Review – 12″ Deluxe Cinema of Fear Freddy Krueger

Mezco has released the second character and third figure in their 12″ rotocast Deluxe Cinema of Fear line – Freddy Krueger. Freddy follows two versions of Jason Voorhees (part VII and the 2009 remake) and is captured as he appears in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, the film that featured the return of Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson and the debut of Patricia Arquette. The figure is advertised as 12″, but following what seems to be an odd trend it falls a little short at roughly 11″ tall (without his hat).

Name:	Cinema of Fear 12″ Freddy Krueger
Size:	11+”
Points of Articulation:	12
Manufacturer:	Mezco
Released:	2009
Retail Price:	$31.99 – $40

Packaging – 9/10

Freddy is entombed in a window boxed package with an extension of the back panel to allow for hanging and the logo. There are a lot of plus sides to the packaging. First and foremost, the colors and graphics are vibrant and attention-drawing. The figure is well secured and nearly fully revealed through the front window, giving boxed collectors a nice display piece. The graphics are everything that I personally hope for in packaging – good color, a picture of the item itself, and most importantly “real life” shots of the character. I think too many companies overlook this crucial piece – I still consider vintage figures in the realm of Star Wars, G.I.Joe and other Mattel releases to be some of the best packaged figures of all time, mainly because the artwork or movie photo was the focus of the presentation. But back to this figure, we get a little bit of everything, and it gives boxed collectors the ability to reposition the box on their shelves and get a bit of variety even if they never take the figure out of the box. It’s also designed in a way that allows the figure to be removed and reinserted without hurting the box’s displayability. The only downside that I can think of is that the box takes up a lot of real estate. With the upper extension the box is a good 15″ tall, and there’s quite a bit of extra room inside of the bubble that could have probably been eliminated.

Sculpt – 8/10

Mezco delivers yet another high-quality sculpt with this 12″ figure. The burns on Freddy’s face and body are captured with realistic accuracy, using the combination of fine detail and a layered paint scheme to give an accurate portrayal of his grotesque appearance. His torso is sculpted in a similar manner, with the added bonus of the faces of the souls he has consumed. A nice nod to the series, but unfortunately there’s no way for Freddy himself to hold his shirt up to display his victims’ agonized faces. The pants are pretty plain and don’t have a tremendous amount of detail, but there is sufficient wrinkling and definition to give the figure more character. The one thing that bugs me about this figure – and this goes for a lot of 12″ figures these days – is that it doesn’t measure up to a true 1:6 scale. Without his hat Krueger measures just a hair over 11″.

Paint – 9/10

The paint quality on this figure is almost as flawless as you can get. I don’t know if I just got lucky or if every Freddy on the market is so well-done, but in an age where you seemingly have to hand-pick figures because of sloppy paint jobs, this one is about as good as you’ll get. In terms of quality application, there is no noticeable runover, no slop and no mentionable flaws. And like I mentioned before, the paint layering used in Freddy’s burns give the figure some nice depth and character. The only thing that keeps me from giving this a 10/10 is that the skin application could have used maybe another shade of red to accentuate things. The eyes are finely detailed, the pants sufficiently washed to give them a dirty look, and the shoes are also painted in a way that make them look well-worn.

Articulation – 5/10

Freddy has a reasonable amount of articulation in his upper body but is more or less lacking movement below the waist. He has a ball jointed head, swivel-hinged shoulders, swivel elbows, swivel hands, a ball-joint waist and swivel feet. The articulation in the upper body creates a reasonable amount of display options, though the swivel elbows create collectors from doing anything too dynamic. The articulation below the waist is not only minimal, it’s pretty much useless. The feet are technically swivel pins, but the droopy legs on his paints virtually hinder their movement completely. On the subject of articulation, the gloved hand was the subject of the only true production flaw that my figure has – the hand pops off easily with movement.

Accessories – 7/10

Freddy doesn’t come with much more than he really needs. His glove is sculpted into his hand, as you might expect. His hat is removable, which is a nice touch, and he also wears a real cloth sweater, with intentional snags and cuts that authentically give Freddy a rough look. In addition to his worn accessories, Freddy is packed with a miniature marionette Freddy as seen in the gruesome puppeteer sequence in Nightmare Part 3.

Play/Pose – 7/10

Freddy makes a great display piece with his detailed sculpt, fiendish grin and bladed glove at the ready. The lack of leg articulation somewhat hinders display possibilities, but there’s enough movement in the head and arms to give collectors some options. You’re not going to be able to refresh into a new pose frequently without running out of ideas, but it’s enough to keep things interesting.

Closing Thoughts

For a finely-sculpted 12″ (or close to it) figure, $40 isn’t a horrible price. You’re not going to get the articulation or gear that you’ll find in a Sideshow or Hot Toys figure, but you’re paying half as much and you’re still getting an iconic horror character. Mezco has sold out of this figure at this time but you can still it at various online retailers and distributed through Sideshow Collectibles.

MY RATING: