Without an ounce of doubt, one can say that what Dracula and Frankenstein are to literature, characters like Voorhees and Freddy Krueger are to cinema. Freddy Kruger, played by Robert Englund plays the main character in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and is one of Hollywood’s most feared serial murderers.
But, given that there have been many throughout history, what makes Krueger the undisputed first among his contemporaries? There are a few reasons for this, but one that stands out is his ability to track you down when you’re sleeping by dream-jacking you.
Freddy Krueger began his career by murdering young children in a quiet Springwood neighbourhood. When the townsfolk found out about him, they burned him alive, and he made a bargain with the dream demons to return as an immortal supernatural serial killer while dying.
His modus operandi was simple; he would hurt you in your dreams, and you’d feel the effects in real life. Dreams are a fairly mysterious phenomenon, and sleeping is one act where we let ourselves be vulnerable to all the threats. Moreover, it becomes a challenge to tell if the threat and Freddy are real.
Director Wes Craven made the first Nightmare on Elm Street film in 1984, and it has since spawned five sequels, one reboot, one crossover between Krueger and Jason Voorhees, and one meta slasher film, which was also directed by Craven.
In this video, we seek to talk about the undying and unyielding legacy of late Wes Craven and dive deep into the origin, life, and crimes of the supernatural monster known as Freddy Krueger, aka the Springwood Slasher.
The Tragic Life and Death of Amanda Krueger and The Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs
A young Amanda Krueger resolved to become a nun at the age of 18 and changed her name to Mary Helena when she finally became one. She was assigned as the caregiver for the insane patients of Westin Hills Hospital.
The guards locked her up in the famed tower with the most psychotic patients one night. Amanda was not only beaten to a pulp, but she was also raped over a hundred times by the animalistic maniacs. Amanda was nearly dead and pregnant when she was discovered.
Because she was a Christian, she refused to have the child aborted, and nine months later, Frederick Charles Krueger was born, who was eventually adopted by an abusive alcoholic named Mr. Underwood.
After the harrowing ordeals, Amanda remained a nun, only to discover that her scumbag son had turned into a serial killer who had murdered several children. She followed her son’s trial closely and was so appalled at his release that she committed suicide in the same tower wherewhich witnessed the most profane conception.
Amanda Krueger, on the other hand, returned in spirit form to aid those fighting her defiling son’s spirit. She initially appeared in Dream Warriors, followed by The Dream Child, in which Freddy used her to resurrect himself in the Dream World.
We found that Freddy was terrified of his biological mother’s abilities and tried to keep her hidden. Amanda Krueger is one of the most powerful characters in the anthology Nightmare on Elm Street.
Despite all that had happened to her, she battled to the death to prevent her son from becoming the monsters who had given birth to him. Amanda continued her search as a spirit in the Dream World even after she died.
When The Tormented One Transformed Into The Tormenter
Freddy had an obviously troubled child, constantly bullied in school for his lineage and his illegitimate past. He was placed in a state-run orphanage before being adopted by an alcoholic, abusive, and amoral pimp.
Mr. Underwood was Freddy’s primary father figure during his formative years, and his diabolical character began to take its toll on the young Freddy. Mr. Underwood would go out late at night, either soliciting street prostitutes or acting as a pimp, bringing passers-by to the women.
He spent his time whipping Freddy with razor straps and belts when he wasn’t delighting in this way of life. As a result, Freddy got parental love in the form of violent and sadistic beatings.
As years passed, the beatings continued, and his father even tried to train Freddy into becoming a pimp, but Freddy couldn’t learn the despicable tradecraft. Frustrated at Freddy’s failure, Mr. Underwood would grow into a further torturous father.
And ultimately, Freddy was abandoned and left on the streets to fend for himself and live alone. This would later turn out to be Underwood’s greatest mistake. He would wander from town to town in search of food, lodging and money, but his scarred body and lack of skills made it difficult for him to get a job. Naturally, he started living in places like underground sewers and ate unfortunate alley cats to survive.
One day, a group of school kids tried to rob a drunk and degenerate-looking Freddy Krueger. However, what they didn’t know was that this homeless dude was an age-old victim of assault and torture and definitely knew how to fight back.
Freddy immediately broke open one of the lads’ heads and gleefully glanced at the splattering blood. He brought the dying youngster to an abandoned cellar and stood there watching as the boy jerked and became lifeless in agony. He was reminded of his own prior experiences by the gushing blood.
The only difference was that Freddy was the one who was tortured, while his father was the one who tortured him. Freddy, now that he had regained control, seized a razor he had stolen from his father and made four deep cuts into the small boy’s stomach. He was relieved to make someone taste the medicine that he had tasted all his youth.
Eventually, Freddy would wander into the peaceful and happy neighborhood of Springwood. He was aggrieved at the sight of young children playing happily on the streets, children who never had to face even an iota of pain and suffering that he had felt. He was determined to inflict his pain on them.
Freddy’s Daughter Who Became His Ghost of Christmas Past
The fascinating thing about serial killers is that they can live and breathe under the same sky as us, go to the same pub as us, and work at the same school we do, but it’s nearly impossible to identify them as a repeat offender. Freddy began working as a janitor in a Springwood School when he was in his twenties.
There, he met Loretta, a student who found something great and admirable in Freddy. Loretta made him feel loved and cared for after he had been mistreated and abused his entire childhood. Loretta and the serial murderer fell in love, and the two married and had a daughter named Katherine.
To a distant observer, the marriage looked like a normal, happy, pedestrian one. In fact, Freddy tried hard to quit his murderous ways. However, Freddy used the boiler room of a power plant to keep his weapons and newspaper clippings of the young kids who had disappeared from Springwood.
On one momentous and apocalyptic day, Loretta found Freddy’s boiler room and his pitch-dark secrets. She was distraught at the realization that her dear husband was, in fact, the killer of several innocent children, children who were around Katherine’s age. Freddy attacked her as soon as he realised his cover had been compromised, with the goal of permanently silencing her.
Despite her commitment to keep his evil side hidden, he strangled her to death in front of Katherine and didn’t recognise it. Katherine’s name was altered once she was adopted. She returned to Springwood as an adult to put an end to her father’s spirit.
The Ferocious Fiend Freddy Krueger Becomes Immortal
Freddy killed their children in an attempt to get payback for his father’s terrible treatment of him and the bullying he received from his previous peers. He’d kidnap or lure the kids to the power plant’s boiler chamber, where he tortured them with his fish knife gloves.
He’d finish by tossing body parts into various nooks and crannies throughout Springwood. That’s how he earned the moniker of the Springwood Slasher. Freddy was apprehended for the murders of his wife Loretta and the children of the Springwood family.
However, due to an inebriated judge and flaws in the American legal system, he was released. This was when Amanda committed suicide. The Springwood residents couldn’t stand a serial killer walking among them.
Naturally, the townsfolk led a mob similar to the villagers who attacked Castle Frankenstein, and they burned him to death. Unbeknownst to them, a dying Freddy was contacted by Dream Demons, who gave him an opportunity to continue his sadistic carnage in the dream world.
According to the deal that he made with the Dream Demons, Freddy would be given immortality and the abilityremain in the dream world unquestioned, and in return, he would have to continue his killing spree. Any injury he inflicted in the dreams would reflect in the real world. So, even in death, Freddy was as sinister as he was in real life.
Freddy’s Supernatural Abilities and Powers in the Dream World
Before his demise at the hands of the Springwood parents, Freddy was clearly an accomplished manipulator and nasty criminal. After his death, however, he morphed into an unyielding force of chaos and destruction.
Freddy’s abilities were proportional to the number of souls he maintained and managed. He was able to influence people’s dreams and bring them into the dream realm because to these skills.
He could control their nightmares as long as he was in their heads, allowing him to carry out his wicked schemes. Krueger also tortured people psychologically by exploiting their phobias.
Another source of Krueger’s powers was the number of people who knew about his existence and feared him. When Freddy is at the height of his strength, he can possess humans, his corpse, objects, and even animals.
Also, he could straight away pull people from the real world into the dream world, as was shown in the fifth installment of the Elm Street series. However, if Freddy’s victims wake upwhile he was with them, Freddy would be pulled to the real world.
Here, he would have superhuman strength and stamina but bevulnerable to physical damage. This aspect was extensively used in the fight sequences between Freddy and Voorhees in the film Freddy vs. Jason and also in the 1991 film Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare.
Freddy obtains his abilities through dread and the souls he acquires, as previously stated. He absorbs the soul of the person he murders, which enhances his abilities and allows him to learn the skills or traits of his victims.
Apart from that, he’s a fantastic shapeshifter who can transform himself and others into a variety of animals, objects, or insects. Debbie was killed in the film The Dream Master by turning her into a cockroach and crushing her.
Krueger vs. The Power of Young Love
He was unable to use his sleepy mode of operation in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Naturally, he had to find another means, and he did so by appearing in Jesse’s dreams.
Krueger duped Jesse into picking up the clawed glove, and once he did, Krueger took control of him. Jesse’s body would be transformed into that of Freddy Krueger, and he would go on a murder spree. Several guests at Jesse’s girlfriend Lisa’s party were slaughtered by the possessed Jesse.
Her love pierced Jesse’s heart and gave him the strength to fight Krueger from the inside out. Krueger eventually became weak and was burned by Jesse, who had inexplicably taken control of Krueger’s abilities.
Strangely, out of all the films, Jesse Walsh was the only male protagonist to be the prime victim of Krueger. Nevertheless, Mark Patton as Jesse and Kim Myers as Lisa made a great on-screen couple.
When Krueger Met His Dream World Match
Patricia Arquette played Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors are a group of people who believe in the power Kristen possessed the power to entice others into her own fantasies. Freddy had managed to kill the children of all individuals who were responsible for his death and those who burned him in the film, and he had cleverly disguised all of these deaths as suicides.
However, he couldn’t kill Roland, Taryn, Joey, Phillip, Jennifer, Will, and especially Kristen. All of these children were sent to an asylum, where Krueger killed Phillip by throwing him down from the building and Jennifer by shoving her head into a television. Since both these deaths looked like suicides, the others were administered with doses of a hypnosis-inducing agent.
Kristen and her dream warriors attempted to battle Krueger in the dream world during this group hypnosis. Krueger was taken down by the kids using their self-imaginative dream powers to join hands and take him down.
Alice In Dreamland
Kristen was quickly becoming one of the anthology’s most popular characters, but her role was cut short when Krueger burned her to death in his boiler chamber in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
However, she was able to transfer her powers to Alice Johnson after Freddy shoved her into the boiler and took her soul. Freddy then utilised Alice’s powers to bring other people into her dreams without her knowledge. He killed Sheila in this manner by giving her his signature Death Kiss, in which he sucked the breath out of someone’s lungs. Sheila died of an asthma attack in the real world.
He also stabbed Alice’s brother Rick in the chest with his clawed hands, killing him. His final victim was Debbie, whom he murdered by transforming her into a cockroach and then crushing her in a cockroach motel. However, Alice used a shard of glass and showed Krueger his monstrous self.
As soon as this happened, the souls that were trapped inside him broke out of his body, tearing him apart. Lisa Wilcox as Alice Johnson appeared in the next installment, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, in which Krueger broke all boundaries by possessing the soul of an unborn child.
What Goes Around Comes Around
In the fourth instalment, Alice was able to defeat Krueger by freeing all of her companions’ trapped souls. He was reduced to a hollow husk as a result of this catastrophe, and he was left weak, impotent, and seemingly destroyed.
He did, however, employ his mother, Amanda Krueger, in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, whose soul spawned him once more. After being revived, he began to use Alice’s abilities to entice additional victims into his dream realm.
He killed Greta by force-feeding and ultimately choking her to death. Dan was killed by Freddy in a motorbike accident; heshapeshifted into Dan’s motorbike and crashed him head-on against a truck. After killing Dan and Greta, he fed their souls to Alice’s unborn son Jacob with the intention of turning him into the purest form of evil.
Alice realized this and attempted to find Amanda so that they could banish Krueger back to Hell. However, Alice was not successful, and Freddy got his next victim in the form of Mark. Freddy cut a comic book version of Mark, and the same was followed in the real world.
However, Alice enlisted the assistance of her friend Yvonne, and Yvonne was able to locate Amanda. Alice assisted her son Jacob in channeling his abilities to return Freddy to his newborn form, only for Amanda to absorb him.
Freddy would have taken over Jacob if it hadn’t been for Amanda, and who knows what would have happened if it hadn’t been for Amanda. Freddy had come full circle, and what goes around comes around, as they say.
The One Who Lived To Bring Freddy To Justice
Freddy succeeded to kill all of the children of Springwood several years after the events of the first film, with the exception of one teenager called John Doe. His name is unusual because when cops locate an unidentified male dead body, they refer to him as John Doe, implying that his fate had already been decided.
Anyway, John ended up seeing Maggie Burroughs, a child psychiatrist, who determined that John was suffering from amnesia. To revive his memory, she took him to Springwood. Interestingly enough, Freddy was now at the peak of his powers and kept the entire Springwood in a state of mass psychosis.
Unfortunately, three troubled children named Tracy, Carlos and Spencer came to Springwood with John Doe and Maggie. They planned to leave Springwood but took refuge in the abandoned house in which Freddy Krueger was once burned alive. Freddy killed Carlos by exploding his head and Spencer by possessing his body and sending him to Hell.
John had seen Freddy in his dreams and thought that he was Freddy’s child. However, Freddy revealed to John before killing him that his child was a girl. Maggie learnt that she was Freddy’s child and that her name had been changed from Katherine to Maggie when she was adopted, thanks to John’s help.
Maggie eventually realised that the only way to kill him was to return him to the real world, because the dream devils would keep resurrecting Freddy in the dream realm. She was able to do so, and with Tracy’s help, she was able to blow up his body with a pipe bomb, bringing Springwood peace for a few years.
Clash of The Immortal Titans: Krueger vs. Voorhees
The residents of Elm Street knew how Freddy operated after the events of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. As a result, they wiped and destroyed everything that had anything to do with the creature.
Those who had Freddy-related dreams were placed in confinement and given continual doses of hypnosis-inducing drugs. Freddy was unable to return to the Dream World because no one feared him any longer. As a result, he devised a plot to reawaken Jason Voorhees, another immortal and equally horrible serial murderer.
Jason would go to Elm Street to begin his killing of innocent children, and the responsibility would fall on Freddy Krueger, instilling the necessary dread in the public’s minds.
The plan worked out, and Freddy was back in business. However, what Freddy didn’t realize was that Jason wouldn’t stop killing the children. Naturally, Jason claimed one of Freddy’s victims, and this brought the two immortal serial killers against each other. The ensuing battle was deadly, and why not! The dead are fighting.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Wes Craven directed this metaslasher film as a stand-alone sequel that didn’t follow the continuity of the Elm Street anthology. Robert Englundplayed himself and Freddy Krueger, whileHeather Langenkamp played herself and Nancy Thompson .
The story follows Heather’s rise to stardom in Hollywood, and she continues to be praised for her work as Nancy ten years after the first film. But things quickly go bad when Heather begins to have nightmares about Krueger. While she is receiving calls from an unknown person who speaks in Freddy’s voice, her son Dylan begins to act strangely.
The film received positive reviews. It showed the ill effects of a horror film on those who help to make it and how their lives are affected, haunted, and hunted by the demons they created. Freddy was given a more serious and less comical character.
Instead of a pair of clawed gloves, he was wearing a mechanical arm with metal claws. The positive response from fans and critics led to the creation of the next installment Freddy vs. Jason, in 2003.
Future of The Franchise and Robert Englund’s Hopes and Visions
Wes Craven wrote and directed the first Nightmare on Elm Street picture in 1984, starring Robert Englund as the horror icon. Since then, he has starred in the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels and has established himself as an experienced horror actor. Naturally, he’s evolved into more than just another facet of the franchise.
He reads a lot of scripts for a future Nightmare movie. The good news is that SpectreVision’sElijah Wood and Daniel Noah have expressed interest in making the next installment, and Mike Flanagan of The Haunting of Hill House says that he has a new pitch. Robert Englund is optimistic that work on a new Nightmare picture will begin shortly as a result of these developments.
Making a film about the legal events that led to Freddy’s release and eventual death would be fantastic. While previous films have shed light on Freddy’s past, they don’t appear to bring the circumstances that lead to his gruesomely cruel and murderous nature to the forefront.
With today’s technological advancements, they can use state-of-the-art visual and practical effects and do great things with thefranchise and itsantagonist. Englund is of the opinion that Wes Craven’s children Jessica and Jonathan are more than efficient in seeing things through.
Whatever may be the future, the late Wes Craven gave us all some memorable things to cherish. May the soul of Wes Craven rest in peace!