Much like Freddy Krueger himself, the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise just does not want to stay dead and buried. The first film was remade in 2010 and there’s now talks about Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan wanting to have a crack at his own idea. But let’s look back at one of the previous entries in the series for a minute.
The original Nightmare may be the one that started if off, but the sequels were something of a talking point themselves. In particular, the second film, Freddy’s Revenge, has a gaping plot hole which Screen Rant has now brought to light and it may rob the movie of any sense.
Let’s cast our minds back to 1985, when Freddy Kruger returns to terrorize a neighborhood of teenagers with a particular focus on Jesse Walsh, whom Freddy wishes to possess. His reason for doing so? So he can kill people in the real world.
For anyone who’s seen the film and knows the canon, it might be easy to skip over this plot detail and just get lost in slasher tropes galore. However, Krueger’s reason for wanting to kill in the real world seems at odds with the overarching story. See, the demonic killer has the power to murder people in their sleep, when they’re at their most vulnerable. Ergo: what advantage would he have in attacking people in the waking world when reality is bound by rules?
If he can leap into people’s dreams where no one can rescue them, then possessing the body of a teenage boy falls apart as an idea, especially as we know from the first film that him being in the real world renders his powers almost useless.
Maybe Flanagan’s potential Nightmare On Elm Street idea can retcon this plot hole, but we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, though, it’s certainly something that’s interesting to think about and if you have any ideas on how it can make any sense, be sure to let us know down below.