Flicks of Shame: what's a nice actor like you doing in a movie like this?

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Okay, so most people know that Johnny Depp made his screen debut in Wes Craven’s legendary slasher. It’s hardly a secret, but what it lacks in obscurity it more than makes up in gory hilarity – if only to see one of Hollywood’s perennial quirky outsiders playing a straight-up jock heart throb before being slaughtered in a scene that reportedly required 400 gallons of fake blood.

Depp plays Glen Lantz, the well-scrubbed and sporty boyfriend of heroine Nancy. He has a fondness for clambering through her bedroom window at night but the most he gets for his dedication is some tediously chaste light petting. Selfish Nancy is far more concerned with Fred Krueger, the razor-fingered demon haunting her dreams and offing her pals after their parents burned him alive following a botched child murder trial. It’s the sort of thing that can dampen even the wildest teen libido, and the audience’s carnal frustration is clearly shared by Glen.

He meets a sticky end, literally, when he falls asleep while watching Miss Nude USA on his portable TV, leading him into the clutches of Krueger. Poor Johnny is sucked into his bed, and then sprayed all over the ceiling in what can only be described as a frothy crimson geyser of gore - easily one of the more memorable on-screen deaths of the Eighties horror boom. You certainly don’t get that in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory - at least not since Health & Safety paid him a visit.

Honourable mentions: Far from being ashamed of his horror debut, Depp returned to the Elm Street franchise for a knowing cameo as the presenter of an anti-drug TV infomercial in 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, for which he was credited under the inconspicuous pseudonym of Oprah Noodlemantra. The soon-to-be-slaughtered stoner watching Depp’s cameo was Breckin Meyer, who would go on to headline Road Trip and the 2004 Garfield movie.

Need to know: Depp was encouraged to get into acting by Nicolas Cage, and only got the part in Elm Street after accompanying one of his friends to the audition, where Wes Craven spotted him and asked him to read for the role as well. For another respected thesp who started out battling Freddy, and also co-starred with Depp in Ed Wood, see: Patricia Arquette.

Availability: A Nightmare on Elm Street is readily available on VHS and DVD, both on its own and as part of a series-spanning boxset.

		A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Okay, so most people know that Johnny Depp made his screen debut in Wes Craven’s legendary slasher. It’s hardly a secret, but what it lacks in obscurity it more than makes up in gory hilarity – if only to see one of Hollywood’s perennial quirky outsiders playing a straight-up jock heart throb before being slaughtered in a scene that reportedly required 400 gallons of fake blood. Depp plays Glen Lantz, the well-scrubbed and sporty boyfriend of heroine Nancy. He has a fondness for clambering through her bedroom window at night but the most he gets for his dedication is some tediously chaste light petting. Selfish Nancy is far more concerned with Fred Krueger, the razor-fingered demon haunting her dreams and offing her pals after their parents burned him alive following a botched child murder trial. It’s the sort of thing that can dampen even the wildest teen libido, and the audience’s carnal frustration is clearly shared by Glen. He meets a sticky end, literally, when he falls asleep while watching Miss Nude USA on his portable TV, leading him into the clutches of Krueger. Poor Johnny is sucked into his bed, and then sprayed all over the ceiling in what can only be described as a frothy crimson geyser of gore - easily one of the more memorable on-screen deaths of the Eighties horror boom. You certainly don’t get that in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory - at least not since Health & Safety paid him a visit. Honourable mentions: Far from being ashamed of his horror debut, Depp returned to the Elm Street franchise for a knowing cameo as the presenter of an anti-drug TV infomercial in 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, for which he was credited under the inconspicuous pseudonym of Oprah Noodlemantra. The soon-to-be-slaughtered stoner watching Depp’s cameo was Breckin Meyer, who would go on to headline Road Trip and the 2004 Garfield movie. Need to know: Depp was encouraged to get into acting by Nicolas Cage, and only got the part in Elm Street after accompanying one of his friends to the audition, where Wes Craven spotted him and asked him to read for the role as well. For another respected thesp who started out battling Freddy, and also co-starred with Depp in Ed Wood, see: Patricia Arquette. Availability: A Nightmare on Elm Street is readily available on VHS and DVD, both on its own and as part of a series-spanning boxset.
Text © 2008 Dan Whitehead. No cut and paste, y'hear? All images remain the property of the offending studios and their reproduction is covered by Fair Use law.