Those who have said that horror as a genre is dead obviously never realized just how overlooked the genre was back in the 90s. Weak box office returns on weak films in the early part of the decade, coupled with the “me-too” of Scream clones the rest of the decade made things hard for fans. Case in point: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. The film was Scream before Scream, but despite turning a profit, it was largely overlooked. Looking back now, of course, most fans have come to appreciate Craven for trying something that hadn’t been done before, even if Neve Campbell and crew got the glory two years later. NECA had released a New Nightmare version of Freddy way back in their Cult Classics line, but have now revisited the figure with a welcome update. Ever play “Skin the Cat”?
Packaging:
The figure comes in the standard clamshell packaging with the rest of the ANOES line, with the obvious change to reflect that this figure is from New Nightmare. On the back of the package, there’s a write-up of the film, as well as shots of the figure and its features. One nice thing is that the figure isn’t held in with those twist wires, but instead with a clear plastic frame. Not earth-shattering, but it beats having to untwist the wires.
Sculpting/Paintwork:
Essentially the Cult Classics figure with a updated sculpt, this was awesome then as it is now. The details such as Freddy’s underlying muscle tissue under his skin, the laces on his boots and wrinkles in the clothing are all nicely replicated. The mechanical hand/glove looks amazing, and the likeness is spot-on. It’s especially cool how the inside of his coat is layered red and green in such a way that it feels like the strips of fabric were stitched overlapping the previous strip. It’s more noticeable on the sweater, with different styles of fabric sculpted in. Very cool.
As for the paint, there are some very cool applications here. The red and green come out very strong, with no bleeding over. The mechanical hand sports the flesh and bone colours with the silver blades and connecting pieces. The laces on his boots as well as the eyelets are painted quite well, and there’s even a drybrushing applied to the coat to give it slight colour variation. Freddy is painted in such a way that his eyes are looking off to the side, allowing you to replicate the film’s poster, as well as create some cool sinister-looking poses. Do watch out when looking (no pun intended) that you get a figure that doesn’t have lazy eyes.
Articulation:
As with the sculpt, NECA has gone back to the original figure and given it an updated 25-point articulation. The head is on a peg with a balljointed neck that allows for side-to-side rotation, and can look up and down. The pin-and-socket arms can move outward close to 90°, and turn all the way around. The elbows bend close to 45°, and can swivel out and in. The hands are on balljoints, and allow for some decent motion. The upper torso is on a balljoint, allowing the figure to lean forward and side to side. The legs have a pin-and-socket joint, and can move outward to 90°, and move forward and back. The legs also rotate at the hips, bend to around 45° at the knee as well as swivel. There’s a boot cut at the shin, and finally the feet are on balljoints that allow for some ankle pivot and rotation.
Accessories:
Unfortunately, the accessories aren’t as varied this time around as in the past. Gone are the base for the figure, as well as the alternate head. We do get the demonic head as before, which features the same great sculpt and paintwork, and can pop on and off the peg (use a hair dryer/hot water to soften the plastic in order to make things easier). Do note that the demonic head’s paint doesn’t quite match up with the rest of Freddy’s “normal” skin, but that’s a minor nitpick. Lastly, we have Freddy’s trusty fedora (cast in green as in the movie) that fits on the standard head. I realize that including the previous accessories would’ve increased the price, but I still would’ve liked to have at least had the other head to maximize the amount of posing.
Overall:
If you missed out on the original Cult Classics version, this is definitely a nice second opportunity, and doubly so if you’re a fan of New Nightmare. While the paint is excellent and the updated sculpt/articulation are welcome additions, I’m a little disappointed with the lost accessories. If you still have the original figure, this update is more of a toss-up, but still worth it if you wanted more pose-ability.
Big thanks once again to Northmen Collectibles for making this figure available.
