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Jordan Peele has been hailed as a new master of horror after 2017's smash hit Get Out snagged him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Us, his follow up feature, has already been hailed as a horror classic by film critics ahead of its official release this Friday.
But did you know Peele wasn't always the guy who could give us scenes like this?
Get Out (2017) - The Sunken Place Scene (1/10) | Movieclips www.youtube.com
Or trailers as wild and as weird as this?
US Trailer (2019) www.youtube.com
During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Peele said that he suffered from night terrors as a child and that all it took was the poster for Wes Craven's 1984 classic A Nightmare on Elm Street to scare the hell out of him:
"I'd see like, the Nightmare on Elm Street poster and it would just creep me out. Not even the whole movie, you know, for like two years I was just creeped out by that poster," he said.
@FallonTonight The poster for the 1984 classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street, is certainly memorable, especially if it… https://t.co/TybSio60sV— Chris Breezy (@Chris Breezy)1552968490.0
We get it, Mr. Peele. Personally that first nightmare kill sequence never fails to give us the heebie jeebies.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - Tina's Nightmare Scene (1/10) | Movieclips www.youtube.com
Peele credits storytelling with helping him conquer his fears.
And although he got his start in comedy––he was a regular on MADTV for years before he and his costar Keegan Michael Key launched Key and Peele––he says that a scary story he told his classmates in the ninth grade helped him understand the power of horror tales:
"The best laugh you've ever gotten in your life is nothing. When you get an audience to shudder and to give you that feedback, it's so powerful. I just felt like, you know, I am Freddy Krueger. I can be the monster. I can give the night terrors."
You can watch his full interview below.
How Jordan Peele Became His Own "Monster" www.youtube.com
Peele is far from the only person to be creeped out by Wes Craven's horror classic and if that childhood memory is any indication, we have a lot to look forward when Us comes out this week.
I find it interesting that @JordanPeele had night terrors because of a Nightmare on Elm Street poster. Mostly becau… https://t.co/OfxC4GMYcf— Branyan Towe (@Branyan Towe)1552969537.0
@mashable My Grandpa had one on the back of the downstairs bathroom door... life sized...I'd hold it for soooo long… https://t.co/cDHdOGNs8S— Gemeni365 (@Gemeni365)1553017123.0
@mashable Same— künstler (@künstler)1552971151.0
In fact, Peele's name has been floated for quite some time as a viable candidate to remake the original film. And Us appears to take a few cues from it, too.
A Nightmare On Elm Street. I honestly feel the original is a bit dated and make it a Jordan Peele-esque horror mov… https://t.co/woAHMf1HJH— goose the cat (@goose the cat)1552882674.0
Saw the poster for "Us" and legit thought it was a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Then partway through the trai… https://t.co/x7fLtQtjjW— The Prankster (@The Prankster)1545756909.0
"A new nightmare." Glove. Blades. Red clothes (although no green stripes ... yet). Clearly that Jordan Peele movie… https://t.co/K8GPbyo8U2— Three Oranges 🍊🍊🍊 (@Three Oranges 🍊🍊🍊)1544720330.0
We're ready, Mr. Peele. We just don't know if we'll be able to sleep afterward.