A Nightmare on Elm Street: Impact of a Legend

1…2 Freddy’s coming for you…if you are a fan of slasher films and Freddy Krueger then I don’t have to sing the rest. The “A Nightmare on Elm Street” series is one of the greatest horror/slasher series ever and of course the infamous and lovable Freddy Krueger is one of the most Iconic villains of not just horror, but cinema over all. Fans such as myself are proud to say we have horror master Wes Craven to thank for this iconic series.

Written and directed by Wes Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street was released on November 9th, 1984. The film's premise is centered around it's antagonist Fred "Freddy" Krueger, a psychotic serial killer who murdered 20 children in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio. After his reign of terror is discovered the parents of the town all came together and burned Krueger alive after he was exonerated on a legal technicality. After his death Krueger becomes a dream demon who can now haunt the dreams of the children of Springwood and there begins his legacy.

What makes A Nightmare On Elm Street such an effective masterpiece of horror is how it engulfs our natural senses with fear. Nightmarish themes have always been the nature of horror films, but for someone to actually come up with an idea where a story's victims die for real if they die in their nightmares was just mind bending. Writing what you know is key to being a great writer. Wes Craven once stated in an interview that he came up with the idea behind Freddy Krueger from incident that took place when he was a kid, during which he was chased by a man in a sweater and brown hat, much like the ensemble that Freddy wears in the films. Combining the freightened mindset he had to have after this with everyone else’s natural disposition with nightmares is what strikes a real life horrifying cord with everyone who has seen the Nightmare films.

Nightmares really are a psychological pain that no one wants, but at the end of the day, knowing that what you went through was not real after you wake up from the nightmare is peace of mind, even in the smallest of ways, but what makes A Nightmare on Elm Street so unnerving is that when Fred Krueger kills the film’s characters in their dreams they actually die for real. What makes this concept so bone chilling is the fact that we as living breathing beings have to go to sleep at some point, it is a requirement to our bodies. Much like death, sleep is inevitable and if it is going to find you whether you want it to or not, then how are you supposed to escape the bad guy who will surely find you there? This notion is exactly why I understand why so many horror-phobes fear this movie above all others, because imagining if this concept was real is just too scary of a thought to bear.

On a cinematic level A Nightmare On Elm Street has one of the best senses of story and characters of any horror series there has ever been. This mainly attributed to its core concept, Dreaming. The world of dreams is very complex because there is so many different subjects you can dissect from the topic such as where they come from, are they avoidable? Can we control them and what do they say about us? The series draws emphasis on all of these questions within the first four films in the franchise.

What is a good film and the series that may follow it without a colorful cast of characters to round it out? You’ll never have to know if you watch A Nightmare on Elm Street. This series always did a good job at fleshing out its characters, especially it’s antagonist. Freddy Krueger has been a pop culture icon since he was first conceived due to his humorous demeanor mixed in with his frightening persona. Freddy Krueger will honestly make you laugh and scare the crap out of you all in the same scene, giving him a level of charisma that has been charming to even the non-horror fans.

This also made him very human and relatable, hence the reason why he was so likeable. Freddy would become so iconic that back in the 80s there was an idea to put him in a crossover film with another slasher icon of 80s horror, Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th series. By 2003 the idea was born in the form of the film Freddy vs Jason, a film that I still say was the most exciting film I have ever seen in theaters.

A Nightmare on Elm Street will forever be one of the greatest staples on the horror genre. That’s not a surprise considering it was created by the grandmaster of horror, Wes Craven. It should also be noted that A Nightmare on Elm Street was the first film that introduced cinema to one of the greatest actors of all time, Johnny Depp. Even in the years of success that would find Depp later on he never forgot his humble beginnings in the Wes Craven classic and always showed love to Craven and the film in retrospect, he even had a cameo appearance in the sixth entry in the series, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. With the A Nightmare on Elm Street series fans have been given an iconic slasher who represents a great moment in time and has also made us laugh with joy and jump out of fright in ways that will be remembered ‘forever and ever’.