13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2009: Night #11 A Nightmare on Elm Street

Anyone who knows me had to know when I did favourites and classics that this movie would be near to the top of the list. In fact it would be second if I didn't have a more topical movie for the night before Halloween. Freddy Krueger is the man, the most iconic figure of all horror movies, known around the entire world. There is a reason for that, and this movie is the genesis of all of it. What makes A Nightmare on Elm Street such a great movie? Well aside from Freddy brought to amazing unlife by Robert Englund there is also the supremely deft hand of director Wes Craven guided here and there by Robert Shaye head of New Line Cinema. The story is very well done weaving its local mythos. The script is also very thematic and literate. Everything is just done right.

The success of A Nightmare on Elm is both critical and financial. New Line Cinema has earned the nickname of The House that Freddy Built. There is so much that can be done, and to a degree has, with Freddy Krueger. Lurking in nightmares, able to kill in dreams, but beyond that able to take control of the dreams and do as he wishes. It gives the filmmakers great latitude. There is an endless parade of ideas. A Nightmare on Elm Street also stands as one of the film franchises where the villain's foil is female and should to his reckoning be as easy pickings as the rest--starting of course with Heather Langenkamp's Nancy. This never seems particularly vexing to Freddy even though Robert Englund sees Freddy, and portrays him, with a sort of cowboy ethos right down to the gunslingers stance he adopts.

Mood: excited.

Music: Welcome to My Nightmare by Alice Cooper off of Welcome to My Nightmare.