Film Snail

A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street

7.3

A Nightmare on Elm Street

R·1984·91m

Summary

Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...

Crew

Director, Writer

Wes Craven

Reviews

John Chard

John Chard

May 3, 2015

9

Dream Attack.

The kids of Elm Street appear to be having the same bad dream, one in which a scarred faced bogeyman in a stripy jumper hunts them with knives attached to his fingers. When the dream becomes a reality for one of the kids, and the worst happens, Nancy Thompson risks all to bring the bogeyman into the open.

Stupendous horror movie, one that not even the ream of sequels, spin- offs and cartoons could ever diminish. Wes Craven creates a film of utter terror, unleashing one of the genres most famous monsters on the unsuspecting film loving public, with Robert Englund as the hideous Fred Krueger having the time of his life slashing away and delivering oral venom.

A number of scenes and sequences are staggeringly memorable, in the process shifting into horror movie folklore. The youthful cast are sensibly written (Craven's screenplay that took inspiration from a true story he read about Cambodian refugees literally dying of nightmares!), they are not dumb these kids, just vulnerable, but led by Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) there may be hope of some survivors?

The blurry line between dreams and reality gets a bloody make-over here, creating biblical snoots in the process. In short, essential horror movie for those inclined. 9/10

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$1,800,000.00

Revenue:

$57,004,513.00

Keywords

dreams
nightmare
psychopath
sleep
child murder
supernatural
ohio
murder
slasher
trapped
alcoholic
boiler room
booby trap
nostalgic
disfigurement
medical test
nightmare becomes reality
caffeine
shocking
vexed
frantic
grim
desperate
anxious
supernatural horror
suspenseful
frightened
franchise starter