A film by Wes Craven
It s only a dream. Isn t that what we tell ourselves when we have a nightmare? It s only a dream and dreams can t hurt you. But what if they can? What if it is when you fall asleep that you are the most at risk? This is the idea that Wes Craven plays with in the horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street and I was surprised by just how good this movie is. Forget about all of the sequels and forget about the joke that the teenaged slasher flick genre has become. This movie is genuinely creepy and even twenty years later remains a good movie (although some of the special effects are now on the cheesy side).
The story begins with Tina (Amanda Wyss) having a nightmare. In it, she is chased by a man with a deformed face who wears a red and green striped sweater and has claws on one of his hands. Tina is freaked out by it and tells her friend Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), who, it turns out, had a similar dream. So did their boyfriends, Glen (Johnny Depp, in his first movie role) and Rod (Jsu Garcia). When Tina s parents are out of town, all four of them spend the night at Tina s house. Tina has another nightmare, but this time she doesn t wake up. In her dream she is being attacked by Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund), but in real life Rod can see the rake of Freddy s claws across Tina s chest, and he can see Tina being flung about in the air and she gets cut again and again. As far as Rod can see, there is nobody else in the room but he believes there has to be because what he is seeing isn t possible.
This is the set up for A Nightmare on Elm Street . As Freddy begins to pick off Nancy s friends she knows that she has to find a way to stop Freddy, but also to get someone to believe her. She tells her parents, but they keep telling her it is only a dream (even when she brings cuts and burns back from her dreams), and when she describes Freddy and says his name, her parents say that it is still only a dream except that it is obvious that they know something.
For a film that helped spawn the slasher-flick genre, I was surprised by how psychological this movie was and how genuinely creepy it could be. I haven t seen any of the sequels that this movie inspired, but if you take this movie and take it on its own merits you have a rather good movie here. Forget about genre, this is a good flick.
It s only a dream. Isn t that what we tell ourselves when we have a nightmare? It s only a dream and dreams can t hurt you. But what if they can? What if it is when you fall asleep that you are the most at risk? This is the idea that Wes Craven plays with in the horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street and I was surprised by just how good this movie is. Forget about all of the sequels and forget about the joke that the teenaged slasher flick genre has become. This movie is genuinely creepy and even twenty years later remains a good movie (although some of the special effects are now on the cheesy side).
The story begins with Tina (Amanda Wyss) having a nightmare. In it, she is chased by a man with a deformed face who wears a red and green striped sweater and has claws on one of his hands. Tina is freaked out by it and tells her friend Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), who, it turns out, had a similar dream. So did their boyfriends, Glen (Johnny Depp, in his first movie role) and Rod (Jsu Garcia). When Tina s parents are out of town, all four of them spend the night at Tina s house. Tina has another nightmare, but this time she doesn t wake up. In her dream she is being attacked by Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund), but in real life Rod can see the rake of Freddy s claws across Tina s chest, and he can see Tina being flung about in the air and she gets cut again and again. As far as Rod can see, there is nobody else in the room but he believes there has to be because what he is seeing isn t possible.
This is the set up for A Nightmare on Elm Street . As Freddy begins to pick off Nancy s friends she knows that she has to find a way to stop Freddy, but also to get someone to believe her. She tells her parents, but they keep telling her it is only a dream (even when she brings cuts and burns back from her dreams), and when she describes Freddy and says his name, her parents say that it is still only a dream except that it is obvious that they know something.
For a film that helped spawn the slasher-flick genre, I was surprised by how psychological this movie was and how genuinely creepy it could be. I haven t seen any of the sequels that this movie inspired, but if you take this movie and take it on its own merits you have a rather good movie here. Forget about genre, this is a good flick.
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