Summary
- One digital illustrator creates a horror mashup by combining Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and Disney’s Robin Hood, featuring Maid Marian in a gruesome scene.
- The illustrator, Daniel Björk, specializes in retro-horror twists on classic children’s tales and cartoons, with other works like Mickey Mouse as a shark and Phineas and Ferb’s Dr. Doofenshmirtz on the Re-Animator poster.
- A Nightmare on Elm Street continues to inspire creators, with recent examples including the villain in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Easter eggs in last year’s Scream movie, suggesting its lasting impact on pop culture.
One digital illustrator makes an unexpected pairing by crafting a horror mashup of Wes Craven’s 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street and Disney’s 1973 Robin Hood. Perhaps one of the most well-known horror movies of all time, A Nightmare on Elm Street sees Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund) target a group of teenagers and murder them in their dreams. In one of the film’s most disturbing scenes, the character Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) receives a phone call from Krueger who says, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy,” as a tongue emerges from the bottom end of the handset.
For this piece, creator Daniel Björk places Maid Marian, the vixen love interest of Robin Hood, into Nancy’s telephone scene from Nightmare on Elm Street. Check it out below:
Wearing the balloon-sleeved dress that appears in the movie, Marian’s eyes widen as a snake flicking its tongue materializes from her phone. Typed above the gruesome scene are the words “I’m your boyfriend now, Marian.“
A Nightmare On Elm Street Still Inspires Today’s Creators
Björk (@kickpunch.se) has nearly 50,000 Instagram followers and specializes in altering classic children’s tales and cartoons with a retro-horror twist. Other examples of such works include Mickey Mouse transforming into a teeth-baring shark on the Jaws movie poster, and Phineas and Ferb‘s Dr. Doofenshmirtz posing on the Re-Animator poster. The Nightmare on Elm Street and Robin Hood duo is a particular standout, however, in its ingenuity with the snake design.
While A Nightmare on Elm Street was released almost four decades ago, it continues to inspire creators to this day. For example, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin‘s main villain, who seeks revenge on teenagers for a crime their parents committed, mirrors the 1984 horror movie. 2022’s Scream has multiple Freddy Krueger Easter eggs, such as an Elm Street sign and Krueger-esque burns. They suggest that the 1984 Craven movie was on the minds of Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
Although most would not imagine animated Disney movies to be thrust into the world of horror, perhaps the pairing is not as unexpected as one may assume. Both genres are immensely popular and generate real cultural impact. With continued references to horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street appearing in today’s pop culture, the genre may be on its way to rivaling some Disney classics in terms of success and longevity.
Source: Daniel Björk/Instagram