Wes Craven's
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
1A. INT. (MONTAGE). 1A.
NIGHTMARE MUSIC THEME begins as we FADE UP on a SERIES OF SHOTS,
all CLOSE and teasing.
-- A man's FEET, in shabby work shoes, stalking
through a junk bin in a dark, fire-lit, ash-
dusted place. A huge BOILER ROOM is what it
is, although we only glimpse it piecemeal.
Then we SEE a MAN'S HAND, dirty and nail-bitten,
reach INTO FRAME and pick up a piece of METAL.
-- ANOTHER ANGLE as the HAND grabs a grimey
WORKGLOVE and slashes at it with a straight
razor, until its fingertips are off.
-- CLOSE ON SAME HANDS dumping four fishing knives
out of a filthy bag. Their blades are thin,
curved, gleaming sharp.
-- MORE ANGLES, EVEN CLOSER. We can HEAR the MAN's
wheezing BREATHING, but we still haven't seen
his face. We never will. We just SEE more metal
being assembled with crude tools, into some sort
of linkage -- a splayed, spidery sort of apparatus,
against a background light of FIRE, and a deep
rushing of STEAM and HEAVY, DARK ENERGY.
-- And then we see this linkage attached to the glove.
-- Then the BLADES attached to all of it.
-- Then the MAN'S HAND slips into this glove-like
apparatus, filling it out and transforming
it into an awesome, deadly claw-hand with
four razor/talons gleaming at its blackened
fingertips. Suddenly the HAND arches and STRIKES
FORWARD, SLASHING THROUGH a DARK CANVAS, tearing
it to shreds.
1. EXT. LOS ANGELES. NIGHT. (2nd Unit) 1.
A PULSATION OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. MUSIC DROPS AWAY to a hushed
RUSHING OF WIND and DISTANT SIRENS. CAMERA RACKS INTO FOCUS on a
HIGH PANORAMA of the San Fernando Valley, its night sky lit from
within by a strange GREENISH LIGHT. TITLES BEGIN.
CAMERA TILTS DOWN and ZOOMS SWIFTLY into the valley's web of
light.
CUT TO:
2. INT. CONCRETE PASSAGEWAY. 2.
TITLES CONTINUE as TINA GRAY, a strong girl of fifteen in a thin
night shift, moves towards us down a dark concrete corridor. Her
steps quicken as TITLES appear in the portion of frame she leaves
free.
A subliminal COLLAGE of SOUND threads in and out of the MUSIC.
Distant insane LAUGHTER. Slamming iron DOORS. A bleating animal
CRY. A LAMB, white and blank-faced, skitters across her path and
on into the dark. No reason why it's there.
Then another SOUND, much nearer -- the slithering SCRAPE of
something like fingernails across slate. It sets our teeth on
edge, twists the MUSIC, and sends TINA running.
3. INT. BOILER ROOM. 3.
Suddenly TINA's a tiny figure running among huge boilers steam
pipes and catwalks -- a shadowed forest of iron and stone. She
stops, listening intently as the SOUND of tiny hooves suddenly
turns into the rattle of DISTANT RAIN.
Then she hears RIPPING FABRIC.
Someone is shouldering behind a ragged screen of dirty canvas,
approaching TINA.
CLOSER ON THE CANVAS. The long curved fingerblades suddenly
punch through, flashing in the firelight, and begin ripping
through the thick fabric, as easily as scalpels through flesh.
They make a hideous, extended RIPPING SOUND.
TINA rushes away, hands over her ears.
ANOTHER ANGLE -- as the blinded girl stumbles backwards. Then
the canvas flaps free. The blades are gone. The TITLES END, and
everything goes silent.
CAMERA CIRCLES until TINA's looking right into our eyes. The
light from a nearby boiler pours through her thin night dress,
leaving her naked and vulnerable. Then a deep, ragged VOICE
whispers at her as CAMERA CLOSES IN ON HER FACE.
VOICE (O.S.)
One two, Freddie's coming for
you...
TINA opens her mouth to scream but only a dry, yellow dust pours
out. And at that precise moment a huge shadowy MAN with a grimey
red and yellow sweater and a weird hat pulled over his scarred
face lunges at her. And it's his fingers that are tipped with
the long blades of steel, glinting in the boney light and giving
the hulk the look of an otherworldly predator.
TINA dodges away, her legs suddenly elephantine and slow. The
MAN seizes the trailing hem of her nightgown and hauls her back.
The MUSIC shrieks as TINA manages to tear free -- the MAN lurches
after her with a hoarse SHOUT as we --
SMASH CUT TO:
4. INT. TINA'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 4.
TINA convulses in bed with a SCREAM, looking around wildly.
Someone is KNOCKING on her door.
WOMAN'S VOICE (O.S.)
You okay, Tina?
TINA'S MOTHER sticks her head in with a worried look. TINA sits
up and blows out a breath, groggy.
TINA
Just a dream, Ma...
(more to herself)
Damn dream, is all...
The woman, once attractive, ventures a step into the room. A MAN
hovers BACKGROUND. TINA'S mother waves him away without looking,
shoving a strand of bleached hair from her eyes. She appraises
her daughter.
TINA'S MOTHER
Some dream, judging from that.
She nods at TINA's nightshift.
TINA looks down at her nightgown, only now aware of the chill
penetrating it from the room. There are four long slashes up its
middle, cleanly cut as if by scalpels.
MAN (OS)
(distant, annoyed)
You coming back to the sack or
what?
TINA'S MOTHER
Hold your horses.
(lower, to Tina as she
stands to leave)
You gotta cut your nails or stop
that kind of dreaming, Tina. One
or the other.
The woman shuts the door behind her. TINA looks back to her
nightgown.
TINA
(low)
Oh, shit.
She suddenly snatches up the cross that hangs over her head, her
face white as her sheet.
FADE TO BLACK
BURN ON
5. THE FIRST DAY 5.
CHILDREN (OS)
(singing)
One two, Freddie's coming for you...
Three four better lock your door
Five six grab your crucifix...
6. EXT. HIGH SCHOOL. DAY. 6.
FADE UP ON SHOT OF this large highschool and its crowds of
STUDENTS. FOREGROUND, TINA climbs out of a cherry-red 1959
Cadillac convertible with two other students, best friend NANCY
WILSON, and Nancy's boyfriend and owner of the car, GLEN LANTZ.
FOREGROUND several GRADESCHOOLERS are playing jump-rope, and the
old ditty they sing continues unbroken from TINA's bedroom.
ROPE JUMPERS
Seven eight, gonna stay up late!
Nine ten -- never sleep again!
7. MOVING ANGLE FAVORING NANCY. She's a pretty girl in a letter 7.
sweater, with an easy, athletic stride and the look of a natural
leader. GLEN, holding her hand, wears one of the school's
football jerseys; a good-natured, bright kid. Tina's in
mid-conversation.
TINA
(referring to kids' song)
That's what it reminded me of --
that old jump rope song.
(shudders)
Worst nightmare I ever had.
You wouldn't believe it.
Nancy nods.
NANCY
Matter of fact I had a bad dream
last night myself...
TINA turns to NANCY, but before either can say more, ROD LANE, a
lean, Richard Gere sort in black leather and New Wave studs joins
up with them and interupts.
ROD
(to Tina)
Had a hardon this morning when
I woke up, Tina. Had your name
written all over it.
Tina cracks her gum with a look of withering indifference.
TINA
There's four letters in my name,
Rod. How could there be room
on your joint for four letters?
The guy's stopped in his tracks.
ROD
Hey, up yours with a twirling lawn
mower!
He cuts off across the lawn.
TINA
Rod says the sweetest things.
NANCY
He's nuts about you.
TINA
Yeah, nuts.
TINA makes a face and rakes her fingernails across a tree as she
passes.
TINA (CONTD)
(yawns)
Anyway, I'm too tired to worry
about the creep. Couldn't get
back to sleep at all.
(beat)
So what you dream?
NANCY
Forget it, the point is, every-
body has nightmares once in a while.
No biggy.
GLEN
Next time you have one, just
tell yourself that's just all
it is, right while you're having
it, y'know? That's the trick.
Once you do that, you wake right
up. At least it works for me.
TINA looks at GLEN sharply. He kisses NANCY and darts off for
class.
TINA
Hey! You have a nightmare too?
But GLEN's gone.
TINA (CONTD)
Maybe we're gonna have the Big
Earthquake. They say things get
weird just before that...
BELLS ARE RINGING, and STUDENTS crowding; TINA and NANCY are
drawn into the crush.
FADE TO BLACK
8. EXT. A VALLEY STREET. NIGHT. 8.
ANGLE ON A MODEST HOME; no car, just a couple of BIKES in the
drive. Every light in the house and yard is turned on. We HEAR
the rock group MADNESS played at a 'No adults home' volume.
9. INT. TINA'S LIVING ROOM. NIGHT. 9.
ON GLEN, dialing. Nancy and TINA are watching, giggling.
TINA
I can't believe his mother let him
come over here.
NANCY
Right. Well, she didn't, exactly...
GLEN shoves a cassette into TINA's Ghetto Blaster.
GLEN
(to TINA)
See, I got this cousin who lives
near the airport, that it's okay
for me to stay with, right? So I
found this sound effects tape at
Licorice Pizza, and...
The phone is answered. GLEN jerks the tone arm off the record
with a SCRUUPT!!
GLEN (CONTD)
Hello, Mom?
(pushes the 'play' button)
Yeah, out here at Barry's.
A JET PLANE begins to make itself heard on the tape. GLEN moves
the machine closer to the phone. It's a big plane -- sounds like
a 747 coming in for a landing.
GLEN (CONT)
Huh? Yeah, noisy as usual. Glad
we don't live here -- huh? Yeah,
Aunt Eunice says hello.
The Jet is SCREAMING IN now, full flaps and howling like a
monstrous banshee. NANCY and TINA dissolve into muffled
giggles.
GLEN (CONT)
(shouting over the din)
Right, right -- I'll call you in the
morning! Right! Huh? Yeah, sure,
I, huh?...
Suddenly the tape goes silent. GLEN blanches. Next moment
another ENGINE is heard, but this one is a FORD LOTUS screaming
by at 180 mph.
GLEN (CONT)
(reacting to his mother's
reaction)
Uh... some kid's drag racing
outside, I think...
The sound effect changes abruptly to a SPEEDING SEDAN -- and the
ages-old SCREECH of BRAKES, last-second SCREAM and horrible
COLLISION. NANCY gamely tries to find the right button to turn
it off, but misses. There's a loud SCREEK of fast-forward mayhem
-- Glen improvises desperately.
GLEN (CONT)
Listen, Mom, I got to go -- I
think there's been an accident out
front -- I --
NANCY jumps back from the cassette player -- WORLD WAR II bursts
out at top volume -- MACHINE GUNS, HAND GRENADES, DIVING BEARCATS
and SHOUTS of charging Huns. GLEN makes a last-ditch dive and
flings the cassette out of the machine.
Blessed silence at last.
GLEN (CONT)
Right. I'll call the police. No,
just some neighbors having a fight,
I guess. I'm fine, I'm fine!
Call you in the morning!
He hangs up and sags back.
NANCY
Worked like a charm.
GLEN
Jesus.
TINA shoves another cassette in, and MICHAEL JACKSON'S 'THRILLER'
blasts from the STEREO. The kids relax, the CAMERA GLIDES PAST
THEM TO THE WINDOW.
The WIND is moving the bare TREE BRANCH outside. CAMERA PANS
BACK to the comfortably threadbare room, uneasy. We see NANCY
poking at a flame in the hearth as TINA comes FOREGROUND to draw
the drapes.
NANCY
Nice to have a fire.
TINA
Really. Turn 'er up a little.
NANCY turns a nearby valve handle, and the gas fire climbs
brightly over its artificial log. TINA joins her, heartened.
NANCY
Maybe we should call Rod, have him
come over too. He might get jealous.
TINA
Rod and I are done. He's too much
of a maniac.
GLEN
He should join the Marines, they
could make something out of him.
Like a hand grenade.
TINA laughs despite herself. NANCY brightens.
NANCY
See? You've forgotten the bad
dream. Didn't I tell you?
TINA shakes her head, wishing she had forgotten.
TINA
All day long I been seeing that
guy's weird face, and hearing
those fingernails...
NANCY looks up with a flinch.
NANCY
Fingernails?
(blinks, laughing)
That's amazing, you saying that.
It made me remember the dream I
had last night.
TINA looks up.
TINA
What you dream?
NANCY
I dreamed about this guy in a
dirty red and yellow sweater;
I dream in color, y'know; he
walked into the room I was in,
right, right through the wall,
like it was smoke or something,
and just stared at me. Sort of
...obscenely. Then he walked
out through the wall on the
other side. Like he'd just
come to check me out...
The story has left the room deathly quiet. Especially TINA seems
effected.
TINA
(quietly)
So what about the fingernails?
NANCY remembers, imitating the frightful coincidence.
NANCY
He scraped his fingernails
along things -- actually, they
were more like fingerknives or
something, like he'd made them
himself? Anyway, they made
this horrible nose --
(imitates)
sssssccrrrtttt....
TINA pales.
TINA
Nancy. You dreamed about the
same creep I did, Nancy...
The girls stare at each other.
GLEN
That's impossible.
They look at him. He looks away, as if suddenly listening.
TINA
What?
GLEN
Nothing.
TINA
There's somebody out there,
isn't there...
NANCY
I didn't hear anything...
Then there's an unmistakeable SOUND. A distinct SCRAPING against
the house, just outside the window. Something multiple, thin and
sharp. Something like metal fingernails. NANCY's mouth opens a
fraction of an inch.
10. EXT. FRONT OF HOUSE. NIGHT. 10.
CLOSE ON FRONT DOOR as a BOLT UNLOCKS, a KEY TURNS, a CHAIN is
REMOVED. At last the door swings open and GLEN swaggers out.
GLEN
I'm gonna punch out your ugly
lights, whoever you are.
No answer but a slight RUSTLE in the bushes. GLEN does a 180 and
walks right back inside. The girls prod him right back out,
giddy with giggling fear.
GLEN
It's just a stupid cat.
NANCY
Then bring us back its tail
and whiskers.
The girls push him farther. GLEN edges towards the shadows.
Then the SCRITCHING again. GLEN stops; TINA edges back into the
house.
TINA
Anyway, I don't have a cat...
ANGLE INTO THE SHADOWS. Turned from the girls, GLEN sobers,
listening. IN HIS POV we see the street. Silent houses.
Motionless trees on empty lawns.
GLEN
Kitty-kitty? Chow chow chow?
Not a living, or dead, soul. GLEN turns back to the girls with a
shrug. Instantly, a large FIGURE pounces and throws him to the
ground with a shout.
The girls SCREAM in panic and run for the house.
11. REVERSE -- ROD leaps up and shouts like a sportscaster -- 11.
ROD
And it's number thirty-six, Rod
Lane, bringing Lantz down just
three yards from the goal with a
brilliant tackle! And the fans
go wild!
ROD dances into the light, flashing a wild gypsy's grin at TINA.
The girl's relieved and frightened at the same time.
TINA
What the hell you doing here?
ROD
Came to make up, no big deal.
Your ma home?
TINA
Of course. What's that?
ROD takes the spindly hand rake he's found and scraps the house's
wall. It makes a terrible SCRIIITCHING SOUND. He grins and
tosses it aside.
ROD
Intense, huh?
(sizes up the three)
So what's happening, an orgy or
something?
GLEN
Maybe a funeral, you dickhead.
ROD wheels, a knife suddenly in his hand, as if ready to take
Glen's throat out. NANCY breaks between --
NANCY
-- Just a sleep-over date, Rod.
Just Tina and me. Glen was just
leaving.
ROD eyes GLEN, laughs and flips the knife closed and away,
putting his arm around TINA's shoulder and laughing as if it's
all a great joke.
ROD
You see his face?
(lower)
Your ma ain't home, is she?
(to Nancy & Glen)
Me and Tina got stuff to discuss.
He pulls TINA inside without further ceremony.
NANCY
Rod...
But ROD's already got himself and TINA halfway through the living
room, heading into the darker part of the house.
ROD
We got her mother's bed.
You two got the rest.
ANGLE BACK ON GLEN AND NANCY.
NANCY
We should get her out of here...
TINA darts to the front door, her blouse half out.
TINA
Hey -- you guys're hanging around --
right?
(fake laughing/whine)
Don't leave me alone with this
lunatic -- Pleeeeze, NANCY!
She disappears. GLEN looks at NANCY. Too innocent.
GLEN
So we'll guard her together.
Through the night.
(moving closer)
In each others' arms like
we always said.
NANCY
Glen. Not now. I mean,
we're here for Tina now,
not for ourselves.
She kisses him lightly, then pushes him back.
GLEN
(frustrated)
Why's she so bothered by a
stupid nightmare, anyway?
NANCY
Because he was scary, that's
why.
GLEN
Who was scary?
NANCY turns and looks at him.
NANCY
Don't you think it's weird, her
and me dreaming about the same
guy?
(GLEN looks away;
NANCY stares closer)
You didn't have a bad dream
last night, did you?
GLEN gives her a funny look.
GLEN
Me? I don't dream.
He takes her inside. Over the SOUNDS of locks falling shut we
FADE TO BLACK
13. INT. TINA'S LIVING ROOM. NIGHT. 13.
FADE UP ON an old 50's CLOCK, one of those set into the black
plaster body of a stalking panther. It's just past 2 AM.
PAN the cold hearth and darkened living room to REVEAL GLEN on
the couch, cacooned in sheets. He's listening miserably to the
SOUNDS OF LOVEMAKING coming from the next room. TINA peaks, ROD
howls. Then silence.
GLEN
Morality sucks.
CUT TO:
14. INT. TINA'S MOTHER'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 14.
This is a slightly larger room than TINA's. Adult. Female.
Spare in its appointments. The streetlight throws the narrow bed
into broken shadow and light. TINA AND ROD lie in each other's
arms in the middle of the big bed. Satiated.
TINA
I knew there was sometihng
about you I liked...
ROD yawns into the pillows, happy.
ROD
You feel better now, right?
TINA
Jungle man fix Jane.
ROD
No more fights?
TINA
No more fights.
ROD
(sleepily)
Good. No more nightmares for
either of us then.
He pulls the covers over his head. He's almost out already.
TINA
(beat)
When did you have a nightmare?
ROD
(under the blankets)
Guys can have nightmares too,
y'know. You ain't got a corner
on the fucking market or something.
He rolls over, practically snoring, and pulls another cover over
his head. A dirty red and yellow cover.
TINA
(sleepily)
Where'd you get this snotty old
thing?
SNORES from ROD. TINA yawns, turns off the light and snuggles
against ROD, pulling the cover gingerly over herself, too.
15. INT. TINA'S BEDROOM. NIGHT 15.
CAMERA MOVES across the room of the original nightmare to find
NANCY alone in TINA's bed, staring at the slanting ceiling above
the bed. Thinking. We can just hear her HEART beating. She
sighs and turns on her side.
Immediately the wall above her head turns a faint reddish hue,
with a broad yellow smear across its center. All unseen by
NANCY, the wall begins to pulse in exact time with her heart's
beat.
CLOSE ON NANCY'S FACE. She closes her eyes.
ANGLE BACK UP ON THE CEILING JUST ABOVE HER HEAD. SOMETHING
presses against the surface from the inside. The plaster buldges
out as if suddenly elastic, taking the shape of the thing
pressing from inside -- taking the shape of a man's face. The
face opens its mouth. The knives rake through the surface.
ANGLE ON NANCY -- as plaster dust snows down on her.
She jerks awake, sitting bolt upright. The face retracts
suddenly -- the wall is normal.
ANGLE DOWN ON NANCY as she looks up to the ceiling, touching her
hair and feeling the plaster dust.
REVERSE IN HER POV TO THE CEILING. There are three parallel cuts
in the plaster there. About eight inches long. As if cut by
sharp knives. Nothing else.
Back on NANCY. She draws the covers around her and shivers.
Eyes wide open.
16. EXT. TINA'S HOUSE. NIGHT. 16.
Not a car or person in sight. A stricken breeze dies in the
trees.
17. ZOOM IN on the window of the room where TINA sleeps. By the time 17.
we're FULL IN CLOSE on it, the air is again still as death. A
moment later a PEBBLE bounces off the pane. The NIGHTMARE THEME
appears in the lower registers and holds its breath.
Another PEBBLE strikes, with a sharper RAP.
18. INT. TINA'S MOTHER'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 18.
CLOSE ON TINA'S FACE as her eyes open.
19. REVERSE IN HER POV. Another PEBBLE clatters off the glass. 19.
20. TINA raises slowly. 20.
TINA
ROD...
SNORES FROM ROD. TINA sits up.
PAST HER TO THE WINDOW. The WIND MOVES AGAIN; the trees brush
the window with their shadows. Then another pebble. RAP! TINA
slips to the window.
21. EXT. TINA'S BACKYARD. NIGHT. 21.
She looks out on an old yard with a patch of bananna trees
rattling in the Santa Ana winds. It seems deserted, though the
welling dark won't let her be sure. Then another pebble -- PAP!
-- hitting with a sharp RACK FOCUS.
22. A LOW ANGLE TO WINDOW as TINA jumps back, startled. She hadn't 22.
seen that one coming. But she's drawn back to the glass out of
curiousity, straining to see in the dark. It's as if the stones
are materializing out of thin air.
23. INT. TINA'S MOTHER'S ROOM. NIGHT. 23.
WHAP! This time a heavier stone, and a thin crack bristles
across the glass.
TINA
(low)
Who the fuck you think you are,
whoever you are?
24. EXT. TINA'S BACK YARD. NIGHT. 24.
WIDE ANGLE ON THE REAR OF THE HOUSE. A LIGHT COMES ON. TINA
appears in the doorway.
TINA
(listening)
Somebody there?
She can see through the backward to a yawning gate and the back
alley. No one there. But a word is spoken, as if by wind.
VOICE
(garbled)
Tina.
TINA straightens, unable to swallow. There's a ragged, obscene
GIGGLE. Deep in the throat. Phlegmy.
TINA
Who the hell is that?
TINA charges across the yard and through the gate, the MUSIC
chasing after.
25. EXT. A SERVICE ALLEY. NIGHT. 25.
She brakes in the middle of the alley and whirls around.
Listening. Shivering in the same thin slashed nightgown.
A sharp crank of METAL, and fifty feet down the alley the lid of
an ash can rolls from the dark like a huge tin coin and spirals
noisily down.
26. LOW REVERSE ACROSS LID TO TINA. Despite herself she comes over 26.
and touches it. She comes up with long worms on her fingers.
Next moment the exact same shambling MAN from her nightmare
staggers into view fifty feet behind her. TINA falls back into
the shadows, shaking the worms off her fingers in repulsion. The
MAN turns and starts directly for her, something shining on his
right hand as he spreads his arms wide. He starts scraping the
steel FINGERNAILS along a cinderblock wall. Orange sparks spurt
out -- his arms elongate until they reach from one side of the
alley to the other -- and TINA is cut off from her home!
CLOSE ON HER as the SCRAPING of the blades gets louder and
closer. She begins to shake uncontrollably.
TINA
Oh, shit, please God...
KILLER
(softly, approaching)
This is God...
He holds up his steel-tipped hand like a surgical-steel spider.
TINA runs for her life.
27. WIDER ANGLE IN THE ALLEY -- a terrifying, all-out footrace 27.
between the girl and her pursuer. The MAN is fast; the distance
between them closes with each heartbeat. TINA overturns ashcans
-- claws her way through a rotten back fence, hammers against a
window. Ashen FACES appear, recoil, pull curtains closed and
disappear in fright.
28. EXT. TINA'S STREET. NIGHT. 28.
TINA runs out onto front lawns, SCREAMING for help. No help
comes. In fact, the only response is for all the porch lights on
the block to be turned off. The MAN roars out from behind a tree
-- a tree too narrow to have hidden him -- nearly upon the girl!
TINA runs in panic -- at last making her own home, only to be
trapped against its locked front door.
She hammers against its thick wood.
TINA
Nancy! Open the door -- Nancy!
The MAN slows. He has TINA now and knows it.
MAN
She's still awake. Nancy can't
hear you.
TINA turns and looks full at the approaching MAN. Smudged by
deep shadow, he's big and hideous. He wears the same dirty
yellow sweater from the first nightmare -- from the wall-hanging
and blanket too -- and has the same sagging hat and leering grin
over his misshapen face. And on his fingers are the steel
talons.
29. CLOSE ON HIM as he takes the blade on the end of his right index 29.
finger and lopes off one of the fingers of his left hand. Then
another. We SEE the PIECES OF FINGERS fall past TINA'S face in
SLOW MOTION.
ANGLE ON THE GROUND of the FINGERS squirming on the ground, one
flopping onto TINA's naked foot.
TINA leaps back, sickened, and begins stamping on then as if they
were huge bugs.
The MAN snaps up his arm and the FINGERS fly back into place on
his hand. He leers at TINA -- then suddenly lunges at her,
sweeping with his cutting hand!
TINA's no weak sister -- blocks his arm, deflecting the spines,
and grabs the MAN's ugly face with her other hand. But the face
only slides off to the bone. The MAN presses in, and TINA
contorts in horror as the knives slash across her shoulder --
cutting her deeply.
29A. TINA staggers backward, GROANING, her foot now inexplicably 29A.
caught in bedclothes! She falls over her bed's conformter, twists
away from the man and, like a child, pulls the cover over her!
The skull-faced MAN crushes down, and there's a fierce grappling
-- punctuated by his GRUNTS and the girl's DEAFENING SCREAMS --
and they both become totally wrapped in the comforter -- until
they're beneath it, fighting for life and death.
30. INT. TINA'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 30.
ROD lurches up into CLOSE UP in the lightless bedroom,
half-awakened by the tremendous struggle somewhere, somehow
inside the dark bed. ROD grabs groggily, lifting the blanket.
30A. IN HIS POV we glimpse the dark underside of the blanket -- see 30A.
TWO SHADOWY FIGURES flailing and clawing under the bedspread --
TINA and the MAN -- or a shape that could be a man -- raging
against each other.
ROD drops the blanket and leaps from the bed, scared full awake
and terrified. Then the horrible TINA's GASPS change to the
CRIES of a terribly wounded victim. ROD instantly jerks back the
bedspread.
IN HIS POV we SEE TINA struggling and flailing along on the
sheets, the MAN nowhere in sight.
ROD
T-tina!?
Suddenly TINA -- eyes turned inward to her tormentor -- give an
awful jolt -- her arms and legs are spraddled as if by
overwhelming force and pinned to the bed. Next instant, her
nightgown flies apart and four long gashes chase across her
torso. From no visible instruments! A huge irrigation of blood
floods the bed.
Terrified, ROD dives for the light -- but at the same moment
something invisible grabs TINA, wielding her body in the air and
bringing it around in a swift blow that knocks ROD crashing into
the light -- smashing it to bits.
31. CLOSER ON HIM as he struggles around. In the blue FLASHES OF 31.
ELECTRICITY ROD sees TINA sliding up the bedroom wall in a dark
smear, dragged feet first!
ANGLE ON ROD -- paralized by terror!
ANGLE ON TINA'S DYING EYES -- moving with her up the wall and
bumping around the corner onto the ceiling. She's just looking
at who's dragging her, eyes glazing.
REVERSE IN HER POV -- to the shadowy, horrendously ugly MAN,
dragging her with fierce glee across the ceiling, literally
swabbing the ceiling with her bloody body. SEEN in FORCED
PERSPECTIVE, the SHOT carries her across a great distance without
seeming to get anywhere -- as if the ceiling is an endless
plane.
ANGLE DOWN ON ROD -- on his hands and knees -- the lamp next to
him blurting blue SPARKS and STROBING the nightmare room. ROD'S
screaming up at TINA'S invisible tormentor.
ROD
What the hell's going ON here!
Tina!
ANGLE ON TINA -- upside down, clawing at the hanging swag lamp
above her mother's dressing table -- desperate for some anchor.
But she's dragged away from it. The lamp swings back, it's wires
gushing more SPARKS.
CLOSER along the ceiling as TINA rakes a long furrow in the
ceiling with her fingernails. But her eyes are glazing,
glazing. And then they fall closed.
WIDE, UP ON THE CEILING, as her body suddenly flops loose,
hanging for an awful moment by the feet over the bed.
REVERSE ON ROD -- staring like a terrified child.
ROD
Tina --
REVERSE IN HIS POV -- as the body falls like a sack of rocks onto
the devastated bed, in SLOW MOTION, striking with a huge splash
of blood. A sick, awful GIGGLE floats around the room, then
ECHOES off into infinity. ROD staggers up, staring around as if
hoping to see this phantom.
ROD
You motherfucker! I'll kill you
for that!
32. INT. TINA'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 32.
NANCY is sitting straight up in bed, terrified. The CRIES of ROD
are ringing through the whole house. She forces herself to move
-- bolting from the bed despite her terror and sense of dread.
33. INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT. 33.
NANCY flies into the dark hall -- crashing directly into SOMEONE
who lurches out of the dark before her. She SCREAMS and jumps
back --
GLEN
What the hell's going on!?
NANCY
Oh -- jeez -- Glen! Rod's
gone ape!
ROD (OS)
(sobbing)
I'll kill you!
NANCY grabs the door; it's locked; she pounds on it. BAM! BAM!
BAM!
Things fall into sudden, awful silence on the other side. GLEN's
voice cracks with fear.
GLEN
Rod?
(silence)
Rod, you better not hurt Tina...
ROD erupts into terrible HOARSE LAUGHTER AND SOBBING. Then they
hear BREAKING GLASS.
GLEN barrels into the door like the football player he is. The
frame splinters and they're in.
34. INT. TINA'S MOTHER'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 34.
Just inside the door NANCY slips and goes down hard. GLEN finds
her in the dark more by touch than sight.
GLEN
You okay?
NANCY
Yeah. Something slippering all
over here...
(feeling)
Tina?
No answer. The room is quiet as a tomb. Except for a stead
DRIPPING, from all over. Then GLEN finds a LIGHT SWITCH.
On the CLICK the devastation is revealed. There's BLOOD
everywhere: up the walls, over the clawed ceiling, soaking the
killing floor of the bed, and pooling in the dark red puddle
where NANCY has slipped and fallen.
GLEN
Oh, shit...
NANCY wobbles up and sees TINA in the center of the ravaged bed.
Unmistakeably and utterly dead. NANCY presses against the wall,
then contorts and chokes.
GLEN (CONTD)
(numb)
I...I'm gonna call the cops --
He bursts from the room.
35. TIGHT ON NANCY. She turns away from the body in repulsion, 35.
sticking her head through the shattered window ROD LANE used for
his escape, sucking in the cold night air and moaning.
FADE TO BLACK
36. EXT/INT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 36.
FADE UP ON RED LIGHTS and SIREN as an unmarked POLICE CAR speeds
to the curb.
LT DON THOMPSON, a decent-looking man in his mid-40's, exits and
punches a cigarette from his pack. His shaken aide, a uniformed
patrolman named PARKER, greets him. (CAMERA FOLLOWS them from
the car straight into the station and eventually to THOMPSON'S
OFFICE.)
PARKER
Lieutenant Thompson. Sorry to
wake you, but --
LT THOMPSON
I'd've canned your ass if you
hadn't. What you got?
PARKER stumbles to open the door for THOMPSON as the man bulls
into the station at a furious pace.
PARKER
Her name was Tina Gray. It
was her home. Father abandoned
ten years ago, mother's in
Vegas with a boyfriend. We're
trying to reach her now.
LT THOMPSON grimaces as if he knows the story.
LT THOMPSON
What's the Coroner got to say?
PARKER
Something like a razor was
the weapon, but nothing
found on the scene.
THOMPSON is already to the desk officer SERGEANT GARCIA. The big
MAN shoves him a sheaf of papers --
SERGEANT GARCIA
(wary)
Leautenant. You know who --
LT THOMPSON
Where is she?
SERGEANT GARCIA
I put her in your office...
PARKER scurries after.
PARKER
Looks like her boyfriend did
it. Rod Lane. Musician type,
arrests for brawling, dope --
LT THOMPSON
Terrific. What the hell was
she doing there?
PARKER
She lived there.
LT THOMPSON
OMIT 37. I don't mean her -- OMIT 37.
38. INT. INTERROGATION ROOM. NIGHT. 38.
THOMPSON enters his office and confronts NANCY and her mother,
MARGE SIMSON.
LT THOMPSON (CONTD)
I mean you.
(accusingly, to Marge)
What the hell was she doing there?
MARGE SIMSON is in her middle thirties; a good-looking woman
despite the hour and circumstances.
MARGE
Hello to you, too, Donald.
THOMPSON stops, the steam suddenly out of him. The girl is a
wreck and he winces to see it.
LT THOMPSON
Marge.
THOMPSON glances at PARKER and the other UNIFORMED COPS who are
in the room. As a man they head for the door. There's no
question who the boss is here. THOMPSON turns to NANCY. She
fumbles a smile.
LT THOMPSON (CONTD)
How you doing, pal?
NANCY
Okay. Hi, dad.
NANCY's dress is dark with dried blood, her skin clammy and the
color of paste. MARGE shoots her ex-husband a worried glance.
THOMPSON pulls a chair close to NANCY.
LT THOMPSON
I don't want to get into this now,
god knows you need time.
(hotter)
But I'd sure would like to know
what the hell you were doing
shacked up with three other kids
in the middle of the night --
especially a delinquent lunatic
like Lane.
NANCY weaves.
NANCY
Rod's not a lunatic.
LT THOMPSON
You got a sane explanation for
what he did?
The girl is shredding a Kleenex, staring off.
MARGE
Apparantly he was crazy jealous.
Nancy said they'd had a fight,
Rod and Tina.
NANCY
(quietly)
It wasn't that serious...
MARGE
Maybe you don't think murder's
serious --
NANCY sits bolt upright in her chair, her eyes flashing.
NANCY
She was my best friend! Don't
you dare say I don't take her
death seriously!
(lower, near tears)
I just meant their fights
weren't that serious.
The girl holds the woman's eyes a moment, then looks away.
NANCY (CONTD)
(to herself)
She dreamed this would happen...
LT THOMPSON
What?
NANCY
She had a nightmare about somebody
trying to kill her, last night.
That's why we were there; she was
afraid to sleep alone.
A tear splashes off the arm of her chair.
MARGE
She's been through enough for one
night. You have her statement.
The mother and daughter rise; THOMPSON raps on the door and
PARKER opens it.
LT THOMPSON
(to MARGE)
I suggest you keep a little better
track on her -- she's still a kid,
y'know.
MARGE wheels on him.
MARGE
You think I knew there were boys
there!? You try raising a
teenager alone.
Then she and the girl are gone. THOMPSON glares at PARKER.
LT THOMPSON
(low to PARKER)
See they get home okay.
PARKER shoves his hands in his pockets. ON HIS FACE we
FADE TO BLACK
39. INT. NANCY'S KITCHEN. MORNING. 39.
BURN ON
THE SECOND DAY
FADE UP ON MARGE SIMSON opening a new bottle of gin, pouring
herself a careful shot, drinking it, then chasing it with
coffee. Nearby a TV drones the morning news. We can't yet see
the SCREEN.
TV NEWSCASTER (OS/FILTER)
In the headlines this morning --
a local teenage girl was brutally
murdered during an all-night party.
MARGE TURNS, startled, seeing NANCY coming downstairs.
The girl looks a little better than she did in the Police
Station, but her eyes are still red-rimmed, and a vacant stress
masks her face. She looks to the TV. Stops.
TV NEWSCASTER (CONTD)
Police say the victim, fifteen-year
-old Christina Grey, had quarrelled
earlier with her boyfriend, Rod
Lane, a punk rocker with a history
of delinquency. Lane is now the
subject of a city-wide manhunt.
According to --
39A. The TV PICTURE has begun featuring a HANDHELD NEWSREEL SHOT of a
dark rubber BODY BAG being carried to a CORONER'S VAN. Just
before the thing is lifted inside, TINA'S bloodied, white ARM
slips from its zippered side and lolls into the dark night air.
A man rudely shoves it back inside and pulls the zipper up the
rest of the way.
39B. WIDER -- as NANCY pales visible. MARGE darts to the TV and slaps
it off, then turning to NANCY. She looks at the girl a moment,
then goes to her and hugs her.
MARGE
(kind)
Where you think you're going?
NANCY
School.
MARGE
I could hear you tossing and
turning all night, kiddo. You've
no business going to school.
NANCY pulls away, determined.
NANCY
I gotta go to school, Mom.
Please. Otherwise I'll just
sit up there and go crazy
or something.
MARGE studies her face a moment.
MARGE
Did you sleep?
NANCY
I'll sleep in study hall, promise.
I'd rather keep busy, you know?
She absently drains the woman's coffee cup -- then pecks her
cheek.
MARGE
Right home after.
NANCY (cont'd)
Right home after. See you.
MARGE watches the girl disappear outside, then lights a cigarette
from the one already burning in her fingers.
40. EXT. STREET. DAY. 40.
MUSIC slips back in, subtle but tense as we TRACK with NANCY as
she walks alone down a sidewalk edged with thick flowering
Oleander. She cocks her head, puzzled, as if sensing something.
MUSIC mounts. NANCY looks across the street.
40A. REVERSE IN HER POV. A MAN is over there in dark clothes, reading 40A.
a newspaper, but really watching her.
40B. NANCY shrugs and continues on, then stops and looks back again. 40B.
40C. IN HER POV we SEE the MAN is gone. 40C.
40D. Next moment -- with a MUSIC STING -- a BLOODIED HAND jumps out 40D.
from the opposite direction, clamps over NANCY'S mouth and drags
her into the bushes.
41. EXT. BUSHES. DAY. 41.
NANCY struggles, twisting against the powerful assailant.
A WIDER ANGLE REVEALS ROD LANE -- barefoot, clad only in jeans
and leather jacket, still caked with dark blood. The rest of his
skin is pale as a ghost's.
ROD
I'm not gonna hurt you.
He releases her warily. NANCY makes no move to run or scream,
even though several STUDENTS pass on the nearby sidewalk. This
reassures ROD just a little.
ROD
Your old man thinks I did it,
don't he?
NANCY
He doesn't know you.
(eyeing the blood)
Couldn't you change?
ROD
The cops were all over my house.
(shivers)
They'll kill me for sure.
NANCY
Nobody's gonna kill you.
He runs his hands down his face, trying to believe that. The two
study each other.
ROD
I never touched her.
NANCY
You were screaming like crazy.
NANCY says this without accusation, just cool observation.
ROD
Someone else was there.
NANCY
The door was locked from your
side.
ROD grabs her hard. His muscular body tenses.
ROD
Don't look at me like I'm some
kind of fucking fruitcake or
something, I'm warning you.
VOICE (O.S.)
Morning, Mr. Lane.
42. The boy jerks around. NANCY's father, his .38 leveled right at 42.
ROD's belly, eases out of the bushes.
LT THOMPSON
Now just step away from her, son.
Like your ass depended on it.
I'm warning you.
ROD backs away, looking once at NANCY with a look of terrible
sadness. Then he dives out of the bushes and runs like hell.
THOMPSON snaps his revolver to fire -- but instinctively NANCY
jumps between --
NANCY
No!
THOMPSON jerks his gun into the air, furious.
THOMPSON
Jesus -- are you crazy!?
He plunges past the girl.
42A. EXT. STREET. DAY. 42A.
ROD races like a frightened animal across the lawns -- but is
soon cut off by the PLANECLOTHESMAN NANCY saw watching her before
-- and then TWO UNIFORMED POLICEMAN, who close from another
angle. The chase is short and pitifully off-balance, and ROD is
soon wrestled to the ground. Next moment one of the cops is
holding ROD'S knife into the air for THOMPSON to see. THOMPSON
looks at NANCY, as if to say 'I told you.' Background, ROD'S
SHOUTS can be heard as he's shoved into a SQUAD CAR.
ROD (O.S.)
I didn't do it -- !
(fading)
I didn't kill her, Nancy!
The car's door slams and ROD is gone. NANCY turns to her father,
livid.
NANCY
You used me, daddy!
LT THOMPSON
(exasperated)
What the hell you doing going to
school today, anyway -- your
mother told me you didn't even
sleep last night!
NANCY spins angrily and walks away.
LT THOMPSON
Nancy! Hey!
But she just keeps going.
FADE TO BLACK
43. INT. CLASSROOM. DAY. 43.
FADE UP ON an ENGLISH TEACHER and CLASS, NANCY among the kids,
trying to concentrate.
TEACHER
According to Shakespeare, there
was something operating in Nature,
perhaps inside human nature itself,
that was rotten -- a canker, as
he put it.
The TEACHER'S eyes glance across the room. ANGLE ON NANCY;
yawning but listening.
TEACHER (CONTD)
Of course Hamlet's response to
this, and to his mother's lies,
was to continually probe and
dig -- just like the gravediggers --
always trying to get beneath the
surface. The same was true in a
different way in Julius Caesar.
Jon, go ahead...
She nods to a SURFER who's been waiting uncomfortably in front of
the class. He squints at his book and begins, the recitation a
struggle between baked and salted brain and the poetry of the
Bard.
SURFER
(reading aloud)
Uh, In the most high and palmy
state of Rome...
WISEGUY STUDENT (O.S.)
California's the most high and
palmy state, man.
The SURFER halts with a grin; KIDS snicker.
ENGLISH TEACHER
Can it.
She glares them back into silence. The SURFER starts over, as we
CUT TO NANCY.
She's nodding off now, barely able to keep her eyes open in the
warm, close boredom of the classroom.
SURFER (O.S.)
In the most high and palmy state
of Rome, a little ere the mightiest
Julius fell...
(NANCY's head pitches
forward; she jerks it
back up, barely awake)
The graves stood tenantless, and
the sheeted dead did squeak and
gibber in the Roman street...
44. NANCY's head has sunk again, eyelids drawn as if by enormous 44.
weight. By the time her cheek's against the desk, the SURFER'S
VOICE is ECHOED and DISTANT. But another voice, TINA'S, is very
near, very much present. A sad, thin plaint.
TINA (O.S.)
Nancy.
NANCY gives a start. Her eyes lock onto something.
45. REVERSE. TILTED SIDEWAYS, IN HER HEAD'S POV, we look straight 45.
out through the open doorway of the classroom into the hall.
There, standing in a black pool of fluid, is a full-sized rubber
body bag. Dark red and yellow. Weaving slightly, the merest
suggesting of movement within it.
46. BACK ON NANCY, sitting upright, wiping the sleep from her eyes, 46.
shaking her head like a punchy prozefighter. She looks back out
the door.
47. REVERSE IN 'NORMAL' POV -- the hallway is empty. But there's a 47.
dark smear on its floor tiles.
48. NANCY looks nervously towards the rest of the class. No one else 48.
has noticed a thing outside the door. All are dumbly spellbound
by the SURFER, who now recites like a deep-voiced robot, his face
wreathed by white hair.
SURFER
O God, I could be bounded in a
nutshell and count myself a king
of infinite space, were it not
that I have bad dreams...
49. ANGLE BACK ON NANCY. She slips from her seat, eye warily on the 49.
teacher and class. But no one turns as she disappears through
the doorway.
50. INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY. DAY. 50.
NANCY turns and looks both directions. No sign of anybody.
TINA (O.S.)
(distant)
Nancy.
NANCY wheels and sees the bag, prone on the tiles at the far end
of the hall, at the end of a long snail's trail of slime. A pale
hand thrusts out of it. A moment later, as if pulled by
invisible gravity, the bag slides out of sight into an
intersecting corridor.
NANCY
Tina!
NANCY starts running for it.
51. ANGLE AT THE CORNER as NANCY races blindly around the turn and 51.
smashes straight into a BODY lunging at her from the opposite
direction! Both go down.
52. ANGLE AT THE FLOOR. A dazed freshman HALLGUARD cranks herself up 52.
on one elbow. She wears a plastic plaque on her red and yellow
sweater that reads 'Hall Guard'. Her nose is bleeding from the
impact.
HALLGUARD
Y-you're not supposed to run.
W-where's your pass -- you got a
pass?
NANCY leaps up --
NANCY
Screw your stupid pass!
53. She turns -- sees the body bag halfway down this darker, narrower 53.
hall, upright again. But just as she sees it, it tips and
pitches headlong through a doorway -- like some godawful rotten
tree finally timbering down. She can hear the sickening
CRUNCHING of it falling down a long flight of stairs.
NANCY runs for it again. The HALLGUARD staggers up FOREGROUND,
bleeding profusely from her eyes and ears.
HALLGUARD
Hey, no running in the halls!
The HALLGUARD raises her hand and we see it's tipped with long
metal spikes.
REVERSE ANGLE AT THE DOOR as NANCY runs up. NANCY turns to check
out the HALLGUARD. She's vanished. NANCY turns and looks down
through the open door. The MUSIC sweeps through a strange,
brooding movement of strings, mounting towards the NIGHTMARE
THEME.
54. INT. A STAIRWELL. 54.
NANCY edges into the stairwell and looks down. Looks like
there's a fire somewhere down there, from the way the orange
light dances. But there's only a low WHITE NOISE.
NANCY
Tina?
No answer. NANCY starts down the stairs.
55. INT. BOILER ROOM. DAY. 55.
NANCY comes off the stairs into a dank boiler room. The smear
trail is there. It runs behind a cracking, red-hot boiler the
size of a diesel locomotive. Everything about the place feels
dreadfully wrong, and the MUSIC is deep into the NIGHTMARE THEME
when it pauses.
TIGHT ON NANCY. Slow terror moves into her face. There's a low,
sinister GIGGLE.
56. REVERSE IN HER POV -- we see a tangle of pipes, shadows, and the 56.
tainted fire of the huge boiler. Then from behind this, deeply
shadowed but still identifiable, steps TINA's KILLER. The same
filthy red and yellow sweater and slouch hat, the same melted
face twisting into a smile, the same GARBLED LAUGH as he slides
the long blades from beneath his shirt and fans them on the ends
of his bony fingers.
NANCY
Who are you?
MAN
Gonna get you.
57. The leering MAN brings the bloodied scalpel-fingernails across 57.
his own chest, splitting a nipple. Yellow fluid pours out.
MAGGOTS and WORMS.
NANCY forgets the question -- jerks around and flees in blind
panic into the first opening she sees -- a dark pipe tunnel.
58. INT. PIPE TUNNEL. 58.
ANGLE IN THE NARROW PASSAGEWAY. In the BACKGROUND the killer
shambles towards her; FOREGROUND NANCY breaks into a run.
The killer sprints -- NANCY tears ahead into darkness.
She flees deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of steaming,
SIZZLING pipes, squeezing through smaller and smaller openings.
The killer is just yards behind her, and soon she's trapped, just
as TINA was before her.
She presses her back to the wet bricks. There's no hope of
fighting him off, for NANCY is not as strong as TINA. But she is
smart as hell, and thinking even in this nightmare. So by the
time the creep has raised his knives to strike, NANCY has
realized something. She wheels and shoves her arm against one of
the scalding steam pipes. In the sme split second we HEAR her
flesh scald, we
CUT TO:
59. INT. ENGLISH CLASS. DAY. 59.
NANCY lurches up SCREAMING, arm raised to ward off the invisible
blow, books clattering to the floor -- other GIRLS nearby SCREAM
in surprise as she stumbles over them. Then she stops, confused
and groggy from the nightmare.
WIDER ANGLE. EVERYBODY is staring at NANCY as if she's gone
mad. The ENGLISH TEACHER rushes over, herself frightened by the
terror in the girl's eyes.
TEACHER
Okay -- Okay, Thompson! Every-
thing's all right now -- Nancy!.
60. NANCY jerks around with panicked eyes, expecting the killer to 60.
leap from any direction. But there's only the sea of staring
eyes.
NANCY begins methodically picking up her books.
TEACHER
I'll call your mother.
NANCY
No! No, really, I'm fine. I'll go
straight home. I'm okay.
She marches for the door.
TEACHER
You'll need a hall pass!
But the girl's gone.
61. EXT. THE SCHOOL. DAY. 61.
NANCY walks out of the building, shaken. Then she pauses at one
of the big pine trees out front, stops and rests her head against
its bark, teeth set. NANCY starts to shake, and next second
she's sobbing like a broken-hearted, frightened child. OMIT 61A.
OMIT 61A.
62. But she shakes herself silent. Wipes the tears away with a slash 62.
of sleeve. She rubs her arm absently, lost in thought, then
reacts in surprise and pain. She lifts her arm and stares at the
spot she's touched.
INSERT ON HER ARM and the BURN there; about the size and shape of
a half-dollar.
WIDER ON NANCY. Utterly, chillingly confused.
62A. TINA, against the tree inches from NANCY, (SC 7) -- turns to her and
says --
TINA
Couldn't get back to sleep
at all.
(beat)
What you dream?
63. EXT. A BUSY STREET. DAY. 63.
NANCY is walking quickly, head erect, jaw set. Then she enters
her father's Police Station.
64. INT. VAN NUYS POLICE STATION. DAY. 64.
NANCY crosses directly to the GARCIA.
NANCY
My dad here?
GARCIA looks up from his paperwork.
SERGEANT GARCIA
Lieutenant.
LT THOMPSON emerges from another room, uneasy to see NANCY.
LT THOMPSON
Decide to take a day off after
all?
NANCY
Dad, I want to see Rod Lane.
THOMPSON doesn't miss a beat.
LT THOMPSON
Only family allowed, Nancy. You
know the drill.
NANCY
Just want to talk to him a second.
LT THOMPSON
He's dangerous.
NANCY
You don't know he did it.
LT THOMPSON
No, I know, thanks to your
own testimony, that he was
locked in a room with a girl
who went in alive and came
out in a rubber bag.
NANCY flinches; her father shows the first signs of color in his
neck.
NANCY
I just want to talk to him.
(beat, lower)
Please, Dad.
THOMPSON shifts almost imperceptibly towards GARCIA, then turns
back to NANCY.
LT THOMPSON
Make it fast.
DISSOLVE TO:
65. INT. CELL AREA. DAY. 65.
A GUARD exits pushing a cart of food trays. NANCY waits warily
until he's gone, then looks back to ROD LANE. ROD looks more
like a captured coyote than a human; haggard, ribbed, expecting
poisoned bait. His hair is wet, his clothes are borrowed jeans
and work shirt.
NANCY
(low)
And then what happened?
ROD
I told you.
(reluctantly)
It was dark, but I'm sure there
was someone else IN there, under
the covers with her.
NANCY reacts.
NANCY
How could somebody get under
the covers with you guys
without you knowing it?
ROD
How the fuck do I know?
(beat)
I don't expect you to believe
me.
NANCY studies his encrypted eyes. Surprisingly, she looks like
she just might believe him. She leans closer with a new
thought.
NANCY
What he look like? You get
a look at him?
He looks away.
ROD
No.
NANCY
Well then how can you say
somebody else was there?
ROD
Because somebody cut her. While
I watched.
Now the place is so quiet you can hear heartbeats.
NANCY
Somebody cut her while you watched
and you don't know what he looked
like?
ROD smiles an insane smile, stuck with a reality no one will
buy.
ROD
You couldn't see the fucker.
You could just see the cuts
happening, all at once.
NANCY gives a twitch.
NANCY
What you mean 'all at once'?
ROD
(low)
I mean, it was as if there were
four razors cutting her at the
same time. But invisible razors.
She just... opened up...
By now he's picking at a clot of dark blood on his jacket, as if
it was a scab on his own body. Then he catches NANCY watching
and turns away to the back of the cell. He smashes his fist into
the wall -- bone-crushing blows that scare the wits out of
NANCY.
NANCY
Rod!
He stops, and his fist is dripping blood as he says in a small,
sad voice.
ROD
I probably could've saved her
if I'd moved sooner... But I
thought it was just another
nightmare, like the one I had
the night before.
(beat)
There... was this guy who had
knives for fingers...
CLOSE ON NANCY, unable to swallow the gorge rising in her
throat. ROD turns to her, and to his surprise she's ashen.
ROD (CONTD)
Do you think I did it?
NANCY
No.
FADE TO BLACK
66. EXT. ELM STREET / NANCY'S HOME. NIGHT. 66.
FADE UP ON ESTABLISHING SHOT as a spooky WIND sets a DOG BARKING
down the block. A CAR goes by, then this pleasant residential
street falls into silence. CAMERA has MOVED IN on NANCY's
well-tended two-story home.
67. INT. NANCY'S KITCHEN. NIGHT. 67.
The house is in shadow. Alone, MARGE scrapes the last of the
evening's dishes and slips them into the dishwasher. Neither she
nor her daughter has touched the food. But MARGE is well into a
bottle of gin; her appetite for that is growing, right along with
her dread. She turns and looks up the stairs, calling.
MARGE
Nancy, don't fall asleep in
there.
NANCY (OS)
I won't.
MARGE
Get into bed.
68. INT. UPSTAIRS BATHROOM. NIGHT. 68.
NANCY
I will.
NANCY'S in the tub, so drowsy she can hardly rinse without
falling asleep. The water in the tub is opaque with suds.
Luxurious.
CLOSER ANGLE, AT WATER LEVEL ON NANCY. Her eyes droop. She
slides closer to the surface of the water, letting its heat sooth
her nerves. Her eyes stare straight up, glazed; her breathing
deepens.
REVERSE, across to her legs, crooked, one knee on each side of
the tub. There's a ripple in the water between. Then something
tiny and shiny breaks the surface between them. It pops up with
a slithering MUSIC CUE and catches a sliver of light. Then it
begins to rise.
Higher and higher it rises, soon accompanied by another, then two
more shining, gleaming blades, and then the full glove and dark
hairy hand and then the wrist and arm, straight up light an evil
sapling between the girl's knees, the knives bloosoming into a
bright flower of razor sharp steel in the air, moving over the
girl's belly. The hand rears back, the claws arch to strike.
MARGE (OS/APPROACHING)
Nancy?
MARGE raps on the door. The instant she does NANCY jerks up,
opening her eyes groggily. The dark wet arm, hand and knifes are
gone.
NANCY
What?
MARGE (OS)
(through the door)
You're not falling asleep,
are you? You could drown,
you know.
NANCY
Mother, for petesakes.
MARGE (OS)
It happens all the time.
(brighter)
I've got some warm milk all
ready for you. Why don't you
jump into bed?
(fading)
I'm gonna turn on your electric
blanket, too. C'mon, now.
(then she's gone into
another room)
NANCY
(low)
Warm milk. Gross.
She slides down to water level again, and sings softly,
thoughtfully to herself.
NANCY (CONTD)
One, two, Freddie's coming for
you, three four, better lock
your door, five six, grab your
crucifix, seven eight gonna
stay up late, nine ten, never
sleep again...
The next instant she's jerked with incredible violence straight
down beneath the surface of the tub -- as if the bottom had
suddenly dropped out and she was in a bottomless well!
68A. EXT. UNDERWATER SHOT. NIGHT. 68A.
LOOKING UP PAST HER ANKLES we SEE NANCY pulled sharply down into
really deep water, the dim light of the surface and bathroom
beyond receding with each yank. And yet she somehow flails and
gasps and struggles back towards the surface, managing by pure
panic to break the surface with her hands!
68B. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE BATHROOM. 68B.
MARGE rushes to the door and listens, alarmed at the wild
SPLASHING audible through the locked door.
MARGE
Nancy! NANCY!
68C. EXT. UNDERWATER SHOT. NIGHT. 68C.
MARGE'S VOICE reaches to the girl, who thrusts up through main
force and breaks the surface with her head and shoulders.
68D. INT. BATHTUB. 68D.
Gasping and choking, NANCY breaks the surface of her bathwater,
like a drowning sailer getting one last chance. Her mother's
VOICE booms over her, ECHOED and frantic -- and the loud BANGING
on the door finally opens her eyes. She turns and calls gasping
to her mother --
NANCY
Mommy!
REVERSE ON THE DOOR -- as MARGE, using the old hangar through the
doorhandle truck, makes it into the room. She rushes across to
the tub. NANCY is staggering up in the bathwater, again with
solid porcelain beneath her feet.
MARGE
I told you! Hundreds of people
a year drown like that!
The mother throws a towel around the gasping girl, helps her from
the tub and begins drying her like a child. NANCY looks like
she's likes paralized with some sort of weird dread.
MARGE
You okay?
NANCY
Great
MARGE
(not believing it for
a minute)
To bed with you, c'mon.
MARGE rushes out to get the room ready. NANCY turns and looks at
herself in the cabinet mirror, then opens the medicine chest and
begins a quick, furtive search.
CLOSER as she takes out the box of No Doz and slips it into her
robe.
OMIT SCS. 69 & 70------------------------------- OMIT SCS. 69 & 70
71. INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT. 71.
NANCY emerges from the bathroom yawning. MARGE follows as the
girl plods obediently to her room.
MARGE
No television, forget the
homework, no phone calls.
NANCY
No, Mother. Yes, Mother.
No, Mother.
72. INT. NANCY'S ROOM. NIGHT. 72.
MARGE
And no school tomorrow, either.
you take a little vacation, relax
and rest for a change.
NANCY
Yes, Mother. G'night.
MARGE offers a smile, and a little yellow pill.
MARGE
Take this, it'll help you sleep.
NANCY
Right.
NANCY pops it in her mouth and swallows obediently. MARGE leans
to her with a kiss.
MARGE
Sleep tight, don't let the
bedbugs bite.
MARGE goes out, relieved. NANCY closes the door, leans against
it and spits the pill into her hand. She tosses it straight out
her window and takes a NoDoz.
FADE TO BLACK
73. OMIT OMIT 73.
74. FADE UP ON INSERT OF TELEVISION SCREEN. 74.
A MONSTER MOVIE in BLACK AND WHITE. NO SOUND from the set.
75. PULL BACK to REVEAL NANCY propped up in bed, furtively watching. Or 75.
is she just thinking? A bedside CLOCK reads 12:45 pm.
The girl YAWNS. She shakes herself violently and sits up
straighter, forcing herself to concentrate on the movie.
75A. ON THE TELEVISION SCREEN. A DIVER struggles to keep facing a 75A.
large circling shark.
75B. ON NANCY. Her eyes droop shut -- then she jerks awake, rattling 75B.
her head as if it were a radio drifting off station. She tumbles
out of bed, throws open the window and takes a deep breath of the
cool night air.
76. EXT. NANCY'S HOUSE AND STREET. NIGHT. 76.
HIGH ANGLE, AT SECOND-STORY LEVEL. NANCY looks directly across
the street to a lighted, open window. Its curtains, sucked out
and waving in the night breeze, give the only motion to the
deserted street.
Then someone pitches out of the dark at her. NANCY gives a YELP
-- then clamps her hand over her mouth as she recognizes GLEN,
balanced precariously on the rose trellis outside her window.
GLEN
Sorry! Saw your light on.
Thought I'd see how you were.
She gets herself together, barely.
NANCY
Sometimes I wish you didn't live
right across the street.
GLEN
Shut up and let me in. You ever
stand on a rose trellis in your
bare feet?
76A. INT. NANCY'S ROOM. NIGHT. 76A.
NANCY looks over her shoulder to make sure her mother hasn't
heard. GLEN's already through her window and planted on her
bed. NANCY points to a chair.
NANCY
If you don't mind.
GLEN crosses to the chair and plops down.
GLEN
So. I heard you freaked out
in English class today.
There's no maliciousness in his voice, and the familiar frankness
is actually comforting to NANCY.
NANCY
Guess I did.
GLEN
Haven't slept, have you?
NANCY
Not really.
NANCY tries to smile, but can't fake it very well. GLEN looks
her over.
GLEN
You look dead and rained on, if
you want the ugly truth. And
what you do to your arm?
She shrugs, trying to keep it casual.
NANCY
Burned myself in Englsh class.
She hazards a look in the mirror, and her jaw drops.
NANCY
M'god, I look twenty years old.
(turning back to him)
You have any weird dreams last
night?
GLEN
Slept like a rock.
NANCY
(pleased)
Well at least I have an objective
wall to bounce this off.
(off)
You believe it's possible to dream
about what's going to happen?
GLEN
No.
NANCY
You believe in the Boogey Man?
GLEN
One two, Freddie's coming
for you? No. Rod killed Tina.
he's a fruitcake and you know it.
NANCY
You believe in anything?
GLEN
I believe in you, me, and
Rock and Roll. And I'm not
too sure about you lately.
NANCY thinks.
NANCY
Listen, I got a crazy favor
to ask.
GLEN
Uh-oh...
NANCY
It's nothing too hard or anything.
(beat)
I'm just going to... LOOK
for someone, and... I want
you to be sort of a ...guard.
Okay?
GLEN makes the Twilight Zone sound.
NANCY
Okay?
GLEN
Okay, okay.
(beat)
I think.
She comes very close to him.
NANCY
You won't screw up, right? I
mean, a whole lot might depend
on it.
The way she's looking at him gives him the creeps.
GLEN
Okay, I won't screw up.
77. Nancy takes a deep breath. Then without another word turns off 77.
the TV and the light.
GLEN (IN DARK)
Jesus, it's dark in here.
NANCY
Shhh. Now listen, here's what
we're gonna do...
78. EXT. ELM STREET. NIGHT. 78.
FADE UP ON NANCY, still in her pajamas, walking through the
shadowy streets near her home, listening for the slightest
sound. We MOVE with her. But nothing, not even the dog barking
earlier, is there now. NANCY peers into the darkness of lawns
and trees behind her.
NANCY
(stage whisper)
You still there?
Across the street and a distance away, GLEN steps from behind a
tree.
GLEN
Yeah. So?
NANCY
Just checking -- keep out of
sight!
GLEN throws up his hands in exasperation and walks back out of
sight. NANCY turns and looks down between the houses, deep into
a dark alleyway. Then she forces herself to walk into it.
79. EXT. ALLEY. NIGHT. 79.
MOVING WITH HER as she makes herself go deeper and deeper into
shadows. Each time she pauses and waits, the MUSIC grows more
threatening and expectant. The feeling is of immense tension --
we're sure the killer will come screaming out on her at any
second.
But he doesn't. In fact absolutely nothing happens, and NANCY
emerges from the far end of the alley unscathed. The only thing
strange is that she now finds her self looking across the mall to
80. EXT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 80.
The Police Station. It takes her a little by surprise, it just
seems to have appeared.
MUSIC creeps into the NIGHTMARE THEME as NANCY whispers hoarsely
back down the dark alley.
NANCY (CONTD)
Still there?
81. EXT. ALLEY. NIGHT. 81.
We only HEAR the DISTANT VOICE, slightly ECHOED.
GLEN'S VOICE (OS)
(yawning)
Still here!
NANCY
On your toes, right?
NANCY stares into the dark trying to see him, but she can't. She
turns back and makes up her mind to move without him in sight.
82. EXT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 82.
MUSIC MOUNTS as we MOVE WITH NANCY across the lawns to the police
station, creeping to the first lighted window she sees. It's a
low, barred basement window, and NANCY reacts as soon as she
looks through it.
83. INT. ROD'S CELL. NIGHT. 83.
NANCY'S POV down into ROD LANE's cell. The boy is on his rough
cot, twitching in disturbed sleep. And a long SHADOW is sliding
across the wall.
A big SHAPE appears in the shadowed corridor outside the boy's
cell, and as IT walks closer NANCY can barely see it's the
shambling, grimly scarred man with the filthy red and yellow
sweater and strange slouch hat pulled across his brow. The
KILLER from all of their nightmares.
And this giant shadow of a man passes through the bars of the
cell, like so much evil Jello. Halfway through he pauses,
turning to check over his shoulder. We see the bars clearly
penetrating his body, going in his head, passing out his ankles.
Then he turns back to ROD and moves forward, and within another
heartbeat is beside the boy.
84. EXT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 84.
NANCY draws back sharply, swallowing in terror. She looks behind
her for help.
NANCY (CONTD)
Glen.
No answer.
NANCY (CONTD)
(louder)
Glen?!
The street is absolutely deserted. There is no motion, and no
sound save one: the distant but unmistakeable sound of GLEN
SNORING.
NANCY (CONTD)
GLEN!
A beat of silence after the shout's echoes die, then the steady,
boyish SNORES again. NANCY swears under her breath and jerks
back around, forcing herself to look again into ROD's cell.
85. INT. ROD'S CELL. 85.
IN HER POV -- the killer picks up ROD's bedsheet and tests it
between his powerful hands. Without thinking, NANCY bangs
against the glass.
NANCY (CONTD)
Rod! Look out!
The KILLER wheels around, locking eyes with NANCY. The girl goes
white. The man's face is in the light, and it's horrible --
seething with hatred and a twisted, insane intelligence.
The hold of those eyes is only broken when ROD rolls up on an
elbow with a deep, troubled GROAN. The instant ROD does this,
the KILLER fades into the shadows in the cell. But even then his
eyes hold on NANCY's until the last second he's visible.
ROD looks around the cell groggily, runs his fingers through his
matted hair, then collapses back on his pillow. No matter how
hard NANCY screams, ROD never once looks at the window. He just
pulls the twisted covers about his shoulders and succumbs once
more to sleep.
And now the bed sheet is no longer on the bed. The KILLER,
materializing out of the shadow again, is holding it between his
hands like a garrote. He looks up and leers at NANCY, then moves
for ROD.
86. EXT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 86.
ANGLE BACK ON NANCY. She pounds on the window, then turns in
frustration and yells into the night.
NANCY
Glen!!
She turns back to the cell in desperation.
87. OMIT OMIT 87.
88. INT. ROD'S CELL. 88.
IN NANCY'S POV we look into a cell that is quite deserted save
for ROD. Sleeping peacefully.
89. EXT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 89.
NANCY pulls back from the window, stunned.
NANCY
I swear...
Suddenly NANCY feels utterly exposed. She shivers, chilled and
vulnerable to the bone in her thin night clothes. She can't
move. It's as if some great nerve between her instincts and body
had been severed. And she hears the SOUND behind her. A sort of
filling-vibrating Scrriiitchh.
MUSIC sneaks in -- the unmistakeable NIGHTMARE THEME, creeping
over her. NANCY forces herself, by sheer will, to look.
90. Ahead of her perhaps twenty-five feet, covered with a thick 90.
plastic body bag through which we can barely see her face, is
TINA. Standing square in the middle of the street. A dark ooze
of BLACK EELS roil out of its bottom, and at its top, the zipper
CHATTERS down and the greenish-white face of TINA lolls out. She
gestures, supplicating, her watery eyes desperate to convey some
desperate message.
The MUSIC FALLS TO A HUSH.
91. NANCY backs away, eyes streaming tears. 91.
NANCY
Glen, where are you! Wake up!
Glen!
DEEP RAGGED VOICE
I'm here.
NANCY twists around in horror at the same instant the KILLER
grabs for her face with his knife-fingers! The girl
intinctively pitches back, then scrambles up and runs like
hell!
NANCY
Glen! Glen!!!
92. EXT. ELM STREET. NIGHT. 92.
MOVING WITH NANCY at full gallop, running blind. She crashes
through a sawhorse into a new sidewalk, sinking into the wet
cement over her ankles. The stuff sticks to her legs in long
gluey globs and she can barely pull her feet loose.
The KILLER looms nearby,
mocking her -- his scalpel claws gleaming in the streetlight. He
just misses the girl as she wrenches free and flees again, now so
winded she can only stagger.
MOVING WITH THEM. Time after time NANCY just barely manages to
elude the shadowy form, leaping from his reach by inches and
pouring on more steam. It's too close to even bother screaming
now; and besides, that would take breath she doesn't have. The
only SOUND is of RUNNING FOOTSTEPS, RASPING BREATH and the
KNIFE-FINGERS WHISTLING through the air.
93. EXT. NANCY'S HOME. NIGHT. 93.
NANCY tears across her front lawn and into the open front door of
her home, SLAMMING it with all her might. There's a tremendously
satisfying CONCUSSION of wood against doorframe, and the LOCKS
fall shut.
94. INT. NANCY'S LIVING ROOM. NIGHT. 94.
NANCY
Glennn!!!
But her voice is garbled as if she's under water, and there's no
answer. The only clue to Glen being there at all is his distant
SNORING. Innocent. Persistent. Deep.
NANCY stops, breath in shreds, face smeared with dirt and tears.
Something is clawing the window in the dark of the kitchen.
NANCY looks and catches the MAN prying at the glass with his big
knife-fingers, the sharp blades SIZZLING against the edges of the
glass as they crack it away from the frame. NANCY runs upstairs
in blind panic.
95. INT. NANCY'S ROOM. NIGHT. 95.
NANCY darts into her unlit bedroom, slams the door and locks it.
Safe at last.
She listens at the door. Nothing. She crosses to her bed. Next
second the KILLER dives through her window and seizes her in a
shower of shattered glass!
NANCY twists and manages to grab the wrist of his knife hand with
both of hers, barely keeping the blades from her throat.
The two fall backwards in a terrible, gasping struggle, crashing
onto NANCY's bed. Her grip is broken -- the MAN stabs -- NANCY
twists away, backed into a corner of bed and walls. Defenseless,
she snatches a pillow up; the KILLER lashes out -- disemboweling
the pilow and sending a great gush of feathers flying. NANCY
dives for escape in a virtual blizzard.
The KILLER manages to snare her with his other hand, and the two
crash across the bedside table to the floor, the table and all
its contents cascading around them in a whiteout of feathers.
ANGLE AT FLOOR LEVEL -- CLOSE ON NANCY'S AND THE KILLER'S HEADS.
The blades inch towards the girl's face -- the drool of the
grizzled shadow with the horribly scarrred face spills into her
eyes. Feathers are everywhere; MUSIC is absolutely insane!
But just when the points of steel are less than an inch from her
eyes, the old fashioned alarm clock thrown to the floor next to
NANCY's head goes off with a jarring RINGGGGGGG!
96. Instantly the MUSIC STOPS. And a moment later the room is 96.
light.
WIDER as NANCY reels up, blinded by the sudden light, SCREAMING
AND FIGHTING on her bed.
ANGLE ON GLEN, lurching from his own sleep at the frightening
noise. He discovers NANCY pressed in terror against her
headboard, clutching a pillow like a drowning woman would a
straw.
It's an intact pillow, and there isn't a feather in sight.
NANCY stares incredulously at GLEN, then around the room,
untangling herself from her bedclothes. Wary and furious, her
voice hoarse.
NANCY
Glen, you bastard...
The boy looks at his friend in groggy alarm. She's absolutely
livid, more angry than he's ever seen her, and more strange.
GLEN
What I do?
He reaches for her -- she flattens against the wall, eyes hard,
and terribly hurt, too.
NANCY
(low)
I asked you to do just one thing.
Just stay awake and watch me --
Just wake me if it looked like
I was having a bad dream.
(eyes wild)
But you. You shit -- what do
you do -- you fall asleep!
She stops herself, wiping a bit of spittle off her lip, alarmed
at how out of control she's become. And suddenly she breaks,
sinking into her torn bedclothes and rubbing her head.
NANCY (CONTD)
(mostly to herself)
I must be going nuts...
MARGE (OS)
Nancy?
Her mother's door opens OS.
GLEN
Oh, shit.
NANCY composes her voice as best she can.
NANCY
Yes, mother?
MARGE's flip-flops approach outside the door. GLEN barrels out
the window -- NANCY dives for the bed, jams off the light and
disappears under the covers. MARGE, bleary eyed herself, opens
the door and flicks on the light.
MARGE
(beat)
You okay?
NANCY
(weakly)
Yeah. Just had a little dream.
I'm falling right back to sleep.
MARGE
(beat)
Okay... You need anything, just call.
NANCY
Okay.
MARGE closes the door. NANCY immediately sits up and looks at
the window. A single bone-white feather floats down in the
moonlight. Then it's sucked outside and is gone.
97. EXT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 97.
GLEN's CADILLAC CONVERTABLE careens into the parking lot and
SCREECHES to a stop. GLEN and NANCY jump out and head for the
station.
GLEN
You mind telling me what's
going on?
NANCY's races into the station without answering.
GLEN (CONTD)
Oh, I see. That makes it all
perfectly clear.
98. INT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 98.
NANCY goes straight to the SERGEANT's desk.
NANCY
Garcia, I want to see Rod
Lane again.
GARCIA winces.
SGT GARCIA
I thought when I took the
night shift I'd have peace
and quiet for a change.
NANCY
It's urgent, we've gotta see Rod.
SGT GARCIA
It's three in the morning.
Your mother know you're out this
late?
NANCY
(faking it)
Of course -- look, at least go
back and look at him. Just see
if he's okay.
GARCIA glances at GLEN.
GLEN
(faking it)
We have reason to think there
might be something weird going
on.
LT THOMPSON (OS)
Oh, no argument on that.
NANCY jumps around at the sound of her father's voice. LT
THOMPSON emerges from his office, rumpled and yawning.
NANCY
Dad -- what you doing here?
LT THOMPSON
It so happens I work here, and
there's an unsolved murder. I
don't like unsolved murders,
especially ones my daughter's
mixed up in -- what are you
doing here at this hour? You're
supposed to be getting some
sleep.
GLEN
Listen, sir, this is serious.
Nancy had a nightmare about Rod
being in danger, or something,
and so she thinks...
He trails off, loosing it under LT THOMPSON's glare. Besides, he
doesn't know exactly what the hell's really going on himself.
GARCIA puts his beefy hand on NANCY's shoulder.
NANCY
I just want to see if he's okay!
SGT GARCIA
Take my word for it, Nancy. The
guy's sleeping like a baby. He's
not going anywhere.
99. INT. CELL BLOCK. NIGHT. 99.
ANGLE ON ROD in his cell. He's asleep, all right, but not safely
so. His bedsheet has come alive. It twitches, pulsates, then
snakes towards his throat.
ROD stirs, the sheet falls still; ROD slips into deeper sleep,
and the sheet moves again, completing the noose around his neck!
100. INT. BOOKING ROOM. NIGHT. 100.
NANCY makes a move for the cell block --
NANCY
This isn't your average nightmare,
Daddy -- damn it!
The door's locked; she hauls on it in desperation.
LT THOMPSON
Now look, Nancy, don't push
it. You've already rubbed my nose
in sex, drugs and violence -- don't
start throwing in insanity!
NANCY takes that one to heart. She wheels on him and pleads, her
intensity sobering even to him.
NANCY
Just go back and check -- please!
The man takes a beat, then shrugs and nods towards SGT GARCIA.
LT THOMPSON
Okay, Garcia. What the hell.
SGT GARCIA
Right...
(feeling in his pockets)
Now where'd I put the key...
He mumbles backs towards his desk. MUSIC BUILDS as we HOLD ON
NANCY'S FACE.
101. INT. ROD'S CELL. NIGHT. 101.
With a terrible SNAP ROD's sheet jerks tight around his neck.
The startled teenager is hauled upright -- eyes popping, face
purple. He claws at the sheet, but despite his strength he can't
get his fingers between the noose and his windpipe. He's dragged
backwards across the cot.
102. INT. BOOKING ROOM. NIGHT. 102.
GARCIA finally has the keys. Urged on by NANCY he fumbles with
the lock.
103. INT. ROD'S CELL. NIGHT. 103.
ROD'S being dragged backwards, gasping and struggling in vain
against the powerful pull -- right across his cell and up the
wall, too. He clutches blindly at his throat at the far end of
the sheet coils around the bars of the high window. Then there's
a powerful wrench of the sheet, and ROD'S neck SNAPS. The kid's
body sags lifeless.
104. ANGLE THROUGH THE BARS as NANY, GLEN, LT THOMPSON and GARCIA 104.
appear in the corridor outside, the girl sprinting ahead.
NANCY
Rod!
But it's too late; NANCY sinks back in horror as her father and
GARCIA rush into the cell.
LT THOMPSON
Gimme a hand, dammit!
GLEN, pale as the sheet that's killed ROD, climbs to the bars and
unties the knot. ROD slides down over the SERGEANT'S shoulders,
limp as a marrionette with its strings slashed.
SGT GARCIA
Goddamn loco kid -- he didn't
have t'do that -- Madre dios!
They lay ROD at NANCY's feet; a strange Pieta. NANCY's father
looks at her in spooked suspicion.
LT THOMPSON
How'd you know he was gonna do
this?
NANCY says nothing.
FADE TO BLACK
105. EXT. FOREST LAWN CEMETERY. DAY. 105.
BURN ON:
THE FOURTH DAY
FADE UP ON a stark afternoon. On a hill of sere grass
overlooking the valley, the casket of ROD LANE is lowered into
its grave.
A small group of FAMILY and FRIENDS watches soberly as the
MINISTER raises his hand in benediction.
MINISTER
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
May God be with this young man's
soul.
ON THE FACES of MARGE, LT THOMPSON, TINA'S MOTHER and ROD'S
PARENTS. Just for a second or two, in looks too rapid for an
outsider to even notice, these adults exchange looks. Furtive,
quick glances that suggest an immense something that they all
share, something beyond even this second death among their
children. Then they are all staring ahead again, as if the
others weren't even there.
MINISTER (CONTD OS)
His life and his death attest to
the Scripture's warning that he who
lives by the sword shall die by
the sword.
ANGLE ON GLEN, watching --
NANCY, standing alone, not believing it for a minute.
MINISTER (CONTD OS)
But let us recall also our Lord's
admonition that we 'Judge not,
lest we be judged.' Let us
attempt only to love. And may
Rod Lane rest in peace.
NANCY
(quietly)
Amen to that much.
The mourners walk away from the grave, MARGE among them. She
pauses near a MAN and two WOMEN in black -- TINA'S MOTHER, ROD'S
PARENTS. They almost, it seems, speak. Then MARGE hurries on.
WE MOVE WITH HER as she's joined by LT THOMPSON. Both are worn
and on edge. THOMPSON absently lights another cigarette,
offering one to MARGE.
LT THOMPSON
How's Nancy doing?
MARGE
I don't think she's slept since
Tina died.
(shakes her head)
She's always been a delicate
kid.
THOMPSON lights her cigarette, attempting some sort of
nonchalance.
LT THOMPSON
She's tougher than you think.
Any idea how she knew Rod was
gonna kill himself?
MARGE
No. All I know is, this reminds
me too much of ten years ago.
THOMPSON blows a plume of smoke against the hard sky and looks
away.
LT THOMPSON
Yeah. Well... Let's not start
digging up bodies just because
we're in a cemetery.
He gives her a look that could cut stone. MARGE toses down her
cigarete and crosses to NANCY. The girl is simply staring off
over the valley.
MARGE
(very gently)
Time to go home, baby.
She moves her away from the brink of the hill.
106. EXT. CEMETERY PARKING AREA. DAY. 106.
MARGE opens the door of the station wagon for NANCY. NANCY turns
to them both, speaking in a still, small voice.
NANCY
The killer's still loose,
you know.
She has a wild, Cassandra aspect that sends a chill right up
MARGE'S spine.
LT THOMPSON
You saying somebody else killed
Tina? Who?
NANCY smiles a weird sort of smile.
NANCY
I don't know who he is. But he's
burned, he wears a weird hat, a
red and yellow sweater, real
dirty, and he uses some sort of
knifes he's got made into a sort
of... glove. Like giant finger-
nails.
As NANCY has described this monster from her dream, unseen by
her, the faces of MARGE LT and THOMPSON have drained completely
of color.
LT THOMPSON
(low, even, to MARGE)
I think you should keep Nancy
at home a few days. 'Til she's
really over the shock.
MARGE
I got something better...
(to NANCY)
I'm gonna get you help, baby.
So no one will threaten you
any more.
She takes the girl by the arm and guides her into the car,
locking the door from outside. NANCY never taking her eyes from
her father's as the car bears her away.
FADE TO BLACK
BURN ON:
THE FIFTH DAY
107. EXT. UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. DAY. 107.
FADE UP ON UCLA's WESTWOOD CAMPUS and PAN TO SIGN:
UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
INSTITUTE FOR THE
STUDY OF SLEEP DISORDERS
108. INT. A LABORATORY SLEEPING CHAMBER. 108.
A NURSE applies sencors to the head, breast, arms, and fingers of
NANCY THOMPSON. The girl is lying on a simple broad cot, in her
pajamas. The room is subdued in color and holds only this single
bed. A large mirror set into one wall hides an observation room
beyond.
NANCY
But I just don't feel... ready
to sleep yet. Please, do I
have to?
109. WIDER, REVEALING DR SAMUEL KING, a young, curly-haired internist; 109.
intelligent and wry. He treats NANCY at all times like a young
adult, never patronizing. He winks as the NURSE finishes.
DR KING
Don't worry, you're not gonna
change into Bride of Frankenstein
or anything.
NANCY manages a smile, but she's haggard and visibly thinner.
MARGE, background, looks downright distraught.
DR KING (CONTD)
Nancy have any severe childhood
illnesses? Scarlet Fever?
High temperatures -- concussions?
MARGE
No, nothing.
NANCY
He means, did you ever drop me
on my head.
The doctor and girl share a nervous laugh; MARGE doesn't even
smile.
DR KING
Nightmares are expected after
psychological trauma. Don't
worry, they go away.
MARGE
I sure as hell hope so.
NANCY
I don't see why you couldn't
just give me a pill to keep me
from dreaming...
DR KING
Everyone's got to dream.
If you don't dream, you go...
(he drills his finger
at his temple)
All set?
NANCY
No.
MARGE
They're just simple tests,
Nan. We'll both be right
here.
DR KING
Look, I know it's been fright-
ening, I know your dreams have
seemed real. But... it's
okay. Okay?
MARGE
Please, Nancy. Trust us.
The girls gauges her mother, the doctor, the situation very
carefully. Then lowers her eyes.
NANCY
It's not you I don't trust.
It's...
(gives up)
Okay. Let's do it.
Greatly relieved, MARGE gives NANCY a goodnight kiss, then
follows the doctor through a doorway near the mirror. As soon as
her mother is out of sight, NANCY'S eyes drift to the mirror
itself. In its reflection she sees herself looking back, alone
on the bed.
DISSOLVE TO:
110. INT. THE OBSERVATION ROOM. 110.
MARGE and DR KING overlook NANCY's sleeping chamber through the
one-way mirror. And KING monitors the girl even more closely
with a bank of instruments -- a mass of glowing dials, graphs and
meters. His manner with MARGE is slightly more sober.
DR KING
How long's this been going on?
MARGE
Since the murder. She was fine
before that.
DR KING
Not to worry. No signs of path-
ology in Nancy's EEG or pulse
rate. I'd guess what we've got
is a normal young girl who just
happens to have gone through
two days of hell.
MARGE
It's just made her think...
her dreams are real...
KING adjusts a dial, watching the EKG like a hawk.
DR KING
Ever hear the old Buddhist tale
about the King who dreamed he
was a beggar who dreamed he
was a king?
MARGE twitches. Then there's a slight alteration in the sound of
the EKG. KING nods in satisfaction.
DR KING (CONTD)
Okay, good. She's asleep.
MARGE
(immensely relieved)
Thank God.
MUSIC RISES SOLEMNLY, MAJESTICALLY into a haunting transition as
we
DISSOLVE TO
111. A MONTAGE OF SHOTS, of the EKG GRAPH, its inky needles calming, 111.
of a METER tracing the quieting of NANCY's pulse, and of OTHER
INSTRUMENTS, indicating life processes we can only guess. All
smoothing out.
112. CLOSE ON NANCY on TV MONITOR, asleep like the child she is. 112.
Innocent.
MARGE lights a cigarette, angry at her helplessness.
MARGE
What the hell are dreams, anyway?
DR KING
Mysteries. Incredible body
hookus pokus. Truth is we
still don't know what they
are or where they come from.
As for nightmares...
(leans closer)
Did you know that in the last
three years twenty Philipino
refugees in California died
in the middle of nightmares?
Not from heart attacks, either.
They just died.
He gives a "Ah don' know" shrug. MARGE looks out into the
sleeping room. NANCY is a motionless bundle in the middle of the
bed.
113. ANGLE ON A NEEDLE on an EKG dipping to a lower reading. 113.
114. WIDER ANGLE -- the mother and DOCTOR watching. 114.
MARGE
What happened? That needle
sank like a rock.
DR KING
(quietly)
She's entering deep sleep now.
Heart rate's a little high due
to anxiety, but otherwise she's