Not many Hollywood horror monsters will watch over you while you sleep or profess their desire for you but that doesn't make Freddy Krueger a cuddly entity. Whereas baddies like Jason will simply deliver the killing blow, Freddy likes to toy with his victims, making the former's blunt brutality seem like mercy by comparison.
That's also one of the reasons why Freddy Krueger actually has a lower kill count compared to other slasher monsters. He's all about quality over quantity and premeditated attacks against his victims most of whom are just getting some shut-eye. Freddy always makes sure to butter up his victims with insomnia and restlessness before finally slicing them up like turkeys. Here's how many turkeys he's had over his near-4-decade existence.
9 A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) - 3
Since it's the fifth moving and likely the most exhausted in the long-standing franchise that began in 1984, Freddy appears to be less enthusiastic in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. As per the title, Freddy is also a lot sleazier in this film and focuses more on making an "heir" instead of just killing.
Of course, when it comes to that, he targets the dreams of an unborn child, namely Jacob's whose still getting for labor in Alice's belly. The deaths in this film might be few and far between, but Freddy never fails to get creative. One of his victims was even fed to themselves while another got fused into a vehicle.
8 Freddy Vs. Jason (2003) - 3
You would think that with such a blasphemous title and crossover concept, the body count in Freddy vs. Jason would go through the roof. However, that wasn't the case with the film as there were only three official deaths in the movie. This was despite the many opportunities for the nightmare prowler.
That's because Freddy in this film began in a weakened state where he was compelled to summon Jason Vorhees to do the work for him. So, most of the kill credits went to Jason as he gleefully murdered his way into Springwood for his welcoming gesture. It was only until Freddy got back his strength that he was able to start killing again and even challenge Jason.
7 Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) - 4
For an interesting meta-take on Freddy Krueger and the horror genre in general, Wes Craven's New Nightmare does a decent job. It's a self-aware movie that's about the actors and actresses of the Nightmare of Elm Street franchise. They're all supposedly taking place in real-life when Freddy Krueger decides to rear his ugly burned head and haunt the stars who portrayed his victims in the movies.
Sounds blood right? Then you actually get to see the movie and realize that most of the deaths are not even that interesting nor macabre enough compared to Freddy's other artistic masterpieces painted with blood and human guts. He only had four victims here and two of them were hapless film crews that died rather unconvincingly.
6 A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)- 4
Nothing quite beats the original though and while A Nightmare on Elm Street only had four kills courtesy of Freddy, it still laid the foundation for more dreamy murders ahead. The premise was rather simple back then, Freddy Krueger, a child killer, started going on a teenage killing spree, probably to represent puberty and exaggerated hormones.
He didn't get too far as he was only able to snag the lives of four teenagers though all of them significantly traumatized Nancy, Freddy's favorite target. Regardless, the deaths were a lot more disgusting and nightmarish compared to the tired sequels where one of the victims was even unfortunate enough to literally get pulled into the abyss.
5 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) - 5
Oh look at that, a movie title that's more honest than the previous movies. This one was even kind enough to spoil the ending to the viewers with two words since that's usually what happens at the end of every Nightmare on Elm Street film. Now, if you want to save yourself the trouble of having to sit through a more cartoonish Freddy Krueger here, he killed about five people.
Their deaths were wackier and even resembled some of the predicaments of Looney Tunes characters. One of them had their head explode while another one was dropped into a pit after getting played like a video game character.
4 A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) - 5
If there's one idea that the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise successfully peddled, it's that Freddy Krueger never gives up. He begins this hopeful journey of optimism when he decided to take revenge against some teenagers again.
This time around, Freddy does it more subtly and possesses a kid named Jesse Walsh. Through Jesse, Freddy managed to kill people in the real world. He mostly does it conventionally by puncturing or slashing the victims first though he did go overkill one time and made a cuisine out of his butchered prey.
3 A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) - 6
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors at least gives a chance for Freddy's sufferers to fight back. This time around, he's chasing the descendant of Elm Street. It just so happens that those teenage individuals somehow had dream powers.
This does make Freddy's job more difficult. Still, he managed to pull through with six gruesome kills some of which are rather stomach-churning. Freddy toys around with the idea of killing someone by making their veins pop and killing someone with a television screen, among other stabby methods.
2 A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) - 6
The Dream Master continues the trend of Elm Street descendants having a chance to fight back their nightmare's menace. As usual, Freddy was out to get some revenge and directs it toward the children of the adults who were responsible for burning him.
Freddy Krueger, despite the odds, managed to get away with an impressive tally of six murders which consist of scary and wacky ways to die such as getting your organs and breath sucked out of you or getting turned into a cockroach and then squished.
1 A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) - More Or Less, 11
Until 2010, Freddy never actually lived up to his serial killer potential as his kills only went up to single digits. A Nightmare on Elm Street, the remake of the horror films, sort of changed all that when it made Freddy's kill count soar by having him murder people in retrospect.
His victims were mostly the preschool kids he abused (or molested). Freddy started hunting them down and killing four of them in the present timeline of the movie. The last victim was Nancy's mom who was cheaply killed by Freddy with a suggestion that he'll be back or already is in case a remake sequel was warranted. Too bad that chance might have died with Freddy's victims long ago.