VILLAIN VAULT VOLUME 1: NEVER GOING TO SLEEP AGAIN
What makes Freddy Krueger such a fantastic villain isn’t just his remarkable ability to slaughter you while you sleep – but also his insanely ridiculous sense of humor. Until Freddy got a super serious reboot makeover in recent years he was known (and loved) for his one liners, darkest of dark humor and the frightening ways he can kill a person all the while having just a bit too much fun.
He’s used high school kids as puppets, smashed them head first into televisions, taken advantage of the fact that they couldn’t speak or walk and used their drug problems against them – and that’s all just over the course of a single movie. As the series progressed the writers found more and more outrageous ways to put someone to death and in some instances they were too silly.. even for Nightmare on Elm Street.
One of the most frightening things about Krueger is that the idea for him came from something that actually happened in our reality:
Wes Craven says 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 about a man named Mr. K., thus the name Fred Krueger, and died in their sleep.
Apparently that was all Wes Craven needed to create a film that as a kid kept me awake more than any other movie or fear a child could have. Well played, Mr. Craven. I know you stick-in-the-mud parents out there reading this must be thinking “Why in the hell was he watching Nightmare On Elm Street as a kid?!” To answer that question with a question I say: Do you really know what your kids are watching when they spend the night with a friend? No, no you don’t. Thus my first exposure to the terrifying world of Freddy Krueger and at least a dozen nightmare filled nights afterward.
After Nightmare On Elm Street became a huge success (for a low budget horror movie at the time) they began to soften Freddy’s image a bit for more mainstream ventures. After a few movies we were given a Tales From The Crypt style show called “Freddy’s Nightmares”:
A Nightmare On Elm Street board game:
And even Nightmare on Elm Street video games:
He’s even terrifying in 8-bit. By this point Freddy had truly made it into pop culture and become a household name. Over the next few years he’d go on to star in an updated version of the series (New Nightmare) and even battle Jason (Freddy vs Jason) until the lead actor was replaced and Freddy became less of a joker and more of the super serious murdering pedophile he was originally written to be. I’ll always prefer the first version – Freddy didn’t need extra emphasis on the kiddy diddling to make him scarier.. he was already terrifying.
Now that the series has been rebooted and the lead actor changed I’ve lost interest in the series – but Robert Englund’s Freddy Kreuger will always have a welcome spot in our Villain Vault.
15 Comments
Johnny Famous
01.03.2012
Especially working in theatre and film for so long now, I can definitely support the idea that his humour is what made him so likeable as a villain. The serious version of Freddy made him generic whilst a contrast between his pleasure and his pain is what made him terrifying and completely in control of the fear he gave people.
Mr. Classy
01.03.2012
I don’t think Nightmare On Elm Street as it is presented in the remake last year would have been anywhere near as popular as the original was with it’s sense of humor. Somehow the old Freddy was likable even though you know in the back of your mind he’s a demented child killer/predator.
It’s something we don’t want to admit but he was somehow a character you could enjoy watching murder people. It’s very strange.
Johnny Famous
01.03.2012
He’s like the douchebag you knew in highschool who you knew was a douchebag but he was your friend cause you’d rather watch him be a douche to other people.
RockNTheFreeWorld
01.03.2012
Humanizing the killer up front in a horror flick is always a bad idea. The bad guy should either be just a straight killing machine (Michael Myers, Jason, Ghost Face, Leather Face) or show how he finds it to be a game he is the master of (Freddie, Jigsaw). You can turn them into humans at the end, but up to that point you have to fit them into a niche. Freddie fit that perfectly because he was in complete control, his human origin shown during the movies but not as more than just back story as he is fully a paranormal creature now. The humor showed how he delighted in seeing his victims fall into his elaborate plan to torture them before they died. Take away the humor and he becomes just another killer.
Mr. Classy
01.03.2012
Exactly. Jackie Earle Haley (How is that for a hillbilly name?) was good in the role of a psychopathic killer but he was not Freddy Kreuger as we’ve come to know him. I know it being a reboot and all he’s not supposed to technically be the Freddy Kreuger we’ve come to know but when someone carves out a character as well as Robert Englund did it will never feel right for anyone else to fill that role.
I think the only recent example of an iconic character being rebooted that actually worked was Heath Ledger’s Joker. And he died. Moral of the story? Don’t get the cursed.
Vorphraguptor
01.04.2012
Didn’t know he had such a big fuss about him. Coffin Joe is more up my alley
Mr. Classy
01.04.2012
I had to google Coffin Joe but he does look pretty intimidating.
Spader
01.05.2012
I’m not big on horror flicks, they tend to bore me unmercifully… however growing up I did enjoy the Nightmare series, most likely for these exact reasons.
Jujubeez
01.05.2012
Nightmare early version the first movie, 1st Halloween (Michael Myers), Blair witch although odd was pretty good, and the Ring, probably my all time fav and one that always gives me a chill.
wetbedknob
01.06.2012
The nightmare movies scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I loved them. I don’t think anyone could play the part of Freddy like R.E. did. He creeped me right the fuck out every movie. That song in the movie still gives me the willies when I think of it being sung by the little girls.
Mr. Classy
01.06.2012
I agree WBK – “One, two Freddy’s comin’ for you” is forever burned into every kids brain that watched those movies.
Jujubeez
01.06.2012
Three.. Four, better shut the door
Five.. Six get a crucifix.
Freakish song to be sure.
Another good movie was “It” Pennywise the clown was damn frightening, the ending was disappointing, but that clown still scares the crap out of me.
Mr. Classy
01.06.2012
Having never seen “It” I think that would be good material for you to do your own future Villain Vault entry if you’d like – it’ll be a better read from someone that saw the movie during the time it was most effective. Watching those kinds of movies nowadays takes alot of the sting out of them because of how much movies have progressed as far as look and effects.
Johnny Famous
01.06.2012
I remember watching “It” randomly while on a vacation one year. What a strange strange villain.
RockNTheFreeWorld
01.06.2012
Tim Curry was the perfect person for Pennywise. Too bad the mini-series really didn’t capture the rest of the characters well at all.
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