The supposed classic horror movie is not terrifying, not smart and not amusing; it is simply another dull slasher film. The film is responsible for introducing the world to Freddy Krueger, who is played by Robert Englund (everything else “Nightmare On Elm Street”). The film is also the most famous work of director Wes Craven (“Scream”), who needs to take some serious lessons from Alfred Hitchcock (“Psycho”), John Carpenter (“Halloween”) and Steven Spielberg (“Jaws”).

Deceased child murderer Freddy Krueger now spends his days invading the dreams of teenagers as he slices them up with his special glove with knives. When they wake up, their clothes are usually torn and they have cuts on them if they’re lucky enough to wake up at all. The overpowered menace seems incompetent though when he comes across Nancy (Heather Langenkamp).

Freddy Krueger takes a pounding both physically and verbally at the end of this movie, showing us just how pathetic he really is. He is potentially an interesting character but the film never offers us all that much. He also takes the unoriginal route of killing teenagers that are off having intercourse. Heather Langenkamp might be a good actress but this film doesn’t really help her career as she has weak lines. This film is noted for featuring a young Johnny Depp (“Ed Wood”) so fans of him may want to check this out.

“A Nightmare On Elm Street” has a few good set-ups but instead of growing some brains, it decides to be dull and play it safe. Safe because for some reason, lots of people love movies where dumb teens are mindlessly and brutally slaughtered. I myself thought and hoped I’d be seeing something half-decent here as it did spawn several sequels but it is a mediocre film. Then again, it is pretty darn good compared to lots of slasher films (“Halloween: Resurrection” I’m looking at you).