Wes Craven brought the world a Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. Drawing from newspaper reports of tortured refuges who died in their sleep, a school-yard bully and a creepy vagrant who happened to catch his eye, the world was introduced to Freddy Kruger. Who would go on to haunt adolescent nightmares in 5 sequels and two television series. The iconic bladed glove has become synonymous with the creepy character brought to life by Robert Englund. It was a film that almost didn’t get made. All the big studios turned it down, and New Line Cinema, then little more than a distribution company, had trouble with their backers pulling out after signing on to produce the film. But ultimately their 1.1 million dollar investment paid off, grossing 57 million worldwide and spawning a cult like following that would enable the fledgling company to become a real player in film production.
Fun facts
Robert Englund was on hiatus from filming V the miniseries, looking for another gig. Nightmare on Elm street only took 32 days to shoot. Although the part was originally written for a big daunting person, Robert Englund embodied creepy in his audition and won over Wes Craven.
Johnny Depp’s debut role was only possible because Charlie Sheen (asked to play the role) would have cost more than the fledgling studio could pay.
The high school location was the same used in Grease and Pretty in Pink, John Marshall HS. Over 500 gallons of fake blood were used in making the film.
The movie is about a dream within a dream, within a dream or is it? Teenager’s living on Elm Street are having nightmares about a disfigured slasher. One by one, these friends are horrifically killed in their dreams, never to wake up. Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) discovers that she can pull objects from her dreams into reality, and learns Freddy Kruger’s name this way. He is identified as a child murderer who was lynched and burned alive when the courts failed to lock him away. The film implies that the sins of the parents are visited upon their children and these parents show that they have their own demons to deal with, by being depicted as absentee, alcoholics and pill poppers. Nancy finally realizes that her fear is only making Freddy stronger, so she turns her back on him and is able to wake up. She finds everyone alive and well, and as she drives away with her friends, her mother is seen being dragged into her house by Freddy.
