Nightmare On Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street was one of the horror movies that put Wes Craven on the map.  The other two being The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House on The Left.  This franchise was one of the first that got me obsessed with horror movies as a genre because it was the first movie to scare me when I was a kid.  However Freddy scared me long before I even watched the series.  As said in my Star Trek analysis I am Canadian. Why this is relevant I will tell you.  When I was a kid my family took a trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario among most things we seen Marine Land and The Movie Land Wax Museum.  Among the sculptures we seen the Simpsons, Pumpkinhead, and Freddy Krueger. He'd be like 5 foot nothing compared to me now, but at the time he was 100 feet tall for all I cared.  Burnt face rotten hat and sweater and of course the claws.  However he didn't scare me much back then, because at the time I never even heard of Nightmare before.  My mother explained it for me and it wasn't until I was 11 when I first watched him.  It was the Third of the series so my mother thought it would be tame since many horror slasher sequels get funnier......She was wrong.  It wasn't until I looked it up later on that I found out that while Craven was given the boot on all, but 3 movies including the third. He was the writer of the third movie and it showed. This movie scared me so bad that I actually thought Freddy was gonna get me.  The series itself was a modest Franchise. It only had 7 movies, 1 remake, a video game and a few comics featuring Freddy.  Not to mention big biggest face off known only as Freddy vs Jason, but I'll get to Jason later. It was also the movie that started Johnny Depp's career into acting......ya don't expect the awkward goofy stuff you are used to in this one.  If anything he is the only sane person in that movie and that's saying alot.  Why am I doing this now instead of Summer the Haven of Horror? Because the town this movie took place in is called Springwood.

The story revolves around a group of kids, Nancy Thomson, Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz.  Tina has been suffering from horrible nightmares, of a man with razors on his right hand and is convinced that he can hurt her in the real world, as proven with claw marks on her clothing.  Nancy, Glen and Rod, who Tina is Dating at the time decide to spend the night with her, so she wouldn't sleep alone. At the time, Nancy tells Tina that she had a similar dream which scares Tina even more.  During the night Tina is coaxed into going outside after someone chucks rocks at her window.  Upon going outside she ends up being stocked by the man in her dreams.  However it turns out she didn't really go outside she was dreaming and found by Rod struggling in her bed.  To his horror she is being gutted, lifted and dragged all over the room.  The police arriving on the scene initially suspect Rod as he was the only one in the room with her.  However Nancy is convinced that he is innocent after she dreams of the same man.  When she gives the description of the man to her mother and father who's a local cop.  They immediately think she is crazy, yet the way they act was like they are hiding something.  However after some goading, her mother finally relents and tells her about the man.  His name is Fred Krueger, he was a filthy child murderer who was arrested, but was off on a technicality.  So the parents tracked him down and burned him alive.  Nancy decides enough is enough when she discovers she can pull things out of dreams. She then plans for a final showdown between her and Freddy in the real world.

Now  for the fun part Can It Exist In Real Life?

Let's start with Freddy first, not only does he exist, but there are 2 of them.  The first was a schoolyard bully that has taunted Wes Craven when he was a kid. The second was a man who fit the description of Freddy exactly in appearance who frequently stalked Craven.  These two incidences caused Wes to create a monster in his image.  As for the claw, it does exist in various forms.  It's a costume piece that can be found in any costume shop or thrift store. However for those who want the real thing, the movie flat out tells you how to build it in the opening scene.

Next is the dream concept.  Much of these concepts as unreal as they seem have truth to them  First and foremost, dream and sleep related deaths.   Wes himself once stated that he got the idea from an article on LA times involving kids that were having Nightmares so horrible that it killed them.  These articles also described the lengths they went to in order to stay awake such as hiding a coffee maker in their bedroom.  The stress itself in staying awake could also be a factor in their death as the combination of stress plus the caffeine overdose   However what I am about to tell you now, would be much more unreal, but keep an open mind.

The Second part of the Dream concept is getting injured or cut in some way.  We all heard the old stories of someone dreaming that they got cut  in a dream and it showed up in the exact spot.  Many have dismissed it as them scratching them-self at one point.  However I read an entry on Yahoo Questions that say otherwise. A user known as Bryce G asked if something like this is actually possible. One of the answers stated the obvious logical explanations. However also put in the possibility that when we dream rather than just be in our own beds in our own minds, we are in a parallel universe, and if we stay there long we'd be able to feel any sensations as real as this world.  Of course this could be considered word of mouth by the answering party that refers to itself as "?"

The third and last part is a concept that was crucial to saving Nancy. The ability to pull objects and people out of dreams.  Nancy was able to use this to fight Freddy on equal ground.  I didn't really think it possible until I read a rather interesting story.  On the website Psychic Experience, a user by the name of Paulie151 stated that he was able to pull a Skeleton Key into his dream.  This particular key never existed in the house Paulie was living in and he showed it to his parents and friends as proof.  However as soon as he forgot about the key it disappeared.  He attributed it to because he manifested it, he made it disappear.  This was the reason why Freddy kept coming back, because the Freddy Nancy was fighting wasn't the real Freddy, but her manifestation of it and it didn't go after her between 1 and 3 because she dismissed it.  It was her fear of him and belief that he existed that made him appear in the first place since before her and Tina there have been no known unsolved killings. In other words the reason for Freddy's existence is because of her and Tina. They brought him back and when they told others they made him stronger.

As usual debate, argue and let me know what I missed. Stay tuned for more and pleasant dreams.........HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!