This 1980's horror film classic is among my favorite of Director Wes Craven's accomplishments. The script is creative and original for 1984. The acting is reasonable and at times even pretty good. This is Johnny Depp's film debut by the way. Robert Englund and John Saxon are a few other names that make this cast pretty damn good.
Basically, a group of teenagers in a small town is having terrible dreams about the same ghoulish figure. From the very first scene we realize these dreams sort of blur the division between fantasy and reality, as many of the dreams often leave very tangible evidence behind. The plot centers around a young teen named Nancy who is struggling to learn who this monster is and how to defeat him. However, the rest of the town thinks she's just crazy.
I really don't have too many complaints against this movie. I have watched it probably a dozen times now, and it always holds my interest. It is truly a scary movie. The gore is excellent though not excessive. The nightmare imagery is quite effective and is consistent with the way people dream. I believe that psychologically, the film does very well to target children in a sometimes overtly sexual way. This provides Freddy, the aforementioned monster, with a degree of evil that few horror movie villains are able to achieve. He becomes much more realistic to us through this fact as well. In a society where new stories of child abuse flood the media every day, it is a fear with which we are all too familiar.
The only real complaint I can give is that the characters' solutions to their problems, specifically Nancy, often seemed a little simplistic or juvenile. However, the simplicity of these solutions mostly fit the age of the persons involved, and they abide by reasonable "dream logic". In conclusion, five out of five stars, excellent movie, any self-respecting horror fan should see it.
Check in for reviews of the subsequent sequels to this classic! Dr. Death wishes you all terrifying dreams . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment