31 Nightmares: Nightmare on Elm Street · 5:46am Oct 25th, 2014
Here it is folks, one of the fucking big ones. Nightmare on Elm Street is one of those films often listed alongside Friday the 13th as defining the slasher movie, and yet I feel the series has a very, very different villain than most slasher films.
Nightmare, the original at least, is far more its own animal. It constantly plays with the perception of reality, keeping you from ever knowing for sure what is a dream and what is reality.
Unlike many movies that try to pull this off, in Nightmare we definitely have a sense that whatever reality we’re operating on, Freddy Kreuger is a threat to be reckoned with.
Freddy himself is somewhat unique in slasher movie history, he shares with Michael Myers the distinction of not on any level being a real victim. Jason was some poor boy who drowned while the people who were supposed to look out for him screwed, Leatherface is a mentally handicapped man made into a monster by his twisted family, but Freddy?
Freddy is a fucking murderous child molester.
The first film is in my opinion the best. Freddy is all monster here, there is no quipping, no comedy, just a very bad man tormenting innocent teenagers both as revenge and because that’s what gets him off.
There is no feeling sorry for Freddy, there is no terror of some higher power, there is only human ugliness unmasked and unstoppable, hunting you in your dreams…
Needless to say, I’m much less fond of the sequels, and even less so of that fucking remake.
I am only going to discuss two derived films, first the remake.
To its credit if the remake were not called Nightmare on Elm Street I’d consider it a passably mediocre horror flick. Its bloody and sort of atmospheric, but it lacks the heart of the original or even any of its sequels.
The second derivation I’ll discuss is actually really, really fucking good. Freddy VS. Jason.
This movie is goddamned brilliant and you should watch it right the fuck now. From a setup that reflects on the stagnation of both franchises, to action that revels in the potential of both to even more absurd extremes that you’re imagining.
In conclusion, enjoy my personal favorite kill from the first movie. Ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Depp in a blender.
Tomorrow, well, be afraid. Be very afraid.
This makes me remember that I need to find copies of House on the Haunted Hill and Sleepy Hollow.
Still I'd have to say the best modern, and I can't emphasise this more, MODERN, thriller, would have to be Wes Craven's My Soul to Take.
Scream was mediocre at best. Too predictable.
Same goes for Halloween, Child's play and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
It was good though. And by that I mean the movie that made my sister afraid of clowns, based on the Stephen King novel, It.
I like Freddy when he has wit, which makes him interesting, but isn't farting out a quip every few seconds. Him toying with his victims makes it enjoyable.
One scene I really liked in the remake is when Nancy is in the pharmacy, and "All I have to do is dream" starts playing, which is pretty clever.