Halloween is coming up soon and we plan to celebrate it in style here at the m0vie blog. We’ll be looking at all manner of scary archetypes and horror conventions as that day approaches. Evidently, I’m already in the right frame of mind. I just found out that the original A Nightmare on Elm Street is based (very loosely, I must admit) on a true story. I’m not kidding, it’s actually quite freaky.
One, two... Freddy's coming for you...
And before you ask, no, it isn’t the sane and rational part of the movie. There was no vigilante justice taken against a particular pedophile which inspired the creation of Krueger himself. Indeed, what inspired the movie (along with personal experiences from director Wes Craven) was a string of reports in the LA Times about the death of young, healthy immigrants from Cambodia – they died in their sleep, after being terrified of going back to rest.
In the middle of the night they heard these horrendous screams and crashings and they ran in and he’s thrashing on the bed. They ran to him and by the time they got to him he was dead. They did an autopsy on him and there was nothing physically wrong with him. And I just thought: “My God.”
-Wes Craven
Apparently there’s a medical name for the condition: sudden unexplained death syndrome. Which, in fairness, sounds pretty creepy and mysterious. It’s mainly an east Asian thing, first noticed in Hmong immigrants in the late 1970s. There’s little real knowledge of what causes the condition , though scientists suggest that irregular heart rhythm might have something to do with it. There seems to be no way to predict it. It’s apparently relatively common in Singapore, with 43 deaths per 100,000. Creepy, eh? In the Philippines apparently it goes by the name bangungot – though, in certain parts of the Far East, a peaceful death in sleep is apparently something to be sought.
As you would imagine, there is a significant amount of folklore and mythology built up around the fatal disease. Apparently it is brought about by a malignant spirit. Before you go getting even more hyped up, it isn’t a burnt janitor with terrible fashion sense and an obvious interest in metal work, it’s a vindictive and jealous woman who smothers young men in their sleep.
Back to the case at hand. Craven recalls reading about the reports in the LA Times about these children. Apparently they were terrified and afraid to go to sleep – afraid of something in their dreams. Eventually the parents of the children (convinced by doctors that the lack of REM sleep was a bad thing) told the children to go to sleep. They never woke up.
The story is given an all-too-tragic dimension by the fact that these were families fleeing the genocide of the Khumer Rouge regime, all too famous for its atrocities. Perhaps the children never completely escaped the hell which they had fled – it is possible that the stress could have triggered that irregular heart beat. Still, it is freaky to read about so many children among the immigrants dying in the same manner. We’ll never know why.
I just happened to stumble across this little story and I thought it might be interesting for any film buffs to keep in mind if they are going back to rewatch the original movie before the remake is released next year.
Filed under: Movies Tagged: | a nightmare on elm street, film, freddy krueger, hmong, Movies, mysterious deaths, nightmare on elm street, sudden unexplained death syndrome, true story, wes craven
Way to work a new angle on “Nightmare on Elm Street” — everyone else seems content to rail against Jackie Earle Haley and the fact that anyone would DARE attempt to remake a TIME-HONORED CLASSIC. The sudden unexplained death syndrome adds a nicely realistic (and thus really, really scary) twist to what we tend to tell ourselves is a totally fictitious film.
I think this sort of underlines what made the remake fail; it just doesn’t get what made the original work on any level. (And the original isn’t even all that amazing, though certainly good.) Great legwork, here, Darren.
I watched this movie on my PC and i have to say that it is really good.
wow i will be doing so reseach of my own i really love things like this and i know behind every horror flick there is a true story
i have it and all i can say is booooooooooooooooo the movie sucked and i feel sorry for a group kids 7,8and sitting down watching it and one of them do have a monster thats comes in there room at night i think i think watching that movie would make what their really monster tell them they are going to do more real and i know it is a rated r movie but come on when it say horror kids from 5to 105 that likes them type of movies are going to do what ever to see it even if it means sneaking
is there a real man that muder everyone like that freedy is he a real preson that did all that in there dreams please get back to me
Nope, no real murderer. Just an unexplained medical syndrome.
- I Have Been Dreaming Of Freddy For The Last Three Days ; It May Seem Silly But I’m Not Kidding. Idk What To Do. In The Dream, It Shows Him Chasing After Me While I’m Going Home In A Car And Then He Crashes Through The Windshield , Then His Glove Knives Are 2 Centimeters From My Flesh About To Cut Me.. But Then I Wake Up.. Is He Teasing Me? Making Me Suffer? I Wake Up Screaming , Terrified. What Do I Do? I’m Too Young To Die…& No! I’m Not Fucking Kidding.
I think you’re just watching too much Freddy Kreuger O_O
You can never watch too much Freddy Krueger!
Well since you said Centimeters, I assume you aren’t from America and therefore should be very scared. Didn’t you hear that these kids from India are dying? That’s close enough to you to be scared. Hopefully you don’t have an irregular heart beat……
Hi Kevin. I’m not sure I get your point? Is that I shouldn’t be discussing SADS because peopl die from it? In that case surely any movie about cancer, guns or drugs would be out of the question?
i swear i once had a dream with him in it :O he killed ma family then he came to chase me but i woke up nd also ma friend did to
This scares me, because I’ve had awful nightmares ever since I was little and I’m terrified to go to sleep O_O
Ringu did the same to me.
And Paranormal Activity, if I’m honest.
It is a very real human fear. To go to sleep and never wake up.
I think that’s the power of it.
Wow! Such an impressive blog article on this horror film! I enjoyed the creepiness of the true story. If anyone is interested in Asian (esp Korean) horror, come visit my film blog. Your comprehensive, easy-to-read, completely honest and to-the-core guide on broad genres of EA films and TV shows.
http://eastasiangpsblog.wordpress.com/
Great post.
wanghui138138