Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) by Harry W — 24 Apr 2015

It is unfortunate for me to say that the age I live in is plagued with excessive amounts of unnecessary sequels to A Nightmare on Elm Street and remakes, along with probably every other slasher film ever made. But since I enjoyed the first Scream and none of its sequels, I figured that Wes Craven's film that originated it all would be worth checking out for some old school style thrills.

A Nightmare on Elm Street features a B-movie script and some B-movie acting, save from the performance of Robert Englund. But it never proved bothersome to me because I took it as a satirical look at elements of the slasher genre so that it was simultaneously a satire of a slasher film and a real one at the same time, the same way that the story in the film made a stab between reality and imagination. A Nightmare on Elm Street is always attempting to balance things, and most of the time it proves successful thanks to tense direction from Wes Craven. While A Nightmare on Elm Street has suffered from the battle of age and an excessive amount of unnecessary poor quality sequels as well as being a film with a clearly small budget, it still maintains a fair legacy.

The more you think about A Nightmare on Elm Street, the scarier it seems. With slasher films like Friday the 13th or I Know What You Did Last Summer, it seems like it's easy to get away from the killer by simply grouping together and making an exit from the premises that the killer stalks them in. In A Nightmare on Elm Street, there is no retreat. The characters cannot escape sleep and therefore cannot escape the killer which makes it all the more chilling. Viewers themselves cannot escape sleep either, and so if they get truly scared by the antics of Freddy Krueger than the general idea of falling asleep may scare them. And to be scared of a natural human instinct is really messed up, and 30 years on the effect of A Nightmare on Elm Street still takes effect. Instead of reducing itself into a series of random killings and poor storytelling, it focuses on emphasizing the chills and thrills of its horrific themes and while not always effective and feeling rather stretched at times, A Nightmare on Elm Street is an example of one of the way better slasher films which is more intelligently thought out and constructed with true passion for filmmaking instead of just the intention of quick and easy monetary gain.

The musical score has a certain high pitched haunting quality to it. It's the theme of darkness combined with the idea of one's innocence. It emits a theme which makes the audience feel like a child being watched by a serial killer at a carnival. It makes the atmosphere of the film strong and all the more haunting which when combined with the visual elements of the film make the entire experience a largely thrilling one.

The performance of Robert Englund makes A Nightmare on Elm Street memorable as the film that boasts the creepy and unforgettable villain Freddy Krueger. Robert Englund takes advantage of the role and elevates it beyond becoming just another meaningless slasher film character by imploring the elements true to the nature of Freddy Krueger. He brings in the perfect level of insanity and infuses it with elements of a childish being, which would explain his unspeakable fascination with murdering children and taste for fear. The crazy elements of his character begin to make more and more sense the more we get into understanding just how Fredyd Krueger functions, and it makes the experience of the film all the more effective it delivering the thrills. The creepy nature of Freddy Krueger is made iconic by the simple yet skilful performance of Robert Englund and the sight of Freddy Krueger's face is likely to stick with viewers for a long time thanks to his facial gestures combined with the freaky makeup he is decked with.

Johnny Depp's simple performance from the younger phase of his career is also effectively nostalgic for any fan of his, especially considering that it is rare for actors from 1980's slasher films to have famously high-profile careers.

But I will admit that I found myself to have a few issues with the film.

Since A Nightmare on Elm Street is low budget, there is only so far it can go and so much that it can do. But for some viewers that may not prove enough for them. The quantity of horrific visual elements isn't that big. There is no denying the fact that when they are on screen, they prove to be more than effective enough to evoke chills in the minds of viewers, but I just wish they had have been around more often because they were superior in quality to the aforementioned B-movie acting and script which unfortunately is more predominant in dominating the running time of A Nightmare on Elm Street, so it may prove boring in parts. It did for me.

Also, for a film that only runs for a mere 91 minutes, the pacing finds itself all over the place. While the story breaks the boundaries of imagination and the real world, the visual elements of the film cannot do this and must balance them well enough which it doesn't succeed at doing. While the dream sequences are more thrilling, atmospheric and energetically paced, the scenes depicting the real world are mostly slow and scattered amongst the film with no consistent nature or continuous rate of entertainment value.

So A Nightmare on Elm Street is a dated film with scattered pacing and the usual tropes of a B-movie style slasher film, but it is undeniably chilling thanks to tense direction of filmmaker Wes Craven and a dedicated performance from Robert Englund contributing to making Freddy Krueger an iconic movie antagonist with unforgettable character elements to him.