A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

*Note: This blog may or may have contain spoilers for those who haven't had the opportunity to see this film. You've been warned!!

"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep." - Nancy

A Nightmare on Elm Street is about a group of students, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), Glen (Johnny Depp), Tina (Amanda Wyss) and Rod (Jsu Garcia aka Nick Corri) who begin to have nightmares about a man named Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). This is another piece of cinematic  genius from the late Wes Craven. Another great thing about this is that he always knows how to pick strong female lead roles.

Fun Fact: his daughter actually asked him why girls always fall down when being chased by a killer; and I guess this is why he had a strong female lead in all his roles. Also this is Johnny Depp's FIRST movie roll, so how could you NOT want to check it out? Yeah it all comes back to horror movies.

The film opens with a girl, Tina, walking down a hallway. It appears she is in a boiler room. It is a great way to open the film, because it gives an eerie feel to the movie. It's a bit unsettling. Then Freddy grabs her and she wakes up. This really grabs you , because you want to know more. Who is the man? What's up with the boiler room setting? You have so many questions within the first five minutes of the movie. This also gives you a false sense of the main heroine of the story. So throughout the film, each character is murdered by Freddy until Nancy is the only one left.  She eventually learns that if you turn your back on him, its over. Or is it?

This movie really does blur the lines between reality and fiction. It makes you wonder, is Nancy going insane or is this all really happening? You really don't know. This is why I loved Wes Craven and his films, because they did keep you on your toes as well as give you suspense throughout the movie. The cast in this movie is really good. I feel all the actors blended really well together. They aren't like the camp counselors in Friday the 13th. You really see their humanity and you actually want them to survive. In Friday the 13th, you root for Jason rather than the survivors.

The special effects are pretty awesome for 1984 standards. I love movies from the 80s, because I love the idea of practical effects and stop motion animation. They also used all sorts of different tricks to create these death scenes and leave the audience unsettled. I mean they used rotating rooms, reverse, stop motion, strings, and practical effects. They don't do this much in movies these days, because of the advent of CG.

They used a rotating room for not only Tina's death, but for Glen's as well. Fun Fact: During Glen's death scene they were using the rotating room, after Glen was pulled through; they started pouring a bucket of fake stage blood into the room. It hit the light and electrified the water and blood mixture. So the rig started to spin out of control, all the crew were running away from it and there was sparks. Eventually the rig stopped and all the fake blood poured out the window on to the crew below. Now that would have been a killer extra take to have on the blu-ray; but it's not. So when you're watching it, and you see that scene; part of the reason the blood is flowing towards one side is because of this accident. I would go into more detail about the special effects, however, it sort of spoils the movie and I didn't want to talk about every key scene.

When it comes down to it, the character who really steals the show is Freddy Krueger played fantastically by Robert Englund. This guy sat through 8 hour makeup sessions everyday. The first day of makeup tests, David Miller, took this medial book filled with real burn victims and literally said this is what we are going to do to do. Also it had a little bit to do with pepperoni pizza. Anyway, this is also where Robert found a little bit of his "dark side" while sitting through those long make-up sessions. I mean I would find my dark side too if I had to sit in an 8 hour makeup session a day for a film. Now that is dedication to a roll. Also Robert Englund LOOVED being Freddy. He enjoyed coming up with new mannerism and he literally created the character. For example, it's easier to replace Michael or Jason, because they wear masks and don't speak. This is what separates him from the rest of the horror icons. He literally is Freddy and I honestly believe no one can replace him.


All in all, I could talk about this movie all day; but I don't really want to spoil too much for people who would like to see this film for themselves. There is just so much information and facts about this movie that are all over the internet as well. I am just trying to give my overview and appreciate for this movie.

This is my absolute favorite franchises, because of Robert's performance of Freddy. It is so hard to explain how much I love this movie (and the whole series). Its just good 80s horror. I mean not every sequal is a slam dunk (you'll find out as I write more of these) and there are a few that are just stupid; however they all have their charm. So I really recommend checking out this movie like today. Please please watch this one instead of or at least before watching the 2010 horrific remake (which we'll get it), mainly because if you're starting out watching horror, it's better to start with a classic than a stinker. Just saying.

Anyway, I really hope you all at least check out this movie this weekend.



Sleep Tight,
- A Nightmare on Movie Night



Up next: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.