Ghostbusters 3 by Brett Caron

GHOSTBUSTERS 3
Written by
Brett Caron
Based on works by
Dan Aykroyd
and
Harold Ramis
Last revised: September 17, 2013
caron.brett@gmail.com
1 (647) 784 - 1144
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS - ALLEYWAYS - DAY
On a sunny autumn day in New York City, a HOMELESS MAN pushes
along a shopping cart as he checks the cans and dumpsters for
recyclables. Hes unkempt, but has an honest look about him -
just trying to survive. He walks by two CREEPY HOMELESS, who
stare at him with hollow eyes. The homeless man waves hello,
but its not returned. He quickens his pace. The first of the
empty-eyed speaks to no one in particular. His voice is dead.
Emotionless.
CREEPY HOMELESS 1
Its watching us.
The alley beyond splits into a T-junction, where theres a
dumpster, some cans, and garbage bags. The homeless man walks
by graffiti that resembles a snake eating its own tail, but
he doesnt notice.
He hoists himself up into the dumpster to root through the
trash. Behind him, the shopping cart wheels itself a few feet
towards the junction, then stops. He looks back quizzically.
A radio nearby suddenly bursts into life, hissing static!
The homeless man half-falls out of the dumpster, yelping in
surprise. He picks up the radio, fiddling with the knobs and
switches, but the static abruptly shuts off after a moment.
He checks the cord, the batteries. Nothing. He shrugs,
tossing the radio aside, and then some wine bottles from the
dumpster into his cart.
Behind him, bits of trash and debris swirl silently. Theres
no wind.
The creepy homeless arent there anymore, back the way he
came. Nervous, he grabs the cart and begins to wheel it away.
Again moving on its own, the cart takes a sharp turn into a
darker, narrower alley before skidding to a stop a dozen feet
away.
HOMELESS MAN
Um...
As he walks hesitantly towards the cart, the dumpster
screeches heavily along the asphalt and blocks the other end
of the alley!
The radio begins to shriek again, but inside the static there
are the faint suggestion of screaming, gibbering voices!
HOMELESS MAN (CONTD)
To hell with this!
He turns to run. A garbage can flies across the alley to
smash him in the back - hard. He hits the pavement, groaning.
A shadow falls over him.
He looks up to see one of the creepy homeless standing over
him, one of four now. She has a crude tattoo etched into her
face - a snake with a head of tentacles, eating its own tail.
She speaks in the same dead voice.
CREEPY HOMELESS 2
It wants us all.
The man gets up painfully, limping away from the slow-moving
group. Wheezing in pain and terror, he then screams as
translucent tendrils shoot out of the shadows and drag him
kicking and screaming into the dark!
The radios shrieking subsides, becoming soft static again.
Then, through the noise, we hear a familiar song playing.
TITLE:
GHOSTBUSTERS 3
INT. OZS APARTMENT - DAY
A clock radio plays the tail end of the Ghostbusters theme.
Two RADIO DJs banter over it.
RADIO DJ 1
Wow, arent we sick of that song
yet?
RADIO DJ 2
Come on, its only been 20 years -
its a classic!
RADIO DJ 1
You could at least play a remix!
RADIO DJ 2
I could, but I wont. Besides,
which one? There must be hundreds.
As they talk, OSCAR OZ BARRETT sits at his computer. He
cant hear the radio through thick headphones. Hes handsome,
well-dressed, but casual; sort of messy. A lot on his mind.
2.
RADIO DJ 1
Whatever happened to them, anyway?
I heard they all went crazy and
quit after the Big One in 91.
RADIO DJ 2
Nah, just ran out of work. I mean,
come on! No ones seen a ghost
since what, 93?
RADIO DJ 1
Oh yeah, what about that big court
case? Didnt they get busted for
that?
A cheesy sound effect plays over the DJs laughter.
RADIO DJ 2
Yeah, I just Googled it. Supreme
Court case shut them down in 94.
Made it illegal to do paranormal
research in the USA. After that, no
one in the first world would touch
em.
RADIO DJ 1
Sounds good to me!
RADIO DJ 1 (CONTD)
USA! USA!
RADIO DJ 2
USA! USA!
Oblivious, Oz pores over screen after screen of data. He
leans back, stretching, and rubs his eyes. Taking off the
heaphones, he realizes the radios on and checks the time.
OZ
Shit.
Oz grabs his laptop, shoving it into a bookbag while he
wrestles with his coat and keys. He vanishes out the door,
leaving the screen with a slowly filling progress bar above
the words Identifying PKE Wavelengths - Attempt 42.
EXT. UNIVERSITY - DAY
Oz runs across campus, past a sign that reads Experimental
Physics. He takes the stairs two at a time and rushes
inside.
3.
INT. UNIVERSITY OFFICE - DAY
The office is spare, not shady but obviously not well funded.
Three desks sit opposite a fourth, much larger than the rest.
Oz bursts through the door, out of breath. He arrives to a
round of applause from the people occupying two of the four
desks: GINA CARRUTHERS and RICHARD BOURNE. Oz raises his
hands in surrender, blushing furiously.
OZ
I know, I know. Has Dracula been in
yet?
GINA
We told him that you were getting
coffee, and youd be right back.
Gina is cute and petite. Her desk is festooned with anime and
comic book paraphenalia, but is still the tidiest by far. On
her screen is data very similar to Ozs computer at home.
She smiles when Oz gestures with hands devoid of coffee cups.
OZ
But I dont have any coffee, Gina.
Richard, a smirking hipster whos clearly avoiding work in
favour of internet videos, holds up a quartet of cups in a
tray from under his desk.
RICHARD
Got you covered, big guy. Lattes
all around, non-fat for the lady.
GINA
Who said I wanted non-fat?
RICHARD
Well I just- OK, non-fat for
Dracula, then. Like hell notice,
anyway. The man has the palate of a
sea sponge.
As if on cue, PROFESSOR BRANTOWICZ sweeps into the room.
Tall, pale, dark clothing - combined with his Eastern
European accent, its obviously why they call him Dracula.
BRANTOWICZ
Oscar Barrette. Sorry to wake you.
Wheres my coffee?
Richard hands Oz the non-fat, and he passes it over.
Brantowicz takes a sip, curling his lip.
4.
BRANTOWICZ (CONTD)
Is this non-fat?
RICHARD
(quickly)
No.
BRANTOWICZ
Todays notes?
Gina tosses a bound folder to the prof, who flips through it
disinterestedly. He makes a non-commital sound in his throat.
BRANTOWICZ (CONTD)
Have you finished sorting the data
on the EM variations?
OZ
Itll be done this afternoon. Itd
be done sooner-
Brantowicz snorts, already leaving without a second glance at
his research assistants.
OZ (CONTD)
-if we didnt have to do all your
work for you.
Oz slumps into his chair. Boots up his computer. Pulls out
his laptop, and opens it. All with frustrated deliberateness.
GINA
Dont worry about it, Oz. Just a
placeholder job anyway, right? Put
some time in, Dracula gets his
tenure, then we do what we actually
want to do.
RICHARD
Of course, that suggests were not
already abusing the universitys
time, money, and utilities to do
exactly that. Oh, and while
maintaining the pretence of being
Draculas research monkeys.
Oh, Dracula. If you only knew how
little it takes to do your job.
GINA
Says the guy who does maybe 10% of
the actual work around here.
5.
RICHARD
Hey, dont blame the history major.
I do my part with skilfully
prepared writing and editing of
lecture notes and documentation.
OZ
You browse Reddit all day until
its time to go home, then do it
all last minute using our notes.
RICHARD
Thats another way to put it, yes.
Are you done with 42 yet?
Oz checks his phone. He ignores a missed call. Synced to his
home desktop, the progress bar is finished. Below it flashes
the words NO RESULTS. He tosses the phone onto his desk.
OZ
Swing and a miss. Goodbye six
months.
Gina pulls up a map of New York City on her laptop. Blue
lines criss cross the streets, overlapping in some places.
The display is labeled Ley Line Systems - NYC01. She
gestures to areas where two or more lines intersect.
GINA
The data all points to a
concentration of paranormal
activity around the nexus points.
Why cant we find a way to measure
the increased ambient energy? Where
the hell is it?
She puts on a cartoon and sits back, drinking her coffee.
Oz checks the missed call on his phone. Next to a picture of
DANA BARRETTEs familiar face, it reads Mom. Below that, a
text message: call me as soon as you can.
RICHARD
Those areas are naturally occurring
locations where spiritual energy
draws in a sort of whirlpool; the
lines act like rivers with a PKE
current. Sometimes its high tide,
sometimes its low. That could
explain why theres only been a
handful of paranormal phenomenae in
the last 20 years.
6.
OZ
Its there. We just have to keep
looking. We have access to all the
equipment we need.
GINA
Not to mention the absentee
employer. Thats pretty good.
Richard gets up, putting a cigarette between his lips. He
puts a hand on Ozs shoulder on his way to the door.
RICHARD
Look, man. On the plus side, you
owe me 15 bucks for the coffee.
(beat)
So its not all bad.
Ozs phone rings. Its Dana again.
OZ
Hi, Mom. Im at work, I was going
to call you back in a-
(beat, listening)
Is he OK?
At this, Gina turns off the cartoon. She and Richard share a
look. Oz begins to pace back and forth.
OZ (CONTD)
Oh. Oh, Mom. Im so sorry. I will.
Yeah, Ill be right there. I love
you too. Bye.
Oz begins to pack up his things in a rush. Hes a little out
of it, like hes in shock.
GINA
What happened?
OZ
Uncle Pete. He died last night.
Heart attack. Never saw it coming.
Meeting my mom at the hospital.
RICHARD
Peter Venkman is dead? Oh, man - I
dont know what to say. Im sorry.
GINA
Oh, man. Oz, are you OK?
7.
OZ
I dont know. I gotta get over
there. Tell Dracula for me?
GINA
Sure, you go. Call us when you can.
OZ
Yeah, I will.
Oz leaves, never even having taken off his coat. Richard
tosses the cigarette on his desk and slumps into his chair.
RICHARD
That man always did have impeccable
timing.
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS - CHURCH - DAY
A black limousine pulls up in front of a downtown church. The
gothic architecture bristles with leering gargoyles.
Around the church are a small crowd of people cordoned off by
some light metal fencing. They alternately cheer and jeer,
some holding Stay-Puft dolls or wearing Ghostbusters outfits.
Others carry signs with religious symbols or slogans like
VENKMANS GHOST 4 PREZ, VENKMAN BURN IN HELL, GHOSTS ARE
PEOPLE TOO, or LIFE DOESNT END AT DEATH.
A NEWS REPORTER is speaking into a camera as the limo stops.
NEWS REPORTER
Dr. Peter Venkman - television
personality, author, and of course
former Ghostbuster - passed away
last week at the age of 63. Venkman
had strayed from the limelight in
recent years, after unsuccessfully
lobbying to have the SPECTRE Act
repealed, and end the ban on
paranormal research.
We saw the other founding
Ghostbusters - Drs. Egon Spengler,
Ray Stanz and Winston Zeddemore -
head inside earler. Now it appears
that Ms. Dana Barrette, who was
involved in the 1984 Gozer incident
and 1989 Museum incident with the
Ghostbusters, has arrived.
Oz helps Dana out of the limo. She doesnt really need the
help, but gives him a small, tired smile and holds his arm.
8.
Shes as elegant as always. They try to ignore the crowd as
Richard and Gina follow them up the stairs.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
RAY STANZ and EGON SPENGLER stand together and stare at a
large painting of Peter Venkman. Hes in his Ghostbusters
uniform, striking a heroic pose with a smug, knowing half-
smile on his face. The dais is bare aside from the painting,
a flatscreen television, and a podium.
RAY
Wow. Do you think he commissioned
that just for this?
EGON
I wouldnt be surprised. Venkman
and I witnessed a clairvoyant event
predicting our own deaths when we
entered the New Jersey dimensional
cross-rip in 1990. Im sure he made
plenty of arrangements.
RAY
Are you serious? You guys never
told me that.
EGON
I dont like to talk about it.
WINSTON ZEDDEMORE joins them at the painting.
WINSTON
The mayors here. Petes got a lot
more friends now than he did a week
ago.
RAY
Hey Zee - did you know that Venkman
foresaw his own death?
WINSTON
Yeah.
Ray throws his hands up in frustration. He cant believe it.
Gina and Richard sit behind Oz and Dana as the Ghostbusters
take their seats next to the widow and her son. Theres an
empty seat next to Richard, and Gina leans forward to Oz.
GINA
Where is he?
9.
OZ
He texted me, hes on his way. Ill
call him.
Oz leaves. Gina leans over a bit to Richard.
GINA
I cant believe Victors late.
RICHARD
Really? Im handling it well.
The crowd is still out in full force, and VICTOR DRENDER
shoulders his way through to the church. Hes finishing a
cigarette, straightening his tie and hair. As he walks by a
PROTESTOR, she waves her sign (which reads SPECTRAL RIGHTS)
in his face.
PROTESTOR
You shouldnt honour the memory of
a criminal! Ghostbusters stay dead!
Victor stops dead. He spins on the woman, who takes a step
back in surprise. He points a finger in her face.
VICTOR
Peter Venkman was a genius and a
good man. He knew more about the
multiverse than you ever will.
Oz steps onto the church stairs, with his phone to his ear.
Victors phone begins to ring, but Oz spots him face-to-face
with the protestor. Oz hurries over to the arguing pair.
VICTOR (CONTD)
You know nothing-
OZ
Vic, hey man. Theyre about to
start. Come on, didnt you quit?
As quickly as it came, Victors anger disappears when Oz
arrives, and he seems to forget the argument immediately. Oz
and Victor shake hands and hug, then they head back inside.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
Richard and Gina are nowhere to be seen. Victor kisses Dana
on the cheek and sits alone on the pew behind them as Dana
continues speaking with Ray.
10.
DANA
Anyway, apparently Peter planned
all this himself. He booked the
church months ago, and everyones
invitations arrived in the mail the
morning after he died. Peter wanted
the whole city in an uproar, and he
got it. There could be more coming
too, knowing Peter.
RAY
I cant believe he didnt tell me,
this whole time.
DANA
Well, Ray - dont be mad, but he
said he knew youd go crazy about
it if he didnt tell you. He
thought it would be funny.
Rays brow furrows as a LAWYER in a suit ascends the podium.
The crowd quiets down, expectant. The lawyer is nervous,
speaking only from a card and never making eye contact.
LAWYER
Good morning. Dr. Venkman, despite
choosing this location for
aesthetic purposes, declined a
religious service. He has prepared
a video, which will play now.
Ray and Egon share a meaningful look.
RAY
Uh-oh.
EGON
Uh-oh.
As the screen lights up, Oz twists in his seat to look
around. So does Dana, seeing the empty seats behind them.
DANA
Dont Gina and Richard want to see
this? Where are they?
Oz shoots her a semi-embarrassed look.
EXT. CHURCH - COURTYARD - DAY
Gina lights a joint, handing it to Richard. They pass it back
and forth sitting on a low stone wall near the church garden.
11.
GINA
Not that Im complaining, but
whats with you and churches?
RICHARD
Temples creep me out.
GINA
You study the occult and the
paranormal - illegally - but
churches you cant handle.
RICHARD
Yup. Dont like em.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
PETER VENKMAN appears on the screen, in his sixties. Hes in
a nice suit, sitting in front of a roaring fire in an easy
chair. A dog sits at his feet, a glass of scotch at a side
table. He speaks with irreverent formality.
VENKMAN
Hello, everyone. I have some last
things to say, and Ive invited you
to hear them first. Some are more
personal than others.
As Im sure youve noticed by now,
Im not a ghost. At least, I dont
think I am. If I was, then I
wouldve destroyed this video and
you wouldnt be watching it. That
would just be embarrassing.
This is important because science
is on the line. What we call ghosts
arent human spirits, but something
else. Something we dont fully
understand yet. Take it from me: if
I was a ghost, youd know about it.
We dont know what happens after we
die. I mean, I do, by now. But you
dont. I urge the Paranormal
Regulatory Commission and the
courts one last time to end the ban
on the study of the supernatural.
While theyre at it, firing their
chairman wouldnt be bad either.
12.
RICHARD
Its confusing. The courts rule
that ghosts, being dead people,
should have civil rights. So you
cant confine or experiment on
them, and they ban all paranormal
research while theyre at it. I get
that. Its stupid, but I get it.
Heres what I dont get. All the
Ghostbusters tech. When GBE got
shut down, all the gear gets
scrapped. Why didnt the government
confiscate it?
GINA
Spengler. He said the tech was way
too dangerous to ever just hand it
over, especially to the US
government. The head of the PRC was
pissed. He really wanted that
hardware. I dont blame him.
RICHARD
I hear that. Sure help us, too.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
Dana and the Ghostbusters listen to Venkmans tongue-in-cheek
self-eulogy. Many eyes are rolling above sad smiles.
RICHARD (V.O.)
I mean, after 91 - when everything
started to calm down again, and the
city didnt renew their contract -
that was the end, really. Then we
stopped seeing ghosts just before
the court ruling. Nobodys asking.
As Richard smokes, Gina shoots him a questioning look.
GINA
Asking what?
RICHARD
(exhaling)
Who ya gonna call?
13.
GINA
Did you really just say that? Im
going inside.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
Onscreen, Venkmans grin fades to a sort of wistful smile.
VENKMAN
Finally, I have some things to say
to those close to me. First, my
Dana Barrette. Ive never been
great at finding the right words
when we were together. Could never
seem to say the words you really
wanted to hear me say. But I have
some for you now - a poem.
What days have gone, what lives-
As Dana tears up, Oz squeezes her hand and cranes back.
OZ
Where have you been the past week?
VICTOR
Sorry, I know. Ill show you later.
OZ
Show me-?
VICTOR
Later, dont worry.
Ray hisses in Egons ear, trying to be quiet.
RAY
This is my poem! I wrote it for my
girlfriend in second year, when
Venkman and I were roommates. I
thought I lost it!
EGON
Its very nice, Ray.
Ray fumes until he sees how much his poem is touching Dana.
VENKMAN
-never to be heard again, but in
your heart.
Dana holds a handkerchief to her eyes. Ray reluctantly
smiles, shaking his head in surrender.
14.
VENKMAN (CONTD)
Oscar. Youre the closest thing I
have to a son. Im proud of who you
are. I know youll do the right
thing when you have to.
Dana squeezes Ozs shoulder, but he looks confused.
VENKMAN (CONTD)
Dr. Ray Stanz. Dr. Winston
Zeddemore. Egon. Being a
Ghostbuster has been the best years
of my life. I wish I had a poem for
you too, but I know you understand.
Ray laughs, but sheepishly coughs when everyone looks at him.
VENKMAN (CONTD)
See you on the other side, guys.
(beat)
Boo.
People trickle out of the church, the crowd outside doing the
same. Oz hugs Dana, whos leaving with the Ghostbusters.
OZ
Do you want to go home?
DANA
Thats OK, honey. Rays driving me
back later, Peter reserved us all a
table uptown with Janine and Louis.
See your friends. I love you.
OZ
I love you, too. See you soon.
As Oz and his friends watch them leave, the lawyer approaches
them.
LAWYER
Oscar Barrette? Mr. Venkmans
extensive will included this
package be delivered to you after
the service. Sign here, please?
Oz opens the sealed envelope, pulling out documents and 2
sets of keys. The lawyer leaves as his friend cluster around.
GINA
Whats that?
15.
OZ
I dont know. Paperwork, and- keys?
Victor types the address on the back of the keys into his
phone.
VICTOR
Google Maps says its a warehouse
in Brooklyn. Lets check it out.
INT. TAXI - DAY
Richard sits up front, the rest are squeezed in the back. Oz
is looking over the documents.
OZ
Uncle Pete owned the property - I
do, now. But theres no info here.
RICHARD
Hey, Vic. Where the hell have you
been, anyway?
OZ
Yeah. I called a bunch of times, we
all did. Whats up?
Victor fingers a dark metal ring on one of his fingers. He
produces a nickel.
VICTOR
Ill show you. This is a magnesium-
tungsten alloy, with a core of pure
selenium. The Gozer building was
full of this stuff, because it was
supposed to channel PKE. Wait-
where are we?
OZ
North Moore, at Varick.
VICTOR
Thatll do fine. Pull over quick?
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS - DAY
The taxi slows to a stop at the curb, idling.
16.
INT. TAXI - DAY
VICTOR
This is close enough. Watch.
Victor holds the coin in his palm, above the ring. He closes
his eyes, opening them after a moment with intense
concentration. As his face knots with stress, the coin floats
a handsbreadth above his palm, rotating! Theyre all stunned.
The disinterested cabbie plays on his phone. Victor exhales.
VICTOR (CONTD)
OK. We can go.
EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
The cab drives away, leaving them at a run-down warehouse.
The neighbourhood doesnt look great, too. The windows are
dirty, opaque; revealing nothing of whats inside.
Oz claps Victor on the back.
VICTOR
I think the metal is the key. I
thought itd be worth a try. So
far, I can only do that - and even
then, only on a nexus point.
OZ
Are you kidding?! This is amazing!
Intuitive manipulation of PKE using
nothing but the human mind! This
changes everything, Vic. We can
isolate the PKE wavelength, we can-
GINA
Lets not get ahead of ourselves.
We know nexus points are amplifiers
for PKE, but we still need the
data. Vic, how did you do this?
VICTOR
Ive been thinking about it for a
while. Not being lucky enough to be
kidnapped by an evil sorcerer and
exposed to PKE from birth-
Oz rolls his eyes at this. Richard is smoking and texting.
17.
VICTOR (CONTD)
-and I have no knowledge of physics
beyond what goes up must come
down, I figure theres only one
word for it. But you wont like it.
Richard puts an arm around Oz.
RICHARD
Magic. Yeah, they do hate that one.
(beat)
Also, this is a really impressive
decrepit warehouse, Oz.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
Dust is immediately kicked up around the warehouse as the
door opens and they walk inside. Rows of tables hold lumpy
shapes under tarps and cloth, other shapes covered elsewhere.
Above the floor area, theres stairs leading to a loft
office, containing more covered furniture. They spread out.
Victor sees one large, thin rectangular shape leaning against
a wall. He turns away. When he does, a faint whisper hits his
ear. He looks again, keeping an eye on it as they explore.
OZ
Deed, trust account, this is crazy.
Uncle Pete left me most of his
estate, I think. But what is this
stuff? Why leave it to me?
GINA
Dont be a dumbass, Oz.
She whips one of the tarps away, revealing four proton packs!
Gina squeals in delight, while Richard and Ozs jaws drop.
OZ
Youre kidding.
More covered tables hold slime blowers, PKE meters, traps,
and other esoteric tech. Gina picks up a PKE meter, waving it
around the room. It beeps and clicks, spiking as it passes by
Victor - but no one seems to notice.
RICHARD
Holy. Shit. This is everything. How
is this possible?
OZ
Uncle Pete mustve squirrelled some
of it away back in the 90s.
18.
GINA
It still works! I cant believe it!
She puts down the PKE meter, grabbing a wand from a proton
pack. It activates with the familiar deep hum, but goes off
in her hands!
A blast of charged particles burns a trench along the far
wall! The men duck to avoid the capture stream raking
overhead. Gina shuts it down, giggling insanely.
GINA (CONTD)
Oh. My fault.
(beat)
That was awesome.
RICHARD
You are no longer allowed to touch.
GINA
Bullshit. Im the only one here who
has a clue what all this even does.
RICHARD
Yes, that was made very obvious by
the attempted murder just now.
Anyway, isnt this tech 30 years
old by now? Hope it works right.
GINA
Shut your mouth. Do you have any
idea how ridiculously advanced this
tech is, even by todays standards?
Do you realize what youre holding
right now? Thats a PKE meter. A
handheld device that can measure
the wavelengths weve been trying
to figure out for two years.
Also, Ill remind you Im holding a
man-portable particle accelerator.
The average size of one - today -
is measured in kilometers. Egon
Spengler built 4 portable ones. In
1984. Using mostly parts you could
find in a Radio Shack. The guy
makes Nikola Tesla look like a
cross-eyed caveman with sunstroke.
RICHARD
(texting)
Nikola who?
19.
GINA
Im going to punch you in the dick.
Oz uncovers a large terminal, activating it.
OZ
Check it out, powers still on.
They gather around the old computer screen. The simple
display resembles their map of New York, but without the ley
line grid. Instead, coloured blotches mark areas in the city.
OZ (CONTD)
Three guesses as to where these
are.
RICHARD
Ley line nexus points.
OZ
Ding.
Victor steps away from the map, moving back to the shape in
the corner. He pulls the cover aside slightly, revealing an
ornate picture frame and the suggestion of a painted leg.
Victors eyes widen, and he quickly covers it up again.
GINA
OK, so its clear that we need to
try this stuff out, right? Now?
OZ
Is it clear that you almost killed
us right now? We need to test, re-
test, then re-test some more. After
that, more testing.
GINA
Come on. Look here.
Victor rejoins them as she points to the map.
GINA (CONTD)
Thats the biggest one. I bet this
thing is like a wide-band PKE
meter, scanning the whole city. I
say we grab some of this stuff,
throw it in the van and check out
that nexus point. See what happens.
RICHARD
Well, thats the dumbest thing Ive
heard today.
20.
GINA
False.
OZ
No, shes right. Lets do it.
Richard, go get your van and meet
us back here.
Gina, lets get our laptops from
the office. We might be able to
isolate the energy signature with
one of these PKE meters. Maybe 42
is our lucky number after all.
VICTOR
Ill stay here, look for anything
we missed. Maybe your Uncle Pete
left something up in the office.
OZ
Cool. I have another set of keys,
well be back in a couple of hours.
He tosses the keys to Victor. They slam firmly into his palm,
and as they do the paintings cover flutters slightly!
Oz and Richard half-drag Gina outside. Shes carried kicking
and screaming by the time they get to the door.
GINA
No! No! But Im in love! Dont take
me away from this! You bastards!
When the door closes, Victor is left in silence. He rushes to
the painting and pulls away the cover. It falls away to
reveal VIGO THE CARPATHIAN in all his painted glory!
A faded sigh echoes through the room. Victor waits
expectantly for a moment. Nothing happens. He dials a number.
VICTOR
Hi. Do you have a truck for pickup?
(beat, listening)
Uh, right now.
A grey panel van pulls into the warehouse. It looks plain
until it turns into the parking spaces, revealing a massive
mural painted on the passenger side!
21.
The bizarre freehand mural is like an Escher painting - non-
Euclidean architecture, twisting perspectives and stairs
leading nowhere. Its hideous.
Oz, Richard, and Gina lug in a collection of equipment,
computers, and snack food. Gina goes back for a case of beer.
RICHARD
Do you really eat this stuff? I
thought women werent supposed to
stuff their faces with copious
amounts of cheese-related snacks
until their looks go - or kids.
GINA
Maybe the forest nymphs you bang,
Rich. Im living here for the
foreseeable future. That means
beer, cheesy snacks, and if that
bathroom doesnt work, the
schawarma place down the street
will be in for a rude awakening.
RICHARD
Will you marry me?
GINA
No.
Oz looks for Victor. He notices that the upstairs office
hasnt even been touched. None of them notice that the
painting is gone. Victor casually strolls in the front door,
swinging a plastic bag.
GINA (CONTD)
Does the bathroom work here?
VICTOR
Think so. I went to get TP and
soap. Youll probably be camped
here for a while, yeah?
GINA
At last, a man who understands me.
Vic, will you marry me?
VICTOR
No.
They put everything away as Gina checks their ley line map
against the blotches on the older computer screen.
22.
GINA
Gentlemen, grab your dicks and
twist. We have a match, load up!
INT. VAN - DAY
Richard drives, Oz navigates, while Victor and Gina sit in
the back. All four are dressed in Ghostbusters uniforms. Gina
types rapidly on her laptop. Victor tries to levitate a coin.
GINA
That was good, right? Ive always
wanted to say lets load up.
RICHARD
Frankly, Im surprised you didnt
choke on the cliche. Remind me
again why were wearing these? One
would think that literally anything
else we could have worn would draw
less attention to the mountain of
illegal technology in my van.
OZ
No, its perfect. Think about it.
Peter Venkman died two days ago.
Half the people outside the church
were in costumes like this. Were
just a handful of cosplay nerds.
RICHARD
Cosplay. I know that should make me
feel better, but its actually just
a little depressing.
The van backs into the alleyways from earlier. The four shrug
into their gear around the back door of the van. Oz, Victor,
and Gina pull on proton packs. Richard hefts a slime blower.
GINA
OK. Heavier than I thought it would
be. We look badass, though.
RICHARD
Im sure we do. Those homeless
gentlemen seem to be enthralled.
He gestures down the alley to the handful of people squatting
a short distance away. They stand in unision, still staring.
23.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Thats heartening.
Victor marches down the alley towards them.
OZ
Where are you going?
VICTOR
Ask a few questions, distract them
while you sweep for valences.
RICHARD
Whats sweep for valences mean?
VICTOR
(shrugs)
Heard Spengler say it once.
GINA
It means-
OZ
OK, lets do this quick so we dont
get arrested.
They begin scanning the area with PKE meters. The devices
immediately begin to chime, click, beep, and whine.
The closer Oz gets to the narrower, darker area of alley, the
stronger the reading.
Victor has reached the homeless group. Theyre still staring.
VICTOR
Hi there. Were students, doing a
project on... alleys. Have you
folks seen anything weird in the
last say, 20 years or so?
They stare at Victor, emotionless. Creeped out by the strange
hunger in their eyes, he gestures to his uniform.
VICTOR (CONTD)
I know, weird outfit right? Its
for school, thats all. So have you-
CREEPY HOMELESS 1
It wants you.
VICTOR
Whos that?
24.
CREEPY HOMELESS 1
It wants us all.
VICTOR
Great. Thats so great, you guys.
Have a great day, yeah- thats
great.
Victor tries to look casual as he speed-walks back to the
van. He frowns at the graffiti on the wall as he passes.
OZ
Assuming Im reading this thing
right, theres something here.
Gina slides goggles over her eyes. Through the green
luminescence, she can see wispy trails of drag marks along
the walls and ground, and on the dumpster nearby.
GINA
Theres these weird smudges. Could
be ectoplasm. Anything over there?
Victor runs his ring hand over the dumpsters side. The ring
slides over the metal, then adheres with an audible click.
VICTOR
No, I dont see anything, but-
The entire bin shudders, rising a foot into the air before
clanging down back to earth!
The four are silent for a moment. Victor steps back.
RICHARD
So... that just happened.
All of their sensors begin to go off the scale, making all
manner of noise. Another sound crescendoes, a thrumming bass
note vibrating louder as trash and small objects spin in a
phantom wind!
The PKE meters and the trash subside slowly, as does the
noise. The second silence is broken by Ginas pack
activating.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Yes, good idea.
Victor and Oz power up their packs too. Richard works the
lever on his, and a trickle of slime drips from the nozzle.
25.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Wait, mine doesnt make a cool
noise.
Oz is still sweeping the mouth of the narrow alley. Without
warning, he turns face-to-face with the homeless man whod
been sucked into the shadows earlier!
The man now has the empty gaze of the rest, hollowed out.
HOMELESS MAN
Its watching us.
OZ
Shit!
Oz shoves the man aside, who falls over. He rises unsteadily,
like a drunk. The swirling trash and interference resume.
HOMELESS MAN
It wants us all.
As the disturbance reaches a fever pitch, the dumpster nearby
explodes violently, catapaulting two wormlike ghost-creatures
into the air!
Coalescing out of the multicoloured light, the two beasts are
bloated, serpentine forms with waving collections of fronds
or tentacles capping both ends of their translucent bodies.
They squirm through the air, wriggling like ocean eels. They
emit a horrible, high-pitched keening above the deep rumble.
As they watch, the beasts twist and contort, morphing into
the shapes of wailing corpses, trailing tattered clothing!
Their eyes glow with terrifying, otherworldly light.
OZ
Ghosts.
GINA
Holy sh-
She lets loose with her proton pack! The bucking stream of
energy tears across the alley walls randomly, searing through
the insubstantial creatures with cries of pain and fear!
Victors stream throws one of them forcefully through the
wall, where it disappears in an oozing smear of ectoplasm!
The other beast vanishes through another wall. Gina and
Victor drop their streams, and the four look around, panting.
26.
OZ
They phased through the walls, but
theyre still here. Stay alert.
VICTOR
How do you know that?
OZ
Not sure. I can feel it, maybe-
Oz is interrupted as the homeless man grabs him from behind!
He struggles with the zombie before Richard hits him with a
blast of slime, slamming him against the wall to slump to the
ground with a moan - harmless for now.
RICHARD
You can feel it. Thats great.
Very scientific, Oz.
VICTOR
We have to get the traps.
OZ
OK. Vic, get the traps. Rich, slime
the rest of those crazies if they
get close. G and I will handle-
The ghosts fly from the walls, screaming murder!
One trips Richard, sending him to the ground hard. He
struggles to rise. His leg, covered in slime, slightly numb.
Gina and Oz try to corral the ghosts with their capture
streams, but the twisting ropes of energy are hard to aim.
Richard turns his slime blower on the homeless! He hoses them
liberally from left to right, puts them down one at a time.
As Victor returns with a trap and throws it to the ground, a
ghost tackles through him! Hes lifted bodily into the air,
landing in the shadowy area of the alley with a crash.
OZ (CONTD)
Vic!
Richard stomps on the traps pedal - the cascading spread of
light shoots upward, barely catching the edge of one ghost
and begins to slowly pull it inside!
The ghost fights, but Gina and Oz train their streams on it,
struggling to keep the lassoed spirit in the traps glow!
27.
The trap sucks in the first ghost, but the second envelops
Gina and covers her entirely in slime! She screams, falls
into a pile of trash, and lays there dazed. The trap resets.
Victor rises, throwing out a capture stream. He and Oz
manhandle the ghost over the trap, and Richard opens it.
The glow of the trap surrounds the ghost, but as it does,
Victors stream shorts out when hes suddenly grabbed around
the waist by a shadow-tentacle from the alley behind him!
The tentacle is huge, wrapping around him easily. It passes
through him, leaving an ectoplasm stain. A half second later,
like when audio and video arent synced properly, hes yanked
backwards violently to follow the tentacle into the darkness!
Oz wrangles the ghost over the trap with supreme effort. Gina
stands, still dazed. Richard stands on the trap control and
sprays the ghost with slime. It only appears to piss it off.
INT. SHADOW ALLEYS - DAY
Victor lays on the ground, groaning. He can hear the battle
just beyond the alley mouth, but its muffled and indistinct.
Everything around him looks hazy, the proportions distorted.
He tries to rise, but is instead picked up and slammed
against the wall by more tentacles that appear from nowhere!
The tentacles hold him around the wrists, waist, and throat.
As Victor struggles, he hears a VOICE in his head. Alien, it
sounds like many voices speaking almost in unison, different
words overlapping messily and others chorusing together.
VOICE (V.O.)
Human/boy/child/man...
Victordrender.
Victor sees images flash before his eyes. The ruins of a dead
world under an alien sky. Swirling vortices of colour and
light. A mass of tentacles, flesh, and eyes that gaze into
his soul. A symbol - the tentacle-snake eating its tail.
Blood drips from his nose, and Victor screams in pain.
VOICE (V.O.)
I/we/it wants/needs/has you,
Victordrender.
VICTOR
No, no, no, no, no, no...
VOICE (V.O.)
NO?!
28.
The pain increases. Victor is in agony. More visions assault
him: New York, laced with lines of greenish light. A massive
portal opens in a forest, the awful tentacles crawling from
it. A stone temple floats and flexes like a living Escher
painting in a vast expanse of dark clouds and alien rainbows.
The same snake symbol is apparent on its surface.
Oz cant get the ghost to stay above the trap by himself, and
it edges further from the glow. Hes about to lose it
completely, until Gina throws her stream up too!
Together, they slam it into the trap!
INT. SHADOW ALLEYS - DAY
The visions stop abruptly, the tentacles dropping Victor
immediately as the battle is over. The muffling nature of the
shadows fades, and Victor kneels against the wall, coughing.
VOICE (V.O.)
Soon.
The four assemble in the alley junction, breathing heavily.
They stare at the trap, beeping to signal the captures.
GINA
So, were Ghostbusters now, right?
In the distance, sirens can be heard approaching.
INT. VAN - DAY
The trap smokes in the rear of the van, filling it with
fumes. Gina fiddles with her hair, tangled with slime.
RICHARD
Wish there were windows back there.
GINA
This is awful. Its so sticky.
RICHARD
Thats actually a good look for
you.
Theyre all fatigued, but happy. Victor is quiet, twitchy.
29.
OZ
Are you OK?
VICTOR
Yeah. Just hit my head when I fell.
Oz isnt convinced. He lets it drop; theyre all riding high.
RICHARD
Lets get coffee on the way back.
OZ
Were dressed as Ghostbusters, we
have 2 entities in the back of the
van, and were mostly covered in
ectoplasmic residue.
RICHARD
So thats a no.
(beat)
See, I knew this was going to
become an inconvenience.
Stripping out of their uniforms, they leave the slime-covered
heaps on one of the tables. Gina pulls a toque onto her head.
OZ
Dont you want to wash that out of
your hair?
GINA
Whatever, Ill do it later.
(points to traps)
What do we do with those?
EGON (O.S.)
Well, you dont want to leave them
in there.
Egon and Ray are standing at the upstairs office.
RAY
We really need to talk.
INT. WAREHOUSE - OFFICE - DAY
Ray finishes showing everyone how to unload the trap into a
small containment unit. Gina stares fawningly at Egon, whos
uncomfortably aware of her gaze. Victor stands apart,
withdrawn and distracted. Shellshocked.
30.
RAY
-the light is green, the trap is
clean.
GINA
So this is a full-size containment
unit? Like you had before?
EGON
No. This is a mobile unit we used
for new franchises.
RAY
Great for road trips, too.
GINA
So the matrices that hold the
spiritual engrams in place decay
faster, or does the entire grid
just have a small allowance of PKE
vectors?
EGON
Neither. Its actually just as
efficient as the standard model.
Its actually more stable, and-
Egon still has Ginas undivided attention, but hes losing
Richard. The history major slowly raises his phone to chest
level and begins to text.
EGON (CONTD)
-well, it doesnt need to be
plugged in. We shipped them out to
franchises instead of installing
full-size grids across the country.
RICHARD
(texting)
So why not just put them all in
mobile grids like these, then drop
the whole thing into a full-size
containment unit?
EGON
One: the full-size grid had to be
shut down. Two: a trap is basically
a small, artificially created
pocket dimension. Opening one
inside another trap or any
dimensional portal would create the
equivalent of an ectoplasmic
hydrogen bomb.
31.
GINA
Its like opening a bag of holding
inside a portable hole.
Blank stares all around. Richard doesnt even look up.
GINA (CONTD)
Really? A room full of scientists,
nerds, and occultists, but no one
gets the D&D reference?
RICHARD
(texting)
Whats D&D?
GINA
Dungeons & Dragons- youve played
Dungeons & Dragons before!
RICHARD
(texting)
Whats a dragon?
Gina grits her teeth. She returns her attention to Egon, her
hero-worshiping demeanor returning.
OZ
So did you know about all this?
Uncle Pete stashing this tech here?
RAY
No. I always thought all this stuff
was destroyed with the rest. I
guess I shouldve known better.
Venkman probably figured itd be
worth a lot some day.
Victor shakes out of his malaise for a moment, confused.
VICTOR
Wait a minute. How did you know
about all this, if Venkman never
told you? You found us here.
EGON
I designed this technology, Victor.
I have a wide-band receiver at my
home thats calibrated to pick up
the quantum signature of the proton
packs and traps. If any
Ghostbusters tech is used in most
of the Five Burroughs, I know where
and when.
32.
Oz, Victor, and Richard turn to look at the burn mark along
the far wall of the warehouse, then at Gina. She shrugs.
GINA
It was gonna happen anyway, guys.
OZ
Security measure?
RAY
Insurance policy. When the
government wanted to seize the
tech, we knew it was too dangerous
to let them have it.
EGON
Yes, but we also wanted to make
sure we would be alerted if someone
had managed to activate or reverse-
engineer something we missed.
Oz glances at Victor, again miles away. He frowns.
They descend the stairs, walking Ray and Egon to the door.
OZ
Uncle Ray? Uncle Egon? You guys
dont really need to tell my mom
about this. Ill do it later.
RAY
Look, Oz. Venkman left all this
stuff to you for a reason. He knew
he was going to die, so-
OZ
Yeah, my mom told me just before
the funeral.
RAY
Are you kidding?! That-
(beat)
OK, well the point is: he trusted
you. We trust you, too. But if
Spengler and I are caught anywhere
near this stuff, we go to jail for
the rest of our lives.
RICHARD
(texting)
Yeah, but youre already old.
33.
(MORE)
So it wouldnt really be that long,
right?
Ray and Egon give him a cold look. Richard glances up,
noticing this. He pats his pockets, suddenly interested in
where his cigarettes are. He lights one up, heading outside.
EGON
What were trying to tell you is
this, Oscar. All this is yours,
now. We cant tell you what to do
with it.
RAY
Just dont get caught. Its a
federal crime now. If you cant
prove your theory that ghosts
arent people, then youll be
facing more jail time than us.
They shake hands and leave. Ray comes back inside after a
moment, carrying the large painting of Venkman from the
funeral. He leans it against the wall.
OZ
What is that doing here?
RAY
I had it in Egons station wagon.
Venkman left it to me in his will,
but I have no idea why. This seems
like the best place for it.
OZ
I never asked you, Uncle Ray: do
you believe Uncle Petes theory?
That ghosts arent really people?
RAY
I dont know, kiddo. We never
really got the chance to find out.
Some of the things we faced were
definitely not human, but others...
well, Venkman didnt think so.
He claps Oz on the back
RAY (CONTD)
If not, then youll find out. We
didnt get to run the experiments,
but if you really do the science,
maybe you can tell me some day.
34.
RICHARD (CONT'D)
He winks and leaves, ignoring the returning Richards
proffered handshake. They stand together in the empty room.
GINA
OK. So were definitely
Ghostbusters.
She noisily cracks open a beer.
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS - NIGHT
Autumn leaves are beginning to fall in the wind. Some blow
past the pitch-black alley entrance. A small, shadowy
tentacle extends from the darkness slowly.
As the tentacle emerges, it becomes more substantial. The
shadow solidifes into a fleshy tendril. At the end, a catlike
eye opens, looking around. It spots a sewer grate.
INT. SEWERS - NIGHT
Dim shafts of orange streetlight from the grates are the only
illumination. They leave only semi-lit patches of the scummy
walls and dripping waste. One such patch disappears as
something squeezes through, blocking the light.
In the deeper darkness, the bloated, almost gelatinous body
of the mysterious voice pulls itself along with tentacle,
hook and claw. Barely visible are the feelers, eyestalks, and
hairs probing the filth. The monster navigates purposefully.
Dogs begin barking and pulling at their leashes. Children
cry, frightened. Pigeons take flight, but cant fly straight.
They run into buildings and through windows. Even people hold
their heads briefly before shaking off a weird feeling.
As the unseen monster beneath moves, the world above it
suffers. It continues to move, heading along under the
street, for the autumn forest in the distance - Central Park.
INT. VICTORS APARTMENT - NIGHT
Victor snaps on a light as he trudges inside. His apartment
is small, sparsely furnished, and cheap. He winces as he
pulls off his coat, and lifts his shirt up in front of a
mirror.
35.
Where the tentacles grabbed him, his skin is blotchy,
discoloured. There are ugly blisters and welts, too. He
lowers his shirt, staring at his reflection with loathing.
VICTOR
Youre worthless. Nothing at all.
Looking in his own eyes, he suddenly sees a flash of his
visions: the stone temple, the portal opening. He stumbles
away from the mirror, spotting Vigos painting opposite it.
Victor stands before the painting expectantly, but again
nothing happens. He shrugs, slumping into his couch and
playing with a half-solved Rubiks cube. He smokes while he
idly floats the cube above his palm - not seeming to realize
how easily hes doing it.
Behind him, Vigos head pushes partway out of the canvas to
watch him. Victor seems to sense something, glancing back,
but Vigo has already receded.
Victor stands again, dropping the toy. He approaches the
painting, moves to touch it. As he does, orange lightning
arcs from Vigos eyes and strikes Victor full in the chest!
The energy crackles over him before seeming to ground itself
in his ring. Victor looks down at the metal, realization
dawning on his face as Vigos visage shimmers into the frame.
VIGO
Listen to me. I, Vigo, the Scourge
of Carpathia, the Sorrow of
Moldavia, command you.
Victor grins. This is what hes been waiting for.
VIGO (CONTD)
On a mountain of skulls, in a
castle of pain, I sat-
VICTOR
Quiet.
Vigo, thrown off by this mortals confidence, begins again
shakily.
VIGO
I- I, Vigo, the Scourge-
VICTOR
I know who you are, Vigo von
Homburg Deutschendorf, and I am not
some peasant to be commanded.
36.
Victor reaches into his pocket, producing a lighter.
VICTOR (CONTD)
I dont know if youre familiar
with one of these, Vig Diesel. But
this is the 21st century. The age
of technology. Ill torch your
little phylactery and leave you to
die for the last time. Listen. Up.
Vigo frowns, but hes listening.
VICTOR (CONTD)
I know what you need. A child, or
a body you can possess.
VIGO
No. That time has passed. There is
only one. The child that was is now
a man. Our connection has been
forged. I can inhabit no other form
but his. Bring him to me.
VICTOR
You do realize youre a painting,
right? Youre not really in any
position to be making demands. Ill
make you a deal. Can you teach me
to wield the same powers you did in
life? Sorcery. Magic. I want it.
Vigos eyes glow as he appraises this upstart mortal.
Eventually, he nods.
VIGO
You have the potential, young one.
Bring me the child, and I will
illuminate you.
VICTOR
Oh yeah, sounds great. Im sure you
wont betray me at the first
possible opportunity. Heres the
deal, Vigo. You show me the power,
and then I deliver your vessel.
Vigo considers this. Victor spins the lighter above his palm.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Tick tock, Carpathian.
VIGO
So be it. The bargain is struck.
37.
VICTOR
When do we begin?
More orange lightning discharges from the painting, soaking
Victor in its energies. He raises his arms, watching it
course through him. He smiles. His wide eyes glow orange.
VIGO
Now.
Gina wears welding goggles, hard at work upgrading and
refining the old ghostbusting tech. A half-disassembled
proton pack sits on her workbench alongside a new and
improved version. Sleeker, more futuristic looking. A proton
pack for the 21st century.
Oz and Richard assemble equipment. They raise up a series of
posts bristling with electronics, forming a cube in the
center of the room. Power cords, bundles of fiber-optic
cables, and others run to and fro across the floor.
Gina turns on the completed pack, but ducks as it sparks and
bursts in a flash of multicoloured light!
She peeks above the table, her face plastered in soot. Her
hair is blown backwards, and is now mostly blue.
EXT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
The Ghostbusters stealthily load some (new and old) gear into
the van. They wear simple coveralls instead of uniforms. Once
the van is loaded, they get in and drive away slowly.
NEWS REPORTER (V.O.)
In the days and weeks since the
death of Dr. Peter Venkman,
reported ghost sightings across the
New York City area have drastically
increased. Considering that there
havent been more than a handful of
sightings in the last 20 years,
there is speculation that these are
hoaxes perpetrated by pro-
Ghostbusters activists. None of the
other former Ghostbusters were
available for comment.
In other news, three local artists
found dead this week, all suicides-
38.
INT. UNIVERSITY OFFICE - DAY
Oz sleeps at his desk. Richard pores over ley line maps and
historical records. Gina (whose hair now has a patch of
bright red streaked through it) is fiddling with a
disassembled smartphone.
RICHARD
Whats that?
GINA
I managed to miniaturize the PKE
meter, so Im installing one on my
phone. Oz wrote an app for the
software-
OZ
(half asleep)
Software!
GINA
Were testing it tonight.
RICHARD
So you made a ghostbusting app?
GINA
Not really. I sort of had to
rebuild my phone from scratch to do
it. The stock model didnt exactly
come with a spectral analyzer.
RICHARD
You built a PKE meter iPhone.
GINA
No, its not an iPhone. That would
infringe patents and copyrights.
Listen, OK to hunt down
extradimensional creatures and play
around with particle accelerators,
but Im not stupid. I know better
than to tangle with Apple in a
courtroom.
INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Victor is assembling a pair of gloves. Using more of the
metal like his rings, hes constructing a frame that he
slips into. It resembles a leg brace that extends along his
arms and shoulder blades.
39.
Finished, he puts part of it on. Focusing, he watches a PKE
meter (smartphone) next to him. As he holds up his arm and
stares intensely, the air around his hand seems to stretch
and flex. A nebulous, green-tinged glow surrounds his
outstretched fingers. The PKE meter begins to spike rapidly.
Victor relaxes. The glow fades. He smiles tiredly, but
another vision of the temple and the portal flashes into his
mind. He rubs at sleep-deprived eyes.
As the sun is just coming up, the Ghostbusters return. Half-
covered in slime, carrying steaming traps, they quickly go
inside.
Oz and Gina stand before the now-finished laser cage. Diodes
on the posts shine red, but when Gina hits a key on her
laptop, they flash green and a grid of lasers appears. A
glassy, distorted field springs into place between the six
faces. Another click and it disappears, the lights again
winking to red.
GINA
Looks like the Arkham cage is up.
OZ
Great. Lets get a camera with a
spectral analyzer filter, and start
experiment GB1A - Establishing
Parameters of Spectres as Non-Human
Entities.
Gina runs upstairs. Victor and Richard join Oz at the cage.
VICTOR
And how exactly do we test that?
RICHARD
Well if the theory is correct, then
ghosts arent really dead people at
all, but more like semi-smart
extradimensional animals. Theyre
drawn to areas with naturally high
amounts of PKE.
VICTOR
So, areas of high ambient PKE
meaning ley lines?
40.
RICHARD
Yeah. All along the lines where the
PKE gathers and flows, and
especially at nexus points; its a
lot stronger and more chaotic. Here-
Richard takes Victor back to his computer, bringing up a map
of New York.
RICHARD (CONTD)
We take all the reported ghost
sightings in the last thirty years,
and track it against the lines-
VICTOR
No surprises there.
RICHARD
So what were doing today is
finding out if the ghosts keep
their form way off of a line, where
we caught them.
OZ
We think the shape ghosts appear in
is dependent on where they appear.
A lot of ghosts appear as monsters,
or alien creatures. The ghosts that
do appear as dead people tend to do
that in an area where a murder, or
some other strong psychic event,
occurred.
VICTOR
Ive heard this theory. Emotions
stain the environment, right?
Ghosts get sort of sucked in, like
a whirlpool.
Gina is coming back down the stairs with a spring in her
step, holding two old-style traps and a six-pack of beer.
GINA
Then we can stop hiding in
warehouses with fridges that dont
even keep beer cold.
The four pull on new uniforms. Each is either the traditional
grey or dark blue of the originals, but with more inbuilt
padding and protection. The Ghost gives a thumbs up from
their shoulders from behind his DO NOT prison. After they
strap on their gear, they place the traps inside the cage.
41.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - DAY
The sun is beginning to set. The Gozer building can be seen
above the trees of Central Park. Beneath those trees, autumn
leaves blow around in an unnatural wind. The roots of one
huge tree in particular are severely warped-looking.
INT. TUNNELS - DAY
Below the park, below the tree, the disgusting bulk of the
monster has set up shop. Where the fleshy extremities meet
metal, they blend from organic to inorganic. Similarly, where
most of the creatures mass has broken through concrete and
pushed up into the soil, its tendrils and limbs are already
fusing with the roots of the ancient tree above.
Oz and Victor examine his harness.
OZ
What is that?
VICTOR
If my ring is a match, then this
rig is something between a torch
and a bonfire.
OZ
I thought you had to be on a nexus
point to use it. Were nowhere near
a line.
VICTOR
Well see.
Oz shrugs, standing near the laptop.
OZ
Everybody ready?
RICHARD
No.
GINA
No.
VICTOR
No.
OZ
OK.
42.
When Oz taps the key, the cages posts again fill the space
between them with an oily shimmer as the laser grid ripples
the air. Gina stomps on the trap controls, releasing the two
ghosts. Bursting from their confinement, they appear again as
the humanoid figures.
GINA
Balls.
The human shapes fizzle like a bad TV signal, warping once
again into the bloated tentacle-faced worms!
The Ghostbusters whoop and celebrate.
RICHARD
Aw yeah! Thats right, you ugly
bastards! You look like a bag of
dicks on a bad day, and I love you
for it!
The two entities richochet around the cage, grazing against
the lasers. They squeal, shrieking their high-pitched calls.
Gina hands everyone a beer, cracking open hers.
OZ
Is this going to hold?
GINA
It should. I mean, this is what
its for - holding a ghost for
study. I think itll handle 2...
In dusks long shadows, the tree is changing. The monster
underneath is twisting it, joining with it. As the
abomination anchors itself through the forest, the grass
underneath the tree withers and dies, becoming grey and
lifeless. Even leaves that land on the ground bleach grey and
crumble.
Across the trunk, the texture of the bark slowly begins to
pulse as if with a heartbeat. Protrusions that emerge from
the bark suggest screaming, tortured faces.
Oz and Gina are pacing around the cage, scanning the entities
within. They hold PKE meters as well as larger scanners on
simple armatures.
43.
Richard and Victor stand at the computer, watching the
results onscreen - a tidal wave of numbers scrolling by.
RICHARD
Data. Yay. I hate math. So whats
this thing let you do? Can you
direct PKE sorcerer-style? Magic?
VICTOR
A bit.
He reaches up to scratch his hair, leaving his beer can
hanging in mid-air! Richard doesnt really notice until
Victor plucks the can back out of the air.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Have you had any luck with the
symbols I showed you?
RICHARD
Oh, thank gods. A distraction.
He grabs a tablet from the table, opening an image of the
snake-symbol carved into stone, alongside ancient cuneiform.
He hands it to Victor, who flips through more images.
RICHARD (CONTD)
The symbol is an ouroboros. The
snake eating its own tail
represents a cycle of death and
rebirth. It appears independently
in cultures all over the world.
This particular version - with the
Cthulhu face - is considerably less
common. The records are few and far
between, but it looks like the
Sumerian word for it was Shulgor.
VICTOR
Shulgor.
When Victor says the name, a small section of the laser grid
flickers, the diodes going red for a moment. No one notices.
VICTOR (CONTD)
The Sumerians? Werent they Gozer
worshippers?
RICHARD
Yeah, some of them were. Gozer was
a deity that featured in some
Sumerian myths, along with its
minions Vinz Clortho and Zuul.
44.
VICTOR
The Keymaster and the Gatekeeper, I
remember.
RICHARD
The thing is, Shulgors icon
predates Sumer. They found some of
those carvings.
VICTOR
Are you telling me that the first
civilisation in history actually
isnt the oldest?
RICHARD
Hey, man; who knows? But the past
has a funny way of wiping things
clean once in a while. If Im
reading my Sumerian right - and I
always am - then they discovered
Shulgor just like we did.
VICTOR
Well, not really. They didnt see
Shulgors symbol plastered all over
an alley downtown.
The laser grid twitches again. This time the worm-beasts
silence briefly when Victor says the name. Oz and Gina share
a quizzical look.
RICHARD
Safe bet. They wrote that the
carvings were very old - and that
was 6000 years ago. As for what the
Sumerians thought of Shulgor,
well...
(V.O.)
They viewed Gozer and other beings
like it as gods. Real ones.
VICTOR (V.O.)
And Shulgor?
The post wobbles slightly. The beasts float deathly still.
Oz, nearest to Victor and Richard, notices the ghosts react.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - NIGHT
The sun sets over the now-distorted tree.
45.
RICHARD (V.O.)
Not a god, not to them. More. The
inevitable, first. An elder evil.
The trees corruption spreads. Its neighbours show signs of
Shulgors influence, but its home is the massive, gnarled
tree at the center of the clearing. Branches bend as if they
had joints. Some do. They hang threatening over the glade.
The tree has grown taller, darker. The trunks surface is
pitted with strange protuberances, the largest at the base of
the crown, where the branches converge into the trunk.
As the last orange rays leave, the bulge splits open with the
ripping sound of wood, revealing a massive square-pupiled
eye!
The octopoid gaze blinks once, slowly, as if inhaling. Then,
with more splintering sounds, a multitiude of mouths - human,
animal and others even stranger - open with a chilling cry!
Phantom shapes flock through the city in the pale blue of
dusk, compelled to answer Shulgors call. They move as if by
gravity, falling sideway to their destination: the park, and
the corrupt tree.
Passing through onlookers and objects alike, they leave
splatters of ectoplasm behind everywhere they go. Terrified
screaming fills the streets as people are knocked down or
pushed aside by the wave of ghosts.
The two worm-ghosts cease their stillness, agitated beyond
belief. They are caught in the gravitational pull, bashed -
or bashing themselves - against one wall of the grid.
Richard and Gina scramble to attend the equipment. Oz drops
his PKE meter to the floor with glazed eyes. He squints
against a pain in his head, weaving on his feet.
Victor holds his hands against his head, gritting teeth
against the shriek of Shulgor in his mind! Grimacing in
agony, he falls to a knee, holding himself up on the table.
INT. CALL CENTRE - NIGHT
One ghost, appearing as a collection of rotating rings
covered in eyes, soars into an office through the wall!
46.
The translucent entity thrums through desks, computers,
paper, and people. Where it passes, objects and employees are
scattered in an ectoplasmic tornado in its wake!
It disappears out the opposite wall, leaving shocked silence
broken by the beginnings of panic.
People watch the tide of ghosts fly by overhead. Although
many start to freak out, others hold up smartphones to snap
photos or video. A sea of screens angle upwards to catch the
action.
After the single surge of apparitions, and people have held
their collective breath, traffic horns and shouts resume.
The faulty (or compromised) post gives way under the
continued assault, and the grid shorts out!
The freed ghosts go straight through the window. The glass
spiderwebs with the impact of the ectoplasm.
Oz and Victor feel the pressure on their minds cease, and
they breathe out simultaneously in relief.
OZ
Oh, that sucked! I mean, what- what
the hell was that?
Victor seems much worse off. When he speaks, its almost as
if he doesnt even understand the words hes saying.
VICTOR
It wants me. It- it wants us all.
Gina is already at the PKE map of the city, poring over the
data from the surge. She frowns, trying to understand what
shes seeing. Richard is halfway out the door.
Richard skids to a stop outside, searching for the escaped
ghosts. In the direction they went, he can see several fender-
benders and other disturbances, all in a line heading towards
the centre of Manhattan.
47.
Richard bursts back inside.
RICHARD
I think theyre headed downtown.
Maybe even together.
GINA
Theyre not the only ones. Look.
They assemble at her screen.
GINA (CONTD)
Central Park. Just a minute ago
there was a huge spike of PKE here-
A large ley line nexus glows white hot before fading. Lesser
spikes across the city glow in sympathy with the first,
before converging on the park in a uniform ring before it
fades to normal levels. The map replays the animation over
and over, like a radar map for precipitation.
GINA (V.O.)
-resulting in a sort of attraction
that pulled in all the strong PKE
presences in the area. Like a
whirlpool, or gravity.
VICTOR
Or a call.
GINA
OK, that was the last weird thing
you get to say before you tell me
what the hell is going on with you.
Victor only meets Ozs eyes for a second before looking away.
OZ
It was like a headache, just
confusion and pain for a moment. I
dont know- a feeling.
RICHARD
Fantastic. My favorite word. Want
to explain one of these feelings
for once?
VICTOR
Its because Oz was exposed to high
amounts of PKE when he was an
infant. His mom was too, before he
was even born.
48.
(MORE)
Could be like magnetism, or a radio
tuned to the right frequency maybe.
RICHARD
So what about you, Victor the...
Violet? Viridian? Whats your deal?
VICTOR
Maybe Im learning to tune myself
in to the right frequency, too.
OZ
We dont know what it was, Victor.
Ive had weird feelings before,
sure. But that made my hunches look
positively normal. Like, 9-to-5-
wake-up-and-get-a-balanced-
breakfast-this-morning normal.
Gina shrugs when Richard looks helplessly at her.
RICHARD
So youre a weirdness magnet.
Awesome.
(beat)
Wait- is really normal to do that?
I feel like less people than you
think really eat breakfast, much
less the whole balanced
breakfast. I dont usually eat
breakfast, but I do get coffee-
GINA
Right in the dick, Richard. Were
wasting time. We should follow em.
VICTOR
(quickly)
Yes.
OZ
Wait.
(gestures to clothing)
We could be exposing ourselves.
RICHARD
Im going to leave that one alone.
GINA
(to RICHARD)
I think thats wise.
(to OZ)
Even still, we have to go!
49.
VICTOR (CONT'D)
OZ
We should wait. Thisll make the
news, the cops will be out. I dont
really feel like spending my best
sex years in jail.
RICHARD
Except the cops dont know about
ley lines, or nexus points. Or how
to find where the ghosts went.
Gina stands, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet. She
shadow-boxes before sticking out her hand.
GINA
Exactly. We know where to go, and
the cops dont know dick! So cmon!
Richard shakes out a cigarette and lights it, placing his
hand on top of Ginas.
Victor doesnt waste a second before his hand lays on top of
theirs. They stare at Oz expectantly. He finally follows
suit.
OZ
This is just like that trip to
Montreal last year.
RICHARD
No, no, no. Theres virtually no
chance youre getting laid tonight.
(beat)
Also, ghosts.
The van discreetly pulls into an alley, avoiding the traffic
and emergency vehicles on Central Park Ave.
INT. VAN - NIGHT
Victor stares out the window. His eyes are bloodshot, scared.
VICTOR
Everythings changing.
OZ
What?
Victor doesnt respond at first, giving a tired grin. He
didnt realize he was speaking.
50.
VICTOR
I mean, this event. Theyll have to
believe us now. We have proof.
RICHARD
Once YouTube gets a hold of all the
phone camera footage, thisll be a
whole new ball game.
GINA
(typing)
Hes right. More videos are
uploaded every minute. This is big.
RICHARD
We can take this to the PRC.
Rescind the ban.
OZ
Easier said than done. Besides,
this isnt the evidence we need.
Everyone saw ghosts back in the
day, too. Thats not what were
trying to prove.
GINA
I dont know if you get the point,
Oz. That was pre-internet. All
those cameras out there, all that
data, I think its just a matter of
time now!
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS - ALLEY - NIGHT
The van noses down a back alley, avoiding the traffic and
ruckus. The Ghostbusters pile out in plain coveralls, loading
their gear into garbage bags and bins.
The four cross the street, trying their best to look casual
with all of the activity around them. A police officer looks
Gina up and down as they pass a car being towed. She rolls
her eyes and gives him the finger!
They quicken their pace once theyre further into the
darkness of the park and disappear from view.
51.
Richard and Oz suit up first, while Gina scans the area with
a PKE meter. Victor holds a scanner, too; hes not paying
much attention to it, straining as if listening to something.
He straps on a slime blower over his harness, the rest of
them carrying proton packs.
Gina switches to a Google-glass PKE meter display, but Oz and
Richard continue to sweep the area as they all hit their
flashlights and move forward as a team.
VICTOR
Somethings here.
Victor seems to know the way before the scanners do. He
abruptly stops, looking to the left. The PKE meters chime and
buzz a moment later, and the other three swing to the left
too!
RICHARD
Well, it might be someone, not
something.
(beat)
Either way, Ill feel a lot better
with a particle thrower.
He draws his wand. The rest follow suit. As they move through
the woods, the trees get closer together, blocking out what
little light there was. In the shadows, things move.
Movement flickers back and forth just beyond their range of
vision, the PKE meters crackling briefly in sympathy as they
do. The claustrophobic forest closes in, suffocating.
Oz looks back. The trail they came from has disappeared, and
the foliage is undisturbed behind them!
OZ
Guys.
GINA
Well, thats not good.
Victor sees a narrower, darker path leading away. He can
almost hear Shulgors whisper.
VICTOR
This way.
GINA
Why that way? The energy levels are
the same in every direction.
52.
VICTOR
Thats because were surrounded.
Its this way.
He doesnt wait for them. They rush to catch up. Oz puts a
hand on Victors shoulder.
OZ
You sure about this? You dont look
good.
VICTOR
Am I sure about which way to go?
Yes. Do I have a goddamn clue about
what happens when we get there? No.
INT. CENTRAL PARK - THE TREE - NIGHT
The tree hangs ominously over the Ghostbusters as they enter
the glade. The path ends, leaving them standing on withered
grass, colourless leaves, and dead ground.
RICHARD
Well, I know my next desktop
wallpaper.
He takes a photo on his smartphone while Oz and Gina scan the
area. Victor stares unblinking at the tree.
GINA
I dont like these readings. At
all.
VICTOR
Its Shulgor.
OZ
Its already here...
RICHARD
What?!
At the monsters name, the tree shudders and twitches. Its
great eye, and all the lesser ones that cover it, open to
glare at the Ghostbusters.
Its branches stretch across the clearing, forming a living
wall between them and any escape! They hover threateningly
overhead.
At the same time the eye stares right into Oz, he hears the
same voice, the voice of SHULGOR, rumbling in his mind!
53.
SHULGOR (V.O)
Human/boy/child/man/Oscar
Barrett/Oz, you will be mine.
The voice penetrates his brain, hurting him. Victors teeth
are gritted against the presence of Shulgors mind, and as it
brushes up against his own a greenish aura haloes him, and
his harness crackles with grounded energy.
The octopus eye swivels to Victor, most of the pressure on Oz
relaxing. Oz staggers, holding his head. His nose bleeds.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Ahh... Victordrender.
Gina is reading her scanner
GINA
Oh, shit.
Ghosts burst from the foliage! Bizarre shapes and all sizes,
most resemble the worm-things or slugs, just collections of
tentacles ringing circular mouths of gnashing, awful teeth.
The Ghostbusters open up, pouring fire into the spooks! Where
the arcing beams miss the ghosts, they sizzle across the
branches walling off the outside - which scream in pain!
Richard lassos one of the spirits, tugging it back and forth
through the air!
Gina tosses a trap - a new version, wireless and modernised.
Its smooth and oblong, rolling to a stop on the forest
floor. She waves her wand towards the center of the clearing,
and the trap rolls along on its own in sympathy!
Oz lets loose with his own capture stream, snatching another
ghost!
Oz and Richard corral the spooks over the trap, their
combined efforts holding the ghosts steady in the air. Gina
thumbs a button on her wands touchscreen.
The top of the trap opens along a seam with a shining white
flare! One slug-worm fights off the stream, stretching slimy
feelers at Gina before its quickly re-grabbed by Richard.
The ghosts are inexorably drawn in, clawing at the air!
Oz slams the other down into the trap; it closes, reboots. An
LED goes red, yellow, green, and it springs open again to
receive the second ghost!
Victor douses ghosts in slime, ropey discharges of the goo
falling across their already-nauseating forms.
54.
Hes having difficulty drawing a bead on the speedy
creatures. Disgusted, he clips the nozzle to his belt and
raises his hands.
Emerald lightning snaps again along the harness as Victor
exerts his will! He holds his hands up to the ghosts,
gesturing as if he were holding it between his palms and not
20 feet away. The ghost flickers and warps, fighting against
the grip. Victor shakes with effort as he slowly turns,
dragging the ghost towards the trap!
Gina tracks the last two ghosts with her proton pack. She
keeps them at bay with the orange-and-blue whip of energy,
but they elude her by swan-diving into the ground!
Instead, she throws her stream over the spook Victor is
mentally (magically?) manhandling into the beam of the trap!
Together, they smash it inside! Victor weaves on his feet,
exhausted. He shakes his head and collects the slime blower
from his belt. Gina puts her hand on his shoulder.
GINA (CONTD)
Ya alright there, Yoda?
OZ
Two more! G, Rich, youre on the
right. Victor, you and me.
They converge on the tree, unsure as to what they should do.
Before they reach it, the crack of breaking wood stops them
in their tracks. They watch in horror at the loose branches,
twigs, dirt, stones, and trash across the floor. It assembles
itself into two humanoid constructs - the ethereal glow
infusing these bodies coming from the ghosts inside!
They reach out for the humans with lobster-like pincers of
outstretched detritus! Oz and Victor back away from theirs.
OZ (CONTD)
Keep him off me so I can scan.
Victor looks apprehensively at the ghost golem. He shrugs.
VICTOR
Uh-huh.
The golem leans forward as if to roar, but what comes out is
a nearly-silent blast of air pressure. Victor cocks his ear.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Sorry, didnt quite catch that.
55.
Gina and Oz arent faring any better. They both blast the
creature as it bears down on them, but the beams just punch
fist-sized holes in it that quickly fill up with more trash!
GINA
This is useless! Its just more
trash! Theres nothing to capture!
RICHARD
On the plus side, its really
pissing it off!
Victor sets his feet in front of Oz, splaying out his fingers
in a grasping motion. He really leans into it!
As the golems advance slows, it too leans into the invisible
struggle! Victor flashes a wolfish, clenched-tooth grin.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Golems have hearts, right? A core,
look for a core!
Victors body shudders under the spiritual grapple; but the
longer he holds it, the more confident he becomes! Wisps of
green subtly illuminate the space between them, highlights
here and there that appear and disappear for only seconds.
Victor actually seems to be enjoying himself, but the strain
of maintaining this struggle is beginning to tell. He sweats.
Ozs eyes widen as he reads the PKE meter.
OZ
(to himself)
Quantum coherency spread over a
larger area... weaker metaphysical
bonds...
He stows his PKE meter, pulling the wand from his belt.
OZ (CONTD)
Switch to bosun pulse!
They each drag a fingertip over the touchscreen interface on
their wands, changing a red line icon to a triangle. Brace
themselves to fire from the hip.
OZ (CONTD)
Throw it!
He sets his feet and gives hell with the wand, which fires
off like a shotgun! The violent blast tears away a shoulder;
one of its arms falls away to fly apart - and loses its glow!
56.
Gina nearly knocks herself over when her bosun pulse kicks
like a mule! She blows the head off, leaving a gaping crater
between its shoulders! A translucent orb like an eyeball can
be seen, rotating to face her.
The figure falls onto all fours, and its legs and arms
restructure themselves - it now walks like a spider or crab,
the glowing eye staring from center of mass.
GINA
Oh. Well.
Victor grins again as he makes a fist. Holding it
horizontally, he mimes pulling something to the side.
In sympathy with his movements, the golems arm moves up and
away from its body - Victor telekinetically rips off the
constructs limbs one by one while Oz blasts at it!
RICHARD
Stasis beam!
Gina changes her icon to a blue line, and the lights on her
pack wink to blue. She fires off what looks like a photo-
negative of the capture stream! Its dark blue, almost black.
The golems pace is arrested immediately, dirt and refuse
sloughing off it as the energy holding it together is
siphoned away!
It manages to reach Richard, hoisting a claw over his head to
crush him! As it does, it leans back and exposes the ghostly
core head-on! Richard cocks his wand.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Hello, beautiful.
The blast punches through the eye, tearing the misty orb to
pieces and dropping the construct to the ground completely
disassembled!
Victor tears off another arm, revealing the core of the
second golem! The entity emits a panicked, trapped shriek!
The Ghostbusters waste no time, each lacing into the final
golem with everything theyve got!
Theyre left panting in the shadow and silence of the tree,
which seems to have reverted to normal again. The formerly-
fleshy branches are no longer blocking the path, having
receded during the fight. Richard pokes Victors harness and
receives a green shock.
57.
RICHARD (CONTD)
A bit.
The ground shakes slightly under their feet, but subsides.
Gina starts to scan the tree, but almost as soon as she
starts, approaching sirens can be heard. Eyes widen together.
VICTOR
We should-
A root-tentacle from the tree grabs Victor around the waist
and drags him to the base of the tree!
Victor is yanked viciously across the ground; the roots begin
to entangle him and pull him down into the earth!
OZ
Vic!
GINA
Vic!
Only once hes waist-deep into the tree can Victor stop
himself. He concentrates, eyes glowing pale green. He finally
stops, bracing himself telekinetically. His arms are trapped,
but Oz and Richard grab under his shoulders and heave!
Gina holds on to the other two, digging her heels in as she
leans all the way back. Its not enough. They cant hold him!
As Victors strength wanes, even the other three cant hold
him. He falls further, up to his neck now. He looks up to Oz.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Go.
Victors head disappears. Oz digs at the ground, but the
roots flex and writhe, leaving no gaps. He pulls his wand!
GINA
No! We cant, hes gone!
RICHARD
We have to go!
OZ
No, I can- OK, I know, I know!
He scrambles to his feet and they rush out into the park!
Oz runs, hollow-eyed. Richard and Gina are just in front,
with her frantically manipulating a tablet as they go.
58.
GINA
I have the GPS on his pack. Its
still active!
OZ
That doesnt tell us if hes dead.
GINA
Its the best Ive got, Oz. I
didnt really have time to get
heart monitors, you know?
OZ
OK, we go back, regroup. Then we
can scan for-
The Ghostbusters are just coming up to the mouth of the
pathway out of the park, when police cruisers slew to a halt
in front!
RICHARD
Oh, good.
They swerve away from the streetlights into the darker area
along the wall of the park, looking for a safer spot to exit
from!
INT. TUNNELS - NIGHT
Victor is practically cocooned in the root-tentacles, coils
wrapping him head to toe, holding him spread-eagle. Held
immobile, he can only watch as the pulsating form of Shulgor
emerges before him. Pseudopods reach from the hulk to caress
his face and the metallic bands of his harness.
Victors eyes are screwed shut in pain. A moment later, he
laughs hysterically. Then he begins to cry, deep shuddering
sobs. His eyes snap open. His sanity is slipping.
VICTOR
Please. Please. Please.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Victordrender.
Victors breath catches in his throat. His pupils dilate.
VICTOR (V.O.)
Yes.
59.
The tentacles let go! Victor stumbles to his knees as they
withdraw. Theres still no way out, and hes trapped with
Shulgor. He stares into the eye of a god.
Its hard to tell where the tree ends and Shulgor begins. The
largest eye set into the tumor at the base of the root
system. Twitching, smaller roots encircle it and pluck
insects which they feed to small mouths with wooden fangs.
Victor cowers before the monster. It growls, engine noise at
a much lower pitch, seemingly at all times - and its hard to
tell if the noise is in Victors head or not! The menagerie
of mouths that cover it rasp quietly, others loud. Some spout
gibberish, even what sounds like childrens laughs or cries!
The voice speaks to Victor again, but it has changed. Before,
it sounded like an uneven choir singing out of sync. Now, the
inhumanly deep speeches are in unison. Shulgor is learning.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Understanding. Human minds are
small. So different. I know you,
Victordrender. All of you. You
fear. You should. You will witness
the end and the beginning.
VICTOR
Wait- what- what do you- what are
you?
SHULGOR (V.O.)
You are not evolved to see. To
understand. You cannot
conceptualize what you call god.
I am Shulgor, the Changer, the
Beginning and the End.
VICTOR
What- what do you want? How are you
doing this?
SHULGOR (V.O.)
You. I want you all. You do not
possess the capacity to hear, but
there are areas of your brain I can
reach this way. It hurts. This is
good, too.
Tears run down Victors face. His nose bleeds down his face.
VICTOR
Please...
60.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
You are right, Victordrender. You
are nothing. I know you in a
moment. I am more than you can
imagine. You cannot resist. I will
have you.
Victor doesnt look like he could resist anyway. He can
barely hold his head up, but somehow he stands to his feet!
VICTOR
You... need... me.
The pressure on his mind eases slightly. Shulgor hesitates!
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Explain.
VICTOR
I know you too, Shulgor. Ouroboros.
The tentacles surrounding him shudder in ecstasy at the name.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Yes. That name has power. The stars
will soon be right for the
ascension. The Ouroboros comes.
VICTOR
I get it. You destroy, then create.
Tear down the old to build the new.
(beat)
But there are those who would stop
you. You need me.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
You wish a pact. Your sorcerer and
a painting. You wish for power.
What are you to me, Victordrender?
VICTOR
The ones above. They have tools. To
stop you. I can stop them until
you... ascend. Give me power.
Knowledge. Life. End the world,
Shulgor. I want to make a new one
with what you leave behind.
The eye regards him. The pupil shifts shapes, one to another.
Suddenly, a host of tentacles spread-eagle Victor before the
monster again!
61.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Understanding. You will be of help,
Victordrender. You will be mine.
Victor screams as the tentacles lance his flesh, energy
coursing into him from the creature!
His back arches, eyes wide and limbs taut, like an epileptic
in a fit.
VICTOR
Theres so much.
His eyes morph, pupils becoming squarish. A look of insane
happiness overcomes his face. His choked, brittle screaming
becomes uncontrollable laughter - the ground begins to shake!
The earth is trembling in time with Victors pact, and the
localised earthquake is tearing Central Park apart!
The Ghostbusters reach another exit, dashing across the
street! They stumble across the ground as it gives away in
places, and slip past a police car bucking on the shifting
road. The cops get to their feet and give chase!
EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT
The three Ghostbusters hurriedly stuff their equipment into
the van! As soon as everything is loaded, they sprint further
down the alleys, just as the cops swing around the corner!
The officers run right past the van, ignoring it completely!
As the Ghostbusters try to leave the alley, theyre grabbed;
intercepted by more police! Theyre arrested and roughly
cuffed as the cops read them their rights!
INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT
Richard and Oz sit quietly as the cruiser drives.
RICHARD
At least the evidence is
unaccounted for.
Oz stares at him, trying to figure out if hes being
sarcastic or not. After a moment, he looks away and leans his
head against the cool glass of the window. His breath fogs.
62.
OZ
I hope Ginas OK. Shes never even
come close to being arrested. Shes
probably so scared.
INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT
The cops look worried. Gina is a Tasmanian Devil in the
backseat, cursing and squirming, kicking the glass inbetween
them. Shes pissed off.
GINA
(muffled)
You pieces of shit! Cant you see
were trying to save you?! Were
trying to save everyone! You
useless assholes! Maybe go bust a
meth dealer or stop a murder! Im a
private citizen, dickholes! What am
I charged with, huh? You dicks!
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT
Oz and Richard sit handcuffed at a small table in a well-lit
room. Gina fidgets in a straitjacket.
OZ
Will you stop that? Youre just
going to get tased again.
GINA
Whatever, pussy taser anyway-
(shouting)
Cmon and tase me, bro!
RICHARD
Hey, psycho! Despite your weird
fetish for it, I dont really want
to get tased! So why dont you stop
acting like a goddamn lunatic and
get it together, OK?
OZ
Someones coming.
RICHARD
How could you possibly know that?!
The door opens. A security officer in a PRC windbreaker opens
it for a MAN in a suit, who strides in purposefully. His face
is downward cast, looking at a binder full of files.
63.
MAN
Sorry to keep you waiting, kids.
Intake always drags along, things
to do. You know how it is. So how
is everybody doing this morning?
The man looks up. Its WALTER PECK!
Oz, Richard and Gina groan in unison.
GINA
Balls.
RICHARD
It could have been literally
anybody but him.
OZ
Typical.
Peck sits in the sole unoccupied chair. He lays the files on
the table.
PECK
Ghostbusters.
He waits expectantly. After a long pause, Richard narrows his
eyes. He nods, understanding.
RICHARD
Oh, I get it. Youve read the books
on negotiation that say to wait for
the other party to speak. To give
yourself the advantage, yeah?
Peck clears his throat.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Oh, awesome.
(to OZ and GINA)
Well be fine. This guys an idiot.
(to PECK)
It doesnt work if you start to
talk as soon as you enter, Pick.
PECK
Peck.
RICHARD
Thats what I said. So, what can we
do for the head of the Paranormal
Regulatory Commission? Besides
questioning his questionable
questioning abilities?
64.
PECK
Enough!
He pounds the desk. Oz and Gina straighten somewhat. Richard
waits for a moment before slowly reaching up to scratch his
hair. He grins at Peck.
PECK (CONTD)
Oscar Barrette, Gina Carruthers,
and Richard Bourne. You are being
detained to determine if your
actions have violated the USA
SPECTRE Act in connection with the
paranormal disturbances affecting
the city at this time.
Now even Richard sits up straight. They all share a look.
OZ
What sort of disturbances?
PECK
Dont try that with me, Barrette.
You know full well. No one has been
able to go in or out of Central
Park for the last ten hours due to
your groups activities.
Ive seen a lot of clowns come
through here in the last 20 years
who liked to call themselves
Ghostbusters. But engaging in
domestic terrorism - youre really
trying to outdo the original
jackasses, arent you?
RICHARD
Well, its not very classy to just
come out and say it.
PECK
Bourne, do you even know how your
government works these days? I can
drop all three of you in Quantanamo
and never even have to explain
myself to your families. As a
matter of fact, Im tired. Maybe
Ill go sign those forms right now.
Peck rises, walks to the door. Gina stops thumping her head
on the table and shoots up.
GINA
Wait!
65.
Peck stops. Turns. Supremely pleased with himself.
PECK
Yes? Youd like to say something,
sweetheart? Ready to answer my
questions instead of being a
smartass?
GINA
I have information that can help.
Peck leans in, expectant. Gina looks him in the eye, then
spits a big, dirty hock of phlegm right in his face!
PECK
Ugh!
Oz and Richard look at each other in amazement. Gina sits.
GINA
How about you get me a lawyer,
Prick?
Peck wipes spit from his face angrily. Gina smiles at him
innocently. He storms out.
PECK
Its Peck!
As the door swings shut, Richard shouts after him.
RICHARD
Thats what she said!
INT. VICTORS APARTMENT - DAY
Sunrise. Victors place is all orange and shadow. Vigos
painting looks almost at home against one wall. A figure
pushes open the door, leaving it ajar and entering casually.
VIGO
I, Vigo-
VICTOR (V.O.)
Yes, Vigo. I hear you.
Victor enters the light. He has changed, and not just his
eyes. His skin is almost translucent, even rubbery - like an
eel. He smiles, some of his teeth long, sharp, or irregularly
shaped.
VIGO
You stink of the ether, mortal.
66.
VICTOR
(chuckling)
Yeah, thatll happen.
He strolls to the closet, rummaging inside. He pulls out a
long grey overcoat and shrugs into it. He leaves his damaged
and dirty ghostbusting outfit on underneath.
VIGO
Something is happening. The tides
change. You must bring me the
child, that I might live again.
Time runs short.
VICTOR
Oh, is that whats happening? I
guess Id better get on that,
right? Idiot.
Vigos portrait glows orange, visible even in the rising sun.
An arc of magical energy arcs towards Victor, but he bats it
aside with the flick of a wrist! Broken like a spear, the
smoky residue floats back to be absorbed by his harness.
VIGO
Our bargain - you dare betray me?!
I, the immortal master of energies
you cannot fathom?
VICTOR
I can fathom quite a bit, these
days.
Victor produces his lighter. He flicks the wick to life, but
negligently drops it and sets Vigos portrait ablaze with
nothing but the wave of his hand!
The bottom edge of the canvas begins to smoke and char.
Eldritch power surrounds Victor. Vigo roars in bestial
agony... maybe even in fear!
VIGO
No!
VICTOR
Youre out of date, Carpathian. Did
you really think Id promise a
painting Id help it become a real
boy again? That Id betray my best
friend for you?
Wow.
67.
(MORE)
You can take the tyrant out of the
15th century, but you cant take
the 15th century out of the tyrant.
Youre an amateur, Vigo. You only
thought you were a pro because you
never met one before. So hello and
goodbye, asshole.
Victor leaves Vigos flaming portrait to burn as he marches
back to the door. The sorcerer bangs his fists against the
oil surface of his prison. The castle in the background
begins to smolder - the fire is inside the painting, too!
Vigos face contorts into a more demonic countenance. His
eyes glow red as he snarls like an animal. Victor turns back.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Also, your outfit looks stupid.
He holds out a hand.
EXT. VICTORS APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
With a crash of shattering glass, the burning portrait
hurtles out the window and falls away in smoking pieces.
EXT. VICTORS APARTMENT BUILDING - ROOF - DAY
Victor stands at the edge of the roof, looking out over the
city. In the brighter light, his inhuman features are even
more obvious. The neck of his ghostbuster outfit blends right
into his skin - its hard to tell if its still just fabric.
He holds his hands out towards Central Park, in the distance.
He interlaces his fingers to form a complex pattern. The air
around him hums and vibrates, energy building through his
body.
Arms outstretched, Victor looks between his palms - even from
this far away, Shulgors tree looms out from the forest.
EXT. ROOFTOP - DAY
Victor draws his hands closer to his face, still staring
through the empty space between his hands. The image of the
tree impossibly remains the same size!
He lowers his hands, and Victor now stands atop a completely
different roof, much closer to the forest! He looks back.
68.
VICTOR (CONT'D)
VICTOR
Guess Ill just cross break
physics off the old bucket list.
He trots to the stairwell of the second roof, energy still
bleeding off him. He opens the door with a simple gesture.
The NYPD have set up a cordon around Central Park. Now, riot
police hold back a growing crowd. Some shout or hold signs
asking for the Ghostbusters, others are simply taking
advantage of the chaos or just excited to be there.
A old, short, stocky cop leaves the picket line. Walking
briskly towards the park grounds. He doesnt make eye contact
with the other officers, or even acknowledge anyone around
him. His features look waxy, even fake. He hops over the
short wall into the park.
The cop moves between the cloistered trees and branches. They
look very different from the night before - darker, twisted.
They snatch here and there at the animals that scurry between
them or bolt for safety.
Despite the disturbing foliage, the cop doesnt seem too
concerned. As he passes deeper into the park, its obvious
why. From one copse of monstrous trunks to another, the
illusion falls away to reveal Victor shrouded in its
diminishing energies. He trails fingertips along bark-covered
tentacles, muscular branches and vines waving at his touch.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - THE TREE - DAY
Shulgor has merged even more into Central Park. It continues
to bond with the entire forest, slowly becoming one. Branches
part like bead curtains to admit Victor to the glade. He
keeps a respectful, even apprehensive eye on the tree.
The largest eye, along with others, swivels to regard him. In
his mind, Shulgor speaks with even more clarity than before.
Victor isnt the only one benefitting from this arrangement.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Child. Where are the others?
VICTOR
Gone. Arrested, actually. What is
your will, great one?
69.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
The conjunction approaches. The
stars will soon be right for the
ascension. The end is near.
VICTOR
Thats a little vague, great one.
Care to try that again, without the
crypticisms?
The great eye stares into Victor. He stares right back.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Soon, this planet will align with
others across this galaxy, bringing
energies beyond your human
comprehension into harmony.
You will bring me nine souls. They
must burn brightly. Passion. Vigor.
I will take them into myself, to
bridge the gap with life of this
reality. Then I may enter, and I
will have you all. I have done so
before, on this small world and
many others. I will do so again.
Soon, this world ends.
VICTOR
And my world begins.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
(beat)
Yes. Your world begins.
A pseudopod gestures to Victors slime blower and trap, now
discarded nearby.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
The others. The ones with these.
They could threaten the ascension.
VICTOR
They dont have the power I do.
Theyre not a threat. Not anymore.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
You do not know this,
Victordrender. If they attempt to
interfere with the ascension, they
will be destroyed. You will do
this, Victordrender.
70.
Victor hesitates. The eyes swivels back to him. A branch-
tentacle caresses his back, reaching up to his neck to
release a gentle flow of energy into him.
Victor sighs hard, a heroin addict getting his fix.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
Bring me to this reality. End all
who try to stop it. Do this and the
world is yours, child.
VICTOR
Yesss...
EXT. GOVERNMENT BUILDING - DAY
A black sedan screeches to a halt outside of the New York
offices for the Paranormal Regulatory Commission. Out of the
back drivers side steps JANINE MELNITZ, as fashionable (and
sultry) as ever. Shes flanked by a young male ASSISTANT,
obviously trying just to keep up with her.
Janine looks up at the drab government building with a look
of undisguised anticipation.
JANINE
Ooh, this is gonna be fun.
She fairly charges up the front steps. Her assistant almost
stumbles as he follows, reading notes from a tablet.
ASSISTANT
OK, the PRC offices are on the 14th
floor. Youll be speaking with one
of their reps, a Ms. Kelly. Shes
the regional-
JANINE
Dont worry about it. I know
exactly who Im talking to when we
get in there.
ASSISTANT
Whos that, Mrs. Melnitz-Tully?
(beat)
Ah, Mrs. Melnitz-Tully?
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY
Janine waves a handful of documents in Pecks face. She isnt
bothering to hide her smug satisfaction. He cant hide how
incredibly angry this is making him.
71.
JANINE
You heard me, Mr. Peck. By
direction of Justice Louis Tully, I
have an order for your to release
these three under the USA PATRIOT
Act 2001.
PECK
You cant just waltz into my
offices, ignore your scheduled
appointment with one of my staff,
demand to see me by name - ignoring
the fact that I am performing an
official questioning at this time,
and expect to-
JANINE
Actually, Walter-
Her assistant hands her the tablet, a document cued up on it.
JANINE (CONTD)
I can.
Under the Spectre Act 1994, Section
3, paragraph 4 clearly states that
any provisions of the Act can be
rescinded in cases of national
security. Seeing as how Central
Park is currently transforming into
some kind of giant monster-thing in
the middle of the most populated
city in the country-
ASSISTANT
Not to mention the undefined nature
of the language in the Patriot Act
surrounding national security-
JANINE
-Id say we have an issue of
goddamn national security!
Peck is spluttering.
PECK
You- you-
RICHARD
Youre very eloquent, arent you?
Peck storms out, gesturing for one of his staff from the
hallway.
72.
PECK
Get them out of here!
Janine hands the tablet back to her assistant.
JANINE
Thank you, Adam.
He leaves, and Janine rushes to embrace Oz fiercely. All of a
sudden, shes less the professional dynamo and switches to
slightly overprotective aunt.
OZ
Hey, Aunt J. Im glad you got my
message. That was awesome, by the
way.
JANINE
Ozzie, Im just glad they let you
have a phone call in the first
place! Have you checked out what
your rights are in a situation like
this? Louis was not happy. Anyways,
we should go; your mothers waiting
outside.
Richard is helping Gina out of her straitjacket.
RICHARD
You know that weird feeling where
you cant believe youre thankful
for the Patriot Act?
GINA
I know, right?! Its like hey,
ghosts are people too - but nobody
has civil liberties anyway, so it
doesnt matter.
PECK (V.O.)
Get out!
EXT. GOVERNMENT BUILDING - DAY
Oz walks down the steps slightly ahead of everyone else. He
stops in front of Dana, who leans against a beautiful classic
car idling behind Janines black sedan.
Dana hugs her son hard before pulling back, cupping his face
in her hands. She looks him in the eye.
DANA
You OK?
73.
OZ
Yeah. Just embarrassed and almost
indefinitely detained without
trial.
DANA
I love you, you know that?
OZ
Yeah. Me too, Mom.
DANA
So, I hear youre a Ghostbuster
now.
OZ
Yeah. Sort of.
Danas caught somewhere between maternal worry and fierce
pride. She settles on a sigh and a helpless smile.
DANA
It figures.
Janine is staring admiringly at Ginas hair.
JANINE
Whatd you use to dye your hair,
sweetie? It looks great.
GINA
Multi-paradoxical quantum particle
emissions - and just a ton of
radiation. I sort of blew myself up
in the lab a couple of times. I was
worried at first, but its neat -
it keeps changing on its own. So
far Ive gotten blue, pink, blonde,
black, and-
(checks her hair)
Green again, I guess. I miss being
blonde.
Janine pats her on the shoulder. She has no clue what Ginas
talking about.
JANINE
Well, thats nice. You be careful.
They join Oz and Dana at the car. Richard is texting.
OZ
So, Aunt J. told you?
74.
DANA
Actually, no.
JANINE
Well Im sorry Ozzie, but she
called me and she knew already, and
I couldnt lie to your mother.
OZ
Wait, what? If Aunt J. didnt tell
you, then how did you find out?
Dana moves to the side, so that Oz can see inside the car.
Ray and Egon sit in the front seat. They look like scolded
children. Rays ears are bright red.
INT. CAR - DAY
Dana sits comfortably between Egon and Ray on the front bench
seat of Rays big old car. Oz, Richard, and Gina sit in the
back.
RAY
Honestly, Oz, I didnt mean to tell
her- she pulled my ears!
OZ
I know, Uncle Ray. Its cool.
EGON
Oscar, tell us more about what
happened to Victor.
OZ
Ok, so hes been experimenting with
manipulating PKE directly, using a
magnesium-tungsten alloy to assist
controlled psychokinesis. Maybe
even more.
GINA
We think thats why it wanted him.
Shulgor grabbed him in Central
Park, dragged him underground.
DANA
Oh, my God. Is he alive?
OZ
Yes.
RICHARD
We dont know.
GINA
We dont know, Oz.
75.
OZ
I do. Hes alive.
DANA
OK.
EGON
Hes been performing these
experiements... successfully?
RICHARD
You could say that. If you consider
mind-grappling trash golems and
levitation successful.
RAY
Thats great!
(beat)
Up until the disappearance, of
course. Spengler, we have to look
into this. Well swing by the
warehouse and pick up some PKE
meters, then-
OZ
No, you gotta drop us off on Fifth.
We need to get the packs.
RAY
Oz-
OZ
No, Uncle Ray. Were going. Like it
or not, were the new guys. Were
what you got. Or did you plan on
crashing through a possessed forest
on your bad hip?
RAY
I dont have a bad hip-
OZ
Not the point, man!
Egon looks pointedly down at his stomach.
EGON
Logically he has a point, Ray.
Ray doesnt say anything for a moment, driving faster.
76.
RAY
OK. We drop you off, then head to
the warehouse and do the whole
mission support thing.
GINA
Ooh, youll be like Otacon!
DANA, RAY, EGON
What?!
GINA
Never mind, video game.
RICHARD
(beat)
Ouch. That really drives the point
home, doesnt it?
Victor floats on a piece of bent, jagged metal. He stands
easily atop it, his coat fluttering about him.
He gathers a large group of the swollen worm-ghosts around
him. Exerting himself, he divides them into smaller groups of
5 or 6 - with a total of nine different groups.
After they are segregated, Victors posture slumps. He heaves
an exhausted sigh, and the wing he rides briefly dips lower.
VICTOR
Whew. You must construct additional
pylons.
He snatches one ghost with the immaterial grip of his mind,
tugging it closer. Gesturing it towards himself, he squares
his shoulders and mimes sucking in a deep breath that pulls
in the ghost like a black hole!
The entity falls towards his face, stretching into a stream
of energy that Victor inhales like crack. Holding his face
in his hands, he sobs painfully into his palms. Between the
gasping tears and racking sobs, laughter emerges. Rises in
pitch.
Victor looks up, smiles, even as tears drip from the corners
of his ever-more-alien eyes.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Thatll put lead in your pencil.
77.
EXT. ALLEY - DAY
The Ghostbusters strap back into their packs, unloading the
equipment from the back of the still-parked van.
GINA
I still cant believe they didnt
figure out the van was yours.
RICHARD
New Yorks finest.
OZ
Well, it doesnt really scream
criminal, you know.
GINA
Maybe sex criminal.
RICHARD
Feel free to walk.
At the mouth of the alley where the van is parked, the
Ghostbusters watch the bumper-to-bumper traffic and packed
crowd. Further down the street, past the police barricade,
the forest is like a fortress of alien branches.
Gina and Oz pore over their PKE meters.
GINA
These readings... something big is
going down. Its like a vortex of
PKE right on the biggest nexus
point in the city.
(beat)
The tree.
OZ
Its Shulgor. Its trying to get
through to our dimension.
GINA
I dont know... I mean, yes. But
theres something else. Another
concentration of energy... and its
coming closer.
The wall of living trees open like a set of horrid curtains.
Screams erupt throughout the crowd as Victor soars out,
surrounded by a legion of ghosts!
78.
The smaller units of ghosts peel off down the streets,
swooping in and out of the crowd. Several people are picked
up and dropped until the closest ghost squad finds a child
they like and begins hoisting her back to the forest!
Victor and his retinue float dozens of feet over the
Ghostbusters, who stare upwards in horror. The PKE meters are
going off the scale!
OZ
Victor...
At his name, Victors head cocks to the side.
VICTOR
Oz.
RICHARD
Tell me this doesnt mean what I
think it means.
Victor descends closer, leaning forwards on his platform as
he senses his friend. He smiles with too many teeth. Phantom
fingers of wind ruffle his hair and coat.
VICTOR
Hello there.
OZ
Vic, whats happened? What are you
doing?
VICTOR
Oh, you know. A little of this, a
little of that, earning my destiny.
You can too, you know.
OZ
Your destiny? Vic, what have you
done?
VICTOR
What I had to. What you have to.
Theres no stopping it now. But if
we join with Shulgor, Oz, man... we
can be gods.
GINA
What are you-
VICTOR
I wasnt talking to you.
He points at Oz.
79.
VICTOR (CONTD)
You, Oz. You got the gift. You know
what Im talking about. I can see
it all over you, now. Vigo unlocked
it for you when you were a baby.
All the weird stuff when we were
kids? The feelings? I always knew
that you had something I didnt.
This is real power, Oz. Godhood.
RICHARD
Help the tentacle-beast. Yeah, you
dont sound crazy at all, Vic.
Richard primes his proton pack. He and Gina pull their wands
in unison. A moment later, Oz reluctantly follows suit.
OZ
I dont know what it did to you,
Victor. But look at yourself, man.
I cant let you do this.
VICTOR
Cant let me? Actually, its more
like cant stop me. I understand
your confusion, though.
Victor gestures, and the ghosts behind him swarm the
Ghostbusters.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Youve never had to deal with a god
before.
The rushing entities meet streams of charged particles,
bashing some off course and lassoing another!
Oz kicks out a trap, and Richard unceremoniously but
violently whips his lasso around and slams the first ghost
inside! As the trap resets, Richard throws out his own.
Another ghost tackles Richard, coating him in slime and
sending him hard to the sidewalk. Victor laughs, raising his
palm upwards.
The ectoplasm all over Richard glows in sympathy with
Victors magic, and hes jerked like a rag doll into the side
of a car! The metal bends and buckles under the impact.
Richards shocked, coughing and groaning as he tries to
stand.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Nothing to say, Dick? First time
for everything.
80.
Oz sprays bosun pulses to keep the other ghosts at bay, and
Gina wrangles another into the trap!
Victor gestures, lifting the pack right off Ozs back! Oz is
carried a few feet into the air before he can slip out of the
straps, landing badly on one ankle. Victor throws the pack
aside with contempt.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Toys.
He disarms the rest of them with nothing but waves of his
hand! Assembling all the tech into a clump, he levitates it
next to him in midair. His ghosts bar the way between them.
OZ
Victor!!
Victor curls his fingers towards Oz, lifting him into the air
before him. Oz can see how alien his eyes have become, but
even scarier is their wildness. They dance with imagination,
and the pale green light of his magic. The more excited he
gets, the brighter the glow in his eyes! Oz struggles.
VICTOR
I cant wait for you to see it, Oz.
Youll understand, once its begun.
Everything we ever talked about,
dreamed about. A world full of
magic, monsters, angels, and
demons. The kind of world we always
wanted but were ashamed to ask for.
OZ
I know youre still in there,
Victor Drender. No one else is this
melodramatic.
Victors face flashes though a toothy scowl, to a
condescending smirk, settling on restrained amusement.
Theres still a green twinkle in his eyes.
VICTOR
I am so much more than Victor
Drender now, Oz.
(beat)
Is it cliched to just start calling
you guys mortals? Too soon? Meh.
He tossses Oz next to his friends with a flick of his wrist!
The remaining ghosts are ready to pounce on Oz, but Victor
stays them. He lazily points around the panicking crowd.
81.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Get another one.
Victor floats higher, his manic agitation continuing to
build. He becomes more enthusiastic, shaking with joy.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Youll see. The ouroboros will
swallow the world and leave a clean
slate! Even if you live through its
coming, your world ends tonight.
GINA
Please!! Help us stop it!! We need
you, Victor! We can do it!
VICTOR
Sorry, G. I made a deal. Knowledge,
power, immortality, all for the low
price of the end of the world.
(to Oz)
You can, too. I have to reiterate,
theres no stopping Shulgor. It
will cross the bridge when the
stars are right.
I think youll reconsider when you
see the scale of what youre up
against. If you want to join me,
the forest wont stop you.
Not waiting for an answer, Victor flies away on his wing,
towing the lumpy asteroid of their gear behind him!
The ghosts, with a teenager held between them, form up around
Victor. They plunge back into the park, the branches closing
of their own accord behind them!
Other than the toppled laser cage lying on the warehouse
floor, its relatively untouched by the seismic disturbances.
Ray and Egon immediately beeline for the computers when they
burst through the door. Dana follows, looking around.
When she sees the portrait of Venkman, Dana stares at it
uncomfortably. She grabs a nearby sheet to throw over it. It
reveals the red, left rear tail fin of a car.
When Dana looks back at the rest of the large, covered
object, she notices the tail fin. Curious, she whips away the
rest of the cover and the ECTO-1B sits before her!
82.
DANA
Oh.
RAY
Still a beauty, isnt she? Best
part is, with all the after-market
work under the hood Ill bet she
still purrs, too.
EGON
Look at this, Ray.
They pore over the maps together. There are several
highlighted areas, all of them branching out from the hottest
region inside Central Park - Shulgors tree.
EGON (CONTD)
Theres huge spikes of activity on
the largest ley line nexus point.
But theres more than one
disturbance here. These other
locations saw brief but intense
disturbances that moved away from
this nexus and then back again.
RAY
What does that look like to you? A
hand, maybe? Fingers? Feelers?
EGON
Perhaps.
RAY
Maybe theres a Tobins Spirit
guide around here. We could use
more info on this Shulgor being.
Ray rummages through the boxes of books and notebooks.
RAY (CONTD)
Was our office this cluttered all
the time?
EGON
Yes.
RAY
Oh.
Dana stands by the coat rack. She touches the sleeve of Ozs
jacket.
DANA
Oz.
83.
Behind the clothes are spare suits. Dana traces her fingers
along the nametag that reads Barrette, rifling through the
rest until she finds the one she wants - Venkmans.
DANA (CONTD)
Thank you.
Near the ECTO-1B, the cover on Venkmans painting flutters.
EGON
Ray, theres something you need to
see. This meter has been collecting
data for 20 years, and a disturbing
pattern has emerged.
RAY
What kind of pattern?
EGON
We hypothesized in 1992 that
extradimensional interference was
tagged to buildups of psychokinetic
energy. The first such buildup
occurred after the Gozer temple on
Central Park West accumulated
enough power to let through Vinz
Clortho and Zuul, who were able to
open a dimensional portal to Gozer.
RAY
And the second was when Vigo the
Carpathian tried to resurrect
himself. The third was when Ivo
Shandor figured godhood was better
than being a dead cultist and
triggered the Gozer mandala in 91.
EGON
Actually Ray, after doing these
calculations Im not so sure. It
appears that the last two events
were only consequences of the
initial crossrip. When Gozer the
Gozerian entered our reality,
immense amounts of extradimensional
energy entered with it.
RAY
Allowing the negatively-charged
ectoplasm to build under the city,
growing from the negative emotions.
(wistfully)
The late eighties.
84.
EGON
Strange times for all of us, I
think. The energy also allowed
Vigos bound soul to become active
from inside his painting.
RAY
And it activated the mandala,
awakening Shandor. But the
Architect started a whole other
crossrip. What happened to that
energy, then?
EGON
Precisely, Ray. Weve never
understood what was causing the
ambient PKE levels to steadily
decline since 1991. But they have.
In the last 10 months, theres been
an exponential growth in global PKE
levels. Most of it is being
funnelled right here, through
geocentric conduits. The lines.
RAY
But we dont see anything. You
think this Shulgor came through
back in 91, and its just been
sucking down PKE like a banker in a
bailout.
EGON
More specifically, saving it up to
align with a major metaphysical
conjunction thats about to happen.
RAY
What are those kids walking into?
The faint screech of brakes announces the arrival of the
trudging, injured, beleagured Ghostbusters. They are all
pained, but Oz in particular looks dumbfounded limping in.
Ray and Egon rushing to help. Dana embraces her son.
DANA
Oscar!
She looks him over, and does the same for Richard and Gina.
DANA (CONTD)
What happened out there?
85.
RICHARD
Ask him. Hell let you know if he
feels something.
OZ
Its Victor. Shulgors possessed
him, or something. Hes in trouble.
RICHARD
Thats not what happened, and you
know it. Victor joined it. He made
a pact, sold his soul, whatever you
want to say. Hes gone to the dark
side, now hes trying to kill us.
GINA
Im not disagreeing that he was
getting pretty Palpatine on that
goblin glider of his, but I think
if he was gonna kill us he would
have. I dont know what to think.
RICHARD
Man, have you even seen Akira?
Power corrupts?
OZ
(quietly)
It doesnt have to.
RICHARD
History disagrees with you. Either
way, Victor will probably murder us
the next time he sees us.
GINA
He said the forest wouldnt stop
us, if we joined him.
EGON
(to himself)
The forest...
Egon returns to the terminal, a man on a mission.
RICHARD
Yeah, but he didnt say whether
hed stop us or not. Hence, murder.
OZ
So what? You want to just wait here
for the end of the world? Not go?
86.
RICHARD
No, I just think we should bring
Mace, you know, or a gun; or
something other than the power of
friendship!
EGON
Look at this!
They halt their arguing to gather around him. Egon shows them
the entire area of Central Park lit up like a Christmas tree.
EGON (CONTD)
The forest. Its completely hot,
Ray. The entire thing already
resembles a single giant organism,
and its only getting more
concentrated. There havent even
been any more appendages.
RICHARD
Ah - appendages?
RAY
It was like a hand, reaching out of
the park and retracting back
inside. Not very long ago.
RICHARD
Yeah, not appendages. Victor and a
small army of spooks came, saw, and
grabbed a bunch of kids and
hipsters to drag back to the tree.
OZ
Souls. Shulgor needs souls. Not
ghosts, not weird alien ghosts. It
needs natives. To anchor it here.
RICHARD
Gozer only needed the Gatekeeper
and the Keymaster. Those squid
squads brought back more than that.
EGON
Assuming every group abducted only
one person, then 12.
RICHARD
Oh, 12! I really dont want to meet
the eldritch abomination that runs
on premium, OK?
87.
GINA
If we can sever Shulgors link to
this reality, then it wont have an
anchor to reel itself in by. I say
we grab some particle throwers and,
well... sever.
RICHARD
Great idea, except all our particle-
throwin gear is currently the
worlds most awkward telekinetic
stress ball in the hands of a
lunatic wizard of some kind. Who
also knows precisely where we are
at this moment and is more than
likely plotting our doom.
OZ
Not all the gear.
Wearing fresh suits, the Ghostbusters exit the warehouse just
as the sun is beginning to set. Although still dressed in the
new style, the gear they load into the van is all old-school.
Ray, Egon, and Dana walk them to the van. Dana hugs them all.
DANA
Be careful. I know you want to save
Victor, we all do. But trust me, if
this thing hurt him then he might
not have control of himself.
OZ
Hes still my friend. Ill find a
way to help him - Ill be careful.
DANA
(to Oz)
Hey. Im pretty proud of you.
RAY
I have the Shulgor files. Well
monitor everything from here. As
soon as we know something, you do.
They pile into the van and race off. Ray watches them go.
Dana puts a hand on his shoulder.
DANA
You wish you were going with them.
88.
RAY
Is it that obvious?
DANA
We can still help them, Ray.
Ray straightens, determined.
RAY
Spengler, lets keep looking for
something we can use. Theyre going
to need it.
They go inside, but Ray lingers for a moment at the door. He
watches a vortex of black clouds developing over the park.
RAY (CONTD)
Sooner would be better.
The van slows to a stop along Central Park West, a good 50
feet from the wall. The press of police and onlookers is too
dense to move any further, and behind them is just as bad!
Richard bangs the wheel in frustration.
RICHARD
I dont know why we thought just
driving there would ever work.
There are zero ways through this
mess. Its not like we can just
walk up and say were quantity
surveying.
GINA
Yeah, were technically committing
a crime right now. So we break in.
(beat)
...to a park.
OZ
Victor said the forest would let us
pass, not the cops or the crowd.
How?
The fortress-like wall of branches blocking off Central Park
begins to twitch in earnest - exactly where the Ghostbusters
van is sitting!
89.
Muscular, bark-armored tentacles shudder and scrape over the
van, coiling around it. They lift it easily out of the
street, pulling it into the forest!
INT. VAN - NIGHT
The Ghostbusters scream in terror as the inside of the van
crumples in a few places. Theyre thrown around inside the
interior, banging against walls and off the ceiling. Even
turned upside down as the vehicle rotates randomly!
The forest has come completely alive! The trees are connected
by resinous ectoplasm, slime, and meat. Its like a giant,
cavernous sponge. The branch-tentacles pass the van from arm
to arm down one of the disgusting tunnels - a tunnel glowing
faint pale green light around the beasts next bend.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - THE TREE
Victor stands before the tree, now a column of tentacles and
flesh. The pillar connects to the canopy and the forest
floor, now a carpet of skin and chitin as well as dirt!
Around them both is a circle of hostages, held immobile by a
collection of pseudopods, feelers, claws, and hands.
The hostages are all young, not a one above 25. Most of the
children cry, some adults pray, some beg Victor for their
lives. Others have just shut down, brains unable to
comprehend the abomination who assaults their senses. A
beautiful tattooed woman has snapped, shouting nonsense!
Victor doesnt pay any attention to the hostages or the
whirling groups of ghost that scream past and torment them.
Hes entirely focused on the god before him.
Shulgors main trunk now sports a crack running from below
the large eyeball. Tentacles stroke the outside of the crack
gently, and the eye rolls to observe it as best it can.
As Victor watches, the crack splits open! A rainbow of
colours spills from the wound, pulling open further and
further. The buzzing undertone of Shulgor becomes a full-
throated roar, a bizarre cacophony of sound - as if from far
away down a very long tunnel - emerging from the widening
portal!
SHULGOR (V.O.)
I BEGIN...
90.
The hostages begin to truly panic, and Victor telekinetically
helps to restrain some as they thrash. They scream in agony
as their lifes energy is pulled from them into the portal!
In the otherworldly light, the souls appear as misty, cotton-
like fibers. They unravel from their bodies, torn bit by bit
towards the doorway. The hostages screaming is intensified
as the souls go through, and some cant make noise at all
through the pain they feel.
When the souls go through the rift, they begin to lattice
together, incrementally forming the first strands of a
construction - a bridgework across the two realities!
Victor sees all of this, with tears in his eyes. Its like
awed bliss. Like hes having a religious experience on acid.
VICTOR
Magnificent.
He abruptly jerks his head to one side, as if hearing
something. He closes his eyes for a moment, then reaches to
the side with one arm and splays his hand from a fist.
The forest obeys, and 50 feet away the branches part
obediently to the motion of his hand. Victor sees the van.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Dah-dada-duh.
Ray zips up the front of his coveralls as he walks down the
stairs from the office above the warehouse floor. Egon and
Dana follow hurriedly, trying to keep up.
RAY
Thats it! Spengler, you see those
readings. We cant reach the kids
by radio. I have to do something.
EGON
Ray, think about what youre doing.
You know radiation like what were
seeing can interfere with radio
signals.
DANA
Ray, youre needed here!
Ray turns, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He feels truly
alive for the first time in years. Hes lost the dogged look
hes been carrying, replaced it with sheer exuberance.
91.
RAY
You know were not needed here!
Were here because were old.
DANA
Will you stop feeling sorry for
yourself? Raymond Stantz, you got
old. So have I, so has Egon, and so
did Peter. We all get old, Ray.
Theres nothing you can do about
that.
RAY
But we should be out there- I
should be out there! Spengler, me,
Venkman-
EGON
I know, Ray. But unless we have a
plan for what we do when we get
there, then were just walking into
a gigantic trap.
They share a look, both turning their heads to the ECTO-1Bs
roof. At the Super-Slammer trap still sitting there. They
look back at each other. Dana doesnt like this one bit.
DANA
No...
EGON
Ill get into my uniform.
DANA
Egon! You cant be serious?!
RAY
No offense, Spengie - but you might
want one of mine.
EGON
Yes, I think so.
He takes his tablet and begins to pull on a uniform. Dama
follows Ray as he preps the ECTO-1B. Hes grinning.
DANA
What are you going to do? Ray, can
you and Egon help Oscar?
RAY
We put a portable hole into a bag
of holding.
92.
Dana stops in her tracks.
DANA
What the hell does that mean, Ray?!
RAY
Sorry. Every trap is like a vacuum
of psychic energy. So opening one
inside a dimensional disturbance
could break the link at both ends.
Ray pulls up the sliding metal door, letting the night air
into the warehouse.
RAY (CONTD)
It means theyre trying to kick
Shulgor in the balls, and were
going to try and cut its head off.
EGON
Thats a drastically inaccurate
representation of the scenario. Not
only is the equivalency more like
kicking it in the shin and the
balls respectively, but the
resulting Mohs scale push alone
makes this a wildly dangerous plan.
There are a number of reasons why
it most likely wont succeed.
DANA
Then why are you letting this
happen?
RAY
Because hes a Ghostbuster.
Dana shakes with frustration, but finally she shakes her
head, rolls her eyes, and gets in the back seat of the car.
RAY (CONTD)
Dana, you should really stay here.
DANA
Really, Ray? After giving me a
speech like that, youre going to
ask me to stay behind? Now?
RAY
But you dont need to come,
Spengler and I can operate the
trap. Its too dangerous!
93.
EGON
Maternal instinct can be a powerful
influence on decision-making, Ray.
Just get in the car.
They get in. Ray reaches for the ignition.
RAY
Ive been wanting to do this for a
while.
The car roars to life! The engine sounds way too loud to be
coming from a vehicle this size. Ray lets it growl for a bit,
then heaves a sigh of relief. He looks at Egon.
RAY (CONTD)
You have no idea how happy I am
that worked!
DANA
Whatever happened to I bet she
still purrs?
RAY
Well, I hoped she still did.
EGON
Lets go, Ray.
The ECTO-1B leaps out of the garage at a fantastic pace! It
darts around a corner at breakneck speed, disappearing into
the night. As the garage door closes behind it, the far-off
clouds over Central Park reflect weird light. Greenish
lightning that doesnt leave the clouds accompanies the
gradually increasing volume of Shulgors deep bass whisper.
The city is in an uproar! The strange lights from the portal
can be seen through the forest, illuminating the flesh-trees
and showing everyone the full extent of the forests
transformation! Some take pictures, but most run. The police
put their backs to the crowd, pulling weapons.
Shulgors form is taking shape. Appearing as a titanic wall
of flesh, it is actually honeycombed with tunnels and pores.
The portals radiance shine through them, and as it does the
branch-tentacles stretch to their full reach!
94.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
I BECOME...
The waving coils of muscle and wood, from 20 to 100 feet
long, pulsate alongside many giant, staring eyes! The crowd
begins to riot as they hear the voice, and the headache of
Shulgors presence begins to affect peoples minds!
A father clutches at his daughters ears, even as many others
do the same for themselves, but the sound is only in their
mind and it does not let up. Many bleed from the nose or eye!
Some scream and thrash about, foaming at the mouth or seizing
uncontrollably, or even catatonic. Others run away from the
source at full speed, or in another direction, weeping,
shrieking, or laughing as they do. A few, caught up in the
same ectasy as Victor, plunge past the cops into the park!
The people run through the porous structure of Shulgors
body, but one at a time they are pulled to the floor or into
a wall by one of the tentacles. They disappear into the dark!
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - THE TREE - NIGHT
Victor watches Oz, Richard, and Gina drop awkwardly out of
the van. Theyve managed to get their proton packs on, even
in the crazily tilting vehicle, still dangling from the
tentacles that hold it a few feet above the ground.
They tumble to the ground, wincing and groaning in pain. The
tentacles drop the van dismissively, which rolls once before
settling on the ground. The sliding door breaks partway off,
jutting out at a wild angle.
The Escher painting catches the strange light flickering from
the portal.
The Ghostbusters rise to their feet unsteadily under the
weight of Shulgors presence, especially Oz. But these are
the Ghostbusters, and so they rise anyway. They even grin a
little as they square their shoulders, play through the pain.
RICHARD
This really didnt go at all as we
planned.
GINA
We didnt have a plan.
95.
RICHARD
Oh, yeah. I feel better.
VICTOR
See, this is why I invited you. I
love banter, but the great one here
isnt much of a conversationalist.
Also, I figured its not kosher to
chat with your sacrifices. So Im
glad youre here.
Oz steps forward, his wand still on his pack. He holds out
his hands imploringly, concern all over his features.
OZ
Victor. Man, dont do this. You
dont have to. We can stop this,
all of us, together. I understand.
VICTOR
Oz, my friend, you really dont. If
you truly understood, youd do what
I did. I accepted that right now,
right here, this little corner of
the multiverse is gonna change. A
lot. All I had to decide was how I
was going to change with it. To
die, or to evolve. Free myself.
GINA
Free yourself from what?
VICTOR
Physical laws.
Mathematics. I never really learned
a lot of math, but now I see it
everywhere. Bend it to my will.
Electromagnetism, gravity,
probability, mortality-
RICHARD
Sanity.
VICTOR
Human morality.
He laughs, and it echoes through Shulgors deep-throated
whispering. He jerks his head to the side, sensing something
again. Victor closes his eyes, reaching out with new senses.
VICTOR (CONTD)
I cant believe it.
96.
The charge of the ECTO-1B is something to see! The sirens
blare, the engine roars and the tires squeal. The crowd
instinctively parts for the vehicle when it mounts the curb
to get through the packed but mostly-abandoned cars. Its
harsh klaxons and strobing lights push some aside, but the
mob eventually pushes in around. The madness is strong here.
INT. ECTO-1B - NIGHT
Ray honks the horn, Egon scanning the surroundings with a PKE
meter hooked up to his tablet. Dana holds her head, the one
most affected by the monsters mental call.
DANA
Its like Zuul... like Gozer. The
sound-
EGON
Its not a sound, Dana. Its
telepathic waves, not vibrations.
RAY
And its making this crowd wild as
a priest at a playground.
DANA
What do we do?
Egon looks at Ray, who grins.
RAY
Hose em?
EGON
Hose em.
The double-barrelled device on the top of the ECTO-1B begins
to stream high-pressured slime from the nozzles, knocking
people over and coating them in the viscous fluid!
The crowd thins under the onslaught of goo, people drenched
or even just splattered with the positively-charged slime
begin to come to their senses, lifting out of the madness!
With tears on their faces, or just big smiles, they cheer on
the Ghostbusters as they rev their engines and roll through!
97.
RAY
That got their attention, eh
Spengie?
EGON
If that slime hadnt been a
positively charged culture, then
they probably wouldnt be so happy
about this. Ill have to
recalibrate the pressure-to-
regeneration ratio later.
RAY
Later?
DANA
Look out!
A dozen massive tentacles reach out and block the cars path!
The slime blower has no effect, the positive energy of the
slime absorbed by the creature. The slime turns grey and
lifeless, sloughing off in gelatinous chunks!
Egon turns white as he examines the scanner.
EGON
Uh-oh.
The portal has almost eclipsed the tree entirely!
Shulgors titanic body now has a beating heart of chaos
energy, and Victor bathes in its radiance. The sacrificial
victims are still borderline comatose, their souls cording
out into the yawning dimensional chasm. On the other side of
the gate, the bridge is longer than ever!
Victor smiles with his eyes closed, savouring the moment,
holding Oz, Richard, and Gina at bay with an outstretched
hand.
VICTOR
Lets not keep them waiting.
98.
On their confused looks, he gestures in the direction of the
ECTO-1B. The living forest of Shulgor opens a trench from
where they stand to the edge of the park, thousands of branch-
tentacles rippling aside with a wave of his hand!
The ECTO-1B is suffused with a sickly green glow, lifting
several metres into the air! It hurtles towards the portal,
illuminated by the poisonous colours at their destination.
Ray, Egon, and Dana are thrown around in their seats. But
this car was made to handle a lot more than the van was, and
Egons still able to read his scanner. His frown deepens.
DANA
Whats happening? Did one of those
things grab us?
RAY
I dont think so, Dana. This is
psychokinesis of a magnitude Ive
never seen! Hold on!
EGON
No, its much worse than that. This
is one of the reasons why this plan
will probably fail. Ray, this is
exceedingly bad.
The car soars through the air, but Victors will is giving
out. The glow around it flickers somewhat, and it plows to
earth in a groan of tortured metal just outside the glade!
Victor sinks to his knees, exhausted. He sucks in another
ghost, siphoning off its energy. The entity shrieks and
unravels, and Victor rises to his feet fizzling with energy
and wobbling like a junkie whos just taken the biggest hit
of his life!
As he internalizes the energy, his eyes are glazed and
unfocused. A stream of delirious gibberish leaves his mouth.
He looks at his left hand. The fingers there are beginning to
fuse together, two at a time!
Victor stares unbelievably at his mutation. Then he laughs,
madness behind every chuckle.
99.
Ray and Egon stumble from the car, injured and groggy from
the crash. Ray glances at the broken axle of the ECTO-1B -
shell never drive again. They stare in horror at the portal.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Richard and Gina throw
their stasis streams at the portal itself! The beams arrest
the progress of the soul energies inside, the white threads
halting in mid-air. The sacrifices breathing quickens!
Shulgor roars at the interference! Victor shoots upright like
a puppet on strings. He reaches out to the three of them, but
looks only Oz in the eye. He smiles way too wide.
VICTOR
Wanna see something I learned from
a Carpathian?
Victor telekinetically tosses Gina and Richard aside like
playthings, straight into the broken door of the van!
However, when they reach it, they dont smash into the metal.
Instead, they disappear right into the painting on its side,
the surface rippling like oil and closing behind them!
Oz bounces off the windshield, thrown into the air to land
badly on his shoulder. He flickers with leftover energy.
Victor wavers on his feet, a halo of weird light about him.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Two outta three aint bad.
He turns back to the rift; he cant take his eyes off it.
INT. PAINTING - NIGHT
Gina and Richard careen through into the distorted,
perspective-twisting world of the painting. Falling out of a
roiling ash-grey sky, they each fall down a seperate flight
of stone stairs.
Richard looks a bit worse for wear, getting painfully to his
feet. But as he pants and sweats, he still gets his wand off
the rough stone and hums it to life. He cracks his neck.
RICHARD
Ouch.
Gina rolls down the stairs, clattering to a halt at the
bottom. She groans to get her legs under her and freezes.
100.
GINA
Richard? Oz?
(beat)
Victor?
RICHARD (O.S.)
Hey, G!
Gina looks up from the small hallway she stands in and sees
Richard above her - standing sideways at a balcony on a wall!
They both stand at completely different perspectives! The
paradoxical structure of Cyclopean stone hurts the eye to
look at, but Gina twists her neck to look sideways at
Richard. As she does, she begins to fall towards the wall;
they now share the same perspective!
Gina falls down another set of stairs. Richard winces.
RICHARD (CONTD)
Yeah, you just kind of decide which
way is down.
He helps her up. They both look out over the vast
architectural nightmare of a landscape under the cloudy,
featureless sky.
GINA
So, were trapped here forever?
RICHARD
Probably.
GINA
Any hope of escape?
RICHARD
Not to my knowledge.
GINA
This makes you literally the last
man on earth, you know.
RICHARD
Im aware of that, yes.
At the same time, they rush into each others arms to start
fiercely and passionately kissing!
101.
Ray and Egon run to the van as Dana climbs out of the ECTO-
1B. Ray taps Egon on the shoulder, and he goes to scan the
painting as Ray helps Oz, who is dazed and in shock.
OZ
Learned it from a Carpathian...
Ray gets an arm under Ozs shoulder, and they join Egon. He
shines a light into Ozs eyes.
OZ (CONTD)
Heeeyyyy...
EGON
Hes in shock.
RAY
Like a goldfish in a wall socket.
They scan the painting again with the PKE meter and the
Geigermeter. Richard and Ginas painted forms flicker from
place to place within the bizarre architecture, but their
motions are too fast to follow. Eventually, they are just
smudges. The paint still eddys and ripples, like the tides.
EGON
This reads almost identically to
the painting Vigo the Carpathian
was contained in.
OZ
Why is everyone talking about
Carpathians?
RAY
Except we didnt want to take Viggy
out. Wait - we know what put him
back in!
EGON
Positively charged slime. Ray, on
the slim chance this works the way
we hope it will, it could still
neutralize every electron in our
bodies or trap us inside with them.
RAY
Yeah, I know. But what a way to go.
EGON
There is a certain attraction in
going out with a bang.
102.
(MORE)
But we need to hurry. Its an
unstable pocket dimension, but the
surface is settling quickly. We
might not be able to get through;
and these readings indicate the
time flow inside is dilating at a
rate roughly 600 times normal.
Richard and Gina are getting dressed. Her makeup is worn,
almost gone; Richard is sporting a rougher beard than usual.
RICHARD
Well that was weird.
GINA
Im sorry, I dont know what
happened near the end there.
RICHARD
No, its cool. We really dont need
to talk about that.
GINA
Why not?
RICHARD
Shes going to make me say it.
(quickly)
Youre terrible at sex.
Gina splutters in feigned astonishment, but not feigned very
well. This is clearly not the first time shes heard this.
Oz is coming to, eyes clear. Ray claps him on the shoulder.
RAY
Welcome back, rookie. Go get him.
Oz flashes his uncles a tired grin, but then his brow
furrows. He marches to Victor, hands balled into fists.
OZ
(to himself)
OK, bud. Now this is happening.
He stops, planting his feet. He pulls his wand, humming it to
life. Victor opens his eyes, turning to face Oz and coming
down off his high for a moment.
103.
EGON (CONT'D)
Bathed in the strange light, Oz can see several small
eyeballs dimpling parts of Victors scalp and neck! They all
stare at Oz, blinking in unison.
OZ (CONTD)
Look at yourself, man! Look at what
youre becoming. You still think
you got a good deal, here?
VICTOR
You dont understand. You cant
even perceive a fraction of what I
can, now. Youre nothing compared
to what Im becoming.
OZ
I am nothing. And so are you! A
little power doesnt change that.
You know as well as I do how big
the multiverse is. You know better!
And you think your tiny little
existence matters now? Youre still
nothing, Vic. Youre not a big fish
in a small pond; youre a parasite
on a parasite on a parasite.
Victor looks with too many eyes at his mutated hand, then
glances fearfully back at the portal. Tears are in his eyes.
Oz switches his pack from stream to pulse. The tech
twitches and clicks into gear on his back. He braces himself.
OZ (CONTD)
That said: I really hope this
doesnt kill you, Vic.
He fires! Mostly dissipated by the aura surrounding Victor,
the blast still packs more than enough punch to knock him on
his ass.
Victor floats upright, rainbow energy streaming from him. His
form convulses with the stuff, appearing slightly out-of-sync
with reality. His proportions flex with his erratic
breathing, a juddery rasp. His outline crackles and judders
like a bad TV signal. He seethes with 7 different kinds of
rage, a voice like shouting through a spinning metal fan.
VICTOR
NOTHING?! NOTHING?!
Before Oz can get in another shot, his pack venting steam,
Victor surges with the channeled energy swirling around his
twisted form and leaps the distance between them with his
fingers outstretched like claws!
104.
They tumble to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Slowly,
Victors unnatural strength begins to tell. He reaches down
with both hands - one mutated, the other normal - and begins
to throttle Oz to death. At that point, Victor is back in
control; animal snarls disappear as he smirks into Ozs face.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Did you know the other reason I
invited you? See, the ritual only
needs 9. I figured 12 might speed
things up, or at least wed have
spares. I guess 13 is even better.
He leans in closer.
VICTOR (CONTD)
(whispering)
And Im really glad its you.
His glare darkens abruptly. Gone again is the cool, smirking
villain. Back is the frothing psychopath, wild-eyed and loud.
VICTOR (CONTD)
You know nothing, you speck. Im
going to enjoy watching your
consciousness stretched across a
universe. Then you-
A massive jet of slime knocks him off Oz, spinning him like a
top across the dirt and flesh-grass twenty feet away! Victor
groans, but its hard to tell if its in pain or pleasure.
Standing on the roof of the ECTO-1B, behind the dripping
nozzles of the slime blower, is Dana Barrette - and she means
business!
DANA
Get away from him.
VICTOR
Oh, you bitch!
He splutters in the muck, his head rolling and a happy smile
on his face as the positively charged slime acts on him.
Oz, splattered but not covered in the ooze, coughs from his
bruised throat. Ray and Egon wave at Dana.
RAY
Dana! The painting!
EGON
Dana! The painting!
Dana swivels the turret and coats the surface of the painting
in slime!
105.
The goo hits the panel door like oil and water, running
around each other. Ray and Egon look again at the balcony,
each reaching a hand towards one of the smudges.
RAY
Spengler, was this it? What you saw
that time with Venkman?
EGON
I didnt see my death, Ray. It was
Venkmans, I just didnt tell him.
RAY
So we might survive this?
EGON
That outcome is unlikely at best. I
enjoyed knowing you, Ray.
RAY
Its been fun, Spengler.
Reaching their arms through the oily plane, they sink up to
the shoulder with a confused look on their faces. Then
theyre violently sucked inside in a quick blur of motion and
cut-off yells!
Richard and Gina are arguing in each others faces, flush
with anger. He has even more beard, and their hair is matted.
RICHARD
Because I dont want to right now!
GINA
Well when will you want to? How am
I ever going to get better if you
wont let me practice?!
RICHARD
This is my existence now. Stuck in
my own painting with the horniest
girl on the planet whos also the
worst at sex Ive ever met in my
life, and nowhere to hide. Why
havent we died of thirst yet?
GINA
Wait. Your painting? After we
roundly mocked it, you said some
hippie did it for some mushrooms.
106.
RICHARD
Think carefully about what you just
said, then explain why its
surprising I never told you I
painted it myself.
He smokes as Gina gets closer, places a finger on his chest.
GINA
You know, it looks way better close
up. Much more impressive, bigger.
It seems like theyll enter another passionate embrace;
instead theyre each grabbed around their arms and pulled-
- stumbling back into the real world!
RICHARD
Oh, thank you!
They look around in amazement, whipping around to see Egon
and Ray in their place within the painting! The two images
move at increasing speeds, becoming blurs of motion.
GINA
They switched with us!
Richard checks the time, cigarette hanging from his lip.
RICHARD
Huh. Eventful for a 5 minute smoke
break. It seemed like at least-
He cuts off as he sees Oz, still coughing and trying to rise.
GINA
Oz!
RICHARD
Oz!
They run to help, but Shulgors tentacles fling towards them,
trying to intercept them in a wave of corrupted meat-wood!
Opening up with their bosun pulses, they frantically cut
through the sinuous limbs to stand over their friend!
Richard blasts away more tentacles to cover Gina, who opens
up with another stasis stream to disrupt the portal!
The howl of the god on the other side echoes through the
night, and the colours flare even brighter! Ephemeral
pseudopods reach out from the still slowly-widening rift to
pull at Victors prone body.
107.
Before they can reach it, Oz tears them apart with more
pulses from his proton pack! He runs to Victors side,
kneels. Props him up by the shoulders. Looks him in the eye.
Victor looks dreamily back and smiles like its old times.
VICTOR
Hey, man. Whats up?
OZ
Dude.
Victor seems disassociated from the harsh reality around him.
Oz glances at the sacrifices. Still breathing, but barely.
VICTOR
I think I pooched this one, bud.
Im done.
OZ
No, man. We can get these people
out of here together. It doesnt
have to be like that.
VICTOR
Yeah, it kinda does. Its going to
be OK, Oz. I know why they brought
the car with them. Once Im
through, cross the streams, OK?
OZ
I cant let you do that, Vic.
VICTOR
I told you, man. You cant stop me.
He pushes himself up out of the goo. Despite the slime
coating his mutated form, Victor looks somehow more human
than before. He hobbles quickly but painfully to the ECTO-1B,
until he has enough strength to levitate himself on top.
Victor gestures politely with his human hand for Dana to get
off and floats her gently to the ground.
VICTOR (CONTD)
Goodbye, Ms. Barrette. Youre still
a total MILF, by the way.
Shaking with effort, it takes everything Victors got to
raise the broken car underneath him; but riding it like a
slow-moving chariot, he glides it towards the portal!
Shulgors shout in his ears and mind is deafening. His face
warps with pain or weird energies as he fights its influence.
108.
Ahead of Victor, his soul winds out across the gulf between
realities as he gets closer and closer to the rift.
SHULGOR (V.O.)
You cannot!
Victor heaves the car through the air, battling the invisible
forces that fight to keep him back. The nose of the ECTO-1B
edges through to the soul-bridge. He smirks, painfully.
VICTOR
Cant I? Piece of advice: humans
dont like being told what to do,
you interdimensional asshole.
Oz gets back to his friends, switching to a capture stream.
Victor is almost all the way through, but is screaming in
terrible pain! Oz shouts at his fellow Ghostbusters.
OZ
Switch em up! Cross the streams!
He throws it! The other two take a second to switch up,
dropping their own streams.
GINA
He did say cross the streams,
right?
RICHARD
Yup.
He throws his, bringing his stream over to mingle with Ozs!
GINA
(shrugs)
Awesome!
She laughs like a lunatic, crossing her stream with theirs!
As they struggle against the bucking equipment, a flash of
intense white light - the light from a trap - ignites within
the portal, which slams closed with a riotous blast of
colours and sound!
The kick from the explosions knocks everyone flat, and as the
shockwave spreads, the Shulgor-forest crumbles to ash!
Many people are knocked down by the pressure wave, which also
sets off what sounds like every car alarm in the city!
109.
The expanding ash clouds fills the city blocks closest to
Central Park.
Wandering aimlessly down a street snowing ash, covered in the
stuff, is Walter Peck. Hes clearly in shock.
The team groans on the ground. The hostages are still out.
RICHARD
Seriously, how many times have we
been knocked down in the last day?
Through the pain, they begin to chuckle. They survived!
GINA
I cant believe that worked.
RICHARD
Youre telling me. If Id known
that our solution to every
dangerous problem was to create
another dangerous problem, I
wouldve stayed home.
Oz laughs too, but stops as he props himself up on an elbow
and looks to where the tree was, now an empty crater. Theres
nothing left of Shulgor - or Victors sacrifice.
DANA (O.S.)
Oscar?
She appears from behind the van, off balance but OK. She sees
the panel door of the van as she leans against the vehicle.
DANA (CONTD)
Oh.
OZ
Were fine!
He stands, battered. Richard and Gina do the same.
RICHARD
So Victor went all Darth Vader last
minute and saved us all, huh?
OZ
Pretty much.
110.
RICHARD
I guess you were right, but howd
you know? That he was still there?
OZ
I just-
RICHARD
Oh, yeah - had a feeling. Never
mind.
They join Dana at the van. Oz follows a moment later, leaving
the crater behind.
In the aftermath of what people are
already calling the Central Park
Incident, drastic moves have been
taken to quarantine the park, with
FEMA personnel assisting police in
keeping the area secure.
The dust cloud catches the earliest morning light, still
wreathing part of the city. The park is levelled, a dreary
grey and brown expanse between the canyons of the skyline.
Not a single tree grows where the forest once stood.
Efforts to ensure public safety
have been stymied by the lack of
direction coming from the
Paranormal Regulatory Commission.
NEWS REPORTER 2 (V.O.)
Until government officials are
satisfied that the site has been
decontaminated, Central Park
remains a barren wasteland in the
center of a city unsure of what to
do next.
Crowds gather to watch the relief efforts, and despite the
near-total devastation beyond the barricade and rescue
workers, spirits are high. The wrecked van is towed out -
sans panel door - as the Ghostbusters exit the park to the
chanted cheering of the New Yorkers. Thunderous applause
escorts them to emergency vehicles, where theyre looked over
by EMTs.
111.
Dana and Gina hold each other, but whereas Dana and her son
look uncomfortable with all the attention, Richard and Gina
seem to relish it. Richard does his best to look
cameraworthy, and Gina breaks away from Dana to pump her fist
with the crowd and chant Ghostbusters along with them!
GINA
Yeah! Who ya gonna call, bitches?!
On an impulse, Gina grabs Richards collar and pulls him down
for a deep kiss. After a moment, they mutually break it off
with looks of distaste - theres no chemistry here at all.
They try to hug, but instead just shake hands awkwardly.
The convoy drives off, their police escort leading the way
after the Ghostbusters get into SUVs marked PRC.
YouTube videos of the mysterious
group of Ghostbusters involved in
the incident - along with reports
and more footage of the incredible
events surrounding the paranormal
disaster yesterday - have the
Internet in an uproar.
The crowd continues to wave off the convoy ecstatically!
Of the original Ghostbusters, Drs.
Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler
have been unavailable for comment
in the days and weeks since the
disaster. However, Dr. Winston
Zeddemore has issued a statement in
the wake of the Central Park
Incident.
Snow, real this time instead of ash, is on the ground. It
gusts past a brand-new sign on the facade of the warehouse.
It reads GHOSTBUSTERS, and features Twitter, Facebook and
other social networking icons below it.
WINSTON (V.O.)
Listen, I dont know what happened
that night. At the time, it was
still a federal offense to work as
a Ghostbuster. But those men and
women who saved us all - they acted
true to the legacy of the
Ghostbusters.
112.
(MORE)
I hope that these events can help
show a simple fact that people tend
to forget from time to time. We
need these people to stand between
humanity and, well... everything
else.
I had a friend, a long time ago,
who I think said it best.
Oz is in uniform, putting the final adjustments to a huge
wall-mounted display that shows a larger version of the
spook map, complete with ley lines and PKE hotspots.
WINSTON (V.O.)
There are some things in this world
that go way beyond human
understanding. Things that cannot
be explained. That is where we come
in.
Richard sits at a terminal nearby. Hes reading a book titled
Dimensional Overlap & Reincarnation.
Gina fiddles with a piece of electronics that blinks multi-
coloured diodes.
The spook map on the wall flashes, a hotspot lighting up! The
3 Ghostbusters look up suddenly, immediately going for their
equipment. They get into a brand-new car that bristles with
exotic technology. The license plate reads ECTO-2.
The car peels out of the warehouse!
WINSTON (V.O.)
To put it another way...
As the ECTO-2 screams away, it reveals the panel door of the
van - now secured to the wall next to Venkmans portrait.
Except now, the portrait is empty!
Instead, the mural on the van door now shows the original 3
Ghostbusters in their uniforms and equipment, striking heroic
poses.
WINSTON (V.O.)
Sometimes, shit happens; and who ya
gonna call?
113.
WINSTON (V.O.) (CONT'D)
So subtly that its hard to notice, the image of Venkman
winks once!
THE END
114.

Ghostbusters 3 by Brett Caron

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