Freddy Krueger: Nightmare Fuel

In an interview with VultureVultureWriter-director Wes Craven shared how he created some film ideas:

I read an article in the L.A. TimesL.A. TimesA family escaped the Killing Fields in Cambodia and reached the US. Then, the young son had disturbing nightmares. He told his parents he feared the chasing thing would get him if he slept, so he stayed awake for days. When he finally slept, his parents thought the crisis ended. Then they heard screams. By the time they reached him, he was dead. He died in a nightmare. A youngster saw a horror everyone older denied. This became the main point of Nightmare on Elm Street.Nightmare on Elm Street.

In a story for theNew York Post,Writer-director Wes Craven recalled a scary childhood memory that inspired part of Freddy Krueger's costume. Craven heard someone on the sidewalk outside his apartment while lying in bed and looked out the window:

A man in an overcoat and a fedora hat appeared. He sensed someone watching and looked straight into my eyes.

When the creepy guy tried to enter the apartment building, Craven's brother went outside with a baseball bat. By then, the stranger had left. This man inspired Craven's hatwear for Freddy and the character's personality.

What struck me most about the man was his malice on his face. He also had a sick sense of humor about how fun it was to scare a child.

Before being the Springwood Slasher, Freddy Krueger was a mistreated child who was shunned andtormented by classmates... the same classmates who later burned him alive.

From Redditor u/lady_baphomet:

Freddy was caught for killing children in Springwood. He walked free because an officer (perhaps Nancy's father) filled out the police search forms wrong. All evidence was dropped, and Freddy walked free due to a technicality, though he was entirely guilty.

In other versions of the mythos, a drunk judge signed the warrant in the wrong spot.

Traumatic events in his childhood and how he died caused Freddy to fear fire.

To escape a nightmare, a person can touch something hot enough to burn.

From Redditor u/lady_baphomet:

[Freddy] only switched to teens after dying because the dream demons who gave him his powers only let him go after the descendants of thepeople who murderedhim.

He could not target people not linked to his first death; this became a major plot point in the third and fourth films. By the sixth film, he killed every child and teen in Springwood, but he barely touched adults, instead messing with their minds.

To name the Springwood Slasher, writer-director Wes Craven used a name from his childhood bully.The name was a boy.This boy beat him up in elementary school.Fred Krueger.Fred Krueger was the name of a schoolmate he shared a paper route with.

The bully also inspired the name of the villain Craven created.The Last House on the Left.(1972).

Director Wes Craven stated in an interview with Vulture.Wes Craven spoke with Vulture.He did not want his villain to wear a mask because his personality involved taunting and teasing potential victims.

Many killers wore masks: Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason. I wanted my villain to have a "mask," but talk and threaten. So I thought of him being burned and scarred.

Freddy Krueger married Loretta and had a daughter named Katherine. He tried to live normally before his killing urges took over.

While Freddy was the Springwood Slasher, Loretta found the trophies he kept in the basement. He later...Freddy murdered his wife.He did this in front of his child.

Writer-director Wes Craven.Wes Craven picked the red and green colors for Freddy Krueger's sweater from a magazine article in Scientific American.Scientific American. That said, the human eye has trouble seeing red and green together because they contrast.The human eye has trouble seeing red and green together because they contrast.Red and green colors clash when seen together.

From Redditor u/lady_baphomet.:

Most serial killers tend to stick with their favored victims, and for Freddy, children were always his target in life, so continuing that in death made sense. He did not find killing adults as thrilling, since as a child killer, he likely got a thrill from dominating weaker beings.Serial killers allegedly stick with their favored victims, and for Freddy, children were always his target in life, so continuing that in death made sense. He did not find killing adults as thrilling, since as a child killer, he likely got a thrill from dominating weaker beings.Freddy's choice of victims lines up with the thought process of real maniacs. Freddy always targeted children, which made sense in death. He found killing adults less thrilling because, as a child killer, he likely gained a thrill from dominating weaker beings.

Freddy Krueger actor.Robert Englund discussed the influences on his character in interviews.

He told...Vulture.:

Arriving at the audition, I licked my finger and put it in the ashtray of my Datsun Roadster. That is an old theater trick: Ash gives a nice shadow under the eyes. So I dabbed a little there, greased my hair back, and went in. I looked strange. I sat there and listened to Wes [Craven] talk. He was tall, preppy, and learned. I posed a bit, like Klaus Kinski, and that was the audition.

In an interview with...IGN., the actor said:

I like Klaus Kinski's Nosferatu. That influenced my performance of Freddy a bit, especially when I show Freddy's baldness. Also, I borrowed a "thrust neck" from Klaus; a bit of the neck thrusts forward from the shoulders.

Demonic forces approached Freddy Krueger after he burned alive. They wanted him to act as chaos in the mortal world. They gave the most evil mortals abilities to make hell on Earth.

These forces are the source of Freddy's power.

Before Freddy became a mass-murdering maniac, Freddy Krueger practiced his "craft" onTwo hamsters.Freddy Krueger practiced his "craft" on two hamsters from his grade school class and his alcoholic caretaker Mr. Underwood, who regularly whipped him.