[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
[GROANING]
Honey, it's family hour.
There must be something on.
Oh, wow! Candy critters.
Oh! Oh, great!
It's Monsters, our favorite show.
Shh, it's starting.
[LAUGHING]
[BATS SQUEAKING]
[DOOR CREAKING]
[WATER RUNNING]
[SIGHING]
Okay.
Where were we?
[BLOWING]
October 25th.
I moved in here about a week ago.
Until now, I've had no real assurance
this was his house.
All I've had to go on were some...
vague old letters
and the real estate agent's educated guess.
But this afternoon,
buried in a dank closet,
[CHUCKLING] under years of forgotten junk,
I found the proof I needed.
It's like...
someone put the box there for me to find.
I am now convinced
that I found his private Hollywood retreat.
A sanctuary,
where he secretly worked
on his most memorable characters.
I'm about to embark on a journey
which will lead me to the source of his genius.
A journey into the mind of the great,
the immortal...
[KNOCKING AT DOOR]
Oh! Pristine.
My angel.
Dale.
[CHUCKLING]
This neighborhood gives me the creeps.
Yeah, it's great, isn't it?
I can't believe you'd rather live in a dump like this instead of...
Instead of your place.
It could be our place.
It would always be your place.
Besides, what better place than this to write my book?
I mean, can't you feel it?
The spirit is everywhere in this house.
Those make lousy cooks, Dale.
They're even worse in bed.
[CHUCKLING]
Is a ghost gonna be able to compete with that?
I almost forgot.
Oh, wait till you see it.
[SIGHING]
[LAUGHING SOFTLY]
So I came all the way over here for this?
Can't believe I let them talk me
into wearing this eyeshadow.
Look.
F. Pierce, Debbie.
Fulton Pierce!
It proves this house was owned by Fulton Pierce.
Pierce, Pierce.
Damn it, Dale, that's all you ever talk about anymore.
Debbie.
We are talking Hollywood mythology here,
one of the greatest film actors who ever lived.
Fulton Pierce.
Just a name, a phantom from the past.
But that's the point.
No one really knows who he was.
Ah, don't you see?
We're talking Hollywood's most enduring legend/
It's like...
what really happened to Marilyn Monroe,
or what caused James Dean's crash?
Who was the real Fulton Pierce?
[LAUGHING]
I got to go.
What?
There's a reception down at The Biltmore
for the new marketing director of New York Woman.
Um, my agent wants me to make an appearance.
I thought...
maybe you'd spend the night.
Are you kidding?
Not in this house.
Feel like there's someone always staring at us.
Debbie, please, I need you.
You're my inspiration.
Honey, with my inspiration,
you can't even finish your PhD thesis.
What makes you think you can write a book?
[SIGHING]
This book is my future, Deborah.
Our future.
And Fulton Pierce is going to help me write it.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
Where did you find this?
DALE: In that little cottage I rented
up in Beachwood Canyon.
I was just 16 in Precious Baby's Breath
when I met him.
My friends thought I was loony.
Well, he was over twice my age.
Damn, he made the world magical.
Guess the neighborhood's changed a lot since.
[SIGHING]
Kiddo, you can't begin to know.
Miss Montgomery,
every serious fan knows about his films, his characters.
Now there's a lot of them who can even duplicate his makeup techniques.
A lot of people drive cars
who don't know how they work.
Exactly.
How did he hide himself?
I don't mean...
how he made himself look like the role on the outside.
I wanna know...
how he became the role
on the inside.
If I knew that, kiddo, I'd know his secret.
All I can tell you is, kiddo,
he'd spend hour after hour
in that little cabin.
Staring at himself in the mirror.
Talking himself into...
Quasimodo, Dracula.
Vampire?
So, tell me.
Why did he keep putting off that role until so late in his career?
Made him uneasy.
Ah, he was hard to be with.
Something about that role,
that character.
It was...
Seductive.
Evil.
Let me tell you something, kiddo.
You're moving into dangerous territory.
Fulton Pierce could do things
no actor before or since could do.
And it took its toll.
He died a young man.
I suppose that's the price one pays for genius.
And what are you willing to pay
for a mere glimpse of him?
Oh, God!
I just can't get started.
All my ideas sound contrived, superficial.
I mean, how do you describe magic?
That's what it was.
A reservoir of magic he could tap into
whenever he needed to become someone else,
a power beyond him.
Here.
In this house.
It happened here.
I know it, I can feel it.
Somehow a creative force took over.
He called upon it.
And it came.
[KNOCKING AT DOOR]
Debbie.
Well, at least you remember my name.
I wasn't expecting to see you.
Don't let your enthusiasm get to me.
I didn't mean that...
What about tonight's dinner?
I forgot.
Deb. Debbie...
You've got to understand. I've been so wrapped up in the Pierce book.
Right now, I just can't think of anything else.
Well, I see you're getting a lot done.
I'm, uh, still on the research phase.
[DEBBIE SIGHS]
Dale, we can't go on like this.
You are becoming obsessed
with this stupid book you're supposedly writing.
I mean, who cares?
I'm not trying to write a bestseller, damn it.
I'm trying to get respect.
Respect.
And when I get finished...
If you get finished.
Dale, you've got to make up your mind.
What?
Fulton Pierce or me?
No.
What did you say just before that?
Make up your mind.
"Make up your mind."
That's it.
Make up your mind.
That's the key!
Somehow he learned how to make up his mind.
What are you talking about?
Make up your mind.
You said, "Make up your mind."
I mean it too.
Yes.
I know you do.
And now I can.
Don't you see?
You solved my problem.
You brought me the inspiration I said you would.
I don't understand.
You don't have to.
All you have to know is that I love you very much.
Oh, Dale.
All I ever wanted was to be with you.
I've been so lonely.
Everything's gonna be fine.
I'm gonna finish this book.
And we're gonna be together.
Dale?
[GASPING]
[EVIL LAUGHTER]
[DALE PANTING]
DALE: This is how...
[LAUGHING] This is how he did it.
[GASPS]
Oh, my God, Dale.
What's going on?
What's happening to you?
[SOBBING]
[GASPING]
How are you feeling?
Well, I don't exactly feel like singing a little song.
Do you remember anything?
Remember?
Remember what?
Dale, you got to leave this house.
You got to come home with me. It's...
Forget about this book.
Forget about it?
Are you out of your mind?
I know how he did it.
I know how he became one of the greatest actors of all time.
He's gonna make me famous.
[CHUCKLES] No more pompous department heads
hiding behind their tenure.
No more lectures to stinky little rich kids
who think Nightmare on Elm Street is a great film.
[LAUGHING]
No more...
"This is Debbie Curzon's boyfriend."
[DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES]
[THUNDERCLAP]
[GROANING]
Let's see.
We were discussing the soul of an actor.
Yea, that's right, okay.
[SIGHING]
Is it only the trained professional
who can shed his personality
in favor for another's?
Pierce certainly understood
the emotional chaos involved,
and he was able to master it.
Master it from the inside...
out.
But what if we all have that capability within us?
What if we all had the power to mutate
from one character to another
in a lifetime of roles?
What if we all have that power
hidden inside?
Would we have the will
to control it?
What if I...
[CRYING]
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUNDERCLAP]
[GROANING]
[OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES]
[GROANING]
[GRUNTING]
[SCREAMING]
[SOBBING]
Dale?
[GLASS SHATTERING]
[KNOCKING]
DEBBIE: Dale, open up. It's me!
[WIND BLOWING]
Dale, let me in!
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[EVIL LAUGHTER]
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]