A Nightmare on Elm Street

Review By: Stephen Snart
StephenSnart@TheCinemaSource.com

Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street distinguishes itself from the slew of other B-rate 80s slasher flicks by framing its story around the discourse of dreams. By incorporating this one element, the film opens itself up to many different avenues of interpretation including psychoanalysis. The film’s mass murderer, Freddie Kruger (Robert Englund), doesn’t offer anything that Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees didn’t offer in terms of character psychopathology but since the addition of dreams adds new layers to the slasher genre. Craven may not achieve the “random authenticity” of Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep or even the abstract imagery of Neil Jordan’s In Dreams but he has crafted an accomplished addition to the “dead teenager” sub-genre.

Taking a cue from the successes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween and Friday the 13th, the victims at the center of A Nightmare on Elm Street are a group of fresh-faced teenagers. Promiscuous Tina (Amanda Wyss), obnoxious Rod (Nick Corri), prissy Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and all-American boy Glen (a nubile Johnny Depp in his screen debut) all experience similarly horrific nightmares. While their dreams differ in specifics and some are unwilling to admit to it, they all involve a charred maniac with knives for fingers and an eye for red-striped sweaters hunting them down in dark alleys and boiler rooms. Early in the film, one of the four is gruesomely murdered in their sleep. The police suspect one of the teenagers has committed the crime, but the kids know that’s not the case. It was Freddie Kruger, the malevolent monster that preys upon them during their dormancy.

The acting is predictably hammy but, of course, this comes with the territory. Some of Corri’s theatrics are cringe-inducing but overall, the cast does a good job of not overselling their work. Langenkamp downplays her role, providing flat line readings for the emotional scenes but calling upon her impressive vocal talents for the many instances that require her to scream at the top of her lungs. Being in his first film role, Depp obviously isn’t comfortable enough to pull an Edward Scissorhands or Jack Sparrow with his character so, here he mainly acts with his pompadour.

Written and directed by Wes Craven – a name that has become synonymous with horror over the past 3 decades – A Nightmare on Elm Street is certainly a stylistic achievement in the slasher genre. Combining practical effects with moody set design, Craven created a bloodbath picture that managed to be atmospheric as well as sensationalist. The score by Charles Bernstein adds to the effect considerably, creating a lullaby rhythm through its chime-centric sound.

Twenty-two years since its release, the film