The horror genre has seen a variety of slasher killers, and one of the most popular ones is A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger, who has some interesting powers – but how did he get them? The 1980s is widely considered as the best decade in horror, and it saw the beginnings of some of the genre’s biggest and most beloved franchises, among those Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, beginning with the movie of the same name in 1984.
A Nightmare on Elm Street follows four teenagers who become the target of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a villain with a very specific plan and unique methods: haunt his victims in their dreams, so if he kills them there, they die in real life too. A Nightmare on Elm Street also introduced a new final girl in Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy Thompson, who returned in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, and was played by Rooney Mara in the 2010 remake. A Nightmare on Elm Street spawned a franchise with nine movies (including a crossover with Jason Voorhees and a remake), and Freddy went through many changes throughout the saga.
Freddy Krueger was once a “normal”, human man, who killed children and was released on a technicality, and so angry parents hunted him down and burned him alive. Looking for revenge against his killers, Krueger began haunting their children in their dreams, as there they were vulnerable and their parents couldn’t save them, and he displayed a variety of powers while in the dream realm. Freddy Krueger can transform himself into pretty much anything and anyone, shows super strength, telekinesis, and regeneration, meaning he’s technically invulnerable in the dream realm, but if he’s pulled into the real world, he has normal, human vulnerabilities, allowing his victims to destroy him. However, a question remains regarding Freddy Krueger and his powers: how did he get them?
The reason behind Freddy Krueger’s powers changes depending on which movie you watch. In the original movies (those covering from Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare), it was explained that while he burned, he was approached by Dream Demons who made him an offer: they would give him immortality in exchange for being their agent, allowing him to continue his killing spree. Krueger accepted and that allowed him to travel through the dream world, where he could injure and kill his victims in dreams and real-life – and these are the same Demons that kept bringing him back despite all his deaths. In Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Freddy Krueger was an ancient supernatural entity, so that’s where those abilities came from. All this was changed in the 2010 remake, in which his powers come from his prey’s memories and emotions upon remembering him, as in this version Freddy Krueger sexually abused children instead of killing them.
Freddy Krueger is one of the most iconic villains in the horror genre mostly because of the way he haunts his victims, but as it has happened with other slashers, the retcons and (mostly) unnecessary explanations on why they do what they do and why they are the way they are have ended up hurting the characters. Ultimately, every viewer will choose which explanation to take on how Freddy Krueger got his powers in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, depending on their viewing experiences.