For these weekend posts during this marathon of horror films, I’ve decided to simply post brief reviews from my files of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. These reviews will likely be shorter than my daily posts, and may even be a bit more unrefined, but they fill the list out on those days when most people, myself included, are doing something other than spending time on the world-wide webs.
After all, this is a great time of year to do more than stay inside watching films. Cider mills, pick up games of touch football, and hay rides at the haunted fairgrounds all are worthy excursions to be had! Enjoy.
31 Days of Films and Frights – Day 5: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Director: Wes Craven
Year: 1984
Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
Country: United States
Specs: 91 mins. / Color / OAR 1.85.1 / MPAA Rating: R
Rating: ★★★★ / B
Nancy and her teenage friends are being tormented by a serial killer in their dreams, who happens to possess the power to make events that happen in their dream state a reality. She must race against the clock to figure a way to defeat this menacing figure, before he successfully slays each one of them, one by one.
The original that started it all. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this film, not having seen it for a number of years.
The story itself is a very clever one. If you die in your sleep, you really die. The reason being, there is a killer in there! Now, there are many plot holes, silly exposition, goofy special effects (the tongue coming out of the phone), and rather bad acting (the drunkard mother). However, the film still does a good job of avoiding the norms for films of this type. There isn’t any real nudity, there isn’t any real drug use, and there IS a plot. I especially appreciated how Craven acknowledges that evil can be overcome if we have faith.
Of course, that makes the ending all the more confusing. But I’ll save that for another day.
