This is the real thing...truly terrifying even after all these years...

Rating: 8/10 (25 May 2005)

The horror genre today has cornered the market on slasher films of all types that appeal mainly to teen-agers and young adults. But the one Wes Craven film that still stands high and above as a towering example of a great horror film is NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
Its great success is partly because the blurring of dreams and reality is so cleverly done that the audience, along with the participants on screen, scarcely knows when to believe Freddy is real or not. And Freddy Krueger here is not played for laughs, as he was in later NIGHTMARE films. There is an occasional touch of humor, but for the most the horror is played straight and it really works.
The revenge motif is clearly explained with Freddy getting even with the parents who burned him to death by tracking down their children. Perhaps the scariest moment in the whole film is the episode involving the unfortunate victim, Johnny Depp, in one of his first roles. The gory, vindictive nature of Freddy Krueger is fully exploited in this sequence.
Fans of the series should make sure they see this one. It stands head and shoulders above most horror flicks that have come along since 1984.
Wes Craven has gotten an excellent performance from Robert Eglund as the man with the claws and the other players are not far behind. This one ranks with HALLOWEEN as one of the best fright flicks of the last few decades.