53. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – Wes Craven

In the dreams of his victims, a specteral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him

The plot for A Nightmare on Elm Street is typically simple for an 80’s horror flick. A group of teenagers are picked off one by one by a long time dead child murderer known as Fred Krueger. The horribly burnt and scarred killer, invades their sleep and literally rips their bodies limb by limb and just like if you die in the Matrix you are killed in reality, same goes here for those who die in their sleep.

After seeing their friends murdered teenagers Nancy (Heather Langkamp) and her boyfriend Glen (a fresh faced Johnny Depp) come up with a simple solution to stop themselves joining their deceased pals…. don’t fall asleep.

But that’s not as easy as it sounds is it? You can’t stay awake forever, your body won’t let you. And the moment you do fall asleep, Krueger will come after you with intentions to slice and dice until there is nothing left of you.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was a great movie to watch during sleep overs. 80’s horror were always great fun in groups and their was just something about watching this movie and Friday the 13th at 2am at a friends house that I don’t think can be matched by any horror films of today. It was great to watch in the dark on your own too but absolutely terriying to try and fall asleep afterwards.

For the time, this movie was full of imagination and originality. The dream sequences and the setting for where these nightmares took place were so well thought out and vivid, they became something you would remember for many years to come.

Sure it’s not all that creepy for the most part nowadays, but that death scene where she ends up on the wall is still chillingly effective. And the idea behind this child murderer Fred Krueger when you stop and think about it, is incredibly creepy. The Krueger in this first movie wasn’t about the one-liners or the campness of the character… this is before he became aware of himself amidst the cult phase of “Freddy” which ruined the character.

A Nightmare on Elm Street has it’s problems. It’s not particulary well directed, well acted or well scored but I think it’s the idea behind the plot and the character of Fred Krueger who kills his victims in their sleep that allowed this movie to become a huge success. And that success continues, each and every sequel that has been made has tryed to live up to the greatness of this original but each has ultimately failed.

Sad thing is…. How long until somebody decides to remake it?