A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

OK, I admit it: when I was a wee lad, Nightmare on Elm Street was my favorite horror franchise. Forget Jason, who lacked both the versatility (there's only so far you can go with garden tools) and the verbose wit of Mr. Krueger. My brother had the first few on tape, and I spent many summer afternoons watching them over and over, having the time of my life as Freddy effortlessly mowed over those darn kids. If, by some miracle, Wes Craven reads this, I want to thank him for twisting my little psyche like a pretzel.

Even if you don't share my heart-warming memories for Freddy and his adventures, you have to admit the series did have the perfect premise: a relentless, ruthless killer that strikes not only during our most vulnerable time, in our sleep, but also through a realm where we're deprived of any and all conscious control. In fact, in many ways, Freddy is an embodiment of our primal impulses toward destruction, running under a safe, 'sterilized' suburban environment (it's no accident, I think, that throughout most of the film, especially at the beginning, we don't get a good look at Freddy's scarred face). After trying just about every trick in the book, Nancy finally beats Freddy (sort of), by just ignoring him. Then here's the matter of his origin story. In life, he was a child killer (and, the film implies, molester) and was arrested, but let go on a technicality. With the failure of 'civilized law,' the parents took matters in their own hands and killed him in a rush of good old-fashioned mob justice. Otherwise 'respectable' people, turning their backs on the society they pretend to exemplify and surrendering to an instinctual urge to protect their young at any cost, is what gives birth to the monster. If the parade of sequels hadn't proven me wrong, I'd say that Freddy wasn't the mysteriously all-powerful ghost of a seriously pissed off guy, but a twisted demon born and fed on the parents' own collective guilt and hate.

Anyway, unlike its sister series Friday the 13th or most of its own sequels, there actually is more to this film than seeing teenagers getting kacked left and right. There are only four teenaged protagonists in this one: Nancy, her boyfriend Gwen, their friend Tina, and her boyfriend Rod, so there aren't too many lambs around to lead to the slaughter. Unfortunately, none of this means that Nightmare on Elm Street doesn't fall into the same old slasher rules. Nancy is definitely Final Girl material; during a sleepover involving all four friends, Nancy forces Gwen to sleep on the couch while Tina has loud, noisy sex with Rod (of course, right afterwards, she dies gruesomely). Not only that, but Tina's loose sexual morals and un-Final Girl-ness are both linked to the fact she comes from a 'broken home' (her mom has boyfriends and takes vacations to Las Vegas; oh my!) and it's implied that she's poor (implied by the dialogue, that is; definitely not by her swanky home.) The other slasher rule Nightmare on Elm Street upholds strictly is the demand that the boys must die quickly while the girls must be stalked and tormented first. Gwen's death comes so quickly and easy (and messily) on Freddy's part that you have to wonder, if his motive is just revenge, why he lets Nancy give him so much of a headache.

The good stuff that sets Nightmare on Elm Street apart comes from its non-slasher elements, as you'd probably expect. Like a lot of 50's sci-fi, the teens are mostly rational and determined, while the adults ignore their warnings and are mostly inept. The gulf between the teens and adults in this film is a wide one and the script takes a lot of enjoyment in reminding us of this little fact. Nancy's mother doesn't confess her involvement in Freddy Krueger's death until late in the movie, even when it becomes fairly clear that he has indeed risen from the grave. Even then she can't accept the truth of what's happening to her daughter and can't help but slip into a drunken, semi-comatose state. Her father doesn't help much either, ignoring his increasingly distressed daughter's pleas until it's much too late (and, in one of the film's best clues toward what happened to Freddy Krueger, Nancy's dad says to her, "You may think that murder isn't serious..."). Nancy faces more obstacles from her parents and the other adults in the film than she does from Freddy and, in the end, it's their refusal to consider poor Nancy anything but obnoxious at worst and crazy at best that leads to the deaths of Rob, Gwen, and perhaps Nancy's own mother.

As for Nancy's final showdown with Krueger, well, it's always nice to have a Final Girl who isn't instantly put into hysterics (although Nancy's strategy of boobytrapping her home against Krueger brought back bad, bad memories of Home Alone.) In this last part of the film, the lines between reality and dream keep blurring until there's really no difference anymore, leading up to a strange and beautifully appropriate ending that's, of course, spoiled by the next two sequels. Oh well.

Maybe my judgment is clouded by my affection for the whole series (hell, I even have a few episodes of "Freddy's Nightmares" on tape), but Nightmare on Elm Street lives up to its reputation with a smart, meaty script and an ability to actually generate some suspense. Too bad kind words can't also be given to, well, most of the sequels.

Choice Quotes:

"Morality sucks."

-Glen, after being denied the heaven of Nancy's bed.