10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Freddy Krueger
1. Wes Craven Based Him On Real People
The helmer of everything from acclaimed meta slasher series Scream to the underrated People Under the Stairs, it’s fair to say Wes Craven knows his horror. However it may be surprising to learn that, despite Freddy’s supernatural grasp extending into the realm of slumber land, the director didn’t need to stray far from reality for inspiration when it came to creating the psycho.
According to the director, a childhood bully who tormented him throughout his youth on a paper route the two shared provided the name for his villain, whilst a disfigured homeless man he encountered at bedtime outside his window during an impressionable period of his childhood gave Freddy his iconic striped sweater ensemble.
The briefly-glimpsed man wore Freddy’s memorable outfit and not only stared at Craven’s childhood self, but appeared to watch him from his window when Craven stared back. Eventually Craven’s older brother ventured into their apartment building’s hallway wielding a baseball bat to scare him off, but whilst the intruder was gone, his image endured in the director’s mind for decades to come.