Chaos on Brest Street!

The new Freddy is way too old. That’s the whole issue right there. 😁

Why on earth did they decide to translate Elm Street, and besides, what even is an elm?

A Nightmare on Elm Street - I mean, the title is just a literal, clunky mess—"elm" refers to a tree, for crying out loud.

HTV1 04/29/2016 12:04 AM

Nightmare on Elm Street, American movie (R) (90')

Nightmare on Elm Street was actually the seventh flick from the legendary Wes Craven (1939–2015). Most people agree that Nightmare on Elm Street is a total classic of the modern horror era. It absolutely crushed it at the box office, which led to a bunch of sequels and even that Freddy's Sea TV series. Robert Englund, the guy playing the maniac Freddy, basically became the face of modern horror because of this. Also, fun fact: this is the movie where you first see a young Johnny Depp playing Glen Lantz.

^^
Wait, did he really just butcher him over ten bucks?
🤣

Just finished watching this flick tonight

Three big takeaways:

1. Man, how much better practical and digital effects have gotten over the last 30 years.
2. How horror movies just cranked up the violence through the decades.
3. How audiences have basically become desensitized to all that gore after 30 years of seeing it.

Overall: It’s a solid movie, even if parts of it feel a bit dated. Honestly, it's wild to think that the young Johnny Depp we see here and the Johnny Depp we know today are actually the same guy.

I disagree with the first point entirely. In my view, the effects used to be superior because they relied on practical effects. And I’m talking specifically about the great horror films.

Which specific effects are you referring to?

Take the moment Freddy comes out of the wall. They pulled that off for a few bucks, and the result is better than anything modern CGI could produce today. I don't recall the exact mechanics, but I think they used something elastic and filmed it from a specific angle.

Then there's Tina Walsh's death. You have to admit, that was masterfully done. Freddy lifts her out of the bed, but much like her boyfriend Glen Lantz, we don't actually see Freddy—we only see her suspended in mid-air. It's powerful filmmaking. They used some tricks; I believe they built a massive box to look like a room and then filmed everything upside down.

And then we have Depp's famous death scene. Another top-tier sequence. I don't see what's wrong with those effects.

The only weak effect is when Freddy's mask is removed and he looks like a doll, but even then, Wes Craven could get away with it since it was a dream. Dreams are supposed to be surreal and bizarre.

We saw how bad the effects looked in the remake of Scream. Modern CGI simply can't compete with the best practical effects. At least that's my take. When you look at the classic horror hits from the 70s and 80s—the golden age of effects—everything was executed at an incredible level. Just compare the transformation in American Werewolf in London to the transformations in today's big-budget movies using CGI. It's a joke. 😁

Unfortunately, modern horror lacks that kind of impact. Rare cases like the demon in Insidious, where the mask actually feels convincing, are exceptions. Who knows? If we moved guys like John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George A. Romero, or David Cronenberg to the present day while they were still young, maybe they would rely heavily on CGI too. Even Rick Baker might just use computer effects nowadays.

Man, I caught the last 40 minutes of the movie yesterday, and seeing Johnny Depp in that role actually floored me. You wouldn't even recognize him 🤣 especially with the way he handled the voice acting 🤣

It’s a pretty simple flick. Horror isn't usually my go-to genre, so I don't actively seek it out, but it was fine enough to stumble upon while flipping through channels

If you love this franchise, check out the doc Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1510985/ It runs a bit long 😁 but if you're a fan, it's worth it. You could find it on YouTube for a while.

There's actually a link between Nightmare and Evil Dead. In the first ED, Sam Raimi included a torn poster for Wes Craven's cult classic The Hills Have Eyes. It feels like a nod to how Wes Craven staged that scene where Nancy Thompson watches the first ED. Then, in the sequel, Raimi put Freddy's glove in that basement.

Wait, wasn't there supposed to be some horror flick where they'd cast basically every icon from 80s and 90s slashers?

Yeah, you were actually the one who called it...

Jessica Morris6 said:Yeah, you were actually the one who called it...

my bad😁

Nightmare on Elm Street was a total standout for me when I was a kid, but watching it again recently? It felt... campy, naive, and honestly just straight-up trashy. 🤷
I probably should have left it alone and kept my childhood nostalgia intact.

Just finished the 6th installment—Freddy's been dead since '91

The only thing I gotta say is 🤦

Absolute garbage. Total trash. There isn't even one decent kill in the whole thing. It’s not even a horror movie anymore; it’s just a straight-up parody.

And look, I’m not even judging, because I can be a total sucker for stupid movies too.

Look, I know the hardcore fans drag this one through the mud as one of the worst entries in the franchise, but personally? It’s my favorite. A total guilty pleasure. This time around, we get our very own male screaming queen. Since Krueger takes control of a body to enter the real world, things get weird. That scene where he crashes the party like some uninvited guest totally flies in the face of how Wes Craven originally envisioned the character. After a brief, intimate moment with Lisa, Jesse—our resident scream king—bolts to his buddy Ron's room. Honestly, the whole movie is practically dripping with homoerotic subtext. 🤣

I think there was even a documentary released about a year ago looking at that specific installment and the supposed homophobia that supposedly tanked the lead actor's career. He’s actually gay. In the doc, you see him finally making peace with the director.