The Creepy Wes Craven Dream That Inspired New Nightmare

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Here's the creepy dream that inspired Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Director Wes Craven is an icon of the horror genre and is behind such classics as The Hills Have Eyes and Scream. Craven himself was a former academic who had little affinity for the genre, but after the shock success of 1972's Last House On The Left, found himself somewhat typecast in horror. He turned that to his advantage, using the movies to explore interesting themes and concepts, in addition to having fun crafting setpieces or scaring audiences.

With A Nightmare On Elm Street, the director knew he had a great concept, but none of the major studios felt it would work, thinking audiences wouldn't be afraid of dreams. The movie was eventually produced on a small budget and became a hit in 1984. Wes Craven — who helmed several TV movies  — had little interest in sequels but had already signed the rights away to the series and Freddy Krueger. Craven rejectedA Nightmare On Elm Street 2 after greatly disliking the concept, and outside of penning an early draft of A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, he had little involvement with the follow-ups. Of course, later entries turned Freddy into something of a comedian, which greatly lessened his scare factor.

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Craven later returned to his most famous creation for New Nightmare. This sequel was intended to celebrate the franchise's tenth anniversary in 1994, but when he first signed on, the filmmaker didn't have a clear concept. He rewatched the first six movies to look for a narrative thread to follow, only to realize the series didn't really have one.New Nightmare famously went meta and followed the creators of the series —