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Note: Use Jason Voorhees as reference.

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So I don't forget

Freddy Krueger is a fictional character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of slasher films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as a disfigured, dream stalker who uses a gloved armed with razors to kill 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 films, as well as the television series.

The character has appeared as the primary antagonist in eight films, which includes a cross-over film with another horror icon, Jason Voorhees. He has also appeared in various literature interpretations, and been the host of his own television show, titled Freddy's Nightmares.

Appearances
Freddy Krueger is the primary antagonist in all of the Nightmare films, and was officially killed off in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The character was brought back by Wes Craven, who had not worked on the film series as a director since the original film, in the form of an actual entity that attacked the cast members working on a Nightmare film. 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.

Films
Freddy Krueger’s first appearance is in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The story focuses 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. Freddy would return in the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), terrorizing the Walsh family, who has 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.

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. 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. 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 with "100 maniac" 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.

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 include: 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 life. Eventually, Maggie pulls Freddy out of the dream world, and uses a pipe bomb to blow him up.

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 likes being 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. 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.

Television
Robert 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 vain 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. 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. The episode "Sister's Keeper" was a "sequel" to this episode, even though it was the seventh episode of the series. The episode follows Krueger as he stalks the Blocker twins, the identical twin daughters of Lt. Tim Blocker. 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.

Literature
Between 1987 and 2003, Freddy Krueger appeared in the novelization of each of the films. The first five films were adapted by St. Martins Press. Those adaptations follow the films closely, with minor changes to specific details that occurred in the film. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 does not follow the respective film, instead utilizing the same plot elements to tell a different story altogether. This novel also provides a different backstory for Freddy. In 1992, Abdo & Daughters Publishing Company released adaptations of their own for the first six films. Written by Bob Italia, each adaptation was under one hundred pages, and followed the plot for each of the films. The final two books were published by Tor Books and Black Flame. These novels also followed the films closely, but with the adaptation of Freddy vs. Jason containing a different ending than the film.

In 1994, Tor Books began publishing a new series of novels based on the horror icon. From November 1994 to October 1995, six issues of Freddy Krueger’s Tales of Terror were released. The first two were written by Bruce Richards. In "Blind Date", Freddy stalks and kills a group of teenagers who are harassing a fellow student named Evan, whom they considered to be a school nerd. Fatal Games features Freddy terrorizing a boy in his dreams to the point that the boy attempts to kill his own brother. Following Richards's publications, David Bergantino took over for the remaining novels in the Tales of Terror series. His first was "Virtual Terror", where Freddy haunts a teenage boy who has acquired a 3-D poster that can predict the future. In "Twice Burned", Freddy stalks a girl who is having dreams of her past life as Joan of Ark. Freddy next appears in "Help Wanted", where he goes on a killing spree in a hospital. The character's final appearance in the Tales of Terror series was in "Deadly Disguise", where he begins murdering local townsfolk who are attending the Halloween party of a local celebrity who has returned after an accident claims the life of his parents.

Following the Tales of Terror it would be ten years before Freddy would be featured in another novel, this time when Black Flame released five novels between 2005 and 2006. The first was titled "Suffer the Children", which featured Freddy murdering a group of volunteers who are testing a new anti-insomnia medication. In "Dreamspawn", a teenager girl in love with Freddy uses his glove to resurrect the murderer and unleash him upon the high school. The third novel, "Protegé", sees Freddy attempt to secure a real world protegé to assist in killing the children of Springwood. In "Perchance to Dream", Jacob Johnson, who has the ability to control dreams, returns to Springwood and causes everyone in town to stop dreaming. As a result, Freddy begins to lose his power, and has to battle Jacob. "The Dream Dealers" features Freddy using a new product, which has the ability to record the dreams of deceased individuals so that others can experience them, to invade the dreams of people outside of Springwood.


 * Short Stories

Comics

 * In 1989, Marvel Comics released the first Nightmare on Elm Street comic book, titled "Dreamstalker". In the first issue, Freddy's backstory is covered: his mother's rape; Freddy's adoption and subsequent kidnapping by two burglars while he was an infant; the infant Freddy being sold to couple who physically abused him, while also forcing him to find customers for his prostitute mother as he grew up until he finally murdered them both; and his transition from fantasizing about murder to actually performing it on a regular basis. In the second issue, "Dreamstalkers", Freddy battles an ex-nun turned psychiatrist, Dr. Juliann Quinn, who knew Freddy's biological mother and knows how to stop him. Dr. Quinn is also trying to help a young girl named Allison who has the ability to control her dreams. Eventually, Freddy kills Dr. Quinn, but loses a fight in the dream world with Allison. Freddy's next appearance was in the 1991 comic book adaptation of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The three issue series closely followed the events of the film.


















 * In November 2007, Wildstorm released a six-issue sequel to Freddy vs. Jason, titled Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, starring the two aforementioned killers and Ash from the Evil Dead film series. The story focuses on Freddy using the Necronomicon, which is in the basement of the Voorhees home, to escape from Jason's subconscious and "gain powers unlike anything he’s had before". Freddy attempts to use Jason to retrieve the book, but Ash, who is working at the local S-Mart in Crystal Lake, learns of the book's existence and sets out to destroy it once and for all. On June 24, 2009, the first issue in a six-issue sequel to Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, subtitled Nightmare Warriors, was released. Written by Jeff Katz and James Kuhoric, and illustrated by Jason Craig, the miniseries has Ash, and people who have survived encounters with both Freddy and Jason, banding together to defeat the two horror icons after Freddy is released from the world of the Deadites by government operatives who have discovered the Necronomicon.

Concept and creation

 * By Craven's account, the name came from Craven's childhood. He had been bullied at school by a child named Fred Krueger, and named his villain accordingly.


 * Initially, Freddy Krueger was intended to be a child molester, however the decision was changed to him being a child murderer to avoid being accused of exploiting a spate of highly publicized child molestations that occurred in California around the time of production of the film.

Portrayal

 * Englund was not the first choice for the role of Freddy Krueger; they had initially wanted a stunt man to play the part. Englund, however, was sent a copy of the script, and agreed to star.

In February 2009, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Robert Englund would not reprise the role of Freddy Krueger for the 2010 remake; Englund had performed the role for all eight films. On April 3, 2009 Entertainment Weekly reported that Jackie Earle Haley was cast to take over Englund's most well known role; Initially, the studio wanted to cast an unknown for the role of Freddy Krueger, but it was Haley's performance in Little Children that impressed Emmerich enough to cast the actor against the original intentions. Emmerich explains, "Freddy is this incredible stew of malevolence and anger, but he also has a hint of vulnerability, and Jackie really has all of that and more. He just seemed completely right for the part." Haley is contracted for three films, which includes the remake and two sequels. Englund has stated that he agrees with the casting of Haley, noting that he feels Haley's physical size will work for him in this role.

Facial appearance

 * The task of creating Freddy Krueger's (Robert Englund) horribly burnt face fell to makeup man David Miller, who based his creation on photos of burn victims he obtained from the UCLA Medical Center.


 * Discussing his physical appearance, producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller explained that Freddy would be more similar to a real burn victim. Form later clarified that there was a fine line they did not want to cross when it came to making Freddy look like a true burn victim. According to the producer, the crew had many reference photos of actual victims, which detailed how white the skin would appear after healing. Form did not want the audience to turn away in disgust every time Freddy was on the screen, so they opted to hold back on some of the realism. Fuller expressed how horrific the images were, and how difficult they were to look at. The special effects crew that worked on The Dark Knight, creating the computer-generated images (CGI) for Two-Face's face, were brought in to work on the minimal CGI used for Freddy's face. The CGI is used in conjunction with the special effects make-up that Haley wears. The prosthetics used to create Freddy's physical look were designed by Andrew Clement. Haley described the experience of wearing all of the prosthetics and make-up as "pretty encumbering".


 * When production first started, Clement and his crew would spend six hours applying Haley's make-up; eventually, the crew was able to streamline their process. According to Haley, the make-up crew would apply individual prosthetics to him, from his head all the way down his back, which were glued to his body. The appliances were then blended together to create a seamless appearance. Haley spent approximately three hours and twenty minutes in the make-up chair to apply the prosthetics, each day; on occasion, it would take almost four and a half hours when the crew needed to apply the prosthetic skull cap, which Haley did not need to worry about most days as he was able to wear the fedora hat on top of his head. Haley also had to wear contact lenses, one that was bloody and another that was cloudy, with the latter one making it difficult for the actor to see out of. Haley also had to work on developing Freddy's "voice" for the film. According to Haley, the process of coming up with the perfect voice for Freddy is "this organic process of embodying the character", and not about just "sitting around the table and going, 'Let me try this voice and this voice'". Haley and Bayer admit that some of the voice would be digitally enhanced in the end to give it a "supernatural quality" and get it away from the voice Haley used as Rorschach in Watchmen.


 * outfit

Glove
Wes 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.

In an interview he said, "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, whether 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 its tremendous hooks. I transposed this into a human hand. The original script had the blades being fishing knives."

When Jim Doyle, the creator of Freddy's claw asked Craven what he wanted, Craven 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." Doyle exclaimed, "Then we hunted around for knives. 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.

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." The new glove has five claws. In the 2010 remake, the glove maintain its original look, but was metal brown and have four finger bars.

Characterization

 * Robert Englund admits the character became "a little too wise-cracky" throughout the series, but relishes the idea that Freddy "exploits your weakness with sadistic glee and humor".


 * In response to Freddy being described as "sexy", Robert Englund claims that was not his intention when playing the part. However, he does admit that he plays Freddy as "confidant" and "vain", and theorizes that such vanity may be the root of the character's alleged sex appeal. He goes on to discuss how Freddy violates teenagers' privacy by invading their bedroom, and that this is a "penetration" of their subconscious.


 * Englund describes Freddy as the first horror movie monster to have "personality" and attributes the character's wisecracks as making it easier to scare the audience, because they would laugh and lower their guard; he claims that if viewers are not given a way to release tension, they lose interest in the film.


 * In an interview with Kyle Gallner, who is portraying the role of Nancy's boyfriend Quentin, the actor acknowledges that this Freddy will be closer to his 1984 counterpart; Gallner refers to this version as more of a "sinister, straight-faced monster" than the "jokester" that arose in the later sequels. Explaining why they chose to take away the comical aspect of Freddy's personality, Form and Fuller stated, "We've never been attracted to a jokey antagonist because it feels less scary and less real".

A study was conducted by California State University's Media Psychology Lab, on the psychological appeal of movie monsters—Vampires, Michael Myers, Frankenstein's monster, Jason Voorhees, Godzilla, Chucky, Hannibal Lecter, King Kong, and the Alien—which surveyed 1,166 people nationwide (United States), with ages ranging from 16 to 91. It was published in the Journal of Media Psychology. In the survey, Freddy Krueger, along with Michael Myers, is cited as "pure evil", being ranked third in the survey. He his ranked second, behind Chucky, as the monster with a sense of humor, as well as being characterized as having no moral constraints. He falls behind Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky and Hannibal Lecter when it comes to "enjoys killing". He is considered "realistically horrifying", beaten only by Ridley Scott's Alien. Traits highly associated with Freddy Krueger include: super strength, invisibility, the ability to frighten audiences, can alter his shape, as well as control and read a person's minds.

Moving stuff
Wizard Magazine rated him the 14th greatest villain of all time, and he came in 8th on Sky Two's 'Greatest Villains of All Time'.

On August 30,2006, a British man named Jason Moore was sentenced to life imprisonment after attacking a friend with a homemade Freddy Krueger-style glove. Thirty-seven year old Moore was described in court as being obsessed with the character, having claimed to have watched A Nightmare on Elm Street over twenty times, including just before the attack. One of the detectives who led the investigation said the glove Moore had crafted was probably the "most horrific weapon [he had] seen". In Moore's defense, he claims to not remember the attack, and insists that he made the glove with no intention of ever using it. Moore's glove was created from a leather gardening glove with four "cut throat" blades welded into brass housings.

In 2003, the American Film Institute awarded the films villain Freddy Krueger a place at #40 on the list of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, a list that ranked culturally significant film heroes, heroines and villains.

In mass media
References to Freddy have occurred on three of The Simpsons' non-canon Treehouse of Horror episodes. These include Treehouse of Horror VI: In a Nightmare on Elm Street parody, Groundskeeper Willie has become Krueger; Treehouse of Horror IX: during the couch gag, Freddy and Jason sit on the couch wondering where the family is (Robert Englund supplying the voice), and Treehouse of Horror V: after Homer makes a pact with Moe (now a ghost) he attempts to kill the family and Marge locks him in a pantry where an un-happy Moe and his ghoul friends come in and attack him, among the group was Freddy, Jason and Pinhead. Freddy's glove has also been featured in the episode, Cape Feare, in which a paranoid Bart is frightened by Ned Flanders as he leaps out at him brandishing his new "finger razors" for trimming his hedge.

Other references include the last episode of The Plucky Duck Show, Plucky is seen watching a horror movie containing the villain "Eddy Cougar". Cougar then recites the line "how sweet, fresh meat" as heard in The Dream Master. In the end of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Freddy sets up Freddy vs. Jason (released a decade later) by grabbing Jason's mask and dragging it underground to hell laughing manically, where Freddy currently is (portrayed by Kane Hodder, who had also portrayed Jason in the film). In the South Park episode Imaginationland Episode II, he is seen with a group of evil imaginary characters, each one claiming to be the most evil imaginary character of them all, in episode 70 of Robot Chicken Freddy, voiced by Seth Green, appears alongside Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Ghostface, Pinhead, and Leatherface in the Big Brother show, where his sweater is shrunk by Ghostface, and he is later stabbed by Michael, which doesn't damage him but annoys him. And another episode where it is shown that Freddy made the claw glove to scratch an itchy sweater his daughter bought for him (a clear spoof of his origin), in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will scares Carlton dressed up as Freddy Krueger while in the back seat of a car. , a game show from CBS in 2005 that ended up never airing called A Nightmare on Elm Street: Real Nightmares. As Freddy hosts, he makes contestants come face to face with their nightmares in an attempt to help them overcome their fears.

In 2010, NECA plans to release a 10" puppet of Freddy from Phillip's death scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, a metal replica of his glove, and two action figures: Freddy before he was burned and the other being him after the burning which will include two interchangeable heads.


 * In another Cameo, Freddy appears very briefly in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy along with Leatherface. The bride of Frankenstein says that they should hand off to more modern movie monsters. Freddy is smiling and waving while Leatherface is starting a chainsaw.


 * In a South Park trilogy-episode called "Imaginationland," Freddy appears as an inhabitant of a dimension with the same name. In Imaginationland, there is a barrier that separates Imaginationland's good side from its bad. Obviously, Krueger was on the bad side.


 * In the 2007 film Transformers, there were slashes on a wall. The sergeant said that it could've been Freddy Krueger, but Glen says "Freddy Krueger has four claws, that's Wolverine!!" (Note: The claw marks were 3 every scratch.)


 * In the Stargate Atlantis episode "Doppelganger," after the discovery of an alien entity capable of physically harming people in their dreams, Sheppard says "So what are we talking—Freddy Krueger, here?"


 * In an episode of the X-Files "X-Cops" (712), A woman was attacked by a creature that manifests itself on people's fears posing as Krueger.