Filmmaker Mick Garris entertains two titans of horror on his entertaining "Post Mortem" series on FEARnet in celebration of the upcoming "A Nightmare on Elm Street" due in theaters on April 30th.
'Post Mortem's Wes Craven and Mick Garris (R) courtesy of FEARnet.
Filmmaker Wes Craven and actor Robert Englund are interviewed by Garris and share great anecdotes of the iconic franchise and their storied successful careers.
Robert Englund, courtesy of FEARnet
FEARnet - a multi-platform entertainment service and premier site for horror and thriller entertainment and news - continues with "Post Mortem with Mick Garris."
In honor of one of the most popular horror franchises in history, "A Nightmare on Elm Street", Garris will premiere a special "Post Mortem" double feature with Mick sitting down for in-depth one-on-one interviews with the franchise’s original creator/director Wes Craven and “Freddy Krueger” himself, Robert Englund.
Garris goes face-to-face with Craven and Englund for an insightful conversation that digs deeper into these two horror icons careers and uncovers factoids about "A Nightmare on Elm Street" that will intrigue fans of the franchise. With the highly anticipated remake of the original movie opening on April 30th, these interviews finally shed light on the origins and transition of Freddy over the course of eight movies and a season of TV shows.
Some of the interview highlights with Craven and Englund include:
Wes Craven answers one of his most frequently asked questions about A Nightmare on Elm Street, ‘Where did that idea come from?’ and how he created such a terrifying creature that become Freddy Krueger.
Craven says, “It was a combination of hearing someone talk about having a dream that was so real they could almost pull the person out of it.”
As for Freddy Krueger, Craven shared a terrifying childhood memory: “He was based on a man who frightened me as a child. He woke me from my sleep one night, shimmying down the sidewalk in Cleveland. I got out of bed to see what it was there was this guy, dressed very much like I made Freddy dress, I think he was just a random drunk going down the sidewalk, but he had an uncanny ability somehow to realize that this little kid was looking down on him from the second story apartment window."
Craven continued, "He just stopped and looked right up at me. I fell back and sat on the edge of the bed in the dark and counted to one thousand, I thought he must have gone. He can’t be waiting. I crept back to the window and he was just waiting! He turned and walked down the sidewalk, looking at me, and he walked around the corner to the entrance of our building. I pounded on my brother’s door screaming ‘There’s a guy! He’s coming for me!' and my brother went down with a baseball bat and the man ran away. The essence of that man was that he enjoyed terrifying a child and sort of destroying the comfort of innocence. That became Freddy.”
Robert Englund discusses how the iconic Freddy hat, the Fedora, almost never happened.
Robert Englund, courtesy of FEARnet
“They put me in all these ridiculous hats. At one point it was a paper boy’s hat, like a 1930’s newsboy. I said ‘you guys have got to be desperate here, this is all wrong.’ I told Wes ‘that hat is from your imagination. The Fedora.’ But they worried it was going to look too much like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Englund elaborated, “No one is gonna think of me as Harrison Ford! I took it off, put it back on, and noticed what it could do with the light. ‘Look at my shadow on the wall, look at the silhouette.’ I remember that day very well and think it was just Wes needing me saying I don’t think we should this. You’re right. You were right the first time.”
"That silhouette became the logo of the experience of A Nightmare on Elm Street," added Englund.
Freddy Krueger, as portrayed by Robert Englund, is arguably the most recognizable horror movie character since Boris Karloff’s “Frankenstein.” Starting April 1st, to further celebrate the Nightmare franchise, FEARnet will feature the 30 Days of Freddy presented by Warner Bros. Pictures’ A Nightmare on Elm Street, in theaters April 30, 2010.”
As part of this special, three new online initiatives will kick off, “Freddyspotting,” “THE Quotable Kreuger” and “Elm St. Revisted.”
"Freddyspotting" will measure just how deep his influence runs as FEARnet has scoured the globe for the oddest and most unexpected examples of Freddy in the U.S. and international popular culture.
Each day throughout the month of April, FEARnet will showcase cartoon cameos, video games, sitcom appearances, Freddy merchandise (legal and otherwise), the banned Freddy snack food (too scary for children) and more.
With “THE QUOATABLE KRUEGER,” FEARnet has compiled a list of our favorite quips and quotes from Freddy in all his films, which will be unveiled in advance for the Post Mortem premiere.
“ELM ST. REVISITED” will take a trip down memory lane with FEARnet’s exclusive interviews with original franchise cast members like Lisa Wilcox and Heather Langenkamp as they reflect on their Freddy Krueger experiences.
Monsters and Critics had a quick chat with Garris and asked him what he made of 3D and the horror genre.
Monsters and Critics: Mick, I am on the fence about 3D; what impact on any classic horror do you see coming down the pike, and would you be tempted to film anything you have in development in 3D? What is your opinion of it overall?
Mick Garris: “I have nothing against 3D; after all, the original House Of Wax was in 3D, as well as It Came From Outer Space and Creature From The Black Lagoon.
Those were very effective in that format - though I was too young to see them in theaters when they came out, I did manage to catch them in revival in the 70s. If the story is right for 3D--as in Avatar, Coraline, Comin' at Ya!, Joe Dante's The Hole, etc., then why not? But it's certainly not right for everything.
I guess that I, like you, am on the fence. I've really enjoyed it when used properly, and have found it to be a headache when it's not.”
Post Mortem with Mick Garris is FEARnet’s eighth original produced series for the web, and will follow on the heels of last month’s highly anticipated debut of Fear Clinic – the terrifying original series tackling humanity’s worst phobias and starring horror icons Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger of The Nightmare on Elm Street blockbuster franchise), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th franchise) and Danielle Harris (Rob Zombie’s Halloween).
FEARnet is always free and available 24/7 at Fearnet.com as well as FEARnet On Demand (check local cable provider), and FEARnet Mobile (mobile.fearnet.com). That’s three portals for the most original lineup of horror and thriller entertainment anywhere.
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