A Nightmare on Elm Street Page #3

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.

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