A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Starring:

Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson
Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
Jsu Garcia as Rod Lane
Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz
John Saxon as Lt. Donald Thompson
Ronee Blakey as Marge Thompson
Amanda Wyss as Tina Gray

Everyone has an opinion on A Nightmare on Elm Street because everyone has seen A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you haven't, you at least have some idea of who Freddy Krueger is and what he's about. Even though we live in a time where Freddy-mania has long died down, he's still one of the big cultural icons of the horror genre and will live on long after his original creators have died off. He's every bit as iconic as Dracula or the Frankenstein monster.

It's difficult to review a classic as one would any other type of film because it's already well-known as being one of the best of its kind. Make no mistake about it, Nightmare is a classic. It still holds up today, nearly thirty years later, as a horrific little film that blurs the line between reality and fantasy so effortlessly, it's impossible to tell where the dreams end and the waking life begins.

While everything else involved with this film is top notch, it's the ability to move seamlessly between dreams and reality that make it so effective at delivering suspense. You never know whether or not to be scared for the fate of a character because you can never tell if they're really awake or asleep. As a result, there is a permanent sense of dread and tension throughout the entire film as Freddy picks off these unsuspecting teens one by one.

Robert Englund made a career off of playing Krueger, but he's never been as good in the role as he is in the original. Sure, Freddy is fun in later films and Englund clearly finds something to enjoy even in the most deteriorated of sequels. But Freddy has never been as scary as he is here. He takes delight in cutting off his own fingers just to frighten a victim. Unlike Michael Myers or Jason before him, Freddy loves to psychologically torture his prey before he kills them, and gleefully laughs while doing it as if he were a child opening a Christmas present.

The special effects also deserve a mention, as they're still impressive. All you need to do is look at the 2010 remake to see why practical effects are always the better option. A man pushing his face through spandex creates a better haunting effect than using Cgi to perform the same trick thirty-six years later. The fact that they were able to do all this on what was essentially a minuscule budget speaks wonders to the abilities of the cast and crew involved. There are movies in 2013 that can't pull off effects as good as seen in this one.

Obviously, this movie is a horror classic. It's still scary, it's still very entertaining and it holds up easily against any modern horror film. Some movie monsters come and go, but it's a filthy child molester/murderer turned burned victim that will stand the test of time as one of the greatest.

Score: 10.0