Robert Englund was the original Freddy Krueger and has been associated with the role for 25 years. (Getty)Freddy Krueger has been good to Robert Englund.

The actor who played the horrifying Freddy in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street is celebrating 25 years of being associated with the serial killer.

Englund, whose memoir Hollywood Monster was released this fall, played Krueger in eight movies, including the 1984 original. A lover of Sam Raimi, he embraced a role that allowed him to put on heavy makeup and scare the heck out of people.

"Back in the '80s, the horror film, like the action film, still remained a collective experience and one of the reasons is that it sort of reminds us of our own mortality," Englund, 62, told CBC's Q cultural affairs show.

"There's something wonderful about sitting in the dark with other people and have that collective catharsis."

Englund says he could not have played Freddie at 22, but in his 30s he leaped at the chance.

"Freddy was this opportunity for me to show I'm versatile and show I have a dark side to me and use a little bit of what I've learned playing heavies over the years, and that's why I [was] eager to do it," he said.

California-born Englund began his career as a theatre actor, doing Shakespeare, Shaw, Pinter and Tennessee Williams. In the 1970s, when independent films were in full flower in Hollywood, he worked with directors like Bob Rafelson on Stay Hungry and John Leone on The Last of the Cowboys.

"I was typed as a sidekick and a best friend and then I became a white trash redneck go-to actor for a while," Englund said. "I have to remind people it's more fun to be a monster, because in some kind of way Freddy got the girls."

Englund freely admits Krueger got increasingly camp over the years.

"We did this comedy-horror hybrid because you have to allow the audience to relax before you jump out at them again," he said.

Actor Robert Englund has called his memoir Hollywood Monster. (Rene Macura/Associated Press)But Freddy has meant international stardom for Englund and a series of horror roles that include Jack Brooks Monster Slayer, shot in Ottawa last year.

Although Craven has condemned the idea of a remake of his film, Englund is looking forward to the 2010 version of A Nightmare on Elm Street by Samuel Bayer.

Jackie Earle Haley of the Scream films has been asked to play Freddy and there are reports he will reprise the seriously scary serial killer of the first film.

"That is the right choice for a remake of the original Nightmare on Elm Street," Englund said. "I'm kind of curious and looking forward to it."