Wes Cravenâs New Nightmare
Wes Craven spent much of the 90s making what can best be called self reflective, ironic type horror films, ones that told their own story while still commenting on the current state of the horror industry itself. The Scream Trilogy is probably the most popular and famous of these works, but truth is Craven was experimenting with this style as far back as 1989âs Shocker, a film that deliberately teased itself in being the first of a long running franchise (it wasnât) complete with an all purpose made for prime time villain whose aura of pure evil had already been superceded by his penchant to entertain audiences with his one liners and over the top theatrics. Those in the know understood that Craven was really lamenting about the cinematic fate of his most famous creation, Freddy Krueger, whose run in The Nightmare On Elm Street franchise which had started with the genuinely frightening original classic of Cravenâs had degenerated into a macabre stand up comedy act of sorts in the later sequels which Craven had no part in, albeit though it had gained worldwide popularity amongst both teens and The MTV Generation and had made Robert Englund a bona fide megastar and Freddy himself into one of the definitive 80s pop culture icons. With the release of Freddyâs Dead in 1991 and the heavy promoting of that film to be the âlastâ of the series, Craven finally took the opportunity to approach New Line Cinema with an idea to revive Freddy but only on HIS terms by telling a story about Freddy attempting to escape the movies into the real world where Craven, Englund, and others would be playing themselves as characters. New Line jumped at the idea, the hype machine went into full swing, and Cravenâs all new Freddy film was released in 1994, proving itself to be one of the most brilliant and original horror films of that era, but still nonetheless baffling longtime Elm Street fans who saw Englund as âHimselfâ reduced to being in a supporting role and Freddy barely being seen at all except at certain key points in the film. Instead, for our actual lead character we get Heather Langenkamp (best remembered for being so beautiful and strong as legendary horror heroine Nancy Thompson in Parts 1 and 3) playing herself as she copes with the expected hype for the 10th anniversary of Elm Street and worse, a crazed stalker (which had happened to her in real life) calling her on the phone and âpretendingâ to be Freddy (or is he?). Then her son (Miko Hughes, still famous for his creepy portrayal at age two of Gage Creed in Pet Sematary which he seems to partially channel here) suddenly starts reciting quite often the infamous Freddy rhyme and her movie special FX artist husband (David Newsom) is killed in a nasty car wreck by a being who APPEARS to be none other than the actual Freddy. It is only when she is called in for a meeting with New Line Cinema boss Robert Shaye (in an unflattering cameo as himself) and then sits down with the one and only Wes Craven (wonderfully working himself into the storyline as the only person who seems to actually know what is going on) does she finally learn the truth: that what we had known as âFreddyâ in the Nightmare movies was really an infinitely old real life dream demon whom Craven had managed to âcaptureâ in 1984 by creating an incredibly similar movie character which in doing so, had negated its power to kill innocents in our world, but by watering the character down and finally killing him off in Freddyâs Dead, the being had now been empowered to come back to our own world, not only leaving Craven with the responsibility of having to create a new story that would shut him down for good, but also requiring Langenkamp (who had been the first one in the cinematic realm to defeat and humiliate him) to once again step into the role of Nancy Thompson (strangely enough since she herself had been killed off in Part 3) and accept the notion that based on the strength of her interpretation of that character, that she is now a âgatekeeperâ of sorts whom Freddy must destroy in order to break free once and for all (when confronted by this Freddy like demon, he even addresses her as âNancyâ). Pretty damn far out by most horror film standards (although a couple of other franchises would attempt a similar story with lesser results), but Cravenâs storytelling style here is that of the slow burn, building the story up as we establish Langenkamp the real life actress as a movie character (with some aspects being true and some not), and within twenty minutes, the viewer is at a loss to explain why she never became a major star, as she not only possesses that classic beauty but also the amazing poise and composure that defined many of the great female movie stars of all time, complete with that simply incredible pout. As we see that she is (apparently good) friends with her Nightmare co-star John Saxon (giving it a go at playing himself and doing rather well), Englund is portrayed as being someone whom she is also friends with, but yet still apprehensive around due to her general distaste for the Freddy character, a fictional child molester who in many ways became just as popular as most real life rock stars, but the real disturbing idea here is the one (which Craven held back on obviously out of respect for Englund) that Englund is actually all too fully aware of what this Freddy Demon is doing, and if Langenkamp twice playing his nemesis makes her such an important target, the effect on the actual actor who played him six times must be unimaginable, with it being implied that he may either be complicit or actually even covering for the ârealâ Freddy and possibly even be the unknown crazed stalker making the phone calls to Heather (which in the context of the story is certainly meant to be the real Freddy and is clearly in Englundâs own voice) before suddenly disappearing from the film by âleaving townâ. After the rather slow buildup of the first half though, Craven manages to send the whole thing into overdrive in the second half with frequent appearances of The Freddy Demon (played by Englund of course), Heatherâs son being taken to a psychiatric hospital (complete with a disbelieving idiot head doctor), and finally Heather and her son (along with Saxon) being sucked into a whole NEW Nightmare On Elm Street sequel (where Nancy and her dad are inexplicably still alive) and while Saxon is shown to have once again taken on his old role as Lt. Don Thompson while being totally oblivious as to knowing who he really is, Langenkamp is still fascinatingly fully self aware of who she actually is, with only her own acceptance of herself finally playing Nancy again (âI love you tooâŚDaddy.â) setting the stage for the wild climax, during which old school fairy tale elements are injected into the story (with mixed results) to try to give it some relevance and while Freddy does get a couple of somewhat choice one liners, it is still readily clear that Englund is playing the role here with different physical mannerisms than what weâre used to seeing, playing Freddy as more of a towering, imposing all purpose monster than at any other time in the series, but the filmâs overriding main strength is in the truly serious, dark tone that ironically had been missing from the series since Part 1, with part of what makes things so disturbing being the idea not so much of Freddy himself, but rather the concept that a character LIKE Freddy could wind up being a hero of sorts to so many, as seen by an amazing early shot in the movie where Englund in makeup appears on a talk show and soaks up the loving adulation of his fanbase. And thus in doing so Craven gets across his statement in the purest possible way, that even in a world where we do have positive role models, how a guy like Freddy Krueger can have such an ardent following amongst the masses really goes to show just how openly sick and twisted our society pretty much has become underneath the rose colored surfaceâŚ
9/10