A classic as far as slasher movies are concerned

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2005)

'A Nightmare On Elm Street' is frequently regarded as a great horror movie. The director Wes Craven is frequently as a great modern horror director, but I have to admit that I haven't seen most of his stuff. I'd rather take John Carpenter ('Halloween', 'The Thing') any day, but I will agree: 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' is a good horror film.
The teenagers of Elm Street begin to have strange nightmares, and soon enough, the teenagers start dying in their sleep. When her best friend dies, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) becomes the next target of the dream wandering Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), but Nancy decides to fight back.
When compared to similar teen-horror films from the time (such as 'Halloween', 'Friday the 13th', and 'the Evil Dead'), 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' is slightly more subtle. Granted, it is still a teen-slasher at heart, but it has this slight subtle edge to it, bringing it above the level of the average slasher. 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' presents a good balance between slashing and playing to the mind. There is plenty of gore, but the audience is almost drawn to question Nancy's state of mind: Her parents have split up, her mother is an alcoholic, and Nancy has been going days without sleep. She can't be in her right mind, and this is what gets to us. Nearly anyone who managed to see this as a kid will tell you that this is the kind of movie that made them want to sleep with the door open, or with a night light.
'Nightmare On Elm Street' is by no means perfect though. As with most slashers, there is that element of predictability. Any avid horror fan will be able to guess, with some degree of accuracy, who will die and when, and the conclusion. Like most slashers, the actors aren't the greatest and the dialog often turns into pure 80s cheese.
In a generation of teen slasher flicks, 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' was one of the best. Shame about the the sequels though - 8/10