A Masterpiece of Modern Horror!

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2007)

I compare A Nightmare on Elm Street to such classic horror standards as Psycho and Halloween, with an incredible twist: a murdering child molester returning from the dead to terrorize the kids he didn't kill in their dreams! The concept is as terrifying as it is original and it will send chills down your spine.
In this outstanding film, the suspense literally captivates, haunts, and grabs the viewer. You never know what will happen next! The cinema genius of Wes Craven is brilliant. My interpretation of this film is one can never be sure what part of it is in a character's dream state, and what part of it is actually reality (i.e in their "awake" environments.)
The plot involves a child molester named Freddy Krueger who was tried for murdering the neighborhood Elm Street children. He gets off on a technicality and an outraged group of parents seek to track him down and kill him for what he did to the kids. Now the current Elm Street kids are all seeing the same visions of a horribly scarred burned man with knife-life fingernails and a brown hat in their dreams.
The local law enforcement are baffled and slow to believe, and the main protagonist named Nancy witnesses Freddy's killings and she begins to emotionally break down right before our eyes. She and her friends must do everything they can to stay awake so that Freddy not only does not kill them, but also so they can bond together to convince their parents and the police that Freddy is the killer. The only way that they can bring him to justice is for Nancy to try to bring him out of her dreams.
Nancy is the main character that Freddy is after because her Mother, (who has turned into an alcoholic and paranoid basket case) took Freddy's trademark finger knives and dirty brown hat. Now Freddy is after Nancy and her friends for revenge! The music sets the mood of the film and never lets go. The scripting is fast-paced, and every character has important dialog to add to the suspense of the film.
SPOILER: I love how Nancy's friend Glen tells her how she is able to channel her energy to take control of her dreams. You will have to see the movie to find out whether it works.........or not! The ending is pure genius and you will be stunned, and scared not only at the conclusion, but through much of the earlier scenes of the movie as well! This is the best film of the series. The third sequel called "The Dream Warriors" is also very good. The rest of the sequels are poor. See this modern classic, (or I am sure for many of you) see it again! Horror films don't get much better than this. Oh, and whatever you do, "DON'T FALL ASLEEP!!!!"