A Nightmare on Elm Street

“Whatever you do, don't fall asleep.” In 1984, Wes Craven exploded into public notoriety with the release of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. Craven’s skills and talents as a writer & director had already gained him some attention with movies like “The Hills Have Eyes” (1978) and “Swamp Thing” (1981). He used these skills to turn a frightening real life experience from his childhood into a fictional character recognized around the world.

Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is having nightmares. Violent nightmares about a mysterious badly burned man. He calls himself Freddy and has a glove on his right hand altered to hold razor-sharp knives over the fingers. The haunting song of the children in her dreams warns of the terror of Freddy…

One, Two, Freddy’s coming for you.
Three, Four, better lock your door.
Five, Six, grab your crucifix.
Seven, Eight, gonna stay up late.
Nine, Ten, never sleep again.

Nancy finds that she and her other teenage friends are having the same nightmares and that is when the carnage begins! One by one the teens are being brutally murdered in their sleep. Nancy turns to her father (played by John Saxon) for help. He does not believe her and tends to thinks that maybe she is losing it. Her mother takes her to a sleep clinic, but of course they cannot help her because Freddy is determined to stalk and kill the teenagers of Elm Street.

Why? We find out that many years ago a man named Freddy Krueger was abducting and killing some children in the neighborhood. The parents got together and dealt him some vigilante mob justice, burning him alive in his workshop. Nancy finds out the truth and realizes that Freddy is exacting his revenge on the children of the ones who killed him. Now she decides to take action stop this evil. The coffee is brewing as she struggles to stay awake and come up with a plan; she is determined to bring this spectral monster from dreamland to the real world.

So much can be said for this movie. Jim Doyle does an excellent job of using mechanical special effects for every shot in the movie (except the walking through cell bars scene). Yes wires can be seen in a couple of shots, but for 1984 when the highest grossing movies were action based titles like “Karate Kid”, “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom” & “Beverly Hills Cop”, “Nightmare…” steals the show for best horror movie! (Unless you consider “Gremlins” a horror movie, which did better at the box office that year.)

We also cannot forget to mention the eerie musical score by Charles Bernstein. That creepy little slow piano build up that slides over to the synthesizer effects making Freddy’s theme an unforgettable accompaniment to the great horror scenes throughout the film. One favorite scene for horror movie fanatics everywhere is the bedroom scene where the bed swallows Nancy’s boyfriend and a blood geyser ensues!! Hey look, that is a very young Johnny Depp in his debut movie role. This was also before his appearance in “Platoon” and his mega hit role as Officer Tom Hanson in the television series“21 Jump Street.”

The sequels are many and the body count high, but only the original captures the essence of Freddy as a scary villain worthy of nightmares.
Have a great weekend and enjoy...

• Today's Cure song is "From the Edge of The Deep Green Sea" from the Wish CD-(1990) A song that I feel is about being in a destructive relationship and relying on drugs to enhance reality. A long song (7:44) with some great guitar sections that cry out with their melancholic tones.

"I wish i could just stop,I know another moment will break my heart. Too many tears, Too many times, Too many years i've cried over you."

CJ