A Nightmare on Elm Street has never been my favorite horror movie. There isn’t any particular reason for this other than decades-old childhood allegiance. Never underestimate the grip of childhood nostalgia.  As an adult I’m much more of a fan of the movie than I was as a kid. As I’ve grown, Nancy has resonated more with me as have the overall themes.  No matter what my personal feelings about Nightmare are, its legacy is undeniable.

• Directed by: Wes Craven
• Written by Wes Craven
• Starring: Heather Langenkamp. Johnny Depp. Robert Englund

I’m Into Survival

As a child, Nancy seemed weepy and shrill. As an adult, the full weight of what she is going through hits a little harder.  Young Ghoul was too caught up in the blood and gore to resonate with the emotional weight of the movie.  This is a girl whose friends are being murdered mysteriously. Her mother is a non-functioning alcoholic and she’s starting to discover that the adults in her life have been lying to her.  They are not who she thought they were. 

Adults Suck

I do like movies where teens discover that adults are in fact just making it up as they go along. I think it’s a good message and helps teens form their identity and reshape their world view. In that view, Nightmare is one of the best.  The adults aren’t just wrong in the typical denial of horror kind of way; they are actively lying to the kids about their role in the current horror. What you end up with is a situation where the previous generation unwittingly caused a situation to spin wildly out of control, then not only fails to take responsibility for it but works to cover it up. Seems currently relevant. But honestly, when isn’t this story going to be relevant?  Every previous generation screws something up for their kids. Most of the time though it doesn’t involve covering up murder. 

Nancy is trapped in the middle of this dynamic, learning her world is not what she thought while trying to survive without any sleep.  She’s smart and tough. That thing that I like about Nancy the most is at no point does she stop fighting or trying to learn what is happening. She fights with everybody to prove she’s right. Doctors, cops, teachers, and parents; it doesn’t matter. Nancy knows she’s right and she’s ready to take the necessary steps to prove it. I love that she jumps right into researching traps and home defense. 

A Word About Final Girls

Since this tends to come up often when discussing slashers, I don’t like comparing Final Girls. That gets into the trap of pitting girls and women against each other, setting up unfair comparisons in extreme circumstances. For example, is Laurie a “better” final girl than Nancy? It’s impossible to say, since we have no idea how Nancy would fare against Michael and vice versa. The added complication is that Freddy is a supernatural slasher while Michael is, mostly, not.  

What I will do is judge each of these women on their own merits and the strengths displayed in their films, with some added bonuses for the off-screen awesomeness of their actresses. In that regard, Nancy gets a near-perfect score. She’s human and relatable, vulnerable but tough when she needs to be.   She’s also played by one of the warmest and loveliest women in horror: Heather Langenkamp.  I have a signed photo of Nancy; it’s the scene where Nancy is booby trapping her house as she prepares to take Freddy down.  Heather signed it “We’re into survival”, after she and I had a conversation about how much significance Nancy has to me as an adult. That means a lot to me; not just the autograph but the time she took to talk with me and her connection to the character. 

There are deep themes and a chilling backstory in Nightmare that are often overlooked in favor of the campy quips that Freddy throws out.  It’s easy to overlook who Freddy was in life in favor of who he is in death. Not that the latter is much better. Heather knows that Nancy can be inspiring to people who have survived real-world trauma, and she doesn’t take that lightly.  

The End

A Nightmare on Elm Street has two endings: the one Wes Craven wrote, and another tacked on by the producers.  For the purposes of narrative discussion, I’d like to focus on the movie ending on Wes Craven’s intended ending; mostly because the producer’s ending, the sequence with the friends returning and the car, doesn’t make any sense. 

In the original ending, Nancy takes away Freddys’s power by removing her fear of him. This causes him to vanish. It’s rooted in mythology and legend, not to mention a bit of healthy psychology.  It demonstrates that all fears are conquerable, and survival is possible, no matter how dire things may seem.  Nancy standing up to Freddy and demanding her life back is a defining Final Girl moment. 

Slasher Elements

So how is A Nightmare on Elm Street a slasher? Because Freddy is a supernatural entity, he can play fast and loose with the rules and genre conventions, but they are still there. The movie even starts with him creating his signature weapon. Although, in later movies, the kills get much more…interesting. 

Freddy stalks his victims in their dreams, the very definition of an isolated environment.  Nancy gets the bulk of the stalking, since she is the POV character.  We see several thwarted attempts on her life and general hauntings that I put in the stalking category, all of which are iconic horror movie moments. 

Krueger doesn’t have a “traumatic” backstory, at least not in the traditional sense, but he has a troubled one. His motive is still a solid slasher motive, as his desire for revenge fuels him from beyond the grave. 

Final Thoughts:

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a horror legend for good reason. The idea of not being able to sleep without dying has been used in countless stories since, but none have captured the world’s attention the way Freddy did.   Every year, when I end up rewatching it for one reason or another, I find more reasons to appreciate it.  If nothing else, that says something about the timeless nature of the movie. After all, the older I get, the more I’m into survival.

Nightmare on Elm Street is available on streaming