Forty years ago, on November 9, 1984, a horror film was released that gave teenagers literal nightmares: A Nightmare on Elm Street. What did Wes Craven’s movie bring that previous slasher classics hadn’t? Unlike other horror villains, who were often portrayed as mask-wearing, otherworldly monsters, Freddy Krueger was supernatural yet with terrifyingly human motives, haunting his victims’ dreams with his ability to infiltrate their worst fears, making it impossible for them to escape by staying awake. Here are ten chilling and surprising facts about this landmark horror series:
1. Real-life Nightmares Inspired the Story
It’s surprising how many slasher stories have roots in real events—and A Nightmare on Elm Street is no exception. In fact, knowing its real-life basis might make its plot even more chilling. During the 1970s and 1980s, people in the United States reportedly died in their sleep due to terrifying nightmares. Wes Craven came across a disturbing connection while reading unrelated news stories in the Los Angeles Times. In the 1970s, the paper repeatedly reported on members of the Hmong ethnic group, refugees from the Southeast Asian wars and genocides, particularly men between the ages of 19 and 57, who were mysteriously dying in their sleep. These individuals were generally healthy, yet their hearts stopped without explanation. The deaths became so common that a term was coined: "Asian death syndrome."
The victims had usually lived in the U.S. for only a year or two and eventually became afraid to sleep, fearing they might die in their dreams. Witnesses reported that shortly before death, these individuals would scream unbearably loud due to the intensity of their nightmares. Of course, no malevolent spirit like Freddy Krueger was thought to be behind these incidents; instead, doctors suspected the traumatic experiences endured by those who fled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. These people, many deeply traumatized by bloodshed and torture, were believed to be reliving these horrors in dreams so vividly that their hearts and nervous systems simply couldn’t cope. This theory was later corroborated by survivors who had endured similar night terrors.
Craven was reportedly most moved by the case of a young Cambodian boy. This child had experienced a great deal of terror in his homeland and was haunted by nightmares in the United States. A recurring figure—a terrifying presence—pursued him in his dreams. The boy was so afraid that this figure would reappear that he avoided sleeping. Eventually, though, exhaustion overcame him, and as his parents tried desperately to wake him from the nightmare, he tragically succumbed to the overwhelming fear.
2. Freddy Krueger’s Character Was Inspired by Craven’s Childhood
Wes Craven drew on unsettling childhood and adolescent experiences to create his dream killer, Freddy Krueger. One such memory involved a chilling encounter: Craven was looking out his home’s window when he saw an elderly man walking along the path opposite his house. Nothing was unusual—until the man stopped and stared directly at him. Craven later described the man’s face as exuding both malevolence and mockery. Another major inspiration for Freddy came from Craven’s teenage years: a school bully named Fred Krueger, a name he later used for the villain in his earlier film, The Last House on the Left, where the antagonist is called Krug Stillo.
Craven based Freddy's design partly on science; he’d read an article stating that red and green are the most contrasting and unsettling color combination for the human eye. Not wanting just another masked, knife-wielding villain, Craven envisioned Freddy with a burned face and a unique bladed glove—a concept inspired by his cat’s claws and knife advertisements he’d seen. However, Craven ultimately abandoned the idea of making Freddy a child-molesting killer. Though such crimes were in the news in the early 1980s, he didn’t want audiences to think he was exploiting these tragic cases for entertainment.
3. Robert Englund Landed the Role of Freddy Thanks to His Rat-Like Approach
Robert Englund seems like the perfect Freddy Krueger in hindsight, but neither New Line Cinema nor creator Wes Craven initially thought so. They were originally looking for someone tall and bulky—Englund was neither. The role was initially offered to David Warner, known for The Omen and Tron, but Warner had scheduling conflicts. Then they considered Kane Hodder, who later portrayed Jason in several Friday the 13th films. However, neither Hodder nor other candidates exuded the menacing cruelty Craven envisioned. Englund was the one who understood the character and accepted the challenge of portraying a child and teen killer.
Englund’s agent’s friend advised him to play Freddy as if he were a rat or a weasel, as the initial concept included Freddy not only killing but also molesting children. This advisor believed real-life predators, as described in news reports, weren’t imposing or physically threatening but sneaky, like rats or weasels. Englund took this advice to heart, even dusting his eyelids with ash and slicking back his hair for his audition. Reportedly, he didn’t do much beyond striking a few poses, but it was enough to convince the casting team that he was right for the part.
4. Craven Refused to Direct the Sequel, and Englund Was Initially Left Out
Craven had no interest in making a second film. His original vision for A Nightmare on Elm Street ended with Nancy, the final girl, waking up with only subtle hints—through cinematography—that she might still be trapped in the dream world. He also found it absurd that in the sequel, Freddy could possess the protagonist, Mark Patton’s character, and kill in the real world. Craven felt it made no sense for Freddy to overpower much larger, physically fit characters in reality. He believed that A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 stripped Freddy of his mystique and undermined the uniqueness of the franchise, which hinged on Freddy preying on victims in their dreams. Unwilling to compromise on these principles, Craven distanced himself from the sequel, refusing to direct it.
The New Line Cinema executives nearly made a big mistake with the second film: to save money, they decided not to bring Englund back as Freddy, instead casting a stand-in. This stand-in was too bulky, resembling Frankenstein’s monster rather than the slim, sinister Freddy, so two weeks into filming, they decided to rehire Englund. A few scenes with the stand-in remained in the final cut, like the gym teacher’s shower scene, where the difference in Freddy’s appearance is noticeable.
5. The Original Concept for the Third Film Included a Movie Set with a Female Freddy
Since Craven strongly disliked A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, which had a more modest success, he decided to write the screenplay for the third film, Dream Warriors. Even at that time, about seven or eight years earlier, Craven had already envisioned the plot for what would eventually become the seventh film, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. He believed that he could bring Freddy into the real world in a more original way, through the setting of a film production on a new Elm Street sequel, where the actors would play themselves. However, New Line producers weren’t interested in this idea at the time and instead asked for different scripts.
Several new scripts were submitted, including one from Robert Englund himself. Craven drafted multiple versions as well, incorporating suicidal teens, Freddy’s dark past and brutal birth, in which he tears himself out of the womb. Craven even introduced time travel into the storyline. One concept involved a character named Nurse Marcie, who would not just transform into Freddy when she has a sexual encounter with the mute Joey, but would actually embody a “female Freddy” in a predatory way. Actress Stacey Alden would have been given a special mask for this role, but the idea was ultimately deemed too extreme, partly because a “female Freddy Krueger with breasts” seemed just too bizarre.
6. The Hungarian Guest Star in Dream Warriors Was Truly Terrified of Freddy
Thought A Nightmare on Elm Street films had no Hungarian connection? Think again! The third film in the series, Dream Warriors, features a cameo by the legendary Gábor Zsa Zsa. Born in Budapest in 1917, she later emigrated to the U.S. during WWII. Known for her beauty and extravagant lifestyle rather than acting prowess, Zsa Zsa Gábor made a name for herself in films like Moulin Rouge (1952) and Touch of Evil by Orson Welles. By the time Dream Warriors was produced, she was already a household name. According to Robert Englund, her reaction in her cameo scene was completely genuine—she had no idea what she was getting into.
In the scene, Jennifer, one of Freddy’s victims, tries to stay awake by watching TV. She flips to a talk show featuring Dick Cavett, who plays himself, interviewing Zsa Zsa about her acting career. Suddenly, Cavett morphs into Freddy and strikes. Allegedly, Cavett specifically chose Gábor for the scene because he found her a rare example of “true air-headedness” and would never have her on his show in real life. Thrilled to appear on screen, Gábor accepted without researching the slasher series or realizing what would happen in her scene. Thus, Freddy’s appearance gave her a genuine fright.
7. The Dream Child Was Nearly Rated X for Its Brutality
It's no surprise that A Nightmare on Elm Street films are brutal, given the horror genre, but the fifth installment, The Dream Child, was even more extreme than the previous films. With disturbing themes around birth and infants, it featured Freddy in baby form, and this dark subject matter pushed the movie to new levels of horror. The MPAA found the murders of three characters—Dan, Mark, and Greta—especially disturbing, initially assigning it an X rating (now NC-17), which would have limited its U.S. audience. Poor Dan’s motorcycle death is particularly shocking, as Freddy transforms the scene into bio-horror: cables snake under Dan’s skin, crawling up his arms and even his face, accompanied by Freddy’s laugh and Dan’s screams, making for an especially grotesque and horrifying sight.
In the uncut VHS version, this sequence is even gorier and more realistic due to close-ups and extended shots. Greta’s death, originally far more graphic, combines body horror with "gastronomic" horror as Freddy force-feeds her a doll with an exposed stomach and, later, her own insides, causing her face to swell grotesquely as the guests laugh at her torment. Mark's death, while less gory, is highly creative, playing out in comic book style. However, the screams and cries as Freddy tears apart Mark’s paper-mâché form were still deemed excessively brutal by censors. These scenes had to be shortened and toned down to secure an R rating for The Dream Child.
8. Peter Jackson Wrote a Story for Part 6, Where the Heroes Wanted to Sleep
Since the fifth installment wasn't as successful as its predecessors, New Line Cinema decided to conclude the A Nightmare on Elm Street series with the sixth film, hence the title The Final Nightmare. Peter Jackson, who had a clear interest in horror (as seen in his films Bad Taste and Dead Alive), was invited to write a script, which ultimately wasn't used. His story would have been quite unconventional, as it featured a weakening, and even aging (!) Freddy Krueger.
An even bolder twist to the Nightmare formula was that the young protagonists no longer fought to stay awake. Instead, they took sleeping pills and various drugs, participating in séances and parties to visit Freddy in the dream world. But they didn’t come to chat with the villain—they showed up to take him down, just for fun. One of the characters was even a cop who was intentionally kept in a coma so he could investigate Freddy’s domain. It’s undoubtedly a bold concept, but it might have appealed more to critics and fans, especially since The Final Nightmare was widely panned upon its theatrical release.
9. Craven Essentially Predicted the Earthquake that Happened During the Filming of New Nightmare
Although the dream warriors in The Final Nightmare defeated Freddy, New Line Cinema was convinced by the film's box office performance to give another installment a chance. This led to New Nightmare – Freddy’s Resurrection, which marked Wes Craven’s grand return to the franchise. It was also an opportunity for him to create the self-reflexive episode he had previously mentioned. In this film, not only does Craven appear as himself, but the actors and crew, including Heather Langenkamp (the star of the original) and Robert Englund, also play themselves. The story revolves around the filming of A Nightmare on Elm Street 7, and it’s very meta, as they say, but it’s not just the reality reference that makes it terrifying. Craven and his team essentially predicted the earthquake that struck the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles during the production.
At the beginning of the story, Langenkamp wakes up from a Freddy-related nightmare, only to experience an earthquake. This was originally in the script, and the scene was filmed a full month before the Los Angeles disaster. However, the actual 6.7 magnitude, eight-second earthquake that hit Northridge added an extra layer of eeriness to the film. Craven and his team had a bold idea: since this tragic event had happened, why not incorporate it into the film? A designated crew rushed to the disaster site, which claimed the lives of 57 people, and shot footage of the destruction. These documentary shots were then edited into the New Nightmare storyline during post-production. Apparently, those in the cast and crew who initially thought Craven’s depiction of the earthquake was exaggerated changed their minds upon seeing the footage of the real disaster, and the final result left them stunned.
10. The Remake Freddy, Jackie Earle Haley, Had a Very Negative Opinion of the Original Film
After the underperforming seventh installment, there was a long hiatus. The silence was only broken by the crossover film Freddy vs. Jason, followed by the 2010 remake. It received negative critical reception, with Craven also disliking it. Even Robert Englund, who had initially been enthusiastic, was disappointed by how Freddy Krueger was portrayed, especially regarding the CGI-modified, burnt face. The new Freddy, Jackie Earle Haley, known for his role as Rorschach in Watchmen, didn’t even like the original.
Haley was selected for the villain role by director Samuel Bayer and the producers based on a tape from his Watchmen audition. Jay Bauman, Kyle Gallner's stunt double, claimed that Haley had expressed a very negative opinion about the 1984 original. Allegedly, the actor rewatched A Nightmare on Elm Street because of the remake and concluded that it was the worst film he had ever seen. Despite this, he saw potential in the remake and even signed on for two sequels. However, these never came to fruition, as although the remake did decently at the box office, the mostly negative fan reactions discouraged the producers from pursuing further films.
