Me Vs Robert EnglundAfter I watched 29 horror films and wrote my Halloween articles on Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers for the site, I found a new love for the horror genre and the characters it created and one of those characters recently came knocking on my door, or the postman did, to deliver a review copy of ‘Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street with the Man of Your Dreams’, the autobiography of Freddy Krueger’s character creator Robert Englund, and I was thrilled.

Not only did I get the book to review I was also lucky to meet Robert Englund himself as he was in London for a signing at Waterstones in Piccadilly Circus and it pretty much made my day after being so heavily immersed in his movies for Halloween and he was a genuine down to earth movie star and an absolute legend.

I tried to get some information on upcoming projects and I got some minor news which i will post shortly but for now i will focus on his book.

The book is a fantastic insight into Robert Englund’s rise to fame to become one of the most recognizable movie icons in the world today and how he embraced the fact that he would forever be synonymous with his murdering alter ego name of Freddy Krueger.

The book interestingly looks back at his early years as a trained theatre loving performer who idolised the arts and was destined to stay there until he was eventually tempted to Hollywood to fulfil his potential as an actor, to make some money, some movies and meet beautiful women and of course he did this but to a level he never believed possible “World wide stardom”.

And it’s the early stories that interested me the most with his involvement in theatre from his debut into acting in his school days that followed on through to a young adult and with the success and struggles it brought, not mentioning the ladies it attracted and he got the acting bug and it’s this period that led him to be the actor he is today and it’s engrossing.

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The book is quick paced and funny with some fascinating anecdotes of his auditions, rejections and meetings with the stars of Hollywood like the intimidating Gary Busey, the immense Henry Fonda or good friend Mark Hamill, all the stories are honestly told and character building for him personally that made him take greater steps into Hollywood.

It’s when he was cast as the lovable alien “˜Willie’ in the TV series of V that his career took a massive leap to stardom and that’s when the book got stuck in my hands and hooked me, Robert’s fame went through the roof as V took the world by storm and became one of the most successful TV shows of it’s time that was followed one year later with the release of the horror character that would change his life forever, Freddy Krueger.

His stories of his time on all Seven Freddy Films is brilliant and a brutal lesson in extensive makeup applications pro’s and cons in creating the face of Freddy. Robert tells of his relationships with the makeup artists, directors of the franchise and all the actors (some very famous) he worked along with and normally ending up murdering and it’s immensely interesting but annoyingly brief as you want to hear more of his times on the films.

So overall if you’re a fan of horror your going to love it, if your not then it’s still a fine read that’s a genuine and inspiring look into the world of Hollywood by a man that has appeared in around 120 films/TV and counting who just loves to act and entertain and so from the masks of Comedy Tragedy to the mask of Freddy Krueger Robert Englund has certainly done so in a fascinating career.

Thanks for the dreams Freddy!

The book is out now.