‘Freddy vs. Jason’s Monica Keena Recalls Killing Freddy Krueger

After 23 years, Monica Keena is reliving her “final girl” moment in the ultimate horror crossover.

The Freddy vs. Jason actress recalled why it was “really cathartic” killing off Robert Englund‘s Freddy Krueger in the 2003 Ronny Yu-helmed slasher after his performance in A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) did a number on her as a kid.

“The first horror movie that I ever saw as a kid was Nightmare on Elm Street, and it really did traumatize me,” she told Nerd Reactor. “I mean, it ruined my childhood. This was in second grade. It was horrible. I had to go to the pediatrician, my mom didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was losing all this weight. Teachers at school thought I was being abused at home.”

Keena continued, “Finally, she takes me to the pediatrician, and he’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ I said, ‘You’re not gonna understand. You’re not gonna believe me because he doesn’t show himself to grown-ups.’ Then he was really concerned. I said, ‘There’s this guy, and his name is Freddy Krueger.’ He explains stuff to me. My mom went to the Brooklyn Public Library, she got a clipping of Robert Englund from a newspaper article … and she showed me, ‘He’s a real guy in real life, he’s not Freddy Krueger. That’s just a character.’ And I had it taped up by my little childhood bed. I had it on my wall for years.”

In Freddy vs. Jason, Keena starred as Springwood teen Lori Campbell, who ultimately decapitates Freddy Krueger after learning he murdered her mother, sending him to a watery grave with Jason Voorhees at Camp Crystal Lake.

“And I always said, ‘When I grow up, I’m gonna become an actress and I’m never gonna make movies that scare little kids.’ And then, here I am,” quipped Keena. “But the whole point is, then it was really cathartic because I got to kill him. I finally got to kill him.”

In her latest horror outing Last Chance Motel, Keena stars alongside Heather Langenkamp, who played Krueger’s original “final girl” Nancy Thompson in the first Nightmare on Elm Street film and multiple sequels.