Nightmare on Elm Street

   The 70's and 80's serial killer/slasher boom brought about the creation of icons such as Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and 1984's saw the birth of yet another name to the list, Freddy Krueger.  Written and directed by the late great Wes Craven, Freddy would enter your dreams or nightmares and you know the rule: if you die in your dream you die for real.  The story gave a new twist to the serial killer genre as it brought the dreamworld into play and gave new dimension to the horrors to befall on our hapless victims.  The original film in the franchise, of course, stars Robert England as Freddy, Heather Langencamp as Nancy the heroine of the first story and Freddy's first "final girl", John Saxon as Heather's father who is also the sheriff, Ronee Blakley (Nashville) plays Heather's mother who has a lot to do with the legend of Freddy Krueger, and Johnny Depp in the first feature film role of his career.

 This was the one that the foundation of the Elm Street franchise was built upon.  The birth of Freddy Krueger child killer and supernatural serial killer that even death couldn't stop.  Oddly enough the only issue I have with the film is with Heather Langencamp's performance.  I found her to be a little uneven meaning she was over dramatic when she didn't need to be and was a little low key when she should have been a little more commanding if she knew peoples lives were on the line.  Everything else in the first Nightmare film is creepy good fun and it's done nearly to perfection.  I always enjoy this one.

When you first hear the jump rope song and hear the knives screeching across the metal pipe you know you are in Freddy's world and there's no rules there.  Except for the ones Freddy makes and then breaks.  The music performed by Charles Bernstein adds a dream like quality to every scene it's in offering a nice dose of asymmetry that really keeps you off balance and not knowing where the "safe scenes" are coming.  There's plenty more films to the franchise (including the latest film, the attempted reboot, that failed miserably) and they all have some great scenes and some are very good films however, you never forget your first time with Freddy.  The Horror Honey and I were joined by my 75 year old Auntie Grizelda for this one and we all agreed that this one is a classic.  We all give this one 4 Brown Fedoras out of 5.