Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 7

As much as I’ve been slacking on the blog, I really appreciate all the support and well-wishes from you guys. Wow, it sounds like someone died. Regardless, even though it’s not that big of a deal, you guys made it worth your time to leave some comments that made me feel better. And I appreciate it. Now, I’m happy to finally conclude the Thanksgiving on Elm Street posts with:

New Nightmare

If Wes Craven is coming back and we’re at sequel number seven, you know something’s up. You better be prepared for a sequel that is quite different from the others, explores uncharted territory, and attempts to bring some degree of seriousness back to Freddy Krueger. Although many fans are prone to disown the film from the series and it may be construed as “not a true Nightmare movie,” I am actually a supporter of Craven’s chosen path. It allows for gravity, as well as levity. For once, Freddy can be taken seriously and that’s something that every Nightmare fan can appreciate. Although Freddy’s new look is a tad, um, plasticy, the tonality is much darker. This is especially true because Freddy’s attacks are primarily aimed at Heather Langenkamp's young son, Dylan. There are a couple of genuinely creepy scenes featuring Dylan in a trance-like state under the control of Freddy. Still, there are also plenty of great comedic moments throughout the movie, as well as fun nods to the original film. It’s like a “Where’s Waldo?” game for homages. Every time you watch it, I’m sure you’ll find more.

The concept is brilliant: Freddy transcends multiple realities, dreams as well as film. In New Nightmare, Freddy can simultaneously be a slasher movie icon, as well as a genuine threat to people in the real world. As strange as it may sound, it actually goes along with the metaphysical world established in the other films. Freddy Krueger is largely dependent on the imagination. If he can enter through the mind’s fictional dream world, why couldn’t he then enter through the cinema’s fictional story world? This setup not only allows for an amusing experience for the horror fan (although admittedly gimmicky), it serves as a perfect way to explore themes of horror spectatorship. Is horror a reflection of the violence in reality? Or is it some sick fascination playing out of subconscious desires? Do we revel in a fantasy so long that it becomes difficult to disconnect from it? Perhaps Craven is taking a hyperbolic approach to answering the question of the impact media violence has on its viewers. Through his hyperbole, he seems to be criticizing that notion—arguing that horror ultimately comes through the self, not through the medium. New Nightmare also appears to be an early (and more extreme) experimentation of similar themes of self-reflexivity that Craven later raised in Scream.

While there is plenty of room for an intellectual reading of New Nightmare, it’s still a piece of entertainment, fused with inside jokes and convoluted logic. It has plenty of bad moments, along with some great scenes. I give Wes Craven all the credit in the world for being bold and explorative, even if the results may be hit or miss. For this edition of Thanksgiving on Elm Street, I’m going to share some very intriguing trivia.

-The same plot was originally drafted for Dream Warriors in 1987, but the concept was rejected. This may have been a better choice, but not only because I love the third installment. It also allowed the series to become so prolific that the themes of New Nightmare are presented with much more potency as a seventh film, as opposed to third.

-All of the scenes with earthquakes were filmed one month before the big L.A. earthquake in 1994. Two weeks before the end of the entire shoot, the big one hit. They filmed the actual damage from the earthquake and it appears in the movie when Heather is driving.

-Freddy’s new glove, which is said to be more organic, was inspired by Theatrical poster artwork for the original film.

- Lin Shaye, who could be considered a genre actress, plays the role of a nurse in New Nightmare, as well as a teacher in the 1984 film.

-Jessica Craven, Wes Craven’s daughter, has a bit part as a nurse.

-Heather Langenkamp had a stalker in real life. Craven asked permission to write that storyline into the script

.

-Heather tells the nurse, “Screw Your Pass,” when she enters a restricted area of the hospital. She says the same thing in the original film regarding a hall pass at school.

-The working title of the film was A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: The Ascension

-Although the movie didn’t fare as well as other Nightmare films in theatres, it still made over twice its budget after making a total of $18 million in domestic box office revenue

-Here is what Roger Ebert has to say about the film:
“Serious fans of horror movies relate only in a secondary way to the chills themselves; they're connoisseurs of the genre, the special effects, the makeup, the in-jokes. They're going to love this movie, which seems to have been made not only for but by Fangoria fans. But it also works for general audiences. I haven't been exactly a fan of the "Nightmare" series, but I found this movie, with its unsettling questions about the effect of horror on those who create it, strangely intriguing.” (click here for entire review)

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 6

I watched this movie on November 28^th and here I am…a week later finally writing this review. I can’t say that I didn’t warn you that my job was keeping me from my more important work here. It was a terrible week, which included work days that violate all sorts of labor laws. No sleep, hardly any meal breaks, and no overtime. Sigh.I’m almost recovered after sleeping two full nights, so I'm ready to get back on track with:

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare

I don’t hate Freddy’s Dead, but I don’t necessarily like it all that much. It’s a 3D movie long after the gimmick is staring to get old. It’s the 90’s. Horror is running dry, and so is the series. There’s only so much you can ask of a sequel when it hits number 6. Freddy’s jokes are painfully bad, but we get a couple little gems here and there. The kills are low in number, but are drawn out and almost clever. My favorite part about this movie is how much we see of Freddy Krueger in human form. It’s fun to see Robert Englund as a child murderer—as opposed to a scarred-up dream killer that goes after teens. I’ve always wanted to see a prequel to Nightmare on Elm Street. Instead of another sequel or remake, why not explore uncharted territory that is sure to be interesting? Perhaps because it’s not fun to see little kiddies get murdered.

I would like to spend this edition of Thanksgiving on Elm Street discussing The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from the sixth installment. This movie is often called the worst in the series, with Parts 2 and 5 close behind it. So let’s take a holistic look.

THE GOOD:

-Freddy’s Power Glove Joke
-Robert Englund gets some real face time
-Breckin Meyer and Yaphet Kotto play major roles
-Johnny Depp, Bob Shaye, Alice Cooper, Tom Arnold, and Roseanne have cameos…wait let’s take Roseanne off the “Good” list
-The montage of Freddy’s life during the credits
-“Kung Fu THIS bitch!”

THE BAD:

-“Only you could have brought me out…in your mind!”
-Another unnecessarily convoluted plotline
-When Doc tells Maggie to put on the special glasses, which blatantly say 3D on the side, to help fight Freddy in her dream
-“I’m still seeing things the way I did in my dream…”
-The first female to direct a Freddy film and I can’t say she makes us look good

THE UGLY:

-Nietzsche title card
-The hokey Wizard of Oz reference
-“No honey for Daddy?”
-Springwood turns into the Twilight Zone for some reason
-The Dream Worms…I mean Demons
-There are 3 songs on the soundtrack by The Goo Goo Dolls…really?

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 5

Life is busy, but we must always make time for the things we love. Watching Freddy make bad jokes as he murders teenagers, playing the occasional game of Left 4 Dead 2, and sleeping next to my husband at night are the only things keeping me sane right now. I’m going to be happy when November is over, even though I am enjoying the fall leaves at the moment. It’s the perfect time of year to enjoy…

Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child

Alice, the timid red head from The Dream Master, has now become a blonde hottie (nude scene included) dating the star quarterback. 180-degree character turnaround aside, I always appreciate a sequel that attempts to continue the storyline where it was left off. This may sound simple, but in the world of 80’s slasher sequels, a severe lack of series chronology is not uncommon. The Dream Child has its share of problems in that regard as well. The dream/Freddy metaphysics are toyed with once again, but I don’t really mind. It’s always entertaining to see new ways that Freddy can come back from the “dead.” The canine urine from Part 4 has to be the worst. Not to mention, the amusing methods of dispatching Mr. Krueger that are conjured up.

 

The Dream Child brings us some elaborate set pieces that are quite fun. While I don’t find the kills particularly clever, they are at least memorable and visually engaging. Dan gets turned into Ghost Rider, Greta gets stuffed with food, and Mark battles Freddy in the comic book world. However, that’s only three deaths! Although the movie is by no means boring, the lack of kills is definitely noticed. This movie does bring us more backstory on Amanda Krueger and the “Son of 100 maniacs” exposition. They also throw Robert Englund himself (without the makeup) in the crowd of maniacs. Har har. At this point, you can definitely tell the series is starting to run out of steam, even though I still enjoyed the heck out of the fifth installment. For this edition of Thanksgiving on Elm Street, I thought I would share some interesting trivia once again.

- Jacob (Alice’s little boy) says “School’s out Krueger!” However, the original line was supposed to read, “Fuck you Krueger!” The child’s guardians did not allow him to say the scripted line.

-The original script was completely revised at the last minute. The final shooting screenplay was compiled just days before filming began.

-Director Stephen Hopkins was given the Predator 2 gig as a result of his speedy work with The Dream Child.

-The film was shot in just four weeks and edited in another four.

-Allegedly, Stephen King and Frank Miller were offered to write and direct.

-All of the deaths suffered major cuts to obtain an R-rating.

-It made just $8.1 million on its opening weekend and left the box office at $22.1 million, which made it the lowest grossing Nightmare on Elm Street film.

-Bruce Dickenson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, wrote and performed the song “Bring your Daughter…to the Slaughter” for this film. It was later re-recorded by the entire band and was their only #1 single in the UK.

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 4

Oh my goodness…It’s been far too long since I’ve posted on the Nightmare on Elm Street films. I’ve been crazy busy with work and my themed-month is taking a major hit because of it. I’m still trucking away at this though!!!! Moving right along to…

Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

The story beings with the returning characters of Kristen (only played by someone else), Kincaid, and Joey, except we are back in a “normal” high school environment where the teens are trying to forget about the existence of Freddy Krueger. Eventually, these guys start dropping like flies and we get a new collection of high schoolers to predict the deaths of. All in all, it’s a pretty decent sequel, considering it’s the 4^th entry. After overcoming the hurdle of finding a way to resurrect Freddy, the movie is then charged with the task of giving us new and interesting kills. It certainly does that, with some of the most unique in the series, even if the dream metaphysics are a tad strange in this one. Helmed by Renny Harlin, this is one of the most visually interesting films in the series and contains countless sight gags. Plus, there’s this whole self-reflexivity thing going on with mirrors and movie screens. It’s only marginally interesting and doesn’t seem like a whole lot of thought was put into it, other than “Hey that’s cool”; so I won’t really talk about that. For this entry, I thought I would go back to the fun little award show setup I did for some of the Friday films. So cue the cheesy classical music…

BEST 80’s MONTAGE:

NOMINEES:
-Rick practices karate to “Anything, Anything” by Dramarama.

-Debbie works out to the annoying “I Want Your (Hands On Me)” by Sinéad O’Conner.

-Alice dons all her friend’s cool clothing and looks at her bad self in the mirror and says, “Fucking A.”

AND THE WINNER IS…
Alice becomes cool montage. From the close ups on the bracelets to the reveal of a less-than-exciting outfit…This montage is perfect.

BEST WORST LINE:
NOMINEES:

-Debbie: “What 17-year-old has fatal asthma?”

-Kristen: “In case you haven’t been keeping score, it’s his fucking banquet and I’m the last course!”

-Kristen: “Alice, you’ll need my power!”

AND THE WINNER IS…

Kristen’s banquet speech. Who says things like that? It hardly makes sense in the context of the conversation.

BEST FREDDY PUN:

NOMINEES:
I couldn’t choose just three…

-“Welcome to Wonderland, Alice.” When Alice combats Freddy in the dream land.
-“Why don’t you reach out and cut someone?” Trying to get Kristen to pull people into her dream.
-“How’s this for a wet dream?” Killing Joey in his water bed.

-“Mmm…Rick, you little meatball. I love soul food.” Eating the souls of people on a meatball pizza.
-“Wanna’ suck face?” Before he sucks the life out of Sheila…literally.

AND THE WINNER IS…
This is a tough one, but it’s going to go to the wet dream line. It actually made me laugh out loud because it probably suits the scenario more than any of the others.

BEST KILL:

NOMINEES:

-Sheila: Freddy kisses her and sucks her life out, turning her into a lifeless mummy thing.

-Rick: After he fights the invisible Freddy (who imitates a Ninja master), he is stabbed by Freddy’s floating glove.

-Debbie: She is turned into a roach and transported in to a little Roach Motel that Freddy squishes.

AND THE WINNER IS…
The winner is definitely Debbie! The scene is pretty nasty, as her arms are first broken at the elbows and slowly become roach legs. Her transformation looks great and it’s something everyone remembers from the movies.

Note: The Debbie and Joey death pics were lifted from a cool article on I-Mockery.com. If you click on the pics, it will take you to the article.

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 3

For my last post, I discussed my memory issue with bad movies. I forget the ones I don’t like and forever remember the ones I enjoy. Aside from the original film, I recall the most from the third installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors

1987 sure was a good year. Only that particular point in time could have produced this epic entry, which features an equally epic song by Dokken. If I were to imagine the perfect 80’s moment, it might very well be the leader singer belting “We’re the Dreeeaaam Warriorrrrrsss!” Aside from the hair band awesomeness, Part 3 is just a solidly entertaining movie. Freddy’s back with a new viciousness and a sick sense of humor. Creative kills, some gore, decent EFX, and macabre exposition brought all the elements that many missed from Part 2. As much as I enjoy Freddy’s Revenge, I must say that I am thankful Dream Warriors realigned the rails and put the series back on track.

Two cherries on top of this victorious sequel sundae: Wes Craven and the cast. Craven returned to work on the story, offering his most excellent skills to craft a tale that recaptured the successful features of the original while offering something new. Freddy’s back story is a welcome addition to the lore of the Nightmare films. Plus, the son of 100 maniacs has a ring to it. Craven and the other writers also did an excellent job of recreating the confusing fantastical world of the subconscious. Natural law is replaced by terrifying dream logic. The second winning component of Dream Warriors is the cast.  Firstly, we get the return of Heather Langenkamp. Her cute face is always welcome on my television screen. It’s always nice to see where our main character’s end up. In this case, Nancy is helping teenagers who have sleep disorders. Way to go movie, this actually makes sense. Thanks! Nancy’s father, played by genre-favorite John Saxon, also jumps in on the fun towards the end. To top this off, we get Patricia Arquette as the Final Girl. She seems destined to play roles that require lots of screaming, mental disturbances, and she generally portrays someone with a messed up life. Throw in Laurence Fishburne and you got yourself a pretty impressive cast for an 80’s sequel. 

For this post, I thought I would we could relive my three favorite kills together. Not only is it fun (and maybe a tad sick) to pick favorites, but it will help me remember the deaths in the future. One of my goals in doing Thanksgiving on Elm Street was to resolve the confusion in my brain over which kills happened in which movie. So let’s begin the murder rundown.

 Phillip:

Poor Phillip. He has to have one of the most painful deaths I’ve ever seen. His veins are ripped out of his wrists and used as strings to puppeteer him off the roof of the hospital. Ouch!!! I think this may be my favorite of the three. The first kills are often some of the best.

Jennifer:

In the grand tradition of killing characters off in ways that relate to their weaknesses or desires, Freddy shoves this aspiring actress straight into primetime. I’m always happy to get the snide quips from Mr. Krueger as he’s murdering helpless pre-adults.

Taryn:

If needles make you cringe, then you won’t like this. Taryn, an ex-addict, is stabbed with 10 hypodermic needles. While it is simple and not necessarily gory, it is quite effective.

Conclusion:

Dream Warriors is awesome. 'Nuff said. Depending on how the rest of my retrospective on the Nightmare films goes, this will probably be my favorite of the sequels.

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 2

As I’ve said before, out of all the major horror franchises, I’m definitely the least familiar with Freddy and his films. I’ve only seen most of the movies once and I have a difficult time keeping them straight in my memory. Some of them I have just forgotten about completely. Usually when I can’t remember anything from a movie, it means I didn’t like it. My brain has this way of pushing out bad information so that it can save room for the important things like memorizing every single line of Army of Darkness. That said, I had almost zero memory of the next entry for Thanksgiving on Elm Street.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge

Given my background in easily forgetting bad movies, does that mean I didn’t enjoy Part 2? As the movie continued, I kept saying “How could I NOT remember THIS?” Perhaps my inaugural viewing of Freddy’s Revenge wasn’t so pleasant and I wiped it from my brain. Now, however, I am sure to remember it forever. Why? Because I actually liked it…a lot. I know I’m making the boys over at Tower Farms very happy when I say this. Despite the forced drama, the weirdness of its characters, the ridiculous scenarios, the unpolished Freddy metaphysics, and the wacked-out plotline, I thoroughly enjoyed the second installment. It has all the awkwardness of Sleepaway Camp and all twisted insanity of Silent Night, Deadly Night, all while somehow taking itself seriously. For this post, I’m going to give you a bunch of reasons why you should like Part 2. This list may confuse you. In fact, it may contain all the reasons that you hate this movie, but it just might give you a newfound purpose when returning to this ill-received sequel.

10 Reasons You Should Like Freddy’s Revenge

#1: Jesse screams like a girl
It’s not like Jesse only lets out girly blood-curdling screams once or twice. It happens on at least four distinct occasions and it’s pretty amazing. It’s not every day that you get a Final Guy, let alone a Final Guy that might as well be a Final Girl.

#2: Jesse’s Dance
There’s this incredible dance scene conducted by our hero Jesse to “Touch Me.” It’s highly sexualized, completely unnecessary, and will make you cringe. The best part is when he closes his dresser drawer with his butt, which is shown in close up.

#3: Jesse walks around everywhere with an exposed chest
I get that he is being taken over by Freddy and all, but does that somehow prevent him from buttoning up his shirt? The filmmakers just want you to see the glimmering sweat from his pectoral muscles...or lack thereof.

#4: Marshall Bell as Coach Schneider
Marshall Bell always plays a jerk. And he’s pretty good at it. What really makes this movie special is that the kids joke about Schneider being a masochistic guy that hangs out at S&M bars…and it turns out to be true.

#5: Homoerotic subtext
If you weren’t getting the hint from the previous three reasons, then let me explain it to you. Jesse constantly complains about Freddy “taking him” and getting “inside him.” When he is about to score with Lisa, he leaves to jump in bed with his pal, Ron. The homoerotic suggestiveness is even on the Wikipedia page for this movie.

#6: The snake
So the movie pulls this trick on you: Jesse is asleep in class and suddenly a snake starts slithering around his neck. You assume it’s occurring in Freddy’s dream world, but nope! It’s real. Somehow his buddies snuck across the entire classroom, retrieved the pet snake, and put it around Jesse without the teacher noticing. When Jesse wakes up screaming like a girl, the teacher says, “If you want to play with animals, Mr. Walsh, join the circus.”

#7: The Exploding Parakeet
Do I need to explain this anymore? Anytime animals explode for no reason in front of a family, including a little girl, it is funny. I love animals, but it’s still amazing.

#8: The Walsh Family
These people have the best reactions to all the bizarre occurrences. In very beginning of the film, they are having breakfast and suddenly they hear a woman—I mean Jesse—scream the most horrendous scream upstairs and they just kind of shrug. The little sis says, “Why can’t Jesse wake up like normal people?” This is great because the next time Jesse screams from a nightmare, they rush into his room like a SWAT team. And the father’s reaction to the Parakeet scenario is equally golden, blaming Jesse, saying that he put a cherry bomb in the bird. HA!

#9: People get all dramatic and stuff
Both Jesse and Lisa scream and cry like they’re working for an Oscar nomination. It’s incredible. There is no sense of humor about them, just blatant drama that isn't felt on the other side of the screen.

#10: The Pool Party
So Lisa throws this cool pool party, where everyone is dressed respectably and listening to jazz music. Yet, the moment her parents go to bed and the lights turn off, the party gets wild! And I’m not joking when I say the moment the light goes off. Suddenly, rock music is screaming from the radio and beer is flowing. Mingling turns into making out. And what’s they pay off for this? Are all the kids going to get horribly mutilated at the party? Well, no…not really. Only a few. This disappointment is all part of the charm.

So....Wait, you’re still not convinced? Did I actually make you hate the movie more? Let’s just agree to disagree.

Thanksgiving on Elm Street Part 1

Since I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing all of the Friday the 13^th films last month and you guys also seemed to enjoy reading the posts for Fridays in October, I thought it would be fun to continue this theme throughout the holiday season. What am I doing for November? You guessed it: The Nightmare on Elm Street films. Of the major horror franchises, I am actually the least familiar with Freddy Krueger movies. So I am really looking forward to this retrospective, hoping to straighten out the confusion in my memory, as I can never remember which kills happened in which film. Let’s begin with the classic…

Nightmare on Elm Street

Wes Craven’s original and frightening concept was too good not to become the most media exploited horror series throughout the 1980’s. A dream killer with a limitless imagination was a goldmine. Reality could be twisted in any direction the filmmakers wished. Additionally, Freddy Krueger himself provided a unique character to the cast of horror icons. Instantly recognizable and constantly spouting dark puns, Freddy was a welcome contrast to the silent, masked stalkers of the genre. Combine a killer with a sense of humor, a cool murder weapon, and a universe that has no bounds, and you get a franchise that has brought in over $300 million in box office revenue (if you include Freddy v. Jason, which I will not be reviewing for Thanksgiving on Elm Street).  It also launched the success of New Line Cinema, which has become a major studio in the American film industry and is now a subsidiary of Warner.

Who's that skinny hobo dressed up for Christmas?

What was it about the first film that made it so special? In all honesty, I believe that Freddy and his abilities are more conceptually scary than actually scary in any of the films. If he had any chance of actually being a horrifying figure, it would be in Craven’s original. While every Freddy movie is full of awesome sight gags, there is one standout scene for me. I believe it is one of the most terrifying scenes in film history and probably what made Nightmare on Elm Street pop out to filmgoers. The first of Freddy’s kills, Tina’s death is brutal and effective. Flying around the room, crawling up the wall, covered in blood, screaming the most awful screams, and dropping from the ceiling to the bed with a lifeless thump, all the while the perpetrator is invisible. I remember being shocked by the visceral scene on my first viewing and it still holds up. Unfortunately, I don’t think the rest of the movie or the series ever lived up to that moment. Don’t take this the wrong way. I love Freddy and the Nightmare movies. They are so much fun and full of great scenes, blending comedy and the macabre quite well. However, I’m just not inclined to take them all that seriously.

Brilliant.

The original Nightmare on Elm Street is a great film. It’s tightly paced, well-acted, exciting, and funny. Despite a low body count, there is plenty going on to keep you entertained. Unraveling the mystery behind Krueger and constantly battling sleep, the story moves along with ease. In some ways, it takes the simplicity of the other slasher icons and flips it on their heads. Nightmare on Elm Street removes some of the redundancy and rationalism from the horror genre, but still maintains the everyday-people-in-an-everyday-neighborhood mentality. Indeed, the title itself implies that the fantastical could occur along any one of America’s white-picket-fenced streets.

The average American girl...but with better hair.

Accompanying that attitude is a through line regarding the relationship of parents and their teenagers. There is much more interaction between the characters and their parents than in most horror films, where parents were often removed from the equation due to circumstance or location. Not here. Parents play an integral role in the story. Nancy’s mom hides the truth from her and doesn’t take her fear of sleeping seriously. Glen can’t be honest with his mother about sleeping at Tina’s house and she doesn’t approve of listening to music and watching TV at the same time. Nancy’s father is quick to blame teenage immorality on Tina’s death before listening to the plight of his own daughter. The parents of Elm Street are oblivious to the blatant threat that their children face. Even more consequential is that the parents are the source of this threat—the makers of their children’s demise. In an effort to protect their children, the parents created a monster that would later destroy them. The social commentary is clear: Parents obsesses over their children, while simultaneously not paying enough attention to them.

"Dear, I think we should wait till we get home to spank her."

As a conclusion, I thought it would be fun to share some trivia on the original film. I learned some new things while researching and I hope you do too. Keep in mind, I’m not crazy into the series like some, so exciting trivia for me may be old news to you.

-Elm Street is not mentioned in the film at all, except in the titles during the opening and closing of the film.

-The red and green colors of Freddy’s sweater were chosen because they are the most difficult for the eye to process when put together. So Freddy is definitely not easy on the eyes.

-Jennifer Grey, Demi Moore, Courtney Cox, and Tracey Gold all auditioned for the role of Nancy. I wonder if their hair was better than Heather Langenkamp’s at the time.

-In a deleted scene, it is revealed that all of the plagued teenagers had a sibling that was killed by Freddy when he was alive.

-Both Tina and Glen’s death scenes were filmed in the same revolving, upside-down-room set.

-Heather Langenkamp spent 12 hours in the water for the bathtub scene.

-The original glove used in the film is apparently missing, having been last seen in Evil Dead II.

-A Canadian serial killer, Peter Woodcock, who was responsible for the deaths of three children, changed his name to David Michael Krueger in 1982. Craven says this is just a coincidence.

-Walt Disney Productions had originally expressed interest in the Nightmare on Elm Street script on the condition that Craven tone down the film…thankfully, he did not.

-500 gallons of blood were used for the production. I’m sure we all know which scene required 99% of that blood.