Horror icon and living legend Robert Englund celebrates his 76th birthday on June 6, and there’s no better way to mark the occasion than by streaming the upcoming SCREAMBOX original documentary Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story and using #RobertEnglundDay to celebrate the man who has bought us so many nightmares.
Directed by Gary Smart and Christopher Griffiths (Pennywise: The Story of IT, You’re So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night), the film will also hit Blu-ray on July 25.
The official press release lets us know more of what we’re in for:
A classically trained actor and director, Robert Englund has become one of the most revolutionary horror icons of our generation. Throughout his career, Englund starred in many well-known movies but shot to superstardom with his portrayal of supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
This intimate portrait captures the man behind the glove and features interviews with Englund, his wife Nancy, and such genre favorites as Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Lance Henriksen, Bill Moseley, Eli Roth, Lin Shaye, Heather Langenkamp, Mick Garris, Andrew Divoff, William Katt, Jeffrey Reddick, Corey Taylor, and more.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of those other horror icons revealing what we can imagine are all kinds of exciting anecdotes about the supernatural superstar:
Understandably, Mr Englund himself is very excited about being the subject of a deep-dive doc:
“This old veteran character actor was surprised and flattered to find he was the subject of the documentary Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares […] Collaborating with directors Gary Smart and Christopher Griffiths and the rest of the team was a joy as they are genre fans like me. For yours truly, watching the film is a bit like Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn attending their own funeral. Gary, Chris, and Adam [Evans, producer] managed to find old movies and TV shows I’d forgotten I was in. I’d come back from the dead! All kidding aside – it’s an accurate memory of a working actor’s journey – dreams can come true.”
And if you can’t wait until June 6, don’t worry Fredheads: Bloody Disgusting and Beyond Fest will present an all-day Robert Englund marathon at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA, on May 13. The line-up includes Freddy vs. Jason, The Last Showing, Stay Hungry, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, culminating with a free screening of Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares followed by a Q&A with Englund.
If you’re not already signed up for SCREAMBOX (which any good Englund fan should be, as their library includes A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Mangler, Night Terrors, Galaxy of Terror, and The Funhouse Massacre) you can do so here in preparation for June 6.
