Posted in: Horror, Movies, New Line Cinema | Tagged: film, freddy kruger, horror, nightmare on elm street, Robert Englund
A Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund is revealing his initial reaction to seeing Freddy Kruger come to life in the first installment
Regarding the horror genre, several faces are enough to elicit audiences’ reactions, including Jason Voorhees, Ghostface, and the impeccably spooky Freddy Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street. While you might assume that the man who was actually behind the nightmares (actor Robert Englund) might have gone unscathed in the scares department, Englund is officially opening up about how his Wes Craven character managed to become nightmare fuel after a firsthand experience.
Freddy Kruger’s Appearance Was Enough to Creep Out the Iconic Robert Englund
When speaking to People, the respected genre actor shared, “It’s not really a nightmare of any duration. But when I made the first film… It was like [4:00 AM], and I didn’t want to roll on my side and ruin the makeup. So I put this little towel under my head, and I was in… the Freddy sweater and boots and pants. I had the [trailer] lights dimmed down on a dimmer switch…The assistant director banged on the door, ‘Mr. Englund, Mr. Englund, we’re going to try to get this shot with [Heather Langenkamp].’ And I sort of sat upright, and I caught this movement in the half-lit mirror across from the bed I was lying on. And therein forced perspective, in the half-light, in the dimmed down bulbs of my makeup mirror sat this burned old bald man.”
He elaborates on his fearful reaction to the character’s detail-oriented look, noting, “It was like some surreal Marx Brothers movie for a moment. And I literally forgot that I was in makeup. I was in that moment when you first wake up, and you’re kind of semi-conscious. I was a little bit disoriented. I can close my eyes right now as I’m talking to you, and I can literally see it. And it scared me because I was so disoriented. I wasn’t quite awake yet. I was semi-conscious. And I do, on occasion, for whatever reason, return to that moment. And I recognize it as an experience, not a nightmare, but it does come to me sometimes at night. So that’s as close to a sort of Freddy nightmare as I have.”
Which entry of A Nightmare on Elm Street do you think presented viewers with the most unsettling version of Freddy?
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