The Haunting

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Purgatory is over, you go to hell.

Luke:
What's the deal with the Addams Family mansion?

Theo:
You feel cut off from the world, but the world has missed you. Happy tossing and turning.

[looking at the "Door of Hell"]

Theo:
You don't get this from the Martha Stewart catalog.

Theo:
Isn't it based on the Gates of Hell, by Rodin?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Well, It's not just hell. You see the children, they're are reaching up for heaven, but their souls are trapped in purgatory. And these are the demons... who can hold on to your soul for as long as they want.

Theo:
Did you study art?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
No, I studied purgatory. I was there once for eleven years. It's when your soul is caught between the living and the dead.

Dr. David Marrow:
Okay, so why are we here? Probably to answer the most basic question: "What is wrong with you people?"

Luke:
We don't have time for baby talk.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Have you ever kept something for yourself because you were afraid?

Theo:
All the time.

Mrs. Dudley:
I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at six. Breakfast is ready at nine. I don't stay after dinner. Not after it begins to get dark. We live in town, nine miles, so there won't be anyone around if you need help...

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
We couldn't even hear you.

Mrs. Dudley:
No one could. No one lives any nearer than town...

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
No one will come any nearer than that.

Mrs. Dudley:
In the night...

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
In the dark.

Jane:
Come live with us Nell; you have no idea how hard it is out there.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
No Jane, you have no idea how hard it was in here.

Dr. David Marrow:
Let me explain what's happening here. You're participating in a study on group fear and hysteria.

Luke:
What? That's it, that's what this was all about?

Theo:
You brought us here to scare us, is that it?

Dr. David Marrow:
Yes.

Luke:
And you were just waiting for her to have a total nervous breakdown before you said it? I mean, what is your problem?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Why do you need so many chains?

Mr. Dudley:
That's a good question. What is it about fences? Sometimes the people on either side of the fence see a locked chain, they feel a little more comforted, why do you suppose that is?

Theo:
Hi. Don't worry, I'm not an obsessive packer, it's just a cheap and exploitative way of making new friends, I'm Theo.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Eleanor, but everybody calls me Nell.

Theo:
Well, "Everybody Calls Me Nell", don't you love it here? It's like Charles Foster Kane meets the Munsters.

[looking at the crashed car, Theo and Marrow]

Mrs. Dudley:
City people.

Theo:
Is this one of your sick jokes, Luke?

Luke:
What? You really think I wrote that?

Theo:
You found it; you could have.

Luke:
How, with the twenty-foot ladder I keep in my back pocket?

Dr. David Marrow:
Okay, so what do we all need in life? What are the basics? Food, water, shelter...

Theo:
...Sex.

Luke:
Oh come on, this is crazy. Maybe she doesn't want to be found.

Dr. David Marrow:
The gate is still locked, we have to wait until the Dudleys arrive.

Luke:
What? That's really compassion. Yeah, "let's wait until the morning, so tomorrow I have time to write a few more Welcome Home Eleanors".

Dr. David Marrow:
Luke, I didn't write that stuff, okay?

Luke:
Of course you didn't, that wouldn't be ethical, would it doc...

Theo:
Would you guys just shut up?

Dr. David Marrow:
Because it was a controlled experiment.

Theo:
A controlled experiment? She's in total shock, you can't do that.

Dr. David Marrow:
I told you, it wasn't meant to be like this.

Theo:
Oh c'mon, you don't care about insomnia, you just wanted to scare the hell out of us to be fit in your little test or model, an end to understand this. You can't do it...

Dr. David Marrow:
LISTEN. You listen to me. I am trying to help people. My field of study is the science of fear, I try to understand why people act the way they act, why they feel the way they feel...

[Theo slaps Marrow]

Theo:
You don't feel.

Luke:
I'm not staying in this freaking house another second, so come on.

Luke:
And you I'm gonna guess, are a les...

Theo:
Don't even start.

Luke:
Wow, You're so bossy and domineering...

Theo:
Thanks. Theo.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
You know all my life, I have been waiting for an adventure. I thought it would never happen to me. I mean adventures are for soldiers, or for bullfighters, the women fall in love with. Now, here I am. Paintings are moving and strange voices are calling for me at night, and all it cost me was FIVE GALLONS OF GAS.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
He killed them. Hugh Crain. The children from the mills. It's just like you said. He wanted to fill the house with the sounds of children. He took from his mills and he brought them here, but he wouldn't let them go. He would never let them go.

Dr. David Marrow:
Eleanor, none of this is real.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Yes, it is real.

Dr. David Marrow:
It's not real.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
You have to go look for the bones in the fireplace.

Dr. David Marrow:
It's not real.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
I saw... I saw his wife hanging in the greenhouse, I know, I saw it.

Dr. David Marrow:
No, we'll be all gone, and the Dudleys will arrive in the morning and we can go. All of you.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
I can't believe you're not gonna look.

Theo:
Okay, that's enough of you. I'm taking her upstairs. I think you've done enough.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
You'll never gonna believe how I found them.

Theo:
How did you find them?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
The blood led me to the bookcase.

Theo:
The blood?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Little footprints in blood.

Theo:
Nell, I'm worried about you.

Dr. David Marrow:
We should have stopped this when Mary got hurt. And definitely when Eleanor... Jesus Christ, we have to get out of here.

Jane:
Also, we know how much you loved Mom's car, so we're giving it to you.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
You're taking away my home, and giving me a twenty year old car? Who are you?

Luke:
I don't know, I just think Dr. Marrow's up to something. And you know what, I'm going to find out. Right after I check on Theo, that is. I wonder how she's doing.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Doing or wearing?

Luke:
Yeah, no kidding. Did you see what she had on yesterday? Hey I definitely got a soft spot for Theo.

Theo:
[about Purgatory] I've been there. It's when you're on an 18-hour flight from L.A. to Paris and you're stuck in coach.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
I love your boots.

Theo:
Oh, you do? Thanks! Prada; Milan, not New York. But they're killing me... Small price to pay for such savage kicks!

Luke:
[as noises come from chimney, he goes under it and yells up] Hello, Santa!

Theo:
You know what, the rest of you may hate your insomnia but I'm not sure I want a cure for mine. That's when I get all my best ideas... I'm alone, occasionally... with no distractions. My mind is racing with creative ideas and come 3am I feel like a genius.

Ritchie:
Eleanor, help me! I gotta pee!

Dr. David Marrow:
The only problem with fear is that it largely has become inappropriate and non-adaptive.

[last lines]

Mr. Dudley:
You find out what you wanted to know... doctor?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
[breaking the glass where a monsterous specre of Hugh Crane is appearing] I will not let you hurt a CHILD!

[repeated line]

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
He won't let them go!

[first lines]

Jane:
You already owe two months worth of rent.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
It's mine, and you're not taking it away.

Jane:
Read the will, Nell. It states in plain language, the executor shall have the right to dispose of any and all personal property, as he shall see fit.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
He's not even real family.

Jane:
Yeah, maybe not, but clearly Mother thought Lou would be better off dealing with these unpleasant details than you.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
[angrily] Unpleasant details? What have I been dealing with for the past eleven years? I've cooked, I've cleaned, I've mopped up for you and you call that an unpleasant detail?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
You have trouble with commitment?

Theo:
Well, my boyfriend thinks so, my girlfriend doesn't. We could all live together, but they hate each other.

Luke:
[looking at a statue] These carvings are really creepy. All these fat little cherubs and angels with furry animals, it's really bizarre, I think.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
I think they're the children Hugh Crain built the house for.

Luke:
I don't buy that for a second - that Hugh Crain was this lovable old tycoon with a soft spot for kids? This guy was obviously running a sweatshop, had children working 16 hours a day. Then he builds all this crap, it's propaganda. It's like those Teletubbies, those things freak me out also. Then they sing, so they're actually kinda scarier when you think about it.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
This house, who built it? Who lived here?

Dr. David Marrow:
Well actually that makes a very good bedtime story. Once upon a time, there was a king who built a castle. His name was Hugh Crain. 130 years ago, towns like Concord and Manchester were the centre of American industry, that's where Crain made a fortune on the backs of workers in his textile mills. Now this man could have anything he wanted, but what he wanted was another thing. It was a house filled with the laughter of children.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
That's why there are all the carvings.

Dr. David Marrow:
He married the most beautiful girl in town, called Renee, and he built her this house, at least some of it.

Theo:
God, it sounds like a fairytale or something.

Dr. David Marrow:
Well that's where the fairytale ends. Hugh and Renee never had children. They all died at birth. And a few years later, Renee passed away and Crain became a total recluse. But, he kept on building. Building room upon room as if he was building for the familiy he would never have. No one had seen Crain for years. But the townspeople said they could hear sounds coming from the old house. Sounds of children.

Luke:
Hey, you guys wanna hear something really scary? I just found this out. It turns out there's a more darker chapter in the Hugh Crain fairytale. Remember his lovely wife Renee? Well Renee, the town beauty, she didn't just die, she killed herself.

Theo:
Really? He just told you that?

Luke:
Yes, but you can't say anything because he actually swore me to secrecy.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Why did she kill herself?

Luke:
The stillborn children story is more sinister, and maybe Hugh Crain was a horrible monster that drove her to it.

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
Monster? But he built this house with the woman he loved like the Taj Mahal.

Theo:
The Taj Mahal wasn't a palace, it was a tomb. And equally overdone.

Theo:
We can't get out. Why won't he let us leave?

Dr. David Marrow:
What do we do Eleanor?

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
He played hide-and-seek with them, that's why he built the house. You have to hide.

Dr. David Marrow:
Hide? What does he think this is, a game?

Children:
Help us... help us...

Eleanor "Nell" Vance:
I'm here... I'm here... I'm coming to you, I'm coming to you...