A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
When you think about slasher films, A Nightmare on Elm Street, should come to mind as its a quintessential slasher with a scary monster with knives for fingers who literally slashes his way through the teen population. Wes Craven was already a mainstay in the horror genre with films like The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes. Then came A Nightmare on Elm Street which has become his signature movie. It’s celebrating its 40th anniversary, and Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has a new 4K and SteelBook out now to celebrate.
Wes Craven set this film in an idyllic town where its residents have purposefully let its town history stay in the past burying the real story of what happened decades prior. Teen girls Tina (Amanda Wyss) and Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) trade stories one day going to school about the nightmares they started having. They involve a scary man with burn scars over his face with knives for fingers. Soon the nightmares become reality when Freddy Krueger appears brutally killing Nancy’s friends while they sleep. But how do you explain that? Nancy has a hard time getting anyone to believe her theories about Freddy and desperately tries to stay awake at all costs. The films also stars Ron Saxon, Ronee Blakley and Johnny Depp.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a horror masterpiece. I’ve seen it countless times, and I’m still amazed at how Craven seamlessly blurs the lines between reality and nightmare/fantasy. You never know when any of these characters are dreaming until the appearance of Freddy Krueger, and then it’s too late! Robert Englund is iconic in his delivery of Freddy with the lanky physicality, the grotesque facial features, and overall nasty personality that will haunt you. Heather Langenkamp made Nancy Thompson the quintessential smart, girl next door that goes on to be the final girl we know and love. Englund would go on to appear as Freddy in every Elm Street movie, except the remake. Langenkamp would also appear as Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Ready Freddy Focus Points
- Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronnie Blakely, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher.
- Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin.
- Alternate endings
- The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror
- Never Sleep Again: A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares
Here’s a video I made for TikTok
And check out my interviews with Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp
