Problematic, but still a quite chilling horror film

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2007)

Let me start by saying that I judge horror films not just by how much they scare me, but how good they are story and acting wise. This is a danged creepy film, full of creepy set-pieces and a brilliant concept that managed to scare me into not wanting to go to sleep for a few days (I managed, but I was afraid for my life). Story wise, it has some goofy bits and holes, but nothing too out there. Script and acting wise is where this movie fails. Except for an early performance by Johnny Depp that manages to be quite normal and human, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, who manages to be evil and ruthless (instead of the clown he became in later films), the acting is rather ho-hum. This is not helped by some poor writing on the screenplay's part. Heather Langenkamp as Nancy stands out as quite bad, and the rest of them are sort of there (yes, that includes Saxon). But Wes Craven was at the top of his game scare- wise at this point, so many of these problems are excused. The ending is very chilling.