By the time Wes Craven directed A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 he had already made a name for himself in cult horror circles with 1972’s The Last House on the Left and 1977’s The Hills Have Eyes. They didn’t achieve huge mainstream success initially but fans of hardcore horror had these films on their radar and Craven quickly became a true voice of the genre after their release. While A Nightmare on Elm Street wasn’t intended to be a breakout hit, we all know what ended up happening after Craven unleashed Freddy Krueger into our very own nightmares. New Line Cinema became “the house that Freddy built” due to the success of the film (and later the success of the franchise as a whole) and Craven left us with a classic that transcended its genre.
The primary component that elevates A Nightmare on Elm Street above many of its genre contemporaries is that the storyline insist upon intellectual participation. In addition to offering shocks and thrills that are necessary in a genre entry, Craven’s screenplay works on a much deeper level. He wants viewers to think about the division between dreams and being awake, between fantasy and reality, between other worlds and this one. He also messes with expectations – at times, we’re aware that the characters are trapped in a dream, but there are times when we’re not. And there are occasions when we think they’re dreaming and they’re actually awake. It’s this level of uncertainty that keeps the tension on high for much of its 90 minute runtime.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is principally about Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), a typical teenager with the usual teenage problems – divorced parents, troubled friends, and a boyfriend who wants a little more than she’s willing to give. Nancy lives in an average house in an average middle America town. Her father, Donald (John Saxon), is a police lieutenant, patrolling the streets and keeping the community safe from all sorts of unsavory individuals. The real terror begins to emerge when the biggest threat to his daughter isn’t something he can physically apprehend. Her subconscious is the biggest adversary and the true horror is the man who is invading it.
The first one to fall victim to the boogeyman of their dreams is Nancy’s best friend, Tina (Amanda Wyss), who is ripped to shreds shortly after an intimate evening with her boyfriend, Rod (Nick Corri). In the wake of the massacre, Rod ends up in jail for murder, but Nancy isn’t sure of his guilt. Someone begins appearing in her nightmares and she becomes convinced that he, not Rod, is responsible for Tina’s death. Shortly after that, the man strikes again, eliminating Rod. Nancy realizes that either she or her boyfriend, Glen (Johnny Depp), will be next, so she decides to take the offensive and attempt to bring him out of the dream world. Then her mother (Ronee Blakley) tells her the story of what happened to the man she has been seeing in her dreams and why he has chosen to target certain boys and girls on Elm Street. The man, Freddy Krueger, is seeking revenge on the sins of the parents through their children.
Freddy, unlike the other popular members of the 80’s horror trifecta (Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers), exhibits a personality, and it’s not a nice one. He’s a vicious sadist, but with a sense of humor as sharp the steel claws he uses as his weapon of choice. In the first A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy is the demon in the background. His popularity would eventually mandate that subsequent sequels center on his character which, while making him a fun horror icon, diminishes the true horror of his character. In this film we are given enough of his backstory to make suggestions about what he was doing to the kids in the neighborhood before the parents went after retribution. This element, hinted at here but apparently driven home a bit more before the finished product, is enough to illicit chills. We don’t need all the details. We read into it as much as we need to which makes his invasion of their dreams after his death even more frightening and violating. This isn’t just a scary man in your dreams, it’s something that suggests something far more perverse. The reason he’s so frightening in this film is because we know just enough and the film keeps him in the background until absolutely necessary.
Craven’s delving into the the world of the waking/dreaming barrier results in some truly chilling sequences that are a staple of the genre. The bath scene where Nancy is pulled under the water into a pitch-black pool is worthy of a mention and so is a back alley chase where Freddy stalks her. Craven cleverly disguises dreams as reality and vice versa, and the fact that injuries sustained in dreams also exist outside of them further confuses murky distinction. The scene where Tina is attacked in her sleep while her boyfriend watches is chilling for this very reason. We know what she’s fighting it in her dream but watching her boyfriend basically see her thrash about as she is gutted with no one in sight is unsettling because we see it from his head space as well.
As is the case in all effective horror movies, atmosphere is a key reason why A Nightmare on Elm Street works on nearly every level. Cinematographer Jacques Haitkin uses light and shadow to great effect, most notably in the surrealistic basement scenes set around the furnace. His visuals help create the unknown nature of if we’re in a dream or actually awake. The special effects, most of which are very low-budget in nature, are surprisingly effective. The movie only had a budget just over $1 million and it looks much more refined than most films working with low budgets. Then there is Charles Bernstein’s score which is perfect for the material. It’s very eerie throughout and it’s kind of a shame that it really isn’t mentioned as much when it comes to great horror scores. It doesn’t have the same chills down your spine tunes of John Carpenter’s Halloween but it does sucks you in.
As the film’s final girl Heather Langenkamp is good here because she lacks polish. The fact that she seems a bit awkward as an actress makes her more believable as a teenager thrust into a very impossible situation. She shows great vulnerability but also sufficient tenacity. This is a character that Scream Queens are made of and she certainly holds her own. Of course the other noticeable member of the young cast was a then unknown Johnny Depp making his film debut. He’s not bad here but there are definitely no signs that he would become the powerhouse of talent we know today.
Then there is Robert Englund who is tasked with bringing Freddy Krueger to life. You can tell that he’s playing the role with relish and a lot Freddy’s personality is created by the actor. I’m sure Craven put some basic character traits to paper but Englund deserves a lot of the credit for making a character that would become so iconic that he would turn pop culture on its head. All you have to do is look back at any marketing and publicity materials you can find from the 80’s just to see how huge this character was.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is perfect for horror fans who want their visceral thrills but also desire cerebral stimulation. It would be easy to turn this into a project of excessive blood and gore but the late Wes Craven wanted to challenge the audience. He wanted us to feel so taken in by the film that we would question what we would see when we closed our eyes at night. That’s the touch of a true horror master a horror film the stands the test of time.
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