Horror icon and Master of Dreams, Robert Englund, has shared an idea that would reinvent his legendary Freddy Krueger character for generation to come. Recently, while contributing to a panel at the 2018 Summer Television Critics Association press tour for Eli Roth’s History of Horror AMC docu-series, Englund spoke of a fresh take on The Springwood Slasher that would see the character appearing in multiple forms. While the Son of a Hundred Maniacs has taken on the guise of different creatures and characters throughout his storied existence, Englund's spin would kick things up a notch, in more ways than one.
“If I had an Eli Roth budget I would have cast different actors to play Freddy for every potential victim,” Englund said. “Because Freddy is only alive in the imagination of his future victim. They would talk about it at a slumber party or in a locker room at school, or on the bus going home. All we know about this Fred Krueger is he wears a hat, wears a red and green striped sweater and has a clawed hand. That’s the specifics.”
Essentially, Englund's Freddy would take on multiple forms, thereby changing his size, shape, race, clothes, face, ect. If you think about it, the idea makes almost too much sense, as each person pulls limitless aspects of their own life experience into their dreams on a nightly basis. Oh sure, you can be strict about it by saying that he's an established dream demon with his own physical traits, but we are talking about new ideas, here.
“So it could be a red and green cardigan for one Freddy. It could be an old tattered baseball cap for another Freddy. Freddy could be tall, he could be short, he could be overweight, he could be muscular,” Englund proposed. “Every one of the victims could have a different Freddy they imagined. And you could haunt them with that Freddy.”
Englund then added a delightful twist to his idea by saying, “And then at the end, it would be the ultimate victim and we see Freddy peel [his face] open and maybe it’s yours truly revealed,” Englund teased. “And it’s the essence of Freddy.”
Whoa. That's some deep-rooted, cerebral stuff there, Mr. Englund. Perhaps he's onto something? I mean, who would know the character better than him? Certainly he's had plenty of time to ruminate about this sort of thing. Personally, I think this sounds like a great idea, though I would urge Englund to reprise his role as Krueger for at least one victim in the would-be film.
What do you think of Englund's idea? Would you be down for checking out an experimental Nightmare film that uses the multi-Freddy framework? If the legendary character were not already a fixture of your imagination, what would an alternate Freddy look like for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
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