A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
3/4
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri. Robert Englund
Rated R (for Horror Violence/Gore, Sexuality, and Language...I guess)
The three biggest horror movie villains are Michael Meyers ("Halloween"), Jason Voorhees (the "Friday the 13th" series) and Freddy Krueger ("A Nightmare on Elm Street"). There are plenty of others (Leatherface, Chucky, Pinhead...just to name a few), but those are the big three. Of them, "Halloween" is the best, but "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is pretty darn good (I've seen the original "Friday the 13th," and if someone could enlighten me on why that actually started one of the biggest horror movie franchises, I would really like to know).
One of the most common staples of a horror movie is the dream sequence. It goes something like this: the heroine is being stalked down a dark corridor by the villain (usually carrying some nasty cutlery of some kind), and just as the killer is about to butcher his prey, she wakes up gasping. It was only a dream.
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is built on that idea, only in reverse. Nancy is dreaming, but she can't wake up. That's bad news because if she dies in the dream, she dies in real life. It's a truly innovative idea, because while we all have scary nightmares, we know that sleep is our safe haven. The thought of that being taken away is truly frightening.
Tina (Wyss) is not feeling well. The night before, she had a very scary dream. She was being chased by a heavily scarred man, and she woke up just as he was about to kill her. Only when she woke up, her nightgown was shredded. Her friend Nancy (Langenkamp) had a similar nightmare. Soon, events make Nancy realize that the only time she and her friends are safe is when they are awake.
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is a rarity: a smart horror movie. Most horror movies, even the best ones, rely on acts of stupidity by the characters (usually before they are brutally murdered by the killer). Not here. Nancy Thompson is a resourceful girl, and she's determined to stay one step ahead of Fred Krueger (Englund), a sadist with knives for fingers.
Wes Craven is one of the most famous names in horror, and for good reason: he knows what he's doing. More importantly, his willingness to take chances allowed him to stay ahead of the game. Other directors like John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper have fizzled out because either they were one-trick ponies or because they weren't willing to do anything different. An idea this inventive needs to be handled correctly, and that's something that Craven understands. Consistency is everything in a movie like this, and for the most part, the film stays on the right side of the line (there are times when Craven breaks the rules, but they're brief and few...his attempts to make us question whether Nancy is dreaming or not don't work, but at least he took the chance).
This is a good horror film, but not a great one. It's spooky and involving, but not especially scary. Movies like "Halloween" and "Sinister" show what a horror movie can truly be; "A Nightmare on Elm Street" doesn't approach that level of terror. The ending is also problematic. Although it is foreshadowed, it flies in the face of the entire movie. The final scene is a neat twist on the surface, but it suffers from the same problem when you think about it.
For horror movie buffs, this is definitely a movie to check out.
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri. Robert Englund
Rated R (for Horror Violence/Gore, Sexuality, and Language...I guess)
The three biggest horror movie villains are Michael Meyers ("Halloween"), Jason Voorhees (the "Friday the 13th" series) and Freddy Krueger ("A Nightmare on Elm Street"). There are plenty of others (Leatherface, Chucky, Pinhead...just to name a few), but those are the big three. Of them, "Halloween" is the best, but "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is pretty darn good (I've seen the original "Friday the 13th," and if someone could enlighten me on why that actually started one of the biggest horror movie franchises, I would really like to know).
One of the most common staples of a horror movie is the dream sequence. It goes something like this: the heroine is being stalked down a dark corridor by the villain (usually carrying some nasty cutlery of some kind), and just as the killer is about to butcher his prey, she wakes up gasping. It was only a dream.
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is built on that idea, only in reverse. Nancy is dreaming, but she can't wake up. That's bad news because if she dies in the dream, she dies in real life. It's a truly innovative idea, because while we all have scary nightmares, we know that sleep is our safe haven. The thought of that being taken away is truly frightening.
Tina (Wyss) is not feeling well. The night before, she had a very scary dream. She was being chased by a heavily scarred man, and she woke up just as he was about to kill her. Only when she woke up, her nightgown was shredded. Her friend Nancy (Langenkamp) had a similar nightmare. Soon, events make Nancy realize that the only time she and her friends are safe is when they are awake.
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is a rarity: a smart horror movie. Most horror movies, even the best ones, rely on acts of stupidity by the characters (usually before they are brutally murdered by the killer). Not here. Nancy Thompson is a resourceful girl, and she's determined to stay one step ahead of Fred Krueger (Englund), a sadist with knives for fingers.
Wes Craven is one of the most famous names in horror, and for good reason: he knows what he's doing. More importantly, his willingness to take chances allowed him to stay ahead of the game. Other directors like John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper have fizzled out because either they were one-trick ponies or because they weren't willing to do anything different. An idea this inventive needs to be handled correctly, and that's something that Craven understands. Consistency is everything in a movie like this, and for the most part, the film stays on the right side of the line (there are times when Craven breaks the rules, but they're brief and few...his attempts to make us question whether Nancy is dreaming or not don't work, but at least he took the chance).
This is a good horror film, but not a great one. It's spooky and involving, but not especially scary. Movies like "Halloween" and "Sinister" show what a horror movie can truly be; "A Nightmare on Elm Street" doesn't approach that level of terror. The ending is also problematic. Although it is foreshadowed, it flies in the face of the entire movie. The final scene is a neat twist on the surface, but it suffers from the same problem when you think about it.
For horror movie buffs, this is definitely a movie to check out.
Comments
Post a Comment