Nope. Craven wanted to make him a pedophile, but the studio said no. So all he ever was was a child murderer.
I mostly agree on the orig and I’m not even a horror flick fan. Saw #2 and #3, both incredibly bad and realized now they were just acting like all other “the villian never dies” flicks. Lame, boring.
Didn’t know it was “so hated” etc but again when the topic comes up I typically tune out anyway.
Even the sequels aren’t really that bad.
Two (Freddy’s Revenge) gets a lot of grief for doing something different and some supposedly homoerotic imagery, but it’s not nearly as bad as people like to say. Overall it’s quite an aberration from the rest of the series, and thus easily skippable, but not something you need to pretend doesn’t exist like Highlander 2.
Three (Dream Warriors) rightfully is considered perhaps the best of the series, though I wouldn’t argue with those who still think one is the best. It’s here where Freddy really goes from “slasher in your dreams” to all the creative stuff he’s typically thought of for doing. He had a few one liners in the past, but here’s where he really starts showing his wit as well. Interesting he really gets fully developed in the third, because similarly, it wasn’t until the third F13 where Jason really took his iconic form with the hockey mask. Maybe the third time really is the charm.
Four (Dream Master) wasn’t as good as three, but still not bad. Cheesy 80’s montage training scene aside, it stands up pretty well.
Five (Dream Child) a huge drop from four, probably the worst of the numbered NOES movies, but still something you could watch without ripping your eyes out.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare is a total abomination, not even worth watching unless you want to laugh at the sight of a young Breckin Meyer or a 5 second cameo by Johnny Depp (one of the stars of the first movie). The less said about Roseanne and Tom Arnold’s cameo, the better. Apparently this one’s not even canon, based on Springwood still being a relatively normal town later on in FvJ.
New Nightmare, pretty good, but I don’t really consider it part of the series any more than I consider the remake part of the series.
Freddy vs Jason, I loved it, but it’s not even scary in the least bit, more of a fun homage to the two franchises.
A decent summary, but I feel I should add a couple of notes:
Part 2 isn’t merely “supposedly” homoerotic; it’s downright blatant. Cites: the androgynously-named protagonist “Jessie” and his girlish scream, the various close-ups of Jessie in his underwear doing “yankin’ the crank” dance moves and butt-bumping his dresser drawers shut, the fact that the movie features two bare male asses and no breasts, the close relationship Jessie has with his buddy Grady and an alleged girlfriend we almost never see, Jessie accidentally running into his PE teacher at a gay bar shortly before said teacher is tied up with jumpropes and has his bare ass whipped with towels by Freddy…I could go on. Also, the director seemed to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it is that scares people; apparently we’re supposed to be terrified of a malfunctioning thermostat, a dog wearing an old man mask, and an escaped parakeet. Most of the movie is bloodless; even Freddy’s rampage through the pool party shows no blood that I can recall. And yet, despite all these faults, it’s still not the worst of the sequels!
I’m not as big a fan of Part 3 as others, because that’s where Freddy’s lame jokes and what I call “theme deaths” really began to take hold. In truth, Freddy’s first bad joke was in part 2, but by part 3 just about everything that came out of his mouth was a bad pun. Still, it was better than what followed, which is kinda like being the best baseball player in Tibet.
Part 4 was fair, but seriously dumb in parts. Part 5 was a major misfire, featuring lots of pregnancy angst and mommy issues. And isn’t that what we all go to horror movies for? And Part 6, holy crap, what a turd. I can’t believe director Rachel Talalay is still allowed to work in Hollywood after that. If you know anyone who expresses a desire to see Part 6, just kill them; they clearly have no regard for their own sanity or well-being.
New Nightmare was actually interesting, and I liked it even more than Part 3 for its creative storytelling. Freddy didn’t do much killing, but at least the menace was back, and there were no lame puns. Freddy vs. Jason wasn’t supposed to be anything more than just fun, I reckon, and it was.
Now, as for the reboot – I think they really screwed up when they introduced a plotline of “what if Freddy was really innocent, and they killed him without justification, and now he’s out for revenge?”. They resolved that later, but it muddied the character for a significant portion of the movie. In the end, the movie just seemed sort of lacking, for reasons I can’t really put my finger on; maybe it was just that Freddy wasn’t menacing enough. Maybe the kids weren’t interesting enough to make us care about them. I dunno.
Anyway, that’s my spin.
umm…i don’t think the original is laughed or hated at all. i think it is highly respected in the horror genre from practically everyone.
I saw part 2 recently and it’s not as bad as i remember it being. the homoerotic imagery was…surprising. i had forgotten about that.
Part 3 really upped the ante with some cool sfx, far better than what the first one had, and an interesting plot and some characters you liked. I still get squeamish thinking about the guy moving around like a marionette with his bloody veins as strings…yech.
In order of when I saw the films.
Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Probably the best of the series because the nightmare imagery is even more spectacular and you get a little bit of Freddy’s background.
Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
I like this film. It wasn’t as imaginative as the original and did away with killing-teenagers-in-their-dreams. But I thought it was a cool novelty to see Freddy in the real world and I liked that he was more of a silent killer in this film, opposed to the wise cracking caricature in the subsequent films.
Nightmare On Elm Street
Considering it was the first one, I find this to be the most stylish and innovative of the series. The intro was unique, and the score was amazing. The ending is especially good and yet depressing.
The Rest
This is when Freddy became a comedy character, the cast were all cliches and it wasn’t even scary anymore. The cast usually consisted of not so great actors and/or horrible cliche’s.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Heard great things but it was a big let down. Freddy looked intimidating here, the angle was great, but it wasn’t scary. Not even a little.
I can see why people might not like the Elm Street franchise. Depending on what part of the franchise you grew up with, you probably see the character as either classic horror villain, or a cornball character.