A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
A group of high school friends realize they are having similar nightmares about being stalked by a disfigured man with knives for fingers but don't know what to make of it. Soon after one of the girl's is brutally murdered while in her sleep. Although her boyfriend is suspected, Nancy and her friends believe the death was part of dreams she was having. In her dreams, Nancy foresees the death of one of her friends and finds out the next day that it came true. Nancy's mother, concerned for her daughter confesses that the figure from her nightmares is Freddy Krueger, a child murderer. He was released from prison on a technicality and Nancy's mother and several other parents took the law into their own hands, murdering him. Krueger is not enacting his revenge through the children's dreams and it is up to Nancy to stop him.
The film was an instant commercial success partly due to its carrying on of the many tropes found within the slasher film of the 1970s and 1980s and for the films original premise that blurs the line between dreams and reality. The franchise went on the become very popular and far reaching, with several sequels, a television series and of course references in the neo-stalker film Scream. It has been said that Craven was inspired to make the film from a personal level and from a research level. As a child he was badly startled by an older man walking outside of the path near his bedroom window. As Craven stared at the man, the man (unaware of Craven's presence) turned and stared back at him. This was the inspiration for Krueger. Craven was also inspired by case studies of traumatized people refusing to sleep after violent nightmares and dying soon after.
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Wes Craven
Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
Running time: 91 minutes
Year: 1994
Studio: New Line Cinema
The film was an instant commercial success partly due to its carrying on of the many tropes found within the slasher film of the 1970s and 1980s and for the films original premise that blurs the line between dreams and reality. The franchise went on the become very popular and far reaching, with several sequels, a television series and of course references in the neo-stalker film Scream. It has been said that Craven was inspired to make the film from a personal level and from a research level. As a child he was badly startled by an older man walking outside of the path near his bedroom window. As Craven stared at the man, the man (unaware of Craven's presence) turned and stared back at him. This was the inspiration for Krueger. Craven was also inspired by case studies of traumatized people refusing to sleep after violent nightmares and dying soon after.
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Wes Craven
Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
Running time: 91 minutes
Year: 1994
Studio: New Line Cinema