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“The original A Nightmare on Elm Street was

inspired by an extraordinary series of

unnoticed stories in the Los Angeles Times. A

young immigrant male, early 20’s, usually

from Southeast Asia, a son, would have a

severe nightmare where he would wake up

screaming. The next day, he would tell his

family it was the worst nightmare he’d ever

had, and he had been terribly shaken by it.

The next night when he went to sleep—he

died. Six months later I looked in the paper

and there was a very similar story. I clipped it

out and put it with the other one. Then the third

appeared about a year and a half from the first

one, this time in Northern California. And the

elements were the basis for the film. The rest

is horror history.”—Wes Craven, Director of A

Nightmare on Elm Street.



At a time when the stalker movie had run its

course to all ends and the image of mute,

staggering, vicious killers had been etched

into society’s consciousness to the point of

exhaustion, a new kid entered the block. The

year was 1984 and it was time for a new villain

to enter into the horror genre. It was a villain

that was agile, intelligent, almost invincible,

yet viscous, and by all means deadly. A

Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the

distinctive presence of Fred Krueger to the

horror industry and to the audience. Freddy

Krueger took the center stage and with him a

new era of horror films began. This horribly

scarred man who wore a ragged slouch hat,

dirty red-and-green striped sweater, and a
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