A look at the Nightmare on Elm Street Series.
By TepidShark 2 Comments
As part of a perpetration for the upcoming remake of the first Nightmare on Elm St. Me & my friends decided to have Nightmare marathon where we watched all seven movies (we didn't do Freddy Vs. Jason because people said it was bad and we were too tired to watch it) in a row. I had never seen any of them and I thought the concept was pretty interesting so I thought I would check it out. Here is what I thought of each movie.
Nightmare on Elm Street: The original classic written & directed by Wes Craven. Like many firsts in a series-es introduces concepts of the fiction pretty well. Liked the whole teenagers saying "you have to believe me" and the adults saying "your crazy" mechanic. Used a lot in movies but this may have been the movie to first use that I don't know. Some plot points are hard to fellow (a thing about the whole series) like what is and is not a dream. I understand why they do that it is a little jarring and hard to fellow. I get the sense this movie (along with scream) was the basis for the first Scary Movie. Weird seeing "Introducing Johnny Depp" as well. But overall, not a bad start.
2. Freddy's Revenge: This one is kinda weird. Having little to do with the first one other then mentioning that it happened. This one again follows a similar plot line (with different people) but the twist is that Freddy is trying to make the main character do his job, or he needs him to go into the real world. Not clear. Weird homoerotic overtones for almost no reason. Why does he end up at a Gay Bar? Overall, alright but kind of a rehash of the first one.
3. Dream Warriors: This is the T2 of the series. Aside from bringing a character from the first movie back, like T2 as well, the movie has an air of "we are going to put an end to this once and for all" (though since there are other movies that doesn't ultimately work out for them). This also the movie where they start to understand what they can do in the dream world a little better. I also feel they show you the difference between the real world and dream world better in this one. Great kills in this one too. The puppet one was very creative, yet disgusting. Love Freddy origin in this one, what a great reason for a villain to be the way he is. If you really think about it it doesn't actually make sense but still cool. Important to point out though that while in the first 2 movies Freddy was pretty menacing, this is the beginning of jokey Freddy in this movie and it gets more ridiculous as the movies go on. But this is a great one, highly recommend it.
4. The Dream Master: Now they rehash number 3 instead of number 1. Though they do start to continue with established fiction where as they were not always doing that, in this movie they basically trade the set of people that survived the last movie for a new set of people. No real explanation as to why Freddy is back, just that Freddy is back. That mechanic about the adults not believing the teenagers was starting to get a little unbelievable. You would think the town would catch on that something is up after 3 now 4 sets of teenagers are being murdered. Even if it is unbelievable you should probably start listening to the teenagers that didn't get killed cause they might actually know something about why teenagers are being murdered. But still not terrible, not great.
5. The Dream Child: Another rehash of 3. Though I was a little less patient with this one then 4. It seems a little desperate when your first shot/dream world sequence is of a naked women. Also, it is not a good sign in a horror movie, when you don't like the heroes enough that you are ready to see them die. They do explain why Freddy is back in this one which is cool. Would probably pass on seeing this one again.
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare: When they opened this movie with it being set 10 years in the future, I was like alright this is going to be Freddy meets Escape from New York. Not so much. If you expect this movie to be scary or tense you will be disappointed. If you expect it to be ridiculous and funny, then it might be the most entertaining of the series. I did like the whole "last teenager" thing because I was thinking throughout all the movies there have to be only so many teenagers in this town. And because of that there are some really funny moments of townspeople acting all crazy because they believe the teenagers are still there even though they are dead. It kind of gave it a post apocalyptic vibe without being like all dust bowl about it. Freddy and the kills are just silly. I thought it was a cop out to say this late in the game that hey he had a child. The way they ultimately killed him was very similar to what happened at the end of the first one and the final battle was a little anti climatic. But like I said, if you are looking to be entertained you might like this one.
New Nightmare: Wes Craven returns for both writing and directing in this one. Very intriguing concept. Basically the movie takes place in the real, real world where actors from the series are playing themselves and basically Freddy enters into that. They tried to return Freddy back to less jokey and more menacing and I think they succeeded. I think it has become a little of a sequel clique to bring a little kid into the action. Aliens did it, T2 did it, and New Nightmare does it too. Unfortunately by that time of the night people were starting to lose focus and started going into conversations so I couldn't fully hear the movie, so I need to see it again. But it a really neat twist on an established franchise, I am definitely looking forward to seeing it again.
So there you have it. Basically watch the movies where Wes Craven was involved in (1, 3, & New Nightmare) and maybe 6 if you want a laugh. Pretty good series overall and definitely interested in what a remake could do.
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