Freddy Krueger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freddy Krueger is a fictional character from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams, which ultimately results in their death in the real world. However, whenever he is put into the real world, he has normal human strength and vulnerability. He was created by Wes Craven, and has been consistently portrayed by Robert Englund since his first appearance. In the 2010 remake, however, Krueger is portrayed by Academy Award-nominee Jackie Earle Haley.
Krueger is undead, and can attack his victims from within their own dreams. He is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, red and dark green striped sweater, brown fedora, and trademark metal-clawed brown leather glove. Wizard magazine rated him the 14th greatest villain, the British television channel Sky2 listed him 8th, and the American Film Institute ranked him 40th on its “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Heroes and Villains” list.
Robert Englund has said many times that he feels that the character represents neglect, particularly that which is suffered by children.
Appearances
Freddy Krueger is the primary antagonist in all the Nightmare on Elm Street films, and was officially killed off in part six, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. The character was brought back in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare by Wes Craven, who had not worked on the film series since the third film. The silver screen is not the only place Freddy Krueger has appeared; there are literary sources that have expanded the universe of Freddy, as well as adapted the films and adjusted various aspects of Krueger’s backstory. The character has also hosted his own television show, Freddy’s Nightmares, which was an anthology series similar to The Twilight Zone. Freddy also made several guest appearances on the syndicated puppet show DC Follies in 1988. In 2003, Freddy battled fellow horror icon Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th film series in the theatrical release Freddy vs. Jason, a film which officially resurrected both characters from their respective deaths and subsequently being sent to Hell in their respective ‘last films’. The ending of the film is left ambiguous as to whether or not Freddy is actually dead, for despite being decapitated, he winks at the viewers. (A sequel featuring Ash from the Evil Dead franchise was planned, but never materialized on-screen. It was later turned into comic book form in Dynamite Entertainment’s Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.)
Films
Freddy Krueger’s first appearance was in A Nightmare on Elm Street. The story focused on Krueger killing Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and her friends in their dreams, successfully killing all but Nancy. Krueger’s back-story is revealed by Nancy’s mother, who explains he was a child murderer whom the parents of Springwood killed after Krueger was acquitted of police charges on a technicality. Nancy defeats Krueger by pulling him from the dream world into the real world, and setting up a series of booby traps, finally stripping him of his powers when she stops being afraid of him.
Freddy returned in the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), terrorizing the Walsh family, who had moved into Nancy’s old home. Krueger possesses the body of Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), using his body to kill through his dreams. Jesse is saved by his girlfriend Lisa (Kim Myers), who helps Jesse fight Krueger’s spirit.
Wes Craven returned to give Krueger life for a third time in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). In the second sequel, Krueger is systematically killing the last of the Elm Street children. The few remaining children have been placed in the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, for reasons of attempted suicide. Nancy Thompson arrives at Westin Hills as a new intern, and realizes the children are being killed by Krueger. With the help of Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson), Nancy helps Kristen (Patricia Arquette), Joey (Rodney Eastman), Taryn (Jennifer Rubin), Kincaid (Ken Sagoes), and Will (Ira Heiden) find their dream powers, so they can kill Krueger once and for all. Neil, unknowingly until the end, meets the spirit of Krueger’s mother, Amanda Krueger (Nan Martin), who instructs him to bury Krueger’s remains in hallowed ground in order to stop him for good. Neil completes his task, but not before Freddy kills Nancy.
The character’s fourth appearance in film came with A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). This time, Kristen (Tuesday Knight) unwittingly releases Krueger, who immediately kills Kincaid and Joey. Before Kristen is killed she transfers her dream power to pull others into her dreams to her friend Alice (Lisa Wilcox), who begins inadvertently providing victims for Krueger. Alice, who has taken on the traits of the friends who were murdered, confronts Krueger and uses the power of the Dream Master to release all the souls Krueger has taken; they subsequently rip themselves from Krueger’s body, killing him in the process.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) picks up shortly after the events of The Dream Master. It involves Krueger using Alice’s unborn child, Jacob (Whitby Hertford), to resurrect himself and find new victims. The spirit of Amanda Krueger (Beatrice Boepple) returns, revealing that Krueger was conceived when she, a nun working in a mental asylum, was accidentally locked in a room and raped hundreds of times. Amanda Krueger convinces Jacob to use the powers he was given by Krueger against him, which gives her the chance to subdue Krueger long enough for Alice and Jacob to escape the dream world.
Krueger made his sixth appearance in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). The film reveals that Krueger has a daughter, Kathryn (Cassandra Rachel Friel), who was taken away from him during his trial. Krueger sends the sole surviving teenager of Springwood to bring his daughter back to him. Krueger needs Maggie (Lisa Zane), who is unaware that she is his daughter, so that he can leave Springwood and create new “Elm Streets” to begin his killing spree again. Maggie, utilizing new dream techniques, uncovers Krueger’s past—child abuse, cruelty to animals, murdering his own wife, the moment the Dream Demons offer him eternal life—and eventually pulls Krueger out of the dream world. She uses a pipe bomb, embedded in his chest, to blow him up, leaving the Dream Demons unable to resurrect him in reality.
Freddy’s clawed hand appears at the end of the film Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, the ninth installment of the Friday the 13th film series. His hand is seen bursting from the ground to drag Jason Vorhees’ iconic hockey mask into Hell, setting the motion for the events in Freddy vs. Jason.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) focuses on a real life setting, where Craven, Langenkamp, and Englund all play themselves, and where the character of Freddy Krueger is an evil entity that has been trapped in the realm of fiction by all the Nightmare films. When the films are stopped, the entity, which enjoys the form of Freddy Krueger, tries to escape into the real world. The only person in its way is Heather Langenkamp, whom the entity sees as “Nancy” (despite the character being killed off in the third movie), the first person who defeated him. Langenkamp pursues “Freddy”, who has kidnapped her son (Miko Hughes), into the dream world as “Nancy”. There, she and her son trap Freddy in a furnace until he is finally destroyed.
