‘I wish more people would’ve seen it’: Robert Englund reveals the film he wishes horror fans would talk about instead of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’

If there’s one name associated with the horror genre more than any other, it’s Robert Englund, whom the entire world known as Freddy Krueger, the antagonist of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. But Englund doesn’t want to be known for just one character, understandably, nor does he want his status within the horror realm to subject him to constant exposure.

In an interview with SlashFilm, the horror icon discussed which of his roles he’d much rather talk about than Freddy Krueger, which — as groundbreaking as it was — is a tad overdone in his eyes. Not many horror fanatics will be surprised to learn that it’s a Stephen King adaptation, especially not since King is one of the leading names in the genre.

“Well, I think because of the internet and streamers, people have caught up on a lot of them. I think Tobe Hooper did a real interesting job on “Stephen King’s The Mangler.” I think that’s kind of rising now in all of the adaptations of Stephen King. Maybe it’s better than some of the earlier ones that were done. So, I would say that.”

Back in 1995, which feels like an age ago, Englund starred alongside Ted Levine as William “Bill” Gartley in the live-action adaptation of King’s short story of the same name. Judging by the synopsis alone, which reads, “A series of gruesome accidents leads an officer to believe that a laundry machine is possessed by a bloodthirsty demon,” it comes as no surprise that The Mangler didn’t perform well at the box office, barely taking home $2 million. However, we’ll give props to Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

Somehow, The Mangler spawned two sequels, The Mangler 2 and The Mangler Reborn. We’re not too sure how that happened, but the sequels don’t even have recorded box office incomes on Wikipedia, so that’s never a good sign. We’ll take a stab in the dark and say the “largely negative” reviews on both sequels were well-founded criticisms. Still, if Englund has a blast, it wasn’t all for nothing. Back in the ’90s, moviemaking was about much more than a paycheck, a sentiment that’s seldom shared nowadays.

Aside from The Mangler, Englund also believes a more recent role in Phil Hawkins’ The Last Showing deserves some recognition. Released in 2014, the independent horror/thriller stars Englund as Stuart, a movie projectionist who kidnaps a couple for his own sinister purposes. It garnered mixed reviews — which is more than can be said for The Mangler — but we’re willing to bet that the combined star power of Englund and Finn Jones, who went on to become Marvel’s Iron Fist, sealed the deal with audiences.

“I have a recent film that has an unfortunate title directed by a really talented young director out of London named Phil Hawkins, and it’s called “The Last Showing.” The “last showing” is the English way of saying “midnight movie,” or the last movie being screened that day. In America, it sounds more like something to do with the fashion world. Showing, we don’t say that. Even though they know that phrase in the U.K. and I think Australia, we don’t use it, so I would’ve loved to have called it “Midnight Movie” or something, but it’s a terrific little film.”

Englund’s last big role came in Stranger Things, where he starred as the father of Vecna, aka Henry Creel, who’s slowly driven insane after his son brutally murders his wife and daughter and frames him for the double homicide. It was a short-lived cameo, but much appreciated by long-time Freddy Krueger fans as well as horror die-hards in general.

He might be 75 years old, but there’s no stopping one of horror’s biggest names.