Have you ever wondered how Freddy Kruger became an inhuman child molester? No? Too bad.
It’s the early 1950s, and a young Fred Kruger idolizes his father, an alcoholic landscaper who owes money to the local mafioso. After watching his father beaten to death over a late vig payment, Fred bounces between orphanages and foster homes where he witness horrific abuses and misogynistic standup routines. And no one is surprised when a teenage Kruger is caught didling himself in the bathroom of the Piggly Wiggly. Is it any wonder Fred picked up the garden shears to kill the children of the people who laughed at, scorned, and bullied him?
Taking its queue from the origin stories of other young psychopaths like Bates Motel, the Dexter prequel, and Young Sheldon, The Nightmare Before Elm Street answers the most basic questions: how can we make money off our existing IP while the original actors are still alive? On second thought, we should have gone with Beetlegoose Beetlegoose instead. At least that may have made me smile while watching the Yankees lose in game 3 of the World Series.