2010 Movie List: "One, Two Freddy's coming for you..."
The thing that springs to mind after working my way through the Nightmare on Elm Street Series again in preparation to the upcoming remake is how wildly uneven and disjointed the series is. There really isn't a clear line of continuity throughout. I mean, I thought the Friday the 13th series had continuity issues, but this one just jumps around with no clear consistency between stories, with even the back story and powers of the main character, Freddy, changing to suit any given film. That said, it still remains one of the more inventive horror series out there
107. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The original, classic film that started it all. I'm the first to admit it's a little rough around the edges, but at the same time it still holds up remarkably well over the years, and a lot better than other horror films of the same era, and I think that is because the themes of the film are so timeless.
108. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge: A very, very strange follow-up, this time focusing on a teen boy who has moved with his family into the same house from the original film. Pretty soon thereafter, Freddy starts appearing to the boy, planning to use him as a vessel to manifest himself in the real world. This one discards a lot of what made the original so memorable and instead becomes a barely coherent mess of a movie. Still, gotta love all the (apparently) unintentional homo-eroticism.
109. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors: Probably my favorite of the "canon" Elm Street sequels. This one wisely discards the second film, and picks up with several of the remaining Elm Street kids, who have been committed to a mental hospital. It's not until the arrival of a new patient Kristen (well played by a young Patricia Arquette) and the re-appearance of Nancy (Heather Langenkamp, returning from the first film) that they realize that they're all dreaming of the same guy, Freddy, of course. Rather than be lambs to the slaughter, they decide to focus on their dream strengths, and fight Freddy. With a script written by Wes Craven and Frank Darabont, among others, this one sports a stronger than usual script for this series that rivals it as one of the best along with the original and New Nightmare.
110. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master: This one is a big let down after the third one, with Freddy once again resurrected (by flaming dog pee...umm...points for creativity?) and hunting down the remaining Elm Street kids. However, he meets his match in the Dream Master, a special powered girl named Alice. The beginning of the downturn for the "Nightmare" films, as this one featured the more jokey Freddy everyone remembers and more of a focus on special effects than story. Still, it remains entertaining and is no where near as bad as the two that followed.
111. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child: Freddy, having been banished from Alice's dream world, and by proxy that of her friends, finds a way in through the dreams of her unborn child. Huh. Fetuses can dream. Who knew? What do fetuses dream of, exactly? Meanwhile, Alice has graduated High school and was also able to make a whole new group of cannon fodder friends for Freddy to off in increasingly imaginative ways, all through the dreams of her fetus. Does this sound weird and ridiculous? Yes, it is, and so is the movie.
112: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare: Probably the most uneven and ridiculous (and that's saying something in this series) of the "canon" Elm Street films, many times bordering on straight up parody, especially when Freddy is trying to kill one teen in a video game and he pulls out, yes, the Power Glove. *palm* *forehead* *groan* The film only really starts to click towards the end when the three remaining characters work to pull Freddy into the real world so they can off him for good. Of course, it didn't stick.
113: Wes Craven's New Nightmare: I'm going to go out on a limb and rate this one as the absolute best of the "Nightmare" films. It ranks right up there with #1 and #3 as the all time best of the series. It's also one of the most inventive, with Freddy (or actually some sort of demon in a guise of Freddy...whatever, it's Freddy), moving from the celluloid world to the real one. For me, I think this one came the closest to reaching it's potential, creating a unique, visceral horror film that was at once original and also a wonderful salute to the original film and it's fans (who Wes clearly made this for in honor of the original's ten year anniversary).
114. Freddy Vs. Jason: I'm the first to admit this movie has enough holes in it to sail a ship through (for starters, I'd love to know how lumbering giant Jason got from Crystal Lake, New Jersey to Springwood, which depending on the Nightmare movie is in either California or Ohio - see what I mean about continuity problems? -either way, it's a long way to go, and how the teen characters got him back so fast too, for that matter.). Still, it's hard not to get caught up in the film while you're watching it. While not scary in the least, it's certainly entertaining in that fun B-movie sort of way, especially when we get down to the big match between the two horror icons.
115. A Nightmare on Elm Street: I actually rather dug this remake, which managed to find some fresh material in a well-worn concept. Although fairly similar to the original film, it deviated enough to make it it's own film. I appreciated that the film made a bigger issue of sleep deprivation and the fact that no matter what, you have to sleep, which I always felt the original films never really explored.
107. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The original, classic film that started it all. I'm the first to admit it's a little rough around the edges, but at the same time it still holds up remarkably well over the years, and a lot better than other horror films of the same era, and I think that is because the themes of the film are so timeless.
108. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge: A very, very strange follow-up, this time focusing on a teen boy who has moved with his family into the same house from the original film. Pretty soon thereafter, Freddy starts appearing to the boy, planning to use him as a vessel to manifest himself in the real world. This one discards a lot of what made the original so memorable and instead becomes a barely coherent mess of a movie. Still, gotta love all the (apparently) unintentional homo-eroticism.
109. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors: Probably my favorite of the "canon" Elm Street sequels. This one wisely discards the second film, and picks up with several of the remaining Elm Street kids, who have been committed to a mental hospital. It's not until the arrival of a new patient Kristen (well played by a young Patricia Arquette) and the re-appearance of Nancy (Heather Langenkamp, returning from the first film) that they realize that they're all dreaming of the same guy, Freddy, of course. Rather than be lambs to the slaughter, they decide to focus on their dream strengths, and fight Freddy. With a script written by Wes Craven and Frank Darabont, among others, this one sports a stronger than usual script for this series that rivals it as one of the best along with the original and New Nightmare.
110. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master: This one is a big let down after the third one, with Freddy once again resurrected (by flaming dog pee...umm...points for creativity?) and hunting down the remaining Elm Street kids. However, he meets his match in the Dream Master, a special powered girl named Alice. The beginning of the downturn for the "Nightmare" films, as this one featured the more jokey Freddy everyone remembers and more of a focus on special effects than story. Still, it remains entertaining and is no where near as bad as the two that followed.
111. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child: Freddy, having been banished from Alice's dream world, and by proxy that of her friends, finds a way in through the dreams of her unborn child. Huh. Fetuses can dream. Who knew? What do fetuses dream of, exactly? Meanwhile, Alice has graduated High school and was also able to make a whole new group of cannon fodder friends for Freddy to off in increasingly imaginative ways, all through the dreams of her fetus. Does this sound weird and ridiculous? Yes, it is, and so is the movie.
112: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare: Probably the most uneven and ridiculous (and that's saying something in this series) of the "canon" Elm Street films, many times bordering on straight up parody, especially when Freddy is trying to kill one teen in a video game and he pulls out, yes, the Power Glove. *palm* *forehead* *groan* The film only really starts to click towards the end when the three remaining characters work to pull Freddy into the real world so they can off him for good. Of course, it didn't stick.
113: Wes Craven's New Nightmare: I'm going to go out on a limb and rate this one as the absolute best of the "Nightmare" films. It ranks right up there with #1 and #3 as the all time best of the series. It's also one of the most inventive, with Freddy (or actually some sort of demon in a guise of Freddy...whatever, it's Freddy), moving from the celluloid world to the real one. For me, I think this one came the closest to reaching it's potential, creating a unique, visceral horror film that was at once original and also a wonderful salute to the original film and it's fans (who Wes clearly made this for in honor of the original's ten year anniversary).
114. Freddy Vs. Jason: I'm the first to admit this movie has enough holes in it to sail a ship through (for starters, I'd love to know how lumbering giant Jason got from Crystal Lake, New Jersey to Springwood, which depending on the Nightmare movie is in either California or Ohio - see what I mean about continuity problems? -either way, it's a long way to go, and how the teen characters got him back so fast too, for that matter.). Still, it's hard not to get caught up in the film while you're watching it. While not scary in the least, it's certainly entertaining in that fun B-movie sort of way, especially when we get down to the big match between the two horror icons.
115. A Nightmare on Elm Street: I actually rather dug this remake, which managed to find some fresh material in a well-worn concept. Although fairly similar to the original film, it deviated enough to make it it's own film. I appreciated that the film made a bigger issue of sleep deprivation and the fact that no matter what, you have to sleep, which I always felt the original films never really explored.