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Reinvigorating a horror franchise must be a terrible and delicate task, especially when you have to come up with so many different ways to bring back your bad guy. When the Nightmare on Elm Street series ended, it did so with a pathetic whimper. I mean, have you seen Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare? Neither the lame-ass 3-D segments nor Billy Zane’s hot sister helped sell it. It was not a satisfying wrap-up for one horror’s most beloved characters. Still, we took it up the ass, being good little genre geeks, and talked about the good old days when Freddy was scary instead of a Don Rickles wanna-be.
We never dreamed the man who created Freddy would be the one who would ultimately save him. Wes Craven resurrected Freddy in a fantastically frightening and twisted mind-fuck of a movie that but the heebie-jeebies back into a character that, for a generation, defined the word “fear.”
Follow me, now because this tricky.
Heather Langenkamp, the actress who played Nancy in both the original Nightmare and Nightmare 3, is having a rough time of it. Threatening phone calls from a guy who sounds suspiciously like Freddy have started up again. Her husband, Chase (David Newsom), owns a special effects company. Unbeknownst to Heather, Chase has begun work on a new Freddy movie, crafting a shiny new metal glove in his trailer. Her son, Dylan (Miko Hughes), is a sleepwalker who has been having night terrors, waking up screaming in the middle of the night. Heather’s dreams aren’t too sweet either. Her nightmare about a robotic Freddy hand coming to life and killing Chase’s associates coincides with a morning earthquake, that leaves cracks in the bedroom wall that look eerily like claw marks.
Heather leaves that afternoon for an appearance on a talk show, leaving Dylan in the capable hands of babysitter Julie (Tracy Middendorf). Of course, the talk show host wants to know if there will be another Nightmare sequel. Heather says Freddy’s dead, but the host has a big surprise for her. Out jumps Robert Englund, in full Freddy regalia, reveling in the joyous applause of the Kruegerites in the audience. All the cheering for the bad guy creeps Heather out a little, but obviously, the fans want more of the Fred-man.
This demand doesn’t go unnoticed by New Line Cinema president Robert Shaye, who calls Heather in for a meeting. Apparently, Wes Craven is writing a new Nightmare script and Heather is slated to be the star. Heather declines, stating that since Dylan was born, she has a hard time doing horror. Shaye urges her to reconsider, telling her that since Craven’s been having nightmares again himself, the script just seems to be writing itself.
When Heather arrives home, Dylan is having some kind of seizure. He’s talking like Freddy and singing that jump-rope song we all know so well. Heather isn’t sure where Dylan heard that song, because she’s never let him watch any of the Nightmare movies. She calls Chase, who is on location, and begs him to come home. It’s a three hour drive. On the road, Chase grows weary and briefly falls asleep behind the wheel. When he does, Freddy’s arm bursts from the driver’s seat between Chase’s legs, and knifes him in the chest.
Now Heather is alone, confronted with the fact that art is becoming life. Could Freddy really be attempting to come into the real world? How can she convince anyone of that, without them thinking she’s crazy? And what about Dylan, increasingly drawing within himself, except when he complains about the bad old man who lives at the foot of his bed?
New Nightmare is a brave film. Not only does it turn a well-established franchise on its head, but it takes the movie-within-a-movie conceit and takes it one step further. Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund and John Saxon all play themselves and their characters in this movie. If you’re a casual fan or afflicted with ADD, you may find it difficult keeping up. Is she Heather? Is she Nancy? Is she attractive? I can’t decide! But she’s good. The whole cast seems inspired in New Nightmare, particularly Englund, who imbues Freddy with a healthy dose of cruelty the likes of which we haven’t seen since we first heard the line, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy!”
Having said that, realize that the gore factor in New Nightmare is pretty low. It doesn’t rely on buckets of blood being tossed about. It actually creates fear and tension the old fashioned way; it builds it. From the very beginning, New Nightmare has a sense of unease and things set askew. Even if you’re not quite sure what’s wrong, you know something is up. Building on the best aspects of the series, one is never quite sure where dream ends and reality begins. Don’t be surprised if you feel chill bumps on your arms.
And still, twelve years later, I cannot get over how well this movie is written. I know that in screen-writing classes, they make students study Robert Towne’s script for Chinatown. As far as I’m concerned, New Nightmare should be right there alongside that classic. It deftly moves in and out between the real world and the dream world, blending real people and their characters, until it creates a universe familiar to fans yet completely different, a new place, another vision of hell. Clever isn’t the right word for it. I choose “brilliant.”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Craven fanboy by any stretch of the imagination. I can take him or leave him and think most of his work borders on hackdom. But New Nightmare is a superior horror film and, frankly, I don’t think anyone else could have written or directed it. It is a fitting ending to the series (no, I don’t count Freddy vs. Jason as a Nightmare movie) Craven created.
I only have two complaints with the movie. There are a couple of wonky optical effects ala Ghostbusters II. I can forgive that; it’s a sign of the times in which the movie was made. The score by J. Peter Robinson is dreadful. Although it echoes the original musical strains we love from the series, there are times when it become bombastic when it should be subtle. Too many messianic trumpet blasts for my tastes.
Ah, Freddy… we hardly knew ye. But at least you were finally sent out with a bang. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is one of the most intelligent and frightening horror movies of the last twenty years. Watch the first one, Dream Warriors and New Nightmare and you have, in a nutshell, one of the best slasher franchises ever.
