Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street spawned a franchise that includes a TV show that, unfortunately, became forgettable. The 1980s saw the rise of the slasher genre on the big screen, with one of its most successful titles being A Nightmare On Elm Street. Written and directed by Wes Craven, A Nightmare On Elm Street introduced the world to Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a serial killer who was burned alive years before the events of the movie. However, Krueger returned for revenge, and for it, he attacked the children of those who killed him in their dreams.
Going after them in their dreams not only made Krueger’s targets more vulnerable but also allowed him to torture them in disturbingly creative ways, and if he killed them there, they would also die in the real world. Leading A Nightmare On Elm Street was Nancy Thompson (Heather Langerkamp), who found a way to potentially defeat Krueger. A Nightmare On Elm Street was a critical and commercial success, making way for a movie series and a media franchise, including a forgotten TV show with an unexpected format.
A Nightmare On Elm Street Got A TV Show Titled Freddy’s Nightmares
Freddy’s Nightmares Ran For Two Seasons
Between A Nightmare On Elm Street: Dream Warriors and The Dream Master, the franchise branched out to TV with Freddy’s Nightmares. Also created by Wes Craven, Freddy’s Nightmares was a horror anthology TV series hosted by Freddy Krueger, with Robert Englund reprising his role as the iconic slasher. Freddy’s Nightmares aired in syndication from 1988 to 1990, ending after just two seasons. As an anthology series, each episode told a different story, though some linked to Krueger and the franchise.
The A Nightmare On Elm Street movie series continued to expand, but the show was overshadowed by the movies and didn’t stick around for long.
Only 2 Episodes Of Freddy’s Nightmares Explored Krueger’s Story
Two Episodes Of Freddy’s Nightmares Went Into Freddy Krueger’s Past
A TV show spawning from the world of A Nightmare On Elm Street and with Freddy Krueger as host would be expected to explore parts of Krueger’s story or show other attempts to kill new characters – however, this wasn’t the case for Freddy’s Nightmares. Out of all 44 episodes of the show, only two went into Krueger’s story, and both happened in the first season. The very first episode of Freddy’s Nightmares explores Krueger’s past, when he was a serial killer on the loose, going after children.
Freddy’s Nightmares’ first episode, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, was directed by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Tobe Hooper.
In that episode, Krueger targeted the daughters of a police officer, who later arrested him. However, during the trial, the judge found out that Krueger was never read his rights, so they had to let him go. This differed from the explanation given in A Nightmare On Elm Street, where Krueger was freed as someone forgot to sign a search warrant. The seventh episode of season 1 was a sequel to the first one, now following the twin daughters of the cop who killed Krueger, who were now being haunted by him in their dreams.
Freddy’s Nightmares didn’t expand on what the A Nightmare On Elm Street movies had established, and, instead, made some changes to Freddy Krueger’s backstory, but it explored some entertaining, though many times silly, stories also set on Elm Street. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to grant Freddy’s Nightmare a longer stay.
What Went Wrong With Freddy’s Nightmares
Freddy’s Nightmares Became Forgettable
Despite being part of one of the most important horror and slasher franchises, Freddy’s Nightmares more often than not leaned more towards a comedic side, as did most of the A Nightmare On Elm Street sequels. Krueger gave slapstick reactions to some of the episode’s events, which, along with some stories that were sillier than scary, gave an uneven tone to Freddy’s Nightmares. Speaking to what killed Freddy's Nightmares was its time slot, which led to a reduced budget and more.
While Freddy’s Nightmares had an interesting format, it might have succeeded had it approached the story of each episode differently. Freddy’s Nightmares is ed fondly by some fans of A Nightmare On Elm Street, but the show has been mostly forgotten. The future of the A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise is unclear, but it’s unlikely Freddy’s Nightmares will be revived at some point, even though talks about a potential TV series have been floating around since 2019.
Source: Bloody Disgusting.
- Creator(s)
- Wes Craven, Jeff Freilich
Your comment has not been saved