97 - A Nightmare On Elm Street

Connection To WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE? - Johnny Depp.

Some horror villains seem to become instantly iconic - Michael Myers, Pinhead, Jason, even Chucky among others and of course probably my favourite of the bunch - Freddy Krueger.

The A Nightmare On Elm Street films where regularly viewing for me as a kid - I'm not sure why I was allowed to watch them, I was allowed to watch most horror I don't remember getting told I couldn't watch a particular one, I did have a self imposed rule though - I would put a video on before bed, the rule was never a horror just in case it give me nightmares.

When I started writing that sentence I actually didn't plan on ending it with the word nightmares but it's more then suitable, and I think that is the magic of the Elm Street films (even the lesser ones and there is plenty of them), most of these other horror villains as scary as they are can only get you in real life, Freddy though can get you in the thing we've all got to do our sleep and he's the one in control.

Objectively A Nightmare On Elm Street is a film of some genuine scares but also I have to admit of bits that look dated, but for a film that holds up this well it's not worth holding them against it (the phone bit - just how it looks was one of the scenes I was talking about and the very last shot is worth mentioning).

This film belongs entirely to Robert Englund, whose performance helps make Freddy an instant iconic character, which makes up for the let's be honest mostly not so great teen performances (Johnny Depp included) - which I'm not saying they are bad just not stellar. This first film doesn't forget that Freddy is mean't to be an hideous child-killer while the later sequels seem to think he was a badly burnt stand-up comedian (he would do well on America's Got Talent).

I think this film had more atmosphere then any of the sequels (including the good ones), Nancy seeing Tina in the clear body bag is still a haunting image (sorry there was plot spoilers for a near 30 year old film there) and Freddy's appearances are kept to a minimum so the mystique is still there.

Overall, still holds up remarkably well - the more recent remake didn't capture what was so special about this... they didn't realize - a film this good makes you overlook anything that is dated about it.