Creator of Freddy Krueger: Retirement is a Lot Scarier

February 23, 2013 — By now most are familiar and tend to agree with the modern adage – “Old age isn’t for sissies”. Wes Craven, the creator of the now classic horror film, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, has chimed in with an addendum – “Retirement is scarier than (his horror character) Freddy Krueger“. It’s a pretty funny Op-Ed piece he wrote in last Sunday’s New York Times about his trial retirement, which we recommend to you.

It seems that Wes at age 73 was looking forward to chilling out a bit from the “horrors” of the film business, maybe take the summer off. He built a woodworking shop in the basement, started hanging around with his friends, entertained his grandkids, and shipped his classic Vespa motorscooter to Martha’s Vineyard for a vacation. That’s when things got scary. The scooter spun out on one of the Vineyard’s dirt roads and put its kickstand through his calf muscle. Coping with that put stress on his torn meniscus, which led to a Total Knee Replacement. Add to that a subsequent fall down the stairs, and a cracked pelvis. Yikes!

As he ends up: “Give me the insanity of impossible schedules….(etc.)… -anything but the horrors of retirement…scarier than anything I can dream up”. No wonder Freddy had so much success in Hollywood – he’s a pretty funny guy! Hope he feels better.