<P> According to Shaye, all the film's original investors backed out at one point or another during pre-production . The original budget was merely $700,000 . "It ended up at $1.1 million...Half the funding came from a Yugoslavian guy who had a girlfriend he wanted in movies ." </P> <P> Principal photography began in June 1984 in several locations throughout Los Angeles, California . The fictional address of the house that appears in the film is 1428 Elm Street; the actual house is a private home located in Los Angeles on 1428 North Genesee Avenue . During production, over 500 gallons of fake blood were used for the special effects production . For the famous blood geyser sequence, the filmmakers used the same revolving room set that was used for Tina's death . </P> <P> They put the set so that it was upside down and attached the camera so that it looked like the room was right side up, then they poured gallons of red water into the room, because the normal film blood would not make the right effect for the geyser . During the filming of this scene, the blood poured in an unexpected way causing the rotating room to spin . Much of the blood spilled out of the bedroom window covering Craven and Langenkamp . The scene where Nancy is attacked by Krueger in her bathtub was accomplished with a special bottomless tub . The tub was put in a bathroom set that was built over a swimming pool . During the underwater sequence Heather Langenkamp was replaced with a stuntwoman . The "melting staircase" as seen in Nancy's dream was Robert Shaye's idea; it was created using pancake mix . </P> <P> Jsu Garcia, who was credited as Rod under the name "Nick Corri", says the production was difficult for him . He had recently come off a period of homelessness, and was still dealing with the depression from that by snorting heroin in the bathroom between takes . In 2014, he revealed that he was high on that drug during the scene between him and Langenkamp in his jail cell . "His eyes were watery and they weren't focused," Langenkamp said . "I thought, Wow, he's giving the best performance of his life ." </P>

Who played freddy krueger in the first nightmare on elm street