Overall rating: 8/10
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The first installment in the Nightmare franchise is probably the most effective, if not most enjoyable of the series. The concept is inventive and terrifying – burned serial killer with a glove of knives returns to his old town to get revenge by killing teenagers in their dreams. The idea that if you die in your dream you die in real life is pretty scary. Add to that being chased by a crazy undead killer with control over dreamscapes bumps the concept up to terrifying.
The Nightmare movies are probably the most innovative of the big three franchises. The death scenes and special effects are the inventive but are often very cheesy and come off as laughable rather than scary. When they work – the first death scene – they really work, but when they don’t – the first time you see Freddy he’s got accordion long arms – the film loses much of it’s impact.
In addition, the film is very, very dated. The clothes and hair are awful in a way that could only come from the mid-1980’s. The music is similarly dated and overdone – heavy loud synthesizers that are, by turns, effective and laughable.
The movie has lots of blood but no guts. So, the gore quotient is high but not disgusting.
This film is also highly white. There are only two non-whites in the whole movie, there are two black kids in one of Nancy’s classes at school but they don’t even have any lines. The fictional town of Springwood, Ohio, is a very white town.
Overall there are only four deaths in the movie – which is a pretty low body count. Also, check out Johnny Deep in his first movie!
Continue reading for list of victims and final girl.
Final Girls 