Beyond the Door

by Philip K. Dick

Genre: Comic Horror
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Short Story
Recommended Adaptation Length:

Candidate for Adaptation? Promising

EXCERPT:

In the weeks that followed after Doris left, Larry and the cuckoo clock got along even worse than before. For one thing, the cuckoo stayed inside most of the time, sometimes even at twelve o’clock when he should have been busiest. And if he did come out at all he usually spoke only once or twice, never the correct number of times. And there was a sullen, uncooperative note in his voice, a jarring sound that made Larry uneasy and a little angry.

But he kept the clock wound, because the house was very still and quiet and it got on his nerves not to hear someone running around, talking and dropping things. And even the whirring of a clock sounded good to him.

But he didn’t like the cuckoo at all. And sometimes he spoke to him.

COMMENTS:

Very promising set-up, like a short Twilight Zone (the cuckoo clock comes between a husband and his wife, and the husband is determined to destroy the clock). You’d probably want to find a way to musicalize the clock itself, although it’s silent in the story; perhaps it sings?

If you invent some more scenes/story for the husband and wife, there’s possibly a full-length one-act in this storyline.

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