You should love every installment of the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise. And here's why.

I know a lot of Freddy fans. Hell, I'm sure most people know a lot of Freddy fans. A Nightmare on Elm Street and its 6 sequels are the Pepsi Cola of Horror. Freddy is easily as recognizable as Jesus, Lady Gaga and Barack Obama. Mr. Krueger is more popular than Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Chucky combined. But what most of his fans will say, is, "My favorite movie is whatever, but I hate blah blah". Or they'll say, "The first one is the only good one." And, you know when I was 17 I might have been right there with you. Growing up, my favorites were the original and part 3. I had an onslaught of reasons as to why I was correct and why you were wrong for finding any sort of appeal in the remainder of sub-par films. But, I'm here to say that I was wrong. I was wrong, and if you think there isn't something worthwhile or special about any of these films, you're wrong too. And here's why...

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Its got to be hard to not like the original. In my humble opinion, it's a perfect horror movie. Robert Englund had yet to really figure out the character and when it came to Krueger's dialogue, less was definitely more. The kills have yet to be topped. When Tina is dragged across the entirety of the room bleeding from her gut, I am still amazed at the creativity. The score, was the perfect blend of ambiance and the best synthesizers of the time. The dream sequences opened up in natural and unassuming ways leaving the viewer open to being surprised when they had the realization that it was too late for the protagonists. Nancy's final fight with Krueger was as realistic as it could have been and John Saxon just being in the movie took it up about 50 points of awesome. Bottom line is if this film is not one you like, I don't like you.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Imagine that you're a singer in a fairly decent country rock band in the late 1950s. You and your band have landed yourself a slot on a young Elvis Presley tour. Your opening every night and warming up the kiddies just right. Then one night, the King needs to go on first and he tears the house down. He does his show and it seems like that on this night, Elvis has found another gear and he kills the crowd even more than usual. Now there you are, trying to follow Elvis with your little band. That's how I think of Freddy's Revenge and when I think of it that way, it puts things into a better perspective. They lost Wes Craven as a writer which was a huge blow to the franchise and film. The Freddy ethos had been established but not set in stone which left the door open to the possession angle that was taken. Now while things could have been done better, this is still a pretty solid movie. First, the homosexual subtext which I wrote a blog about previously is kind of a nice little surprise for those as oblivious as me. The school bus opening is fantastic. They established a Nancy connection with the diary setting up the potential to have Nancy come aboard in further movies. The locker room scene is pretty hilarious, and who doesn't love a hot redhead in a horror flick? With the gaping plot holes and lackluster ending, I can only defend this movie so much but I think its a decent horror film, and while its one of my least favorite of the series it's not unwatchable.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors

This is an excellent film and it is an excellent Freddy movie. First off, Wes Craven is back writing. And Nancys back! Right? Nancy is all grown up and is a psychiatrist who is specializes in dreams and dream therapy. Shes also a raging hypnocil addict. Anyway, the dream sequences in part 3 are in my opinion the best in the series. They were mostly old school effects with little to no CGI. The giant snake "penis" Freddy is disgusting and horrifying. Zsa Zsa gabor makes a crazy cameo and not a week goes by that I don't scream at my Wife, "Where's the fucking bourbon?!"

Oh yeah, John Saxon is back and drunk again! That old bastard! And is it just me or does Dr. Gordon look like Bill Maher? This movie is single handedly responsible for me being turned on by nurses. Need I say more?


A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

A dog named Jason pees and resurrects Freddy. That's a sucky way to get things going. Maybe it was Kristen pulling the other Dream Warriors into a Freddy dream of hers that got things juiced up, but that wasnt really established. With that throw aside, you have a pretty good looking cast of ladies in this film and for my money's worth, it doesnt get much better than Toy Newkirk as Sheila Kopecky.

 

HELLO NURSE!!!

 

If that's not enough for you, Nightmare 4 had the most unusual kills in the series. You got asthma, cockroaches, and even 80s style Kung Fu! You also see the demise of the remaining dream warriors and in Alice you have the potential for another protagonist to carry the torch against Freddy.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

That's right! Alice is back, I guess. To be honest, there inst much that I can say is good about this film except for the extrapolation on Freddy's back story. The focus on Freddy's Mother and the scenes of the Asylum are pretty fantastic. But unfortunately for me and fortunately for some Freddy is knee deep in sarcastic wise cracking douche bag mode instead of the silent masochistic sadist. But, like I said, there's a little nugget of awesome in all of the movies. The ending sequence is fantastic and if I'm being honest with myself, Amanda Kreuger is kinda hot in this one.

Freddy's Dead

There's a theme running here. For me, the further down the line we go, the less interested I find myself being with Freddy and the more interested I find myself being in his back story and Springwood and fortunately there is a lot of back story content in this one. Freddy's Dead was the last in the series, kinda. Springwood has gotten to the point that the little city has become a ghost town. Only child obsessed maniacs inhabit what's left of Springwood. We learn some things about Freddy and his twisted real life. Rosanne, Tom Arnold and Johnny Depp all make special appearances and while the 3D content is laughable now, I remember seeing it in theaters as a little kid and enjoying the shit out of it.

Oh yeah, and my personal favorite one liner from the movie...

This is a must see.


A New Nightmare

Finally! Wes Craven is back! And did he come back with a gargantuan attempt to revitalize the franchise and take a swing at all the would be folks that tried to fill his shoes? Unfortunately, it wasn't really his best effort. Not until Scream will Craven achieve what he achieved with the original Nightmare. And back off! I like People Under the Stairs! But its no Nightmare! With that being said, this is still a solid movie and it has an awesome plot. The execution inst that bad, but there is something about Heather's acting when she's playing herself that just kinda pisses me off. I can't put my finger on it. But the kills in the movie are fantastic and the updated look of Freddy is aesthetically pleasing to say the least. There's no reason not to own this movie.

Im not going to mention Freddy vs Jason or the remake of the original here. I think both of those films have their pros and cons but this is about the original series. Even putting New Nightmare in there is kind of a stretch.

So, if you have it in your head that you hate any of these movies, watch them again. Go and find something to love because they're worth it. Ill post a montage of all the kills from the series. I dare you not to get juiced up!