A Nightmare On Elm Street (Matt)

Well here we are. It's time for me to write up a review on the introduction of one of the giants of the slasher horror genre. This one character was responsible for many a terrified child and I'm afraid I have to count myself among those ranks. This movie came out in 1984, I was 4 years old that year, and I was very susceptible to horror at that time. In between the ages of 4 and 12 I thought monsters still might exist out there somewhere. It's hard to tell reality from fantasy when you're that age, at least it was to a certain extent with me. My parents would not let me watch this movie and I actually did not see it until I was a bit older, although some of the sequels did sneak into my bedtime TV viewing when mom or dad was not looking.

I was not safe however, from the stories of my friends. I heard all about Freddie throughout elementary school and I was terrified. I would occasionally see his picture on a sign or on a t-shirt or in a commercial or such and that's all it took to trigger scared Matt time. I can remember lying in bed knowing that Freddy was after me but too scared to run to mom and dad in their bedroom because I knew that he would wait in between my room and theirs for me to do exactly that.

I'm telling you this so you know the impact that this character had directly on my life. He terrified me in a very real sense, and this is his beginning.

Now that I'm a grown man, of course, this seems very silly. I can separate fantasy from reality and that allows me to actually enjoy movies like this and even laugh at them. I can recognize exaggerated stereotypes aimed at provoking fear in usually a teenage audience and can enjoy the movie for what it is. So that said, here is what I think of this first movie in the series.

The first thing I notice when watching this movie is the music. The opening credits are dark and this eerie music starts to screech out from the TV speakers. That music is creepy and it sets the mood perfectly. A lot of horror movies will employ terrible music on purpose in order to get the view to feel uncomfortable, this movie however pulls off the same effect with music that doesn't make you want to yell at the TV to stop. For that it gets points.

The acting in this movie is second rate for the most part. This, I suppose, is to be at least a little expected. Most of the actors were either first timers or were young and this definitely shows. There are a few scenes that feel forced and this has the tendency to take you out of the film.

The settings are pretty great, especially those used in the dream scenes. The boiler room set, the foggy outside scenes, the school, they all looked great. I enjoy how during dreams the rooms would start out being just a little bit off from reality; maybe the lights are too bright or too dim, or perhaps there is a thick mist covering everything that surrounds you. Then as the scene progresses things start to get weirder and weirder until you don't know what is real and what is not. This was a highlight of the film for sure.

In my opinion the true star of this movie is the monster Freddy. It's hard for me to think of another horror film that has such a brilliant idea for a story. Freddy lives only in dreams, and that single character fact instantly connects every single human alive to him. We all sleep. We all dream. We all might run across him someday. This is scary stuff, and I love it. The more I think about it the more I am amazed at this idea. It's amazing, and I'm glad it brought New Line a lot of money.

The movie is showing it's age a bit now. The clothes look strange and the teenage characters are a bit harder to connect to, at least for those who didn't live through that time period. I have to say though, this movie still is a great watch. It's scary, it's fun, it's.. well it's Freddy.

I'd give it 8 bloody body bags out of 10.