New Line/Media Home/Smart Egg. Director Wes Craven; Producer Robert Shaye; Screenplay Wes Craven; Camera Jacques Haitkin; Editor Rick Shaine; Music Charles Bernstein; Art Director Greg Fonseca
John Saxon
Ronee Blakley
Heather Langenkamp
Amanda Wyss
Johnny Depp
Robert Englund
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy.
Young teenagers in a Los Angeles neighborhood are sharing common nightmares about being chased and killed by a disfigured bum in a slouch hat who has knives for fingernails. It turns out that years ago, the neighborhood's parents took deadly vigilante action against a child murderer, who apparently is vengefully haunting their kids.
With original special effects, the nightmares are merging into reality, as teens are killed under inexplicable circumstances.
Writer-director Wes Craven tantalizingly merges dreams with the ensuing wakeup reality but fails to tie up his thematic threads satisfyingly at the conclusion.
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1984. Running time: 91 MIN.
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