October 31, 1998
Halloween

EXT. UNIVERSITY OF HADDONFIELD-MORNING

It is a dreary late-October morning. Feathery gray clouds line the sky over the university campus. Buildings stand tall against the white morning sky. CAMERA PANS down through the almost-bare branches of a huge oak tree in the center of an open courtyard. The few leaves still hanging rustle gently as the wind blows through them. Brownish-gold leaves cartwheel across the ground below. A large statue stands in the middle of the deserted courtyard, engraved with the words:

EXT. BROWN HALL

A large three story building looms up against the early morning sky. Large gold letters attached to the brick side of the building read:

INT. BROWN HALL-KARA'S APARTMENT

We travel down a carpeted hallway and approach an open doorway. Running water and the sound of someone brushing their teeth can be heard from beyond the doorway. We enter the door and we see that it is a bathroom. A young woman dressed in a skirt and sweater, KARA STRODE, stands at the sink, brushing her teeth. She stops briefly.

Kara stoops, spits in the sink, and rinses her mouth out. Once done she grabs a bottle of perfume from the cabinet and sprays a few squirts onto her wrists and rubs them together.

Kara smears perfume on her neck and steps out of the bathroom. We follow her down the hall through the living room into the kitchen. DANNY STRODE, eleven, sits in the middle of the small room at a table writing.

Kara walks over to the table and picks up a bowl of milk in one hand and a box of cereal in the other.

Kara walks to the sink and places the bowl inside, then stoops and returns the cereal box to the cabinet.

Danny closes his textbook and places it in a backpack laying on the table.

Kara grabs her backpack hanging on the back of one of the chairs and slings it over her right shoulder. She rummages through one of the pockets of the backpack and looks up at Danny.

Danny stands up and begins to put on his coat.

Kara walks over and scans the bar. She spots the keys and scoops them up.

EXT. KARA'S APARTMENT

The apartment door opens and Danny walks through, backpack over his shoulder. Through the door, we see Kara hurriedly turn off the kitchen light and then she follows Danny out of the apartment. She turns and pulls the door shut. After fumbling with her keys for a moment, she inserts one into the lock and turns it. She withdraws the key and drops the keyring into the pocket of her sweater. As she turns to leave, the phone begins to ring inside the apartment.

As Danny paces impatiently, Kara pulls the keys back out of her pocket and begins searching for the right key again.

Kara looks at Danny, then at her watch, and sighs.

Kara returns the keys to her pocket and follows Danny down the hall.

INT. KARA'S APARTMENT

CAMERA PANS across the kitchen into the living room as the telephone continues to ring. The phone sets on an endtable at the end of the sofa, with the answering machine right beside it. CAMERA halts on the answering machine and slowly ZOOMS in. The phone quits ringing as the machine picks up:

When the message ends, a man's voice, Capt. Josh Tyler's voice, begins speaking.

EXT. BROWN HALL-MORNING

Kara and Danny walk down the sidewalk leading from Brown Hall.

Danny, saddened, looks down at the sidewalk.

Danny remains silent.

Kara and Danny reach the end of the sidewalk and Kara stops. She takes Danny by the arm and looks into his face.

Danny continues to look at the ground. Kara takes his chin in her hand and pulls his face up gently.

CLOSE-KARA

CLOSE-DANNY Danny nods his head slowly. His eyes shift to the left slightly.

DANNY'S POV Over Kara's right shoulder, a group of children has gathered waiting for the bus. They are all dressed up in different Halloween costumes: clowns, princesses, and other characters. Kara turns her head to look, and we FOCUS on her face as she turns back to Danny.

CLOSE-DANNY Danny looks fearfully at Kara.

CLOSE-KARA

ANGLE ON DANNY Danny smiles.

A loud ROAR muffles Danny's reply as a big yellow bus pulls up to the curb. The door opens and costumed children begin to file on.

EXT. BROWN HALL

Kara pulls Danny to her and hugs him.

Danny pulls away from Kara.

A young girl's voice, DANIELLE LANGFORD's voice, comes from off screen.

Danny looks over his shoulder.

Danny runs to the curb and meets Danielle(also without a costume.) They disappear into the bus.

ANGLE ON KARA Kara watches as the bus pulls away from the curb and then looks down at her watch.

As the wind blows leaves across the street, Kara pulls her sweater tight around her midsection and hurries down the sidewalk. We DOLLY along the sidewalk beside her. As Kara walks along, she passes a dirty brown pickup truck parked on the opposite side of the street.

EXT. DOYLE RESIDENCE-MORNING

A small white house sits back off the main street. Surrounding the perimeter of the yard is a large hedge. A porch runs the entire length of the front of the house. A sidewalk that runs up to the porch divides the leave-covered yard in half.

INT. DOYLE RESIDENCE-BEDROOM

An alarm clock blares loudly. The time on the clock reads 8:00 am. As the alarm continues to sound, a man's hand comes into view and fumbles for the off button. The hand can't quite get a hold of the clock, and instead, knocks the clock off of the nightstand to the floor below. The alarm ceases ringing. CAMERA follows the hand as it is withdrawn. We see that the hand belongs to TOMMY DOYLE, our hero from the previous film. Tommy pulls the covers up around his neck and rolls over, away from CAMERA. CAMERA turns from Tommy and tracks down the bed as a woman, KRISTEN DOYLE, 26, enters the bedroom from an open doorway. She is dressed in a flannel robe and has her blonde hair pulled back in a clip. Kristen stops at the foot of the bed.

Tommy remains motionless, but mumbles something undistinguishable from under the blankets.

Kristen looks puzzled, then rolls her eyes.

Still no movement.

Kristen crouches and crawls onto the bed stealthily. She moves in close to Tommy's ear and begins to nibble on his earlobe. Tommy moans.

CLOSE-TOMMY Tommy, laying on his side, cracks a smile and opens his eyes as Kristen, behind him, moves on to his neck.

INT. BEDROOM

Tommy rolls over quickly onto his back and pulls Kristen's face down onto his own.

Kristen giggles and straddles Tommy as they begin to kiss more passionately. Tommy pulls the clip out of Kristen's hair and her long blond hair spills down around her face.

UNKNOWN POV We TRACK down the hall and into the bedroom slowly as an unseen figure approaches. Tommy and Kristen continue to kiss.

SIDE-TOMMY AND KRISTEN Tommy brushes the hair gently off of Kristen's cheek.

Tommy takes a break from kissing long enough to reply.

They continue to kiss. Suddenly a child's head, three year old Steven's head, slowly pops up from the edge of the bed, visible between Tommy and Kristen. He stares at the two.

STEVEN'S POV As Tommy and Kristen continue kissing, Tommy looks out of the corner of his eye at Steven.

Kristen continues to kiss on Tommy's face.

Kristen eases up a bit. She glances briefly at Steven and, it not quite registering, looks back at Tommy. Kristen looks again, and does a double take.

KRISTEN'S POV Steven continues to stare over the edge of the bed.

SIDE-KRISTEN AND TOMMY Kristen looks down at Tommy and sighs.

Kristen climbs off of Tommy and scoops Steven up in her arms.

Tommy throws the covers back and sits upright, swinging his feet to the floor. We follow Tommy, dressed in a gray t-shirt and a pair of checkered boxers, as he gets out of bed and walks across the bedroom toward a bathroom that adjoins the bedroom.

ANGLE ON KRISTEN As Kristen scuddles Steven out of the bedroom, she casts Tommy a mischievious grin.

KRISTEN'S POV Tommy gives Kristen a sarcastic smile and disappears into the bathroom.

INT. DOYLE RESIDENCE-KITCHEN

ANGLE ON KRISTEN Kristen sits at a table in the center of the room reading the local newspaper, the Haddonfield Chronicle. A plate of half-eaten grapefruit rests on the table before her. Kristen reads intently. After a second, she lowers the newspaper and peers over the top of it at Steven.

KRISTEN'S POV Steven sits in his highchair, nosing through a bowl of oatmeal. Smears of the pasty oatmeal line his cheeks and a drop dots his nose. He looks up at Kristen and grins.

INT. KITCHEN

Tommy walks into the room from the living room. He is now fully dressed in a khaki policeman's uniform. He is carrying his belt and his gun in his hand.

Kristen looks up at Tommy.

Tommy fastens his belt around his waist and buckles it.

Kristen folds up the newspaper and sets it down on the table.

Tommy looks up from buckling his belt, startled.

Tommy remains silent, looking worried.

CLOSE-KRISTEN Kristen stares intently into Tommy's face.

INT. KITCHEN

Tommy opens the chamber in his revolver and peeks inside. He then closes it and places it in the holster on the side of his belt.

CLOSE-KRISTEN

CLOSE-TOMMY as he stares into his wife's face, thinking.

TOMMY'S POV-KRISTEN

CLOSE-TOMMY After a moment, Tommy cracks a small smile.

INT. KITCHEN

Tommy's smile widens as he moves over and picks Steven up out of the highchair.

Tommy picks up a wet towel laying on the table and wipes the smudges of oatmeal off of Steven's cheeks and nose. Steven makes an ugly face and tries to resist.

Kristen stands up and steps over to Tommy and Steven.

Tommy hands Steven to Kristen.

Tommy grabs his coat off of a rack by the kitchen door and pulls it on.

Kristen sets Steven down on the floor and walks over to Tommy. She grabs his collar and kisses him. After a moment, she breaks away and looks into his face.

CLOSE-TOMMY Tommy looks into Kristen's face.

CLOSE-KRISTEN

CLOSE-TOMMY

ANGLE ON TOMMY'S HAND as he pulls his badge out of his coat pocket. CAMERA follows the badge as Kristen takes it from him, and attaches it to his chest.

INT. KITCHEN

Tommy laughs.

ANGLE ON KRISTEN'S HAND Kristen slides her hand down from Tommy's shoulder to the handcuffs that hang from his belt.

CLOSE-KRISTEN

CLOSE-TOMMY Tommy grins.

INT. KITCHEN

Tommy gives Kristen a quick kiss and then turns to go.

Steven looks up from some blocks he's playing with.

Tommy opens the door and leaves the house.

EXT. LITTLE JOHN'S TRUCK STOP-MORNING

The sky begins to lighten as a bright yellow sun peeks through the dreary gray clouds. CAMERA CRANES down from the sky and a large building, long since deserted, comes into view. A dilapidated sign hangs precariously from the building's roof. It reads:

Large bundles of weeds jut up around the building and in various patches across the dirt parking lot. The wind blows dust across the barren ground. A number of Illinois State Police squad cars are scattered across the expanse of the lot. Officers roam the area, some with dogs. Dr. Sullivan's abandoned car sets to one side of the building. CAMERA travels over to the front doors of the building, one of which is shattered. The glass doors open, and Captain Josh Tyler emerges from the interior of the building, followed by a group of other officers. We follow Tyler as he makes his way over to Sullivan's smashed car, where two officers continue to pore over the interior of the vehicle.

OFFICER1 cranes his head from the inside the vehicle.

OFFICER2 climbs from the passenger side of the car. He rests his arms on the roof of the car and peels off a pair of plastic gloves.

Tyler jerks his head around to look in the direction of the voice.

TYLER'S POV An officer is standing near the back of the building waving him over.

ANGLE ON TYLER Tyler runs over to the rear of the building, other officers following.

TYLER'S POV At the rear of the truck stop, a small opening leads down underneath the building. The officer that had been motioning at him is kneeling next to the opening pointing inside.

EXT. TRUCK STOP

OFFICER3 hands Tyler a flashlight.

Tyler takes the flashlight, kneels down to the opening, and shines the light into the gaping hole.

TYLER'S POV The flashlight beam at first only illuminates cement blocks and rusted pipes, but as the beam moves over, a body comes into view. The back of a body. As the beam travels up from the man's backside, up over his shoulders, the man's face becomes visible.

The man's head has been completely turned around on his shoulders. A swollen tongue juts out of the mouth and the man's glassy eyes stare into the CAMERA. On his forehead, a word, barely determinable, has been carved. The word SON.

INT. FRIENDSHIP ADOPTION SERVICES

Tommy and Joe Miller, 53, are standing in the foyer of the rather cramped adoption agency. A few chairs line one wall of the room and a sofa rests in the center of the foyer. A few plants are scattered around the room.

Joe Miller, the owner of the adoption agency, reaches out.

As Tommy follows, CAMERA TRACKS behind the two men back through a reception area, into a small office.

Joe points to the back wall of the office, where a window has been shattered, shards of broken glass jutting out from the wooden frame.

Tommy walks over and inspects the window, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

Joe stoops down and begins shuffling papers together into a pile.

Tommy turns from the window and scans the room.

TOMMY'S POV File cabinets stand open, folders jutting out. A large potted fern lays on its side, soil spilled out onto the carpet. The desk in the center of the room is in shambles.

ANGLE ON JOE as he stands up and flips through the stack of papers he has accumulated.

INT. OFFICE

Joe walks back into the outer reception area as Tommy follows. CAMERA TRACKS after them.

Joe points to a desk in the corner of the room. We move in on the desk. A large butcher knife stands erect on the desktop. The blade of the knife has been pounded through a sheet of paper and into the desk.

ANGLE ON TOMMY Tommy moves forward and gently prys the large knife free from the desk. He pulls out a plastic bag from his coat pocket and drops the knife inside, sealing it when he's finished. Tommy lays the bag containing the knife down on the desk and picks up the paper.

CLOSE-TOMMY as he brings the document up to his face to read.

TOMMY'S POV Bold black letters at the top of the document read:

CLOSE-TOMMY As Tommy realizes what the paper is, his face contorts into a worrisome frown.

TOMMY'S POV Further down the page, the words STEVEN LLOYD and TOMMY and KRISTEN DOYLE jump out at him.

CLOSE-TOMMY Barely noticeable, Tommy's bottom lip begins to quiver.

As Joe goes on, Tommy bites down on his lip, and whispers softly to himself.

INT. RECEPTION AREA

Joe furrows his eyebrows and leans in closer to Tommy.

Tommy turns and looks at Joe.

Tommy holds up the document.

Tommy peels off his latex gloves, careful not to leave prints on the document.

Tommy picks up the plastic bag containing the butcher knife and turns to leave.

Tommy walks out of the office, followed by Joe. After they leave CAMERA PANS down to the receptionist's desk, where a jack-o-lantern grins, its gaping mouth filled with jaggedly-carved teeth.

INT. WITHERSPOON HALL/CLASSROOM-AFTERNOON

A green chalkboard hangs at the front of the room. The words "fate" and "destiny" are scrawled across the board in yellow chalk. We glide over from the chalkboard to a woman, PROFESSOR LINDSEY WALLACE, standing at a podium lecturing. As she speaks, CAMERA PANS back through the classroom.

Numerous aisles, full of young adults staring intently at Professor Wallace, run lengthwise the expanse of the room. In the back corner of the classroom sits Kara Strode, staring out the window.

KARA'S POV The street runs along the side of the building two stories below. Kara's gaze travels down the street. Cars, all different models and colors, line both sides of the street. On the opposite side of the street, about fifty feet down the block, a dirty brown pick-up truck is parked.

ANGLE ON KARA As Prof. Wallace continues to speak, Kara continues to stare out the window.

KARA'S POV A figure, undistinguishable, sits inside the pickup, staring at the building. Suddenly, the truck roars to life and pulls out onto the street. As Kara continues to watch, the truck cruises by, picking up speed as it goes.

INT. CLASSROOM

Kara turns back to the front of the class. A hand reaches out and touches her on the left arm. Kara turns her head to look in that direction, startled.

KARA'S POV NIKKI LANGFORD, 29, sits in the desk next to Kara.

NIKKI'S POV Kara brushes her long brown hair behind her ear with her hand and smiles.

INT. WITHERSPOON HALL/HALLWAY

Kara and Nikki walk side-by-side down the long hallway, occasionally stepping aside, dodging other students. Nikki looks over at Kara.

Kara glances at Nikki.

Kara steps aside quickly as a young man comes between her and Nikki.

Kara and Nikki reach the end of the hall and stop, turning to face each other.

CLOSE-KARA

CLOSE-NIKKI

DOLLY quickly down the hall toward the two women, who have their backs turned.

INT. HALLWAY

A dark-haired young man, WESLEY ROBERTS, suddenly appears behind Kara and Nikki, throwing his arms around their shoulders.

Startled, Kara jumps and turns quickly to face Wesley.

Kara slaps him lightly on the cheek.

Wesley, 21, laughs.

Nikki punches Wesley in the chest.

Wesley turns and looks at Nikki.

Nikki runs her hand through her short red hair.

Kara giggles and cuts a knowing glance at Nikki.

Wesley rolls his eyes.

Wesley removes his arms from Nikki and Kara's shoulders and pulls away from them.

Kara and Nikki grin.

As Wesley leaves the building, he cuts Nikki a sneering grin over his shoulder..

Kara smiles.

Kara glances down at her watch.

Nikki steps forward and hugs Kara.

Kara pulls away from Nikki and begins to back toward a door behind her.

Kara turns and pushes open a door, exiting the building. The door whooshs shut behind her.

INT. HADDONFIELD POLICE STATION-TOMMY'S OFFICE-AFTERNOON

A man's hand dials a touchtone phone. As he finishes CAMERA PANS up and we see that it is Tommy Doyle. He holds the receiver close to his face and listens intently, all the while chewing on his lip. Tommy sits in a chair behind a big wooden desk. A computer rests on the desktop, along with the telephone and various stacks of papers.

Tommy slams the receiver down in the cradle, looking frustrated.

The voice of DEPUTY RILEY OWENS, comes from offscreen.

Tommy looks up from the desk.

INT. TOMMY'S OFFICE

25 year-old Riley Owens steps into the office.

Owens leans up against the door frame.

Tommy looks agitated.

Owens steps over and drops down into one of the two chairs that set in front of Tommy's desk.

ANGLE ON OWENS Owens stares at Tommy.

ANGLE ON TOMMY Tommy opens a desk drawer and pulls out the plastic bag containing the knife. He opens the bag and removes the large butcher knife, examining it.

TOMMY'S POV Tommy takes the knife between his two middle fingers, one at the tip of the handle, the other at the tip of the blade, and turns the knife over. His haunted reflection is visible in the shiny metal surface.

CLOSE-OWENS

CLOSE-TOMMY looks up at Owens over the blade.

CLOSE-OWENS, catching Tommy's meaning, shifts nervously in his seat.

INT. TOMMY'S OFFICE

Tommy drops the knife onto the desktop and stands up, pulling his jacket on.

Tommy steps from behind his desk and heads for the office door.

Tommy turns and looks back as he walks out the door.

INT. MAIN LOBBY

Without answering, Tommy walks past Owens and onward through the main lobby of the police station. A few desks line the wall on the right. On the left a large counter runs the length of the room. Behind the counter, file cabinets line the wall and a woman sits at a desk. The woman, a secretary, stands up as Tommy moves by.

The secretary, LUCY, nods.

Owens appears in the doorway to Tommy's office.

Tommy turns and looks sternly at Owens.

A group of officers standing close to the main entrance stops talking and turn their heads to look. Owens stands silent and continues to stare at Tommy, an unmistakeable hatred burning in his eyes. The room is silent. Tommy, noticing everyone staring, lowers his voice.

Tommy turns and quickly stalks across the lobby. The group of officers standing by the main entrance watch quietly as Tommy passes by them. Tommy shoves open the main doors and exits the police station.

Owens steps out of the doorway and walks over to the counter where Lucy stands mouth open.

Owens leans on the counter.

Lucy looks at Owens and rolls her eyes.