Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) by Kelsey Z — 22 May 2013

Basically the best movie ever. Part of the reason why is because of Freddy Krueger, giving us the best horror villain of the slasher genre. He has a twisted and dark past and in his after life he becomes even more sadistic.

He is creepy, but he is also constantly in your face and his dark sense of comedy is entertaining, thrilling, and chilling at the same time. Also, the basis of the film takes this excellent character and puts him in to a world that makes him all the more powerful.

Fiction, especially in the context of horror, has always been an exciting, but safe way for us to have an exploration of what being in that thrilling and normally dangerous situation would be like. However, A Nightmare on Elm Street, takes fiction away from the equation.

It uses nightmares to take away control from the victims, making them helpless against Freddy. The dream world is a place where Freddy calls the shots; itâ??s his territory. With something that seems so unbelievable, the victimâ??s are really on their own, everyone else thinking that it is just crazy.

As we are watching this movie, another form of fiction, it shows that anything is possible, even the things that we would never expect to be. Freddy isnâ??t the only valuable character here, there is actually time and dedication spent with the characters, most notably Nancy.

Especially in slashers, many of the characters donâ??t matter and are just there to be killed. A Nightmare on Elm Street has some exciting and very memorable death scenes such as Johnny Depp being sucked in to the bed and his blood and guts squirting all over the wall, but we are given time to know and care about the characters before they reach their unfortunate fates.

Nancy in particular, is desperate for the truth and to find a way to bring justice to those Freddy has harmed, and is the first one to stand up to him.