Charles Bernstein Talks About His “Freddy Krueger” Soundtrack

The horror characters are seldom remembered for a long time, and Freddy Krueger is one such character whose terrifying imagery, accentuated by a fascinating piece of music, etched itself in our memories.

Talking about the soundtrack, its composer Charles Bernstein has recently shed some light on his experiences while composing music for Freddy Krueger.

In his interview with WTOP, Bernstein revealed that before “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” he was not much of a horror buff and did not watch horror films, but his agent convinced him that he should meet the guy named Wes Craven, and he eventually did, and that changed everything.

In the same interview, he revealed that he hadn’t even heard of the guy before talking with his agent. The reason for that has been his lack of knowledge in horror subjects. As a child, Bernstein was always the guy who liked cathartic movies (in particular movies which showed action and muscles).

He opinionated that ‘Elm Street’ felt like a more horror film than Cujo even though the latter had more supernatural elements. He felt that the film that was based on Stephen King’s book was more of a family tragedy rather than horror, and ‘Elm Street’ was a lot different in many aspects.

He realized while working on the ‘Elm Street’ soundtrack that horror films are a lot more than just scaring people. He admitted that before he did his work for the 1984 film, he was quite ignorant about horror films, and that was partly because he never used to see any horror stuff. Even his opinion about Wes Craves was a lot different than what it is now. He first thought all he had to do is make scary theme music, and the level of spookiness in the music will determine his performance. He used to believe that if the music he creates scares him, then it will scare the audience as well.

The composer revealed in the interview that he had to use many synthesizers, which were quite new at that time, and in the soundtrack, we hear all the instruments because it is a “low-budget situation.”

Bernstein wasn’t quite pleased with what he had created. However, when he saw the film, his apprehensions vanished.

Bernstein saw the film before the audience, and his first opinion of the film got him heavily relieved from any fears because the pictures he saw in the film were “very weird,” and he was sure the film wasn’t going to be successful. His opinion assured him that he does not have to worry about his music because he was sure no one would hear it.

However, with a grin on his face, he said in the interview how wrong he was about that. Even two decades later, the film is still shown and liked all over the world.

The 1984 film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” inspired innumerable Halloween costumes, video games, and a nine-film franchise. After the release of the film, “New Line Cinema” got a nickname from the fans-“The House that Freddy Built.”

Charles Bernstein, who never wanted to be a part of “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” still has some disappointments over not being called for the 2003 sequel “Freddy Vs. Jason.”

In the interview, he also revealed that he is planning to create a Freddy Krueger themed hip hop album.

Eva winget is an avid technical blogger, a magazine, a publisher of guides at and a professional cyber security analyst.. Through her writing, she aims to educate people about the dangers and threats lurking in the digital world.

SOURCE: Charles Bernstein Talks About His “Freddy Krueger” Soundtrack