JANESVILLE — Andy Laabs gave an early indication that Disney movies weren’t going to cut it as his favored entertainment choice.
When he was around the age of 10, Laabs’ stepdad and mother went out one night leaving their son with Grandma. As a treat, she took young Andrew to Slantrax to pick out a video to watch that evening.
Instead of heading to “The Fox and The Hound,” or some other child-related movie, Laabs ventured into the horror flicks section. He picked out “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,” whose character star was Freddy Krueger.
The young Laabs liked how Krueger looked — with his scar-marked face and metal-clawed gloved right hand.
“Are you sure you’re supposed to be watching these things?” Grandma asked young Andrew.
Laabs told his grandma he did not know since he was young.
“So, I watched it,” Laabs said of the fourth “Elm Street” movie that features the vengeful Krueger slashing teens to death in their dreams. “I was addicted after that.”
In one memorable scene, Krueger appears inside a water bed mattress and comes through it to claim one of his teenage victims.
Grandma’s eyes opened wide. And the young Laabs?
“I’m like 8 years old,” he said. “Like, ‘Whoa!’ My grandma is like, ‘Don’t be telling your parents you’re watching this!’”
“It wasn’t scary at all,” he said. “I just thought it was cool.”
Lights, camera, action
Now, nearly 35 years later, Laabs has advanced his “addiction.” He has earned acting parts in two horror-based movies and three more are in the works.
Laabs now is part of the business.
His acting career sprouted from his love of horror movies and attendance at dozens of related conventions where he enjoyed collecting memorabilia. He attended his first one in 2013. During those conventions, he introduced himself to directors and actors of popular movies and re-met them at later conventions.
“I’ve met everybody that you could possibly name,” he said.
Eventually, he became recognizable to many of them. Laabs, a 1998 graduate of Janesville Parker High, often mentioned that he would like to be part of one of their movies.
“I’ve always been an out-going dude,” Laabs said. “I’ve always liked being in front of a camera.”
That included videotaping his participation in pro wrestling-type matches in the backyard ring set up by friend Jake Sailing while in high school. The clan of friends would dress up as the characters of the WWE or WCW stars of that time and go at it.
About five years ago, actor David Howard Thornton met Laabs.
Two years ago, director Michael Pickle gave Laabs a small part of a ghost that haunted a young student in a classroom.
“That’s all I ever wanted to do was be in one movie,” Laabs said.
Laabs shot the scene in California in March, 2023. He returned to Janesville satisfied that he fulfilled his goal.
Then the Screen Actors Guild went on strike last July. When it was settled in September, several parts in “The Dead Place” remained vacated.
Laabs, who is not a member of SAG, got a call back from Pickle.
“He had one more ‘kill’ scene that he didn’t have cast yet,” Laabs said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, we’ll keep it in the family.’”
Laabs was all-in. So, he got the part of Andrew Rodgers, who is a neighbor of the main character.
“Now I’m in a big scene in ‘The Dead Place,’” Laabs said.
Several of the actors in “The Dead Place” were also scheduled to be in “A Hard Place” that was in production.
Laabs was invited to be part of that movie by its director, J. Horton. Laabs was going to be part of the main featured family, as well as doing some production work such as handling the boom mikes.
Right before filming started, Horton discovered one of the characters was not going to be able to fulfill his role. Once again, Laabs benefited from an unscheduled event.
“I ended up having like two scenes to having like 30,” Laabs said. “It was my first movie where I had a script. So, every night I was trying to memorize lines.”
Laabs spent 11 days of filming in Ohio. One of his roles was playing the son of Felissa Rose, a veteran actress in movies and Broadway productions. Other members of the cast that horror fans will recognize are Bai Ling, Lynn Lowry and Glenn Plummer.
“That is kind of my big debut,” Laabs said. “I play Felissa’s son, so I’m in a lot of scenes with her.”
Busy upcoming schedule
Laabs stayed with two other actors in “A Hard Place” in an Airbnb during the filming in Ohio. One of those actors — Steven Morris — also directs films. He invited Laabs to be in his next movie “Bad Apples.”
Laabs also is scheduled to be in the movie “Clown Motel 3,” which will feature Ari Lehman, the first Jason in “Friday The 13th” and Tony Moran, who was the unmasked Michael Myers in “Halloween.”
Laabs is set to film his parts in August in Las Vegas. That movie is set for a 2025 release.
Laabs also is scheduled to in the movie “Grind” to play a dean of a college. The school’s theatre class is beset with unexpected deaths.
Both “The Dead Place” and “A Hard Place” will be available through streaming options and possible theatre releases.
Laabs plans to take advantage of his new career.
“I’ve got my foot in the door,” he said. “I’ve been doing auditions for different things. It’s fun. It’s just about making connections.”
Now, he can pick his spots.
“I don’t want to do them just to do them,” he said. “I want to do them because they’re cool.”
The Morris-directed “Bad Apples” will provide Laabs an opportunity to return to his roots. Laabs is slated to play a police officer in the production that will begin filming in June.
Also scheduled to be in “Bad Apples” is Lisa Wilcox. The long-time actress played Alice Johnson, the final surviving teenager in “Elm Street 4,” and then in “Elm Street 5,” the movies that got Laabs hooked on fantasy horror flicks nearly 35 years ago.
For Laabs, who didn’t take formal acting lessons, the past few years have been a dream — without a Freddy Krueger appearance.
“I definitely was in the right place at the right time,” he said.
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