Wes Craven

The writer and director who returned Freddy Krueger to his original menacing roots.

Wes Craven wrote and directed Wes Craven's New Nightmare, the seventh installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He is also the creator of the original 1984 film. In this meta-supernatural horror, he portrays himself as a man suffering from precognitive nightmares who explains that an ancient supernatural entity was trapped by the films but freed after Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Craven originally scripted himself as a character driven insane who cut off his own eyelids to stay awake, but changed it to a more comforting setting in an opulent house in the Hollywood Hills. He named Fran Bennett's character, Dr. Christine Heffner, after former MPAA ratings chief Richard Heffner.

Quick Facts

Role

Creator
Director
Writer

First appearance

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Key creation

Freddy Krueger

Lore & Background

Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than recent entries to the franchise—which he regarded as being cartoonish, and not faithful to his original themes. The basic premise originated when Craven first signed on to co-write Dream Warriors, but New Line Cinema rejected it then. In New Nightmare, Krueger was portrayed closer to what Craven had imagined: darker and less comical. To reinforce this, the character's make-up and outfit were enhanced, with one of the most prominent differences being that he now wears a long blue/black trenchcoat and a green hat. The signature glove was redesigned for a more organic look, with the fingers resembling bones.

Reader's Guide

The film was written under the working title A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: The Ascension. Craven initially scripted himself as a man driven insane by nightmares, who had cut off his own eyelids to stay awake and was being driven by Michael Berryman's character from The Hills Have Eyes. Craven decided to opt for a more comforting setting of being in an opulent house in the Hollywood Hills. The film won an International Fantasy Film Award from Fantasporto for Best Screenplay by Craven. Wes Craven's New Nightmare was released on October 14, 1994, grossing $19.8 million at the box office on a budget of $8 million, making it the lowest-grossing film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. However, it received positive reviews from critics, and is considered by many as one of the best Nightmare movies and one of Wes Craven's most enduring films.