Freddie sucks!

[neilold]

Bound to divide opinion. As a massive slasher fan i can never understand the popularity and icon status of freddie. Nightmare on elm street was pretty good but the rest were rubbish. The stuff he says is childish, not that funny and a lot less effective than, say, pinheads. His glove is pretty cool, but is underused as a weapon, with him relying more on daft gimmicky kills. I just don't get why he is revered more than a lot of other standard slasher characters of the day.

[TheBossInTheWall]

Originally Posted by neilold

Bound to divide opinion. As a massive slasher fan i can never understand the popularity and icon status of freddie. Nightmare on elm street was pretty good but the rest were rubbish. The stuff he says is childish, not that funny and a lot less effective than, say, pinheads. His glove is pretty cool, but is underused as a weapon, with him relying more on daft gimmicky kills. I just don't get why he is revered more than a lot of other standard slasher characters of the day.

Never thought about Freddy himself, but I agree the first Nightmare on Elm Street was the only good one.

[Repo'd]

I'm a fan of three of the films ( Nightmare, Dream Warriors and New Nightmare ), but I have to agree on a few points you make, neilold. I do think the series went off into slapstick comedy and that was a turnoff for me. I dont mind some witty remarks or a few laughs mixed in with my horror, but the Elm St. franchise took it to ridiculous extremes. In fact, thats the primary reason Freddys Dead is completely unwatchable in my opinion.

You also mention the Glove. You're spot on with your comments. The glove is wicked, but as you say, it's underutilized. There have been some amazing and creative deaths involving the glove, but just not enough!

Overall, I love Freddy and I think his origin is an interesting and disturbing one, and when he's not playing the fool, he can really be one menacing sob! Sadly, this is not always the case.

[Jake.Ashworth]

Originally Posted by neilold

Bound to divide opinion. As a massive slasher fan i can never understand the popularity and icon status of freddie. Nightmare on elm street was pretty good but the rest were rubbish. The stuff he says is childish, not that funny and a lot less effective than, say, pinheads. His glove is pretty cool, but is underused as a weapon, with him relying more on daft gimmicky kills. I just don't get why he is revered more than a lot of other standard slasher characters of the day.

I disagree, with most of that. First I don't look at Nightmare as a Slasher. To group him in with Jason isn't quite right. The nightmare movies where made to be more fun and less serious than your basic slasher. By far not my favorite, but most of the movies achieved their overall goal, which was to make horror more fun and interesting to a group of people who may not love the strong silent type as is the case with just about every other slasher. He was different in a genre that, at the time, was mostly just variations on the same character in different settings. Oh and Dream Warrior was by far the best, the first one was a bit to meh for me. The second was kind of a joke, but after that, there was some good times. I just finished my first round of all of them with my 8 year old. That's what Freddie is good for, me and my boy can watch them without me having to cover his eyes due to tons of boobies or it being way to over his head story wise. Its a simple horror movie with a great premise. Stop overthinking and enjoy the fun.

[horcrux2007]

I'm a big fan of the first five movies, with 4 bring my personal favorite sequel. However, I hated Freddy's Dead so much that it's the only movie I actually turned off partway through. I stopped after she first got the 3d glasses. It was almost like a parody of the other ANOES movies, and Freddy was basically a comedian. Other than that, he's my favorite movie villain. I felt like in most of the movies, he would say one-liners, but they sounded so menacing that they were more creepy than funny, and the ways he kills people are usually pretty fucked up. His back story is pretty interesting as well.

[Baron Von Marlon]

Originally Posted by neilold

Bound to divide opinion. As a massive slasher fan i can never understand the popularity and icon status of freddie. Nightmare on elm street was pretty good but the rest were rubbish. The stuff he says is childish, not that funny and a lot less effective than, say, pinheads. His glove is pretty cool, but is underused as a weapon, with him relying more on daft gimmicky kills. I just don't get why he is revered more than a lot of other standard slasher characters of the day.

I don't think they're slashers.

I don't understand that you don't understand he became an icon.
He's got a unique look: the burned skin, the hat, the sweater and the glove.
He has his own song. He's got a cool, catchy name. And a short but solid background story.
What else do you need?
I think he's a lot more interesting than Michael Myers for example.

Originally Posted by Jake.Ashworth

The second was kind of a joke, but after that, there was some good times. I just finished my first round of all of them with my 8 year old. That's what Freddie is good for, me and my boy can watch them without me having to cover his eyes due to tons of boobies or it being way to over his head story wise. Its a simple horror movie with a great premise. Stop overthinking and enjoy the fun.

I remember seeing part 2 when I was 9 and I had nightmares for about 2 weeks.
There was a scene where Freddy crawled out of someone's skin and I was so scared I slept on my stomach so he couldn't get out.

[Jake.Ashworth]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Marlon

I don't think they're slashers.

I don't understand that you don't understand he became an icon.
He's got a unique look: the burned skin, the hat, the sweater and the glove.
He has his own song. He's got a cool, catchy name. And a short but solid background story.
What else do you need?
I think he's a lot more interesting than Michael Myers for example.



I remember seeing part 2 when I was 9 and I had nightmares for about 2 weeks.
There was a scene where Freddy crawled out of someone's skin and I was so scared I slept on my stomach so he couldn't get out.

It got me for a while when he came through the wall and stretched down over the sleeping teen. I just knew that every time I closed my eyes he was stretching out of that wall.

And then there is a scene in another one of the movies when he pulls a guy down through his water bed. Like a month later my mom surprised me with a water bed... Screw that...

[Roiffalo]

I haven't seen many of the sequels (I believe I've only seen 2 of them), but if the first is supposed to be the best, I haven't a lot of expectations for the rest. I liked the story line enough (and although seeing Johnny Depp being pulled into a mattress and turned into a blood geyser was hellafunny), Freddy just isn't my kind of villain. I'm more strong silent type like Micheal and Jason. And Freddy is a bit much talk and not so much action. He's able to kill kids while they're their most vulnerable, and yet his body count isn't as impressive as it should be. I guess that's an example of sorts to what has been formally said about lack of use of such an awesome and unique weapon.

That isn't to say that Freddy isn't a slasher or horror icon. His back story is good, his look is grotesque (which is good), and there's no denying Robert Englund's portrayal is stuff of legend. He's just not my cup of tea. And no disrespect to those who love him.

[Angra]

Originally Posted by neilold

Bound to divide opinion. As a massive slasher fan i can never understand the popularity and icon status of freddie. Nightmare on elm street was pretty good but the rest were rubbish. The stuff he says is childish, not that funny and a lot less effective than, say, pinheads. His glove is pretty cool, but is underused as a weapon, with him relying more on daft gimmicky kills. I just don't get why he is revered more than a lot of other standard slasher characters of the day.

I see where you coming from. But you you have to give NOES it's pretty damn original.

[neilold]

Freddies 'unique look' is no different than any other slasher movie villains own 'unique' looks. BTW, my fave is the bloke in the prowler. His song is pretty rubbish to, just a classic nursery rhyme with a few changed words. His look, i always felt, was too rubbery looking and false to be really scary. His story is original, but after the first movie it was pretty much dead as a scare tactic. Don't get me wrong i don't hate the NOES series, and i've certainly seen a lot, lot worse, i just don't consider him an icon.

Funnily enough i find him less interesting than mike myers, for the same rason some find him more. i like the fact that Mike Myers is an unknown, that he's tacit, slow and relentless, and that he still shows emotion even with a mask covering his face