A Nightmare on Elm Street review.
Slasher movies were already stuck in a rut of repetition and oversaturation by 1984. Enter Wes Craven. Infusing the genre with a fresh angle, Craven created a horror icon that would tear up the box office for years to come. Freddy Krueger had been unleashed into our nightmares.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Wes Craven
Starring John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund
A Nightmare on Elm Street Review
A Nightmare on Elm Street hit theaters in 1984. It turned out Freddy Krueger came into the world at the exact right moment. Michael Myers had been tucked away since Dr. Loomis blew him up in 1981’s Halloween II. He wouldn’t resurface until 1988. Jason Voorhees had, supposedly, just been killed for good earlier that year. The Friday the 13th series was about to start going in some…interesting directions. No one had seen Leatherface since 1974 and Chucky was still four years away. The slasher genre needed a fresh face. They’d settle for a horribly burned one.
What slasher movies did have by 1984, however, was a creativity problem. The early 1980’s was the pinnacle of the low budget, even lower concept slasher movie craze. In truth, the genre was probably on its last legs if Wes Craven didn’t buy it another few years with his child killing dream monster.
Freddy Krueger would go on to become a cultural phenomenon. Just as important, more so for the purposes of this A Nightmare on Elm Street review, is the infusion of new ideas into the slasher world. Craven’s monster attacks us in dreams…and if you die in the dream…you die for real. It’s a masterstroke of an idea. There is no time when we are more vulnerable or in less control than when we are asleep. And no matter what you do, eventually, you will fall asleep.
Waiting for you on the other side is an iconic killer brought to life by Robert Englund. Freddy isn’t the quip machine that he would become in the series in the original Nightmare. He’s a menacing, violent monster who enjoys terrifying his victims as much as he does in killing them. Even here he’s far more creative than his contemporary slashers.
A Nightmare on Elm Street contains two of the most memorable kills in horror history. Tina (Amanda Wyss) dragged across the ceiling before being sliced to death. Glen (Johnny Depp) sucked into his bed unleashing a geyser of blood. You could easily argue these are the two most memorable, and best, kills in the entire franchise. Both characters made the same simple, unavoidable mistake. They fell asleep.
Craven builds a lot of the lore of Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street. A local child murderer who got off on a technicality. The parents of Springfield wouldn’t stand by and allow him to go free. They hunted him down and burned him to death in a boiler room. Now he takes his revenge by killing their children in their dreams. Aided by his famous glove with knives for fingers.
Fighting back against him is Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). Her mother is a drunk who has been keeping the secret of Freddy from her long after it was the appropriate time to come clean. Her father (John Saxon) is a police officer who also spends far too long perpetrating the “parents should listen to their children” horror movie trope. Nancy is a top tier final girl. She’s extremely resourceful, fearless and determined.
A Nightmare on Elm Street isn’t without its flaws. Some of the acting is rough…but most of it in a kind of charming way. Then there’s Nancy’s mother. I’m not sure what Ronee Blakeley is doing here. Her choices are so odd that they’d fit better in the dream world than in the real one. Her campy performance makes for some fun on your dozenth watch, at least.
The biggest issue is that it doesn’t know how it wants to end. Documentaries have been made and stories written about conflicts between Craven and producer Bob Shaye over the ending. We’ll just leave it with they didn’t land on the right one. That’s specifically pertaining to the very last scene. It’s needlessly confusing and poorly executed. We’ve seen enough good to forgive it…but every time you watch the movie you kind of think “oh yeah…this” and roll your eyes.
A Nightmare on Elm Street has a far more interesting story than you were likely to find in slasher movies of that era. This wasn’t a simple case of crossing paths with a silent masked killer. Freddy’s story is much more personal. He’s also much more personable. You can see his face and hear his voice. When you think of the most famous slashers that proceeded him…this was providing something different.
Different is A Nightmare on Elm Street’s greatest calling card. The battle being fought inside of dreams, its three-dimensional monster, its creative set pieces and kills. These were far from standard ideas in the post Halloween slasher craze. Wes Craven gave us something new. Something enduring. It wouldn’t be the last time he would author a genre saving rewrite.
Scare Value
A Nightmare on Elm Street delivered the exact thing the slasher genre needed at the exact time it was needed. In Nancy, Heather Langenkamp gives up an all-time great final girl. In Freddy, Robert Englund delivers one of the most well-known characters in horror history. There is no doubting A Nightmare on Elm Street’s placement as a classic horror movie. It’s not without its flaws. Not all of the effects hold up. Some of the acting is…not so great. The ending doesn’t seem to know exactly what to do. The bottom line is this is a great movie that falls just short of the peak of the genre where movies like Halloween, The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre live. But then, how many movies really get to that level?
4.5/5
A Nightmare on Elm Street Links
Buy the first 7 movies on Blu-Ray from Amazon
