Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Nancy is a normal teenage girl who goes to school and gets together with her friends.  That is until one day they all start to have nightmares about the same creepy figure and then start to die.  Eventually she figures out that Freddy Krueger, a dead child killer, is hunting them in their dreams.  But why is he after them, and can she do anything to stop him?  More importantly will she or any of her friends survive long enough for Nancy to figure it out?  By the end of the movie we have all the answers, well sort of anyway.

I have to be honest guys as a child of the ‘80s I’ve never understood why the Nightmare on Elm Street series was so popular.  I mean I do love the Friday the 13th flicks (most of them anyway) so I clearly can deal with cheesy horror flicks.  But there has always been something about the Nightmare series that put me off.  But since I hadn’t seen the original in a very long time I thought that it would be fun to revisit it to see if my opinion had changed.  It hadn’t at all.

Before I talk about what I’ve always dug about the movie let me point out some of the things that have always bothered me.  To begin with the plot is very awkward and hard to follow.  The movie starts off with the main characters and kills a couple of them off before we even really know who they are.  Really if you go back and check the flick out without nostalgia getting in the way it does feel like we are missing 10 or 15 minutes of the movie.  This gives the movie an awkward feel that is only made worse by the jumping in and out of the dream state.  It is almost impossible to figure out if they are in a dream or not.  Say what you want but the sequels do a much better job of this then the original.  Sure I’ve heard fans say that the whole movie is supposed to be surreal and confusing, but that is just making excuses for what is pretty poor writing.  I mean lets be honest if you look at much of Wes Craven’s other movies is that such a stretch?

I’ve also thought that the cast was less then stellar.  I mean except for the excellent John Saxon who is the best actor in the movie and is totally wasted on the token dad part.  The young cast that is playing the teenage characters range from mediocre (a young Johnny Depp who is a long way off from the brilliant work of later years) to pretty bad (Heather Langenkamp).  Yeah I know that I’m going to catch some heat for not falling all over Langenkamp like some nerdy fanboy.  But while I think she is much better in later Nightmare flicks here she is very young and gives a wooden performance.  Does she ever really look that scared?  Yeah I know it is a horror flick, but even the ½ naked girls that get 5 minutes screen time in most slashers emote better then her.

Now I know that I’ve been pretty harsh so far.  But I will admit that there are several innovative and classic sequences in this movie.  The Depp kill on the bed and the 1st kill of the movie are as memorable as anything you will ever see in any horror movie.  I also think that the look of the Freddy character is genius as was the decision to keep him in the shadows and limit his screen time.  Also unlike later movies Freddy isn’t a wisecracking buffoon, but is actually a pretty scary character.  These are all good things.

Okay so I’ll admit again that I just don’t get it.  I know that I’m in the minority here among horror fans in not liking the series and this is especially true when it comes to the original.  But it is my honest opinion and I think that I’ve made some good points.  If you are a horror fan that somehow hasn’t seen this movie yet I think there are much better movies for you to see.  But eventually you will want to get around to checking this out for a couple of iconic death scenes.  Other then that I can’t say much more to recommend it.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer