Good Ideas, Poor Execution

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 1999)

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the original horror movies. It contains some genuinely creepy moments, but looking at it now, it does show its age. It is a landmark film that helped usher in the "slasher age", but that doesn't make it a good movie.
The whole concept of a monster that kills people in their dreams is a wonderfully original idea, it's only too bad that the execution is less than stellar. Wes Craven was still in his directorial infancy here, and it shows. The terrible acting doesn't help matters, but the characters really don't have anything interesting to say, either. The ending drags the film down further by not giving the film a conclusion of any kind.
What's good about the picture is Freddy. Here he is a monster, plain and simple. No one-liners, just a cold-blooded killer out for revenge.
In short, this is a good movie from a historical perspective. Obviously, the concept of the series is sound in order to carry through six sequels, but the direction and poor acting drag down this particular effort.