FK: Why do you think it is religious groups specifically have such a problem with your movies? Is it because you reference sin?
WC: Yeah I think that’s it. I think it gets them at a subconscious level. They think the language will influence the kids to do terrible things, for a good decade there was a very strong movement among critics to try to prove, for instance, that Freddy Kruger caused kids to go out and kill their baby sisters. I mean, there were a couple of cases cited, so we very arduously researched, but couldn’t actually find them.

FK: How does that affect you when these things come up and you get blamed?
WC: Well at first you’re sort of horrified, and say “Oh my God, I convinced myself this would never happen.” But in fact it never did happen. When you find out it’s just fabrication, you really feel like these people are liars who will do anything to try to silence you, and then it becomes just a battle with this mindset. I see it all the time, I did a pitch last week at a studio and we were talking about a possible remake of one of my early films and when we laid out the plot, one of them said, “I just don’t know what goes on inside your mind. I can’t take these films.” It’s really that mindset of, “You have something in your mind that I don’t have in mine so you’re scaring me.” It’s so hard for people to see the truth that we all have the potential for violence and sadism, but the thing is that most of the horror film directors I’ve met are funny and intelligent – not violent people at all.

FK: Do you think that as time goes by the threshold for viewers watching explicit images is lowering? With the kinds of images in the news and the different approach to censorship now do you see a change in opinion?
WC: I think so. I think the internet has a lot to do with it. Isis right now is a prime example of people who are just horrendously frightening, with mass executions, can imagine going directly onto the internet, in fact part of their propaganda is, “See how terrible we are?” I remember my son, when he was a teenager, saying, “Yeah I was looking at a man being beheaded in the internet the other night,” and I was just like, “Oh my God.” I’ve always felt that horror films, in a way, are boot camps for the psyche. They’re not, by and large, entertainment for people who are sadistic and obsessed with being violent, but people who are sensitive to the level of violence that’s in the world. I mean, I’ve had so many people thank me for scaring the shit out of them [laughs], you know? They’d say, “When I was six years old my older brother made me watch A Nightmare on Elm Street and I couldn’t sleep for three weeks, thank you, thank you for terrifying me!” I’ve come up with a theory actually that people go into a theatre not to be frightened but to have their fears dealt with. That’s the only way I’ve been able to explain why so many people thank me for what I do. Not the people that don’t go to see my films and just fabricate what they are in their own minds, but the people who do go and see my them, by and large, are grateful for the experience.

It’s really fascinated me my entire career that there is that phenomenon of little boys dressing like Freddy, there is a need to get control of the terrifying and in a sense embrace it in entertainment so it doesn’t devastate you psychically.

FK: I guess it’s almost like looking in the mirror and facing your demons.
WC: Yeah I think its a very ancient thing, from the beginning of human society people would put on the skin of the most terrifying animal in the jungle for their most important ceremonies. So there’s something about putting on a mask, or the hide of a jaguar or a lion that makes you feel safe from the terror that is out there.

FK: I want to also ask you about the names of your characters, they’re often quite traditional and the characters are quite normal, approachable. People like Nancy, Sidney, Gail and Bug and those kind of things, is there a reason why you go for these kind of names?
WC: Yeah I just want them to be just ordinary people, I don’t want them to be some sort of glamorous hero or heroine, I don’t want them to be like Hollywood casting-call looking people, I try to cast people that look like they could live on your block or someone you know from school. It’s all about looking at the person on the screen and putting yourself into that skin.

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