Nightmare on Elm Street, Robert Englund & Heather Langenkamp Talk 40th Anniversary & Fan Interactions

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Nightmare on Elm Street, Robert Englund & Heather Langenkamp Talk 40th Anniversary & Fan Interactions

One of the most iconic horror movies is celebrating a major milestone with A Nightmare on Elm Streets 40th anniversary. The 1984 film hails from writer/director Wes Craven, who has built a solid filmography for himself up to this point with the likes of The last house on the link And The hills have eyesAnd rightfully put him on the map as one of the genre’s greats. From there on, Craven’s genre spotlight would continue to grow with the likes of the now-cult classics The snake and the rainbow And The people under the stairs And, eventually, launching the still-iconic scream Franchise with Kevin Williamson.

1984s A Nightmare on Elm Street Tells the story of Nancy Thompson, a teenager living in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio, who, along with her friends and boyfriend, find themselves tormented in their dreams by a mysterious figure who has the ability to kill them in their dreams . As she struggles to stay awake to avoid being targeted, Nancy learns that the figure is Freddy Krueger, a child serial killer who initially escaped conviction on a technicality, but was later burned alive by the victim’s parents, turning him into a avenger. Spirit.

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Starring Heather Langenkamp as Nancy and Robert Englund as Freddy, the 1984 film is not only a classic in its own right, but also led to the spawning of a multimedia franchise. The Nightmare on Elm Street The series has since included six sequels, a TV show, the standalone Meta Twist New nightmareA crossover with the Friday the 13th franchise, and a 2010 remake. Attempts at a second remake or reboot of the franchise have remained in development hell, with Craven’s estate accepting various pitches after acquiring the rights back in 2019, although no major announcements have been made since.

In honor of the film’s 40th anniversary, Screen Rant Interviewed Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund to discuss A Nightmare on Elm StreetHow they found the movie changed the cultural landscape, especially for the horror genre, and some of the most meaningful interactions they’ve had with fans of the franchise in the years since it launched.

Langenkamp & Englund are still “So proud“Of the cultural impact of the movie

… We really are the film that finally brought the horror fan girl en masse to the movies.


A Nightmare on Elm Street promo with Freddy and Nancy.

Screen Rant: I’m so excited to chat with you both, as I’m sure you hear all the time, the original Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my favorites, and it’s crazy to think we’re here on the 40th anniversary, but also just in time for Halloween. How does it feel for you both to reflect on the legacy you both have, not only in the genre, but with this film?

Heather Langenkamp: I mean, I know for myself, Robert would agree with me, we’re so proud to be a part of something that’s so culturally significant and important, and we get so much back from our fans, who also appreciate the movie so much. Phil. So, I feel really grateful. I don’t feel so old that I can’t celebrate a 40th birthday. [Laughs] I feel that time must have some kind of crush in there, but it’s humbling and exciting at the same time.

Robert Englund: I think with hindsight too, one of the things that I’m really proud of, and I don’t want to sound preachy here, or like I’m announcing signaling, but we really are the film that finally brought the horror fan girl Massive to the movies. I know Sigourney Weaver contributed to that, and Jamie Lee Curtis, but with Heather and our wonderful Alice, Lisa Wilcox, and Monica Keena in Freddy vs. Jason, Lisa Zane as my daughter. Always the strong survival survivor girl in our films, always the journey to take for all female fans of the genre. I think it was a really important contribution to the history of cinema, and I’m proud of it.

Langenkamp has heard many stories that “Blow my mind“of Nancy’s influence on them

I never feel responsible for it…


Freddy attacks Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Heather, you just mentioned that you get so much pushback from fans like me, and I’d love to hear from both of you, even though Freddie is the villain, is there anything that you’ve heard from fans that has really stuck with you, like How far do your letters go?

Heather Langenkamp: Well, I made a documentary called I Am Nancy 12 years ago, and one of the women I featured lost her leg in an accident. Her story is similar to many, many stories I hear, but she was in the hospital for many weeks and months, and she watched a nightmare on Elm Street every single day, thinking to herself, “If Nancy can get through all that with Freddie, I can certainly go through all of that in my life. And it struck me that people would relate to Nancy as a character, and I believe they do to her.

I sometimes don’t feel responsible for it, because it’s really Wes Craven’s creation, but I’m really proud of the way that, at least, I was able to bring it to life in the way that Wes intended. I don’t know if he even intended to have that much effect on people’s lives. And it’s not just girls, it’s everyone I meet who has struggles in their lives. I ask them: “What is your Freddy?” And they always have an answer, and I can identify with them and say, “Yeah, that’s a tough one.”

Englund is surprised by the 1st way the Nightmare Franchise has found its fanbase

There is also a strange phenomenon that I realized…


A Nightmare on Elm Street Nancy Freddy Krueger wall

Robert Englund: It’s also a strange phenomenon that I realized when I add up my experiences with fans, talking to fans, I always thought – because I’m a movie actor, I started as a movie actor – of Freddy and the Nightmare movies Like in a movie. But most of our fans came to us on video, and DVD, and streaming, and because of that, they saw us at home, and because of that, many times it was shared with family.

Now, we’re several generations into our fans, Heather and I, and there are moms and dads who have passed away from the first generation, but I’ve had countless fans come up and tell me about a dad taping steak knives to his fingers and scratching The sliding glass doors of the family room or the den, or a stepfather who would let them watch the movie and mom wouldn’t, or their parents were divorced, and they had a Sunday dad, and they went to his house and he would let him watch. But they shared it, and he’s gone now, and they had the experience of turning Dad on to a horror movie that was part of their generation and their world, and he also liked it.

Or vice versa, an older brother or an older sister or a parent who lets the kids see it, because they like horror movies and turn their kids to the genre, and they have the memory that it’s a family experience, which I never had . Think of, in terms of Nightmare on Elm Street. I think of that collective sitting in the dark in a movie theater experience, but not that sitting around the living room with a cold pizza. [Chuckles] But watch it and stop it and pause and rewind and talk about it with mom and dad or a brother and sister. I think this is a real sign that the technology, together with the franchise, made on the culture.

About A Nightmare on Elm Street

Can your nightmares be fatal? In this classic of the horror film genre that launched a movie franchise, a hideously scarred man who was murdered by a lynch mob returns years later in the terrifying nightmares of his killer’s teenage children… and the dreaming teenagers begin to die. in their sleep. In 2021, A Nightmare on Elm Street was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

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