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Nightmare on Elm Street Cameos

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Lifestyle Scary Movies and Series

Who Cameos in the Nightmare on Elm Street Movies?

Nightmare on Elm Street Cameo Appearances By Celebrities 

The Nightmare on Elm Street movies have largely been well funded and filled with talented cast and crew members. Due to the great number of people involved on the project and the many number of sequels, the Nightmare movies are more likely to include cameos than many other films.  The creators of the Nightmare movies have been very careful in how they implement cameos…but they are still found throughout the franchise. Maybe they should have called them Screameos instead? What would Elm Street be without screams and famous actors?

List of Nightmare on Elm Street Cameos

Horror Enthusiast has set on a mission to list all of the cameos in the Freddy Krueger movies. Many famous actors have appeared in horror movies before their careers started. Here is the full list as it stands today for Nightmare on Elm Street.

Robert Shaye

Newline Cinema owner and Nightmare on Elm Street original producer, Robert Shaye lends a voice twice in the film. The audio clip of the news reporting Tina’s death and the voice of the station announcer both belong to Shaye.

Shaye plays an actual character in the second film (which he also produced).  Shaye can be seen as the S&M bartender serving Jesse in the gay bar.

Shaye works his way into a cameo during the fourth film in the franchise A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) as one of the high school teachers.

Freddy’s Dead, the 6th installment in the franchise, features a Robert Shaye ticket booth operator.  He is responsible for selling bus tickets in cameo!

Shaye cameos as himself in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (like some of the actual actors from the original film).

Again, Shaye makes his way into another film in Freddy vs Jason (2003), playing Laurie’s high school principal.

Robert Shaye’s Sister

The producer’s sister found herself a cameo in the original Nightmare movie (1984) as a teacher…and again in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare as a nurse.

Johnny Depp

One of the stars of the original Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Johnny Depp, can be seen in a picture within Kristen’s magazine in the fourth film, A Nightmare on Elm Street4: The Dream Master (1988).  He also has a short cameo appearance in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991).

Renny Harlin

The director of the fourth film in the franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), Renny Harlin, cameo’d as a student in a classroom.

Eric Singer

Famous drummer for a number of bands, including Kiss, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and Badlands makes a cameo in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) as a band member shown on TV.

Alice Cooper

In Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Alice Cooper makes a cameo appearance as the abusive father.

Tom Arnold and Roseanne Barr

These two celebrities can be seen playing the childless couple found about 23 minutes into the 6th movie in the franchise, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991).

Tuesday Knight

Tuesday Knight Freddy Krueger

Chase’s funeral scene in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare hides a Tuesday Knight cameo.

Rey Mysterio

The famous wrestler made a cameo appearance in Freddy vs Jason (2003) as a guy who does a fantastic jump.

Evangeline Lilly

The girl in the green long-sleeved shirt present in the crowd right under half an hour into Freddy vs Jason (2003), is Evangeline!

…And Almost a Couple Others

Heather Langenkamp played the main protagonist in the original nightmare movie.  She was offered a cameo as a waitress in the latest 2010 remake of Nightmare on Elm Street…but declined the offer.

John Saxon played Heather’s father and the town’s police chief in the first movie, reprising his role in the third film, and then playing himself in A New Nightmare (1994). Saxon was offered a cameo in the 2010 remake as well, but schedule conflicts never let it happen.

Final Cameo Notes

In the many plentiful Nightmare on Elm Street movies, there have been many cameos and celebrity appearances.  There are probably many more cameos which have yet to be discovered. As a horror fan, you are obligated to help! If you find any cameos in any Nightmare on Elm Street movies which you do not see listed here, please comment below!

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Novels, Television, and Film Adaptations of Robert Bloch

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Featured Horror Books Horror Mystery and Lore Scary Movies and Series

From the past articles in which we have discussed Robert Bloch and his creative works within the horror genre, we decided to talk a little bit about his most famous novels, especially Psycho, the film that almost overnight made Bloch a writing sensation.

The Scarf (1947)

The Scarf (1947) by Robert Bloch
The Scarf (1947) by Robert Bloch

This novel was originally published twelve years before Bloch’s most famous work, Psycho (1960) and while it was originally published without much publicity and was largely ignored for years, it along with Bloch’s other older works started to receive more notice after Hitchcock adapted Psycho to the big screen. Once Bloch’s work received such critical acclaim, his other less popular works began to gain some popularity as well. These other works tend to still be less popular and while they were all well-written, most were unfortunately as forgettable as they come. The Scarf, despite being one of Bloch’s best novels is somehow still one of his forgotten novels.

When we look at The Scarf we see a story about Daniel Morley, a man who admits to having a fetish for a certain scar he wears all the time. According to our strange narrator, Morley received this scarf as a gift from his high school English teacher; in a strange turn of events, this teacher attempted to rape Morley and whom Morley killed in alleged self-defense.

We eventually see Morley as somewhat of a wandering vagrant, one who commits small crimes to get by—and then also there’s the women he murders with.. the scarf.

Psycho (1959) by Robert Bloch
Psycho (1959) by Robert Bloch

Psycho (1959)

For those who have been, somehow, untouched by Bloch’s infamous novel Psycho (1959) this synopsis might be somewhat of a spoiler—but that doesn’t mean you can get away with not reading the book, watching the movie, or checking out the television series inspired by the original novel!

Within the story proposed by Bloch in this psychological thriller, we meet Norman Bates, a middle-aged bachelor who is mentally dominated by his mother—a puritanical, mean-spirited woman who prevents Norman from having any kind of normal life outside of taking care of her and the motel they run together in the small town of Fairville. Unfortunately, since the state relocated the highway, Norman and his mother have been struggling to maintain their business which at one point had been a fairly busy highway adjacent place for people to stop for the night.

Enter Mary Crane, an impulsive woman who, after stealing $40,000 from one of her real estate clients, is on the run from the law. Mary arrives just when Norman and his mother are in a heated argument and as the situation progresses, Mary is under the impression that Norman’s mother would benefit from a mental hospital. Norman denies that there is anything wrong with her, suggesting that, “we all go a little mad sometimes.” After finishing her dinner with Norman, Mary returns to her room having decided to return the money she stole and face the consequences so she doesn’t end up like Norman and his mother, but in an unforeseen change in circumstance, while Mary is taking a shower, a figure that looks like an old woman ambushes Mary and beheads her for her offenses.

Norman, who had passed out drunk after dinner finds Mary’s bloody corpse and is instantly convinced his mother murdered their customer—briefly considering letting his mother go to prison, he instead decides to get rid of the body and dispose of Mary’s belongings in a swamp before returning to life as usual. Mary’s fiance catches wind of her disappearance through Mary’s sister, who with the help of a private investigator hired by Mary’s employer, begin the search for her together. Arbogast, the private investigator, is eventually led to the Bates Motel where he questions Norman about Mary—Norman of course lies, telling Arbogast that Mary had only stayed for one night and left. Wanting to cover his bases, Arbogast asks to speak with Norman’s mother, but Norman refuses and by doing so, rouses Arbogast’s suspicion. The mystery continues and what awaits those searching for Mary Crane turns into a psychological thriller that goes beyond the standard criminal mind—who could have known that Norman Bates was such a pscyho?

Psycho (1960) Adaptation into Film

Immediately after publishing, Bloch was made an offer for the film rights to the book that put him on the map, it wasn’t until well after the rights were purchased that Bloch found out the person who purchased them was actually Alfred Hitchcock. We discuss more of the surrounding details in our article Robert Bloch: The Man Who Brought Us Psycho.

Psycho (1998) Remake

Bates Motel (2013-2017)

A disturbing and driving force of psychological horror, Carlton Cuse and A&E provided a reimagined version of Bloch’s original creation, having a more in-depth backstory and an interesting narrative and twist on dissociative personality disorder and how the extremes of such could result in such a violent psychological break even from someone who was at first depicted as being so docile and sweet.

Works Cited

Bloch, Robert. Psycho. Blackstone Audio, Inc., 1959.

Bloch, Robert. The Scarf. Dial Press, 1947.

Cuse, Carlton. Bates Motel, A&E, 2013.

Sergio. “THE SCARF (1947 / 1966) by Robert Bloch.” Tipping My Fedora, 13 May 2012, bloodymurder.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/the-scarf-1947-by-robert-bloch/.

Van Sant, Gus, director. Psycho, Universal Pictures, 1998.

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Paranormal Movies/Television Series On Netflix January 2020

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Scary Movies and Series

 Do you like the hairs standing up on the back of your neck? Well we’ve put together a list of the best paranormal movies and television series on Netflix right now for your fright nights viewing pleasure… We’ll update regularly as new titles become available.

10.) Insidious

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Director: James Wan

Writer: Leigh Whannell

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Barbara Hershey

Parents (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne) take drastic measures when it seems their new home is haunted and their comatose son (Ty Simpkins) is possessed by a malevolent entity, astral projecting and frightened, the parents call upon a medium (Lin Shaye).

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66%

9.) Birdbox

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Director: Susanne Bier

Writers: Eric Heisserer (screenplay), Josh Malerman (novel)

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Hollander, Machine Gun Kelly, BD Wong, Pruitt Taylor Vince

When a mysterious, paranormal force starts killing off the population, if you see it, you die. The survivors must now avoid coming face to face with an entity that takes shape of their worst fears. Searching for life and a new beginning, a woman and her two kids embark on a dangerous journey through the woods and down a river to find a place of safety and life. To make it, they’ll have to cover their eyes from the evil that chases them, completing the trip blindfolded.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%

8.) The Ritual

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Director: David Bruckner

Writers: Joe Barton, Adam Nevill

Cast: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton, Paul Reid, Maria Erwolte

After the tragic death of their friend, four college friends reunite and set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness. However when they take a wrong turn it leads them into the mysterious forests of Norse legend, where ancient evil forces exist and stalk them throughout.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

7.) The Conjuring

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Director: James Wan

Writer: Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Mackenzie Foy, Joey King, Hayley McFarland

Description

In 1970, paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren are summoned to the home of Carolyn and Roger Perron. The Perrons and five daughters recently moved to a secluded farmhouse, where supernatural entities have been made known. Though the manifestation seems harmless at first, but soon events take place turning the house into a nightmare.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

6.) The Ring

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Director:  Gore Verbinski

Writer:  Ehren Kruger

Cast:  Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Daveigh Chase

A videotape filled with disturbing and unsettling images, once you play it, the phone rings, telling of the viewer’s death in exactly seven days. Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller, skeptical, until four teenagers all die exactly one week after watching the tape. Rachel tracks down the video and watches it, leading her to having just seven days to unravel the paranormal mystery.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%

5.) Child’s Play (1988)

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Director: Tom Holland

Writers: Don Mancini

Cast:  Catherine Hicks, Dinah Manoff, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif

Gunned down by Detective Mike Norris, dying murderer Charles Lee Ray uses black magic to put his soul inside a doll named Chucky, which Karen Barclay then buys for her young son, Andy. When Chucky kills Andy’s baby sitter, the boy realizes the doll is alive and tries to warn people, but he’s institutionalized.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%

4.) The Haunting of Hill House

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Director: Mike Flanagan

Writers:  Mike Flanagan, Meredith Averill, Elizabeth Ann Phang, Rebecca Klingel, Jeff Howard, Charise Castro Smith, Scott Kosar

Cast:  Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel,  Victoria Pedretti

This reimagining of the Shirley Jacksn novel follows siblings who, as children, grew up in what would grow to be the most famous haunted house in the country. As adults, forced back into the past, they must finally confront it. Some ghosts lurk in their minds, others still around the Hill House.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

3.) The Witch

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Director/Writer: Robert Eggers

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, and Harvey Scrimshaw

In 1630 New England, panic and despair envelops a farmer, his wife and their children when the youngest son Samuel vanishes without a trace. The family blames the oldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, twin siblings begin to point fingers at the eldest, accusing her of witchcraft.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

2.) Rosemary’s Baby

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Director: Roman Polanski

Writers: Ira Levin

Cast:  Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Angela Dorian, Clay Tanner, Charles Grodin

A young wife believes that her child is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband Guy move to a NYC apartment building with an ominous reputation and odd neighbors. When Rosemary gets pregnant she becomes isolated, and the truth is revealed once she gives birth.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

1.) Veronica

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Director: Paco Plaza

Writers: Fernando Navarro

Cast: Sandra Escacena, Bruna Gonzalez, Claudia Placer, Ivan Chavero, Ana Torrent, Consuelo Trujillo, Sonia Almara, Carla Campra

During a solar eclipse, Verónica and her friends want to summon the spirit of Verónica’s father using an Ouija board. However, during the session she loses consciousness and soon it becomes clear that evil demons have arrived. Stalking Veronica and her friends, things take a drastic turn for the worse.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

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Possessor – Your Actions Are Not Your Own

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Best Of Best of Movies Featured Horror Movie Reviews Scary Movies and Series

Possessor is the new horror film exercise in psychological science-horror from Brandon Cronenberg, son of David ‘The Baron of Blood’ Cronenberg himself. For those who don’t know, The Baron brought us such shockers as Scanners, The Fly, Videodrome and an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone in the 80s, as well as the deeply unsettling The Brood in 1979. His work with gore and outlandish practical effects earned him a legendary status in the world of horror, and if Possessor is anything to go by, his son is taking the baton with heavy enthusiasm and a deft hand. 

Have you ever felt that your actions are not entirely your own?

Possessor is Brandon Cronenebergs debut feature film, following a slew of surreal shorts such as 2019’s Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You, and hopefully serves as a first real look at a bright directorial future. With skills like these, it would seem a waste not to.

Visually, the film is stunning. The vibrant colour palettes and psychedelic slow-mo sequences remind me heavily of Panos Cosmatos, which can only ever be a good thing, and fit perfectly with the stark, often expressionist imagery used to depict strange conceptual mental processes to a high artistic degree. The cinematography by Karim Hussain feels alive yet purposeful, only intending the greatest effect for each scene. The settings in which these scenes play out feel gritty and earthly which works alongside the light sci-fi themes to give proceedings a rough, nasty edge. This edge is sharpened to its apex by the violence itself, which is where Possessor derives a good deal of its horror. 

It looks downright horrific in places. Whereas more high-concept sci-fi commonly employs computer-generated violence and gore, a lot of the time among a computer-generated background, Possessor makes heavy use of practical effects to create a borderline grindhouse feel, it’s sudden acts of realistic, disturbing and brutally savage violence bringing the gut-dropping style of Craig Zahler in films such as Brawl in Cell Block 99, though to a more refined degree. 

possessor horror movie poster featuring a screaming woman

Possessor’s dreamy synth score by Jim Williams perfectly compliments each scene it is needed, often lurking in the background to invoke greater dread from it’s slow-burning second act while sometimes swelling and exploding to punctuate the more abstract happenings for greater meaning and impact. It fully expands on the film’s hallucinatory sci-fi atmosphere, while sickening sound effects boost each savage kill to its full effect. 

Being more on the light, conceptual sci-fi end of the spectrum, Possessor’s character-based plot relies heavily on its actors and aesthetic, using it’s basis of ‘entering the mind of other people to carry out covert kills’ as a vehicle for its own nasty, nihilistic take on a character arc. Some warm, believably human elements are at play, making the overlaying ethos and point of the film all the more disturbing. Its squirming, corrupt nature is reminiscent of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, though omitting its self-aware winks for an even darker, more consequential message. This style of film benefits greatly for the thematic blend on show here, looking back at science-horror precursors such as Harlan Ellison’s short story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream where ideas of humanity are irreverently twisted and spat at in place of a colder logic, a darker horror. 

Possessor plays with themes of consciousness, though never becomes self indulgent when doing so. It uses these themes to further its artistic vision, with some psychologically internal sequences playing out like music videos. The pacing of the film bleeds intent as a slow burner punctuated with sudden hyper-violence, this coupled with the sharp and meticulous visuals giving the finished product a very ‘A24’ feel.

Possessor is meditative and clever. It won’t hold your hand with pointless exposition, nor will it try to confuse you with arrogant sci-fi contrivances. It is a skillfully executed offering of disturbing cerebral horror and I for one hope to see much more from the Cronenberg name. Long live the new flesh.

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Prisoners of The Ghostland – The Enigma

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Featured Horror Movie Reviews Scary Movies and Series

Nicholas Cage, for better or worse, is an enigma. The closer he comes to pure genius, the more obscure and confusing the slew of throwaway schlock he frequently indulges in appears. For every Mandy (2018) we are permitted to gleefully enjoy, so are we forced to endure a Willy’s Wonderland (2021) or Kill Chain (2019). He is an actor who seems eager to show off his chops and bask in his own talent, while also perfectly happy to fund his more artistic endeavors by screaming maniacally through one cheap, talentless production after another. In 2021 he starred in Prisoners of The Ghostland.

Prisoners of The Ghostland (2021), the latest film by Japanese director Sion Sono, oddly lies directly in the middle of these two known Cage archetypes. With a distinct gonzo vibe, and a sense of humor that ranges from the campy to the downright absurdist, this latest experiment in Cage-rage feels like a hyper-vivid mashup of Mad Max (1979) and surrealist neo-western, all through a filter of feverish b-movie grit. Insane choices abound in production, the actors being forced to take a script seriously that sounds as though it was written by a film-obsessed, adhd-riddled pre-teen. If that sounds like fun to you, you’ll probably love this one. I am personally on the fence.

Prisoners of The Ghostland has a rather grandiose feel, as though we are viewing a classic epic from an alternate, altogether weirder, timeline. Taken for what it is, it can be a fun ride, though a lot of time is given to slow, sombre scenes that cut tiresomely into the film’s energy. We are forced to watch, on repeat, the tragic incident that led Cage’s character into his explosive predicament, without being offered much more information each time we are shown it. These particular scenes detract heavily from the campy, tongue-in-cheek edge that films of its ilk thrive on, leaving doubtful its ascension to cult classic status.

Prisoners of The Ghostland scene featuring a man with a spear arm fighting a man with a sword

Sion Sono has a penchant for the weird and seemingly random, and his teaming up with Cage should have been a match written in the stars. Sadly it more serves as proof that more than visual flair and an abundance of oddities are needed to make even a b-movie great. All the ingredients are there, though something in the execution is simply lacking in any kind of real engagement. Through awkward and drawn-out conversation we never learn enough about any one character to allow any kind of development, and most interactions seem to be intended to confuse rather than enlighten. It is the kind of picture one could watch at least five or six times before realizing the deeper meaning they were looking for is actually not there at all.

For those who can bask in strange without feeling the need to look much further, the vibrant and colorful visuals of Prisoners of The Ghostland coupled with its eccentric cast and true attention to madness should provide ample entertainment for a late-night viewing.

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