A Nightmare on Elm Street Page #26

MRS LANTZ:

(into phone)

What's this about, Nancy?

She listens, covers up again.

MRS LANTZ (CONTD)

She says it's private. Very

private and very important.

MR LANTZ grabs the telephone from his wife and barks into it.

MR LANTZ:

Glen's asleep. Talk to him

tomorrow!

He SLAMS down the telephone with a grunt of satisfaction to his

wife.

MR LANTZ (CONTD)

Just got to be firm with kids,

is all.

Then as a refinement he takes the phone off the hook and lays it

on the table.

160. INT. NANCY'S ROOM. NIGHT. 160.

NANCY dials again. This time she gets a BUSY SIGNAL. She slams

the phone down in frustration and looks out the window.

NANCY:

Glen. Don't fall asleep...

She goes and sits on the bed, propping her chin on her fists.

161. Yawns. The TELEPHONE RINGS. 161.

NANCY snatches it up.

NANCY:

Glen?

TIGHT ON HER, ZOOMING EVEN CLOSER ON HER EAR AND THE EARPIECE as

we HEAR the awful SCRITCHING SCRAPE of STEEL FINGERKNIVES.

NANCY slaps the phone down as if it were diseased -- then, in

pure rage, rips the thing's cord from the wall.

Spent instantly, she puts the receiver back on the cradle and

lays it on her bed, chiding herself.

NANCY:

Brilliant. Now what if Glen

calls?

She wraps the phone cord around the useless machine and puts it

on her bed, then sneaks back to the door. This time she gives an

expression of relief, and opens the door. MARGE is gone.

Then the TELEPHONE RINGS again.

CAMERA MOVES IN ON NANCY as she turns slowly.

162. REVERSE IN HER POV. THE TELEPHONE RINGS again, despite the fact 162.

that the end of its janked-out cord is clearly visible. The

NIGHTMARE MUSIC THEME slips right up our spines.

BACK ON NANCY. She starts to shake. She goes to the telephone

as we WIDEN, unwraps it as it RINGS even louder. She's shaking

so hard by now she can barely manage to lift the receiver. MOVE

IN CLOSE ON HER, so close we can HEAR her teeth chattering as she

brings the phone to her ear.

NANCY (CONTD)

Hello?

The unmistakeable VOICE of FRED KRUEGER comes over the phone,

garbled by time and unknown dimensions, but clear enough.

KRUEGER (FILTER)

(triumphant)

I'm your boyfriend now...

CLOSE ON THE MOUTHPIECE. It's changed from a normal telephone

mouthpiece to an actual mouth -- Fred Krueger's mouth -- and his

long, slick tongue flicks out and darts into the startled girl's

mouth!

WIDER -- as NANCY explodes from her micro-dream -- absolutely

mad. She jerks the telephone away from her and smashes it

against her wall, then attacks it with her feet and hands,

smashing it to smithereens.

ANGLE ON THE TELEPHONE PIECES. Normal pieces of a normal

telephone.

She pinches herself hard -- until tears come and her flesh is

nearly bleeding.

NANCY:

I'm awake, I am awake. This is

not a dream! I am --

She stops, realizing what Krueger meant.

NANCY (CONTD)

My boyfriend...!

163. INT. NANCY'S LIVING ROOM. NIGHT. 163.

NANCY barrels down the stairs and across the darkened living room

to the front door.

It takes her a moment of tugging and fumbling to realize the

deadbolt is locked from inside. And there's no key in it now.

She races to a porch window and throws it open, shaking and

banging on the bars like a mad woman. But there's no getting

through. She staggers back, stymied and furious. Then somebody

moves behind her in the dark.

VOICE (OS)

Locked.

NANCY jumps around in shock. Her mother has posted herself on

the couch with her bottle.

NANCY:

(furious)

Give me the key, mother.

MARGE:

I don't even have it on me,

so forget it.

The word is final. NANCY runs past the woman to the back door,

to one window after the other, shaking bars and slamming locks

and SCREAMING in teenage fury. But it's no good. The house is

her prison.

MARGE (CONTD)

(drunk satisfaction)

Paid the guy damn good to make

sure you stayed put. You ain't

goin' nowhere, kid. You're

gonna sleep tonight if it kills

me.

NANCY clenches her fists and screams at the top of her lungs, a

heart-wrenching, eardrum-breaking cry of love in despair --

NANCY:

GLEEENNNNNN!

SMASH CUT TO:

164. INT. GLEN'S ROOM. NIGHT. 164.

CLOSE ON GLEN'S FROM DIRECTLY ABOVE. The MUSIC is tinny from the

earphones, the TV SOUND DISTANT AND ECHOED. The boy is breathing

deeply now, slowly and gently. Then, unmistakeably, he begins to

SNORE. Very faintly, far in the background, we can hear NANCY.

NANCY (OS)

Glen!! Don't fall asleeeeeep!

CAMERA PULLS BACK AND STRAIGHT UP as the SNORES merge with a

weird, unsettling MUSIC CUE. The boy lies sprawled, still

clothed, in the middle of his bed. Save for the bedside lamp,

the room is dark.

FULL WIDE ANGLE FROM THIS HIGH SPOT looking down at him as from

the eyes of some great fly hung on the ceiling. THE MUSIC

REACHES A TERRIFYING PITCH OF ANTICIPATION -- THEN STOPS

ABRUPTLY.

There's a heartbeat's pause. Then with tremendous force, two

powerful arms shoot up beneath the red and yellow bedspread and

grab GLEN around the waist!

Next moment the young man's body is dragged straight down into

the bed, as if some huge beast had grabbed him and heaved him

down! His feet and his arms shoot up -- there's another hauling

yank -- and the boy disappears except for his hands and fingers

-- down into the pit in the middle of the bed! His hands are

last to go, clawing for a hold. But soon they vanish as well,

dragging blankets and bedsheets, wires and stereo across the

caved-in bed and into the abyss.

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