The original: 

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

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Directed by: 

Wes Craven (The Hills Have Eyes, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker, Scream)

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Starring: 

Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Ronee Blakley, John Saxon, Lin Shaye, Charles Fleischer, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund

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With- 

Freddy’s Revenge (1985; Jack Sholder)

Dream Warriors (1987; Chuck Russell)

The Dream Master (1988; Renny Harlin)

The Dream Child (1989; Stephen Hopkins)

Freddy’s Dead (1991; Rachel Talalay)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994; Wes Craven)

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Nancy (Langenkamp) has been having bad dreams. When she and her friends start being stalked, attacked then killed as they slumber by a mysterious man with burnt face and finger-bladed glove, both Nancy and the world is introduced to Freddy Krueger.

 

Krueger (Englund) as a character went through many forms in the following films, TV series and kids cartoon (!!!), soon becoming a stone-cold icon of cinematic horror.

 

Here, in the original film, he is seen as a rancid ghoul who delights in bending reality while tormenting his prey.

 

As the series became more cartoonish, Freddy was soon a japing quipster, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but his origins remain as scarred and disturbing as the man himself. 

 

Created by horror-maestro Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street is economic, tort and bloody, displaying devastatingly effective craftsmanship and skill, as Craven fashions a film of wild imagination and primal terror, deftly realising what we all fear as we lie in the dark.

 

The film connects with its audience, making the horror all the more effective by delivering characters we identify with, starting with our heroine, as well as an assortment of weak authority figures and doomed friends.

The storytelling also taps into themes and experiences with which we can all relate- trying to stay awake, the helplessness of being stuck in a dream that’s turned bad- all while delivering a slasher film like no other.

 

The sequels range in quality and tone, from fun-filled extravaganzas of death to self-indulgent plods through gross-out gore, to the triumphant return of Craven for his post-modern, insanely well made seventh entry, that also serves as a bookend to the series.

The character continued with remakes and spin-offs, but it all comes back to the simple image of a red and green striped sweater, a burnt face beneath a hat, and the malicious intent of a man with power.

 

The Nightmare films remain wonderful, glorious, terrifying, funny, raucous, dark and fun and Englund as Krueger deserves his cackling place in cinema history.

 

Keep your eyes open.

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“I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.”

 

"You are all my children now.”

 

“Welcome to prime time, bitch.”

 

“Swish, killed the fish.”

 

“Faster than a bastard maniac! More powerful than a loco-madman! It’s… Super Freddy!”

 

“Kids….”

 

“How’s the script coming, Wes?”

“It’s more of a nightmare in progress.”

 

“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you….”

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