A Nightmare on Elm Street (series)

D: Wes Craven

New Line/Media/Smart Egg (Robert Shaye)

US 1984

91 mins

 

Horror

 

W: Wes Craven

DP: Jacques Haitkin

Ed: Rick Shaine

Mus: Charles Bernstein

 

Heather Langenkamp (Nancy Thompson), John Saxon (Lt. Don Thompson), Ronee Blakely (Marge Thompson), Amanda Wyss (Tina Gray), Nick Corri (Rod Lane), Johnny Depp (Glen Lantz), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger)

 

Wes Craven reinvented the slasher genre with A Nightmare On Elm Street, which made enough money to save its production company from going bust and inspired a long series of films (as well as a remake).

Freddy Krueger, the villain of the series, is a razor-gloved, burned-faced boogeyman who stalks the dreams of suburban teenagers to avenge for their parent's crime of killing him when he was a real life child murderer.

Craven's style obeys the golden rule of horror by not showing all its cards until the final moments, but also uses much gore and spatter for the more unpleasant moments with some very impressive practical effects (ending aside).

Its legacy of sequels can only be admired though many would argue this is the best of the lot and the only one really worth watching. The only real disappointment is the comically tacky ending, which was an appendage forced by the studio against Wes Craven's wishes, shot with only one take with substandard special effects due to a depleted production budget.

7/10

D: Jack Sholder 

New Line/Heron/Smart Egg (Robert Shaye)

US 1985

84 mins

 

Horror

 

W: David Chaskin [based on characters created by Wes Craven]

DP: Jacques Haitkin

Ed: Bob Brady 

Mus: Christopher Young

 

Mark Patton (Jesse Walsh), Kim Myers (Lisa Webber), Hope Lange (Cheryl Walsh), Clu Gulager (Ken Walsh), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger)

 

This first sequel of the Nightmare On Elm Street series deviates from the plot from the rest of the films, so much as it's not much about a boogeyman stalking the dreams of his prey in favour of a storyline about possession.

The narrative is quite weak, but has a rather clever homoerotic subplot beneath it which much of the audience didn't give it enough credit for.

Nevertheless, aside from the subtext, it's pretty standard slasher stuff and doesn't have any real connection to the first film except for Freddy Krueger as the villain.

4/10

D: Chuck Russell

New Line/Heron/Smart Egg (Robert Shaye)

US 1987

96 mins

 

Horror

 

W: Wes Craven & Bruce Wagner [based on characters created by Wes Craven]

DP: Roy H. Wagner

Ed: Terry Stokes

Mus: Angelo Badalamenti

 

Heather Langenkamp (Nancy Thompson), Patricia Arquette (Kristen Parker), Craig Wasson (Dr. Neil Gordon), Larry Fishburne (Max Daniels), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger)

 

The first true sequel to A Nightmare On Elm Street, following on from events in the first film with returning cast member Heather Langenkamp as haunted protagonist Nancy, this time helping other suburban teenagers in mental care after suffering vivid nightmares in which they're pursued by the razor-gloved villain Freddy Krueger. The misfits then form an alliance and give strengths to their dream-selves in order to defeat the bad guy.

Many consider this the best of the Elm Street series and it's difficult to argue with that honour. At least from a technical perspective, this film in the series probably has the best practical makeup and visual effects.

Unfortunately, all the sequels which followed this were progressively worse.

7/10

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 4: THE DREAM MASTER (18)

D: Stephen Hopkins

New Line/Heron/Smart Egg (Robert Shaye & Rupert Harvey)

US 1989

89 mins

 

Horror

 

W: Leslie Boehm [based on characters created by Wes Craven]

DP: Peter Levy

Ed: Chuck Weiss & Brent Schoenfeld

Mus: Jay Ferguson 

 

Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Lisa Wilcox (Alice Johnson), Kelly Jo Minter (Yvonne Miller), Danny Hassel (Dan Jordan), Erika Anderson (Greta Gibson)

 

Nightmarish boogeyman Freddy Krueger returns once again to possess the unborn child of one his former victims.

This fifth installment of the series is complete nonsense, casting the rules from the previous movies aside in order to blend the real-life world with the vivid nightmares together, which makes for a confusing narrative held together only by the unpleasant and cartoonish death scenes (thrown together with some rather terrible visual effects and makeup).

Only Englund's grotesque performance makes it a worthwhile viewing experience, but he doesn't feature in this one nearly as much as the previous instalments, so we're mostly left with Lisa Wilcox's pathetically wooden acting to carry the film. It would actually be quite possible to sleep through this one.

The next sequel was "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" (qv), released in 1991.

4/10

D: Rachel Talalay

New Line (Robert Shaye & Aron Warner)

USA 1991

90 mins

 

Horror

 

W: Michael DeLuca [based on characters created by Wes Craven]

DP: Declan Quinn

Ed: Janice Hampton

Mus: Brian May

 

Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Lisa Zane (Maggie Burroughs), Shon Greenblatt (John Doe) Leslie Deane (Tracy), Ricky Dean Logan (Carlos), Breckin Meyer (Spencer), Yaphet Kotto (Doc)

 

The title may contain the words "The Final Nightmare" but it didn't stop razor-clawed villain Freddy Krueger appearing in further films since (including a remake of the original Nightmare On Elm Street).

All the horror & scares have practically been cast aside for this 6th film of the NOES franchise, which settles mostly for a parody style of humour and a gimmick 3D ending which consisted mostly of confusing, pointless images, none of which are particularly scary.

The plot is more of the same. Troubled teenagers running from the facially-burned serial killer in their dreams once again, the only bit of originality being that one of his victims may or may not be Krueger's own child.

A clutch of cameos turn up throughout the running time, including Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Roseanne Barr, but to little effect other than the filmmakers having an in-joke amongst themselves.

4/10

D: Wes Craven

New Line (Marianne Maddalena)

US 1994

112 mins

Horror

W: Wes Craven

DP: Mark Irwin

Ed: Patrick Lussier

Mus: J. Peter Robinson

Heather Langenkamp (herself / Nancy Thompson), Robert Englund (himself / Freddy Krueger), Miko Hughes (Dylan Porter), John Saxon (himself / Donald Thompson), Wes Craven (himself)

The worst of the Nightmare On Elm Street films, trying and failing to balance between meta, satire and horror, with actors playing themselves, including director Wes Craven who explains that the only way to stop Freddy Krueger manifesting himself in the real world is to make yet another movie in which to kill him off for good. 

There were no more direct sequels to the horror series after this, so some might say that it worked. For that, I guess we can be thankful.

3/10