10 Horror Movie Backstories That Get Worse The More You Think About It
5. Freddy Kruger- A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
It's only fitting that one of the most iconic horror characters has one of the most unique and sinister backstories.
After the razor-fingered invader of dreams terrorises Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and her friends in the first film, Nancy's mother finally decides to tell her daughter the truth. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) was a prolific child murderer who lived in the area. Despite being arrested, though, a technicality would see his release.
Enraged by the injustice, the victims' parents enacted their own violent retribution by locking Krueger in the same boiler room he took his victims, and set him alight.
We'd learn more about Freddy's twisted origins as the series progressed. Notably, Krueger was conceived when his mother, a nun named Amanda, was viciously assaulted by 100 psychopaths after being inadvertently locked in an asylum for a weekend.
Freddy's childhood was likewise just as unpleasant. He was beaten by his drunken adoptive father until the youngster snapped and killed his old man with a razor blade.
Finally, after murdering his own wife after she discovered the shocking secrets he kept in the boiler room, Freddy would gain his supernatural powers when approached by a trio of Dream Demons moments before his agonising death.