In October, 1994, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare was releases in theaters, bringing an end to the original A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise (though they squeezed out one more with the release of Freddy vs Jason in 2003). Wes Craven wanted to return Freddy Krueger to his pure horror roots. To do so, he took a completely new approach to the character and story by bringing him into the “real” world. A demonic force chooses the character of Freddy Krueger to break into our reality. The films and its audience were acting as the bottle, keeping the genie from escaping. But, as the franchise fades, the barrier keeping the demon in check is weakening. Wes Craven, playing himself, hopes to re-contain the demon with an all new “Ultimate” Nightmare film. But the demonic Freddy begins his assault, wreaking havoc on the life of Heather Langenkamp, who portrayed Nancy Thompson in the original film. A person he sees as the gatekeeper, preventing him from being truly free. While the setup seems initially confusing, as the film unfolds, the story comes into its own for a genuinely solid and scary end to the series. Gone are the campy set ups and one liners, replaced with solid tense moments and a surprisingly frightening Freddy Krueger. The film updates Freddy’s look a bit, changing his traditional burned make up to make it more gruesome, giving him a new glove, as well as adding a trench coat.
NECA has updated their previously released New Nightmare Freddy Krueger 7″ Scale figure, giving fans who missed on on the original release a chance pick him up. This new release features updated lower body articulation as well as two interchangeable heads. The figure is a standard release, part of their ongoing A Nightmare On Elm Street line, as opposed to the Ultimate series. This new Freddy Krueger should be available in stores now, or very soon. NECA sent along the figure for us to check out. We have 55 high resolution photos and a full review. Check them out by reading on.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare – Freddy Krueger 7″ Scale Figure
Pros
- Very nice overall sculpt
- Both heads look great on figure
- Strong paint work
- Good articulation
- Great version of New Nightmare Freddy
Cons
- Wish elbows had a little more range of motion
Overall
NECA has released the New Nightmare Freddy as a standard figure release. With few accessories available that would make sense to include, they opted not to try and force the Ultimate designation on him. That didn’t stop them from going back and updating the figure, adding all new articulation to the lower body. Freddy comes in the familiar plastic clamshell packaging, complete with the great Nightmare On Elm Street inserts that fans of the ongoing line have come to expect. Freddy sits in a plastic tray, sans twist ties. The figure includes an interchangeable demon head as well as a removable hat.
This version of Freddy Krueger figure will be instantly familiar to long time NECA fans. The overall look remains largely the same as before, as the original figure featured a great sculpt. The jacket and sweater both have a fine, cloth-like texture throughout. The burned skin areas on the “Freddy” head sculpt have nice variations between skin and exposed muscle. Both the standard and glove hands include a good amount of detailing, sharing the same attention to detail between the painful looking exposed muscles and the melting skin. The “new” glove hand has a bone-like structure over the back of the hand, leading down the blades across each of the fingers. This time, the thumb also gets a blade. For the demon head, there is an insane amount of sculpted muscle detail. The jacket is cast in a softer vinyl material, allowing it to flex a great deal as you pose the lower body. The paint work here looks mostly the same as the Cult classic release. Paint edges are fairly clean, with no major paint bleeds apparent. The exposed muscle has a bright, blood red look, contrasting nicely with the skin. There are paint washes throughout the sculpt, really bringing out the texture work. The jacket alone has multiple transitions between black and assorted blue paints, which highlight the folds, adding a life-like look to the figure.
The original figure was released nearly 10 years ago as part of the Cult Classics line. As with their Ultimate figures, this re-release has been updated, bringing him more in line with current NECA releases. The new leg articulation is exactly as you’d expect. Ball jointed hips, single jointed knees and swivels in the calf, all with a large range of motion. New articulation in the ankles helps to keep the figure sturdy in a variety of position. I would have loved to see some extra range added to the elbows, just to get more natural “Freddy” poses. Other than that, the figure has some good poseability, with about 25 points of articulation overall. The joints were all tight and I ran into no paint locking or breakage issues. The heads swapped out fairly easily, though you may want to apply just a bit of heat to the “Freddy” head when removing it.
For a non-Ultimate release, the updated New Nightmare Freddy winds up being an enjoyable addition to the Nightmare line up. Fans who missed out on the original releases can now get their hands on the character. Those who do own the originals now have an option to get an updated version with more display possibilities. The figure should be in stock at most retailers, or should be very soon. You can see some highlight photos below, with the full gallery after that.
CompaniesNECA
CharactersFreddy Krueger
Scale7 Inch