Since the Halloween series has been done, I'm now viewing all the Freddy flicks. Of the "big three" (Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th), I've always considered the Elm Street series to be the strongest for a few reasons :
1) Freddy's got a sarcastic personality. He ain't just a killing robot. & I always like cheering for smart-mouthed bastards slicing up annoying kids.
2) Wes Craven stayed more involved than John Carpenter or Sean Cunningham.
3) The Elm Street series has effectively ended. Further Freddy appearances will be relegated to films like Freddy vs. Jason. The series also ended on a solid note, w\ Craven taking the director's chair for the final flick, which was most assuredly a mindbender as horror flicks go.
Anyhow, onwards to the review.
Some kids start dreaming of the same fucker & wake up dying. Later on, we get a brief backstory on who it is & why he's doing this shit. Craven (who's definitely had some HUGE misses in his directing career) hits damn near every scene perfectly here, getting the proper amount of tension, suspense, or psychological mindfucking he's shooting for. Are the dreams real or are they just products of paranoia, dementia, & sleep deprevation? After a week w\o rest, you'd be hard pressed to tie your shoes properly, let alone something that requires thought. The set design kicks ass. It just does. The burned out husk of a basement takes on the atmosphere of a run-down smelting plant in an abandoned warehouse district of some shitty-ass town; the kind of place where disturbed, murderous motherfuckers might hang out.
The lead, Heather Langenkamp had to beat out decent competitors back in the day for this role. Her performance here is second perhaps only to Jamie Lee Curtis's in the original "Halloween" in the grand scheme of horror flicks. There's also the screen debut o' Johnny Depp. He happened to come along w\ his buddy who was going to audition for the film. Then Craven saw Johnny & gave him an audition on the damned spot. His character's fate ends up breaking one of the most basic horror rules (as was set up in "Scream"). Robert Englund (who's pulled the second longest tenure of any villain***) nails the character of Freddy. Diluted as the villain may've been in previous films, the initial incarnation of Fred Krueger is perverted, threatening, & aggresive.
Even after over two decades of shelf life, this film still kicks much ass. it you ain't seen it, see it.
*** : gold star to whomever can tell me what actor has had the longest villain tenure in horror flicks since the '70s & who that villain is.
Edited By Malcolm on 1139934614