Previously at Shuker In MovieLand I reviewed The Silence of the Lambs (click here to read it) – the first in a terrifying trio of classic horror movies that it has taken me far too long to get around to watching. Today, here are my thoughts regarding the second of those movies – A Nightmare On Elm Street.
On 7 August 2022, after buying its DVD on a whim in a charity shop the previous day, I finally viewed the supernatural/fantasy slasher movie A Nightmare On Elm Street – but it was nothing like what I'd expected it to be.
Directed and written by Wes Craven, and released in 1984 by New Line Cinema, A Nightmare On Elm Street is an enduring favourite flick among horror aficionados. So perhaps it's just movie-hardened me from two years of binge watching during the two years of Covid lockdowns, 2019-2020, here in the UK, as well as much movie viewing thereafter too, but I didn't find it even remotely frightening. In fact, it came over as dark comedy more than anything else.
The blood-drenched plot (its filming featured over 500 gallons of fake blood!) centres upon Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund), a facially-scorched serial kid killer who was murdered by his victims' parents when they burned him alive but whose evil spirit now manifests itself from beyond the grave, specifically within the dreams of a bunch of teens living in and around Elm Street (whose precise location within the USA is never revealed). Krueger wears a special glove with long razor-sharp knives attached to its fingers that he uses to slaughter the teens one by one, killing them in their dreams, so they never wake up.
Yet the execution of this premise (which was inspired by Brugada or Asian Death Syndrome, a genuine medical condition in which people die during nightmares) and the accompanying special effects are wildly OTT.
The lascivious tongue emerging from the landline telephone of this movie's lead teenager character Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), for example, is both hilarious and ridiculous! And the blood geyser scene in which Nancy's boyfriend Glen Lantz is killed (more about Glen below) is Grand Guignol of the most grandiose kind!
Equally, Englund's Krueger is positively camp and as hammy as a prize porker at times. And some of the acting from certain other stars is so wooden that it's in dire danger of attracting a termite infestation – yes indeed, Johnny Depp, in your movie debut! Depp plays Glen, winning the role over the likes of Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, C. Thomas Howell, Brad Pitt, Charlie Sheen, and Kiefer Sutherland, who were all considered for it.
But far from being faults, these very same attributes were what I found so enjoyable, albeit highly unexpected, in a film that I hadn't previously thought I'd ever even watch, let alone be entertained by. The magic of Movieland working its marvels and miracles yet again!
Incidentally, in precisely the same way that I alluded to regarding Dr Hannibal Lecter in my afore-mentioned review of The Silence of the Lambs, the villain of A Nightmare On Elm Street is conspicuous by his remarkably rare screen appearances in this movie – Krueger's total on-screen time is less than 7 minutes out of a total movie run-time of 91 minutes. Less is more, clearly.
If you wish to wander down for a few briefest of moments the terror-shadowed but very tongue-in-cheek (not to mention tongue-down-telephone!) path of Elm Street (which btw was named after the street in Wheaton, Illinois, where Wes Craven went to college), be sure to click here to watch on YouTube an official trailer for A Nightmare On Elm Street.
Next time here at Shuker In MovieLand I'll be offering my thoughts on the third member of this terrifying trio of horror movies very belatedly watched by me – The Howling. Don't miss it!
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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