Wes Craven’s hit slasher film A Nightmare on Elm Street was a fresh take on horror through a fearsome, distinct character. The comics will address him commonly as the “Springwood Killer,” but in the films we see him as a striped sweater wearing serial killer. Freddy Krueger is a burnt, psychopathic, unrelenting, child killer that hungers for revenge; in total, he stays hungry for 9 films. Craven’s genius is evident with the concept he explores throughout the original film. If you fall asleep, you are going to die. How are you going to die? A man with 4 razor sharp claws latched to a glove, a popular costume accessory for this Halloween season, is going to chase you and catch you; freddy catching you is inevitable, unless you wake up. With a budget of only $1.8 million, the film was a major hit. The total domestic gross New Line Cinema arrives at with “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is just over $25.5 million. How could the franchise stop there? It never seems like the sequels are better than the originals when it comes to films in a horror series. When it comes to debating the films in this series, Johnny Depp catalyzes the win. Who doesn’t want to see Johnny Depp get torn apart and swallowed by the claws of Krueger? Does his blood have to fly from the depths of his mattress showering the ceiling? Of course it does. Johnny Depp is the star that radiates off the cast list nearly 33 years later. Born in 1963, Depp landed on the silver screen 21 years later in Craven’s slasher. It was his first role, and he can thank Craven’s teenage daughter at the time for that; she had to choose between Depp and another actor to play Glen, but chose Depp because of her attraction towards him. Some may not be surprised by her choice, but may be surprised as to how Depp reached auditions. Depp originally moved out to Hollywood as an aspiring rock musician, but his friend Nicolas Cage persuaded him to take on Glen’s part for some extra cash. I think it’s safe to say we are all glad he didn’t turn his back on acting. If you missed The Shining last weekend, then this is the perfect time to get a good scare in. A Nightmare on Elm Street is a classic 80’s horror flick that will not disappoint. It doesn’t matter what taste you have when it comes to movies; if you go watch Freddy Krueger, you will either close your eyes, laugh, scream, or just be flat out entertained. $5 is the perfect price for whichever one fits you.
Making all of your nightmares come true … Varèse Sarabande will be releasing A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 8-CD box set (limited 2000 units) on October 16, 2015.
This deluxe package contains all 8 soundtracks from the original series, over 8 hours of music including almost 3 hours of bonus tracks. New artwork has been commissioned for the set (by artist Shawn Conn, http://atomicdeadguy.com/), and configuring the sleeves together forms a larger piece of art. Before you have any nightmares, please don’t worry … the original Matthew Joseph Peak creations are included in the packaging.
The set comes complete with the trademark knitted Freddy sweater encasing the outer box.
The world was introduced to Wes Craven’s Freddy Krueger (portrayed by Robert Englund) in 1984 with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Krueger was a former child killer seeking revenge against the parents who burned him by haunting the dreams of their teenage children and killing them in their dreams. The series has earned almost half a billion dollars, worldwide, and boasts some of the most beloved, nightmarish themes from composers including: Charles Bernstein (Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street), Christopher Young (A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge), Angelo Badalamenti (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), Craig Safan (A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master), Jay Ferguson (A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child), Brian May (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare), J. Peter Robinson (Wes Craven’s New Nightmare), and Graeme Revell (Freddy Vs. Jason).
Also included in this set is a suite from the video game featured in the film Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare and the theme from Henry Manfredini’s FRIDAY THE 13TH series, as heard in the film FREDDY VS. JASON (with performances by the band Machine Head).
Pre-orders for the Varèse Sarabande A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET limited edition 8-CD box set will be taken beginning Friday, September 18 at www.varesesarabande.com. The boxed set will ship on October 16, 2015
Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street
Music Composed by Charles Bernstein
1. Prologue (:34)
2. Main Title (3:32)
3. Laying The Traps (2:06)
4. Dream Attack (1:20)
5. Rod Hanged / Night Stalking (4:44)
6. Jail Cell (1:13)
7. Confrontation (1:41)
8. Sleep Clinic (2:25)
9. Terror In The Tub (:59)
10. No Escape (2:15)
11. School Horror / Stay Awake (4:02)
12. Lurking (1:02)
13. Telephone Terror (1:08)
14. Fountain Of Blood (1:03)
15. Evil Freddy (:50)
16. Final Search (3:57)
17. Run Nancy (1:08)
BONUS/UNRELEASED
18. Horror Movie (source cue) (:43)
19. Nancy Glen (2:30)
20. Funeral (:56)
21. Freddy’s Hat (:59)
22. Bridge Talk (1:08)
23. Bars On Windows (1:00)
24. Freddy’s Glove (:22)
25. Dad At Glen’s (:45)
26. Boiler Room (1:22)
27. Show Yourself (:45)
28. Morning After (1:23)
29. Stingers (:46)
DEMOS
30. Freddy #1 (mono) (3:32)
31. Weird #1 (stereo) (2:59)
32. Chase #1 (stereo) (1:06)
33. Chase #2 (mono) (2:10)
34. Rhythm #1 (stereo) (1:30)
35. Theme Sketch (stereo) (1:55)
36. Concert Overture: A Nightmare On Elm Street – Charles Bernstein (Composer’s Home Mockup Sketch, Summer 2015) (stereo) (5:25)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Music Composed and Orchestrated by Christopher Young
1. Main Title (2:32)
2. …And Leave The Driving To Us (2:01)
3. Furnace Flare-Up (2:17)
4. Kissing Freddy On The Catwalk (3:21)
5. Chest-Burster (3:53)
6. Jump Rope (1:45)
7. Fire Bird (3:12)
8. Dream Heat (1:11)
9. Necromancer’s Spell (2:31)
10. “Kill For Me” (2:35)
11. Sports Attack / Threatening Angela (2:35)
12. Freed Of Her (1:29)
13. Snake-In-The-Class (:56)
BONUS/UNRELEASED (mono & stereo)
14. The Horror In My Head (1:29)
15. Wake Up (1:48)
16. My Sick Toaster (1:31) (stereo)
17. Any Dream Will Do (:39) (stereo)
18. Daymare (:42) (stereo)
19. Splashdead (:26)
20. Which Witness (1:39)
21. Not Again (2:04)
22. Wrong Turn Right (2:34)
23. Head On Fire (1:12)
24. Feet On Fire (1:22)
25. Sting Thing #1 (:20)
26. Sting Thing #2 (:28)
27. Sting Thing #3 (:22)
28. Sting Thing #4 (:18)
29. Hells Bells (:12)
30. Nightmare On Elm Street Suite – “Suite Dreams” (15:49) (stereo)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Music Composed By Angelo Badalamenti
1. Opening (1:52)
2. Puppet Walk (3:19)
3. Save The Children (1:24)
4. Taryn’s Deepest Fear (2:48)
5. Deceptive Romance (2:47)
6. Snake Attack (1:46)
7. Magic Butterfly (1:21)
8. The Embrace (:43)
9. Quiet Room / Wheelchair / Icy Bones (2:42)
10. Rumbling Room (1:15)
11. Dreamspace (:46)
12. The Dream House (2:02)
13. Is Freddy Gone? / Trouble Starting / Prime Time TV / Icy Window (4:38)
14. Grave Walk (1:14)
15. Nursery Theme (1:56)
16. Light’s Out (:57)
BONUS/UNREALSED MUSIC (mono)
17. Main Title (Film Version) (2:18)
18. Dreaming / Basement Chase (4:05)
19. Bathroom Attack / Computer (1:41)
20. The Snake (Film Version) (2:14)
21. Sleepwalk (Film Version) (3:38)
22. Prime Time (:26)
23. Junkyard Intro / Mom’s Head (1:33)
24. Alley Part A / Alley Part B (Film Version) (2:11)
The man who gave us Freddy Krueger is gone! One of the great, name-above-the title horror maestros of the ‘70s and ‘80s has died. Wes Craven was a huge name in the horror biz – his A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in ’84 was an influential shocker, spawning many sequels and rip-offs. He followed that up with the first three SCREAM films. He was such a box-office sure-thing, he was the reigns to a Meryl Streep Oscar-baiter with 1999’s MUSIC OF THE HEART. But Craven’s heart was always in horror: THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE SWAMP THING, THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, and THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS were among his many popular films. My favorite remains his first, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, a still-terrifying look at sadism and savagery that was decades ahead of its time. Wes Craven was 76 and had suffered from brain cancer.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“Wes Craven, the famed writer-director of horror films known for the Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream movies, died Sunday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 76.Craven, whose iconic Freddy Krueger character horrified viewers for years, died at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced. Craven claimed to have gotten the idea for Elm Street when living next to a cemetery on a street of that name when growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland. His five Nightmare on Elm Street films were released from 1984-89. Similarly, Craven’s Scream series was a box-office sensation. In those scare-’em-ups, he spoofed the teen horror genre. The movies frequently referenced other horror movies. Craven’s first feature film was The Last House of the Left, which he wrote, directed and edited in 1972……”
The leaves are beginning to fall of the trees, the days are getting shorter and the scariest night of the year is four weeks away.
Check out the lineup in October for Retro Nights at the B&B Wildwood 10.
You can catch Halloween classics each Thursday beginning October 10th at 7pm, culminating with the original HALLOWEEN on the Grand Screen Halloween night!
Of all the ’80s slasher films, a group crowded with all sorts of efforts, Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET still reigns supreme as one of the more imaginative of the entire bunch. Nightmares have been fodder for many horror films over the decade, but here they’re particularly insidious and memorable. The film basically turned its producing studio, New Line Cinema, into a major player, gave a fresh breath of life into a genre that had grown stale, boosted the career of Craven, turned its scarred bogeyman Freddy Krueger into a pop culture icon (hat, red & green striped sweater, designer glove and all), made Robert Englund (as Krueger) a bona fide genre star, and provided a key early role for Johnny Depp. The impact A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET has made in about 29 years is undeniable. The story, for those out there who have lived under a rock all this time, deals with Krueger, a depraved murderer of children executed by a vengeful vigilante mob who lives on in the nightmares of the mob members’ children. Resourceful, feisty young Nancy (appealing Heather Langenkamp) realizes it’s up to her to combat Freddy – on his own terms – before he can continue to claim victims, while her peers and the adults around her think she’s simply going insane. Many ingenious ideas here when it comes to the world of nightmares, and as this thing plays out it’s not always clear where the nightmare ends and reality begins. The boiler room is one hell of a wonderful, atmospheric, and sinister location, and that glove, with knives attached to the fingers, really is a thing of macabre beauty. The movie is fantastically gory, yet other special effects are often just as impressive; there is an undeniable appeal in seeing effects done when the digital revolution was still years away and things were accomplished practically. The cast runs a little hot and cold as some of the performances aren’t all that hot, but it’s still a decent assemblage of talent, from veterans John Saxon and Ronee Blakley, to Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, and Depp (in his feature debut) as the imperiled kids to character players like Charles Fleischer, Lin Shaye, and Joe Unger. Langenkamps’ Nancy is a heroine for whom you do want to root, and Englund, although it hardly needs to be said, delivers a deliciously evil performance; given how silly a character Freddy eventually became, it’s nice to see him in the days when he was still plenty scary. All in all, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is one of the quintessential films of its genre that fans should check out at some point.
And this weekend at the Tivoli, you’ll have a chance to see A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in all its big-screen glory when it plays midnight at the Tivoli in St. Louis as part of their Reel Late Midnight series this weekend (May 31st and June 1st)
I will be there with Freddy Kruger trivia and prizes both nights so bone up on your NOES knowledge! Admission is only EIGHT BUCKS!
1, 2, Freddy’s coming for you, but he may be invading your nightmare a few days earlier than you anticipated. We have passes to give out for the April 28th screening in St. Louis of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. That’s two days before the film’s wide release.
First and foremost, this is a St. Louis screening. If you will not be in St. Louis on April 28th, please do not enter this contest.
Here’s all you have to do. As many of you know, the Freddy Krueger character was established and made into an icon with one Robert Englund donning the hat, red and green sweater, and razor-sharp claws. For this new version, the reins have been handed over to Jackie Earle Haley, who many know as Rorschach from WATCHMEN. What we want to know is who is your choice? Robert Englund or Jackie Earle Haley? Leave a comment in the comments section below explaining who you think will do a better job as Freddy when the dust has settled.
We’ll be picking the best answers from the entries and notifying you by email. And, if you’re not one of the lucky ones, be sure to check out A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET when it hits theaters on April 30th.
Now, this should have been the second poster Warner/New Line released for their NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake. It’s different. It’s slick. It’s a little creepy.
Just one note, completely black out the girl’s face. Make her a faceless victim, and make Jackie Earle Haley’s Freddy and the hallway the star of the thing. This inclusion of an actor’s face seems a bit like they are going for the SCREAM/I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER structure, which, essentially, made the 20-somethings-posing-as-teens the stars of the film rather than the killer of the piece.
Nonetheless, there is very little I dislike about this poster. Even that little inclusion of a period at the end of the tag line:
“He knows where you sleep.”
As if that’s the final word on Freddy and the way he is going to find you. So far, so good on all aspects of the marketing for this film. Let’s just hope Platinum Dunes and Samuel Bayer deliver where Marcus Nispel couldn’t with this FRIDAY THE 13th remake.
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is set for release on April 30th.
The new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET trailer, brought to us by MySpace Trailer Park, shows us a bit more than the previous trailer, and I’m not sure I would even go so far as to say it’s just more of the same. We get some different characters. A different angle to the story (this one shows nothing of Jackie Earle Haley/Freddy pre-parental-vengeance). My interest also peaks at the sight of Aaron Yu talking about his nightmares via web cam. Does this new NIGHTMARE deal with all the children of Springwood and not just a select few? Bringing the whole small-town pandemic aspect into this new series this early might give it the fresh take it so very much needs. This new trailer even shows us a bit of that wry humor any decent horror fan might expect from a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movie. Freddy’s last line in this new trailer is one for the books.
I can’t help but wonder, though, if this new film is a by-the-books remake without many inventive kills. That certainly was the case with FRIDAY THE 13TH (minus the kill at the dock). I’m sure we won’t know those answers until the film is released, but seeing some iconic imagery (the glove coming out of the bathtub and whoever the “Tina” equivalent is here floating over her bed) really makes me wonder if there’s just too much fan appreciation going on here.
Nonetheless, the new trailer looks sleek and scary. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Yes, you see that right. Freddy just put his glove down so that it is no longer covering his face. The latest poster for the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake, courtesy of MySpace, doesn’t look a whole lot different from the last poster. We see a little bit more of the makeup covering Jackie Earle Haley’s face in this one, but, all in all, not so much a new poster as it is a variant on the original.
When you think about it, that very same phrase might serve as a precursor to what the remake has in store for us. It doesn’t look like it is going to be all that different from the original film, save for the depictions in store for us leading up to Freddy’s initial death. Other than that, it looks like more of the same, slight variations on something we’ve seen done before. Haley looks like he’s going to give an outstanding performance as Krueger, but that’s to be expected.
Nonetheless, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET hits theaters on April 30th. Expect a new trailer to hit later in the week.
CHUD is saying it might not be that big of a deal, but Spoiler TV is claiming reshoots are taking place on the remake for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Evidently, early test screenings were mixed to negative, and, now, Platinum Dunes has set up more shooting to take place. In fact, it appears entire scenes are being added to the film.
The scene Spoiler TV has casting call information for involved a scene at a diner, one that the lead character, Nancy, works at. Test audiences may have been claiming the film needed more back story for its lead character, and, it appears, Platinum Dunes is abiding.
Take this news how you will. It could mean the upcoming remake is in trouble and needs to work out its kinks through reshoots, or it could just mean the test screening keyed Platinum Dunes into something they should be including in the film. Time will tell, as the film comes out on April 30th, 2010.
What’s your take on these reshoots? Is A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in trouble? Is the production company just hedging their bets and giving the test audiences what they want? Let us know by shooting us a comment below!
