The Elm Street Retrospective: A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

 

    Hello and Welcome back to The Elm Street Retrospective. In our last installment, we took a look at what I would consider to be The Prequel of the Elm Street franchise with two episodes ("No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Sister's Keeper") from Freddy's Nightmares. Both of those episodes work together beautifully to craft a unique lead in to the the original Nightmare. 

    Wes Craven. What is the first movie that comes to minds when someone mentions Wes Craven? Partially it all depends on when they had their first experience with one of his films. Some people will say Scream. But I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more go on to mention the original Nightmare On Elm Street.

    A Nightmare On Elm Street was written and directed by Wes Craven. It saw its release in 1984 by New Line Cinema. At the time, New Line Cinema was a bit down on their luck with the film business. However with Freddy at their side, they became the House that Freddy Built. Well, least till a certain franchise (Lord of the Rings) pushed them even further. Yeah, New Line would go back to their horror roots with the release of IT, The Conjuring franchise, and Malignant to name a few.  But it just isn't the same anymore. No one makes movies like the Elm Street or Friday the 13ths. And honestly that's a bit of a shame because these movies are solid comfort movies. I know I watched the Elm Street series a lot when I received them on DVD. They were there for me when I was dealing with the fact that my parents were getting a divorce. So I consider them to comfort movies and are among one of my favorite, if not my favorite, franchise. 

    Okay, okay. Sorry if that came across as a bit of a rant. At this point in his career, Wes Craven had made a few films -  The Last House On The Left, Hills Have Eyes,  Deadly Blessing, and Swamp Thing. Some of them were successful and some could be seen as missing the mark. Now, I may have seen one or two of these before. You can be sure that I'll be going back and maybe exploring more of his films. Wes had started seeing articles appearing in the "Los Angeles Times" regarding people dying in their sleep. Over the course of three years, Wes had seen enough that it had him asking what exactly was going on. What was happening to these people? Is there something after them? Wes then took it upon himself and crafted the story. 

    However it appeared that Hollywood wasn't ready for Elm Street as studios passed on Wes's script. Eventually Bob Shaye and New Line Cinema would find their way to Wes and give him a chance. It would be a little more time for the funds to be ready to film the movie. But it appeared as if things were lining up. At one point, they apparently had issues behind the scenes with the payroll and there were a day or two where everyone was unsure if they were going to get paid. Everything seemed to pay off when the film was released as Elm Street would become a success and save New Line Cinema from bankruptcy. 

    There is a reason that A Nightmare On Elm Street has gone on to become such a cult classic. It is a fantastic film that is filled with so many great performances from all of the performers. Yeah, one of the standouts is Robert Englund as Fred Krueger. He is just cold and calculated. He takes a sick glee to pursuing his prey. Robert Englund is Fred Krueger as he developed such a fantastic set of mannerisms and physicality that is so unique to the character. He's wonderfully balanced with Heather Langenkamp's Nancy. She is a solid foil to our Springwood Slasher. One of the interesting things is that if someone's watching the film for the first time - they may not know we are supposed to be following Nancy till after Tina's death. I hope that's something that isn't spoiled for newcomers to the franchise. All of the kids in this film feel real. They feel like kids. Especially kids that you would see in a high school at that time. It kind of is a solid time capsule of the 80s. 

    If I wanted to be super critical of Elm Street '84, I would say that one of the things that I find about the film is that it's a tad bit off in its pacing. The film moves very quickly to progress to focusing on Nancy. However after that, it feels a bit like it lags. I mean I get that the whole purpose of the Dream Clinic scene - to pull the hat out of Nancy's dream. But it feels a bit like padding. Something I do know is that there were deleted scenes. There were extra bits and bobs regarding the violence. I mean a lot of us have seen Never Sleep Again and know that Tina's death was initially a bit more graphic and that there were bits of seeing Freddy in Tina's POV. One of the things that I miss is a scene between Nancy and her Mom. It's not long after Tina's death and around the time that her mother reveal Freddy's glove. But it's an interesting concept where we are introduced to the idea that Nancy had an older sister. That each of her friends had an older sibling that was taken in the initial spree from Fred that resulted in his arrest. This is something that would line up with the Freddy's Nightmares story. I guess I get that then the question would beg: Why hadn't Nancy remembered them? It could have happened while Nancy and her friends were a little younger. 

    The effects are also another key aspect of the film. It just is a fresh reminder of how interesting practical effects can be. I know Fred's elongated arms can look a bit off if you linger on it too long. But it effectively plays up the dream aspect. One of my favorite effects is Fred emerging from the wall while Nancy sleeps in the bed. It is so beautiful. And it's such a simple effect. We've seen it redone in Elm Street '10 and they definitely failed to the understand the assignment. 

    A Nightmare On Elm Street is a film that I find to work really well. It's bold in the fact that it pushed the genre to a new limit. It brilliantly established that nothing can save you, not even your dreams. And it definitely wasn't playing things safe. There's a reason it has lasted these many years and continues to find a new generation. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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