The first time I saw this film was when I was a teenager at a sleepover and needless to say we were all scared to death and didn’t want to sleep again. When all the girls got home the parents were livid that this movie was allowed to play at a young kids party especially since it’s Rated R and they had to deal with their daughters not sleeping. Obviously, that didn’t last but it was a while before I saw it again. Let’s jump to the modern day when I’ve been asked to review this Freddy Kreuger movie and was happy to know that a lot of horror movies don’t bother me like they used to. A Nightmare on Elm Street first came to theaters in 1984 from New Line Cinema and was directed by the late Wes Craven who has made a lot of great films including The Last House on the Left [1972], Shocker [1989], Scream [1996] and many more.
The film opens up with Freddy creating his infamous finger knives glove then he is chasing Tina (Amanda Wyss (This House Possessed [1981])) through a what appears to be a boiler room/power plant but it’s really a dream/nightmare and Tina soon learns that her friends have similar dreams. The next night the 4 friends get together and Tina gets into a fight with her boyfriend Rod (Jsu Garcia (Vampire in Brooklyn [1995])), but it doesn’t take long for them to make up. The others there are Nancy (Heather Langenkamp (The Demonologist [1995])) and her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp (Sleepy Hollow [1999])) and soon Tina gets back into her dream and here we find out the killer is none other than Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund (Urban Legend [1998])) using his choice weapon, slashing her and is climbing on the wall and ceiling then falls to her death and of course everyone thinks Rod killed her but we all know it was Freddy. Nancy’s father Lt. Donald Thompson (John Saxon (Black Christmas [1974])) corners Rod and arrests him then Nancy goes to school, falls asleep in class and goes into a nightmare which shows Tina in a clear body bag being dragged by an invisible force and Nancy follows searching for her friend and finds Freddy instead. Here she learns that things in her dream transfer into real life with the burn mark on her arm and wakes up screaming and her Teacher (Lin Shaye (Insidious [2010])) wakes her and she goes home. Her mother Marge (Ronee Blakley (A Return to Salem’s Lot [1987])) consoles her and wants her to get some sleep so when Glen comes over (who lives across the street) she asks him to stay awake but of course he doesn’t and in the dream Nancy she sees Freddy attacking Rod.
Jsu Garcia and Amanda Wyss
Amanda Wyss
When Nancy wakes up she and Glen run to the police station where Rod is to try and warn him to be careful but they’re too late as Freddy got to Rod first and made it look like he hung himself, but it was Freddy all along. After the funeral, her mother takes her to a sleep clinic because her mother thinks she’s nuts and while dreaming she starts convulsing and they wake her and when she’s awakened there are scrapes on her and brings out Fred Krueger’s hat. Soon we find out who Fred Kreuger really was – a child murderer – he was put in jail but got out on a technicality and the parents of the neighborhood killed him so he wouldn’t harm any child again however Freddy’s knives are still around in the furnace in Nancy’s basement so her mother thinks all is well and she can’t be hurt anymore again she’s delusional. Nancy then asks Glen for help to come over but before that can happen he falls asleep, which is a huge mistake because we all know the legendary scene where he’s sucked into his bed with the blood exploding like a fountain.
Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, and John Saxon
Since Glen is no more Nancy asks her father for help to arrest Freddy when she brings him out, but he just tells her to get some sleep and ignores her and meanwhile she’s preparing the house for when she does grab him, falls asleep and starts looking for him. She wakes up and thinks she’s crazy but then suddenly Freddy is there and shouts for her father, but the cops ignore her until they see a fire and she learns Freddy escapes from the basement and is after her mother. When the father arrives Freddy and Marge are sucked into the bed and you think it’s over, however, when everyone leaves he reappears from the bed and Nancy tells Freddy he has no more power over her. What happens next you’ll have to see as I don’t want to spoil it for the very few who haven’t seen the movie.
Robert Englund
Revisiting A Nightmare on Elm Street brought back memories and funny to think about what I thought of movies back when I was younger compared to today and I can thank Baron for that. This movie is not for kids or if they do want to see it they need to be much older, so they won’t be afraid to fall asleep. Freddy Kreuger will always be an icon just like Jason. There was even a movie called Freddy vs. Jason made in 2003 which was interesting. On a side note, Baron of course loves this movie however there was one scene he found sad, and it wasn’t any of the gore filled killings – it was when Nancy took her mother’s vodka bottle and shattered it as anyone who knows Baron that is his drink of choice. I recommend this film to any diehard horror fan as it will always be a cult classic and to me the only Freddy Kreuger will be Robert Englund not the one they had in the remake.
TAGLINES:
- She is the only one who can stop it… if she fails, no one survives.
- If Nancy doesn’t wake up screaming she won’t wake up at all.
- The kids of Elm Street don’t know it yet, but something is coming to get them in their dreams.
- 1,2 Freddy’s Coming For You!
- From Suspense Master Wes Craven, the director of The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House On The Left, comes a new film of fantasy terror.
- Watch This!
- You Won’t Be Sleeping Alone.
- There’s something out there..
- Don’t Fall Asleep!
- Welcome to your nightmare.
- Midnight, Baseball Bats and Boogeyman.
- Come to Freddy.
- What’s In A Dream Anyway?
- Dream A Little Nightmare Of Me.
- Meet The Glove.
- It’s Like Something From A Nightmare.
- The First Word In Terror From The Director Of Scream.
- Sleep Kills
- A scream that wakes you up, might be your own…
- Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep…or you’ll meet the terrifying Freddy.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087800/
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
3C Rating: 7.0/10
Followed by:
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy’s Revenge [1985]
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors [1987]
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master [1988]
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child [1989]
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare [1991]
New Nightmare [1994]
Spin-Off:
Freddy’s Nightmares [1988-1990] – TV Series
A Nightmare on Elm Street [1989] – Videogame
Freddy vs. Jason [2003]
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Real Nightmares [2005] – TV Series
Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy’s Return [2025] – Short
Remake:
A Nightmare on Elm Street [2010]