When A Nightmare on Elm Street slashed its way into cinemas in 1984, it changed the horror landscape forever. Written and directed by Wes Craven, it revitalised a slasher sub-genre that was growing stale, replacing the mute, faceless killers of the time with a sadistic villain who thrived on personality as much as bloodshed.
Freddy Krueger wasn’t just a murderer — he was an entertainer. His twisted humour, theatricality, and the limitless possibilities of the dream world made him the most creative killer in horror. No longer bound by reality, Freddy could turn a victim’s fears, habits, and even ambitions into the ultimate weapon against them.
Across nine films, he racked up a kill list that blends gore, surrealism, and dark comedy. Here are the ten best — kills that still haunt horror fans decades later.
Carlos – Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
Freddy’s Dead may be the weakest entry in the original run, but it still delivers one of the series’ most bizarre and memorable deaths. Carlos, a hearing-impaired teen, finds his hearing aid grotesquely enlarged by Freddy, making every sound excruciating. Freddy turns the scene into a dark slapstick performance — dropping pins, scratching chalkboards — until Carlos’s head explodes from the noise overload.
Extra context: Robert Englund later said this was one of his favourite comedic kills to film because of its Looney Tunes-like absurdity, even in such a gory setting.
Phillip – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Freddy turns Phillip into a human puppet — quite literally. After slicing open Phillip’s limbs, Freddy pulls out his tendons to use as strings, guiding the teen through Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. Freddy leads him to the roof, “cuts the strings,” and sends him tumbling to his death.
Extra context: The combination of stop-motion animation for Freddy’s puppet movements and practical effects for the tendon strings made this one of the franchise’s most technically impressive kills.
Coach Schneider – A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Coach Schneider is a cruel authority figure who bullies protagonist Jesse throughout the film, making his demise a satisfying watch. Freddy animates the gym’s sports equipment, restraining and assaulting Schneider before dragging him into the showers. There, Freddy ties him up and delivers the final, bloody blows with his glove.
Extra context: The scene’s bizarre tone — blending humiliation, supernatural attack, and brutality — is a good example of the tonal experimentation in Freddy’s Revenge.
Glenn – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Johnny Depp’s Glenn meets one of horror’s most iconic fates. As he sleeps in bed, Freddy drags him into the mattress. Seconds later, a fountain of blood erupts from the bed, coating the ceiling and walls.
Extra context: This was achieved using a rotating room set, the same technique later used in Tina’s kill. The effect went wrong mid-shoot, sending the fake blood pouring in unpredictable directions — but the chaos made the scene even more effective.
Julie – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
In Craven’s meta revival, babysitter Julie is attacked while looking after young Dylan. Freddy slashes her and drags her up the wall and across the ceiling, echoing Tina’s death in the original film — but this time, we see Freddy’s full form carrying her.
Extra context: The rotating room gag was used again here, but with a harness system for the actress to allow more visible struggle and interaction with Freddy.
Greta – A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
The film may be one of the weakest in the franchise, but Greta’s death is stomach-churning. Trapped at a lavish dinner table, she’s force-fed her own insides by Freddy, who gleefully mocks her ambition to be a model.
Extra context: Much of this kill was trimmed by the MPAA to avoid an NC-17 rating, but even in its censored form, it remains deeply disturbing.
Jennifer – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Aspiring actress Jennifer falls asleep watching TV, only for Freddy to literally burst out of the set with robotic arms. He lifts her up, snarls, “Welcome to prime time, bitch!” and smashes her head into the screen.
Extra context: That famous line was ad-libbed by Robert Englund and became the most quoted phrase in the franchise’s history.
Nancy – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Nancy Thompson, Freddy’s original nemesis, has survived two films when she makes her final stand in Dream Warriors. Believing the fight to be over, she’s tricked by Freddy posing as her father’s spirit. He plunges his glove into her, killing the series’ most beloved heroine.
Extra context: Wes Craven co-wrote this film and reportedly fought to give Nancy a heroic but tragic exit, cementing her status in horror history.
Debbie – A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Debbie, a fitness fanatic with a phobia of bugs, is attacked mid-workout. Freddy grotesquely snaps her arms, then turns her into a cockroach. Trapped in a roach motel, she sheds her human skin before Freddy crushes her with sadistic glee.
Extra context: The transformation effects were done with a mix of animatronics, prosthetics, and stop-motion — one of the most elaborate sequences in the series.
Tina – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The kill that started it all. Tina, set up as a possible final girl, is slashed in her dream and dragged across the walls and ceiling while her boyfriend watches helplessly.
Extra context: This was shot in a rotating room, with the camera fixed to the set so gravity appeared to shift with Tina. It remains one of the most shocking openings in horror cinema.
Final Thoughts
Freddy Krueger’s murders aren’t just kills — they’re set pieces, equal parts theatre and terror. From Tina’s gravity-defying opening to the grotesque body horror of Debbie’s roach transformation, they remain a masterclass in combining gore, imagination, and personality.
And while horror fans will always debate whether Freddy or Jason Voorhees is the ultimate slasher, one thing’s certain — both have carved out a legacy of unforgettable, nightmarish deaths that will haunt audiences for generations.
