Legendary Horror comes to life with a deep story and blood and guts

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2011)

Slasher flicks are my favourite. The legendary ones like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare On Elm Street are legendary for a reason. They spawn multiple sequels, they have a memorable killer, and in this case they have an amazing story. I think where A Nightmare On Elm Street stands out on its own is because Wes Craven is a truly outstanding writer and creator and he didn't just rest on blood and guts and slashing teenagers but actually put a story behind this killer, a very real story, that could be explored in future instalments and actually makes the killer seem that much more disturbing. Also you have this really brilliant idea of a killer that kills in your dreams. Anything goes in dreams...Wes Craven single handedly got rid of any concern about whether something is believable or not because this killer is in their dreams. The only reality in dreams is what's happening. A hot young cast, a great director and the birth of one of the most chilling killers in history...Freddy Kreuger makes this truly memorable, fun, chilling, disturbing and just plain fun all at once.
I always joke that star and scream queen Heather Langenkamp always lives up to her name...the 'kamp' part of it because every performance she does is campy. But at the same time she's cute and down to earth and somehow you relate to her but some of her emotions and expressions are bordering on hilarious but it works because her Nancy is the legendary scream queen of Nightmare. Johnny Depp in his premier role is recognizable and certainly has a handsome quality to him. He doesn't particularly stand out but he does a decent job and the chemistry between him and Langenkamp (his love interest) is sort of minimal. Other teenie fodder for death includes Amanda Wyss and Jsu Garcia, both of which do a good job but again nothing that will stand out. Depp, Wyss and Garcia are better than your average Friday the 13th victims because I think Craven gives characters more depth. John Saxon is actually one of my favourite Nightmare characters as Nancy's Dad and the no-nonsense Sheriff who buried Freddy's remains after killing him. Saxon gives a great performance in the small screen time he has but he really does stand out as a seasoned actor. Oh yes and of course Freddy Kreuger...the legend is brought to life by a legend in his own right Robert Englund. Certainly no one knows Freddy better than Englund and he makes him come to life in all his sarcastic, twisted, gory glory.
I mean what can I say about writer and director Wes Craven. The man is a horror master and was even when this was created. The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House On The Left already set a bar for gore and disgust so this was tame compared to those. He simply created an iconic character, gave life to the other characters and made us believe this could happen. His story is timeless and creepy and the special effects, especially given the budget, are terrifying eerie. A Nightmare On Elm Street set the bar for horror flicks after it. It is more than a slasher, and while I feel like as I'm watching them all (I am making my way through the entire Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th series) the sequels to this fell off far faster than Friday the 13th, there is still a lot of greatness to be found in the original classic horror flick A Nightmare On Elm Street. 8.5/10