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Character
Freddy Krueger
Name: Freddy Krueger
Gender: Male
Known Relatives: Amanda Krueger (mother;deceased)
Loretta Krueger (Wife;deceased)
Maggie Burroughs (daughter)
Portrayed By: Robert Englund
Jackie Earle Haley
Tobe Sexton (Freddy's Dead)
Chason Schirmer (Freddy's Dead)

Freddy Krueger is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He first appeared in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as the spirit of a serial killer who uses a gloved hand 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. However, whenever Freddy is pulled into the real world, he has normal human vulnerabilities and can be destroyed.

The character was created by Craven and was consistently portrayed by Robert Englund in the original film series as well as in the television spin-off. In the 2010 franchise reboot, Freddy Krueger was portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley. In 2011, Freddy appeared as a playable character in the video game Mortal Kombat and in 2017 as a playable character in Dead by Daylight. Over the course of the series, Freddy has battled numerous survivors including Nancy Thompson and Alice Johnson.

The original film introduced his backstory as the Springwood Slasher, a serial killer of children who had been burned to death by his victims' parents after evading prison. This alias would be used in other films and media throughout the franchise, such as Freddy vs. Jason and the Nightmares on Elm Street comics.

Freddy attacks his victims from within their dreams. He is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, dirty red-and-green-striped sweater and brown fedora, and trademark metal-clawed brown leather glove only on his right hand. This glove was the product of Krueger's own imagination, the blades having been welded by himself. Robert Englund has said many times that he feels the character represents neglect, particularly that suffered by children. The character also more broadly represents subconscious fears.

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy is introduced as a child killer from the fictitious town of Springwood, Ohio, who kills his victims with a bladed leather glove he crafted in a boiler room where he used to take his victims. He is captured, but is set free on a technicality when it is discovered that the search warrant wasn't signed in the right place. He is hunted down by a mob made up of the town's vengeful parents and cornered in a boiler room. The mob douses the building with gasoline and sets it on fire by throwing Molotov cocktails, burning him alive. While his body dies, his spirit lives on within the dreams of a group of teenagers and pre-adolescents living on Elm Street, whom he preys on by entering their dreams and killing them, fueled by the town's memories and fear of him and empowered by a trio of 'dream demons' to be their willing instrument of evil. He is apparently destroyed at the end of the film by protagonist Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), but the last scene reveals that he has survived. He goes on to antagonize the teenage protagonists of the film's sequels, including Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette), Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox), and Lori Campbell (Monica Keena).

In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, more of Freddy's backstory is revealed by the mysterious nun who repeatedly appears to Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson). Freddy's mother, Amanda Krueger (Nan Martin), was a nurse at the asylum featured in the film. At the time she worked there, a largely abandoned, run-down wing of the asylum was used to lock up entire hordes of the most insane criminals all at once. When Amanda was young, she was accidentally locked into the room with the criminals over a holiday weekend. They managed to keep her hidden for days, raping her repeatedly. When she was finally discovered, she was barely alive and pregnant, with the result that Krueger was regarded as "the son of a hundred homicidal maniacs" due to it being impossible to determine which of the rapists was his biological father. However, in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, it is implied that Freddy had identified which one of them was his birth father (also portrayed by Englund in a dream sequence), and hates his mother for rejecting him. Later, in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, it is revealed that he was adopted by an alcoholic named Mr. Underwood (Alice Cooper) who abused him throughout his childhood until Freddy finally murdered him as a teenager. Freddy tortures animals and engages in self-mutilation, and becomes a serial killer by murdering the children of people who had bullied him when he was a child. Prior to his murder, he is married to a woman named Loretta (Lindsey Fields), whom he eventually also murders. He also has a daughter, Katherine (Lisa Zane), who seeks to end her father's horrific legacy once and for all, killing him at the end of the movie.

After a hiatus following the release of The Final Nightmare, Krueger was brought back in Wes Craven's New Nightmare by Wes Craven, who had not worked on the film series since the third film, Dream Warriors. New Nightmare coincides with the approaching anniversary of the release of the first film. Robert Englund, who portrayed Krueger throughout the film series and its television spin-off, also took the role as a fictional version of himself in New Nightmare; it is implied that Englund was stalked by his character, who is an ancient demonic entity that took on the form of Wes Craven's creation, and has come to life from the film franchise's fictitious world. Having been in various manifestations throughout the ages due to the entity can be captured through storytelling, it is hinted that it was once in the form of the old witch from Brothers Grimm's fairy tale Hansel and Gretel when it was held prisoner in this allegory. Englund describes to his former co-star and friend Heather Langenkamp that this embodiment of Freddy is darker and more evil than as portrayed by him in the films; he struggles to keep his sanity intact from Krueger's torments and goes into hiding with his family. Krueger aims to stop another film of the franchise from being made, eliminating the films' crew members including Langenkamp's husband Chase Porter (David Newsom) after stealing a prototype bladed glove from him, and causes nightmares and makes threatening phone calls to producer Robert Shaye. The entity also haunts Wes Craven's dreams, to the point that he sees future events related to Krueger's actions and then writes them down as a movie script. Krueger sees Langenkamp as his primary foe because her character Nancy Thompson was the first to defeat him. Krueger's attempts to cross over to reality cause a series of earthquakes throughout Los Angeles County, including the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Langenkamp, with help from her son Dylan (Miko Hughes), succeeds in defeating the entity and apparently destroys him; however, Krueger's creator reveals that it is again imprisoned in the fictitious world, indicated by the character's later appearances in films and other medias.

In 2003, Freddy battled fellow horror icon Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger) from the Friday the 13th film series in the theatrical release Freddy vs. Jason, a film which officially resurrected both characters from their respective deaths and subsequently sent them to Hell. As the film begins, Krueger is frustrated at his current inability to kill as knowledge of him has been hidden on Elm Street, prompting him to manipulate Jason into killing in his place in the hope that the resulting fear will remind others of him so that he can resume his own murder spree. However, Freddy's plan proves too effective when Jason starts killing people before Freddy can do it, culminating in a group of teens learning the truth and drawing Freddy and Jason to Crystal Lake in the hope that they can draw Freddy into the real world so that Jason will kill him and remain "home". The ending of the film is left ambiguous as to whether or not Freddy is actually dead; despite being decapitated, when Jason emerges from Crystal Lake carrying his head the head looks back and winks at the viewers. A sequel featuring Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) from the Evil Dead franchise was planned, but never materialized onscreen. It was later turned into Dynamite Entertainment's comic book series Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.

In the 2010 remake of the original film, Freddy's backstory is that he was a groundskeeper at Badham Preschool who tortured and sexually abused the teenage protagonists of the film when they were children. When their parents found out, they trapped him in a boiler room at an industrial park and set it on fire with a Molotov cocktail made out of a gasoline canister, killing him. As a spirit, he takes his revenge on the teenagers by haunting their dreams; he is particularly obsessed with Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara), who had been his “favorite” when she was a child. Krueger's power comes from his prey's memories and emotions upon remembering the abuse they suffered at his hands. His bladed glove is made out of discarded pieces of his gardening tools. Nancy destroys him at the end of the film by pulling his spirit into the physical world and cutting his throat; the final scene reveals that Freddy's spirit has survived, however.

Robert Englund continued his role as Krueger on October 9, 1988, in the television anthology series, Freddy's Nightmares. The show was hosted by Freddy, who did not take direct part in most of the episodes, but he did show up occasionally to influence the plot of particular episodes. Further, a consistent theme in each episode was characters having disturbing dreams. The series ran for 44 episodes over two seasons, ending on March 10, 1990. Although a bulk 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 his trial, and his subsequent death at the hands of the parents of Elm Street after his acquittal. In "No More, Mr. Nice Guy", though Freddy's case seems open and shut, a mistrial is declared based on the arresting officer, Lt. Tim Blocker (Ian Patrick Williams), not reading Krueger his Miranda rights, which is different from the original Nightmare that stated he was released because someone forgot to sign the search warrant in the right place. 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 under anesthesia 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 terrorizes Blocker's identical twin daughters and frames one sister for the other's murder. 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 stood him up 20 years earlier. He gets his revenge with his desire being fulfilled in the process.

Victims []

  • Hamster - Killed by Freddy.
  • Mr. Underwood - Killed by Freddy.
  • 20 children in Springwood - Killed by Freddy.
  • Loretta Krueger - Killed by Freddy.
  • Tina Gray - Slashed by Freddy with his clawed glove. He did this in the dream world, killing her in the real world. Rod Lane was accused of killing her.
  • Rod Lane - Hung by Freddy with the blanket of his bed in his prison cell. He was asleep, thus Freddy killed him in the dream world, making the blanket move in the real world and making it appear as a suicide.
  • Glen Lantz - While asleep, was pulled into his bed by Freddy and shot upward in a fountain of blood. There was no explanation for this.
  • Marge Thompson - Smothered by Freddy with his flaming body (after he was set on fire), and vanished into the bed.
  • Girl on Bus - Sliced to death by Freddy
  • Girl on Bus - Sliced to death by Freddy
  • Bird 1 - Killed by the other bird, which was having a Freddy nightmare.
  • Bird 2 - Set on fire by Freddy, clearly having a nightmare about him and appearing to burst into flame for no reason.
  • Coach Schneider - Slashed in the back a few times by Freddy, who was possessing Jesse.
  • Ron Grady - Stabbed by Freddy (possessing Jesse) with his clawed glove.
  • Party Guest 1 - Slashed in the face by Freddy with his clawed glove.
  • Party Guest 2 - Fell into the pool, then Freddy made the water boil and set it on fire.
  • Party Guest 3 - Fell into pool, which was almost immediately boiled by Freddy.
  • Party Guest 4 - Fell into pool, which was then boiled by Freddy.
  • Party Guest 5 - Burned to death by Freddy, who set him on fire.
  • Party Guest 6 - Burned to death by Freddy, who set him on fire.
  • Rocky - Trampled to death by several other party guests as they tried to escape.
  • Party Guest 7 - Stabbed by Freddy with his clawed glove.
  • Do-Gooder - Clawed and burned to death when tossed onto a grill
  • Kerry Hellman - Stabbed by Freddy, though he appeared to be possessing her as he did Jesse, however, the ending may have been to hint that Freddy had returned to nightmares, and hints that he simultaneously invaded the dreams of everyone who survived him in this movie, including Jesse and Lisa, and killed them, though the final fate of Jesse and Lisa is never revealed.
  • Lisa Webber - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Jesse Walsh - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Two Unnamed Teenagers - Killed by Freddy Krueger and covered up as a "suicide" off-screen, mentioned.
  • Phillip Anderson - In his dream, was controlled by Freddy like a puppet using his veins as strings. This made it look like he was sleepwalking in the real world. Freddy made him walk to the top of Westin Hills and cut the strings so he fell off to his death. This made it appear as a suicide.
  • Dick Cavett - Possibly killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Zsa Zsa Gabor - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Jennifer Caulfield - In her dream, Freddy appeared from the TV, reached out of its sides with his arms, and smashed her head against the TV. This appeared to be another suicide.
  • Elaine Parker - Decapitated by Freddy Krueger
  • Taryn White - Injected by Freddy with his fingers, which he turned into several syringes of heroin in the dream world, killing her in the real world.
  • Will Stanton - Stabbed by Freddy with his clawed glove in the dream world, killing him in the real world.
  • Donald Thompson - Impaled on the tail fin of a car by Freddy, who was possessing his bones that Donald and Neil were about to bury on holy ground.
  • Nancy Thompson - Stabbed by Freddy with his clawed glove in the dream world, killing her in the real world.
  • Dr. Neil Gordon - Possibly killed off-screen at the end by Freddy Krueger
  • Nine Unnamed Teenagers - Killed by Freddy Krueger. Souls seen in his stomach.
  • Unnamed Teenage Girl - Killed by Freddy Krueger. Soul seen in his stomach.
  • Roland Kincaid - Stabbed by Freddy with his clawed glove in the dream world, killing him in the real world.
  • Joey Krusel - Pulled into his waterbed and stabbed by Freddy, drowning him. His body was discovered in the waterbed with no explanation as to how he got in there.
  • Kristen Parker - Thrown into a furnace by Freddy in the dream world, setting her on fire in the real world.
  • Sheila Kopecky - Kissed by Freddy in the dream world, sucking the life out of her. This made it appear as an asthma attack.
  • Rick Johnson - Stabbed by Freddy with his clawed glove, which was the only visible part of him and apparently the only physical part of him in Rick's dream.
  • Debbie Stevens - Turned into a cockroach by Freddy in her dream, then crushed in a roach motel. Her body in the real world is never seen (presumably crushed like in the dream).
  • Dan Jordan - Fused with a motorcycle by Freddy in the dream world, which caused him to crash in the real world. This appeared to be a regular driving accident, and some even suspected drunk driving despite the fact that Dan didn't drink.
  • Greta Gibson - In the dream world, Freddy stuffed food into her mouth and threw her into the fridge, making her suffocate in the real world.
  • Mark Grey - Sucked into a comic book by Freddy in the dream world, then turned to paper and sliced to bits with Freddy's clawed glove. In the real world, his body was presumably hacked into pieces, and a psychopathic murderer was suspected to physically be in the building.
  • Every child in Springwood and their population - Killed by Freddy.
  • Carlos Rodriguez - In the dream world, his hearing was magnified by Freddy, who scratched a chalkboard with his clawed glove until Carlos's head exploded.
  • Spencer Lewis - Sucked into a video game by Freddy in the dream world, then knocked into a hole. In the real world, a hole physically appeared which Spencer fell into.
  • John Doe - While on a parachute in the dream world, Freddy cut the lines of the parachute, causing John to fall. Freddy placed spikes below him so he fell onto the spikes.
  • Chuck Wilson - Bladed glove in throat by Freddy.
  • Terry Feinstein - Bladed glove in chest by Freddy.
  • Chase Porter - Slashed across chest with bladed glove, car accident by Freddy.
  • Julie McKenna - Bladed glove in back, dragged up wall to ceiling, neck snapped, fell by Freddy.
  • Bobby Davis - Committed suicide before the events of the film.
  • Mrs. Campbell - Killed by Freddy before the events of the film.
  • Little Girl - Killed offscreen by Freddy with his clawed glove. (Freddy Dream)
  • Mark Davis - Set on fire by Freddy, and then face slashed with his clawed glove.
  • Female Counselor - Killed by Freddy Krueger (Jason Dream)
  • Dean Russell - Head slashed with clawed glove, and throat knifed and cut, caused by Freddy.
  • Rufus (Dog) - Killed by Freddy.
  • Kris Fowls - Levitated and bashed 6 times against the wall ceilling, and wall twice, then slashed across the torse with clawed glove by Freddy.
  • Jesse Braun - Disembowled, and impaled through back from behind with clawed glove by Freddy.
  • Marcus Yeon - Head smashed into the computer, caused by Freddy.
  • Lisa Harper - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Craig Jackson - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Carrie Bush - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Nancy Lumb - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Sukari McGill - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Elizabeth Cook - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Bret Tanzer - Killed by Freddy Krueger
  • Gwen Holbrook - Stabbed through back of head and eyes with clawed glove, then pulled into the mirror by Freddy.
  • Nancy Holbrook - Possibly by Freddy Krueger
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