A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Review

The late, great Wes Craven always had a knack for christening his films with the most engaging, chill-inducing and perfect titles.

The Last House on the Left. The Hills Have Eyes. The People Under the Stairs.

And A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Long before Freddy Krueger became an actual pop-culture icon, he was a supernatural child molester who stalked you in your dreams. And he was terrifying.

Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) lives in her suburban home with her divorced mother Marge (Nashville Oscar-nominee Ronee Blakeley). Nancy’s dad Donald (Enter the Dragon’s John Saxon) is a local Police Lieutenant. Surrounded by her close friends Tina (Amanda Wyss), Rod (Nick Corri) and Nancy’s boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp is in his feature film debut), Nancy’s got a pretty good life – until each of this friendly foursome begin to experience the same violent and terrifying nightmares, involving a burned man wearing a glove of deadly finger-knives. Thing is – if this dude gets you in your dreams, you’ll expire for real.

Dreams have been a staple of horror films for as long as horror flicks been around. Mostly used as a scare tactic, A Nightmare on Elm Street was probably the first film to make nightmares and dreams the central conceit.

It doesn’t always work (the film’s third act leaves many things unanswered or out of the realm of possibility), but aside from that, this film truly has the goods.

Most of the performances are solid. Heather Langenkamp would go on to play some version of “Nancy” in two more of the franchise’s films, but this original is where she really shines. Nancy’s a pretty typical teenager (if a bit prudish) and Langenkamp easily brings us on board to follow Nancy into all that she will eventually endure. It’s a very physical performance from Langenkamp, not only in chase scenes and moments in “scream queen” territory, but in the physical decline as Nancy attempts to keep herself from sleep (and therefore death). You can practically feel Nancy’s exhaustion seeping from the screen. Despite Nancy’s hardships at Freddy’s hand, there’s something so primal and terrifying about not finding solace in sleep – and Langenkamp makes us believe it – as well as the unbelievable situation in which Nancy finds herself.

As for the bad, Ronee Blakely is notoriously awful as Nancy’s mother. Her reactions are always a bit over-the-top and aside from her delivery of “He’s dead, honey – ‘cause Mommy killed him”, there’s very little authenticity in anything she does. It’s a very weak link in an otherwise strong chain of ensemble performances.

Depp is appropriately handsome as a high school football star (a far cry from later, more eccentric roles), and brings an immense likability to a secondary role. There’s a good chemistry between Depp and Langenkamp, and you’ll grow to like this couple – once things in the story really begin to cook.

The score from Charles Bernstein (Cujo) is now legendary. The theme (which we would hear re-used in several of the other films in the franchise) is a glorious bit of synth-pop and is now eternally linked to the films and the character. Like Friday the 13th’s theme or Carpenter’s Halloween score – the theme from A Nightmare on Elm Street is instantly recognizable.

Freddy’s original make-up from David Miller (who would take a break from the series and return for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child), is pretty gnarly. Helped along by the very dark (a far cry from the more “comic-book” feel of later entries) lighting and coy camerawork – Freddy is rather unpleasant.

And with that – of course, we can’t go on without offering kudos to Robert Englund as the eternal Freddy Krueger. He’s not like other movie killers of this era. Whereas Jason and Michael Myers are somewhat lumbering oafs, Krueger is spindly and maneuvers easily.

When Craven and Englund figured out how Krueger would operate and move, they truly hit on something powerful. Perhaps it’s the fact that Freddy appears in dreams, which makes his physicality so perfectly odd. One need only look at Tina’s experience with Freddy in the alleyway behind her home. With the help of some grotesque special effects, Englund’s body language as Freddy here is bar none – the best in the series. That eerie chase in the alley – his body hunched over and darting back and forth down the damp alley – nightmare-fuel, indeed.

But Krueger is also one of the big horror heroes who actually vocalizes. And in this respect, Englund also delivers. Freddy’s quips here are far less crazy as compared to later films. He’s still a smart-ass, but the jokes here are more subdued and certainly darker. When Freddy says to Tina, “Watch this!” before nonchalantly slicing off a few of his own fingers – you’ll realize you’re simply not safe. And that this isn’t really a joke. And Englund’s wide eyes as Freddy does so – prove that a gifted actor can truly emote from behind heavy character make-up. Eyes are the windows to the soul, after all… even if you’re a soulless creature like Krueger.

The film is certainly frightening. There are ample “boo” moments and in later sequences, some nail-biting suspense. But for genuine creepiness, I refer you to the appearance (and reappearance) of Tina in Nancy’s dreams. Not for the faint of heart, the image of Tina standing outside of Nancy’s classroom (in a particular “state of dress”) – will forever haunt my nightmares.

A bit of trivia: Lin Shaye (of the Insidious franchise) appears in that same scene as Nancy’s teacher. And she gets the most impressive line of dialogue in perhaps the entire series (based on what has just happened in the prior scene), “You’ll need a hall pass.” Now that’s good writing.

Obviously, the film is a horror classic. It introduced the world to an icon, provided mostly great performances and took the idea of dreams in a horror film – to the absolute next (and perhaps highest) level.

That’s not to say that it’s perfect. A few mentions of the less-than bits: the final moment of Marge in front of the Thompson home (terrible) and the very wishy-washy nature of that aforementioned third act (is it, or isn’t it a dream?).

But dammit – I love it. And it holds the admirable #4 position in my list of all-time favorite films (of all genres). It’s been a spell since I revisited this early horror love, and I think it’s time to remedy that. Who’s in?

But first, a little nap. What could possibly go wrong, right?

Spawning six sequels (some good, some not) and a vastly inferior 2010 remake, A Nightmare on Elm Street is the type of cinema which dreams are made of. Ahem.

The film is available on multiple VOD platforms as well as several DVD/Bluray incarnations.