Of all the beloved horror movie icons, none has more inventive and creative kills than Freddy Krueger. Ever since Wes Craven‘s original A Nightmare On Elm Street film, Robert Englund‘s iconic movie monster has devoted himself not only to the deaths of his victims, but to tapping into their greatest fears and anxieties to produce some truly inspired horror. Here are our picks for the best Freddy kills from the original seven films.
10. Runaway Glove (Wes Craven’s New Nightmare 1994)
New Line Cinema
New Nightmare was the last official Freddy solo entry in the original franchise, coming out ten years after Wes Craven made his original. In the opening scene of this meta commentary on the entire series, Freddy’s glove comes to life in the middle of making one of the Nightmare movies, and proceeds to slice though the crew. It sounds cheesy, but it’s actually quite disturbing.
9. Motorcycle Mayhem (A Nightmare On Elm St. 5: The Dream Child 1989)
New Line Cinema
There’s not a lot of great things to say about Nightmare 5. For many fans, this is where things started to go downhill. Most of the kills are boring or cheesy. (Remember Super Freddy?) But when teenage Dan’s motorcycle begins to overtake his body and turns him into a mechanical monstrosity, it’s pretty darn amazing. Freddy spouts off way too many one liners in this scene, but not enough to ruin it. This is the peak moment for Nightmare 5 for sure.
8. Torn Apart (A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 1988)
New Line Cinema
The way Freddy is dispatched at the end of each movie is a little bit weak, except in the case of The Dream Master. After Freddy sees his own reflection in a mirror, he’s somehow weakened. All the souls of the kids he’s murdered and absorbed tear out of his body, ripping him to shreds. It’s a great practical effects moment, and the series’ best Freddy defeat.
7. Roach Motel from Hell (A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 1988)
New Line Cinema
Springwood High’s resident fitness queen Debbie isn’t afraid of anything… except for cockroaches. So Freddy slowly turns her into the one thing she’s disgusted by the most. As if that weren’t bad enough, Debbie the human roach is then crushed in her in giant Roach Motel. As Freddy reminds us, “You can check in, but ya can’t check out.”
6. Just Say No (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987)
New Line Cinema
Taryn White (Jennifer Rubin) was Westin Hills Hospital’s resident bad ass. Not only was she suffering from Freddy terrorizing her nightmares, she was also coping with an addiction to heroin. When she takes on Freddy in full punk rock regalia, he then turns his razor gloves into needles, and plunges them all into these gaping little mouths on her arms where her track marks once were. It becomes on of the most twisted moments in the entire series. But also one of the most memorable.
5. “Welcome to Prime Time” (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987)
New Line Cinema
Young Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow) just wanted to become a famous television actress. But while watching TV late one night, she makes the mistake of dozing off, and Freddy manages to gives Jennifer her “big break in TV.” This one kill is the moment Freddy Krueger goes from terrifying dream demon to the stand-up comic from hell. But man, is it ever an effective moment. Also, it’s the best acting moment in Zsa Zsa Gabor’s entire career.
4. Puppet Show (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987)
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The first victim to go in the excellent third Elm Street film Dream Warriors was Phillip (Bradley Gregg), a puppet-loving patient at the Westin Hills Institute. Freddy turns this teen’s love of puppetry against him when he pulls the tendons out of his limbs and turns the poor guy into a bloody human marionette. Freddy makes him walk up a tall building and then cuts his strings to incur a fall to his death. This is Freddy at his most cruelly inventive, perhaps.
3. Freddy Busts Free (A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge 1985)
New Line Cinema
Nightmare 2 isn’t the most beloved entry in the series, mostly due it breaking the dream “rules” established in the first film. (It’s mostly remembered for being one of “the gayest horror movies ever made.”) Nevertheless, the scene where Freddy bursts out of the body of his possessed victim Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) and kills his best buddy (and possible secret crush) Grady? Now that is an awesome display of practical old school effects at their bloody best.
2. Bedroom Blood Fountain (A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984)
New Line Cinema
Poor Glen. Played by Johnny Depp in his first big screen role, he made the mistake of not listening to his much wiser girlfriend Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), who explicitly warned him not to fall asleep. When he did, he got sucked into his own bed, which then erupted in a seemingly endless torrent of blood. It’s the last big Freddy kill of the original Wes Craven movie. And what a way to go out.
1. Freddy’s First Kill (A Nightmare On Elm Street 1984)
New Line Cinema
The very first kill from Craven’s original is still the most disturbing, even 35 years later. Teenaged Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) is slashed to death by Freddy in her dream, while her body in the real word defies all laws of physics and begins thrashing around the room wildly. None of the subsequent kills in this movie, or even the rest of the series, ever match this one for its sheer disturbing, visceral quality. It’s not only one of the great slasher kills in this franchise, but also one of the great horror movie kills, period.
Featured Image: New Line Cinema
