While the mythos of Freddy Krueger's origins have always seemed pretty locked down, there was a project that could have changed everything we knew about the legendary terror of Springwood. What's even more insane is the fact that this potential story was written by someone who knew the character rather well: A Nightmare On Elm Street's own patriarch and hero, John Saxon. And boy, did he have an interesting idea for how Freddy would find himself becoming the spirit of vengeance.
Saxon's story, entitled "How The Nightmare On Elm Street All Began," was only a 12 page treatment, but it practically changed Freddy Krueger's past from the top down. In fact, it wasn't Freddy that killed the children of Springfield in this story, but rather Charles Manson and his followers. One of those victims was Betsy Thompson, Nancy's step-sister, and the prime suspect just happens to be her therapist: Frederick Krueger. One thing leads to another, Freddy admits his guilt under coercion, and the rest is Nightmare history.
If that Nightmare on Elm Street prequel pitch isn't strange enough, it's even stranger that John Saxon is the pen behind it. While most folks knew Saxon as the actor who played Lt. Thompson, father to Nancy, and in this treatment Betsy as well, he penned this potential prequel in 1987, just as he was returning to the fold of the franchise proper. As he returned in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in that same year, the plotline that saw his character engaging in a quest to exorcise the spirit of Freddy once and for all must have inspired him to write this initial treatment, which he then revised in 2006.
So where can you find this treatment? Well, sadly, you'll only be able to read a couple pages shared on the item's official eBay listing. You see, this treatment, and its revision, was recently sold to the highest bidder for $350, so unless you're said winning bidder, or happen to have a connection to said winner, you're only going to get to see the first couple pages of "How The Nightmare On Elm Street All Began." Though, to be fair, if this idea ever became an actual entry in the series, it'd probably find itself renamed to something more proper like, "A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Beginning," at least I'm surmising.
With A Nightmare On Elm Street already in the process of possibly being remade, there's a chance that the origins of Freddy Krueger might find themselves under revision again. Should this be the case, it's be interesting to see if John Saxon's treatment could find itself somehow brought into the canon officially by whomever eventually finds themselves as the head of the project. In the meantime, fans can revisit the entire A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise on Blu-ray and DVD.
