Wes Craven’s 1984 horror film is a better movie than it is generally credited for being. Forget the tawdry sequels; this highly original, almost surrealist work stars Robert Englund as a mutilated monster who kills teenagers during their dreams.Craven takes the Hitchcockian step of layering in psychological explanations for the terror and then proving them all irrelevant in the face of mindless evil.
The horror in the film is emotionally raw and the final scene is as deeply unsettling as anything Luis Buñuel (the father of cinematic surrealism) ever committed to film.
Digitally remastered, this is the original Nightmare film that started it all. Written and directed by Wes Craven and starring Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, A Nightmare on Elm Street remains an innovative and shocking horror-fantasy. It is a true testament to writer-director Wes Craven’s genius that many people now first think of Scream rather than A Nightmare on Elm Street upon hearing his name. While the movie Scream certainly re-energized the horror movie genre, A Nightmare on Elm Street revolutionized it entirely when it was first released.
The movie may not seem quite as scary as it did originally, but this movie has truly shocked and frightened many a moviegoer over the years, resonated with untold numbers of people in a new and undeniably powerful way, drawn in many viewers that had never cared about horror before, and introduced one of the greatest, most popular horror icons of past, present, and future in Freddy Krueger.
The special effects of this film are remarkable, the death scenes are powerful and the atmosphere and look of the boiler room sets in particular are dark and malevolent. Everything about Freddy’s look and performance are perfect, and even really cheap effects such as the phone tongue and melted stairs work beautifully.
The special features included on the DVD are excellent, especially the commentary by Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and director of photography Jacques Haitkin, all of which will impress you with this seminal horror classic. A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the most enjoyable, powerful, and influential horror films ever made, and the digitally remastered transfer to DVD makes this film look better than ever.
Character to watch: Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson.
Journal your answers to the following questions after you watch the movie.
- How does this particular character’s journey compare with yours?
- Did the character develop certain characteristics during the movie that you have or that you would like to have? If so, what are those characteristics?
- What obstacles did this character face? What was his or her biggest challenge?
- What would you have done differently if you had been in the same position as the character?
- Is this character the type of person you would be friends with? Why or why not?