A classic '80s horror

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2017)

Something strange is happening to four teenage friends; Nancy Thompson, Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz. Each of them have had the same nightmare about a man with a burnt face and knives on the fingers of one hand. Not wanting to be alone they spend the night at Tina's house. That night she has another nightmare she doesn't wake up. As the strange man attacks her in her dreams her boyfriend Rod witnesses her starting to bleed as though slashed by invisible knives! He is soon arrested for the murder by Nancy's father, the local police lieutenant. Nancy is sure that he wasn't to blame. She is terrified of going to sleep as she is sure she will be attacked. She does however agree to sleep under supervision at a 'dream lab'; something strange happens and as she is awakened from a nightmare she finds that she has the man's hat in her hands. The name inside suggests it belongs to Freddie Krueger; something her mother say is impossible as she was one of the people who killed Krueger, a child murderer, many years before. She hatches a plan to pull Krueger out of her dream she will need her boyfriend Glen to stay awake though.
This is an effective low budget horror film that is rightly considered a classic of the genre. The idea of somebody killing people in their dreams is a great concept as sleeping, and thus dreaming, is one thing we all do. There are plenty of good scares and some particularly gory moments. Freddie Krueger is a great horror monster although when we learn about his backstory it seems a little far-fetched as we are meant to believe that none of the kids have heard about somebody who had killed twenty children in their area even if that took place before they were born. The special effects are a little dated but still pretty decent. The cast isn't the best in the world but they are okay; a young Johnny Depp certainly doesn't hint at his later A-list status. Overall I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the genre as it had quite an influence on future horror films; not just the numerous sequels.