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A Nightmare On Elm Street // Spooky Movie Review

Main Cast - John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund

Director - Wes Craven

Release Date - November 9, 1984

Genre - Horror (Slasher)

Summary

Wes Craven’s, “A Nightmare On Elm Street”, as I’m sure all of you know, is a film centred around a group of teenagers who begin to have the same nightmare about a man with “knives for fingers”, as said by Rod (Jsu Garcia). As the story unfolds there are a number of mysterious deaths and the protagonist, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), desperately tries to unravel what is happening to her and her friends.

Plot Analysis (SPOILERS)

Setting - Elm Street, Springwood, Ohio. (I know, how obvious lmao)

Intro - We are introduced to Nancy Thompson, the protagonist, her best friend Tina, her boyfriend Glen, and Tina’s lover/boyfriend Rod. The film starts by Tina having a nightmare and claiming it was the worst dream she has ever had. Nancy seems startled, as we later learn she had dreamt of the same man Tina had dreamt of. Later that night, Nancy and Glen had agreed to stay the night at Tina’s house because Tina did not feel safe sleeping alone, claiming she thought someone was going to kill her (in her dream of course). The gang talks for a while until they hear something outside, Glen goes to check and Rod pops out from the bushes. Now all four of them are at Tina’s house.

Events Leading to the Climax - The night everyone is at Tina’s house, she is murdered in her dream by Freddy Krueger. Her murder is rather gruesome as she is torn apart from her chest down her stomach and dragged up onto the roof all while her lover, Rod, is watching. After that night, the whole city is looking for Rod thinking he did it, while Nancy is struggling because she had a similar dream to Tina, what if she died too? Nancy spends the next few days trying to figure out if her suspicions are true or not, only to confirm it after visiting Rod after he is detained by her father. Rod claims to have had the same dreams, and only a few days (or hours I’m not sure) after her visit, Rod gets hung in his sleep by Freddy Krueger. This of course makes it look like a suicide so the police or anyone unaffected by these dreams are not alarmed. After Rod’s death, Nancy can not sleep at all. She stays up all hours, trying to figure out how to stop anyone else from dying. At this point it is just her and her boyfriend, Glen. Nancy’s mother is noticing her behaviour has become erratic and just wants her to sleep, so she brings Nancy to a Sleep Clinic. At the sleep clinic, she of course does not finally get a peaceful sleep, but instead whilst she was having a nightmare, she grabbed Freddy’s hat. Fortunately, as she woke up from the nightmare the hat was physically in her hand, revealing to her that she can bring things from her dreams, to reality. After this discovery, Nancy makes a plan to grab Freddy and force him into reality so her and Glen can kill him. Unfortunately, Glen could not stay up long enough to execute this plan and he was murdered by being sucked into his bed and seemingly blended until he was just a mass of blood. this pushes Nancy to the edge and she decides it is time to put her plan into action

Climax - As a final act of retaliation, Nancy calls her dad who is across the street at the now crime scene that is her boyfriend’s house, to tell him to wake her up at exactly half past twelve. After doing so, she sets up booby straps around her house, including a trip wire, a sledge hammer outside her door, an explosive lamp, and some gasoline in the basement for a more manual trap. Now it’s time for her to sleep, and she is ready to face Freddy (that rhymed). She confronts him in the dream world, only having ten minutes to grab a hold of him and pull him into her world. At the ten minute mark, she leaps onto him and suddenly she wakes up, but Freddy is not there. However, like a minute later he hops up from beside the bed and begins to chase her around the house while she sets off multiple booby traps in an attempt to stop/kill him. When none of this succeeds, she lures him into the basement and lights him on fire (he’s lit). He then proceeds to follow her upstairs, WHILE ON FIRE, and her father finally breaks down the door. When he goes to find Freddy, they find flaming footprints leading upstairs, Nancy and her father follow them. When they get upstairs they find that Nancy’s mother is being attacked by Freddy. Quickly the father throws a blanket on top of the Freddy/Mom ball and quickly pulls it off to reveal a roasted and toasted mom being lowered into the abyss in her mattress, almost like a casket into a grave (spooky man). At this point Nancy’s father finally believes her and he leaves the room. Nancy experiences her final showdown with Freddy when he comes back up from the mattress when her back is turned to it. However, she knows Freddy is there and simply brings back words that Glen told her earlier in the movie. Freddy can’t hurt her, and that she takes away all the effort she put into him, and that he is nothing to her. This ultimately makes Freddy beam away as if he has been vanquished from reality.

Events After Climax - After exiting the room in which her mom seemingly died. Her and her mother come out the other side, talking about how if they can’t remember the night before it must have been good or something (I don’t exactly remember but look at the paragraphs I wrote for you). Nancy still looks tired, but it is sunny and everything seems much happier than the grim days they just lived through. We are to assume they would go on with their regular lives.

Ending - Nancy’s mother waves her goodbye as Nancy gets into the car with all three of her friends that supposedly never died. It was all a dream. Everything is joyful again, until the cover of Glen’s car comes up and locks, locking all four of them in his car. The top of the cover has the colours of Freddy’s infamous sweater, and it is clear that it was not just a dream, they all did die. Nancy was just cursed to live in that terrifying nightmare. The car then drives away with them all screaming, and Nancy’s mother is dragged into the house.

Creative Elements (SPOILERS)

Characters (P.s. This turns into me half assing actual analysis and just spewing my raw opinion in overly casual form, I am very sorry)

Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) - Arguably, the most notable character throughout the entire film SERIES (aside from Freddy) is our girl Nancy Thompson. She is of course the protagonist. Nancy is a teenage girl seemingly well received at school, with a supposed picket fence home life. However, with her mother’s drinking and her father’s absence from home due to work, she is more reliant on friends than family. Nancy is meant to be a relatable character, she was never made out to be popular, or rich, etc. This is to create the feeling of “oh gosh this happened to her... so this could happen to me!”. I honestly don’t know what else to say other than she has very strong traits such as bravery and obvious intelligence, making her the most interesting character in the SERIES, let alone this movie alone. Like come. ON. Have you seen Freddy’s Revenge? That was HORRID.

Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) - Glen plays a very memorable supporting role; Nancy’s boyfriend who lives across the road. He is clearly meant to be some eye candy, but despite that he is also an intriguing and relatable character. To me he comes off as a follower type, not a leader. Very influenced by Nancy, which is ok because it is always to a healthy extent. Throughout the movie he somehow maintains a casual aura, almost making viewers feel more at ease, as if they weren’t watching a slasher. Any who, he serves his purpose as a handsome addition, but also a sort of relief, and overall likeable character from his charming exterior to the genuinely kind boy inside.

Donald Thompson (John Saxon) - Aka. I am Mr. Police Man and care about my daughter but not enough until the end. Kidding, kidding. I don’t know he kind of annoyed me during the movie if I’m being honest. I think that was the point though. Donald is Nancy’s father, and his character is played very much like that... a father. Overbearing, annoying, and think they know what is best all the time. However I do have to give him credit at the end for not thinking it was some kind of dream or something and just taking it for what it was. But I guess that was a dream?? YEAh. lol. But overall some up tight semi-caring police dad.

Marge Thompson (Ronee Blakley) - Aka. I killed a pedo so I am going to drink for the rest of my life. Marge is Nancy’s mother and honestly the only memorable things about her was just that; she killed a pedo and drinks a lot. Oh, and she literally barred up the house just because her daughter wasn’t sleeping. Seems extreme. Her traits include shit like anxious, protective, stupid. Lmao. Ok well I understand her motives but she is a little odd. We see her nurturing side throughout the majority of the movie as she tries to figure out what is wrong with Nancy, but toward the end I believe she kind of just wanted to die. As you can see my character analysis are just going down in quality as I get more casual and honest.

Rod Lane (Jsu Garcia) - Rod served as an okay side character, his only development was sleazy douche-bag into douche-bag with nightmares so it can evoke sympathy. He was Tina’s boyfriend/lover/whatever the fuck. Honestly, I did not care for Rod or Tina, both of them seemed like the hollow cliche of jock and cheerleader types. Just not very interesting. However, Rod’s reaction to Tina’s death was rather surprising. I wouldn't have expected him to actually have deep feelings for her but that scene exhibited just how he felt about her. But that was about it for him lol.

Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) - Oh. My. God. Where do I begin. Dumb blonde type. Very typical. Minor side character, she dies so fast. Who invites 2 friends over just because of ONE bad dream? Nobody. Y’all this girl is a pussy. I’m sitting here trying to think of something else to say but I can’t. Basic traits are she is a coward, dramatic as hell, and dumb because she takes bad Rod even though it is clear she is just treated like ass. Idk dawg, I just never like these characters unless they are comically dumb.

Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) - Finally, the most iconic character. Freddy is an ex-child killer who was murdered by a group of parents including Nancy’s mom, Marge. Due to this, he is now burned causing that haunting burned flesh look he is known for. He goes around with like a blade fingered glove and haunts people in their dreams. He is seemingly connected to Elm Street (since in the second one the guy moves into that house and only then sees Freddy), and whoever he affects, it passes along to their friends too (?), not to sure how that works. He is the main antagonist and he is menacing and creative, a perfect villain concoction. I think he does a good job being a freaky dude. A+ rating.

Dialogue

Since it is such a dated movie, I can’t really complain much seeing as the acting sometimes was not as great as it is today. But, the one thing I do think is notable is Nancy’s crying. That was a whole mess, like whenever she would sulk and put her head down to cry I had to cringe because like... what? First of all no tears, second of all no redness no even sign of effort other than sounds. I’m being picky because really I can’t get mad about anything else when it comes to acting or dialogue.

Camera Work

Again, I did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Just regular type filming, no areas where it seemed shaky for intensity, just regular ol’ follow her around with a camera on a stable stick. Nothin notable.

Tone

The overall tone of the story is supposed to be anxiety and curiosity, sometimes pure fear (if this type of movie scares you I guess lol). But, I would say for the most part, it is trying to keep you on the edge of your seat. Conveyed by the attempts at jump scares or music leading to a climatic scene. Viewers are supposed to be thrilled and shocked, and at the time of the release I’m sure Wes Craven achieved such a reaction. However, in this day and age the tone seems kind of cheesy. You can’t really take any scene seriously because if you do you get dragged out of the mood pretty fast due to bad props or just a humorous attempt at a scare.

Theme

The message I got from this movie (purely my interpretation, I’m sure it isn’t original) is that wasting your time and energy on those who only serve to worsen your life, will ultimately drain your very essence. What I mean by this is it drains your happiness, your social life, your sleep (lol), your ability to act like you once did. Your personality withers, and you turn into this walking, talking zombie who looks like you, but really you are hollow. Some feel nothing, some feel nothing but anger or anxiety (definitely anxiety and fear in Nancy’s case). In a real life example this could be something as small as having that one crappy friend that acts as an anchor, never allowing you to do anything but sink.

What Stood Out To Me

Glen’s Death

Honestly, when I think of the, “A Nightmare On Elm Street” franchise, the first thing that comes to mind is this scene. It is just so awe-inspiring because as you are watching you are taking guesses as to how he will die. However, nobody is going to guess that he is going to literally sink into the bed and come out as a teenage boy smoothie. It’s just so unpredictable and I could not love it more.

2. “Mother” Getting Sucked Through The Door Window

I know everybody tries to forget this hilarious end scene, but I will not LET YOU. So basically at the end of the movie when Nancy and the gang are being driven off in the Freddy mobile (lol), Nancy’s mom is waving at them as if she sees nothing wrong. Then, out of nowhere Freddy’s arm comes through the glass on the door and he pulls her entire body into this tiny hole. MAGNIFICENT. Honestly, the most comical part of the whole movie. 10/10.

Final Thoughts

Well, after watching this for like the third time in my life, I can successfully say I am ready to wait a few more Halloweens before thinking about it again. Obviously the director succeeded in creating a timeless classic. Any message he may have tried to convey probably didn’t get across because.. well.. its a horror movie. Nobody thinks about the deeper meaning of a horror movie lol. My final opinion will have to be that yes, I know this is a classic slasher and everyone knows who Freddy Krueger is. And yes, I know the times are different and this may not be as thrilling anymore, but as my mother has always said, “Respect your elders”. This movie is cheesy, but lets face it we all love it. I am only docking points due to what I view as poor acting, and comedic attempts at horror.

My Rating - 6.7 🧀 /10 🧀 (Get it.. because its cheesy..)

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