Freddy Krueger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series is one of the most well-known characters from the horror genre. The character has appeared in a total of nine films since 1984, including a remake in 2010 and a TV series called Freddy’s Nightmares.
While Jackie Earle Haley was the man behind the character in the reboot, Robert Englund is mostly known for playing the role. While the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was mostly panned by fans and critics, the original series has a much stronger fan base. During the original eight movies starring Englund, there were several Freddy lines that have shaped the character with horrifying dark humor. Here are some of his best and most horrifying one-liners.
10 “HOW’S THIS FOR A WET DREAM?”
Given Freddy Krueger’s dark backstory, a lot of his one-liners are sexually-driven. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, a character named Joey Crusel (Rodney Eastman) was introduced. He was mute and had a crush on one of the nurses at Westin Hills Asylum. Freddy, of course, uses that to his advantage to subdue Joey.
The character returns in A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master, but the character doesn’t have a happy ending like he did in Dream Warriors. This time Joey dreams that a nude model is swimming in his water bed, but soon after he gets pulled into the bed by Freddy, who says, “how’s this for a wet dream?”
9 “NOW I’M PLAYING WITH POWER!”
One of the sillier installments of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise came in 1991 with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Instead of relying on his darker roots, the film turns him into more of a comedic figure, with him cracking jokes for the whole movie. That being said, Freddy still has some brutal kills in the film, one of which involves a Nintendo Power Glove.
The Power Glove was released in 1989, and while Nintendo wouldn’t let the film-makers use the actual product, Freddy still uses a similar-looking toy and says the famous catchphrase, “now I’m playing with power!” when he kills Spencer.
8 “I’M YOUR BOYFRIEND NOW, NANCY!”
Out of all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, the original is still often regarded as the best of the series. Part of this is due to how dark Freddy Krueger originally was. The first film introduces his awful crimes, which makes his line, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy” horrifying.
The line is delivered after Freddy kills Glen in his sleep. When Nancy unplugs her phone, it rings and she finds Krueger on the other end of the line. Krueger says the famous line and the bottom half of Nancy’s phone turns into a tongue, which is just as iconic as the line itself.
7 “WANNA SUCK FACE?”
Throughout the Nightmare on Elm Street series, Englund has delivered some chilling one-liners when his character murders teenagers. One of these lines came in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. The Dream Master takes place after the events of Dream Warriors, despite recasting Patricia Arquette with Tuesday Knight as Kristen Parker.
The film sees several returning characters, but also introduces a new group of friends. One of these friends is named Sheila, played by Toy Newkirk. When it comes time for her character to die, Krueger says, “wanna suck face?” before literally sucking the life out of the teenager. In the real world, though, her death was played off as an asthma attack.
6 “WHAT A RUSH!”
One of Freddy Krueger’s most iconic kills came in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. One of the patients at Westin Hills Asylum was named Taryn White, played by Jennifer Rubin. Taryn was a recovering drug addict, but she got one last high as Freddy killed her.
Taryn put up a good fight against Freddy with a couple of switchblades, but she met her demise when Freddy’s fingers turn into needles. Freddy jabs Taryn with the needles in both of her arms and says, “whatta rush!” as Taryn screams in agony.
5 “HOW SWEET, FRESH MEAT!”
While Tuesday Knight replaced Patricia Arquette in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, she wasn’t really in the film for that long. Instead, Lisa Wilcox’s character Alice Johnson was introduced as the new heroine. Before Freddy kills Kristen, she accidentally pulls Alice into her dream. Upon seeing Alice in the dream world, Freddy exclaims, “how sweet, fresh meat!”
Alice would turn out to be more than the average teenager, however, since she was able to defeat Freddy not once, but twice. Alice was last seen at the end of A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, which means she is one of the few characters to survive the wrath of Fred Krueger.
4 “I’LL GET YOU, MY PRETTY, AND YOUR LITTLE SOUL TOO!”
Anybody who has seen the Nightmare on Elm Street movies knows that later sequels had a lot more comedy than the earlier films. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare probably has the most comedy out of any of them, and the Wicked Witch of the West scene is a prime example.
For those unfamiliar with the film, the beginning of the film shows Freddy torturing John Doe in his sleep. In one scene, John is in a house that is falling from the sky. When he looks out his bedroom window, he sees Freddy in a witch’s hat riding a broomstick. As a parody to a line from The Wizard of Oz, Freddy yells out, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little soul too!” Many people reacted negatively to the film’s excess comedy, but this line was just too ridiculous to not like.
3 “YOU ARE ALL MY CHILDREN NOW.”
It is widely known in the horror community that Wes Craven didn’t want to turn A Nightmare on Elm Street into another slasher series like Friday the 13th. Despite his wishes, New Line Cinema went ahead with a sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, since the original was so popular. The first sequel not only had a ton of not-so-subtle undertones, but it also had a huge plot hole since Freddy was somehow able to enter the real world.
After Freddy hops up from the ground and starts slashing teenagers, he stops and says, “you are all my children now.” Despite the film being one of the poorer instalments in the series, this specific line was still one of Krueger’s most sinister ever.
2 “EVERY TOWN HAS AN ELM STREET.”
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare wasn’t a great sequel and it also wasn’t the final nightmare as the title suggests. The film did expand on Freddy’s backstory, even including a flashback of Freddy being burned alive. It is also revealed that Krueger had a daughter named Maggie, played by Lisa Zane.
During one of Maggie’s dream sequences, Freddy is haunting her despite them not being in Springwood, Ohio. Freddy explains that it doesn’t matter where they are since, “every town has an Elm Street.” While the movie doesn’t hold up today, the line certainly does, since many towns in real life do actually have an Elm Street.
1 “WELCOME TO PRIME TIME, B****!”
Jennifer Caulfield was yet another patient at Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, but her death stands out a bit more than those of her friends. Jennifer tries to stay awake by watching TV, but eventually, she dozes off and Freddy slips in. Freddy shows up on the show Jennifer was watching and even kills Zsa Zsa Gabor before Jennifer tries to change the station.
Freddy’s head stretches through the top of the TV and two mechanical arms reach out to grab Jennifer and pull her through the screen. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3- Dream Warriors is full of memorable deaths, but Freddy’s line “welcome to prime time, b****!” is among the greatest quotes of the entire franchise.
