On this week’s edition of Monster Mash Monday here at the House, Spence is super excited to delve into (along with unapologetically geek out over) ranking their favorite horror franchise of all time, A Nightmare on Elm Street! Enjoy and remember whatever you do… Don’t. Fall. Asleep.
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
This is not only my favorite sequel in the franchise, but also my #2 favorite horror film of all time, and certainly the film that I could watch every day for the rest of my life and never tire of. After being sent to a psychiatric ward for what appears to be a suicide attempt, but really ends up being the workings of Freddy Krueger, Kristen (a young Patricia Arquette) becomes not only connected to a group of kids who are also being plagued by Krueger in their dreams, but also a young doctor, the original Elm Street final girl herself, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp). Not only are the kills incredibly creative and brutal, but the best horror line in cinema history is included in this film. What Dream Warriors also does incredibly well is portray the idea of finding one’s tribe through common experience, while consistently keeping the story compelling, matched with the incredible acting choices made by the young actors. This narrative also happens to be the end of Nancy Thompson’s arc (for now!), which is both incredibly heart-wrenching, yet a satisfying end to her story. A true horror masterpiece.
2. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) (7)
What the audience will see later portrayed in 2004’s Seed of Chucky, begins with this incredibly well-done balance between reality vs. fiction in 1994. Sure, you can look at this piece as a reunion between Heather Langenkamp and Freddy Krueger’s Englund characters (VERY EXCITING!), but the narrative goes much more deeper than that. In an hour and fifty two minutes, the audience becomes engulfed in a relationship between a mother and her child and how the legend of Freddy Krueger affects their lives, not only with heart-wrenching scenes, but with a gorgeous pay-off in the end. As I was re-watching this timely favorite, it dawned on me that not only was this take on the franchise monumental for it’s time, but if we take out the characters’ connections and remove the Elm Street name, this could stand as an incredible psychological horror film on it’s own.
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
The Dream Master is a solid continuation to it’s beloved predecessor, Dream Warriors. The teens we met in the previous installment are now free from Westin Hills and Tuesday Knight has replaced Patricia Arquette as Kristen.The kills are still classic Elm Street, endlessly creative and heartbreaking. My only criticism if I had to pick one, would probably have to be Kristen’s character exit. I would have liked to see her team up with Alice (Lisa Wilcox), and perhaps see a character journey that mirrored Nancy’s in Dream Warriors.
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Sweet dreams, kids! The OG. The one that started it all. The introduction to the Boogeyman himself, Freddy Krueger. Although some of the plot points are a bit slow for my liking, you’re still hooked into the narrative through the unforgettable kills and incredible performance by Heather Langenkamp as our protagonist, Nancy Thompson. Bonus Geeky Film Fact: Did you know that the first Elm Street was Johnny Depp’s first film role and he would take set advice from non other than Heather Langenkamp?!
5. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) (6)
Freddy’s Dead is such a fun, campy, trip that works quite well in the universe the more it’s revisited. With Lisa Zane’s fabulous portrayal of Freddie’s long-lost daughter, Maggie, the red herrings leading up to that reveal to the other characters are quite inventive. The backstory of Freddy is explored once more very effectively, with flashbacks of his wife and little Maggie that have the power to leave any viewer rooting for Maggie and wanting Freddy, well, dead.
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
Alice, a character from the previous installment, is anxious to begin her life after the previous events of the last film. That is until the nightmares begin again, and poor Alice discovers she’s pregnant. I was left extremely disappointed with this one. I thought this film’s portrayal of the Dream World was quite odd. From a bizarre Lynchian homage to a Labyrinth-esque scene toward the end, I unfortunately couldn’t take it as seriously as the others. At one point, I was even bouncing back and forth on who I thought the father of Alice’s baby was. Whether you were meant to question that or not, well, beats me.
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
The weakest out of the main narrative of films, Elm Street 2 starts out with an exciting and promising premise, but then quickly nosedives. What happens when a new family moves into the old Thompson house after the events from the first? How will Freddy affect them? The possibilities and places the narrative could have gone are endless. Until it completely crashes in an uncomfortable hour and a half of soft core homo-erotic porn with an awful ending. Mark Patton has gotten so much hate for his role as final boy Jesse Walsh and basically lost his career before it even began, and I don’t care how low on this list the film is or how awful it is, that absolutely breaks me. You can learn more about his experience making the film in the documentary, ‘Scream Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, available only on Shudder.
8. Freddy vs. Jason (2003) (8)
This film had awful, unbalanced narratives, along with very little action. It should have honored the actual title of the film ‘Freddy vs. Jason by focusing more on Freddy and Jason, instead of wooden characters that we knew were just going to die anyways. Sorry, folks, this was bad.
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