Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is based on a real story.
Director Craven revealed that the inspiration for the iconic slasher film came from a story he read from the LA Times: a boy was having disturbing nightmares and refused to sleep for days out of fear. The same night he succumbed to exhaustion, he died in his sleep, but not before screaming for help in the middle of the night because of his nightmares.
https://www.history.com/news/nightma...on-hmong-death