SECOND CHANCES

Screenplay by

Sean Mc Callion

Adaptation by

Tomala White

From the Book by

Charles Gillen

Tomala White
Address: 37 Rosemount Avenue
Phone Number:07749446215
 ACT I

1 EXT. DERRY - NIGHT 1

LOW ANGLE TRACKING SHOT

Starts with wide of the city and continues to track forward

through an empty town, passing back alleys. A LITTLE BOY, 10
years old, runs through the allies and streets.

As we approach an old chapel, voices begin to speak.

PAUL
Bless me Father for I have sinned,
it’s been... a very long time since
my last confession.

PRIEST
The Lord is a good shepherd my
child, and always happy to welcome
a lost sheep back into His flock.
Tell me your sins.

2 INT. CONFESSIONAL BOOTH - NIGHT 2

PAUL, a man in his 40s, is clearly out of his comfort zone as

he talks to a priest, who can barely be seen through the mesh
screen of the confessional booth.

PAUL
(exhales loudly)
Where to begin... I guess I’m just
trying to start over, I haven’t
been a very good person for most of
my life.

PRIEST
(laughing gently)
But surely you can only be as God
made you, no?

PAUL
Well, I...

PRIEST
That is to say, if God wanted you
otherwise he would’ve made you
otherwise, would he not?

PAUL
Well, yes, but-
 2.
2 CONTINUED: 2
PRIEST
(patronizing)
Unless you think He made a mistake,
is that it? Do you think God made a
mistake?

PAUL
No! I just don’t understand why-

PRIEST
(raising his voice)
Do you question the will of your
God?

PAUL
No, Father!

PRIEST
(relaxing)
Then tell me, why are you really
here?

PAUL
I don’t know. Forgiveness maybe?

PRIEST
And do you think you deserve
forgiveness?

PAUL
Does anyone?

A loud banging is heard some distance away, startling Paul.

The Priest continues as if he hasn’t heard it.

PRIEST
God’s grace is not for everyone,
and you carry darkness under your
feet Paul. You have made the
darkness your secret place, the
canopy that surrounds you. There is
no penance to be found here.

PAUL
How did you know my-

The banging is heard again, this time closer, louder and more
frantic.

PRIEST
The least of the apostles, unworthy
to be an apostle.

The banging is now almost deafening, cutting off Paul when he

tries to speak.
 3.
2 CONTINUED: 2
PRIEST (CONT'D)
You think your mother’s rosary
beads can protect you? They
couldn’t protect her.

Paul looks down at the old worn rosary beads in his hand. He
doesn’t remember bringing them. The banging continues.

PRIEST (CONT'D)
(ranting)
JOHN 8:44- “YOU BELONG TO YOUR
FATHER, THE DEVIL, AND YOU WANT TO
CARRY OUT YOUR FATHER’S DESIRES. HE
WAS A MURDERER FROM THE BEGINNING,
NOT HOLDING TO THE TRUTH, FOR THERE
IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. WHEN HE LIES,
HE SPEAKS HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE, FOR
HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF
LIES”.

PAUL
What are you saying?!

PRIEST
(still ranting)
THE ONE WHO DOES WHAT IS SINFUL IS
OF THE DEVIL, FOR THE DEVIL SINNETH
FROM THE BEGINNING!

PAUL
(straining to hear)
THE DEVIL?

The banging suddenly stops, the priest is heard softly

laughing behind the panel. He slowly leans towards the mesh,
revealing the best view of his face so far.

PRIEST
He is coming for you Paul, and he
takes many forms.

The Priest slinks back into the darkness of the booth and
starts laughing again. There is brief moment of silence
before the banging begins again, more violent than before.

3 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE, BEDROOM - NIGHT 3

The banging from Paul’s dream bleeds into reality as he

awakes in his bed with a shock. Maria, his pregnant
girlfriend is sitting upright in the bed beside him, she
slaps his chest.

MARIA
Paul! Get fucking up!

Paul gets out of bed just as the knocking stops. He raises a

hand to gently silence Maria as he listens.
 4.
3 CONTINUED: 3
MARIA (CONT'D)
(whispering)
Paul, what the hell is that? Is
there someone in the house?

Paul rushes to the closet and pulls a baseball bat from a

pile of shoes and old clothes at the bottom. He raises a
finger to his lip in Maria’s direction and mouths the words,

PAUL
(mouths the words)
I’ll go check it out.

He stands beside the closed bedroom door, bat in hand, and

turns the handle to open it while staying just off to the
side. Once the door is open he takes a quick look to make
sure the hallway is empty before stepping through the
threshold.

MARIA
(whispering)
Be careful.

He takes one last look at Maria before closing the bedroom

door.

4 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE, UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT 4

The temperature has dropped. Paul’s breath is visible. Paul

moves through the hallway cautiously, he reaches for the
light switch. It does not work.

PAUL
Great.

Suddenly, he is startled by a crashing noise from downstairs,

sounds like breaking glass. He takes a deep breath and
continues downstairs with his bat ready to swing.

5 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 5

Paul enters the living room with a quick glance from the side
before entering. Once in, he again is relieved that the room
is empty.

A cursory glance around the room reveals that something is

out of place- a picture frame from the wall has fallen face
down onto the floor. He lets out a sigh of relief and picks
up the frame. It’s a picture of Paul and Maria, all smiles.
The glass in the frame is smashed and falls as he picks it
up. He begins to pick up the broken pieces and stacks them on
the picture. A crucifix on the wall behind Paul begins to
turn upside down on its own. Paul, oblivious to this,
finishes picking up the pieces of broken glass.
 5.
5 CONTINUED: 5
As Paul leaves the living room, his relief is short lived as
something flies over his shoulder and bounces off the wall -
just missing him. This scares the bejesus out of Paul who
drops the picture frame holding the broken glass on the
floor.

MARIA
(from upstairs)
Paul? Is everything ok?

He looks down at the broken glass at his feet before turning

to investigate the object that had shattered against the
wall. Crouching to gather up the pieces, he finds it is the
same set of rosary beads from his dream.

Maria appears at the door to find Paul crouched over in a

state of shock.

MARIA (CONT'D)
What’s going on?

Paul is still fixated on the rosary beads. Maria then notices

the upside down crucifix on the wall.

MARIA (CONT'D)
What the fuck, Paul? This isn’t
funny.

Paul follows Maria’s eyeline, his eyes lock on the upside

down cross on the wall.
 6.

ACT II

6 EXT. CHURCHYARD - DAY 6

Paul enters looking for FATHER JOHN, a positive, approachable

priest from the parish, who is happy to help those who need
it. He spots Father John tidying some of the plants in the
courtyard.

PAUL
Father John?

The voice startles Father John, he jerks around to see Paul.

FATHER JOHN
Awk, hello! It’s good to see you.

PAUL
The housekeeper sent me around.

FATHER JOHN
Not a problem, what can we do for
you?

Paul does not know how to answer. Father John can see that
Paul is clearly distressed.

FATHER JOHN (CONT'D)

Tea?

7 INT. PAROCHIAL HOUSE - DAY 7

Father John pours tea from a dainty teapot for Paul.

PAUL
Basically, we don’t really feel
safe. Maria’s worried about the
stress effecting the baby as well.

FATHER JOHN
Milk?

PAUL
Yes, please. So, aye... we don’t
really feel sa-

FATHER JOHN
Sugar?
 7.
7 CONTINUED: 7
PAUL
No thank you - look Father, I know
this all sounds crazy, but trust
me, I wouldn’t be here if I thought
there was someone else that could
help me. That’s not to say, I mean…
I just know how insane it sounds.

Father John pours himself a cup while he talks.

FATHER JOHN
Regardless of anything else, it’s
good to talk to someone in times
like this, starting a new family
can be quite stressful, how are
things Maria? Biscuit?

PAUL
No thanks. Things are good, great
even. Look Father, this isn’t
stress, there are no issues between
Maria and me, that I couldn’t
handle. Most things I could handle,
what I can’t handle is bloody
rosary beads bouncing off the walls
and knocking rattling the whole
house in the middle of the night.

FATHER JOHN
I understand you’re upset, and
believe me I don’t mean to make
light of your situation, but we’re
always taught to search for
rational causes before tossing
around any supernatural theories.
History has shown that what people
once thought of as demonic
occurrences could usually be
attributed to more earthly bound
causes, mental illness,
hallucinations, stress like I said,
even structural issues in the house
itself.

PAUL
This is no structural issue,
Father.

FATHER JOHN
I see. I’ll tell you what, why
don’t I come around this evening
and give the house a blessing. It
can’t hurt and it’ll hopefully help
you and Maria get a good night’s
sleep. You’ll have enough sleepless
nights when that baby arrives.
 8.
7 CONTINUED: 7
PAUL
If you think that will help.

FATHER JOHN
And make sure Maria’s there too,
and I’ll bless the whole clan, just
to be sure.

PAUL
Thank you, Father.

Paul gets up to go, Father John walks him to the door.

FATHER JOHN
Paul, just to be clear, in the
church we’re taught that “demons”
are parables, myths used to
represent something within us that
has strayed too far from the Lord’s
light, all I can do is give a
blessing, but it’s up to you to
figure out why this is happening to
you. You may find the answer lies
rooted somewhere closer to reality
than in the heavens.

PAUL
Here’s hoping. Thanks again,
Father.

8 EXT. PAUL’S HOUSE - NIGHT 8

WE SEE FATHER JOHN APPROACHING PAUL AND MARIA’S HOUSE.

PERHAPS HE STOPS TO TAKE IN THE ENTIRE BUILDING IN A SUBTLE
HOMAGE TO THE EXORCIST.

CUT TO:

Maria opens the door to Father John, trying her best to hide
her nerves.

FATHER JOHN
Hello there, Maria! I assume Paul
said I’d be stopping by.

MARIA
He did - I hope you brought your
strongest holy water!

Father John raises his briefcase and taps the side.

FATHER JOHN
Oh yes! The good stuff!

He enters the house.

 9.

9 INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 9

Father John follows Maria into the living room, she gestures
for Father John to sit.

FATHER JOHN
So you’ve experienced things too?

MARIA
You mean, am I sure Paul’s not just
losing his mind? Aye, I’ve
experienced it too. I know he used
to be a bit of a madman, but he’s
come a long way since I found out
we were expecting, he’s really
trying, I’m just worried that this
is all gonna stress him out to the
point where he just gives up.

Maria winces and puts a hand to the side of her pregnant

bump.

MARIA (CONT'D)
Sorry Father, can you excuse me a
moment, the joys of pregnancy! Paul
should be down now.

FATHER JOHN
Of course! I’ll be fine here, you
do what you have to do.

Maria leaves.

Father John, still in a light mood despite the confirmation

of strange occurrences by Maria, takes the opportunity to
look around the living room while on his own. His eyes fall
on the upside down cross on the wall. He rolls his eyes,
expels a slight snicker, and shakes his head at the
obviousness of the imagery before stretching his hand out to
turn the cross the right way up. His dismissive demeanor soon
turns to confusion as he realizes that the cross will not
budge, no matter how hard he tries. His efforts begin to
verge on anger when Paul enters the room, startling him.

PAUL
Father, thanks for coming round.

FATHER JOHN
Not at all, I was just...
He gestures towards the cross.

PAUL
Yeah, that. Maria thought to put up
a few crosses when all this
started, I thought it was a bit
creepy myself.
(MORE)
 10.
9 CONTINUED: 9
PAUL (CONT'D)
And then they turned. I bet she
wishes she could take them down
now!

FATHER JOHN
I’m sure.

Eager to get started, Paul claps his hands together.

PAUL
Right, will we get started?

10 INT. STAIRS - NIGHT 10

Paul takes Father John upstairs, as they climb the stairs

Paul explains the spare room.

PAUL
There are small things happening
throughout the house, but the
knocking at night seems to be
coming from the spare room, well,
it’s supposed to be the baby’s
room, and it’s been freezing in
there since all this started. We
haven’t gone near it in a few days.

Paul stops at the landing and lets Father John go ahead, Paul
hangs back with Maria, intimidated by the room. Father John’s
demeanor is much more serious now than it was when he
arrived, though still not completely convinced.

FATHER JOHN
(uneasy)
Well. That seems as good a place as
any to start.

Father John approaches the door to the spare room cautiously

but stops before opening it. After a moment of hesitation, he
opens the door and slowly takes a few steps into the room.
For a second everything seems fine, but suddenly the door
slams shut on the view of Father John’s now terrified face.

Paul rushes to the door.

PAUL
Father!?

Maria stands rooted to her spot on the landing, trembling and

scared. Paul frantically but unsuccessfully tries to get the
door open.
 11.
10 CONTINUED: 10
They hear the creaking of wood and the rumble of earth as the
house itself seems to have swallowed the priest, while buried
in the sound is the groaning and breathing of something
animalistic.The banging sound from earlier can now be heard,
growing in volume and intensity until it’s clear that
something is banging on the other side of the spare room
door. A large THUMP and Paul jolts backward. Paul stands
helpless, Maria begins to cry, when suddenly the noise begins
to subside, getting quieter to the point it becomes nothing
more than a long exhaled breath. The door lazily swings open
of its own accord.

PAUL (CONT'D)
Father?

Paul cautiously approaches the room, he gets to the doorway

and peers in. He stands at the threshold, careful not to be
swallowed up by the room himself, and sees Father John from
behind on his knees, his head in his hands.

PAUL (CONT'D)
Father John, are you okay?

Father John slowly takes his head from his hands, glancing
around the room to ensure that he is in fact safe now. He
looks completely defeated, tears streaming down his face, his
faith shaken to its very core, his mind filled with horrors
that’ll remain for the rest of his life. He looks up at Paul,
his eyes screaming. Paul once more begins to ask if he is
okay but as soon as the words begin to leave his lips Father
John hurries to his feet and claws his way out of the room.
He has no direction as he escapes, his hands feeling for
anything that can propel him quicker from this entire ordeal,
almost tumbling down the stairs and out the front door.

Paul and Maria stand open mouthed at the top of the stairs,
looking down the path the Priest has just taken. Paul’s eyes
do not leave the front door, whereas Maria is able to stifle
her sobs long enough to slap the back of her hand off Paul’s
arm.

MARIA
What the FUCK was that?

CUT TO:

11 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE, DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT 11

Maria has her coat on, she is carrying a travel bag. As she
comes down the stairs Paul follows frantically behind her.

PAUL
Maria come on, we can sort this
out.
 12.
11 CONTINUED: 11
MARIA
Oh aye, sort it out, you always
sort it out don’t ye!

PAUL
What’s is that supposed to mean?

She turns to face Paul.

MARIA
I mean it’s always something Paul,
isn’t it?! If it’s not the drink
it’s the drugs, if it’s not the
drugs it’s the women, and now this?

PAUL
Now hang on, it’s hardly my fault
there’s a ghost!

MARIA
A ghost?! A GHOST?! It’s not like
Patrick fuckin’ Swayze’s up there!
There’s something DEMONIC going on
in this house, and I’ll be fucked
if I’m gonna stay here one more
night. I need to think about this
baby. Or have you forgot about that
and all?

INT. PAUL’S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Maria rushes into the living room, Paul follows her.

PAUL
Where are you going?

MARIA
My ma’s.

PAUL
Well, that’s hardly fair. I’m not
exactly welcome over there.

MARIA
At least I know we’ll be safe
there.

She motions to her bump.

PAUL
What am I supposed to do?

MARIA
I don’t know, Paul! I thought you
were gonna sort it out?! Isn’t that
what you do?
 13.
CONTINUED:
PAUL
(defiantly)
You know what? I WILL sort it out!

MARIA
You’re staying here?

PAUL
You’re damn right I am!

Paul sits down and folds his arms. His attitude is stern.

PAUL (CONT'D)
I’m gonna stay right here, ‘cause
this is MY house, and no bloody
specter is gonna chase me from it.

Maria slings her overnight bag over her shoulder and takes a
look at Paul as she turns to leave.

MARIA
Good man.

Maria leaves.
Paul stubbornly stays rooted to the spot for a few seconds as
she leaves, slamming the front door behind her. Eventually he
gets up and runs to the door after her.

PAUL
Maria!

INT. PAUL'S HOUSE, FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

Paul realizes that Maria is gone, closes the door and rests
his head against it for a moment before turning around and
grasping that fact that he is all alone in the house.

PAUL
FUUUUCCCKKK!!!!

CUT TO BLACK.
 14.

ACT III

12 INT. PAUL’S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - MORNING 12

Paul is slouched on the couch, barely awake - just staring

into space. On the table beside him there is an empty bottle
of whiskey, an empty glass and an ashtray full of cigarette
butts. He looks awful, bags under his eyes, leg trembling,
chewing his fingernails, it’s clear he hasn’t slept at all.
Suddenly a text alert causes Paul to jump out of his skin, he
grabs the phone, hoping that it is Maria. A few deep breaths,
a few light slaps across his own face, and a look of
determination comes over him.

14 EXT. EDGE OF RIVER - GOLDEN HOUR 14

We see Paul stop to rest along his journey at the edge of a

river. He gazes out over the water, tired and almost
defeated, when he feels a tugging at his sleeve. He turns to
find a little boy, who holds out a closed fist to hand Paul
something. Paul opens his hand and the boy drops a set of
rosary beads onto his palm, the same rosary beads that had
been flung across the living room. The little boy disappears
as soon as he has delivered the beads. Paul stands dumbstruck
at the sight of the rosary beads in his hand and turns to
question the boy as to their origin but finds he is alone,
very much alone. After a few seconds of scanning the area,
Paul holds the rosary beads to his face with both hands and
says an inaudible prayer.

15 EXT. OLD CHAPEL - NIGHT 15

Paul approaches the chapel, the area is peaceful, with

nothing to suggest anything may be wrong. He hesitates
anyways before entering.

INT. OLD CHAPEL - NIGHT

A priest is at the alter with his back to Paul. Paul

approaches the priest. When he gets close enough, he clears
his throat.

PAUL
Excuse me, I’m looking for Father
McLaughlin? I need his help.

The priest turns to reveal a very familiar face, in fact,

it’s the very same Priest from Paul’s nightmares. Paul begins
to stammer in terrified confusion.

PAUL (CONT'D)
But how? You’re... This can’t be!
 15.
CONTINUED:
The priest slowly grins. He approaches Paul, arms open.

PRIEST
Paul! You made it! I was beginning
to think you’d never arrive.

Paul is now backing off.

PAUL
No, no no no….this is just a dream,
YOU’RE just a dream!

PRIEST
I told you Paul, he takes many
forms.

The Priest lets out a sinister laugh.

THE END