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: 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

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.  

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

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!

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

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

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 2003

2003 was kind of a crummy year until summer hit. There's some big big movies and many people's all time faves within this year but overall it was pretty weak sauce.  I have some pretty notable omissions here, like Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl and the best movie in the Infernal Affairs Trilogy (part 2), but that's the way the cookie crumbled I suppose.  The Academy finally recognized a LOTR movie, but it felt as if the award was for the series as a whole, being that they waited til the final one for it to garner the Best Picture win.

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1994

I remember following the 1994 Oscar race pretty closely.  It was a pretty high profile year from what I can remember.  And 12 year old Brandon had only seen Forrest Gump at the time of the race.  And little Brandon was really moved and affected by Forrest Gump.  Plus he was a Tom Hanks fan.  So, he was really rooting for that movie at the time and had a fantastic night watching that awards ceremony.  Well, in retrospect, older Brandon thinks the Oscars may have gotten this one pretty wrong.  But, its the one that's hot in the moment.  And sometimes, some movie are better off getting snubbed and not winning the award.  Movies that don't even get nominated become far more remembered and legendary more often than most Best Picture winners.  I still enjoy Forrest Gump, but I think maybe there was a better choice.

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1987

Well, this year pissed me off.  It was hard as hell to dwindle it down to 6.  So much good stuff in this year.  So many favorites.  There are plenty I'm going to miss on this one.  I boiled it down to what I have watched most and what I've gone back to more recently and more often.  I'd like to take this moment as well, and give an honorable mention to Miami Connection which came out this year.  Its an incredible film that Drafthouse Films unearthered a little over a year ago and its absolutely fabulous.  See it if you've not had the privilege

Freddy Vs Jason Turns 10 Years Old!

In another one of the ever so growing "has it really been that long?" cases in my life, today marks 10 years ago that slasher icons Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees FINALLY met together on the big screen.  It was an idea struck in the 80s that finally came to fruition in the summer of 2003.  It also became the highest grossing film for either character.  Both's previous few entries had shown a big decline,  To reiterate Scott Mendelson's article from last week when referring to diminishing returns on sequels and mentioning Wes Craven's New Nightmare tanking...SHAME ON ALL OF YOU for not going to that one.  But this one showed, they still got it!