A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Though definitely not a top notch horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street still holds its own among the genre. The first one in a series of a gajillion (it seems like it's around that number somewhere), it is the only one that truly has scares in it. After this film, and perhaps the next one or two, the series becomes kitsch and starts joking around, not taking itself too seriously, which is sometimes a wonderful route to go.
In A Nightmare on Elm Street, the audience is very quickly introduced to the killer, Fred Krueger, who will always be called Freddie, except by the adults who killed him. Oh yes, Freddie returns to kill the children of the people who killed him. Many years earlier, Fred Krueger was a child murderer (so explains the protagonist's mother) who killed more than 20 children. When he got off on a technicality, the parents living in the town tracked him down to the boiler room he was hiding in and burned him alive. Krueger returns in the dreams of the children of the people who murdered him. What is terrifying is that if Freddie kills you in your dreams, you die in real life. Tell me that at one time if your life you haven't heard that if you die in your dreams, you die for real. Right? This movie plays on that fear. Because very rarely does someone dream of their death. I can honestly say that I actually have dreamt of my death, or rather, I was dying in my dream, and I knew it. And I knew the moment that I passed. It was strange. But Wes Craven plays on these human instincts, and he does so fairly well in this film.
Am I the only one who saw the four knives on his fingers and wondered why he didn't have anything on his thumb?
The movie stars Heather Langenkamp as the protagonist Nancy Thompson who suffers from horrifying dreams of this man with knives on his right hand. Her friend Tina has also had a nightmare, but wakes up to discover four cuts along her arm where the killer, Freddie, was able to get to her. The friends get together and spend the night with their boyfriends so that Tina can sleep without being so scared. Tina and her boyfriend decide, as the teens always do in any horror flick, that they want to get it on, and they head to her mother's bedroom for some good old fashioned sex. I'm not even going into the ew-factor of doing it in your mom's bed. Blech. Well, I think we can all guess what happens after this. And for the 2 people who have never seen this movie, I'm not going to describe the death scene, because it's rather unique. Indeed, this is where Wes Craven gets some real credit; it's a death scene that even now is freaky.
Did I mention Johnny Depp is in this? Mmmm. Watch it just for him. This is his breakout role in Hollywood. It's a shame he had to die in it. Bummer.
Yes, that is correct. Johnny Depp went with his friend to an audition, not really planning on trying out. But he did, and the rest, as we say, is history. And he plays Heather Langenkamp's boyfriend. Lucky bitch. Oh well, at least he dies before she can make out with him (He tries, but this fool pushes him away!). Yeah, sorry ladies. He doesn't make it. Let's be honest, even if you haven't seen this film, you know the premise from the eighty-kazillion other Nightmare on Elm St. films. Everyone dies. Except for Freddie. He can't be killed. That's a real problem for the kids of Elm St. Anyhoodle... moving on.
So, Nancy continues to have these horrifying nightmares. At one point, things truly get creepy (again) and Nancy pulls something out of her dream - Freddie's hat. Amazingly freaked out at this point, her mother starts acting weird, and she thinks it's best to put bars on the windows and add locks on the doors. To keep the evil out. She apparently doesn't listen too well... he's in her DREAMS, Mom! Finally, when mom gets drunk, she admits the whole horrible story of killing Freddie to her daughter. Well, that doesn't help, now all we know is that the killer is Freddie. So, Nancy continues to suffer these nightmares and people keep dying.
That actually looks like fun... kind of acrobat-y and rhythm gymnastic-y.
So, our hero Heather decides she needs to come up with a plan of survival. By the end, pretty much everyone she knows and loves has died, and she is left alone to kill Krueger. I don't think I'm giving anything away (again for the 2 of you who haven't seen this) if I say that she believes she has killed Krueger, and the end seems happy and how it should be. However, knowing there are more movies to come, Craven did not let it end on such an upbeat note. Honestly? That's how it should be with a killer who can't be killed.
Go forth in fear!
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