Monday, October 28, 2013

Movie Review: "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)

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Movie: "A Nightmare on Elm Street"
Director: Wes Craven
Year: 1984
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

The kids of Elm Street are tormented in their dreams by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a child murderer who was burned to death by local townspeople. He stalks the kids down and murders them in their nightmares, but when he does so, they die in real life, leaving the kids of Elm Street knowing that every single time they fall asleep, it could be their last.
"One...two...Freddy's coming for you..."
Another classic, wonderful Halloween horror movie! My appreciation for this movie skyrockets each time we watch it. Freddy Krueger has become one of the most if not THE most iconic horror villain of all time. It has the same type of generic plot as most horror slashers do, and yet it is completely unique in its execution. The way he handles his victims is different than many slasher films because the kill isn't quick. Freddy likes to taunt, torment, and torture his victims through many different dreams before finally offing them in many different, creative, and bloody ways. There is a lot of humor to Freddy that is not common among other horror villains, which makes "A Nightmare on Elm Street" more unique. There's something so geniunely terrifying about the prospect of being haunted and taunted in your dreams...to me, this movie is completely frightening because, eventually, we all have to sleep. The only part we don't particularly like is the final showdown between Freddy and Nancy (Heather Lagenkamp). It's sort of anticlimactic, and the build-up to that point is so big that  that it makes the ending suffer...but we can overlook this.

Overall, a fantastic addition to any Halloween marathon!

And Johnny Depp's 80's haircut is spectacular.

My Rating: 9/10
BigJ's Rating: 9/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

2 comments:

  1. Another classic that I love. My sister and I were obsessed with this back in the day, because of Johnny Depp. Yes, that's how old we are. We were fans of young Johnny Depp in the original 21 Jump Street. And who would have thought I'd meet him 20something years later in a local city?!

    ~Deb

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    1. I am sooo jealous! You met The Johnny?! Swoon! I even loved him in Cry Baby. He filmed Edward Scissorhands in our town. I can't go to the Southgate Shopping center without knowing he stepped foot there. I still can't believe he is 50. Did you touch him Deb? What did yoy say? Spill! Nightmare on Elm Street is a classic. Wasn't there a whole weird tongue scene? Or was that from one of the others? Do you watch The Shining on this marathon?

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