Buzz
Enhance your Halloween tradition of watching Wes Craven’s 1984 horror masterpiece, A Nightmare on Elm Street, with these captivating details.
1. Johnny Depp made his cinematic debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
During the casting process, the choice for the role of Glen narrowed down to Johnny Depp, then 21, and another young actor. Wes Craven, the director, sought his teenage daughter’s opinion on who should play the charming boyfriend—she picked Depp.
2. The concept of A Nightmare on Elm Street was drawn from actual occurrences.
Craven was inspired to create A Nightmare on Elm Street after reading Los Angeles Times articles about teenage Khmer immigrants who, having fled refugee camps, tragically passed away in their sleep following intense nightmares.
3. Freddy Krueger embodies a blend of Wes Craven’s childhood fears.
The name “Freddy” came from a schoolyard bully who tormented Craven, and his iconic hat was modeled after one worn by a local drunk who frightened Craven during his youth.
4. Freddy Krueger’s sweater is designed to evoke fear on a psychological level.
Craven chose Freddy’s striped sweater design after learning from Scientific American that the human eye struggles to process the combination of red and green hues, creating a subconscious sense of unease.
5. Freddy Krueger’s signature weapon was influenced by household pets and late-night TV ads.
To avoid giving Freddy a plain knife like Michael Myers in Halloween or Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, Craven combined his fear of his cat’s claws with inspiration from knife-set infomercials to craft Freddy’s distinctive blade glove.
6. Wes Craven also took inspiration from surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel and director Roman Polanski.
He incorporated elements from their films, especially Polanski’s The Tenant and Repulsion, into the dream sequences of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
7. The filming of A Nightmare on Elm Street was completed in just 32 days.
Shooting commenced in June 1984 and concluded in July of the same year.
8. The boiler room scenes in A Nightmare on Elm Street were filmed in a real boiler room located in the basement of a jail.
The sequences featuring Freddy attacking his victims in the boiler room were shot in the actual boiler room of the Lincoln Heights Jail in Los Angeles. Shortly after filming, the building was deemed unsafe due to asbestos contamination.
9. The makeup team for A Nightmare on Elm Street spent three hours daily applying and removing Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger makeup.
The Freddy Krueger makeup involved 11 individual pieces meticulously applied to Robert Englund’s face and upper chest.
10. Robert Englund drew inspiration for his portrayal of Freddy Krueger from a legendary horror figure and a renowned musical theater actor.
Englund modeled his performance after Klaus Kinski’s role in the 1979 remake of Nosferatu and the acting style of James Cagney.
11. Initially, British actor David Warner was cast to play Freddy Krueger.
However, he had to withdraw from the role due to scheduling issues.
12. One of the most iconic scenes in A Nightmare on Elm Street was influenced by Stanley Kubrick.
The unforgettable moment where a torrent of blood erupts from Glen’s bed was inspired by a similar scene in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, where blood floods from an elevator. To achieve this effect, the crew used 80 gallons of water mixed with red paint, poured through an inverted set.
13. Nancy nearly met her end at the hands of breakfast ingredients in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The gooey substance that traps Nancy on the stairs as she tries to escape Freddy was actually a blend of oatmeal and pancake batter.
14. The film Nancy watches to fight off sleep is Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead.
Craven included the reference to Raimi as a gesture of reciprocity, since Raimi had featured a poster of Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes in The Evil Dead. Raimi later acknowledged this by subtly placing Freddy’s knife glove in a tool shed scene in Evil Dead II.
15. The role of the sleep specialist attempting to help Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street is portrayed by Charles Fleischer.
Fleischer is best known for voicing Roger Rabbit.
This article was updated in 2020.
