At Anorak: "5 Movie Maniacs That Wanted to Be Freddy Krueger"

My new article at Anorak is called "5 Movie Maniacs That Wanted to be Freddy Krueger" and it remembers that wonderful time in American pop culture -- circa 1987-1989 -- when every new Hollywood horror movie tried to rip the rubber-reality crown from Freddy Krueger's (Robert Englund's) burned head.

Here's a snippet:

THERE’S an old saying that goes: “if you’re going to take a shot at the king, make sure you don’t miss.”

Such words of wisdom also apply to the movie monsters of the 1980s.

Thirty years ago, in 1984, Wes Craven’s “bastard son of a hundred maniacs,” Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) rose up to become the reigning king of the horror film with the theatrical release ofA Nightmare on Elm Street.  The Gloved One took New Line — “The House That Freddy Built” — straight to the top with him.

Between 1984 and 1989, New Line produced five A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels — and a TV series, Freddy’s Nightmares (1998 – 1990) — which featured the scarred, quipping maniac. One academic study conducted during this era suggested that more American children could recognize Freddy than they could Abraham Lincoln.

So the most pertinent question for other genre filmmakers was, simply: how do you unseat this pizza-faced box office juggernaut?

The genre media, including Fangoria, happily played this guessing game too.

Which new horror movie, asked the magazine, was going to be the next A Nightmare on Elm Street?

Who was going to become “the next Freddy?”