By D.W. Jones

 

 

Forty years ago, a movie came out that revolutionize the horror genre.  It

created a new type of horror villain, a villain that created a new horror that

no one can escape from.  Not a killer chasing you through a house who

maybe something else or an unstoppable killing machine occupying a

camp site.  But a villain who doesn’t exist in the real world but in a world

where dreams and nightmares exist.  He kills in his own domain where

everyone must go, to sleep.

 

This movie was A Nightmare on Elm Street and it brought us Freddy Kreuger,

a child killer who was brought to justice by the parents of this neighborhood

only to come back for revenge.  It first came out in limited release on Nov. 9, 1984 and full theatrical release on Nov. 16.  It was directed by Wes Craven, a master of horror known for The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and Swamp Thing before he came out with A Nightmare on Elm Street.

 

Wes got his inspiration for A Nightmare on Elm Street and Freddy Kreuger from several things from his childhood.  The idea of being killed in your sleep came from a newspaper article he saw in the 70’s about Asian Death Syndrome (or known as Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome), a condition where Asian men would die 3-4 hours after sleeping.  The idea of Freddy Kreuger came from a creepy old man from his childhood that was looking at him in his window from the street.  Other inspirations are the name for Freddy Kreuger came from a childhood bully.  The sweater for Freddy that is so iconic was chosen because the colors red and green clash the most in the human retina.

 

A few other tidbits that helped create the iconic Freddy is that he

was originally supposed to be a child molester but due to an

outbreak cases in California at the time of production, they wanted

to avoid any problems with the movie being protested, so they

change him to a child killer.  Freddy’s famous fedora came by luck

and they were looking at several different styles but when Robert

Englund saw his reflection in the shadows with the fedora on, he

knew it was the right one.  The knife glove that became Freddy’s

signature weapon came about because Wes wanted to do something unique from the killers of the day.  He thought of a combination of seeing his cat knead its paws and weapons of primal man like bear claws and teeth.

 

The movie starred a cast that was mostly unknown and only getting started in their careers.  Playing Freddy Kreuger was Robert Englund.  He had been acting for a while in TV and low budget movies.  His biggest credit up to then was in the miniseries V.  He played Willie, one of the Visitors who eventually turns against his people to join the humans in their fight to survive.  Shortly after that came the role that would blast him to stardom.  What is funny is that he wasn’t up for the role originally.  Craven’s first choices for the role of Freddy was David Warner (The Omen, From Beyond The Grave) and Kane Hodder, who eventually went on to play Jason Voorhees, since he was looking for a big guy like the slashers of the time.

 

But thanks to Robert Englund’s agent friend, he said he should go audition.  He suggested that he go in acting weasel or rat-like because most child killers weren’t large hulking men but smaller creepier.  That is what Robert Englund did and Wes liked his audition so much that he got the part.  And the rest is history since he played Freddy for eight movies and made Freddy one of the top icons of horror history.

 

Another key role was Nancy who was played by Heather Langenkamp.  She was

a relative unknown and was only 20 when she got the role.  She really wanted to

be in a John Hughes movie and when she read the script, she thought it would be

a scary Breakfast Club.  When she went in for the audition, she impressed the

casting director and she had the perfect girl next door look that was great for

the movie. 

 

The rest of the cast was played by John Saxon as her father policeman, Ronee

Blakely as her mother, Amanda Wyss as her friend Tina and of all people Johnny

Depp as boyfriend Glen.  This was Depp’s first movie role and launched him to

the movie star he is today.  Both Amanda and Johnny had memorable deaths in

this movie that people will never forget. 

 

New Line Cinema was the company that is known as the House that Freddy Built

but there is a studio that was interested in the movie before them.  Believe it or not, Walt Disney Productions wanted it but had requested Wes Craven to tone down the violence and make it PG-13.  Thankfully Craven stuck to his guns and kept the movie the way they wanted it.  New Line Cinema stepped in and got a little outside help with financing the movie.  It became New Line’s first commercial success.

 

A Nightmare on Elm Street was so successful that is spawned seven additional movies, a TV series and even a remake.  Robert Englund has played Freddy Kreuger in every iteration of the character in TV and movies except for the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street that came out in 2010.  The role of Freddy in that movie was played by Jackie Earle Haley. 

 

Since this is the 40th Anniversary, there is a special 40th Anniversary 4K Blu Ray celebrating the big event.  This special contains the original theatrical version and also a new uncut version of the movie.  It also includes such additions like commentaries, alternate endings and specials about New Line and other background information about the movie and Wes Craven.

 

So if you haven’t seen this movie before (which I would find surprising since you are reading at this site), go out and rent it right away that then continue with the rest of the franchise.  It is definitely worth the watch and you will see why it is one of the classic horror movies of all time!