With the Platinum Dunes remake on the horizon, I fely compelled to revisit the original which I'm disturbed to see is now a quarter of a century old. While I have fond memories of Wes Craven's classic, I've never felt it was a "horror great" as Wes Craven simply isn't the most talented director on the block (my favorite Elm Street movie is still Dream Warriors, directed by Chuck Russell, the helmer of The Scorpion King!!).
So how does it stand up 25 year later? Pretty good actually. The core concept of a child molester killing teens in their dreams, causing them to die in real life is about as strong a story concept as you're gonna get. As with all good horr movies, antagonist Freddy Kruger stays in the shadows and is much nastier and disturbing than he appeared in the sequels. In Freddy, Craven creates a pop culture icon...both in the way he looks (the fedora, red striped jumper, and the razor glover is a genius master stroke) and in Robert Englands gleeful performance. The script explores and expands on the concept as it progresses, delivering a series of simple but memorable set-pieces.
On the downside, lead teen Heather Langenkamp is wooden as heroine Nancy. But you can see it runs in the family genes as her parents are played by the emodiment of corniness John Saxon and the 'carved from giant redwood' Ronnee Blakley...a woman so wooden, nothing on her face emotes when her lips flap. An impossibly young Johnny Depp is there to try and distract us...until he's dispatched, of course. Wes Craven goes through the horror motions trying to create atmosphere and generate scares...but it rarely suceeds. Craven is a hack, and scares have always been out of his grasp...but the film works out of the cleverness of the script, not due to the talent of the director. The score is hideously out-dated, although the main theme and child chanted 'Freddy nursery rhyme' still resonates.
So, despite the flaws, this is one horror that still works, as the pluses outweighs the negatives. The remake could be well placed to better this but they're gonna have to work hard to better Mr England and his freak-show of fellow cast members. A lot of them might be crap, but they sure make Elm Street 1984 one to remember.
