The Haunting (1999)

Lili Taylor: Nell

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Quotes 

• Luke : Hey, you guys wanna hear something really scary? I just found this out. It turns out there's a more darker chapter in the Hugh Crain fairytale. Remember his lovely wife Renee? Well Renee, the town beauty, she didn't just die, she killed herself.

  Theo : Really? He just told you that?

  Luke : Yes, but you can't say anything because he actually swore me to secrecy.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Why did she kill herself?

  Luke : The stillborn children story is more sinister, and maybe Hugh Crain was a horrible monster that drove her to it.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Monster? But he built this house with the woman he loved like the Taj Mahal.

  Theo : The Taj Mahal wasn't a palace, it was a tomb. And equally overdone.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Purgatory is over, you go to hell!

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : You have trouble with commitment?

  Theo : Well, my boyfriend thinks so, my girlfriend doesn't. We could all live together, but they hate each other.

• Theo : Isn't it based on the Gates of Hell, by Rodin?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Well, It's not just hell. You see the children, they're are reaching up for heaven, but their souls are trapped in purgatory. And these are the demons... who can hold on to your soul for as long as they want.

  Theo : Did you study art?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : No, I studied purgatory. I was there once for eleven years. It's when your soul is caught between the living and the dead.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : You know, all my life, I have been waiting for an adventure. I thought it would never happen to me. I mean adventures are for soldiers or for bullfighters that women fall in love with. Now, here I am. Paintings are moving and strange voices are calling for me at night, and all it cost me was five gallons of gas!

• Theo : [Opening up a bottle of wine and begins filling up everyone's glass]  You know what? The rest of you may hate your insomnia, but I'm not sure I want a cure for mine. That's when I get all my best ideas when I'm waiting to fall asleep. I'm alone, occasionally, with no distractions, my mind is racing with creative ideas and come 3am, I feel like a genius.

  Luke : Are you kidding me? 3am, I start feeling like I'm losing my mind watching those informercials on psychics or... listening to Tony Robbins and the psychic hotlines. Have you ever seen that late night T.V.?

  Dr. David Marrow : [laughing]  Oh, yeah.

  [to Theo, who has just poured the wine] 

  Dr. David Marrow : Thank you.

  Luke : I swear to God, you get a steady diet of that crap and pretty soon, you start thinking about moving to Montana and becoming a survivalist.

  Theo : That's why God created barbiturates, honey.

  Todd Hackett : Nembutal?

  Theo : Mm-mm.

  Luke : You know, Todd? I think we have a classic Seconal woman on our hands. In fact, I think I see a little... Jackie Susann in Theo.

  [Theo laughs sarcastically, then glares at Luke] 

  Luke : [Softly]  Ow.

  Dr. David Marrow : [Finishes laughing]  Alright, you two, enough about pharmaceuticals. So, what do we all need in life? What are the basics? Food, water, shelter...

  Theo : Sex.

  Luke : [Softly]  Meow.

  Dr. David Marrow : And sleep. Sleep. I'm working on a 5-year study, with the help of Mary here, making profiles of bad sleepers. I'm looking for a common psychological link. I hope that the work we do here will, someday, will be able to help people like yourselves.

  Theo : God knows I'm all for helping people, saving the world, but doesn't everyone have a problem sleeping these days? Life's too frantic.

  Mary Lambetta : What about you, Nell?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Um, well... it seems that you all have trouble sleeping because your... lives are exciting and it's complicated and you think about it when you go to sleep. But, um, I don't know, nothing's ever really happened to me, so I don't have a reason to sleep badly.

  Dr. David Marrow : But in your application, you said you had trouble sleeping.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Um, yes, but it's not like them. It's because... there was always somebody calling me, there was always somebody banging. Ever since I was little, well, I took care of my Mother and... she would wake up in the middle of the night. She would bang, with her cane, on the wall. And it was just this relentless... it was a relentless banging all through the night. That's weird because... even though she's dead, I still hear it when I wake up.

  Dr. David Marrow : Well, that's why we're here, Eleanor, to try and help you.

  Luke : Yeah, Nell, I think what Dr. Marrow is trying to say is that you're a basket case just like the rest of us.

  [They all laugh, including Nell] 

  Luke : .

• Mrs. Dudley : I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at six. Breakfast is ready at nine. I don't stay after dinner. Not after it begins to get dark. We live in town, nine miles, so there won't be anyone around if you need help...

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : We couldn't even hear you.

  Mrs. Dudley : No one could. No one lives any nearer than town...

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : No one will come any nearer than that.

  Mrs. Dudley : In the night...

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : In the dark.

• Jane : Come live with us, Nell. You have no idea how hard it is out there.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : No, Jane, you have no idea how hard it was in here.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : He killed them. Hugh Crain. The children from the mills. It's just like you said. He wanted to fill the house with the sounds of children. He took them from his mills and he brought them here, but he wouldn't let them go. He would never let them go.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : This house, who built it? Who lived here?

  Dr. David Marrow : Well actually that makes a very good bedtime story. Once upon a time, there was a king who built a castle. His name was Hugh Crain. 130 years ago, towns like Concord and Manchester were the centre of American industry, that's where Crain made a fortune on the backs of workers in his textile mills. Now this man could have anything he wanted, but what he wanted was another thing. It was a house filled with the laughter of children.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : That's why there are all the carvings.

  Dr. David Marrow : He married the most beautiful girl in town, called Renee, and he built her this house, at least some of it.

  Theo : God, it sounds like a fairytale or something.

  Dr. David Marrow : Well that's where the fairytale ends. Hugh and Renee never had children. They all died at birth. And a few years later, Renee passed away and Crain became a total recluse. But, he kept on building. Building room upon room as if he was building for the familiy he would never have. No one had seen Crain for years. But the townspeople said they could hear sounds coming from the old house. Sounds of children.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : [to Crain's ghost]  It's about family! It's always been about family! It's about Carolyn, and the children from the mills, so you could hear their voices! Family! They're my family, grandpa! And I've come home! You go to hell!

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Why do you need so many chains?

  Mr. Dudley : That's a good question. What is it about fences? Sometimes the people on either side of the fence see a locked chain, they feel a little more comforted, why do you suppose that is?

• Luke : [looking at a statue]  These carvings are really creepy. All these fat little cherubs and angels with furry animals, it's really bizarre, I think.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I think they're the children Hugh Crain built the house for.

  Luke : I don't buy that for a second - that Hugh Crain was this lovable old tycoon with a soft spot for kids? This guy was obviously running a sweatshop, had children working 16 hours a day. Then he builds all this crap, it's propaganda. It's like those Teletubbies, those things freak me out also. Then they sing, so they're actually kinda scarier when you think about it.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Have you ever kept something for yourself because you were afraid?

  Theo : All the time.

• Dr. David Marrow : Eleanor, none of this is real.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Yes, it is real.

  Dr. David Marrow : It's not real.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : You have to go look for the bones in the fireplace.

  Dr. David Marrow : It's not real.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I saw... I saw his wife hanging in the greenhouse. I know, I saw it.

  Dr. David Marrow : No, we'll be all gone, and the Dudleys will arrive in the morning and we can go. All of you.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I can't believe you're not gonna look.

  Theo : Okay, that's enough of you. I'm taking her upstairs. I think you've done enough.

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : You'll never gonna believe how I found them.

  Theo : How did you find them?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : The blood led me to the bookcase.

  Theo : The blood?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Little footprints in blood.

  Theo : Nell, I'm worried about you.

• Jane : Also, we know how much you loved Mom's car, so we're giving it to you.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : You're taking away my home, and giving me a twenty year old car? Who are you?

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I love your boots.

  Theo : Oh, you do? Thanks! Prada; Milan, not New York. But they're killing me... Small price to pay for such savage kicks!

• Theo : We can't get out. Why won't he let us leave?

  Dr. David Marrow : What do we do, Eleanor?

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : He played hide-and-seek with them; that's why he built the house. You have to hide.

  Dr. David Marrow : Hide? What does he think this is, a game?

• Theo : Hi. Don't worry, I'm not an obsessive packer, it's just a cheap and exploitative way of making new friends, I'm Theo.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Eleanor, but everybody calls me Nell.

  Theo : Well, "Everybody Calls Me Nell," don't you love it here? It's like Charles Foster Kane meets the Munsters.

• Luke : I don't know, I just think Dr. Marrow's up to something. And you know what, I'm going to find out. Right after I check on Theo, that is. I wonder how she's doing.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : Doing or wearing?

  Luke : Yeah, no kidding. Did you see what she had on yesterday? Hey I definitely got a soft spot for Theo.

• [repeated line] 

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : He won't let them go!

• Theo : [as Nell sits in front of her mirror, combing her hair and humming, Theo walks in]  I like the way you comb your hair like that.

  [Nell turns around, facing Theo, who walks in with a red velvet blanket as a gift for Nell] 

  Theo : This is for you.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : For me?

  Theo : Mm-hmm.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : [Theo goes to put it around Nell's shoulders, but Nell hesitates, knowing Theo is bisexual]  No...

  Theo : ...it's okay.

  [She lets Theo put the blanket around her shoulders, but then feels slightly uncomfortable as Theo plays with her hair a little from behind as Nell continues to look at herself in the mirror] 

  Theo : Looks good on you. You've been out of the world a long time, haven't you?

  [Nell, slight uncomfortable, nods her head; Theo then lowers next to Nell's the two of them still looking into the mirror] 

  Theo : Well, the world's missed you. Happy tossing and turning.

• [first lines] 

  Jane : You already owe two months' worth of rent.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : It's mine, and you're not taking it away.

  Jane : Read the will, Nell. It states in plain language, the executor shall have the right to dispose of any and all personal property, as he shall see fit.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : He's not even real family.

  Jane : Yeah, maybe not, but clearly Mother thought Lou would be better off dealing with these unpleasant details than you.

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : [angrily]  Unpleasant details? What have I been dealing with for the past eleven years? I've cooked, I've cleaned, I've mopped up for you, and you call that an unpleasant detail?

• Eleanor "Nell" Vance : [breaking the glass where a monsterous specre of Hugh Crane is appearing]  I will not let you hurt a CHILD!

• Children : Help us... help us...

  Eleanor "Nell" Vance : I'm here... I'm here... I'm coming to you, I'm coming to you...