Behind the Couch

Dir. Samuel Bayer When a group of high school friends begin to die while they sleep, level-headed Nancy soon discovers that she and her friends are being stalked in their dreams by the vengeful, now demonic, child killer their vigilante parents murdered years ago. Can she stay awake long enough to put a stop to his bloody killing spree and save her own skin? One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Again. In 1984 Wes Craven unleashed his long cherished, low budget slasher movie A Nightmare on Elm Street upon unsuspecting audiences, and single-handedly created one of the most enduring and terrifying movie monsters of all time: Freddy Krueger. The definitive bogeyman for the MTV generation, Krueger reappeared in no less than seven sequels and a spin-off TV show as the series grew in popularity; each one upping his clownish antics and making him more ‘palatable’ for the multiplex crowd. Over the last few years an astounding number of horror films from the Seventies and Eighties ...

2003 Dir. Ronny Yu With the memory of Freddy Krueger suppressed and vanquished from the youth of Springwood – rendering him powerless and incapable of claiming any more victims - the dream-dwelling killer resurrects the brutish Crystal Lake marauder Jason Voorhees and manipulates him into going to Springwood to carve up a few teens and strike fear and chaos into the community. As the bodies pile up, talk of Krueger once again haunts the suburban homes of Springwood, gradually increasing the dream demon’s powers. He soon realises however, that Jason’s bloodlust can never be quenched, and once the hockey-masked maniac starts killing, there’s just no stopping him. There’s eventually a big show down between the pair and some unfortunate teens get stuck in the middle of it all… I reviewed Freddy vs. Jason a couple of years ago when I trekked through the Friday the 13th franchise . After re-watching it recently, I concluded that my opinions hadn’t really changed. You can read m...

1994 Dir. Wes Craven An unspeakably evil entity, first given form by the character of Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street films, has chosen that particular character as its avatar and portal into the real world. All that stands in its way is Heather Langenkamp, the actress who played Nancy Thompson; the first person to ever defeat Freddy Krueger. Can she play the part of Nancy one last time to stop the evil from entering our world? After they killed off Freddy Krueger, thus bringing an end to one of their most lucrative cash-cows, New Line began thinking maybe, just maybe , they’d done it prematurely. They requested a meeting with Wes Craven to reconcile their differences and ensure the aggrieved director was satisfied with the business side of the Elm Street franchise. Once all was fine and dandy, head of New Line, Bob Shaye, asked Craven if he would ever consider helming one more Elm Street film, dangling the carrot of free reign and creative control under his ...

1991 Dir. Rachel Talalay Freddy Krueger finally succeeds in killing all the children of his hometown by invading their dreams and slaughtering them while they sleep. By tracking down his estranged daughter, a resilient youth councillor, he plans to escape the confines of Springwood to claim fresh victims. When she discovers who he is, and his demonic past, she vows to put a stop to his reign of terror once and for all. Will Krueger finally be defeated in the climactic (3D!) showdown between father and daughter? " Do you know the terror of he who falls asleep? To the very toes he is terrified, because the ground gives way under him, and the dream begins ..." - Friedrich Nietzsche " No screaming while the bus is in motion! " - Freddy Krueger Despite its decline in returns, and its lacklustre reception, The Dream Child still earned enough money at the box office to convince New Line that a further instalment of the Elm Street series might be a hit. The st...

1989 Dir. Stephen Hopkins After surviving attempts on her life by dream-demon Freddy Krueger, Alice soon begins to have nightmares about him again, in which she's not in control. She realises that he is using the dreams of her unborn child to get to her and she must face him and attempt to destroy him one last time... The phenomenal success of The Dream Master automatically green-lit a further cheeseburger instalment of the Elm Street franchise. The fifth title, The Dream Child , took a little longer to go into production however, as it was stalled by an almost endless series of re-writes, and by Robert Englund’s increasingly busy schedule. The actor was now heavily involved in Freddy’s Nightmares , a TV series that featured Freddy Krueger hosting Twilight Zone -like tales of the macabre, occasionally delving into the mythos of the film series; including an episode detailing Krueger’s pre-dream dwelling killing spree and subsequent death at the hands of vigilante Elm Stre...

1988 Dir. Renny Harlin Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the remaining Elm Street teens, and he uses them to infiltrate the dreams of their friends to grow stronger and continue his killing spree. All that stands in his way is the quiet determination of a young woman who can absorb the good natures and attributes of her rapidly dwindling friends, gradually gaining the strength to stop Krueger once and for all. Until the next sequel, of course. " When deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me. And trembling which made all my bones to shake " - Job IV, 13-14 " How sweet. Fresh meat. " Freddy Krueger The commercial and critical success of Dream Warriors convinced New Line to start work on another Elm Street sequel. As was their usual custom, producers Sara Risher and Bob Shaye (who likened the creation of each instalment to assembling a cheeseburger!) approached Wes Craven, with whom relations were now in tatters to say the least, as Crav...

1987 Dir. Chuck Russell Demonic child-killer Freddy Krueger returns to haunt the dreams of the teenagers of Springwood, this time turning his murderous attention to the residents of a psychiatric hospital. What he doesn’t count on though is the return of Nancy Thompson, the first teenager to ever defeat him, who teaches the youngsters how to hone their dream powers to try and destroy him. “Sleep. Those little slices of death, how I loathe them.”* While a big success at the box office, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was panned by critics and fans of the original. Head of New Line Bob Shaye wanted to try and bring Freddy Krueger back for another outing. Once again he approached Wes Craven, writer and director of the original film , who declined to helm the project as he was working on Deadly Blessing . However, Craven saw this as an opportunity to have some creative input to an ongoing series which he believed had already veered into lacklustre quality, and he submitted a treatme...