BLAST FROM THE PAST

By
Josh Becker
Scott Spiegel
SCREEN TREATMENT
August 2, 1987
Copyright 1987

Dean is a big, blond, handsome high school senior. He is the star athlete of
Southfield High, plays football, hockey, wrestles and throws the shotput farther than anyone
in the state of Michigan. He has been going out with Suzie for three years. She is a very
pretty blonde cheerleader.
Suzie's locker is next to the locker of a short, fat, ugly fellow named Carter. He
likes Suzie and he always has. He thinks that she is way too nice for a creep like Dean. Dean
picks on Carter whenever he sees him.
Suzie loves Dean intensely. Dean, on the other hand, is bored . . .
A month into the second semester a new girl arrives at school. She's a knock-
out! She has huge blue eyes and long brown hair. She always wears dark full length dresses
from the 1920's with sequins and beads on them. Her name is Leigh and she doesn't talk to
anyone.
Everyone thinks that Leigh is way too weird. Dean thinks she's incredible. He
begins moving in on her relentlessly, ignoring and humiliating Suzie. Leigh is cold and
unresponsive.
One day, after many attempts on Dean's part, Leigh turns and talks to him. She
asks if he has a video machine and camera that she can borrow to do a school project. Dean
quickly offers to help. Leigh looks at him for a long moment, then accepts.
Dean arrives at her house that evening with his video equipment. Leigh's parents
are not home. She says that her dad is in the military -- a colonel -- and is rarely home. Her
mom often stays with "relatives."
They go downstairs to her bedroom. It is very large and brightly lit. There are
many dark black and white photographs covering the wall that she says she took. Dean sets
up the camera and Leigh begins doing a montage of her photographs.
Dean looks around her room and sees a lot of weird things: books on witches and
the occult, medical books, the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavadgita, the Upanishads and only
spoken word records -- no music.
Dean waits for the right moment and kisses her. Before he knows it they're
having wild screaming sex. Afterward he feels great and she is brooding. She says that he
has to go.
When Dean gets home he calls her. She answers in a very sleepy voice. He tells
her that he had a really great time. She says that she has to go to sleep and hangs up.
Leigh is not in school the next day. Dean tries to call her and there's no answer.
Leigh does not show up for the rest of the week. He calls and calls over the next several days
and finally gets a recording that says the line is disconnected.
A package arrives at Dean's house. It's his video equipment (which has his name
and address on it). In the video machine is a tape. Dean watches it and sees Leigh's rather
poorly done montage. Suddenly the picture scrambles. When it returns it's Leigh's empty
bedroom. Leigh steps into frame from behind the camera and sits down on the bed. She says
that there has always been a list of things that she wanted to accomplish in her life. The last
thing on the list was to have sex. She did that tonight. She picks up a razor blade, puts it to
her wrist and cuts deeply into it. Blood begins to squirt out. She repeats the procedure on the
other wrist. Blood pours out onto the sheets. And then the phone rings. She slowly answers
it and it is Dean. Leigh says that she's sleepy and hangs up. She stumbles up to the camera,
says goodbye and shuts it off.
Dean is freaked out of his skull. He actually goes into a mild form of shock and
misses several weeks of school. Suzie comes to see him all the time and takes care of him.
In a month Dean is back in school and participating in all the things he used to do, but
something about him has changed. His carefree attitude is gone. There's now a coldness in
his eyes.
School ends and Dean decides not to go to college, but to marry Suzie instead.
He gets a managerial position that pays okay, but when a child arrives it's a strain. The
second child poses a bigger strain. Dean doesn't sleep well. He screws up at work and his
marriage is falling apart. And then Suzie gets pregnant again.
Ten years has gone by. Dean's high school reunion is announced. Dean says he
doesn't want to go. Suzie thinks it would be good for him. She buys the ticket and makes
plans for him to go with a few of his old football buddies. She stays with the kids.
The first thing he and his buddies see when they arrive at the Hilton Hotel is the
school loser, Tom Francis, pull up in a Mercedes-Benz. After a few drinks Dean starts to
loosen up and laugh a little. He sees Carter Agree who is now a police detective. This makes
Dean laugh a lot.
Suddenly the crowd parts and there stands Leigh! She is stunning. Her hair is
different and she's wearing white. Dean drops his drink. She steps up to Dean and kisses
him.
She explains that her suicide attempt failed -- obviously. She should have been
in a tub full of hot water. Her parents quickly moved and had her hospitalized. She tried
again and was stopped. She was then institutionalized in Zurich. She finally began to
improve, and all the while she's been thinking of Dean. She moved back to town, got an
apartment and looked him up. She found out that he was married, so she decided to wait and
see him at the reunion to not cause him any trouble.
Something comes alive in Dean that he hasn't felt in ten years. He and Leigh
have a wonderful time. Carter sees Leigh as she and Dean are just leaving. He is as
astounded as Dean was.
She and Dean go back to her place. Their sex is grand and glorious and wild and
screaming. Afterward she says that she has dreamed of this many times. She also dreamed
of them remaining together forever.
Dean gets home at 7:30 A.M. as his eldest child is leaving for school. Suzie just
knows that Dean has been screwing around. She is furious. She tells him to get out. Dean
leaves.
He goes back to Leigh's. She is wild, but strange and erratic. He's not so sure he
wants to leave his family for an unstable woman. He also doesn't want to go home. Leigh
goes out and Dean looks around her apartment. He finds a small room covered with
photographs of him. There are also shots of Suzie and the kids. Leigh comes in and finds
him. She explains that it's just part of her obsession with him. Now Dean knows that Leigh
is too weird to deal with.
Dean checks into a hotel. He calls Suzie and she hangs up on him. He reaches
for the phone to call her again and it rings. It is Leigh. She says she'll never let him go.
Dean is deeply tormented. He calls Suzie again and begs forgiveness. She softens and says
she'll think about it.
After work the next day Dean goes home. He walks in and finds Suzie sitting at
the kitchen table with Leigh.
Leigh smiles. "Your husband is the best fuck I've ever had."
Suzie freaks out. She takes the kids and leaves. Dean tells Leigh to get out of
his life forever. Leigh looks at him insanely and says that she is a witch. She says that she'll
cast a curse on him.
"Bullshit!" says Dean.
"Oh yeah? How about that miscarriage Suzie had? How about the car wreck in
the Chevy? How about your dad dying? Be at my place tonight."
Dean is at his wit's end. He goes to her place early and she's not there. He rips
the place apart and finds files on him. Every piece of information she said is there. Dean
waits for her. When she arrives he throws the file at her.
"Witch my ass!" he yells. "You're just a fucking psycho. Well you're done
fucking up my life. I'm never going to see you again!"
Leigh threatens to kill herself.
Dean looks at her. "Do it! Stop trying and do it!"
Leigh says that she'll never stop loving him. She'll keep trying to get him
forever.
Dean goes home. Suzie and the kids are gone. Leigh calls.
"Please come back," she pleads. "Please . . ."
"Fuck you!"
"You have."
"Die!"
"Not if you want me to. Never!"
Dean goes out and gets smashed. On his fourth double scotch he gets an idea.
He goes back to Leigh's. She answers the door and is surprised to see him. He
kisses her. He says that his wife and kids are gone for good. He's here to stay. Leigh is
happy to hear it.
Dean goes into the bathroom and finds the tub is full of steaming water. He
opens the medicine cabinet, takes out a bottle of sleeping pills and dumps four in his hand.
He comes out and makes them both drinks. He dumps all four capsules into hers. They drink
and Dean is very tender. Soon Leigh is sleepy and passes out.
Dean gently picks her up and carries her into the bathroom. As he lowers her
into the steaming water in the bathtub she awakens. Dean pushes her face under the water.
They are looking into each other's eyes.
"You should've died the first time," says Dean.
Leigh's hand slides up the wall to the soap dish. Her fingers move under the bar
of soap and grasp a razor blade. She slashes deeply into Dean's arm. Dean recoils in pain
and Leigh springs out of the water, gasping for air, the blade ready to slash again.
Leigh laughs. "If you just hadn't shown up I was all set to kill myself tonight."
"Sure. Just like all the other times."
"I would've succeeded tonight. You see the tub was full, the razor blade was
here, the suicide note's on the table."
Dean turns to where the note is supposed to be and Leigh follows his look. He
starts to move, then turns back and knocks the blade out of her hand. He grabs her by the
throat.
"You can't be trusted to get this done yourself. I'm going to live happily ever
after. Without you!"
He shoves her face back under the water. She struggles for a moment, then
relaxes and smiles. She mouths the words, "I . . . Love . . . You . . . ," inhales water and
drowns.
Dean rolls up his sleeves and puts on his coat. He sees the suicide note. He
reads it and it says nothing about him. He chuckles and drops it back on the table.
Dean goes home and finds his wife and kids there. He tells them he's home for
good and everything will be like it was before. Suzie asks how he cut his arm? He says that
he got drunk and was mugged. He'll be fine. Everything is okay now. She dresses his
wound and he goes to sleep. Suzie looks in his wallet and finds $87.00 in cash.
Dean goes to work the next day. There is a strange look in his eyes that
everyone notices. It's a little scary.
He gets home after work, goes inside and no one is there. He hears someone
talking. As he walks toward the family room he recognizes the voice -- it's Leigh! He gasps
in panic. He steps into the family room and sees that the TV is on. Leigh is talking on the
screen. She is explaining why she is going to commit suicide. A knock comes from off
screen. Leigh answers the door and it's Dean. He's smashed . . .
Dean dives for the video tape machine. He stops it and ejects the tape. When he
turns around there stands Suzie.
Dean stares at her coldly. "You ever tell anyone you saw this and you'll be next.
I swear to God."
Carter Agree and two other policemen step out of the kitchen.
Dean freaks out. He pulls the tape out of the cassette and shreds it, then breaks
the cassette over his knee.
"Now what are you going to do?"
Carter shrugs. "That was a dupe."
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