When it comes to horror icons, a bunch of characters comes to mind — all of them worth the scary shivers down our spine.
Apart from the killer doll Chucky and the Woman in the Well Sadako, there’s Freddy Krueger in his terrifying glory. With his instantly recognizable glove, fedora hat and a striped sweater, Krueger haunts people in their dreams and kills them after.
Thanks to Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” the character rose to great heights and as a result, many people love the Freddy Krueger movies.
He may be a nightmare, but Freddy doubles as a hero in his films. Despite being the primary villain of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise, he has a gross kind of charisma that entices fans to binge-watch all of Freddy Krueger’s movies — even if it’s not Halloween.
Freddy has been around for nearly four decades now, slashing his way through countless sequels, reboots, re-imaginings and crossovers. He even had an anthology TV series that ran for two seasons (sadly, “A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy’s Nightmares” is not available to stream). With plenty of films in his murderous collection, it’s easy to lose track of how many Freddy Krueger pictures are available out there.
How Many Freddy Krueger Movies are There?
Currently, there are NINE Freddy Krueger films. These are:
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
- Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
- Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
- Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010, reboot)
Freddy did appear in the 2009 film “Stan Helsing,” but we’re not counting guest appearances in parody-like films here.
How to Watch the Freddy Krueger Films in Order
The first six films of the franchise have a straightforward storyline. But like other horror movie franchises with more than five films in the bag, the story gets a little confusing after the fourth or fifth film. In Freddy’s case, the timeline gets confusing after “The Final Nightmare.”
If you’re planning to binge-watch all of Freddy Krueger’s movies in order, bookmark this list, make some popcorn and hope that Freddy won’t haunt your dreams after every film.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This is the film that started it all for Freddy Krueger and his glove of blades. The story focuses on Freddy’s murder spree in fictional Springwood, Ohio. The manic murderer targeted Nancy Thompson and her friends, attacking them in their dreams and hurting them in real life. He manages to murder nearly everyone, except Nancy.
Nancy’s mother Marge reveals to her that Krueger was a child murderer who was killed by the parents of Springwood after he was acquitted on a technicality.
Nancy defeats the manic murderer by pulling him from his world of dreams and draining his powers when she stops being afraid of him.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
Freddy’s back for vengeance in his second film “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.” This time, the psychotic dream murderer is after Jesse Walsh and his family, right after the latter move into Nancy’s old home. Jesse starts having nightmares of Freddy before the killer manages to possess his body. His girlfriend Lisa saves him by kissing him, exorcising Freddy out of Jesse’s body.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Nancy Thompson returns in the third film but this time, she’s all grown up and is an intern therapist at a psychiatric hospital. Once she arrives at Westin Hills, she realizes that her old nemesis Freddy is killing children in the area.
With the help of Dr. Neil Gordon, Nancy helps Kristen Parker and her friends Kincaid, Will, Taryn and Joey to find their dream powers, so they can end Freddy.
Neil also meets the spirit of Freddy’s mother Amanda, who tells him to bury Freddy’s remains in hallowed ground to end his carnage. He manages to bury Freddy, but not before Freddy murders Nancy.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
In the fifth film, Kristen is released from Westin Hills, but she knows Freddy is not completely gone. And she’s right.
She unwittingly releases Freddy, who immediately murders Joey and Kincaid. Before Freddy can reach Kristen, she transfers her dream powers to her friend Alice Johnson.
Alice starts providing Freddy with new victims when she starts pulling people into her dreams. Once she realizes what’s happening, Alice confronts Freddy and uses the Dream Master’s power to release the souls Freddy took. They rip themselves from him, killing him in the process.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
Picking up shortly after the events of the fourth film, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child” sees Freddy trying to use Alice’s unborn child Jacob as tool for his resurrection.
The spirit of his mother Amanda returns, revealing the gruesome way Freddy was conceived. Amanda convinces the unborn Jacob to use his powers (which were given by Freddy) against Freddy to subdue the murderer long enough for him and his mother to escape the dream world.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
“Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” begins with Freddy killing all of Springwood, Ohio’s youth — except one kid who doesn’t remember him. A therapist brings this “John Doe” back to Springwood to see if they can recover his memories, only to unleash Freddy’s horrors.
Freddy wants to create new “Elm Streets.” However, his daughter Maggie uses new dream techniques to uncover his past, which includes him being taunted by others, beaten by his stepfather and him murdering his wife when she discovers his penchant for killing kids. She also sees him accepting an offer from the Dream Demons so he could live forever. Maggie finally pulls Freddy out of the dream world and uses a pipe bomb to kill him.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
In the seventh Freddy Krueger picture, Wes Craven returns to the series by portraying himself, along with the other creators. In this film, Freddy is actually an evil entity that has been trapped in the movies made about him.
Since the films have stopped, the entity, which loved being Freddy, attempts to escape into the real world.
The entity comes across actress Heather Langenkamp, whom the entity sees as Nancy. Craven asks Langenkamp to portray Nancy one last time to defeat the entity.
Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
In one of the most iconic horror movie crossovers of all time, Freddy finds himself facing Jason Voorhees from “Friday the 13th.” Freddy is growing weak because the people of Springwood are no longer afraid of him. So he impersonates Jason’s mother Pamela to send the latter to Springwood to cause fear and panic. Jason does so but kills more people in the process.
As a result, the two villains battle it out in Crystal Lake and the dream world.
There is no clear winner since Jason surfaces from the lake with Freddy’s severed head, which laughed and winked (we’re told the original ending was way worse, though).
What is the Most Recent Freddy Krueger Movie?
“A Nightmare on Elm Street,” the 2010 reboot, is the latest Freddy Krueger movie on the list. In the remake of the original first film, Freddy stalks the dreams of Nancy Holbrook and her friends. Eventually, they discover the common link: they were all molested by Freddy when they were children. He was murdered by their parents as revenge.
Now a vengeful spirit, Freddy murders the kids that alerted their parents about his wrongdoings. He works his way to Nancy, who is his favorite. Eventually, she falls into a coma and is about to spend the rest of her life with Freddy when her friend Quentin injects adrenaline into her, waking her up. Nancy and Quentin kill Freddy and Nancy is reunited with her mother — only for Freddy to return to kill her.
Where to Watch Freddy Krueger Movies
If you’re a big fan of Freddy Krueger films and want to give yourself a good scare, you can watch his movies on HBO Max and Netflix. You can also rent the film from outlets like Google Play, YouTube Movies or iTunes.
Freddy Krueger made the horror genre as it is. Without him, there wouldn’t be a King of Slasher Horror Films. So if you’re up for a good night’s watch, watch all of his films and try not to sleep — or else, he’ll come and get you.
