#10 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET/THE DREAM WARRIORS - Horror Countdown to Halloween

  In 1984 Wes Craven brought to life the most iconic and memorable horror baddie ever, Freddy Krueger. The film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, has a brilliant concept. A razor-gloved, burnt maniac haunts kids in their dreams. If you die by Freddy's hand in your dreams, you die in real life. The concept and character tapped into something inescapable, your dreams. Terrorizing audiences where they slept proved to be hugely successful and the film launched an entire eight film franchise. The film also launched the career of Johnny Depp.

Craven's film has as many flaws as it does memorable moments. The acting, aside from Robert Englund as Freddy, is all around uninspired. Heather Langenkamp is particularly wooden as Nancy, the film's heroine.

As for memorable scenes, the death's of both Johnny Depp and Amanda Wyss in the film are fantastic. Even now, seeing Wyss dragged around a bedroom ceiling is particularly effective. Same with her later appearance in a body bag.

The film also packs a hell of an ending even if it does steal it from Carrie. Overall the film is so iconic it had to be here but maybe isn't the best film of the series. For that we look to the third film in the series, The Dream Warriors.

written by Matthew G. Robinson


  It was tough to decide which Freddy film would make our top list. While I think every film in the series has its fair share of good moments and brings something different to the table, two clearly stood out. The first film, as Matty talked about above, is legendary. The film is incredibly creepy and I think the acting is a little better than Matt may have given it credit for. My personal favorite though is Dream Warriors.

Dream Warriors brings Nancy and her father Lt. Donald Thompson, played by the great John Saxon, return to the series. Six years after the first film a new group of kids are being terrorized by Freddy. Assumed to be crazy, the kids are locked away in a psychiatric hospital. This is where Nancy, now a psychiatrist, comes to save the day. Nancy teaches the kids to fight back in their dreams, thus becoming the dream warriors.

This film had some really heavy hitters behind it. The screenplay was written by Craven, that god that is Frank Darabont, Bruce Wagner (who hasn’t done much else worth mentioning), and director Chuck Russell (The Blob, Eraser).

Despite my defense of the acting in the first film, it is much improved upon here. Langenkamp is better this time around and Patricia Arquette, who is of our new lead in a role that put her on the map, is leaps and bounds ahead of Langenkamp in the acting department. A young Laurence Fishburne is also solid here and is there anyone cooler than young Fishburne?  

The kills here are incredibly inventive and the reason this film stands out so much for me. Freddy delivers death in much more clever ways this time out. He plays a kid like a marionette which is disgustingly gross and an image that I’ll never be able to erase from my mind is that of Freddy masquerading as a hot nurse. Disturbing to say the least.

All and all the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is one of great value and importance to the horror world and landscape. We can argue all day about which film is best, but I think we can all agree that Freddy has earned his spot on our list.

written by Christopher Coffel