A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
Label: WBDHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 91 Minutes 10 Second (Theatrical), 91 Minutes 19 Seconds (Uncut)
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (True HD 7.1), DTS-HD MA Original Theatrical 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), directed by Wes Craven (Swamp Thing), celebrates if 40th anniversary this year, and as such Warner Bros. have finally released it on 4K Ultra HD, and just in time for Halloween. This is the supernatural slasher that spawned an hugely successful franchise that spawned seven sequels all starring Robert Englund (Eaten Alive) as the iconic dream stalking, finger-bladed bogeyman Freddy Krueger, later remade in 2010, but the less said about that debacle the better.
Like all any good horror villain we get a cool backstory, Freddy Krueger was a child killer who got off on a technicality years ago, but he was then burned to death by a lynch mob seeking justice, only to returns years later in the terrifying nightmares of his killer’s teenage children. As the kids start to dream of the finger-bladed Krueger, who appears hideous burned, wearing his signature green and red striped sweater ratty old felt hat, they begin to die in their sleep, but with real trauma inflicted on their bodies. It's a pretty cool premise, that you could be killed in your dreams is a frightening prospect. I first saw this when I was ten on cable TV at a sleepover at my friend Barry's house, and I thought it was an absolutely terrifying experience, didn;t sleep a damn wink that night.
It starts off during a sleepover at the house of teenager Tina (Amanda Wyss, Better Off Dead) with her best friend Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp, The Midnight Club). Nancy's boyfriend Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp, Cry Baby) is there, as isTina's asshole boyfriend, Rod Lane (Nick Corri, Predator 2), who just broke up with her. While hanging out there's talk of their nightmares, and they realize that several of them have all had a dream featuring the same scary looking guy. Later that night Tina and Rod make up go off to her mom's room and have sex, after which they fall asleep. While sleeping Tina dreams of Krueger and is murdered. This scene was and still is a visceral kill, in her dreams she is chased by down a dark alley, Krueger slices off two of his own fingers with his bladed-fingers, which much like seeing the Hitchhiker in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre slice open his hand quite disturbed me. In reality her body is being sliced open by an unseen force, it's a total blood bath, screaming in pain, and tough guy Rod is unable to do anything to stop it. He ends up fleeing the scene, and of course becomes the main suspect in her death. Nancy's divorced father Lt. Don Thompson (John Saxon, Black Christmas) is a cop investigating the crime, and he's disappointed that his daughter is not just having a sleepover with boys, but that she would be friends with someone capable of such violence, though Nancy argues that Rod was incapable of murder, instead blaming the bogeyman of their dreams. Nancy's alcoholic and overwrought mom Marge (Ronee Blakley, A Return to Salem's Lot) meanwhile tries to keep her daughter locked in the house, for her own protection, but the resourceful Nancy, comes up with a plan to rip Krueger out of her dreams and into reality, with he help of her boyfriend Glen, if he can stay awake long enough to stay alive.
Watching it now I could pick apart some of the finer points about the film, but since I saw it at such a young age I just go with it, it's such an iconic horror entry for me, and seeing it so young at that formative age has scarred it into by brain tissue. I just go with the dream logic of it and let it wash over me like the iconic supernatural slasher that it is. Robert Englund buried under latex burn scars is absolutely terrifying, and in this first film he's less jokey with the one-liners than the character would become in later sequels, int his first film he's a truly scary nightmare man, one that became an instant pop-culture icon right out of the gate.
The make-up effects and gore-gags are also terrific, we have claws tearing into skin, the set design of the dingy boiler room nightmare landscape is super-creepy, and the sound of the claws scraping against metal is unnerving. Other memorable scene for me are Freddy's claws emerging from the water while Nancy takes a bath, a visual he recycled from his film Deadly Blessing, and that shot of Freddy's emerging from the wall above Nancy's bed using a latex wall, that's just iconic stuff. Oh, and let's not forget the geyser of blood during Glenn's death scene, the poor guy just chilling in bed with his headphones on when Freddy's claws emerge from beneath him and pull him into the bed. It's an inventive kill featuring rotating room turned upside down, which was also used quite well during Tina's death, that pumped 200 gallons of the groovy red stuff out from his bed. It's a visual you will not soon forget, sort of a gruesome version of the elevator blood scene from The Shining!
This was a homerun from Craven, and while I don't love all of his films he did tap into the zeitgeist every now again, this was one of those moments and Scream was another, but he had plenty of misfires along the way. Even still, I always thought that his flicks were interesting even when flawed, he was a cerebral guy and there were always interesting things happening, even if he didn't knock it out of the park.
The atmosphere and mood of the film is terrific, dread-filled from start to finish, thanks in large part not just to work of cinematographer Jacques Haitkin (The Hidden), but that fantastic synth score by Charles Bernstein (Cujo). A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is a stone-cold classic, never mind that some of the acting is hilariously overwrought, I am looking at you Ronee Blakley, it's just a terrifying flick, and it holds up for me, and is still one of my favorite effects driven supernatural slashers of all-time.
Audio/Video: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) celebrates it's 40th anniversary with a long-overdue 4K restoration from WBDHE, presenting the film in the original 1.85:1 widescreen aspects ratio in 2160P Ultra HD with HDR10 color-grading. Already this is an improvement on the incorrectly framed Blu-ray from 2010 which offered 1.78:1 framing. The source looks immaculate, and the grain structure is much tighter, without compression issues or black crush, which also marred the previous Blu-ray editions. The color-timing is also much improved, the previous Blu-ray was dull and leaned yellow, with the new HDR10 color-grading white are actually crisp and white for a change, colors are renewed, and the blacks are much deeper and nuanced, and not plagued by black crush. The colors are refreshed but natural looking, right from the opening credits the New Line logo looks absolutely radiant in red, and Glenn's 1958 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible shines like never before. Skin tones look more natural compared to the Blu-ray, less ruddy, the color-grading in general just seems more dialed-in and refined. The 4K resolution offers superior grain refinement, showcasing wonderful textures in close-ups of clothing, I am think particularly of Nancy's pink sweater in the highschool hallway nightmare scene, and in close-ups of Freddy's burned visage, and depth and clarity are also much improved.
Audio comes by way of English Dolby Atmos (True HD 7.1), which I thought was quite surprising that they upgraded it, but also the digital home video debut of the Original Theatrical 2.0 via DTS-HD MA with optional English subtitles. I know past editions have been plagued by missing sound effects and score cues, and while I am not super well-versed in the minutia of that, it does seem that those issues have largely been corrected with this release, on both he Theatrical mic and the new Atmos remix. I preferred the Atmos mix, it was just more robust and delivered the iconic Charles Bernstein (Deadly Friend) synth score, screams and sound effects with more aplomb overall. Having the original theatrical mix is a serious bonus though, it does sound somewhat anemic compared to the Atmos track, but it's there for the purists. I thought the 4K restoration looks terrific, a very solid upgrade over the previous Blu-ray in all the expected areas, a much tighter and more nuanced image, and the restored audio, including the impressive Atmos upgrade, is terrific.
Less exciting is the array of extras. It's Warner Bros. so it's probably no surprise that there are no new extras for this 40th anniversary edition, but they at least had the decently to recycle the extras from the 2010 Blu-ray. We get both the Theatrical and Uncut version of the film, with the uncut offering 8 seconds of extended violence trimmed for the cinema release, plus archival bonus content by way of the 18-min Ready Freddy Focus Points, the Audio Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronnie Blakely, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher; a second Audio Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin 5-min of Alternate Endings; the 22-min The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror; the 50-min Never Sleep Again: A Nightmare on Elm Street; and the 16-min Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares.
Truly, the flick deserves better than recycled extras, but I am still holding out hope that we still get a deluxe edition 4K UHD boxset of the franchise from some right-minded boutique label like Scream Factory or Arrow Video, because there are still plenty of stories to be told about this film and this franchise!
Onto the packaging, the single-disc release arrives in a standard black 4K UHD branded keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork. Again, it's WB so you know we do not get the absolutely stunning and iconic original illustrated movie poster by artist Matthew Joseph Peak of Nancy staring wide-eyed up from her bed at Freddy's finger-knives; heck we don't even get a promotional image from this film, nope - we get a promotional image from inferior A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master - c'mon WB, is this about paying for the use of the artwork? Anyway, the slipcover has a flat finish with some metallic highlights, and the logo looks cool on the spine, so there's that. This franchise made millions of dollars, pay Peak his royalties and use that original artwork! Tucked away inside is a redemption code for a 4K digital copy of the film.
Special Features:
- Ready Freddy Focus Points (18:13)
- Audio Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronnie Blakely, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher.
- Audio Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin.
- Alternate Endings (4:58)
- The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror (21:52)
- Never Sleep Again: A Nightmare on Elm Street (49:54)
- Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares (15:33)
- Slipcover
- Digital Copy
Buy it!
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