How Freddy Krueger Became A Joke In 10 Easy Quotes
10. Hey Dylan, ever play skin the cat? Part 7 (1994)
Wes Cravens New Nightmare plays like a philosophical expansion on the themes of the original, while at the same time condemns the other sequels for taking the silliness too far. It brings Freddy back to where he started by separating the character from the joke he turned into. The concept of the film is built around the notion that a story expressing evil has the power to capture said evil. It gives people the chance to pour their pent up dread, fear and hatred into a fictitious character, thereby expelling it from themselves and giving them the ability to examine it. However, this can only happen when the character comes from a place of honest expression, as opposed to gags and silly puns. New Nightmare suggests that when the boogeyman character dissolves into foolery, that energy is released and needs some place to go. Therefore, when the nightmare franchise ended, Freddy (sort of) had the ability to cross over into our world. Its basically an argument for the horror film as a socially necessary devise used to capture and dispel the secret anxieties we all have hidden inside of us. The danger comes when the horror film doesnt do its job, and those anxieties, by way of remaining unexplored, are given power over us. The next question must certainly be, did Craven fail or succeed in recapturing that same evil he did ten years prior? The answer lies in one of the most memorable scenes in the film involving a little boy and the slaughter of his trusted babysitter. In the scene, Julie is looking after Dylan, who is the young son of Heather Langenkamp. As soon as Dylans eyes begin to waver and sleep creeps up behind him, Freddy appears. Reminiscent of Tinas death from the original, Julie is savagely torn into and dragged across the wall and ceiling. Before delivering the final blow, Freddy turns and asks, Hey Dylan, ever play skin the cat? Finally, Freddy is back. From his scarred mouth, we hear not an utterance of anything resembling a joke. Its a chilling line for a chilling scene. It evokes Freddys disturbing perversion of childhood and his ongoing ambition for the corruption of innocence. He not only brutally eviscerates Dylans savior, but he makes a game out of it. Its enough to make you never want to sleep again, and we should all be thankful for it.