Welcome to Day 29 of Spooky Season!! Yeah, I still have Freddy Krueger on the brain. After watching all of the films again, I started thinking about all of the times he was defeated. Many people tried many different ways of getting rid of this psychopath. Today, I decided to rank all of the times Freddy was defeated in his films. I’m ranking JUST the defeats, not the overall films. I made my ranking based on originality, special effects, and overall impact. I hope you enjoy and let me know your favorite Freddy Krueger defeat!! (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!)
9. Taking All The Power Back – A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
After setting up a trap in her house and lighting Freddy on fire again, Nancy called her dad back to the house. While she was distracted, Freddy made his way to her mother’s room, killing her. Realizing her plan failed, she tried one last tactic. She believed that she gave him the power, so she declared that she was taking it back, and she turned her back to him. I mean, compared to all the other ones, I just had to put this one dead last. It was a decent idea, but I have no idea why Nancy believed that would work. He obviously had the power before she even knew who he was. I understand it was her last resort, but having that happen after all those traps and lighting him on fire just seemed unnecessary.
8. A Mother’s Love, A Mother’s Curse – A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
As Freddy was tearing Alice apart from the inside, it was up to Jacob to stop him. He made Freddy believe he was on his side long enough to use his power against him. He ripped the souls out of him and when Freddy became a grotesque baby again, Amanda placed his soul back in her womb to trap him. I just felt so bad for Amanda here. She had to carry this burden, even in the afterlife. It was kind of hard to take this scene seriously, with Freddy’s victims’ floating heads being pulled out of him. Plus, it wasn’t a very effective way to be rid of him considering he almost immediately clawed his way out of Amanda again.
7. Happy Father’s Day – Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
After pulling Freddy into the real world, Maggie, Doc, and Tracy armed themselves with all the weapons they could find and tracked him down. With Doc and Tracy locked outside, Maggie went up against her father. She pinned him to the wall with various blades, stabbed him with his own glove, then she plunged a stick of dynamite in his chest and blew him up. This whole scene was kind of… goofy. I feel all the blade throwing was kind of overkill. Plus the many Freddy faces popping up after he exploded kind of takes you out of it. If this was indeed Freddy’s final movie, I would’ve been very disappointed that that was his final sendoff.
6. Roasted Like The Witch – New Nightmare
As Freddy tried to eat Dylan in the middle of an oven, Heather stabbed him and distracted him long enough for Dylan to escape. Then they shoved the rest of Freddy into the oven and turned the heat up. I put this one pretty low on the list because it was just so forgettable to me. I had to re-watch the scene just so I could write about it here. I do love that it was a throwback to the Hansel & Gretel story they read earlier in the film. I feel the demon transformation and the eyes popping out was a bit much. It didn’t really feel in-tone with the rest of the film.
5. A Not-So-Clean Cut – A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
After Nancy pulled Freddy into the real world, she and Quentin faced him and his blades. They grabbed the closest weapon they could find, a large blade from a paper cutter, and leveled the playing field. As Freddy tried to kill Quentin, Nancy cut his hand off and then slit his throat. This one was okay, I just feel like there could’ve been more to it. I might like it better if it was a decapitation, but then it would’ve been too similar to Freddy vs. Jason, so it was actually a good idea that they tweaked it a bit. It was certainly brutal enough, I guess my biggest problem with it is that there could’ve been more to it.
4. Fighting From Within – A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
After Freddy completely possessed Jesse and attacked her party, Lisa tracked him down back to the boiler room. After pushing and kissing him, she was able to help Jesse gather the strength to fight Freddy from the inside. I love the symbolism of this scene too much to put it any lower. I just don’t feel like Jesse would be strong enough to fight a being as powerful as Freddy. I realize that’s a ridiculous thing to say because he WAS strong enough. I love the effect of Freddy’s melting face, that was quite an image. It just didn’t seem very… logical (I also know how ridiculous that sounds).
3. The Holy Burial – A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
As the dream warriors fought Freddy in his world, Neil and Donald went to find Freddy’s remains in the real world to bury him. As Neil hit him with the holy water and the cross, Freddy’s soul dissolved. Honestly, this method of Freddy’s execution made the most sense to me. This should’ve been the way to end him once and for all. You lay the body to rest, the soul should be at rest. I love the dramatics of the moment, I think it was done really well. I guess it’s not my top choice because his overall disappearance didn’t really leave an impact on me.
2. Evil Will See Itself – A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Having difficulty defeating Freddy in the dream world, Alice suddenly remembered the poem of The Dream Master. She took a piece of glass and forced Freddy to look at his reflection, unleashing all of the souls trapped inside of him. This one would be my top choice, but I’m not a big fan of the fact that seeing his own reflection is what did him in. However, the special effects in this scene were too spectacular! It was the reason I wanted to do this article in the first place. I love that he was completely torn apart from the inside.
1. Self-Harm – Freddy vs. Jason
After a lengthy fight with Jason, Freddy got his arm ripped right off, and a large explosion shot them both into the lake. When Lori and Will finally thought they were safe, Freddy approached them, ready to stab them with Jason’s machete. However, Jason popped out of the water and stabbed Freddy with his own arm. Then Lori finished him off by decapitating him. I just LOVE it when Freddy is stabbed with his own glove and he has to feel what he makes others feel. I also love Lori’s last line before chopping his head clean off. The whole moment was just perfect to me, there isn’t a thing I would change about it!
