Summary
Everyone’s favorite striped sweater-wearing, knife-gloved slasher may have been based on a true story.
There areeight movies in the franchise, which includes one mash-up of worlds,Freddy vs. Jason.
There was alsoa tv series titledFreddy’s Nightmaresand almostaFear Factor-style reality showwith Freddy Krueger as the host titledReal Nightmares.
Image by Collider Staff
So, how did the sarcastic and sadistic child murderer come to fruition?
TheLA Timescan be thanked for that.
The article was about a Cambodian family coming to America to escape mass genocide in the Killing Fields.
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
None of the articles connected the deaths together, even though they were all eerily similar.
This was eventually namedSudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS).
During the year 1981, 26 total Hmong men died for the same reason.
There has been a lot of speculation on what could possibly be causing SUNDS.
Many of these go back generations, though they have been the inspiration for contemporary horror as well.
This loosely translates to “cursed dream” in Tagalog, the most commonly spoken language in the Philippines.
In folklore, the Bangungot is a vengeful female spirit that suffocates men in their dreams.
The creature goes on to haunt Sabrina and her friends' dreams.
Krueger in court could have been a reality.
Still, the most renowned embodiment of this genetic ailment will likely always be Freddy.
Especially because SUNDS essentially only effects men.
This has given the folklore a gendered quality.
Image via Netflix
Meanwhile, Craven’s connection to the disease is remote.
His Bangungot, Freddy Krueger, is fully appropriated into America’s folklore, the slasher film.
In that tradition, though he kills everybody,he tends to sexually fixate on women.
He met with Craven and told him he loved it.
A very real and unexplainable phenomenon inspired one of themost successful and iconic horror franchises.
A Nightmareis currently available to stream on AMC+ in the U.S.
WATCH ON AMC+
