It’s been a rough couple of months for us here at BD and for you guys too, I’m sure. Losing Wes Craven to brain cancer shocked and devastated us all. We’ve all written pieces on our experiences with Craven’s films, most notably A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Scream! Factory and Horror Hound artist Nathan Thomas Milliner lives and breathes the series and his incredible fan film comes at a most opportune time. It’s world premiere helped kick off Horror Hound Weekend this past weekend and is a worthy tribute to the legend that is Craven and ultimately, Freddy Krueger.

Milliner’s inspiration was the short story “The Life and Death of Fred Krueger” written by Jefferey Cooper, who also wrote the novelizations for the original films. This short film focuses on Kruger’s capture and confession and, ultimately, why Fred became the iconic Freddy.

But this isn’t a $2 fan film put together in some dude’s basement, far from it. The Confession of Fred Krueger gives fans an insight to their favorite killer and even makes him scary again. The star of the film, Kevin Roach (Volumes of Blood), is mesmerizing. He’s just the right amount of fun to play the character we’ve all grown to love but reminds us that Fred Krueger was, in fact, a vicious child murderer, a detail that somewhat gets pushed under the rug when we think of our beloved Freddy. The most astounding thing about Roach’s performance is the way he talks. I swear to Cthulhu the way he moves his mouth is identical to Robert Englund.

Milliner’s writing and directing is not to be overlooked either. His love for the franchise and character bleeds out of the screen and reels you in. Everything is there, the boiler room, the hat, the dirty sweater, and the glove, all of which were painstakingly created to looks as authentic as possible. Milliner gives us the background for Freddy as told in the original film (no nuns and maniacs here folks) and that’s really the heart of the film. At just 30 minutes long we know Fred Krueger, what his life was like, how he felt killing.

I’ll stop now before I give anything away, but the good news is, you can watch the whole damn thing now! That’s the beauty of fan films, no waiting!

I’ll end with one final note, which I predict will cause me much grief but, oh well! Since another Nightmare remake is on the way there is a lot of buzz as to who should, and should not, play the role. Many say Englund or bust and, of course, I would LOVE for that to happen, but Englund is adamant about not getting into makeup again. So yes, as you may have guessed, I’d totally be down with Roach to play Freddy Krueger in the new film.