Horror Classics Revisited: A Nightmare on Elm Street

One, two, Freddy's coming for you...

Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street wastes no time introducing the audience to its surreal dream world. The first scene shows Freddy Krueger making his iconic razor-edged glove as he is surrounded by steam and shadows. Scenes like these are the best moments of the movie.

The reason Freddy is such a scary villain is that he kills his victims while they are asleep. Other slasher villains like Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers all operated in the real world. Freddy's world is the dream world, where there are no rules.

Nancy, the film's main character, keeps urging her friends not to fall asleep. Everyone has to sleep, but if you fall asleep, then Freddy will get you. It's an interesting idea, and it's what sets this film apart from other slasher movies.

In fact, this idea is so rich and clever that the film spawned seven sequels and a remake. The highlights of A Nightmare on Elm Street are the visually creative nightmare scenes and the practical makeup effects.

Nowadays, many of the effects would be done using unnecessary CGI. All of the gore and makeup from this movie hold up well enough today. CGI adds an artificial slickness that does not belong in these grimy and gritty slasher flicks.

I appreciate how time and effort were put in to Freddy Krueger's makeup. His burnt, decaying flesh is all the more eerie in this film because we rarely get a fully lit shot of his face. I also admire the attention to detail when the dream world bled (literally and figuratively) into the real world.

Outside of the brilliant technical work, the movie is not especially great. The acting can be silly, even in scenes that are meant to be horrifying or intense. This doesn't ruin the movie at all, it justs make it less believable and therefore less scary. This movie did not scare me, but the ideas in the movie sometimes did.

In short, this is not a movie I will watch over and over again like Halloween. However, I admire this film's visuals, Robert Englund's creepy turn as Freddy Krueger and Wes Craven's very original script.

Fun Fact: A Nightmare on Elm Street marked the onscreen debut of a young Johnny Depp.