A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Review

Love Horror 2.0

Zombie1:
The first of the 8 Freddy Kruger tales and arguably the best. A group of teenagers (a young Johnny Depp amongst their number) find out the hard way that dreams can come true.
a nightmare on elm street wes craven freddy
A murderous, knife-fingered, facially disfigured man returns from the grave to seek revenge on his enemies, praying on their children as they sleep, and somehow making their experiences (and injuries) in the dreamworld materialise in reality.
One horror movie that it’s near impossible not to have nightmares about.

MadWomanIntheAttic:
As much as it turned into a huge franchise (thought not quite as relentless as Friday the 13th), the film contains such a powerfully simple concept – dreams crossing into reality – that’s bound to terrify everyone (except the toughest of viewers). I know there are moments from the film seared into my brain – I’m sure the bit with the girl in the bodybag found its way into plenty of real nightmares. Robert Englund’s comically creepy performance is the centre point of the film (and the series), marking out a different kind of monster from the slasher serial killers of the time.

Zombie2:

a nightmare on elm street a nightmare on elm street movie film
1, 2 Freddy’s gonna get you 3, 4 better lock your door. A total horror classic the first part of the Freddy franchise is scary, gory and brilliant. Wes Craven’s direction is spot on and he fills the film with disturbing dream like imagery torn straight out of everyone’s worst nightmares. Robert Englund makes Kruger as funny as he is terrifying and keeps the one-liners menacing unlike in the more ridiculous sequels. Stay awake through it and never sleep again.

Movie Rating: ★★★★¼ 

Additional film information: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

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Tom Atkinson

Tom is one of the editors at Love Horror. He has been watching horror for a worryingly long time, starting on the Universal Monsters and progressing through the Carpenter classics. He has a soft-spot for eighties horror.More

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  • […] A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – Wes Craven’s all time classic with one of the greatest horror story ideas of all time and introduces us to Freddy Krueger – introduces us to Freddy Krueger – a dead child murderer who stalks the children of his killers in their dreams. And if you get killed in the dream you die in real life. With an absolutely superb script, inspired direction, great makeup and effects, surreal visuals and inspired casting that’s why this film is an all-time classic. The only thing that lets it down is the schlocky tacked-on ending demanded by producers New Line Cinema (who rightly sniffed a franchise – but didn’t allow the film to end with perfect story balance that Craven had given us in the final scene. ‘1, 2 Freddy’s coming for you…’ […]

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