30 Days of Horror | Day 17

A Bad Ass Post/Pre-Kill One-Liner
A Nightmare On Elm Street

I'm not the biggest fan of one-liners in horror films as I think they are a sure-fire way to kill any atmosphere that has been built thus far. I grew up on the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise but, as much as Freddy Krueger has been a favourite of mine since then, I do find the decent into comedy that the character and franchise took too severe. From the get-go Freddy had a dark sense of humour and Robert Englund certainly played that up, but the latter films simply became a cocktail of farce and gore, which I no longer enjoy.

That being said he is still the only horror villain that I think can pull off a decent one-liner, besides maybe Chucky. My choice for today however is not a comical one, this particular one-liner comes from the villains second appearance in his first film, during Tina's dream. During her dream Tina finds herself in the alleyway outside her house. Freddy appears and his arms begin to elongate until his clawed glove reaches the metal fence to his side, which he scratches with his knives. Tina whimpers 'Please God', to which Freddy raises his gloved hand to his face and responds 'This is God', before chasing her into the house and ripping her to shreds.

The reason I love this line so much is because among all of his jokes and wise-cracks this is a rare line that is incredibly sinister. The scene itself, dodgy effects aside, is dark and atmospheric with the lighting in particular constructing Freddy as a fearsome silhouetted monster. The line 'This is God' quickly establishes the level of power he possesses and the helplessness of Tina's situation. He is in complete control of what happens in the dream world, actually making him a kind of God in his own right. The horrific following scene in which he kills the young girl only adds to this initial impression of the antagonist and it's a shame that a villain so effectively crafted later became somewhat of a joke.