This is the first, and certainly the best of the series.  Writer / director Wes Craven brought together a certified horror hit with A Nightmare On Elm Street.  He put together a fine, solid cast which, among other things, launched Johnny Depp's career as this was his very first acting role.  Robert Englund brings a disturbing, frightening life to Freddy Krueger that would be sorely missed in just a few short sequels, despite Englund's best efforts to push the producers and directors towards the darker, more purely evil Krueger.  Craven fills the screen with several surreal images as Freddy dispatches of each teenager, one at a time, and the special effects are certainly top-notch for the time.  The film doesn't skimp on gore (let's just say, Sam Raimi would homage one such, massively bloody moment in the two EVIL DEAD sequels).  Heather Langenkamp gives a strong performance as the film's heroine, and John Saxon (Black Christmas), as Nancy's father, Lieutenant Donald Thompson, does the great, strong performance one has come to expect from him.

All in all, A Nightmare On Elm Street is a genuinely dark and frightening horror film, and a true classic in the genre, slasher or not.  None of the following films in the series quite matchup to the original, in one way or another.  If you haven't seen the original "ELM STREET," then don't delay any longer.  Head straight to your local video rental or retail store and grab ahold of the DVD or VHS immediately, or simply check out the trailer via the link to the left.

Rated R by MPAA - Contains gory violence, dark imagery, and adult language.

This movie tries too hard to make the series new and improved (which it isn't).  The talents of the actors are sub-par, but who cares when the whole plot has no sense to it and little thought?  Wes Craven (who isn't invovled with this one) & Robert Englund have agreed that having Freddy entering into the real world so prominently and terrorizing a party was just SO far from their visions of Krueger.  One good thing about the film, though, is that the effects are really good and Freddy’s makeup seems to be even more creepier.  That, of course, can’t make a movie.  Also, as soon as the next film, the dark, shadowy Freddy is gone & is replaced with the comical, almost rubbery-looking Krueger.  Though, The Dream Child & New Nightmare try returning to the darker Krueger, they just never quite get there. Freddy's Revenge is pretty much the end of the classic, truly evil Freddy Krueger.

This first sequel isn't unwatchable, but it's a quite poor follow-up to Craven's original classic.  Englund is still dark, chilling, and disturbing, but it's pretty much the only worth while aspect of this motion picture.  The deaths are probably the least elaborate of the series, and well, this sequel was rushed to cash-in on the film that saved New Line Cinema from exitinction.

Rated R by the MPAA - Contains gory violence, dark imagery, and brief sexual content.
 

The returning of John Saxon and Heather Langenkamp help this one rise above others, but the major thing is the humorous way of Robert Englund as Freddy.  Also, Wes Craven returns, not to direct, but to help with the story.  Craven receives story & screenwriting credit here.  Chuck Russell (Eraser, The Scorpion King) is the director, and does some fine work here.  Russell doesn't try to emulate either the previous two films, and certainly goes in with his own style and vision.  Plus, New Line again assembles a strong, solid cast & crew allowing the story, the characters, and the film itself to be well fleshed out.

Watch this one and get ready to laugh and scream!  Also, I doubt you can resist Dokken's "Dream Warriors" soundtrack contribution.  We learn a great deal more about Freddy Kruger himself and his origins in this installment (which would be a constant in the following sequels).  Plus, Morpheus himself, Laurence Fishburne, portrays Max, a hospital orderly and friend to these teens.  He does a fine job here in a supporting role, but it would be another twelve years before his MAJOR breakthrough role in first part of The Matrix trilogy.  Fortunately, Fishburne never crosses paths with Krueger.  All in all, this is a TRUE sequel to the original, and deserves much praise & a solid three stars from me.

Rated R by the MPAA - Contains horror violence, adult language, crude humor, and nudity.

As expected, Freddy soon returns and kills what we think is all the teens he needed.  During the death of Kristin, though, we find that her special dream power could be passed on.  She passed it on to her dearest friend, Alice (Lisa Wilcox).  Freddy, who should’ve just disappeared after he had killed all the kids on Elm Street, wasn’t finished yet, and he planned to kill every teen in the world, using Alice as the gateway!

If you like some good comedy, a well balanced story, and a lot of junk that makes no sense (like this plot summary), go rent this one out!  It’s fun, but not at all scary!  Director Renny Harlin would go onto films more his style like Die Hard 2 & The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (also starring Robert Englund).  This film also features a good soundtrack contribution, but this time, it's "Anything, Anything" by Dramarama (which would be later be covered greatly by Buckcherry for the 2000 Dreamworks comedy, Road Trip).  Krueger still has hints of his old, purely evil self, and the death scenes are quite elaborate in this fourth Elm Street.  Though, there's barely anything scary, let alone frightening in this movie.  It's more just action, a sizable dose of comic relief, and enough twists and turns to get you lost on a one-way street with no outlets.  Though, this is the highest grossing film of the series ("FREDDY vs. JASON" excluded) with about $50 million taken at the box office.  Go figure.

Rated R by the MPAA - Contains horror violence, crude humor, adult language, and brief nudity.

What becomes most apparent with this film is the darker visuals.  There's a lot of gothic production design here, but it contrasts badly with the overblown humor Freddy still emphasizes here.  Trying to tie campy elements with a gothic looking slasher film just curls my upper lip in disgust.  BLECH!  The effects here are great for their time, and that is a definite plus.  Unfortunately, the pluses are very rare.

Cases in point are the poor plotting, badly written characters, and off-balanced directing.  Some of the dialogue ain't too great either.  The way the plot unfolds here is quite uneven.  The first half of the film jams in a major amount of plot elements, evolving the story much faster than anyone previous entry in this series.  Then, the second half has so little plot to develop or even tread through that it becomes very repetative just in order to fill in the remaining runtime.  The ending itself runs around in circles (both literally and figuratively) that it simply becomes dead boring.  This sort of plotting makes one lose interest in the plot.  The characters also don't hold your interest either.  Alice is still a nice hero, but the support cast of characters just plain stink.  They're shallow, one-dimensional, and sometimes stereotypical.  In general, they're weak in every aspect, don't entertain, amuse, or even generate any interest for themselves at all.  Director Stephen Hopkins is capable of a lot better than what he produced here.  I believed he churned out great films in Predator 2 & Judgment Night, but here, he seems deeply hindered by studo demands along with an awkward and odd script.  The score from Jay Ferguson isn't particularly noteable or memorable.

On a final note, I found the kid who plays Jacob - Whitby Hertford - to be rather ugly and annoying (as most kids are in horror films).  I don't feel any sympathy for him, I just want him off the screen before even shows up.  And even worse is that the makeup department does all they can to make look uglier, creepier.  On the positive side, Robert Englund attempts to bring back a darker Freddy, but he's still spouting too many wisecracks to be taken as a frightening threat (the overly rubbery makeup job doesn't help either).  This is darker, grittier in look, but there's much wrong with this film in pacing and what ultimately becomes a lunchmeat-thin plot that, like Freddy's Revenge, neither the tone nor Englund's performance alone can save it.  A 4 out of 10 is the best I can offer here.  The film si watchable, but not especially satisfying.

Rated R by the MPAA - Contains gory violence, dark imagery, and adult language.

It's several years after the last Elm Street, Springwood is devoid of all teenagers as Freddy has dispensed of them all, but one survivor has escaped, namely 'John Doe' (Shon Greenblatt).  Incidentally, he encounters what he soon discovers is Freddy's daughter, Dr. Maggie Burroughs (Lisa Zane), who is now a psychologist of sorts in a free clinic where John is taken in, but is still having nightmares.  They eventually goto Springwood with a few other teens from the clinic, and the usual happens: teens fall asleep, die, and then, Freddy goes after the main protagonist (his daughter).  They go back to the clinic, and Yaphet Koto (Alien) gives Maggie these really lame 3D glasses gimmick in order to find and capture Freddy inside of own his mind.  They bring Krueger into the real world, and kill him with a pipe bomb or something.  Really lame.  The only cool thing is the video montage during the end credits of clips from all the previous movies done to the sound of Iggy Pop's "Why Was I Born? (Freddy's Dead)".

About the only other thing worth noting is that the character of "John Doe" has been implied by many to actually be Jacob, the son of Alice Johnson, from the previous two films.  It would seem to fit the continuity as Jacob & Freddy shared a psionic link that Krueger can use as a gateway to more victims, and would give us a real reason why Freddy has allowed him to live for so long.  Of course, the film has no time to state or really imply such a thing because it's too busy whallowing in it's own convoluted crap.

And, to top if off, the Freddy make-up is at it's worst here.  It looks like rubber.  Also, Krueger is complete comedy here, and you'll be hard pressed to find ANY intended horror in this one.  Oh, and if you're still gonna see this after this review, be sure to look out for shock-rocker Alice Cooper as Freddy's abusive foster father in a flashback.  Oh, did I mention the completely goofy cameo by Roseanne & Tom Arnold?!

Rated R by the MPAA - Contains horror violence, crude humor, adult language, and drug content. 

This film is partly a return to form for the series, but also ventures into a completely and radically new direction.  This is what's known as a non-sequel.  The entire film is set outside the realm of the franchise in our reality.  Many of the main characters and cameos are people playing themselves, to a degree.  Heather Langenkamp, the heroine from the first and third films in the series, plays herself who has a husband Chase Porter (David Newsom) and a son Dylan (Miko Hughes, Pet Sematary).  We also have appearances by Wes Craven, John Saxon, and Robert Shaye - all playing themselves with some creative licenses.  Robert Englund is of course here, playing both a more eccentric version of himself and the demonic incarnation of Freddy Krueger.

The film starts out with Heather being the victim of an anonymous stalker, but soon escaltes into something more evil, more supernatural.  She doesn't feel safe, and her son begins acting more and more strangely.  Still, she does not allow her son to watch the films of this franchise.  Though, she soon finds out that Wes Craven is planning on making the definitive Nightmare movie, and that he has been plagued by nightmares on his own.  It's practically an epicdemic since the same disturbing dreams have come to Heather as well as Robert Englund himself.  Craven eventually tells Heather that what is haunting them is an ancient demon that has been roaming from story-to-story since the beginning of time, but has come accustomed to Freddy.  Now, it wants into our world, and Heather is the preceived gatekeeper betweens the realms of fantasy and reality since she was the first to defeat Freddy.  Dylan is a key focal point of this demon's plan to lure Heather into his plan.  As all the elements begin to converge, the world around Heather starts to transform into the twisted existence of this guised Freddy Krueger.

This film is exceptionally solid while it's not so much slasher / gore horror as supernatural / psychological horror.  All the actors are as great as could be imagined.  Langenkamp is even more beautiful here, and her performance is very true to the situation, despite its fantastical nature.  I refer mostly in regards to the parent-child relationship, and how she does whatever is necessary to protect her child.  Now, while this film blurs the line between reality and fantasy, this applies to the presentation of the people.  Much of the stalking elements in the story were taken from the real Heather Langenkamp's own experiences with a stalker, and so, there's a personal element to this story for her.  On a related note, Miko Hughes shows a wealth of talent, and is really endearing.  Most kids in horror films tend to be annoying or worse (case in point is the rather gawky-looking Whitby Hertford from The Dream Child).

Robert Englund, as per always, clocks in with all he has.  This time, his Freddy performance is intimidating and fearsome.  There's not a wisecrack to be had, and he still remains engaging as a dark villian.  His screentime is limited until the final act of the film, but enough is done throughout the picture to increase his menace and power.  John Saxon also returns in a supporting role, and I've always had a fondness for him.  He's just such a captivating and marvelous actor with a very fatherly or commanding aura about him.  He always inspires confidence, and consistently does solid work.  I thoroughly enjoy every bit of work I seen of him, and makes for a great interview.  Tracy Middendorf stars as Julie, Dylan's babysitter, and really comes off as sweet and caring.  Definitely the ideal babysitter.  Watching the film again, she seemed even more familiar, and I discovered she was in the pilot episode of Angel in 1999 - one of my favorite series, ever.  I could easily go on and on about the cameos and solid acting, but to sum it up, the acting in this movie is wholly satisfying and far above slasher genre standards.

It goes without saying that Wes Craven wrote and directed this film.  The story is his own creation, and was spawned from a meeting with New Line executive Robert Shaye.  He wanted to know, from Wes, what he thought was done wrong with the series, and if the company had offended Wes in anyway.  Craven made a number of valid points about Freddy becoming a comical baffoon, and Bob offered Wes the chance to rectify these errors.  So, this movie was the result.  In comparison to the wreckage that was Freddy's Dead, this film shine and soars high as one of the best of the series behind the original film.  The only drawback for me is that this demon-as-Freddy isn't dispatched in as clever a way as we've seen in previous installments.  It becomes a more physical method instead of a supernatural, metaphysical, or psychological method.  And even though I've never taken much note of J. Peter Robinson's score, it is widely recognized as one of the best horror film scores around.  Rent this one with the original and Dream Warriors, and you've got the three best of the franchise.

Rated R by the MPAA - Contains horror violence and adult language.