Written and directed by Wes Craven, the 1984 horror-fantasy filmA Nightmare on Elm Streetpioneered a new genre of horror. With his burned and disfigured face, elongated arms and signature metal-clawed brown leather gloves,the antagonist Freddy Kruegerstill remains one of the most formidable villains of all time. The movie bolstered the box office andkickstarted a whole franchise, with multiple sequels, a television series, and a 2010 remake. It is also notable for introducing the 21-year-old musician-turned-actor Johnny Depp in the role of Glen Lantz.
Set in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio, the story revolves around a group of teenagers who areterrorized and killed in their dreams(and, simultaneously, in reality) by the vengeful spirit of a former child killer. Freddy had been burned to death by the victims’ parents after managing to avoid prison due to a technicality. The lead character Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) is determined to put a stop to the murders — all while avoiding sleep and getting killed herself. The surreal blur between dreams and reality makesA Nightmare on Elm Streetone ofthe greatest slasher horror moviesin cinema.
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Who Does Johnny Depp Play in A Nightmare on Elm Street?
Even though Depp is renowned for his unconventional role choices, Glen is a pretty straightforward character. He plays Nancy’s 17-year-old jock boyfriend and serves as the voice of reason throughout, trying to find logical explanations for the gruesome murders. However, even though he does not seem to buy Nancy’s theories about Freddy at first, he is sincere to her and agrees to be a part of her plans to get rid of him. He also explains the Balinese way of dreaming in an attempt to help her: if she turns her back on the negative energy during a nightmare, the monster will disappear. This is, in fact, exactly what Nancy ends up doing in her final confrontation with Freddy in the movie.
Does Johnny Depp Die in A Nightmare on Elm Street?
After discovering who Freddy really is, Nancy formulates a scheme to pull him out of her dreams into reality, and asks Glen to be there to knock him out when she does. They agree to meet at midnight to put the plan in motion, and she warns him to not go to bed until then. When the time draws closer, she calls him repeatedly but Glen is already asleep by then. At one point, his father picks up the phone but he refuses to let Nancy talk to Glen as he believes that she is losing her mind and could be a poor influence on his son. He takes the phone off the hook and Nancy is left with no other options.
When her phone rings, she picks it up to hear Freddy’s eerie laugh on the other end. She unplugs her phone in frustration and is about to sneak out to Glen’s place when it rings yet again. This time, she hears Freddy’s voice telling her:“I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.“His mouth suddenly appears in the phone and he begins licking her face, causing her to scream and stomp on the phone. She rushes downstairs to discover that her front door has been locked by her mother, who keeps insisting that she needs to get “some sleep” and refuses to give her the key. This is when Nancy realizes that she is far too late to help Glen.
In his room, Freddy’s arm shoots out of the bed that Glen is sleeping in, and pulls him into a gaping hole, from which a torrent of blood erupts afterward. When Glen’s mother comes to his room to check in on him, she is met with the disturbing scene of blood gushing out all over the ceiling, walls and floor. When the police arrive, they have difficulty in locating the body. This is when a distraught Nancycontinues with her plan on her own.
The original scene of Glen’s death also included a part where his blood-soaked body floats out of the hole and falls limp on the bed — which is why the movie was rated X at first. It received an R rating only after Craven removed 8 seconds from the scene. Another deleted scene showed Freddy breaking a finger and placing it on Glen’s body as a message for Nancy’s father, who is a lieutenant in the Springwood police department.
Glen’s death is still memorablefor several reasons. At the time of the film’s release, it was the most fake blood (about 500 gallons) that had ever been used in a scene. According to Craven, it belonged to all of Freddy’s past victims, not just Glen. The creative effects were novel at that time, involving an upside-down rotating room and the crew pouring blood from above.
Was A Nightmare on Elm Street Johnny Depp’s First Role?
A Nightmare on Elm Streetwas Depp’s film debut, and launched his career overnight. He had accompanied his friend Jackie Earle Haley, who was auditioning for a part in the film, but eventually Depp got the role instead (whileHaley ended up with Freddy’s role26 years laterin the film’s remake).
Before Depp was cast as Glen, the film producers offered the role to Charlie Sheen but his salary was more than the studio could afford. Other actors who were considered were Brad Pitt, C. Thomas Howell, John Cusack, Kiefer Sutherland and Nicolas Cage. Craven later revealed that Depp was chosen partly because of his daughter; he had shown pictures of three potential actors to her and her friend, and both had instantly pointed at Depp’s picture.
Depp had a cameo inFreddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare(1991) as well, and Craven also wanted him to appear inNew Nightmare(1994) but hesitated to approach him. Later, Depp said he would have agreed if he had been asked. He also paid a tribute to the director at the Toronto Film Festival after his death in 2015, remembering how Craven had given him his first big break inA Nightmare on Elm Street.
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