, almost angrily CLAPPING. She doesn't speak,
     she seethes:

                           EVELYN
                Game, set and match, Steven. You've
                outdone yourself. And I know it's not
                good manners to ask the magician how he
                did it, but inquiring minds are
                desperate to know: just what did really
                happen to Ms. Marr?

                           PRICE
                Asking the wrong person again.

                           EVELYN
                I mean, did she stage it all for you and
                then go hide -- or did you just flat out
                kill the little bitch --

                           PRICE
                 -- I pose you the same question --

                           EVELYN
                 -- and who's next on your list?

                           PRICE
                If I had one, Evelyn, I think you know
                who'd be first and last --

                           EVELYN
                 -- oh, for chrissake, that's a given;
                we all know that knocking me off is the
                bottom line here --

                           PRICE
                 -- that wasn't my original plan, but it
                is starting to look more attractive --

                           EVELYN
                 -- thank you! All the cards finally
                on the goddamn table!

     She produces one of the Glocks and points it at him.

                           EVELYN
                Just know I'm not gonna make it
                easy for you. We still don't know the
                answer to the Million Dollar Question --

      -- Evelyn fires the gun into the wall just to the left of
     Price's head. It smashes a hole there the size of a fist.

                           PRICE
                Jesus!

                           EVELYN
                Question answered.

                           PRICE
                They weren't loaded when I put
                them in there!

                           EVELYN
                Funky little house, ain't it?
                     (turns to the Guests)
                Friends, your hostess is now going to
                retire for what's left of the night. If
                you need me, I'll be in the bedroom
                upstairs -- but try and fight that need:
                the door'll be locked, I'll be trying to
                sleep, and if anyone so much as breathes
                in the keyhole, I'm gonna empty this
                thing into their fucking head. Thank you
                all for the bestest birthday a girl
                could have.

     She walks away and begins climbing the stairs. Price turns to
     the guests to see that every eye in the room is staring at
     him -- and not without fear. Price is astonished, then just
     shakes his head with disgust.

                           PRICE
                Even if I were inclined, I've had better
                -- and a lot safer -- opportunities to
                kill off a wife.

                           BLACKBURN
                Three times, to be exact.

                           PRICE
                Excuse me?

                           BLACKBURN
                Accidents. Fatal. Each of your
                prior wives, so we've been informed.

                           PRICE
                Can't imagine by who. I don't suppose
                the truth would interest you: that I've
                never had another wife but Evelyn.

     No response, just looks of confusion.

                           PRICE
                Married. Once. Same woman. All these
                years. She just slithered up the stairs.

                           EDDIE
                Prove it.

                           PRICE
                Prove it how?

     Sara strides to the coffin-cabinet and withdraws one of the
     Glocks.

                           PRICE
                And what are you planning on doing
                with that?

     She cocks it.

                           SARA
                I just decided a million bucks is
                worthless if you ain't around to spend
                it. There is a way out of this place,
                and I'm gonna either find it or create
                it.
                     (to Eddie)
                Coming or staying?

     Eddie looks at his options: Price, Blackburn & Pritchett --
     or Sara.

                           EDDIE
                Yeah, what the hell, I'll go.

                           BLACKBURN
                Yeah, me too.

     Blackburn takes a gun from the coffin and cocks it.

                           SARA
                More the merrier.

                           BLACKBURN
                No. I'm going back to try and find Ms.
                Marr. If she's hurt, I'll tend to her.
                Dead, then I'm coming back for him.

     He glares at Price and exits in the opposite direction.

     Long beat. Price stares at the befuddled Pritchett who seems
     to be having a quiet conversation with himself.

                           PRITCHETT
                I think...I may have the answer.

                           PRICE
                What?

                           PRITCHETT
                I remember...it was a long time ago...my
                father said: when the House was finally
                completed, make sure...we-christen-it-
                with-this-bottle-of-dirt-cheap-champagne-
                that-should-still-be-in a cupboard
                somewhere!

     Pritchett is out of his chair extremely fast for someone with
     a near-lethal blood alcohol level. As he makes his exit, he
     grabs one of the last Glocks. Turns sheepishly to Price:

                           PRITCHETT
                Nothing personal.

     He chambers a shell and exits. Beat. Price is alone in the
     room.

                           PRICE
                Evelyn, goddamnit -- !

     INT. SMALL GRIMY ROOM - JUST AFTER

      -- and bursts through the hinged panel into computer
     central, shouting:

                           PRICE
                 -- Schecter, how is she pulling
                this off!?

     Schecter doesn't turn, all his attention focused on the
     computer screen, his fingers stopped dead in the their tracks
     upon the keys as though suddenly terrified by something.

     Price looks at the computer screen. Two words typed there:

        Someone Else

                           PRICE
                What does that mean?

     Schecter stays frozen. Price is beside himself:

                           PRICE
                Schecter, what the hell does it mean??

     He whips Schecter around in his swivel chair -- and comes
     literally face-to-face with -- a Man who no longer has a
     face! It's like someone took a giant melon-baller to
     Schecter's head, scooping out everything -- just leaving the
     rind that's the interior wall of his skull. Well, mostly
     everything: there's still bits of bloody brain pulp hanging
     from the bone. Needless to say: he's dead.

     Price turns away, gagging in horror -- and his eye is
     caught by a flash of motion in a --

     VIDEO MONITOR -- the one trained on the Main Salon

     A FIGURE (VANNACUTT) DRESSED ALL IN WHITE standing by the
     sideboard, looking up into the CAMERA -- a strange
     stainless-steel device in his hands that looks half-
     surgical saw/half-speculum. Something dark and wet dripping
     from its knife-sharp edges.

                           PRICE
                Someone else. Not Evelyn --

     Price's Eyes jump to --

     VIDEO MONITOR - THE ONE TRAINED ON THE BEDROOM

      -- plain as day, there's Evelyn under the covers.

     Price's eyes dart back to the SALON MONITOR -- the Figure in
     White is no longer there. But Price catches a flash: the door
     to the corridor just swinging shut! Price jumps to his feet
     and tears-ass out of the small room, screeching: