1428 Elm Street

[HazelRah]

What is it with that house ?
Understandably, it is central to the story in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street.It's the home of our heroine ,Nancy.

It's where the past comes home to roost (roast?heheh)

But why would they continue to use it in each of the sequels?Bad writing?Lack of imagination?Horror movie trope(it appeared in the previous movies, so it HAS to be in every one)?

Krueger had no personal connection to that building prior to the first movie.His home was in the boiler room. That was where he used to take his kids.Why wouldn't he want to continue to chase his new victims around the steampipes and dark and dirty metal corridors of his past.

Part 2 could have taken place anywhere on Elm Street.Anywhere in Springwood for that matter.But I do think ,for at least the first sequel, there was a purpose of having the story take place at 1428.

I always like to believe that Nancy's defeat of Freddy in part one trapped Kruegers spirit inside,for lack of a better word,the soul of the house. When Nancy brings Freddy "out" from the Nightmare he is not at his full strength despite his recent three soul kills,and who knows what effect the transition from dream to "reality" would have on him.Might in this form he be experiencing real physical pain as when he was alive.Pain that weakens him even more.

And when Nancy turns her back on him and defeats Freddy by taking away the power she gave him, he fades away and disappears into the floor.(and into Nancy as well).You can here him falling down into the void while fading away.Down to the cellar

So when a new family moves into 1428, Freddy has influence over the house and the people inside because his spirit is now part of the house itself. The house is heavy with him in the halls.Even the temperature inside the place is corrupted by his presence. And Jesse is his door out.

But then ,why appear in Dream Warriors? Now, I love the decrepit rotten haunted house look of 1428 in the sequels.But it doesn't make sense for Kristin to be dreaming of the house at all.

Unless ,perhaps ,Krueger is still tethered to the house and the connection influences the Nighmares that he presents to his victims.A lot of the sequences in Dream Warriors show the kids walking and running through broken down furniture littered hallways and not Krueger's traditional boiler room setting.

But again, after all these years? Why would Kruger use 1428 as a Nightmare element? I would think there would be more fear to generate from placing his victims in the terrifying unexpected unfamiliar shadows of a boiler room.Or turning someplace they know and love against them.Not some strange broken down house.Granted, it is spooky.
   
The use of the house does serve as a connection to Nancy and her past.Her seeing the paper mache house for the first time after just days before hearing the old haunting nursery rhyme must have really started to connect the dots that something terrible was going on.And that something might have to do with Freddy Krueger

For all we know, she has not had a Nightmare since surviving the first.Freddy has stayed far away from her, or has not had access to her because of a broken connection or the use of Hypnocil.So the fact that a total stranger has made a replica of her childhood home would be disconcerting.Despite her Freddy free nights,I imagine that Nancy never once went to sleep without thinking about the man of her dreams,and wondering if tonight would be the night he returned.

In an early draft of Wes Craven's Dream Warriors I seem to recall there was an attempt to make 1428 directly connected to Freddy Krueger.Something about the address being a halfway house that he was born in.I recall hearing some other tale that at one point it was going to be discovered that Krueger lived in that house when he was murdering the local children and after his death Marge and Donald moved in to coverup his mysterious disappearance.

It's possible that Kristin had seen the house at some point.She does live in Springwood.She could have heard stories of the two families who had troubles there while growing up:The girl who went mad when she watched her boyfriend get butchered across the street the same night her mother burned herself to death in the bed upstairs.The boy who went mad and killed a teacher and bunch of kids. So it could be childhood fear that is part of her subconscious ...and we all know how Freddy likes to play with the hidden horrors. But as she says to Nancy, the former resident of 1428, "It's just a house I dream about" . So it appears that Kristin doesn't have a personal connection or remembrance to the house.She doesn't even know who Nancy is in relation to that house.I'm guessing here , but Kristin was probably about 8 or 9 years old when the events of the first Nightmare occurred.Way to young to hear about the house and it's events.She also never heard about Freddy.

         On the flip side, Kristin's Mother seems to know something about the former Thompson house( and potentially it's connection to the Krueger history as she was there that fateful night with the Thompson's when they burned Freddy alive).She is adamant that her daughter get away from that house.Does she think it's cursed? Or is she more concerned that nothing good can come from her daughter digging up these old memories?It's probably more of a concern about the neighbors talking about her crazy daughter is at it again,talking about Freddy.

How did Mrs Parker happen to be in the area in the first place? Kristin most likely sought out the house after the events of Dream Warriors and before the events of Dream Master, in effort to connect to Nancy and learn more about the history of Freddy.So she learned where the house from her dreams actually resided. But why would her Mother just happen to be driving by? Is the Parker residence located nearby? And Mother just happened to catch the daughter on her way home from a round of tennis? I'd say it's unlikely that 1428 Elm Street and the Parker's place are near each other.If close,Kristin would then have had some awareness of it considering it's history,especially if it was even slightly run down as in her dreams. She was even compelled to make a paper-mache version of the house that she never saw before but in her dreams.The house,and the Nightmare, left that much of an impression on her.

By this point in the houses real life, it could be boarded up and abandoned and not looking too far off from it's dream variation.Two traumas associated with murders and death would be enough to scare off any potential new buyer.With no one to care for it,it's appearance would be left to rot. And whose to say that the influence of Kruegers spirit trapped within it's walls didn't speed up that process.

In Dream Child the house appears once again, albeit briefly.It is seen in a drawing by Mark.And once again, these new characters are further removed from the Houses history. Alice never dreamed of the house.Though she visited it with Kristin in real life before she died.Mark may have seen a picture and learnt about the house from Alice telling her about Freddy's history and what had happened to her,her brother, and her friends over the last two years and how it's all connected to a terrible past of the town of Springwood.This in turn could have subconsciously influenced Marks dream.And then Freddy invited Mark over to his house to read comics.

But why the house again? Is Freddy still trapped there thanks to his original defeat?He has worlds of horrifying places to send his victims into upon their entering the Nightmare,why still return to 1428?

And once again in Freddy's Dead, the house appears. Krueger even hides it behind a false facade for some reason?The kids who find themselves entering Springwood would have zero knowledge of the house,it's history.So why would Freddy draw them over it's threshold in disguise?

The appearance of 1428 in Wes Craven's New Nightmare does, however, make complete sense.It's saved for the perfect moment where "Heather" accepts her role as "Nancy" in the final confrontation.Kudos for the art director getting the right color of the blue front door to match the door in the first film and not the red of the sequels.

In New Nightmare when "Nancy' entered the house ...and it wasn't the movie home...I was crushed.It would have been amazing for her to climb the steps following Dylan's crumbs.And then we see her enter her former characters bedroom to find her old bed that she then uses to go after Freddy.

That must have not been in the budget, since they would have to recreate every part of the interior seen on camera,as well as decorate the house and especially her bedroom to match, since the original 1428 house has never had an interior that matched the movie.That's a lot of money for what would essentially be a few minutes at most on screen.

FUN FACT: The interior of the ACTUAL 1428 N. Genesee Avenue house was used to film additional scenes for the television broadcast of the original John Carpenter Halloween as the inside of Laurie Strode's home.

[Rod Lane]

Regarding the house.. I do believe initially with part 2 it was simply used for recognition and continuity. We have to remember that the script for part 2 (written by David Chaskin) was actually an unrelated, stand alone horror movie script about a haunted house and demonic possession. It was shoehorned into being a Nightmare sequel, and i must say they did a damn fine job of doing so, it feels like the same universe as part 1. And given those circumstances, it makes perfect sense to use the same house from part 1. Especially sequel-wise "the new residents never knew what they just mortgaged.."
Also, Nancy's forgotten diary in Jesse's room was an excellent touch.

And along the lines of serendipity, the house itself became a recognized "character" in the series in it's own right. Haven't read Wes' original script for part 3 in a long time. But I do remember he did in fact not use 1428 in his script. Instead, he opted for an old run-down hathway house or something outside of Springwood, where Freddy had been born. Chuck Russel decided to turn that into 1428 instead. I agree, from a logical standpoint it doesn't make too much sense to use that specific hous as Freddy never lived there. But I do understand the reasoning behind it, as trhe house had become pretty iconic in the series by that point.

Another aspect of Wes' script that was completely removed in Russel's vision was that the script didn't even take place in Springwood. It was an unnamed town. And the kids at Westin Hills came from all over the states and suffered Freddy nightmares. Early signs of Freddy going apocalyptic? Anyway, I have to give Russel credit here over Wes here (a rare exception) for setting the story square in Springwood and having the kids be the children of the lynchmob that went after Freddy. That change on Chuck's behalf felt much more in tone with what Wes actually laid down plot-wise for part 1.

But apart from the house being iconic and recognizable on screen, it still doesn't make a lick of sense that Kristen (and the other kids) constantly dreamed about it. Sure, I have no problem believing Mrs Parker was part of the lynchmob. It's also a pet theory of mine that sergeant Parker in part 1 was Kristen's dad (retrospectively). But still, "Why are you obsessed with that old Thompson house, Kristen"? is something I honestly could hear Mrs Parker burst out..

I'm inclined to believe it's basically an idea to tie all the movies together. The real problematic issue starts with part 4. "It's not just a house, it's his home. He's in there and he's waiting for me to dream." C'mon, that's a total glaring retcon. Sure it's subtle enough at first, but when you really stop to think about it, it makes absolutely zero sense. Aaaand it paves way for the biggest retcon of them all; part 6 where Freddy suddenly is a married family man living in 1428.. 

I'd honestly would have liked to see far more of the boiler room and much less of the house. why not use the different kids' own houses and environments instead?

In New Nightmare, it makes perfect sense again though. Sadly, the interior is not the original house. I remember Wes' commentary track that he actually  beat himself up and lamented this decision. Let's be honest, it would have been epic to have the same interior; Nancy's old bedroom, the basement, the door leading down to the boiler room..
He also said that someone at New Line said "We do still have one of the old run-down versions of 1428" after filming was wrapped.. "Well, why didn't you tell me?" 

It also makes perfect sense in FvJ; the new residents..

I do however like the old fan theory that's practically become almost canon; Freddy's soul was trapped there in part 1. However in part 2, he basically breaks free and literally returns to the boiler room at the power plant..

[HazelRah]

The appearance in part 3 is what first struck me as odd. Especially since they had,at that point in part 2 ,pretty much written Nancy out of the picture. Yet another indication that they just didn't get what worked in the first movie.How could you eliminate Nancy? 

She went crazy watching her boyfriend get murdered across the street and her Mom "died in her sleep" the same night. Seriously? even without her in the picture , how could you as  character shrug your shoulders and move on when you hear that news and then NOT want to know more !!! Honestly, half the movie should have been Jessie asking questions and trying to learn what happened to Nancy."Maybe she knows something that could help,Lisa"

Sure, there was the brief use of her diary ( which I would love there to be a tie in media item.Like the Laura Palmer diary of the Nightmare world) .Though,how the heck could that get left behind? Nancy may have been dealing with other issues at the time of the house being sold and emptied and unable to reclaim it being "crazy" and all.But that's not the type of thing one sells off with the furniture.Now, If it had been hidden in the closet. Like ,say, fell down from where it had been left leaning on a ledge inside the closet when Jessie was putting items away.

I've likened the appearance of the house in part 3 as an intentional use by Freddy himself. Much like he could make the way he slaughtered the  children to look like suicides. While he could not have known that Nancy would make her triumphant return while he was going down on Kristin. (You just know his tongue was having a go when she was in his mouth)  I like to think that he had hopes that by using the image of the house in the dreams of the children, that it might one day catch the attention of Nancy and call her home.

And in a way it did. The jumprope song was one thing. But that song was not just a property of the Nightmares. It existed outside and long before Freddy .So it's appearance is foreboding,it's not a clincher. But Nancy seeing the house, in a drawing, or in this case, a papermache reproduction, would be a HUGE red flag. 

I like to think that Freddy often brought the kiddies to the corrupted version of the house to fill their head and memories with images of the house. Knowing that one day that image would find its way back to her.

And I still think that he was trapped in the soul of that house after failing to escape via Jessie.So he couldn't come to them, he had to welcome them inside. And once they were in....anything could happen.

Craven's P3 script was an interesting development to Freddy's past. Having him born in a halfway house  far from Springwood. He wasnt born and bred in Springwood.He just came to town one year long ago and decided to slaughter the town children. And now the children are freakishly coming to him to die.

I might be mistakenly thinking of the novelization which is presumably based on a early rewrite of the script that put 1428 as the conception/birthplace of Freddy. That would have been a bit much.

I missed the boiler room. But I imagine from a production standpoint it was hard to replicate or find one to use . The original was a asbestos heavy nightmare.Also, I vaguely recall reading a interview around part 3 where Robert himself talks about not wanting to always be chasing the victims around a dirty hot boiler. It can't be a easy experience to do under all that makeup,wearing a sweater,under hot movie lights and brething in various steam/smoke special effects.

Ha, yeah" Its not just a house, it's his home " Oh,Please Kristin...a year ago, you never even knew about this house and you even made a paper mache version of it "Thats just a house I dream about" and you live in the town.And now you know Freddy resides here?  To give her a little due, Kristin was shown to have a little feel for Freddy's whereabouts in P3 " He's close, he's heavy in the halls"

Her Mother not telling her about the house is interesting.Even though Mrs Parker probably didnt make the time to listen to her daughter. Might she have made a connection to that house and the terrible events that happened to the Thompsons who lived in it that would have been all over the news back in the day.To the Lantz' who lived across the street. Could Mrs Parker have been that oblivious? She seemed to know exactly where the house was in part 4. How well might she have known the Thompsons, or any of the other family members involved?Did she stay in touch with them, or did they travel in different social circles and never spoke again after that night?

 You know she knew who the Thompsons were as she was part of the original mob.I picture Marge and Donald being loud voices and or leaders in this group. Even if they parted ways after setting the fire.This being the only time they met/spoke.Heck, they might not even have spoken directly since the action taken to burn Freddy was probably decided quickly the night of his release with word of mouth spreading amongst the parents who had already lost a child to Freddy.But after the events of the first Nightmare, Mrs Parker would have to be aware of the Thompson home.And when terrible things kept happening to the children of the families involved in the burning of Freddy, she must have had some type of reaction to that paper mache house now in her own home.

[Rod Lane]

Well.. In Jesse's defense, he did confront his father about the girl who lived there, went crazy because of the murder across the street and that her mother killed herself in the living room.. Talk about retcons galore..  But then the toaster exploded, effectively shutting down any more talk on the subject, which barely makes any sense at all haha His mother also seemed pretty pissed that the father kept that information away from her. But no, of course there was nothing wrong with the house 

The more I think about it, the more obvious it is that part 2 was a totally unrelated script. And vastly inferior. Obviously, they shoehorned it in but other than that they spent no time really developing the characters or anything. They're all basically throwaway slasher fodder. Jesse's family just vanishes from the movie halfway through without a second thought. And for some reason, his sister turns into a jump-rope girl.. The only thing part 2 really has going for it is atmosphere..

And as far as I know they didn't even ask Langenkamp to reprise her role. And her presence would have elevated the movie immensely. Yes, her diary just magically lies there, out in the open. Not to mention the noose casually hanging on the basement wall, hinting at her mother's alleged suicide. Okay, that scene is in a dream but still, what were they thinking?

Yes, Freddy using the house in part 3 as a venus flytrap to lure Nancy back sounds like a valid idea. Yet Freddy seems totally surprised when Nancy shows up on the scene. "You?!"
The halfway house was an interesting idea on paper, but it was far too ambitious and really didn't make too much sense. As such, it was probably for the better to use 1428 instead, continuity wise. Still it annoys me that none of the kids had no knowledge about it.

I too missed the boiler room in part 3. It's amazing that the fan favorite movie doesn't really feature it. Sure, the "Freddy-Hell" at the end vaguely resembles the boiler room, but it doesn't really quite cut it. Yeah, the real boiler room was probably shut down by then and off-limits to the crew. So, second best, I guess?

Yeah. Kristen in part 4 is now 100% familiar with the house on elm street. Okay, that's one thing. But her friends and her boyfriend has no knowledge about her staying in Westin Hills last year? They don't even seem to have any knowledge about her relationship with Kincaid and Joey..

There are so many retcons and discrepancies here, I don't know where to start. i do love the series, but I'm not blind to this stuff.

That's also interesting. Of course the happenings in the Thompson house would indeed have been in the media after part 1. That goes without saying. And I'm quite sure Mrs Parker knew them. Perhaps her not mentioning it to Kristen, even with the paper mache house, just was her way of dealing with stuff? she was secretive, stuck up and didn't exactly talk about stuff like that. So that one actually ties straight into her character traits. Especially if she in fact was part of the mob. "I don't wanna know, I don't wanna hear it, you're crazy, you need help!" Yeah, I see her as that kind of parent.. maybe she in her own logic thought Kristen would be safer in a mental clinic?

[HazelRah]

No surprise that they didn't think to ask Langenkamp back for part 2.Especially considering that they didn't even ask Robert Englund to return as Freddy. That piece of Nightmare history still boggles my mind. The one scene of the replacement Freddy that still made it into the film is so telling as to how terrible a choice excluding Robert would be.

Honestly,part 2 sometimes feels like it was made by people who never even watched the first movie.

Though, you are right that it does succeed in atmosphere. And I really enjoy the haunting score. Which is surprising to me considering it did not use a lick of the Charles Bernstein themes from the original. And I LOVE the original score. As a soundtrack junkie ,it remains one of my all time favorites. Initially, I was disappointed that it was not used, but grew to really appreciate part 2s score over the years.

The seemingly part 4 retcon of Dream Warriors is a odd choice. There are much more interesting conversations to have if your characters are already up to speed on the details of what came before.

First, not a single fucking mention of Nancy? I know that they barely knew her.But she was the first adult to not only believe them but try and help them survive and fight back. Yet, not a single...."remember what Nancy taught us..." ....or " I saw her in the beautiful dream last night.....she senses he is back"

Even when they are standing right in front of Nancys actual home, not a word of her.

That none of Kristins close friends or boyfriend talk about that time is odd. Kristin wouldnt be quiet about that time. Like anyone ,they would confide in at least one close friend. Friends would want to know,ask questions.Especially if she was away for months.Not up on the timeline of Dream Warriors,but I think it took place in the fall and not during a summer break from school.So classmates and friends would well aware of her "suicide attempt" and subsequent hospitalization to a mental ward.

And when you come back from that ,who knows how many months later.People talk.With you or about you.The fact that none of her friends are even aware of Freddy?Odd.You dont keep that story to yourself.(unless it was a prerequisite for their release that they never speak of Freddy on the outside)And a missed opportunity for interesting conversations. None of the friends even tell the various playground stories they had heard about the events of what happened in that house at 1428 elm st. even while standing right in front of it.That house has to have a legend handed down from big brother to younger sibling by this point in time.

How interesting would it have been if one of the characters not in Dream Warriors suddenly said.." Have you ever heard about Freddy Kruger?" And then they tell a tale from their youth...and then Kristin opens up for the first time about her past and tells everyone what they heard about him is true

Rick kind of indicates that maybe he and Kristin talked about that time with his frustration with Alice and "all that Freddy shit".Plus ,he does acknowledge that being a teen in Springwood isnt safe.

Also odd,is Joey and Kincaid now going to the same school as Kristin. In Dream Warriors, there is not the slightest indication that any of these kids ever met before or even knew each other from the same school hallways Making the fact that they all share the same dream boogeyman that more concerning.(to those who listen and care)

If in part 4 we now saw Kristin,Kincaid,and Joey now outcasts among their classmates I would have bought into them together at the same school.Sitting away from everyone. The weird kids no one wants to be near because of all the deaths happening  around them and what ever the public story was of the final nightmare in Dream Warriors ,where three people were found dead in a room with Kristin.

But one year later Joey and Kincaid appear to be less than friends with Kristin .Even her boyfriend seems to not like the two.

Mrs Parker likely took the Marge way out of acknowledging the past. While Marge drowned her sorrows in drink,Elaine sought comfort with a different man and likely a healthy dose of bourbon. It remains an odd choice that she never once acknowledges the Thompson house.Even when Nancy Thompson herself is sitting in her own living room. Granted, she may not have any idea that Nancy is the daughter of Marge and Donald. Most likely Mrs Parker hasnt cared about much but herself for many years.

[Billy]

No surprise that they didn't think to ask Langenkamp back for part 2.Especially considering that they didn't even ask Robert Englund to return as Freddy. That piece of Nightmare history still boggles my mind. The one scene of the replacement Freddy that still made it into the film is so telling as to how terrible a choice excluding Robert would be.

Lol, the gym scene when he kills Schneider.

[HazelRah]

With the grandpa shuffle....

[Billy]

I’m assuming that would’ve been the first scene that they shot in the movie, before realising how horrible this stand-in guy was, and getting Robert back.

[HazelRah]

Just came across this bit of "info" while going through some things .

On the back of the VHS box for Freddy's Revenge there is a synopsis for the movie that references that Jessie has moved into the house where Freddy "Lives"

Side note...the original VHS release for this movie just could not get the glove right. Every image and picture had the glove on the left hand. They  still hadn't learned what they had there in Freddy to pay attention to the details.

[Billy]

While he could not have known that Nancy would make her triumphant return while he was going down on Kristin. (You just know his tongue was having a go when she was in his mouth)

Hahaha! 😂😂😂😂

[Billy]

Also odd,is Joey and Kincaid now going to the same school as Kristin. In Dream Warriors, there is not the slightest indication that any of these kids ever met before or even knew each other from the same school hallways Making the fact that they all share the same dream boogeyman that more concerning.(to those who listen and care)

Yep, even Philip says it: “the fact that we all dreamt about this guy before we ever met doesn’t seem to impress anybody”

[timdavid312]

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