A Nightmare on Elm Street has had a profound impact on the horror scene, and on popular culture in general. Freddy Krueger is one of the most recognizable characters of all time, but a connection between the original Nightmare film and a cult classic '80s dance movie is one of the strangest.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (alongside Scream) is one of Wes Craven's most successful movies. Before Nightmare, Craven made a couple of really dark horror movies, The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, but nothing with the impact and mass-appeal of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie's relatively simple premise is about four teenagers who are hunted in their dreams by Freddy Krueger, a burnt-faced killer with a bladed glove, and is considered a stand-out in the slasher genre. As the movie progresses, the teenagers are killed one by one, but one death is particularly memorable, partially because it involves Johnny Depp in his first role as an actor. However, this scene has also become iconic because of its gruesome practical effects.
Johnny Depp's character is killed by Freddy Krueger when he falls asleep and is sucked into his bed. The gaping hole that is left then spews a geyser of blood that splatters the ceiling and runs down the walls. To achieve this effect, the special effects team used a rotating room and poured gallons of fake blood through the hole. Doing this proved dangerous as the sloshing blood caused the room to turn uncontrollably; when the blood hit the electrical lines, it electrocuted some of the crew. However, in the end, everyone was fine and Craven was happy with the results. What Craven didn't know was what the rotating room was going to be used for next. The same rotating room used in A Nightmare on Elm Street was in a cult classic dance movie released that same year: Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Nightmare's Rotating Room Became A Dance Studio
In the documentary, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, it's mentioned that the rotating room that was used as part of Johnny Depp's death scene was later used that same year for a dance scene in the movie Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. The dance scene features several moves involving climbing up the walls and breakdancing on the ceiling lights. It also includes lots of pop-and-lock moves up the walls, across the ceiling, and back down to the floor. Then, toward the end of the scene, the dancer's girlfriend shows up and acts like there's nothing unusual going on despite the fact that her boyfriend is dancing vertically on the walls.
For both effects to be achieved, everything in the rooms had to be glued in place, and considering how different they are, the room had to go through a complete transformation between movies. It would be interesting to know if the cast of Breakin' 2 found any residual blood in the room. While A Nightmare on Elm Street and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo are very different movies, they will always share a history with the rotating room that provides arguably the most iconic scenes for both movies.