Are you ready for Freddy? In 1984, this one made former English professor Wes Craven into a horror legend, inspired six sequels and a short-lived TV series, and was also responsible for kicking off Johnny Depp’s career.
But this, the original, stands out from the rest as a perfectly formed horror movie that taps into that most terrifying of places – our own subconscious.
Using the same set pieces that defined Friday The 13th (1980) and Halloween (1978), this took things to a new level, as Freddy Krueger terrorised a group of LA youths, constantly flipping between the real and unconscious as grisly, blood-spattered mayhem ensues.
The film opens inside a surrealistic basement-cum-workshop, where a hideously scarred man wearing a red-and-green striped sweater and crusty old fedora welds razor-sharp blades to metal fingertips and attaches these to a battered leather glove.
As events unfold and long-repressed secrets are revealed, we learn that this inhuman dream invader is Fred Krueger (Robert Englund), a former child killer who was burned to death by a mob of furious Elm Street parents after being released from prison on a technicality.
Years later, Freddy has returned from the grave as evil incarnate, obsessed with taking revenge on the adolescent offspring of those who ended his mortal life. Residing in his young victims’ subconscious, attacking them while they sleep, wisecracking Freddy is virtually omnipotent, capable of rewriting the laws of physics and effecting all manner of grotesque yet creative killings.
Always creepy, with some great squirm moments (including a rather nasty bath-time sequence), this is an imaginative horror movie which kicked off an entire genre of inferiors.
The special effects wizardry and gallons of fake blood are balanced by an anxiety-inducing score and a gripping narrative, as we feel for the intended victims in their hopeless battle to stay awake.
Nightmare On Elm Street probably did wonders for the sale of No-Doz.
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you
Three, four, better lock your door
Five, six, grab a crucifix
Seven, eight, better stay up late
Nine, ten, never sleep again!
TRIVIA
Director Wes Craven got the idea for Nightmare On Elm Street from press reports of three young male Cambodian refugees who all died in their sleep after suffering nightmares and with no physical symptoms. The cause of death is now known as Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome.
The movie was completed in just 32 days and made for less than $2 million. It grossed over $25 million at the box office.
Fred Krueger
Robert Englund
Lt Thompson
John Saxon
Marge Thompson
Ronee Blakley
Nancy Thompson
Heather Langenkamp
Tina Gray
Amanda Wyss
Rod Lane
Nick Corri
Glen Lantz
Johnny Depp
Dr King
Charles Fleischer
Sgt Parker
Joseph Whipp
Sgt Garcia
Joe Unger
Director
Wes Craven
