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