Looking Back at A Nightmare on Elm Street
(Note: this was originally published in Dreamwatch magazine, issue 146, from 2006. I figure that offering some oldies from my archives at least preserves them online. Plus, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my favourite films of all time!)
Calum Waddell gets dreamy-eyed over the fright-film which
gave a generation of teens sleepless nights and developed into the
horror genre’s most reliable franchise…
Back in 1984 horror director Wes Craven had yet to break into the mainstream. Dismissed by no less than Stephen King (in his book Danse Macabre) as a purveyor of “porno-violence”, Craven’s reputation lay entrenched with a couple of down and dirty, but nonetheless profitable, exploitation films – 1972’s Last House on the Left and 1977’s The Hills Have Eyes. After these two infamously nasty cheapies, the filmmaker had tried to enter the mainstream with his comic-book adaptation of DC Comics’ super-vegetable Swamp Thing (1982), but the resultant freak flick was a box office dud.
Even worse, every studio in town was turning its back on a script that was dear to Craven’s heart – A Nightmare on Elm Street. “The studios kind of psychologically distance themselves from the genre,” recalls Craven, adding, “although they love the fact that they can make a lot of money from it. After you make one or two horror films your name is kind of known with that genre but there’s also a personal thing where you want to go into areas that are dark and hard to imagine.”
Thankfully, a lowbrow independent outfit called New Line Cinema, headed by Robert Shaye, finally agreed to finance Craven’s latest terror offering and, as a result, the most important scary movie of the 1980s was gorily birthed. Released to a then-stellar $26 million gross in the US, A Nightmare on Elm Street spawned numerous imitators, put New Line on the path to becoming the Hollywood player it is today and made star Robert Englund the true heir to the throne of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.
“I would do anything for Wes Craven,” laughs Englund, who is understandably grateful to the filmmaker for giving him such a prominent and profitable, role. “I would sign up with him on anything because he is such a gentleman and so easy to work for.”
Englund maintains that, over 20 years since the release of the first film, it continues to attract new admirers. “It’s really becoming a certifiable classic now,” maintains the actor. “I remember being a little boy in the mid-50s and when television happened we discovered the golden age of horror from the 1930s. We would sit at home and watch Dracula, Frankenstein and The Black Cat and even as young kids we would love them. I think that is what has happened with A Nightmare on Elm Street. Some films stand the test of time and because of the great hook – the bad dream, which is universal – we keep catching new generations.”
Craven agrees with his leading man, mentioning that Freddy Krueger had a far more worldly appeal than his previous screen baddies – namely the cannibalistic mountain dwellers of The Hills Have Eyes and David Hess’s Krug Stillo from Last House on the Left. “Everyone can relate to having bad dreams," states the director. "Plus, a film really lives or dies by its actors [and] Robert Englund is wonderful.”
Craven also admits his own affection towards working in horror, which, arguably, hit its peak with A Nightmare on Elm Street. “I think that it’s a tremendously flexible and very vital form for the audience,” he begins, “It’s kind of cathartic – there’s a certain amount of affection, there’s a lot of intelligence and a bit of suspicion of the establishment when you’re dealing with dreams and nightmares.”
Seven, Eight – Better Stay Up Late…
A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced audiences to Freddy Krueger and his nemesis Nancy Thompson (played by newcomer Heather Langenkamp). Thompson is revealed as the daughter of two parents who took part in the group slaying of a local child murderer after he walked free from court on a technicality. After being burned to death by the irate parents of Elm Street, Freddy returns years later to stalk and kill their children inside their dreams whilst they sleep. Also starring a pre-stardom Johnny Depp and Enter the Dragon’s John Saxon, the original flick kept Englund’s burned bogeyman hidden away in the shadows, although his trademark comical wisecracks are still present.
“I think one of the problems is that when you get too relentless with a horror movie there is too much tension built up and eventually you kind of emotionally short out,” states the actor. “However, if you use humour to relieve that pressure eventually you can set the audience up for a scare again.” Craven himself states that behind the scenes there were a few laughs too. “It’s strange because when you’re shooting a horror film you tend to be laughing a lot,” concedes the filmmaker. “Part of it is because you’re dealing with these horrific subjects but where you have some control over them.”
Reflecting on the shoot of the first Elm Street, Englund admits that – after playing Freddy in no less than eight films and a TV series – his recollections of each feature have started to blur into one. “It’s so long ago my memories get clouded with the other movies,” he laughs. “Sometimes I start to mention something that I did in part one but it turns out it was part three. However, I do recall Johnny Depp telling me a few stories about his beginnings and there was a big fiasco when we did the exploding blood bed for his death scene; that took a while to work properly [laughs]. I also remember Sean Cunningham doing some second unit work with us.”
Indeed, Cunningham – who had produced Craven’s Last House on the Left and directed 1980’s Friday the 13th – was given a “special thanks” on the end credits of A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, as Dreamwatch discovers, his involvement went a lot further than that. “I shot a whole bunch of stuff over two or three days,” mentions Cunningham, who remains close friends with Craven. “I shot one dialogue scene with Johnny Depp and Heather and part of the alley scene with Robert chasing the girl. I just did whatever Wes told me to do. What Wes had done was he had mortgaged his soul to Bob Shaye to make it and Shaye was the only person who believed in it as much as Wes. We were right behind schedule and we were running out of budget. So, you know, Wes just wanted whatever help he could get and I was fortunate to be in a position where I could come in and help, walk around and tell people what to do for a couple of days [laughs].”
Nine, Ten – Never Sleep Again…
For Englund, his success in the Freddy role was bittersweet – largely due to the complex prosthetics that needed to be glued to his face every morning. “Usually, the hell of Freddy is getting the make-up put on every morning for four-and-a-half-hours,” he sighs. “But I don’t want anyone else to do him because I feel proprietary towards the old guy.”
Of course, that might yet happen – especially given the rate at which Hollywood is remaking classic horror flicks. “Yeah, I agree,” replies the actor, “Although there is also talk about having John McNaughton, the director of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, come in and do a prequel – which will be shot in a documentary style. I think that could be very interesting. I don’t know if I’m too old now or not, but I would love to be involved with that. When I first began doing Freddy I was in my early 30s but I was playing him older – I was playing him at about 48. So, currently, I feel like I’m the right age.”
As for the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Englund believes that even the worst of the sequels has something to offer. “Of course the first one is great and scary, but three and four are terrific as well,” he says. “I also think that there is a lot of good stuff in part five. I adore Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and obviously everyone loves Freddy Vs Jason. So out of eight movies I would say that six of them are great and there is even some good stuff in the other two. I think Freddy – me and my silhouette and the glove and the posture and the hat – stands up as a logo for the experience of all of these movies, which are currently sitting on someone’s desk in a DVD box set. They all hold up and always will.”
(NOTE: obviously this was written before the awful remake. Unfortunately, the prequel never did see the light of the day. Shame eh?)
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