ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge director Jack Sholder about the brand-new A Nightmare on Elm Street 7-film collection from New Line Home Video. Sholder discussed how he got involved with the iconic horror franchise, why Robert Englund’s casting was so important for the movie, and more.
“Freddy Krueger, the vengeful child killer burned alive by angry parents, returns to haunt the dreams of their children when this chilling 7-film saga becomes available as a 4K UHD collection for the first time. From his first terrifying appearance on Elm Street to his resurrection through nightmares, Freddy unleashes horror across generations – where sleep is no escape, and dreams become deadly,” a description of the product reads.
The A Nightmare on Elm Street 7-film collection is now available to purchase. Click here for more information.
Brandon Schreur: Before I ask you anything, I just wanted to say real quick that I’m such a fan of your work in Nightmare 2. It’s so exciting that this new collection is coming out. Congratulations on all the success that this movie has had.
Jack Sholder: Oh, yes, thank you. I think you’ll be really pleased when you see it. This is the way that we wanted the film to be seen, but it never quite could be. Especially with home video stuff. You’re now seeing the film exactly the way we wanted it to be seen, maybe for the first time.
Which is so awesome, I’m so excited. It’s just such a good movie. Jack, to start, I’m wondering if you can walk me through a little bit about what it’s like to get that phone call for the first time that says you’re going to direct a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. I know it was a while ago, but when you started working on Freddy’s Revenge, what aspect of this world and the Freddy Krueger character were you most excited to explore and what did the process of what a direct sequel to Wes Craven’s movie look like in those early days?
Jack Sholder: First of all, my first reaction was to say no, because I didn’t want to be typecast as a horror film director. I especially didn’t want to be typecast as a horror film sequel director. Then a friend of mine, a producer, said, ‘Jack, you’re crazy. The movie is going to make a lot of money, and you’re going to have a career as a director.’ I’d done my first feature and the phones weren’t really ringing off the hook. I did 13 more features and directed movies for another 20-some years after that, so he was right.
Basically, it was very scary. Wes had left, and they were going to start shooting in six weeks. So I had six weeks to prep what, for me, was a very complicated movie. I’d only done one, and this had a huge number of special effects, none of which I knew how to do. I had to cast the whole film, I had to find all the locations, and I had to hire the people who weren’t already hired. Fortunately, the director of photography from the first one had already been hired, which I was very happy about. He did a great job, and I’ve always admired his work. So he was helpful in helping me get through it.
I like to plan every shot of the movie before I shoot it. Initially, just out of fear that I was going to walk on the set and have no idea what I was doing. Then I could at least look at a piece of paper and say, ‘You go here, put the camera here.’ But it also forces you to think through what the scene is about, what it’s doing in the movie, why it’s there, who is the scene about, what is the subtext of the scene, what is the subtext of the movie? Which, for me, is teen sexual anxiety. Which kind of morphed into a bigger issue as the audience has grown.
It was very, very stressful. It was basically one long panic attack. I managed to get everything done. Like, the day before we started shooting, I had everything planned out, everything was done, I walked on the set, and, boom, all the nerves were gone. It’s kind of like an actor — they push you on stage, and then you start to play and everything is good. That’s kind of how it was.
There was no pressure. There were no rules — the only thing they said was to keep Freddy scary. Make him scary. Keep him dark. So that’s what we did. Other than that, I just had free rein to shoot the script. That’s what I had to do. I didn’t really have any time to work with the writer on the script. New Line was happy with the script, so I had to try and make it work as best as I could. I didn’t really ask a lot of deep questions.
The only thing about Freddy is that, initially, when I got to LA — I had been living in New York — when I got out to LA, I said, ‘So [is Robert Englund coming back?]’ They said, ‘We’re not sure. We’re trying to make a deal with his agent, but his agent has the nerve to ask for more money. And we don’t want to give him more money.’ I said, ‘I think it’s kind of important that he comes back,’ and they said, ‘No, we can just get somebody and dress him up like Freddy, that will be fine.’ We all found out that was not the case. Fortunately, they managed to get him back.
I mean, it probably would have done okay anyway because the idea was so good. What they found out, once we finished the film, they started screening it, and it’s all about Freddy. If you see the original poster, Freddy’s not on the poster. There’s no Freddy. There’s just a claw, like on a bird or something — just a claw in the air. It says, ‘Starring…’ and, then at the bottom, ‘And Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.’ The next movie, ‘Freddy Krueger! Robert Englund!’
Thanks to Jack Sholder for taking the time to discuss A Nightmare on Elm Street 7-film collection.