SCREAM 5

INT. COFFEE TABLE, A BOOK, CELL PHONE

(Phone rings)

(Phone rings second time)

(Footsteps) then phone picked up, woman is SIDNEY. She answers the phone.

SIDNEY: Hello?

VOICE (clearly Ghostface): Hello.

SIDNEY, NONPLUSSED: Hi there, who is this?

VOICE: Who is this?

SIDNEY, not skipping a beat: No thanks! (hangs up, clicks phone to vibrate)

Sidney tosses the cell phone nonchalantly onto the couch and walks toward the kitchen, picks up remote, we realize the TV is on, she hits un-mute. Baseball game, voices of sports announcers. In kitchen, pulls cutting board from cabinet, and knife. Then pauses. Picks remote back up, hits mute. We realize the phone on the couch is vibrating. Someone is calling.

Vibrate, beat, vibrate, beat. Then it stops. She smirks, bemused. She stands motionless, turns away from the couch but clearly she's distracted. Then we hear the vibrate. Again.

SIDNEY walks over to couch, answers phone.

SIDNEY: What can I do for you?

VOICE (Ghostface's voice): Sorry I think we got disconnected, is this Sidney Prescott?

SIDNEY: Well that depends on who's calling, I'll give you two—

VOICE: Yes, sorry, hi, this is Jake at Cam Mart, just calling to let you know your prescription's ready?

SIDNEY is clearly confused. Pauses. Silence.

VOICE: Hello?

SIDNEY: Sure, right, er… sorry. My prescription's ready. I mean, thanks. What are Cam Mart's hours tomorrow?

VOICE: Our pharmarcy's hours are 10-6.

SIDNEY: Okay… (her brow is furrowed, she KNOWS this is ghostface's voice. THE voice. But this is far from a menacing phone call.)

VOICE: OK! See you soon. (DIAL TONE).

SIDNEY sets the cell phone back down on the coffee table, slowly. Distracted. It must be that the pharmacist's voice just sounds too much like ghostface's. An unfortunate coincidence. She turns from the coffee table back towards the kitchen when she hears it: cell phone vibrating on wood. She just stares at the phone before answering.

VOICE: Xanax.

SIDNEY: …Yeah?

VOICE: The prescription is Xanax. I forgot to mention that.

SIDNEY, clearly confused and growing distraught: OK… I'm sure you know I know that. You didn't need to call back.

VOICE: I didn't?

SIDNEY: Nope, listen, Jake right? Thank you for the call, I appreciate it. I'll swing by tomorrow. Thanks again—

VOICE: Don't hang up.

SIDNEY: Come again?

VOICE: Do not hang up the phone.

SIDNEY (breaking into a huge smile): Ah see! Here we go. Now the "Stab" shit starts. THIS I'm familiar with.

VOICE: I'm not sure what—

SIDNEY: Here, let me find the words for you: What's your favorite scary movie? Do you want to die tonight? This is the last person you'll ever see alive. The question isn't who am I, it's WHERE AM I? I dare you to answer the door. I want to play a game.

VOICE: (silence)

SIDNEY: Speechless, huh? Did I take all the words right from out of your mouth? I'm so—

VOICE: What is "Stab shit"?

SIDNEY (smiling): You know. "Stab". That shitty little horror movie that came out about 10 years ago? The same one you've seen about 50 times and memorized like the back of your fake-blood-soaked hand?

VOICE: Can't say I'm familiar.

SIDNEY: Oh yeah? Because I gotta say you've gotten the voice down perfectly, Jake.

VOICE: I'm obviously not "Jake".

SIDNEY: Obviously. I'm hanging up now.

VOICE: Go for it. I'll call you back in 4 seconds.

SIDNEY hangs up. Not a split second later, the phone vibrates loudly. SIDNEY is startled and answers.

VOICE: Tell me about "Stab".

SIDNEY (looking bored, not at all in danger): It's a very bad, unentertaining slasher flick. Is there anything else I can do for you tonight?

VOICE: I'm not a big fan of horror films.

SIDNEY: Is that so.

VOICE: What's "Stab" about?

SIDNEY: You're kidding me right? Listen, "Not Jake", I'm going to hang up one last time and you're not going to call me back because—

VOICE: You should know I'm outside your house.

SIDNEY'S heart sinks. This is too familiar. She immediately looks out her bay window.

SIDNEY: Come again?

VOICE: I feel like it wouldn't be fair to you if I didn't just come out and tell you I'm standing in your driveway.

SIDNEY: ….

VOICE: I've been standing in your driveway for the last 20 minutes.

SIDNEY is looking hard out of the bay window, she finds the light switch to illuminate the driveway and immediately flicks it AND…

Driveway's empty.

SIDNEY: Whoops! I'm afraid I don't see anybody in the driveway, "Not Jake", but listen, this has been very entertaining for me as I'm sure it's been—

VOICE: Is "Stab" your favorite scary movie?

SIDNEY: Christ, you could at least try to be original, man.

VOICE: I'm not sure what you mean.

SIDNEY: "What's your favorite scary movie?" You've seriously never heard that one before.

VOICE: I already told you I don't like horror movies. So I'm not really the type to have a "favorite" scary movie. I'm more of a "romantic comedy" guy.

SIDNEY: I'm sure you are. Bye now.

SIDNEY hangs up and goes back to the kitchen to get the knife.

Clutching the knife she walks back to the coffee table where the phone lies. Complete silence. She checks the window again, empty driveway. Still silence. We fully expect the phone to ring at any second. It doesn't.

Impulsively, SIDNEY picks up the phone and returns the call.

VOICE: Hello?

SIDNEY: Where are you, asshole?

VOICE: Ouch.

SIDNEY: You're not in my driveway and my house is all locked up like a fucking panic room so go ahead and tell me right now where—

VOICE: No it's not.

SIDNEY: No it's not what?

VOICE: Your house isn't all locked up.

SIDNEY: Fuck you. Prove it.

VOICE: I already proved it, Sidney. I'm in your bedroom.

In one move SIDNEY drops the phone, and runs for the front door completely panicked. Running through the door she hits the security alarm, it starts blaring LOUD.

She gets to her car in the driveway, gets in, starts up the engine. It won't start at first. She panics. It finally starts, and she speeds away.

A few minutes pass and she hears a phone ringing. It's coming from the glove box. She opens it and finds a phone, not hers. Picks it up, looks at it, throws it back in the glove box, closes the glove box.

A few seconds pass. It starts ringing again. She answers it.

SIDNEY: Fuck off, asshole, the cops are going to trace this number and your ass will be in jail before the night's over.

VOICE: Listen, Sidney, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you pull the car over for a few minutes so I can catch up with you.

SIDNEY: Right. You sound really invested in this act but let's just cut to the part where you're revealed to be a fucked up relative from my distant or not-so-distant past.

VOICE: Believe it or not, Sidney, I actually don't know anything about you.

SIDNEY: I don't believe you.

VOICE: It's true. I don't. I don't want to know anything about you. It makes it easier.

SIDNEY: It makes WHAT easier.

VOICE (now not on the phone but from the back seat): This.

GHOSTFACE stabs Sidney in the neck and immediately blood sprays across the driver side window and the windshield. The car swerves out of control , slams hard into an embankment, flips and lands on its hood.

Total silence except for the steam emitting from the overturned vehicle. Then the sound of punched broken glass and Sidney crawling from the driver side window. Very quickly bleeding to death, an enormous gash across her neck but still somehow moving.

SIDNEY crawls out into the street and following up behind her we hear footsteps. Pan out to reveal Ghostface standing beside Sidney's struggling body. He kneels down beside her just as she takes her last, gurgled breath. She collapses flat onto the pavement. Ghostfaces grabs her and drags her dead body across the street and props her body up against a mailbox. As Ghostface's back turns to leave the scene we see the mailbox reads "THE RILEYS" then the camera lowers down, last shot on Sidney's lifeless gaze.

SCREAM 5