A Nightmare on Elm Street

Director: Wes Craven Wes Craven

Overview

Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter (Heather Langenkamp) traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger (Robert Englund), who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. With a supporting cast that includes horror veterans like John Saxon and Ronee Blakley, director Wes Craven creates moments of real dread by examining the line between nightmares and reality, as well as the "sins of the parents" theme.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/13/2010
UPC:	0794043138911
Original Release:	1984
Rating:	R
Source:	New Line Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	14,913

Special Features

Ready freddy focus points - see alternate takes and learn filmmaking secrets behind the nightmare by jumping to video highlights while watching the movie; 2 Commentaries: 1) director Wes Craven, co-stars Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon and cinematographer Jacques Haitkin, 2) Wes Craven, co-stars Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp and Ronee Blakley, producer Robert Shaye and co-producers Sara Risher ; Alternate endings; 3 featurettes: the house that freddy built: the legacy of new line horror; Never sleep again: the making of A Nightmare on Elm Street; Night Terror: the origins of Wes Craven's Nightmares; Interactive trivia track

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Saxon	Lt. Thompson
Ronee Blakley	Marge Thompson
Heather Langenkamp	Nancy Thompson
Amanda Wyss	Tina Gray
Nick Corri	Rod Lane
Johnny Depp	Glen Lantz
Robert Englund	Freddy Krueger
Charles Fleischer	Dr. King
Joe Whipp	Sgt. Parker
Lin Shaye	Teacher
Ed Call	Mr. Lantz
Jeff Levine	Coroner
Mimi Meyer-Shaye	Teacher
Joe Unger	Sgt. Garcia
Mimi Craven	Nurse
Jack Shea	Minister
Sandy Lipton	Mrs. Lantz
David Andrews	Foreman
Shashawnee Hall	Cop
Jason Adams	Surfer #1
Don Hannah	Surfer

Technical Credits

Wes Craven

Wes Craven	Director,Screenwriter
Annette Benson	Casting
Charles Bernstein	Score Composer
Cynthia Brannon	Stunts
John Burrows	Associate Producer,Production Manager
Tony Cecere	Stunts
Jim Doyle	Special Effects
Stanley E. Dudelson	Executive Producer
Gregg Fonseca	Production Designer
Jacques Haitkin	Cinematographer
Anne Huntley-Ahrens	Set Decoration/Design
James Larue	Sound/Sound Designer
Dana Lyman	Costumes/Costume Designer
David Brian Miller	Makeup
Debby Porter	Stunts
Sara Risher	Co-producer
Rick Shaine	Editor
Robert Shaye	Producer
Joseph Wolf	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

A Nightmare on Elm Street, director Wes Craven's bloody and bloodcurdling breakthrough hit, spawned a successful series of sequels and launched one of the most popular movie monsters of all time: Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). The imaginative and gripping story finds spunky teen heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) in a protracted battle with Fred, the razor-fingered bogeyman who terrorizes her and her friends in their dreams. Here Krueger is not yet the quipping cartoon of the later, more comedic sequels; in his debut outing he plays a straight-up demonic figure, slaughtering his prey in elaborately gory flourishes. Encompassing both childhood fears of nightmares and adult fears of random serial killers, A Nightmare on Elm Street creates an unrelenting atmosphere of tension and suspense in which our disoriented heroes are as vulnerable to attack in their own imaginations as they are in the real world. Filled with terrifying dream sequences and a deliciously confounding plot, this perennial favorite was one of the smartest and most influential horror movies of the 1980s.

Barnes & Noble - Amy Robinson

Behold the horror epic that started the Krueger craze and the Elm Street franchise. This low-budget effort not only put frightmaster Wes Craven on the map, but it slashed new life into the dying horror genre. Nightmare on Elm Street is a surreal and artistic experiment in dark and bloody filmmaking, levitating above the senseless gorefests seen in Friday the 13th. Built upon a brilliant premise, Elm Street became known as a near-masterpiece of post-'70s terror that skillfully blurred the line between reality and fantasy. The character of Freddy Kreuger instantly joined the ranks of infamous modern horror villains. While Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers were steadfast and robotic, Freddy was a humorous sadist who refused to hide behind a mask. The dreamscape and surreal atmosphere that Craven creates is a key reason why A Nightmare on Elm Street remains so haunting to this day. Cinematographer Jacques Haitkin knows how to use shadow and light to his advantage, most notably in the trippy and eerie basement scenes and the moment in which a character is dragged across the ceiling. For a movie with a budget just over $1 million, Elm Street possesses a surprisingly stylish look; even the low-grade special effects manage to be effective. The film is tailor-made for those who like their gore coupled with smart and inventive ideas, a rarity in the horror genre.

All Movie Guide - Adam Goldberg