It is hard to believe that one of the creepiest scenes in horror film history was the result of a special effect that didn't quite work as well as planned. Most people don't realize how often cinematic history is made on the backs of the skilled technicians working on a film set. As a film technician myself (in the props department) I can assure you that even the most meticulously planned films are only as successful as the crew that makes them. A Director has a vision and discusses it to the key technicians in pre-production and then the wheels start to spin, but it is only on the day when a scene is scheduled to shoot that the real work begins. Gags don't always come straight out of the box, and often they aren't totally worked out until the shot is blocked. So when it comes to a gag that doesn't work as the director envisioned, it is up to the film technicians (the electrics department, the grips department, set dec department, wardrobe department, hair department, make up department, special effects department, visual effects department, and props department) to figure it out and make it work.

In the case of the original A Nightmare On Elm Street feature film, director Wes Craven wanted a well lit scene showing Freddy Krueger's arms stretching across a back alley, but while blocking the scene it became all too obvious that the scene looked hokey and the special effect wasn't convincing. At some point while the technicians tried to figure it out, someone suggested backlighting the scene. They tried it and disaster turned into one of the creepiest things a pre-digital effects spoiled audience has ever seen.

The creative people at NECA are as big of horror fans as we are (and we dare say they may love horror more than us), and they knew they had to recreate this scene for collectors. In doing so, they made a very cool Freddy figure into the quintessential Freddy figure.

We hope NECA can find a way to offer a backlit version of this genre defining action figure in 2012.