SCARED ETHEL! Excerpt - written by Gordon Blitz
Tagline: Someone is attempting to murder Ethel, a nasty 80-year old woman. The suspects are her housekeeper, her caregiver, her attorney and her son, or could it be her detective boyfriend?
INT. ETHEL’S BEDROOM –EVENING.
An elderly woman is sitting in bed. On her nightstand there are bottles of medicine. On the other nightstand, there is a decanter of water and ice. A salad and salad dressing decanter are also on the table. A TEENAGE BOY is holding a pizza in a box.
ETHEL
Don’t just stand there. Let me see if you made
the pizza correctly.
He opens the box and shows the pizza to Ethel.
ETHEL
Where are all the mushrooms? I only see five,
and there’s not enough sauce.
TEENAGER
Sorry about it.
The teenager stands near Ethel expecting a tip. She
ignores him.
ETHEL
Don’t even think about getting a tip. Just get out
of here.
He whispers fuck and leaves the bedroom. Ethel places the pizza on the nightstand. As soon as he leaves, the landline phone rings. Ethel picks up the receiver and immediately starts talking.
ETHEL
Who is this? Who is this? Oh, stop with the heavy breathing! I'm an old woman. You're not scaring me.
She slams the receiver down. The phone rings again, and Ethel picks up the receiver.
ETHEL (CONT'D)
Stop bothering me! What do you mean, you're in the house? There's no one here. Are you threatening me?
She hangs up. She grabs a sandwich off the nightstand, uses a knife to cut it,
but after one bite, she spits it out. She tries the salad and spits that out, too.
She has a bell that she rings, no one responds.
ETHEL (CONT'D)
(angrily)
Why is there no salad dressing? All this fucking help and no one gets it right. I should fire them all!
She spots a large salad dressing container. She grabs it and pours some dressing
on her salad. The phone rings again. She picks up the receiver
ETHEL (CONT'D)
If you don't stop calling here, I'm going to call my boyfriend. He’s a detective. What do you mean, I better watch out? This reminds me of that scene from the film, When A Stranger Calls. Carol Kane gets this call from a man who is in the house and is going to murder her! . . .
She slams the receiver down, and ignores the subsequent ringing. A creeping sound is heard followed by footsteps. As we hear the sound of the door opening, the screen suddenly goes dark. The sound of a scuffle is heard. Ethel screams.
ETHEL (CONT'D)
Get away from me!
We hear a thump to the floor and the sound of kicking followed by the sound of broken glass and water sloshing on the floor.