10 True Stories Behind Famous Horror Movies
1. A Nightmare On Elm Street
The central concept of the Elm Street franchise is that Freddy Krueger is able to invade the dreams of teens, getting off on tormenting them night after night. Eventually, when he tires of playing with them, Freddy murders the children and, in this world, if you die in your dreams you die for real.
Wes Craven first got the seed of this idea after reading a series of articles in the L.A. Times revolving around a family from Cambodia. The teenage son of the family had begun to experience night terrors; waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, heart racing and scared out of his mind. The young man became obsessed with the idea that something evil was trying to get to him through his dreams. He told his parents repeatedly that he was afraid that the next time he fell asleep he would not wake up again.
Much like Nancy in the movie, the young man began drinking pots of coffee in a desperate attempt to stay awake. Unfortunately, the young man eventually fell asleep. Then, in the middle of the night, his parents were awoken by him screaming. They rushed to his room, but it was too late. The young man had died in his sleep. Wes Craven went on to say in an interview many years later that he took not only the idea of dying in dreams from the story but also the opposition relationship between haunted teenager and disbelieving parents.