Atmospheric Horror outing

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2009)

Possibly the most stunning thing about this movie, looking back, is just how few people thought it would work. Fortunately for New Line Cinemas, they were willing to take the plunge and this film, and its various sequels, put them on the map.
Wes Craven reportedly got the idea of this movie after reading about a young man of Asian descent who had recurring nightmares and died mysteriously in his sleep one night. He read another couple of news stories of similar happenings and decided "That sounds like a great plot for a horror movie." He was right.
Anyway, for the few people out there who don't know the story of Freddy Krueger, he was a child murderer, who was released from prison on a technicality, burned alive in his boiler by angry parents, and then came back to take revenge by killing their children in their dreams.
Krueger is effectively bought to life by Robert Englund, in the film Freddy is a menacing creation we don't really see much of and usually in a dark setting. He truly looks, and acts, like a creature of nightmares, and terrified millions of cinema going teenagers back in 1984.
The main threat to Freddy is the strong willed Nancy Thompson, the daughter of the local police chief, who has her life turned upside down after Freddy murders her best friend Tina and the police blame Tina's boyfriend Nick.
Nancy uncovers the town's dark secret and comes up with a plan to drag Freddy out into the real world for a final confrontation.
The supporting cast includes John Saxon (Roper from Enter the Dragon) and Johnny Depp (yes THE Johnny Depp in his first role) as Nancy's boyfriend Glen who dies in particularly memorable fashion.
The effects in this are good for the time, most of its shot in the dark anyway so you wouldn't really notice the bad stuff unless you were looking for it. The acting is passable and the story is fun.
Has lost a bit though due to all the sequels. Remember in this one no one knew the hokey stuff about Freddy being "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs" or dream demons, dream warriors, dream masters, or dream children. This was just a nasty guy with a beef who could do cool, deadly stuff to his victims while they slept.
Well worth a look, if a bit dated.