"And now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take..."Former school teacher Wes Craven once read a newspaper article in the L.A Times about some Cambodian refugees, who had fled Pol Pot's horrific Khmer Rouge regime, but whose children were dying in their sleep -- after complaining of nightmares...
The seed of an idea was planted in Craven's mind. He would develop a horror movie using the concept of a villain who killed teenagers in their dreams. Craven named his villain Freddy Kruger, after a boy at school who used to bully him, and wrote a screenplay in 1981 for A Nightmare On Elm Street...
The script failed to elicit any interest, until fledgling studio New Line Cinema decided to try their luck with it -- making A Nightmare On Elm Street their first movie venture. New Line had previously only distributed college campus movies and, ironically, their deal to distribute Nightmare hit the skids a few weeks into production! For 2 weeks, the cast and crew weren't paid, but New Line stuck with the project and a separate company took over distribution rights.
Director Wes Craven cast Heather Langencamp as heroine Nancy, the teenage girl who discovers her neighbourhood friends are dying in their sleep, at the hands of a child-killer killed by their parents in an act of vigilante justice. Robert Englund took the role as the facially-burned psychotic dream-interloper; with his distinctive red/green striped jumper, scruffy fedora hat, and glove made of knives (an idea that came to Craven after noticing his own cat's claws.)
For a meager £1.8 million budget, A Nightmare On Elm Street went on to gross $25 million after its release in 1984. Its success single-handedly rescued the nearly-bankrupt New Line Cinema, and led to them becoming the filmmaking giant of today. Indeed, New Line is jokingly referred to as "The House That Freddy Built."Of course, given Nightmare's success, a sequel was fast-tracked into production, without Craven at the helm -- resulting in the awful Nightmare 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985). Craven never intended Nightmare to spawn sequels, or become a horror franchise, but he detested Nightmare 2 so much he returned to write Nightmare 3: Dream Warriors (1987) -- which is widely considered the best of all the sequels.
It was with Nightmare 3 that Freddy himself became a worldwide cultural icon, as he suddenly developed one-liners to go with his kills. The other cash-in sequels ('88s Dream Master, '89s Dream Child and '91s Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare) all focused more on Freddy as an anti-hero figure, and stylistically devolved into lazy, gruesome crud.
Again, Craven was so disappointed with Nightmares 3-6, that he returned to "re-imagine" his concept in 1994, with Wes Craven's New Nightmare -- giving the premise a post-modern spin by imagining a real Freddy Kruger stalking the actors of the Nightmare movies! Many fans consider New Nightmare an enjoyable rethink of the premise, and it's particularly notable as being Wes Craven's first dalliance with post-modern horror, before that sub-genre resuscitated his flagging career with 1996's Scream.
These days, Freddy remains an enduring horror icon, although modern audiences forget that the best of the Nightmare movies were when Freddy's jet-black humour was kept in check. His continuing appeal led to a Freddy vs Jason movie in 2003 -- pitting him against Jason Vorhees from the Friday The 13th movies. A prequel to Craven's original film, detailing the genesis of Freddy Kruger before his fiery death, has been rumoured for the past 3 years, as has another "Freddy vs..." movie.
After numerous on-screen "deaths", it's unlikely we've seen the last of Mr Kruger...
Trivia1. Originally, Craven had scripted an upbeat ending, with Nancy awakening to discover the entire film had just been an extended nightmare. However, New Line honcho Robert Shaye demanded a twist-ending -- resulting in the reveal that the happy-ending finale is still a part of a nightmare.
2. This movie marks the screen debut of Johnny Depp, as one of Freddy's early victims!
3. 500 gallons of fake blood was used on the set.
4. The words "Elm Street" is never used in the whole movie.
5. This was the first film to use a "breakaway mirror" prop.
6. Freddy's jumper is made up of red and green stripes because they are the hardest colours for the human brain to process together.
7. Johnny Depp's character is listening to the KRGR radio station (KRUGER)
Links
A Nightmare On Elm Street Companion
The Real Elm Street House
The Original Trailer
