Spring-Heeled Jack

John Dacre is the only child of Baron Dacre’s second son, who has made a life for himself in India. When first the elder son and then Baron Dacre die, Sir Dacre decides to move back to England with his family to take possession of Dacre Hall. His son, having grown up in India, has ambivalent feelings about this move but obeys his father’s wish, even though he leaves behind his Indian girlfriend, Anokhi Behari. Her father is Sir Dacre’s secretary. Unknown to all, she is pregnant when John leaves. The ship encounters a storm and sinks. Only John and a common sailor, who rescues him, survive. In his debt, John takes the sailor, Ned Tomkins, into his service. They travel to Dacre Hall where John’s cousin, Sir Thomas has taken temporary charge of the estate. John moves into Dacre Hall, as a guest, while awaiting confirmation of his identity from India. Avenging his disgraced daughter, Behari lies and writes that the only son of Sir Dacre had died in India. Sir Thomas kicks John and Ned out and takes possession of the hall. John swears vengeance. After playing a couple of juvenile tricks on him, Thomas decides to put a stop to John for good. He leaves for London but is followed there by John, who, in the meantime, has created a character to disguise himself: Spring-Heeled Jack. He taunts his cousin but, due to an increasing opium addiction, also begins to delight in frightening women. Things come to a head in a fatal encounter between Jack, Ned, Thomas and a couple of ruffians in Thomas’ employment. Jack kills one of them while Thomas kills Ned. This event marks Jack’s point of no return. He does not rest until he has tracked Thomas down, wreaking havoc throughout London and consequently bringing mass hysteria to the over-populated city, giving birth to newspaper sensationalism some 30 years before the appearance of Jack-the-Ripper. In his final encounter with his nemesis, both receive their death-blows. Anokhi, meanwhile, has made her way to England with her son. Assuming John drowned in the shipwreck she comes to claim the title for her son. In his dying moments Jack gets to meet John junior … successor to Spring-Heeled Jack? The script is part classic adventure story, part gothic horror, with ‘steampunk’ elements, set in 1830s London, Sussex, and India. A picturisation offers the opportunity for atmospheric shots, stunning scenery in a historical setting and inventive cityscapes in a pre-Victorian context. The script is entirely original and there is no adaptation of this story that I know of. My script incorporates most of the available material connected to the legend of ‘Spring-Heeled Jack’ and offers an alternative to repetitive re-tellings of the Jack-the-Ripper story.