Ranking the Nightmare on Elm Street Films

 

At one point or another, many a podcaster and blogger eventually hits the franchise ranking gimmick. I guess after ten years I was bound to. I already had the idea of applying the ranking gimmick in the summer, but since my daughter wanted to be introduced to the classic franchises, I thought this was as good a time as any. SYFY has the Elm Street films for October so I chose these for her to watch. We started with A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and I was shocked that Tina's complete demise in her parents' bedroom was shown. Considering all the "Friday the 13th" films are cut to ribbons, this caught me by surprise. 

Okay, so first the rankings and then I'll explain why in brief excerpts.

The Rankings:

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 4.5/5
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors (1987) 4.5/5
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) 4/5
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) 3/5
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) 2/5
6. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) 2/5

I could almost list A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors (1987) as 1(a) and 1(b), they are that close. I think the first gets the edge because Freddy, to me, is truly at his creepiest, although I think perhaps the sequel has the scariest version of the nightmare killer. It is truly astonishing how different Freddy is in the first film and "Freddy's Dead". I was watching my daughter's reaction to the Freddy scenes and you could see the anxiety, the real impact of his pursuit of Nancy and the terror caused to her friends. The way Freddy is framed, how Craven darkens and shades him, and makes sure that the makeup isn't a distraction. The boiler room, the metal finger claws on the glove, his delight in the horrors caused by him; Craven really made sure this creep was the thing of nightmares. I told my daughter that this is the Freddy that once invaded a dream I had, chasing after me when I was a kid. Not the prankster from "Freddy's Dead". The first film's boogeyman.

What pushes the first over the third are some of the setpieces, the real presence of that Charles Bernstein score, so iconic and distinctive, certain murder setpieces, and that memorable opening as the glove is being put together by Fred prior to his death. The third film is an exhilarating roller coaster from start to finish that never seems to let up. And its connection to the first film makes the third film especially noteworthy. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), though, has two of the best setpieces of the entire franchise for me personally. The "busride to hell" and Freddy "exiting" Jesse are incredible, as well as, Freddy reaching out to kids at a party, with "You are all my children now". When I put together my "Top 10 Elm Street sequences", these two will make the cut big-time. While "Tina's death" and "Glen's death", as well as, the glove reaching from between Nancy's legs in the tub and Tina, in a body bag" calling to Nancy from the high school hall, the two scenes from Part 2 also make the cut. So Part 2 legit has serious credibility with me.

After the first three, there is a certain drop off. I personally enjoy Part 4 more than a lot of others. I have noticed on podcasts and visiting the likes of Reddit that Part 4 has dropped off a lot, benefiting from nostalgia while suffering from what many consider "cartoon Fred" emerging, getting worse and worse until "Freddy's Dead" turned him completely into a comedian. I think Part 4 has a heroine I love in Alice (Lisa Wilcox) and a sequence in a theater that I find visually stimulating (and the "cockroach" kill is epic), but despite Director Renny Harlin's flashy, spirited setpieces, I don't think any of the scenes would make my Top 10. Part 5 has some scenes here and there that I don't mind but besides Freddy being torn apart by maniacs in a nightmare sequence and Lisa dressed as Amanda Kreuger among 100 maniacs in an asylum, it has very little that would ever reach the heights of the first and third, much less even the second.

Of the Elm Street sequels, "Freddy's Revenge" has really seen quite an uptick in popularity. I have noticed on many podcasts the film has seen a surge in recognition. It has even topped some horror fans'/reviewers' lists as the best film in the franchise. I would never go that far. "Freddy's Dead", while upon first viewing when I was a kid seemed like such a hoot, now is such a vast fall from the early films. Fred, that terror that could leave such an impact, was no longer scary or creepy at all. I will say this for "Freddy's Dead": when I was a kid, this was an okay "starter" for someone needing a tamer gateway into the franchise. And the end credits, covering all the very best moments in the franchise, set to Iggy Pop, can prepare newcomers to what is in store for them.

In a poll on the subReddit, r/horror, the question was posted about favorite film of the series and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" surprisingly, to me anyway, pulled way ahead of Part 3 after a few hours despite the two being relatively close at the onset. So the 1984 film still seems to maintain its status as the Fred Krueger film. I think I still remain a bit mixed on the final scene...it feels a bit tacked on. But fighting off Fred just isn't quite as simple as "taking back your energy given away through fear".