2. INT.REPOSING ROOM - INTRO - SETTING THE SCENE
We open on close ups of a shoe lace being tied, a neck bow
being tied, gloves being put on, pocket watch put in
place, hair being combed. It is then revealed in a wide
shot / birds eye view that a dead body is being dressed,
and lain in a casket at a funeral home, ready for the
visitation. A middle age man, Lets call him HUBERT, is
sitting at the caskets side, putting final cosmetically
touches to the deceased’s face. A teenage girl, MAUDE, is
sitting at the foot of the casket, calmly polishing the
shoes. She is clearly used to being around dead bodies.
CUT TO:
TITLE
Sounds of coffin being put in car, car engine starting.
BOB
Bye then Maude.
See title ’Morgue’
GRAPHIC MATCH:(BLACK SCREEN TO BLACK OF HEARSE)
EXT.FUNERAL HOME.DAY
MAUDE is sitting on the steps to the fuenal home, watching
the hearse drive away, waves. Walks out into street.
INT.FLORIST.DAY
MAUDE is in florist. Walks up to till.
MAUDE
Mornin’ Mr. Morrow.
MR. MORROW
Ah yes. Funeral... Bailey’s. Here
you go.
Mr. Morrow passes over a large tray of flowers.
MAUDE
Tankoo. Oh, ma wanted to ask you
to tonights party.
EXT. FLORIST. DAY
Maude exits shop, under the pile of flowers, and walks
down the streets, with difficulty. See her walking to
church. Goes in to church, where VICAR is setting up for
the afternoons funeral.
(CONTINUED)
3. CONTINUED: (2) 2.
MAUDE
Helloo. Brought the flowers.
VICAR
Just in the knick of time.
MAUDE
Sorry.
VICAR
Gabrielle! Flowers!
A nervous looking woman, Gabrielle, takes them and begins
to arrange them. Maude begins to leave.
VICAR (cont’d)
See you tonight.
MAUDE leaves through the large church doors. She takes a
to do list out of her pocket, and walks through the grave
yard, occasionally looking up from the paper to the
graves, nodding at some of them in recognition ( many of
the people buried there she prepared for funeral).
INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT.
calm music plays, MAUDE makes cake.
cross cuts to DIMPY preparig her face for the party,
HUBERT sets out drinks/talks to wait staff.
CUT TO:
INT. PARTY. NIGHT.
We see Maude, carrying a tray, enter the sitting room
where the party is in full screen, attended by funnel
workers (hearse driver, florist, vicar, grave digger,
choirists)
INT.KITCHEN.DAY
It is morning. Maude and Dimpy are sitting at the kitchen
table, eating breakfast. Dippy is very hung over from last
night’s party. There is suddenly a cacophony from the
hall. HUBERT rushes in holding a letter. He points at it
and widens his eyes at Dimpy, who removes her elaborate
sun glasses.
DIPMPY
They haven’t? Us?
HUBERT
Mmmhmm.
(CONTINUED)
4. CONTINUED: (2) 3.
DIMPY
Us???
HUBERT
Mmmhmmm!
DIMPY
When?
She reaches for letter and reads is ecstatically.
HUBERT
Day after tomorrow. Eight pm it
starts.
DIMPY
Oh I knew we were better than the
Hollies funeral home, I knew it!
HUBERT
Only tickets for me and your mum
I’m afraid Maude.
DIMPY
We’ll be on TV!
EXT. SCHOOL. DAY.
Maude is walking through her school courtyard with two
fellow pupils, who are all laughing happily together.
MAUDE
...and then his finger fell off!
JULIET
I can’t believe they’re going to
be on TV.
URMAN
Dad watches every year.Obsessed.
JULIET
Hey, Miss. Claude says you can
help with the costumes.
MAUDE
Oh great! Do you want to come to
mine to plan them.
JULIET and URMAN look at eachother uncrtainly.
JULIET
Err yeah.. or we could just do it
at break one day.
(CONTINUED)
5. CONTINUED: (2) 4.
URMAN
Room two is free.
MAUDE
Sure.
JULIET and URMAN smile and depart.
MAUDE (cont’d)
Sounds good. (looks a trifle
miffed)
INT. MORGUE. DAY.
MAUDE and HUBERT dress a body. HUBERT is adding cosmetics
to the face, MAUDE polishes the shoes.
HUBERT
So we will only be away for a
couple of days, sorry you can’t
come darling.
MAUDE
No, thats ok.
HUBERT
But hey, you’ll watch on TV,
we’ll be on TV! I wonder if
Castro Du Mont will be there
MAUDE
Castro...
HUBERT
Castro Du Mont, the world famous
grave digger, his biceps...
DIMPY enters.
DIMPY
Hugh, when your done come and
look over Dimplebee’s will, i
cant figure out if he wants
cheddar or eementile.
Parents exit. MAUDE looks at the dead body.
MAUDE
hello... I’d go with cheddar.
She removes a button from his cuff and pockets it.
pats him on the hand. Nods at him.
Exit MAUDE.
6. 5.
INT. MAUDE’S ROOM. DAY.
Close up of the worktop as MAUDE works the button into a
mobile.
INT.REPOSING ROOM.
Maude is sitting by a casket, looking at the person
inside. She is reading through the dead boys’s last will
and testament. She talks half to him, half to herself,
about how weird it was that such young people died, and
how nice he seemed. A lightbulb switches on
(metaphorically).
INT.ATTIC ROOM
We are on a close up of Maude’s face. We can see a bit of
the background but it is out of focus.
MAUDE
I’ve always been fascinated by
Frankenstein and his monster.
Life out of death. Working in a
funeral home you get so
habituated with the permanency of
death. But Frankenstein ignores
that. He has hope. My parents
don’t believe in God. I don’t
either. But it seems strange that
something which was living one
second can just... stop. And
never be brought back. That
there’s no hope after death? I
wanted to be Frankenstein, with
that hope, and intellect... and
frankly inappropriate disregard
to the dead, taking them out of
their grave and sticking them
together with people they may not
much have liked, and bringing
them back to life, but not as
themselves. I don’t know how to
do that. But I’d like to bring
you back.
We then focus on the background and see she has been
talking to the dead boy. We then see her building a
machine, and sticking it to him. She is not trying to
bring him back to life but to animate him. She succeeds,
and with a remote makes him stand up. He "introduces"
himself as Morgue.
7. 6.
MAUDE AND MORGUE
We then see Maude and Morgue going to museums, baking,
talking, eating pick-nicks (Morgue being attacked by
crows, Maude calmly flapping them away)
BACK HOME
In the end they have to return to the funeral home, and
prepare him for the funeral. Resolution? A realisation?
