Horror movies have been around since the late 1800s, yet not all of them are ed as fondly as others. In 1984, horror meister Wes Craven introduced moviegoers to not only one of the most iconic horror movies of the decade, but one of the most iconic figures in horror in general. Fred Krueger was his name and he took teenagers' lives in their sleep. Even if people don’t know Freddy’s backstory, most people will recognize his appearance. Freddy has a horribly burned face, a dirty brown fedora, a green and red sweater, and a glove with knives for fingers.

Robert Englund was the actor under the makeup who played the character for nearly twenty years in eight movies and a TV show. The series would eventually be rebooted in 2010 with Jackie Earle Haley; however, most fans despised the reboot and weren’t interested in a Freddy flick without Englund.

Since 2010, there hasn’t been another A Nightmare on Elm Street movie, but Englund will be reprising his iconic role one final time for the Halloween special of The Goldbergs. Even though the original set of movies is beloved by horror fans, most of the sequels can’t live up to the first film that Craven put together 34 years ago. That being said, there are fascinating tales behind the making of not just the original movie, but all seven of the sequels as well.

Here are the 30 Secrets Behind The Making Of A Nightmare On Elm Street. 

Real Life Events Inspired The Story

While A Nightmare on Elm Street is a work of fiction, real-life events did inspire the story.

For the story itself, Craven was inspired to make the movie after hearing about a boy who ed away in his sleep after having  nightmares in an article from the LA Times.

As for Freddy, Craven crafted the maniac’s name after a boy who used to beat him up in Elementary School. Craven further explained in Never Sleep Again that he also based Freddy off of a man who once stood outside his window and purposely scared him at a young age. 

Heather Langenkamp Was Stalked By A Real Fan

When Wes Craven returned to the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise for New Nightmare, he brought Freddy back by having him invade people’s dreams in the real world. To elaborate, Heather Langenkamp played Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund played Robert Englund, etc.

Before Freddy was fully revealed in New Nightmare, Langenkamp was being stalked by a crazed fan. What’s even more chilling is that the documentary Never Sleep Again revealed that Langenkamp was actually being stalked in real life and Craven decided to include it in the story of the film. 

Wes Craven’s Daughter Got Johnny Depp His First Acting Gig

Some people might not know, but the original A Nightmare on Elm Street was actually Johnny Depp’s acting debut. Depp landed the role of Glen Lantz, who was Nancy Thompson’s boyfriend and her neighbor across the street. While it might not be a secret to everyone that Depp started his acting career in horror, it may surprise some that Wes Craven’s daughter was actually responsible for choosing him.

Wes Craven explained in the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy that he thought Depp looked sort of “sickly and pale” but his daughter thought that Johnny Depp was beautiful, so he got cast in the movie. 

They Started Freddy’s Revenge Without Robert Englund

Anybody who is a fan of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series knows that the movies would not have been what they were without Robert Englund. Wes Craven crafted something extraordinary in 1984, but filmmakers later derailed quite a bit from his original vision. When the second movie, Freddy’s Revenge, was being filmed, the filmmakers didn’t yet know that Englund was crucial to the story.

This caused them to begin filming scenes with an extra in a rubber mask, but it quickly became apparent that they had to bring Englund back.

According to the cast and crew in Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, the extra was much too stiff to play the role and walked around like Frankenstein. 

Jennifer Rubin Accidentally Stabbed Robert Englund

When it came to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, an entirely new cast was brought in to play teens at a mental hospital who called themselves the Dream Warriors. They got this name after Nancy Thompson convinced them that they were strong enough to battle Freddy in their dreams.

One of these teenagers was named Taryn, and was played by Jennifer Rubin. She and Freddy have an elaborate dream sequence where Taryn attacks Freddy with switchblades. Rubin confessed in the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy that she accidentally stabbed Robert Englund for real in one of their fight sequences. 

Patricia Arquette Didn’t Return, Possibly Because Of Money

One of the biggest who that made an acting career after Dream Warriors was the young Patricia Arquette. Arquette played the character Kristen Parker in Nightmare 3, but was replaced by Tuesday Knight for Dream Master. That being said, it isn’t quite known why Arquette didn’t return for Part 4.

Director Renny Harlin, producer Robert Shaye, and actor Ken Sagoes it they don’t know why Arquette didn’t return, but Englund has said it was simply because she had other acting gigs.

Rodney Eastman, who played Joey, said in Never Sleep Again that Arquette didn’t return for Dream Master because they wouldn’t pay her the amount of money she requested, even though the amount was small and she deserved it. 

The MPAA Cut Out A Lot Of Scenes In The Dream Child

When it comes to horror movies, filmmakers and editors have to be careful with how much gore they show on screen. Even if the special effects department creates a stunning scene for a movie, it could get cut in order to avoid an X rating.

When it came to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, a lot of the movie had to be cut out thanks to the MPAA. The director of the movie, Stephen Hopkins, itted in Never Sleep Again that the film had to be resent to the MPAA around 20 times because they kept cutting scenes out. 

They Had A Real Funeral For Freddy

When filmmakers were working on Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, they really did think that this would be Freddy’s last outing. They marketed the movie with the premise that Freddy would be gone for good, hence the title. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, but they pulled out all of the stops when it came to marketing for Freddy’s Dead.

In order to promote the movie and the fact that it was really the“Final Nightmare”, the filmmakers hosted a funeral for Freddy Krueger with several of the cast and crew attending.

Englund would obviously return to Freddy in New Nightmare and Freddy vs. Jason, but the marketing ploy was genius none the less. 

Pinehead Was Originally At The End Of Freddy vs. Jason

Freddy vs. Jason never stood a chance at becoming an Oscar-nominated movie, but the film achieved what fans wanted it to. For years, people had wanted to see the two horror icons in an epic fight, and in 2003, fans finally got their wish.

The end of the film doesn’t give a true winner, but in early drafts of the movie, Pinhead from Hellraiser was supposed to show up and ask Freddy and Jason what they were fighting about. It would have been an incredible ending, but sadly, New Line Cinema didn’t own the rights to the character, which meant that it never could have been. 

Freddy Did A Music Video With Dokken

Two things were incredibly popular in the '80s: horror movies and music. One rock band that was well known when Freddy was growing in popularity was called Dokken. Due to Dokken and Freddy’s appeal to teenagers, they ended up making a music video together in 1987 called “Dream Warriors”.

The song was not only featured on Dokken’s “Back for the Attack” album, but it was also the theme song for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. The video combined scenes from the movie and the band playing their instruments, but Robert Englund filmed more scenes as Freddy for the music video as well.