A classic

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2006)

Freddie Krueger has been milked pretty badly over the years, mainly because Hollywood has been out of ideas for quite a while, but it doesn't make his first appearance any less intriguing. While in the later sequels, and anywhere else Freddie appeared for some reason, he's more of a horror comedy type of thing, here's he's just a straight-forward monster. The only extravagance he gets in the cool voice Robert Englund gives him, he doesn't take up the spotlights. Wes Craven knows how to handle his creation, and while he's at it he creates a lot of tension as well. His directing has never been better, he even puts in a girl hanging on the ceiling just for the heck of it, just to see if he could pull of that trick with the spinning room. And it makes for a great scene, but then again this thing is pretty much nothing but great scenes. It also has a sympathetic girl next door, which is rare in a horror movie. I didn't even want her to die or anything like that. Pretty groundbreaking.