directed by John Leonetti
written by Gary Dauberman
I'm mainly going to discuss the script in this post. The movie has the following principal differences with the script:
- scattered small improvements on the dialogue, and lots of extra inserts which add to the scariness of the story (for example, Mia imagining things that are consistent with the feeling in the script but not explicitly written in),
- the cat scenes are all gone,
- the scenes with Fuller (the landlord) are all gone,
- the used bookstore owner (Carl) is replaced by Evelyn (played with her usual expertise by Alfre Woodard) and all her scenes were rewritten and greatly expanded,
- the death of Father Perez was rewritten and drawn out into several scenes,
- there is a different ending, with Evelyn dying in place of Mia.
The first scene is a sweet scene of John and Mia Form, sitting in a pew of a catholic church playing a game of thumb wrestling. On screen text: "Los Angeles, 1970." At the pulpit, Father Perez repeats the biblical lines "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his loved ones." Soon the sermon is over and they go outside with their friends and neighbors Pete and Sharon Higgins. They carpool home together. During the drive they discuss Mia's pregnancy, baby names, ...
When they get home, we learn they don't lock their front door. Not smart, suggests Mia (we will see she's right). John is a doctor who has about to start his residency. John has bought a surprise gift for Mia - a doll. Annabelle. She's wanted one and loves the present. The perfect addition to their nursery. Not.
That night, the creepiness starts. Curtains billow, we see the lights on at the Higgn's house next door. Pete is up. The curtains fall. Sharon screams. There's blood on the wall of their bedroom. Then their lights go out.
Mia tells John to get up. She heard the scream, he didn't. They get up,walk down the hall to their front door. Here's the script:
He starts to turn the doorknob.
No...
Don't do that.
Just be careful.
JOHN
I will...
He pulls open the Front Door to reveal -- gasp -- Oh.
My sense was wrong. It's nothing.
Great stuff:-) I loved that. Anyway, they go next door and John discovers Pete and Sharon have been savagely butchered. Mia runs home to call the police. She doesn't notice a thin, bald woman in white clothes stained with blood in her nursery. The woman holds Annabelle. Mia hears her. A man with a sharp knife has also managed to sneak into the closet of the master bedroom (remember the unlocked doors? - set-up and pay off). They fight, Mia screaming. He has cut her in the stomach. John bursts through the bedroom door and beats the crap out of the man. He drops the knife. The woman runs in screaming and jumps on John's back. Mia picks up the knife and stabs the man. The woman jumps on Mia, pulls the knife away from her and is about to stab her when John throws the woman into the hallway. Just them police charge through the front door. The woman runs into the nursery with the knife and locks the door. EMTs enter to treat Mia while the police kick open the door to the nursery. The woman sits on the floor holding Annabelle to her stomach. She's slashed her throat and we see blood drip down into the eye of Annabelle.
That's the opening. We're now on page 17.
Mia is given an ultrasound at the hospital. Their doctor orders her to bed rest for the remainder (3 months) of the pregnancy. She can get up to go to the bathroom, that's it. By the time Mia can go home, John has cleaned the house. The script is really good with the sounds effects. That night, they fall asleep to the "sound is the tickticktick of the clock on the mantle." Later, Mia is awakened by the
"TchnkTchnkTchnkTchnkTchnkTchnkTchnkTchnkTchnk ... the sewing machine needle going at top speed."John runs to the living room and pulls the plug. As he passes the nursery he sees Annabelle.
Days (weeks?) later, Mia is watches TV when the screen goes to static. She gets up, sees Annabelle in the hallway, goes to the bathroom to change bandages on her stomach. John comes home and they discuss a possible residency in Pasadena (California). John notices Annabelle, but the doll has mysteriously moved. Mia tells John to get rid of that doll. He throws it into the garbage can at the curb. The police detective from the Higgins' murder stops by. He tells them the man and woman were in a cult. They were the Higgins' daughter and her BF. Mia asks "Were they satanic?" The detective says he will look into it more.
The next day (or week?), John puts on a suit and tie. He's off to interview for the Pasadena residency. (He gets it.) Later that day Mia is sewing something. The stove turns on by itself and starts a kitchen fire, the sewing machine stabs her in the finger with the sewing needle, the flames cause a ceiling fan to fall on Mia. A neighbor rushes in to help her.
John runs through the halls of the hospital into her room. Mia is very weak. She just delivered. It's a girl. Leah. Mia refuses to return to their apartment. No problem, John has already got an apartment closer to the Pasadena hospital he'll be working at.
They are seven floors up in a 1940-era apartment building, complete with a creaky old elevator with a sliding grating door. Boxes all over their new apartment. They meet their "landlord", a 30-year old named Joe Fuller. "Tall, scruffy. He could use a shower. Maybe two of them. Definitely went to Woodstock."
That Sunday they are back in church listening to Father Perez. John wants to play thumb wrestling with Mia but Mia says she has to change Leah and leaves. After the sermon, Father Perez takes a picture of them, with Leah, with his camera.
The next day (week?) Mia lets Fuller in to fix the kitchen faucet while John is at work. Fuller leaves and Mia takes Leah for a stroller ride outside. She passes some unfriendly kids sitting on the stoop
making crayon on paper drawings then, once outside, she passes a used bookstore, sees a book on the occult in the window. She returns to the apartment building and the unfriendly kids are gone. However,
a drawing remains and Mia picks it up. As she goes up the stairs she sees another drawing. She picks it up. Nest to her apartment door, she sees another drawing and picks that up too. Goes inside. The drawings are creepy, telling a cartoon-strip story of a bus hitting Mia and Leah's stroller in the street outside. When John comes home, she shows him the drawings. He says he will talk to them.
More creepy stuff:
* Lights go out in a thunder storm while she's alone in the basement.
* Strange sounds them Fuller instantly appears shining a flashlight in her eyes.
* Stray cat hisses.
* She thinks she hears the woman who attacked them at the old house, followed by loud stomping noises.
* She turns the record player off then it turns on by itself.
* The nursery door slams shut on her by itself.
Mia is stressed out and John is spending all his time at work. They agree to get counseling with Father Perez. He comforts them and asks
"...after slaying the monsters you have, what is there left to be scared of?"
We are on page 51 of the script.
The next day (week?), in the nursery, John and Mia continue to unpack boxes. They are down to the last box. Mia says "Someone pop the champagne." John tells Mia that he met the kids who Mia saw. He says they denied making the drawings. "Liars" she says. Finally, Mia opens the last box.
In the last box she finds ... you guessed it ... Annabelle. John wants to throw it out again but Mia decides to put it on the shelf in the nursery.
Creepy stuff starts to happen again.
Creepy 1:
* Mia puts a baby tub in the kitchen sink and starts water. She leaves to the nursery to get Leah. The water turns scalding hot all by itself.
* Mia almost puts Leah in the boiling water but tests it first. She sees how hot it is, runs back to put Leah in the nursery and stumbles over (you guessed it) Annabelle. The script:
"Wait.
Was she there when -- ?
Never mind."
They call Fuller to fix the kitchen faucet again. He says "It's plumbed correctly. You just can't get hot water out of the cold water tap. Hell, in this building, you can barely get hot water out of the hot water tap..."
Creepy 2:
Stray cat "leaps onto the window ledge" outside their nursery window. (Seven floors up.) The script:
"Mia enters the room carrying folded baby clothes.
Sees the Cat.
Taps her finger on the glass.
Stray Cat leaps away."
Creepy 3:
Later, the stray cat scratches at the front door. She opens it and it runs into the nursery, joining "a DOZEN OTHER STRAY CATS in the room." The nursery window is closed, Annabelle on the shelf. Mia picks up Leah, opens the front door and shoos all the cats run out. She slams the door, goes inside and sees
Annabelle now sitting on the bed in the master bedroom.
The next day (week?), the police detective visits. The Higgins' daughter was named Annabelle. She and her BF were in a cult that called themselves the "Order of the Ram."
Mia takes Leah in the stroller to the local used bookstore. She meets the owner Carl. He helps her research the cult. Carl reads from one of the books on the occult: "The Order of the Ram -- based on what you told me -- this ceremony they were attempting required them to take their own blood and the life of an innocent to take the soul..." Carl goes on to tell Mia that the cult wants to summon an inhuman spirit. The script:
And they don't attach themselves to locations.
They attach themselves to objects. Using them as
conduits to ultimately get what they want...
MIA
The soul of an innocent...
Mia buys a bunch of the books on the occult. (Later we learn she puts the books in the stroller and carries Leah.) On the way home, the stroller gets slips away from her and goes into the street. A bus hits it. Books fly and the stroller is crushed under the bus. [Here we learn she's been carrying Leah the whole time.] Fuller sees the crash and runs out to help her.
Once Mia gets to her apartment she tears the place apart trying to find Annabelle. Annabelle's disappeared. However, the books fall off the bookshelf, very nearly hitting Leah. Mia saves Leah in the nick of time.
One night, Father Perez comes over for dinner. He brings them the photo he took of them, framed and gift wrapped. Mia tells Perez about the cult and Perez says
"I do know that demons just can't take souls. A person has to die before their soul is released..."He tells them he will put them in touch with churches who have people who can help them better than he can. Perez leaves and as he drives away, he hears something in his back seat. As he turns to look, he sees Annabelle. Then he collides head-first into another car and dies.
John gets ready to go to work. He promises Mia he will be home early tonight. She's feeding Leah in the nursery and reading one of her books on the occult. On the way down he runs into Fuller and asks him to look on Mia while he's gone. After feeding Leah, Mia unplugs the TV, record player, checks the knobs on the stove, locks the door and windows. She curls up with Leah on the bed.
Creepy stuff:
* Books fall off the shelf. Loud thumps as they land.
* TV turns on by itself, cycles through all the channels.
* Record player turns on full blast by itself.
Mia runs out to the living room. Hears Leah cry. Runs back to the bedroom. Leah's gone. Annabelle's back. Mia runs to the nursery. Still no Leah in sight. screams "What do you want?" Annabelle writes on the nursery wall in red crayon:
"Her soul. Her soul. Her soul. ..."Mia grabs Annabelle and tries to through her out the nursery window but it's locked. She sees Fuller down on the ground outside. (It's early evening.) She yells "Fuller, please help!" Fuller rushes inside, punches the evevator button, it takes him to the top floor (past 7), then it drops him down to the basement, killing him. The script: "Crucified by a piece of rebar. As if the fall wasn't enough to kill him."
Residents gather outside, talking to police.
Inside, Mia sees the framed photo taken by Father Perez. She says: "You want the soul of an innocent? But a mother is closer to God than any other creature..." (harking back to the lines from Perez in the opening scene.) Just then, John pulls up outside, rushes up the steps. Mia sees the window to the nursery is now open. Annabelle sits below it. Leah is in the crib. Mia kisses Leah, says
"I love you more than anything. I have to do this. I'd do anything for you..."Mia picks up Annabelle. John huffs and puffs up the stairs, taking 2 at a time. He finally reaches the 7th floor. Mia climbs out the nursery window holding Annabelle. John finally opens their front door and runs in searching for Mia. "Mia! Where are you?" Mia's on the ledge, and can't hear him. The nursery door is locked. As John busts the door open, Mia steps off the ledge with Annabelle. He doesn't know. He picks up Leah. "Where's Mommy?"
He looks out the window. The script:
"Looks down and sees --
Oh God.
His wife.
Face up on the concrete.
A dark red pool of blood surrounds her.
NO!
He looks away. Can't stand to see her like that.
But we PUSH IN on Mia.
Staring up at us with dead eyes.
Keep pushing in...
Getting closer...
Closer...
Until our focal point changes and we shift over to -- Annabelle.
In Mia's lifeless hands.
We continue to PUSH IN until --
Annabelle's entire face takes up our frame."
The script ends with a woman in a thrift store who picks out Annabelle as a present for her daughter. (This is the same woman who appears in The Conjuring, indicating this film being a prequel.) In the movie, this ending is rewritten and put at the beginning, so all this is a flashback.
Review:
This script is a lot of fun to read. It has lots of good set-up and pay-offs. A typical "monster in the house" movie starts with the victim having some character flaw or sin (greed is a common one) and them the monster (the doll Annabelle in this case) appears and does what it does to the victim. Like a fable, the audience gets a feeling of catharsis that the sin has been punished. In this story, I don't see the sin or character flaw. I'm not making a value judgement since I'm not sure it would make a difference. I'm just saying that this film has less of a fable-feel to it, if that's a word.
A with all such horror films, one has to suspend belief to get into this world of supernatural spirits who occupy a doll so it can take the soul of someone recently dead. Once you accept that leap, the events that don't quite make sense become more reasonable. (Police arriving so quickly after an event; cats on the 7th floor; that a doctor would not get someone - a family member or a nurse, someone - to care for his bed-ridden pregnant wife...) The tension and creepiness slowly builds as the story progresses. The ending (in the script) is a bummer for audiences - who wants to see the protagonist die? - but nicely pays off the set-up in the opening scene.
It's structured well, the second act starting when they have moved an Mia accepts Annabelle back in her home (after John has thrown it out). This is when their problems really start and when things get worst, despite their efforts to figure out why the creepy events keep happening to them. With the death of Father Perez (especially in the script), it seems as though there is nothing Mia can do to save Leah. In the film, Evelyn sacrifices herself to save the family and be "reunited" with her (dead) daughter but the script has Mia sacrificing herself for her daughter.
If you are a horror fan and want to read a well-written script, I recommend reading Dauberman's Annabelle script!
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