A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

October 30, 2014

This movie has one of the scariest premises ever. As kids do you remember when you would get really scared you would jump into bed and pull the covers over you because if the scary thing can't see you you are safe. I know I did, I felt like nothing could touch me under those covers and when I would gather my courage to peak out, whatever scared me was gone. Not in Nightmare on Elm Street.

In this movie a child molester named Freddy Krueger is killed in an abandoned building by the parents of Elm Street. Burned to death his face is horribly disfigured and his evil soul has found a new life. Freddy comes after you in your dreams. The only good thing about a nightmare is that you can wake up and it is gone. What if you couldn't wake up and your nightmare could kill you and you never wake up from it. This movie terrified me as a kid. I remember watching this on my little black and white TV in my room late at night when my parents thought I was a sleep. Well guess the cat is out of the bag when my parents read this.

If you watched the trailer did you notice a very young Johnny Depp? This was his first role. The credits actually read Introducing Johnny Depp. His acting wasn't near what it is today but it is fun to see him just starting out.

This movie, much like the others I have reviewed this week, is really hokey and cheesy. Freddy Krueger has this creepy joking character kind of like the Joker. The iconic thing about Freddy is the glove of finger knives he wears. The sound of those knives scraping across the boiler pipes is a sound that even when done by Hollywood's effects team cuts right to the bone.

This is the perfect Halloween movie. It has lost it's ability to terrify me to my core with the way special effects have progressed, but it does take me back to those sleepless nights of childhood. The trip down memory lane is a lot of fun for me.

The week is rounding down and tomorrow is Halloween. I am looking forward to getting off work and getting the kiddos ready to go out trick-or-treating. Because they are little it doesn't take long for them to tire out and head back. I am looking forward to picking through their candy and sneaking a few pieces for myself. I am going to post the link to this on the RIP challenge. The Challenge ends after Halloween and I am sorry to have it end. I really love this event and I will eagerly look forward to this again next year.