Everyone knows the burned face, the hat, the Christmas sweater with the leather gloves armed with razors.

His name is Freddy Krueger, and he haunts the dreams of teenagers. In the first movie though, he was after the children of those who killed him thus A Nightmare on Elm Street commence.

The Summary

Death stalks the dreams of several young adults to claim its revenge on the killing of Freddy Kruger.

Chased and chastised by this finger-bladed demon, it is the awakening of old memories and the denials of a past of retribution that spurns this hellish vision of a dreamlike state and turns death into a nightmare reality. Written by Cinema_Fan, IMDb

Born A Monster

Freddy Krueger, the child killer, haunting the dreams of sexy teenagers to kill them. Part of a serial killer slasher flick era, he was no exception to the recipe that seemed to have made its mark since the arrival of John Carpenter’s Halloween or even earlier, Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock.

A little less sophisticated than its predecessors, Krueger was no less of a success. It attracted the right crowd, mostly teenagers boys and girls, in for a good fright. Many people think girls are less important in horror movies, but in this one, the relationship between Nancy and Freddy becomes part of the core of the story.

A Franchise Rises

Not all movies are meant to be a franchise. However, it is the case for horror movies either we want it or not. Everyone wants to have its say and add its twist to the killer. Freddy Krueger was no exception.

Freddy Krueger is now a franchise of nine movies, of which many I must I haven’t seen including the remake from the year 2010. However, I have watched the sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy’s Revenge and Dream Warriors which shows an ending saddened me.

When a good idea in movies turns into a franchise, especially with the horror genre, some won’t be as memorable as its founding movie. Many qualify Freddy’s Dead to be the most boring of the bunch while the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street rang to the fans as an insult to the entire franchise.

Its Originality

We’re talking about a dark character here, Freddy Krueger kidnapped and killed children. To protect their families, parents of Elm Street decide to take care of Krueger and set his place on fire, the body never to found again.

Michael Myers goes after his relatives, Jason Voorhees kills teenagers we want dead, to begin with, Krueger killed children and seek revenge upon the now teenagers of those who killed him. Not so mindless killing after all.

Even when Krueger faced Jason in the 2003 movie, Jason vs Freddy, he came out as the monster among all monster killers. He went after every fear and weakness Jason had. That movie made me pity Jason and cheered for him to win. Kruger is most certainly one of the best killers in the horror genre.

Cheesy or Not

The reason why A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise ended up on the cheesy list is for its eighties look that did not aged as well as others did.

That doesn’t mean Freddy Krueger is not part of the best of all time, because his character is a classic. It could’ve easily been on the best list as well.

On my list, it easily deserves an 8/10 on the classic horror goosebump scale!

The OCD Vampire,
Alexa Wayne