![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/A-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street-P.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
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A Nightmare on Elm Street<\/strong> (1984)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, graphic violence, frightening images, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Wes Craven\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Wes Craven\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Charles Bernstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jacques Haitkin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 18, 1985 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Joe Unger, Charles Fleischer, Joseph Whipp, Lin Shaye.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $25.5 million (US)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0A 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<\/strong>. I didn\u2019t quite know what to expect, but the TV ads intrigued me enough that I had a good feeling about this picture.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0At this early point in my moviegoing career, I wasn\u2019t 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<\/strong> was an R-rated horror movie was good enough for me. I never missed one of those as a teen and still don\u2019t as an adult.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Two hours later, I emerged from the theater a changed Movie Guy. It\u2019s the first time I can remember being freaked out by a horror movie. A Nightmare on Elm Street<\/strong> is more than a mere dead teenager movie; it\u2019s 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\u2019s perceptions. I think it\u2019s bloody brilliant.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The 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\u2019s 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\u2019s about to strike, she wakes up screaming in her own bed. Whew, it was just a dream. Or was it?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The 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\u2019s mother is out of town and she\u2019s 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Later 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\u2019s in shock over the gruesome murder of her friend. He still won\u2019t 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?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0As 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\u2019s back and plans to exact revenge on his killers through their teenage children by way of their nightmares. It\u2019s their fear that gives him his strength and powers. In the end, it\u2019s Nancy that takes him on in a fight that involves pulling him out the dream world and into the physical one where he\u2019s more vulnerable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0As you know, I\u2019m a die-hard fan of the Friday the 13th<\/sup> movies. If I had to select a second-favorite horror franchise it would be the Nightmare flicks. I didn\u2019t 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<\/strong> was. At this point, Freddy was simply evil. He wasn\u2019t yet dropping funny one-liners every time he killed somebody.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Either way, it\u2019s 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\u2019s about what you\u2019d expect in a low budget horror flick. Langenkamp has to read some truly heinous dialogue, but it\u2019s okay since she doesn\u2019t appear to have much talent anyway. Her performance is laughable at times. However, it\u2019s part of this movie\u2019s appeal. It\u2019s interesting seeing a very young Depp in his first role ever. Who knew he\u2019d become a huge star?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The visual style of A Nightmare on Elm Street<\/strong> 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\u2019s gloved hand reaching up between Nancy\u2019s legs while she relaxes in a bath. Charles Bernstein\u2019s score is positively haunting. It ranks right alongside Harry Manfredini\u2019s 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\u2019m partial to the geyser of blood that shoots up from a victim\u2019s bed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0In my opinion, A Nightmare on Elm Street<\/strong> 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!<\/p>\r\n A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, graphic violence, frightening images, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Wes Craven\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Wes Craven\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Charles Bernstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jacques Haitkin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 18, 1985 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Joe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-these-are-some-classic-flicks","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/A-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street-P.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions\/352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/A-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C953&ssl=1\")
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