Prepare to be scared! Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story is coming soon—a spine-chilling documentary about the iconic horror master that brought Freddy Krueger from our nightmares into reality.
Cinedigm acquired North American rights to the film and will give an exclusive theatrical run to the documentary. This special tribute to his 75th birthday is set to debut on Screambox, Bloody Disgusting’s streaming service, on June 6, 2023.
Over the course of two years, co-directors Christopher Griffiths and Gary Smart passionately crafted a story surrounding horror icon Robert Englund. With help from Neil Morris, they captured intimate interviews with Englund as well as other venerated players in the genre such as Lin Shaye, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd and Heather Langenkamp.
“Both Chris and I have been fans of Robert since we were children, and now to have the opportunity to not only become friends with Robert but to also celebrate his amazing career in this love-letter documentary is truly a ‘dream’ come true for us,” Smart said in an exclusive interview with Variety.
Since the mid-1980s, Robert Englund has been a master of horror. He became an icon playing Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, starring in eight films as the character, and other spine tingling films that have kept audiences at edge for decades.
Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story was produced by Griffiths and Smart, alongside John Campopiano, Adam Evans, Michael Perez and Hank Starrs. Adam F. Goldberg, Corey Taylor, Costa Theo and Laurence Gornall all served as executive producers on the film.
Archive producer and producer of the film, Campopiano, joined the Capes and Tights Podcast back in October to discuss his documentary Pennywise: The Story of It.
About Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story
Since first donning a tattered fedora and a glove of eviscerating blades in 1984, Robert Englund has become one our generation’s most beloved horror icons. Englund has risen to stand shoulder to shoulder in the pantheon of movie legends alongside such greats as Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee.
His portrayal of Freddy Krueger is without doubt a moment as visceral to the horror genre as Chaney’s werewolf or Karloff’s ground-breaking realisation of Frankenstein’s monster. Yet few realise the depths of England’s true power as a character actor away from the latex mask and iconic red and green jumper. A classically trained actor and talented director, Englund has starred in many well-received movies in the years since Freddy’s cinematic birth as well as directing his own feature film.
