The Jensen Tape Transcript (10-16-09)
[Rustle of canvas as a hand pulls up the tent flap. The camera operator is presumed to be HALLIE JENSEN. Heavy breaths as she climbs inside the tent, emerging in a green atrium with hanging canvas walls. She turns back and helps NICK JENSEN through the flap.]
HALLIE: Come on!
NICK: You’ve got the compass, right?
HALLIE: Yes! Just move it!
[The two of them run toward a dark doorway at the far side of the atrium. They pass through and enter a hallway, also with green canvas walls, that branches left and right. Each branch ends in another open doorway.]
NICK: Which one?
HALLIE: It literally doesn’t matter, just pick one!
[Thumping of distant footsteps, believed to belong to JIM BRENNAN. The footsteps pause.]
BRENNAN (muffled): The hell?
NICK (whispering): Shit, he’s here!
HALLIE: Go!
[They choose a doorway and run through. The next room branches into three hallways, all lit up green from unseen light sources. The duo takes the rightmost hallway, then another left when the passage splits.]
BRENNAN (distant): Fucking kids, where the hell did they go?
NICK: No, no no no, this isn’t right, we shouldn’t be doing this -
HALLIE: You want to let him kill those guys? Shut up and run.
[They run deeper into increasingly twistier hallways. BRENNAN’s footsteps grow quieter as they run. Eventually they stop at a dead end, where the fabric is marred by four large gashes. HALLIE grabs NICK’s arm and turns the camera around.]
HALLIE: Okay, that’s far enough.
NICK: You think we lost him?
HALLIE: Oh, he’s lost, all right.
NICK: This is so fucked up.
HALLIE: More fucked up than killing a bunch of people? More fucked up than blaming his murder spree on an innocent creature?
NICK (quiet): It’s not a competition, Hallie.
HALLIE: I know. (pause) I’m sorry.
NICK: Let’s just get out of here.
[The camera pans down, focusing on the compass in HALLIE’s hand. She follows the arrow back down the hallway, which looks slightly different from before. NICK joins her as they walk quickly and quietly along the compass’s path. There is no sound except their footsteps and their light, nervous breathing.]
NICK (whispering): What was that?
HALLIE (whispering): What was what?
NICK (whispering): That sound -
[They round a corner, and BRENNAN’s looming outline fills the frame. Both kids scream. He reaches out and grabs them before they can run. The footage goes shaky as HALLIE tries to break free.]
BRENNAN: Did you really think I’d go running after you two? Staying put when you’re lost in the woods is rule number one.
HALLIE: Let go, asshole!
BRENNAN: Why don’t you put the camera down, Hallie, and we can get you two back home. No one has to know what trouble you got yourselves in.
NICK: (shrieks)
BRENNAN: Jesus, boy, calm down -
NICK: Hallie it’s here, it’s here!
[The camera lurches as BRENNAN lets go of the twins. HALLIE swings back around and captures footage of a fourth figure, standing in the doorway at the end of the hall they’ve just come from. It’s pure black and vaguely humanoid. BRENNAN steps forward and draws his gun.]
BRENNAN: Get out of here, kids.
NICK: No no no please, don’t shoot it, you can’t make it mad -
HALLIE: Nick.
[The figure takes a step forward, and BRENNAN fires. The gunshot is so loud it drowns out NICK’s terrified screams. HALLIE grabs her brother and drags him away from the scene.]
NICK: He doesn’t know what he’s messing with!
HALLIE: He told us to go. So let’s go.
[The figure lets out a guttural roar, like a wounded animal. HALLIE turns the camera away so she can open the tent flap at the exit. NICK climbs through, shaking, while HALLIE turns back to get one last shot of BRENNAN. Before he can fire again, the walls of the maze erupt outward and wrap him in constricting sheets of canvas, strangling his screams.]
HALLIE: (choked gasp)
[The footage becomes increasingly erratic as HALLIE climbs through the tent flap and hastily tries to zip it shut. NICK helps her yank on the zipper until the entrance is sealed again. The two of them stagger back and catch their breath. NICK looks like he’s been sobbing.]
NICK: Turn off the camera.
HALLIE: Nick, we had to -
NICK: Turn off the fucking camera!
[The footage ends after another two seconds of silence.]
END OF TRANSCRIPT