Tag Archives: Robert Englund

News

Gibson TV Launches New Horror Heavy Metal Series “Metal and Monsters”!

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Since the dawn of the 80s and long, wavy manly hair brushing up against their Les Paul, heavy metal and horror movies have had a beautiful matrimony of an alliance that is hard to ignore. The likes of Gibson TV recognizes this and we are thrilled to present its first show dedicated to the worlds of heavy metal and monster culture in the new series “Metal and Monsters.”

Hosted by Matt “Count D” Montgomery – bassist for King Freak himself, Rob Zombie, the legendary maestro of the bass shares his passion for music and film with metal and monster fans worldwide. The show, worth noting, is filmed on location in downtown Los Angeles in the historic 2,000 seats Los Angeles Theatre.

In the first episode of “Metal and Monsters,” Count D takes us to Elm Street as he reunites Don Dokken and Robert Englund to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.” Featuring never before seen photos from the “Dream Warriors” video shoot, Robert and Don share stories of musical influences to behind-the-scenes tales of one of the most successful horror franchises in film history.

Throughout the 60 minute episode, viewers are also treated to different segments that explore the worlds of horror and heavy metal! In a segment titled “Tunes from The Crypt,” Count D revisits Metallica’s 1991 groundbreaking release “The Black Album” and gives fans a chance to win some exclusive prizes! The show also takes viewers on a field trip to the offices of Super7 in San Francisco to talk with founder Brian Flynn and the Super7 team to learn more about their projects with Motörhead, Iron Maiden, and Megadeth in a segment titled “Terror Trek.”

Check out the first episode here below and rock on nostalgic nuggets!

Editorials

Six Degrees of Slasher Seperation: Robert Englund Worked On “Halloween” 1978

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SIX DEGREES OF SLASHER SEPERATION: ROBERT ENGLUND WORKED ON "HALLOWEEN" 1978

Six years before Robert Englund strapped on the infamous glove, the Freddy Krueger actor had an uncredited role in the iconic John Carpenter “immortal classic”, Halloween.

Six degrees of slasher separation is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?

As most seasoned Halloween fans are aware, the 1978 slasher classic was filmed in Pasadena, CA- and beyond the occasional slip up of a palm tree in the background, Carpenter and the crew did a bang-up jib of making audiences believe we were looking at a small town somewhere in the Midwest- the fictional Haddonfield. Hell, I was fooled as a kid before I actually knew better, because I thought Haddonfield was a real place until I was like, twelve.

To be young and naïve is also, such a beautiful thing.

Anyways, during filming Englund was a struggling actor in the Hollywood area, and through an interview with Access, spilled the blood beans on his connection tot he Halloween franchise- that he actually worked on set for one day as a volunteer with his roommate, throwing leaves around set to give the film its Fall ambience!

“I actually had a roommate back when they did the original Halloween, the John Carpenter one. And he conned me into going to Pasadena one day with garbage bags full of dead leaves and we were working on the set of the original Halloween movie. Throwing the dead leaves around so it looked like Autumn, so it looked like Fall back in the Midwest.“

Needless to say, it’s a pretty cool tidbit of horror trivia, and obviously the town of Pasadena, I mean, Haddonfield, was obviously spared a slasher duo of unbridled terror that day. That was more or less saved for the kids of Elm Street when Krueger met up with Voorhees in 2004.

Creature Features

[Video] RARE Home Videos From The Set Of A “Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master”

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The great thing about the A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise is that everyone has a favorite installment; and I think it’s fair to say that while Dream Master is considered an off-beaten track sequel to the three that came before it, it doesn’t exclude the immense popularity this film has with fans. Especially since this chapter in particular blasted Freddy in pop-culture superstardom- and now thanks to Bill Forsche, celebrated special effects guru who worked on the film, we get a rare look at some never-before-seen, behind the scenes home video movies on the set of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master!

 Released on August 19, 1988, Nightmare 4 grossed $49.4 million at the domestic box office on a budget of $6.5 million, which made it the highest-grossing film in the franchise in the United States. At least that is until Freddy VS Jason surpassed that mark in 2003. While it would be another year until I myself, first got to see Freddy on the big-screen in the form of The Dream Child, I was already a Freddy Fanatic thanks to the mass marketing campaign Dream Master deployed onto the masses via horror hotlines, toys, lunchboxes, and even a huge MTV special hour presentation dedicated to the Springwood Slasher himself! Not to mention several more music videos made for promotion with the movie played in rotation from the once music-only station. Shortly to follow Dream Master‘s release, the basic cable show of Freddy’s Nightmares took off on the the small screen in a weekly syndicated show giving kids a dose of Krueger without having to go to the theater for it.

What a time to be alive where child serial killers were celebrated with such admiration!

Behind the massive success of Nightmare 4, lies within some of THEE coolest special effects of the franchise alone- including Freddy’s demise at the end thanks to Dream Master Alice. Beyond notable names like Bill Forsche, Kevin Yagher , Screaming Mad George, and John Carl Buechler were a massive team of make-up and effects artists to pull of this innovative spectacle that truly was Dream Master and a big reason why it did so well in theaters. One of my favorites, and I think many others’ as well, being the soul ripping chest from Freddy’s final fight scene where a giant version of Freddy’s chest was made for the shot. Of course, this thing was a pain in the ass for the crew as it was so unsteady and massive, that it was difficult to mount properly and actually fell over during one of their takes. A woman named Michiko supporting the prop from the rafters of the set, came tumbling down when the mighty chest fell over.

But hey, at least we got to see a cameo of Linnea Quigley ripping through the prop, in all her big busted glory. We salute you guys.

Via Bill Forsche’s personal YouTube channel, the special effects master has uploaded some home video shots of behind the scenes action of not only the fore mentioned Freddy’s chest scene, but also some segments of Freddy AND his stunt-double in the make-up chair conversing back and forth before shoots. Also included is Freddy’s scene on the Dream Beach where it is suggested he take on a “Coppertone commercial” for his next project (HEH).

“Very rare and raw footage from the set of “A Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master” (1988). The short has some very interesting behind the scenes material, including the makeup trailer where Bill Foertsch aka Forsche work on the makeup for Freddy’s stunt double, while other effects artists goofing around on the set and other events. This short documentary is from Bill Forsche aka Foertsch personal home collection and was made during his employment as special effects technician at Steve Johnson’s XFX, Inc., the company responsible for the most spectacular demise of Freddy that was ever done in the series.”

Pick up the Nightmare collection here!