A Nightmare on Elm Street (series)
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a series of
horror films that were exceptionally popular in the
1980s. The series takes its name from the first film,
A Nightmare on Elm Street, which was released in
1984 and was written and directed by
Wes Craven. The central character of the films is
supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger, played by
Robert Englund. Krueger is able to attack and kill people through their
dreams and does so with considerable
violence and gore. Whatever happens to someone in their dream happens to them in real life.
The series' effectiveness can be attributed in part to the relatively inspired nature of its villain. Rather than a simple murderer or any other form of villain who exists on screen, Krueger exists in
dreams and thus could hypothetically attack anyone, even in reality (a theme explored in
the final film of the series). The generic location of "Springwood" is akin to "
Springfield", a very common town name, and intended to be every small town in the world. As Krueger himself states in
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, "Every town has an
Elm Street."
The original film was directed by
Wes Craven and remains among his most famous features.
A Nightmare on Elm Street was followed by five sequels culminating in
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (
1991). Craven was largely not involved in these sequels, but did receive a producer credit for Part 3. In
1994, Wes Craven returned to the series with
Wes Craven's New Nightmare, in which Krueger appeared in (a fictionalized version of) the real world, plaguing Craven and the actors who had appeared in the original film.
As the series progressed, the films got gorier as new, creative ways were found to slaughter teenagers. The series managed to feature many up-and-coming young performers before their rise to fame (notably
Johnny Depp,
Patricia Arquette, and
Laurence Fishburne).
Almost every director involved with the sequels has gone on to direct higher profile films, as opposed to the fates of other slasher film directors, including veterans of the
Friday the 13th series. The most successful among them was
Renny Harlin, who would go on to direct the enormously successful
Die Hard 2: Die Harder and the
Sylvester Stallone vehicle
Cliffhanger. Chuck Russell, the director of Part 3 directed 1994's
The Mask starring
Jim Carrey and 1996's
Eraser with
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead.
Eventually, a declining interest in gory teen
slasher films towards the end of the
1980's led to the series' fade in popularity. Though the films still make profit when released, they have never matched the success they found in the first four.
Over the years Freddy has become a
cult figure with his burnt face, red and green striped sweater, brown hat, and the metallic glove with sharp knife blades attached to the fingers. In the original film Krueger was a nearly silent, remorseless killing machine. As the series progressed, Krueger became a progressively more wisecracking,
black-humoured character - frequently making a short
witticism as he dispatches each victim. Englund described the character they had turned Krueger into as "
Shecky Greene with claws" (later apologizing to classic comedian Shecky Greene, who took offense at the remark). Part 6,
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, represents the zenith of this trend. Many horror critics and fans, claiming it to be a lazy way to reach potentially wider audiences and appeal to the lowest common denominator, have often criticized the sequels for this reason. Part 5 and 6 are the most common targets of this disapproval.
A constant feature throughout the series of eight films has been the nursery rhyme, which Krueger's victims hear in their dreams shortly before being confronted by Krueger. Sung by a group of young children (usually young girls) in the films and set to the rhythm of
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, it runs:
One, two, Freddy's coming for you
Three, four, better lock your door
Five, six, grab a crucifix
Seven, eight, better stay up late
Nine, ten, never sleep again!There was also a TV series
Freddy's Nightmares that featured Freddy introducing scary stories involving the nightmares of the citizens of Springwood, in the style of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The show managed to produce 44 episodes over the course of two seasons, before being canceled.
In
2003, the Krueger character was pitched against
Jason Voorhees from the popular
Friday the 13th film series in
Freddy vs. Jason. The film opened on
August 15 and was immediately the most financially successful film in either series. It cost $25 million to make and grossed $47 million in its opening weekend. Several propositions for a sequel to the film, involving additional characters from other horror franchises, have been proposed. The first idea involved the use of
Bruce Campbell's
Ash Williams character from the
Evil Dead franchise. This idea was apparently halted when
Evil Dead director,
Sam Raimi, decided against it. A second idea involved using the
Michael Myers character from
John Carpenter's
Halloween franchise. According to an
interview with Englund, from March of 2006,
New Line Cinema has particpated in talks with Carpenter concerning the film.
In the same interview, Englund discussed
A Nightmare On Elm Street: The First Kills, a prequel documenting Krueger's child killing years, set before the events of the first film. While the prequel is currently under review by
New Line Cinema, Englund stated that
John McNaughton, director of
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, is attached to direct.
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Comic Books - The popularity of the film series also led to the creation of several
comic book series published by companies such as
Marvel Comics, Innovation Comics,
Trident Comics and
Avatar Press. Writers such as
Steve Gerber, Andy Mangels and
Brian Pulido have all contributed stories to the various series.
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Novels - All films in the series except for
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare had a novel adaptation release. In 1991, a non-canonical novel titled: Freddy Krueger's Seven Sweetest Dreams was released, containing seven short Freddy themed stories.
Tor Books produced a six entry young adult series in the mid-1990's titled: Freddy Krueger's Tales of Terror. In 2005,
Black Flame, a subsidiary of
Games Workshop, began publishing a series of paperback books based on the Nightmare mythos.
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Soundtracks - The Elm Street series, especially the first film, is often praised for its use of music to influence mood. The theme from Part One became a recurring motif, and is one of the more well known horror movie themes. Most of the films in the series have had both a score and soundtrack release. Only the first, second, and seventh film had just a score release.
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Video Games - In the mid-1980's,
video games for the Commodore 64 and
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) were released based on the series. In the early 1990's, a pinball game was also produced.
|
Title screen from the NES Nightmare on Elm Street game |
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A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984, $25.2m
US box office takings#
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, 1985, $30.0m#
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, 1987, $44.8m#
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, 1988, $49.4m#
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, 1989, $22.2m#
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, 1991, $34.9m#
Wes Craven's New Nightmare, 1994, $18.4m#
Freddy vs. Jason, 2003, $115m
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The Nightmare On Elm Street Companion*
A Nightmare on Elm Street Forums*
The Nightmare On Elm Street Tribute
