Nightmare on Elm Street Movies

Freddy vs. Jason

2009-01-23T23:18:00.000-08:00

Freddy vs. Jason is a 2003 American crossover slasher film directed by Ronny Yu. The main characters include horror icons Freddy Krueger (from A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Jason Voorhees (from Friday the 13th). In the series continuity for both franchises, the events of this film take place after Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.

Possible sequel

Several ideas for a sequel to the film have been proposed. Many of these involve additional characters from other horror franchises. It was once rumoured Monica Keena would reprise her role of Lori if a sequel was made.

The use of Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams character from the Evil Dead franchise had been considered, but this idea was halted when Evil Dead creator and director, Sam Raimi, decided against it. But in the special features of the Evil Dead: Regeneration game, however, Bruce Campbell himself says that the rumors are "partially true" and he would be willing to do the movie should it come about.

A sequel to the story appears as a comic book limited series, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, from Dynamite Entertainment. According to an interview with Englund from March 2006, New Line Cinema had participated in talks with John Carpenter concerning the use of Michael Myers in a sequel.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

2009-01-23T23:17:00.000-08:00

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) (also known as A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: New Nightmare) is the seventh entry in the Nightmare on Elm Street series of slasher films. Although it is considered the seventh film in the series, this film is not considered part of the series continuity because it takes place in the "real world" where Freddy is known as a movie villain, not the fictional world of Nightmare's 1-6 where Freddy was a real person. The film was the first in the series since the original to be written and directed by Wes Craven. It stars Heather Langenkamp, playing both herself as well as reprising her role as Nancy Thompson. It also has other people, such as Craven, playing themselves.

Written under the working title of A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: The Ascension, Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than recent entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. Craven also mentions in the DVD commentary that the basic premise of this film originated when he first signed on to co-write A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but New Line Cinema rejected it then.

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

2009-01-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (also known as A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: Freddy's Dead) is a 1991 American slasher film. It is the sixth – and as the title suggests, intended to be the last – film in the series of films featuring Freddy Krueger. However, the success of the film prevented the series from ending (much like Friday The 13th parts four and nine). Another film, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, was produced following this film. The character of Freddy Krueger then returned in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason.

Robert Englund reprises his role as Freddy Krueger; Lisa Zane, Yaphet Kotto, Breckin Meyer, Shon Greenblatt, Ricky Dean Logan, Lezlie Deane and Tobe Sexton also star. Additionally, several well-known actors make cameo appearances in the film, including Johnny Depp (whose screen debut was in the original Nightmare On Elm Street), Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold and Alice Cooper. Iggy Pop sings the movie's title song, which plays over a montage of scenes from the previous Nightmare movies and the end credits.

Trivia

This is the first movie in the Nightmare series to end without hinting that Freddy may still be alive.
In the movie, the border sign that says Welcome to Springwood, says that the population of it is 15,265 people. Though, in the dream world, they show you the sign again and you can see several numbers that Freddy has written down. The numbers are how many people are left. After Freddy kills John, Freddy crosses off a number and writes down 7,741, meaning that Freddy has killed 7,523 people between the gap of A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and this one.
While killing Spencer via a video game, Freddy says "Now I'm playing with power." This is a reference to Nintendo commercials from the 1980's; with the slogan "Now You're Playing with Power!" and variations of it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

2009-01-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) is an American slasher film. It is the fifth film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. The film's general tone was much more gothic and dark than the films before, and used a blue filter lighting technique in most of the scenes. The film's main titles do not display the "5" which was used in all of the promotional material, TV spots, trailers, and merchandise. The main titles simply say "A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child".

Notes

This is one the only "A Nightmare On Elm Street" movie where the famous song is changed. Original: One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, never sleep again. Edited: One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, better stay up late. Nine, ten, he's back again...

Both horror author Stephen King and comic book writer Frank Miller were offered the job of writing and directing this movie.

During the sequence in which the nun (Amanda) is raped by the criminally insane, Robert Englund is wandering around in the background without his Freddy makeup--including one shot in which the camera lingers on him for a few seconds.

Lisa Wilcox's name appears on the opening credits, but not on the ending credits.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

2009-01-23T23:04:00.001-08:00

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is the fourth film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. It was released in 1988. The film was directed by Renny Harlin.

Trivia

In addition to the gravestones seen for characters Kristen Parker, Joey Crusel, and Roland Kincaid, markers can be seen in the background for Donald Thompson and Nancy Thompson, John Saxon and Heather Langenkamp's characters, respectively, who were killed in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Brooke Theiss, who plays Debbie, also appeared as part of the cast of Just the Ten of Us, which not only contained numerous references to the Nightmare series, but also co-starred Heather Langenkamp ("Nancy Thompson" from the first and third Nightmare films) and Joann Willette (from the second Nightmare film).

The diner in which Alice and Debbie work is named the "Crave Inn," a reference to Nightmare series creator Wes Craven.

Tuesday Knight, who took over the role of Kristen Parker after Patricia Arquette declined to return, also sings the song playing over the film's opening credits.

The Nightmare on Elm Street video game for the NES was based on this film.

In the scene where Kristen is falling asleep and tries in vain to call Alice, there is a magazine on the floor featuring Johnny Depp, who played Glen in the first movie.

The name of Kincaid's dog is Jason, a clear reference to Jason Voorhees, the notorious killer in the Friday the 13th series and who Freddy would face in Freddy vs. Jason.

Patricia Arquette, Kristen in the third part of the series, could not reprise her role in this fourth part because she was pregnant at the moment of filming.

Ellie Cornell auditioned for the role of Alice.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

2009-01-23T23:02:00.000-08:00

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors was the third film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. The film was directed by Chuck Russell and starred Robert Englund, Patricia Arquette, Heather Langenkamp, and Craig Wasson.

Production

Elm Street creator Wes Craven, who did not participate in the first sequel and indeed did not want the Elm Street franchise to be a franchise at all, intended for this film to end the series, but its success made that pretty much impossible. Craven would not work on the series again until Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

Craven's very first concept for this film was to have Freddy Krueger invade the "real" world, emerging to haunt the actors filming a new Elm Street sequel. New Line Cinema rejected this metacinematic idea at the time, but years later, Craven's concept was finally brought to the screen with Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Also, Wes Craven did not want Nancy killed off. Much as in the original film, which Craven wanted to have a happy ending, but which ended up with a studio-mandated and sequel-ensuring shocker twist, the end of this one was altered as well. Writers Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont ensured that Nancy die, but they changed the role to have Nancy return and comfort the children.

The "dream suppressant" drug Hypnocil which Neil researches is also featured and written into this film, yet more prominently figures in Freddy vs. Jason. The psychiatric hospital Westin Hills reappears in both A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and Freddy Vs. Jason.

In interviews with cast and crew in the DVD's extras, it is revealed that the original idea for the film centered around the phenomenon of children traveling to a specific location to commit suicide, with dreams of Freddy Kreuger eventually discovered to be a common link between the youths. Suicide, at the time, was a taboo social issue and this led to the abandonment of that storyline, though some aspects remained within the filmed version which still depicts suicide and self-mutilation, though they were deemed less controversial because these acts are committed with Freddy's distinct influence, inserting enough fantasy into the acts to remove it from the supposed controversial exploitation of disturbed youths in America.

In the original script by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner the characters were somewhat different from what was eventually filmed. Nancy was not a dream expert or any kind of mental health professional, Kristen stayed in the institution for only a while and had a father, Neil's last name was Guinness, Dr. Simm's last name was Maddalena, Taryn was African-American, Joey was the one who built the model of a house and has trouble getting around (although not wheelchair bound), and Philip was a thirteen year-old. Will's name was originally Laredo, with long hair, is not bound by a wheelchair, and the one who made the clay puppets. This script also showed the ranch house where Krueger was born, and is the house that shows up in their dreams rather than the Elm Street house. Contrary to the film, Lt. Donald Thompson knows from the start that Krueger is real and still alive. He had been missing and Nancy was intent on finding him, she finds him and learns that he was obsessed with finding the Krueger house and burning it down. There are scenes and lines that are very reminiscent of the first film. There is no talk of Krueger's mother having been a nun or Freddy being "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs," and both Joey and Kincaid are killed. The deaths in this script were much more grotesque, with Krueger not as talkative and more vulgar. The original script can be found here.

The theme song of the movie, Dream Warriors, was written and performed by the American heavy metal band Dokken. Into the Fire, another well known song by the band, was also featured in the movie.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

2009-01-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge is the second film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series of slasher films. It was released in 1985 by New Line Cinema. The film was directed by Jack Sholder.

Production

Nightmare series creator Wes Craven refused to work on this film because he never wanted or intended A Nightmare on Elm Street to become an ongoing franchise (and even wanted the first film to have a happy ending), and also because the movie changed the premise of the first film with Freddy being able to appear in the "waking world," rather than only being able to reach people in their dreams. Craven also said that he did not like the idea of Freddy manipulating the protagonist into committing the murders.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

2009-01-23T22:50:00.000-08:00

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American horror film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film features John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund and Johnny Depp in his feature film debut. Set in the fictional Midwestern town of Springwood, Ohio, the plot revolves around several teenagers being terrorized in their nightmares by the ghost of a serial child murderer named Freddy Krueger.

Craven produced Nightmare on Elm Street on an estimated budget of just $1.8 million, a sum the film earned back during its first week. Grossing $25.5 million at the United States box office, Nightmare on Elm Street has become one of the most popular entries in the horror genre and the film's villain "Freddy Krueger" has become one of the most well recognized villains in cinema history. Both critics and Craven have mentioned that the film owes some of its success to John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), which was hugely influential in spawning a long line of slasher films and originating many clichés found in low-budget horror films of the 1980s and 1990s.

The film's premise is the question of where the line between dreams and reality lies. The villain, Freddy Krueger (addressed as Fred Krueger in the movie), thus exists in the "dream world" yet can kill in the "real world". Sequels to the original would continue to blur the distinction between dream and reality before finally challenging the line between art and reality by showing Heather Langenkamp, playing a fictionalized version of herself, haunted by the villain of a series of films she has starred in. Critics encouraged and praised the film's ability to rupture "the boundaries between the imaginary and real", toying with audience perceptions. Some movie historians interpreted this overriding theme as a social subtext, "the struggles of adolescents in American society", and their overwhelming need to confront "the harsh realities of life".

Filming

The fictional address of the house is 1428 Elm Street that appears in the film. The actual house is a private home located in Los Angeles, California on 1428 North Genesee Avenue. During production, over 500 gallons of fake blood were used for the special effects production. For the famous blood geyser sequence, the film makers used the same revolving room set that was used for Tina's death. They put the set so that it was upside down and attached the camera so that it looked like the room was right side up, then they poured gallons of red water into the room, due to the fact that the normal movie blood would not make the right effect for the geyser. The scene where Nancy is attacked by Freddy in her bathtub was accomplished with a special bottomless tub. The tub was put in a bathroom set that was built over a swimming pool. During the underwater sequence Heather Langenkamp was replaced with stuntwoman Christina Johnson, who is also married to sound effects man Charles Belardinelli. The "melting staircase" as seen in Nancy's dream was created using pancake mix.

Wes Craven originally planned for the film to have a more evocative ending: Nancy kills Freddy by ceasing to believe in him, then awakes to discover that everything that happened in the movie was an elongated nightmare. However, New Line leader Robert Shaye demanded a twist ending, in which Freddy disappears and the movie all appears to have been a dream, only for the audience to discover that they are watching a dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream, where Freddy reappears as a car that "kidnaps" Nancy, followed by Freddy reaching through a window on the front door to pull Nancy's mother inside. Both a happy ending and a twist ending were filmed, but the final film used the twist ending. As a result, Craven (who never wanted the film to be an ongoing franchise), dropped out of working on the first sequel, Freddy's Revenge (1985). Production wrapped in July, and was rushed through editing at breakneck speed to get it ready for its November release.