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"Welcome to prime time bitch!" is the moment Freddy ceased to be scary

posted 6 years ago by AngularTurnip (3337)
16 replies | jump to latest

It's a memorable catchphrase and the stuff of big box office .. but, in terms of fright value, it fell short. This was the line that made Freddy a rock star and phased out the malevolent child killer who kept to the shadows and spoke, but only sparingly. This one line led to Freddy sporting shades, having TV antennae coming out of his head, flying on a broomstick and generally behaving like a mischievous frat boy with a streak of Patrick Bateman in him.

[–] Bosdog6777 (817) 6 years ago

The 70's to early 80's Horror Era was over films were getting better and we didn't have to hide killers in the shadows anymore and could let imagination take over and get more creative in a franchise who claims superiority over it's competition based on being more creative. They had to work real hard and use real creative thinking to pull off Tina's Death and Freddy coming through the wall with the spandex but it was getting to a point where you could do anything you can imagine on screen.

Friday the 13th movies were huge and moving away more away from traditional scary into total 80's Awesomeness and Elm Street had to keep up. Halloween tried to resist this and go more traditional with Halloween 4 and 5 that are apparently so bad they have been retconned three times and nobody cares.

In the end it seems though it sucked the creativity out into the Hollywood we have today but man with the Horror Movies from the 80's all the way until Terminator 2 it was one hell of a ride.

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 6 years ago

The original Elm Street had subtlety because it didn't have a budget. The sequels had bigger budgets and splashier effects. But the strengths of the original -- the subtlety, the suggestiveness, the gritty, low-budget, snuff-like vibe -- were lost.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Now, I don't care what anyone says, Freddy Krueger is/was a child molester. People don't want to admit it, because he is such a likeable villain and if you think of him as one, he becomes less likeable. As much as I liked the sequels, I think they glorified Freddy too much. In the first 2 films, he is portrayed as a nasty, vile scumbag, because that's what he is supposed to be! You're not supposed to be rooting for him.

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 6 years ago

I love how people can root Freddy on when he's killing beautiful teens but find it a huge killjoy the moment someone observes that Wes Craven originally envisioned Freddy as being a child molester as well as a serial killer.

I think what makes the first "Elm Street" so unnerving is that the child molesting remains subtext and the only time it bubbles to the surface is when, say, Freddy is panting, like he's aroused, while stalking Tina, or how he suggestively movies his tongue as he closes in on Nancy. Making the child molesting text, like they did in the 2010 remake, somehow made it less scary.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7701) 5 years ago

I like this movie but yeah. This was the start of bad one liner Freddy. Not just that but when he ties Joey to the bed with tongues and says, "What's the matter Joey? Got yourself tongue tied?" There's also the line to the Wizard Master, "Sorry kid! I don't believe in Fairy Tales!"

[–] strangenstein (683) 5 years ago

Completely agree. I remember seeing the original in the theater back in ‘84, and believe me when I say it was scary. There was a strong sense of dread, and the film expertly walked that twilight area between dreams and reality. Nobody knew for sure what was real and what wasn’t, and that’s a big part of the original’s terror (and charm).

The third film told us right up front — THIS IS A DREAM SEQUENCE!! — and that robbed so much of the power. Mix in Freddy becoming a wiseacre and you have the beginning of the end. Of course, they’d still milk it for several more films, but the bloom was off the rose.

[–] AngularTurnip (3337) 5 years ago

Very well said. And I agree completely.

[–] SoCrates (874) 5 years ago

Agreed.

I would also like to add that it really felt like it lost something because the audience was so familiar with Freddy. So, instead of the dirty old disfigured hobo in an alley that Wes Craven based the character on, you have a larger than life icon that the audience can cheer for. They might as well as had a voice come in and say: "And now, here's Freddy!!!".

[–] thenewnexus (1911) 4 years ago

Honestly that,when he kills that nerd and pretends to be a nurse i laughed my ass off. Same when that guy tried karate 😂😂😂

[–] bobbydallas (8523) 4 years ago

yah but Freddy never ceased to be AWESOME

[–] Adster (262) 3 years ago

Everyone always goes for that line but there were others like 'what a rush' and 'sorry kid I don't believe in fairytales'

[–] holly61 (957) 3 years ago

The first two films were made for an adult audience even though they featured ''teen characters''. The rest of the films starting with this one (dream warriors) was intended for a young audience as Freddy got more popular with kids. The ''killings'' were almost comical and the film was filled with one liners and fantasy elements. The very first film had a brutal killing scene starting with ''Tina''. There was no humor to be found in that only terror.