Wes Craven's New Nightmare - Freddy Krueger 8-Inch Figure - Toyark Photo Shoot - The Toyark

Twenty-Five years ago this week, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare was released in theaters. Looking to end the franchise on his terms, Wes Craven returned to the directors chair in the hopes of making Freddy Krueger a character to be feared once again. This time, instead of haunting the dreams of Elm Street children, Freddy would enter 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 demon plans to break out of its confines and terrorize those he associated with his misery, namely the actors from the films. 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 and third films. Ultimately, he views Heather as the gatekeeper, preventing him from escaping into the world. 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. The film also updates Freddy’s look a bit, changing his traditional burned make up to add more defined scarring, giving him a new glove, as well as adding a trench coat.

NECA Toys is releasing a New Nightmare Freddy Krueger in their 8″ scale retro cloth figure line. The figure includes a removable trench coat, a fedora, and swap out regular and demon portraits. Ultimately, this is likely to be the last Freddy Krueger they are able to release for a while. The U.S. film rights to the character and the original film have reverted back to Wes Craven’s estate, causing licensing issues for new product development. We picked up this figure from sponsor Entertainment Earth. We have a full photo gallery and review. You can check them out after the jump.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare – Freddy Krueger 8″ Scale Cloth Figure by NECA Toys

Pros

Nicely sculpted portraits
The New nightmare glove looks great here
An excellent fabric sweater
Great paint on both portraits
Good articulation
Making the jacket removable is a major plus

Cons

The fabric used for the jacket is a bit too heavy

Overall
The New Nightmare Freddy is packed in their classic clamshell packaging. The card back features artwork from Cavity Colors, who are known for their licensed horror shirts and accessories. As mentioned before, there is a regular portrait, a demon portrait, a removable coat, and a fedora included with this release.

Freddy Krueger has been one of the staple characters of NECA’s retro line, and this marks the ninth version (I believe) of Freddy released in the line. The two new head sculpts here are pretty solid. They look quite similar to the ones used on the 7″ scale version, but with more defined details. The eyes here are looking straight ahead, whereas the 7″ version was looking to the side. Paint work on the portraits and hands are nice. there’s multiple levels of paint used throughout, giving the gruesome burned flesh a realistic look. The new gloved hand looks fantastic here, with nicely defined blades on each finger.The two portraits swap out with ease, and there were no paint locking issues on any of the joints. the ankles were nice and strong here as well. Articulation is solid overall, with no changes I could tell from previous 8″ scale releases.

With each release, there have been noticeable improvements to the fabric elements used, especially as it pertains to the sweaters. This sweater is no exception, and is as good, if not better than the one from the Part 3 Freddy. The material is more tight knight, allowing for a thinner overall look. The paints are a faux leather which was always an odd choice for the film. It works well enough, and definitely makes this Freddy’s look stand out. The jacket feels a little too bulky here. While it looks great, and has the recognizable stripes stitched onto the interior, it feels like it’s for a larger figure. I would have loved to see a thinner fabric used. Something along the lines of the material used on the Surgeon Freddy’s scrubs, or the Chef Freddy’s coat would have allowed a more natural looking fit. The figure works just as well without it, and the other changes to the character make this Freddy stand out.

If you’ve been collecting the retro cloth Freddy Figures, then this one is a great addition to the line up. There’s been some fun variety in the outfits used on each release, and it’s nice having the New Nightmare look as part of the collection. Check out a selection of photos below, and the full gallery after that.

Some of the backgrounds featured in pics below are from Extreme-Sets.com. Enter code TOYARK at checkout and get 15% off your order!