A Nightmare on Elm Street is one horror franchise that has lain dormant long enough, and now that Stranger Things has proved a Freddy Krueger prequel could work, the time is this moment. Robert Englund has more or less officially hung up the fedora and razor glove, but it seems obvious that the man has at least one more entry in him.
Toss in the advancement of the digital de-aging process to the point of being cost-effective, and an Englund-led Nightmare prequel is absolutely something that could happen. It would also be a financial lock, perhaps a critical one as well if the film shows proper respect to the franchise, character, and irreplaceable actor. Freddy is memorable because of Englund, and the actor has made the icon both horrifying and memeable.
He Thinks Jason Is A Joke
Some of Friday the 13th characters' worst decisions stray from the world of credibility. They're silly, ludicrous decisions that make them seem like caricatures over characters, much less actually seeming like real people. As far as Freddy Krueger is concerned, Jason is just as silly a subject.
Throughout Freddy vs. Jason, the former stops at nothing to poke fun at the silent latter. He even takes Jason back to being a little boy, drowning as camp counselors have sex within earshot. Jason's killed countless counselors and the like, but Freddy couldn't have any less respect for him. Odd, considering they're essentially the closest thing one another has to a peer.
He's Got A One-Track Mind
No matter how many times horror icon Freddy Krueger dies, he keeps coming back. And, when he inevitably does come back, he's got one thing on his mind. Whether in life or in death, Freddy targets the vulnerable, and he really doesn't do much else outside of that.
Another way of looking at it is that Freddy's existed in the imaginations and fears of others for so long he's basically stopped existing. He may have a snarky personality, but that snark is really all that's left of him. Freddy needs to get a life.
He's Not Averse To The Occasional Embrace Of Fashion
Part of the reason Freddy Krueger was a slasher villain that got his own franchise was his memorable wardrobe. Krueger's ensemble is undoubtedly the most instantly recognizable of any slasher villain.
By the time he put on sunglasses with a grin in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, it was clear the filmmakers knew he held that title. The Dream Master was a massive financial hit, and it cemented the fact that Freddy had transcended the average slasher baddie.
Freddy Typically Sticks To The Sweater
It's a well-known franchise fact that Robert Englund was recast for the role of Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. But the filmmakers swiftly learned it wasn't the Christmas sweater or the fedora that made Krueger work as well as he did, it was Englund.
With that being said, the scarred-beyond-recognition Krueger wears a sweater like he's the only one who can do it, and it works. It also seems as though Freddy knows he's a morbidly attractive personality, as he relishes it enough to lean into jokes the same way he leans into his ensemble (and just in general leans).
He'd Make For A Good Teacher If He Had A Functioning Code Of Ethics
Just as Krueger showed countless children how to sleep restlessly, he also taught them how to count to ten. The nursery rhyme that intermittently spells the arrival of Krueger is a staple of the franchise, and it's as integral to his appeal as the razor gloves.
But hearing the rhyme wouldn't be possible were it not for Freddy's constant encouragement that young people follow their dreams. Or, rather, just dream at all. Freddy dares teens to dream, it's just not in a remotely sincere way.
He Thinks He's Funny
Freddy's wit is readily apparent early on. He would lean into the jokey aspect of his personality starting with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but even before then he'd display his sick sense of humor, it was just less on the nose.
Take a few instances from the original film (and, by extension, the lazy remake). Freddy will emerge from a wall, almost begging the teen to wake up. Then, when they do, he slinks back. It's all a game, and it's his.
He Toys With His Victims
As one of the few slasher movies that critics actually liked, Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street is of a rare breed. It remains as such, as does some of its sequels. In the original, Krueger is an absolute enigma.
Nancy Thompson's mother alludes to the events that transpired pre-Freddy's death, but that's the extent. He's just a stalker that can't be escaped. Because, in the end, he's really after you solely when you're beyond the capability of self-defense. One thing that's as clear as early as Krueger's first interaction with Tina Gray is his sadism. Krueger doesn't just like to kill, which is bad enough, he likes to embrace cruelty before committing the act.
He's One Of Cinema's Most Merchandisable Characters
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare has either one of the most creative movie sequel titles or one of the most ludicrous. But it's also perfectly fitting for the primarily ineffective jumbling of tones (almost none of which try to be scary) that the film passes off as the end of a horror icon. Essentially, by the time Freddy's Dead hit the big screen in 3D, Krueger was unrecognizable.
The same of which could be said of the Freddy mask shown in the meme, as well as any other dime store razor claw or shoddy Halloween costume sweater. But that's the risk of becoming as popular as any beloved Star Wars character: there will be action figures, posters, refrigerator magnets, themed cookies, and even more ridiculous merchandise.
He'll Never Change
Freddy Krueger is a horror villain in need of modernization, but there are certain things that need to be kept the same. The fedora, the sweater, the razor gloves, it's all very important. But there's an argument to be made that even combined they're not as important as personality.
The fact that Freddy embraces any one article of clothing at all is both surprising and informative. It's also somehow creepier than the personality-devoid Jason choosing a hockey mask. The hockey mask serves a purpose, the sweater is cosmetic; In other words, Freddy has a level of self-awareness and comfort that lets the viewer know there's no reasoning with him.
Not Quite Hughes Or He-Man
The 1980s were perhaps the most creativity-fueled years of cinema to date. Especially in horror, which is never better illustrated than in the dream logic of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Even Friday the 13th found itself getting fairly creative not just with the kills, but with the attempts to branch from formula.
But there's also something that binds franchises like Elm Street to loose series like the films of the Brat Pack. They're inherently "teen" films that go about it in very different ways; It's just that instead of Molly Ringwald sitting on a table in Sixteen Candles, there's Johnny Depp getting sucked into and spewed out of a queen bed. Of course, later on, it was more like Krueger was emulating one of the decade's more ridiculous and hokey cartoons, e.g. He-Man and The Masters of the Universe.