Don't fall asleep with A Nightmare on Elm Street merchandise

Freddy's back, so don't fall asleep.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a classic slasher movie complete with promiscuous teens, a creepy killer and lots of screaming. It tells the tale of Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley takes on the role originally played by Robert Englund), a child murderer who was released from prison because of a fault on a search warrant. Hearing of his release a group of parent’s burn him alive in his house, but this isn’t the end of his reign of terror. Over a decade later he begins haunting the dreams of a group of teenagers in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio.

At first no one believes Tina (Amanda Wyss) when she tells them about her terrifying dream, but when she is murdered by invisible blades in front of her boyfriend, it all starts to become real. And the nightmare begins for her friend, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and her boyfriend Glen (a young Johnny Depp). After a trip to a dream clinic, a few more terrifying dreams and watching her mother burnt and dragged into her bed by Freddy, the trouble seems to be over. Until Nancy and her friends get into a car which becomes possessed by the killer (check out the red and green stripy roof) and her mom is pulled through the small window in the front door, not quite terrifying but enough to keep us coming back for more.

The original series spanned over five films and was then resurrected for Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Freddy Vs. Jason and the current ‘re-imagining’. Directed by music video master Samuel Bayer, the film is a revamped version of the original. Freddy hasn’t changed much, he’s still wearing his trademark striped jumper, brown fedora and, of course, the iconic glove. Creator Wes Craven was inspired by his cat, and says he wanted to “make the character memorable, since it seems that every character that has been successful has had some kind of unique weapon, whether it be a chain saw or a machete, etc. I was also looking for a primal fear which is embedded in the subconscious of people of all cultures, the claw of an animal, like a saber-toothed tiger reaching with its tremendous hooks. I transposed this into a human hand.”

Freddy certainly is memorable, and with Jackie Earle Haley’s realistically burnt face, he’s even scarier. Haley said: “Andrew Clement [the make-up artist] did an awesome job redesigning the make-up. You know, you can imagine since they’re making it, going back in time and starting over. Robert Englund did such an amazing job of owning Freddy Krueger, you know, we need to pay homage to that but at the same time be a little bit fresh and new, while still being familiar. So Andrew and Sam Bayer kind of created a new look for this guy that I think is awesome.”

We’ve found some pretty cool A Nightmare on Elm Street merchandise from the original and newer films, including a Freddy bust money bank. Or why not pick up the DVD boxset and catch up on Freddy’s history before taking in the remake.