A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) New Line/Horror RT: 92 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, frightening images, sexual content) Director: Wes Craven Screenplay: Wes Craven Music: Charles Bernstein Cinematography: Jacques Haitkin Release date: January 18, 1985 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Joe Unger, Charles Fleischer, Joseph Whipp, Lin Shaye. Box Office: $25.5 million (US)
Rating: ****
A pivotal event in my life took place on the afternoon of Sunday January 20, 1985 at the City Line Theater. I met Freddy Krueger for the first time by way of a low budget horror flick entitled A Nightmare on Elm Street. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but the TV ads intrigued me enough that I had a good feeling about this picture.
At this early point in my moviegoing career, I wasn’t too familiar with the work of writer-director Wes Craven. The only movies of his that I had seen up to that point were Deadly Blessing and Swamp Thing. I had yet to see the two quintessential Craven films, The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes. As for the cast, the only familiar name was Amanda Wyss from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Nevertheless, the fact that A Nightmare on Elm Street was an R-rated horror movie was good enough for me. I never missed one of those as a teen and still don’t as an adult.
Two hours later, I emerged from the theater a changed Movie Guy. It’s the first time I can remember being freaked out by a horror movie. A Nightmare on Elm Street is more than a mere dead teenager movie; it’s an all-out fright flick. Instead of some random maniac stalking and killing teens, the central boogeyman gets to them through their nightmares. Craven takes the horror to a completely different realm by messing with the viewer’s perceptions. I think it’s bloody brilliant.
The opening credits sequence sets exactly the right mood for this bizarre fright flick. The first thing we see is an unknown person fashioning a homemade weapon. That would be Freddy’s trademark glove, the one with razor-sharp knives attached to the fingers. Freddy (Englund) proceeds to chase a terrified young girl, Tina (Wyss), around a boiler room. The horribly burned man catches her and just as he’s about to strike, she wakes up screaming in her own bed. Whew, it was just a dream. Or was it?
The next day at school, she tells her friends Nancy (Langenkamp) and Glen (Depp, Sleepy Hollow) about her nightmare only to find out later they dreamed about the same guy. They spend the night at her house because Tina’s mother is out of town and she’s scared to be alone. Her boyfriend Rod (Corri, Wildcats) shows up too. They go to her room to fool around. Nancy, ever the nice virginal final girl-to-be, makes Glen sleep on the couch.
Later that night, Tina has another nightmare about Freddy and this time he gets her. Rod watches helplessly as some unseen person slashes his girlfriend across the middle then drags her up the wall and across the ceiling. The police assume Rod killed his girlfriend despite Nancy claiming his innocence. Her father (Saxon, Enter the Dragon), a police lieutenant, assumes that she’s in shock over the gruesome murder of her friend. He still won’t listen to her after Rod is murdered in his cell. Her alcoholic mother (Blakely, Nashville) seeks psychiatric help for the frightened, sleep-deprived girl. Is Nancy going crazy or is this Freddy guy for real?
As you already undoubtedly know, Freddy Krueger is very real. The mother explains that he was a child killer that escaped justice on a legal technicality. The parents of Elm Street got together and burned him alive in an old boiler room. He’s back and plans to exact revenge on his killers through their teenage children by way of their nightmares. It’s their fear that gives him his strength and powers. In the end, it’s Nancy that takes him on in a fight that involves pulling him out the dream world and into the physical one where he’s more vulnerable.
As you know, I’m a die-hard fan of the Friday the 13th movies. If I had to select a second-favorite horror franchise it would be the Nightmare flicks. I didn’t know at the time that Freddy would become a major horror icon. I hoped that he would based on how awesome A Nightmare on Elm Street was. At this point, Freddy was simply evil. He wasn’t yet dropping funny one-liners every time he killed somebody.
Either way, it’s little wonder why this role made Robert Englund famous. He does a terrific job underneath all that makeup. He made Freddy iconic. As for the rest of the acting, it’s about what you’d expect in a low budget horror flick. Langenkamp has to read some truly heinous dialogue, but it’s okay since she doesn’t appear to have much talent anyway. Her performance is laughable at times. However, it’s part of this movie’s appeal. It’s interesting seeing a very young Depp in his first role ever. Who knew he’d become a huge star?
The visual style of A Nightmare on Elm Street augments its eerie tone. The soft-focus, slo-mo shot of the little girls playing jump rope near the beginning of the movie is truly unforgettable. Speaking of memorable images, I also love the shot of Freddy’s gloved hand reaching up between Nancy’s legs while she relaxes in a bath. Charles Bernstein’s score is positively haunting. It ranks right alongside Harry Manfredini’s F13 score. I love how Craven presents the dream sequences. They look and feel exactly like nightmares with all the weird, surreal stuff that happens in them. He also throws gorehounds a bone with a couple of great gory scenes. I’m partial to the geyser of blood that shoots up from a victim’s bed.
In my opinion, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the best horror flicks of the 80s. It also earns points for exposing me to Wes Craven. The man is a true horror master!
