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H'ween Horrorthon: A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

The late Wes Craven's horrifying opus kept us from sleeping again for years!

By Carlos GonzalezPublished 7 years ago 4 min read
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Courtesy of New Line Cinema.
"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream..."–The Chordettes

Hello and welcome.

Here's a question. Is "A Nightmare On Elm Street" a slasher movie, or a psychological horror film? I'd like to think its both. The late, great Wes Craven was truly on to something when he made this low-budget horror masterpiece. Sure, it was marketed as a teen slasher flick; disposable and forgettable. But, there's a master at work here. It's a deceptively brilliant film that does what it's supposed to do; Scare you, terrify you, horrify you - and do it through evil personified.

It dared and begged to ask the question. Can one die in their sleep - while dreaming? I've never known of any case personally, but, I have had nightmares that had me wondering if I had indeed crossed over into the next life. I remember an interview Craven did regarding the genesis idea behind, "A Nightmare On Elm Street". A family surviving horrors in Cambodia had a son who suffered from chronic night terrors, believing the nightmares to be real. He forced himself to stay awake often. Upon finally sleeping - he, tragically, never woke up again.

It's here that Craven had a stroke of a genius idea when creating his movie concept. But, this being the 1980's, the slasher movie boom needed a villain personified...so they got one, in the form of Freddy Krueger, the flesh-burned, ratty-fedora-wearing, red & green Christmas sweater with the razor-gloved clawed monster; played by venerable character actor Robert Englund.

Englund was the perfect choice to play Krueger (the name came from a childhood bully, Craven knew from his youth). He was a charmingly nerdy-looking actor who appeared in movies as "Hustle", "Stay Hungry" and shows as diverse as "Police Woman" and "CHiPs". In 1983, he would gain some recognition being cast as a good alien in the hit mini-series "V". It was here, Englund, known for playing good-guy types, got a casting call for Craven's latest film, "A Nightmare on Elm Street", as child serial killer Freddy Krueger. The result: a new horror movie star to rival that of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees was born.

The 1984 iconic poster.

Courtesy of New Line Cinema.

The gist of the plot: a group of teens in Southern California are all having the same nightmare about Freddy. As the film opens, one of those teens, Tina (Amanda Wyss), requests a sleepover to calm her nerves after a particularly scary dream in a boiler room where Freddy manages to puncture through her nightgown with his custom-made glove-with-razor-fingernail-tips. It's here we meet her best friend Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), her boyfriend, Glenn, (a young and then-unknown Johnny Depp in his film debut) and her boorish, muscle-bound boyfriend, Rod (Nick Corri), who just had a spat with her earlier in the day. After a makeup bed romp, he acknowledges that he too has been kept up at night with nightmares about Freddy, which intrigues Tina, considering his 'tough-guy' demeanor. That night, Tina has her last and final nightmare, killing her and making Rod look like the culprit. Rod, protesting his innocence, tries to convince Nancy of Freddy's presence, only to be arrested by Nancy's father (character actor John Saxon), the town sheriff. In his prison cell, Rod meets with his demise; getting hung by his bed sheets by Krueger (but, making it look like suicide), just seconds before Nancy and Glenn and her father are able to question him about what he saw.

It is here that Nancy now takes center stage. She begins to dig deeper and further, asking questions her alcoholic mother (Ronee Blakely) refuses to answer. In an effort to deal with her trauma and to get some answers, Nancy goes under evaluation at a sleep facility and as luck would have it, she pulls a hat from out of nowhere (which belonged to Freddy), practically convincing the clinic - just not her mother.

She knows his name now and demands answers from her mother who still would rather drown reality out with a bottle of vodka. Mommy loves her so much, she'd rather get cirrhosis of the liver than fess up the truth about this boogeyman that's coming after her. Then, surprise! Mommy reveals a secret - the secret! She knew Krueger all too well, as well as his abhorrent crimes against the children of Elm Street. She and the parents of the town form a lynch mob, corner Krueger into a boiler room, pour gasoline, light a match and that was the end of him. Or...was it?

I'll leave it here. Despite launching the careers of Englund and Depp (in the film's most memorable movie kill), spawned a slew of sequels, a TV show, crossover movies, ("Freddy vs. Jason" anyone?), comic books, meta-references ("Scream", if that helps) and even an ill-gotten reboot in 2010, this film still holds us captive regardless of the many clones it inspired. The late Craven was a master storyteller who took us through the ultimate nightmare story without flinching, without apologizing and certainly, without applying mercy whatsoever. What makes ""A Nightmare On Elm Street" so visceral and terrifying is that it puts us into that blurred line threshold of the real world vs. our dream world. If our dream world controls our real world, even for the few hours we are asleep...what happens if we never wake up?

Okay...I'm going to bed now.

Next up: The Ballad of Ghostface.

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About the Creator

Carlos Gonzalez

A passionate writer and graphic artist looking to break into the BIG TIME! Short stories, scripts and graphic art are my forte! Brooklyn N.Y. born and raised. Living in Manchester, Connecticut! Working on two novels now!

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