A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

[Chedney Honks]

Watched this last night and it was a curious film. Very poor acting, felt very cheaply shot, dialogue was poor throughout, characters' actions were unbelievable. And yet it did make me uneasy and scared at times. The basic concept is frightening. The weird, distant, damaged, boozy adults were inherently unnerving, one of the strongest aspects of the film. The synth music was creepy and sleazy. Freddie himself is a horrible character here, seemingly more motivated by scaring the shit out of the kids than killing them. Some weird effects like the big arms and he runs like quite a scary cunt. The pipeworks or whatever was a very 80s industrial, grubby, close up hellish atmosphere which I didn't like one bit. Very claustrophobic. I also enjoyed how plain looking and badly dressed the lead actor was.

I have no intention of watching any more of these but while I thought this was awful in several ways, it's also got such a lurid, woozy appeal and Freddie is one of the great iconic 80s video shop poster shit scary cunts to me. I still can't really enjoy his presence because I find him such a scary character. Most of the deaths and effects looked cheap as but also very effective.

Not a good film at all but a quite effective scary film.

[JaDanketies]

Great film! The protagonist's hair going grey? A young Johnny Depp getting sucked into the bed and a blood geyser erupting? The franchise got a bit Child's Play silly after a while but the original is one of the best in the genre imho

[ImmaculateClump]

Spoiler alert

The rubber dummy yarked through the tiny door window at the end. I nearly broke my back laughing at that when I was little. Absolutely shitting myself all the way through and that was the best possible pay off.

[close]

I can't remember much about the freddie films but me and my sister were all over them when we were little.
I remember 3 being really good fun!

[madhair60]

The third one is absolutely worth watching. Beautiful horror fantasy.

[Chedney Honks]

Third one was the first I watched when I was 9. Really troubled me for a couple of years, ruined my sleep. It had been a strange day. We'd gone to a family friend of my auntie who had a daughter my age and she showed me a book about biology for kids, birds and the bees shit. Dunno where she got it, but it seemed a little bit old for us, more like early teen maybe, could have been her older brother's. Anyway, we were fascinated and went under the stairs in this cupboard and read it together through a crack of light at the cupboard door. Then she said let's have a look and see what we've each got. We decided best place to do this was in the back yard so we went and stood in the shed and took off our clothes, then she said go outside so we can see better. We stood there for about ten seconds having a look and looking at the book for comparison, just curiosity. Then my auntie and her mum came out and went fucking mental at us. Really messed me up for a while because I didn't think we'd done anything wrong or dirty, it was just curiosity about each other. It probably took me another ten years to think of nudity as fine and not shameful. Repressed as fuck cunts although I think it was more two naked kids standing in the back yard than anything else but they didn't explain what they were upset about. Fortunately, we're still friends now so we can laugh about it but it was a troubling day. It only got worse when we were hiding out after the bollocking in her brother's room and he had the third film in the vcr. She said let's watch it and it absolutely scared the shit out of me. I didn't want to be a coward though and I was also scared of going downstairs to the adults because of the bollocking. It really messed me up for a couple of years and I didn't like to be on my own at night until I started wanking.

[bgmnts]

3 is the peak.

[madhair60]

Third one was the first I watched when I was 9. Really troubled me for a couple of years, ruined my sleep. It had been a strange day. We'd gone to a family friend of my auntie who had a daughter my age and she showed me a book about biology for kids, birds and the bees shit. Dunno where she got it, but it seemed a little bit old for us, more like early teen maybe, could have been her older brother's. Anyway, we were fascinated and went under the stairs in this cupboard and read it together through a crack of light at the cupboard door. Then she said let's have a look and see what we've each got. We decided best place to do this was in the back yard so we went and stood in the shed and took off our clothes, then she said go outside so we can see better. We stood there for about ten seconds having a look and looking at the book for comparison, just curiosity. Then my auntie and her mum came out and went fucking mental at us. Really messed me up for a while because I didn't think we'd done anything wrong or dirty, it was just curiosity about each other. It probably took me another ten years to think of nudity as fine and not shameful. Repressed as fuck cunts although I think it was more two naked kids standing in the back yard than anything else but they didn't explain what they were upset about. Fortunately, we're still friends now so we can laugh about it but it was a troubling day. It only got worse when we were hiding out after the bollocking in her brother's room and he had the third film in the vcr. She said let's watch it and it absolutely scared the shit out of me. I didn't want to be a coward though and I was also scared of going downstairs to the adults because of the bollocking. It really messed me up for a couple of years and I didn't like to be on my own at night until I started wanking.

NONCE

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I saw a bit of the first film when I was about 12. It didn't particularly scare me, because I'm totally nails, but it did seem well made, with some memorable images. I finally got around to watching it in full a few years ago and thought it was kind of cack. It's probably some sort of horror herecy, but I recently watched the remake and thought that was much better.

[madhair60]

It's probably some sort of horror herecy, but I recently watched the remake and thought that was much better.

Jesus fucking christ. I pray this is a wind-up.

[ImmaculateClump]

Then my auntie and her mum came out and went fucking mental at us.

Haha, my friend (who turned out to be bisexual in the end) was cuddling me in the garden one day and my mam went absolutely apeshit.
Like you say, it frightens the life out of you because everything feels so innocent and natural at that age.
Chased him out of the garden and he ran all the way home :D

Jesus fucking christ. I pray this is a wind-up.

Oh, my god! Why wasn't I informed?



I'm sold on that image alone :D

[bgmnts]

Is that a behind-the-scenes still or is that from the actual film???

[oy vey]

Rule of thumb - if John Saxon is in it, it's a good one.

[Glebe]

Freddy was actually mysterious and scary in this. Gradually turned more and more into a comedy character as the series went on of course.

[ImmaculateClump]

Is that a behind-the-scenes still or is that from the actual film???

Oh, you might be right, looking at an uncropped version and seeing what's in frame - https://i.imgur.com/VKfkPGp.jpg
It does look like a "fredward done a fart" out-take, at least.
Still, worth a chuckle.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Coincidentally, just prior to seeing this thread, I watched a YouTube person reviewing the entire series: https://youtu.be/H8Xlt-1Ba5A

It actually made me think perhaps I should give the first one another try. But then I remembered that I am never wrong.

[C_Larence]

I really like the concept of Freddy being a punishment to the kids for the actions of their parents, meanwhile the offending generation continues to ignore the problem and hope it goes away. Feels remarkably relevant nowadays.

[C_Larence]

i quoted when i meant to edit :(

[thecuriousorange]

Is Freddy Krueger a paedophile in the remake? Imagine rebooting a beloved franchise - but the main character is now a paedophile.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I really like NOES Two.  My favourite scenes include the skinny and effeminate male hero dancing to Touch Me (All Night Long) while alone in his bedroom in pyjamas and his pretty-boy-but-macho mate in terror when locked in the bedroom as Freddie emerges slowly through the wall finally to strangle him till he dies as blood haemorrhages from his mouth.

I'm not gay myself but I've a feeling that particular film has a bit of a queer following.

[Chedney Honks]

Genre film discussion is very different to the discussion of proper films.

[Avril Lavigne]

Is Freddy Krueger a paedophile in the remake?

There are references in the original movies to him being a child molester.

I'm not gay myself but I've a feeling that particular film has a bit of a queer following.

There's a 2019 documentary about the gay themes of that movie, called 'Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street'.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Is Freddy Krueger a paedophile in the remake? Imagine rebooting a beloved franchise - but the main character is now a paedophile.

I know, right? Turning a beloved child murderer into a paedo. It's character assassination.

[JaDanketies]

Freddie Kruger was definitely always a pedo. You're not supposed to like the guy!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Yeah. I mean, that guy was a real jerk.

_{Someone had to.}

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Remember that one where Freddie turns a boy into a character in a video game he's playing?

[Glebe]

Remember that one where Freddie turns a boy into a character in a video game he's playing?

That was the nadir really.

[madhair60]

That was the nadir really.

The remake was the nadir.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I'd say part 5 was the nadir. Then part 6 managed to tunnel under it. The remake came along and said, "I wonder what's underneath that tunnel?"

[Shit Good Nose]

The remake was the nadir.

Not that I'm defending the remake for one moment (it is kak) but, now-iconic poster aside, Freddy's Dead was (is) the nadir.  They just made that one up as they went along.  Seems like Rachel Talalay genuinely didn't have a clue what she was doing - her original cut is dull as shitwater and Freddy doesn't even appear for what feels like an age, and the heavily edited theatrical cut barely makes any sense.

Admittedly I'm not much of a fan at all - I think the first one is massively overrated (and that scene when he's got the long arms - which most people seem to think is creepy - just looks terrible to me and always has done) and they just get worse (further caveat - as some know - I'm not much of a horror fan.  Most of them just don't click with me).

[madhair60]

The remake is worse than either Part 5 or Part 6.

Part 5 is garbage but it looks like this:



Part 6 is garbage but at least it has idiotic goofy shit to laugh at. Freddy on a broomstick. The video game bit.

Remake has nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.