"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep..." - Nancy Thompson
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Nightmare on Elm Street Collection - Disk 1
Year of Release - 1984
DVD Release - New Line Home Video - 1999
Region 1 - NTSC - Rated R
Running Time - 91:17
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Heather Langenkamp, introducing Johhny Depp, and Robert Englund as Fred Krueger
Music: Charles Bernstein
Wes Craven had created and directed a handfull of Horror movies before helming A Nightmare on Elm Street, such as The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes which garnered him with a cult status. However Nightmare catapulted him into the mainsteam public eye.
Craven's inspiration for A Nightmare on Elm Street was some newspaper articles that he'd read. The articles were about a kid who told his parents that his nightmares were going to kill him. The boy died in his sleep a couple of days later.
SYNOPSIS
Nancy Thompson (Langenkamp) has been having terrible nightmares about a burnt and disfigured man wearing a dirty sweater and a hat, with knives for fingers (Englund), trying to kill her. She finds out that her best friend, Tina (Amanda Wyss), has been having the similar nightmares featuring the same man.
Tina, afraid to sleep alone invites Nancy and their boyfriends, Glen (Depp) and Nick (Rod Lane), to stay over at their house while her parents are away. As Tina and Nick sleep together, Tina has another nightmare about the disfigured man, but this time he catches her and kills her. Not only is she being killed in her dream, but it is manifesting in the real world. As Nick watches helplessly in horror, Tina is butchered by the unseen assailant. Naturally, Nick is blamed for the murder and is captured by Nancy's father, Lt. Thompson (Saxon).
Disbelieving that Nick would kill Tina, Nancy suspects that the man in their dreams was the real culprit. While her mother (Blakley) thinks that Nancy is losing her mind and with her father doing his best to protect her, can Nancy outwit and defeat the supernatural stalker?
Whatever you do, don't fall asleep...
VIDEO
A Nightmare on Elm Street is presented in its original aspect of 1.85:1 and is 16:9 enhanced. The source material has been cleaned up extremely well with barely a trace of grain or film artefacts. The colours are bold and the whole film just looks vibrant.
AUDIO
The DVD has a Mono soundtrack to highlight how the film was originally presented theatrically. It also has a Dolby 5.1 audio track masterd for the DVD, which is excellent. Obviously, you are supposed to watch the DVD with the 5.1 sound, but it is of "historical interest" to at least sample the Mono track. Bernstein's score is unobtrusive and his themes are subtle, but very effective.
EXTRAS
Audio Commentary - Wes Craven (Writer/Director), Jaques Haitkin (Director of Photography), Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon
John Saxon is without a doubt one of the coolest mofos on this, or any other, planet. Unfortunately he doesn't have much to say in this commentary. You do, however, get lots of great commentary by Craven and Langenkamp. Haitkin adds some interesting insights into how some of the shots were achieved. All in all, one of the better commentaries that is far from dull.
Jump to a Nightmare
A mildly amusing variation on Scene Selection, where you jump straight to a particular nightmare with titles such as "This is God" and "I'm Your Boyfriend Now". Not really useful, but a nice touch.
Cast & Crew
These bios are reproduced from the original press kits, which is a great idea.
DVD-ROM Content
"Script to Screen" Interactive Screenplay, "Dream World" Trivia Game #1 and Up-to-the-Minute Cast and Crew Biographies with Web Links.
OVERALL
A Nightmare on Elm Street is ranked among films such as Halloween and The Evil Dead, as the seminal Horror movies of the modern era. They are the kind of movies that everyone knows about, not just cult horror buffs.
There are several themes running throughout this film. The major theme is a coming of age tale. The character of Nancy begins as the helpless teen in a broken home, dominated by her mother. As the story progresses and as Nancy begins to fight her nightmares and uncovers the parent's secrets, she takes on the role of the responsible adult. The theme of the child redeeming the sins of the parents is also strong in this film, much like the original Star Wars Trilogy.
Robert Englund puts in a disturbingly evil performance as the supernatural child murderer Fred Krueger and Heather Langenkamp holds the lead role of Nancy with a strength that outshines, dare I say it, Halloween's Jamie Lee Curtis.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a truly scary film. It's a powerful story, a landmark film that, much like Halloween, spawned sequels and imitators. It is presented on an excellent DVD, that is light on the extras when baught seperately. However, as part of the Nightmare on Elm Street Collection Box Set, it is forgiven as the 8th disc of the set contains all of the true features.
Watch this film.
The Film: 
The Disk:
"Dark Lord" Paul Lenkic
"Accept the Lord of Darkness as your saviour!" - The Undertaker
© 2002