A Series of Nightmares

So, there’s been a fair bit of buzz of late in the horror community about the new “re-imagining” of Wes Craven’s self proclaimed “masterpiece of fantasy horror” A Nightmare on Elm Street. Naturally, with my oft-vocalised loathing of remakes, I was sceptical.

And so, to warm myself up for the remake, I did what any other sane movie critic would do; watch all eight of the films leading up to it. Well, I say sane…

A Nightmare on Elm Street
(Wes Craven, 1984)

4.5 Stars

It’s been a good ten years since I watched this movie, and, quite frankly, watching it again now, there’s a reason it’s a classic; truly original, viscerally creepy, and with some darn fine acting and special effects given the small budget with which Craven had to work with.

Creating in Robert Englund’s delectably evil Krueger one of the greatest movie villains of all time; the vengeful spirit of a maniacal child killer, now hell-bent on finishing the job he started in life, Craven continued to carve out his name in horror history. Following his manic mutants of The Hills Have Eyes and family of serial rapists of Last House on the Left, Craven gave us a whole new world of scares. The idea of a creature that kills you in your sleep is, in itself, ingenious. A monster we can truly never escape.

An ever engaging story line, some truly terrifying deaths (the scene in which young Tina’s body is thrown around her own bedroom by the unseen Krueger is, to this day, one of the scariest movie killings of all time) and some wonderfully atmospheric music creates an overall feeling of dread and fear that sticks with the viewer long after the closing credits roll. Add to that an appearance from a very young, yet still beautiful Johnny Depp and we have a real masterpiece of terror.


A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2:
Freddy’s Revenge
(Jack Sholder, 1985)

2 Stars

The second outing for Mr. Krueger sees him possessing the body of Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), the latest inhabitant of Elm Street, reaping revenge on, well, anyone really…

Unfortunately, as a follow up, Part 2 just doesn’t make sense; rather than taking vengeance on the children of his murderers, Krueger seems to have little motive this time round, killing willy-nilly, and, rather than haunting dreams, simply using someone else as a vessel. It’s almost as if, this early on in the franchise, they’d already forgotten just what made Krueger such a formidable beast.

Englund does his best with the material he’s given, and there’s certainly some fun special effects going on, but on the whole, Freddy’s second adventure is a lack-lustre affair, with few scares and some pretty poor acting from the overly camp Jesse.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:
Dream Warriors
(Chuck Russell, 1987)

4 Stars

I must say, after Part 2, I was already regretting this week’s undertaking. A lame first sequel did not bode well for the further six parts to come. Dream Warriors, however, truly craps on all other horror sequels, and could, quite frankly, be the best follow up the genre has ever seen.

Disregarding the second film, Dream Warriors sees the welcome return of Nancy, the protagonist and sole survivor of part one, as a psychiatrist specialising in, surprisingly, dreams.

Cue the return of Freddy, out to get the remaining Elm Street kids, all of whole are conveniently in the psychiatric hospital, suffering from nightmare involving a metal-gloved lunatic.

A truly worthy sequel, Dream Warriors has some great scares, some gloriously over the top effects and a strong ensemble cast featuring Patricia Arquette, Lawrence Fishbourne and the lovelyHeather Langenkamp. This is also the first in the series to see Freddy start dropping his infamous one-liners, adding to the maudlin fun.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 4:
The Dream Master
(Renny Harlin, 1988)

2.5 Stars

I guess the major problem with Nightmare’s fourth instalment is a case of promise to premise ratio; within the first ten minutes we have a great set up, following on from where Dream Warriors left off, but come the halfway mark, this has been completely abandoned in exchange for what turns out to be a particularly Eighties outing for the master of dreams.

We open with the return of the remaining Dream Warriors, led by Kristen, who are acting as guardians against Krueger’s return. It’s pretty fun. Unfortunately, all three of them have been killed off by the end of act one, and Kruger has turned his eyes to Alice (Lisa Wilcox), who he has decided will act as his new key into the dream world. Having now killed off all the Elm Street kids, he obviously needs new blood, and it is through Alice’s newfound psychic abilities he plans to get it.

Unfortunately, killing off the Warriors paves the way for a collection of Eighties high school stereotypes to take their place, each of whom is killed off, and each of whom has a funeral, creating a rather dull and formulaic midsection of the film; death, funeral, sigh, death, funeral, sigh and so on. And no-one seems to care that all these kids are dying! I’m all for suspended belief, but when a mother’s answer to “My two best friends were killed today” is “Oh well, I think you should get some sleep”, I find myself wondering exactly why I should care about a character if even her own mother doesn’t Hmm…

There’s nothing particularly bad about Part 4, I guess, but there’s just nothing particularly good. And the montage scene at the end? Well… Fuckin’ A.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5:
The Dream Child
(Stephen Hopkins, 1989)

3 Stars

The Dream Child gets a lot of bad press, often being billed as the worst in the series. Thing is though, when you look at its predecessor, or, even further back, Part 2, it’s really not that bad at all.

The concept in itself is pretty darned good, and kept me intrigued; Alice, back once more, is now pregnant. Krueger, in his ever mallevalent quest for vengeance and blood, uses the unborn child to project himself into the real world. It’s quite interesting; the idea as to whether babies dream, and thus Krueger’s ability to shift between realities using the child.

The characters in Dream Child are, for the most part, much more engaging than in other outings (although Alice is still kind of dull), most notably the comic book artist and the wannabe model. No names have really stuck from the supporting cast (or Freddy-Fodder as I am beginning to see them now), but this is certainly one of the better acted instalments.

There’s also some great effects, often harking to a Clive Barker-esque world, and the sequences involving the deformed Krueger baby are just plain disturbing.

In all, by no means one of the best in the series, but certainly not as bad as the worst. A decent enough mid-ground, with copious usage of the word “bitch”. Hazah.


Freddy’s Dead:
The Final Nightmare
(Rachel Talalay, 1991)

3 Stars

Ten years in the future and the residents of Springwood have lost their entire under-eighteen population to Freddy’s murderous rampages. Cue Krueger’s latest plan, involving his long lost daughter and the homeless kids with whom she works.

Though not exactly scary, there’s a lot of fun to be had in the “final” instalment of the original Freddy Franchise, featuring some delightfully clever deaths and some grin-worthy cameos including Johnny Depp, Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold. There’s also an appearance from a young Breckin Meyer. Hooray!

I think what really gives Part 6 its edge though is the exploration into Krueger’s history; we find out just what drove him to become the evil dream master, and Robert Englund is as delightfully nasty in human guise as he is as the infamous spirit. Oh, and the 3D finale sequence is just dandy!

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
(Wes Craven, 1994)

3.5 Stars

Now this one’s a funny one. A film, technically within its own right, and yet also indicative to the Nightmare mythos, New Nightmare is set in the “real world”, featuring the actors of the original Nightmare playing themselves and somehow being haunted by the spirit they created within the film.

It’s a very intriguing venture, and certainly foreshadows Craven’s later masterpiece Scream as an examination of the effects of horror films. The only problem is, there’s not actually all that much going on. The film is, for the most part, two hours of earthquakes and general nuisances until Freddy finally shows himself in Act 4. Had the film been more of Krueger reaping havoc on the world, it could’ve been a lot more fun. Instead we have two deaths in two hours, and just a lot of moping.

That said, it’s beautifully shot and wonderfully acted, especially by Englund and Longenkamp as themselves. The re-vamped Freddy, when he finally does show up, is also pretty awesome. An interesting piece of self indulgence from the master of horror.


Freddy Vs Jason
(Ronny Yu, 2003)

2 Stars

Boring idea, boring story, boring film. ‘Nuff said. I’d rather have watched Alien Vs Predator.

Well, okay, maybe not.

A Nightmare on Elm Street
(Samuel Bayer, 2010)

1.5 Stars

And so finally we come to the remake. I shall put aside my distaste for rehashes, and I shall, as best as I can, give a fair and unbiased review.

This movie sucked.

Storywise, deathwise, and just about everything elsewise, it’s a shot-for-shot copy of its inspiration, just adding the concept of Krueger being a full-out child molester and, for some reason, making the kids much more aware of what’s going on.

To be fair, Jackie Haley’s (Watchmen) portrayal of Krueger is pretty good; capturing the darker, more menacing brute of the first movie and New Nightmare, but really, he’s just no Englund. The rest of the cast, meanwhile, are the dull and expected fayre of a “Noughties” horror outing; teens chosen for their looks over their acting skills. Though there’s not all that much to offer in either camp actually.

Lacking in originality, Bayer’s Nightmare is sans the cutting creepiness of Craven’s masterpiece, leaving us with yet another generic modern horror movie. And really? Do we need that?