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A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was New Line Cinema’s first hit movie and saved the company from bankruptcy.

When NIGHTMARE opened Nov. 9, 1984 to $1.3M at just 165 theatres, it put New Line on the map as an indie distributor that could play a winning game. Thanks to NIGHTMARE, Robert Shaye’s fledgling studio was later nicknamed “The House that Freddy Built.”

The supernatural thriller, written & directed by Wes Craven and produced by Shaye, starred Robert Englund as serial killer Freddy Krueger. It also marked the movie debut of Johnny Depp as Glen, one of the teens attacked in their dreams by Freddy, wearing his signature glove with its razor sharp fingers.

Glen was supposed to be a big, blond, beach-jock guy, which Depp certainly wasn’t. The story is he got the part because when Craven’s daughter saw his headshot, she thought he was “dreamy” and threatened to run away from home unless he was cast!

Among the many then young stars that Craven considered for Glen were Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Brad Pitt, Charlie Sheen & Kiefer Sutherland. Sheen reportedly passed because his agent demanded more money than New Line could pay. But Sheen has denied that story, explaining, “I didn’t get greedy until years later…I’ve never been more wrong about interpreting a script…I just didn’t get it.”

Depp got it and it became his springboard to fame — such as Tim Burton’s 1990 fantasy horror hit EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.

Englund wasn’t Craven’s first choice to play Krueger. At first, Craven wanted a stuntman for the role, but after testing a few he realized it wouldn’t work. When Englund came to audition, he’d rubbed ash under his eyes, creating a sunken effect, and used car grease to slick back his hair. That intense look helped get him the job.

Englund based his physical performance on Klaus Kinski as Dracula in Werner Herzog’s 1979 horror film NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE. The backstory for his character — called Fred Krueger in the first NIGHTMARE and Freddy afterwards — was based on his own school days when one Valentine’s Day all the kids made cards to exchange, but one boy didn’t get any. Englund later imagined this was the boy who grew up to be Freddy.

Craven wanted to differentiate his killer from the many mask-wearing  horror villains of the day. So instead of a mask, he gave Freddy a face that was horribly defaced with burns and scars. Killing with a knife was too ordinary, but using a glove with steak knife fingers was unique.

As for the name Freddy Krueger, Craven’s said that while at school he’d been bullied by a classmate called Fred Krueger. He started to pay him back in his 1972 thriller THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT by calling the villain Krug. But with NIGHTMARE, he made Freddy Krueger a name that lives on as evil personified.