A Nightmare on Elm Street

"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is so original, realistic, and overall terrifying that it is easy to overlook the film's numerous shortcomings. The film deals with a deceased child molester who now lives only through the dreams of the children of those who cooked him to death. Robert Englund is truly frightening as Freddy Krueger, a dark figure whose only purpose is to kill all the siblings of his killers. The knife-styled finger glove has become a trademark of this amazing character who was created by writer-director Wes Craven. The film goes for suspense, drama, and gore and delivers for the most part. None of the characters are developed very well, but most do not live to see the end of the film so it really does not matter. A great horror film that still delivers today. Ignore the endless sequels, they each detract from this truly original and interesting film. Look for a young Johnny Depp as one of the unlucky teens. 4 out of 5 stars

On Elm Street, the teenager Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) has a creepy nightmare with a burned man wearing a glove with blades called Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). She invites her friends Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), who had also a nightmare with Freddy Krueger, and Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) to spend the next night with her, but her boy-friend Rod Lane (Nick Corri) appears in the house and they spend the night together. In the middle of the night, Rod awakes and sees Tina having a nightmare and being sliced. He is accused of murder and arrested by Nancy's father Lt. Thompson (John Saxon), despite the protests of his daughter. When Rod and Glen are mysteriously murdered, Nancy realizes that the only way to defeat the evil Freddy Krueger is bringing him to the real world.

The classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is one of the best horror movies of the 80's and Freddy Krueger is my favorite villain. The story is original, very well written and directed by Wes Craven and is the debut of Johnny Depp in the cinema. As far as I know, the open conclusion was forced by the producers to give a sequel to the saga of Freddy Krueger. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Hora do Pesadelo" ("The Hour of the Nightmare")

The "Nightmare" has been recently on in our TV and I must admit that even after those fourteen years it made a deep impression on me. I saw the film for the first time in 1989 and at that time I was scared because I was just a teenager then. But now, I can see that the film has got something unique, which makes the film different from other horror movies. I think it`s down to the basic idea of this film - dreams and everything that can happen in our dreams sometimes become true. The authors of this film did not have to be bound with the need to stay realistic and that opens a free way to their wildest imaginations. Charles Bernstein`s music in this movie has become clasic and we can hear the basic melodic motive in some of the sequels. Original music composed by different authors in the sequels to this first Nightmare stays far far behind Bernstein`s masterpiece.

Nancy is having grisly nightmares. Meanwhile, her high-school friends, who are having the very same dreams, are being slaughtered in their sleep by the hideous fiend of their shared nightmares. When the police ignore her explanation, she herself must confront the killer in her shadowy realm.

This Film Starred: John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp & Johnny Depp.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984 was written and directed by Wes Craven.

In my personal opinion this was a great film, it had it's scary moments which every horror should have unfortunately they did go a bit far on a couple of the sequels which got rather low ratings on here. Not all of the sequels are bad, for example I am a fan of 3 & 4 but sequels like 2 & 5 ARE GIVING THE Freddy movies a bad name and are shadowing the excellence of this movie in particular. People seem to recognise Freddy Krueger as the burnt serial killer with knives for fingers who appeared in all them bad films. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 is not one of them films and should be recognised as a the great movie it is. I highly recommend this film to all fans of the horror genre.

****/***** Very Good.

There have been many periods of film release that have had impact on film history(think "Wizard of Oz","It Happened One Night" and "Gone With the Wind" in 1939 or "Close Encounters" and "Star Wars" in the Summer of 1977,for examples),but one that comes to mind for me was one particular month:November,1984. That's when two somewhat under-budgeted films,James CAmeron's "The Terminator"(which would catapult then-cult figure Arnold Scwarzenegger to super-stardom) and this film,Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Both central characters,the eponymous Terminator and "Nightmare" menace Freddy Krueger would become iconic film images for decades to come.

The plot line of the story's no government secret here: a handful of high schoolers in a seemingly ordinary town in Ohio are being haunted in their dreams by a grotesque figure. When this figure starts murdering each one of the group,it's up to Nancy(Heather Langenkamp),the most stable and level of the group,to ferret out and end the terror. Robert Englund,previously known from supporting character roles and his touching,gentle alien in the "V" mini-series and t.v.series,is able to develop a nearly permanent career as the seemingly indominable child-killer. Wes Craven would redefine his own career,as well as the slasher genre,with this film,where he had previously been known for visceral,uncomfortable shockers like "LAst House on the Left" and "The Hills HAve Eyes".

Definitely worth a look,especially for those who consider themselves horror film buffs.