Johnny Depp Movie:

Editorial Review:
Wes Craven's 1984 horror film is a better movie than it is generally credited for being. Forget the tawdry sequels; this highly original, almost surrealist work stars Robert Englund as a mutilated monster who kills teenagers during their dreams. Craven, who only directed one Elm Street sequel (Wes Craven's New Nightmare), takes the Hitchcockian step of layering in psychological explanations for the terror and then proving them all irrelevant in the face of mindless evil. The horror in the film is emotionally raw, in contrast to the overimaginative set pieces of most of the sequels that followed; and the final scene is as deeply unsettling as anything Luis Buñuel ever committed to film. --Tom Keogh

A Nightmare on Elm Street Reviews:
Still Awesome
2009-12-08 - Oh my gosh! This movie is a classic! Everyone knows the infamous Freddy Kruegar. This movie is, I imagine, way less scary today than when it came out, but it's still awesome!

Fantastic DVD
2009-11-05 - The Infinifilm Edition of A Nightmare on Elm Street is a great way to watch the film. With the branching infinifilm features, you can branch to cool little documentaries. There's also a new commentary track and a text commentary. I watched all three at once. Information overload! Now that it's a lot cheaper it's definitely worth picking up.

A different type of slasher
2009-11-02 - If I was asked my opinion on the slasher branch of horror films my comments would be primarily negative. In general the concept of teenagers (or occasionally adults) being systematically killed for the sake of being killed does not appeal to me. There are movies like Halloween, and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre that are exceptions to this, but that has more to do with the directors than it did to do with the stories actually being gripping...that being said I find A Nightmare on Elm Street to be a solid horror film in every regard, and in my opinion, far better than other films of the genre released during the 1980s (that means YOU Friday the 13th).

What makes A Nightmare on Elm Street a special type of slasher film is simply the lead of Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund) and the supernatural script by horror master Wes Craven. Through the mixing of Wes Craven unique visions of horror, surreal imagery, and Englund's cunning performance help make this movie stand-out - well, that and the iconic knife glove, but that goes without saying. It is this mixture between a director's vision and an actor's menacing performance that breaths fresh life into this film; keeping it from becoming another trashy 80s attempt at copying Halloween.

Basically it does follow the formula of having about five teenagers who are one-by-one picked off by the antagonists without much reason other than he wants them dead, but here's where the difference between Friday the 13th and Nightmare differ: actual production values. On his low-budget Wes Craven did the best with what he got and created a film that looks a lot better than its budget would have implied. Freddy Krueger is also the most charismatic presence in the slasher sub-branch of horror films...but not too hard for him given that Jason, Michael Myers, and Leatherface aren't much for talking, but regardless, he still Englund has a great screen presence when in the role of Freddy; he has an attitude, shouts out threats, insults, as well as the occasional one-liner, and unlike the many-a-bad-sequel that was to come for Englund, this Freddy would actually be scary whenever he spoke.

So overall creativity, good production values, and a unique villain make A Nightmare on Elm Street on of the most lasting slashers of the 1980s, and is in my opinion, is #3 on my top slasher films (#1 of course being Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, #2 being Carpenter's Halloween).


...nine, ten, never sleep again!!!
2009-10-24 - With my "31 Reviews For 31 Days of October" project now running in the single digits, there are only a few more horror movies for me to review before I reach my goal of having written 31 horror reviews for the 31 days of October, leading up, of course, to Halloween! And what better addition to my series than an undisputed '80s classic, in this case, "A Nightmare on Elm Street"?

Surely most people, horror-fans and non- alike, have at least heard of this movie. But for those that haven't seen it yet, here's a quick rundown. Freddy Kreuger was a child murderer before dying, but now is back as a dream figure, here to haunt and kill you through your dreams, no matter where you are. There's an idea that screams originality, if ever I heard one!

This film stars the acting talents of Heather Langenkamp (who's quite the sexy lead chick!), Johnny Depp, and the unforgettable Robert Englund. Also, as it's well-known, this movie was directed by the amazing Wes Craven, one of the top American horror movie directors. So right from the start, we're given a promising cast and director, and that of course signals good things to come. Comparatively, this movie certainly isn't as controversial as earlier Craven masterpieces such as "The Last House on the Left", or "The Hills Have Eyes", both of which are great if you're into the more intense side of horror. However, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" still proves itself to be a classic horror gem.

One thing about this movie that I really like is the element of fantasy in it. The concept of fantasy in a horror movie is definitely something I like to see plenty of, and here it's done with brilliance and finesse. The fact that Freddy is a dream figure pretty much means that you're not really safe anywhere, and when he attacks...watch out! The first murder highlights the intensity of Freddy, with it being the famous revolving room scene, done in all its terrifying, dizzying and ever-bloody glory. The rest of the movie is just as strong with some surreal and atmospheric scenes that underline the amazing fantasy element of the movie.

Although this movie and its series has become quite mainstream for horror, it's still a masterpiece. If you haven't seen it yet, it's highly recommended, especially to fans of slasher-films or fantasy-horror films. Be sure to check it out in all it's gory, surreal, intense and heart-pumping splendor in time for Halloween! Thanks for the time, and peace.

Don't Fall Asleep
2009-06-08 - Really, when you think of shoddy effects and horrible 80's dialogue, one would cringe at the thought of such a movie getting such high ratings. However, the effects and dialogue somehow fit nicely into this movie, and allowed for viewers to have an occasional laugh in an otherwise frightening tale. But don't let the effects and dialogue fool you, this is a true classic at heart, a reimaging of the slasher genre, and to this day I have not seen very many scenes more disturbing than the one in which Nancy dreams of Tina in her body bag. The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5, is due to its confusing ending in which Nancy pulls Freddy out of her dreams. It doesn't work here, but somehow works in number 6, for whatever reasons that are never quite explained. I don't hold that against the original, though, because Wes Craven wasn't involved in number 6, and from what I've read Wes Craven had all along wanted this to be a stand alone movie. Okay, so Nancy pulls him out, fights with him, and then she finds him upstairs over her mother's bed, and says it's all a dream and that she wants her friends back (so was this a dream within a dream?). Next we see Nancy riding off with her friends in a Freddy'ish car and her mother sucked through the window by Freddy, so it would appear she's still dreaming, but if so it doesn't explain why her friends are suddenly there and alive again, nor why Freddy went after Nancy's mom instead of Nancy. In the other movies her boyfriend is still talked about as having been murdered, her mother died in her sleep, and her father is now a drunk with a lot on his mind from the events of the original movie, so it's obvious it was not all just a dream as we were led to believe. As I stated previously, I believe Wes intended this to be a single movie, with a happy ending in which Nancy wakes up realizing it was all just a dream, and everything would return to normal. But somewhere along the way the translation got lost and somebody decided to change the ending without fixing the plotholes that became present in this movie and the rest of the films as a result.