FADE IN:
INT. DC-10 AIRLINER - NIGHT
JACOB JOHNSON is sleeping. It doesn't look like a pleasant
experience. He is sixteen, dirty blonde, his eyes visibly
moving under closed lids as he sits huddle under a blanket in
his window seat. The lights are dim -- the shade on the
window closed -- a bead of sweat dribbles down his forehead.
The HUMMING of the jet's engines vibrates through the cabin.
The boy's eyes snap open.
Jacob glances around nervously. He looks like an escaped
convict who just accidentally walked into the Policemen's
Ball. A GREYHAIRED MAN two seats away from him gives the
teenager a cursory glance, then goes back to his book. Jacob
lays his head back and tries to relax. The engines continue
to drone.
Until a new noise starts. A WHOOSHING NOISE.
The sound is very faint. But distinct from everything else.
Jacob frowns.
The noise gets LOUDER. Jacob's sure he's hearing it now. He
looks at the Greyhaired Man. The man catches his eye and the
two of them stare at each other for a heartbeat - then Jacob
turns away. The Man returns to his book. And Jacob
immediately turns back to him.
JACOB
Do you hear that?
The man gives him an annoyed look as the WHOOSHING gets
louder.
GREYHAIRED MAN
Hear what?
JACOB
That noise.
GREYHAIRED MAN
I don't hear anything.
The man turns back to the book as the sound gets even LOUDER -
- like it's coming closer. Jacob squirms in his seat --
sneaks a look at the man again. How can he not hear that? A
STEWARDESS walks by and Jacob catches her attention.
JACOB
Excuse me.
STEWARDESS
Yes?
The WHOOSHING is completely obvious now. The greyhaired man
tries to ignore the two people talking over him.
JACOB
What is that sound?
STEWARDESS
That's just the engines, sir.
JACOB
No, it's different. It's not the
engines. It's getting louder.
The man sighs -- the stewardess smiles patronizingly.
STEWARDESS
We're just gaining altitude to get above
some rough weather. That's the sound of
the engines speeding up a bit.
Everything's fine.
JACOB
Um...okay.
The stewardess walks away as Jacob sits back and starts to
bite his nails. The whooshing is really starting to BLARE
now. He looks between the seats in front of him -- twists
around to look behind. He snaps back to the greyhaired man.
JACOB (cont'd)
Can't you hear that?
GREYHAIRED MAN
(losing patience)
Look, kid. Will you relax? It's just
the damn engines, okay?
The man glares at him, and Jacob backs off. The sound has
grown DEAFENING. Jacob grinds his seat like he's going mad.
He looks at the closed window. He reaches out his hand,
grabs the handle then rips up the shade for all to see:
A 747 coming RIGHT AT US.
Jacob SCREAMS. The planes CRASH.
Impact - decompression - explosion. The hull of the cabin
buckles violently - moaning like a dying elephant - peeling
inward revealing RED AND GREEN STRIPING on the outside.
A huge wing section RIPS through the structure - barely
missing Jacob - taking the greyhaired man's head clean off -
nailing the stewardess in the gut and shoving her body across
and out the other side of the cabin.
And Jacob's seat drops down - sending him and us into:
EXT. SKY - NIGHT
Like an intricate ballet, Jacob, his body strapped to his
chair, tumbles away from the DC-10 and 747 as they seem to
merge and bend into some kind of mutant DC-47 - wings and
tails wrapping around each other as debris blooms out like a
flower and together they EXPLODE - a fiery ball lighting the
nighttime clouds and Jacob's shrieking face.
And Jacob falls and falls and falls, his hair sticking
straight up from the blasting wind.
That's when CORPSES start falling past him. The captain of
the plane - the stewardess, her body bent in half - the
greyhaired man, his head gone but his book still in his hand.
More men, women, crew people - and CHILDREN.
But these children aren't dead bodies. Two LITTLE GIRLS and
one LITTLE BOY, all dressed in white, plummet down next to
Jacob, head first, like high divers. And they're singing:
THE CHILDREN
One two, Freddy's coming for you...
The children turn around in the sky so that they are
travelling feet first. The Little Boy's pants puff up and
the Girls' skirts poof out and RIP UPWARD - the wind taking
away their clothes and their skin and their bodies and their
hair...
THE CHILDREN (cont'd)
Three four, better lock your door...
Leaving three tiny SKELETONS - taunting and laughing as Jacob
screams and covers his eyes.
THE CHILDREN (cont'd)
Five six, grab your crucifix...
And the Skeletons sprout wings - leathery and veiny - the
wind catching them and sending them up and away as their
voices echo in the sky.
THE CHILDREN (cont'd)
Seven eight, gonna stay up late...
Jacob takes his hands away from his face and starts to
frantically pull on his seat belt. SNAP - it flies off his
back and miraculously turns into a PARACHUTE. Rope swirls
into the air - the wind grabs the canvas - and Jacob's body
slows with a violent jerk.
But at least he's not falling anymore. Jacob catches his
breath as he starts gently floating through the sky. He
smiles. This isn't so bad. This is actually kind of fun.
Not for long, though, because his new upward momentum carries
him back up to:
The winged children's Skeletons. Jacob's eyes bug out as he
rises into them and they start to circle. They move closer
and we can see something in their hands:
SCISSORS
Jacob twists his body, trying to steer his parachute away
from the demons. One of the Skeletons swoops up to his face
and pokes its scissors inches away from Jacob's eyes. It
sings alone:
CHILD
Nine ten, never sleep again!
The Skeleton cranks its arm back - ready to plunge the
scissor's blades into Jacob's sockets. The arms swings
toward him - then suddenly diverts up past his head, heading
for:
THE CHUTE'S STRINGS
The Skeleton flaps its wings and poises its scissors at one
of the ropes. The other two Skeletons join it over Jacob's
head. The three of them look down at Jacob, their boney jaws
in a perpetual smile.
JACOB
No!
The Skeletons nod "yes". SNIP - SNIP - SNIP - they cut away
at Jacob's parachute as he swings underneath them, trying to
pull away - SNIP - SNIP.
The parachute flutters away - the Skeletons cackle - and
Jacob plummets.
ON JACOB
We stay with him as he screams and shrieks and yells and the
clouds part and the ground rises quickly up to meet him. The
ground becomes a town, the town becomes a block, the block
becomes a house, the house becomes a roof, and...
INT. JACOB'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
KA-BLAM! The ceiling explodes as Jacob's body plows through,
slams down, shatters the bed, and we immediately:
CUT TO:
INT. JACOB'S BEDROOM - MORNING
Jacob's eyes blast open as he sits up from bed in a cold
sweat. A dream. The worst fucking dream from hell anyone
would ever want to have -- but still just a dream. He takes
a few deep breaths as a soft KNOCK is heard at the door.
JACOB
Yeah..
ALICE JOHNSON opens the door and sticks her head in. She's
thirty-two, blonde, with a caring smile.
ALICE
You okay, honey?
JACOB
Yeah, Mom. I'm fine.
ALICE
Alright. Better get cooking or you'll be
late for school.
JACOB
On my way.
Alice closes the door as Jacob gets out of bed and stretches.
Sunlight is leaking through the bedroom window shade and
Jacob walks over to it. He reaches out and pulls up the
shade.
And there's nothing buy sky. Jacob frowns and pokes his head
out the window.
JACOB'S POV - THE GROUND
is once again racing up towards us at seven-thousand miles an
hour. The entire house is falling.
BACK IN THE BEDROOM
Jacob leaps away from the window. The WINGED SKELETONS
reappear outside -- dancing in the air -- cackling with glee.
The bedroom starts to SHAKE violently as Jacob stumbles into
the center. The roof starts caving in and the walls begins
to crumble.
ANGLE STRAIGHT DOWN ON JACOB.
Jacob grabs his head, looks up at us, and SCREAMS. We
suddenly stay where we are as the house drops down and we
punch out through the roof and our shot becomes an:
ANGLE STRAIGHT DOWN ON THE HOUSE
as it falls away towards the ground. We watch as it becomes
a small dot - and finally impacts on the surface. A mushroom
cloud of smoke silently puffs out in the distance below
EXT. TOWN - NIGHT - AT THE CRATER
Smoke and dust whirl around a huge hole in the earth.
Splintered shreds of lumber stick up in the air like giant
toothpicks. Some of the toothpicks start to move.
Jacob rises out of the destruction, charred, scraped,
battered and, unfortunately, alive. He climbs up to the edge
of the crater. He looks back a the remnants of his home.
Then something starts to happen.
Something his growing from the crater - spreading out. It's
not a cloud, it's not smoke - it's a DARKNESS. Even though
it's night, this darkness is darker. It creeps out from the
hole - fingers of blackness reaching out. What it covers
doesn't disappear. It becomes GLOOMY. The shroud is getting
bigger.
And it's getting faster. Jacob runs.
WITH JACOB - RUNNING
He bolts down the streets of the small town in a blind panic.
He looks behind him and sees the darkness getting bigger, its
gloominess covering houses. Then whole blocks.
Everything it touches seems to fall deeper into SHADOW.
AT THE STREET CORNER
Jacob comes across a WOMAN walking her dog. He stops and
yells at her.
JACOB
Get the hell out of here! It's coming!
WOMAN
What's coming?
Jacob points down the street. The shroud is swooping down
the road - browning out street lights in its wake. And the
woman doesn't find anything threatening about this. Jacob
screams at her.
JACOB
Don't you see it?
WOMAN
See what?
And it's obvious now: she doesn't see anything. The Woman is
totally oblivious to the danger. Jacob shakes his head --
stumbles away.
The woman watches him go as the darkness PASSES OVER HER.
She sighs.
And begins to MUTATE. Her hair gets scraggly, her skin
bursts out in sores, her back grows a hump -- all of which
she DOESN'T seem to notice.
She just shrugs her twisted shoulders.
WOMAN (cont'd)
Kids...watcha gonna do?
She hobbles away with her dog - which now has six legs and
two heads.
BACK WITH JACOB - RUNNING
Like a bat running from hell, he tears through the streets
passing buildings that turn creepy and people that become
passively accepting monsters.
A VOICE booms out from nowhere.
FREDDY (O.S.)
Jacob! You're too old to run away from
home!
Jacob covers his ears and races out of town.
EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT
Jacob falls onto the deserted road just outside of town. He
rolls on the asphalt and looks behind him. most of the town
is covered in an opaque gloom.
Suddenly a CACKLING sound is heard and Jacob turns to its
source:
HIS POV: THE SPRINGWOOD SIGN
The town can still be seen behind it -- the darkness over
almost all of it now. The sign reads: WELCOME TO SPRINGWOOD.
POPULATION...
And the numbers after the word "population" are changing.
They're counting BACKWARDS, clattering away like an old-time
gas pump in reverse - faster and faster - blurring as the
"thousands" digit disappears, then the "hundreds", then
"tens", then...
CLINK - the count stops at "1". Springwood is entirely
engulfed in the shroud. There is a pause.
CRASH - the sign is violently YANKED into the ground. It
vanishes into the earth and a CRACK APPEARS at the edge of
the road. The crack grows - moving out to the center of the
highway.
BACK ON THE STREET
Jacob watches the crack as it splits wider in the middle of
the street and a GURGLING sound starts to build. The tar in
front of Jacob becomes molten. It bubbles and pops.
Jacob scrambles backwards as something begins to rise from
boiling asphalt.
It's a hat.
The hat, a fedora to be precise, pushes itself up. A left
hand - burned and scarred - pokes out next to it. Four sharp
blades jut out of the muck on the other side. A head is up
now - a curtain of tar dripping from the rim of the hat -
hiding the face. The body beneath the head ascends. The
veil of asphalt parts:
It's FREDDY KRUEGER. Jacob SCREAMS.
Freddy LAUGHS. He shakes off his layer of tar and looks
towards the clouded town of Springwood. A look of pure
hatred appears on his ragged face.
FREDDY
Payback time...
Freddy opens his mouth - lets out a large breath - and then
INHALES an even larger one.
A WINDSTORM starts, the source being Krueger's own lungs.
The gale force begins to yank at the shroud surrounding
Springwood. Fingers of darkness pull up from the town and
towards Freddy's mouth -- and houses begin to DISSOLVE.
Freddy continues to inhale like he's never going to stop.
Krueger is sucking the black gloom into his body - and the
entire town of Springwood is going with it. Trees,
buildings, cars, picket fences. It's all crumbling and
fusing, becoming a part of t cloud that itself is caught in
the nightmarish wind tunnel, all piling into Freddy's mouth.
The vortex swirls into Krueger. Then it's gone. Nothing but
a vacant lot the size of a town remains. Freddy turns to
Jacob and BURPS, it sounds like a THUNDERCLAP.
JACOB
No!
FREDDY
Don't worry, I have a strong stomach.
Freddy reaches down and yanks up his red and green sweater.
He pulls apart his putrid abdomen to reveal his guts - and a
transparent stomach.
Inside the stomach: a black swirling mass. Flashes of
houses, people, homes, couples, all trapped in horrible
anguish. Freddy drops down his sweater.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Springwood is mine, boy!
JACOB
I dreamed you away before I was born!
Mom said you couldn't come back!
FREDDY
Is that true? Then she told you all
about me, huh? Let's see what else she
has to say.
Freddy reaches his left hand into the bubbling tar at his
feet, digs around a bit, then pulls out:
ALICE. Jacob's mother. Tar dripping down her body. Krueger
has her by the neck, waves his blades in front of her. Jacob
gets up and runs toward him.
Freddy pulls a foot up from the asphalt pit and KICKS Jacob
back a good fifteen feet.
ALICE
Run, Jacob!
The boy rolls painful on the hard road. He sits up and
screams:
JACOB
Leave her alone!
FREDDY
You're such a momma's boy!
Freddy swings his knives out, pauses for a terrifying beat,
then swoops the daggers towards Alice.
CLOSE ON JACOB
as OFF SCREEN we hear a horrible multiple GLITCH! Jacob
shrieks in gut-wrenching anguish.
WIDE ON SCENE
We're far enough away so that we don't barf at the sight but
close enough to see that Freddy has impaled Alice's body on
his blades. He lifts her up effortlessly and raises her limp
figure RIGHT OVER HIS HEAD.
Krueger swings his arm out, shaking off Alice, sending her
flying over Jacob's head. The body lands behind him.
ON JACOB
as he runs to his mother. She VANISHES just as he reaches
out to touch her bloody body. He turns to Krueger and raises
his fists. A look of sheer rage is growing in him, blind,
insane anger. He bellows:
JACOB
You fucker!
FREDDY
Springwood is only the beginning. All I
need from you is a ride!
Suddenly, between Jacob and Freddy, three SHAFTS OF LIGHT
burst up from the road. Three FIGURES appear as the light
dissipates.
They're dressed in metallic black, heavy boots, helmets with
dark visors covering their faces. One is large and muscular.
The one in the center has an obviously feminine figure under
her skin-tight outfit. The third is a little smaller than
the other two with a slightly different face that allows us
to see his mouth.
They're the DREAM POLICE. Jacob doesn't know this yet, but
Freddy seems to. The bastard son of a hundred maniacs frowns
at the sight of these new apparitions.
Then he looks past them and smiles at Jacob.
FREDDY (cont'd)
See ya later!
Freddy violently DROPS down into the bubbling asphalt pit.
Two of the black figures start after him. The third one
turns to Jacob as his partners leap into the hole after
Freddy. The sound from his exposed mouth is DEAFENING!
SOUND COP
WAKE UP!
Jacob grabs his ears in pain as we suddenly:
CUT TO:
EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY
Jacob's eyes snap open so fast his sockets suffer whiplash.
He's lying smack in the middle of the road tucked in a fetal
position. Jacob slowly uncurls his body and sits up. He
shivers and wipes his sweaty forehead - and that's when he
notices something in his hand.
INSERT: JACOB'S HAND
it's a bracelet, a simple band of gold with a larger plate in
the middle, like an ID band. Jacob's fingers turn the plate
over. Printed on the other side is the name of the bracelet's
former owner: ALICE. Jacob has a souvenir.
BACK TO JACOB
He raises his face and looks at the road in front of him. It
goes off into the distance surrounded on both sides by empty
fields.
This is where Springwood used to be. A look of anguish
crosses Jacob's face as he stares at the desolation.
JACOB
Mom...
HONK! SCREECH!
Jacob whips his head around in time to see a huge moving van
blasting right at him. He rolls off to the side of the road.
The truck barely misses him, kicking up a cloud of dust in
its wake.
Jacob chokes on the dust. He slowly recovers and looks back
down at the bracelet in his hand. He clenches his fist around
it as a wild-eyed angry look starts to grow on him. He takes
a few deep breaths, then stands up and walks OUT OF FRAME.
ANGLE DOWN THE HIGHWAY
We can see a pickup truck in the distance. Jacob's HAND
ENTERS FRAME, thumb sticking out, his mother's bracelet
dangling from his wrist.
The pickup truck starts to slow down.
EXT. ROSEDALE - DAY
A sprawling little community with pleasant streets and
cheerful houses. It looks a lot like Springwood, the only
real difference being that it actually exists. It also has a
sign: WELCOME TO ROSEDALE. POPULATION: 8,786
A Volkswagon bus drives past the sign and stops a couple of
blocks down the road from us. Jacob steps out of the
passenger side and wearily waves his ride goodbye. He
shuffles into town.
CLOSE ON YET ANOTHER SIGN
It reads: DRUG ADDICTS NOT WELCOME TO ROSEDALE!
The sign pulls away to reveal a middle-aged man with an angry
expression: MR. HOPKINS
MR. HOPKINS
Clean up your act somewhere else!
He walks along as we PULL BACK TO SEE
EXT. ROSEDALE FOSTER HOME - DAY
It's a nice-looking two-story house in the middle of a
usually quiet neighborhood. Today the home is surrounded by
about a dozen townsfolk carrying picket signs: NO HALFWAY
HOUSES IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!, DON'T LOWER OUR PROPERTY
VALUES!, and GO BACK TO JUVENILE HALL! The crowd mumbles
amongst itself, occasionally bursting out with a chant in
protest.
ON JACOB
We catch him walking down the sidewalk. He tramps along with
his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes on the
pavement. He looks like he hasn't slept in days. The sound
of the crowd ahead of him finally grabs his attention.
Jacob approaches the disturbance and comes across a young
girl standing behind a bush holding a BAG OF GROCERIES. She
is KAREN MILLER, dark hair, sixteen, very pretty, but with a
faraway look in her eyes.
Jacob stands next to her and stares at the crowd like a
zombie. She doesn't turn to look at him as he speaks:
JACOB
What's going on?
KAREN
Free speech. The right of assembly.
JACOB
What is this place?
KAREN
It's a home. A foster home. For
teenagers. It's where you go when things
get bad. It's the place to figure out
what to do next. It's a home for kids
that no one else wants.
(beat)
It's MY home.
Karen hasn't looked at Jacob once. She suddenly seems to
steel herself and walks away from the bush, towards the
house. Jacob is befuddled.
JACOB
Oh...
He stands there and watches.
IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE
Karen quickly makes her way into the crowd of people, head
up, eyes staring forward. The crowd parts ever so slightly
as the irked townsfolk start to heat up. They have an actual
human to vent their anger on now. Mr. Hopkins lays in on her
as she passes him.
MR. HOPKINS
Why can't you find somewhere else to
shack up?
Karen turns to him, still walking, flustered and hurt.
KAREN
What have we ever done to you?
MR. HOPKINS
Nothing...YET.
Karen turns quickly away from him and trips over a sprinkler
head. Her groceries tumble onto the grass. A hand reaches
down to help her. It's Jacob's.
He quietly helps her re-bag her groceries as Mr. Hopkins
looms above them. Both angry and embarrassed now.
MR. HOPKINS (cont'd)
Look, we've been here for years. This is
a quiet street. We'd just like to keep
it that way.
Jacob can't take this guy anymore. He stands up and faces
the older man with a scowl.
JACOB
Lighten up, mister.
MR. HOPKINS
(smirks)
And what gutter did you crawl out from,
kid?
(frowns)
We don't want your kind here.
JACOB
My kind? What kind is that?
MR. HOPKINS
Drug addicts. Dope pushers. We have
stand up and take charge.
JACOB
Swell. I've just got a couple of
questions for you...Do you love your
parents?
MR. HOPKINS
Of course I do...
JACOB
Are they alive?
MR. HOPKINS
My mother is.
JACOB
What's it like?
Jacob stares at Hopkins. He doesn't answer. He just huffs
and puffs as Karen grabs Jacob and pulls him up to the front
porch of the home, then into the floor.
INT. FOSTER HOME - FRONT HALLWAY - DAY
Karen slams the door and takes a deep breath.
KAREN
Assholes.
JACOB
I can think of a stronger word. Are you
okay?
KAREN
Yeah. Thanks. I'm Karen.
JACOB
Jacob.
Jacob suddenly gets a little light-headed and has to use a
wall to hold himself up. Karen looks concerned.
KAREN
Are YOU okay?
JACOB
Yeah. I just haven't had much to eat
lately.
KAREN
Then come help me unpack.
She smiles and leads him further into the house.
INT. FOSTER HOME - KITCHEN - DAY
Jacob is feverishly eating a sandwich at the table while
Karen finishes putting the rest of the food away.
KAREN
I guess the sandwich is alright, huh?
JACOB
It's incredible. Best I've ever had.
KAREN
You're not from around here, are you?
JACOB
No. I've been on the road for a couple
of days.
KAREN
Do you need a place to stay?
FOOTSTEPS are heard from below and a couple in their mid-
thirties enter from the basement door. They're DAVID and
MARY ROSS, both greasy and frustrated.
MARY
So, we have to get it fixed.
DAVID
We don't have the money to get it fixed.
They both start washing up at the sink, not really noticing
the teenagers in the room. Karen speaks up.
KAREN
What's wrong?
DAVID
Our plumbing has a bad case of hardening
of the arteries. Who's your friend?
David gives Jacob a wary glance as the boy stands shakily.
KAREN
This is Jacob.
JACOB
Jacob Johnson.
DAVID
David Ross. My wife, Mary.
KAREN
They run this house. They're helping me
and three other ids get a footing in
reality before they kick us out of the
nest to make room for the next batch.
David is looking out the window at the now dissipating crowd.
He lets out a weary sigh.
DAVID
If there is a next batch. I see the
welcome wagon is back. Was there any
trouble?
KAREN
A little. Jacob came to my rescue.
MARY
(pleasant)
Where you from, Jacob?
JACOB
Springwood.
MARY
Springwood? Where's that?
JACOB
Upstate about a hundred miles.
DAVID
(suspicious)
I know this state like the back of my
hand. I've never heard of Springwood.
There is an uncomfortable pause. Then Karen suddenly breaks
in.
KAREN
Jacob's a little down on his luck. I
told him he could stay here a few days.
Jacob gives here a surprised look.
MARY
Are your parents in Springwood?
JACOB
My father died before I was born. My
mother, she's dead, too.
DAVID
You have a legal guardian?
JACOB
No.
DAVID
Been in any state or federal program?
JACOB
No.
KAREN
Just for a little while. So he can get
his bearings.
DAVID
Got any ID?
Jacob reaches for his back pocket - it's empty. He shakes
his head "no".
MARY
(to David)
I think we can help him out, honey. The
budget's tight, but we can't turn down
someone in need.
David doesn't acknowledge his wife, he just stares at Jacob
sternly. Karen bites her nails. Then David sits down and
starts to lecture.
DAVID
Okay. You got three, maybe four days to
rest up while we try and find a more
permanent arrangement for you. But his
isn't going to be a free ride. We're
part of a community summer work project
and eighty percent of the money you make
goes to the house. Everybody works - and
that includes you. Are you on drugs?
JACOB
No.
DAVID
Good. If I catch anything stronger then
an aspirin on you, you're outta here. No
arguments. You got that straight?
JACOB
Yes, sir.
DAVID
Okay. Dinner in two hours. Why don't
you go meet the rest of the gang.
KAREN
Thanks, David.
MARY
I'll go fix up the spare bed in Wesley's
room.
David gets up. He gives Jacob a final once-over.
DAVID
And take a shower, for chrissakes.
David leaves the room. Karen gives Jacob a huge grin.
INT. FOSTER HOME - THE TV ROOM - DAY
Karen leads Jacob into the room. There are two teenagers on
the couch: WESLEY is a fifteen-year old, curly hair, kind of
small. GINA is also fifteen, brunette hair, seems pretty
happy.
KAREN
Hey, guys, I got someone for you to meet.
This is Jacob. Jacob, this is Wesley and
Gina.
JACOB
Hi.
WESLEY
Welcome to fun central.
KAREN
He's going to be staying with us for a
while.
GINA
Oh yeah? How'd you get through the
blockade?
Another kid, SCOTT, pops into the room. He's sixteen, dark
hair, with a tough-guy I could give a shit attitude. He
doesn't seem to care about anybody in the room, except for
Karen.
SCOTT
Hey, beautiful. How's it going?
KAREN
Hi, Scott.
Scott notices Jacob and frowns. Karen is a little annoyed.
SCOTT
Who's Barney Rubble?
KAREN
This is Jacob Johnson. He's a new
resident. At least temporarily.
SCOTT
He better not be rooming with me. I
value my privacy.
KAREN
No, I believe that honor goes to Wesley.
WESLEY
Good. I could use the company.
SCOTT
So what's your story? Divorce? Custody
battle? Your parents just plain
assholes?
JACOB
They're dead.
KAREN
Mellow out, Scott. Give him a chance to
settle in.
SCOTT
Just curious.
Scott reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a pack of
cigarettes. As he lights one up, Wesley's cheerful attitude
suddenly turns grim. He gets up from the couch and quickly
leaves the room. Karen gives Scott an angry look.
JACOB
Is he alright?
SCOTT
He'll be fine. He just has a problem
with cigarettes.
GINA
His parents used to use them as a sick
kind of discipline. That's why he's
here.
JACOB
If you know that, then why do you smoke
in front of him?
SCOTT
It's not my problem.
This really pisses Jacob off. These two are not going to get
along very well.
JACOB
Just what is YOUR problem, then?
SCOTT
I took care of my problem. That's why
I'M here.
Scott lets out an aloof puff of smoke and leaves. Jacob
gives Karen a confused glance.
KAREN
His dad used to beat him. One day he
couldn't take it any more.
JACOB
What happened?
KAREN
He killed him with his father's gun.
Self-defense.
Jacob sits down on the couch and lets that sink in. Gina
scootches away from him on the couch, then gives him a glum
look.
GINA
Everyone here has a fun tale to tell.
Isn't that right, Karen?
Karen is staring out the window. She has that spaced-out
expression we saw before when she was hiding behind the bush.
KAREN
Yeah. Right.
No one has anything left to say. Gina turns the sound on the
TV back up as the three sad kids start to watch cartoons.
INT. FOSTER HOME - THE TV ROOM - NIGHT
Jacob is alone in the dark watching some kind of NICK AT
NIGHT b&w sit-com re-run. A cheerful family lovingly banters
away on the flickering tube. Jacob just stares blankly.
Karen sleepily shows up at the doorway in a long tee-shirt
with a glass of milk.
KAREN
Why don't you go to bed?
JACOB
I can't sleep.
KAREN
You need to talk?
JACOB
No. I'm fine. Thanks.
Karen gives him a worried look and heads off to bed. Jacob
continues watching TV with a creepy glean in his tired eyes.
INT. OLD WAREHOUSE - DAY
The kids are here cleaning up the building. The guys throw
rotted lumber into trash bins while the girls sweep up. We
catch Jacob and Scott tossing some debris into a wheelbarrow.
Jacob looks pretty ragged.
SCOTT
Come on. Let's hop to it. Gotta make
way for those new indoor tennis courts.
The fate of the world lies in the
balance. Okay, this load's full.
Jacob grabs the handles of the wheelbarrow and shakily picks
it up. Scott sneers.
SCOTT (cont'd)
You got that?
JACOB
Yeah, no problem.
SCOTT
I don't know. Maybe you should think
about switching to de-caf or something.
Jacob ignores him and pushes the wheelbarrow along. Scott
takes some time off to smoke a cigarette. He spots Karen
across the room bending over with a dustbin. Scott lingers
on this view for a long time.
AT A DUMPSTER
Jacob pulls up with the wheelbarrow and starts to unload the
junk. Gina is next to the dumpster sweeping. She tries to
push a large crate aside by herself, but slips and falls.
Jacob jumps over to her, reaches out, and grabs her arm to
help her up.
JACOB
You okay?
Gina SCREAMS.
GINA
No! Yes! Let go of me!
She shakes off his grip and he jumps back. She runs away
with a wild look in her eyes as Karen steps up to a confused
Jacob.
KAREN
She doesn't like to be touched.
JACOB
No shit!
KAREN
Don't take it personally. It's not her
fault.
JACOB
What happened to her?
KAREN
Her mother was a hooker. She forced Gina
to carry on the tradition. When she was
thirteen...
JACOB
Jesus.
Jacob looks off at Gina with genuine concern. Karen gives
him the same expression.
KAREN
You look terrible.
JACOB
(smiling)
Thanks.
KAREN
I'm sorry...I just wish you'd tell me
what happened to you, that's all.
JACOB
I can't talk about it right now. I'll
tell you later. I promise.
KAREN
Okay. Why don't you sit and rest for a
bit. The supervisor's not around. You
look like you could use it.
JACOB
I think I will.
He gives her a gentle squeeze on the forearm, and Karen likes
it. Jacob spots a pile of wood next to a wall and heads off
for it.
ON SCOTT
He's watched the entire interchange between Jacob and Karen,
and he DOESN'T like it.
WITH JACOB
as he goes around the stack of lumber and sits down facing
the brick wall. He lets out a heavy sigh and stares at the
inside of the building.
JACOB'S POV - THE BRICK WALL
sits there quietly for a few beats until:
IT EXPLODES
Bricks fly out at us as a gaping hole blows into the wall
revealing nothing but BLACKNESS and our shot MOVES through:
DREAM FLASHES - NIGHTMARE SPRINGWOOD
Horrifying apparitions and images ZOOM by us. Gloomy
buildings under a pitch black sky. MUTANTS and twisted
MONSTERS. Shadowy streets and dark alleyways. And FIVE
RAZOR-BLADE FINGERS suddenly ripping right through the sky
and down upon us as a VOICE rings out.
VOICE
Hey, you!
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY - ON JACOB
Jacob's eyes are closed as a SUPERVISOR looms above him.
SUPERVISOR
No slacking off. Back to work.
The boy's eyes snap open and he jumps to his feet like a
babbling crazy man.
JACOB
What! Jesus fucking...Oh, shit!
SUPERVISOR
Whoa! Get a grip, boy.
The supervisor backs off from Jacob as he slowly gets used to
reality again.
JACOB
Huh? What's going on?
SUPERVISOR
Nothing. That's the problem. Now that
you've gotten your beauty rest, let's see
if you can change it, okay?
Jacob calms down and nods. He walks away, snatching a
nervous glance at the perfectly normal brick wall.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - NIGHT
We watch as various lit windows go dark and the residents of
the house go to bed.
INT. WESLEY & JACOB'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Wesley is getting in bed. Jacob is sitting in a chair
staring out the window. Wes switches off the lights and
turns to Jacob.
WESLEY
Aren't you going to bed?
JACOB
I'm not tired.
WESLEY
Bullshit. If you looked any more tired,
you'd be dead.
Jacob cracks a weary smile in the darkness.
JACOB
That's right.
WESLEY
You gotta sleep, man.
JACOB
Why? Who says? You know, people don't
even really know why we sleep. They
haven't found any physical reason for it.
WESLEY
But they do know that you go nuts if you
don't.
JACOB
Sharks don't sleep. They can't pump
water through their gills on their own.
They have to always keep moving. If they
stop, they can't breath. If they go to
sleep, they die.
WESLEY
You're not a shark.
JACOB
I know. I'm just a kid. Don't worry
about me, Wes. Go to sleep.
Wesley shakes his head and gets under the covers. Jacob
continues to stare out the window, desperately trying to keep
his eyes open.
JACOB'S POV - THROUGH WINDOW
the trees sway quietly in the breeze outside. There is a
pause. Then we are suddenly PULLED THROUGH THE WINDOW,
SMASHING glass, careening back into:
DREAM FLASH - NIGHTMARE SPRINGWOOD
We SAIL through the gloomy air, over the creepy buildings.
And suddenly DIP DOWN, right for the street, and end up
CRUISING three inches off the asphalt, really ripping down
the road until we grind to a SUDDEN HALT. Right in front of:
FREDDY'S FEET. Our shot TILTS UP. Freddy looms above us and
grins.
FREDDY
You can't stay awake forever, boy!
He LAUGHS, his mouth gaping wide, and then splitting open
impossibly wider. Something starts pouring out of his mouth,
right at us.
Hundreds of GIANT BUGS spew down upon us, covering us
completely as everything goes to BLACK and we:
INT. WESLEY & JACOB'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
ON JACOB
his eyes are open, his mouth is hanging in a SILENT SCREAM.
It looks like his head is about to explode. He lifts his
hand up to his face. He's holding an eight-inch long MONSTER
BUG.
Jacob SCREAMS out loud this time, tosses the mutant insect
away. It lands on a windowsill and escapes out the opening.
Jacob jumps to his feet, sending his chair tumbling backwards
with a CRASH. He shakes and moans, a little drool dripping
down his chin.
Wesley sits up with a start and stares at Jacob.
WESLEY
I told you you'd go nuts!
Jacob catches his breath, gives Wes a dead serious look.
JACOB
Get everybody else. I have to tell them
something.
WESLEY
In the middle of the night?
JACOB
I MEAN it!
Wesley is shocked by Jacob's manic state and jumps out of
bed.
INT. FOSTER HOME - TV ROOM - NIGHT
Five kids are gathered around the room in various stages of
sleepy grumpiness and annoyed disbelief. Jacob paces back
and forth.
SCOTT
I don't get it. Is this guy alive or
dead?
JACOB
He's neither. He haunts your dreams and
if he kills you, you die for real.
Wesley, the most gullible of the group, looks pretty scared.
WESLEY
I haven't dreamed of him. I have
nightmares like you wouldn't believe, but
never of this guy.
SCOTT
That's because this all rates an eleven
on the bullshit meter! I don't know why
we have to listen to this crap. You're
scaring the hell out of Wes here.
GINA
Keep your voice down.
SCOTT
It doesn't matter. The Ross's sleep like
rocks, which is what we all should be
doing.
JACOB
I know this sounds crazy, but I swear
it's true. I went to bed one night and
woke up in the middle of the road.
Freddy Krueger killed my mother, blasted
my whole town into his nightmare, and,
worst of all, I think he wants to use me
to kill more kids and bring more towns
into his world.
KAREN
How?
JACOB
I'm not sure. I think I'm some kind of
carrier. He's somehow inside me and as
soon as I fall deep enough into sleep
he'll be let loose. You guys were great
to take me in. I just don't want to
thank you by getting you all killed.
Scott gets up and goes to a desk. He pulls out a map and
shows it to Jacob.
SCOTT
Okay. Show me Springwood.
Jacob looks at the map and points.
SCOTT (cont'd)
There's nothing there.
JACOB
That's what I've been trying to tell you.
SCOTT
There's NEVER been a town there.
JACOB
That's how YOU see it. I was part of the
nightmare, so I'm the only one who
notices the difference.
Scott stares at Jacob. He actually grows sympathetic.
SCOTT
Look, Jacob. You don't have to convince
us that nightmares are real. Everybody
in this room has been through one. And
some of us are still living it. But the
thing is, we know it's just in our heads
now. It can be just as bad as the real
thing was, but it's still only a memory.
It can't hurt us physically, unless we do
the hurting ourselves.
GINA
And we don't want to see you get hurt.
WESLEY
We know it gets crazy. And we'll help
out the best we can.
SCOTT
But this is just too hard to believe.
Jacob plops down on the couch, defeated. He hangs his head
while the kids start to get up. Wesley gives him a pat on
the back as he, Scott, and Gina leave. But Karen is still
here.
She sits next to a window with a faraway look in her eyes.
Jacob looks up at her.
JACOB
You don't believe me, either, do you?
KAREN
I don't know.
JACOB
Why are you still here?
KAREN
I'm not sure. I guess, I guess I see a
lot of me in you.
JACOB
Feels good to see someone more fucked up
than yourself, huh?
Karen smiles and sits down next to him.
KAREN
Yeah. That must be it.
JACOB
But you haven't told me why you're here
at this place.
KAREN
I can't talk about it right now. Maybe
later. Do you want me to stay with you?
JACOB
Yeah, that'd be great. Don't let me
sleep, okay?
KAREN
I'll do my best.
She reaches for the remote control and flicks on the TV,
moving a little closer to Jacob when she sits back into the
couch. The two of them watch the screen with glassy eyes.
KAREN (cont'd)
Thank God for cable TV.
JACOB
Yeah. Thank God.
They continue to watch in silence as Karen takes hold of
Jacob's hand.
INT. FOSTER HOME - THE TV ROOM - MORNING
We are ON KAREN as she sleeps curled up on the couch. Jacob
is in the background putting on his shoes. He has a brown
paper bag with him.
Jacob gets up, grabs his bag, and steps over to Karen. He
gently pulls a lock of hair away from her face. Then he
heads for the front door.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - FRONT PORCH - DAY
Jacob walks out the door and closes it behind him. He
crosses to the porch steps and stops. He has to hold onto a
porch column just to keep standing.
Karen appears behind him. Jacob jumps a bit.
KAREN
Where are you going?
JACOB
I'm leaving.
KAREN
Why?
JACOB
He can't hurt you if I'm gone. Maybe
I'll go to the desert or something. I'll
lie down in the middle of nowhere and
finally get some sleep. Krueger can feed
of the dreams of snakes and vultures.
KAREN
Fine. You're just going to take off
then...
Karen has an angry expression on his face. Jacob gives her a
pained look.
JACOB
Don't do this to me. I'm just trying to
protect you and the others.
KAREN
Right. You blow into town and then blow
right out. Terrific.
JACOB
I don't understand why you're so mad at
me.
KAREN
You just don't get it, do you?
JACOB
Get what?
Karen, though still very angry, looks like she's about to
cry. Jacob, confused, sits down on the porch steps.
JACOB (cont'd)
Maybe I'm crazy.
KAREN
Running away doesn't help.
He sighs and smiles a bit.
JACOB
And you're going to convince me, huh?
KAREN
Maybe.
This time Karen smiles. Jacob looks at her and sighs. Then
he yawns.
KAREN (cont'd)
I'm going to make some coffee. You
promise not to move?
JACOB
Yeah. Sure.
Karen jumps and heads back into the house. Jacob stares at
the grass in front of him, his eyes heavy.
JACOB'S POV - THE LAWN
A bush sits there doing nothing. Until it suddenly comes TO
LIFE. Its leaves start to shrivel, the lawn turns brown, the
sky turns dark. Everything changes and turns into
DREAM FLASH - NIGHTMARE SPRINGWOOD
We're in a different front yard in a different town, in a
different dimension.
The mutant bush starts to change, sprout legs, grow arms,
become human.
ALICE
Her body takes shape as she reaches out a pleading arm to us.
ALICE
Jacob! Help me!
She's fully formed now. And Freddy bursts out from the
ground behind her. He grabs Alice, reaches his knife arm
around
ALICE (cont'd)
No-o-o-o-o!
Her words are cut off as Krueger jams his blades in her gut
and we re-live her death once more. But it's even worse this
time.
Blood POURS from Alice like a burst fire hydrant, spraying
and showering the entire nightmare lawn like a human
sprinkler. Freddy LAUGHS.
FREDDY
Say it, don't spray it, huh, Jacob? Come
and join the fun!
JACOB (O.S.)
NOOOOOOO!
Jacob's voice rips through the scene as everything starts to
BLUR RED.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - FRONT LAWN - DAY
Jacob is lying in the grass, violently shaking. Karen drops
down next to him.
KAREN
Jacob!
JACOB
Nooooo!
His body jerks around as if caught in the throes of an
epileptic seizure. He SHRIEKS, ignoring Karen completely,
and continues to shriek and scream and yell and shake. Like
he's never going to stop.
EXT. MR. HOPKINS' FRONT DOOR - DAY
We're directly across the street from the Foster Home as
Jacob's cries echo through the neighborhood. Mr. Hopkins
opens the front door. He sees what's going on, scowls, and
yells into his house.
MR. HOPKINS
I told you! It's an overdose! Jesus
Christ, I saw this coming. Call 9-1-1!
He watches the commotion growing across the street, and never
once moves to help.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - MOMENTS LATER
Jacob is being strapped into a stretcher, babbling
incoherently. The residents of the Foster Home stand off to
the side while neighbors gawk from the street. Karen is next
to the AMBULANCE GUYS looking frantic.
JACOB
No! Don't let them take me!
KAREN
Jacob, it'll be alright.
AMBULANCE GUY #1
Calm down, kid. We'll take care of you.
Jacob grabs the Ambulance Guy.
JACOB
You don't understand! Let me go!
The ambulance guy straps Jacob's arm down. Mr. Ross grabs
Karen and pulls her away as they start loading the crazed
teenager into the ambulance. Scott shakes his head. Wesley
looks terrified. Gina keeps her distance from any human.
Karen can't take it and runs into the house. Mr. Ross
frowns.
DAVID
This is just what we need.
The ambulance drives away as the gathered crowd stares at the
kids angrily.
INT. AMBULANCE - DAY
Jacob yells and struggles as an Ambulance Guy prepares a
syringe for injection.
JACOB
Don't fucking put me under! You'll set
him free!
The ambulance guy holds Jacob down and slams the needle home.
Jacob screams and his eyes start to glass over.
JACOB (cont'd)
He'll kill them all...
Jacob's head starts to go limp. A VOICE rings out in the
van, a voice only Jacob hears:
FREDDY (O.S.)
Every town as an Elm Street!
LAUGHTER echoes as Jacob turns his head towards a window.
EXT. A STREET CORNER - DAY
The ambulance zooms by. All is quiet for a second until
CRASH! A twisted rusty sign post erupts out of the sidewalk
and settles at an ugly angle.
It's an ELM ST. sign.
INT. AMBULANCE - DAY
We PULL BACK from a wide awake Jacob, who is now suddenly
alone in the van. Outside the window there is only darkness.
Jacob twists and struggles on the stretcher as
CLANG! the ambulance doors crash open revealing BLACKNESS and
KA-BOOM! the stretcher is shot out of the van like a
cannonball.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
The stretcher with Jacob BLASTS through a wall and starts to
race across the floor of the building that Jacob had been
sweeping up the day before.
It careens along, actually taking a few turns, like it has a
mind of its own, heading for a shallow pit in the middle of
the warehouse.
The stretcher hits the pit, drops a bit, swings up violently,
and stops in a vertical position like a rake that has been
stepped on AND A BLACK HUMAN SHAPE shoots out of Jacob's body
from intertial force, staying upright as it slides across the
floor, spins, stops, then changes into:
FREDDY KRUEGER
Freddy has his hands on his hips and a grin on his face.
FREDDY
Thanks for the lift, kid!
He saunters up to Jacob who is still strapped to the vertical
stretcher. Krueger waves his knives and wiggles his tongue.
JACOB
What do you want from me?
FREDDY
I already got it! The rest I'm going to
get from your new little friends.
JACOB
Leave them alone!
FREDDY
It's my duty to clean up the
neighborhood!
JACOB
What have you done with my town?
FREDDY
Aw, poor baby's homesick, isn't he?
Don't worry. We'll all be one happy
family soon. Wanna be the first recruit?
Freddy raises his blades and SWINGS. The straps around Jacob
drop away as his body falls to the floor. He scrambles to
his feet and starts to RUN.
Freddy laughs
WITH JACOB - RUNNING
as he heads for a door. Before he gets there, the door
swings open and Freddy leans casually in his way.
FREDDY (cont'd)
What's the matter? Don't want to be part
of my expansion project?
Jacob turns right around and races back across the warehouse.
AT THE DUMPSTER
Jacob races around to the other side and there's Krueger
again.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Today, Rosedale. Tomorrow, the world!
JACOB
Over my dead body!
FREDDY
As you wish.
Freddy cranks up his knives and looms over Jacob. And three
FLASHES OF LIGHT blast out behind the boy. Jacob rolls away
as Freddy holds up an arm to block the blinding glare. The
light fades. The DREAM POLICE have arrived.
We'll call the small one SOUND COP. He stands there
motionless as a loud and horrible GROWING noise emanates from
his clenched teeth. This guy's bark is worse than his bite.
The female in black is BLADE COP. From nowhere she produces
two nasty-looking knives, one in each hand. She spins the
blades in the air like an expert Samurai.
The large one we'll call POWER COP. He reaches out for the
dumpster, and with one hand sends it tumbling away with a
CRASH. Freddy frowns.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Uh oh. Too many parking tickets.
The Dream Police fan out around Krueger, surrounding him.
Power Cop leaps at Freddy, grabs him and TOSSES him in the
air. Freddy tumbles, rolls and bounces right back up on his
feet. Right next to BLADE.
She swings her knives. Freddy dodges. Swings hi own blades
at her. She ducks. Freddy spins again. Right towards:
SOUND COP. The short man in black opens his mouth and a
sound like a foghorn at a rock concert BLARES OUT. The force
of it hitting Freddy like a fist.
Freddy bounces back. And once again he nimbly pops up. He
glares at the Dream Police.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Don't interfere!
BLADE COP
We have to.
SOUND COP
It's our job.
FREDDY
Get a new one.
And Freddy starts to SPIN. Slowly at first, then faster and
faster, until his image starts to BLUR.
The Police circle the whirling image, holding back to see
what will happen next. Krueger stops spinning. And his
clothes are different. His red and green stripes have been
replaced by black and white ones. There is a number printed
across his chest. He's dressed like a CONVICT. Freddy
grins.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Time to blow this joint.
BOOM! A hole is suddenly blown in the high ceiling above
Krueger. The building is suddenly filled with the beams of
moving SPOTLIGHTS and the sound of blasting SIRENS.
A rope falls down through the hole. Freddy grabs it and
WHOOSH! he's yanked up.
FREDDY (cont'd)
You'll never get me, coppers!
and away he's gone. After a few seconds the spotlights fade
away and the sirens die. The Dream Police look up seemingly
unsure of their next action. Then Power Cop kicks a pile of
lumber, sending wood flying dozens of yards away.
POWER COP
Goddamnit!
Sound Cop shakes his head. Blade looks frustrated. Jacob
steps up behind them.
JACOB
Alright...just who the hell are you guys?
The black-clad trio turn around in unison and look at Jacob.
There is a pause. Then:
BLADE COP
We're the Dream Police.
Jacob almost laughs.
JACOB
The what?
POWER COP
The Dream Police. Didn't you hear her,
man?
Power Cop turns to Sound Cop and flips up his visor revealing
his face. He's a sixteen-year old black boy. Heavyset
features, sweat dripping down his cheeks. He's KINCAID from
NIGHTMARE 3. And he's pissed.
POWER COP (cont'd)
We try and save this guy's ass and then
he goes off and cops an attitude.
Sound Cop flips up his helmet. He's JOEY, the former mute
boy.
SOUND COP
I think you're the wrong guy to talk
about attitudes.
BLADE COP
Guys, guys. This is getting us nowhere.
She takes her helmet completely off, long dark hair tumbling
over her shoulders. It's TARYN, the ex-junkie. These three,
they're the Dream Warriors. Or at least they used to be.
JACOB
Hello? May I butt in here and ask some
more stupid questions?
The three of them stop bickering and turn to Jacob. Blade
walks up to Jacob. Her two partners assume position behind
her.
BLADE COP
We don't know much more than you do.
What we do know is that we've been
recruited...
JACOB
By who?
SOUND COP
We don't know.
JACOB
Why?
BLADE COP
I think that's obvious.
POWER COP
The shit's about to hit the fan.
SOUND COP
Krueger's discovered new powers.
BLADE COP
He's ripped a hole between dreams and
reality.
POWER COP
Our own powers have been amplified.
SOUND COP
We only hope it will be enough.
BLADE COP
But we're going to need your help.
JACOB
Me? What can I do? Just who are you
guys...really?
Blade puts her helmet back on. Her face turns grim.
BLADE COP
We were like you. We fought Freddy
Krueger many years ago. Our souls were
released from his grip. No we're back to
try again.
All three of them drop their visors down at the same time.
JACOB
I still don't understand what...
Jacob's voice starts to GARBLE. He keeps trying to talk but
the words come out twisted and clipped. He raises a hand to
his throat. The hand is transparent. Jacob looks at his
body as it slowly starts to disappear and now he's completely
mute.
SOUND COP
Freddy Krueger can't hurt us anymore.
POWER COP
Because we're already dead.
Jacob vanishes completely.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT
Jacob opens his eyes. He's in bed, dressed in a white smock.
A DOCTOR stands next to him with a clipboard in hand.
JACOB
What's going on?
DOCTOR
Just relax, everything's fine.
JACOB
That's what you say...
DOCTOR
You're lucky you're here instead of
juvenile hall. You put up quite a fight.
But you're clean. No traces of drugs or
alcohol in your blood.
JACOB
I could've told you that.
Jacob starts getting out of bed.
DOCTOR
Hold on there.
JACOB
You said I was fine. I have to get back.
My friends are in trouble.
DOCTOR
I said you weren't on drugs, but I never
said you were fine. You're suffering
from extreme fatigue and stress that
manifested itself into one hell of an
anxiety attack. At least that's what we
hope it is. You had a major seizure,
Jacob.
JACOB
You don't understand. This whole town is
in danger.
DOCTOR
We're keeping you here for observation.
You're not going anywhere tonight.
JACOB
You can't do that. You don't have the
right!
DOCTOR
Yes we do. Your temporary guardian, Mr.
Ross, signed all the papers. If you're
okay in the morning we might let you go
home. Until then, you're bed bound.
JACOB
But...
DOCTOR
We took off the restraints. Do you want
us to put them back on?
Jacob drops back in bed. The doctor goes to the door and
turns out the lights.
DAVID
Sleep.
He closes the door behind him...
JACOB
Shit...
and we hear it LOCK
CUT TO:
A CRAZED LUNATIC
suddenly SCREAMING into the lens with desperation. Dark
circles under bloodshot eyes, hair matted with sweat. A guy
not having a good day. WE PULL BACK TO REVEAL:
The man is tightly bound in a regulation straight-jacket in a
tiny, claustrophobic holding cell. We can now tell that the
image is in BLACK AND WHITE. We continue PULLING BACK
INT. FOSTER HOME - TV ROOM - NIGHT
Gina sits on the couch with a stark white blanket on her lap,
watching a b&w 1940's potboiler with something less than
enthusiasm. Wesley appears in the doorway, checking out the
source of the screaming. He looks at Gina, who tosses the
blanket aside and rises, frowning. The lunatic on television
continues his blood-curdling SHRIEKS.
GINA
Nice movie, huh? And I came in here to
mellow out.
She smiles at Wes as she exits.
GINA (cont'd)
It's all yours.
Wesley murmurs a goodnight, then looks back at the screen:
ON THE TV
Some orderlies enter the lunatic's cell and attempt to sedate
him as he thrashes violently, SCREAMING bloody murder. It is
gritty and awful but somehow riveting.
WESLEY
moves to the couch, clearly mesmerized by the scene. He
curls up, absently pulling the white blanket around him as he
watches:
ON THE TV
The orderlies in the movie manage to get the needle into
their patient, who MOANS and SOBS pathetically.
ORDERLY ON TV
Relax, will ya, buddy? Everything's gonna
be just swell.
The second orderly leans on a wall and pulls out a pack of
cigarettes from the pocket of his scrubs. (He bears a
suspicious resemblance to ROBERT ENGLUND.)
WESLEY
vaguely tenses at this and absently pulls the blanket more
tightly around him to compensate, like a cocoon.
ON THE TV
The second orderly smiles.
SECOND ORDERLY
Yeah, mac. You've just had a hard day,
that's all.
The orderly produces a pack of matches. He goes to the
lunatic on the cot, and LIGHTS the match off the guy's
forehead. As the match FLARES, the lunatic SCREAMS.
CLOSE ON WESLEY
he shuts his eyes tensely as the SOUND is magnified, becoming
a sudden ROAR that fills the room.
Wesley blinks his eyes open, looks around from his blanket
cocoon. Whatever that last sound was, it did NOT come from
the TV.
Beads of sweat line his upper lip as he nervously glances
about the room. It remains quiet, serene. Deciding it was
his imagination reacting to the scene on TV, Wesley nestles
back on the couch, laying down now as the CAMERA MOVES TO
REVEAL
The carpet at the edge of the room is bunched up as though
the walls of the room itself have budged a few inches inward.
BACK ON THE TV the second orderly lights his cigarette as he
hands the pack to the first. They both look down at the
madman as they savor their cigarettes.
ORDERLY ON TV
You heard the man, Wesley. Just relax.
Have a smoke with us.
Wesley's brow furrows, reacting to the coincidence. Then he
stiffens as the two orderlies in the movie begin to hold the
lit cigarettes over the lunatic's face
SECOND ORDERLY
Yeah, Wesley. Have a smoke.
OUR Wesley has seen about enough of this movie. He starts to
get up
WESLEY
Fuck this.
but finds that he can't move. The white blanket around him
restraining him tightly like the straight-jacket on TV. He
squirms and struggles.
WESLEY (cont'd)
Hey.
He struggles harder now, but to no avail. He's wrapped
tight, like a cigarette.
ON THE TV the two orderlies torment the straight-jacketed
lunatic, poking his face with their lit cigarettes. As the
lunatic SCREAMS, the screams become magnified, again becoming
that loud, deafening ROAR we heard before. Wesley squirms in
his blanket/ straight-jacket, he jerks his head around,
SEEING with each of the man's SCREAMS, the walls of the room
SHUDDER INWARD and
Wesley's EYES WIDEN with horror as he realizes not only is he
TRAPPED like a sardine in his stark white blanket, but the
walls of the room are starting to CLOSE IN on him. He SPINS
back to the TV set, where:
The first orderly is now looking AT US. Wesley REACTS as he
notices something familiar about the man's face.
FIRST ORDERLY
Relax, Wesley.
WESLEY
Dad?
The second orderly BOLTS into view. He has become Freddy
Krueger.
FREDDY
Yeah, Wesley. Everything's gonna be
great! Just have a smoke on us!
As they hold their smokes out TOWARD US, their arms PROTRUDE
FROM THE TV SET with their lit cigarettes.
Wesley SCREAMS and jerks his head away from TV and he HITS
the floor with an ugly THUMP. The wind knocked out of him.
He rolls. The couch is GONE.
As he squirms and struggles to escape his white cocoon, the
frightened boy looks around and sees that everything in the
room - furniture, carpet, TV, even the door - are all gone,
leaving just the white walls SLOWLY CLOSING IN ON HIM.
Then we see that on the floor all around Wesley are long,
cylindrical white objects. Clearly, they resemble GIANT
CIGARETTES, and Wesley - wrapped neck-to-toe in his white
blanket cocoon - looks just like one of them.
He continues to squirm and SCREAM as the walls CLOSE IN from
all sides -- closer -- CLOSER -- pushing the long white
things toward him, around him, bunching them together until
they are in a tight cluster, as the room CRUNCHES IN TIGHTLY,
blocking whatever light source there is, until all Wesley can
do is SCREAM one last time, and
The screen goes BLACK.
After a few beats, we hear a huge, deafening RIPPING SOUND,
and a new LIGHT SOURCE appears as Wesley looks up, eyes wide
with unspeakable horror as the giant, scarred face of FREDDY
looms over him, grinning, and we:
INT. FOSTER HOME - TV ROOM
The room is back to normal, but not the occupant. Freddy
Krueger now stands here alone. He has just peeled the
wrapper off a pack of cigarettes of which Wesley has become
one.
FREDDY
Didn't Daddy ever tell you what the
Surgeon General says...?
Krueger reaches in and pulls the tiny Wesley out of the pack.
As before, Wesley is immobile, helpless. Freddy holds him
between two fingers.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Smoking's bad for your health!
Freddy looks around, as if searching for something, then
beams as he reaches into the air and...
FREDDY (cont'd)
Ah! A match made in heaven!
He produces a puny version of WESLEY'S FATHER In one hand.
His body is straight and rigid, like a match stick.
Freddy places his thumb on the stiff man's head, and flicks
his thumbnail, causing the man's skull to BURST INTO FLAME,
an evil grin spanning Wesley's Father's face.
He brings the Father-Match to what would be Wesley's tiny
feet, and lights the end.
VERY CLOSE ON FREDDY'S HAND
Wesley SCREAMS as Freddy tosses the FATHER-MATCH and brings
the teenager's little head up to his fire-scarred lips.
The boy is enveloped by the massive cracked opening as Freddy
takes a huge drag off of Wesley's head. Where his feet should
be, the tip of the Wesley-Cig GLOWS RED, causing Wesley to
SCREAM with supernatural pain. Smoke billows from Freddy's
nose and mouth. He savors it.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Ahhhh! Now we're smokin'!
He CACKLES horribly as he continues to suck on the Wesley-
Cig. With each puff, Wesley's white-wrapped body becomes
slat-black ash.
FREDDY (cont'd)
What's your sign, Wesley? It wouldn't be
Cancer, would it?
In between his demonic CACKLES, Freddy DRAGS on the Wesley-
Cig, each puff turning more of Wesley into ash until all but
his head is black and charred. Freddy holds the Wesley-Cig
out, poised to tap the ashes loose.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Now say the secret word and you know what
you'll win...
WESLEY
Go to hell!
Freddy grins.
FREDDY
Right...
And he taps the Wesley-cig with his finger. The ashes
immediately fall, sifting in the air as Wesley's head -
charred and black at the neck where it's been separated -
falls loose. Wesley SCREAMS.
WESLEY
Noooooooo!
and his severed head falls and falls and falls.
INT. FOSTER HOME - TV ROOM - THE NEXT DAY
WE START on WESLEY'S BODY. Eyes closed, head normal and
everything from the neck down charred mass of burnt torso,
shriveled limbs, all wrapped in the scorched blanket. ZIP.
A body bag hides this ghastly image from us as we PULL BACK.
A FIRE MARSHALL and a COP are talking at the doorway in the
background. The CORONER is here, a world weary seen-it-all
older guy, with his nervous ASSISTANT who's never seen
anything like this. They whisper their conversation as they
lift the body bag onto a stretcher.
ASSISTANT
I don't get it. The couch is barely
scorched. And how can he burn from just
the neck down?
CORONER
It happens.
ASSISTANT
It happens? That's your explanation?
CORONER
I've seen worse.
We FOLLOW them as they push the stretcher towards the
doorway.
ASSISTANT
What? What worse?
CORONER
Never mind.
Our shot STOPS at the doorway with the fire Marshall and cop
while the wigged-out assistant's voice trails off outside.
ASSISTANT
No. I wanna know. Really. What could
be worse than...
FIRE MARSHALL
You know what the gossip rags are going
to say? Spontaneous human combustion.
COP
What's that?
FIRE MARSHALL
That's where bodies are supposed to go up
in smoke for no reason. It's all psychic
bullshit. What really happened is called
the candle effect. A tiny fire gets
started, usually from a cigarette. It
slowly smolders through the blanket and
clothes until the skin starts to actually
bake. The body fat begins to melt and
liquefy, fueling the fire like a slow
burning candle. It takes hours, but it's
real.
The cop makes some notes. Behind them we see Scott, Karen
and Gina. The girls have been crying, and even tough-guy
Scott looks pretty screwed up by all this. The cop nods.
COP
He fell asleep while smoking. What a
waste.
The kids shoot unbelieving looks at each other as the two men
walk off.
SCOTT
That's impossible.
Scott and Karen head for the front door.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - DAY
A coroner's van, a fire chief's car and the now familiar mob
of suspicious neighbors are gathered around the front of the
house as the stretcher with Wesley's body is put away. A
small van marked ROSEDALE GENERAL HOSPITAL pulls up and Jacob
jumps out of it.
Jacob's face turns grim as a tearful Karen runs up to him,
Scott following.
JACOB
Who?
KAREN
Wes...
JACOB
Oh my God. It's started.
SCOTT
He fucking burned alive.
KAREN
They said he fell asleep smoking.
SCOTT
And we all know that can't be.
JACOB
I already told you how it would happen.
Mr. Ross appears behind the three teenagers, a wasted look on
his face.
SCOTT
Don't start with that shit.
JACOB
It's not shit.
DAVID
C'mon, kids. Everyone inside. Now.
David leads them back to the house as the coroner's van pulls
away.
INT. KITCHEN - DAY
Jacob, Scott, Karen and Gina stand around in various states
of utter shock as David tries to console them.
DAVID
We have to be strong.
He puts an arm around Karen and reaches out to put the other
one around Gina, but pulls away at the last minute when she
starts to flinch.
DAVID (cont'd)
We need to pull together and help each
other. Mrs. Ross is upstairs in bed.
She's pretty messed up. We need to help
her deal with this.
SCOTT
He would never touch a cigarette. You
know that.
DAVID
We don't know anything until the
authorities are finished with their
investigation. In the mean time, no work
for tomorrow - three day weekend. But
Monday, it's back on the job. Jacob
wasn't covered in our health plan and his
little stint at the hospital cost us a
bundle. We have to work together or we
might lose this place. Okay?
The kids all nod, but not convincingly. They care more about
Wesley than the house.
INT. WESLEY & JACOB'S BEDROOM - DAY
Jacob closes the door. All the kids are here. Gina
absentmindedly plays with some of Wesley's things.
JACOB
When I was put under, Freddy was
released. I know this because I dreamed
it.
SCOTT
And that dream was real?
JACOB
Yes. Wesley was his first victim.
SCOTT
Aw, man...
JACOB
You said it yourself. How could it have
been a cigarette?
KAREN
And how could he...dire that way and not
wake up?
GINA
(mockingly)
Maybe the "authorities" will figure it
out.
SCOTT
I'm sorry. I just can't buy into this.
JACOB
Call me crazy...but I think he's after
Rosedale. The whole place. In my dream
he said something about needing a few
souls to get the job done. I think he has
to kill in order to get the power to suck
in a new town.
SCOTT
You are crazy.
JACOB
Thank you. There's more. There are...
other people in there. In the
nightmares.
KAREN
Like him?
JACOB
No. Different. There are three of them.
They're dressed in black. They have
powers like Freddy, but they seem to be
on our side.
KAREN
Who are they?
JACOB
Well, you gotta hang in there with me on
this one. They call themselves... the
Dream Police.
Scott actually laughs.
SCOTT
This is too much.
GINA
You mean...like cops?
JACOB
I guess.
KAREN
Where are they from?
JACOB
They're kids that Freddy killed years
ago. THEY don't even know how they got
there. But they're somehow patrolling
dreamworld to put a stop to Krueger.
SCOTT
Then why haven't these guys done the job
already?
JACOB
They say they need help. I don't know
what or why...yet.
SCOTT
I can tell you who needs help.
JACOB
Hey, I'm trying to save all of us.
SCOTT
I won't believe it until I see it.
Jacob is crushed that he's not getting through to them.
JACOB
By then it'll be too late. It was too
late for Wesley.
The kids stare emptily at Wesley's earthly possessions.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - FRONT PORCH - NIGHT
Jacob and Karen sit on the steps. Across the street we can
see window curtains part as Mr. Hopkins sneaks a wary peek.
KAREN
They're going to use all this to shut us
down.
JACOB
I know. It's my fault.
KAREN
You going to try to run away again?
JACOB
It's too late for that. I have to stay
and try and put a stop to it.
KAREN
I'm sorry. It's all so hard to accept.
JACOB
I wish I could convince you of the danger
you and the others are in.
KAREN
I've been in danger before. THAT I can
handle.
JACOB
This is worse than anything you can
imagine.
KAREN
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Come
on. Let's go inside.
She stands up.
INT. KAREN'S ROOM - NIGHT
Jacob and Karen lie in bed, clothes on, cozy. Not sexual.
She stares at the ceiling while he listens.
KAREN
She was great. Loving. Supportive,
caring - everything a mom should be.
Except she had one fatal flow: my father.
You see, she was raised at a time when
they still had the "obey" part in the
wedding vows. He was always jealous.
She couldn't talk to another man without
him thinking she wanted to go to bed with
him. He never hit me. But the things he
did to her...and she would always just
take it. She never fought back. He'd
get drunk and...she'd tell people she
just fell down or something. Then one
night...I was thirteen. Something
happened. My mom suddenly wouldn't take
it anymore. Something made her say
enough is enough. She hit back. Tat
only made it worse. I watched as he hit
her over and over. Then he knocked her
down the stairs. She broke her neck.
And when y father saw what he'd done - he
finally became human. He cried over her
body for a while, then went into the
garage and blew his brains out with a
shotgun. To this day I don't remember
what that final straw was. The shrinks
say I've blocked it out of my memory.
There's no one else alive who knows what
really happened. I have dreams about it
sometimes, but there's always that blank
spot. A missing piece.
She stops and closes her eyes. Jacob closes his eyes for a
second also - feeling her pain.
DIFFERENT ANGLE
Jacob opens his eyes and touches Karen's arm. She finally
turns to him.
JACOB
I'm sorry.
KAREN
I know nightmares are real, Jacob. I
know.
JACOB
So did my mom. She taught me a lot about
dreams.
KAREN
Like what?
JACOB
She told me that a lot of people have
special dream powers. I inherited some
from her - and some I have all to myself.
She showed me how I could link up with
other people's dreams - to actually be
inside with them.
KAREN
That sounds wonderful. But...I don't
know...
JACOB
A little hard to imagine, huh?
KAREN
Yeah. I'm sorry.
JACOB
I can convince you.
KAREN
How?
JACOB
Easy. We're doing it now.
Jacob smiles, gets up and walks over to the bedroom door.
Karen is confused.
KAREN
What do you mean?
JACOB
I mean we're dreaming. You and me.
Together.
He opens the bedroom door. And there's a FOREST OUTSIDE.
Karen is a little scared at first, totally blown away by
what's happening. But then she stands up and smiles.
JACOB (cont'd)
Want to go for a walk?
Karen steps up next to him and they walk through the doorway
into daylight.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
Shafts of sunlight filter through as leaves flutter down from
the towering trees and Jacob and Karen step out of the
bedroom door.
KAREN
I don't believe it.
JACOB
It's true. We're really doing it.
KAREN
But what if I'm just dreaming of you
telling me that?
JACOB
We'll compare notes when we wake up.
Then you'll know.
Karen looks around. Then she giggles. She likes this a lot.
Karen suddenly runs away into the trees like an excited
little girl. Jacob frowns.
JACOB (cont'd)
Karen. Wait.
He heads off after her.
AMONGST THE TREES
Jacob runs. Karen jumps out from behind a tree and laughs.
JACOB (cont'd)
You have to be careful.
KAREN
Did you bring us here on purpose? Can
you go anywhere you want?
JACOB
Sometimes. It's not as easy as linking
up, though.
KAREN
Wow, I never knew...
She starts wandering off again. Jacob follows her.
KAREN (cont'd)
You know what I like to do in my dreams?
She ducks behind a tree. And comes out suddenly dressed as a
sharp BUSINESSWOMAN. Jacob is slightly taken aback.
KAREN (cont'd)
I like to be other people!
Jacob grins as she steps behind another tree - and a FIREMAN
walks out in her place. Jacob is really taken aback this
time.
KAREN (cont'd) (as fireman)
I can be anybody I want.
JACOB
Show off.
Karen slips past another trunk and comes out as a tall
VOLUPTUOUS REDHEAD.
KAREN (AS REDHEAD)
When things get bad it helps to be
someone else. I use it to protect
myself.
The redhead walks seductively towards Jacob. He raises his
eyebrows as she slinks right up next to him - her ample
cleavage inches away from his nose.
KAREN (cont'd) (as redhead)
What do you think?
JACOB
I think I like you the way you always
are.
He smiles.
DIFFERENT ANGLE
And now Karen is herself again. They're still very close.
JACOB (cont'd)
Much better.
They look like they're about to kiss... but Karen suddenly
sees something that grabs her attention.
KAREN
Look!
Jacob turns as Karen runs over to ANOTHER DOOR. It's not the
one to the bedroom. It just hangs there in space between two
trees.
KAREN (cont'd)
I wonder where it goes?
She reaches for the knob and opens it.
JACOB
Karen, no!
But she's already stepped through. Jacob runs up to the
doorway and it SLAMS in his face. Jacob tries to open the
door. It doesn't budge. He keeps twisting the knob to no
effect.
JACOB (cont'd)
Karen!
Jacob starts to pound on the door as we:
CUT TO:
INT. KAREN'S HOME - KITCHEN
Sixties style decore, appliances that look about twenty-five
years old -- not the Foster Home kitchen at all. Karen is
standing in the middle of the room, completely disoriented.
She walks across to a counter top where she finds a framed
picture.
It's a picture of HER, Karen, age thirteen. Karen sets the
picture down and quickly walks back to the door she came in.
INT. KAREN'S HOME - LOWER HALLWAY
Karen steps out of her old kitchen expecting, hoping to be
back in the forest again. Nope. She blinks. Then she
starts to walk down the corridor.
More pictures on the wall this time. One of a WOMAN and
another of a MAN (Karen's MOM and DAD).
Karen's sure of it now. She's home. The center of her worst
nightmares. She creeps along to the main stairs. And that's
when the NOISES begin. A thumping from upstairs. A CRASH,
like something hit the floor above. More thumping,
repeatedly and then human MOANING, the sound of pain.
Somebody is getting beaten.
KAREN
Oh no...
Something is twisting deep inside the girl. Her face goes
shallow as she slowly shuffles around to the foot of the
stairs...and starts to climb them.
ON THE STAIRS
Karen goes up, step by painful step, as the sounds of the
BEATING increase in their intensity. Every hit seems to
touch Karen as she flinches. She's afraid to go on - but
can't seem to stop.
INT. KAREN'S HOME - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
Karen slowly heads for a door at the end, nervously reaches
out for the knob.
INT. KAREN'S PARENT'S BEDROOM
Karen opens the door. What she thought she was going to see
was bad enough - but this is worse:
Freddy Krueger is in the middle of the room. In front of him
is a giant human-sized version of an inflatable punching
doll, the kind little kids hit that keep bouncing back. But
the doll doesn't have the image of a clown on it.
It's a flattened wrapped-around version of KAREN'S MOTHER, a
pitiful beat-up look on her plastic face.
Freddy SMACKS the doll - it falls to the floor - and just
bounces back up. And now the face on it has a NEW BRUISE.
THWACK! He hits it again, CACKLING with glee. Swoop,
bounce. More bruises develop. Krueger looks at Karen.
FREDDY
Welcome to Romper Room!
BAP! BOOOOING! The face on the punching doll changes again,
it's even sadder now. And it's looking at Karen.
KAREN
Why are you doing this?
FREDDY
Don't you remember?
ZING! Krueger whips up his finger knives. SWOOP! he RIPS
them through the plastic doll. SISSSSSssss. The doll starts
to deflate. SKREEEEeeeee. The escaping air sounding like a
human SCREAM. Freddy turns to Karen.
And a HAND reaches out from behind her and pulls her out of
the room.
INT. KAREN'S HOME - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
Jacob pulls Karen away from the door and slams it shut. He
grabs her hand.
JACOB
Come on!
They turn to run down the hallway, and it's CHANGED. There
are now NO DOORS and NO STAIRWAY. The only way out is the
bedroom door they just closed. They stop and Jacob turns to
Karen.
JACOB (cont'd)
Wake up!
KAREN
What?
JACOB
You heard me. I said wake up!
KAREN
How? This is my old house. How did I
get here?
He begins to shake her. She is confused and disoriented. A
CRASH is heard at the bedroom door. FREDDY'S COMING.
And Jacob HITS Karen. Nothing major. It's a good slap,
nonetheless. She stares at him unbelievingly. He WHACKS her
again.
KAREN (cont'd)
Why are you doing this to me?
JACOB
This is a dream! You have to get out of
here. I'm not hurting you, only he can
really do that! Wake up now!
SLAP! Karen's getting angry. She doesn't know what she's
supposed to do. KA-BLAM! Freddy blasts through the door in
a shower of splinters. He sees them and grins.
FREDDY
Gettin' kinky, huh?
Jacob turns to Karen, raises his hand. KA-BLAM! Something
blasts through the wall across from them. It's POWER COP.
CRASH! The other wall explodes. BLADE appears in the
rubble.
BOOM! A piece of wall falls down at the end of the corridor.
SOUND COP steps through.
Karen looks at all this nonsense, then at Jacob.
KAREN
I think I get it now.
She closes her eyes and DISAPPEARS out of Jacob's hands. The
DREAM POLICE stand in the hallway. Freddy just puts his
hands on his hips and LAUGHS at them.
Then Krueger lays his arms flat on his sides, takes a deep
breath and begins to INFLATE. His body expands, his clothes
and skin stretch and flatten. The bottom half of him getting
fatter.
He turns into a giant FREDDY PUNCHING DOLL.
Power Cop jumps in front of the plastic horror and lets loose
a devastating swing. POW! The Freddy Doll swings back and
BOUNCES right up again.
POW POW POW POW POW! The big Dream Cop pummels away at the
Krueger toy as it slaps back and forth between the floor and
his fist until SHINK! Two knives appear in Blade's hands and
SWOOP. She swings them out.
RIP! The Freddy Doll tears, air blasting out in a grating
SHRIEK which screeches and hisses until it becomes:
Freddy's LAUGH. The red and green plastic flutters to the
ground as the evil guffaws fade away and we:
CUT TO:
INT. KAREN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Karen shakes Jacob awake. His eyes open. They stare at each
other for a few beats, then Karen frowns.
KAREN
You hit me.
JACOB
Are you hurt?
KAREN
Um...no.
JACOB
If he had done it, you'd be dead.
Karen is confused. She doesn't know what to make of all
this. She looks at a clock. It's late.
KAREN
You better get back to your room. We
don't want anybody to get the wrong idea.
JACOB
(smirks)
Or the right one?
Karen finally relaxes. She smiles and playfully pushes him.
KAREN
Get out of here.
Jacob reaches under a pillow and pulls something out. It's
the framed photo of Karen, age thirteen - from her dream. He
hands it to her and she looks at it in astonishment.
JACOB
That's something else my mom taught me.
He gets up and goes to the door, turning back to her.
JACOB (cont'd)
Don't sleep.
KAREN
No. Not tonight.
She holds the picture tightly- staring at it with those
faraway eyes.
INT. FOSTER HOME - UPPER HALLWAY - NIGHT
Scott comes out of the bathroom in his night clothes, the
toilet flushing in the B.G. He goes into his room, but stops
at the doorway when he hears Karen's door open.
Scott ducks behind his door as he watches Jacob leave Karen's
room and head for his own. Scott frowns. His is not
pleased.
INT. FOSTER HOME - DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY - DAY
David Ross is sifting through some mail when a heated
conversation in the kitchen catches his interest. He stops
to listen.
IN THE KITCHEN
Karen is finally convinced, Jacob and Scott are looking like
they're ready to punch each other, and Gina looks scared.
KAREN
I'm telling you, this Freddy guy is for
real.
SCOTT
And I'm telling you a dream is a dream.
KAREN
Jacob was in there with me.
SCOTT
And where else was he with you last
night?
JACOB
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
KAREN
I have the picture in my room if you want
to see it. He brought it out from the
nightmare.
SCOTT
Or from your hope chest. I bet your bed
isn't the only thing he's been into.
KAREN
That picture was destroyed years ago.
JACOB
You better watch your mouth, pal.
SCOTT
I'm the last person you want to start
fucking with.
JACOB
Go ahead and be a tough guy, Scott.
Krueger will cut you to pieces before you
can even flex a muscle.
GINA
Will you two stop it! You're scaring the
shit out of me.
KAREN
You should be scared.
Mr. Ross enters the room, none too pleased.
DAVID
Alright. What's going on here?
SCOTT
Join the fun. Jacob and Karen were just
telling us about their new excuse to
sleep together.
JACOB
Nothing happened between us last night.
SCOTT
You mean in plain old reality, right?
DAVID
Okay, everybody. Out. Jacob and I are
going to have a little talk. Now.
Scott, Gina and Karen grudgingly leave the room. David turns
to Jacob.
DAVID (cont'd)
Your days are numbered here, buster.
JACOB
I'm sorry, but...
DAVID
Hey, I don't know what kind of shit
you're shoveling to these kids, but it's
going to stop. My Good Samaritan
instincts have their limits. We've had
enough tragedy around this place. We
don't need you making things worse with
fantasies.
JACOB
You don't understand
DAVID
And I want you to stay away from Karen.
Jacob starts to get defiant.
JACOB
It's a free country.
DAVID
This isn't America, it's my house. I've
been checking up on you. You have no
record with the police or the state or
any of the runaway groups. You're the
invisible kid. And if I sense even a
little bit more trouble-making from you,
you're going to vanish from here. Got
it?
JACOB
Yes, sir.
David catches his breath. He looks like he wants to say
more, but doesn't have the energy left. He just walks out of
the room leaving a frustrated Jacob.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - NIGHT
Mr. and Mrs. Ross are getting into their car. The engine
starts and they drive away.
INT. JACOB'S ROOM - NIGHT
Jacob sits in bed, staring into space. Karen quietly enters
the room, carefully shutting the door behind her.
She sits down next to him. Jacob looks at her with weary
eyes.
JACOB
You're supposed to be off-limits to me.
KAREN
It's okay. The Ross's have gone to a
council meeting and Scott's in his room.
We should be safe for awhile.
JACOB
Wonderful.
KAREN
Jacob, what are we going to do?
JACOB
I'm going to go to bed soon.
KAREN
Now you WANT to sleep?
JACOB
I have to find the Dream Police. I think
I'm somehow their link to all this. They
only seem to appear when I'm around. You
woke me up before I had a chance to talk
to them last night.
KAREN
I'm sorry. I was scared.
JACOB
your fault. I have to ask them what
we're supposed to do to help them. And
maybe I can protect Gina while I'm in
there.
KAREN
What about Scott?
JACOB
He's on his own.
KAREN
Oh...
JACOB
I don't mean to be cold,but we've done
everything to convince him. Gina's too
scared to understand. I think Freddy
will go after her next.
KAREN
What should I do?
JACOB
You have to stay awake.
KAREN
That's not going to be easy. I'm half
asleep already.
JACOB
You have to try.
She nods her head quietly. Then
KAREN
I'd better get out of here.
JACOB
Okay. Be careful.
KAREN
YOU be careful. I'm not going anywhere.
She kisses him quickly on the cheek. He needed that. Karen
gets up and quietly leaves. Jacob yawns
INT. GINA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Gina sits on her bed in her night clothes. She holds a deck
of cards in one hand while she plays solitaire on her bed
sheets.
She flips a card from her deck: A black nine. She puts it on
top of a ten. Another card. Queen of diamonds. She lays it
on top of a king of clubs. Gina yawns. Takes another card.
It's the Freddy of Spades.
Gina frowns. Freddy Krueger's image stares up at her from
the card. She looks at her stacks. There's no place to put
this one. She starts flipping through the deck of cards,
trying to see if there are any more Freddys. That's when a
HAND RIPS UP through the bed and grabs her arm.
Gina SCREAMS, pulls away from the hand's grip and jumps back
up on the bed. And ANOTHER HAND shoots up from a pillow and
grabs her shoulder. Gina twists.
RIP. TEAR. GRAB. More hands appear out of the mattress,
lunging for any part of Gina's body as she SHRIEKS from their
touch. And Gina jumps out of bed.
She leaps to the other side of the room, bumping against her
dresser drawers. Turns to her bed.
SWOOP. The multiple hands disappear down into the mattress.
There is a quiet beat as she catches her shivering breath.
Then a half-dozen ARMS AND HANDS pop out from the drawers
next to her. Latching indiscriminately. Some grabbing her
legs and arms. Some grabbing more intimate parts.
Gina SCREAMS. Pulls away from the dresser. Yanks a few
drawers out as the hands vanish and she spins over to another
wall.
Where the wall ERUPTS with outreaching arms all around her.
Two grab her hair. Three on each arm. Her legs are pinned.
Gina shrieks and yells and flays her arms. Beating the hands
with her fists as two grabs her breasts viciously. She
starts kicking as one particularly perverse hand BURNT AND
SCARRED, pops out between her legs. Aiming right for her
crotch and in an incredible show of strength, the girl pulls
away from the horde.
Gina heads for the door. CRASH. Hands blast up from the
wood floor. She leaps around them. CRASH. More hands try
to block her way.
Gina jumps around like she's in a mine field made of hot
coals. She finally reaches to door and flings it open.
INT. ELEVATOR
Gina hits the lift's opposite wall having expected it to be a
hallway. The elevator's doors close on her bedroom and she
turns to see:
Freddy. A razor finger poised over the elevator's buttons.
He smiles politely.
FREDDY
Going up?
Gina is shocked and speechless. She backs away into a corner
like someone trapped in a closet with the devil. Which is
exactly what she is.
Rising past the terror is Gina's realization that everything
Jacob's been saying is true.
FREDDY (cont'd)
At your service.
He punches one of the buttons and the elevator LURCHES. Gina
grabs onto a wall as the lift races up and Freddy actually
begins to WHISTLE nonchalantly.
GINA
You're not real!
FREDDY
Ah, but who is?
The elevator begins to slow.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Fourth floor. Overpopulation.
The elevator stops. The doors begin to open. Gina leaps for
the way out. But she's blocked.
Blocked by PEOPLE. They fill the entrance to the lift and
start to pile in. All kinds of people: businessmen, nurses,
plumbers. And they're all ZOMBIES.
Vacant expressions fill their dark hollow eyes as the zombies
keep coming in. Pushing Gina back into the elevator.
Filling it to capacity and beyond.
The doors close and the elevator starts to move up. Twenty
bodies are crammed into the tiny enclosure, smashed together,
surrounding the poor teenager, drool oozing out of their
mouths, breathing down her neck. SMASHING her so hard she
can't even yell for help. Gina turns her head.
WESLEY is pressed up next to her. A very dead look on his
face. Begin squeezed by the zombies around him. One of his
eyes POPS out of its socket.
Gina finds the breath to scream and scream and scream.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Eight floor - the morgue.
The elevator doors open and the mass of zombies starts to
spastically pile out. Gina, having only been held up by the
crushing bodies, falls to her knees as the last of the
monsters exit the lift. She breathes in ripping gasps like
she's having a coronary. But she sees the open door. And
Gina jumps for the exit.
Freddy grabs her shoulder and pulls her back violently. Gina
falls to the floor again as the doors shut. Freddy waves his
fingers down the row of buttons and stops above the very
bottom one. This button doesn't looks like the others.
It's in the shape of a little heart.
Freddy turns and gives Gina a frighteningly serious look.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Time to go down, Gina.
He presses the heart button. And the floor disappears. Gina
falls SCREAMING into blackness as Freddy hangs in mid-air and
LAUGHS.
INT. HONEYMOON SUITE
Gaudy colors, mirrors, a cheesy heart-shaped bed. Gina's
body drops down, unexpectedly softly, landing on the fluffy
satin sheets.
she's dressed in a skimpy piece of bright pink LINGERIE. She
moans and tries to sit up.
And four snake-like strips of satin swoop out from under the
bed and quickly wrap around each of her limbs, pulling her
down and yank her tight.
She's trapped. That's when the door to the room opens and in
walks an incredibly huge FAT MAN. He barely fits through the
door as he closes it behind him. Puffy cheeks, permanent
seat, dirty fingernails, and a lecherous smile.
Gina's eyes widen.
FAT MAN
Hi there, princess. Your mom's told me
all about you.
Gina SCREAMS as he approaches her, the ground actually
shaking from his weight.
FAT MAN (cont'd)
She said you're even better than she is.
He looms above her, now. Starts to unbutton his shirt to
reveal a hideous mound of hairy stomach flesh. Gina is
repulsed.
FAT MAN (cont'd)
Aw, come on. I'm really a nice guy. You
know what they say. Inside every fat
person...
RIP! Krueger's finger blades JUT out of the abdomen ad start
tearing a huge SLIT up the front of his body. The Fat Man
starts to fold back as Freddy's head pops out of the front.
FREDDY
...is a maniac trying to get out!
Freddy steps out of the Fat Man, sluffing the bulbous remains
aside. He towers over Gina. That creepy serious look on his
face again.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Now it's time for YOU to put out, Gina.
Gina gasps in horror as Krueger moves in. But then a KNOCK
at the door.
ROOM SERVICE (O.S.)
Room service?
FREDDY
Huh? I didn't order anything...
Freddy frowns and walks over to the door. He turns back to
Gina.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Maybe its complimentary champagne!
Krueger opens the door. On the other side is a dinner cart
and a waiter behind it. The waiter is JACOB.
CRASH! Jacob shoves the dinner cart into the room and into
Freddy's gut, shoving Krueger across the room into a tumbled
heap. Three EXPLOSIONS OF LIGHT BURST into the room. The
Dream Police materialize.
Freddy jumps up growling. Power Cop grabs him from behind.
Blade leaps over to the bed and in a FLASH of steel, releases
Gina from her satin bonds. Jacob yanks Gina off the bed and
pulls her towards the door.
JACOB
Come on!
Freddy jumps out of Power Cop's grip and the Dream Police
surround him as the two teenagers bolt out of the room.
INT. HOTEL HALLWAY
Jacob pulls Gina along as the hotel room door SLAMS shut by
itself. Gina yells at Jacob.
GINA
Let go of me!
She squirms out of Jacob's grip and bounces away from him
like he has the plague. CRASHING is heard from the hotel
room. A violent battle is under way. Jacob pleads with
Gina.
JACOB
I'm here to help!
He holds out his hand to her. Gina shivers, than looks into
Jacob's sincere eyes. SOUNDS of destruction continue behind
the door as the girl battles with her worst fear. Finally
Gina takes Jacob's hand.
GINA
Let's get out of here.
They start running down the corridor - together.
INT. HONEYMOON SUITE
The entire room is filled with SWIRLING DUST and SMOKE,
completely obscuring everything from sight. As the sound of
BREAKING FURNITURE and grunting fighters echoes, a few pieces
of debris bounce into view.
And then there is SILENCE.
The dust settles and the smoke dissipates. The DREAM POLICE
stand alone in the rubble of a totally trashed room.
POWER COP
Where'd he go?
SOUND COP
I thought you had him.
BLADE COP
Shit...
Krueger has escaped.
HOTEL CORRIDOR
Jacob runs, Gina trailing behind him, the two of them trying
to find a way out. They pass a door.
The door SLAMS open and Freddy reaches out, grabs Gina and
yanks her into the room. The door BANGS shut.
Jacob twirls around and runs towards the door.
And the door DISAPPEARS. Nothing but flat wall remains as
Jacob hits it. He starts banging his fist against the side
of the corridor.
JACOB
No no no no!
The Dream police run up next to him. Jacob spins around
angry.
JACOB (cont'd)
He's got Gina!
SOUND COP
Stand back.
Everyone backs off. Sound Cop opens his mouth. BOOM! An
almost visible sound wave bursts forth from his lips and
CRACK, a huge hole is punched in the wall.
The Police leap into the hole, quickly followed by Jacob.
INT. HOTEL ROOM
This one's pretty normal. Maybe the business suite. And
it's EMPTY except for a heart-shaped box of candy in the
middle of the bed. Jacob and the rest of the Police watch as
Blade picks up the box and opens it. Dozens of COCKROACHES
pour out onto the floor. Now Jacob's really pissed.
JACOB
You let him get away!
SOUND COP
It's difficult.
POWER COP
He's been at this longer than we have.
BLADE COP
He can do anything.
SOUND COP
But we have to catch him in the act to
get him.
JACOB
What...there are rules to all this?
SOUND COP
They're not rules.
POWER COP
It's just the way it is.
BLADE COP
Jacob, we need you to bring the rest
together.
JACOB
The rest? You mean the kids at the home?
BLADE COP
Yes. We need as many of you as we can
get. And you must bring them to
Springwood.
JACOB
How?
BLADE COP
You have the power to link your dreams
with other's. Dream of Springwood, then
bring the rest with you.
SOUND COP
Living souls are what he thrives on.
Living souls are what we need to help
stop him.
POWER COP
Before it's too late.
BLADE COP
Before he takes everyone.
SOUND COP
And every THING.
Jacob just shakes his head.
INT. LIMBO
All is BLACK. Except for Freddy and Gina. He has her from
behind, his hands locked on her shoulders.
FREDDY
Ah...alone at last.
Gina cries horribly like a person who knows death is seconds
away. Freddy wraps his arms around her, hugging her.
And he KEEPS wrapping his arms. They STRETCH and elongate,
wrapping once around his body and then around her's again.
And then again. Freddy's rubber limbs curl around and around
an around Gina's quivering body. Spiraling up and down.
Encircling on all sides on every part of her, touching and
grabbing her EVERYWHERE.
Until Krueger's arms cover her entirely. Gina whimpers.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Touching, isn't it?
And he starts to SQUEEZE. Gina gags as Freddy's snake-like
embrace TIGHTENS around her, draining the life out of Gina's
body.
INT. JACOB'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Jacob wakes with a start as the entire house around him
shakes.
JACOB
Gina!
Jacob jumps out of bed.
INT. FOSTER HOME - UPPER HALLWAY
Jacob dashes down the corridor. Karen comes out of her room.
KAREN
Is it an earthquake?
JACOB
No. It's Freddy.
They run to Gina's room and fling the door open.
INT. GINA'S BEDROOM
The RUMBLING of the house has stopped. Gina's in bed, her
tongue sticking grotesquely out from the corner of her mouth,
her skin completely blue. Jacob and Karen run to her to try
and help.
Gina's already dead. But Freddy's not quite done with her
yet. Jacob and Karen watch as Gina's chest CAVES IN. Karen
SCREAMS.
EXT. FOSTER HOME - EARLY MORNING
The coroner's back, the neighborhood gawks. Jacob, Karen and
Scott sit on the front steps in a daze.
But this time there are police barricades up. In another
part of the front yard we can see Mr. and Mrs. Ross with a
social worker, MR. SILVERMAN. Mary Ross is crying while her
husband David is having a heated argument with Silverman.
The kids watch on gloomily.
The social worker leaves as Mr. Ross walks over to the kids.
Mary walks right by them and into the house - to broken up
over something to talk.
DAVID
Pack your bags, kids.
JACOB
You're kicking us out?
DAVID
No. They're taking you away. They say
it's for your own good.
KAREN
They can't do that.
DAVID
Yes, they can. They consider Mary and I
possibly unfit to act as foster parents.
They're going to find temporary homes for
you until this mess is straightened out.
I'm so very sorry.
Karen runs up to David and hugs him desperately. He holds
her.
KAREN
No, please.
DAVID
They're not calling it an accident this
time. They don't really know what to
call it.
Karen lets go. Scott stands up.
SCOTT
What's going to happen to us?
DAVID
You'll be alright.
KAREN
What's going to happen to you?
DAVID
I don't know. They're thinking of
pressing charges.
JACOB
Aw, Jesus...
DAVID
Come on. A car from juvenile hall will
be here in an hour.
He leads them up the stairs.
EXT. JUVENILE HALL - DAY
A sign reads: ROSEDALE YOUTH CENTER.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Mr. Silverman, the social worker, is talking to the
teenagers. Karen and Scott look understandably worried.
Jacob looks like the world just ended for him.
MR. SILVERMAN
I'm sure most of you know how this works
already. You'll be assigned new foster
homes tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow
morning the police will be talking to you
regarding the matter at the old house.
KAREN
What about it?
MR. SILVERMAN
Anything you know.
SCOTT
Are we considered suspects?
MR. SILVERMAN
You'll talk to the police about that.
Don't worry. We'll all try and work this
out.
KAREN
Will we be able to go back to the Ross's?
MR. SILVERMAN
I don't know. You'll have a place to
stay in the mean time.
KAREN
Will we be together?
MR. SILVERMAN
No. We don't have anybody willing to
take more than one person. I'm afraid
you'll be split up.
SCOTT
Great...
MR. SILVERMAN
Hey, you can visit each other. You'll be
in the same town.
JACOB
If it's still here.
Silverman frowns at that last comment as the kids get up to
leave.
INT. JUVENILE HALL CORRIDOR
The teenagers walk glumly out of the office. Jacob is still
strangely silent, not making eye contact with anyone.
KAREN
Jacob, what are we going to do?
JACOB
Nothing.
KAREN
What do you mean, nothing?
JACOB
It's over. We're finished. He's won.
Jacob walks on ahead of them. Karen is flabbergasted. She
stops and just stands there with Scott. The two of them
watching Jacob walk away.
SCOTT
Looks like your hero just gave up.
And Karen still can't believe it.
EXT. JUVENILE HALL COURTYARD - DUSK
Jacob is sitting on a bench looking like a beaten man and
hating himself for it.
Karen and Scott step out of a door. They watch him for a few
seconds. Then Karen walks towards Jacob. Scott stays behind
and lights up a cigarette.
KAREN
How can you do this?
JACOB
Do what? I'm not doing anything.
KAREN
Exactly. After all we've been through
you just throw in the towel. Why?
JACOB
Because we're fucked. The last thing the
Dream Police told me was that they needed
all our help. Together. Even if we
weren't about to be split up there aren't
enough of us left to make a difference.
KAREN
How do you know that?
JACOB
I don't. But, it's all just too much.
I've tried so hard and nothing's worked.
I'm spent. I'm wasted. I'm...I'm so
tired.
Jacob puts his face in his hands.
JACOB (cont'd)
I've had enough.
KAREN
So you're just going to give up? I'll
bet that's something your mother never
taught you.
That hit home. Jacob uncovers his face. His ID bracelet
dangles from his wrist. He looks at the bracelet. ALICE
glints in the setting sunlight. He remembers. Jacob looks
up at Karen.
KAREN (cont'd)
We still have one night together.
JACOB
And we're not going to waste it.
Jacob stands up.
INT. JUVENILE HALL LOUNGE - NIGHT
Jacob paces back and forth in front of Scott and Karen.
KAREN
Scott, we need you.
SCOTT
Look, I don't know what's going on
anymore. Two of my friends die and now
you tell me I have to drop into dreamland
with you guys to do battle with the dude
that did it.
JACOB
We'll have help.
SCOTT
Ah, yes. I almost forgot. The Sleepy
Squad. Alright. I'll make you a deal.
I told you I wouldn't believe this stuff
unless I saw it. If I understand this
correctly, all I have to do is fall
asleep and you just whisk me into the
action.
JACOB
Right.
SCOTT
Okay. If that happens, if both of you
show up in my dream, I'll help you out.
If nothing happens, then I'll get a good
night's sleep and laugh at you in the
morning.
JACOB
Fine. You got a deal. And you won't be
disappointed.
KAREN
I'm going to be sleeping in the girl's
dorm. Will you be able to bring me in?
JACOB
I hope so. Then I got to make sure we
all end up in Springwood.
SCOTT
The old stomping ground?
JACOB
Yeah. Only right now it's not a very
pretty place.
KAREN
What do we do when we get there?
JACOB
Play it by ear. And try and stay alive.
A SOCIAL WORKER sticks his head into the lounge.
SOCIAL WORKER
Half hour til lights out, everyone.
The kids get up and start for the door.
JACOB
Off we go.
SCOTT
Into the wild black yonder.
Scott shakes his head as they leave.
INT. KAREN'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
Karen lies in bed, under the covers. She holds the picture
of herself, thirteen years old. She stares at it. Still
that missing piece.
Karen puts the picture on a nightstand and closes her eyes.
INT. SCOTT & JACOB'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT
Scott lies on the top of a set of bunk beds. Jacob is on the
bottom and already looks asleep.
ON SCOTT
He's still awake. Maybe he's starting to believe some of
Jacob's ramblings, because he nervously fidgets in bed.
SCOTT
Freddy Krueger. Yeah, right. Years ago
some sicko gets fried and now he comes
back to stick it to you when you're
snoozing. Stupid bedtime story.
he sighs, looks at his wrist, but his watch isn't on. Then:
SCOTT (cont'd)
Hey, Mr. Creepoid, you still up?
(a beat)
Yo, Jacob?
There's still no answer. Scott rolls and peeks over the edge
of the bunk bed. And Jacob's not there.
SCOTT (cont'd)
Huh?
Scott sits up, looks around. And FALLS right through the
middle of his bed, NOT appearing underneath the top bunk. He
just disappears.
EXT. NIGHTMARE SPRINGWOOD - SOUTH STREET - NIGHT
Scott falls out of a tree and lands with a THUD. He groans,
slowly gets to his feet and takes in his surroundings.
The road is dark and desolate. The street lights emit a grim
brown glow and there are no stars or moon in the sky.
SOUNDS echo through the trees and buildings. Weird MOANS,
odd GURGLINGS, eerie WHISPERS, and an occasional unearthly
HOWL.
This does not comfort Scott.
SCOTT
Oh, this is lovely.
He starts cautiously walking down the sidewalk. SOMETHING
flies by with a FLAPPING. Scott ducks. Was it a bird or a
bat or what? It's already gone.
Then a craggy voice calls out from behind a tree.
BUM
Hey, buddy?
SCOTT
Yeah, what?
Scott is understandably jumpy. The dark figure of a BUM
starts walking towards him. Scott backs away.
BUM
Can you spare some change?
SCOTT
Um, well, let me see...
Scott starts sifting through his pockets, and the BUM steps
out into the light.
He has THREE EYES and a HUMP BACK. Scott YELPS.
SCOTT (cont'd)
Holy Jesus Christ.
The Bum grins and Scott starts stumbling away, his voice
trailing off:
SCOTT (cont'd)
I'll catch you next time, buddy.
The mutant bum belches.
EXT. NIGHTMARE SPRINGWOOD - PARNELL AVE. - NIGHT
Karen rounds a corner. She walks nervously down the middle
of the street. There are no cars, and she wants to keep as
far away as possible from the houses on either side.
There is a CREAKING sound from one of those houses. Karen
turns her head to look.
A craggy OLD WOMAN is rocking back and forth on her front
porch. She's eating something, something stringy and slimy.
She munches away with a vacant look in her eyes.
The something in her hands MOVES slightly. The old woman's
meal is still alive.
Karen gags and walks faster. And a PANTING sound is heard,
like two dogs. Someone is walking their pet down the
sidewalk.
It's the MUTANT WOMAN from Jacob's opening nightmare:
straggly hair, oozing sores, limping. The source of the
multiple paintings is her single dog, all two heads of it.
The mutant woman waves unpleasantly at Karen. Karen whimpers
and starts to RUN.
WITH KAREN - RUNNING
She stumbles quickly down the street. We catch fleeting
glimpses of other horrors, twisted shapes, bent shadows.
Karen rounds a corner, and SCREAMS when she bumps into
someone. It's Scott, out of breath from his own sprinting.
KAREN
Scott! You're here.
SCOTT
Yeah. Fun town. Talk to any of the
neighbors, yet? They're a swell bunch of
folks.
KAREN
Uh-huh. Real friendly, too.
SCOTT
So this is a dream?
KAREN
And I'm in it with you. Convinced?
SCOTT
Maybe I'm just dreaming bout being here
with you. Wouldn't be the first time.
KAREN
Nope. I tired that one already. Doesn't
work. Come on, we have to find Jacob.
Scott nods and they take off down the street. A cat with
three tails slithers by.
EXT. NIGHTMARE SPRINGWOOD - MAIN STREET - NIGHT
Jacob is standing motionless in the middle of the road. He
stares down into the darkness, a wooden expression on his
face.
Karen and Scott are running up behind him.
KAREN
Jacob! Thank God!
SCOTT
So this is the place, huh?
Jacob's eyes are steady. He hasn't yet acknowledged the
other's presence. He eyes are fixed on the gloominess in
front of him. A look of vengeance beginning to grow as our
SHOT MOVES IN on him.
JACOB
I'm home.
Karen and Scott are next to him now. They stand silently
with Jacob for a few seconds. Then:
KAREN
What now?
JACOB
Scott, are you with us?
SCOTT
A deal's a deal.
JACOB
Then we wait.
And not for long. FLASH! In three bursts the Dream Police
appear directly across from the teenagers. Scott and Karen
jump back. Jacob hold his ground.
SCOTT
Whoa!
The threesomes stand face-to-face in two parallel rows.
SCOTT (cont'd)
Nice outfits.
POWER COP
Is this all?
JACOB
All that's left.
SOUND COP
It'll have to do.
SCOTT
We can always come back later. Like when
it's daytime.
POWER COP
It's always night here.
JACOB
What's the plan?
BLADE COP
We need you to draw him out.
SCOTT
Terrific. We're supposed to be bait.
SOUND COP
Essentially.
JACOB
Then let's do it.
KABOOOOOOOOM! A huge BRICK WALL, ten feet high and spreading
out across the street and through the houses, BLASTS up from
the asphalt. Right between the Police and the kids.
ON THE DREAM POLICE SIDE
The three cops crouch into battle positions.
ON THE TEENAGER'S SIDE
The three of them have hardly any time to react before three
perfectly round HOLES open up underneath each of them.
And Scott, Jacob and Karen fall into darkness.
ON THE DREAM POLICE SIDE
Sound Cop stands up and his body begins to VIBRATE. A new
noise emits from his mouth: a HIGH PITCHED SQUEAL.
And like the walls of Jericho, the bricks in front of them
fall apart and tumble to the ground. Dust settles and the
Police walk over the rubble to the other side. The kids are
gone.
BLADE COP
Fan out.
The Dream Police break formation and scatter.
EXT. A STREET
A hole opens up in the road and WHOOSH, KAREN is elevated up
into the scene and the hole seals up instantly.
She jumps a few feet and drops to her knees, holding onto
the ground. She looks up at a street sign. It reads: ELM
ST. Karen stands up and heads down the road.
EXT. ROCHESTER AVE.
Another hole, and VOOM, Jacob is shot up into the street. He
spins around, trying to get his bearings. It doesn't take
him long. He knows exactly where he is.
JACOB
Oh no...
He starts to run and we FOLLOW him.
Jacob jumps over a procession of RATS making their way across
the street and just keeps on sprinting. Until he reaches a
certain house. He catches his breath as he looks at the
building, pain registering on his face.
JACOB (cont'd)
Mom...
Jacob runs towards the house as our shot MOVES IN CLOSE to
the mailbox and ate name printed across it. It reads
JOHNSON.
INT. NIGHTMARE JOHNSON HOME - ENTRYWAY
Jacob bursts through the door. He turns on a light switch.
A lamp SPUTTERS into semi-life, and keeps sputtering, casting
a candle-like glow over the interior.
Cobwebs and dust cover everything. Rats and tarantula
spiders skitter about. Jacob grits his teeth and walks in
deeper.
EXT. SPRINGWOOD TAVERN
Scott BLASTS out of the asphalt. He staggers for a few
seconds from the ride, then looks at the building in front of
him. A puttering neon sign, ÔSPRINGWOOD TAVERN', marks the
local saloon. Muffled MUSIC and VOICES seep through the
cracks of the double doors.
Scott looks around, then shrugs. He heads for the entrance.
INT. SPRINGWOOD TAVERN
Dump is too clean a word, dive is too nice, abomination is
more like it. A greenish haze covers everything. Instead of
sawdust on the floor there is a collection of debris that
looks like a compilation of human teeth, crushed bugs, and
pools of unmentionable goo.
Then there's the people.
Imagine any profanity, any obscenity,any blasphemy, add them
all up - then double them. It wouldn't even come close to
the patrons of this joint.
They dance, they yell, they drink bloody bubbling mixtures.
There's a guy to the right that doesn't seem to mind that
half his brain is showing. That girl over there has no jaw.
In a booth is a couple that are connected at the lips. A
ventriloquist on stage is entertaining the troops with his
hand up the back of a real body.
Scott steps through the door and blinks about a dozen times.
Then he decides that the smart course of action is to turn
around and go right back out.
A MUTANT BOUNCER, half his face a skull, blocks Scott's way.
MUTANT BOUNCER
Two drink minimum.
SCOTT
Ah, that's okay. I think I'm underage,
anyway.
MUTANT BOUNCER
Two drink minimum.
SCOTT
No, really. I'm driving.
MUTANT BOUNCER
Two drink minimum.
The bouncer with the limited vocabulary seems adamant. Scott
backs off and turns around. He carefully moves forward. A
MUTANT WAITRESS with three breasts slips next to him.
MUTANT WAITRESS
Can I get you anything?
SCOTT
That's okay. I'll just sit at the bar.
MUTANT WAITRESS
Alright, honey. You call if you need
anything.
SCOTT
You bet. You'll be the first to know.
Scott turns away, trying to keep his eyes in their sockets.
He slides up to the bar next to a MUTANT BUSINESSMAN. The
man's head is on backwards, his arms lean on the bar while
his face looks out into the crowd. He has to twist his neck
to sip his vile drink.
A BARTENDER, surprisingly normal-looking, steps up to Scott.
BARTENDER
What'll it be?
SCOTT
Um, a beer, I guess.
The bartender fills a twisted glass with a sickly brown
liquid. Chunks of matter float amongst the foam. Scott
takes the drink warily and looks up at the businessman next
to him. The mutant smiles at him.
BARTENDER
Go on. Puts hair on your back.
SCOTT
And that's all?
The bartender returns. Holds one of those half pineapple
type drinks in his hand, except this one has the back end of
a wriggling lizard sticking out of mucousy fluid under a tiny
umbrella. He gives it to Scott.
SCOTT (cont'd)
That's okay, this'll be plenty.
BARTENDER
No charge. Compliments of the man at the
end of the bar.
The bartender walks away and Scott cranes his head to look
down the bar.
SCOTT'S POV
The crowd blocks his view, but we can see a gloved hand with
four blades strapped to it tapping nonchalantly on the
surface of the wood.
BACK TO SCOTT
He picks up his drinks, holding the moving one at arm's
length, and heads down the bar.
AT THE END OF THE BAR
sits Freddy Krueger. He sips coolly on some hideous
concoction as Scott sits down in the chair next to him and
lights a cigarette, trying to look equally cool.
FREDDY
Welcome to my favorite haunt.
SCOTT
So you're the man.
FREDDY
At your service.
SCOTT
What's on your mind?
FREDDY
A deal.
SCOTT
A deal's what got me into this.
FREDDY
Bring Jacob to me.
Scott, valiantly holding on to his nerve, raises an eyebrow.
SCOTT
What's in it for me?
FREDDY
Power. You don't need to hang out with
those losers. You're a take-charge kind
of guy, Scott. Like when you took charge
of your father.
Suddenly Freddy is spinning a gun on the bar with his free
hand. Scott grimaces.
SCOTT
Leave my father out of this.
FREDDY
I'll make you mayor of Rosedale.
SCOTT
After you make it look like this?
FREDDY
You can have Karen.
That was Freddy's trump card. It really hits a nerve in
Scott. Karen's everything he's ever wanted.
SCOTT
Alive?
FREDDY
Any way you want her.
SCOTT
(after a beat)
Okay.
FREDDY
Shake?
Krueger holds out his knives. Scott shakes his head.
SCOTT
No thanks. I trust you.
Freddy laughs.
INT. NIGHTMARE JOHNSON HOME - ALICE'S BEDROOM
Jacob opens the door into darkness.
JACOB
Mother?
He turns on the light and a RED HAZE blankets the room.
Jacob looks up. The dish-like ceiling lamp is filled with
blood.
Jacob walks into the room, tears welling. He walks by
Alice's vanity, her makeup still sitting there as if she
might show up and use it at any moment.
He steps up to a wardrobe closet and touches the edges of it
lightly. He reaches out and slowly, almost reverently, opens
the doors.
Dozens of writhing SNAKES drop out of the closet and slither
onto the ground.
Jacob jumps back and SCREAMS.
Then he just stands there in the middle of the teaming
reptile mass, not giving a shit anymore, going insane. His
fists clenched, his head tilted back, as he YELLS into the
air like a wolf baying at the moon.
EXT. SPRINGWOOD TAVERN
Scott steps off the sidewalk and looks up and down the
street. He thinks and we MOVE IN on him.
SCOTT
Mayor of Rosedale.
Scott sneers.
SCOTT (cont'd)
What a crock of shit.
We PULL WIDER as Scott cups his hands around his mouth.
SCOTT (cont'd)
Hey! He's over here. Yo! Dream Police.
Hello! Come on. Move you collective
asses.
CLOSE ON SCOTT
He puts his hands on his hips and sighs.
SCOTT (cont'd)
Never a cop around when you need one.
GLITCH! a stabbing sound of flesh, and Scott JERKS violently
as our shot PULLS BACK to reveal:
Freddy behind Scott, his deadly fingers buried in the boy's
back. Scott chokes on his own blood as Krueger growls.
FREDDY
I hate a snitch!
Freddy pulls out his blades as Scott falls forward and with
his final breath utters:
SCOTT
Eat shit...
His body hits the ground with a THUD as a sudden ROAR fills
the air. Freddy looks around for its source. And Sound Cop
drops down on him with a SMACK.
The two of them tumble, then both jump up. Freddy laughs.
Sound Cop looks down at Scott's body, then back up at
Krueger. His body is shaking with fury,and he opens his
mouth.
The loudest sound yet comes from Sound Cop. KABOOM! A blast
of air at Mach 3 smacks into Freddy and sends him sailing
back, SMASHING right through the Tavern wall.
INT. SPRINGWOOD TAVERN
Freddy flies sideways, right through the bar, destroying
chandeliers as he careens through and punches yet another
huge hole through the opposite wall.
The nightmarish customers don't even seem to notice.
INT. NIGHTMARE JOHNSON HOME - ENTRYWAY
Jacob is shuffling down the stairs as a SONIC BOOM of noise
echoes through the streets outside.
He knows exactly what that sound means as we MOVE IN on his
face.
JACOB
Krueger...
Jacob races for the front door.
INT. SPRINGWOOD TAVERN
The dust is just starting to settle as a THUD is heard coming
from the hole in the opposite wall. Quickly followed by
Freddy's soaring body. Krueger SMASHES into some tables and
slides across the floor. Power Cop steps through the hole,
his fists clenched. Freddy stands up and dusts himself off.
FREDDY
Lighten up, bone brain.
Power Cop has no intention to. He bolts over, grabs Krueger,
raises him over his head like a wrestler, slams him down on
the bar, and SHOVES Freddy, knocking glasses and ashtrays
aside until he SMACKS into yet another poor wall.
Krueger barely gets back on his feet when Power Cop is right
on him again. The big man in black SWINGS, but this time
Freddy DUCKS. CRACK! a support column bursts into dust.
Freddy twirls around. And the two of them start to PUNCH
each other.
It's a barroom brawl between non-humans as Power Cop and
Freddy Krueger exchange multiple blows.
SMACK SMACK SMACK! Freddy nails Power Cop, whose head barely
seems to budge from the hits.
POW POW POW! Power Cop lays into Krueger, sending him
spinning and tumbling only to pick him up and start the
process all over again.
This goes on for a while, and Krueger is losing.
The mutant bouncer finally steps up to Power Cop to try and
put a stop to all this.
MUTANT BOUNCER
Take it outside!
CRUNCH! Power Cop puts a stop to the bouncer with a vicious
elbow in the chest. All this gave Freddy a few seconds to
grab a chair and crack it ineffectually over the Cop's head.
The pummeling begins again.
THWACK THWACK THWACK! Power Cop is punching Freddy towards
the door.
EXT. SPRINGWOOD TAVERN
Like in an old wester, Krueger flies out of the double doors
and somersaults onto the pavement. Sound Cop is a few yards
away knelt down next to Scott's dead body. He looks up as
Freddy sneers.
FREDDY
No more playing around.
Freddy raises his left fist and it begins to EXPAND. It
grows like an inflated beach ball, except it doesn't look
soft at all. Freddy slides up to the side of the entrance,
and raises his giant hammer hand. Power Cop steps through,
looking for blood. Sound Cop tries to warn him.
SOUND COP
Kincaid!
Too late. BAM! Freddy's fist slams down on Power Cop's
head. He's actually shoved down into the ground a full two
feet - trapped at the legs.
BAM! Freddy hits him again. Power Cop is down to his thighs
and he can't get out.
A RUMBLING is heard. Freddy turns to see Sound Cop starting
to open his mouth. Krueger instantly reaches down and grabs
a brick from the rubble and THROWS it at Sound Cop.
FREDDY
Put a lid on it!
THUNK! The brick lands squarely in Sound Cop's mouth,
stretching it painfully and blocking it completely. Sound
Cop reels from the impact. Tries to pull out the firmly
wedged plug.
Freddy turns back to Power Cop, BAM! Hits him down to his
hips. The giant fist swings, BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM! like
hammering a nail until Power Cop DISAPPEARS into the ground.
Freddy's hand deflates to regular size as he turns to the
struggling Sound Cop.
Sound Cop's head is EXPANDING. Pressure seems to be building
up, something's gonna blow. Freddy picks up a boulder from
the street rubble. He catapults it with both hands at Sound
Cop. The boulder hits Sound Cop's head and takes it CLEAN
OFF.
Sound Cop's decapitated skull tumbles away with the brick
still stuck, as a blast of air shoots up from the stump of
his neck with a SCREECH.
Sound Cop's body stumbles for a few seconds, then falls over
limply.
Freddy LAUGHS and laughs and laughs... KACHUNK! until a KNIFE
embeds itself in his back. Krueger spins around.
CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK! Three more knives slam into his body as
he staggers back in surprise. Blade Cop stands twenty feet
away reaching into thin air and whipping out knife after
knife, flinging them at Freddy. They sail like flying
bullets.
CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK! Krueger falls back from the sheer force
of the onslaught, at least a dozen blades sticking out of his
body.
Blade stops. She stands there for a beat, waiting to see what
Freddy will do next.
Krueger sways, looking like an inhuman pincushion. Then he
grins. His body steadies, and he suddenly poses like a body
builder and flexes every muscle.
POP POP POP! The daggers shoot out of his torso and limbs,
CLATTERING to the ground.
The girl in black steps back and raises her arms. SHINK
SHINK! Two-foot-long sabers jut out from her forearms.
They're not held by her, they're a PART of her, exiting from
the tops of her wrists under her clenched fists. She crosses
the blades in front of her.
FREDDY (cont'd)
(smiling)
Ah... a girl after my own heart.
KACHINK! Freddy shoots out his finger knives and they EXTEND
to double their normal size. He raises them and takes on a
fencing stance.
FREDDY (cont'd)
En guard, bitch
SWOOP/CLANG! A swordfight ensues. Freddy swinging his four
long knives. Blade slashing her rapier-arms. They lunge,
they parry, they leap, they duck.
CLANG! They connect. SCREEEEE. Metal scrapes metal. It's
a bastardized version of an Errol Flynn movie and Blade Cop
and Freddy are equally matched. Blade moves to get the upper
hand.
CLINK CLINK! Blades shoot out of the girl's ELBOWS. Now
when she takes a swing with her fists, another sword is right
behind it on the follow-through.
Freddy gets caught off-guard. Gets slashed twice in the
shoulder and twirls away. Then starts to move FASTER.
Blade counters with an equally increased intensity. Freddy
ducks, SWOOPS out twice quickly. A fold of black cloth drops
down on Blade's stomach, revealing naked skin and a little
blood. They pause for a second.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Touche.
And Blade becomes AIRBORNE putting a Samurai to shame,
twirling her legs up and out as a blade juts momentarily from
her RIGHT HEEL, chopping off Freddy's left hand.
Krueger stumbles back in astonishment as green goo spurts out
of the stump.
Astonishment turns to rage as the two converge again,
swinging away at an incredible rate. An impossible rate.
JACOB rounds the corner. He stumbles into the action just as
the battling pair are becoming an obscure swirling GLINTING
MASS. Pieces of them start to drop away.
Blade's foot hits the ground. Freddy's arm plops away. A
broken sword hits the asphalt under the spinning cloud, then
one of Blade's arms.
CLOSE ON JACOB
as he watches, his eyes dart to try to follow the action
that's moving too fast for him to see.
Then there's silence.
We PULL BACK and PAN to follow Jacob as he walks into the
scene of carnage. He steps up to two pills of remains: one
black and flesh colored covered with red blood, the other a
heap of red and green cloth, scarred tissues, and pukish
green glop.
Blade and Freddy have literally chopped each other to bits,
the two mounds of body parts steaming in the cold night air.
Jacob sees something else and walks over to it. It's Scott's
body. Jacob kneels down next to the dead teenager.
JACOB
I'm sorry, Scott.
A CRACKING sound makes Jacob stand up. Over to the now-
silent bar entrance a BLACK FIST punches up through the
cement. With a crumbling of granite, Power Cop rises from
the earth.
Something else moves behind Jacob and he turns, then SCREAMS.
Sound Cop's headless body walks into the shot, his arms held
ABOVE FRAME over his neck.
Then Sound Cop's arms lower his dismembered HEAD onto his
stump, push it down, twist it til it stays. With great
effort, Sound Cop yanks the brick out of his mouth.
Jacob now looks OFF SCREEN at something else, something that
REALLY makes his eyes widen. We get to see the shadow of
what Jacob sees, projected on the wall of the bar behind him.
The shadow of the pile of body parts that was Blade Cop
begins to MOVE. The pieces start to REFORM, leg to torso,
arm to shoulder, head to neck. The shadow on the wall rises
and we PULL BACK.
Blade Cop stands across from Jacob, whole again except for a
flash of exposed flesh on her abdomen to remind her of the
experience.
Jacob raises his eyebrows as the resurrected Dream Police
step around him.
JACOB (cont'd)
Okay, I'm impressed
Blade whips her visor up to reveal an upset girl's face.
BLADE COP
You shouldn't be.
Jacob frowns as the four of them walk over to the pile of
Freddy remains. But they're not remains anymore. All that's
left of Freddy is a stack of CLOTH remnants.
A WIND rises and pieces of cloth blow away into the darkness.
The other two Dream Police raise their visors, looking
equally distraught. They all face Jacob.
BLADE COP (cont'd)
This is what we were afraid of.
SOUND COP
He still exists.
JACOB
What! How?
POWER COP
We're already dead, that's why he
couldn't destroy us.
BLADE COP
But he's not dead. He's not alive either.
He's something in between.
SOUND COP
He's not entirely part of reality or part
of dreams. He's unique.
BLADE COP
WE can't kill him.
POWER COP
We can wail away on each other until
doomsday and not do any good.
JACOB
Then who's going to kill this fucker?
SOUND COP
YOU have to.
JACOB
How the hell am I supposed to do that?
BLADE COP
Krueger's power comes from his rage and
the souls of children.
POWER COP
You have to find the original source of
that rage and use it against him.
BLADE COP
This town in its present condition
encompasses all evils from all times in
its history. The answer is here
somewhere...
Jacob sighs, then gets an idea.
JACOB
I think I know where...
And he starts to run down the street.
BLADE COP
Jacob, wait. We have to find him first.
JACOB
No time. You guys find Karen!
He disappears down the road as the Dream Police snap down
their visors
EXT. ELM STREET HOUSE
Karen stands in front of a rotted gate in front of a run down
building with shuttered windows and a crumbling foundation.
This isn't just an ELM STREET house, it's THE Elm Street
house. And for some reason Karen is drawn to it. She looks
to her let at the bent mailbox.
It has a name plate on it. Another one underneath it. And
another. It's as if people moved in and out and instead of
changing the plates on the mailbox, they just whacked a new
one over the old. Karen steps closer to the mailbox.
The little sign on the top reads WILLIAMS. She touches it
with her finger and it drops off, the nails holding it on
rusted away to dust. A new plate is revealed. This one says
THOMPSON. Karen picks lightly at it, and it swings away. The
name underneath makes Karen gasp.
It reads KRUEGER.
And there's still another one under that horrible name.
Karen quickly hits the Krueger plate off. The last sign
reads UNDERWOOD.
Karen frowns. She turns back to the house, a determined
expression on her face.
KAREN
No more...
She KICKS the gate open and walks up to the house.
INT. ELM STREET HOUSE
We've been here before, haven't we? But for Karen it's the
first visit as she opens the front door and walks in. She
takes in the twisted skeleton of a home for a few seconds and
then begins to SEARCH it.
INT. ELM STREET HOUSE - LIVING ROOM
Karen races through, pulling open desk drawers, rifling
through shelves, flipping through books. She doesn't know
what she's looking for, but she knows she hasn't found it
yet.
INT. ELM STREET HOUSE - KITCHEN
The intensity of Karen's quest increases as she yanks open
cabinets and tosses plates to the floor. Still nothing.
INT. ELM STREET HOUSE - STAIRS
Karen runs up them, a girl with a mission.
INT. ELM STREET HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM
Karen flings the door open. Nothing but a bed and a set of
drawers. No hint as to the occupant's lives. She doesn't
bother ransacking this one and goes on to:
INT. ELM STREET HOUSE - FREDDY'S BEDROOM
Jackpot. Karen stares through the open door at a child's
room, a very twisted child's room. She slowly walks in.
A bed, a desk, a dresser. There's a Jack-in-a-box with its
head torn off. A disemboweled Teddy Bear. White puffy guts
hanging out of it. A clown doll with its face caved in. A
hanging mobile made of strange bent shapes.
And a pile of more-than-dirty clothes.
Karen goes over to the pile and picks through it with her
toe. A small pair of pants, about the right size for an
eight-year-old. A black pair of shoes. And a little
sweater, a RED AND GREEN STRIPED sweater.
Karen goes over to the desk. There is stack of drawings on
it - a child's drawings. On one of them it looks like
someone was practicing writing their name. FREDDY UNNERWOOD,
FREDDY UNDERWUD, FREDDY UNDERWOOD over and over again. Until
the final attempt has the last name angrily crossed out,
replaced underneath by a hastily scrawled KRUEGER!!!
Another piece of paper: a set of human stick figures. A
small one is labeled FREDDY. The large one is labeled DADDY.
The Daddy figure is depicted HITTING the Freddy figure.
There are more drawings, all of them violent, the large
figure beating away at the small one.
Suddenly a CREAKING. Karen jumps. Hides behind a bookshelf.
She's nervously trying to figure out what to do when a framed
picture catches her attention on the shelf. It's a picture
of a tall, dark man and a little boy. Karen reaches out to
grab the picture, but accidentally knocks over a glass mug
with a CRASH.
FOOTSTEPS can now be heard tromping up the stairs.
Someone's coming and Karen's on the edge of panic. She looks
around and finds an old baseball bat. She grabs it and runs
to the side of the doorway as the FOOTSTEPS approach down the
hallway. Karen raises the bat.
And Jacob appears. Karen pulls back with the bat as Jacob
jumps away from her.
KAREN
Jacob! You scared the shit out of me!
JACOB
The feeling is mutual.
KAREN
Where are the Dream Police?
JACOB
I told them to look for you. What are
you doing here? Don't you know what this
place is?
KAREN
I do now. Look what I found.
She starts to drag him over to the desk of drawings.
JACOB
You've got to get out of here.
KAREN
Wait. You have to see this.
JACOB
You don't understand. The Police can't
kill Freddy. They literally chopped each
other to pieces and he's still alive!
Now I'm supposed to figure out how to get
rid of him.
KAREN
But I think I found the answer. Shut up
for a second and look at these.
She starts showing him the scrawlings.
JACOB
Okay, so he's a bad artist.
KAREN
No! You told me Krueger's mother
committed suicide and no one knows who
his father was, right?
JACOB
Yeah...
KAREN
Freddy's been pushing all our buttons
with our pasts. These are HIS past.
Don't you get it? HE was a foster child,
too!
She walks over to the bookshelf and grabs the picture of
LITTLE FREDDY and FREDDY'S FOSTER FATHER.
KAREN (cont'd)
Someone had to have taken care of him.
This guy...he was Freddy's father. Those
drawings...they were Freddy's childhood.
This house...it's where it all happened.
JACOB
But in reality Freddy hasn't lived here
for decades.
KAREN
Like you tried to tell me once before,
this is a dream. Who knows why this is
all here.
JACOB
All evils from all times in history...
KAREN
And isn't this where it all started in
Springwood? On Elm Street?
Jacob thinks for a second. It's all starting to make sense.
JACOB
But what does this do for us?
KAREN
There's got to be a way to use it against
him.
JACOB
Okay, but we're not going to stand around
here to figure out how. It's too
dangerous.
He grabs her hand and pulls her towards her door.
JACOB (cont'd)
Let's get out of this house.
They head out to
UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
And Blade Cop is standing in the middle of the corridor. The
two teenagers stop.
JACOB (cont'd)
Thank God. Freddy's going to show up any
minute.
KACHINK! A knife shoots out of Blade's right hand, ready for
action. (but wait a minute, her uniform isn't ripped
anymore...) Karen and Jacob make their way to the stairs.
He turns to Blade.
JACOB (cont'd)
Where are the others?
Blade walks up to him and stands there. Then JAMS HER KNIFE
into JACOB'S GUT. Karen SCREAMS. Jacob chokes. Blade Cop
shoves the knife in further until it juts out of Jacob's
back. She turns.
Then BECOMES FREDDY.
FREDDY
Time to join your mommy.
Krueger yanks his finger blades out and Jacob's limp body
falls at Karen's feet. Karen shrieks and cries, dropping to
her knees to hold him.
KAREN
No no no no no no no...Jacob...
He looks up at her, slowly dying. She strokes his forehead
while Freddy laughs at the sentiment.
FREDDY
Young love...ha!
JACOB
Karen...dream...powers....
And Jacob is gone. Karen sobs, so torn apart that she is
ignoring the incredible danger above her. But not for long.
Krueger grabs Karen by the neck.
FREDDY
It's past your bedtime, young lady.
And he starts to DRAG her, kicking and screaming, her body
scraping across the floor towards the
MASTER BEDROOM
Freddy drags Karen in and TOSSES her across the room. She
lands with a THUD on the bed. He saunters over to her and
climbs up on the bed next to her. Gets on top.
Karen yells and hits him uselessly with her fists and it's
horrible because there he is, pressing down on her, right in
her face, mounting her as if he's going to rape her.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Aw, sweetheart. This won't hurt a bit.
She screams as he presses even harder.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Come on. Be Daddy's little girl.
And the last three words of that sentence seem to ECHO
through the room, swirling around Karen. DADDY'S LITTLE
GIRL. "Daddy's little girl." Karen twists her head away.
And Freddy's become Karen's FATHER. He looks down on her
with a lecherous grin.
KAREN'S FATHER
That's my baby. That's Daddy's little
girl.
Karen stops struggling. The realization grows on her face
with the resurfacing memory.
KAREN
Oh no...
KAREN'S FATHER
(Freddy's voice)
Now do you remember?
She does. And she has an answer for him.
KAREN
You're NOT my father.
KAREN'S FATHER
But we're going to have the same fun!
Karen stares at him defiantly. And a HAND grabs Karen's
Father, and yanks him away. We PULL BACK.
KAREN'S MOTHER is next to the bed. Furious.
KAREN'S MOTHER
That's enough!
And she SLAPS Karen's Father. He stands up, SLUGS her across
the jaw. She tumbles back. Karen sits up.
KAREN
Mommy, no!
Karen's Mother gets up, a defiant look just like Karen's on
her face.
KAREN'S MOTHER
You're never going to touch her again!
KAREN'S FATHER
I'll touch what I want!
BAP! He strikes her again, sending her right out the door.
He follows her. Karen stands up and runs after them.
IN THE HALLWAY
CRACK! The man hits the woman down to the floor. Karen's
mother stands up, just taking it. She's at the top of the
stairs. Karen's Father swings his arm back, and Karen jumps
on him. He shrugs her away violently.
WITH KAREN
as she hits the ground and the wall next to Jacob's body.
She looks up.
WIDER
And Karen's Father is now FREDDY again. He swings his fist.
SMACK!
Karen's Mother reels from the hit, falls backwards. Karen
jumps up to try and help her, reaching past Freddy. But it's
too late.
Karen's Mother tumbles down the stairs, head hitting, bones
cracking, disappearing into darkness.
Freddy grabs Karen by the neck and lifts her. DANGLES her
over the top of the steps.
FREDDY
Be honored, bitch. You're the last soul
I need.
And Jacob RISES UP behind Krueger. GRABS him. Freddy DROPS
Karen. She hits hard and rolls down the steps as Freddy
turns, his knives swinging out and SLAMMING Jacob's gut one
more time, IMPALING him against the wall. Jacob gasps out
his final breath.
JACOB
I'll be back...
FREDDY
I'll be waiting.
Freddy pulls his blades out of Jacob and the wall. The boy's
body hits the floor for the last time. Freddy turns back to
the stairs and looks down them.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Where's my little pumpkin?
He strolls down the steps.
DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY
Freddy walks down and no one's there. Karen's Mom was just
an illusion, but Karen herself, dead or alive, is nowhere to
be seen.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Play time is over, bitch.
He walks down the hallway. Eyes darting. Until a BOOMING
VOICE is heard from the kitchen.
VOICE
FREDERICK!
Freddy cocks his head and frowns.
VOICE (cont'd)
Frederick! What have you done?
And, amazingly, a look of FEAR crosses Krueger's face.
Something about that voice has struck terror in the heart of
the creature that fears nobody.
Krueger turns to the kitchen door. A man steps out of the
shadows, a big muscular man with a horrifying look in his
eyes. A man we've seen somewhere before - in a picture.
It's FREDDY'S FOSTER FATHER - MR. UNDERWOOD. And he looks
pissed beyond belief.
Freddy shrinks back, eyes widening.
FREDDY
Daddy?
MR. UNDERWOOD
Don't you "Daddy" me!
Mr. Underwood raises his arm and SMACKS Freddy across the
skull. Krueger tumbles back into the hallway.
Freddy scrambles to his feet. Shakes with dread. Looks like
a scared little boy. Mr. Underwood advances on him.
FREDDY
No, Daddy. Please...
Freddy turns and bolts for the front door. He flings it
open. Power Cop stands in his way and SHOVES Freddy back -
back in front of his foster father.
PUNCH - a vicious blow from Underwood sends Krueger into
THE LIVING ROOM
where Freddy falls over a couch. Underwood stomps into the
room. Krueger scrambles up and heads for the archway leading
into the dining room.
BLADE COP blocks the escape. The ripped flap of her uniform
proving she's the real one. She KICKS Freddy back and into
Underwood's hands. The man picks up Krueger and HITS him
again. And again. And again.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Stop. You're hurting me. Stop.
Freddy wriggles away and opens a window. Sound Cop fills the
window, cutting him off. Pushes him back inside.
Mr. Underwood grabs Krueger and slaps him over and over.
Slugs him. Gives the beating he's got coming to him.
And Freddy MOANS and YELLS like a blubbering child. Shrinks
into a corner but is yanked out for more pummeling.
Power Cop stands at the exit to the hallway. Blade Cop
continues to obstruct the dining room arch. Sound Cop steps
through the window and stands in front of it. The Dream
Police just stare in silence.
It's not a street fight, not a punching match. Just a
ruthless thrashing that would be hard to watch if it weren't
for the fact that we are all cheering because no one in
history has ever deserved it more.
Underwood stops the whipping and stands over Krueger who is
lying on the ground whimpering, pleading for mercy.
FREDDY (cont'd)
Why, Daddy? What did I do?
MR. UNDERWOOD
You took some things that don't belong to
you!
And with that, Underwood brings his fist down and JAMS it
into Freddy's stomach. Right THROUGH IT. Shoving it into
his very body.
Freddy SCREAMS. Underwood violently pulls his fist out and
there's SOMETHING in it. A shimmering flowing thing.
Crackling with unworldly LIGHT. It's a SOUL. It's Wesley's
SOUL. Underwood flings his arm out and lets go. Wesley's
soul flies into thin air and DISSIPATES.
Krueger's father brings his hand down again and RIPS out
GINA'S SOUL. Again. JACOB'S SOUL. Freddy opens his mouth
and shrieks. As Underwood raises his arms and begins to
SPARKLE. FLASHES of light bounce around his body. He's
changing.
And something's happening to Freddy's too. Steam is rising
from the creature. His feet are starting to flatten as he
lays on the ground and BLACK GOO oozes from his pores.
He's melting. And still screaming as he watches his foster
father's image turn into:
KAREN. An aura of LIGHT vanishes around her body as she
lowers her arms with a victorious yet sad look on her face.
Freddy DIES.
A look of horrified realization burns in Krueger's eyes as he
sees Karen and CONTINUES to scream inhumanly.
His body dissolves, all of it liquefying into BLACK SLIME.
Gone. Just a bubbling black puddle of gunk is left. His
SHRIEK echoes through the room and everywhere else.
Then the GUNK grows and changes into a dark cloud that begins
to EXPAND.
Power Cop runs up, grabs Karen and yells.
POWER COP
We gotta get outta here!
Karen, almost mesmerized by the black cloud spreading in
front of her, stumbles away with Power Cop.
EXT. ELM STREET HOUSE
The Dream Police and Karen bolt out the front door and run
down the street as a RUMBLE joins Freddy's thunderous SHRIEK
and the entire town begins to SHAKE.
We stay with a shot of the house as the noise and vibrations
continue.
And the Elm Street House EXPLODES. The BLACK CLOUD punches
out the roof and the walls, sending wood and debris flying
everywhere.
The rubble flies into the air, hangs there for a beat, then
falls to the ground.
All is SILENT. And the dark cloud turns WHITE. The milky
fog spreads out.
EXT. ELM STREET INTERSECTION
Karen falls to her knees on the pavement, not looking back at
the destruction one block away.
The Dream Police stop running to turn to face her. Karen
hangs her head and cries.
Blade steps forward.
BLADE COP
It took a human touch. It took knowing
HIS nightmare. Goodbye, Karen.
Karen raises her head as the Dream Police turn away.
KAREN'S POV - THE DREAM POLICE
walk off into the distance. Just as they are about to vanish
into the darkness, a FOURTH FIGURE appears and joins them in
formation. Then they all disappear.
ANGLE ON KAREN
Her mouth drops open at what she's just seen. What she
DOESN'T see is the white cloud swooping down the street
behind her. She just closes her eyes as the ivory mist
envelops her and the SCREEN GOES WHITE.
FADE IN FROM WHITE TO:
EXT. PARK BENCH - DAY
Karen lies sleeping on the bench amongst the grass and trees.
Her eyes open and squint at the bright light. She sits up
and tries to get her bearings. Some hair falls into her face
and she brushes it away. Only then noticing that she's
holding something in her hand.
She opens her hand and looks down.
KAREN'S POV
It's an ID bracelet. A band of gold with a larger plate
dangling from the middle of it. Karen's hand turns it over.
This time the printing reads JACOB.
WITH KAREN
she chokes back the tears. We hear a PANTING O.S. Then a
woman's voice.
WOMAN
You okay, honey?
Karen looks up as we PULL BACK. A pleasant-looking woman, no
longer a mutant, is walking her cute dog. She looks
sincerely concerned. Karen nods.
KAREN
Yes. I'm alright.
WOMAN
I've never seen you around. Are you new
in town?
KAREN
Sort of.
WOMAN
Well then...
(she smiles)
Welcome to Springwood.
The woman continues on her way. Karen sighs and puts the
bracelet on her wrist. She stands and our SHOT PULLS UP AND
AWAY as the pretty young girl starts walking through a town
she's never seen - except in her dreams.
FADE OUT.