They are right... This is a classic

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2009)

I've been on a bit of a Wes Craven trip recently. Not a good one I must say. I watched "The Last House on the Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes", two shocking terrible movies and thought I'd better give this one a viewing after having never really seen it properly. I grew up in the wake of it and it's sequels, it was the talk of the school yard, I was very familiar with the story line, the general principles and even how Freddy got to be the way he was, I even went dressed up as Freddy to a fancy dress competition at the school summer fête one year, to my dismay not winning but I did get my picture on the front page of the local newspaper. Why didn't I win? I don't know, probably because the idea of a ten year old dressing as a homicidal mass murderer was a bit sick. But still I don't think I'd ever watched the film all the way through in one viewing.
I was presently surprised. I thought the power for this film to shock or scare me was lost long ago but I was wrong. There were some pleasant twists and turns in the plot that I did not expect. Like Johnny Depp's death for one. I didn't see that happening, and the way in which it happened did make me jump a bit I must say. Also the ending was very surreal and unexpected classic bit of cinema.
The idea is genius. You can't go to sleep or he'll get you and no human being can stay awake for ever. Unlike the acting in Craven's earlier films he actually manages to get the actors in this one to do some decent work. It's still not brilliant, but it is an improvement. I myself have had times in my life when I've stayed awake without any sleep for 3-5 days. At the end of these spells I was sweating profusely, paranoid, delusional, and hallucinating, so when lead girl tells us she has been awake for seven days it is just not believable. I can forgive Wes this because of the beauty of the film as a whole, but it really is a shame. He could have gone so much further with the idea. It is far from perfect but probably as close as Craven has ever gotten to a "masterwork"
This is one good, classic, horror film. Do not miss. I am eagerly looking forward to the 2010 sequel and if the other recent remakes of Craven's films are anything to go by it will surely be a lot better and hopefully fix some of the holes in the original. Thanks.