Halloween 2K26 - A Nightmare on Elm Street Rewatch
Halloween 🎃Ten years ago, I bought a DVD box set with all of the Nightmare on Elm Street films with the intention of sitting down and watching them all in order. Growing up, I’d seen bits and pieces of each film, and I’d seen the original, Dream Warriors, and New Nightmare from beginning to end, but I wasn’t sure I’d seen the rest. So, over the course of a few months, I watched them all just so I could confirm that I’d seen each film.
I haven’t had much interest in rewatching any of the films until sometime last year. I got this itch to go back into the bonkers world of Freddy Krueger and experience the interesting soundtracks each film offered. I don’t see it talked about enough outside of Dream Warriors, but the NOES soundtracks had some killer 80s tracks. I’m particularly a fan of Anything, Anything by Dramarama from NOES 4: The Dream Master.
For this most recent rewatch, I bought the Blu-ray box set. I quickly discovered that my opinions on some of these films have shifted over the past decade. Some of my old favorites were less enjoyable, while some of the ones I didn’t care for before I liked a lot more. I guess that’s the joy of rewatching movies as you get older. You’ve experienced new stories and developed new tastes.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The original. What can I say that hasn’t been said before? It’s dark and takes the character of Freddy Krueger quite seriously. A young Johnny Depp shows up, but Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy is one of the greatest final girls for a reason. She’s a bit naive and definitely not ready for something like Freddy to enter her life, but she’s able to dig down deep and find something within herself to fight against him as her friends fall one by one.
There are so many iconic scenes in this film, including the hand in the bathtub, Tina’s death as she’s dragged across the ceiling, the famous Freddy face pushing through the wall, the staircase... the list goes on and on. There is a reason it’s a classic and one of Wes Craven’s best pictures.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Known nowadays as the gay Nightmare on Elm Street. I won’t rehash the stories regarding the production and Mark Patton, as there is already a great documentary on the subject, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street.
I always remember being disappointed in this film, but with this most recent rewatch, I found it quite enjoyable. I thought Mark was a great final guy/queen, and Freddy hadn’t gone full comedy yet. Kim Myers as Lisa was great as a co-star, and there is a memorable scene at a pool party. I also enjoyed the dynamic between Jesse and his father, and the groundedness of this film really stands out when reflecting on the series.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
If the original isn’t someone’s favorite, then odds are it’s Dream Warriors. In Dream Warriors, Nancy returns, but in a smaller role, while Kristen, played by Patricia Arquette, steps up and leads a cast that includes a young Laurence Fishburne in a minor role. Of course, the amazing Dokken song and music video are also worth checking out if you haven’t seen them before.
The series moves out of suburbia and into a mental institution as Freddy starts dealing with a more rounded and fleshed-out cast of co-stars. Freddy’s humor gets cranked up, but we also get some backstory regarding his mother and the horrific ordeal surrounding his creation. It’s masterfully presented by not going into too much detail while also not using it as an excuse for Freddy’s actions. It’s just a nightmare situation.
Dream Warriors is fun, and that is why it’s so beloved. It’s a very easy watch and arguably the most rewatchable film in the series.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Patricia Arquette decided not to return, so pop singer Tuesday Knight takes over the role of Kristen. Considering the shoes she needed to fill, she did an admirable job, but ultimately this movie is the passing of the baton to Alice, played by Lisa Wilcox, as the new face of the franchise.
Similar to Dream Warriors, The Dream Master is fun, albeit a bit stupid at times. Director Renny Harlin came in wanting to make an enjoyable film within this playground, and he did so admirably. So much so that after this rewatch, The Dream Master was easily one of my favorite films in the series.
It serves as a direct sequel to Dream Warriors, although the surviving cast doesn’t make it through this film. Once again, the teenagers trying to escape Freddy are well-rounded and memorable. Alice is portrayed as weak, quiet, and frail, and it’s not until she reaches down and takes on the strengths of her lost friends that she is able to battle Freddy. It’s a pretty interesting arc in a series that doesn’t always spend much time developing its characters beyond who they are when we first meet them.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
And now... it starts going downhill fast.
The Dream Child was released in 1989, and the prime horror days were winding down by this point. The film is darker both cinematically and tonally, although Freddy continues to spew puns. We continue Alice’s story as well as Amanda Krueger’s, Freddy’s mother.
The plot revolves around Freddy using the dreams of Alice’s unborn child to manipulate her, and while the film is worth a watch thanks to Lisa Wilcox and Robert Englund’s performances, you can tell the script wasn’t given nearly enough time. The new tone just doesn’t work.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
This is a tough watch. Lisa Zane, Billy Zane’s sister, stars as Maggie, and a young Breckin Meyer shows up along with a slew of out-of-place cameos from the likes of Alice Cooper, Roseanne, Tom Arnold, and Johnny Depp.
Released in late 1991, the 80s horror boom was over, but the film still managed to pull in $12.9 million during its opening weekend and was profitable for New Line. Sadly, the story is just terrible.
Set “ten years from now,” Freddy has killed all the teenagers in a small Ohio town, and now he needs to essentially escape it to find more teenagers to kill. The entire film feels like a low-effort production, and it’s definitely the final time I ever watch this one. It’s just a slog to get through as Freddy’s corniness is cranked up to eleven. There’s also a video game scene... and I can’t even talk about it.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
I was born in the early 80s, so this was my Freddy. Released in 1994, it hit video stores just as my horror fandom was peaking. I made a copy of the VHS and watched this film dozens of times as a teenager. I’d never seen the original and had no idea Freddy was usually less intense than the violent, dark, and hungry Freddy we see in New Nightmare.
Kudos to Wes Craven for the smart script and for taking things meta. I loved the idea of filming a new Freddy movie while Freddy begins entering our world. Heather Langenkamp returns as herself, along with a slew of appearances from folks like Robert Englund, Bob Shaye, Wes Craven, and John Saxon.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve watched the film so many times or if it simply hasn’t aged as well for me, but I remember even my rewatch ten years ago feeling a bit like a chore. This most recent rewatch confirmed it. The movie isn’t bad, but it needs some editing, and it runs far too long. Similar to The Final Nightmare, I believe this will be my final time watching New Nightmare.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
The much-hated remake...
I’ve only seen it once before, and I didn’t hate it. After this rewatch, I still don’t hate it. It’s a different beast from the rest of the films. It is more grounded, lacks most of the humor, and is quite disturbing.
Folks forget that in 2010, many of the horror movies being released in theaters were part of the torture-porn era. The filmmakers made a movie that catered to a more serious and darker horror audience. I’m not really sure we needed a sequel to this film, so I’m okay with one never coming to pass, but when you look at the series as a whole, the remake is far from the worst. In my opinion, it’s arguably in the top half and possibly even the top third.
I’m saving Freddy vs. Jason for my Friday the 13th rewatch, so I’ll discuss that one later.
I didn’t comment nearly enough about Robert Englund in my little recaps above. The man is just so solid that you almost take him for granted. Whether he’s being serious and terrifying like in the original or New Nightmare, or popping pizza toppings made of teenagers, his commitment to the role and genuine delivery are what make Freddy one of the most iconic villains of all time.
He’s funny, and he’s not. He’s corny, and he’s not. That’s a lot of range across an entire series of films helmed by different directors and featuring wildly different tones. While the lines may have stunk and the scripts may have lagged, never once did Robert Englund fail to perform masterfully in the role.
As I get older, I find myself thinking more about how much time I’m wasting rewatching movies I don’t actually want to watch. Part of going back through this series was allowing myself to experience it once again and figure out which films might actually be worth returning to in the future.
For me, it’ll probably be the original, Dream Warriors, and The Dream Master. Although, I think the next time I get a hankering for some Freddy, I’m going to explore some of the supplemental Freddy entertainment out there, such as Freddy’s Nightmares, his MTV VJing gig, or even the episode of The Goldbergs he showed up in.
