FRED
CHARLES KRUEGER
The first horror film I ever saw was A Nightmare on Elm Street at about the age of eight. As a result I had nightmares for many years. These memories also include images of me lying in bed without moving, the quilt fully covering my arms and legs and a constant attention to any form of sound in my bedroom. Sometimes I would even check under my bed and in my wardrobe for Freddy - with of course the irony being that if he really wanted me he could easily turn up in a dream!!!
Oddly enough this film actually spurned my love of horror, and in my opinion A Nightmare on Elm Street remains the best horror film I have ever seen.
So what is Freddy's story.....well to understand his life we must first go back to the year 1922, and the birth of Amanda Krueger at Westin Hills hospital in Springwood, Ohio. In July 1940 she became a nun, known as Sister Mary Helena, and from there she worked in 'the tower' at Westin Hills hospital - which housed the most evil and twisted members of the insane. In December 1941 she was unintentionally locked in the tower, whereby the inmates kept her concealed for days, during which time she was continually raped and beaten. When she was eventually rescued she was barely alive...and pregnant.
In September 1942 Fred Charles Krueger was born, and Amanda (AKA Sister May Helena) decides that she will keep him. It is about ten years later when the first signs of Freddy's evilness become apparent....We see in Part 6 how his behaviour as a boy included torturing animals and cutting himself. He is also constantly teased by other children (Son of a hundred maniacs). Freddy's mother gives up her child following his unruly behaviour, and after living in various homes he reaches adulthood and gains a job as a Janitor at Springwood High. In 1963 he married January 1963 he married Lorretta Johnson, and in 1966 they bear a daughter, Katherine Krueger. In 1967 Freddy began his methodical elimination of all children in Springwood, which he concealed from his wife and daughter. However in 1971 Lorretta discovered what was going on in Freddy's cellar, and so subsequently he strangles her to death. This is witnessed by his daughter, who tells someone about it. She is adopted and Freddy fled.
However in October 1974 the 'Springwood slasher' went on trial, charged with the massacre of 20-30 children. However due to an arrest warrant not being signed in the right place he is released on a technicality. However the families of the murdered children took their own revenge by trapping him in his boiler room and burning him to death. While the flames engulfed the boiler room Freddy was approached by three dream demons, who search the land of the living to find the most evil soul, and in turns give them the power to turn dreams into reality. Freddy obviously accepted their offer, whilst his natural remains were taken to penny Brothers auto salvage yard and locked in a red Cadillac, presumably to erase kruger's existence. His mother, upon hearing the news of her son on trial, supposedly hung herself - although no body was ever found.
As long as the victim was dreaming, Krueger could inhabit and control their dreams, twisting them to his own ends. Any physical harm done to a person in this dream world would then carry over into the real world, allowing him to easily commit multiple murders. His powers would increase as more and more kids believed that he existed. in a persons own dream, Krueger could also use their deepest fears and personality against them. A few victims managed to use their own imagination to consciously manipulate their dreams (a techniques known as lucid dreaming) but that had little effect on Krueger, who was completely in control of their dreams already. Another of his powers involved absorbing the souls of his victims, which served to make him even more powerful.
So for ten years all in Springwood was quiet, there were no more murders and the angry mobs children all grew into teenagers......
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NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 (2016)