"As actors, we access strange imagery. We use imagery sometimes that has nothing to do with what we're doing," said Englund in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "And one of the things I was using was a character from 'Treasure Island' named Billy Bones, who tells a huge story to Jim Hawkins about Long John Silver. It had nothing to do with Freddy Krueger or 'Nightmare.'"
Those familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel will know how this makes sense. Though Billy Bones is a relatively minor character, appearing only in the first three chapters, he helps set the tone for protagonist Jim's harrowing adventure on the high seas.
Billy is an old drunk holing up at the Admiral Benbow Inn, about as close as a pirate can get to retirement (Blackbeard's initial plan in "Our Flag Means Death" notwithstanding). Such an alcoholic that he cannot bring himself to quit drinking even after a near-fatal stroke, he is a mean old man broken by his years as a pirate, and terrified of Long John Silver. The stories he tells Jim are intended not to excite, but to warn.
In other words, Henry-slash-Vecna is Victor's Long John Silver. And just as Billy's past inevitably dooms and catches up with him, so too is Victor unable to escape the terror of Vecna. Englund's classic literature references don't end there, though. He also suggested to The Hollywood Reporter that Victor's decision to blind himself is comparable to that of Oedipus in Sophocles' ancient Greek play, the result of a toxic brew of guilt, trauma, and unspeakable pain.
Just goes to show — if you really want to horrify, you can never go wrong with the classics.
