Wes Craven's horror classic, "A Nightmare On Elm Street" turns 40 this month! We were introduced to Freddy Krueger on November 16th, 1984 (The film premiered on November 9th)! I myself didn't watch the first Nightmare film until I was in mid 20's. It was much better than I expected & there's no denying that Wes Craven had created a totally original film and made one of the most iconic horror characters of all time! 

"A Nightmare On Elm Street" is actually based on some true events from Wes Cravens' life! Wes saw some newspaper articles about Hmong refugees whom after fleeing to the USA, had horrific nightmares and refused to sleep. Craven came up with the Freddy Krueger character from memories he had as a child when he saw an older man on a side-path outside. The older man stopped and looked at him and then when Wes turned away and looked again, the older man was closer! The man then walked away, but that image stuck with Wes!

Robert England did such an incredible job playing Freddy that he has been called the Boris Karloff of his generation, which I can't argue with. You can tell every single time that he became Freddy that he enjoyed & relished it. 

Cult icon John Saxon is memorable in this, Heather Langenkamp became one of the ultimate & memorable "final girls" & rock musician Johnny Depp shines in his very first film!

We discussed this film in detail and you can listen by clicking here!