Revisit an old Nightmare

One two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three four, better lock your door… How many of us can say that this song doesn’t send a chill down our spines? Well if you were a child of the 80s or grew up during that time it probably does. I remember being about 4 or 5 years old, my brother making me watch this movie. Back then I thought he was a butt but now I thank him because he opened me up to the whole world of horror and I love it.

Freddy Krueger

In preparation of the remake coming out in just ten days, I sat down and decided to re-watch A Nightmare on Elm Street and give you my thoughts. And I’m glad I did because there is so much that I didn’t even remember. It had been a long time since I last watched it. The movie starts off with Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) having a nightmare that features a creepy man in a red and green sweater with knives for fingers. Clearly shaken from the dream she doesn’t sleep anymore and the next morning at school she tells her friends Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and Glen (Johnny Depp) about it. Later in the day at her house while having a slumber party with Nancy and Glen, she tells them more about her dream and both of her friends realize they too have been having dreams about the same man: Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund). With the arrival of Tina’s on and off again boyfriend (Nick Corri), the two make up and head off to her parents’ bedroom to do the typical horror movie thing: have sex. After having done the deed Freddy finally snatches Tina in her dreams and kills her in an awesome badass way. The look on her poor boyfriend’s face was priceless.

Amanda Wyss as Tina Gray

And ahh, the 80s..it was a time of blood overuse and creative ways to die. I mean seriously, who bleeds that much? Not the average human I’ll tell you that. While all of that is going on Nancy is trying to sleep in Tina’s bed but old Krueger comes through the walls quite literally to get her. But she wakes up just in time. So, with Tina dead now that leaves just Nancy and who would have thought she’d be the ‘hero’ of our story? Amanda Wyss would go on to star in a few other horror movies but nothing too exciting because no one ever really hears about her. Her list of ‘horror’ seems to be as follows: This House Possessed (1981), To Die For (1988), Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992), and The Graves (2009). She will always be remembered though for being Freddy Krueger’s first victim. Go Amanda! Her acting? It was a 4. She played a frightened and horny teenage girl well. Her scream was a 4, and her strength was…well let’s face it, her strength was a 1! And should she do any more horror movies? Well why not, she’s done some already but I haven’t seen them. But let’s hope she learned to fight back a little better or we’re just going to keep watching her die. All in all I give her a 4.

Nancy Thompson

Now we move on to our leading lady, Heather Langenkamp. Her scream? It was definitely a 5; she had a decent pair of pipes on her. Acting skill? I loved her. She stayed true to the character and I could really feel what she was trying to convey across the screen. Plus towards the end of the movie she was a fierce bitch so that automatically gives her a 5. Attractiveness? I’ll give her a 3 because seriously, honey, do something with those eyebrows. They were starting to look like one big unibrow. She went in to star in 2 more Freddy movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and New Nightmare (1994). Plus she also did another Wes Craven horror film called Shocker (1989). She’s a 5 all the way horror movie wise and I really wish she’d do more. But even if she isn’t in front of the camera she has been behind it for Dawn of the Dead (2004) and The Cabin in the Woods (2011). She’s a strong 5 and a cameo from her in the new Nightmare movie would be awesome. But I’m not sure that we’ll see it. No one could ever replace our original Nancy Thompson. But judging from the previews Rooney Mara looks like she’ll do a good job. And you can expect a review on that when it comes out. I’m so excited, I can’t wait!!!

Rooney Mara

One Response to “Revisit an old Nightmare”

1. MarkSpizer says:

   May 3, 2010 at 2:58 am

   great post as usual!