It’s Halloween, therefore everyone is in an ooky, spooky
mood and are dying to watch some horror flicks. Myself included. So much so
that I was in the mood to discuss some of my favorites. I’ve already done
reviews of every entry in the Halloween franchise, the Leprechaun series as
well as a retrospective about all the Friday the 13th films
combined. What is there left to talk about?
How about my favorite horror franchise of all time – A
Nightmare on Elm Street!
I love me a gory slasher film, but the Freddy films hold a
special place in my heart. Not only do they give horror fans the blood-soaked
goods, but each film shows off a different visual aesthetic and tone. Sure,
some are better at it than others, but they all take full advantage of the
“anything can happen in a dream” motif. Tons of creativity mixed with the
general creepiness of Krueger really went a long way with me. It still does.
So I will do a quick synopsis of each film followed by a
short review beginning with the original film and ending with Wes Craven’s New
Nightmare (You can ready my review of the 2010 remake here).
Let’s get started…
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Plot: A group of teenage friends are haunted by nightmares
of a burned man armed with a glove tipped with knives who wants to kill them
all when they are the most vulnerable – while they sleep.
Review: Wes Craven created a juggernaut of a teen horror
flick with the original A Nightmare on Elm Street film. It has a little of
everything people were craving from their slasher flicks back then – gore, a
great villain, likable characters, creepy visuals, cheesy synthesizer music and
big hair. But one thing that sets this film apart from the glut of other
slasher flicks of the era was the fact that the killer can only kill you while
you sleep. And while that’s a cool concept, what makes the film great from an
audience perspective is the way Craven masterfully handles the dreams of its
characters mingling with the real world. There are some times where it’s
difficult to ascertain if what you are watching is in fact happening in reality
or in someone’s head. The likable cast is easy to root for even when they act
like morons. I especially loved Heather Langenkamp as final girl Nancy
Thompson. She may look bookish and timid, but she doesn’t put up with any shit
and takes matters into her own hands without hesitation. Johnny Depp also is a
standout in one of his first roles as Nancy’s doofy boyfriend Glen (he gets it
the worst out of everybody). But these types of movies are only as good as
their villain, and Craven created one of the greatest of all time – Freddy
Krueger. Played by the dorky looking Robert Englund, he made a character that
is essentially a ghost haunting these teenager’s dreams into something
absolutely terrifying and equally thrilling to watch in action. The burn
make-up is creepy, the simple costume used to make him look like a non-threat is
genius and his modulated voice is creepy beyond belief. And the kills! The
gloriously gory kills! I can go on and on about this one all day and night.
It’s considered a classic in the genre for good reason. In a couple of areas it
is a little dated, but for the most part it still holds up and is just as fun
as it was back in the mid-80s. An all-time favorite.
4.5 out of 5
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
Plot: When the teenage Jesse’s (Mark Patton) family moves
into Nancy Thompson’s old house, he begins to realize that a person stalking
him in his dreams is attempting to possess him in the real world for some
nefarious purpose.
Review: Freddy’s Revenge is one of the most controversial
films in this franchise. Why? Writer David Chaskin decided to take a different
route when creating the story by introducing LGBTQ themes into it. Some people
hated it, others embraced it. I think it makes the movie unique and yet another
interesting angle to set itself apart from the pack like its predecessor. Is
the movie good? I find it entertaining, if not a little slow paced and boring
at times. The acting isn’t all that great either. But the make-up effects
really stand out here and are shockingly graphic. Especially the classic scene
where Freddy literally rips his way out of Jesse to kill one of his friends.
The score by Christopher Young is odd, featuring the songs of whales and subtle
sound design in place of an orchestra or synths. The main gripe I have with
this entry is the fact that it is shot in an extremely generic way, almost like
a television movie. Where Craven went hog wild with the visuals in the
original, director Jack Sholder didn’t seem to put much thought into it at all
because the film looks flat and dull. But when something of note happens the
film does tend to come alive in the best ways. Some of the imagery is creepy
beyond belief (the dogs with human faces), sometimes it’s just flat out dumb
(the family’s parakeet going on a rampage). It’s an uneven film that was trying
to do something different, and while it succeeded in that department it didn’t
make for a completely successful sequel.
3 out of 5
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Plot: A group of troubled teens being held in a psychiatric
hospital realize that the reason they have been locked up is because they are
all being stalked by a killer in their dreams – Freddy Krueger.
Review: Dream Warriors is my favorite film in the franchise.
Not only does it introduce a group of highly likable and relatable characters
for the audience to root for, writer Frank Darabont and director Chuck Russell
wisely decided to take Freddy out of the shadows and make him the main
attraction this time around. He’s the reason people flocked to these movies in
droves, why not give them more of what they want. And more was what we got. And
boy howdy does Robert Englund look like he’s having the time of his life
playing everyone’s favorite frizzle fried serial killer! Bringing
Heather Langenkamp back as Nancy was another masterstroke after she was left
out of the previous film altogether. But the main reason I love this film as
much as I do – it’s just flat out fun. Sure there are gory deaths and all that,
but it is a fast paced and breezy slasher film filled with humor, great
characters, amazing effects work, outstanding performances and a lot of clever
surprises. The first time I watched this gem of a horror flick I was taken
aback by just how much of the plot I didn’t see coming in advance. When I first
saw this I was relatively new to horror films, but in a short amount of time I
was able to figure out all the genre’s clichés. This one kept me guessing and
on my toes. The introduction of the dream powers was another thing I adored
about this film. Darabont added some comic-booky wish fulfillment into the mix
and it fits like a glove (pun intended!). Everything about it is top notch and
creative in ways the second film wasn’t. It’s also highly ambitious for a low
budget slasher flick. Russell had some balls back then and was constantly
innovating even though he barely had the money to do so (not something you can
say about his modern day work). I have to watch this entry at least once a year
and I still find it as fresh and entertaining as I did back in the day.
5 out of 5
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
Plot: The three remaining Elm Street kids are being picked
off by a newly resurrected Freddy, and he needs to use the dreams of a
withdrawn girl in order to move on to a whole new slaying ground.
Review: This is where the series started taking a nosedive.
Due to the overwhelming success of Dream Warriors all the remaining films in
the franchise were designed to mimic that film’s outline. Everyone has a dream
power, Freddy does nothing but crack lame jokes and the deaths get more bizarre
and complicated. Everything that worked in the previous film is amped up to 11
here, only now they are 100% more annoying and gratuitous. Sure the film is
extremely fast paced and visually it looks like a late 1980’s Mötley Crüe music
video, but director Renny Harlin puts all of his focus on the way things look
instead of making sure the characters are likable and fleshed out. We get
barely any insight into the players, so when they are taken out by Krueger we
don’t feel anything for them. The movie is nothing but a non-stop cacophony of
pop songs, visual effects and horrific dialogue. I do enjoy this entry in the
series a little bit. Even though it’s shallow as hell doesn’t mean I can’t
enjoy it. It’s like junk food. You like it even though you know it’s bad for
you. I did have a huge crush on Lisa Wilcox, who plays the new final girl Alice
in this film and the follow-up, so I did watch this one many, many times due to
her involvement. This is the highest grossing movie in the franchise because it
appealed to the MTV generation in every way, and that approach definitely worked.
It also diluted these films from here on out.
3.5 out of 5
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
Plot: When Freddy returns to stalk Alice (Lisa Wilcox) and
her friends she realizes that he is using the dreams of her unborn child to do
what he does best.
Review: I really do not like this film. Where The Dream
Master was a supremely fast paced music video, this one is dour, slow and worst
of all boring. Sure the subject matter of teenage pregnancy is a serious one,
but did the film have to be such a downer? Freddy is barely in this entry, and
when he is he’s annoying and acts like an old man. Writer Leslie Bohem follows
the template laid out by Dream Warriors to a “T”, except that all the
characters that fill her script are so badly written and unlikable that you
kind of want Freddy to kill them so the movie would just end. This is also one
of the driest films in the series. Only 3 characters are offed and the death
scenes are so dumb and overly complicated, not to mention heavily censored, that
they are a mess and hard to make out what is going on. There’s also a lot of
dumb filler added into the mix to pad out the runtime, like a subplot about
Dan’s parents wanting to take Alice’s baby away from her once it’s born. Ugh.
At this point the franchise was starting to show its age, just like Freddy in
the film. Pumping out a new film each year was not allowing the filmmakers and
screenwriters enough time to come up with new and interesting stories to tell.
They just kept settling for repetition. Sure director Stephen Hopkins has a
great eye for interesting visuals, but he was the wrong fit for this franchise.
He did move on to bigger and better things, but it still surprises me to hear
that based on the strengths of this movie he was offered the job directing
Predator 2. Go figure.
1.5 out of 5
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Plot: Freddy Krueger finally meets his match when he comes
face to face with his own child, the only person who can bring him into reality
and kill him once and for all.
Review: I may have disliked The Dream Child, but I intensely
loathe Freddy’s Dead. This once creative franchise had fallen so far that it
had to resort to an outdated gimmick like red/blue 3D to get butts in the
seats. Yes, The Dream Child didn’t do too well at the box office, so New Line
Cinema decided it was time to quit while they were still ahead and end their
flagship franchise with film #6. So what do they do to make sure the series
goes out with a bang? They give the reigns to Rachel Talalay, a production
manager who had been slowly working her way up the New Line ladder with each
film in the franchise. This was her first film as a director and it shows
(thankfully she went on to become a fantastic director) because there is no
visual style, no energy to any of the scenes and the big finale where Freddy is
finally killed for all time is lackluster and underwhelming in the extreme. The
acting is craptastic across the board, Robert Englund looks like he’s ready to
throw in the towel and the gore is like something you’d see in a television
movie. I’ve seen made for SyFy Channel films that are nastier than this.
Guillermo del Toro was originally hired to write the script (which sounded very
creative and interesting), but it was scrapped for Michael DeLuca’s boring ass
Twin Peaks rip-off instead. Everything about the film is ugly and cheap, from
the special FX to the musical score which is heavily influenced (aka stolen) by
“Night on Bald Mountain”. The jokes Freddy vomits out are all
eye-rollingly horrific and the big twist as to who is really Freddy’s child was
predictable from frame 1. And to top off this shit sandwich, the 3D, which was
kind of a big deal at the time as no other movie was really using it anymore,
doesn’t work at all. Even the film was heavily edited when it came to home
video to liven up the pace. What in the hell was New Line thinking when they
gave the thumbs up to all these choices?! So the big finale was nothing but a
big dud. I saw it opening weekend and was disappointed beyond belief and had no
problem telling everyone how much I hated it. I still do to this day. Way to go
New Line Cinema.
0 out of 5
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Plot: Actress Heather Langenkamp begins receiving
threatening phone calls from someone that sounds like fictional character
Freddy Krueger. What at first looks like a series of pranks becomes
increasingly sinister as it appears Freddy is attempting to cross over from the
world of celluloid into reality.
Review: While at first the idea behind this pseudo-sequel to
the Nightmare films seemed a little silly and dumb to me, it turned out to be
so interesting and creative that I wondered why New Line Cinema never went with
this approach sooner! It certainly would have been a better sendoff for Krueger
than Freddy’s Dead, that’s for damn sure. I guess new Line was looking to take
advantage of their cash cow one last time and gave Wes Craven free reign to do
anything he wanted for one final Freddy feature. He definitely did not
disappoint. The conceit that Freddy is some ancient evil that was held captive
by the Nightmare films, and without them to contain him he is free to do as he pleases, including going after the people involved in the films that
imprisoned him, is like I said a bit goofy. But it is presented in such a fun
and meta way that it’s almost like watching a warm up for Craven’s own Scream a
few years later. Langenkamp plays herself, Craven plays himself, Englund plays
himself, New Line owner Bob Shaye plays himself… it’s weird but it works. And
Freddy is made extremely creepy once again! This version of himself is in a
more pure form of evil and he doesn’t really crack jokes or get all playful
like the last few films. He’s all business and brutal as fuck. Craven even
manages to inject a couple of legit action scenes now and then into the mix.
It’s a strange film that plays with reality in ways the first film did,
obviously a Craven staple, and I am thankful for that. The only real complaint
I have is how the finale does get a little hokey with Freddy’s goofy wagging
tongue scene and the overboard acting. It hits all the right
notes, throws a little fan service our way and expects the audience to be able
to keep up. It really works and it’s a lot of fun to boot.
4 out of 5
So there you have it! My review of the entire A Nightmare on
Elm Street franchise (not counting Freddy vs Jason as that’s not completely a
Nightmare flick). Take my opinions as you will. Everyone’s will be different
and that’s great. I still watch these films to this day (even the bad ones) and
find new things to like about them each time. A sign of a true series of
cinematic classics (some more than others).
So what franchise should I take on next? Let me know in the
comments below!
