A Nightmare on Elm Street Stars Reflect on Franchise's Legacy and Possible Future

Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp celebrate the slasher's 40th anniversary.

By Patrick Cavanaugh - September 25, 2024 06:43 pm EDT

The late '70s and early '80s saw a surge in the development of the slasher subgenre, with movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and The Burning all capitalizing on the idea of a masked murderer tormenting teen victims. Filmmaker Wes Craven took that formula and turned it on its head with A Nightmare on Elm Street, pitting high schoolers against the supernatural threat Freddy Krueger, who came for them in their dreams. Despite it being more than a decade since the last entry in the franchise was released, the debut 1984 entry remains as iconic as ever, thanks in large part to the performances of Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund. A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting an all-new release on Digital on October 1st and on 4K Ultra HD on October 15th.

The original movie focuses on the suburban town of Springwood, Ohio, which is home to a tragic history. When local man Krueger (Englund) manages to escape jail time despite having abused multiple young children in town, the local parents seek their own kind of justice, ultimately burning him to death. Years later, Krueger seems to have returned from beyond the grave, tormenting Nancy (Langenkamp) and her teen-aged friends in their dreams as they suffer fatal wounds in the real world to get revenge for their parents' violence.

ComicBook recently caught up with Englund and Langenkamp to talk their connection to the movie, its legacy, and what the future could hold.

(Photo:
Robert Englund stars in A Nightmare on Elm Street
- New Line Cinema)

ComicBook: Robert, what's the one question about Freddy you always get asked that you secretly hope no one ever asks again?

Robert Englund: "Mr. Englund. How long's it take to put on the makeup?" Never want to hear it again. I can't believe people don't know that answer.

How old can your children be before you show them A Nightmare on Elm Street and not be a terrible parent?

Heather Langenkamp: Well, I mean, I used to say like 14 but now, when I see so many young kids seeing it, now it's more like eight. I don't know.

Englund: I think, here's the thing: the ante has been upped in horror, science fiction, and fantasy films. Kids are watching Game of Thrones. There's some serious stuff in Game of Thrones and, Nightmare on Elm Street, which we still remember as being controversial, is pretty mild, comparatively speaking, to some of the new stuff that's out there. So I think I would say, well, you'd be safe at 12.

Langenkamp: And I say, know your own kid, because there's some kids who at no age will it be okay to watch them.

Englund: You'd be safe at 12, but here's the thing: younger kids accidentally see it sometimes, and these are the kids that haven't been taught about "stranger danger" and the evils of the world yet. And they watch it as a dark -- it scares them, but they watch it like a dark fairy tale, almost like a Brothers Grimm. They don't watch it as this could be part of society, right? They see it as a cautionary fable.

I know you've mentioned being done physically playing Freddy, but have there ever been any talks about doing an R-rated, animated film where the two of you could voice Freddy and Nancy?

Englund: Well, that's a great idea. Let's go for it. We'll have lunch. Yeah, that's a great idea.

I wrote the whole thing, I got it ready for you guys.

Englund: Freddy's made appearances in some sophisticated games, but I'm thinking that that would be a great idea. A nice, dark, animated Nightmare on Elm Street.

I've always been curious about this, but Robert, playing one of the most iconic villains of all time, do you ever feel like you have to overcompensate in real life and be an even nicer person?

Englund: Well, I'll cop to this one. When it first came out and it really took off -- let's just put it this way, maybe this was after Part 2 came out, and by then I knew, "Wow, we can't control this. I've got to go along for the ride," I offered myself in public then, even though I was scruffy, I would offer myself in public cleaned up. I wore suits more than I normally wear. I wore my reading glasses a lot just to differentiate, because I didn't want to look like I was just some scruffy guy playing a scruffy guy who got burned up, and so I did make a conscious decision to do that. But I had already been doing some suit-and-tie roles in Hollywood before Freddy, so in Hollywood, they knew who I was. I wasn't worried about Hollywood.

If Freddy Krueger existed in today's world of social media and smartphones, how do you guys think his approach to terrorizing his victims might change?

Langenkamp: Gosh. I mean, I almost think it's impossible to have a scary character with social media because by the time you've already put out the scary side, there's like 100 memes of you being ridiculous and they've figured out a way to humiliate you, so I don't know if Freddy could even exist today.

Englund: Freddy texts. I wonder if I could get my tongue in a smartphone.

Langenkamp: I see those memes the minute you're trying to scare me, it's like there's a meme about something else.

Englund: I love the idea of technology being used as a tool in a horror narrative, I think I'm a sucker for that. I just think there's probably better ways to do that than with the mythology of Nightmare on Elm Street. You could almost do a retro -- I would almost like to see a prequel to Nightmare on Elm Street where we see Freddy go to jail, go to court, courtroom drama. He gets off, and the lawyers could be really interesting, characters could be real sleazy. What's it called? "Ambulance chasers." And you get some good character actors to play the lawyers.

Freddy gets off, he gloats on the courthouse steps. He's not Freddy yet, he's not burned yet, and whoever that person is, we get more insight into him and his wife and child and what a twisted soul he is. And make it a little retro. Set it maybe late '70s or mid-'70s in a suburban world where there's a sleazy disco down at the corner or something. I could see that happening.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting an all-new release on Digital on October 1st and on 4K Ultra HD on October 15th.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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