Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) #495

My second favorite entry in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" is "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"! There is so much to love about this film besides merely bringing more Freddy to the world. "New Nightmare" resets the tone back to a more serious, suspenseful slasher, foregoing the silly quips and one-liners. We get to see most of the original actors such as Robert Englund, John Saxon, and original "Nightmare" final girl Heather Langenkamp, and director Wes Craven. More so, these fine people all play a version of their real selves in the movie, creating a blur between fiction and reality.

Looking back, it's obvious that "New Nightmare" is the precursor to "Scream", two movies where Wes Craven examined horror movies in a very meta manner. The main difference between these two films is that "New Nightmare" had a finer scope, looking in at only itself while "Scream" played with all slashers that came before it. In real life, Heather had an obsessed stalker that was forced her to move out of the country; in the film she has a stalker who continuously calls her on the phone. Also in real life, her husband worked as a special effects artist, and so here movie husband is directly inspired by him. One of the producers portrays a version of themselves, attempting to convince Heather to star in one more Elm Street film.

In the world of "New Nightmare", the cast and crew have moved on from the Elm Street films and are working on various other projects. Robert Englund is still an actor but spends his free time painting. Heather is happily married and raising a young son Dylan. Heather still takes on some acting gigs and her husband works in special effects. Life is nearly normal in L.A for Heather, except for the violent earthquakes, the random phone calls, and the nightmares she's beginning to suffer from. When her son Dylan begins to become increasingly traumatized by a version of Freddy, horrible "accidents" begin to take place, starting with the death of her husband. The more Heather tries to find a reason behind the nightmares she shares with her son and Robert, the more likely it seems that the concept of Freddy Krueger is trying to force himself into the real world.

 

The blending of reality and fiction is best displayed by Heather and John Saxon's interactions. As the movie progresses, they naturally begin referring to each other as Nancy and Dad, as if they are crossing over into the fiction of the films. Another smart move with this production is in the makeup and creating a more organic, damaged looking Freddy Krueger character that is referred to as the Entity. This is the specter that is haunting Wes Craven himself, and when Heather seeks answers from him, she discovers that what he writes is coming true, much like Sutter Cane from "In the Mouth of Madness" which came out two years later.

Favorite moment - Heather is at the park with John discussing her concerns about Dylan. Dylan is off playing by himself on the park structures. Heather realizes that Dylan is standing on top of a high platform, raising his arms into the air. He falls but she's there to catch him. He looks at her and says "God didn't want me".

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987) #444

Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Trailer

A total 80's classic, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" is a solid movie that truly represents the horror genre at that time; a big name franchise with a well known villain, complete with "witty" one liners and catchphrases, a returning final girl, and numerous victims killed off in bloody and gruesome ways. Original cast members Robert Englund Heather Langenkamp reprise there roles as the unforgettable Freddy Krueger and survivor Nancy, and are joined by a new cast of potential victims including Patricia Arquette and Laurence Fishburne.

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" picks up right where the original left off. Nancy Thompson is now a psychologist specializing in dream therapy. She begins working with a group of teens at the local hospital, all of whom are experiencing nightmares with a common theme, Freddy Krueger. She also discovers that a new patient, Kristen, has a unique ability to bring others into her dreams. When the patients begin dying, supposedly by committing suicide, Nancy teaches the teens how to fight back within the dream world. With help from Kristen, her father, and Dr. Neal Gordon, Nancy is confident that they can finally destroy the spirit of Freddy Krueger.

While watching this film, I noticed a few details that made me truly appreciate the experience. First was the dialogue, it wasn't Oscar worthy but it wasn't as dreadful as so many teen slashers were during this time period so that's a plus. What really impressed me about the dialogue were Freddy's lines; it seemed that  he didn't really talk as much in this film as he did in the other films. He still delivered some one-liners to his victims, and these weren't too cheesy or cringe worthy yet. He felt more reserved with his speech and reminded me of Pinhead from the first two "Hellraiser" movies. 

Another aspect I appreciated were the practical and special effects used. The make-up ascetics used on Robert Englund are top notch and clean looking. Some of the special effects hold up decently well considering that the movie was produced in 1987 and look comparable to some effects used in today's movies. One scene near the end of the film uses some very outdated stop motion animation, but instead of looking horrible, I found it nostalgic and endearing; I'm sure I wouldn't have been so kind while watching this ten years ago.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

It's always a shame to see an obviously inferior sequel follow a ground breaking original film all for the sake of box office cash in. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" is such a film in which it changes the main concept of the first film about Freddy killing people in their dreams to making him want to kill people in the real world. Why? It's a nice detail that the main character has moved into the same house that Nancy Thompson had lived in, but with the lack of actual events taking place during dreams, the strange occurrences suggest that it;s more of a haunted house movie, with examples like the pet bird going crazy before it explodes or the unplugged toaster shooting out flames. While it's cool to see Freddy take over Jesse's body, it's not staying true with the mythology and ground work that was made in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and is followed and expanded on in the other films in the series.


Jesse is new to town and has recently moved into the same house on Elm Street where Nancy Thompson lived five years earlier. It's not long before Jesse hears the stories about Nancy and how she went crazy after her seeing her boyfriend who lived across the street viciously murdered and her own mother committing suicide a short time after that. This makes Jesse connect the dots as to why he's having horrible nightmares every night and why weird things keep happening in his house; Freddy Krueger is possessing Jesse! Using Jesse's body, Freddy kills his gym coach and a high school friend before turning his attention to a neighborhood party full of lovely young teenage victims. Only Jesse's crush Lisa can save Jesse and stop Freddy from killing more innocent victims.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

“Nightmare on Elm Street” was one of those movies that everyone at my school talked about, especially around Halloween. Those who had older siblings were the most likely to get a sneak peak at the original or one of the sequels that followed. It was difficult not to see the previews or clips that were shown on various shows. Freddy Krueger was just as well known to any grade school kid as Jason Voorhees, maybe even more so! I personally loved knowing that the psycho dream killer was played by the sympathetic and likable Willy, from the mini-series “V”. When I finally got to see “Nightmare” from beginning to end, I was truly impressed by how intense the scenes with Freddy were. The first film in the series is a straight forward horror movie with great special effects and no attempts at funny catch phrases. Some of the acting is cheesy and the script feels very 1980’s horror genre but these facts are a small part of the movie’s charm. The two unknowns in the lead roles, Heather Langenkamp and Johnny Depp, stood out with incredible performances.

A group of high school friends admit to each other that they’ve been having intense nightmares and after talking about them, they realize that they are dreaming about the same person who is chasing them in their dreams, a man in a green and red sweater who has a glove with knives on the fingers. During a sleep over, Tina is the first to be killed in her sleep while her boyfriend Rod is blamed for the murder. Tina’s best friend Nancy is the next to be harmed while sleeping, burning herself on a radiator while running away from Freddy in a boiler room. When she tries to tell her parents what’s wrong, they quickly become distant and quiet. When Nancy wakes up from a nightmare and has Freddy’s hat in her possession, her mother finally tells her the truth about Freddy’s past…when he was alive and how he was killed. Now it’s up to Nancy to kill Freddy a second time, if she can!

Favorite moment – I don’t know why but I love Glen’s death scene. It’s over the top and straight to the point. I also love the moment that Nancy shows her mom and the dream clinic staff that she had Freddy’s hat after taking it from him during her dream.

Freddy performing a trick

Nancy and her mom fighting about Freddy's hat

Nancy, Tina, and Glen during happier times