Freddy's Nightmares
Let's jump back into the late 80s for a second, to the heyday of pop slashers. Not even five years after the original film, we have three sequels and a tv show going. That's right... a sadistic child murder has warmed his way into the hearts of America. Maybe since he's so ugly, people view him more as a monster than a burnt human, and that makes it okay? •shrug•
This show is as old as I am, and I still never watched it all, and that's going to change. I might ramble on some of these episodes, so bear with me.
Season 1
Ep1:
No More Mr. Nice Guy - directed by Tobe Hooper
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582763/
This here's a story of Fred Krueger's final days, stalking a police officer and his family, going to court, and being hunted to his end. It's mostly cool as a novelty, to say that Tobe Hooper directed the Elm Street prequel, with Robert fucking Englund as Freddy.
The nerd in me wants to point out how we have three separate recollections of Freddy's burning moments, as seen in this show, Freddy's Dead, and Freddy vs. Jason. 😐
Ep2:
It's a Miserable Life - directed by Tom McLoughlin
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582753/
Featuring John Cameron Mitchell of Hedwig fame as a fast-food teen who's gonna have a real bad night. His girlfriend is Lar Park Lincoln, and the Dr. Serling character is played by Burr DeBenning, who played Dan's father in Elm Street 5, a totally different character. 😄
Ep3:
Killer Instinct - directed by Mick Garris
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582755/
Lori Petty is a track star with a bad luck trinket. Add Robert Shaye to the list of recurring different characters. He's played a teacher a few times, he was in nightmares, and now he's a "minister" in this.
These are the only three episodes I ever saw. Now that I'm done revisiting those, I can jump into the next 41 episodes. There was a total of 44 Freddy Krueger anthology episodes. Only a handful feature Krueger in more than a hosting capacity, but I look forward to seeing those.
Of course, I'm also very anxious to see the episode that features both Brad Pitt AND Bill Moseley.
Ep4:
Freddy's Tricks and Treats - directed by Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582745/
Finally, an episode about dream Freddy! Well, somewhat. He has a decent plot, terrorizing some med student, but nothing to write home about. Watching it, it seems that a lot of it was body doubles and cutaways to close-ups of Robert as Freddy. Pretty funny, but I'll take what I can get.
Ep5:
Judy Miller, Come on Down
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582754/
Some game show nonsense about winning money, and meeting her future self, who tells her NOT to keep the money. In the end, the same shit ends up happening...
Ep6:
Saturday Night Special
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582769/
It's all about having good looks, and weird dream nonsense throughout. It's an okay episode though. Very 80s and colorful.
Ep7:
Sister's Keeper - directed by Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582772/
A sequel to the first episode "No More Mr. Nice Guy", in which Freddy terrorizes the twins of the cop from that episode. It's actually pretty awesome.
Really dark, and gives Freddy some proper weight as being a guy who torments teenagers before he murders them in their sleep. What a lovely guy!
In retrospect, this would have to be my favorite episode of the series. Freddy at his best.
Ep8:
Mothers Day
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582762/
Mom, son, and new step-dad move into the old house that Freddy killed that guy in! I didn't get a good look at the house, and I'm not sure if they even showed it, but I guess it was supposed to be the one in the movies? Then some stuff happens until he falls off a roof, then the next half of the plot is about some radio show? You look away for a second, and you can miss vital plot points in these episodes, since most eps have a two-act structure. Not much Freddy activity in here, but enough to keep me happy.
Ep9:
Rebel Without a Car
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582767/
He wants to leave this evil town, and has to race a rival car bully over a girl. However, dreams have a habit of getting people killed in Springwood. The next half is about the girlfriend who's going nuts, apparently.
Ep10:
The Bride Wore Red
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582774/
Some wedding nonsense. Didn't pay too much attention, because this show got a lot of filler episodes, and this is one of 'em!
Ep11:
Do Dreams Bleed? - directed by Dwight H. Little
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582739/
There's another slasher in Springwood, or rather a chopper! The Springwood Chopper, as he's called, and he's also doing weird shit in people's dreams. Or is he? Maybe someone else is just dreaming weird shit and blaming it on him, or he's blaming it on them... who knows! Decent episode.
Ep12:
The End of the World
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582775/
This story is a lot like The Butterfly Effect in that a girl goes back in her dreams to change the past, with consequences on her future. Also features a nuclear scare, because Freddy is mindfucking these people. Yeah, that's right... Fred Krueger almost nuked Springwood once.
Ep13:
Deadline
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582738/
As in a reporter who has a deadline to write his stuff, but his wacky dreams are getting the best of him. There's a brief mention of Krueger and his crimes, but not much more. The next half is total filler.
Ep14:
Black Tickets
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582734/
Starring Brad Pitt! Him and his new wife are tired of Springwood and want to get out, but car trouble at night turns into a nightmare when the tow truck driver, BILL MOSELEY, leads them to crappy motel. Then MORE bad things happen until the second act of the story, which is about the girl not having ANY time for living now that she's pregnant. Funny twist ending. Decent episode.
Ep15:
School Daze
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582770/
Think Pink Floyd's
"Another Brick in the Wall" meets Halloween III. That's right. Into the meat grinder, out as a robot. The second half is also pretty good, dealing with the pressures of college and SAT scores, but there's a twist ending that changes your whole perspective. Good shit.
Ep16:
Cabin Fever - directed by Robert Englund
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582736/
You can tell this happened before 9-11. There are armed terrorists on an airplane, and then some random "cabin" panic, Freddy's tearing up the wing of the plane, and it just might crash... THEN... the episode turns into something with a girl getting caught up in a cabin with some weirdos, and then some rednexploitation occurs... okay at best.
Ep17:
Love Stinks
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582757/
Kinda mediocre, until the next half, when uncle Jeffrey Combs comes in! They point out his age as only 5 years older than the high school son. It's funny how little he changed over the years. They also turned the Beefy Boy restaurant into "Cheesy Boy", an Italian place where Jeffrey Combs and the teen guy work at times. (Beefy Boy was the restaurant in episode 2).
Ep18:
The Art of Death - dir Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582773/
A nerd who can draw well lusts after a high shool hottie, but she'll never want
him, right? Fortunately, he draws up a phantom who screws with reality. Kinda reminds me of that goosebumps book. Apparently, William Butler was in this one (and another episode), but I didn't see him anywhere. So this means that he's been in a Freddy, Jason,
and a Leatherface movie. Good for him!
Ep19:
Missing Persons
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582760/
A babysitter has to watch over two brats, and gets tempted to eat like crazy. Then, a guy who's unhappy with the suburban grind gets to switch places with somebody else, and nobody believes him. Pretty good episode.
Ep20:
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582746/
The episode starts off pretty hilariously, with a kid asking his parents where babies come from. Freddy thinks this is boring, and throws a knife on stage, into the dad's back. Then he puts a noose in there for mom, and he shoots the dog with an arrow, then throws the kid in the dark. Good old Fred Krueger!
A slacker is hounded by his girlfriend to get a job. He gets one, but he's complaining because it's a job in a dark sewer. This guy is afraid of the dark, and goes crazy. Even though his boss is Dick Miller! Seriously, what a whiny little bitch... then, a video store clerk is having nightmares, and not much else interesting happens.
Ep21:
Identity Crisis
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582749/
The first half is about some businessman whose son is gonna put him out of business... and life. Kinda shit, but the second half is better, featuring a hot teenage girl who's beginning to wonder if she was adopted. Spoiler alert: Her nightmares are telling her
that she's Freddy's daughter! However, this wouldn't be much of a twist for those familiar with the series. People already know that
Freddy has a long lost daughter in Freddy's Dead. Still decent.
Ep22:
Safe Sex
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582768/
So this guy likes this goth chick, but she's hung up on Freddy Krueger shit. That's the gist of it. She goes to a therapist, etc, etc. For a Freddy-centric plot, it doesn't do much.
Season 2
Ep1:
Dream Come True
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582741/
When a doctor guy is out to write a book about hypnosis/therapy, what do you do? Ask him to treat your child, who's been suffering from Freddy nightmares! Suffice to say, things don't work out all too well. Freddy starts toying with the doctor, and makes him lose his shit. Then, the cameraman enlists the kid's help in proving Freddy is out there. Of course, it doesn't end well... in fact, I don't know how it ends! My video cut off right before we got the resolution! Worth noting that Charles Cyphers is in this, though they misspelled his name 'Syphers'.
It's worth noting that his Freddy makeup changed for season 2, using the makeup from Part 5, since that was in production at the time. The difference in makeup is a little distracting, because it makes Freddy look too smooth, bright, and goofy, but it's all good.
Ep2:
Heartbreak Hotel
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582748/
I'm not gonna lie. This one felt like total filler. I literally JUST finished watching it, and I can't remember a damn thing. However, I do remember that it's about memory loss, so who knows if any of this makes sense. Then, they killed him with an air bubble, I guess.
Ep3:
Welcome to Springwood - dir Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582776/
This one was a lot better than the last one, but still just okay. A couple moves into a house, she's got mental issues and isn't on her meds, but one thing's for sure... at least one of them is crazy. The second half is about the girl reading some romance books, or rather love letters she found packed away somewhere. Don't get too invested into those romance stories, or you'll fucking DIE.
Ep4:
Photo Finish
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582764/
This is the second Halloween special, featuring plenty of Freddy. The first half is about a photographer played by Patty McCormack. That's right. The Bad Seed herself has to deal with the Krueger! She photographs women, but Freddy interferes. At least the pictures look good, right?
Then, we get another entry for the timeline. On October 30th, a guy in a ghost sheet kills a whole family. Due to the bizarre nature of Springwood, the FBI comes in, but things only get weirder for them. Pretty good stuff, featuring Freddy being a mean, evil fucker.
Ep5:
Memory Overload
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582737/
This is about a drunken college professor who's asked to harbor a former student who went AWOL from the military. Decently amusing, if not a cliched ending. The second half takes the episode title "memory overload" to the computer realm, featuring some bitch who uses a computer to ruin and fix people's credit. This includes going
inside the computer too. It sounds pretty stupid, but it's a pretty decent episode overall, and Freddy's got some good interludes, and even insults the audience by telling us we're braindead.
Ep6:
Lucky Stiff
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582758/
Infidelity and a misplaced lottery ticket start the adventure in this episode. So the dull husband never wins, but he always plays those same numbers. He dies, then by the luck of it, his ticket has the winning numbers. That's why we need a gravedigger in this episode, so team widow and boyfriend can use his shovel and unearth him. Who better to play the gravedigger than Tracy Walter! There's plenty of twists, as usual. Overall, a solid episode.
Ep7:
Silence is Golden
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582771/
This episode is about a radio dj who insults everybody, a mime he punched in the face and continues to insult and obsess about, and then the mime turns out to be a burglar anyway. Kinda standard episode.
Ep8:
Bloodlines
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582735/
Another filler episode that I can't remember anything about, even though I just watched it. •yawn•
Ep9:
Monkey Dreams - dir Robert Englund
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582761/
This episode was a pleasant surprise. It's set at an animal research facility, where Joe is onto something big. Joe's also a gambler who's got himself in deep with the wrong crowd, and he keeps having run-ins with the big lug who's out to collect the debt. Mind you, this is the same Joe character from "Memory Overload", which makes this episode a sequel to that one.
The next half focuses more on the head scientist of the place, Dr. Lynch, played wonderfully by Howard Sherman ('Bub' from Day of the Dead). It's about ethical treatment of animals, and it's pretty well done. Solid episode.
Ep10:
Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582740/
A twisted tale of babysitting, kidnap, the switcheroo, and families that are completely oblivious. They say the crazy girl locked in the basement was adopted, and her real parents were an institutionalized man, and a nun. Obviously, a clear reference to Freddy, but this
girl clearly isn't Freddy, but I guess she's on the right path! Good episode.
Ep11:
Dreams That Kill
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582742/
This is another sequel episode, to the season 2 premiere, the talk show episode "Dream Come True". There's a new host of that talk show, ready to do a story on dreams! Freddy doesn't like that. Not one bit. He tells him to cut that shit out, or he'll cut HIS shit out. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but the end result is the same. This guy gets pushed into doing the show and Freddy fucking tortures him in a coma for weeks. It's pretty sick. Pretty fucked! He cuts out his tonsils and stabs him up the anus. No joke.
The second half involves a motorcycle accident victim getting that guy's brain cells injected directly into his brain. Cuz that's absolutely how that works... What do you know... he starts getting the same memories as the last guy, including the same nightmares. Damn doctors took the brain cells from the nightmare cells instead of the regular cells, apparently!
Ep12:
It's My Party and You'll Die if I Want You To
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582752/
This episode features a phony psychic character who pretends to be possessed by spirits and whatnot. However, Freddy finds her to be a perfect target for his kind of business, so he flat out takes over her body the moment she goes into her deep "trance" to get into character. I state of being asleep and trapped in the dream world while Freddy is running amok with her body, killing whoever he feels like.
Eventually, Freddy also starts stalking his graduating class in high school reunion of sorts. The timeline isn't entirely clear on this, but some people rememeber Freddy as being a weirdo. Then he kills them. Or not? Maybe it was just a story some guy wanted to write. The story of a dream killer! Maybe they ought to call it "A Nightmare on Elm Street"!
Perhaps the last two Freddy-centric episodes of the series!
Ep13:
What You Don't Know Can Kill You - dir Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582777/
So we have a pervert hypno-therapist who's bangin' his female patients... Does she remember? Gotta keep her quiet, by hypnotizing another guy to kill her! It's a clusterfuck of dyslexic gold. Then, we have face-changing gangster mixups! Good stuff.
Note that this episode Jan 7th, 1990, thus is the Elm Street adventure in the 90s... and of course, it doesn't have Freddy in anything other than a hosting capacity. As of this point, I'm fairly certain that Freddy wont have his own episodes from this point on. Freddy only had one canon adventure in the 90s, huh? And that would be Freddy's Dead, set in 1999. Freddy ruined the town... or maybe weird ass shit kept happening, just like in the episodes of this show, and Freddy just sat around and watched. But one thing's for sure... Freddy was on his way out in the 90s.
Ep14:
Easy Come, Easy Go
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582744/
Tracey Walter is back as the gravedigger in this sequel to "Lucky Stiff", where his new bride doesn't love him anymore. Well, she never did really, since he blackmailed her into marriage, but still... She's got a problem with killing all her husbands and lovers. Will she ever learn? Featuring Richard Eden again, with a mustache. He played RoboCop in the 1994 tv series, which was pretty fun, if I say so myself. Interesting bit is that Page Fletcher (who played RoboCop in the Prime Directives miniseries) was the titular character in his own horor anthology show
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085031/. (The point here is that RoboCops are awesome)
The second half features a dashing man in an eyepatch who wants to get that money. The twist is pretty unexpected, but the outcome isn't. Nobody lives too long in Springwood! If a character survives one episode, they're likely to get killed off in another.
Ep15:
Prime Cut
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582765/
Camping gone wrong, with vampires! That's right. Fuckin' vampires in Springwood. Not too shabby either, and the twist sets us into another story. A clusterfuck of missing people, hikers, criminals, and cannibals! The news describes the area as "vast" and "mountainous". Ain't no mountains in Ohio! Of course, this was before Springwood was explicitly set in that state, but who really cares? It's a damn fine episode.
Ep16:
Interior Loft - dir Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582750/
Stark-raving mad! That's what this episode is. It starts as a simple plot of a romance writer who dabbles in phone-sex gone murderously wrong. Then, it goes insane, quite literally, in the sense that the characters deal with mental issues regarding the first act, and of course... it doesn't end well. It never does! Pretty good.
Ep17:
Interior Loft Later - dir Ken Wiederhorn
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582751/
This is a vague sequel to the previous episode, starring Fabiana Udenio (Alotta Fagina / Sunblock 5000 woman) and her artist boyfriend, who finds his work isn't as valuable as it would be if he were dead! It's got sort of a Bucket of Blood / Color Me Blood Red vibe to it.
Then, it turns into another spin-off of the apartment theme in who two girls get a male roommate. Can they trust him? Or is he playing them like the bimbos they are?
Ep18:
Funhouse
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582747/
Couple moves into a house, weird stuff happens... turns out there are a few hidden passages, and most importantly, a goddamn death bed that folds you into a spike wall. That's all you really need to know about this episode.
Ep19:
A Family Affair
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582733/
An all around downer of an episode about a black family... yeah, I'm mentioning that they're black, and for no reason really. It could've been a white family, but nah. It's a happy black family where son is getting a basketball scholarship and life is good. Well... dad's cheating on a white woman. This escalates, with murder, and even worse... DRUGS! This episode ends on an anti-drug note, and Freddy... good ol' child-murderin' dream demon Freddy... even he doesn't approve of DRUGS!
Ep20:
Dust to Dust
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582743/
This episode is a sequel to "Prime Cut", which was a good episode. This one, however, is kinda shitty. It's about those remaining cannibals getting caught up in an underground government facility, after having caught a disease from some guy that only affects cannibals. The rest of the episode is bullshit.
Ep21:
Prisoner of Love
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582766/
A priest is seduced by sexy gang members in a women's prison! He's very conflicted, of course, because he's a man of God, and he's doing a lot of things that go against the good book. These girls are going to the electric chair soon, and "father" needs to save their souls before they go. There's also an unsettling plot about being buried alive. Solid episode right here.
Ep22:
Life Sentence
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0582756/
A guy is doing time for a bank robbery, and he's almost out. Shit goes wrong about his parole, and then we get hypnosis drus on top of it... Pretty fucking lame series finale, but in the end, this whole series was very hit or miss.
#Editorial
