The popularity of Wes Craven's original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movie series was such that it led to the predictable merchandising, including a couple of comic book runs. It also led to a syndicated television series, starring none other than the seminal villain of the series, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund, ex-V).
Freddy's Nightmares: A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Series (whew) lasted two seasons (1988-90), with Freddy serving as host, rather than being an intregal part of the anthology stories set in his hometown of Springwood. The pilot, directed by horror icon Tobe Hooper, explains how Freddy ended up the way he is. Seems he was acquitted in court, but lynched by angry parents, for lack of a better description. Anyway, because Freddy was always a quick wit, the producers used him the same way as the Cryptkeeper on Tales From The Crypt, providing some morbid humor, complete with bad puns.
Englund would headline one more series after Nightmares ended, co-starring in the short-lived NBC series, Nightmare Cafe.
Here's the open:
Rating: B.
2 comments:
Horror was never my thing, so I passed on this series. Although I DID watch Nightmare Café.
Back in 87 or so, Englund also had a gig telling horror stories via a 900 line. Z-100 (which was the number 1 radio station in NYC metropolitan area back then) used to broadcast those recordings for a time during the "Z Morning Zoo" show. We'd heard tales of trespassers who get stabbed to death with a pitchfork by an angry farmer, or torn to pieces by mutant gophers on a property used for nuclear testing.
I think I had seen ads for that 900 line.
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