Freddy Krueger
| A Nightmare on Elm Street character | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Promotional photo of Freddy Krueger for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Freddy Krueger | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification: | Mass murderer[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature weapon: | Clawed glove | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary location: | Elm Street Springwood, OH | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Race: | Caucasian | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Creator: | Wes Craven | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by: | Robert Englund and Jackie Earle Haley
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 children and teenagers in their dreams, which ultimately results in their death in the real world. He was created by Wes Craven, and has been portrayed by Robert Englund in all of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, as well as the television series. 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,[2] the British television channel Sky2 listed him 8th,[3] and the American Film Institute ranked him 40th on its "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list.[4] Robert Englund has said many times that he feels that the character represents neglect, particularly that is suffered by children.[5] AppearancesFreddy Krueger is the primary antagonist in all of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films, and was officially killed off in part six, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The character was brought back by Wes Craven, who had not worked on the film series since the third film and as a director since the original film, in the form of an ancient evil entity that had taken a likeing to the form of Freddy Krueger, and is now trying to enter the real world. The silver screen is not the only place Freddy Krueger has appeared; there have been 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. Since the battle with Jason Vorhees, Freddy has appeared in the comic book, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash where he's at battle with Vorhees again only this time, Evil Dead's Ash Williams joins. FilmsFreddy Krueger’s first appearance was in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The story focused on Freddy attacking 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 Freddy by pulling him from the dream world, into the real world, then setting up a series of booby traps, and then finally stripping him of his powers when she stops being afraid of him.[6] 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. Freddy possesses the body of Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), using his body to kill. Jesse is saved by his girlfriend Lisa (Kim Myers), who helps Jesse fight Krueger's spirit.[7] Wes Craven returned to give Freddy life for a third time in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). In the second sequel, Freddy is systematically killing the last of the Elm Street children. The few remaining children have been placed in Westin Hills Mental Institution, for reasons of "attempted suicide". Nancy Thompson arrives at Westin Hills as a new intern, and realizes the children are being killed by Freddy. 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 Freddy once and for all. Neil, unknowingly until the end, meets the spirit of Freddy’s mother, Amanda Krueger (Nan Martin), who instructs him to bury Freddy’s remains in hallowed ground in order to stop him for good. Neil completes his task, but not before Freddy kills Nancy.[8] 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 Freddy, who immediately kills Kincaid and Joey. Before Kristen is killed she transfers her dream power to her friend Alice (Lisa Wilcox), who begins inadvertently providing victims for Freddy. Alice, who has taken on the traits of the friends who were murdered, confronts Freddy and uses the power of the Dream Master to release all the souls Freddy has taken; they subsequently rip themselves from Freddy’s body, killing him in the process.[9] Picking up shortly after the events of The Dream Master, Freddy’s next appearance, in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, involves him 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 Freddy 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 Freddy against him, which gives her the chance to subdue Freddy long enough for Alice and Jacob to escape the dream world.[10] In 1991, Freddy made what would have been his sixth and final appearance, in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). This appearance reveals that Freddy has a daughter, Kathryn (Cassandra Rachel Friel), who was taken away from him during his trial. Freddy sends the sole surviving teenager of Springwood to bring his daughter back to him. He needs Maggie (Lisa Zane), who is unaware that she is adopted and had her name changed, so that he can leave Springwood, in an effort to create new "Elm Streets" and begin his killing spree again. Maggie, utilizing new dream techniques, uncovers Krueger’s past, which includes: being taunted by schoolmates for being the "son of 100 maniacs", being cruel to animals, beaten by his stepfather, the murder his own wife when she discovers he has been killing children, and the moment when the Dream Demons arrive in his boiler room to make him eternal. Eventually, Maggie pulls Freddy out of the dream world, and uses a pipe bomb, embedded in his chest, to blow him up.[11] Wes Craven returned a third time with Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). This film focuses on a fictional reality, where Craven, Langenkamp, and Englund all play themselves, and where the character of Freddy Krueger is really an evil entity that has been trapped in the realm of fiction by all the movies that have been made. Since the movies have stopped, the entity, which enjoys the form of Freddy Krueger, is trying to escape into the real world. The only person in its way is Heather Langenkamp, whom the entity sees as "Nancy"—the first person who defeated him. Craven explains to Langenkamp that the only way to keep the entity contained is for her to "play Nancy one more time". Langenkamp pursues "Krueger", who has kidnapped her son, into the dream world as "Nancy". There, she and her son trap Krueger in a furnace until he is finally destroyed.[12] Freddy's most recent appearance was in Freddy vs. Jason (2003). Freddy Krueger has grown weak, as people in Springwood, his home, have suppressed their fear of him. Freddy, who is impersonating Pamela Voorhees, the mother of Jason Voorhees, sends Jason (Ken Kirzinger) to Springwood to cause panic and fear. Jason accomplishes this, but refuses to stop killing. A battle ensues in both the dream-world and Crystal Lake. The winner is left ambiguous, as Jason surfaces from the lake holding Freddy's severed head, which winks and laughs.[13] Freddy is to return but not to be portrayed by Robert Englund. Jackie Earle Haley will take over the role for the remake; the cast has been chosen and principal photography began on May 5, 2009. The new film will focus more on Freddy Krueger and the psychology of dreams.[14] TelevisionRobert Englund continued his role as Freddy Krueger in the 1988 television series, entitled Freddy's Nightmares. Beginning on October 9, 1988, Freddy's Nightmares was an anthology series, in the vein of The Twilight Zone, which featured different horror stories each week. The show was hosted by Freddy Krueger, who did not take direct part in most of the episodes, but he did show up occasionally to influence the plot of particular episodes. The series ran for two seasons, 44 episodes, ending March 10, 1990.[15] Although most of the episodes did not feature Freddy taking a major role in the plot, the pilot episode "No More Mr. Nice Guy" depicts the events of Krueger's trial, and his subsequent death at the hands of the parents of Elm Street after his acquittal. In "No More Mr. Nice Guy", Freddy's acquittal is based on the arresting officer, Lt. Tim Blocker, not reading him his Miranda rights, which is different from the original Nightmare that stated he was acquitted because someone forgot to sign a search warrant. The episode also reveals that Krueger used an ice cream van to lure children close enough so that he could kidnap and kill them. After the town's parents burn Freddy to death he returns to haunt Blocker in his dreams. Freddy gets his revenge when Blocker is put to sleep at the dentist's office, and Freddy shows up and kills him.[16] The episode "Sister's Keeper" was a "sequel" to this episode, even though it was the seventh episode of the series.[17] The episode follows Krueger as he stalks the Blocker twins, the identical twin daughters of Lt. Tim Blocker.[16] Season two's "It's My Party and You'll Die If I Want You To" featured Freddy attacking a high school prom date who wronged him twenty years earlier.[18] CharacterizationWes Craven claims his inspiration for the basis of Krueger's power stemmed from several stories in the Los Angeles Times about a series of mysterious deaths: All the victims had reported recurring nightmares beforehand, and died in their sleep. Other than that, Craven's inspirations for Freddy included a homeless man who had frightened Craven when he was eleven, In an interview, he says (after hearing some noise) "When I looked down there was a man very much like Freddy walking along the sidewalk. He must have sensed that someone was looking at him and stopped and looked right into my face. He scared the living daylights out of me, so I jumped back into the shadows. I waited and waited to to hear him walk away. Finally I thought he must have gone, so I stepped back to the window. The guy was not only still looking at me but he thrust his head forward as if to say ' Yes, I'm still looking at you" The man walked towards the apartment building's entrance, "I ran through the apartment to our front door as he was walking into our building on the lower floor. I heard him starting up the stairs. My brother, who is ten years older than me, got a baseball bat and went out to the corridor but he was gone"[19], that, a bully at his school named Fred Krueger [19] and the 1970s pop song "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright sealed the story for Craven, giving him not only a creative springboard, but the synthesizer riff from the Elm Street soundtrack.[20] In Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Freddy was more as the symbol of something more powerful and ancient, he was given more stature and muscles.[21] Unlike the six movies before it, In New Nightmare, Freddy wore a green fedora that matched his stripes instead of his usual dark brown fedora. Freddy also, now wore tight leather pants instead of his loose dark brown trousers, and tall boots with many laces, he also wore a dark blue trench coat and now had a claw on his thumb. ClawWes Craven claims that part inspiration for Freddy's infamous glove was from his cat, as he watched it claw the side of his couch one night.[22] "Part of it was an objective goal to make the character memorable, since it seems that every character that has been successful has had some kind of unique weapon, wether [sic] it be a chain saw or a machete, etc. I was also looking for a primal fear which is embedded in the subconscious of people of all cultures. One of those is the fear of teeth being broken, which I used in my first film. Another is the claw of an animal, like a saber-toothed tiger reaching with it's [sic] tremendous hooks. I transposed this into a human hand. The original script had the blades being fishing knives." says Craven in an interview[23] An editor has nominated the above file for discussion of its purpose and/or potential deletion. You are welcome to participate in the discussion and help reach a consensus. When Jim Doyle, the creator of Freddy's claw asked Wes Craven what he wanted, Wes responded "It's kind of like really long fingernails, I want the glove to look like something that someone could make who has the skills of a boilermaker"[22] "Then we hunted around for knives" says Doyle, "We picked out this bizarre-looking steak knife, we thought that this looked really cool, we thought it would look even cooler if we turned it over and used it upside down, we had to remove the back edge and put another edge on it, because we were actually using the knife upside down". Later Doyle had three duplicates of the glove made. Two of which were used as stunt gloves in long shots.[22] For New Nightmare, Lou Carlucci, the effects coordinator, remodeled Freddy's glove for a more "organic look". He says "I did the original glove on the first Nightmare and we deliberately made that rough and primitive looking, like something that would be constructed in somebody's home workshop. Since this is supposed to be a new look for Freddy, Wes and everybody involved decided that the glove should be different. This hand has more muscle and bone texture to it, the blades are shinier and in one case, are retractable. Everything about this glove has a much cleaner look to it, it's more a natural part of his hand than a glove" [22] Other mediaAn editor has nominated the above file for discussion of its purpose and/or potential deletion. You are welcome to participate in the discussion and help reach a consensus. Freddy appeared in the Season 7 Treehouse of Horror VI on The Simpsons where Groundskeeper Willie was Freddy. Also, in a separate episode, Robert Englund did a guest voice for a very small part involving Freddy in the theme song along with Jason. Other appearances include Robot Chicken, South Park and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Another appearance of Freddy includes a game show from CBS in 2005 that never ended up airing called A Nightmare on Elm Street: Real Nightmares as Freddy hosts, he makes contestants come face to face with their nightmares[26] References
External links Wikiquote has quotations related to Freddy Krueger.
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