In A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), the effect of blood rushing to the ceiling during Glen's (Johnny Depp) demise was achieved using an upside down set. It was actually spilling onto the floor. Director Wes Craven and DP Jacques Haitkin captured the scene strapped to the wall in race car seats.

AgentOfEris · 2020-02-22T20:08:58+00:00

I’m always so impressed by the ingenuity that a lot of horror movie makers used in achieving their special effects before the advent of CGI. Practical effects are just so more realistic and horror-inducing when pulled off right.

stealthynotion · 2020-02-22T21:09:23+00:00

FYI, the director and DP were strapped upside down in their seats. Additionally, the set could rotate 360°. Source: https://m.ranker.com/list/behind-the-scenes-elm-street-glen/orrin-grey

DesertSalt · 2020-02-22T23:17:13+00:00

Let's go OG. https://youtu.be/b1AQjcmzvx8?t=134

nightmaremain · 2020-02-22T23:10:16+00:00

Same goes for the scene where the blond one is on the ceiling with freddy

MILF4LYF · 2020-02-23T00:45:40+00:00

Who else flipped their phones?

boot20 · 2020-02-23T01:09:40+00:00

As a 10 year old this freaked me out so bad.

xerxerxex · 2020-02-23T01:19:41+00:00

That scene always freaked me out. He had no chance to save himself and his surprised scream was awful to hear...

no1dookie · 2020-02-23T01:59:53+00:00

This scene ruined my childhood. I seen this at 6 by accident at my babysitters house one night. Alone. In the bedroom. On The bed. After dark....wtf

Man I got chills seeing this, I'm 41.

FWIW I seen it as an adult and it didn't bother me. Especially that vs. Modern effects.

j_marquand · 2020-02-23T01:02:25+00:00

I bet this is still cheaper and more affordable than CGI even these days.

Eppshome · 2020-02-23T00:40:06+00:00

This movie was a total mindf*#k when it came out. Such an original concept executed well.

Jackaboyyyy · 2020-02-23T02:16:58+00:00

Fun Fact: When first shooting this scene, it went horribly wrong with the “blood” spilling out on set and hitting open wires, electrocuting crew members. Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Heather Langenkamp (Nancy Thompson) were both on set when this happened. Thankfully, neither were electrocuted. This is most likely due to Robert picking up Heather and running away from the blood with her.

(This story was provided by Robert Englund himself in the booklet that came along with the Nightmare series collection on DVD.)

HapticSloughton · 2020-02-22T21:11:20+00:00

While I appreciate the visuals, how else did you think a low-budget horror film in 1984 was going to do this?

iDelkong · 2020-02-23T01:14:39+00:00

Damn dude, ima be honest, I grew up on these movies and I never noticed it was Johnny Depp lol... crazy

ungoogled · 2020-02-23T01:56:55+00:00

Omg. I wasn’t supposed to be up when my parents were watching this when I was like eight. I snuck downstairs, watched this scene from the back of the living room undetected, and ran back upstairs. I laid awake for a long time that night. On the floor.

Now that I’m an adult, I’m sure my parents knew I was there and they don’t remember any of this today.

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fourfingerfilms · 2020-02-23T01:15:52+00:00

Not that this ain't cool, but there seems to be a lot of posts that are just straight up movie trivia, not details.

ohmygoddude82 · 2020-02-23T02:04:07+00:00

Wes Craven was fucking awesome. RIP

SpicyGorlGru · 2020-02-23T00:25:03+00:00

And the room started to tilt when doing that effect so that's why the blood starts moving at a diagonal angle

StrangeQuark32 · 2020-02-23T01:35:52+00:00

So cool to see how creative some people can be. Wes Craven was actually a professor at my college, and he based the setting on the actual Elm Street on my schools town.

tipsygrape · 2020-02-23T01:54:48+00:00

I watched it at the drive-in as a teen and it fucking terrified me.

itsameshawn · 2020-02-23T02:14:26+00:00

The set also became unbalanced and the room began to tilt and the grips lost control. Some injuries happened due to this.

2020-02-23T03:11:39+00:00

When I was like 10 I asked my older sister what periods were like and she sent me a link to this scene. I was upset to say the least.

imexpy · 2020-02-23T02:14:56+00:00

another fun fact about this scene: one of the crew members dumping the blood was electrocuted by the light fixture on the ceiling-floor

JakeZoso311 · 2020-02-23T02:17:59+00:00

Also, when Tina dies in the beginning and she’s being dragged on the ceiling, in that shot they used a rotating room. So she’s actually crawling around on the floor. There’s a shot in that scene where Rod is looking at her on the ceiling from the floor and he was strapped in upside down to achieve the shot.

Edit: spelling

fiveminl8 · 2020-02-23T02:46:48+00:00

My father took my friends and I to see this in the theater. Being teenage girls....we all screamed at this scene. My father just laughed at us.

HiSuExorcist · 2020-02-23T06:05:50+00:00

Hope he’s wearing it upside down.

cristinamariposa · 2020-02-23T06:17:54+00:00

I believe that they also misaligned the room a little bit which is why in the shots where his mom is reacting you can see the blood starting to tilt to one side of the ceiling

iamthicc69 · 2021-10-18T03:02:31+00:00

I know I'm a little late to the party, but Glen's "room" was actually a set used for a number of horror films involving scenes that required massive amounts of liquid. Another notable example of this set was in The Stuff (1985) when it was used for a scene where a guy's head explodes and sends foam everywhere, flooding the room.

AppalachianMudWizard · 2020-02-22T23:47:15+00:00

They used this exact set in The Stuff (1985)

JohnLocke815 · 2020-02-23T00:29:22+00:00

And if I remember correctly the blood pump broke and poured out all this blood. It wasn't supposed to be nearly that much or that forceful

MR-0P · 2020-02-23T01:10:57+00:00

I always thought this was quite obvious and I watched this film even I was quite young

SUPERSONIKNINJA · 2020-02-23T01:31:47+00:00

And wasn't the reason that the blood went to ome side was bacause the rotation room short circulated and made all the fake blood electrical and the blood started to make the room rotate for to one side

-Listening · 2020-02-23T01:35:55+00:00

A MILLION TIMES THIS! THIS IS THE LAKE!!!!!

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