Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare dropped a final scene that saw a new character potentially picking up Krueger’s mantle. The slasher movie genre really took off following the success of the original Halloween and the early Friday The 13th. Like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, the masked killers of slasher films tended to be mute or lack personality, which is what made Freddy Krueger so unique when A Nightmare On Elm Street arrived. This 1984 psychological horror followed teenagers being stalked in their dreams by a dead serial killer called “Fred” Krueger (Robert Englund), who in contrast to his rivals, liked to verbally taunt victims before the killing blow.
The film was a surprise success, and the popularity of The Nightmare On Elm Street movies only seemed to grow with each sequel. More than that, Freddy was a full-blown cultural phenomenon for a time in the ’80s, where in addition to the movies he had his own TV show, albums, video game and more. The Freddy bubble burst a little with 1989’s The Dream Child, a rushed, lackluster and tonally confused entry that earned about half of the previous movie. This is when production company New Line decided it was time to retire the dream slasher.
