A Nightmare on Elm Street (B or 3/4 stars)
Dream-stalking, wise-cracking, slicing-&-dicing Freddy Krueger makes his horrifying screen debut in 1984's 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (directed by Wes Craven), stabbing his way through teenagers' nightmares. The film received decent reviews at the time of its release, was a big box office hit, & spawned wayyyyy too many sequels; but that's a testament to its popularity. Robert Englund stars in the role of a lifetime as the supernatural maniacal serial killer who slaughters young people in the midst of their dreams; resulting in their actual death in reality. Freddy's revenge motive {yes, he actually HAS one}? Killing the offspring of the lynch mob members who heinously burned & killed him for being a creep child molester in their neighborhood.
The sinister Freddy has a hideous face scarred from burns, wears a dirty striped sweater, dons a hat, & wears a glove with long knife blades embedded in the finger slots; taking glee in returning from the underworld to haunt teens in their dreams. Police officer, Lt. Thompson (John Saxon) & his ex-wife Marge (Ronee Blakley) are a couple of clueless parents to their cheerleader daughter, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp); the teen who Freddy wants to kill most. In keeping with the horror movie theme that 'having teen sex = death' ... the 1st teen to fall victim to Freddy is Nancy's friend, Tina (Amanda Wyss), who is ripped to shreds after making love to boyfriend, Rod (Nick Corri). Rod ends up in jail for murder, but Nancy believes he is innocent; as her dreams infer that Freddy is the one who killed Tina.
Shortly thereafter, Rod is killed and, Nancy figures that either she or her pretty boy boyfriend, Glen (none other than Johnny Depp in his film debut), is next. To that, Nancy decides to attempt to bring Freddy out of the dream world. Alas, Glen - who wants a liiiiittle more from Nancy than she's willing to offer - falls asleep one night and, during his dream, his bedroom becomes drenched in a flood of blood because he failed to regard Nancy's stern warning to stay awake. Chaos ensues as Nancy valiantly tries to eliminate Freddy Krueger from her night horrors he loves to inflict.
Director Wes Craven creates a bizarrely humorous, yet absolutely frightening dark fantasy here that speaks of teens' neuroses + burgeoning sexuality as the cornerstone for this original horror flick that blends disturbing surreal nightmares with savage reality in a deeply alarming way. There are more than a few startling, chilling sequence of note: a bath scene where Nancy is pulled under into a pitch-black pool; a back alley chase where Freddy chases Nancy amid the shadows. And the ending leaves everything open to interpretation; making us wonder how much of the prior hour & a half was real and how much wasn't. Of course, this means that sequels aplenty would follow and, each one is worse than the one before it.
Interestingly enough, this low-budget movie had real technical acumen to its filmmaking. The cinematography & editing makes this an intensely spine-chilling experience. Robert Englund's make-up took 3 hours to apply to make him as scarily ugly & menacing as possible. More than 500 gallons of fake blood were utilized in the making of this movie -- ick! And though some of the special effects are dated now, some are simply great. i.e., Tina's death on the ceiling of her bedroom is something to behold. And one of the more notable aspects of this film would also have to be Charles Bernstein's eerie, synth-heavy score, including Freddy's signature nursery rhyme that is freakishly reiterated throughout the proceedings: "One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, never sleep again" -- goose bumps.
Robert Englund makes for an iconic horror movie killer; what with his sharp, quippy sense of humor & vicious slayings. The 1980s also brought us Michael Myers, & Jason Voorhees. But whereas Michael & Jason were wordless, indestructible killing machines, Freddy Krueger doesn't just slaughter you; he taunts, tortures & LOVES slaughtering you {"I'll kill you slow. I'm going to split you in two"} -- that makes him the most unique and arguably the most effective. And Heather Langenkamp makes for a great scream queen, but she's also courageous & resourceful; willing to venture into Freddy's nightmare lair to get the upper hand. Funny, I only know Langenkamp from these films, and one of my fave TV shows growing up, Just the 10 of Us.
On the whole, I give this horror classic a passing grade because of the frightful dream sequences, quirky dark humor, the shock factor, some nifty effects, & the interesting premise. The acting by most of the characters is piss-poor, the story has its strange, off-putting interludes, and the ending is irksomely ridiculous. So 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' may be far from perfect, but this horror flick is tailor-made for fans who love thought-provoking ideas tossed in with their gore. And because just about everything takes place in the realm of dreams ... that ANYTHING can be possible is an enticing concept.
The sinister Freddy has a hideous face scarred from burns, wears a dirty striped sweater, dons a hat, & wears a glove with long knife blades embedded in the finger slots; taking glee in returning from the underworld to haunt teens in their dreams. Police officer, Lt. Thompson (John Saxon) & his ex-wife Marge (Ronee Blakley) are a couple of clueless parents to their cheerleader daughter, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp); the teen who Freddy wants to kill most. In keeping with the horror movie theme that 'having teen sex = death' ... the 1st teen to fall victim to Freddy is Nancy's friend, Tina (Amanda Wyss), who is ripped to shreds after making love to boyfriend, Rod (Nick Corri). Rod ends up in jail for murder, but Nancy believes he is innocent; as her dreams infer that Freddy is the one who killed Tina.
Shortly thereafter, Rod is killed and, Nancy figures that either she or her pretty boy boyfriend, Glen (none other than Johnny Depp in his film debut), is next. To that, Nancy decides to attempt to bring Freddy out of the dream world. Alas, Glen - who wants a liiiiittle more from Nancy than she's willing to offer - falls asleep one night and, during his dream, his bedroom becomes drenched in a flood of blood because he failed to regard Nancy's stern warning to stay awake. Chaos ensues as Nancy valiantly tries to eliminate Freddy Krueger from her night horrors he loves to inflict.
Director Wes Craven creates a bizarrely humorous, yet absolutely frightening dark fantasy here that speaks of teens' neuroses + burgeoning sexuality as the cornerstone for this original horror flick that blends disturbing surreal nightmares with savage reality in a deeply alarming way. There are more than a few startling, chilling sequence of note: a bath scene where Nancy is pulled under into a pitch-black pool; a back alley chase where Freddy chases Nancy amid the shadows. And the ending leaves everything open to interpretation; making us wonder how much of the prior hour & a half was real and how much wasn't. Of course, this means that sequels aplenty would follow and, each one is worse than the one before it.
Interestingly enough, this low-budget movie had real technical acumen to its filmmaking. The cinematography & editing makes this an intensely spine-chilling experience. Robert Englund's make-up took 3 hours to apply to make him as scarily ugly & menacing as possible. More than 500 gallons of fake blood were utilized in the making of this movie -- ick! And though some of the special effects are dated now, some are simply great. i.e., Tina's death on the ceiling of her bedroom is something to behold. And one of the more notable aspects of this film would also have to be Charles Bernstein's eerie, synth-heavy score, including Freddy's signature nursery rhyme that is freakishly reiterated throughout the proceedings: "One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, never sleep again" -- goose bumps.
Robert Englund makes for an iconic horror movie killer; what with his sharp, quippy sense of humor & vicious slayings. The 1980s also brought us Michael Myers, & Jason Voorhees. But whereas Michael & Jason were wordless, indestructible killing machines, Freddy Krueger doesn't just slaughter you; he taunts, tortures & LOVES slaughtering you {"I'll kill you slow. I'm going to split you in two"} -- that makes him the most unique and arguably the most effective. And Heather Langenkamp makes for a great scream queen, but she's also courageous & resourceful; willing to venture into Freddy's nightmare lair to get the upper hand. Funny, I only know Langenkamp from these films, and one of my fave TV shows growing up, Just the 10 of Us.
On the whole, I give this horror classic a passing grade because of the frightful dream sequences, quirky dark humor, the shock factor, some nifty effects, & the interesting premise. The acting by most of the characters is piss-poor, the story has its strange, off-putting interludes, and the ending is irksomely ridiculous. So 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' may be far from perfect, but this horror flick is tailor-made for fans who love thought-provoking ideas tossed in with their gore. And because just about everything takes place in the realm of dreams ... that ANYTHING can be possible is an enticing concept.