Freddy Krueger is a horror movie legend, thanks to a string of successful A Nightmare on Elm Street slasher films that later culminated with his final (?) appearance in Freddy vs. Jason. Along the way, different filmmakers have used the Nightmare canvas to design a number of elaborate and creative kills, some of which fared better than others.
For every dark, nightmarish and grisly death scene, there's another that elicits nothing but knee-slapping laughs. Here are Freddy Krueger's silliest kills from the franchise. Challenge yourself to watch as many as possible without laughing.
10 Spencer's Video Game Death (Freddy's Death: The Final Nightmare)
No other Nightmare death is as silly and downright stupid as this one from Freddy's Dead. It was obvious that the franchise had run out of creative steam at this point, while the character of Freddy had switched from a frightening villain to a sort of anti-hero for horror fans.
Freddy drags Spencer into the video game space and proceeds to kick the tar out of him before subjecting him to an altogether silly death and making a quip about the graphics. It ended up eliciting more laughs than scares.
9 Invisible Kung-Fu (A Nightmare On Elm Street IV: The Dream Master)
Rick Johnson must have felt utterly ridiculous when his number was called. His fight with Freddy is one of the most unoriginal and embarrassing of the entire series. He wakes up in a dojo-like environment with an invisible Freddy taunting him in an attempt to wear him down.
He responds by attacking Freddy with a series of martial arts techniques that land a few hits, while taking a few blows himself. Actor Andras Jones had to summon all of his childhood pretend skills to make it through this scene, and one can only imagine how relieved he was when the director called for a cut.
8 The Wizard Master (A Nightmare On Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors)
It was easy to root for poor Will Stanton. In the dream world, he was able to leave the confines of his wheelchair and become the Wizard Master - a persona he used in his confrontation with Freddy. However, whether by virtue of the special effects or the writing, the whole death came off as silly.
Will's Wizard Master costume is hilariously bad, even by wizard standards. Worse, his seemingly profound powers have pretty much no effect on Freddy, who feigns damage just to get his hands on Will before killing him with ease. One wonders what the point of such a could-be triumphant scene was.
7 Death By High (A Nightmare On Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors)
Freddy is no stranger to using the insecurities and foibles of his victims in order to gain the upper hand, but something about taking advantage of a struggling drug addict seems rather tasteless. It starts off well with Taryn facing down Freddy and landing a few good shots with her newfound tough-girl persona.
However, things go bad when Freddy responds by turning his fingers into syringes, which he uses to inject into her arms to trigger a painful death. Even in the context of a horror film taking place in the dream world, this kind of exploitative kill was not cool, and The Dream Warriors received a ban in Australia for many years because of it.
6 Paper Cuts (A Nightmare On Elm Street V: The Dream Child)
This death was, in many ways, a precursor to some of the more ridiculous kills Freddy would inflict on his victims in future installments of the franchise. Comic book fan Mark gets yanked into the dream world by Freddy, where he proceeds to taunt him (on a skateboard, no less) before moving onto phase two.
Mark soon has had enough and uses his powers to transform into a dual-wielding comic book hero who opens up on Freddy. Naturally, it has little effect, and Freddy transforms himself into a super-villain who turns Mark into a paper cut-out and slashes him to pieces. The entire scene is cringe-worthy.
5 Death By Doorway (A Nightmare On Elm Street)
Who could forget the final scene of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, featuring Marge Thompson, as she is yanked through a small window of the front door of their house while the creepy kids jump rope on the neighbor's front lawn?
Though the effect was supposed to be frightening, the obvious mannequin used in the shot looked absolutely silly. Points to director Wes Craven for ending the film on such a chilling note, but it's a shame he was relegated to 1980s special effects that don't hold up.
4 The Wanton Waterbed (A Nightmare On Elm Street IV: The Dream Master)
There should be an unwritten rule about questioning a waterbed with smiling, naked women inside. That's precisely what happened to Joey Crusel, who fell asleep in his room watching MTV and "woke up" to this scene. Granted, teenage hormones are a real thing, but common sense should have been at the wheel.
Either way, it doesn't end well for Joey, who is attacked by Freddy when he leaps out of the waterbed and drags him under - another reason to pass on buying a waterbed, apart from how bad they are for the back.
3 The Deadly Towel Attack (A Nightmare On Elm Street II: Freddy's Revenge)
The second Nightmare film is universally accepted as being the most homoerotic of the entire franchise, and it's a running gag at this point. It's hard not to see why when high school coaches are stripped naked and restrained, while their buttocks are whipped mercilessly with towels in the boy's locker room.
Certainly, Coach Schneider could have checked out in a slightly less embarrassing fashion, but it is what it is. While the franchise would change direction in the third film, the subsequent sequels proved that there was no shortage of silly Freddy Krueger kills to be had.
2 Death By Hanging (A Nightmare On Elm Street)
Perhaps Wes Craven wasn't fully aware of the broad palette he had to work with when it came to the Nightmare films, but the first installment missed a few key opportunities for something inventive. One of these scenes included the death of Rod while he sat in jail.
Rather than do something truly terrifying, Freddy wrapped a towel around Rod's neck and hung up in his cell to simulate suicide. From Freddy's perspective, this makes little sense, as the serial killer desires the proliferation of his own name. Staging a fake suicide seems a rather unorthodox way to achieve that goal.
1 The Cockroach Death (A Nightmare On Elm Street IV: The Dream Master)
Freddy had the perfect opportunity to use gym equipment to enact a truly grisly kill, but the filmmakers had another idea that was far less respectable. After breaking Debbie's arms at the elbows, a pair of cockroach limbs sprout out and she flees in terror, while Freddy slowly pursues.
The chase ends with Debbie transforming further into a cockroach before finding herself in a miniature roach motel held by Freddy, who subsequently crushes it and kills her along with it. It's absolutely laughable, and one of the most pointless kills in the entire Nightmare franchise.
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October 22, 2020 at 05:30AM
