Ahh. Freddy’s Nightmares– the Nightmare on Elm Street primetime series that starred Robert Englund in all his primetime bitch glory as Freddy. Who, in total Crypt Keeper fashion, hosted a show focused on the residents of Springwood and their wacky as hell nightmares. I want to believe most 80s’ kids remember the short-lived, basic cable phenomenon where Krueger had risen to God-like heights of popularity. However, if you don’t even know what the hell I’m talking about, here’s a refresher:
Freddy isn’t really a part of the stories but merely serves as your horror host; a trend that had become ever so popular in this era. But yes, for most of the series, Freddy served only as the introduction with the exception of the Tobe Hooper directed pilot episode that dives into Krueger’s backstory. And of course, that amazingly cheesy intro!
Now let’s dive into season one, episode four entitled “Freddy’s Tricks and Treats”, which actually plays out like a true Nightmare on Elm Street installment with Freddy as the main character; IN A HALLOWEEN EPISODE NO LESS. Worth noting, before we dunk our balls in the murky waters’ of the boiler room, is the numerous horror movie homages throughout this glorious episode. Some dip dons a Jason hockey mask for Halloween night. There’s a very familiar-looking pumpkin mask and a scene with said Halloween prop that screams out Season of the Witch with the main character clawing at her face while wearing it. And finally, while I admit I may be looking too deep into Easter Eggs here, Freddy carving BOO onto the forehead of a stiff at the morgue is completely reminiscent of Joey’s comatose state in Dream Warriors.
Premiering on October 29th, 1988, “Freddy’s Tricks and Treats” stars a pre-Law and Order Mariska Hargitay who plays a young medical student named Marsha. Little Miss Marsha is a bookworm who dismisses the spirit of Halloween by opting to study and dissect corpses rather than party-hardy. I mean, that does sound like a pretty awesome way to spend Halloween night, so if you’re asking me I would say she’s having all the fun here.
Anyway, Marsha is feeling distracted from her studies at a college house Halloween shin-dig, so she heads to her school to spruce up on some good old-fashioned human dissection. But not before she hears the story of Springwood’s ultimate nightmare, Freddy, from the school security guard. Which opens the red and green striped Pandora box and unleashing Freddy and hell on poor Marsha. Freddy torments the young med student with visions of the death of her kind-of-a-bitch Grandmother, for which she feels responsible, driving her into complete madness. Freddy is known to be pretty good at mind-fucking his targets into submission, so yeah she loses her shit, and it’s a good time to watch.
Oh yes, there is also a VCR that records nightmares. I feel like this kooky, yet fascinating premise needs a damn movie of its own. And yep, you guessed it, Freddy has a lot of fun with this little wrench thrown in.
Well, with that being said, let’s get to it! Happy Halloween Nostalgic Nuggets!
