Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Disclaimer: The following contains major spoilers, and a compilation of facts posted in articles online and details from interviews gathered from the cast and crew of the film
Everyone has been known to suffer from nightmares from time to time. It can become a particularly terrifying experience, since most of us lack a sense of control whenever we dream. Many ancient cultures considered dreams to be messages from gods or spirits that wanted to pass on an important message or warning about the future. They also believed that when we sleep, we are able to somehow travel between the realms of the living and the dead because the veil becomes thinner when we sleep. I mention this because they are all relevant points to note as we begin to forge ahead with the exact content and purpose of this article.
In honour of A Nightmare on Elm Street’s 40th anniversary, we explore the legacy of this 1984 American teen slasher horror that has spawned an iconic franchise due to the imagination and creativity of prolific horror director/writer Wes Craven.
The main premise of A Nightmare on Elm Street is that a teenager named Nancy Thompson, played by American actress Heather Langenkamp, and her friends become the target of a resurrected child serial killer who possesses demonic powers over their dreams. He was burned to death by a mob of the angry parents of Elm Street when justice failed to keep him behind bars. Now, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) has returned, fuelled by revenge, to claim the lives of the children of Elm Street.
The concept of a demonic entity with the ability to control and twist the outcome of your nightmares, effectively causing you to die in real life, is quite a terrifying idea for anyone who suffers from any kind of sleep disorder. As an insomniac, I can fully attest to that feeling of helplessness. However, Wes Craven’s inspiration came from an article that he read at least a decade before he decided to even create A Nightmare on Elm Street. The article was about the traumatising history of an immigrant Cambodian family that managed to escape the Killing Fields in Cambodia. Due to this, the family’s young son would suffer from PTSD combined with such horrible nightmares that he would refuse to go to sleep in order to avoid experiencing the same terrifying nightmares over and over again.
Ultimately, his story would have a tragic end. The boy would eventually fall asleep due to stress and fatigue. His parents became alert when they heard him screaming in terror from his nightmares. But they would arrive too late and discover him dead in his bed. Nothing immediately sinister occurred here, other than the fact that the stress was too much for his heart to handle, and his body just shut down.
However, Craven would use the tragic article years later as the concept for his upcoming American slasher horror. And as for how he came up with the name Freddy Krueger, well, it was simply the name of a bully that tormented Craven in his childhood. These elements, combined with the imaginative genius of Wes Craven, managed to give birth to the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise that we know and love today.
Freddy Krueger, aided by his terrifying appearance of burn scars all over his body, his iconic dirty red and green striped sweater, and last, but certainly not least, his homemade glove with sharp blades attached at the fingers, remains one of the most terrifying horror characters in the American slasher horror genre. Craven wanted Freddy to stand out amongst the likes of other popular slasher villains like Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface. He wanted his villain to have a mask, but a metaphorical mask, by using his extremely scared appearance to disorient the audience enough to create fear. One major difference, though, was the fact that Freddy was able to talk and had a morbidly disturbing sense of humour that he would use to his advantage to torture his victims. It was kind of like a cat playing with a mouse until it no longer moved. The idea is that the more fear Freddy could muster up, the more powerful he would become.
Craven had a bit of difficulty when it came to casting the role of Freddy. He was looking for a particular viciousness, and actors seemed to be afraid to push those boundaries. That was until Robert Englund auditioned for the role. Englund seemed to truly understand the darkness that was necessary to portray Freddy Krueger. Englund and Freddy Kruger have become so synonymous due to the actor’s skillful portrayal that it’s difficult to even picture anyone else in the role. Although there was that one failed attempt in the 2010 reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, which saw a recasting of Freddy with actor Jackie Earle Haley. I consider it to be one of the worst reboots in American cinema slasher horror history, even worse than Rob Zombie’s attempts at remaking the Halloween franchise.
A Nightmare on Elm Street was produced and released by New Line Cinema. At the time, the studio was experiencing major financial difficulties, and with the surprise success of the film in 1984, they were able to pull themselves out of the red. New Line Cinema soon became known as “The House that Freddy Built” due to the continuing success of the franchise.
It’s probably difficult to explain how the story of a badly scarred serial killer who attempts to exact revenge from beyond the grave became an icon of pop culture. Once the Springwood Slasher came to life onscreen, it’s undeniable how huge his influence has been, not only in pop culture but within the horror film industry. In 2015, we suffered a great loss with the death of Wes Craven. However, we are grateful that his work manages to live on in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and his iconic creation, Freddy Krueger, leaving his legacy firmly intact 40 years later.
And you can slash your way into more Freddy-related content below:
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More