NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, A

I followed up Jeepers Creepers with A Nightmare on Elm Street tonight. I consider this to be a seminal film and one of the most original commercial horror movies ever made. It was released in 1984 at a time when the slasher movie was peaking with franchises like Halloween and Friday the 13th. Audiences came to expect a formula and became cocky about it all... and then Wes Craven came along with Elm Street and tore those preconceptions to shreds. With all of the horror taking place inside teenager's dreams the movie was able to push the horror into the absurd while keeping it entirely believable and terrifying (within the genre). Even now, almost 30 years later, the movie stands up and remains a terrifying experience. It has dated really well. From start to finish the movie is packed with some of the scariest scenes I can recall. Surreal, artistically magnificent and tormenting... I think it remains of the of the best horror films of all time. [it was remade last year. avoid that movie. it sucks. there's a review of it in this group.]

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