Happy 40th: A Nightmare on Elm Street!

Monday is about movies, and sometimes TV. Today, a special anniversary for one of the great modern horror flicks, and start of one of the most popular horror franchises of its decade.

This weekend A Nightmare On Elm Street turned 40. Yeah, you know, the one with Johnny Depp in it. Everyone knows that, even if they haven’t seen it — many people have probably forced themselves to watch it, when they normally hate horror, because a 20-year old Depp was an obvious lure. All the 21 Jump Street fans going in for a deep cut…

A Nightmare on Elm Street is many things — the mainstream breaking of Wes Craven (horror master who, ironically, was looking to break away from the genre after this), the introduction of Freddy Krueger, and the start of an enduring film legacy. It’s also one of the perfect movies of and for its time, and one that has an enduring appeal.

I’ve watched Nightmare a bunch. I didn’t see it in 1984, when it was released, I probably didn’t first see it until about 1988. And I didn’t see it until after I’d first seen the fourth and third films in the series (and in that order). I used to regularly say that A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors is the best film from the series. And it’s still right up there. But there’s something about this original. He’s called Fred in this. And it’s darker. He doesn’t have the quips. He’s a genuinely frightening prospect.

The film doesn’t bother with the convoluted backstory of his character either, as with Halloween, he’s just a version of the ‘boogeyman’, he’s just there. He’s haunting. That’s what he is there for. All of that explanation would have to come later to keep the series alive, the way it is with horror. It becomes part of the trope.

Craven based the film on some real life stories — young people so terrified in their dreams they were dying. And so that hangs heavy over the first film. In the moveis that followed that’s diluted by Robert Englund (Freddy) essentially becoming a rival for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the cheesy one-liner stakes. As a child of the 80s I definitely love wise-cracking Freddy. And might never have made it to the darker, tougher Fred, without first seeing the Krueger that rips open his shirt to show faces swirling in his stomach; that spikes his finger-knives through human heads that are embalmed in a pizza. That ‘silly’ stuff was my way in.

But the original Nightmare is lean. Just 84 minutes — I’d still argue that is the perfect horror movie length. It is one of the quintessential 80s slashers, a different kind of ghost story, and one that was weirdly relatable all while being supernatural and bonkers. You see, we have all have bad dreams. We’ve all woken up terrified. And that playing with dream logic allowed Craven to really go all out on the suspension of disbelief. Literally anything could happen because none of it was real, it just had to seem real to the character/s.

The first film (even the first four) have amazing special effects for the time. A lot of clever manoeuvring, a lot of really smart thinking outside the box. And of course the perfect, chilling music. Which any horror film needs as a crucial component.

The first film also looks beautiful. These bright daytime colours, the suburban ennui of 80s opulent America. And then the nighttime blues and greys and shadows and murk. But shining like a strip cut from a sheet metal blade, as Don McGlashan might say.

In recent years, A Nightmare on Elm Street is my favourite from the series to revisit. And it’s one of my favourite nostalgic 80s watches. It feels like a really great ‘teen’ film, so now brings memories of that. (I even wrote about it in my brand new book, available now, The Richard Poems. There ends gratuitous plug!).

It’s also just one of those great movies I describe as “a fun film to hang out with”. You can put it on, introduce new people to it, or watch it with gang that already knows every alley-way scene, every finger-knife twist, every crawl up the wall.

And it’s fun. Really great fun. Despite being filled with gushing blood, or maybe because of it.

It is one of the first “MTV” horror films — meaning it really sat nicely in that era, and Freddy, as a character, became a cameo-hit on the MTV channel, in songs by The Fat Boys, even in his own TV series.

The sequels aren’t all bad at all — even the later ones. I think Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (basically Elm Street 7) is one of the great meta-horror films, and really the reason we would get Scream, and its resulting franchise.

There are several docos and making-ofs, and the one I’ve linked to above is more than you’ll ever need. But it’s absolutely wonderful if you have the stamina.

I love this series, this character, this director, the music, and so many of the sequences, cameos, and early starts for later-established actors. But when it comes down to it, everything starts with A Nightmare on Elm Street from 1984, and the very real fear(s) around dreams and nightmares and being chased. Heart racing. Trapped in a logic you cannot fathom, and can never explain, even worse you can barely seem to escape.

Happy 40th A Nightmare on Elm Street.