Script_PickmansModel.html
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THE SUMMONING
BY
Rick Tillman
(c)2004 Dark Whisper Films
FADE IN:
[ ROLL FILM TITLES ]
IRIS IN:
1 EXT. REID'S HOME - SUNSET 1
A quaint, well maintained home sits happily in Arkham, Mass.
TITLE (1-1):
Dr. Reid, a prominent Arkham scholar,
relaxes for the evening at home.
CUT TO:
2 INT. REID'S STUDY - EVENING 2
DR. HENRY PERCIVAL REID, a distinguished gentleman in his
early forties, sits in his favorite EASY CHAIR polishing his
GLASSES. He finishes, and puts them back on.
He reaches out for a BOX sitting on the TABLE. He pulls it
closer and opens it, revealing the fine TOBACCO held within.
He reaches for his PIPE, and fills it with the tobacco, and
closes the box.
He grabs a MATCH from a nearby MATCHBOX, strikes it, and
lights his pipe. He shakes the match out, and disposes of it
in an ASHTRAY.
He picks up the NEWSPAPER, shakes it open, and scans the
front page. He is reading the ARKHAM ADVERTISER, the Monday,
Aug. 20th, 1928 edition. An article towards the middle of
the page catches his eye.
INSERT - NEWSPAPER
"ARTIST STILL MISSING:
Local artist, Richard Upton Pickman, has been missing for
more than two months, and authorities seem baffled by the
disappearance. Friends and neighbors have neither seen nor
heard from the up and coming artist since late June..."
BACK TO SCENE
Reid shakes his head, and mutters "good riddance" to himself.
He sets the paper back down, as he puffs on the pipe deeply,
and takes in the wonderful aroma produced by the pipe and its
contents.
He sits, smiling, enjoying a fine smoke, as he reaches out to
claim his COGNAC from where it is sitting on the table.
He takes a deep drink, and ponders on his good fortune.
CUT TO:
3 EXT. REID'S HOME - EVENING 3
A DARK FIGURE, wearing a long LEATHER TRENCH COAT, GLOVES,
and FEDORA, cautiously walks up to the front door, looking
over his shoulder to make sure that he is not seen by anyone.
He removes an ENVELOPE from inside his coat, and places it by
the door. He knocks loudly on the door, and quickly slips
away.
CUT TO:
4 INT. REID'S STUDY - EVENING 4
Dr. Reid abruptly looks up from his paper and takes the pipe
out of his mouth as he hears a knock at the door.
He takes a drag off of the pipe, and gets up to walk over
towards the front door.
CUT TO:
5 INT. ENTRYWAY - EVENING 5
Reid goes up to the front door, and peers out the peephole.
Seeing no one, he opens the front door and looks out.
CUT TO:
6 EXT. REID'S HOME - EVENING 6
Reid looks around, but sees no one, so he steps out onto the
front porch, and calls out to the empty yard.
TITLE (6-1):
"Hello?
Is anybody there?"
Reid looks around, waiting for an answer, but receives none.
He shrugs his shoulders, takes another puff on his pipe, and
turns to go back inside. As he does, he kicks something with
his foot.
He looks down, and sees an envelope, so he stoops down and
picks it up. He holds it up and looks at it.
INSERT - ENVELOPE
The envelope is addressed: "~REID~"
BACK TO SCENE
Reid examines the envelope as he goes back inside.
CUT TO:
7 INT. ENTRYWAY - EVENING 7
Reid comes inside and closes the door. He looks quizzically
at the envelope for a moment, and walks back to the easy
chair with it.
CUT TO:
8 INT. REID'S STUDY - EVENING 8
Reid walks over to the chair and sits down, places his pipe
in the ASHTRAY, and opens the envelope. He pulls out a hand
written letter.
Reid looks over the letter.
INSERT - LETTER
"Reid:
If you really want to know the truth, meet me in the alley
behind Benevolent Street in one hour.
P."
BACK TO SCENE
Reid sets the letter down in his lap, and sits there, puzzled
by the mystery it offers.
He checks the time on his POCKET WATCH, debates a moment, and
then puts the watch back in his pocket.
He takes one last drink of cognac, picks up his pipe, stands
up, and makes his way towards the door.
CUT TO:
9 INT. ENTRYWAY - EVENING 9
He reaches out for his COAT, and puts it on. He folds up the
letter and puts it in an inside pocket of his coat.
He puts on his HAT, opens the front door, and steps out onto
the porch.
CUT TO:
10 EXT. REID'S HOME - EVENING 10
Reid closes and locks the front door, fusses with the collar
of his coat, and walks up towards the street.
He turns onto the sidewalk and makes his way up the street.
IRIS OUT/IN:
11 EXT. THE ALLEY - NIGHT 11
TITLE (11-1):
Dr. Reid makes his way
towards Benevolent Street.
Reid walks down the alley, scanning for the person he is to
meet. He literally seems disgusted by the less than pristine
alley.
He is passed by TWO DRUNK MEN, and has to move out of the way
to avoid colliding with the swerving pair.
Reid stops in the back of the alley, and waits nervously for
his appointment to appear.
As Reid attempts to puff on his pipe, he notices that the
pipe is now empty. As he brought no tobacco with him, he
shakes it out and puts it in his jacket pocket.
Reid is approached by a YOUNG WOMAN, selling her wares. She
walks up to Reid and propositions him, but he quickly refuses
her. She tries to show Reid her assets, but he insists that
she cover back up. He admonishes the girl, and sends her on
her way.
As the woman laughs and backs away from Reid, she runs into
another person approaching. She seems a bit startled, and
recoils back from the dark figure.
The dark figure merely stares at her, as he grips more
tightly what he is carrying under his arm.
The woman crosses herself and hurries off as the dark figure
walks towards Reid.
Reid recognizes the fellow, and in fact seems a bit surprised
to see him. He halfheartedly waves to the dark figure.
Reid and the dark figure exchange a few words, as the figure
hands a PACKAGE to Reid. Reid starts to unwrap the package,
but is stopped by the dark figure, who grabs Reid's arm.
The dark figure releases his arm, and chastises Reid.
TITLE (11-2):
"No, not here.
Wait until you get home!"
Reid takes heed, and simply places the package under his arm.
The dark figure gives Reid a few more additional instructions
regarding the package.
The dark figure says good bye and walks off in the direction
he came, as Reid goes back the way he came, tightly clutching
the parcel under his arm.
IRIS OUT/IN:
12 EXT. REID'S HOME - NIGHT 12
TITLE (12-1):
Dr. Reid returns with the package
Reid determinedly makes his way back to the front door. He
unlocks the door, looks about, and goes in.
CUT TO:
13 INT. ENTRYWAY - NIGHT 13
Reid comes in the house and shuts the front door. He places
the package on a nearby TABLE, and removes his hat, and then
his coat, and then hangs them all up.
He picks up the package and walks back towards the easy
chair.
CUT TO:
14 INT. REID'S STUDY - NIGHT 14
Reid walks over to the chair, sits down, and examines the
package, which is wrapped in CLOTH, that he has set down in
his lap.
Reid removes the TWINE that binds the package, and unwraps
the cloth to reveal an ancient-looking BOOK with an odd
octopus-like relief on the cover.
Reid holds the book reverently as he studies the cover,
sides, and back of the book. He can tell that it is quite
old, and feels oddly honored to have been entrusted with such
an obvious treasure.
He opens the book and begins to flip through some of the
pages. They are covered with strange writing, symbols, and
drawings. Reid eventually comes across a book marker, and
examines these pages more closely.
The page marked has what looks like a spell written on it.
INSERT - BOOK
"CONCERNING THE SUMMONING OF CERTAIN ENTITIES -
That is not dead which can eternal lie - and with strange
aeons even death may die..."
BACK TO SCENE
Reid reads aloud the first passage of the spell to himself.
TITLE (14-1):
"That is not dead which can eternal lie -
and with strange aeons even death may die."
Reid is startled by a sound emanating from his basement, as
the glass of cognac sitting nearby visibly shakes before his
eyes.
Reid stands up, grabs the cognac, and hastily finishes all
that remains. He grips the book under his arm, and heads off
in the direction of the basement.
CUT TO:
15 SCENE OMITTED 15
16 INT. STAIRWELL - NIGHT 16
TITLE (16-1):
Dr. Reid investigates the strange sound.
Reid opens the door to the stairwell, and makes his way down
into the basement, and towards the strange sound.
CUT TO:
17 INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT 17
Reid leaves the stairs and enters the basement.
He walks over to the center of the room, and looks down at
the floor.
Reid stares amazed at the floor. There seems to be some sort
of CIRCLE that is faintly glowing on the floor.
He ponders the astounding implications of what this might
mean. His well-placed trepidation is overcome by the
mounting anticipation of what may actually be possible if he
proceeds with the spell. Above all else, Dr. Reid is a man
of science, and one must test assumptions to glimpse the
truth.
Reid cautiously steps inside of the glowing circle on the
floor and...nothing happens! Not to be deterred in his quest
for knowledge, he opens up the book again.
He glances down at the book and finds where he left off.
Reid cautiously reads aloud from the book once again.
TITLE (17-1):
"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."
The circle on the floor begins to glow more wildly, as a
strange MIST begins to emanate from the circle.
TITLE (17-2):
"Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
Excitement and anticipation grow on Reid's face as he
continue's to read aloud from the book.
TITLE (17-3):
"Yog-Sothoth knows the gate!"
Reid shudders, and continues.
TITLE (17-4):
"Yog-Sothoth is the gate!"
A glowing PENTAGRAM slowly appears inside of the circle on
the floor, centered around Reid. He stares at it, thoroughly
amazed by what is happening, and continues on.
TITLE (17-5):
"Ia! Ia! Shub-Niggurath!"
The swirling, glowing mist begins to envelope Reid, and he
can not stop himself from finishing the spell.
TITLE (17-6):
"Ia! Ia!"
He is a man driven by the possibilities of what may happen.
He must continue.
TITLE (17-7):
"Cthulhu!"
He speaks aloud the last line of the spell.
TITLE (17-8):
"Fhtagn!"
The circle on the floor glows fiercely as faint glowing
'echoes' rise up in the air around Reid.
Reid is overwhelmed by the mist now, and glances around,
trying to see through it towards the far corner of the room.
He can just make out a tentacled 'THING' approaching - it's
dim outline slowly becoming clearer as sheer horror registers
on his face.
A lumpy, seemingly formless creature with writhing TENTACLES
slowly approaches Reid. It's single EYE, sitting atop a ropy
stalk sprouting from where a head should be, stares intently
at Reid.
Reid realizes his folly and screams uncontrollably as he
drops the book to the floor.
This is more than Reid can bare. He starts to make for the
stairs and away from the blasphemous thing, but he is
seemingly unable to leave the confines of the glowing circle.
TITLE (17-9):
Trapped by the spell!
He turns back toward the thing, as the grotesque tentacles
flail and squeeze Reid as he continues to scream and
pointlessly struggles with what he has summoned.
He bleeds from his mouth as his life is slowly squeezed out
of him.
He is engulfed by the unknown horror that answered his call,
as his last screams are cut short by the thing.
Reid slowly vanishes along with the entity, mist, pentagram,
and circle.
The book is now laying open on the floor where Reid once
stood. A broken pair of glasses lies on top of it.
SMASH CUT TO:
Suddenly, the gloved hand of a dark figure reaches out and
picks up the abandoned book.
The dark figure closes the book and places it under his arm.
He removes his hat in mock reverence for Reid, revealing his
face for the first time. PICKMAN replaces his hat as he
sardonically smiles.
Pickman laughs as he turns and walks towards the stairs and
slowly ascends them.
IRIS OUT.
DISSOLVE TO:
TITLE:
THE END
FADE TO BLACK.
[ ROLL FILM CREDITS ]
18 SCENE OMITTED 18
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