LogFAQs > #980024097

Lightning - One, two, Freddys coming for you.

It seems like every decade since the 1970s Wes Craven would come along and completely turn the horror genre on its head, and this was the 80s turn. The slasher genre was well into full swing by this point, and frankly a lot of them were a little staid. It is easy to imagine these films as just some guy coming across with a knife and killing some teens who were having sex or whatever. So enter A Nightmare On Elm Street which puts a fantastical twist on all of that, using dreams as the source of horror and letting its characters use that to fight back. We also see the beginnings of self-aware characters and genre savviness that would define Scream so much.

The way this film uses its teen characters is really strong. Heather Langenkamp gives a great performance here and Nancy is a very strong lead. Before her however we are led to believe that Tina is the lead only for her to die in a really horrifying scene. That is the first sign that this is not just going to be another slasher and will turn what we know on our heads. The rest of the teens are well played too, although maybe you wish they were a little smarter. They are at least likeable enough to make the death scenes incredibly memorable. In particular the death of one young Johnny Depp where the blood is just spewing from the bed is one of the strongest images of any film on this list. If I do have an issue with the film however Im not quite sure what the ending means or how it works with the sequels, it almost feels a little too dreamlike.

Overall though what really makes the film work as well as it does is the character of Freddy Krueger and Robert Englunds performance. He is a truly horrible character and not just in his appearance but his actions and his backstory. It surprises me that despite the brutal nature of his death he is not played as sympathetic at all, and is instead shockingly evil. That very much sums up the film, despite it being a teen movie with a lot of fantastical elements it has a really mean streak to it, which makes some of the chase sequences truly tense. Its easy to see why this is one of the most iconic horror films of its decade.

4/5

Johnbobb - How many of these teens might have survived if the adults weren't trying to gaslight them so hard? "Oh, the girl was slashed open by four parallel blades? Well clearly this is the work of some teenager with a switchblade and has nothing to do with the serial killer known for using four parallel blades, YOU'RE CRAZY." There's the usual amount of people making terrible, selfish decisions here like in every 80s slasher, but what sets Elm Street apart is that it's legitimately terrifying, even when it's cheesy. You don't see a closeup scream and then a swinging knife and then a dead body. You see a girl getting dragged through the air and up the walls bleeding over everything in her path. It's over-the-top in a way that's really necessary to make the movie stand out among the filler of the decade and it's easy to see why it became such a sensation.

Jcgamer107 - 7/10

Seginustemple - The dream slasher concept is a great framework for showcasing unique, creative kills and Freddy doesn't disappoint. The first victim being phantom-dragged across the ceiling is a powerful opener, with a matching bookend in the blood fountain finale - both excellent uses of the rotating set trick (also seen in: Poltergeist, The Fly, Breakin' 2). I like that Freddy's abilities aren't really explained, as if he gained dream powers in death simply because he was that damn evil. His design is so memorable too, like it'd be enough that he's a burn victim with knife gloves, but the fedora and ugly christmas sweater are perfect touches. The final girl is refreshingly practical and resourceful, popping no-doz and maxxing coffee while rigging her place up like Kevin McAllister until she actually manages to punk the bastard. He pulls some double-dream bullshit at the end but I feel like she gets the moral victory when she rocks him with a sledgehammer.

Plasmabeam - Never been a big slasher guy, but this is one of the better ones, and I gotta give it credit for exploring the idea of night terrors in a way that is legitimately terrifying.