Freddy. Nancy. And the In-Between. A True Story.

The sun beamed through the windows as bold as the times were. Sixteen and high-spirited, bestfriends Cindy and Mandy hung-out on Cindy’s bed talking about the normal stuff...you know... boys, fashion and seeing how they could possibly sneak out to go to the rave at Dave’s house that weekend. In the middle of their rebel plans, the phone rang. Cindy answered and knew right away she would mentally be pulled into that place. Once she heard the voice, she stared at the corner of the bed like all time had stopped. Frozen. She glanced over at Mandy and with deep hesitation passed the phone and asked, “Does this sound sexual to you?”

Unbeknownst to Mandy, Cindy was leading a double life by no choice of her own. The confident, party girl Mandy and everyone else knew what she tried so hard to be...normal. It was far from what was really happening. When Cindy was 5 her father filed for divorce from her mother. It would be the beginning of a 8 year long court battle and continue on even after it finalized when she was 13. Her mother, fully financially supported by her wealthy family was entitled to do as she pleased or in this case, was enabled to do. Cindy’s father, worked in the pediatric ward at the local hospital but was let go due to unknown reasons before the divorce was filed.

Once filed, the normal day dream life Cindy had would become a nightmare. The bright days turned dark and she stopped smiling. Her mother quickly took to her. She poisoned her with her anger and stories of her father and what an evil man he was. Cindy spent her childhood under the abuse of her mother. Eventually, Cindy wouldn’t be able to tell whether the stories were true or not. The reality her mother had created and what she was living became blurred. It turned out that the courts couldn’t either and because of that ordered every visitation to be supervised with her father. Cindy feared her father more than anything. He would show up in her nightmares for years. There was something about him that didn’t feel right. Anytime she was around him, stinging sensations would surge through her body, even after the divorce was final. Despite all the torment brought on by her parents. She pushed forward, because through all of this, life was happening and all she truly desired to be was a normal 16 year old girl.

When Mandy confirmed that the voice on the phone call did sound kind of sexual Cindy felt a grain of relief because for just a second she felt like she wasn’t crazy, that maybe someone else could see it too. When she was growing up, she would watch Nightmare on Elm Street. For everyone else it was a scary movie, but for her it was comfort. She knew what it was like to be Nancy. To have someone haunt your nightmares. To have someone stalking you. That day when she received the phone call and in a frozen state passed it to Mandy, it was her father. Just like when Nancy answered the phone and Freddy’s tongue burst through the receiver. It was the same feeling. She felt like Nancy her whole life. Always running and desperately struggling to separate herself from the monster that was always trying to steal her from her waking reality.

These days Cindy is now in her 30’s and a special effects makeup artist. She escaped her parents but not the nightmares. She is deeply passionate for horror and she knows a lot of people don’t understand but to her it makes perfect sense. After all, it is all she has ever known. The only difference now is the monsters no longer create her. She creates them.

Behind the Scenes, A Note from the Creator:

This project has taken months to research and prepare for. I started with the inspiration from own story and drew out the concept.

After then, I studied both characters intensely from their emotional background to their facial characteristics and reasoning behind the design of both characters. My background is with Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani as a makeup artist. So, I pulled from that to create Nancy. I used a smoothing, anti-aging line with a heavy cream base to create the youthfulness of her appearance as well as a very natural lash and Dior's well-known Rosy Glow blush for the perfect rosy cheeks. After all of the studying, I realized the pearls were an important aspect in the representation of her innocence and made sure to include them in the photoshoot. Originally, I had planned to use liquid silicone for the Freddy side of the face and did a life-cast. However, a friend recommended a faster way and we went with that. He also has a strong background in horror and has studied Freddy as well. With both of our knowledge bases we spent time perfecting his side. This included study of the emotional aspect of the burns to his facial expressions.

I had planned to do this project out of pure passion but saw this contest come up and thought it would be a perfect fit. This entry means a lot to me because it represents the power of overcoming emotional trauma through art and horror to top it off. Happy Halloween!