Freddy Krueger

On Elm Street, terrible things were happening. Nancy's friends were all being faced by a terrible monster, a ghastly man with burnt skin and knives for fingers, in the most unlikeliest of places - in their dreams. Years ago, the parents of Elm Street captured and executed an evil man, a child molester, by the name of Freddy Krueger, burning him to death in a boiler room. Now, Freddy is back, cornering and butchering teenagers in the one place where parents can't protect them, one after another - until Nancy realizes that she has to face him, in a final attempt to protect herself and the survivors of his nightmare massacre. It's well known amongst film fans that horror auteur Wes Craven was a teacher of literature before he went on to make scary films (like the terrifying The Hills Have Eyes, Scream and Music of the Heart). His erudite background no doubt paid off when it came to his well-known thriller A Nightmare on Elm Street - the clever film played on a myriad of well-known fears, like the unfamiliar world of dreams, and the parental dread of losing a child. Despite the hilarious last few minutes, Nightmare is a classic, and the killer went on to become a popular horror icon. Freddy Krueger was featured in the original Movie Maniacs line, and then was later remade in Movie Maniacs 4, sporting a much needed new sculpt (based on the 18" Freddy from MM3). As cool as it once was, the original Freddy sculpt from MM1 just doesn't cut the mustard anymore, and it's not hard to see why. Freddy stands just 7" tall featuring his trademark striped shirt, his dark hat, scorched skin and his colorful knives-as-fingers glove, perfect for cutting up young children in their sleep. The sculpt of the original Freddy is recognizable but disappointing due to hodgepodge sculpt on two of Freddy's most identifying features - his face and his glove. Freddy looks little like Robert Englund, the actor behind the face, and his scorched skin is really poorly created, resembling less "burnt flesh" and more "carved wood." His glove is technically accurate but the knife fingers are messed up with soft plastic, bending in the package, meaning that his blades are almost never straight, instead just looking goofy. These are just some of the problems of the middling Freddy figure, which falls short of its cooler Movie Maniac brethren. Be better, stupid! Freddy's paint job is pretty good, particularly his nifty striped sweater (the second version - the original had plain red sleeves). As discussed in the Jason review, there is a bloody and non-bloody variant of Freddy, and the non-bloody is more appropriate - the PG-13 version has blood stained fingers and a dirty big stain on his shirt, neither of which stun. His mediocre articulation includes shoulders, right elbow and hand, neck and waist, providing not a great deal of movement at all - his right arm with the knife-fingered hand would be much cooler if it really moved, but instead he's just pre-posed, raising the hand threateningly. Unsure of what accessories to include with the pre-armed Freddy, McToys opted to include a tiny Freddy Puppet from my personal favourite, Nightmare 3 - The Dream Warriors. The little puppet is only about 2½" tall, but is complete with shoulder articulation and a sick Freddy grin. I'm tempted to say that the sculpt on the puppet is better than the figure itself, a surprise considering the scale and detail - it's a great accessory that sits well next to the marquee, which features the original Nightmare poster. I dig the original tagline; "If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all." Inventive! Overall, this Freddy isn't the greatest of the Movie Maniacs line, though it isn't bad for the very first. Freddy was re-released in a fishtank with Jason for a Freddy vs. Jason set, a marketing move taking place years before the recent movie release, and there is a new figure from NECA following the new movie hit. Time will tell if we get a cooler Freddy figure! For what it is, though, this is a decent figure to look back at. -- 10/13/03

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