The majority of people interested in reading this biography, myself included, dive in hoping for some juicy, insider tidbits about the making of the A Nightmare On Elm Street  movies.

To be honest, there isn’t much of that in this book. Englund, with the help of co-author Alan Goldsher, provide a superficial, scratch-the-surface stories and anecdotes, which provide very few memorable moments about the backstage of the Nightmare movies. There are a few stories that will be of interest to fans, but by few, I mean few. Mainly, Englund discusses back-slapping comments about his co-stars, and his struggles with the painful make-up process needed to transform him into Freddy Krueger.

Strangely, the stories about Englund’s other movies, especially his pre-Nightmare ones, are much more interesting. With anecdotes about Henry Fonda, Burt Reynolds, Roger Corman, James Cameron, and many others.

But what makes Hollywood Monster  just an OK read, is its canned quality. The writing and the stories chosen for inclusion have a bland, vetted quality that doesn’t offer much insight into Englund’s character or his long career.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. Aug. 15 - 2014

About The Author: Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and writer. He is the author of Beware The Stranger, a horror novel, and Egyptian Gothic: Stories. Both books are available on Amazon here. He is also the writer/director of The Weapon, Egypt’s first action/supernatural Web Series, which centers on a vigilante called “The Hunter”. You can watch the complete first season, for free, here.