In the quiet suburban town of Springwood, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and a group of her friends including a fresh-faced Johnny Depp as boyfriend Glen, are being pursued and tormented by a razor fingered child killer named Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Nancy must think and act quickly as Freddy seeks to dispose of his her friends one by one, because if he kills you in your sleep, you die for real.
The basis of this movie is that after being freed on a legal technicality, Freddy Krueger is then caught and torched alive by a group of Elm Street’s parents, some of which were parents to the children he had slain in the past. Now, years later, he has reappeared in the nightmares of some of the now grown-up teenagers and is looking to take his revenge by murdering them – gruesomely and I have to say, unbelievably creatively.
Soon Nancy’s dreams become worse, and her Glen is forced to admit that he too has been having similar dreams. as have the rest of their group. They seek the help of their parents including mega-star at the time, John Saxon (Enter The Dragon) as Nancy’s father Lieutenant Thompson, but it falls on deaf ears, so together they uncover the truth behind Krueger’s death all those years ago and vow to stay awake as long as they can, whilst devising a plan to bring him back into the “real world” in attempt to destroy him once and for all.
I can write pages on this movie, but only have a 500 (roughly) word limit, so given this limit, I firstly have to reference THE most iconic death scenes in modern horror to date. First we have the death of Nancy’s best friend Tina, it still freaks me out even after seeing how it was constructed and shot, it is simply genius and broke the mould.
Secondly, and still one of the most talked about screen deaths, was that of Nancy’s boyfriend Glen, first being swallowed up by his own bed while watching TV, something we still all do (and will mess with you for a few nights after you have seen this) – then his blood projecting from said bed, coating the ceiling to complete a unique death scene and one that will be hard pressed to be bettered, certainly for originality.
What was and still is great about this movie, especially as it was the first of many, is that Freddy is hardly seen fully throughout, he is always in the shadows or we may see a silhouette of the hat and that glove. Even, when we do get to see Freddy up-close, horror-master Wes Craven manages to keep the camera moving so that we never gain a distinct image of the killer, which all adds to his menace.
This movie is without doubt one of the most original horror movies you are ever likely to see, yes, the effects are a bit dated, one in particular is laughable and sure, some of the acting could have been better but in terms of the concept and the fact we all tend to dream on a regular basis whilst never have full control of them, is essentially why this film remains so genuinely scary 32 years on.
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you……..and sleep…..