‘Horror Show’ exhibit summons Bela Lugosi to Freddy Krueger. It ends in blood - USA Today

LOS ANGELES – “We have finally arrived,” Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in eight “A Nightmare on Elm Street” films, tells USA TODAY about “The Horror Show,” the sprawling new horror exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, opening Saturday, Sept. 26.

Englund, 79, was in high spirits celebrating a genre historically overlooked by Hollywood’s most prestigious institutions finally getting its due in a comprehensive Academy exhibition filled with some of horror cinema’s most famous costumes, creatures and props – as well as a room drenched entirely in cinematic blood.

Standing inside the exhibition’s Slasher gallery, surrounded by fully costumed figures of his sweater-clad, razor-gloved Krueger, Michael Myers from “Halloween,” Ghostface from “Scream” and Art the Clown from the “Terrifier” films, Englund took in the significance of the moment.

“To have the Academy acknowledge horror as a part of history is so great,” Englund says, looking fondly at his hideously iconic slasher colleagues. “We've posed for a magazine cover together before. So it’s me and the boys, reunited.”

The full “Horror Show” is much more than the male-dominated Slasher room, which does feature Tiffany Valentine, Chucky’s homicidal bride from 1998’s “Bride of Chucky.”

In a Religion chamber built around a witches’ circle, the exhibition casts the witch as a symbol of collective female strength, displaying key costumes from Florence Pugh’s folk-horror nightmare “Midsommar,” Luca Guadagnino’s witchy “Suspiria” and the 2025 horror hit “Weapons,” alongside artifacts from “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Exorcist” and even historical documents from the Salem witch trials.

Elsewhere, the stark-white Psychological chamber features props and costumes from Kathy Bates’ Oscar-winning turn as terrifying superfan Annie Wilkes in “Misery,” along with artifacts from female-centered horror classics including “The Babadook” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”

The hideous Mother from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” – Norman Bates’ mummified mother, Norma Bates – has a new seat in the exhibition’s psychological-horror room, allowing visitors to pose for a selfie (no touching, please) alongside original storyboards from the 1960 classic.

Amy Homma, director and president of the Academy Museum, says the exhibition's crown jewel is Bela Lugosi’s cape from the 1931 “Dracula.” Nearly a century old, the cape was donated by the Lugosi family but has never been displayed at the museum, undergoing an elaborate restoration and conservation process before its debut.

“It was made for movie production. They were not thinking about, ‘Can this last 100 years?’” says Homma. “So we’ve had this for years now, and we can finally put it on view. It's a treasure.”

The cape, which Lugosi wore for years after his iconic movie, now has its own showcase in the Gothic room.

“Nightmare on Elm Street” looms large, with a collection featuring Freddy Krueger’s cutting glove – “that was unbelievably non-OSHA approved and could cut through anything,” Englund says – along with one of the original TVs used for Freddy’s “Welcome to prime time” attack in 1987’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3” and the molded Freddy head used for the stunt.

"I have a line in that movie that is part of pop culture," Englund says proudly. "I'm probably asked to sign 'Welcome to prime time' about 25 times a week."

Englund already has highlights from the exhibit that still make his heart pound, including the original, fake-blood-splattered chainsaw from "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and Pinhead from the "Hellraiser" films.

"I saw the original 'Hellraiser' in 1987 in Hollywood. I was the only person in the theater," says Englund. "That movie disturbed me."

The exhibition ends with a trip through a freakishly fake-blood-covered chamber called The Blood Room, encased in eerily splattered butcher’s plastic. Even the exit sign bears smeared, bloody handprints from apparently unsuccessful attempts to escape, while a screen plays famous blood-soaked horror scenes. The resin-based concoction coating the room is designed to be touched.

"This exhibit had to end with the climactic Blood Room because blood is something that brings all horror movies together, through all the eras and all the countries," says Jessica Niebel, senior exhibitions curator. "It's the differentiator of life and death. Its very existence symbolizes the ultimate fear of death. This is a tribute to all the different shades and textures of all the film blood."

"And we thought it was kind of a cool experience for the visitors," Niebel adds.

“The Horror Show” shows at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures through July 25, 2027.