A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 9 stars out of 10
"Okay, Krueger... we play in your court." This movie is INCREDIBLE!!! Since most of it takes place during their nightmares, ANYTHING can happen and Wes Craven exploits this option without going over the top. Each death is unique , creative, and unpredictable. The Tina sequence is absolutely amazing and one of the most horrific scenes of any movie that I've seen. I love the music - using the interval of a minor 3rd (often descriptive of children and lullabies) creates an extremely eerie effect. The special effects were simple yet extremely effective. Special effects artists of the 80's often tried to go beyond their capabilities and as a result, those effects look extremely fake today; however, in "Nightmare on Elm Street" they used stuntmen and pyrotechnics instead of underdeveloped CGI, claymation, etc. These effects are still realistic and frightening to today's viewers and that is why it is the most effective horror movie from the 80's. Freddy is a scary character, enshrouded in mystery so that we don't really know anything about him... we're just petrified of him. Robert Englund is very effective as Freddy and it's entertaining to watch the very young Johnny Depp. This movie is far superior to any of its contemporaries ("Halloween", "Friday the 13th"). This extremely creative idea has never been duplicated in any other scary movie and it delivers pure terror throughout (unlike its competitors that are just a little intense but hold back). I can only imagine how terrorizing this would have been to see in 1984 but I'm glad that I can experience it today.
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