Well another horror film review, im kinda getting kicks about writing about some of my favourite horror films, so why not stick with it for a while. My next review is on the 1984 smash hit "A Nightmare on Elm Street", directed and written by Wes Craven and starring Robert Barton Englund as Freddy Krueger. Ive actually watched this film some 20 odd times, but the first ten really don't count as I was always too scared too watch all of it and would somehow turn away half way through. I remember I watched this film for the first time when I was about 8, my brother had forced me into watching it, as a result I had nightmares for about two weeks, found it hard to get to sleep and well my brother was in serious trouble with my parents. Nevertheless, Nightmare on Elm Street, for me was a brilliant film, after watching it several times in my mid teens I actually started liking the film, the reason the film was so successful was because it took something soft and, sacred and safe i.e. sleep, and made it a place were you worst nightmares are about too happen, no wonder I couldn't sleep when I was younger the thought of Freddie's gonna get you was buzzing around in my head. You see shadows in the wall, which are obviously just something random, but if you look at it closely it looks like fingers.

Plot:

The film starts off with a fifteen year old girl named Tina, who one night experiences a terrifying nightmare, where she is being chased by a mad man down a dark, narrow boiler room. The person following her has razor sharp fingers, and is obviously out to harm her, the dream seems so real and makes Tina afraid. The next morning, Tina finds out that her best friend Nancy Thompson had the exact identical dream, so during that night they decide to have a sleep over, along with Tina's boyfriend, just so they could calm each other down. Tina and her boyfriend, like teenagers decide to have some fun in the bedroom, however falling asleep, Tina has another dream about being killed by this crazy madman, her boyfriend awakens to find Tina being cut my invisible knifes and dragged across the ceiling like a doll. Tina later dies and Rod her boyfriend is now suspected as being the killer.
Nancy still has these dreams, to her they seem so real and frightening and she believes there is a connection between the dreams and Tina's death. Nancy's mother decides to take her to a dream clinic, to help her sleep properly and suggest to her that dreams aren't real; it's all a figment of your imagination. However, still dreaming, Nancy devises a plan to catch Freddy. Can she stop this mad man killer, is this real or is she having one big dream, who lives and who dies, watch the film to find out.

Characters:

Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson: Heather is the main lead character in this horror film, her character experiences countless nightmares were Freddy is involved with. She is a very intelligent girl, and she out of earth theories about dreams being real soon makes her family question her mental health, and this is evident when her mother takes her to a dream clinic. However, she soon realises these dreams wont go away and devises a plan that will hopefully help save her.

Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz: Yes Johnny Depp stared in this film, boy was he very young and who remembers the girls clothes he wore in this film. Glen is Nancy's boyfriend and much like her is also experiencing weird and violent dreams, he and Nancy are somewhat on the same level, however he still thinks dreams are just dreams.

Robert Englund as Freddy Kruger: Kruger is the violent murderer that seems to be possessing everyone's dreams, his knife like fingers, scary face and red and black top make him an iconic and stand out figure. Kruger was a child murder, who killed kids on Elm Street ten years before this film took place. The angry parents buried Kruger alive in a basement, however when now questions whether he is dead or alive, or in my case both.

My View:

One cannot stop but admire this film, because for me it was so different, original, scary and violent. The film has such a deep underlining approach whereby it makes the viewers questions the idea of a real world and a dream world, what it reality and what is fiction, and in this film it seems as if they both coincide and have a big effect. This film used a different method of attack and scaring viewers, it wasn't about the killer itself, but moreover how the killer killed his victim, him his dreams. Now when you're a kid, you think your sleep in probably the safest place you could be, you're not going to be harmed, your warm and at place, however Craven created this safe place into hell, a nightmare that people wished they had never got into. I myself when I was younger found it hard to even sleep after watching these film, because the films makes you question what will happen when im in my sleep? Add to that those scary children, boy they scared the life out of me especially when they start singing;
"One, two, Freddy's coming for you. / Three, four, better lock your door. / Five, six, grab your crucifix. / Seven, eight, better stay awake. / Nine, ten, never sleep again". This famous line just added to the horror of the film, these children, his victims if you would come to taunt you in your sleep.
It's a film that has to be placed as a classic, one that kids will have nightmares about, and one that if you haven't already watched, well you should, just don't go to sleep after.

The origins of Kruger:

Well I thought I would do a brief intro on how the Kruger character becomes who he is in the films, as he is the focal point to the whole franchise.
If you watch the entire series of Nightmare on Elm Street, you will see that the origin and history of the character evolves by each film. Each film would introduce a new history of Kruger, from his family life, to his trial to his murderous past and then burial.
During the early 1940s, a woman by the name of Sister Mary Helena (a.k.a Amanda Krueger) was accidentally imprisoned in a high secure mental institution. It was there that she was raped over 100 times by the inmates and days later found dieing and pregnant with a baby, (Frederick Charles Krueger) was born months later and given up for adoption.
Kruger was placed with a violent family, full of drinkers and abusive parents he often experimented on killing hamsters and rabbits, which obviously lead to his maturity in killing humans.
Later in life, Kruger would get married and settle down in 1428 Elm Street, where he later had a daughter named Katherine. It was during this time that the local children went missing, and Catherine soon found a secret room in the basement were her father kept all the torture weapons, Freddy later kills her. In 1966, Freddy is arrested for the murder of the children, but is released from jail on a technicality, which fumed the parents of the dead children. The parents found the secret boiler room were the children were murdered and having followed Freddy they set it alight, trapping Freddy inside and ultimately setting up the Nightmare on Elm Street films.

Run Time: 91 minutes
Budget: $1.8 million
Turnover: $25 million domestically

Ratings: 5 out of 5