The first sighting of the man of your dreams.

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2006)

Freddy was new back then, he was fresh and dark and scary. In fact, you don't actually see a lot of him throughout this movie. The film was borne out of an idea that Wes Craven had after he heard some disturbing news article about a number of Japanese students (I believe) who had all died in their sleep. It also goes back to the old tale of the man dreaming that he was being sent to the guillotine, being tapped on the neck by someone and dying instantly. The flaw there, of course, is that if he died instantly then nobody would know what he was dreaming about.
Anyway, back to the plot. Burnt, and dead, child molester Freddy Krueger returns to pick off the children on Elm Street, all of them being somehow related to the vigilante group who set fire to him and killed him DEAD. How does he get the kids ? In their dreams. He attacks them while they sleep and if he gets you then you die. That's it. It's a great concept and Craven works well with it.
BUT the movie has two major flaws.. Craven's penchant for booby traps which provides us with a finale that veers from the suspenseful to the laughable. The other is Heather "put me in a paper bag and I'd be trapped by my limited acting skills" Langenkamp. Lots of genre fans love her, I am not one of them. Luckily, her acting is compensated slightly by a good turn from Johnny Depp and a great role for the ever-dependable John Saxon (now THERE'S a genre star). Even the girl that plays Tina does really well with her limited screen time. Throw in a fun, small role for Lin Shaye (known to many as that old crazy woman from There's Something About Mary but she's been a great genre star, appearing in the likes of Critters, 2001 Maniacs and Dead End) and you have a good time for horror lovers.
For giving birth to a new slasher icon and franchise and for having many great moments, despite it's flaws, it deserves it's rating.