Robert Englund is not finished scaring the bejesus out of audiences just yet. In fact, Englund’s latest project – The Travel Channel’s True Terror with Robert Englund is one of the most haunting pieces of work he has done in his career. The six part series which debut on March 18th, sees Englund not only narrating but also on camera. Delivering each story’s premise with a dose of sinister charm. Being the man behind one of the most popular villains in movie history – Freddy Krueger – I would expect nothing less.
I had the chance to catch up with Englund to talk about both topics. Robert tells Sound Vapors what the show is all about, “What I love about True Terror is we go back into the history of America. We have this historical sort of hindsight, where we look back at these dark, macabre, offbeat things that were printed in newspapers. A hundred, a hundred and fifty years ago in the nineteenth century, late twentieth century of America. It’s this insight into these things that preoccupied us, that we kind of opened up ourselves to believe. We were less sophisticated then and less educated. We were more naive. We were more superstitious. Science wasn’t as advanced, especially medical science. So there were things that we believed that are different than today. That’s sort of the eye to look through the lens to look back at these things that were the source for many of the urban legends that exist today around America. I really like that hindsight look at this underbelly of the American psyche.”
It seems like a perfect fit for Englund. I asked how this collaboration between him and the Travel Channel came about and what went into his decision to be a part of this show. He says, “The powers that be at the Travel Channel contacted me and I had a couple of experiences before with reality T.V. – but neither of them came to fruition. They 
approached me and I hadn’t done a combination of hosting a narration. I’ve been narrating movies all the way back to 1977’s Big Wednesday, the John Milius surfing epic that he made for Warner Bros. I’ve been doing a lot of voice overs. cartoons, games, animation films but this is my first challenge being a host on camera as well as being in the Robert Englund persona. Then also doing the narration, simultaneously.” Englund continues, “It’s that element of my personality that’s sort of relishing and enjoying these stories that I share with you on True Terror.”
Englund speaks with fondness when he talks about the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise as well as the creator, Wes Craven. I asked Robert about how it all got started for him and what that process was like. He says, “It’s interesting.. You know, I’d love to say I had all sorts of artistic reasons for choosing the role. I think it just comes down to two. One was, I was on hiatus from the mini-series. The hugely successful, massive mini-series, ten hours of “V”. Then we were in transition to the television series. We added some cast members and we were transitioning into that. I had this break and Nightmare On Elm Street was literally the only project that fit into that break, at that moment in time for me.”
Englund continues with explanation, “I kind of wanted to work with Wes Craven. I knew a little bit about him from hanging out at a new wave bar. I used to go in there because they had a lot of great rock bands playing there. On either end of the bar, they had these two monitors. On the monitors they had in black and white, some of the scenes from Eraserhead by David Lynch. Also, some of the scenes from The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House On The Left by Wes Craven. That peaked my curiosity for working for Wes.”
It was no surprise that when asked about his personal favorite Nightmare On Elm Street film, Englund picked a Wes Craven movie. The only surprise was that it was not the first film in the series. It was Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Englund says, “We made it just for the fans, it was Wes’ Valentine to the fans. You can watch it a lot of times. There’s a lot of little hidden Easter eggs in it. Keep a close eye on Heather Langenkamp. She’s playing herself in the movie but watch her wardrobe mutate when she goes to visit her boyfriend on the set of Wes Craven’s movie. That would really be my favorite. We get to kid ourselves and tease ourselves. That’s the one I like best.” Take it from Freddy Krueger himself and go watch that one the next time the sun goes down.
You can hear my entire, fun-filled conversation with Robert Englund by clicking on the link to your favorite place to listen to podcasts or by watching the video version on YouTube.
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