Freddy Krueger: The Demon of a Thousand Faces

To date there’s been nine films starring the mother of all dream demons, the wise cracking, joke spewing, one and only son of a thousand maniacs, Freddy Krueger. As the films have progressed, Krueger has changed visage on many occasions, sometimes looking completely different, going as far as changing species and even genders! So, since most of these films are from the 80’s and February is 'Going Back to the 80’s' month here on The Film Connoisseur, I leave you guys with the many faces of Freddy Krueger. Props go to Fred Krueger himself Mr. Robert Englund for bringing this character to life with such dedication and to all those make up artists who over the years have shaped and molded Freddy Krueger into our favorite dream controlling demon. I’ve probably missed one or two of his looks, so I urge you guys to strike back on the comments section and let me know which ones I’ve left out.

Trench coat Freddy

Film: New Nightmare (1994)

Description: This film marked Wes Craven’s return to the franchise he created, and so he wanted to get as far away from what Freddy had become: a joke spewing cartoon of a villain. With this one, Craven wanted to make Freddy scary, dark and imposing and so we get a slightly more demonic looking Freddy who wears a black trench coat and according to the film, can actually crossover into the ‘real world’. 

Quote: “Miss Me?”

Demon Freddy

Film: New Nightmare (1994) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Description: During the whole franchise, we get two glimpses at a more demonic than usual Freddy Krueger. Yeah, sure, Freddy is pretty evil looking on his own right, but on these two occasions mentioned here, he looks extra evil. First one is in New Nightmare, where during Freddy’s demise he burns in flames and as he burns, we see his true demonic nature, a horned Freddy Krueger. You see, according to this sequel, Freddy is an ancient demon who has existed for eons. Second demonic Freddy pops up in Freddy vs. Jason when Jason Voorhees has a nightmare and Freddy invades it. In Jason’s nightmare, Freddy has red skin, fangs and demonic yellow eyes; demonic indeed! 

Quote: “After they killed me I became something much, much worse”

Snake Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Description: Snake Freddy is for me personally one of the scariest of all of the Freddy incarnations, I mean, this giant snake literally comes out of the woodwork and tries to swallow up Patricia Arquette whole, like some sort of demonic Boa Constrictor! Personally I feel as if this is one of the best effects achieved in the whole series; I’ve always considered Dream Warriors to be a high water mark in the series in terms of special effects work. That’s one thing I loved about these NOES films, they were showcases for entertaining and well developed effects sequences, each film is filled with its own show stopping moments effects wise, Snake Freddy being one of the better ones. 

Quote: “You!” 

Puppet Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Description: Puppet Freddy comes to life as Phillip, one of the last of the Elm Street kids, falls asleep. You see, Phillip enjoys building his puppets and so Freddy turns one of Phillip’s handmade marionettes into a Freddy Puppet, which then grows into a life size Freddy Krueger! Then, Freddy turns Phillip into a living puppet, by cutting his arms and legs open and using Phillip’s own tendons and veins as the strings from which to pull him with! It really is one of the most gruesome deaths in the whole series.  

Quote: “The fact that we all dreamt about this guy before we ever met doesn’t impress anybody” 

Caterpillar Freddy

Film: Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Description: Potheads never get it good in horror movies (unless it’s Cabin in the Woods) and Freddy Vs. Jason is no exception. On this one there’s a major pothead called Freeburg who smokes practically on every scene he is in, funny part is he even looks like ‘Jay’ from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), another major pothead! So anyhow, at one point Freeburg smokes weed and succumbing to the effects of the drug, falls asleep. That is when this Freddy caterpillar pops up to smoke with him.  The worm is very reminiscent of the smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland.

Quote: “I only smoke when I drink now”

 

Wicked Witch of the West Freddy

Film: Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Description: This was one of the most fun times I’ve had watching a NOES film in theaters, there was this excitement to see Freddy in 3-D, and it was just one of these movies were a lot was promised, amongst those promises, Freddy was supposed to “really “ die on this one! So of course it was a special film in that sense. On this one we got a lot of back story on who Freddy was before he became who he became. As far as I’m concerned, we know a lot of what we know about Freddy from this movie alone. By this time, the character of Freddy Krueger had become a full blown jokester; he’d kill teens and say jokes while doing it with definitive ‘gusto’. From the very beginning of this film you can tell that the tone on this one was going to be funnier than normal, for example, during the opening nightmare sequence one of the kids dreams that his home is flying through the air on a tornado, a la The Wizard of Oz (1939) and suddenly, on his bedroom window the teenager sees Freddy Krueger flying on a witches broom, wearing a pointy witches hat and waving his black cape around. This scene started the film on the right foot for me, I was laughing from the get go. 

Quote: “I’ll get you my pretty! And your little soul too!”

Skeleton Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Description: Here’s something most people don’t think about, Krueger’s burnt skeleton. We all know his dream demon look, with the fedora hat and the red and green sweater, but what of his real body? The one that the Elm Street parents burned to a crisp? Well, on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 we actually get to see that skeleton!  According to the ghost of Krueger’s own mother, you have to spray Krueger’s remains with holy water in order to defeat him. So, a brave doctor ends up digging up Freddy’s skeleton in order to lay it to rest, and give it a proper burial or something, but right there and then Freddy’s Skeleton comes to life and begins to attack the doctor! On this one we were presented with the idea that Krueger could control his remains from the dream world. 

Bus Driver Freddy

Film: Freddy’s Dead:  The Final Nightmare (1991)

Description: When one of the last Elm Street kids dreams he travels to this lonely open road in the middle of nowhere, out of the blue, a bus comes along and guess whose driving it? Bus Driver Freddy that’s who! Bus driver Freddy hits the kid with the bus and the teenagers’ body slams onto the windshield of the bus. Then Freddy hits the breaks sending the teenagers body hurling through the air and crossing the boundaries of Freddy’s world. After the kid disappears through some sort of dimensional dream world rift, from his bus drivers seat Freddy utters the words: “Good doggy! Now…Fetch!”

Quote: “No screaming while the bus is in motion! ” 

Nurse Freddy

Films: Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987)

Description:  Joey, one the Elm Street kids being treated at a local mental facility is attracted to one of the nurses that takes care of him. They both find a place where they can get intimate and slowly but surely the nurse reveals herself to Joey, the lucky dude, this nurse is smoking hot! Joey starts kissing her but notices her tongue getting inhumanly long. It isn’t long before Joey realizes that this nurse isn’t a nurse, it’s really Freddy Krueger in disguise! Joey has fallen asleep and Freddy is gonna get him! Suddenly, in his dream, Joey’s bed disappears and beneath it is a gate way to a fiery hell!

Quote: “What’s wrong Joey? Feeling a little tongue tied?” 

Hall Monitor Freddy, Lt. Donald Thompson Freddy, Mrs. Voorhees Freddy

Films: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Description: Freddy likes to mess with peoples’ minds and so whenever he can he’ll disguise himself as somebody else. In A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), he disguises himself as a hallway monitor, asking for hall passes with a gloved hand and a bloody face. In Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors he disguises himself as Nancy’s father, so he can get close enough to Nancy so he can kill her! He also disguises himself as Dan Jordan (Alice’s boyfriend) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989). After Dan dies, Freddy posseses Dan’s body and from the burning wreck Dan tells her “Hi Alice! Wanna make babies?” And in Freddy Vs. Jason (2003), Freddy disguises himself as Jason Voorhees’s mom so he can manipulate Jason to do his bidding.

Quote: “I’ve crossed over princess. I couldn’t go without telling you how sorry I am for all the things that I’ve done. I love you so much. I’ll always love you.”  “I love you too daddy” “DIE!”

Baby Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Description:  On A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, we have a scene in which as Alice dreams, she takes a look into Freddy’s past and actually witnesses Freddy’s birth. The doctors performing the birth think that the baby is an abomination! When he is born, Amanda Krueger, his own mother says “This is no creature of God!” The baby falls to the ground and scurries away until he finds the church in which he was killed in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). Once there, baby Freddy makes his way into an altar and slowly but surely becomes a full grown Freddy Krueger! 

  

Quote:  “We’ll just see bitch, we’ll just see…” 

                            

Chef Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Description: Greta is a teenager living with her up class mom, who only cares about looking good in front of her rich friends. Greta wants’ to lose weight so she doesn’t want to eat so much, but her mom wants’ her to eat! Because this is a social gathering, and that’s what people do in social gatherings! Eat and drink! Greata’s mom has prepared a fine meal for all her friends to enjoy as they drink wine and gossip, but Greta is so bored with it all that she falls asleep on the table. That’s when Freddy strikes! He appears dressed as a Chef and straps Great down on a chair then starts to force feed her! He fills Greta’s mouth with so much food that she chokes on her dream and consequently, chokes in real life as well!

Quote: “Bon Apetit, Bitch!”

Television Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Description: Jennifer Caulfield’s a teenager who knows the horrors of Freddy up close and personal, so she will do anything not to fall asleep. She’s always drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. To stay awake, she burns the cigarette butts on her own arm! She does anything she can to keep herself from falling asleep! But sleep overtakes her anyways one night while watching late night television. Greta Garbo is interviewing somebody and Freddy appears as an interviewee and says “who gives a fuck what you think?” and kills her on live television! Jennifer, not believing her own eyes gets closer and closer to the television until the television suddenly goes blank. That’s when Freddy’s head pops out of the top of the television! Then two robotic hands emerge from the sides of the television andgrab Jennifer by her arms! The robotic hands lift Jennifer up into the air and smash her head into the television screen. 

Quote: ‘’Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!”

Video Game Freddy

Film: Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Description:  What horror film from the 80’s didn’t have a pot head amongst their characters? Not a lot of them that’s for sure! On Freddy’s Dead the pothead is named Spencer, who also happens to be a gamer. One day, while visiting the strangely desolated town of Springwood, Spencer enters an abandoned house and decides to space out while watching a little television. Suddenly, Krueger appears on the television and tells Spencer “Hey Spencer, let’s trip out!” As he spaces out and smokes his weed, Spencer finds himself inside of the television and participating in a  Nightmare on Elm Street video game! First Spencer faces a video game version of his father who tells him: “Be like me! Be like me!” to which Spencer replies: “Not like you! Not like you!” and starts attacking back. Then, Spencer has to face the video game version of Freddy, who starts kicking the shit out of Spencer in all sorts of ways, like stepping on him with his giant feet. Funniest part of this sequence is seeing a video game version of Freddy Krueger, walking around in one of those 80’s style side scrollers. 

Quote: “Great graphics!”

Power Glove Freddy

Film: Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Description:  The Nightmare on Elm Street Video Game that Spencer ends up participating in is actually being played by somebody and that somebody is Freddy Krueger himself! The faces Freddy makes while playing the video game are priceless and then, Freddy Krueger whips out his very own version of Nintendo’s Power Glove and says “Now I’m playing with power!” For those of you who don’t know what the hell a power glove is, well, it was this thing Nintendo released during the 80’s, basically, it was a controller in the form of a glove. Who would’ve thought we’d ever see Freddy the Gamer? 

Quote: “” I beat my high score! Ha ha haaa!”

Child Freddy

Title: Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Description:  As Maggie and the rest of the orphans search around Springwood for clues about Freddy, they stumble upon Springwood Elementary School where they encounter ghosts of Freddy’s past. Including his old teacher, his old classmates and they even get to see Freddy Krueger himself as a child. Freddy was an outcast, all his buddies knew he was “son of a hundred maniacs” and they made sure he never forgot it. Freddy would just have fun smashing hamsters to death, strange kid in deed. 

Quote: “Son of a hundred maniacs, son of a hundred maniacs!”

Teenage Freddy

Film:  Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Description: Teenage Freddy didn’t have it too good. He was adopted by an abusive parent who kept him locked up in a basement. Freddy would only get visits from his step father to get whipping, until Freddy starts liking the whippings! Freddy strats enjoying cutting himself with a knife! And one day, when Freddy can’t stand the abuse anymore he stabs his step dad with a knife! 

Quote: “The secret of pain is to stop feeling it and start using it”

Motorcycle Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Description: When Dan Jordan, Alice’s boyfriend decides to take a ride on his motorcycle, he falls asleep driving it and suddenly, a mechanical version of Freddy’s face appears on the motorcycle itself! Then cables come out of the motorcycle and inject themselves into Dan’s flesh, joining his body with the motorcycle, effectively turning Dan into a half man, half motorcycle thing! Freddy screams “Fuel Injection!” Freddy turns Dan into a speed demon!

Quote: “Yee-Haa! This boy feels the need for speed!”

Beach Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Description:  Nightmare on Elm Street 4’s the film where Freddy became a joke, he was no longer scary, now he was a one line spewing monstrosity. How did I notice this? Well, as soon as I saw Freddy’s claws traveling through the sand as if they were a shark’s fin, I knew something was off. Plus, doesn’t Freddy seem completely out of place wearing shades in a beach? Let’s not forget this is the film where Freddy actually eats a meatball pizza, the catch being that the meatballs were made up of his victims’ heads! Still, even though this movie is kind of funny, I still think it’s one of the most entertaining ones in the series, the effects work was top notch on this one.   

Quote: “You shouldn’t have buried me, I’m not dead”

Super Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Description: On this film we meet Mark, a comic book geek/artist who can’t stand the sight of blood even though his comics are drenched in it. So anyways, one night he falls asleep reading comic books. During his dream he becomes one of the characters he created in his own drawings, this cool looking super hero who uses these cool looking guns, problem is that Freddy also changes into Super Freddy! It’s then that Freddy turns Mark  into a cartoon character made of paper! Freddy then starts to shred Mark into pieces! Mark ends up dead when all of his comic books fall on him and kill him, bummer.  

Quote: “I told you comic books were bad for ya!”

Freddy the Drunken Truck Driver

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Description: Dan is driving his car when he suddenly falls asleep driving, Freddy then appears next to him driving. He tells him “Hey Danny, you better not dream and drive!” then takes a zip of a bottle of alcohol. Then Freddy pours some of the alcohol on his shoulder, and for some reason, the alcohol eats through Freddy’s arm as if it was acid! Freddy then rips off his arm and sticks it on the ceiling of the car…it is then that Dan wakes up and crashes his car on an oncoming truck.

Quote: “Put your pedal to the metal Dan!”

Drug Pusher Freddy

Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Description: Taryn is a girl trying to break with her heroin habit, but it’s getting increasingly difficult when the orderlies of the mental institution supply her with the stuff. When Taryn falls asleep she ends up in an isolated alley where she comes upon Freddy Krueger who offers her heroin. All of Freddy’s  fingers transform into syringes! Taryn’s veins literally open up and beg for the drug and that’s when Freddy injects her with all of the syringes and gives it to her! He literally sucks Taryn dry, and she dies from an overdose…after killing her Freddy says “what a rush!”

   

Quote: “Let’s get high!”

So that’s it boys and girls, hope you liked this list numbering many of Freddy’s different looks. If you want  to know a bit more about Freddy, don’t forget to check out my article entitled: Freddy Krueger: An Unauthorized Biography or Why is Freddy so messed up? It retells Freddy’s life story in seven chapters! And don’t forget, its 80’s Month here on The Film Connoisseur, so starting today, its all 80’s all the time! Don’t miss it! See you around!