A Nightmare On Elm Street - Page 3

Stairs is no masterpiece but it deserves credit for taking such a weird concept and seeing it through to the end.

Same here. It's just such a weird movie. The parents make the movie, though- especially Everett McGill- he's just so over the top in it.

I think it's one of Craven's better moments, even.

Stairs is meant to be ludicrous though, surely? It's a completely over the top horror satire of the Reagan era, mixed with fairy tale imagery. No more ludicrous than a serial killer who kills you in your sleep, really.

I can certainly understand not clicking with its rather unique sensibility, but I don't see how that makes it a shit film, per se. I don't click with giallo movies at all, but I can still appreciate what they're aiming for on a creative level.

classics are classics.....brings me back to my childhood!

I just finished The People Under the Stairs. What a strange flick that was. It's a terrible movie, but at least it was pretty original.

Ronee Blakley saying "I've got something better, I'm going to get her some help" has to be up there as one of the worst line readings I've ever heard in a movie.

I'm not a fan of Halloween (blasphemy to most), but I would love to see what Carpenter would do to this (NOES) property. Craven's concept and Carpenter's director sensibilities would make an interesting flick. Imagine what the director of the Thing (one of my faves) would do with Freddy...

I always maintained that the 1st film was the best of the lot, but hadn't seen that in years. i just remembered certain scenes giving me the creeps when I 1st saw it at like, age 12 or something. The scene where he's stalking the girl down the alley and his arms got real long and scraped on the alley walls being one such scene in particular. but I saw it again on AMC recently, and this scene wasn't nearly as scary as I remembered it. the effect w/ the puppet arms was kind of cheesy. Someone said in an earlier post that a remake might help this film; in this respect, that the effects would be better, i agree. Some good CGI would make that scene much more effective & believable on film.

All that having been said, there's still a few really chilling scenes. Like the scene where he tries to grab the heroine in the bathtub, and it opens up into this bottomless pit. . . even w/ dated effects, still scary. I think the filmmakers at least tried to capture some of the most universal nightmare imagery. Like that part where she's running up the stairs and her feet are sinking into them; again, not as effective as today's FX eould make it, but who hasn't had a dream where they're being chased by something or somebody and feel like they just can't get their legs to work and can't run away? I could instantly relate to where they were going with that. That's a really good idea, and they should be applauded for it.

i really liked the whole concept of 'New Nightmare". I thought it was really innovative. In a genre that can get bogged down in monotony and formulaic execution of tired old concepts, such innovation deserves a hats off. And Freddy vs. Jason was better than I thought it'd be. Freddy was less clown like and more evil again, & that was refreshing.

And let me close by saying I was kind of ashamed to admit how much I liked "Dream Warriors". I am SO glad to see so many here really liked it, too.

My brothers bought me the box set for Xmas (thanks guys!), and we watched all the movies over the Xmas period. These flicks were the dog's bollocks when I was a teenager, and it's interesting to revisit them now I'm getting into my mid-thirties.

The first flick, lest anyone forget, introduces the idea that some undead monster can get you in your dreams. This, plus the concept of dream logic, forms the basis of the whole series.

The second is frankly a TV movie, with a mad flaming rampage at the pool party tacked on at the end.

Three really kicks off the visual inventiveness, has a ball with dream logic, extends the Freddy myth, advances the story in a logical fashion, and features spectacularly bad performances from Lagenkamp and Wasson. Note that this flick is interesting because all of the supporting characters are necessary to advance the story - they are (at least initially) a team, not random kids to be killed in cool new ways by Freddy.

Four again ups the ante on visuals while dampening down the horror aspect: This is the point where the supporting characters really become Freddy-fodder. I just love Freddy's resurrection, though (the dog pissing flames on his grave).

Five is piss-poor story wise, but there is some interesting stuff on dream logic (either that, or pages of the shooting script got mixed up...), and it is the most visually inventive of all. Not much horror left, and I believe it's this disc which carries the Freddy-Fat Boys rap as an extra. My God.

Six is piss-poor in every respect.

Seven I like because it's almost a dry-run for Scream. It's Craven's LA Takedown. But Lagenkamp is a fucking terrible actress.

All in all, the overriding impression is of diminishing returns in terms of horror content, but, as someone above pointed out, Robert Englund clearly has a fucking ball with his character.

I don't think many people understand just how brilliant New Nightmare really is (it's the best, even better than the original). Basically what Craven does is he improves upon his legacy with Freddy by coming up with a really original plot set in the real world.

Then, he makes the first half total Horror and the second half more thriller. And he balances it out with alot of ease. You can't tell me you're blood was pumping and you had the case of the chills when a large Freddy appears over the interstate and grabs Dillion as he's walking across the highway. That whole sequence is scary and thrilling all in one. I just love it.

All of this is wrapped nice in a terrific musical score.

The only let down is the ending and it's not enough of a let down to warrent a film a bad rating anyway. The ride to that was the best part. I'll take a bad ending/good ride than a good ending/bad ride anyday.

I love New Nightmare as well. I thought it was genius. But I get tired of being shouted down by horror geeks every time I have to defend it. Personally, I think it's the best film Craven's ever made. Mind you, I haven't seen Music of the Heart, but I'm assuming.

Another one with the New Nightmare love. Since Last House on the Left was taken from The Virgin Spring, Hills Have Eyes was inspired by Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nightmare on Elm Streeet borrowed from Phantasm, that leaves it as probably the most original film Craven's ever done.

Given the homoeroticism of this film, dare I hope that this was a deliberate pun?