Welcome To Prime Time: Ranking The A Nightmare On Elm Street Films

Okay, we've done it.  A month of Freddy.  I hope you've enjoyed a month-long retrospective dedicated to one of my favorite cinematic villains of all time.  If you can't tell from my profile picture on this blog...I'm kinda  big fan of this series.  This franchise is one, unlike its contemporaries, that actually gets to sort of have its own story play out without dodging entries or starting fresh multiple times within the original canon.  Unfortunately it winds up being the one that had the worst of the remakes.  

1, 2 Freddy's Comin' For You : Freddy's 10 Best Kills

Here we go...this needs no real introduction.  Its my 10 favorite or most memorable kills from the A Nightmare On Elm Street series.  These stuck with me one way or another.  Freddy doesn't have a huge roster of victims unlike Jason and Michael.  Since he tends to make an event of each victim, if he had those sort of numbers, his movies would be like 5 hours a piece.  I also tried to keep these from being just "Freddy stabs with the glove" kills.  A lot of these picks' placement tended to have the more elaborate effects and gross out factor win over.  Anywho, here we go, Top 10 Freddy kills

In Memoriam: Kris Fowles

I'm having these dreams...and there's this man...and he's burned.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

A Nightmare On Elm Street

2010

Director:  Samuel Bayer

Starring:  Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Connie Britton, Clancy Brown, Kellan Lutz

Rated:  R

Why are you screaming?  I haven't even cut you yet.

             ~Freddy Krueger

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

2010

Director:  Daniel Farrands (writer of Halloween 6), Andrew Kasch

Starring:  Pretty much everyone

Unrated

I didn't get a blow-job on the set, if that's what you mean.

               ~Clu Gulager

In Memoriam: Mark Davis

I don't do checkers.  I'm an UNO guy, all right?

Freddy Vs Jason (2003)

Freddy Vs Jason

2003

Director: Ronny Yu

Starring:  Robert England, Monica Keena, Jason Ritter, Katharine Isabelle, Kelly Rowland, Ken Kirzinger, Chris Marquette, Brendan Fletcher, Lochlyn Munro, Kyle Labine

Rated: R

I've always had a thing for the whores that live in this house.

             ~Freddy Krueger

In Memoriam: Chase Porter

That's me in the corner, that's me in the spot-light...

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

1994

Director: Wes Craven

Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes, John Saxon, Robert England, Wes Craven, Bob Shaye, David Newsom, Tracy Middendorf, Jsu Garcia, Tuesday Knight

Rated:  R

Screw your pass!

      ~Heather Langenkamp

In Memoriam: Carlos

Yeah, well, the map says we're fucked.

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

1991

Director: Rachel Talalay

Starring:  Robert England, Lisa Zane, Yaphet Kotto, Lezlie Deane, Ricky Dean Logan, Breckin Meyer, Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold and Johnny Depp

Rated: R

Might be your dream, but its my rules!

              ~Freddy Krueger

Freddy's Nightmares (1988-1990) - Guest Article

Hey, guys.  Its an honor to have my next guest stop in to slide us a piece for the Freddy Retrospective.  His name is Cullen and he's one of co-hosts of the deviously funny podcast A TOUCH OF CRASS.  Most importantly, he's one of my longest and very best friends in both the conscious and dream world.  In my dreams, this guy is both beautiful and bad.  In college, I would join in on his "7 Nights Of Freddy" marathon he would put on at his apartment every fall.  So, there was no question he'd be contributing to this.  You can find their podcast by going to their website (its also on iTunes and Stitcher), and follow them and Cullen on Twitter; @mynameiscullen and @ATouchOfCrass respectively.  

The Trilogy Within An Ongoing Series

The Dream Child brings to a close a story line that began with A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.  It continued through 3 films.  Among a franchise that sports 8 entries in its original canon is this nice, complete standalone trilogy.  You can basically start fresh in Dream Warriors and work your way through Dream Child and the story lines (I'm not talking film quality here) come to a satisfying and concise conclusion.  With Dream Child we're left with Alice going off happily ever after with her life free of Freddy and with baby and Daddy in tow.  We never hear from any of these characters again.  They leave us with the promise that Freddy is probably still out there, but he'll never be harming Alice again.

In Memoriam: The Phantom Prowler

Time to die, you scar faced limp-dick!

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

1989

Director: Stephen Hopkins

Starring:  Lisa Wilcox, Robert England, Kelly Jo Minter, Nicholas Mele, Danny Hassel, Erika Anderson, Joe Seely

Rated:  R

Bon appetit...bitch.

       ~Freddy

8-Bit Nightmares: A Video Game On Elm Street

From 1987-1989, Freddy Krueger, a deformed child murderer turned teen dream killer was an unstoppable commercial force.  Everyone knew who Freddy was and were big fans.  So, aside from the movies and television, there was other things to market as well.  We're going to take a look at them really quick here in this article.

In Memoriam: The Dream Warriors (Kristen, Joey & Kincaid)

God, I hate dreaming.

We all have better things to dream about.

This aint my dreamland.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

1988

Director: Renny Harlin

Starring: Lisa Wilcox, Robert England, Tuesday Knight, Andras Jones, Rodney Eastman, Ken Sagoes, Danny Hassel, Brooke Theiss, Nicholas Mele

Rated: R

Kincaid: I'll see you in hell!

Freddy:  Tell 'em Freddy sent ya!

In Memoriam: Taryn White

In my dreams I'm beautiful...and bad!

Nightmares & Soundscapes: The Music Of The A Nightmare On Elm Street Series

Right here seems to be the perfect stop on the journey to discuss some of the music coming from the Elm Street films.  Freddy was launching into the pop culture, and floating right in to the MTV generation.  And with such, you had to get all the hot music acts and have a song from your movie to sell a soundtrack.  Not many other of Freddy's horror bretheren did this.  There might be a notable song or two in a movie, but no big cash in soundtrack.  But, Freddy was coming from a studio growing and trying to become a major player.  Making dollars where you could was part of the process.  With Dream Warriors, Freddy's launch into superstardom came with a soundtrack that also brought a lot of excitement and attention.  Let's go through the films with notable music in the series and take a look shall we?  The year listed is the year it was attached to the film, not the year the song was released.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

1987

Director: Chuck Russell

Starring:  Robert England, Patricia Arquette, Heather Langenkamp, Jennifer Rubin, Craig Wasson, Ken Sagoes, Bradley Gregg, Ira Heiden, Laurence Fishburne, John Saxon, Priscilla Pointer, Dick Cavett and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Rated: R

Sorry kid, I don't believe in fairy tales

          ~Freddy Krueger

In Memoriam: Kerry

Relax, Jesse.  Everything's gonna be o-kay!

Why A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is the Best Sequel (Guest Article)

Returning for another spectacular piece at Naptown Nerd is author and fellow Elm Street enthusiast Randy Shaffer.  I was ecstatic when he chose to lend his expertise to Nightmare 2's intended to be subtext, but moreso blatant sexuality.  Also below check out his books which you can grab from Amazon in the link below!

A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

1985

Director; Jack Sholder

Starring:  Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler, Robert England, Clu Gulager, Hope Lange, Marshall Bell

Rated: R

There is no Jesse!  I'm Jesse now!

           ~Freddy Krueger

In Memoriam: Rod Lane

You could just see the cuts...happening...all at once.

In the past with these, I've written silly little eulogy's to characters who didn't make it past a specific film, but Rod Lane is different.  In the annals of slashers and teenagers in horror films, his alpha male "type" has never been done better than in the original Nightmare film.  There's a Rod Lane in the majority of slasher films and you usually have decided you don't like the guy the minute he walks in.  Its the kind of jock alpha male.  They're the ones that is always a loud mouth, pestering characters you like or consider "normal".  These guys ruin the good time and find all the characters that take the plot too seriously to be a bunch of buffoons.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare On Elm Street

1984

Director: Wes Craven

Starring: Robert England, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Johnny Depp, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia (credited as "Nick Corri"), Charles Fleischer, Lin Shaye

Rated: R

One, two Freddy's coming for you

Three, Four better lock your door

Five, Six grab your crucifix

Seven, Eight gonna stay up late

Nine, Ten never sleep...again...

A NOVEMBER On Elm Street

HELLLLL YEAH!  Welcome to "A November on Elm Street", bitch!  This month marks the 30th anniversary of Wes Craven's original classic.  The film that dropped Freddy Krueger into the the pantheon of legendary film monster.  While Halloween is my favorite film of all time and Micahel Myers my favorite villain, Freddy Krueger is not all that far off.  I frickin' LOVE the Springwood Slasher.  As a film franchise, I actually think his original canon is tops.  They are the most attentive to continuity and least clunky of the big 3 slasher villains.