A Nightmare on Elm Street is 32

Hey, this is Rayzor and I wanted to talk about one of my favorite horror film franchises.  It has been 32 years since A Nightmare on Elm Street was released and it is still one of the top horror films of all time.  I first saw A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1985 when I was 5 years old.  They played after the second film, Freddy’s Revenge premiered on HBO.  I remember being just, edge of my seat and jumping every time Freddy came on the screen.  Of course I was 5 and they both scared the hell out of me.  I am sure everyone who loves these films, I bet we all have one moment that really stands out from the first time we saw the film.  For me, when Nancy wakes up after trying to pull Freddy out of the dream and thinks she failed, Freddy jumped up and scared the crap out of me.

Of course we have Wes Craven to thank for the series, but only the first and last editions. One of the things I remember was when Robert Englund met met Wes, he was expecting the master of darkness and instead got Wes, which was a college professor turned screen writer.  Wes Craven just has a dark imagination and knows how to tell a story.

FreddyKruegerTina

A Nightmare on Elm Street is about a neighborhood child killer who come back in your dreams and if he kills you in your dream, you die for real.  Anyway, he begins stalking Tina and her friends, eventually he kills them all except Nancy who, defeats him, kinda.

It is amazing it has been 32 years since the first film came out and I think it is tragic there are only 9 films with Freddy.  Five have the title of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare(one of the most clever titles ever), Freddy vs Jason and of course the terrible remake from 2010.  Freddy’s Nightmares was a horrible TV show and not to mention and wonderfully difficult NES game.

nes-game

I wanted to say a few things about the video game.  The game is a classic side-scrolling platformer and you play as a teenager who fights his way through different parts of Elm Street (houses, junk yard, etc.). But there are times in the game that you “fall alseep” and go to dream land and this is where Freddy can show up.  Otherwise you fight snakes and bats outside of houses and ghosts and other creatures inside, but when it changes to dream land it is an entirely different group of enemies.  I actually loved the game regardless, I was never able to find a copy to own.  That would be a great find, I already have the Friday the 13th game.

It is a shame because there is so much more we could have seen over the years and of the big 3 Freddy has the most depth.  The big 3 are Jason, Michael Myers and Freddy.  It also feels you have the most freedom with any of his stories.  The real shame is Robert Englund will never put the make up on again.  After watching the remake, Robert Englund’s shoes are hard to fill.  To me he is irreplaceable and I would be fine with no remakes, well maybe.

This...is God!
This…is God!

About Ray Marek III 699 Articles
I have been watching horror films since I was 6 years old. The story, one Saturday night, my mom and I were watching movies and she fell asleep on the couch. We had the channel set on HBO and the movie we were watching ended and the next one, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. This was some time in 1986. I watched then entire film, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. When my mom woke, she asked me what just ended and I told her, “Freddy”. That was all I talked about for weeks and finally she broke down and rented more horror films for me. She rented, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2, Re-Animator, Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives and Halloween II. I watched all and fell in love with horror films forever. 5 Horror Films to Watch Inferno (1980) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) The Beyond (1981) Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986) Horror of Dracula (1958)