Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund in the Wes Craven movie ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’

A month of cinema reviews set to a darker, eerie mood brings us to the work of Wes Craven, originally from Cleveland, Ohio. We head back to four decades, to the celebrated youth horror film directed and written by Craven. The film’s premise of defining the boundary line between dreams and reality proves rather intriguing. Today we review A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), a favorite of blog supporter Airport Friend that would spawn numerous sequels and a remake 26-years later.

(From left, Amanda Wyss as Christina ‘Tina’ Gray, Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson and Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz in the Wes Craven movie A Nightmare on Elm Street).

The movie itself introduces the audience and a handful of teenage students living on Elm Street to Tina Gray having experienced nightmares in her sleep one autumn night. Gray, as portrayed by Amanda Wyss, raises the occasion to a pair of her friends, Nancy Thompson and Glen Lantz as portrayed by Heather Langenkamp and Johnny Depp, respectively. Besides the fact that Tina Gray was not the only one with nightmares while sleeping, we in the audience come to learn that Thompson and Lantz have been dating.

(From left, John Saxon as Lieutenant Donald ‘Don’ Thompson and Jsu Garcia as Rod Lane in the Wes Craven movie A Nightmare on Elm Street).

Rod Lane, Tina Gray’s boyfriend as portrayed by Jsu Garcia, witnesses an inexplicable assault on Gray that he felt powerless to stop. Nancy Thompson’s father, police Lieutenant Donald ‘Don’ Thompson as portrayed by John Saxon, catches the case. When considering that Lane had been present when Gray had been assaulted, he delt the need to arrest Gray.

(From left, Ronee Blakley as Marge Thompson and Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson in the Wes Craven movie A Nightmare on Elm Street).

Meanwhile, Nancy Thompson continues to suffer from the nightmares in her dreams, bringing physical manifestations of her dream into the physical world. We formally learn about the nature of who Freddy Kruger was, and what he represented, owing to these dreams.

(Robert Englund as Fred ‘Freddy’ Krueger in the Wes Craven movie A Nightmare on Elm Street).

Marge Thompson, the mother of Nancy and wife of police lieutenant Don, meanwhile was portrayed by Ronee Blakley. That Nancy felt closer to the reality of Freddy Krueger more clearly than her parents, at least more than her parents cared to admit. The tensions of needing to sleep coupled led to serious problems for Nancy. With the plans Marge and Don Thompson had for Nancy coupled with the plans Freddy had for the kids, a compelling tale of horrific serial killing becomes clear.

(From left, actor Nick Corri, actress Amanda Wyss, director Wes Craven, actress Heather Langenkamp and actor Johnny Depp on the set of the Wes Craven movie A Nightmare on Elm Street).

The means that Wes Craven brought us in spelling out the motivations and rationale behind Freddy Kruger proved entertaining, thrilling and ghastly of the variety of thriller that this film offers. As I feel the movie establishes the world it exists in so well, I grant A Nightmare on Elm Street as directed and written by Wes Craven 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Season One of ‘Justified’

The FX television series Justified (2010-2015) recently entered our viewing rotation at Matt Lynn Digital. If you haven’t yet done so, we strongly encourage you check into this series. Season one gets into the first 13-episode season, which is the focus of this review. The season itself credits the Elmore Leonard short story Fire in the Hole as an influence. Elmore James novels Pronto and Riding the Rap are additionally credited for the series, which was developed for television by Graham Yost.

(Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, left, and Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in the FX series Justified).

The central character of this series is U.S. Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens, the central law enforcement officer forced back to his childhood home in the hill country of eastern Kentucky, specifically in Harlan. The opening scenes of the series, set in Miami, Florida, offer the audience a glimpse into a seemingly cavalier attitude that sets a tone for the series. We are introduced fairly quickly into the checkered history of the Givens and Crowder families as well as the many varieties of interpersonal relationships with lawfulness, lawlessness, and guns this involves.

(Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, left, and Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins in the FX series Justified).

Timothy Olyphant plays the fast and loose lawman Raylan Givens while Walton Goggins plays the masquerading as white supremacist criminal seeking spirituality Boyd Crowder. Raylan and Boyd dug coal together in the past. Joelle Carter plays Ava Crowder, the physically abused wife of Boyd Crowder’s brother. Ava’s husband ends up dead, breeding tension between Ava and the Crowders as her romantic inclination towards Raylan gains expression as Raylan aims to protect her. Boundaries are blurred. Meanwhile, blurry boundaries between Raylan Givens and his remarried ex-wife, Winona Hawkins as played by Natalie Zea, come into play often through the first season.

(Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, left, and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks in the FX series Justified).

Nick Searcy as Art Mullen and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks serve the Deputy Marshals service in roles that are played fairly straight when it comes to the dramatic flair of other characters in this season. Mullen plays Raylan Givens’ boss while Brooks plays the occasional partner to Raylan. Boyd’s father Bo Crowder, as played by M.C. Gainey, and Raylan’s father Arlo, as played by Raymond J. Barry, are equal parts cantankerous, corrupt, and confounding in their own ways to their respective sons. The nature of their self-interest was priceless, entertaining for being incorrigible, and worth the effort to see.

(M.C. Gainey as Bo Crowder, left, and Raymond J. Barry as Arlo Givens in the FX series Justified).

My aim here has been to offer you a sense for what the opening season of the series Justified has to give you in terms of criminal, hillbilly behavior. The story builds from episode to episode in a way that is engaging. It is easy to see relationships between characters that are interesting for being a train wreck of entertaining in that it kept me wanting to watch. My feeling is that many of you will feel the same. My overall grade for season one of Justified is 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, July 10, 2019