Remembering -- The Nightmare on Henry St. "Part 1"

It’s been a few years since “The Nightmare on Henry St”; the first year I built props for the yard was in 1988.  It was just a few years after “Creatures Features” on channel 2 ended its reign with John Stanley at the helm taking over for Bob Wilkins in 1979.  Lots of interesting movies came out in the late 70’s early 80’s, Nightmare on Elm St and Friday the 13th to name two.  I’ve always had a fascination with horror and sci-fi.  And Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees were right up there with my infatuation of that cinema   I never did let my daughters actually watch those movies when they were younger, but they knew who those characters were.  And they thought they were kind of cool and creepy at the same time.
Telling the stories to my 4 and 5 year old daughters in 1987, about my crazy zany creations when I was a kid.  Lead to what was to become the “The Nightmare on Henry St”.   They thought it would be cool if at Halloween that Freddy and Jason would come to life in the yard.  Well that did it, that had my mind’s eye already thinking and planning.  Within that next year I started building a guillotine, this one was a lot different from the one I had built when I was a kid in the 70’s.  This was a functioning working reproduction to say the least.   I ended up going with a wood blade, because I thought a steel blade of which I first constructed it with a bit too dangerous and extreme for the kids.  It would of been interesting what some of the neighbors thought before I changed the blade that might of been watching me cut watermelons in half.
  

The first "Nightmare on Henry St."  Halloween 1988

My (oldest daughter) little monster helper in 1988, she is now almost 29

My other (daughter) little monster helper, she will be 27 soon.  Damn time flies!!



I remember bringing home materials to build the bodies with for Freddy and Jason.  Back then I was in construction as a sheetrock hanger.  I always had access to scraps left over from the jobs, wood, conduit, wire, just about anything I needed.  I built the bodies creating an armature frame using split 2x4’s of various lengths.  Only the shoulders, torso, legs and hips were made of wood. Which were fashioned to any position depending upon the pose desired.  The arms were constructed out of metal conduit which were wrapped in a covering and clothed. They became very convincing as a stable body once completed.  To help the bodies gain the perception of still life.  I attached steel spikes anchored to the legs through the shoes which could be inserted into the ground so they could stand on their own and look very natural and very creepy.   A lot of work went onto the bodies, there were very rigid and solid, I will go more into detail about the construction of heads and bodies as they progressed in future blogs.  

                                                                          

The Nightmare on Henry St. was only just beginning. 

                                                                    

The feeling I wanted to get as I was constructing these crude forms was that feeling when you go to the Wax Museum and you turn that dark corner into the “Chamber of Horrors” section.  Standing there staring into the eyes of that creature looking at you, and oh yes he was looking at you directly.   Your lips would start to quiver as you stared back, oh you weren’t afraid though cause your Mom had your hand.   But for that brief moment you gazed into the Horror that was meant to be.  And you knew that you were alive as your heart beat thumped in your chest.  And you hoped to god as you squeezed you moms hand that the blood was not real.