Welcome to the first Behind The Scenes Saturday for Spooky Season!! Today is dedicated to one of my favorite horror movie sequels, A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. I haven’t watched it for a long time, but then I finally purchased a new copy and watching it all over again really took me back! So, remember when it comes to Freddy: mind over matter, watch out for dogs peeing fire, and enjoy these fun pictures and bits of trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com, facebook.com, and IMDb.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• This is the first film in the franchise where Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) received top billing in the opening credits.
• In the film, Alice (Lisa Wilcox) works at a diner called the Crave Inn. The name is an homage to the creator of the Nightmare On Elm Street films, Wes Craven.

• During the writing of the script, the film’s director, Renny Harlin bumped into director James Cameron and Cameron asked him how he was going to bring Freddy back to life in this sequel. Since he asked kind of facetiously, Harlin gave a facetious response, saying “a dog p***es fire on him and he comes back to life.” The idea ended up being used in the film. Robert Englund later explained that the dog urinating fire on Freddy’s remains was meant to symbolize a Hellhound, and how evil Freddy truly was.
• Wes Craven was approached by New Line Cinema to direct and re-write their script, but he turned it down.

• In A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Kristen Clayton played a little girl who invaded Kristen’s (Patricia Arquette) dream. In this film, she somewhat reprises her role, once again playing a little girl who invaded Kristen’s (Tuesday Knight) dreams.
• The film’s screenwriter, Brian Helgeland, was recommended for the film by Robert Englund after they worked together on 976-EVIL, Englund’s directorial debut. Helgeland was hired on the condition that he’d deliver the script in seven days. If it came just one day late, New Line Cinema would reject it. Helgeland wrote the script while visiting his parents for the Christmas holiday in Massachusetts, then he sent it to Los Angeles and made his deadline. Renny Harlin later signed on to direct based off that script.

• In the original script, Alice and Ricky (Andras Jones) were twins.
• Tuesday Knight not only portrayed Kristen Parker in this film, she also performed the film’s theme song.

• New Line Cinema believed that the original version of the film was too “campy and ridiculous” so quite a few cuts had to be made. Some deleted scenes include: 1.) Kristen being chased by Freddy after he killed Joey (Rodney Eastman) and Kincaid (Ken Sagoes). 2.) Alice having a nightmare where her father turned into Freddy. 3.) An extended version of the beach nightmare where Freddy’s shadow was touching and burning Kristen. Some of these cuts were left in the film’s trailer.
• There were rumors that Renny Harlin and Tuesday Knight had a romantic fling on set. The other cast members were frustrated that Knight was getting pampered and being given special attention while the rest of them were tossed aside by the crew members. The cast members were still upset about all of it as they spoke about it 20 years later in the documentary, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy.

• New Line Cinema’s CEO, Robert Shaye has a brief cameo in the film as a teacher giving a lecture on the philosophy of dreams.
• In Kristen’s room, you can spot a magazine that has Johnny Depp, one of the stars of the original film, on the cover.

• Over the years, there were a few rumors on why Patricia Arquette didn’t reprise her role as Kristen in this film. One source said she was pregnant at the time and couldn’t film. Another said her agent asked for too much money. The final theory was that she was already committed to the film Far North. In 2017, Arquette finally clarified, stating, “They asked me to come back, but at that time I was starting to break into kind of meatier roles. I had just done a movie of the week about teen pregnancy called Daddy and I was really liking getting deeper with my work. I love the horror genre and the Freddy franchise, but I was chomping at the bit to try other things as an actor.”
• There are a couple of references to Alice Through The Looking Glass. Freddy says at some point, “Welcome to Wonderland, Alice.” Also, by crashing through a mirror to enter the dream world, Alice literally goes through the looking glass.

• In Kincaid’s room, you can see a poster of The Hills Have Eyes. This is another nod to Wes Craven.
• The scene where Alice and Rick are watching home movies was added to the film at the last minute. Andres Jones admitted that he and Lisa Wilcox wrote their own dialogue for the scene due to the writers strike that was happening at the time.

• After playing such large roles in the previous film, Rodney Eastman and Ken Sagoes were shocked at how reduced their parts were here.
• Lisa Wilcox once joked that the part of Alice was made for her because she was a shy teenage girl who thought she’d never get a boyfriend.

• When Freddy held the vials of blood in Kristen’s nightmare, one of the vials was labeled Englund, after Robert Englund.
• Originally, Danny Hassel’s character had no name. They decided to just call him Dan, after the actor.

• During the scene where Alice kicks her shoe into the fish tank, if you look closely, you might notice a little doll hand with long nails, like Freddy’s glove.
• The film’s casting director, Annette Benson confirmed that over 600 actresses auditioned for the role of Alice. Ellie Cornell was one of the 600.

• Renny Harlin tried to push Tuesday Knight into wearing a more revealing bikini for the beach scene, but Knight put her foot down on the matter.
• Renny Harlin based this film on A Chinese Ghost Story, and he created all of the nightmare ideas himself. He based them on dreams he had throughout his life.

• Lisa Wilcox was actually on her honeymoon when she learned that she got the part. She had to cut her honeymoon short and fly to Los Angeles immediately to start shooting. Because she was a natural blonde, she had to dye her hair red in order to differentiate herself from Tuesday Knight.
• Kincaid’s dog is named Jason, possibly a nod to Jason Voorhees. In this film, Jason brings Freddy back to life, and in Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy brings Jason back to life.

• A couple of the film’s writers, Jim and Ken Wheat, wrote under the same pseudonym, Scott Pierce.
• For the reunion of the Dream Warriors, Rodney Eastman and Ken Sagoes failed to convey the emotions the scene needed. This was, of course, because they couldn’t feel the heartfelt reunion due to Patricia Arquette not returning and Tuesday Knight replacing her.

• Dutch director, Dick Maas was offered the opportunity to direct this film. He had to turn it down due to his commitment to his film, Amsterdamned. He later stated his regret, saying if he pushed his movie back and directed this film, it could’ve led to a successful international career.
• Alice’s abilities were supposed to include those of the Dream Warriors. The filmmakers were worried this would confuse the audience, so they cut it.

• Renny Harlin tried to get Toy Newkirk (Sheila) to re-dub her lines so she could sound more “black.”
• Scream Queen, Linnea Quigley appears in the film as one of the souls trying to escape from Freddy’s chest.

• Will Smith and his friend DJ Jazzy Jeff wrote a song for the film, called A Nightmare On My Street. New Line Cinema turned it down in favor of the Fat Boys’ Are You Ready For Freddy. Smith ended up releasing the song anyway and New Line sued him. The case ended up being settled out of court, and you can see the video at the bottom of this article.
• During production, all of the crew had no clue on how to kill Freddy at the end of the film. They took a meeting to discuss all of the ways villains were defeated. They decided that most of the methods they thought of were external, so they’d go for the exact opposite and have Freddy’s demise be caused by an internal force.

• Rick’s death was supposed to happen in the elevator, with it crashing all around him and him falling in just dark space. According to Renny Harlin, they had to change it because they couldn’t afford the effects. They considered letting Rick live, but they’d already filmed his funeral scene. Due to his knowledge of karate that was established earlier in the film, his karate and dojo related death scene was created instead.
• Brooke Theiss confirmed that it was her inside the giant roach costume for Debbie’s final transformation. She said the sequence was actually very easy to do. The only part she found difficult was when she had to push her roach body up and look at Freddy’s eye peaking at her because the floor on set was so slippery.

• Kincaid’s death was supposed to be longer and a LOT bloodier, including Freddy’s glove going straight through Kincaid’s back. That part had to be cut for the MPAA.
• The final scene where the souls violently burst out of Freddy was filmed using a 20-foot mechanical torso. They did this so the heads and bodies moving around in Freddy’s chest could be played by real people and stuntmen.

A Nightmare On My Street – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince