10 Movies You Didn't Know Were Based On Real-Life People
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street
Not just one Wes Craven movie, but two Craven pictures get included in this list - for A Nightmare on Elm Street's core premise was based on a real person.
It wasn't knife-fingered, burnt-skinned, child killer Freddy Krueger who was based directly on a real figure, but more it was the victims of that first Elm Street for which Craven pulled inspiration from the real world.
As Wes detailed in an interview with Vulture back in 2014, his original idea for A Nightmare on Elm Street came after he read a story in the LA Times about a young boy who was troubled by nightmares.
This poor youngster had frantically told his parents that he didn't want to sleep, for if he did then the figure chasing him would kill him. After staying awake for several days, the boy eventually fell asleep. While his parents were originally relieved at this, they were awoken in the middle of the night by a terrified scream. Upon checking on their son, they realised that he'd died in the middle of his nightmare.
Pulling on this, Wes Craven then made this the basis for the terror that Heather Langenkamp's Nancy and her friends were faced with in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street and beyond. All that Craven did then, was give this nightmare presence a face and a name - and that's where Freddy Krueger came into play.