This year “A Nightmare on Elm Street” celebrated its 35th anniversary, the highly influential slasher film became the quintessential horror movie series of the eighties, turning Freddy Krueger in to one of the most recognizable villains in horror movie history. You wouldn’t think a scarred undead child molester and murderer with claw hands who takes perverse delight in haunting teens would become a mascot for the eighties, but you’d be shocked. Krueger was incredibly popular in the eighties, arguably more than Jason Voorhees, and I say that as someone who favors Jason. In either case, these are five of my favorite Freddy Krueger moments where he wrought havoc on unsuspecting Elm Street kids and was at his most sadistic.
Tag Archives: Freddy Krueger
My Five Favorite Dream Warriors
With “Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Warriors” celebrating its anniversary on the 27th, I thought it’d be fun to list my five favorite Dream Warriors of the “Nightmare” movie series. Although the writers generally stopped exploring the concept of Dream Warriors after part three, other writers have generally run with the idea of victims using their dreams to fight Freddy and there have been many more dream warriors that have faced Freddy. Most have fallen under the wrath of his powers, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t given the dream master a hard time and some aggravation.
Five Bogeymen Who Might Be Related to Freddy Krueger
If you’ve ever seen the series “Freddy’s Nightmares” (Trust me, don’t, it’s awful), then it’s verified in various episodes that Freddy Krueger isn’t the only dream demon out there. In fact he’s one of many, and there are other types of demons that can haunt our dreams and our subconscious. In either case, I was thinking about the slew of horror movie monsters out there introduced since Krueger hit the movies in the eighties and wondered what other boogey men could perhaps be a part of Freddy’s world, or from his lineage. Here are five monsters that I think could be related to Freddy Krueger.
I Am Nancy (2011)
Surely, “I Am Nancy” isn’t one of the best documentaries ever made, but it will definitely go down as one of the most unique. How often do documentaries focus on the final girls of horror movies? “I Am Nancy” is that documentary about Heather Langenkamp who ended up playing one of the best final girls: Nancy Thompson. But unlike people like Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell, actress Heather Langenkamp’s fate as a performer was much different. Rather than become a big star, Langenkamp slowly slid in to obscurity as the film’s villain Robert Englund became an icon of pop culture and film history.
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy 2-Disc Collector’s Edition (2010) [Blu-Ray]
If you’re still convinced that you’ve read everything to do with “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” then tune in to “Never Sleep Again,” and you might find a surprise or two. As a jaded horror geek convinced he’d heard it all, “Never Sleep Again” spared many a shocking anecdote about the making of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and its entire legacy. From its sequels, spin off, and misguided but notable cultural influence, “Never Sleep Again” never misses a beat and promises something entirely new for the horror fan interested in a refresher course in Freddy Krueger. After being on DVD since 2010, Image Entertainment releases the acclaimed and award winning documentary on Blu-Ray for folks anxious to indulge in Krueger on Blu.
Comic Bucket List #5: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
“New Nightmare” is the final installment of the series and something of a meta-movie that pre-dates Craven’s wildly overrated “Scream” series. Rather than deconstruct the slasher film, Craven deconstructs the “Nightmare” series once and for all studying the over saturation of Krueger on the masses of pop culture fanatics and dares to ponder on the notion that the “Nightmare” movies may have actually done more harm than good. Basing most of the film on reality (including the stalker sub-plot), “New Nightmare” breaks down and disavows the series opting instead to depict them as fiction that have taken on a life of their own in the midst of the pop culture overload.