A seminal horror film that I probably didn't see in its entirety until sometime after I'd seen the next two or three in the series. It was a little before more time, but I must have seen bits and pieces on TV growing up. Yes, Freddy scared me as a kid and I wasn't so much afraid to go to sleep as I was afraid that I might already be sleeping and he could appear at any time.
Click here for a list of all other films reviewed and considered for this October 2012 series of horror reviews.
Wes Craven’s knack as a director has always been his
ability to get under your skin. His
Last
House on the Left has faced accusations of being nihilistic and depraved,
but there’s no denying that it awakens a primal visceral reaction in people.
When
A Nightmare on Elm Street was
released in 1984, he once again put himself out there as a filmmaker who could
grab an audience in a stranglehold and not let go for 90 minutes. In the process
he helped usher in a new era of horror filmmaking with the killer as surrogate
protagonist. People could connect to Fred Krueger in ways not possible with
Jason or Michael Myers or Leatherface. Freddy’s wisecracking and ironic wit was
the precursor to films like
Child’s Play
and even
Scream,
Wes Craven’s own post-modern homage to slasher films.
