Nightmare on Elm Street Wrap-Up

As you all have seen, I recently watched all 8 of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies: 1-6, New Nightmare, and Freddy vs. Jason.  I really wanted to do for this series what I did for the first four Friday the 13th movies (much more in-depth, details on every kill, etc.), but I didn't.  I blame my laziness.  And the fact that I watched the first four of these movies on the same day (a day when I was really sick, no less), and the thought of putting that much work into each post exhausted me.
What I'm saying is, "I was too lazy to do a big write-up on each of these movies, so you got shorter, crappier reviews instead."  (Sorry Ben, Patricia, and the other 2 people who may actually read this blog.)

Anyway, as I was watching these, I came across a handful of thoughts that didn't really fit into a single post, but were more observations on the series as a whole.  I tried to write them down as I thought of them, but that didn't always work out.  Again, I'm a lazy person.
So, without further adieu, a handful of borderline incoherent ramblings on the Nightmare on Elm Street series (along with a handful of pictures that I have used in previous posts).

- It's hard to watch this series and not compare it to the Friday the 13th series.  Both have iconic killers.  Both started around the same time.  Through the 80s, it was impossible to escape these movies.  I wasn't allowed to watch horror movies as a kid and even I knew who Freddy and Jason were.  They had become larger than the movies.
I understand why Freddy was so big.  He had personality.  He told jokes.  Jason just walked around slashing people.  He never spoke.
Honestly, I never really understood why Jason always seemed to be more popular than Michael Myers.  Halloween predates Friday the 13th by 2 years.  They were both silent, lumbering killers.  Was it the hockey mask?  Did that hold more appeal than the bleached Shatner mask?

I'm getting off track here.  The point is, it's hard for me to watch Nightmare without thinking about Friday, and vice versa.  But I like the Nightmare series so much better.  Even its weaker films are enjoyable, and I can't necessarily say the same thing for Friday the 13th.  There's some variety in the Nightmare movies.  A little something different in pretty much every movie.  Friday the 13th isn't like that.  After a certain point, all the Friday movies are pretty much the same.  And there's no reinvention of the series that makes it interesting again.  Sure, I enjoyed Jason X (how can you not?), but all they did was stick Jason in space.  Nightmare was able to make a completely original and terrifying movie 7 films into the series [New Nightmare].  Friday the 13th just didn't have the creativity to pull off something like that.

- I think that's what I love most about this series: the creativity.  The concept alone is enough to scare you.  He's a killer who kills while you sleep.  You can't escape sleep.  And, while some of his victims found a way to make the dreams work in their favor, that wasn't enough to turn the tide completely.  After all, they only visited that world for a few hours at a time: Freddy lived there, and had years to master it.  That's what made this scary for me.  Everyone sleeps.  In every film, the final girl tries her hardest to stay awake.  In the first film, Nancy tells Glen that she has been awake for 7 days (she also tells him that the world record is 11 days).  So, even with prolonging sleep as long as anyone ever has, you're only buying yourself another week-and-a-half of life (and not much of a life...I can barely go a day without sleep without being a completely worthless human being.  Picturing myself for 11 days without sleep is an ugly, ugly thought).  And even then, by the time you fall asleep, you'll probably be even harder to wake up, thus making you easy prey for Freddy.
New Nightmare takes this a step further, as we find out that extreme sleep deprivation in children can cause schizophrenic symptoms.  So, even when avoiding Freddy by staying awake, you can still do terrible harm to yourself.
And it bears repeating: you will always fall asleep at some point.  You can stay awake for 11 days, chug coffee like a champ, and try to power through the emerging schizophrenia.  But you will still fall asleep, and that's when he kills.  You can't hide forever.

This series also has a lot of great dream imagery.  It's not just the normal nightmare stuff of falling off a cliff.  They have a recurring scene of stairs turning into quicksand.  There's also the horror of running away from your attacker, just to always find that you're back at the place you started.  There is the now iconic house at 1428 Elm Street that we get to know very well throughout the course of the series.  Hallways of blood.  Dead girls in body bags being dragged across the floor by an unseen entity.  Not all of it works, but a lot of it does.  It's not always flashy or obvious, but there are a ton of great nightmare sequences throughout the series, and I love how they use it.

- A thought ran through my mind while watching New Nightmare.  The concept of that film is that these stories help to keep the real monsters/demons at bay.  When the stories stop, the monsters come back out (I cannot express enough how much I love this concept).  So we follow Heather Langenkamp - playing herself - as her and her family are terrorized by Freddy (or, rather, an ancient demon who has taken the form of Freddy).  According to Craven (also playing himself in the movie), it had been too long since a film was made, thus the demon was emerging.
Freddy's Dead was released in 1991.  New Nightmare was released in 1994.  So, according to this timeline, it takes roughly 3 years for the demon to emerge.  In other words, if a new Nightmare movie is not made every 3 years, this demon will emerge and begin killing.
New Nightmare was released in 1994.  Freddy vs. Jason was released in 2003.  That's 9 years.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't check to see if Heather Langenkamp was still alive.  I needed to make sure that this demon did not emerge in 1997 and kill her.  Thankfully, she is still alive.
Of course, I did not check to see if a bunch of kids mysteriously died in their sleep around that time.  It could be that he came back and just decided he didn't want to brawl with Nancy anymore.

Those are my thoughts.  For now, at least.  I reserve the right to write a post at any given moment with more.

I thoroughly enjoyed rewatching this series.  There are a lot of great moments here.  I hope it's not too long before I decide to revisit them.  This was a lot of fun.  If you haven't seen them yet, you really need to.

Finally, here's my rankings of all the final girls in the series:
1. Nancy [A Nightmare on Elm Street] / Heather Langenkamp [New Nightmare]
2. Lisa [Part 2: Freddy's Revenge]
3. Alice [Part 4: The Dream Master & Part 5: The Dream Child]
4. Kristen [Part 3: The Dream Warriors]
5. Maggie [Part 6: Freddy's Dead]
6. Lori [Freddy vs. Jason]

This is no knock on Lori.  I really like Lori.  But she just doesn't quite measure up to the rest.  I almost ranked her above Maggie, but Maggie went to hell to defeat Freddy, and Lori didn't.  In the end, I think it was the right choice.

I'm sorry, Lori.  I still love you

Last but not least: this is the 100th post on this blog.  I know it's not widely read or anything, but I've had a lot of fun doing this, and plan on doing it for many more years.  Thanks for reading.

Freddy vs. Jason

Description from Netflix:
Fusing slasher franchises, this hybrid of horror pits nightmarish Freddy Krueger against serial killer Jason Voorhees in the ultimate showdown after Freddy - stuck in hell - revives Jason as part of a plan to revisit the dreams of Elm Street teens.  But Freddy's demonic scheme spins out of control when the maniacal Jason begins his own campaign of terror.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Monica Keena, Katherine Isabelle, Lochlyn Munro, Zach Ward, Kelly Rowland, Chris Marquette, Brendan Fletcher
Also, apparently there was an uncredited appearance by a young Evangeline Lilly in this movie.  She played "School Student - Next to Locker".  Not sure how I missed her.

My thoughts:
It's quite a jolt going from New Nightmare to this.  Where New Nightmare was a fantastic, well-written addition to the series, Freddy vs. Jason is exactly what you think it will be: more action-horror than anything.  It was made as a fun movie, not necessarily to be a good one.
But there's nothing wrong with that.  It's not an amazing movie, but it's enjoyable.  I had fun watching it.

I enjoyed what they did with this.  They were able to successfully blend elements of the Nightmare on Elm Street series and the Friday the 13th series.  There were the creepy dream scenes from Nightmare, and the brutal slash-and-kill scenes from the Friday the 13th series.  This is especially obvious early in the movie, before Freddy is involved with the killing, and it feels like a Friday the 13th movie that just happens to be taking place on Elm Street.

Then Freddy shows up, gets mad when Jason keeps killing (taking the victims he worked so hard for), and it's on.  They fight in Freddy's dream world.  They fight at Camp Crystal Lake.  They fight, they fight, they fight.

Contrary to the title, there are more people involved than just Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.  A group of high school students (and a cop) are terrorized by Freddy and Jason (imagine that) and try to find a way to defeat them.  As central as that is to the plot, the real draw here is the final event: Freddy vs. Jason.  A battle of two heavyweights of 80s horror.  And it doesn't disappoint.

Of course, I had particular interest in a couple of the characters.  The main girl - Lori Campbell - was played by Monica Keena.  I have a soft spot in my heart for her from watching Undeclared.  Also, she apparently knows her way around a machete, which is tremendous.

The cop who ends up helping the teens - Officer Stubbs - was played by Lochlyn Munro.  He has been in quite a few things at this point, but, to me, he'll always be Cliff, brother of Joe.  He had him some crack.  He wants him some hoes.  Say yeah.

Again, this was not a great movie.  But it was an extremely fun movie.  I enjoyed it.  As with New Nightmare, you don't have to watch the entire Nightmare (or Friday the 13th) series to enjoy this, but I'm glad I did.

Rating: 4/5

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Description from Netflix:
Freddy's back and he's badder than ever!  Nancy, the historical nemesis of the man with the satanic snarl and pitchfork fingers, discovers that a new monstrous demon has taken on Freddy's persona.  Can Nancy stop this new threat in time to save her son?  Nightmare director Wes Craven and [Heather] Langenkamp also play themselves in this final installment of a horror classic.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Wes Craven,
There are also a handful of small cameos from some former Nightmare folks, including Lin Shaye, Tuesday Knight, Jsu Garcia/Nick Corri, Amanda Wyss, and some I'm sure I missed.

My thoughts:
A quick note to clear up the Netflix description: this is not really Nancy.  This is Heather Langenkamp playing herself, not Nancy returning to take on Freddy.

With that out of the way...
The concept of this movie is terrific.  Wes Craven always said that his horror movies came from his nightmares.  It has been 3 years since Freddy's Dead came out, and both he and Heather Langenkamp start having nightmares.  (As we find out later, Robert Englund has been having these nightmares, too.)  Heather finds herself pitted against Freddy.  But this Freddy is different.  This Freddy is meaner.  Darker.  And he's trying to invade the real world, through her son Dylan.

According to Craven, there's an old theory that some ancient evils are kept at bay by storytellers.  If people are telling their story, they remain trapped.  But, once those stories stop, the evil awakens.
And that is what is going on here.  There is an ancient demon who has taken the form of Freddy Krueger, and he has become familiar with our world.  It has been long enough since the last Nightmare movie that he has begun to awaken, and has decided to invade our world.  The only way to defeat him is to make another movie.  But, to do that, Heather has to live it, and has to defeat the evil in order to finish the movie.
Got that?

It is carried out much better than I just explained it.  After watching the series slowly turn into Freddy saying countless punchlines, they brought back a dark edge with this movie.  It feels a little darker.  A little more real.  We see Heather fight for her son, and eventually end up at her old house on Elm Street, playing the role of Nancy one last time.

There are some great homages to the series.  On top of the iconic house, we see John Saxon again, playing a sort of father figure to Heather as she deals with this.  We also get some deaths that are made to look like some of the memorable deaths from the series.

It's a fantastic new take on a series that seemed to have run out of ideas at this point.  This is my second favorite movie in the series (just barely losing to the first installment).  I love this movie.  It can be watched as a standalone movie, but it's a lot more fun if you watch the rest of the series first.

Rating: 5/5

I'll finish up my Nightmare watching with Freddy vs. Jason, then I plan on doing a little wrap-up on the series as a whole.

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

Description from Netflix:
Just when you thought it was safe to sleep, Freddy Krueger returns in this sixth installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, as psychologist Maggie Burroughs, tormented by recurring nightmares, meets a patient with the same horrific dreams.  Their quest for answers leads to a certain house on Elm Street -- where the nightmares become reality.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Breckin Meyer, Tom Arnold, Rosanne Barr, Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp (in a very small cameo)

My thoughts:
Once again, they find a way to have Freddy haunt the dreams of children once more.  This one comes in the form of revealing that Freddy had a kid that no one knew about.  How this went undiscovered for 30+ years is completely beyond me.  But it has been revealed here, so I guess that's all that matters.
The gags are cheesier than ever.

That's Freddy, in the middle of the phrase, "I'll get you my pretty, and your little soul too."

That's Freddy referencing Nintendo's Power Glove.

They also use 3D in this movie.  And, in typical 80s/early-90s fashion, it's terrible.

All this sounds like I hate this movie.  I don't hate it.  I like it quite a bit.  I'd say it's on par with Part 5, which is to say it was good, but not nearly as good as the earlier movies in the series.  Still, it was quite enjoyable.  And we get to see Breckin Meyer stomped to death by a video game Freddy.

It's awesome.

I absolutely loved the credits for this.  It's a montage of a bunch of the deaths from the series.  It's like taking a walk down (a murderous) memory lane.

Rating: 3/5

I'm pretty excited about re-watching Wes Craven's New Nightmare.  I've only seen it once, and I remember really loving it.  I guess we'll find out this week.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Description from Netflix:
In the final chapter of this popular 1980s horror franchise, Freddy returns to target his old nemesis, Alice, in hopes of entering her unborn child's soul and being "born again" when the child enters the world.  Alice must stop Freddy -- stronger than ever and once again ready to terrorize the teens of Elm Street -- by freeing his dead mother's spirit so she can rise up and defeat Freddy for good.

Notable actors: Robert Englund

My thoughts:
First of all, I love that the Netflix description references this as "the final chapter".  They can't update that?  At this point, we know it's not the final chapter, because they made movies after this.

Once again, Freddy finds some way to haunt the dreams of teenagers.  Alice - our heroine from the last movie - is now pregnant, which somehow gives Freddy an entrance back to the world of dreams.  Even worse, he can now harm people through the dreams of Alice's unborn child.  Since a fetus sleeps 75% of the time (I'm not sure if that's accurate, but that's what the baby-doctor said in this movie), that means Freddy can strike pretty much any time.

It's not a bad movie, but it's definitely the weakest of the series so far.  The cheese factor gets taken up another notch, complete with us seeing the birth of Freddy, then seeing a Freddy-fetus run across the floor like a slimy burned rat.

As far as I know, this movie marks the only time in the series that teenager survives through 2 movies.  A handful of them make it to another movie (Nancy, Kristen, Joey, Kincaid, etc.), but they never survive that second movie.  Alice is able to pull off that rare feat.  Because she's awesome.  And a Dream Master.
(It should be noted that I don't count Nancy from 1 & 3 and Heather Langenkamp playing herself in New Nightmare as the same character.)

It's enjoyable, but not great.  Like I said, definitely the weakest of the series so far.  But, if you enjoyed 1-4, you'll enjoy this one.

Rating: 3/5

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Description from Netflix:
Resurrected from the depths of hell, Freddy returns to kill the remaining teens on Elm Street.  But even after he murders the last kid, Freddy still isn't satisfied and looks for other ways to continue his sinister murdering spree.  He soon discovers the perfect person for him to victimize: Alice, a girl gifted with the special power of bringing other people into her dreams.

Notable actors: Robert Englund

My thoughts:
In the last film, they didn't really talk about how he came back.  They actually show how he was resurrected in this one, although perhaps they should've left it out.  A dog urinates fire onto his grave, and that uncovers him and allows him to continue his murdering ways.  First up are the last of the three Elm Street kids: Kristen, Kincaid and Joey.  Kristen's best friend (Alice) is pulled into Kristen's dream and sees her being killed.  This somehow allows Freddy access to the dreams of Alice and her friends, even though their families had nothing to do with his death.  (I told you the link was a bit more tenuous in this film.)

This is also the movie where the series turns into Freddy's show.  Sure, we still cheer for the victims to survive, but Freddy is absolutely the star of the show.  He has more lines.  More jokes.  More personality.  It gets pretty cheesy, but it's still enjoyable.

At this point in the series, even when Freddy is defeated, we don't really believe he is defeated.  As he says at the end of this movie: "I am eternal."

Rating: 4/5

Final question: the guy in the middle.  He's definitely what the creators of Buffy were going for when they were trying to find a look for Angel, right?

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors

Description from Netflix:
It's been many years since Freddy Kruger's first victim, Nancy, came face-to-face with Freddy and his sadistic, evil ways.  Now, Nancy's all grown up; she's put her frightening nightmares behind her and is helping teens cope with their dreams.  Too bad Freddy's decided to herald his return by invading the kids' dreams and scaring them into committing suicide.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne, John Saxon

My thoughts:
This is where is starts to get cheesy.  Not full-fledged.  Not yet.  It goes full-fledged in the next film.  This isn't necessarily scary, but there are some good scenes in here.  The first dream sequence, in particular, is one of the better scenes in the series.

I also really like the idea that the kids can be whatever they want in their dreams.  Super powers, so to speak.  Sure, they're not great, but this is the first time where the kids realize they also have power in dreams, and try to use that against Freddy.
Of course, he also uses his powers against them.  And he knows what he's doing a little more than they do.

We also find out a little more about Freddy's backstory from a mysterious nun.

They don't really explain how he came back in this movie.  It seemed like they had finally put him to rest for good at the end of the second movie, and they make no attempt to explain how he's back in the world of dreams.  Part 2 came out in 1985, and this one came out in 1987.  Maybe they thought the audience wouldn't remember (or wouldn't care) how the last one ended.

The link between movies works fairly well: all the kids in this movie are "the last of the Elm Street kids".  That connection grows a bit more tenuous in the next movie, but there's still a strong connection here.

Overall, I really like this one.  The series is starting to go in a different direction, but that's okay.  The skeleton fight-scene at the end was a bit dated (to say the least), but it's still an enjoyable movie.

Rating: 4/5

A Nightmare on Elm Street II: Freddy's Revenge

Description from Netflix:
It's been five years since Freddy Krueger tormented those hapless Elm Street teens with his razor glove and maniacal sense of humor.  But he's back for revenge, with his sights set on another innocent victim he can torture and possess.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Lyman Ward

My thoughts:
A little different from the first one.  Where that one found Freddy killing a bunch of kids in their dreams, this one finds him trying to "get back into the game", as it were.  A family moves into Nancy's old house, and Freddy immediately begins to take over the body of the boy (Jesse).  He needs a host to bring him back.  Or, in the words of Freddy, "You've got the body, and I've got the brains."

While it's a different movie, it has the same kind of feel as the first one.  There's something weird going on, and no one will believe him.  He's dating the girl next door (Lisa), and she begins to believe him after reading Nancy's diary.
Jesse begins to find himself in strange places, witnessing Freddy murdering people.  But he slowly discovers that Freddy is using him as a vessel to kill these people.  For Freddy, the eventual goal is to take over the body of Jesse.  I'm unclear as to whether he would still be able to terrorize dreams, or if he would just exist in the real world.

I like this movie.  It's not quite as good as the first, but it has a lot of great moments.  Jesse's screams are legendary.  Check this one out (the good stuff comes in around the :50 mark):



I was a big fan of Grady, Jesse's enemy/best friend/overall jackass.  Their relationship was confusing, but he had the best lines of the movie.

And, of course, I need to give a shout out to Jesse's girlfriend, Lisa Webber.  She goes above and beyond the call of duty to help Jesse.  Would you make out with a serial killer for your significant other?  You wouldn't?  Then you're not as good as Lisa.

There's a large homosexual subtext that runs throughout this movie that is impossible to miss.  But I won't delve into that here.  I'm fairly sick at the moment, and it's all I can do to throw up these slap-dash reviews.  If I were to get into that, it wouldn't end well.

Rating: 4/5

Last but not least, look at what Jesse's sister is eating for breakfast.  Fu Man Chews!

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Description from Netflix:
Years after being burned alive by a mob of angry parents, child murderer Freddy Krueger returns to haunt the dreams and waking hours of small-town teens in this spine-chilling slasher classic from director Wes Craven.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Lin Shaye, John Saxon

My thoughts:
Whenever I watch the sequels, then go back and watch this one, I'm always surprised by how much different this is.  In the later movies (starting with part 3, really), Freddy is a likable, wise-cracking killer.  You're not exactly rooting for him, but you are drawn to him.

Not so with this movie.  He doesn't have many lines, and he certainly isn't cracking any jokes. He's a menacing, stalking child-killer.  It's a dark movie, with no room for jokes or laughs.
It feels a bit dated at times (the scene with the long arms looks especially cheesy), but, overall, this movie still holds up remarkably well.

I never saw this series as a child, so I know it's not nostalgia that keeps drawing me back to these movies.  While I can't say that this ranks as high as the original Halloween on my list of horror movies, it certainly isn't too far off.

Rating: 5/5