Classic, quintessential 80s horror

Rating: Null/10 (27 September 2007)

Back in '75, people thought that Jaws was terrifying, the difference here is, if you're scared of sharks, you just don't go near water. If Psycho scares you, then it's OK, a quick escape from the killer and the police can handle it from there. But what can you do about somebody that wants to kill you in your DREAMS? You can have all the legions of soldiers and tanks in the world surrounding your house, but there's nothing you can do, because as soon as you close you eyes..."hey, why does that soldier look like Freddy? Oh.....oh no..."
And so this movie is born, spawned from the true story of a child that begged his parents to believe him somebody wanted to kill him in his dreams and eventually died in his sleep, this film takes that story ten steps further into hell. This was way before Freddy became the comic goofball he is nowadays, here his character is damn blunt - a filthy, crude old man, set out to maliciously murder the children of elm street. The dreams are only weird and exaggerated enough to still seem dreamlike yet still be scary - it might seem like an old dog's trick now, but when one sees Freddy cornering Tina in an alleyway with 8 foot arms stretched out, it's certain there's something sickeningly twisted about this man's mind.
As well as being both a darkly spiritual and terrifyingly psychological movie, this could also pass as a slasher film - plenty of scenes featuring total bloodbath (including one girl being dragged by an invisible entity across her ceiling before, dragging a trail of blood drained from the slicemarks in her stomache with her) without over doing it like so many crappy modern killer films.
This film conjures up fear like none other, and is one of the only horror movies that is perfect in every way, that could never be remade.
If it really needs to be said, this is the quintessential horror movie. Highly, highly recommended.