Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) by Halfwelshman — 13 Dec 2011

I Nightmare on Elm Street is a great horror film. It's clever, original, and most importantly, it's actually scary. It's a highlight of maestro of horror Wes Craven's career, and introduced one of the most terrifying and iconic movie monsters of all, Freddy Krueger (chillingly portrayed by Robert Englund).

It's Craven's ability to derive scares from our natural fear of the unknown that makes the film work on so many levels. We know so little about dreams, and the idea that they can cross over into the real world is a disturbing concept indeed.

You can't underestimate the influence of Nightmare on films either, as without it, you probably wouldn't have Craven's self-deprecating Scream franchise, or such intellectual blockbusters addressing similar material as Christopher Nolan's Inception.

Despite its numerous scares and philosophical themes standing up even today, some aspects of A Nightmare on Elm Street haven't quite stood the test of time. The sequence where Freddy walks out of the mist with pantomime-prop-quality extended arms and the infamous rubber legs being dragged through the tiny window border on laughable when watched today.

That said, these minor gripes do little to ruin your enjoyment of a seminal horror film. It's not just a slasher flick, there's actually some intelligence behind it, which makes a nice change to the dumb modern Hollywood horror.