I first watched this film when I was 14 and got the box set for Christmas. Seeing as this was 24 years after the film came out I should have probably been a little skeptical about it. But since watching films like Salem's Lot at a younger age I've loved these films. So for me, this was just taking on board old horror movies.
The opening of the film is genius. The way Craven introduces the killer straight away without showing you he is the killer is flawless. Showing him in a boiler room, surrounded by tools that could easily be entirely innocent, before showing the killers weapon, and without having to show his face, puts immediate panic into your head. He is the Nightmare of the title.
The killer himself is unlike anything we've seen before that. For example, Hitchcock's Norman Bates, or Carpenter's Michael Myers. Their characters have deep psychological problems, whereas Freddy is just impacting revenge, after being a child murderer in life. The concept of killing in dreams is genius as well, considering this is what we as an audience fear. Dying in your sleep, fair enough. But being brutally murdered? And it's not just the fact that they're being murdered in the dreams, but the way it was brought out of the dream too.
The fantasy really kicks in with Marge's death, which I found to be a little cheesy. Floating in the air whilst being ripped apart? It could have been better. Yet it would still be scary to an audience. And Glen's death just takes the extreme. Being sucked into a bed with your TV. Brilliant. And the blood being spurted back out? Reminiscent of Kubricks The Shining. But also, cheesy. I know that this is supposed to be a slasher film, and therefore filled with blood and gore. But there are better ways to do this, and if you look at Craven's earlier work like The Last House on the Left or The Hills Have Eyes, you can see this. But that is what brings the fantasy.
The ending is also a little cheesy for me, but it's good as it leaves a cliffhanger for the next film.
The cheesiness of my opinion is expected as of my generation and the progress slasher/fantasy have made since Wes Craven introduced it.
Overall I give the film a 4/5
