Meet the Filmmaker
Gregory Achen

Gregory Achen is an amateur filmmaker from Los Angeles, California, with a lifelong love of horror, soap operas, Halloween, Christmas, and all things camp. Having a background in psychology, he's fascinated by the stories people tell themselves, the masks they wear, and the duality of human nature. Not surprisingly, those themes often find their way into his works, A Nightmare on 34th Street being no exception. 

Gregory has been making movies since childhood, when he and his family would spend weekends creating homemade films with their parents' camcorder. What began as childhood play eventually became a lifelong hobby, a creative outlet, and the perfect excuse to travel across the country visiting iconic horror movie filming locations.

His debut feature, A Nightmare on 34th Street, evolved in ways he never could have imagined. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gregory created a 17-episode fan miniseries by re-editing the Sunset Beach (1997) Terror Island storyline: a classic slasher plot told through the lens (and the budget) of a daytime soap opera. That project rekindled his passion for film-making, especially film editing.

But the true spark came after attending the Christmas horror event Creep It Real Festive in Santa Ana, California. Surrounded by horror fans celebrating the holidays, Gregory asked himself a simple question, "What if all the horror movie monsters and villains really did gather together every Christmas?"

Rather than portray one of the iconic slasher villains everyone recognized, he wanted to be something more unique. So he chose to dress as Derek, the obscure skull-masked killer from Sunset Beach's Terror Island, and planned to film nothing more than a five-minute montage of this forgotten character partying alongside horror legends. That simple idea unexpectedly became a two-year film-making journey, expanding into a feature-length movie complete with an original story and emotional core.

At its heart, A Nightmare on 34th Street is a love letter to horror fans, soap opera fans (especially Sunset Beach devotees) and the small but passionate intersection of people who proudly love both. Along the way, deeper themes naturally emerged: the nature of family, triangulation, duality, naughty versus nice, nature versus nurture, Christianity versus paganism, cultural appropriation, and the age old pursuit for community and belonging.

While preparing for this film, Gregory discovered an enlightening book by Jeff Belanger titled The Fright Before Christmas. Its exploration of the darker roots of winter celebrations reinforced a belief he had long held: horror and Christmas don't just complement one another, they belong together and always have. Whether we call it Yule, Saturnalia, the Winter Solstice, or Christmas, the season has long been associated with tales of ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural. As the classic lyric reminds us, the holidays are a time for "scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago." A Nightmare on 34th Street continues that tradition.

Most importantly, Gregory sees the film as a story for the outsiders and anyone who has ever struggled to fit in or has ever felt isolated or rejected during the holidays. Like many camp classics before it, the film balances absurdity with sincerity, inviting audiences to simply enjoy the ride or to dig beneath the surface and find something more.

Perhaps Gregory's biggest role on A Nightmare on 34th Street happened behind the camera. Like many independent filmmakers, he quickly learned that making a feature film often means wearing every hat imaginable. Throughout production, Gregory served not only as the writer, director, and producer, but also portrayed multiple on-screen characters, including the film's central protagonist, while providing numerous voice performances throughout the movie.

Beyond acting, he handled the editing, costume design, set decoration, practical effects, prop creation, sound design, visual effects, and countless other jobs that would normally be divided among an entire crew. Every frame reflects years of persistence, problem-solving, and an unwavering belief that passion can often accomplish what budgets cannot.

While A Nightmare on 34th Street may bear Gregory's name, it was never a journey he took entirely alone. His family has been part of his film-making adventures since those childhood days making movies with a camcorder, and their involvement made this ambitious project possible. 

This film also would not have been possible without the kindness and generosity of countless strangers who welcomed this project with open arms. To everyone at Creep It Real OC, Krampus Cove Los Angeles, Unique Stays Club, Mr. Floats and the CarnEvil of Souls, Fear Farm, Art's Sideshow, Monsterpalooza, Midsummer Scream, Terror Trader, Spring Hill Estate, the many talented cosplayers, vendors, artists, and horror enthusiasts whose creativity and passion appear throughout the film... thank you. 

Gregory would also like to give a shout out to the City of Seal Beach, California, where he spent many days and nights running around their community in a skull mask without any push back from residents or the police. In fact, every community member he encountered was incredibly supportive of the film. So whether you knowingly participated or simply crossed paths with a filmmaker carrying a camera and an ambitious idea, your enthusiasm, talent, and generosity elevated this movie far beyond what its modest budget could have achieved. Independent film-making is rarely a solo endeavor, and this film is a testament to the incredible community that exists within the horror world and the State of California.

And finally, a special thank you goes to Gregory's sister, Alysan Marie Aachen, whose support, patience, and willingness to accompany him on various filming expeditions helped bring many of the movie's memorable moments to life. Whether it meant waking before sunrise to capture the perfect  shot, driving to remote filming locations, or embracing the unpredictability of independent film-making, she was there for many of the adventures that transformed a simple five-minute idea into a feature-length film.

For Gregory, film-making has never been about perfection. It's about passion, creativity, and making something that simply wouldn't exist otherwise. A Nightmare on 34th Street is deeply personal: a strange blend of horror, holiday nostalgia, camp, and heart. It's the culmination of a lifelong love of horror movies and a reminder that sometimes the most unexpected ideas become the biggest adventures.

Whether audiences discover its hidden meanings and subtext or simply have fun watching monsters celebrate Christmas together, Gregory hopes A Nightmare on 34th Street finds its audience... and maybe, just maybe, for at least one person out there, earns a place among those annual holiday traditions that people return to year after year.

For better or worse, this film now exists and the movie is now forever a part of Gregory's story: the good, the bad, the naughty, and the nice.