One of the most terrifying Hollywood horror villains, Freddy Krueger, is getting his own shoe line after Nike announced a new Halloween-themed Air Max 95 range set to release in late October.
There’s already a plethora of Freddy-inspired merchandise in the form of backpacks and hoodies to lunch boxes and bed sheets. And he’s been faithfully recreated in animated shows like South Park and the Simpsons and has been a recurring figure at the Halloween Horror Nights special event at Universal Studios theme park.
He has appeared as a playable character in video games such as Mortal Kombat and Death by Daylight. And he has been keeping casino games fans awake in the “A Nightmare On Elm Street” slot game ever since its release, which has been featured at some of the best mobile casinos in 2020 like 888Casino.
The design of the new shoe will be heavily influenced by Krueger with laced red panels to give the appearance of blood spatter, faded brown and blue lines to represent his sweater and silver and grey elements, which are inspired by his glove.
Hopefully, Nike learned its lessons from the first time they tried to introduce a Nightmare on Elm Street-inspired sneaker. It did not go well. The last attempt, in the SB Dunk Lows range, was shut down by a cease and desist letter from New Line Cinema. In the end, only 30 pairs were ever created and now sell for thousands of dollars.
Krueger is one of the most famous and recognisable horror characters ever, so it makes sense for a company like Nike to piggyback off of that, especially around Halloween. If they’ve done a better job of clearing the legal hurdles this time around, this shoe is sure to become an instant collector’s classic.
Enthusiasts of both horror films and Nike shoes could be in for a big treat this Halloween as indications are this might not be the only spooky-themed shoes in the pipeline. Rumours of Dracula-inspired Nike Air trainers and a jet-black Nike Air Max could indicate an entire horror-themed catalogue of shoes might be on the way.
One thing we can all be thankful for is that these shoes weren’t around when Freddie Krueger was terrorising Elm Street. Imagine how much scarier he would’ve been if he could’ve run, jumped and dunked like a pro.