Great things can have humble beginnings. This impression is hard to escape after watching A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven, the first in the series that would become one of the most successful in the history of the genre.
The plot begins in an averaged American middle-class neighbourhood where teenager Tina Gray (played by Amanda Wyss) struggles with recurring nightmares during which she is pursued by grotesquely disfigured man (played by Robert Englund) brandishing glove with huge blades instead of fingers. Tina soon learns that three of her teenage friends, who also live in the same street, have exactly the same dreams. What should be a morbid coincidence turns into nightmare in real life when Tina gets slashed to death in her dream only to die in the same way in real life, much to horror of her boyfriend Rod Lane (played by Nick Corri). He becomes the obvious and only suspect in the murder, but her friend Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) is more sceptical, because she too suffers from increasingly intense nightmares during which she receives real injuries visible after she wakes up. When she learns that the dream monster used to be notorious child killer Freddy Kruger, Nancy decides to set the trap and bring him to the real world.
As the first film in popular and lucrative franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street looks quite humble and it could be attributed to its noticeably low budget. The film actually barely haven’t been finished at all, but when it did, it turned into massive hit that would set struggling minor studio New Line Cinema on the path of becoming major Hollywood player and “house that Freddy built”. Most credits for such achievement should go to Craven, the horror film author who worked hard to transcend limitations of 1980s slasher films with some bold new ideas. One was the original concept (somewhat resembling one of the plot elements in Dreamscape, science fiction film released few months earlier) of death in dream resulting in death in real life. Inspired by 1970s news reports about Asian child refugees dying while experiencing nightmares, this film featured one of the most formidable villain – a killer that, unlike other slasher films, his victims couldn’t hide or escape from because he preyed on them on the place where all of them would ultimately have to go – their sleep. Craven also tried to transcend some of 1980s slasher film cliches like the absence of parents in those teen-oriented films. He introduces characters of Nancy parents, but, although they have important part in the plot, they succumb to cliches. Her father, played by dependable John Saxon, is conveniently turned into policeman while her number, played surprisingly ineffective by Ronnee Blakely, is an alcholic.
Problems with cast were more than compensated with the entry of Robert Englund. The actor previously specialised for roles of harmless or comical nerds here creates the role of a lifetime by playing one of the most despicable villains in history of cinema. Unlike masked, machine-like and silent killers in Halloween and Friday the 13th franchise, Freddy Kruger not only talks but enjoying taunting his helpless victims. Englund played this career-defining role with a help of inventive make-up but his character isn’t fleshed out completely and Kruger lacks one-liners and black humour that would use in subsequent sequels. Heather Langenkamp, relatively plain-looking actress, is more than adequate and actually quite convincing in the role of Final Girl. Johnny Depp, who plays her partner in his feature film debut, has obviously been cast more of his looks than acting ability and in this film he is most remembered for the spectacularly gruesome way of his character’s demise. Film under Craven’s steady direction and excellent pace works until the very end where the otherwise sensible finale gets marred by annoying and confusing twist ending, obviously introduced in order to make the way for inevitable sequels. As such, it served its purpose, but at the same time it deprived A Nightmare on Elm Street from remaining the undisputed genre classic.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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