Big_Lou
Well-Known Member
Cool pic.
YES! 
“I’d read an article in the L.A. Times about a family who had escaped the Killing Fields in Cambodia and managed to get to the U.S. Things were fine, and then suddenly the young son was having very disturbing nightmares. He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time. When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died in the middle of a nightmare. Here was a youngster having a vision of a horror that everyone older was denying. That became the central line of Nightmare on Elm Street.”
- A bully: A kid named Krueger used to beat Craven up when he was younger. (Childhood trauma is always a helpful muse.)
- A previous character: The name ‘Krueger’ is an extension of the mortal, human monster, ‘Krug’ from The Last House on the Left (1972). The influence on Krug’s name also probably derives from the bully named Krueger, but after Krug was given cinematic life, the name became more sinister – more emblematic of evil. In the movie, Krug keeps his own son hooked on heroine as he tortures, rapes and murders two teenage girl.
- A derelict: Craven’s inspiration for the appearance of Freddy began when he saw a homeless derelict staring at him across the street from his home in Los Angeles. The episode unnerved Craven and was lurking in his imagination when attempting to picture how Freddy would look. The appearance of Robert Englund reminded Craven enough of the derelict to cast him. The hat Englund would wear while portraying Freddy was a replica of the hat Craven saw on the derelict.
- A sweater: There was no similar inspiration for Freddy’s stripped sweater. The dark shade of blue matched to a comparatively bright red became the colors of Freddy’s sweater only because Craven had read in Scientific American that they were the most difficult shades for the human eye to put together side by side.
