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A Nightmare on Elm Street - 40th Year Anniversary Retro Review · The K.B. Radio Network

• 0:10
  Hello boys and girls and welcome to Movie
• 0:15
  Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.
• 0:21
  I am your host Kevin Reed and
• 0:24
  I decided to get back on track with the promise that I laid out at the beginning of this year.
• 0:31
  Being as though it's 2024,
• 0:34
  it is the 40th year anniversary of...
• 0:37
  1984 if that makes any sense it's been 40 years since 1984 and 1984 holds a special place in my heart i've said it multiple times on this show and i said that this year we were going to just go bananas with the 1984 references and movie reviews retro reviews from that year because so many epic
• 1:03
  films came out you
• 1:05
  in 1984.
• 1:06
  I mean,
• 1:06
  we touched in on a few of them.
• 1:08
  We talked about the original Doom,
• 1:12
  which came out in 1984.
• 1:14
  The original Ghostbusters came out in 1984.
• 1:17
  We did a review of that.
• 1:19
  We just,
• 1:22
  what,
• 1:22
  a couple of weeks ago,
• 1:23
  we talked about the 40th year anniversary of the Terminator,
• 1:28
  the original Terminator,
• 1:31
  you know,
• 1:31
  and there's been so many other.
• 1:34
  films i mean think about it uh indiana jones and the temple of doom came out in 84 you also had beverly hills cop which we talked about as well uh due to the release of beverly hills cop axel foley uh
• 1:51
  that came out over the summer is that but the original came out in 84 gremlins uh the karate kid police academy uh the romancing the freaking stone man they came out you
• 2:04
  in 1984 and that's just to name a few and
• 2:09
  I just love that year I don't know why it is something about 84 it's just something about it maybe it's because of my age you know
• 2:19
  I was starting to uh come around to reality
• 2:25
  I just turned five and so
• 2:28
  I'm looking around and seeing that oh the world there's a world here you know
• 2:35
  And I kind of came into the world,
• 2:37
  even though I was five years old,
• 2:39
  being exposed to so much.
• 2:40
  I could start watching movies and start experiencing things that's going on around me.
• 2:46
  In 1984,
• 2:48
  you had the World's Fair come to New Orleans.
• 2:51
  And I remember this.
• 2:53
  I remember going to the World's Fair and thinking that this was a thing that we were going to get off,
• 3:00
  you know,
• 3:00
  forever.
• 3:01
  And in the world.
• 3:03
  the world's fair never came back but uh i don't even think they do it anymore do they i i gotta look that up but a lot went on that year now just this past week at least the time of this recording on november the 2nd we
• 3:21
  marked the 40th year anniversary of a film that changed the course of history in some in some circles i mean you
• 3:32
  It just changed horror films in a certain way.
• 3:36
  It's nothing innovative or new as far as slasher.
• 3:42
  We had slasher horror films prior to this,
• 3:46
  you know,
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  or before this,
• 3:49
  you know,
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  Halloween,
• 3:50
  Friday the 13th,
• 3:52
  things of that nature.
• 3:53
  So that wasn't new.
• 3:55
  But what was new was a killer.
• 3:59
  who can get you in the most vulnerable state that you can possibly be in your dreams while you sleep what can you do you know because everybody sleeps okay you
• 4:15
  can get away from um uh jason vorhees just don't go to cap crystal lake you can get away from mike myers if you lock yourself in a room in your house on halloween
• 4:29
  But everybody,
• 4:31
  and I mean everybody walking God's green earth,
• 4:35
  gotta go to sleep.
• 4:37
  And this is where the killer lurks,
• 4:41
  Freddy Krueger.
• 4:42
  We were introduced to one of the historic,
• 4:47
  infamous horror icons of all time on November the 2nd,
• 4:51
  1984.
• 4:54
  And the film,
• 4:56
  written and directed by the late,
• 4:58
  great...
• 4:59
  Wes Craven.
• 5:01
  nightmare on Elm Street.
• 5:05
  I think this was probably my first horror film I ever watched as a as a kid and of course I had to sneak and watch it or
• 5:18
  I think my either my sisters or my brother was watching it.
• 5:23
  I'm fuzzy on that part but
• 5:26
  I know they were watching it and I snuck in and watched it with them.
• 5:30
  and regretted it instantly instantly regretted it because what is this thing man this ain't a human being i mean you can like i said you can run from jason borges even though he walks behind you and still catch you uh
• 5:47
  you can manage to get away from mike myers you know and all that there but freddie freddie would get you i mean he will get you
• 5:58
  and get you in the most brutal fashion imaginable.
• 6:02
  And it just blew my mind.
• 6:05
  Certain scenes in here,
• 6:06
  certain things that happened throughout this film that has stuck with me for
• 6:13
  40 years to this date.
• 6:16
  To this date is certain moments like when I order a pizza and the sauce and the cheese kind of mixed together on there.
• 6:26
  And...
• 6:27
  I can't eat it because it reminds me of Freddy Krueger's face and to this day it's hard for me to eat pizza and now for people who know me may find that strange because they know that I would eat I would devour a
• 6:43
  Domino's pizza but
• 6:45
  I will I have a trick as to how I eat it I don't look at
• 6:50
  I do not look at pizza when I eat it it could be a live rat crawling on it and I wouldn't know
• 6:57
  Because I cannot look at it because it reminds me of the face of Freddy Krueger
• 7:04
  To this day to this day.
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  We just ordered a pizza the other night and it still to this day I cannot look at a pizza and so this movie has affected me
• 7:15
  40 years ruined my life if you will
• 7:18
  But I didn't let it win because I'm still eating the pizza and I'm still going to sleep even though it's tough that time
• 7:27
  But Freddy Krueger,
• 7:29
  or
• 7:30
  A Nightmare on Elm Street,
• 7:32
  to put it more plainly,
• 7:33
  is a film,
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  like I said,
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  comes from the mind of the just horror legend,
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  an icon in the genre,
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  Wes Craven.
• 7:44
  And Wes Craven came up with the concept of this film because of a
• 7:51
  1970s New York Times article about these refugees who...
• 7:55
  fled to the united states because of war and genocide in uh i think cambodia and and uh vietnam and all that and they were suffering from nightmares and it was you know ptsd in a sense and they refused
• 8:12
  to go to sleep and so some of the men died in their sleep soon after they legitimately
• 8:20
  you know medical authorities called the phenomenon the asian deaf syndrome you probably know about if you don't google it up google it because i had to google it when i read this story i was like is this a real thing yes it's a real thing is a condition affecting men between the age of 19 and 57 years of age crazy stuff crazy stuff now
• 8:44
  as far as the villain uh wes craven uh came up with freddy krueger
• 8:51
  He kind of drew it from his early life.
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  One night when he was young,
• 8:57
  he saw this elderly man walking on the side path outside of his window.
• 9:03
  And the man stopped and glanced and kind of scared him,
• 9:08
  of course.
• 9:11
  Scared him and just walked off.
• 9:13
  And this served as the inspiration for Freddy Krueger.
• 9:18
  Initially,
• 9:19
  Freddy Krueger was intended to be a child molester,
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  but he wasn't.
• 9:24
  Craven eventually characterized him as a child murderer to avoid being accused of exploiting,
• 9:32
  you know,
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  that crime.
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  I guess you could say how much that affects.
• 9:38
  I don't know.
• 9:39
  Either way,
• 9:39
  he was exploiting it,
• 9:40
  but he stayed away from it.
• 9:43
  Now,
• 9:44
  in the remake with Charles Earl Haley.
• 9:48
  playing Freddy Krueger and I forgot who else was in that movie.
• 9:51
  It's a forgettable movie.
• 9:52
  But in the remake,
• 9:55
  they turned him into a child molester.
• 9:59
  And it just...
• 10:00
  didn't work it was stupid it was i'm like man this doesn't make sense this doesn't even add up you know as far as why freddy krueger is freddy krueger but that's the remake we're not talking about that we're talking about the original um
• 10:17
  freddy's nature wes craven stated that in a sense freddy stands for the worst of parenthood in adulthood
• 10:27
  The old dirty man,
• 10:28
  the nasty father,
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  the adult who wants children to die rather than help them properly.
• 10:35
  You know,
• 10:35
  he's the boogeyman.
• 10:36
  He's the worst fear of children.
• 10:39
  And so he looked at him as like this primal figure,
• 10:45
  you know,
• 10:45
  sort of a devourer of children.
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  Evil,
• 10:50
  twisted,
• 10:51
  a perverted father figure that wants to destroy.
• 10:55
  And...
• 10:56
  is able to get them in their most vulnerable moments and that of course is when they're asleep and so he took that ran with that you know by
• 11:07
  Wes Craven's account coming up with the name of Fred Krueger was pretty easy for Wes Craven because when he was younger he was bullied at school by a child whose name was wait for it
• 11:22
  Fred Krueger and so he you
• 11:26
  he decided to use his childhood nemesis name as the name of this uh vile human being oh is he human i don't know but the villain in this story as kind of a uh a shot back
• 11:46
  at his childhood bully and so uh craven had done the same thing before this ain't the first time when he he puts in
• 11:54
  these little nuggets in the last house on the left film that he made in 1972 the villains name was shortened to
• 12:05
  Krug so the villain in the last house on the left name is Krug it is short for Kruger and he obviously obviously
• 12:21
  Wes Craven did not let that go.
• 12:25
  He did not move past that as he got older.
• 12:30
  Wes Craven chose to make
• 12:31
  Freddy Krueger's sweater red and green after reading an article in 1982 that says that two colors were the most class colors to the human rep,
• 12:44
  and that is red and green.
• 12:47
  So that's why...
• 12:48
  Uh...
• 12:49
  that went like that so you can see that Wes Craven literally built this character from the ground up you know every aspect of Freddy Krueger was carefully constructed by uh Wes Craven which all good filmmakers do it's not unique to
• 13:08
  Wes Craven but it is kind of um funny to hear about before what would you
• 13:16
  been believed in 1984 as kind of a throwaway horror film but no not for west creek um west craven made a strong effort to make freddy krueger different from the other horror film villains in that time period you know um
• 13:35
  he said in an interview in 2014 a lot of the killers were wearing masks like leather phase michael myers jason i wanted my villain to have a mask you
• 13:46
  but be able to talk and taunt and threaten so i thought of him being burnt and scarred that was the man so uh he also said the killer uh should be should use something other than a knife because
• 14:04
  it's too common you know uh mike myers had the biggest knife you can think of in the kitchen uh jason vorhees had the biggest knife there ever was in a machete
• 14:16
  You know,
• 14:17
  Leatherface had a whole chainsaw,
• 14:19
  so we needed something different.
• 14:22
  And instead of one knife,
• 14:24
  we got five knives on each finger with the glove.
• 14:29
  And so it was very cool how he constructed this character.
• 14:35
  The only thing left was the casting.
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  And casting wasn't as easy as he thought.
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  Now,
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  he did get the actor he wanted.
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  No,
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  it's not the great Robert Englund who played the character multiple times.
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  It was David Warner.
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  And David Warner,
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  in case you don't know who that is,
• 14:57
  is a very distinguished actor up to that point.
• 15:00
  he had been in an omen um he was in time bandits he was in tron you know he later later on in life he did some voice acting he was the voice of raza ghul on batman the animated series i mean he has had a very uh
• 15:19
  accomplished career and so in a very distinguished actor i i actually like him i i i seen him in so many things and he was good in everything
• 15:29
  I think the first time I ever actually noticed him in something was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
• 15:36
  The Secret of the Ooze.
• 15:38
  I think that was the first that was my first time ever really uh uh paying attention to him but uh he was cool in that so ever since then he's been he's been cool with me but it would have been very interesting to see him in
• 15:56
  this role
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  I mean everything was set
• 15:59
  he signed on they did the makeup test with the burnt you know the burnt flesh and all this here the costume fitting everything was a go then i guess he forgot it slipped his mind wait i'm shooting another movie at
• 16:17
  the same time and we already started that so i can't be in this movie and so he had to drop out and so uh they went to
• 16:27
  order to replace him no not Robert Englund they went to
• 16:32
  Kane Harder and if you don't know who that is he played another slasher in another slasher horror film iconic slasher there it is
• 16:42
  Jason Voorhees and he was in heavy consideration but didn't go through they didn't see out of our day being
• 16:52
  Kane and
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  Wes Craven
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  Didn't see eye to eye on a development of the character.
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  So he left the project.
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  Then fate stepped in.
• 17:05
  Robert Englund came in to read for the role.
• 17:09
  Robert Englund was smaller than what
• 17:13
  Wes Craven had envisioned for this character.
• 17:16
  You know,
• 17:17
  if you've seen
• 17:18
  David Warner,
• 17:19
  David Warner,
• 17:20
  not a big guy.
• 17:21
  He's not muscular or nothing,
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  but he's tall,
• 17:23
  you know,
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  kind of,
• 17:24
  kind of.
• 17:25
  kind of lumbersome and i think that would have been a cool visual effect with him you know him being that tall towering over these teenagers but um kane hardy you already know look at jason vorhees he's he's huge and
• 17:43
  so that that would have been cool too but robert england was about a 180 pounds soaking wet you know he he wasn't you
• 17:55
  He wasn't going to intimidate anybody with his physique.
• 18:02
  So,
• 18:03
  Wes Craven was pretty hesitant with meeting with
• 18:08
  Robert Englund for the role of Freddy Krueger.
• 18:11
  But the struggle,
• 18:12
  man,
• 18:12
  the struggle was killing him.
• 18:14
  Because everybody they brought in to kind of test for the role,
• 18:20
  it just,
• 18:22
  everybody was kind of...
• 18:24
  caring to the children or compassionate to the children um not really menacing but robert england walked in finally wes craven agreed to meet with him and he walked in and like i said he's small guy even short he's a short guy nothing
• 18:43
  about him screams killer and he literally
• 18:50
  took over the addition.
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  He sold everybody.
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  He gave zero Fs.
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  When it came to the kids,
• 18:59
  his delivery of the lines,
• 19:01
  he didn't care.
• 19:02
  And that won him the role.
• 19:04
  He went to dark places that
• 19:08
  Wes Craven wasn't expecting.
• 19:09
  The producers weren't expecting.
• 19:11
  And so he was immediately signed on to portray the legendary character of Freddie.
• 19:18
  Krueger in a nightmare on Elm Street.
• 19:22
  So that was set the rest of the cast
• 19:26
  This is where you kind of look back and you do some dream cast in the sea Hmm,
• 19:32
  I wonder how that would have looked or how they would have did or you know,
• 19:35
  it's so on and so forth for the lead role of Nancy,
• 19:40
  we know that
• 19:42
  Heather
• 19:43
  Langenkamp she was cast as Nancy and
• 19:47
  The world is better for it because she is amazing in that role,
• 19:51
  loved her in that role.
• 19:53
  But other talented actresses auditioned for that role to be exact.
• 19:59
  It was over 200 actresses auditioned for the role of Nancy Thompson in The Nightmare on Elm Street.
• 20:08
  Just a few.
• 20:09
  You had Jennifer Grey.
• 20:11
  Yes,
• 20:12
  Jennifer Grey from
• 20:14
  Dirty Dancing and
• 20:17
  Red Dawn.
• 20:18
  Yes,
• 20:18
  she auditioned.
• 20:19
  Demi Moore auditioned.
• 20:22
  Courtney Cox auditioned.
• 20:25
  Tracy Gold.
• 20:27
  you know from growing pains she auditioned it was a free-for-all i mean 200 actresses i would imagine every young actress in hollywood auditioned for the role but in the end heather london cap won
• 20:44
  the role and even though you've never really seen her and much else you know she it's actually kind of a shock you know coming out of that era
• 20:56
  always thought she was oh she was really good especially especially and
• 21:01
  Was it part three when she returned in part three?
• 21:06
  I really enjoyed her and that part three is probably my favorite spoiler but part three is my favorite all of them,
• 21:14
  but
• 21:16
  Yeah, I hadn't really seen and she returned for that new nightmare thing,
• 21:20
  but any who's she she
• 21:23
  She did a phenomenal job
• 21:25
  For the role of Glenn who is the love interest of Nancy in the film
• 21:33
  They had a good number of people as well audition for this role number one Mark Payton now Mark Payton may not
• 21:43
  Scream out to you at least that name doesn't but if you would have held on for a little while and watched a Nightmare on Elm Street part to the lead in that film
• 21:54
  was played by Mark Payton.
• 21:56
  He played Jesse in that movie,
• 21:58
  but he originally auditioned for Glenn in the first movie,
• 22:04
  but he impressed them with their audition so much,
• 22:06
  they gave him the lead in the second movie,
• 22:09
  but he didn't get it in this first one.
• 22:13
  He shouldn't feel bad,
• 22:15
  because check out the names that auditioned for the role of Glenn.
• 22:22
  in a nightmare on elm street you had john cruz uh cusack you had john crier brad pitt keifer settlement nicholas cage and
• 22:38
  c thomas howell they all auditioned for the role of glenn including jackie earl haley now jackie earl haley in a rear twist of iron lee
• 22:51
  irony he went on to play freddy krueger in the remake but he initially auditioned for the role of glenn in this film he didn't get it but uh his friend accompanied
• 23:07
  him to the audition you know gave him a ride or something and he was there waiting and the producers looked over there at him they were like who is he oh that's my friend you know he just came with me you
• 23:20
  Okay,
• 23:21
  well,
• 23:21
  since he's here,
• 23:22
  have him read this.
• 23:23
  So he went ahead and read the lines and this,
• 23:26
  that,
• 23:26
  and the third,
• 23:27
  and he got cast.
• 23:29
  None other than Johnny Depp.
• 23:32
  Johnny Depp wasn't even trying to be an actor.
• 23:38
  He beat out all of these top-tier A-list stars that I named.
• 23:43
  Now,
• 23:43
  they weren't A-list stars then.
• 23:45
  I'm not crazy.
• 23:46
  I know that.
• 23:46
  But just look.
• 23:48
  Look.
• 23:49
  forward 40 years and you hear these names brad pitt keifer sullivan uh uh nicholas cage john cusack and all this i mean come on you're like man this is hollywood royalty but there's
• 24:04
  no name not even there for that he's he's essentially just the uber drive he just dropped off his friend and end up getting the role in this you
• 24:18
  sought after horror film that everybody was going after and um once again the world is better for it because johnny depp killed it really couldn't tell of his first movie actually all of them now granted it's campy it's
• 24:34
  campy as all get out but people it's 1984 you're not watching no horror films in 1984 actually you can probably lump in some dramas
• 24:48
  in 1984 that were seeking academy award consideration they they were just there for your entertainment purposes and uh this definitely was that but these were some really good performances otherwise
• 25:02
  it wouldn't be as beloved as it is today and so uh the rest of the cast rounded out and we were off and running with this film a nightmare on elm street 1984 the supernatural slasher film written and directed by wes craven produced by robert shane and this is the first installment in
• 25:28
  the nightmare on elm street franchise and
• 25:33
  when I say first installment it's
• 25:37
  I mean insane that this went on to have multiple sequels and remakes and crossovers and it was just bananas how this film turned
• 25:52
  into this phenomenon all all on a 1.8 million dollar budget and
• 26:01
  you know i i can't i don't know how inflation works i don't know how to add all that up how
• 26:06
  1.8 million dollars in 2024 money is but i would imagine it's not super expensive this was about as low budget as low budget can get it was the first well at least one of the first movies produced by new line cinema who had been uh at that point mostly describling films you
• 26:29
  know as a minor
• 26:31
  studio it wasn't a big uh blockbuster film release type studio like warner brothers or disney or paramount and all that there it was this was during the era of scrape the videos and all this other stuff so it wasn't a huge studio and
• 26:50
  so they were really banking on this film to do something just to just to turn a profit you know a little profit to keep the studio afloat
• 27:00
  you know and off of that 1.8 million dollar budget the film went on to gross 57.1 million dollars and because of the success of a nightmare on elm street the
• 27:16
  studio new line cinema they earned the nickname the house that freddie built and uh i think to this day if if new line i think new line is still popping
• 27:29
  Not like it used to be.
• 27:30
  I know they merged with
• 27:33
  Warner Brothers,
• 27:34
  but you know,
• 27:36
  when Warner Brothers do different projects,
• 27:38
  they'll kind of shift it over to New Line and,
• 27:41
  you know,
• 27:41
  stuff like that.
• 27:42
  But as far as it's thriving and surviving for this long,
• 27:48
  it is because of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
• 27:53
  This film has a unique storytelling way as far as.
• 27:58
  As far as horror films are concerned,
• 28:02
  and it really changed horror films in the sense of the storytelling elements of it.
• 28:09
  The final girl,
• 28:12
  as it's dubbed today,
• 28:14
  you know,
• 28:14
  the final girl,
• 28:16
  the last survivor at the end of these horror films,
• 28:20
  are normally introduced early,
• 28:22
  we know who they are,
• 28:23
  blah
• 28:26
  in this film we're introduced to tina and tina is the one who's you know fighting freddy in her sleep and all this here so initially you think she's the final girl you know her best friend is nancy and all this here she's telling her about all this and whatever whatever but
• 28:43
  once we get to the end of the first act
• 28:46
  Freddie kills so it's like wait wait I thought she was the hero here you know cuz nobody's believing her nobody is on her side so you like okay she's on his solo mission to destroy Freddie and she dies and you're like well what's
• 29:04
  gonna happen what's gonna happen in it flips to Nancy being the final girl it is so unique it was a precursor to what
• 29:15
  West Craven
• 29:16
  later did with the screen franchise when you first watch screen for the first time and drew barrymore uh you get that opening scene and you're like okay because she's the only name in this movie or at least the biggest name in this movie you know she's the final girl no
• 29:35
  by the time that scene ends so does drew barrymore and that trope has been going on now uh it all horrified
• 29:44
  films there's nothing new and original about it anymore but back then it was and it was very very uh jarring you know watching that and you're like oh my god how these kids gonna survive now you know she was the only one with the information and you know and this that and the third but uh the character of nancy was so well
• 30:05
  written and the story was so flushed out well flushed out i may add dead
• 30:13
  it all made sense it it it wasn't just i don't know stupidly discovered now now but don't get me wrong it's it's 1984 it is campy it is a low budget uh horror film so yeah a lot of corners were cut i'm not saying that this was a uh
• 30:38
  oscar contender for that year's academy awards by no stretch
• 30:42
  I'm just saying that it was for what it was it was well executed and in the way that
• 30:52
  Nancy not Nancy I'm sorry Tina was disposed of in this movie once again innovative in my eyes now they've done this in films in the past when they take the set and they build the set to turn and you
• 31:08
  don't know that as the watcher the viewer you're just looking at people flipping
• 31:12
  it like they're possessed or something and they did it in this film and it was the first time i've seen it and i was in awe and honestly i'm a 45 year old man now and i still am amazed by that and wonder how did they do it when
• 31:28
  when freddy krueger was attacking her in her dream it looked like freddy krueger is dragging her up the wall and up on the ceiling and we're getting it from the
• 31:40
  point of view of her boyfriend on the floor but all the while um he's he don't see freddy so it's like it's crazy that she's just levitating by herself she's getting sliced up and all this here all
• 31:56
  up the wall and on the ceiling all in one take and you're like my god what is happening here sir it was wow it was wild and
• 32:09
  blew my mind still blows my mind to this day um nancy taking over as the lead here was was cool loved um uh the performance i love the performance by all of the kids even
• 32:26
  though they're not kids to mean you know they're much older than me but in the context of the film um they did an uh uh exceptional job uh robert england
• 32:39
  And
• 32:40
  I discovered this on a rewatch.
• 32:44
  I remembered the film.
• 32:46
  I know the film.
• 32:47
  But,
• 32:47
  you know,
• 32:48
  I wanted to get some,
• 32:49
  you know,
• 32:50
  better clarity if we were going to talk about it.
• 32:54
  And so I rewatched it.
• 32:55
  And I'm like,
• 32:57
  I thought Freddy was funnier than this.
• 33:00
  Because I remember Freddy being funnier.
• 33:02
  And then it dawned on me.
• 33:04
  It got sillier as the sequels went on.
• 33:08
  It was really turned into kind of a caricature of himself as the sequel,
• 33:15
  every every sequel going forward.
• 33:17
  Now,
• 33:17
  I liked it because it was funny.
• 33:18
  It was humorous,
• 33:20
  you know,
• 33:20
  but he was serious in this first film.
• 33:25
  Yeah,
• 33:25
  he was laughing and cackling and maybe crack a joke.
• 33:29
  But it wasn't like,
• 33:32
  you know,
• 33:32
  the wink at the camera type jokes that he was doing in.
• 33:36
  Part 4,
• 33:37
  5,
• 33:37
  6 and all that,
• 33:38
  you know,
• 33:40
  when he smashed somebody through the TV.
• 33:42
  Smile,
• 33:43
  you're on TV.
• 33:44
  All that stupid stuff.
• 33:46
  i'm talking seriously he was you'll never see him as serious as you do in this film maybe in part two uh in part two actually in part three that's where it started but once again part part three did it better though it
• 34:02
  wasn't campy his humor then it turned campy but anywho uh i just wanted to drop that little tidbit that he wasn't as humorous in the first film he was really menacing he was
• 34:16
  frightening another scene in here that will live in infamy for me was him in the alley stretching his arms to both sides of the alley and um once again once
• 34:33
  again tore me up why i don't go in the alleys why i don't do alleys to this day is because of freddie grouper and and that that was a scene that was like you
• 34:46
  how did they do that you know i'm telling you this is five six year old kevin i i don't know about visual effects and you know practical arms and extending and you know special uh machinery
• 35:01
  they used and all that no i'm invested into the world that was craven built this is how he wanted it viewed and i viewed it in that in that regard
• 35:14
  and so i didn't know and it blew me away i'm like man this dude can do anything he can walk on walls he can stretch his arms he can invade your dreams he's wearing a glove with knives at the end i mean this is one
• 35:30
  of the most vicious killers you can ever conceive and how are they gonna rid themselves of this evil you know that that's the whole
• 35:43
  basics of this film and i'll get to the end in in in a few but you know all of the kills were kind of brutal now friday the 13th had his brutal kills um
• 36:01
  halloween had his brutal kills but it's something different about a nightmare on lambs those kills seemed like every slash every
• 36:13
  uh uh strangulation every mutilation was just detailed vividly for your viewing pleasure and you and it was it wasn't for the gore factor it wasn't to shock
• 36:30
  an eye it was to show how vicious of a character freddy krueger is was forever will be and it worked
• 36:42
  Seamlessly in my eyes.
• 36:43
  I thought it was the perfect way to display this character was not cheap in it.
• 36:49
  Let's not just
• 36:51
  Show the characters sleep and the next morning wake up roll them over and they're dead No,
• 36:56
  we need to see what's happening in the dreams and
• 37:00
  This film does it just excellently?
• 37:05
  The kill the greatest kill in film history.
• 37:08
  Yes,
• 37:08
  I'm saying it here and I'm not speaking hyperbole
• 37:11
  this was the greatest kill in film history now i just went on this spiel about showing it they didn't really show this but they showed the aftermath and let your imagination do the work and that's all that's
• 37:29
  all they needed to do it was ironically the death of uh johnny devon i don't know why i said ironically there because the man's still alive and kicking but i'm
• 37:40
  It was Johnny Depp's character of Glenn,
• 37:43
  his death.
• 37:45
  Let me talk to the boys and girls in the audience for a sec.
• 37:49
  Back in the day,
• 37:50
  we used to have,
• 37:52
  not we,
• 37:52
  I never had one.
• 37:53
  I always wanted one because I thought that was special to have a waterbed.
• 38:00
  They were waterbeds.
• 38:01
  It was like sleeping on water,
• 38:04
  I guess.
• 38:05
  I don't know.
• 38:06
  I never laid down in one,
• 38:07
  never slept in one,
• 38:08
  never had.
• 38:09
  and so this was a thing is so in this film glenn had a water bed and he had one job cat daddy had one job uh his character watch nancy don't
• 38:25
  let her go to sleep well he went to and he went to sleep on that water bed only only to realize in his dream that freddy's got and
• 38:40
  In our world,
• 38:41
  from our point of view,
• 38:43
  we see Freddy Krueger's arm come out of that water beam.
• 38:47
  with the glove and snatch him down into the bed dragging the television the headset and if you look at that shot if you look at that shot everything that he was uh
• 39:03
  watching or doing on that bed is your cell phone right now he was watching tv listening to music with the uh
• 39:12
  with his Walkman he had uh what else he had on there a stereo or something he had all this stuff on his bed and when I re-watched it
• 39:20
  I was like man
• 39:21
  I got all of that right here in one hand right now it was crazy but anywho yeah all that sucked down with him and so uh he starts screaming screaming for his mom and blah blah blah and hole in the bed his
• 39:38
  mom buses in the mom and the dad whoever they bus in
• 39:43
  and all of a sudden out of that hole was gallons of blood gallons just now how they pulled that shot off they used the same set that they used with the tina murder you know they just turned this uh the set around
• 40:02
  but they turned it upside down for this scene and just poured the water out the the dyed water i guess
• 40:12
  out of the hole and just flipped it when they did the edit so that it looks like it's coming out of the ground and so um that was just bananas
• 40:28
  because that is no way possible the human body only holds what six pints of blood or i forgot but that was gallons
• 40:40
  it was gallons of blood now i know it used to spin disbelief i know that a lot of that because the blood was mixed with the water and all that i i get all that but look once again this is five six year old cat come
• 40:55
  on i thought it was blood i thought it was real like man what did how did he die what did he do what did he do he grind him up or something i mean it was nothing but blood coming out
• 41:10
  oh but it was brutal it was brutal uh i once again singed into my cerebellum forever and we get to the end of this movie and this is my only problem with the movie it it didn't
• 41:30
  end the movie didn't end uh at least that's what i'm led to believe is like what what happened at the end
• 41:39
  How they vanquished her or how
• 41:43
  Nancy vanquished
• 41:44
  Freddy Krueger was so unsatisfying.
• 41:48
  It was so unsatisfying with the incantation and all this here.
• 41:53
  I just didn't like it.
• 41:54
  Now,
• 41:54
  granted,
• 41:54
  yeah,
• 41:55
  I get it.
• 41:55
  It was set up.
• 41:57
  They left a little nugget early in the film with her saying this and doing this to Freddy.
• 42:04
  I don't care.
• 42:05
  It just,
• 42:05
  I didn't like it.
• 42:07
  I just didn't like it because there's still questions here.
• 42:12
  And then we get the scene at the very end with them driving off and
• 42:19
  Nancy's mom get yanked through the little hole in the door by Freddy's arm,
• 42:24
  which was a cool effect.
• 42:25
  And the convertible that they're all in,
• 42:30
  the top is the color of Freddy's sweater,
• 42:33
  and they can't control the car,
• 42:34
  and it drives off.
• 42:36
  and that's the end of the film and now allegedly
• 42:39
  Wes Craven hated that ending the studio made him change the ending because they saw franchise it's all sequel potential and so they told him to change the ending and
• 42:56
  so it can set up possible sequels and boy did it but um the the original ending was gonna be
• 43:05
  what we saw with the incantation and him turning into pixie dust or whatever and and that was the end of the film but despite that even though endings of films will make and break of
• 43:22
  movies enjoyment or quality level not here not here because we we know that it did go on to have multiple sequels six to be exact yeah
• 43:35
  Six sequels it had a TV show at crossover film with
• 43:40
  Jason Voorhees They had remake.
• 43:44
  I mean it was
• 43:46
  It was a phenomenon,
• 43:47
  and people to this day are still clamoring for another
• 43:52
  Elm Street film.
• 43:53
  Me being in that number as well,
• 43:55
  I would love to see another one if they do it right.
• 43:59
  If they do it right.
• 44:00
  Unfortunately,
• 44:01
  Wes Craven passed away a few years ago,
• 44:03
  so he won't be involved.
• 44:05
  But if you get the right people involved,
• 44:08
  I think you can pull it off.
• 44:10
  But will it be as good as the original?
• 44:13
  I doubt it,
• 44:13
  because a nightmare on it.
• 44:15
  on Elm Street from 1984 gets a letter grade of an A+.
• 44:22
  It's a classic.
• 44:23
  It is a classic.
• 44:24
  It is one of the greatest horror films ever made.
• 44:28
  One of.
• 44:30
  I don't want to be taken out of context.
• 44:32
  Oh,
• 44:32
  you said that was the great.
• 44:33
  I didn't say that.
• 44:34
  I said it's one of the greatest horror films ever made because it changed the genre in so many ways.
• 44:45
  it made a sub-genre in within a sub-genre and that's that's hard to pull off yet Wes Craven did it and it lives it's been living and thriving for 40 years still
• 45:03
  holds up like I said watched it the other day still holds up yeah it is dated you know it's
• 45:10
  84-ish but still holds up story-wise acting-wise all that you
• 45:15
  I loved it.
• 45:16
  Still love it to this day.
• 45:18
  But yes,
• 45:19
  happy anniversary to A Nightmare on Elm Street.
• 45:22
  40 years of glory.
• 45:25
  And I said earlier,
• 45:27
  November the 2nd.
• 45:28
  It was actually November the 9th that it was released in 1984.
• 45:34
  We still in that bubble.
• 45:35
  We still good.
• 45:37
  40 years.
• 45:39
  40 years of greatness.
• 45:42
  I want to know,
• 45:43
  were you a fan or are you a fan?
• 45:45
  fan of a nightmare on elm street do you enjoy those films are you clamoring for a sequel and if you was doing a sequel or a remake i should say of a nightmare on elm street even though robert englund is still alive and well i don't think i don't think he i don't think he'll do it he
• 46:03
  gotta be about 80 huh i don't know how old robert englund is but anyways if if you was doing a remake of a nightmare on elm street who would you cast
• 46:15
  as Freddy Krueger.
• 46:17
  I mean,
• 46:17
  think hard.
• 46:18
  Think long and hard.
• 46:20
  I would love to hear everybody's answer because mine is pretty simple.
• 46:27
  Mine is actually a no-brainer.
• 46:29
  And I know
• 46:31
  90% of y'all are going to solely disagree with me,
• 46:34
  but honestly,
• 46:36
  it's a no-brainer to me who I would cast as Fred Krueger in a Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
• 46:44
  and that would be nicholas cage nicholas cage even though he's up there in age but nobody said he had to be young and he is uh after seeing him in long legs if you saw long legs you
• 47:00
  would see it and then i said it then not even thinking about a nightmare on elm street but it watching him in that film it hit it clicked in me i like man
• 47:12
  Nick could have made a really good Freddy.
• 47:16
  And he,
• 47:17
  I can see it.
• 47:18
  I can honestly see it.
• 47:20
  And now,
• 47:21
  I'm pretty sure there's other capable actors out there.
• 47:24
  Probably,
• 47:25
  you can probably put a unknown under that makeup,
• 47:29
  you know,
• 47:29
  if they're good.
• 47:30
  But I'm just saying off the top of my head,
• 47:32
  somebody who's known.
• 47:33
  If you're trying to sell the movie,
• 47:35
  yeah,
• 47:35
  I would say Nicolas Cage.
• 47:37
  And if that happens,
• 47:39
  I want my money.
• 47:43
  give me my money but i would want i want to know your thoughts email the show kbradiopodcast at gmail.com you can also search for the show on all social media platforms just search for the kb radio network also don't forget about youtube subscribe to the kb radio network channel on youtube like this video uh
• 48:07
  share this video with all your friends and family you
• 48:10
  Don't forget about the five stars,
• 48:12
  the reviews,
• 48:13
  and sharing this show.
• 48:14
  If you're listening on Apple Podcasts,
• 48:15
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• 48:16
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• 48:17
  wherever you are currently listening to movie goodness here on the KB Radio Network.
• 48:24
  Everybody,
• 48:25
  thank you for joining me on this retro review of the
• 48:32
  40-year anniversary to a horror classic.
• 48:38
  A nightmare on Elm Street.
• 48:40
  I want you all to know that I love you.
• 48:42
  Continue to love everyone.
• 48:44
  And until we speak again.
• 48:46
  You all be blessed.