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Nightmare Autopsis: A Return to Elm Street
From the publisher who brought you Slash of the The Road to Freddy vs Jason comes an all-new retrospective on one of the greatest horror franchises of all time! Join author Lowell Greenblatt for a nostalgic trip back to Elm Street to revisit the original Nightmare and its sequels. Featuring original story analyses and new production info,
Nightmare Autopsis
is a must-read for Freddy fans. The book notably features exclusive new interviews and reflections by cast and crew from every entry. Greenblatt also offers up insightful discussions with genre luminaries on Elm Street’s cultural impact and legacy. Make no mistake, Fredheads. This is the book you’ve been waiting for!
The book
- A foreword by Nathan Thomas Milliner
- A franchise-spanning photo gallery
- New insights from three Nightmare directors
- Extensive looks at unused sequel scripts
- Notes on deleted and alternate scenes
- Deep dives on each film’s story origins
- Long-overdue appreciations for the sequels
- A history of Freddy’s evolving iconography
- A look at how each entry influenced the next
The book
- A foreword by Nathan Thomas Milliner
- A franchise-spanning photo gallery
- New insights from three Nightmare directors
- Extensive looks at unused sequel scripts
- Notes on deleted and alternate scenes
- Deep dives on each film’s story origins
- Long-overdue appreciations for the sequels
- A history of Freddy’s evolving iconography
- A look at how each entry influenced the next
469 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2025
11 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2025
So… I’m kind of disappointed with this one.
While it’s clear author Lowell Greenblatt loves the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, the way he looks back on the series leaves a lot to be desired. For a book that promises new insights, most of the information contained within its pages is stuff I had already gathered from the extras on the Blu-Ray boxset or read about on fanpages. Analyses lack depth and tend to switch topic whenever things are about to get interesting.
At times Greenblatt gets it right. His take on the much-maligned Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare as a misunderstood tale of Shakespearian madness made me look at the film with new eyes, heightening my appreciation for it. Those moments of fresh interpretation, however, are few and far between, hidden between lots of retreads and even the occasional mistake. For example: it most assuredly wasn’t Robert Englund handling the glove in the opening scene of the original movie.
The writing is hit and miss as well. While the analytic sections are aptly written, the plot summaries lack any kind of excitement because they drown in unnecessary details and are filled to the brim with cringeworthy winks at the reader. Whenever Greenblatt refers to a sequel he hasn’t talked about yet - which he does often - he promises that he’ll “get to it”. Well, duh… it wouldn’t be a proper retrospective of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise if he didn’t eventually get to it. My eyes rolled every single time.
By the way, does anyone edit these things? I haven’t seen this many typoes, misspelled names and wrongly constructed sentences in a professionally released book in a long time. At times it felt like I was reading a first draft instead of a final version.
The best parts of the book are the discussions of unused scripts and the interviews with people involved in the franchise, though even here it regularly becomes a frustrating reading experience. The former are often bogged down by Greenblatt’s inability to tell a compelling story, while the latter contain plenty of interesting questions… that then remain unanswered. Whenever an interviewee doesn’t respond to a question directly and instead goes in a different direction, you’d think the interviewer would eventually circle back… but unfortunately, that never happens.
It’s a shame, because I genuinely love the franchise and - like I said in the beginning - it’s clear Greenblatt does too. His heart is definitely in the right place and I had a decent time rewatching all of the films and reading the corresponding segments in the book. However, I just couldn’t help but feel disappointment at the lack of depth that was offered. It’s an okay read if you’re new to the series, but if you’re a true fan expecting an engaging deep dive filled with new insights, Nightmare Autopsis doesn’t cut it. Frankly, I think A Nightmare On Elm Street deserves better.
While it’s clear author Lowell Greenblatt loves the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, the way he looks back on the series leaves a lot to be desired. For a book that promises new insights, most of the information contained within its pages is stuff I had already gathered from the extras on the Blu-Ray boxset or read about on fanpages. Analyses lack depth and tend to switch topic whenever things are about to get interesting.
At times Greenblatt gets it right. His take on the much-maligned Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare as a misunderstood tale of Shakespearian madness made me look at the film with new eyes, heightening my appreciation for it. Those moments of fresh interpretation, however, are few and far between, hidden between lots of retreads and even the occasional mistake. For example: it most assuredly wasn’t Robert Englund handling the glove in the opening scene of the original movie.
The writing is hit and miss as well. While the analytic sections are aptly written, the plot summaries lack any kind of excitement because they drown in unnecessary details and are filled to the brim with cringeworthy winks at the reader. Whenever Greenblatt refers to a sequel he hasn’t talked about yet - which he does often - he promises that he’ll “get to it”. Well, duh… it wouldn’t be a proper retrospective of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise if he didn’t eventually get to it. My eyes rolled every single time.
By the way, does anyone edit these things? I haven’t seen this many typoes, misspelled names and wrongly constructed sentences in a professionally released book in a long time. At times it felt like I was reading a first draft instead of a final version.
The best parts of the book are the discussions of unused scripts and the interviews with people involved in the franchise, though even here it regularly becomes a frustrating reading experience. The former are often bogged down by Greenblatt’s inability to tell a compelling story, while the latter contain plenty of interesting questions… that then remain unanswered. Whenever an interviewee doesn’t respond to a question directly and instead goes in a different direction, you’d think the interviewer would eventually circle back… but unfortunately, that never happens.
It’s a shame, because I genuinely love the franchise and - like I said in the beginning - it’s clear Greenblatt does too. His heart is definitely in the right place and I had a decent time rewatching all of the films and reading the corresponding segments in the book. However, I just couldn’t help but feel disappointment at the lack of depth that was offered. It’s an okay read if you’re new to the series, but if you’re a true fan expecting an engaging deep dive filled with new insights, Nightmare Autopsis doesn’t cut it. Frankly, I think A Nightmare On Elm Street deserves better.
August 28, 2025
In the vein of Harker's other horror treatises like Taking Shape, Nightmare Autopsies: A Return to Elm Street. takes a deep stab at the original arc of films starring Wes Craven's charbroiled killer, Freddy Krueger. Fans of the genre will enjoy this Horror convention in book form, packed with insider information, personal experiences by cast and crew as well as a who's who of horror fiction writers who share how the Nightmare on Elm Street series shaped their love of the genre.
Greenblatt's passion for the series really shines through as well as his horror movie and genre bona fides. Connecting Craven's creations to other famous slashers, Cronenberg's body horror and main-stream cinema influences, he shares how the series changed horror moves in ways still felt today. The joy he and other “Fred Heads” have for the films will likely make you want to go back and watch a few of them again yourself.
Greenblatt's passion for the series really shines through as well as his horror movie and genre bona fides. Connecting Craven's creations to other famous slashers, Cronenberg's body horror and main-stream cinema influences, he shares how the series changed horror moves in ways still felt today. The joy he and other “Fred Heads” have for the films will likely make you want to go back and watch a few of them again yourself.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews