“I never set out to become a horror icon,” muses Robert Englund in Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares, The Robert Englund Story, the riveting new documentary from directors Gary Smart (The Story of Fright Night, Hollywood Werewolf in London, You’re So Cool, Brewster!) and Christopher Griffiths (RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop). “It wasn’t something I was planning. It was just something that happened.”
Englund goes on to explain how, after heading into the makeup lounge of the first A Nightmare on Elm Street outing in 1984, he miraculously “found” the character and the voice of the terrifying Freddy Krueger. Curiously, Johnny Depp was instrumental in helping Englund develop Freddy into one of the creepiest and most frightening horror villains of all time.
“Johnny Depp waltzed into the set about a week into shooting looking all beautiful young and dewy, and there was the makeup girl with little pink fans she bought [the stars],” Englund notes in the doc. “’We have to keep our stars cool,’ she said. ‘Well… what am I? Chopped liver?’ For the rest of the [Freddy Krueger] movies, I can remember that moment [of frustration], and that becomes the shorthand to get back to Freddy.” It’s one of many fascinating big reveals in this captivating documentary, which will easily intrigue horror and non-horror fans alike.
The Only Thing to Fear Is Fear Himself
There are nine A Nightmare on Elm Street films. The last one, which New Line Cinema and Platinum Dunes dubbed as a “remake” of the original in 2010, recasting Nancy and Freddy — bad move, no offense, Rooney Mara and Jackie Earl Haley — failed to relaunch the franchise. And with good reason. Robert Englund so effective embodied the role of Freddy Krueger, and no other actor could match what Englund brought to the screen. That voice. Those eyes. That imposing presence.
Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares illuminates those facts to winning ends, taking audiences on an exceptional journey that balances a talking-heads-doc-style with plenty of footage of the original film and the sequels Englund starred in — remember 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason romp? There’s a nice array of behind-the-scenes clips here, too.
All of it elevates this documentary and creates a winning portrait of a horror icon and the man who brought that icon to life. Jason who? You might find yourself pondering. Or, perhaps, realize that Michael Myers from Halloween may not have been as frightening as Freddy Krueger after all. If anything, this documentary will leave audiences craving a more mindful modern-day update of all the Nightmare films and surely, in this day of streaming, that’s certainly possible.
What’s interesting here is that the filmmakers truly take you into Englund’s life. It’s one thing to sing the praises of an on-screen character as enigmatic as Freddy, and quite another to show you who the man was that made him such a classic cinematic figure. Why, who knew that among Englund’s first outings, he was in the stage version of Pinocchio? Or, for that matter, he used his own genius to make that a role stand-out. Or, for instance, that Englund became a classically trained stage actor before turning heads in the NBC 1980s hit, V? Remember that show?
Savor the Frightening Tidbits
Much of the documentary’s front half tracks Robert Englund’s rise as a character actor. From being up for the role that John Travolta got in Carrie to wanting to play Han Solo in Star Wars. This is a stellar expose on Hollywood in one of its heydays, when 1970s cinema flourished, spawning countless films that struck a chord only to become more than just a simple footnote in history.
Insights from wife, Nancy Englund, a set designer, and Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel), and Adam Green, Tony Todd, Lance Henriksen, Heather Langenkamp, Lin Shaye, Bill Moseley, Doug Bradley, and Kane Hodder, filter into the mix here, too, offering a deeper look not only at Englund and his dedication to the craft, but why A Nightmare on Elm Street was so effectively all-absorbing. Let’s face it: Only Hollywood can concoct a gruesome man who killed children, only to meet his death by a raging blaze, only to… rise again and wreak havoc in people’s dreams. Those poor teens of Elm Street. A better zip code would have sufficed.
Co-director Gary Smart noted: “I remember at around 10-years-old, begging my parents for a life-size poster of Freddy Krueger, which I had seen at a seaside town in England. After lots of negotiation, they finally gave in and that poster adorned my bedroom door for many years.”
That was how impactful the first few films were. Smart would go on to reveal how much he appreciated special effects and make-up. These intimate accounts, coupled with Englund’s astute observations and his wife’s grounded demeanor, capture much more than a traditional documentary, and becomes an emotional character study in the process. Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares is a powerfully rich and commendable achievement, wonderfully capturing Hollywood history with its intimate focus on a remarkable actor.
Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story will be available to stream from June 6 on Screambox and via digital platforms. It also arrives on Blu-Ray on July 25.