Comedian Bo Burnham's most recent Netflix special, Inside, was set and filmed in the house from Wes Cravens's horror classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street. After a 5-year break from performing live comedy, Bo Burnham released the new special on Netflix earlier this year to an overwhelmingly positive reception. Filmed over the course of a year during the Covid-19 pandemic, Inside sees Burnham produce a full comedy special, featuring an entire soundtrack of new songs, single-handedly (barring some post-production work) within the confines of one room. The special was praised for the comedians tackling of subjects such as depression and anxiety as well as Burnham's skill in making a piece so technically impressive considering the limitations of its setting.
The special felt like a natural culmination of Burnham's talents, with the comedian/musician having explored new creative avenues during his hiatus from stand-up. He directed his first feature, Eighth Grade, in 2018, an honest observation of the relationship between today's younger generation and their online identity, and he was featured in the Oscar-winning drama, Promising Young Woman last year, in which he acted in a key supporting role. The skills Burnham acquired during this time are on full display in Inside as the special relies entirely on Burnham's engaging of the audience via talking to the camera and features several moments 0f B-footage of Burnham setting up lighting and camera rigs to adapt the inside of his guest house to the wildly different segments of the special. It now appears, however, that the location was already home to a famous piece of film history decades before Burnham started rolling cameras.
According to Metro, Burnham filmed the special in the guest house of 1428 North Genesee Avenue, Los Angeles A.K.A the house which doubled as the home for horror protagonist Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) in the seminal A Nightmare on Elm Street. The detail arose when the Elm Street house was recently listed for sale at $3.25 million after being purchased in 2013 for $2.1 million by Lorene Scafaria, director of 2019 film Hustlers and Burnham's partner of 8 years. The two have been living together after they started dating back in 2013, and it appears Burnham had made something of a make-shift recording studio in the guest house which had also featured in the closing moments of his previous special, Make Happy in 2016. The, ironically idyllic-looking, three-bedroom property has remained mostly unchanged from its appearance in 1984, with the major exception being the front door repainted from a striking blood red to a more subdued black.
The house, which goes under the name 1428 Elm Street in the film, was the setting of several iconic scenes of the 1984 classic, featuring teenage Nancy Thompson being terrorized by the sadistic nightmare-stalker, Freddy Kruger, played by Robert Englund. Even casual fans of horror would be familiar with famous scares taking place within the home for which 1428 North Genesee Avenue doubles for. Those scares include Freddy trying to break through Nancy's bedroom wall and drown her in her own bathtub.
Burnham's special already had audiences empathize with its claustrophobic tone, but one can't help but feel a rewatch with this new information may bring a new sense of uneasiness. While the listing is sure to promote its connection to an important piece of horror history, it neglects to mention its two famous occupants and its recent inclusion in Inside. One can only hope that whoever is lucky enough to purchase the home is not just aware of its cultural significance from nearly 40 years ago but of the creativity it continues to inspire in the modern day.
Source: Metro