Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14983 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-06-25
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Nightmare on Elm Street is the only Elm street film that falls into the "really scary" category. A dead murderer returns in the dreams of the children of his old enemies, and torments them. Wes Craven tamps down the humour that would overtake the films and goes all out for shivers. There are several memorably surreal horror sequences involving tongued telephones and bottomless baths as Craven's unhealthy imagination runs riot. With Heather Langenkamp as the plucky Nancy, John Saxon and Ronee Blakely as her dim bulb parents, Amanda Wyss and young Johnny Depp as teen victims, and Robert Englund as "Fred" Krueger. -- Kim Newman

Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Jump To Nightmare Scene Navigation
Cast And Crew
Original Theatrical Trailer
Commentary
English

Synopsis
A hellish, razor-fingered monster enters the dreams of the teenage residents of a bucolic town and systematically slaughters them in their sleep--until one courageous young woman does battle with the predatory fiend. An excellent, surprisingly surrealistic genre entry from the master, Wes Craven.

Customer Reviews

No laughs...what a relief.
If you're a horror fan...watch this first "Nightmare" film. Don't bother with the others. With the exception of "New Nightmare," there's really no point in putting yourself through the inferior sequels to this original, imaginative little shocker (although, truth be told, I indulge in the sequels from time to time...because I'm a sadist). In the subsequent films, Fred Krueger becomes more like a running gag than a true villain. He seems to be more like a court jester or practical joker who just HAPPENS to kill people in the process of getting a few laughs. This is NOT the case with the first entry in this "series that never should have been a series."

Don't watch this looking for Freddy's trademark quips and wisecracks. In this film, Krueger has very few lines. In fact, in the original script...he had NO lines. The lines that he does have in this movie aren't funny...they're ominous. When Tina is faced with Krueger in her dream, she petitions God for salvation. Krueger replies by flashing his trademark razorglove and uttering "This...IS God." And in that moment, he's terrifying. Fred Krueger, as originally envisioned, and as portrayed in this first "Nightmare" film, is a sadistic, bloodthirsty, vengeful, evil, and utterly SICK character. Funny is the LAST thing he is. Well, you might find him funny...if you happen to be a serial child rapist/murderer.

The innovative concept in this film is that, as opposed to some nigh-invulnerable masked loony stalking teens with raging hormones because, presumably, sex offends him in the worst way and sends him into a homicidal rage, you have a child killer who was burned to death by parents in this small town, and who, enraged by a sense of vengeance and bloodlust, invades the dreams of their now-teenage children and kills them in their sleep. He can't kill them when they're awake...only when they're dreaming. That's the plot element which set this film apart from the slew of other stalk and slash films of the '80s. And it works wonderfully...at least in this first film.

Now, some of the actions of the characters in this film may certainly seem unbelievable. However, you have to realize that most of the time, those characters are acting within their DREAMS...not in reality. In dreams, we do things that we would never do in real life, and react very differently to situations than we would in our waking lives. Would you follow your dead friend down a hallway if she beckoned to you from inside a body bag? No, of course not...but you might in a dream. Same thing with answering a phone that rings despite the fact it'd been disconnected seconds prior. In a dream, you may answer it. In real life, you'd just freak out. It's Dream Reality which guides this film. And in dreams, anything is possible.

The only problems with this film are low production values (but that's to be expected from a movie of this type) and the fact that some of the more shocking moments are somewhat telegraphed a few seconds in advanced, either by music or some subtle camera movement or angle. You KNOW somethings going to happen, so when it does, you're not as shocked. These are minor problems, really. But, in order to be fair, one has to mention them.

The point is that this is a little gem of a horror film, with an original story and a brutal villain. Again, I stress that this is not the case with the sequels. This series went downhill faster than any of the others. A character like Fred Krueger should not be played for laughs. I mean, yes, the humor helps to lessen the tension and put you more at ease so that you're not quite so afraid...but that isn't the point of horror films, is it? Somewhere along the line, people got the idea that scaring the audience TOO MUCH with a horror film was a bad thing. This is unfortunate...but luckily, this film was made before that happened. So sit back and enjoy this classic. You won't get a laugh in this one...but you just might get scared.

Mostly this is crap
Nightmare on Elm Street. The title of the film has the word nightmare in it, so, before watching this film I was sort of expecting to be scared by it. See how many stars I've given this film, though? Go on, take a wild stab in the dark and have a guess concerning how scary I thought this film was. Not even a little bit. Any time it actually starts to get a little spooky, Freddy shows up and he is one of the silliest most laughable bad guys ever created for a horror film. He just isn't scary. When he says "Watch this" before cutting off one of his fingers I just started laughing. How is that scary? Then there's the music. It sounds like an orchestra of keyboards playing bad eighties gothic pop. Not exactly scary. Heck, most of Hail to the Thief is creepier than this film. The DVD menu music for Twin Peaks is scarier.

But there must be something good about this film, right? Well, like I said before a lot of it is completely hilarious, so much so that it becomes so bad it's good. Wes Craven may be an accomplished director but he can't write a script to save his life. Some of the conversations between the female lead (Nancy I think) and her alcoholic mum (no fricking idea) had me rolling around with laughter. Like "Did you ask daddy to have that hat examined" to which the mum later replies "That's just not reality", followed by "its real momma, feel it" after which I erupted into laughter. Also, I loved the brilliant cliché of having some creepy looking kids sing a ridiculous song about Freddy, going one two... blah blah blah, three four... blah blah blah etc. That was creepy. Real creepy.

So, final thoughts. Despite the fact that I have a fear of the dark (yes, I'm aware that's quite pathetic at my age) this film still failed to scare me. I do mainly watch horror films to laugh at them though, so maybe I'm not the best audience for this film, but most of this film just put me to sleep. And I certainly wouldn't have minded Freddy slashing me to death just to save me from this piece of trash. I'm still gonna watch the rest eventually, but that's just because if this one is supposed to be the best, I can't even imagine how bad the others are.

ORIGINAL AND SCARY
Pardon the pun, but cutting edge for it's day. I'm not too proud to admit i had trouble dozing off the night i watched the film.

The story is very original and well acted by all. It's a shame they flogged the story to death with God knows how many sequels, but this original is a must see.