With his hat, claw glove and dodgy knitwear, Freddy Krueger gifted the world’s children an easy costume for Halloween and – given the novelisations – for World Book Day. Now Wes Craven’s original movie from 1984 is rereleased for its 40th anniversary; it is an ingenious and jauntily outrageous shocker which upends the idea of being kept awake by fear.
Robert Englund plays the unspeakable Krueger, who once upon a time killed 20 children but apparently walked free owing to an incorrectly signed search warrant. “The lawyers got fat and the judge got famous,” says one character, and, well, it certainly does sound like the victims’ parents are entitled to be miffed. (Perhaps Mr Krueger’s resourceful lawyer deserves a more prominent position in the ANOES franchise.)
