True Terror with Robert Englund to Hit Travel Channel

Freddy Krueger prefers the pulp news of yesteryear to the horrors of today’s trending topics. Robert Englund, who created the legendary horror movie icon for Wes Craven‘s 1984 classic film A Nightmare on Elm Street, has been scouring old news reports for twisted tales ripped straight from the headlines. The veteran actor will host Travel Channel’s upcoming series True Terror with Robert Englund. The six-part series will premiere Wednesday, March 18 at 10 p.m.

“Revealing the sinister side of our history, I’m thrilled to bring nightmares to life on True Terror,” Englund said in a statement. The master of the macabre will use “his ominous tones and creepy charisma to masterfully weave together a trilogy of spine-tingling tales, guided by newspaper accounts and layered with commentary from historians and experts that prove that truth is always stranger than fiction,” according to the press statement.

Englund began his career starring in the 1973 period Southern film Buster and Billie, and worked through the 1970s in film and television. He has appeared in over 75 films, four TV series and numerous episodic guest star roles. “We’re delighted at Travel Channel to have the true icon of horror films, Robert Englund, take a ‘stab’ at leading our viewers through these hair-raising tales,” Travel Channel general manager Matthew Butler said in a statement.

“Hidden away in the dark shadows of our nation’s history are tales so terrifying, they must be true,” according to the press statement. The series will dismantle a mechanical marvel which torments its owner; follow a shadowy serial killer known as ‘The Axeman,’ who writes a letter that ignites panic. The series will also follow a farmer as he battles a devilish curse, and a greedy undertaker who defiles the dead and then “faces their wrath.”

“In his signature spooky storytelling style, Robert resurrects the creepy and odd of America’s past, bringing viewers real stories that reveal sometimes our fears aren’t mere figments of our imagination after all,” Butler said.

“These are tales so terrifyingly twisted, we can only hope they stay on the blood-soaked pages of the newspaper headlines from our past,” Englund said.

“From flying monsters to creatures in the night, to evil possessions and hauntings, these twisted tales will leave viewers wishing the stories really were only in their dream,” Travel Channel warns. The series will also tell the story of “a future president enters a savage beast’s den” and a family which is stalked by a mythical creature.

The premiere episode, “Twisted Relationships,” begins with a North Carolina storekeeper who is “tormented by a prophetic countdown to his doom,” according to the official synopsis. “Did he will his own fate, or was there a higher power at play? Then, a New Orleans teenager finds himself literally trapped inside a waking nightmare, unable to save himself from his horrific fate. Finally, an Atlanta police station becomes a battleground for a killer … and a vengeful spirit.”

True Terror with Robert Englund will premiere Wednesday, March 18 at 10 p.m. on Travel Channel.

Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York City’s Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera AssassiNation: We Killed JFK. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol.

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