Still effective after a quarter-century of CGI-fests...

Rating: 7/10 (3 August 2010)

...Wes "The Hills Have Eyes" Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" packs a solid punch despite its low budget (cheaper than Romero's soon-to-be-released "Day of the Dead"), mostly unremarkable acting (not bad, just unremarkable), and the desperately-seeking-sequels ending. All in all, it's one of the best of the 80s fright films, and a welcome respite from Craven's previous failures (the fairly horrendous "Swamp Thing" and "Deadly Blessing," as well as that excruciating TV stinker "Invitation to Hell"). If nothing else, it'll always be the answer to trivia games asking about Johnny Depp's first film.
What's most notable on re-viewing "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is that Craven and his crew achieved everything without benefit of elaborate gimmickry or computer-driven effects, and next to nothing in the way of showoff camera shots. It's a film about affects, not effects, and that makes all the difference. It's idea- and character-based, and that lets the audience slide right into its world with little trouble.
The boogeyman, everyone's favorite Freddy, makes his appearance right up front in the pre-title intro, but he really isn't dwelt upon; his province is in the shadows and in the mind. We get peeks at him, and those peeks are creepy enough to suit; he'd be just another grotesque if he were hauled out into the light of day (which is why all the sequels were such disappointing failures; they gave us too much Freddy, and thereby turned him into an unfrightening, though homicidal, clown). Craven learned his lesson well from John Carpenter's "Halloween." I'm sure I'll catch the remake when it pops up at my local library, but I've otherwise no interest in tracking it down. I already know it can't possibly match the impact of this seminal work.
Oct10 edit: found said remake at the library. I was right; it was utterly unnecessary, boring, and brought nothing new to the table. I gave it a 4/10 for production values only. Totally skippable.