"Sleep, those little slices of death, how I loathe them." - Edgar Allan Poe
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
Sister Mary Helena:"A young girl on the staff was accidentally locked in here over the holidays. The inmates kept her hidden for days. She was raped...hundreds of times. When she was found, she was barely alive...and with child. That girl was Amanda Krueger, her child..." Neil Gordon:"Freddy!" Sister Mary Helena:"The bastard son of a hundred maniacs!" Freddy was shuffled from foster home to foster home throughout his childhood, learning nothing but torment and hatred along the way. By the time Freddy grew into a young man, he had come to equate love and pleasure with cruelty and pain. After killing his final, wretched stepfather, Freddy left and drifted for a time, becoming increasingly embittered. Eventually Freddy would once again drift into his hometown of Springwood and would eventually settle down, finding a job maintaining the boilers at the old power-plant on the outskirts of town. He even went on to marry a woman named Loretta, and the pair would soon have a daughter named Maggie. Freddy tried to make a go of a normal life for a while, but his demons were too numerous and powerful to cage for long. He remained extremely disgusted with the perfect picture of the "American Dream" displayed so prominently in Springwood's manicured lawns and houses surrounded by unmarred white-picket fences. A dream he had been forever denied as a child. With this disgust firmly entrenched, Freddy would become one of the most despised, notorious child-killers ever to draw breath. In the plant's workshop he went on to craft the first of his infamous bladed gloves and once he was finished, he began his personal crusade against The Good life that he found so dishonest.
Freddy prepares to give some special attention to one of his young victims Freddy's downfall would begin somewhat ironically at home when on one fateful day Freddy was playing with his own daughter in the backyard. Suddenly, a scream was heard, and Freddy's wife Loretta emerged from the basement. She had discovered Freddy's arsenal of cruel, bladed gloves, and a multitude of newspaper clippings about the child murders. Despite her tearful assurances that she would not tell what she knew, the paranoid Freddy would go on to throttle his wife in front of his horrified child. Soon afterwards Freddy was arrested and charged with the murders of his wife, and the missing children. However, the overzealous officers had forgotten properly sign-off on the search-warrant, and the judge in the case against Freddy would go on to throw the case out due to that technicality. Freddy Krueger, the "Springwood Slasher" would go free, but seeing the threat he posed the court placed his Daughter in an orphanage. However, a vengeful mob of parents and police would plan to make sure that Krueger paid for his crimes. That night, as Freddy holed up in the plant's boiler room plotting his revenge upon Springwood for their "crime" of taking his daughter from him, the mob decended upon him and set fire to the plant, trapping him inside. As the very air itself around him began to burn, Freddy shouted curses at the mob, swearing vengeance. His curses were answered in the forms of the dream demons, creatures who find the most vile and callous human beings of their generation and promise them the power to bend the line between dreams and reality. Freddy gleefully accepted their offer of power, and was transformed into an immortal, unkillable dream-stalker. As the fire began to burn itself out, the mob dispersed, thinking the terror was over at long last. However, the Nightmare was just beginning.
A collage of death and depravity, Freddy-style! A few years later, the Children of the vengeful mob began to suffer from horrible nightmares. And occasionally the children would be found inexplicably slaughtered as they slept. Fingers were pointed and throughout the ordeal, only the teens themselves knew who was actually responsible as Freddy Krueger killed them off one by one. Time and again, Freddy would be thwarted and thought dead, but in dreams he could not die. Eventually after many years, years in which Freddy would go on to destroy the entire population of Springwood's children save for one boy named John, Freddy would finally meet his match in the form of his own Daughter, Maggie, now grown to adulthood. Luring her to Springwood, and then using her to transport himself out of Springwood as a passenger in her own unconcious mind, Freddy sought new grounds to plunder. However, she would find out that he could be pulled free of the dreamworld, and with his powers greatly diminished could actually die. After a pitched battle, Maggie plunged Freddy's own glove into his body, along with a pipe bomb, and blew her father to smithereens, leaving the cackling dream-demons to find yet another depraved soul. At long last, Freddy was truly dead. Or so it was thought. At some point years later, Freddy was dreamed up yet again, and once more began slaughtering teenagers as they slept. However, the city council and the Police department had a plan. At the first sign of possible trouble, teens were taken to Westin Hills, locked away, and regularly given the still-experimental Hypnocil to suppress their dreams. The plan eventually worked, and Freddy was forgotten by the rest of Springwood's youth, a move that rendered the dream-killer powerless. However, Freddy was deviously clever, and managed to find a way around the problem. He searched the bowels of hell and came upon Jason Voorhees, and used the guise of Jason's mother Pamela to press Jason back into service. Jason became Freddy's weapon, one aimed squarely at Springwood, where Jason would start killing and sowing the terror Freddy needed to invade the dreams of the living. However, Freddy failed to take into account Jason's own nature as a relentless killer, and soon Freddy's weapon was stepping on his would-be master's toes. Freddy's would be vicitms, Lori, Will, Kia, Linderman, and Freeburg, all realized that Freddy was the greater of the two threats, and that there must be some way to pit the two killers against one-another. Their plan was solidified when Lori fell asleep and was attacked by Freddy. She grabbed his ear in an attempt to pull him off just as she was roused by her friends, and Lori found herself holding the severed ear which decayed away into a pile of maggots. They all then realized that Freddy could be pulled into the real world. Eventually the remaining teens managed to sedate Jason, who soon found himself facing an angry Krueger on his own turf. Freddy soon discovered that Jason feared water and began to use that fear against his now-helpless foe. As Freddy dug deep into Jason's subconcious, the group drove the sleeping killer away from Springwood to his own stomping grounds, Crystal Lake. There, a dreaming Lori pulled Freddy himself into the land of the living, where his powers were largely diminished, and a rampaging Jason was waiting.
Surrounded by flames, Freddy and Jason lock proverbial horns The two battled in brutal fashion, each laying waste to the other. While their foes were locked in mortal combat on the docks, Lori and Will managed to set fire to the propane tanks near the shore, and blow the two monsters into the lake. Relived, the pair prepared to leave when an enraged and injured Freddy emerged from the lake holding Jason's lethal machete', prepared to strike. Before Krueger could kill them, however, Jason emerged from the lake and drove Freddy's own clawed arm through his chest, before falling back into the water. Freddy dropped the machete and fell to his knees, where a vengeful Lori quickly beheaded him. Kruger's head and body sank into the lake, and as Jason himself sank below the gentle waves, Lori dropped his machete' into the water as well. Her rage spent, Lori gathered up Will, and the pair left Crystal Lake. So, is Freddy truly dead at last? Only time will tell.
Several years later, Nightmare series creator Wes Craven would begin to once again suffer from terrifying nightmares. In these dreams, he would sometimes encounter a being that resembled Freddy Krueger. However, this Freddy was somewhat different than his cinematic ancestor, this Freddy was darker, more sinister, and even more evil. Eventually Craven came to realize that an old legend about evil was true. The legend states that an ancient evil force has existed throught the dawn of time, and as mankind rose to prominence, the evil made it's presence felt. However, throughout history, man was able to contain the evil inside the stories passed down from generation to generation in the oral tradition. As tales of evil beings moved on from the oral beginnings, to written, and eventually in our century into the cinematic form, the evil would be periodically bottled up into its own hellish dimension, unable to truly influence humankind. However, Craven found that when the stories left the minds of the populace, and they ceased to believe, the evil would emerge and wreak havoc until it was bottled up inside a new tale. Craven surmised that the evil force had become bottled for a decade in the Nightmare on Elm Street series of films, and now that the series had been cancelled and the tales of the evil Freddy Krueger left the minds of the viewers, the evil was escaping to attack those involved with the creation of the films. Realizing that the entity must be once again contained for an age, Craven began a screenplay for a new Elm Street film, designed to trap the evil entity once more. Eventually the Entity began to haunt more than Craven, invading the dreams of New Line Cinema producer Bob Shaye, Freddy-portrayer Robert Englund, the special effects crews, and actress Heather Langencamp, who had portrayed the character of Nancy in the films. Freddy's attacks on her began with strange, haunting phonecalls, and later he began to attack her, her son Dylan, and those she cared about. Freddy killed her Husband and his effects-partners, and then would go on to kill Dylan's babysitter. Afterwards, Heather realized that she must reprise her role as Nancy once again in order to contain the evil entity in Freddy's guise. Travelling into his hellish netherworld in pursuit of her vanished son, she faced down Freddy and eventually won. The evil was contained for another generation.
The Nightmare Series at a glance Series creator Wes Craven had concieved of the idea of a film in which the lines between dreams and reality were blurred and hard to define years before the first Elm Street film was actually produced. Craven had trouble finding a producer for his script, perhaps because the film didn't fit very readily into the generic slasher genre which had become so prevalent in the late 70's and early 80's. Finally, in the relative newcomer New Line Cinema, Craven found a taker. In fact, the horror industry had become so identified with cheesy slasher films, that everyone involved with the first Nightmare film touted it as a "psychological thriller" and steadfastly refused to label it a horror movie. The 4 million dollar film went on to make a substantial profit, and seeing the potential for a lucrative series of films, work was soon begun on a sequel. This irked Craven, who would have no involvement with the series save for writing the screenplay for "Dream Warriors" until he was approached with the Idea of "New Nightmare".
As for Englund himself, his efforts to shatter his image were almost too successful, and the intelligent, classically trained thespian is known as Freddy to this day, and probably will be for the rest of his life. His initial portrayal of Krueger was subdued, dark, and serious. Krueger was hidden in shadow throughout much of his screen time, and made an instant impression. Englund always pressed to insert a bit more humor into the part, and later Nightmare films would elevate Freddy's ability to crack-wise, a move which dampened his ability to scare. Indeed, Freddy would become something of an anti-hero, something Craven neither understood nor liked. Later, Englund would come to realize that Freddy needed to return at least somewhat towards his darker roots, and this can be seen in the later films.
Movie Ratings
Freddy declares his divinity to a terrified Tina The peaceful suburbanized town of Springwood Ohio harbors a dark secret, one that threatens its children. Someone is stalking its teens in their dreams, and he plays for keeps. Young Nancy Thompson's life is changed forever when her best friend Tina is butchered in her sleep. Before it ends, Tina's boyfried Rod, who is accused of the murder, is found dead in his cell. The brutal dream-stalker sets his sights on Nancy and her boyfriend Glenn. Soon, Nancy discovers the awful truth behind Springwood's greatest menace, and its a truth that involves both of her parents. The original Nightmare on Elm Street, made for under $2 million, made a killing at the box office (it grossed almost $26 million) and was highly acclaimed in the press. A few genre buffs would place it as one of the top 10 horror films of all time, and all would agree that it was one of the finest fright-flicks of the 80's.
The Good:
Freddy announces that he's just adopted every teen at Lisa's pool-party Set five years after the first film, the Walsh family has moved into the Thompson's old house at 1428 Elm Street. Before long, the eldest child Jesse cannot sleep through the night, suffering from terrible Nightmares. Even his friend (and would-be girlfriend) Lisa cannot seem to comfort him. Eventually it becomes plain that he is being stalked by an evil being in his sleep, a being who wishes to enter the land of the living by using Jessie's body as his own. When its all said and done, all that stands before the malicous Freddy Krueger and Jessie's life is the love of a woman. Though a successful film financially, the second installment of the Elm Street series is a flawed film and is arguably the weakest of the Nightmare series.
Watch out kids. Freddy's giving out free samples! Six years after the original, teens are still having a tough time sleeping. For some, the problem has become so chronic that they have been institutionalized for treatment. The newest patient, Kristen Parker, is hysterical...totally unwilling to be sedated. She is calmed by the newest staff member of the Westin Hills Psychiatric Insitute, Nancy Thompson. After speaking with the kids, both one on one and in groups, she finds that they all share the same somnolent boogeyman, Fred Krueger. Freddy manages to fatally attack two of the teens, and also traps a third in a deep coma before Nancy can utilize Kristen's gift to pull others into a mutual dreamland in order to stand united against Freddy. As this occurs, Dr. Neil Gordon and Nancy's estranged father, Donald Thompson run a parallel mission to finally bury Freddy's earthly remains on hallowed ground. Freddy, however, won't go down without taking a few others with him. This film expanded upon Freddy's role as a wise-cracker, and managed to bring the film series to an increasingly more mainstream audience, and the box office returns reflected this approach. The budget was expanded, and it showed in the special effects.
"Now how much would you pay?" The last of the Elm Street children from the third film, Kristen, Kincaid and Joey have all been released from Westin Hills, and are trying to adjust to normal everyday lives. However. Kristen is now once again haunted by disturbing dreams. Eventually, Freddy magages to pull himself together after having his grave defiled. That night, he attacks and kills Kincaid and Joey, sending Kristen into near-hysterics. She tries to warn her friends, especially her boyfriend Rick and his sister Alice, of Freddy's threat. Thanks to her controlling mother, Kristen accidentaly takes some sleeping pills and finds herself unable to defend herself against Freddy, reflexively she pulls Alice into her dream and manages to give the mousy redhead her power to draw others into the dream realm before Freddy kills her. Afterwards Freddy uses Alice as a conduit to get at her friends. However, as Freddy kills each of her friends, she finds that their special dream-powers are bestowed upon her, transforming her into Freddy's nemesis, the newest Master of Dreams. After the success of "Dream Warriors", Freddy Kruger was at the very height of his popularity. With a larger budget than ever, New Line went after director Renny Harlin, who would later direct "Die Hard 2".
The Good
STILL not as scary as Scientology! Alice and her boyfriend Dan share a night of passion and afterwards Alice has a disturbing dream, the first in many months. After graduation things get worse, as she dreams of Freddy's rebirth and the plight of his mother Amanda. Soon, Freddy gains enough strength to strike out, killing Dan first. In the aftermath, Alice discovers she is pregnant with Dan's child, and her unborn baby's dreams are the reason for Freddy's return. Alice soon finds that Freddy plans on being reborn into the waking world through her child. With Amanda Krueger's help, she manages to fight off Freddy. However, Freddy has learned of Alice's weaknesses, and the outcome rests on her own unborn son, who already seems tainted with Freddy's evil. As Freddy-mania waned, the producers at New Line realized the need to return Freddy to his darker roots. As a result, this film posseses a stylish, gothic atmosphere, and more subdued effects. Its also dark and at times somewhat disturbing, which is a big plus. Despite some positive changes, box office returns were dissapointing to say the least, as the film grossed less than half the amount the previous film had. New Line saw the writing on the wall and made preparations to kill Freddy off.
The Good
Can you believe it took 6 films to get to THIS gag? Several years later finds Springwood devoid of all children save for one teenaged boy. Freddy causes him to leave Springwood in order to lure the only person capable of taking him from the depleted town, his own Daughter who is now an adult with no memory of her early childhood. Freddy manages to draw Maggie to Springwood, and then kills off the bait. Freddy promptly enters her unconcious mind as she flees the town, and is able to start all over again, proudly boasting that "Every town...has an Elm Street!". However, with the help of a collegue, Maggie finds that Freddy can possibly be pulled into the waking world, where he can be hurt. And if Freddy can be hurt, then he can finally die. This film finally delivered on the promise to kill Freddy off, and did so with an impressive 3-D climax. The home video release doesnt have the 3-D finale, but the later DVD-release did. Even without the 3-D gimmickry, the movie is still worth a look for the rather telling glimpses into Freddy's past. However, even though Freddy was truly dead, the producers figured out a clever way to both bring him back, and keep their promise as well.
He's just gonna get rid of a spider on Julie's back. Honest! Elm Street creator Wes Craven has begun to suffer from extremely disturbing Nightmares, and comes to realize that an old legend about an ancient evil is true. Throught history, the force has been contained in stories, taking the shapes of the creatures described in the tales told by mankind throughout the ages. Realizing that the entity has been contained for a decade in the "Elm Street" series of films, and now that the series has been cancelled for several years the force is once again finding a way to enter the real world, Craven begins work on a new screenplay designed to contain the evil for another generation. But, for the film to work, actress Heather Langenkamp must reprise her role as Nancy, and she has demons of her own to deal with. Craven was back at the helm of a new Elm Street film, and in the process he cranked out one of the most intelligent horror-films of the decade. It skillfully juggled reality and fantasy (A vital element the series had lost along the way), and was partially based on the events in the real-life of Heather Langenkamp, who suffered through a terrifying stalking incident while on the ABC series "Just the 10 of Us". This film defied expectations and recieved some well-earned critical acclaim.
"Nobody move! Jason just lost one of his contacts!" For the last 4 years, the little town of Springwood has been at peace, freed from the somnolent stalkings of Freddy Krueger, who has been all but forgotten by the town's children. However, Freddy has a plan to regain his status as the master of dreams, and searches the bowels of hell itself for the one being that could bring terror back to Springwood. That being proves to be Jason Voorhees, and Freddy sends him on his way to sow death and fear, and in the process Freddy himself will again gain the power to invade the dreams of the living. However, Freddy has some rather strong opposition, and not just from teenagers like Lori, Will, Kia and Linderman, but from Jason, who isn't too keen on taking orders. For over 10 years, this film dwelled deep in the bowels of development hell as one script after another was written and ultimately rejected. Finally, a screenply by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon managed to satisfy Robert Shaye enough to give it the green light, and make this long-awaited, fanboy wet-dream of a film a reality. The film performed extremely well at the box-office, grossing over $82 million in the US alone. Quite a return on a $25 million budget eh?
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My View Freddy is, by a large margin, my favorite Horror character. My Freddy experience began, strangely enough, with the second Elm Street film, as I missed the first of them and had no VCR at the time. When the second film hit the theatres, I went to see it and was immediately hooked! You might say Freddy changed my life somewhat, and in a small way brought me, a talkative but still somewhat shy 15 year-old, out of my shell. In fact, that very night I would go on to create the first of what would become a virtual arsenal of Freddy gloves. Hauling out a pile of Fangoria mags for photo references, and using an old glove, paper fasteners, and some cardboard, I crafted a reasonable facsimile of Freddy's lethal metallic talon. Eventually I would build many more, and finally after a time I moved on to constructing them out of galvanized sheet metal, with both metal or plastic blades. Not only did I make them for myself, but also for friends. In the summer of 88 my masterpice would come about, largely due to luck. At the local building supply store where I bought rolls of sheet metal, I came across a 4 ' by 2' sheet of copper ( The original Freddy glove was constructed with steel fishing knives and forged copper. ), a lucky find considering it is usually sold in much larger sheets, and someone had cut this one down significantly. I quickly purchased the metal and would also go on to buy four vegatable knives which were curved in a fashion similar to Freddy's blades. Using this I made a very accurate Freddy glove, causing many of my friends and aquaintences to worry about my sanity. Sadly this particular glove has fallen into disrepair, and I need to work on restoring it to its former glory. Two more of the gloves I would later construct are notable, and unfortunately one no longer exists, and the other is also in disrepair due to it's non-durable nature. The first one was a duplicate of the "Dentist" glove seen in the climax of the Freddy's Nightmares pilot episode. Each finger contained a working DC motor which spun a duplicate drill bit similar to the ones seen in the episode. A second was a replica of his infamous "syringe fingers" glove, from Nightmare 3. Currently I'm down to a single, working glove, and you can see it in the pictures below. Its loosely modeled after the Nightmare 4 version. This one was constructed by a friend of mine back in 1989 or so, and still retains its orginal parts, save for the backplate which I replaced years ago. I have some new sheet-copper and I'm also planning on getting a sheet or two of brass so that I can construct a new bladed masterpiece. In the first photo, I'm wearing a "New Nightmare" inspired sweater, which is actually a sweatshirt that was made for me by a friend of mine in 1995. In the same photo I was sporting a 5-hour makeup application, mostly done myself. In the second photo, I'm wearing the excellent Nightmare 5 repro stunt-mask, from David Miller Creations.
Myself, Halloween 1996
Myself (and my friend Emily), Halloween 2004
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With the exception of Robert Englund and veteran John Saxon, the cast was mainly comprised of newcomers, and the film jumpstarted the careers of Heather Langenkamp and Johnny Depp. Englund himself auditioned for the role of Krueger in order to shed his film image in which he had become primarily associated with nice, somewhat nerdy types. Despite the fact that Craven had initially sought a larger actor to play Krueger (as he would later when he produced the somewhat unsuccessful "Shocker".), Englund made an immediate impression when he strode in wearing dark clothes, sunglasses, and a substantial 5 o'clock shadow. The normally friendly Englund came off as so intense during the meeting that Craven was immediately taken with him, and soon cast Englund as Krueger.
