History YMMV / ANightmareOnElmStreet

!!The video games:
* DemonicSpiders: Freddy™ himself was likely intended to be this, being able to pop up randomly in the dream world, but with the right Dream Warrior power he's really no harder to deal with than anything else.
** ThatOneBoss: Not so much in the final boss fight though when he actually has a health bar and no obstructive terrain, and he litters the floor with those ground-slasher hands as the fight goes on. There won't be any safe places to stand if you can't finish him off quickly.
* HilariousInHindsight: The color of Freddy's glove on the title screen is the same as his other hand, and looks more organic than usual. It almost seems like a precursor to the look of the claws utilized in ''Wes Craven's New Nightmare''.
* {{Narm}}: The NES game's insistence of adding a ™ whenever Freddy™ is mentioned.
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The NES game published by LJN (but developed by {{Rare}}) was giving a scathing review by WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, while the PC game published by Westwood, based on ''Dream Warriors'', isn't well known to the general public.
** Though with that said, it's one of the few NES games that supports up to four people, and aside from gripes about the [[ScrappyMechanic Scrappy Mechanics]] the gameplay was nicely done for something of its time.
* ScrappyMechanic: Largely the reason for the game's negative reception.
** Not helped by hatred of a similar system used in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Castlevania II]]'', the dream world mechanic wasn't well-received due to how poorly it was thought out. To clarify, once you find a Dream Warrior power in the stage, you can easily charge through any enemy with it and thus ''eliminating the threat of being sent there in the first place''. They aren't overly hard to find either, since all the stages are linear. If you somehow ''don't'' get a Dream Warrior power before falling asleep (or just finding one in the dream world) however, then God help you. Even if you do get through all the mooks, the bosses well readily end you.
** The bone collecting gimmick is hit-and-miss. The houses (stages) that open up in the game are randomized with each separate play-through (though the bosses or not), and not every house that opens will have bones. If you don't see a number other than zero on the bone counter (it counts how many are left to find in the stage, not how many you have), then you have to fight your way through a pointless level for nothing. This can eat up your lives and continues like candy if you're not careful. Thankfully, bosses don't appear in non-bone levels. Made more frustrating as stages that didn't have bones before ''could'' have them later after you find the ''actual'' bone level and beat it...

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger, the dream-invading serial killer antagonist of the franchise. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. He was a child killer before, he became a ghost, and kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims [[{{Squick}} and licked them.]] After his death he makes a deal with demonic forces to literally become, in his own words, "the stuff nightmares are made of". He uses his newfound powers to find increasingly creative ways to torture and murder his dozens of victims for his own amusement by using their primal fears against them, all the while cracking ''really'' sick jokes. Then he harvests the teenagers' souls and keeps them in a perpetual AndIMustScream state inside his body to drain them for energy. Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good -- though even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, such as when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") Freddy is one of the few SlasherMovie killers with a distinct and talkative personality, and has always simply been a sadistic monster who extends his victims' suffering for its own sake.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger, the dream-invading serial killer antagonist of the franchise. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. He was a child killer BEFORE he became a ghost. He kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims [[{{Squick}} and licked them.]] After his death he makes a deal with demonic forces to literally become, in his own words, "the stuff nightmares are made of". He uses his newfound powers to find increasingly creative ways to torture and murder his dozens of victims for his own amusement by using their primal fears against them, all the while cracking ''really'' sick jokes. Then he harvests the teenagers' souls and keeps them in a perpetual AndIMustScream state inside his body to drain them for energy. Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good -- although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") Freddy is one of the few SlasherMovie killers with a distinct and talkative personality, and has always simply been a sadistic monster who extends his victims' suffering for its own sake.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger, the dream-invading serial killer antagonist of the ''Nightmare'' franchise. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. He was a child killer BEFORE he became a ghost. He kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims [[{{Squick}} and licked them.]] After his death he makes a deal with demonic forces to literally become, in his own words, "the stuff nightmares are made of". He uses his newfound powers to find increasingly creative ways to torture and murder his dozens of victims for his own amusement by using their primal fears against them, all the while cracking ''really'' sick jokes. Then he harvests the teenagers' souls and keeps them in a perpetual AndIMustScream state inside his body to drain them for energy. Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good -- although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") Freddy is one of the few SlasherMovie killers with a distinct and talkative personality, and has always simply been a sadistic monster who extends his victims' suffering for its own sake.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. He was a child killer BEFORE he became a ghost. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick}} And licked them.]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...")
** [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 The 2010 reboot]], while [[SoOkayItsAverage lacking]] in some areas, made him ''even more monstrous''. He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. His ultimate plan is to keep Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before putting her in a coma to keep her all for himself.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick}} And licked them.]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") This was retconned in [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick}} And licked them.]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* BadassDecay: Freddy ''never'' joined the good guys (who would want him?), but as the series went on, he became quite the jokester, and became goofier and more playful with people's dream sequences than he was in the first few films. This came to a head in ''Freddy's Dead'', where he turned someone's dream into a Creator/{{Nintendo}} game, where you can tell he's having a great time.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick}} And licked them.]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm}}-filled ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

** Not helped by hatred of a similar system used in [[{{VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest}} Castlevania II]], the dream world mechanic wasn't well-received due to how poorly it was thought out. To clarify, once you find a Dream Warrior power in the stage, you can easily charge through any enemy with it and thus ''eliminating the threat of being sent there in the first place''. They aren't overly hard to find either, since all the stages are linear. If you somehow ''don't'' get a Dream Warrior power before falling asleep (or just finding one in the dream world) however, then God help you. Even if you do get through all the mooks, the bosses well readily end you.

* MisaimedFandom: It is truly disturbing how many 12 year old girls on DeviantArt draw cutesy anime-esue fan art about him falling in love with their DistaffCounterpart OC of him they made. Who knew skinless demonically powered child rapists are so "cute"?

* BadassDecay: Freddy ''never'' joined the good guys (who would want him?), but as the series went on, he became quite the jokester, and became goofier and more playful with people's dream sequences than he was in the first few films. This came to a head in ''Freddy's Dead'', where he turned someone's dream into a {{Nintendo}} game, where you can tell he's having a great time.

* MotiveDecay: Subverted; after slaughtering the children of the parents of Springwood responsible for killing him, the film franchise changes Freddy's motives to [[OurSoulsAreDifferent collecting souls]] to increase his powers, occasionally trying to find a way to transfer his powers into the real world, and sometimes just [[AxeCrazy killing for the sake of killing]].

** Not helped by hatred of a similar system used in [[{{VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest}} Castlevania II]], the dream world mechanic wasn't well-received due to how poorly it was thought out. To clarify, once you find a Dream Warrior power in the stage, you can easily charge through any enemy with it and thus ''eliminating the threat of being sent there in the first place''. They aren't overly hard to find either, since all the stages are linear. If you somehow ''don't'' get a Dream Warrior power before falling asleep (or just finding one in the dream world) however, [[OhCrap then God help you]]. Even if you do get through all the mooks, the bosses well readily end you.

* BadassDecay: Freddy ''never'' joined the good guys (who would want him?), but as the series went on, he became quite the jokester, and became much more goofy and playful with people's dream sequences than he was in the first few films. This came to a head in ''Freddy's Dead'', where he turned someone's dream into a {{Nintendo}} game, where you can tell he's having a great time.
* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick}} And licked them.]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly [[{{Narm narm-filled}}]] ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick And licked them.}}]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly [[{{Narm narm-filled}}]] ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick And licked them.}}]] Less so as the sequels went on, when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly [[{{Narm narm-filled}}]] FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare, he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[{{Squick And licked them.}}]] Less so as [[CharacterDerailment the sequels went on]], when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly [[{{Narm narm-filled}}]] FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare, he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. {{Squick And licked them.}} Less so as [[CharacterDerailment the sequels went on]], when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly {{Narm narm-filled}} FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare, he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified. [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bastard-Son-Of-A-Hundred-Maniacs"]] should probably clue you in. Before his death, he kept a scrapbook of the "Have you seen this..." pictures of his child victims. [[Squick And licked them.]] Less so as [[CharacterDerailment the sequels went on]], when he became a bit of a buffoon too FauxAffablyEvil for his own good - although he was still a nasty piece of work. Even in the utterly [[Narm narm-filled]] FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare, he had his moments, like when he taunts Tracy by appearing as her [[ParentalIncest sexually abusive father]] ("Give daddy some honey...no one has to know...") He's back to CompleteMonster in [[ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 the 2010 reboot.]] He punctures one of his victims through the heart, then taunts him on the fact that his brain will keep going seven minutes after his heart stops beating. He keeps Nancy alive solely so she can remember him molesting her, before he rapes and kills her.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger. Child killer BEFORE he became zombified.

* NightmareRetardant: The whole concept becomes significantly less scary when you remember that Freddy only kills in one suburb (a fictional one at that), though [[ItGotWorse it does get worse]] in ''Freddy's Dead'', in which he states that "every town has an Elm Street" and makes clear that he's planning to expand his reach to the whole world.

* VillainDecay: Freddy got less and less scary/menacing in the sequels, resorting to outright gimmicky and comical methods of doing in his victims in the later movies. (''New Nightmare'' and ''Freddy vs. Jason'' are generally regarded as exceptions.)
** It could be seen as part of his {{character development}}. In the first film, he's generally quiet. It's his first time using the powers, so in a demented way, you could say he was nervous. In 2 he's still relatively "in the shadows" but is also bit more playful ("[[BodyHorror You got the body... I got the brains]]"). By 3 he's been killing for a good amount of time. He's tormenting them while having a good time. This goes for the fourth and fifth films as well. By the sixth movie, where he's the silliest, he's just having a good time. Why does he need to worry? He's all powerful in Elm Street. Though this may count as {{Wild Mass Guessing}}...
** It could also be a weird case of BecomingTheMask: Freddy needs fear to access dreams, so he lets a few victims live through their first few encounters, ensuring they'll talk to their friends about the scary freak they've been dreaming about. He starts making wisecracks and taunting these chosen survivors because it makes him seem more powerful, free to gloat and toy with them with impugnity. In time, he starts to ''enjoy'' the taunts for their own sake, and does them naturally rather than as part of a deliberate pose.

* CompleteMonster: Freddy Krueger.

** Physical combat isn't Freddy's forte, as whenever he tries to go up-close-and-personal with his victims, he loses. ''Freddy vs. Jason'' [[TookALevelInBadass averts this]] by makeinghim able to have an even fight with Jason.