when I was a boy... that scene when the guy is trying to run up the stairs and Freddy turns the stairs into muck and starts grabbing at him... that shit haunted me! I could not walk up stairs if the lights were turned off on the lower floor without freaking out
I have had some some epic nightmares that woke me up screaming but once I wake up and think about them they are usually just stupid shit.
Its the emotions that are overwhelmed and that is what they are eluding to with Freddy attacking you in your dreams. He makes the nightmare real to you and then tortures you and ultimately kills you... because he cant rape children anymore.
fun fact, one of the worst nightmares I think I ever had went like this....
a dream within a dream kinda thing... I woke up screaming that I saw a dead person in the mirror behind me and I screamed and woke myself up and went to the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror the dead guy was there again behind me.... I was screaming bloody murder at the top of my lungs and my wife woke me up and I was fucking whacked out... I wasn't sure I was awake or still dreaming... I went to the bathroom and washed my face and when I opened the door to leave, my wife was standing there. and it startled me and I just collapsed and cried for a few minutes. Once I told her what the dream was that had me screaming we both kinda laughed about it and went on with the day.
The next day she woke me up and said I had to come and look at the TV... sadly it wasn't a nightmare but that day was 9/11/2001