Exclusives
‘Freddy’s Dead’ Director Rachel Talalay Talks Twin Peaks’ “Big Influence” [Exclusive]
Every town has an Elm Street — even Twin Peaks.
When the characters of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare roll into Springwood and meet a peculiar couple played by Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold, Breckin Meyer’s Spencer remarks “We’re in Twin Peaks here.”
It was more than a passing reference to a contemporary pop culture phenomenon; director Rachel Talalay and screenwriter Michael De Luca drew direct influence from the series for their take on the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
“Twin Peaks was playing while we were writing it,” Talalay tells Bloody Disgusting. “Michael De Luca, the writer, and Aron Warner, the producer, and I were all big Twin Peaks fans. We had watched it before we started writing it. It was continuing through prep, so it was a big influence.”
Talalay explains that they were drawn to the show’s tone. “We just liked the fact that it felt brave and unique and different, and the characterizations were strong.”
She adds, “We sometimes looked at the specific, interesting framing that David Lynch would do, but I never really was good enough to replicate that. At that point, I was too busy just trying to get the movie on the screen.”
In Freddy’s Dead, the town of Springwood decides to forever end Freddy Krueger’s deadly hold on their dreams. Freddy finally confronts the one person he has never been able to defeat, a psychologist who discovers the source of her lifelong nightmares.
A hospital stay grows more nerve-frazzling when memory loss distorts reality in our exclusive clip from This Tempting Madness, inspired by a true story.
The mind-bending psychological thriller will be released in select theaters and on demand on June 12 via Vertical.
Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”) stars as Mia, who awakens from a coma, grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions and her perception of reality.
In This Tempting Madness, “Mia awakens from a coma grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions, and her perception of reality.”
Jennifer E. Montgomery makes her feature directorial debut from a script she co-wrote with director of photography Andrew Davis, inspired by Montgomery’s first-hand experience with tragedy involving her best friend.
“Months before the incident, there were signals that her world was unraveling,” says Montgomery. “I could feel the pressure building, though I didn’t know what form it would take. I never could have known what violence would come, and I certainly never imagined making a film about it.”
Austin Stowell (“NCIS: Origins”), Suraj Sharma (Happy Death Day 2U), Mojean Aria (Reminiscence), Amol Shah (“For All Mankind”), and Zenobia Shroff (“Ms. Marvel”) round out the cast.
Smoke Jumper Films and Mango Monster Productions produce in association with Catchlight Studios (Heretic, The Blackening).
This Tempting Madness is rated R for “language, violence/bloody images, and brief sexuality.”