As a friend of mine recently pointed out to me, A Nightmare on Elm Street is where ‘slasher’ movies decided they actually wanted to tell a story. Even the infamous Psycho had very little story, and all the slashers that followed it were all about murder and nothing else. And then along came A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the slasher genre was altered forever!
The thing that I love most about this movie is the stylish directing. Wes Craven really creates an intense atmosphere of unease, with the dark corridors and dancing shadows. There is a real feeling of fear about it – the premise alone is one that is haunting; after all sleep is where everybody escapes from their day-to-day troubles, and if we don’t have that what do we have? Also the script is surprisingly clever, throwing everything at us with no end of shocks. Even the gore – which there is a lot of – is done stylishly and not too gratuitously. The haunting melody of the main theme is also a great aspect of this movie, and although the music is a little cheesy at times, it compromises perfectly the darkness of the movie.
Surprisingly, the acting is of a remarkable standard as well. Particularly, I enjoyed Heather Langenkamp’s portrayal of Nancy Thompson – a truly gracious heroine who also has a smart head on her shoulders. Robert Englund, of course, gives a fine performance as Freddy Krueger – and in this, the first of the series, the Freddy character is far darker than the corny pun-thrower that he becomes in the sequels.
OVERALL SUMMARY
A horror classic, and featuring one of the most reknowned movie killers of all time – Fred Krueger. It looks a little dated now, but get past that and you’ll be scared stupid.
