A Nightmare on Elm Street

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, sh*t.

She suddenly snatches up the cross that hangs over her head, her

face white as her sheet.

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