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I have to admit up front that these movies are probably my favorite slasher flicks ever. Except for the original Halloween and a smattering of F13.
Let's take a trip into the boiler...
A Nightmare on Elm Street is set in the fictional Midwestern town of Springwood, Ohio. The plot revolves around several teenagers being terrorized in their nightmares by the ghost of a serial child murderer named Freddy Krueger. Right off the bat, it's a more interesting premise than Friday the 13th. Also has the distinction of being Johnny Depp's first role in a movie along with his first death scene. The movie still holds up today, minus the lame bit at the end with the mom being dragged through the window. I could have done without that and Wes wanted it to end on a happy note. No sequels. Plus, JOHN MOTHERFUCKING SAXON is in this. And he fought with Bruce Lee, so that automatically gives this movie some street cred.
Then came Freddy's Revenge. Which coincidentally was our first commentary we did. It's so bad it's almost good. Almost... For one it has probably the most in the closet lead character in a Nightmare film ever. Which is not a bad thing, but it gives that movie the biggest "WTF?" moments in the entire series. The sadistic/super gay coach is so over the top it's hilarious. Then we have the whole subtext of supressed homosexuality through out the movie.
From Wikipedia:
On top of all of that, the movie just doesn't make any sense. So now Freddy climbs out of teenagers? He enjoys pool parties? He bursts into flames? He controls hellhounds? WTF?! The most telling sign is that Wes Craven had no intention of ever creating a franchise and had nothing to do with the second one. It sullied the name of NOES for a bit there. Until...
NOES 3: Dream Warriors! This is probably my favorite flick out of the entire series. The deaths were inventive, they brought back Nancy, and it stars Larry Fishburne and Patricia Arquette. This one really takes the whole: " He uses your fears and kills you" and pushes it to the limit for the time. But on the same hand, starts with the sorta cheesy one liners. The idea behind the movie is a pretty decent one actually:
From IMDB:
This one also introduced the drug "Hypnocil" which was used a major plot point in Freddy vs. Jason. And also Amanda Krueger, whose name you see on the tombstone at the end of the movie. If anything, the NOES series is known for it's inventive deaths and this one is no exception: Death by television, Death by puppet, death by heroin overdose (which doesn't sound crazy, but when your injection marks turn into tiny mouths you know it's going to be awesome), death by JOHN MOTHERFUCKING SAXON and attempted death by a giant freddy peni...I mean snake, yeah that's the ticket. This movie should have been the end of the NOES trilogy, but of course it made decent money. I bet that's because it had a theme song by DOKKEN!
Next we have...
Let's take a trip into the boiler...
A Nightmare on Elm Street is set in the fictional Midwestern town of Springwood, Ohio. The plot revolves around several teenagers being terrorized in their nightmares by the ghost of a serial child murderer named Freddy Krueger. Right off the bat, it's a more interesting premise than Friday the 13th. Also has the distinction of being Johnny Depp's first role in a movie along with his first death scene. The movie still holds up today, minus the lame bit at the end with the mom being dragged through the window. I could have done without that and Wes wanted it to end on a happy note. No sequels. Plus, JOHN MOTHERFUCKING SAXON is in this. And he fought with Bruce Lee, so that automatically gives this movie some street cred.
Then came Freddy's Revenge. Which coincidentally was our first commentary we did. It's so bad it's almost good. Almost... For one it has probably the most in the closet lead character in a Nightmare film ever. Which is not a bad thing, but it gives that movie the biggest "WTF?" moments in the entire series. The sadistic/super gay coach is so over the top it's hilarious. Then we have the whole subtext of supressed homosexuality through out the movie.
From Wikipedia:
Film commentators often remark on the film's perceived homoerotic theme. Some people have argued that a subtext exists about Jesse's repressed homosexuality, and they point out the encounter that he has with his gym teacher in a bisexual S&M leather bar, and his flight to a hunky male friend's house after an aborted attempt of making out at his ostensible girlfriend's pool party. During the latter scene, Jesse, shirt unbuttoned, states that he's scared that "something is trying to get inside my body"; his shirtless friend replies, "Yeah, and she's female and waiting for you in the cabana, and you want to sleep with me." Director Jack Sholder claims that he never intended for there to be a gay subtext to the film, but has subsequently admitted that he does see it in the film, according to the "Nightmare Encyclopedia" included on the DVD box set. Mark Patton, the actor who portrays Jesse, is in fact gay.
NOES 3: Dream Warriors! This is probably my favorite flick out of the entire series. The deaths were inventive, they brought back Nancy, and it stars Larry Fishburne and Patricia Arquette. This one really takes the whole: " He uses your fears and kills you" and pushes it to the limit for the time. But on the same hand, starts with the sorta cheesy one liners. The idea behind the movie is a pretty decent one actually:
From IMDB:
"Picking up where the original Nightmare left off, Nancy has grown up and become a psychiatrist specializing in dream therapy. She meets a group of children at a local hospital facing Freddy Krueger, the same demon she once encountered in her sleep. One of them is Kristen, who has the power to draw other people into her dreams. Working with a male doctor assigned to the case, Nancy helps the kids realize their special abilities within the nightmare world. When Freddy captures one of her charges, she leads a rescue attempt into Krueger's domain, in hopes of putting his spirit to rest once and for all"
Next we have...
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