what is nightmare on elm street based on
A Nightmare on Elm Street A Nightmare on Elm Street contains many biographical elements, taking inspiration from director Wes Craven's childhood.[14] The basis of the film was inspired by several newspaper articles printed in the Los Angeles Times in the 1970s on a group of Southeast Asian refugees, who, after fleeing to the United States from the results of war and genocide in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, were suffering disturbing nightmares, after which they refused to sleep. Some of the men died in their sleep soon after. Medical authorities called the phenomenon Asian Death Syndrome. The condition itself afflicted only men between the ages of 19 and 57 and is believed to be sudden unexplained death syndrome or Brugada syndrome, or both.[15] The 1970s pop song "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright sealed the story for Craven, giving him not only an artistic setting to "jump off" from, but a synthesizer riff for the Elm Street soundtrack as well.[16] Craven has also stated that he drew some inspiration for the film from Eastern religions.[17]
Alice Johnson (A Nightmare on Elm Street) Alice Johnson is a fictional character and a protagonist in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, portrayed by Lisa Wilcox. She was created by William Kotzwinkle and Brian Helgeland. She appears as a main character in two of the nine A Nightmare on Elm Street films, first appearing in Renny Harlin's A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). In 1989, Alice returned in Stephen Hopkins' A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child before going on to appear in the comic book adaptions, novels, and Freddy vs. Jason (2003) through archive footage. In The Dream Master, Alice has the ability to gain the "dream powers" of Freddy Krueger's victims. In The Dream Child, Freddy begins to use Alice's unborn son Jacob as a way to return. In the original script for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Alice was set to return but this idea was eventually scrapped.[1]