A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the most popular horror franchises of the last century. I invite you to learn some interesting facts about the first film and look at footage from the filming. Perhaps you will learn something new for yourself. 
1. Film creator Wes Craven said that the image and name of Freddy Krueger did not appear by chance. The character was based on a disfigured homeless man Wes was afraid of as a little boy. As for the name, that was the name of the bully who harassed Craven as a child. 
2. There was a story going around for a long time (and it still does) that when it was time to shoot Kruger, it turned out that the maniac’s costume (cloak) simply wasn’t delivered. And then the director caught the eye of a cameraman in a creepy red and green sweater. Without thinking twice, Craven ordered the creepy sweater to be removed from the cameraman and put on Robert Englund, who played Kruger. 
And according to the cameraman himself, his girlfriend knitted this sweater for him, and in fact he didn’t like it himself. It’s a good story, but it’s a pity that it’s a lie, especially since Freddie was originally supposed to wear a red and yellow sweater. 
In fact, as Craven himself admitted, at one time he read that the combination of red and green colors is difficult to perceive. That is why Craven began to put a sweater on Kruger in this color, because he believed that clothes in such colors, worn by a maniac, would make the audience uncomfortable. 
And by the way, if you noticed, in the first part Freddie’s sweater didn’t have stripes on the sleeves. And in subsequent parts, stripes on the sleeves were already present. 
3. The knives attached to Kruger's glove are not meat slicing knives, but tomato slicing knives, as they have a more curved shape. Specifically for films, knives of the "Case xx-p210" model were used 
4. To stay awake, Nancy watches the movie "The Evil Dead" (1981). But if you look closely, you can see that this is not the film itself, but just its trailer.
But the most interesting thing is that in the film “Evil Dead 2” one could also see a reference to the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. I mean the glove with knives hanging on the wall in one of the scenes. 
Still from the movie "Evil Dead 2"
5. Freddy Krueger was originally conceived as a silent maniac like Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th) and Michael Myers (Halloween). But in the end, Wes Craven decided that his maniac should not only be talkative, but also make various “dark” jokes and even swear.
That is why a real actor was required to play the role of Kruger, and not a stuntman, as was the case in the above-mentioned films. 
6. Remember the scene when Nancy, running away from Freddie in a dream along the stairs, steps into some kind of viscous substance. According to the director it was oatmeal batter, while cinematographer Jacques Equin said it was thick pancake batter.
7. In one of the episodes, the main character Nancy looks at herself in the mirror and says that she looks 20 years old. It’s interesting that the actress Heather Langenkamp herself was just 20 years old at the time of filming. 
Wes Craven and the main characters of the film
8. To depict Kruger's long arms in Tina's dream, crew members positioned themselves on the roofs of various houses and then pulled fishing lines that were connected to Robert Englund's sleeves. The scene was specially filmed in complete darkness so that the props would not be visible. 
9. Despite the fact that Freddy Krueger is the central character of the film, his screen time is less than 10 minutes of the total running time. But in subsequent parts much more time was allocated to him.
10. According to the original idea, Nancy and her friends had older brothers and sisters, but Freddy Krueger killed them all. Nancy's mother talks about this in one of the scenes. However, as a result, this scene was cut from the final version of the film. 
Deleted scene still
Craven himself was upset that they decided to cut this scene, as it revealed the true motives for the lynching of Freddy Krueger.
Also, in the script it was written that Freddie did not die immediately, but ran out of the building, set on fire, screaming for revenge, after which Marge (Nancy's mother) put a bullet in him.
11. The scene in the bathroom was quite interesting when Freddie tried to drag Nancy under water. The bath itself had no bottom, and underneath it there was a separate reservoir of water. Special effects master Jim Doyle sat in the tank. And it is his hand that we see in this scene. And in general, it was Jim Doyle who suggested filming this scene, because it was not in the original script. 
To prevent Nancy from falling under the water, she was placed on small spacer boards and asked to rest her feet on the walls of the bathroom. When the time came, the spacers were removed and Nancy sank under the water.
But the underwater filming took place separately in Jim Doyle’s own pool. Moreover, here instead of Heather Langenkamp, her understudy Christina Johnson participated, who at the time of filming was Jim Doyle’s girlfriend.
12. Freddy Krueger's makeup took about 3-3.5 hours a day. Personally, I was always amazed at how difficult it was for actors who just sat in a chair while they were put on makeup for several hours. But Robert Englund experienced unreal pleasure when, after filming was completed, he had to remove his makeup. According to him, he simply loved to rip the Kruger mask off his face. 
By the way, it was originally planned that Freddie's makeup would be even more complex, since the director wanted Freddie to be missing part of his cheek through which his teeth were visible. But in the end, everyone agreed that this was quite difficult to do, and it was decided to abandon this idea. 
13. Glen's death was filmed in a specially built revolving room. All pieces of furniture were glued to the ceiling, and only then artificial blood was poured out of the bed. Well, then, as you might guess, the frame was simply turned upside down, which created the illusion that blood was gushing upward. 
The same rotating room for the death scene of Tina and Glen
Tina's death was filmed in the same style, with her crawling on the ceiling. But for this, a specially prepared room (a large cube) already had to be rotated. And since the budget was limited, there was no longer money for an automated rotating mechanism, so the room had to be rotated manually. 
During filming, the cameraman and director were inside the room. In order for the shoot to go well, they had to move around with the room, sitting in car seats and wearing seat belts.
14. Johnny Depp did not plan to act in this film. He came to the audition just to be with his friend Jackie Earle Haley. But when the director saw the young man, he asked Glen to read his text. And he liked it so much that he invited young Johnny Depp to play Glen. And so began the career of a famous actor. 
By the way, Johnny Depp will also appear in a small cameo in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street 6.
15. It was no coincidence that Craven chose a glove with knives as Freddy's weapon. He studied people's fears for a long time and found out for himself that teeth and claws are the biggest primitive fears. Thus, he embodied the claws in the form of such a glove with knives.
16. In the final scene, a roof in the colors of Freddy's sweater covers the car, the guys were screaming for real. That is, all the emotions shown in this scene are not acting. The fact is that the roof really had to cover the car according to the plot, but this should have happened a little later. And it was precisely because the roof closed too early that the guys got scared. The director liked this reaction so much that he decided to leave this scene. 
17. The scene with Glen's murder was quite tense, as artificial blood not only spilled onto the ceiling, but also flooded the equipment, which is why one of the crew members who was operating the mechanism was electrocuted. Plus, some of the “blood” went outside the room and splashed several members of the film crew. According to Wes Craven, filming this scene was like a hellish Ferris wheel.
By the way, the blood in this scene was not the same as the blood in the other scenes. Firstly, using so much artificial blood would have cost the studio a pretty penny, and secondly, the artificial blood was too thick for this scene. Then the creators came to the conclusion that in the daytime scene it would be advisable to use water tinted with red food coloring. 
The creators almost prayed to God that the scene could be filmed in the first take, since otherwise all the scenery would have had to be changed, because the artificial blood was practically impossible to wash off. But despite all the difficulties, they still left the scene, citing the fact that it was all a dream, so here even the blood can flow a little at an angle.
18. In the ceiling scene where Kruger's silhouette appears, spandex was used, which Kruger himself was leaning on. Only in this scene, the role of Kruger was not played by Robert Englund, but by the same special effects master Jim Doyle. 
19. The scene with Freddy Krueger passing through the bars was filmed using optical rotoscoping. At the beginning there was a separate camera shot, and then Kruger (Englund) just walked separately against a blue screen. The rotoscoping artist then simply stitched the two frames together, removed the blue background, and then frame by frame erased the hash marks in the right places. 
20. The scene of Rod's strangulation in the cell was filmed backwards. That is, the sheet was already wrapped around his neck by the time filming began, after which it was carefully unwound. Well, then they just played the stage backwards.
21. At the moment where Tina was running from Freddy and could not move forward, a treadmill was used. 
22. In the scene where Freddie was burning, the role of the maniac was played by a stuntman dressed in a special fireproof suit. After filming the scene, crew members extinguished the burning stuntman. Even leading lady Heather Langenkamp ran up with a fire extinguisher. 
In another scene with burning Freddy, the stuntman decided to improvise and fell down the stairs on purpose, although this was not in the script. As a result, for this scene the stuntman received the prize for “Best Stunt of the Year”. 
23. The film "A Nightmare on Elm Street" might not have come out. The fact is that the studio had a very modest budget, namely 700 thousand dollars. The producers were looking for money wherever they could, since not only was the film not yet shot, but there was also nothing to pay the members of the film crew. And this takes into account the fact that producer Robert Shay’s personal funds were also invested in the film.
To pay off his debts and continue filming, line producer John Burrows withdrew money from his credit card. This was a very risky step, since if it failed, he could simply become almost homeless. 
As a result, we somehow managed to shoot the film, spending $1.8 million on the matter, and the film itself earned $2.5 million at the box office, which, of course, became a success.
24. In the first part of the film, it was decided not to mention the name of the city so that the viewer could associate the conditional Elm Street with their area. But already in the sequel it was decided to indicate that the film takes place in the city of Springwood, which is located somewhere in Ohio. But the filming itself took place in Los Angeles. 
25. The scene of Nancy falling from the second floor onto the street should have been longer. That is, the heroine had to fall longer and seem to hang in the air. To do this, the actress was filmed against a blue background, while she twitched her hands. But in the end this scene was never included in the film. 
Still from a deleted scene
In general, many scenes were cut from the film, including the dialogue between Nancy and Glen's fathers. In this scene, Glen's father tells Nancy's father that Kruger killed his son because he is seeking revenge for his death. But it was decided to abandon this scene too.
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