A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Johnny Depp in his film debut and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

The film begins with teenager Tina Gray awakening from a terrifying nightmare in which a disfigured man wearing a red and balck striped top and a blade-fixed glove attacks her in a boiler room. Her mother points out four mysterious slashes on her nightgown. The following morning, Tina’s best friend Nancy and Nancy’s boyfriend, Glen, reveal they also had a nightmare the previous night. The two stay at Tina’s house when Tina’s mother goes out of town. Tina’s boyfriend, Rod, joins their sleepover. When Tina falls asleep, she dreams of the disfigured man chasing her. Rod is awakened by Tina’s thrashing and sees her being dragged and fatally slashed by an unseen force as Nancy and Glen awaken to find Tina bloodied and dead. Nancy realises that she must stay awake to try and uncover the truth behind this phantasmic killer Fred Krueger. Nancy’s mother Marge later explains that Krueger was an insane child murderer who killed twenty children but was released on a technicality, and then burned alive by the victims’ parents who lived on their street, seeking vigilante justice. Nancy realises that Krueger, now a vengeful ghost, is killing her and her friends out of revenge and to satiate his psychopathic needs.

WARNING: Viewer discretion – following video has adult/gory scenes

Craven filmed A Nightmare on Elm Street on an estimated budget of $1.1 million. The film was released in the US on 16th November 1984 and later in August 1985 in the UK. It received critical acclaim upon its release, and has since been considered to be one of the greatest horror films ever made. The film spawned a franchise consisting of six sequels, a television series, a crossover with Friday the 13th, various other merchandise, and a remake of the same name.

The film’s villain, Freddy Krueger, is drawn from Craven’s early life. One night, a young Craven saw an elderly man walking on the sidepath outside the window of his home. The man stopped to glance at a startled Craven and walked off. This served as the inspiration for Krueger. By Craven’s account, his own adolescent experiences led him to the name Freddy Krueger; he had been bullied at school by a child named Fred Krueger.

Actor David Warner was originally cast to play Freddy.  Make-up tests were done but he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Replacing him was difficult at first. Kane Hodder, who would later be best known for playing fellow slasher icon Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th series), was among those who Wes Craven talked with about the role of Freddy. According to Hodder, “I had a meeting with Wes Craven about playing a character he was developing called Freddy Krueger. At the time, Wes wasn’t sure what kind of person he wanted for the role of Freddy, so I had as good a shot as anybody else. He was initially thinking of a big guy for the part, and he was also thinking of somebody who had real burn scars. But obviously, he changed his whole line of thinking and went with Robert Englund, who’s smaller. I would have loved to play the part, but I do think Wes made the right choice”. Englund had darkened his lower eyelids with cigarette ash on his way to the audition and slicked his hair back. “I looked strange. I sat there and listened to Wes talk. He was tall and preppy and erudite. I posed a bit, like Klaus Kinski, and that was the audition”.