Amy WangDying In A Nightmare
July 26th 2009 07:20
I'm sad to say that I hadn't watched the classic horror flick A Nightmare on Elm Street until just recently. There was so much momentum building to watching this film that I was sure I was going to be disappointed. It was a joyous moment when half way through the film, i found myself enjoying the content very much and was even surprised at times at the effects and the horror. On top of that, I was also obviously very interested to see Johnny Depp's first feature film debut. All in all, the result was definitely not disappointing.
A Nightmare on Elm Street, a Wes Craven film who also directed the Scream franchise, started the nightmare franchise with a very simple, yet effective idea. If you think about it, your dreams are one of few things we humans cannot control. We don't get the ability to make choices in our dreams...(although some I hear can) and we never decide what our dreams are about. Rather, dreams dictate us and we're utterly and completely hopeless most of the time. Dreams often make us uneasy especially ones that have a darker edge, most commonly known as nightmares. I don't know about everyone else, but I often have dreams about being chased by murderers, but thankfully I always manage to escape. However, I often hear stories from others that they actually die in their dreams. Now, Wes Craven actually came up with the concept of A Nightmare on Elm Street after reading a couple of stories in his local newspaper about some immigrants who died in the middle of a nightmare. Later autopsies revealed no foul play, no physical failures and basically no reason as to why these kids had died except that they had died whilst dreaming. A Nightmare on Elm Street was born.
The villain in Nightmare is Fred Krueger, a child murderer who had been 'killed' by the parents of the victims in the film. Now, Krueger was out for revenge, killing the kids when they're most vulnerable, in their dreams. What follows is a chilling tale of one girl's struggle to defeat Krueger before her and her friends all die.
This film really truly blurred the distinction between reality and dreams. During several sequences, I wasn't quite sure whether the child was asleep or awake or if Freddy had stepped into reality or what in the world was happening. In one scene in particular I that was was confused in was when Johnny Depp's character was sleeping, dreaming about Freddy. Nancy however was still awake, but she received a call anyway from Freddy on her unpluggled phone line.
However confusing that scene was, it did add to the tension of the film by disorienting the audience further. As a horror film, Nightmare was very well executed, starring a very horrific villain as its star and as promising young children as its prey. I also liked the fact that you got to see Freddy loud and clear...and often! I personally hate horror flicks that only show parts of the killer's body and always in shadow. By showing Freddy, burnt and all, it really added to the horror by embedding his skin, his eyes and most importantly his claws into the audiences' minds.
The music as usual was very effective as were the blood squirts and the killing. Overall, the film established tension well, most of the performances were believable and originality was all there. I give this film 4 STARS OUT OF 5. Oh yes, and look out for the 2010 remake by Samuel Bayer. I have reasonable hopes for this film just because Samuel hasn't made a feature yet, so good luck to him and hopefully he doesn't destroy his career before its begun.
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