One...Two...Freddy's Comin' For You

From the time we were little we always feared going to sleep. At some point all children wake up in the middle of the night and scream for their parents. They had a bad dream, so the parents come in and check under the bed and in the closet. Then the child goes back to sleep and they are fine. However from that point on they always have a slight fear when the lay down to go to sleep. As grown adults they ask themselves is someone under my bed, or is someone in my closet. Nightmare on Elm Street draws on this to create a terrifying experience.

Freddy Krueger is probably one of the most frightening characters even to grace the silver screen. One of the huge reasons for this is that Freddy is not tangible. This poses the questions how can you stop someone that only exists in your sleep. Right away the film grabs you. There is an old dingy basement and a man with razor blades for fingers. Then there is the shot during the opening credits in the boiler room the girl in the nightgown is running, but seems to be running in place. This is a brilliant shot its adds to the dreamlike nature of the opening sequence.

There are so many great shots and effects in the movie. The next cool effect is where Freddy is stalking Tina in the alley. He is walking towards her and is arms grow in length to probably twenty feet across right in front of the camera. This very dreamlike and creates a surreal camera shot. This next shot is ridiculous. Glenn (played by Johnny Depp) falls asleep and Freddy’s arm comes up though the bed and pulls him in. Then thousands of gallons of blood flow upward out of the bed, not like and eruption though. The blood flows straight up out of the bed and coats the ceiling. The blood flows as if gravity has been reversed. This is such a strange shot and it is unforgettable. Also this scene brings about a funny quote. One of the paramedics arriving at the scene says, “We don’t need a stretcher up there, we need a mop.” The next scene I love is, and you knew it was coming, is the bedroom scene. Tina looks as though she is having a seizure in her sleep, but she is not she is being attacked in her dream. All of a sudden her chest is sliced open by four long slashes and she is dragged across the ceiling, screaming and bleeding. This has to be one of the best horror scenes ever and definitely one of the most revolutionary. The ending scene is great, its starts out happy ending like most of the movies at that time. Then it turns bad as the red convertible gets some green stripes as the cars drives away there is some question is she still in the dream world or not. Then the question is answered as Nancy’s mother is yanked in through a small window by Freddy’s arm.

The whole tension of the entire movie really makes it what it is. Watching this movie is so scary it is almost uncomfortable to watch. After watching the movie you feel like you have just driven for two hours on a busy highways with your hands gripped tightly on the wheel.