Editor’s Note: If you’ve read my writer quick bio (and if you haven’t, feel ashamed) you would note the phrase “(my) bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger.” The fedora and sweater-combining, clawed glove wielding, nightmare haunting murder demon is a personal favourite of mine and his A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films my top slasher franchise. So, it was with a note of sadness when main Freddy actor Robert Englund announced last month that he was retiring from the role. It was not surprising though, as we haven’t had a new NOES film in 13 years and the last one was an ill-conceived remake. It is really anyone’s guess when Freddy will return once again haunt the big screen.
But as horror is one of our main genres here at Robot Mango Reviews and my love for the franchise, I felt it would be remiss not to celebrate Englund and the films in some way. And for how we are going to do that with this article as well as her own thoughts on NOES, let me turn the mike (figuratively speaking) over to our Horror Head Writer Sommerleigh Polloniais. Take it away Sommer!
Sommer’s Note: If you know me you know I’m a Jason Voorhees fangirl through and through, but a VERY close second has always been Freddy Krueger. Where Jason is the strong silent type, Freddy has never felt shy about expressing himself, especially when it came to invading the dreams of his would-be victims and turning them into nightmares.
Horror fans will tell you it takes more than just a scary mask to make a memorable villain and Freddy Krueger wouldn’t be the icon of horror he is if it wasn’t for Robert Englund. Englund was so good as the fedora-wearing Freddy, he would go on to be one of the few horror actors in a slasher franchise to play the role in every single movie (not counting that travesty of a remake). And now that he’s hanging up his glove as he has announced his official retirement from the Nightmare on Elm Street films, it’s near impossible for me to think of another actor that could fill out that hideously striped sweater.
So, what better way to show our love for an actor who made an indelible mark on our beloved genre than to take a look at the Best and Worst the NOES films have to offer. Cheers to you Robert Englund!
With a dream of a SPOILER ALERT here are the 20 Best and Worst of Nightmare on Elm Street films by Sommer and Editor Jules:
#1 Sommer’s Best Quip – Killer Close Up, Part 3: Dream Warriors
C’mon, we ALL know which Freddy quip is taking this one don’t we! Let me set the scene for you. Wannabe actress and Dream Warrior Jennifer is watching a talk show on television when a certain toasty-faced guest shows up. Her dream turns to her worst nightmare as Krueger morphs with the television, grabbing the young woman and declaring to her (and delighted viewers everywhere) “Welcome to prime time b—h!” It was the moment Freddy K went from undead demonic serial killer to dream demon with a wicked sense of humour. And while some could argue the quips got too out of hand, turning a genuinely disturbing villain into a moustache-twirling cartoon, it doesn’t change the fact that with just this one quip, FK instantly stood out as the NOES franchise was truly born.
#2 Editor Jules’ Best Quip – Serial Spotter, Part 4: The Dream Master
I will agree with Sommer that “Welcome to prime time b—h!” is Freddy’s top quip but he does have some other bangers. We have “This is god” and “I’m your boyfriend now” from the original, “You’ve got the body, I’ve got the brain” and “You’re all my children now” from Freddy’s Revenge (the latter was also referenced in Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare), and “How’s this for a wet dream?” from early in Dream Master. But for me Freddy’s second-best quip comes later in the fourth entry.
Alice’s friend and workout enthusiast Debbie Stevens (Brooke Theiss) falls asleep while pumping some iron and Freddy decides to give her a hand (or a gloved claw) as a spotter. Debbie declares to Freddy “I don’t believe in you.” Freddy responds, “I believe in you.” It is so clever, funny and a brilliant zinger.
#3 Sommer’s Best Nightmare – Puppet Master, Dream Warriors
So many choice moments to choose from here. From Nancy’s dream of a bloody body bag being dragged down the school halls, to feeding Greta till she burst (this could also win grossest nightmare for me) to poor Taryn being injected with drugs making her overdose, which I think was one of the sadder/meaner nightmares considering how hard Taryn worked to get sober, Freddy Krueger might just be the most imaginative killer the horror genre has ever seen.
So for this one I went with the one that instantly popped into my head when I saw the words “best nightmare”. That would be Freddy Krueger puppeting a victim to his “suicide”. I mean, who even thinks something like that up! There’s nothing more terrifying than a nightmare you can’t seem to wake up from and as someone who sleepwalked as a kid, I can tell you the added element of possibly injuring yourself because you sleepwalked your way down a flight of stairs adds a whole other layer to this.
The practical effects in Dream Warriors might just be the best of series and that image of poor Will being pulled by his veins make me wince every time I see it.
#4 EJ’s Best Nightmare – Bug Out, The Dream Master
Yes, I am returning to Debbie and Dream Master. What? It’s a great scene. Anywho, after Freddy declares his belief in her during her workout, he proceeds to break her arms. I felt that crunch when I first saw it and I felt it again when I rewatched it recently. Ouch.
But this nightmare has only begun. Debbie’s broken arms reveal grotesque roach legs underneath. As she runs away waving roach legs, she gets stuck in glue (getting victims stuck in things in one of Freddy’s go-to techniques) and falls headfirst. The glue rips off her face to reveal a roach face beneath. Tell me this is not one of the most horrifying things to have a nightmare about. The camera pulls out to reveal poor Roach Debbie is in a roach motel which a giant Freddy is holding and peering into. After quipping “You can check in, but you can’t check out,” he squishes her. Yeah, this is the highest grade of nightmare fuel right here.
#5 Sommer’s Best Franchise Kill – Terrible for Tina, Part One
The best kill has got to be the one that instantly made horror fans realise A Nightmare on Elm Street wasn’t going to be just another forgettable slasher. Amanda Wyss may not have lived long enough to become a final girl, but I would argue her tragic demise at the hands of Krueger was so visceral, so unique and so unexpected, it instantly made Tina Gray a name genre fans would never forget.
After being hunted through her nightmares to the point of being terrified even when she’s awake, Tina’s boyfriend Rod sleeps over. Rod is then awakened by the incredible scene of poor Tina being dragged across her wall to her ceiling by an unseen force, only to be slashed to death while her blood rained down on a gob smacked Rod.
The amount of work and imagination that went into making that scene, on a middling budget no less, is just one of the greatest examples of why horror movies resonate with viewers the way they do. And this kill may not have been the craziest of the overall franchise, but it was certainly the one to beat going forward.
#6 EJ’s Best Franchise Kill – Thar He Blows, Part One
I will be continuing with the original NOES for my best franchise kill. Final girl Nancy’s boyfriend Glen (played for a very young Johnny Depp) is laying on his bed and listening to music. When he falls asleep Freddy’s clawed arm emerges from within the bed and drags a screaming Glen down into its depths. And then what happens? A freakin’ geyser of blood explodes from the bed and paints the ceiling red. It is a shocking image that remains etched in the viewer’s brain for all time.
While Freddy has had fancier kills over the multiple films, for me this bloody mess of murder is his most effective. Somebody get a mop indeed.
#7 Sommer’s Lamest Franchise Kills – Pool of Blood Party, Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge
For every iconic kill there’s a lame one, just watch any Kill Count on YouTube channel Dead Meat to see what I mean. The NOES franchise is no exception and I actually had to rewatch a few of the movies to find this one, just because my brain had filed those lesser kills under the “not worth remembering” folder in my mind.
I know a lot of people thought the Nintendo kill in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, was the worst of the bunch (by the way, is it weird that I like this movie?) Say what you will about the cringe worthy scene, it’s still one you’ll remember. The same can’t be said for the randos who are dispatched at the pool party when Freddy inexplicably steps into the real world in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge.
So lame, I actually forgot Freddy actually killed people here with a couple of slashes, stabs and the others falling into some fire. A couple people probably stubbed their toes trying to get away if that counts, but overall the entire scene makes little sense and worse, wasn’t worth the time.
#8 EJ’s Lamest Franchise Kill – Not the Momma, Part One
The original film may have copped both Sommer and my best kill, but it also features two of the franchise’s lamest. Firstly, we have Freddy controlling a tied-up bedsheet to hang Rod. It’s not very scary or tense or all that imaginative. I barely remembered it myself until I rewatched the film for this article.
But you know which kill I did remember? Nancy’s mother’s death at the end of the film. I mean, what were they thinking? If you recall, Nancy and her magically resurrected friends are about to drive off when they become trapped in a car that suddenly features Freddy’s green and red colour scheme. Nancy turns in terror to her mother waving goodbye only to see FK break the window and pull her mom through the window. Well, pull a very obvious dummy through the window. It looks completely ridiculous and why they didn’t just have him pull her through the door is beyond me. It is an unfortunate stain on an otherwise fantastic film, and arguably the best of the franchise (more on that later). The scene was copied at the end of the remake but there it was not ruined by a dummy this time but by some really poor CGI work.
#9 Sommer’s Best Final Girl – Nancy Thompson/Heather Langenkamp, Part One/Dream Warriors/New Nightmare
Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. When it comes to final girls how do you top Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson? Trick question, you don’t! Laurie Strode is a Scream Queen, no doubt about it, but it’s Nancy who time and time again proved she had what it took to stand toe to toe with a literal dream demon.
From her very first appearance in A Nightmare on Elm Street, we quickly got a sense of who Nancy was. Smart enough to know her parents were hiding something to do with Freddy Krueger’s death, brave enough to “Home Alone” her house so when she finally dragged his burnt butt kicking and screaming into the real world she could have a fighting chance against him, Nancy not only fought for her own survival but for that of her friends as well.
Lagenkamp was so good in the role, she would return for arguably the best sequel of the franchise, NOES Part 3: Dream Warriors as a psych student who quickly realises the pattern of nightmares suffered by the teenaged patients of a hospital weren’t just their imaginations working overtime. She gives her life to save Kristen and I think the only reason the writers didn’t resurrect her with her own set of supernatural powers in the proceeding sequels was that Krueger wouldn’t last five minutes against a suped-up version of Nancy Thompson.
Later on Lagnekamp would return in the most meta of all the movies, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare as herself. The movie blends the character Nancy with the real actress playing her facing off against what can only be described as demonic Freddy Krueger with the whole thing feeling like a blend of Inception meets Scream.
Others would follow and another would even reprise the role for the remake, but it’s the OG Nancy that stands as the true final girl worthy of her iconic status.
#10 EJ’s Best Final Girl – Alice Johnson, The Dream Master and Dream Child
Okay fine, Nancy is easily the number one final girl of the franchise. But she is already taken, so let us chat about her successor, Alice Johnson played by Lisa Wilcox. When we meet Alice in Dream Master she is something of an odd duck. She is withdrawn, frequently daydreams (including about her crush, the hunky jock Dan) and covers her bedroom mirror with photographs so she doesn’t have to look at herself. But then her friend Kristen passes her ability to draw people into dreams to her and Freddy begins using Alice’s new power to kill off her brother and friends. With each death, however, their personalities and abilities pass into her, and she uses them together to beat the ever-living crap out of Krueger. They way she stood up to him is truly a thing of beauty and puts most of the other franchise final girls and guy to shame. She is so strong and fearless and is easily one of FK’s greatest antagonists.
Alice returned in Part 5: Dream Master and has much less to work with in the watered-down sequel. But Wilcox still gives it her best and delivers a solid performance. And the character is still alive and has a son, so there is a possibility she may return at some point. Who knows?
#11 Sommer’s Worst Final Girl – Nancy Holbrook, 2010 Remake
It’s the Battle of the Nancys and there can be only one! If Heather Langenkamp gave us a Nancy worth rooting for, Rooney Mara gave us one worth forgetting.
There were a lot of issues with the 2010 remake A Nightmare on Elm Street but none worse than the gross miscasting of Mara as Nancy. It’s comically ironic her acting here puts you to sleep but the biggest misstep is the fact they had the perfect person to play the part in the movie already. Kris Fowles *sigh* is supposed to be this movie’s version of Tina (I don’t know why they changed the names either) and Katie Cassidy as Kris is the only one besides poor Jackie Earle Haley, who made me want to see this film through to the end.
If they had swapped the two actresses this might’ve had some life to it, instead of this tepid excuse for a remake and possibly the worst final girl of the entire franchise.
#12 EJ’s Worst Final Girl – Dr. Maggie Burroughs/Katherine Krueger, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
There are many, many, many things wrong with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. And one of those things is our final girl, therapist Dr. Maggie Burroughs who discovers she is actually Katherine Krueger, the daughter of the eponymous villain. Maggie already gets off on the wrong foot by being a clumsily retconned character with a direct relation to Freddy in a misguided attempt to create some emotional stakes.
But emotion is not on the cards here as actress Lisa Zane delivers quite the flat, emotionless performance. Now she did have a nonsensical plot and terrible dialogue to work with (her delivery of “Freddy’s dead” is peak cringe) but she could have doubled down on the silliness. At least that would have added some life to the role. Whether she is dealing with the unstable teens or facing off against FK Maggie can’t seem to be bothered enough to care. And nor should we as viewers.
#13 Sommer’s Best Freddy Takedown – Chop it Out Guys, Freddy vs. Jason
Freddy might be the stuff of nightmares, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be stopped, as proven by the various ways the last person standing in the NOES movies chose to take him out.
Hanging and decapitations might work for most, but when you’re dealing with a dream demon, you must think outside the box and that’s exactly what every one of these movies did (with varying degrees of success).
I don’t know if it’s the best, but one of the most memorable ones had to be fight fans waited decades to see, a knockdown drag-out one pitting speed against strength, machete vs knife-glove, I’m speaking of course about Freddy vs Jason. The rest of the movie might be a hit and miss and a bit of a slog to get through, but the payoff was seeing these two go head-to-head with the fight taking up most of the final act and making for a bloody good time.
#14 EJ’s Best Freddy Takedown – Soul Train, The Dream Master
Freddy is a delightfully despicable character, and it is most satisfying to see him taken out in an extremely painful manner. And that is definitely the case in the Dream Master. While FK easily shakes off all of Alice’s karate moves and tech blast, it’s a different story when she makes him look into a mirror and “evil sees itself.” All the souls he has collected decide it is time to hit the road, and brutally and graphically start ripping themselves out of his body in a great display of practical effects. It is equal parts grotesque and gratifying, and for me the best takedown of the dream demon.
#15 Sommer’s Worst Freddy Takedown – Talk to the Back, Part One
As awesome as the first movie was, it does have one of the weaker Freddy takedowns in the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, the whole set-up and fight between Krueger and Nancy was a blast to behold but the way Nancy takes him out was, in a word, anticlimactic.
SPOILER ALERT for an extremely old movie, Nancy realises Krueger gains power from his victim’s fear and belief in him, so she turns her back and POOF! He’s gone! Considering they weren’t thinking of a sequel when they did this, all I can say is it’s a good thing Wes Craven was forced to add that extra scene afterwards because a villain as iconic as Fred Krueger being dispatched just by turning your back on him is just lame.
#16 EJ’s Worst Freddy Takedown – I Copied Your Homework, 2010 Remake
Yes, it’s the remake again. We had to suffer through rewatching it, so now you will have to suffer through being reminded of it. One of the film’s missteps is the copying of scenes from previous entries, mostly the original. You have Freddy coming through the wall (in lame looking CGI and not cool practical effects), the glove between the legs in the bathtub, and a bloody corpse in a body bag being dragged by an unseen force. But one that I was not expecting was ripping off the climax of Freddy vs. Jason.
You know the scene in FvJ when Lori said, “Welcome to my world, b—h!” and chopped Freddy’s head off with Jason’s machete? And his head falls off and blood squirts from the wound. Pretty cool, right? Well, the remake decided to copy that pretty much wholesale with far diminished results. New Nancy paraphrases the line (gotta change it up slightly so they don’t know they you copied their homework) with as much effort as Rooney Mara’s sleepwalking performance can muster and then cuts New Freddy’s throat. And then he falls down. A bland end to a bland film. Freddy’s Dead pipe bomb is stupid, and the original’s disappearing Freddy is anticlimactic but at least they were more memorable than this lazy tripe.
#17 Sommer’s Best Film – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Part One and Dream Warriors are hands down the best movies of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, but that doesn’t make them MY best.
To each his own right, and while I probably wouldn’t have admitted this as a younger horror fan, present day me don’t give a damn! My favorite NOES movie is hands down, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.
Not only did it revive the franchise after the underwhelming Freddy’s Dead, it was meta before movies like Scream or The Cabin in the Woods even existed and brought back a vicious and genuinely scary Freddy Krueger to the screen. Near perfect in its execution, wonderfully acted and evenly paced, New Nightmare was a movie I didn’t need time to appreciate, I loved it from my first viewing right up to my 21st. New Nightmare is a brilliant take on both the pros and cons of the horror genre and the people who love it and of all the Nightmare movies, it’s the one I love revisiting the most.
#18 EJ’s Best Film – Dream Warriors
Fans usually argue that either the original or Dream Warriors is the best film of the franchise. The original is a fantastic entry, with a dark unnerving tone from start to finish, some memorable kills and stellar performances from Langenkamp and Englund as well as John Saxon as Nancy’s father. But the franchise was at its zenith with Dream Warriors. Everything works here and the entry truly benefits from Wes Craven returning to create story and co-script it. Freddy is just the right balance of terror and dark humour, the performances are strong all around including from Patricia Arquette’s supersonic screaming Kristen and returning Langenkamp and Saxon, the imagery is disturbing, and all the nightmares and kills are memorable. The dream powers also added a fun fantasy element to the proceedings and made the battle against Freddy just a bit more even.
Where Dream Warriors shines the brightest is in its characters. You get a feel for each of the characters and they are all likeable and relatable, even the brash and loudmouth Kincaid. Unlike most franchise supporting folks, you actually care about their fates and each death hits. And Freddy pretends to be Nancy’s dead father to kill her. That is so cold and cruel but classic Freddy. This entry also expanded on the lore by introducing Amanda Krueger and the details of FK’s tragic conception. The original may have started it all, but the long-running franchise would not be what it is without the excellent Dream Warriors.
#19 Sommer’s Worst Film – 2010 Remake
The remake. Nuff said.
#20 EJ’s Worst Film – Freddy’s Dead
I was actually dreading a revisit of Freddy’s Dead as part of my rewatch preparation for this list. And it is worse than I remembered. Freddy’s penchant for comedy is turned up to 11 and this is his least intimidating appearance in the entire franchise. And the jokes are mostly cringe-inducing. Other than Yaphet Kotto’s wise shelter worker Doc and young Breckin Meyer’s stoner Spencer all the main characters are grating. The supporting players, including a cringe-inducing turn from then married couple Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold, all give lacklustre performances. The sans children-Springworld world is supposed to be unnerving but comes off as buffoonery. The Wizard of Oz parody is done twice too much. Freddy only kills three people and while I did chuckle at the silliness of the spike bed kill of John Doe both the exploding hearing aid and video game punishment are over-the-top nonsense. FK may have been playing with power, but they should have pulled the plug on this script.
The only saving grace is the Freddy flashbacks and the dream demons, both of which I found interesting. And the line that “Every town has an Elm Street” is memorable. But otherwise, the film is pretty unwatchable and ended the main story on a whimper. And while one can easily ignore the ill-advised remake on a binge rewatch, viewers have to subject themselves to this utter foolishness to wrap up the story. Freddy’s Dead ends with clips from the previous films, reminding us all of what we wish we had been watching.
So those are our picks. Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments. And you can check out more great slasher content below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.