Talking True Terror with Robert Englund…and Then Some!

I asked what one question would you ask Robert Englund if  you got the chance? (Thanks again to those of you who answered.) I knew I might get to be on a press conference call with the Master of Macabre to promote his new Travel Channel show, True Terror with Robert Englund, which premieres Wednesday, March 18 at 10/9 c.

Guess what? It happened!

I’m still not sure how many others were on the call too. They supplied us a transcript of the call and, if I’m counting right, 13 of us got to ask a question.

So what did we all ask? The questions varied, and I won’t recap all of them, but I will hit the highlights of the Q&A.

The Call Begins

What was the very first thing he said once our liaison introduced Mr. Englund?

“You’re all my children now.”

In his Freddy voice!!!

(I’m still geeking out about that. And that I got to be on a call with the man who brought Freddy Kruger to life, my fave of all the slasher villains. I was obsessed with Nightmare on Elm Street growing up!)

The trouble was, we were all muted so I’m sure others laughed excitedly like I did, but he couldn’t hear us! #Awkward

Why True Terror?

The liaison asked Mr. Englund to explain what he felt True Terror with Robert Englund was in his own words and what drew him to the project.

This is what he had to say:

I look at True Terror as a kind of formula comfort food from the dark side. You know, it’s sort of equal parts Rod Serling Twilight Zone with some of the aspects of that great Robert Stack series, Unsolved Mysteries, you know, and then, just a dash of Dateline.

Formula comfort food from the dark side…equal parts Twilight Zone and Unsolved Mysteries, with a dash of Dateline —isn’t that great?

He went on to explain the show’s structure: three segments per episode about stories ripped from the headlines. Viewers can learn something dark from the underbelly of the American psyche.

He was drawn to the challenge of hosting such a show. He’s got all the “baggage” that comes from being in horror movies, which he tries to blend into the narration because he knows people expect it, but there’s another challenge: finding when to be conversational versus theatrical or dramatic.

He really put a lot of thought into not only his answer, but also his job as host. That immediately caught my attention and made me realize there’s more to Robert Englund than Freddy.

In fact, this is perhaps why he made Freddy such a successful character: he really is a master…of his craft.

The Challenge

Keeping the energy blendable. He didn’t do his narration to segment images. He said that would have made it easier to know when he should’ve been more conversational versus dramatic versus theatrical versus dark. (Spoiler alert: Being the consummate pro he is, he nailed it anyway.)

Which True Terror Episodes Intrigued Him Most?

The one about the small pox scam in New Orleans where people were being buried alive for profit.

The Devil in the White City

As he was talking about the small pox scam he also mentioned a book he recently enjoyed, Devil in the White City. I was really excited to hear that, because I thought it was a phenomenal book too.

(Note: The book link will take you to our Amazon affiliate. If you purchase anything we may earn a commission, at no cost to you.)

He hadn’t known about H. H. Holmes before reading Erik Larson’s book, and he’d like to include this part of America’s history as one of the stories for season 2 of True Terror with Robert Englund if there is one. I’ll look forward to that!

But that’s what he hopes will happen to others watching his show: they’ll learn some dark fact they didn’t know about previously.

Not a Big Fan of Bigfoot

I was chuckling because he had always thought Bigfoot and tales of him were a little cheesy. However, he’s come to realize even though Bigfoot doesn’t really excite him, he appreciates that the legend of him has been part of Native American and Aboriginal folklore for a while. There could be something there.

He talked about the sasquatch segment in True Terror, which impressed him because one of our president’s, Teddy Roosevelt, relayed perhaps one of the first documented Bigfoot stories. (You can also read about that in “11 U.S. Presidents, Their Paranormal Connections and the Dreamland Wax Museum in Boston.”)

Does Robert Englund Binge-Watch?

Yes! A couple of shows he mentioned were Breaking Bad and Peaky Blinders.

Premonitions and Ghost Stories

What did I ask Mr. Englund?

I was third to pose a question. I was originally going to ask him if any of the True Terror stories might mirror something from the premise of Nightmare on Elm Street. You know, was there really a pedophiliac homicidal janitor who ended up being murdered by a group of vigilante parents?

However, the gentleman who asked the second question, Patrick Cavanaugh from Comicbook.com, basically addressed it with his question.

Mr. Englund had a great answer about how no, it wasn’t, but Wes Craven did draw on real life inspiration in the form of a bully to create Krueger’s character.

Luckily I had a Plan B question: I asked about ghost stories. Were there any they covered in the series that changed his mind kind of like how the Teddy Roosevelt Bigfoot one had?

He said he prefers premonition stories more than ghost stories, and he didn’t quite reference any specific True Terror segments, but he did share a chilling ghost story about his mom.

There’d been a big flood in Los Angeles in the 1930s. She was in a sorority at the time and had just finished doing dishes because she was the new girl and that was her job in the house. She was about to go to bed, but there was a knock at the door.

She answered to find a lady standing there soaking wet. His mom invited her in and gave her a cup of coffee. The lady left after that, saying she was going back to the boarding house up the hill.

The next day the police came and said they’d found a body. I’m not sure if they were trying to identify her and they were checking the sorority to see if anyone was missing, but it was the same girl Mr. Englund’s mom had given a cup of coffee too the night before. She’d drowned in the flood.

Except, the police had found her body 36 hours before. His mom had given her a cup of coffee only 12 to 15 hours earlier. His mom wondered if she’d imagined the woman, but she went to check the coffee cup. She hadn’t washed it yet. It still had the lady’s lipstick on it.

Those are the kind of ghost stories he likes most.

Has He Had Supernatural Experiences of His Own?

Only strong deja vu.

Personal Fears?

He used to have a fear of snakes, but then it turned out he did a movie, Python, with Casper Van Dien. Ironically, he had to handle a python, which helped him overcome his fear.

So I guess that really proves you must face your fears to conquer them.

Season Two

Travel Channel hasn’t officially announced True Terror with Robert Englund will be renewed for a season 2, but I noted some of his answers referenced what he’d do a little differently in a second season.

Maybe we might even see him in some of the segments next time? Not as an actor, but sort of like how Rod Serling did in some of the Twilight Zone episodes where they’d wrap a scene and pan to him in a corner or what not.

That would be fun, but I’ve had a sneak peek at the series. He does a fabulous job.

See for yourself when True Terror with Robert Englund premieres on March 18 at 10/9c.