dated and not particularly scary

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 2004)

SPOILERS
Way back before he directed the "Scream" series, Wes Craven created this classic series of films. Just like his later series however, the horror and styles of this film are slightly too dated to really connect.
Starring your regular group of high school students, "A Nightmare On Elm Street" introduces us to the evil and mischievous Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Killed by a mob years before, Krueger lives in the dreams of the children of Elm Street and is out for revenge.
Running a relatively tried and tested formula, this film has the disbelieving parents, the "heroine" who must defeat the forces of evil and the excessively gruesome deaths. Operating on a tiny budget though, Craven is forced to limit the action to moments of extremity and as a result the film suffers.
With a cast of four main teens, Craven's film is obviously limited in the potential headcount (the excessive deaths in gory style being preserved for the more recent, graphics driven films) and is also not helped by weak acting. Heather Langenkamp as Nancy attempts to play the role as something more than it is, and is not particularly good as Krueger's eventual nemesis. Alongside her, Johnny Depp in his big screen debut is mediocre as the "nice" boyfriend and it actually feels quite satisfying to see what happens to his character. On the opposing force of evil, even Robert Englund as Krueger is rather weak with his limited screen time and headcount. Whilst Krueger will eventually develop as a character over future films, in this first encounter he never really gets going and is rather pathetic.
The ultimate problem with this film however is not the acting but more how the film has dated badly. With typical 1980's style clothing and film quality, it's like going back to a time which nobody really cares about. It's a shame really because whilst this film used to be worthy of merit, now it's more like watching a history lesson. Often the original is better than it's sequels, but in horror like this series, the later they get, the more enjoyable they come. Worth missing.