Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Freddy’s Nightmares, a horror anthology show which ran in syndication from 1988 to 1990. The entire series can be found on Tubi!

This week, Freddy has a message!

Episode 2.9 “Monkey Dreams”

(Dir by Robert Englund, originally aired on December 3rd, 1989)

At a college science lab, Joe (Joseph Cali) tries to communicate with aliens.  Next door, Jeannie (Sharon Mahoney) tries to teach her monkey to speak.  When Joe starts getting strange messages on his computer, he thinks that it’s an alien code.  Then it turns out that it’s actually just the monkey trying to type out its name on its own computer.  Joe is then murdered by his bookie.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lynch (Sherman Howard) is using the monkey for some experiments to see how much pain a living creature can take.  Dr. Lynch seems to change his mind when he hears the monkey speak.  But it turns out that we were just seeing the monkey’s dream.

“Think about it!” Freddy tells us.

Freddy Krueger, animal rights activist?  I guess it makes sense when you consider that Robert Englund directed this episode.  The episode’s message was heartfelt but it seemed a bit out-of-place on a show about a undead child molester.  Whatever message you want to deliver, Freddy Krueger probably isn’t the best one to do it.