Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a main character and the primary antagonist of the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as a disfigured serial killer who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams, causing their deaths in the real world as well. In the dream world, he is a powerful force and almost completely invulnerable to damage. However, whenever Freddy is pulled into the real world, he has normal human vulnerabilities. Krueger was created by Wes Craven, and had been consistently portrayed by Robert Englund since his first appearance (the Robert Englund version is the Freddy that battled Ash and Jason). In the 2010 reboot he was portrayed by Academy Award–nominee Jackie Earle Haley.
Biography[]
Origin of The Springwood Slasher[]
As an adult, Freddy worked at the local power plant, and had raised a daughter with his loving wife. However, behind that peaceful facade, lay in his own twisted heart a seething and horrific desire for vengeance and retribution for what hell Springwood had inflicted on to him. Targeting the children of his former classmates now turned the populace of Springwood, Freddy's MO was to take his victims to his workplace's boiler room. He created a glove with fish knives on the fingers, and as he kidnapped children, he mangled and tortured them with it. With their remains thrown and spread throughout town, his acts earned him the reputation as the serial killer named the Springwood Slasher. He killed around twenty children before he was arrested. However, because the arrest warrant was signed in the wrong place and the judge drunk at the time of the proceeding, Krueger was released. The townsfolk were furious and took the law into their own hands. They cornered him in his lair and doused him in gasoline and set him on fire. While the building was burning, Freddy was approached by Dream Demons. Krueger took the offer from Dream Demons to continue his killing spree. He was allowed to roam the Dream World, where any damage he inflicted would cause death in the real world.
Against Ash Williams and Jason Voorhees[]
In the comic series Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, set after Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy became trapped and powerless inside Jason's mind after his death, but used him to get the Necronomicon from the Voorhees house in order to resurrect himself. He later used the book to increase his power so he could use it in the real world. A three-way battle was fought between Freddy, Jason, and Ash Williams, resulting in Caroline opening a portal with the Necronomicon, which Freddy was sucked into, trapping him in the Deadite Dimension.
Versus The Nightmare Warriors[]
The Nightmare Warriors sees Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees resurrected by the United States government, who wish to exploit their supernatural powers; however, the government is unable to control them, and the killers attempt to take over the world using the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Meanwhile, Ash Williams boards a train to Baltimore, Maryland to look for Maggie and her group so he could join forces with her Nightmare Warriors, a support group for people who have survived encounters with Freddy and/or Jason which consists of numerous established characters from the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises, to defeat Freddy and Jason for good.
But as soon as Ash gets on the train Jason follows him by stowing away in the vehicle's boxcar. Stephanie, her father Steven, Alice, and her son Jacob show up at Maggie and Neil's house, where Tina Shepard and Rennie Wickham are already living. When Ash arrives, Maggie gets everyone settled and begins to tell them about her and Neil's goals. They are interrupted by Jason, who comes crashing through the door and kills Steven. As Ash arms himself, the man in the hummer drives through the wall of the house and rams into Jason. Everyone escapes, and their savior introduces himself as Tommy Jarvis.
Government agents show up at Maggie and Neil's house and take Jason down with bullets and missiles. Meanwhile, the survivors take refuge at a motel and Maggie suggests they visit her father, Gordon Russell, to use the Necronomiconto defeat the killers. Unimpressed, Tommy breaks away from the group and goes solo. At the Capitol, Jason is put in a holding cell full of Deadites. He is visited mentally by Freddy, who proposes that they team up to massacre the world. Jason accepts when he hears that his old enemies—including Tommy—will be coming for them. Freddy appoints him the general of his Deadite army, repairs his decomposed body, and brings him back to life as before he was killed by Tommy. Meanwhile, the group (minus Stephanie and Jacob, who remain at the motel) also arrive at the Capitol and are locked up, with the exception of Maggie, Neil, and Rennie, who Russell takes to visit Freddy. Freddy transforms back into his burned, demonic form, and reveals that he has bonded with the Necronomicon and possesses all of its powers. Russell attacks Freddy with his own glove, but Maggie turns the blades back on him and kills him. She reveals her true identity as Freddy's daughter, Kathryn Krueger, and attacks Neil and Rennie. Tina feels the psychic impact of Rennie's death, and uses her telekinesis to break out of her cell. As she, Ash, and Alice escape, Jason and his army of Deadites descend on Washington.
Ash, Tina, and Alice fight and destroy a Freddy-controlled robot to acquire the Necronomicon. Meanwhile, Tommy confronts Jason on the streets of Washington as he and the Deadites cut a swath of destruction across the city. While opening fire on his nemesis, Tommy is attacked by winged Deadites, who take him to Freddy. Back at the motel, Jacob and Stephanie fall asleep, and Freddy possesses the latter. Stephanie/Freddy seduces and attacks Jacob, forcing him to call out to his mother. Alice hears her son's cries and uses her Dream Master powers to transport herself, Ash, and Tina into Jacob's nightmare. Immobilizing Ash during the fight, Freddy flays Stephanie alive and escapes with Jacob. Still in the dreamscape, Tina and Alice put Stephanie's skin back on and she wakes up physically unharmed. At the White House, Tommy and Jacob are held hostage by Freddy, Jason, and Maggie. Disguised as the President, Freddy addresses the nation, describing his new policy "no kid left alive" and the carnage he plans to cause all over the globe. Having seen Freddy's broadcast, Ash and the girls break into a nearby pawn shop for weaponry and head to the White House.
As it literally rains blood in Washington, Ash, Alice, Tina, and Stephanie plan their way into the White House. Upset by Ash and Alice's bickering, the traumatized Stephanie wanders off alone. The group are provided the distraction they need to get in when an army of soldiers arrive to rescue the President. Tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets battle the Deadites, but the soldiers suffer heavy losses and Freddy manifests in the clouds to blast the helicopters out of the sky. Elsewhere, Stephanie passes out and finds herself back in the dream world. She arrives at a church and meets Freddy posing as a priest; he informs her that, as member of the Voorhees family, it is her destiny to become a murderer like Jason. Clad in a hockey mask, Stephanie leaves the church to fulfill her birthright and kill Jason. Back at the White House, Maggie and Jason break out in a fight, but are interrupted by Ash, who drives a tank in the middle of the room, killing Maggie, much to Freddy's anger. As Ash rescues Neil, Jacob, and Tommy, Alice confronts Freddy face-to-face. She reveals that she has a terminal illness and that her Dream Master abilities are weakened, so allows Freddy to kill her so she can pass her power over to Jacob. As she dies, she releases the souls of the people Freddy has killed over the years. Furious at his mother's death, Jacob declares he is the Dream Master now, surrounded by the spirits of Amanda Krueger and the Dream Warriors.
Amanda and the other souls successfully destroy the Deadite army, but Freddy quickly severs their connection to Earth by mortally wounding Jacob. As Tina tends to Jacob and Ash battles Freddy, Tommy takes it upon himself to deal with Jason. In a closely matched fight, he taunts Jason for never being able to kill him. Stephanie appears and impales her uncle with a machete; this distraction provides Tommy the opportunity to decapitate Jason with a shard of glass. However, Freddy exploits this victory by absorbing Jason's soul to increase his own power. As Neil struggles to read the Necronomicon's passages to banish Krueger, he is joined by the spirit of Nancy Thompson; together Neil and Nancy recite the words to open the Deadite's dimension. Freddy resists the vortex, until the Necronomicon itself declares him unworthy and strips him of his power. The human Freddy begs for forgiveness, but Ash mercilessly blasts him into the vortex with his shotgun, citing his own lack of a 'storybook ending'. At the same time, Nancy leaves Neil to rejoin the other spirits. Around the same time, we pan to Jason's mask (which Tommy split in half with a rock) and Mrs. Voorhees' voice telling Jason that he can never die. The next morning, Ash bids farewell to Tommy, Tina, Neil, Jacob, and Stephanie, appointing Tommy the new captain of the "Nightmare Warriors".
Later is shown that in 1964 Springwood, a time-displaced and disoriented Agent Wesley Carter -who had been sucked into the Necronomicon's vortex- finds himself in the Springwood Police Department on the day of Freddy's arrest, and impulsively signs Freddy's search warrant when he finds the file on a desk in front of him, altering history.
Trivia[]
- Freddy Krueger's glove has appeared in Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn above the door on the inside of the toolshed. This was Sam Raimi's response to Wes Craven showing footage of The Evil Dead in A Nightmare on Elm Street, which in turn was a response to Sam Raimi putting a poster of Craven's 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes in The Evil Dead.