A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise

The A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is a series of nine slasher films, one of which is a remake of the original film and one of which is a cross-over with another popular slasher franchise Friday the 13th, that revolves around groups of teenagers fighting the main antagonist of the series Freddy Kreuger a child murderer that was killed but has been granted the power to enter people's dreams.

Overview of the Series
The original film told the story of Nancy Thompson and her friends who are being stalked in their dreams by Freddy Krueger a child murderer who was killed by the parents of Springwood after he was aquitted on a technicality (the judge forgot to sign off on the search warrant). Freddy kills every single one of Nancy’s friends leaving only Nancy who managed to defeat Freddy by bringing him into the real world and strips him of his powers which makes Nancy less afraid of him. Years later Freddy returns to attack the family (The Walshes) that now live in Nancy’s old house (Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge). He possesses the body of Jesse Walsh and uses him to kill people in the real world and ultimately Jesse is rescued by his girlfriend Lisa who helps break free from Freddy’s spirit.

Freddy is back once again and is trying to kill the last of the Elm Street children who have been placed in a mental institution (Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors) for allegedly attempting suicide. Nancy Thompson arrives at the institution as the new intern and realises that Freddy is killing them one by one, with the help of Dr. Neil Gordon Nancy helps the remaining teens find their dream powers, which can kill Freddy once and for all. Neil, unbeknownst to him, meets Freddy’s mother and she tells him how to kill Freddy and he goes ahead and with the help of Nancy’s father completes the task, which is burying Freddy in hallowed ground. Following these events Kristen Parker, Kincaid and Joey three of the survivors are killed off by Freddy, who has returned once again, (Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) which leaves Alice a friend from school who picks up traits of the people who were murdered. She uses these powers to rip all of the souls Freddy has obtained which kills him. Shortly after these events Freddy uses Alice’s unborn child (Jacob) to resurrect himself (Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child). The spirit of Amanda Krueger returns and revealed that Freddy was conceived when she was a nun working in a mental asylum, during this time she was raped by a “100 maniacs…hundreds of times”. Amanda convinces Jacob to use the powers Freddy has given him against him, which gives Amanda enough time to let Alice and Jacob escape.

In Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare follows “John Doe” an amnesiac teenager from Springwood who sets to find Freddy’s daughter. Freddy wants to create new “Elm Streets” and that way he can have new killing sprees because he has exhausted all of the other Springwood children. Maggie, Freddy’s daughter, utilises her newfound dream techniques, uncovers things about Freddy’s past and we find out a little more about his life (cruelty to animals, deal with the dream demons). Eventually Maggie pulls Freddy out of the dream world and uses a pipe bomb to blow him up.

New Nightmare is a different approach to the series; it takes the character of Freddy and shows us that he is actually just a fictional film character but his creator has somehow brought him to life and he is now terrorizing the real life actors who had roles in the films.

In the next film (Freddy Vs Jason) the events of New Nightmare are ignored. After the ending of Jason Goes to Hell with Freddy taking Jason’s mask, Freddy resurrects Jason and sends him to Springwood in hopes that he will create enough fear in the residents so he can finally return in their dreams. This is accomplished but Jason refuses to stop and Freddy plans to take him down but in an ambiguous outcome we see Jason carrying Freddy’s severed head which winks at the camera.

The reimagining of the series is essentially just the first film with a few tweaks.

Films:

 * A Nightmare on Elm Street


 * A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
 * A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors
 * A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master
 * A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
 * Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
 * Freddy Vs. Jason
 * A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)