A Nightmare on Elm Street Page #10

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.

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