Hazel-Rah's Helliday Mixtape 11 : This One Goes Up to Heaven

Making Christmas!......Making Christmas!! .....GO AWAY!

It’s that time of year.......when the world falls in....into a relentless repeat sanity rinse cycle of the same seven seasonal songs!!! MAKE IT STOP!!
 

To help one survive the season , I have once again put together a spinning plate of cookies (milk sold separately)

We’ve got all the usual suspects one finds behind my advent windows : Mashups, trailers and alternate approaches to old classics.

Plus a healthy dose of sadness and spookiness

Beware, Krampus creeps around several corners of the mixtape in search of children to snatch.

And, as the year winds down and the bodies pile up (much like in a old fashioned slasher), we pay tribute to some fallen favorites: Leonard Cohen sings us a short Silent Night.Dead or Alive’s Pete Burns gets spun around in a nostalgic nod in a sure to be Hanukah gem from Dan Philips. Prince lives through Another Lonely Christmas for the first time. And if your jingle balls are feeling blue and under too much pressure, let Bowie and Sinatra give you some release in a seasonal mashup.

So,Crank the hot cocoa up to eleven,board up the windows and toss another cell phone app on the fire as we slip into Hazel-Rah’s Helliday Mixtape 11 :

1. It’s coming it’s coming “It’s christmas !” *shudder*
2. Myuu knows there is “Winter Trouble” coming in this dark and spooky seasonal instrumental
3. Will Butler sings of the fear this winter from his “City on the Hill”
4. Grandma Omi shares the story of the first time she met Krampus as a child
5. Douglas Pipes re-imagines an old classic in his “Krampus Karol of the Bells”
6. You better watch out for the “Red and White Right Hand “ of this G4GORILLA mashup when Nick Cave takes on Frank Sinatra
7. Divine only wanted some “Cha Cha Heels” for Christmas but Santa is being a bitch
8. Johnette Napolitano sings of you and me on “Christmas Morning” ...or is that mourning?
9. Robert Plant and Alison Kraus can see “The Light of Christmas Day” ...and surprising for this mix it’s not an oncoming train.
10. Billy is back for the cookies in this “Black Christmas (2006) trailer”.
11. Poly Styrene is dreaming of a black “Black Christmas”
12. David Bowie wishes all a “Merry Christmas and a Rock and Roll New Year”
13. It’s Queen and David Bowie vs Smokey Robinson under some serious “Jingle Pressure” in this djBC mashup
14. Pee Wee Herman learns it’s only “Seven More Fruitcakes” to Hanukah
15. Dan Philips says “You Spin Me Round( like a Dreidel) in his alternate mashup
16. Santa cried that Christmas has been cancelled .Boo frickin’ Ho Ho Hoo
17. The Smash-Up Derby don’t want to fight tonight so they belt out their mashup of The Ramones vs Christmas. It’s “Christmas Bop!’ Ho HO HO , Let’s GO!
18. It’s cold deep down in this 45 Grave cover of “The Snow Miser Song”
19. Wednesday Addams asks her Uncle Fester if he believes in Santa Claus
20. AHHHH! It’s the (MxPx) “Christmas Night of the Living Dead”
21. The Dirty Sidewalks know whats what . “It’s Christmas ( and everyone is miserable) “
22. Stephen Colbert welcomes Henry Rollins for their rocking version of “Carol of the Bells”
23. This Three’s Company christmas tree doubles as an air freshner with it’s pine scent.
24. It’s a bomb! The Nuclears are walking in a “Nuclear Winter Wonderland “
25. Set up a Dragnet to catch Tim Gill in his jazzy rendition of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”
26. Nick Frost knows the secret to Santa.......”Second Sled”
27. Apocalypse Kow are heading to Europe for the final acapela “Santa Countdown”
28. Corky and the Juice Pigs have a “Christmas Drunken Alibi” for what happened last night
29. Samantha Bee says don’t be a PC Douchbag this year . It’s Merry FUCKIN’ Christmas!
30. The Reverend Glen Armstrong knows that “Even Squeky Fromme Loves Christmas “
31. It’s the twelve days of Litchfield ! Laaaaaadies......on the fifth day of christmas , my true love gave to me ....a shiv right in my fanny......
32. Twas the night before orange was the new black in Litchfield as the ladies tell a lights out bed time story.
33. Didi Snavely knows that in America one must never go dashing through the snow in an unarmed open sleigh.
34. Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes sing a short live “Silent Night “
35. Prince performs for the first (and reportedly only) time his “Another Lonely Christmas” B-Side during this St Paul, 26 Dec 1984 concert.
36. Merry Christmas......SPOOOON!!! 

It's 10:31 on 10/31

One of my favorite tracks from this years Halloween mix. For me , it encapsulates that feeling at 10:31 on 10/31. The holiday night is winding down.The pillow case emptied of its candy. The horror movie comes to a screaming close on the television.All while the melancholy finality of the end of the holiday sets in.:

Frantically
Searching for the keys
Jamie Lee
Please wake up Tommy

HazelRahs Halloween Mixtape 12 : "TRACK" or TREAT !

                                             It's HazelRah's Halloween Mixtape #12! 

                                                       "TRACK" OR TREAT !!

It's that time again.
The year is winding down. 

And the cold dark nights are coming.

  It is certainly looking to be the darker half of the year with the way this world is spinning. No amount of bonfire burning dance offs or guising will keep the ghosts of past at bay. 

 This year has seen the loss of many talented performers. Prince,Bowie, Wilder,to name a few.As a small nod of tribute , each make an appearance,in their own way on tonight’s mixtape. Prince leaves us with something spooky with an unreleased track from 1985.  Gene Wilder puts on a favorite costume and tries his best to look like Gary Cooper in an entertaining mashup that blends of all things Freddy,Fresh Prince and Young Frankenstein. And Bowie takes a bow in the form of Mike Nelson from MST3K fame , turn to the left, FAME, turn to the right.......OoOoOOOOHHH aHHH as he does his best “Lets Dance” era singing about the Little Shop of Horrors. 

 Speaking of the gloved one, it wouldn't be a HazelRah Halloween mix without an appearance or two from the A Nightmare on Elm Street world.This year the treats come from one of the two video games that were created based on the child killing character.Mmmm Mmmmm 8-Bit bites of nougaty goodness. 

Scared of Child’s Play? You need an analyst. No horror movie can scare Elvira's and her two big pumpkins when she takes the stage at Knott's Scary Farm to perform a horror themed parody of a popular tune. 

As things wind down for the night,Vincent Price reads us a short bedtime story to help us slip into a spooky slumber.

All weird things must come to an end, and as the candle inside the pumpkin slowly burns out, and we drift off into a sugar induced coma as the sadness of the nights end slips in, on the television we catch a glimpse of John Carpenter's movie Halloween flickering ...... 

 Frantically, 

Searching for the keys, 

Jamie Lee, 

Please wake up Tommy! 

 But before we can call it a night ,John Carpenter makes his yearly appearance in this once in a lifetime live recording of his classic “Halloween Theme” from the very same performance I was privileged enough to see. Still am stunned this was even a thing. The 9yo in me who fell in love with John Carpenter's soundtracks and music oh so many years ago still has a smile on his face today.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

1) "1...2....Freddy's coming for you" in glorious 8-bit sound in this tune taken from the soundtrack to the Nintendo Entertainment System
    Nightmare on Elm Street Game from 1990
2) William Castle introduces you to some information that is sure to make you ....tingle
3) Oingo Boingo know that the monsters and mayhem come alive "When the Lights Go Out"
4) Dr Loomis knows "We are all afraid of the darkness inside ourselves" in this Halloween II mini treat
5) Through a grimy window that she can't keep clean, Anne Clark can see "Our Darkness"
6) The great voice of Paul Frees welcomes the listener to the newest attraction at Disney, "The Haunted Mansion"
7) The Emergency "Haunt You" with this synth pop-(corn ball)
8) Tangina  knows that "to us, he is the Beast" in this spooky Poltergeist mini sound"bite" .
9) Prince sings of "Other's Here With Us" ....and we wish he was still
10) Of course "Betelgeuse" can be scary, he's seen the Exorcist 167 times.
11) Nash the Slash and his "Children of the Night" come out to play
12) His name is "Norman Bates" he's just a "normal guy, according to The Landscape
13) Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, or "C.H.U.D" are coming up to town in this Trailer
14) "Subterraneans" want Flesh for Lulu
15) Lucy can not believe that her little brother is once again writing to The Great Pumpkin
16) Fear Condition don't suffer from Samhainaphobia as they sing of-" Halloween"
17) The Trailer for Lady Frankenstein. Playing with the dead is big in this family.
18) "Bring Frankenstein Back To My Street"- Gene Wilder meets the Fresh Prince and mix it up with Evanescence in this g4gorilla mashup
19) Brian Evans is the "Creature at the Bates Motel" .....in the room next to yours.
20) "The Couch Song" from the Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors XXVI
21) Homer doesn't want to alarm Lisa so he whistles a happy tune:...John Carpenter's Halloween Theme
22) Brainkrieg ,from the land of HomestarRunner, have a sour treat in the shape of "Decomposing Pumpkins"
23) ATTENTION ALL SHOPPERS!! ATTENTION ALL SHOPPERS!! It's the Sprites singing of their hero "George Romero". It will have you craving Craven and crowing for Cronenberg
24) "That Girl, that Strode girl.She's Michael Myers Sister" And he thought her night was already strange.
25) "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)" -Dickie Lee has seen things,beautiful and strange things.
26) "Don't Keep Satan Waitin" for Love (is) at Stake in this witchy sound"bite"
27) "I'm Not Scared " (of Horror movies) sings Elvira,Mistress of the Dark when she takes the stage at Knott's "Scarry" Farms in this live performance
28) The Rifftones implore you to "Eat Me"  in their best David Bowie impersonation
29) Vincent Price reads us a little bed time store about "All Saints' Eve"
30) It's now 10:31 on "Ten Thirty One" - and The Ghost in You have returned home from a night of Trick or Treating. The pillow case is emptied of its candy.The last half of the horror movie is coming to a close on the television.The sadness sets in. It's all over for another year.
31) It wouldnt be a HazelRah Halloween mixtape without an appearance of John Carpenter's "Halloween Theme". This time it comes to us from a LIVE recording via the show where I saw him perform at a concert in Pittsburgh this year.
32) Now, It's "The End,Freddy's Dead" in this track from the original soundtrack for the NES A Nightmare on Elm Street game.

Catch me if you can: "It was even worse after they caught him"

"It was even worse after they caught him."

Freddy on the brain again.

How do you think Freddy originally got caught by the police?

Disregarding Freddy's Dead with the whole "Freddy's a Daddy" background. and the episode of Freddy's Nightmares "No More Mr Nice Guy"(am I the only one who always hears Alice Cooper sing that title when I read it?) for the moment.

It seems unlikely that they would have caught him in the act. That would have been enough evidence to lock him up for a while if he was found...Glove in hand,
someones child in the other. His extended time in court was due to evidence gathered via an improperly signed search warrant.

So this means he must have been under suspicion for some reason. But what reasons would have led to a search warrant?

Yes, the town wanted to catch the killer and were more than likely hungry to point out anyone who looked out of place.Someone like Freddy who probably had prior run ins with the law,Who reeked of weirdness and danger,Would be an easy target.

But what could have been the final straw? Was he repeatedly seen in the neighborhoods by others before a body was found?Did he revisit the scenes of the crime and was spotted in the background,over and over? Did the children speak of the creepy guy in the red and green sweater and hat who was always watching them outside on the playground or in the park? Did he always wear that sweater and it's repeated sightings near crime scenes gave the police reason to single him out? I can picture Freddy as the type who had a limited wardrobe due to his situation in life. The sweater being an old christmas sweater he picked up at a shelter. It being one of the few items of clothing he owns, he wears it constantly.

What was the lucky break for which the cops arrested Freddy? Was he pulled over for a busted tail light and they arrested him on the spot for something they found in his vehicle? Something circumstantial that was thought to belong to one of recently missing children? That then caused them to write up a search warrant to break into the boiler room to look for evidence to link Freddy to the crime? Maybe he was arrested creating a disturbance while drunk one night and they found something on his person. I've often thought Freddy was the type of individual who kept a cot in a back storage room of the place where he worked. His bosses taking pity on him and offering him the unused space since he had nothing else. Maybe someone at work found something in this room of his that made them call the cops, thinking Freddy was the murderer

It was said Freddy took "his kids" to an old abandoned boiler room.But I don't recall it ever bluntly stated he worked in one. In Nightmare 2 it is said he worked at a factory that appears to now be abandoned. So perhaps he worked at one and took the kiddies to another place. Maybe the factory and boiler room were owned by the same company. And through his day job connection Freddy discovered the abandoned boiler room for his private work. Maybe the abandoned boiler room was on the same site.No longer used, in the back of the lot , and this is the space where Freddy's boss offered him to sleep between shifts. Maybe one day, someone went looking for Freddy for some reason and they discovered something disturbing. This tip leading to the the initial issuing of the search warrant that would be unsigned in their haste to catch the killer.

Or might he have been arrested in direct relation to the murders?

Did they possibly just fake the search warrant?In desperation to capture the killer.They had no concrete evidence to make their case but knew they would find some in his lair and after the revelations who would care about the tiny detail of a missing signature? Maybe they thought they could convince Freddy's appointed lawyer to play along. But when the media turned the trial into a side show that had the whole town watching,perhaps,the lawyer in question thought it would make him more money if he did his job and upheld the law.He might have seen this as a way to start his own law firm since his name was now mentioned in every newspaper article connected to this trial.His name now becoming so well known its almost a brand in the town. If it was later revealed that he missed this important legal fact , it would have damaged his job standing. Though who afterwards would hire the man who helped free Freddy is suspect. His new clientele would probably be criminals of a different nature who saw him as someone who would help them win a case.

I picture Freddy through all of this gleefully enjoying the spectacle he created. Watching the lawyers becoming less concerned with upholding the law and more concerned with capturing that next name in the headline. The Plaintiff lawyer dragging parent after parent after parent up onto the stage to weep publicly as they describe in detail how innocent and precious their little snowflakes were before Freddy took them.How they found their bodies Freddy grinning remorselessly at each of them.

While Freddy is known for having a wicked sense of humor, it would much creepier if he sat there staring at them in smiling silence for the entire trial.

What do you think led to his arrest?

A Nightmare on Elm Street : The Series - A second slice of thoughts

I was thinking again about the potential of a series as a way to revisit the Nightmare and Freddy. The many ways it could be portrayed.

A direct follow up to the last movie in the series: How does a town recover from the terror now that they think it is over.
A series that takes place at a point of time between one of the Original Nightmares: What was Freddy up to between Nightmare 2 and 3? What happened after Dream Child, but before Freddy's Dead?
How could they tell a story that would be interesting to long time fans and not too off-putting to newcomers. Anyone watching the show ,would have at least seen Wes Craven's original and possibly a sequel or remake. But what story could they tell that would not just be a blatant rehash of what came before?

A random idea stuck me: What if our story is driven by the last intended victim of the living Freddy Krueger. The last girl or boy who he was going to take before he was arrested. Maybe moments before he was going to take this child Freddy was chased away. And it's immediately after this point Krueger gets arrested and then later burned.

So this person grows up knowing what almost happened. Maybe always,perhaps subconsciously , living in fear,damaged by the experience and aftermath.

But for some reason ,Freddy never came back for this child after he became the Nightmares. Maybe Freddy could only first get to the kiddies of the parents who burned him as part of his revenge pact. I've often thought it was his intense focused rage and desire for revenge that gave him the gift to cross over. And since he was intent on making these parents pay he forgot about this lost child.

Until now......

I picture the first episode opening with a direct homage to the original Nightmare (it would be a nice touch if the actual filming site of the first nightmare could be used, but that was reportedly unhealthy to film in even back in the time of the original movie). While avoiding a direct copy,it sets the tone for the series while still being A Nightmare that pays tribute to the original. The character in question in this dream turns out to be the survivor from before. Much like in the first movie, Freddy is but a shadow on the wall until the final spooky reveal.

What if this person had left the town of Springwood many years ago when their family felt the need to get as far away from the evil. But she feels that she needs to face her fears and return to the town.

This person reconnects with old friends and neighbors. Through them learns and explores the history of Freddy. Learns of the "folk tales of Freddy" and people seeing him in their dreams.

Her presence reawakens something dark in the town as she spreads fear with her conversations. And people start dying.

But what of it? We know what the evil is. We just dont know when we are going to see him.
Where is the mystery? We know what Freddy will do- he will kill, we just dont know who or when or how inventively. And while that is something to help build tension on first viewing -will your favorite character die this week? - it needs a little something more than who dies this week

The writers would have to set the stage that anyone is fair game.And mean it
Perhaps the "last intended victim" person could be used much like Tina in the "Janet Leigh" type role. The casting of a significant name that would lead viewers to believe they will be with us for the entire series as we learn more about this character. This person is played up as the hero.Promoted as the "star" in the ensemble. Only to be sliced down unexpectedly ten minutes into a early episode in the series.

I thought it would be interesting for the first season to be short - pilot movie plus 7 episodes so viewers might be willing to give it a chance since its promoted as a short investment of time. And at the end of the final episode someone, perhaps the one who was the one to survive the living Freddy but be killed by the dream Freddy is seen waking as if the entire season was a Nightmare. A premonition dream much like Wes Craven's ANOES is sometimes spoken as being. This person wakes and is shown returning to Springwood where the real Nightmare will begin in season two, or reveals something that makes the viewer see the first season in a new light. So even if there was never a second season , the first could be a self contained story that plays into repeating itself.

But still, what would be the mystery? What we learn about the town and Freddy? Too much rewriting of history can turn off fans of Freddy. Learning too much would take away the terror.

Where is the threat? Could they play with how Freddy can get to his new victims? Maybe at first he can only play with their minds in the Nightmare, but he has no physical effect...yet? Maybe his presence is enough to make them scared , but not fearful enough to cut....yet. But his evil influence is enough to cause the dreamer to subconsciously do something that gets them killed for real. Lack of sleep causes them to fall asleep driving and crash. Freddy pretends to be someone in their dream and tells them things they want to hear,manipulates their feelings and memories, pushes them to hurt others.Maybe Freddy has enough control to keep them IN the Nightmare and they cant wake to stop something from happening in the real world.

Ooh, just had a flash: what if the series ends with the "hero" waking in a hospital,as if from a sleep coma, surrounded by beds in the room filled with people who she crossed paths with in her dream. People who were thought to have been killed. And they wake as well. But no one actually knows each other. Cue Season Two. They are Freddy survivors in a hospital in a homage to Dream Warriors.

Throughout the first season, one of our main "heros" converses with a Doctor from who they seek advice on several occasions.Maybe even befriend. They could be presented to the viewer as if happening in the main storyline but could also be seen as lucid moments that took place outside the coma world of season two on second viewing. But in Season one,Freddy could be shown pretending to be the Doctor at some point,just in one of the dream moments, so both the viewer and the character can never be sure what was real. This feeling could then be carried over to the second season as the awakening coma patients are shown talking to this Doctor who they now distrust.

Season Two could be the same characters going through therapy, sessions with stories of their shared boogeyman. Maybe each one of them in this post coma world has been a survivor of a Freddy attack on their own group of friends with their own story to tell.How they temporarily defeated the monster. And its this trauma that has brought them all to the same hospital in Springwood. Each one could symbolically represent the hero from a Nightmare movie. One could be a "Jessie" , a "Alice","Jacob","Kirsten" etc. Cue a cameo by their counterpart as a ward nurse, fellow patient etc.

A Nightmare on Elm Street : The Series

Now, I am not talking that 80’s thing of beauty known as "Freddy’s Nightmares" ,but rather a completely new series that focuses entirely on the Nightmare universe.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about Wes Craven’s ANOES . Partially because I recently received a personal letter from Heather Langenkamp, but also because, in a just under a week ago , I had the pleasure of meeting both Heather and Amanda Wyss again.
Add to that, the recent rumbling of one Kevin Bacon as an idea for playing Freddy in a new movie . ( insert your Burnt Bacon, extra crispy bacon jokes here) and my record is stuck on doing the Freddy.

What if ,rather than just one off sequel/prequel/requel movie that has to tell its story in a short constrained time there was a mini series - 7 to 12 episodes.

This would allow proper characters to be introduced and fleshed out before their flesh is flayed rather than the disposable people we are often given in horror movies.

We could expand upon the origin story. Much like in every other issue of comic books, the origin story appears to be retold in each sequel and or remake, taking up viewing time with the most basic information that we as a viewer are already very familiar . Freddy is like Santa Claus, everyone knows about him. Why would you be watching if you didn’t? So ,while a new show would still have to tell the tale, an extended show would give opportunity to expand and reshape.

But what story to tell?

A Remake?As Brian Fuller’s Hannibal has shown, you can revisit familiar territory and present it in a completely different light. Making all the proper homages to the versions that existed before but coming to the iconic moments from a different path. Even Walking Dead has done this when translating from comic book to cable show.

A prequel? This has many possibilities. A straightforward A to B story where series one is Freddy on the kill and then his being killed. With the final episode showing that season two will be where Freddy is now a nightmare. A combination of the present and the past – someone in the present is learning about what happened, leading to flashbacks or in dream depictions of discoveries.

A sequel to just the first movie? What happens after the original Nightmare? Nancy’s story. How does one cope with surviving as the Final Girl. Her mental and emotional story.

A sequel to it all ? A series that takes place many years after the last movie. The Legend of Freddy is long faded and forgotten. Especially since anyone who would have known about him has died by his hand or moved far away from Springwood. Even the Legend of Nancy is a story of whispers in the town. So this story could be triggered by someone or something connected to the past. Imagine if Jacob returned to Springwood as the catalyst? That, like a an unintended Harry Potteresque horcrux, Jacob has within in him one last burning ember or Freddys power. And returning so close to the source starts the fire. Perhaps he returned home to Springwood in search of his Mother who went missing. Maybe Jesse could come home. He and his parents having moved away after the events of Nightmare 2 , but he always having felt the town calling him back.

Any version could allow for a wealth of cameos by former Nightmare cast members. Playing new characters or small parts,relatives of former victims, corpses in the shadows.

Part of me would love to see a favorite actor return as a freed soul . Lost in a dream world.Unable to see the light. Horribly and emotionally scarred. Speaking stories of how their pain didn’t end when Freddy killed them .That Freddy continued to torture them relentlessly when their soul was trapped inside him. They would be made to relive their worst fears and suffering over..and over…and over.

Another quick thought, if Robert Englund did not want to play Freddy in a ongoing series,maybe he could return as a town librarian or history teacher or town loon who just happens to know all about Freddy

---

Ooh another...another thought...what if one of the characters.were to be one of the lost souls who didnt know she/he.was actually already dead and they lived in the town.as a real person but in fact were a haunted ghost who keeps experiencing memories of their.past life and Freddy experience

With A Little Help From My (Dead) Friends

I had the luxury of meeting both Amanda Wyss and Heather Langenkamp again this past weekend and ,no surprise, it led me to spend some time thinking about the movie once again.

Amanda mentioned something about her and Heather still being friends to this day. And it later, while laying down to sleep in my hotel room, got me to thinking about Nancy after the Nightmare once she finally woke to emotionally face the horrors of the reality of her Mother and friends deaths. The inescapable fears that Freddy is STILL coming for her.The complete change to her young life.




This is a teenage girl who in the short span of a week has lost her Mother, her best friend,her boyfriend and much more.What she thought she knew of her Parents would be forever changed at this point. Seriously? How does anyone cope with the knowledge that your Parents, especially one who is a cop, were directly involved in murder. A murder that than placed you in dangers path? She would go from being a young girl thinking should I sleep with my boyfriend to should I ever sleep again?Constant mental anguish. Dread.Impacted even more so by the fact that she cant ever get a healthy nights rest.

I've always pictured the Thompson household near the end to be full of fighting,door slamming and drinking while little Nancy tried to sleep in her room. Then after the divorce , she would see her Father less and less. And those times would be filled with an unspoken tension fueled by bitterness towards Nancy's Mom . Just listen to the way he says "Marge" when the two are in the LTs office. Especially while their daughter is right in front of him in grief over the fact that her best friend was murdered in the other room. If there was any time to drop the personal grudges and be there for your child, this would be one of them. There is a lot of history in that one word.

After the Nightmare, Nancy would now have to live with this man with whom she already had a damaged relationship. Nancy all the while still insisting it was Freddy who did the dirty deeds. Her Father still believing she is too far gone to accept the "truth". Nancy seeking the truth. Her Father denying it . Its doubtful the two of them could ever communicate about the situation without it turning into an argument and tears.

Who would Nancy have to turn too? Sure, she may have had a few friends outside of Tina,Rod and her boyfriend. But would any of them be close enough for her to talk to about her grief and fears? Unlikely there would be anyone with whom she felt close enough to discuss Freddy.

And after the events, how many would even want to be around Nancy? Would they be afraid to associate with someone surrounded by so much death?

Would she even return to school? Or would her damaged mind be so much that she had to be committed shortly after the events not even allowing her time to return to school.

So I found myself picturing Nancy as being incredibly alone . No Parent to really comfort her. No friend to confide in. No one around her to believe in her. She would be alone with her thoughts and fears way to often for many years after .

And this would continue if or when she would be committed for mental health reason.How could she talk to other patients who have their own real mental Freddys they are battling, about her real flesh and fantasy blood Freddy? What if by talking about her Freddy , one of these patients falsely convinces themselves they are being stalked by him,adopting her "fantasy" as their own and then harm themselves in an act of mental instability. She would most likely find it hard to trust talking about her state with these unstable strangers.

The Doctors would have none of her talk of Freddy. Eventually she would be forced to hide her feelings and thoughts of Freddy and the truth that transpired. For fear of being punished with medication that would leave her weak minded and unable to fight the good fight when or if Freddy came for her. So now, shes not only alone with her thoughts, but she feels she needs to repress them.

But this being our Nancy, she wouldnt just give up. Oh, sure, she would have some dark nights to suffer through. It's a wonder she never became a heavy drinker like her Mother. But that's out Nancy. Facing things. Not running away down a bottle. She would most likely make books be her friends she turned to. As she investigated what studies existed on dreams, dream control and psychological survival. Doctors would see this as a healthy pursuit and support her. Maybe Nancy would be the one to discover the existence of the drug called Hypnocil. Finding its name briefly mentioned in one of the many articles she has read about dreams or suppressants. I could see Nancy proactively contacting the Doctors associated with the drug, offering herself up as a test subject in her desperate attempt to get a decent nights sleep.

Another thought: What drove Nancy to take Hypnocil? Would it have been the fear of Freddys return? The fear to fall asleep at all , just in case something was waiting for her on the other side? Do you think she did see or sense Freddy in her post movie dreams? It's implied that when the Freddy Snake says "Youuuuuu" and Nancy cries "Oh My God! " that this is their dream reunion.

So if Nancy never saw Freddy after the Nightmare, why would she feel compelled to suppress them every night. I could understand every once an a while when her stress levels are high and shes going through a dark depressive patch. And certainly in the beginning of her healing process she would want to remove the possibility of a dream turning into a nightmare, knowing what she knew of how dangerous they could be. But to be on them every night? Maybe this was Nancys version of her Mothers addiction- pill popping.

Perhaps after the movie Nancy experiences regular Nightmares inspired by her memories of Freddy and his deeds. Reliving the horrors over and over. But while this is just her minds vision of Freddy and not the real thing, Nancy doesnt know this. She still thinks its the real deal. Or ,even if she can sense its not the real thing, she fears that one night it will be.That one night Freddy will find a way to slip into the skin of this "dream Freddy" and take over and get to her.He found a way to get to her once before.So she has to always be ready. Always on guard. And because of the intensity of the dreams Nancy has to put up an exhausting fight ...every.... single.... night. With no friend to turn to when she wakes. 

I had a little Stephen King moment

I had a Stephen King moment.

It happened this evening after work. I needed to go to the grocery store and pick up some ingredients for my evenings dinner. Nothing complicated, just a few quick ingredients. 

The store was not crowded .No long lines at check out or aisles full of people standing in front of that item I wished to grab off the shelf .  And then the image hit me.

So, as the song goes – I don’t want to fade out  , I want to …

FADE IN :

Daytime. Summer .Birds singing.Peaceful afternoon as people go about their day.  Foot traffic is steady in and out of the big box supercenter grocery store. I enter the store and approach the produce center in search of some strawberries.

Inside, families, couples and individuals select their items . It’s a typical scene on a Sunday afternoon.

Until it happened.

An intense vibrating klaxon sounds

And in an instant throats are slit. Strangled. And stomped on .  Husbands go at their wives throats with car keys. Mothers knock their young children to the floor and begin to stomp on the necks with an angry intensity. Strangers grab strangers and strangle them to till the bodies drop .

And then a second klaxon suddenly sounds and the assaulting individuals fall to the floor.

…see……this is what happens when I go to the grocery store hungry. Never ends well

Dream,After Dream: What happened to Nancy after ANOES?

As someone who absolutely loves the character of Nancy, I often wondered about what happened to her after the car drove off into the foggy morning and the credits rolled. I hoped she would have returned in the first sequel , and was saddened to see that she did not. Like Halloween II, I wanted to see what happened immediately after. I wanted to know what happened to my Nancy. When her return in Dream Warriors occurred , I remember feeling such elation ,goosebumps, and love .
However……

What happened to Nancy after the original Nightmare on Elm Street?

When she woke up the next day…..having lost her boyfriend…her mother…and most likely, her sanity…what happened next? 

             Oh,The schoolyard stories that would have been told about Nancy....she too could easily have become a playground song ALA Lizzie Borden and the jump-rope song. What her situation must have looked like to the outside world. The game of telephone that would have been played with the telling of her story would certainly have led to exaggerations of the facts.In the first sequel she and her house is already a playground gossip story. "She went crazy when she saw her boyfriend get murdered across the street." "her mother killed herself in our living room". Did Marge burn to death in reality? Would be a fitting revenge for Freddy .

             I’ve occasionally thought that the “morning fog” that Nancy sees outside in her final dream moments is actually the smoke from her Mother’s burning body influencing her dream as it fills the house. So that would place Marge still on the couch drinking herself to death. Maybe she passed out with a cigarette there and accidentally toasted her own marshmallows in her drunk stupor.

At what point in the film do you think Nancy actually entered the final nightmare? I always figured Nancy was deep in the dream the moment she started building her booby trap survival items...in five minutes....

But the movie can be looked on as having many dream possibilities :

• Nancy is slipping in an out of the dream state near the end,as she has been awake for roughly seven days. This would account for those random moments where things that could only happen in a dream are occurring in real time. The unplugged phone ringing.Nancy sensing Glens death as it happens. 

• Nancy slips into a dream midway through the movie some time after the visit to the dream clinic and the last half of the movie is in a dream even though our Final Girl doesn't acknowledge or is aware of the fact.

• The entire movie is a dream -Nancy is dreaming the whole thing.And perhaps even in a loop. Glens car drives off into the fog at the end only to reemerge back at the beginning, pulling up to school on the first day of the film.

If Nancy was in a dream, were any of her family or friends sharing the dream for real? Or was this just Freddy tormenting Nancy in her mind? Did her Father really see his ex wife burning alive under Freddy or was he just an element of Nancy's imagined dream? 

         If so , that means he would still think his daughter has lost her mind when the Mothers body was found and she woke ranting and raving that "it was Fred Krueger,Daddy." The whole lot of the parents seemed to be in denial .Understandably so at first. Ive entertained the idea that the children who were taken by Krueger had their memory hidden by the parents. Marge says the line " ..where he used to take HIS kids" ..so if Nancy did indeed have a sibling....Maybe Marge feels as if she no longer claims that child as hers after it has been tainted by Krueger's touch. 

        But when his daughter starts using the name Fred Krueger, this should have triggered an alarm in Lt Thompson. It felt as if the family had done their best to hide the history.So for Nancy to know what Krueger looked like,wore,the glove details should have been extra alarming. Though they act as if they are shocked to hear their daughter talk about someone they know all too well but have tried to hide from her. Both parents seem to react strongly to Nancy's description of Krueger when at the funeral for Rod.If Nancy is deep in the dream at this point, her mind wouldn't have the answers to put in her parents mouths

        I recall hating the theatrical ending when I first saw it. It felt wrong to me. The movie deserved better than the over the top final scare. I think New Line's Producer Bob Shaye was interested in the lets give them one last good scare before the audience leaves the theater Something to send them off screaming, laughing , and talking about "that last scene". I wonder how much of it was sequel oriented?Even in the year NOES was released , were sequels to horror movies the norm?Sure Friday the 13th was tossing out one a year, but other than Halloween II , where there many others at that stage? Heck, New Line barely paid for the first one , so I would be surprised if they were thinking about doing a sequel at that point. 

       I've always been a fan of the non sequel set up ending that was filmed but eventually cut.The quiet eeriness. The theatrical ending has its charm, and works as a final wtf jump scare emotional release moment to send the audience on it's way. But I'm more of a fan of the subtle version that creeps you out with its Is he or isn't he still out there ?The jump-rope girls telling us that - yes he is still coming for us.

Though ,there is one camera shot in an outtake that works well for me. A closeup on the car window as Nancy looks out at her Mother.Nancy then sits back in her seat ,revealing Freddy grinning at the wheel. 

       However, I've softened on the theatrical ending over time and hundreds of viewings. I've tried to reconcile it as Nancy asked for her Mother and Friends again. She wanted them alive again in her mind, not taunting corpses in the corner. Not dead and butchered every time she saw them .And she got it .If only for a moment. But Freddy was having none of that and with some of his last remaining strength , he snatched Marge from Nancy's happy dream.So now, maybe , every time Nancy dreamed of her Mother, she would only see the burnt remains. Dreams of her childhood would be tainted by the constant vision of her Mothers corpse. Although Nancy has defeated and weakened Freddy , he still has just enough energy left to reach out for one last scare. He causes the car to startle her, letting Nancy know he’s not gone yet, feeding her fear that he feeds on. And although she has her friends alive again in her mind( though dead to the real world) Freddy still takes one last something away from her by snatching back her Mother.

     But what when Nancy wakes? She has lost so much in such a short time at such a young age in such an unimaginable horrifying way. It would leave anyone unstable. Let alone the now constant threat in her mind that it could happen again the very next time she falls asleep. Nancy would be sure to have sleeping issues. Never being able to rest properly. Always afraid to go to sleep. And how would she process all that she has experienced? Post traumatic stress disorder would be assured.(though there is nothing really post about it as she is still under real threat of Fred in her mind)

      Her Father would only see things as a cop. He never believes Nancy . What would he think of his ex-wife being found dead in a locked house with his daughter? For all we know, Lt Thompson could have been across the street dealing with Glen’s death all while Nancy was fighting Freddy and only arrives to break into the house and wake Nancy after smoke is seen coming from his old home across the street. Since he would have been part of the waking world, He could very well have found Nancy asleep upstairs and Marge dead in her bed. Never having actually seen Freddy. And left thinking his daughter may have had something to do with his ex wifes death.

      He probably thinks his daughter is completely crazy. And now having to care for his daughter full time , he would be unprepared to cope with a child who is losing her mind in grief and terror.Nancy would still wake into a world where all her close friends and Mother are now murdered. This would be overwhelming in its sadness. And add to that no one would listen to or believe her in the real threat of Freddy, she would be all alone.Her Father would be off working long hours as a cop and have no desire to support her “fantasy”. He would most likely have her admitted to a hospital, kicking and screaming and raving all the way.

     Though in her dreams Freddy is not strong enough to terrorize Nancy, she would still be thinking about him and fearing his return. Feeling his presence in every shadow.This fear would keep the home Freddy fires burning just enough, that he wouldn’t fade away. She would always be afraid of the dangers of sleep.Her mind never allowing for her to rest because she never knows if the next time she lays to rest if it will be her last. While inside the hospital, Nancy is sure to have exhibited experiencing normal night terrors under the influence of the memory of Freddy to such an extent that under supervision it would lead to her at least being prescribed the Hyp-no-cil. Eliminating the intense dreams she is experiencing that the Doctors feel are affecting her mental state. .And for her, eliminating the real threat of Freddy for the time being.

     And now that the dreams have been removed from the equation, Nancy can sleep, mourn and begin the healing process. But what next for our girl? When she is allowed out of the hospital, would anyone who knew her in school want to associate with her? Would she have anyone to talk to about her friends passing? How many years would have passed? I picture Nancy going straight into college after her release from the hospital. Not wanting to stay at home with Daddy, who most likely developed his own drinking problem during these post movie years. Unable to solve the major crimes of these kids deaths, his own ex-wife's mysterious death,Lt Thompson probably started to make mistakes on the job. Missed shifts, anger issues, procedural mistakes ( Ive often wondered if it could have been Lt Thompson who forgot to sign the search warrant in the right place-not a law an order watcher so couldn’t tell you who is responsible for these matters) .His behavior , leading to his demotion or dismissal and leading to his becoming a security guard.

     Because of her intense experiences, Nancy would find herself adept at dream studies and research. Seeking knowledge about all types of dream control, symbols,rituals etc. Herself having a unique perspective on the dream state,perhaps she sought to do research to find the answers on how she could control her dreams if Freddy ever returned. Leading her to seek out a career in Psychology and dream studies. Her insight giving her the skills to maybe even advance quickly through the courses. Her own experiences might also lead her to seek out kids who are experiencing awful dreams as she does truly understand what they might be going through. Though, would she suspect Freddy might be at work before she meets Kristin Parker? Would enough years have passed that she would not connect the random “suicides” of Springwood's teenagers with the possibility of Freddy’s return? Would Nancy not know how many parents were involved in Freddy’s death and therefore not think that he would be seeking out the other children?

      Did Nancy try to question her father as to who the other parents that were involved in their suburban vengeance on Freddy? Would he have told her anything, or deny it, fearing that it would only fuel his daughter’s insane fantasy? I always appreciated the sense of history that was given to the lives of the adults. How their involvement in this has damaged their lives and themselves. Marge disappeared into the bottle. The Thompson's divorced. Tina's parents were divorced with the Mother often abandoning her daughter for personal needs.Glen's father looked like a shouter, and the type to smack his kid (and wife) around when angry. The Parker's(from Dream Warriors) appeared divorced with the mother self involved in her dating and life style activities avoiding the reality of her daughters pain to the point she even makes jokes about it.

            Would Nancy have sought out newspapers and news footage of Freddy? To try to learn as much as she could about him or would she been afraid to, fearing that knowledge would give Freddy power, she would have more to fear the more she knew about him. It's implied in Dream Warriors that she really hadn't learned much more about Krueger than the basic information her Mother had told.

            At some point she did learn that they had hidden Freddy's remains .Though, where that information came from is questionable. Her Father wouldn't talk. Her Mother was dead. Unlikely Glen's parents would be willing to even talk to Nancy after what happened to their son.I can see Glen's father easily blaming Nancy for bringing this sadness upon his family.Though in the original script there is a line where Glen's father tells Lt Thompson that he believes it was Krueger who killed his boy but the movie never gives any indication that he thinks this. Did she get this information from Tina's Mother?I could see Nancy  visiting Mrs Grey and talking about Tina.And Nancy being the type to ask THE questions.  Tina's Mom might let slip what she remembers about that night. 

           Could Nancy even find anything in a newspaper that would be helpful? Odds are no one knew much of Krueger before his capture, and learned less after.

Just a few thoughts on the matter……. 

.

Come On Baby, Light my Fire: or How Many Parents Do You Think Burned Freddy?

How many Parents do you think burned Freddy?

Question with no answer , I know, just a curious thought for discussion.

 First:

What do you think the time period was within he took the twenty kids?Years? A single year?A few months?How much time passed for the Parents combined fear to grow to such a degree that they took to committing a vigilante crime?

I imagine Freddy began with a slow burn, building to a raging fire. At first one kid , here or there, snatched as opportunity allowed. With a cool down period between the firsts. But once Kruger gets a taste , he wants more.And the taking becomes more frequent. So much, that the children go from playing outside to being kept indoors as often as possible. The playgrounds and school yards child free. So Krueger has to move closer to home. Taking them from backyards and bedrooms as the terror among the town grew. This risky child napping, might make him even go for younger kiddies. Snatching infants from cribs ( less fighting back on their part) .Maybe doing the dirty deed in the child’s room while the parents slept across the hall, leaving his handy work for them to discover the next morning.

We know of at least eleven parents(single or coupled) who were involved in the lynch mob.

But , how many in total do you think might have been part of the group? Even eleven couples would be a lot of people,more than enough,and certainly would have made it easy to spread the gasoline around Freddy's boiler room quickly for good effect. More the merrier would have ensured he was toast. ( wonder if any suzie homemakers brought marshmallows?)

Perhaps in some cases , the Mother or Father could not bring themselves to be involved in the crime, so only one partner participated. Decisions that would have led to a divorce in later years as arguments,trust issues and disdain for the deed increased.Divorce,Of which there were a lot among these families,was yet another way that Freddy hurt these families and the surviving children.Still mucking up their picture perfect suburban lives even in with his death. The guilt of both being involved in the crime broke up a few homes in this for sure.

Might there have there been more? We get hints of other kids dying from severe sleep disorders via Dream Warriors.They could have been other Elm Street Children who Freddy got to off screen

And how might these folks have all met? I could see a small group of neighbors coming together and conspiring such an idea in their backyard at weekend barbecues(heheh). But how would it spread to all eleven or more?

The group probably didn't meet at the courthouse during Freddy's trial. Why would they ALL be there?....unless..... we take the original scripts deleted story that Glen ,Nancy ,Tina , and Rod et al had a sibling taken by Freddy.......then these Parents would be severely invested in the outcome of the trial.Appearing in the courtroom,testifying.Sharing their grief.

Then that might place the mob at 20....

Marge mentions that the children who were killed were "kids we all knew" ....and what better place to meet these kids AND their parents but than at school functions ,PTA meetings.Car pools.Bus stops. Elementary school plays. Sports events, Parks.

The Thompson's probably knew the Grey's as Nancy and Tina felt like longtime best friends. They might have met the Lantz's, as they lived across the street from each other. But would any of them have personal lives where they would cross paths with or know or hang out with the Lanes? or the Parkers?

But all the others? They all didnt live on the same few blocks on Elm Street. Freddy would not restrain himself to just one streets worth of children. Some lived on the rich end, the poor end or somewhere in the middle and could have known or even been friends with each other from their own childhoods. If each had a child before the ones we met in the movies, they could have certainly known each other from school interactions. 

If the background information introduced in Freddy's Dead were to be brought into the thought, what if Freddy lived with his family on Elm Street.And he took the kids of his neighbors who looked down on him or his family, or treated his child with disrespect. His familiarity in the neighborhood might have made it easy for him to get close to the kids when it came time to take them.

Side note:never looked closely at the timeline , but seems like most of these parents had a child to replace the one Freddy took shortly afterwards .I cant imagine each family having a second child at the time as they would have had to left that baby home alone with a sitter while they went out to torch a maniac. And, I imagine after Freddy's release, they would not be keen to leave their living children alone and unprotected. 

While it was omitted from the movie, the characters of the Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street were to have a younger sibling in the original script. It was a scene that was even filmed. But it boggles the mind that if true that the subject of Freddy and their former brothers or sisters deaths never came up. Either in direct conversation or playground rumor. It seems odd that none of our characters really know of Freddy before the events of the movie. Something like what he did in ones town would remain a part of the spoken history forever. Especially if the kids had their own jump rope song in regards to the event. It always struck me as odd that none of the kids in the movie had more than a passing familiarity with Freddy's past.Perhaps the parents went out of their way to hide the history. All pictures of the previous child put away. Forever tainted by Krueger's touch in their eyes. No longer their kids, now his. Group promises to not let even the memory of Freddy to touch their new children. But someone outside this group would be talking about the past. Newspapers ,neighbors, gossip seekers. A whole town would not be silent of the slashers sins.

Another question comes to mind......How soon do you think they came up with the idea to torch Freddy and then take action? They couldn't have waited too long after his release as Freddy would be anticipated to leave town and get away to start all over in new town with new kids. Would Freddy have been released immediately after the ruling? or later that evening?next day?

And since they couldn't have known each other as one group of friends, how did they all come together? Sure, Word of mouth could have spread from one pocket of parents to another ( "did you hear what the Thompson's are planning to do? " "Im in!" ) .Some of them might have come up with it immediately after the courts ruling and had a quick discussion, and then reached out to others......."you each bring one parent to the meeting....and they each should bring one parent "...and so on .

Maybe as soon as LT Thompson ( or what ever level of cop he was at the time) was seen to be part of the group, others joined in quickly. Maybe it was he who had the idea in the first place.

(Ive always wondered who signs a search warrant...and if LT Thompson was involved in some way or not , what if he was the one who forgot to sign it so would have felt a greater need to right his wrong)

Eleven or more couples are a lot of mouths , and there would surely be a loose tongue or two in the bunch,how did they keep this all a secret for so many years? 

“Poured gasoline all around the place, made a trail of it out the door , and lit it up and watched the whole place burn”

A fire of any kind would attract attention not to mention firemen and other police even if they had found him in an old abandoned boiler room ,most likely out on the edge of town . If the building in Nightmare 2 was the place in question, that would be a huge fire .Unless they consolidated most of the gasoline around the area where Krueger slept on site with a small trail to the outside so they could light it from a safe distance. Burning his escape routes and forcing him to run through walls of fire. But even controlling that fire would be a serious undertaking.

“The burned him in his boiler room and they hid the remains. “ Why they didn’t just shoot him and bury or burn the body? Why the elaborate execution? Sure, I understand their desire to make him suffer for what he did to the children? But why the risks that come with fire? Could it have been a symbolic choice because Freddy burned the bodies of “his” children? Or was it a cleansing ritual? Burn him from existence .No gravestone, no memory.

How the heck did they manage to set a place on fire AND collect the bones? Sticking around after Krueger came bursting out of the fire , screaming vengeance only to be shot down by Marge? Did they sing campfire songs, roast marshmallows on his twitching corpse while they waited for the fire to be put out?

Perhaps Donald Thompson managed to have removed the bones from evidence after the fact? Alter the paperwork. However, why did they choose to hide the bones in the middle of a junkyard in the first place? For what purpose ? So they could visit them whenever they wanted?

Sure, one would think middle of a junkyard would be a great place to lose something, but there is still the risk that someone would discover the remains. Seems fitting that the junkyard owner was involved in the crime.

But why not just bury the f#%king thing in the first place and be done with it. Maybe the bone disposal was a last minute decision. After the fire, they might not have many choices with the town and other police watching. Perhaps they collected the bones so the fire would have looked like an accident or arson and not a murder but they had little time or options to dispose of it at the time.

Interesting that Donald could remember EXACTLY where the bones were left. It's not like junk in a yard would get moved around.

Maybe he WAS actually a part time security guard for the junkyard,with a key. Taking the job so he could keep an eye on the remains. Because to him that would be the only way he could continue to convince himself that Krueger was really dead,despite all that he had witnessed with his daughter and her friends and the other deaths that must have followed after the first movie.
   

Now, the thought intrigues me : before they burned him.....how did they catch him?