Thoughts on "A Nightmare on Elm Street" guest post by Jamie

Hello, everyone, it's Jamie again! I finally watched "A Nightmare on Elm Street" a few weeks ago; yes, the a classic horror/supernatural/slasher film from the 80's that kicked off a full franchise (of which I have seen zip.) I like scary movies, but only when they're actually well made, or interesting, or have likable characters. So, here are a few interesting things I learned about the classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street" from watching it myself.

Brief Synopsis from IMDb: Several people are hunted by a cruel serial killer who kills his victims in their dreams. When the survivors are trying to find the reason for being chosen, the murderer won't lose any chance to kill them as soon as they fall asleep.

I was actually surprised by the characters of this film. Most of them, at least our main survivors, were surprisingly likable! Often times, you just can't feel for horror characters because they have to be STUPID just to make the plot work. I did not expect to feel much sympathy for our teen leads, but they were written well enough that I found myself concerned for them. Not too terribly much, maybe not as much as I cared for Sydney in Scream, but just enough to get involved in the story! Hooray!

The concept for this horror film is actually incredibly brilliant. It might sound like your typical slasher flick at first (killer after teenagers) but this one has a unique twist: A killer who stalks your nightmares and tries to kill you unless you wake up; its an entire story about staying awake with all your might. That's a pretty brilliant plot to me. Especially when you climb in bed after watching such a movie to think, "Am I actually safe to go to sleep?" At the same time, the film provided a response to fear during its finale, which I appreciated.

For the most part I found the film pretty unpredictable (at least, once it got going. I kinda knew what was going happen there at the beginning.) The movie often made it hard to tell when the characters were either asleep or awake, so I had to pay attention to guess what might be going on. I like horror movies that keep me mentally involved in some form or fashion, and "Elm Street" managed to do just that. I shan't be taking a relaxing bath for a long time! ;)

One of the reasons I finally made myself watch this movie was because it feature's Johnny Depp's first major film role! And guess what, he was pretty good! Thank you, Wes Craven, for recognizing this guy's talent! I'm a huge fan of Depp, so it was fun seeing him as a young actor playing the main character's boyfriend.

And, despite some of the corniness, I personally found "Elm Street" creepily scary, at least while I was watching it. I stayed on the safety of my bed during the film and enjoyed being creeped out by the buckets of gore and jump scares. When I watch horror, I find it incredibly disappointing if it fails to creep me out--I don't want to watch dumb horror; I want to be involved and I want to be scared silly. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" definitely fit the bill of disturbingly creepiness, and it was awesome.

There are a couple of reasons why one might want to watch this film besides "I want to be scared" or "I like horror movies" (because, if you like horror, then you've probably already seen this.)

Firstly, this felt like a classic 80's film: everything about it felt like the 80's and it was awesome! So 80's movies fans who like horror would enjoy this. Secondly, this film is the origins of one of pop cultures scariest killers. Besides Johnny Depp's draw, I wanted to watch this movie just to understand the origins of the many references I've often seen. If you're interested in movie history or pop culture, this is probably a film you should see at some point. 

Unless, of course, you're too scared? ;)

Jamie is a horror fan, Marvel fan, Sherlockian, and anime enthusiast. She sometimes writes about movies and TV shows on her main blog, Through Two Blue Eyes. She discusses the joys of anime on her second blog, Jamie Talks Anime. Come visit her anytime, she will welcome you with hugs in the comment sections. ;) Thank you for having me on the blog, James! :D