"Ghosts" est un moyen métrage de 38 minutes qui a été présenté
en avant-première dans un théâtre aux Etats Unis, en Autômne 1996. Il
a ensuite été révélé au monde entier par Michael en personne chez
nous en France lors du 50ème Festival de Cannes, en Mai 1997 (légèrement
modifié).
Le film a été mis en vente en cassette vidéo en 1997 partout dans le
monde. L'histoire a été co-écrite par Michael Jackson et le fameux écrivain
Stephen King. Il a été dirigé par le grand Stan Winston (oscarisé) qui
a notamment travaillé les effets spéciaux pour "Terminator",
"Aliens", "Jurassic Park" ou encore "Edouard aux
mains d'argent".
LE SCRIPT ET LES DIALOGUES
It's night and dark out. Shot of a sign that reads
'Welcome to Normal Valley'. A group of people carrying burning tourches
walk towards a house. They stop in front of a gate, beside which is a
sign that reads 'Someplace Else'.
Black boy: Why don't we just leave him alone?
White young boy: He hasn't hurt anybody. Can't we just go?
White older boy: [Slaps his younger brother's head] Your fault
jerk! Couldn't keep your mouth shut.
White mother: [Slaps the older brother] He did the right thing.
Mayor: He's a weirdo. There's no place in this town for weirdos.
The gates open.
Black man: [scared] See, that . . .that. . .that. . .that
ain't a good sign!
They walk in the gates, and the doors to the house
in front of them open.
White young boy: (to his older bother) Just like last
time. It's the ghost!
White older boy: [Slaps his brother again] Shut up!
White mother: [Slaps the older brother again] Don't hit your
brother!
Black boy's mother: (to her son) There is no such thing as ghosts,
honey.
Mayor: (to black boy) I'm gonna prove it to you kid. Let's go!
The mayor leads them in.
White woman 2: [Nervous] Did anyone call and make sure
this is a good time . . . ? Maybe we should come back later . . .
Black woman 2: Yeah, like when it's light out . . . you know,
like daytime.
They walk all the way into the house. The doors
close behind them. Lightening strikes.
Black man: [really scared] Oh damn!
They walk along a corridor and the door in front
of them closes. Another door opens, and they walk in there. They come
into a big hallroom. They all scream as a raven flies over their heads
and disappear into darkness.
Villagers: What was that??
They see a flick of a black cape disappear where
the raven landed. Lightening strikes and for a split second they see a
person standing there. They walk a bit closer and suddenly see the
person's face: a scull!
They all jump and the skelleton with the black cape walks towards them.
But to their relief the 'skelleton' is only a mask which the person
takes off, and they discover the Maestro's face behind it.
Maestro: Did I scare you?
Woman: Uh-huh!!
Black boy: That's him mom!
Black boy's mother: I see.
White young boy: Hi!
White older boy: Sorry...
Mayor: No you didn't scare me. Maybe you scared them, but you
didn't scare me.
Maestro: [Smiles] Well that's too bad isn't is? I guess I have to
try harder next time.
Mayor: There won't be a next time.
Maestro: Oh really?
Mayor: Oh really.
Maestro: No next time huh? Why is that?
Mayor: We want you out of town. We have a nice normal town.
Normal people. Normal kids. We don't need freaks like you telling them
ghoststories.
Maestro: So you don't believe in ghosts?
Black boy: I do!
Black woman 2: Me too!
Black boy's mother: Hush up! You see what you've done? Aren't you
ashamed? Young people are impressionable!
White young boy: Show them the neat stuff you did for us!
White older brother: [Slaps his brother] Shut up, that's supposed
to be a secret!
White mother: [Slaps the older brother] Don't hit your brother!
"Something" slaps the mothers head. They
all look scared.
Mayor: You're weird. You're strange. And I don't like you. You're
scaring these kids, living up here all alone..
Maestro: I'm not alone. And you're right, I do like scaring
people, yes. But it's just for fun! Don't you kids. . . uh. . . enjoy
when. . . I do my little. . . you know. . .
The kids smile and nod.
Mayor: But the fun's over. Back to the circus you freak!
And do yourself a favour, ok, don't force us to get rough with you,
'cause we will if we have to.
The rest of the villagers begin to protest a
little.
Maestro: You're trying to scare me, aren't you? I'll tell
you what, we'll play a game. [rises his voice] Anybody here like playing
games? Hello?! [claps] GAMETIME!
The kids smile.
White older brother: Yes!
Maestro: The first person who gets scared has to leave. How about
that?
White woman 2: I'll go please!
Mayor: I don't play games with freaks.
Maestro: There's no need to be rude.
White woman 2: Yes, I agree, there's no need to be rude. You have
a very lovely home, but I'm afraid we overstayed our welcome, so we're
gonna go, ok, can we go...?
The Maestro snaps and points at her. She stops
talking.
Mayor: Are you gonna leave, or am I gonna have to hurt you?
Maestro: You ARE trying to scare me, I guess I have no choice. I
guess I have to scare you. Watch this! [laughs] Tell me, do you think
this is scary?
He pulls a face and the kids start to laugh.
Black woman: Is that it?
Mayor: That's ridiculous! That's not funny.
Maestro: Ok fine, what about this one?
He pulls another face and the kids laugh again.
White mother: Is that it?
Maestro: Did that scare you?
Mayor: Did you hear what I said? Freaky boy, it's time for you to
go.
Maestro: [angry voice] Is THIS scary?
The Maestro grabs his skin by the eyes and mouth
and pulls it out. The Villagers gasp and scream. He takes his chin and
pulls down his jaw, the Villagers scream louder and back up.
Black kid: Wow!!
The Maestro grabs his skin again and tears his
whole face off, only the scull is left. He then knocks on both sides if
his head, the scull breaks and his own face shows up again. The
Villagers run towards the the door, but he closes it before they get a
chance to escape. The black man starts to sob.
Maestro: Are we going somewhere? Hello?! It's too late,
you're my guests! [smiles] And by the way, did I tell you I wasn't alone?
Meet the family!
Lots of ghosts appear. Maestro leads them in a
humouros dance routine without music, which the kids enjoy, and then
they start to dance to the song 2 Bad.
2 BAD
Told me that you're doin' wrong
Word out shockin' all alone
Cryin' wolf ain't like a man
Throwin' stones to hide your hand
You ain't done enough for me
You ain't done enough for me
You are disgustin' me, yeah yeah
You're aiming just for me
You are disgustin' me
Just want your cut from me
But too bad, too bad
Look who just walked in the place
Dead and stuffy in the face
Look who's standing if you please
Though you tired to bring me to my kneew
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you just scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you just scream and shout it
Hell all up in Hollywood
Sayin' that you got it good
Creepin' from a dusty hole
Tales of what somebody told
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you just scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you just scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you just scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you scream and shout it
Too bad too bad about it
Why don't you just scream and shout it
Half way through the song the ghosts start to
climb the walls and walk upsidedown on the roof. All the villagers
except the Mayor seem to enjoy the show and have a good time.
The music stops, the Maestro rips his clothes off, turns into a
skelleton and dances to the song Ghosts. The Mayor looks scared to death.
The skelleton pulls the Mayor towards him and then jumps up on a shelf
on the wall. He turns the ghosts into some really scary looking - rotten
- ghosts who start to mob the Mayor. Everybody gets scared.
They start to dance to 2 Bad again and the villagers seem to have fun
again.
The Mayor tries to escape as the ghosts surround him. Maestro-skelleton
snaps and they stop. He jumps down from the wall, spins around in the
air and turns into a huge scary rotten looking version of the Maestro -SUPERGHOUL.
Superghoul: Are you scared yet? "hehehe"
The SUPERGHOUL opens the Mayor's mouth and flies
into him. He posesses him. He's inside of him and he makes the Mayor
dance. The Mayor tries to stop, but can't, he just keeps dancing.
Mayor: STOOOOOP!!!
The Mayor's stomach starts to make some funny
noices, and suddenly an arm (the Superghoul's) holding a mirror pops out
of it. The Mayor looks at himself in the mirror, and turns into a ugly
looking version of himself - GHOUL MAYOR.
Ghoul Mayor: Who's scary now? Who's the freak now?
Freakyboy! Freak circus freak! Who's scary? "HAHAHA" Who's
weird now?
He drops the mirror on the floor and the
Superghoul flies out of his mouth again. The Mayor looks exhausted. He
puts on his glasses and looks up at the Maestro (who's back to his
normal self again). The Maestro smiles. He walks around the Mayor and
then makes a bow.
Maestro: So, do you still want me to go?
Mayor: Yes! yes!
Maestro: Fine, I'll go.
The Maestro bangs his hands and head into the
floor and crumbles into dust. The winds sweeps the rest of him away. The
Villagers look sad and the kids cry.
Mayor: Good riddance. Let's go! Let's go!
The Villagers hesitate. The kids look at the place
the Maestro disappeard.
Mayor: Let's go!! I showed that freak.
The Mayor open the door, and the Superghoul's face
peakes out of the entire door!
The Mayor get terrified, turns in his tracks and legs towards a closed
window. He runs right through it and only leaves a pattern of his body
in the window. The Maestro walks to the Villagers.
Maestro: Did I scare you?
Everybody start to talk in each others mouth's.
They laugh and tell about all that's just happened. "For a minute
there I thought I was gonna lose it!" blah..blah..blah...
Maestro: But did we have a good time here? [big grin]
Hello?!
Everybody: Yeah!
As the Villagers continue to talk about their
experiences, a shadow sneaks up behing the Maestro's back. He can't see
anything, but he notices the scared looks in the Villager's eyes.
The Maestro: What?
One of the woman points at the shadow behind the
Maestro. He slowly turns around, sees a scull face and jumps back. The
mask comes off and they see that it's only a couple of the kids having
fun with them.
White young boy: Did I scare ya?
The Maestro: No. Well, maybe.. How about that? Maybe! [smiles]
The Maestro lifts the boy off the other boy's
shoulders.
Older white brother: Excuse me? Excuse me, yeah, um.. Is
THIS scary?
He takes his hands to his mouth like the Maestro
did earlier when he pulled his skin off.
Shot from outside the house. We hear eveyone scream.
the End