This movie is iconic. This movie is pretty bad. Both things can be true. As I scroll through some of the other reviews on Letterboxd, I quickly come to the conclusion that no one is reviewing/rating the movie on its merits. They're rating it from nostalgia, or they're saying that it somehow changed the face of slasher movies.
Well, I'm just going to assess it like any other movie. I've watched it a few times, and every time it's bad, just in different ways.
I don't think the special effects are bad. I like them. When Freddy (Robert Englund) licks Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) through the phone, I laugh at how corny is looks, but it's still a cool effect.
What I guess I don't like about the film is never being able to tell when Nancy is dreaming and when she's awake. At some point, I just assume she's always dreaming, and then, when there's supposed to be some "unforeseen" twist, I yawn, because I already assumed that something would happen. Because I already assume that she's still asleep.
The biggest example of this is the ending. We're being "shown" one thing, but all the time, we know it's bullshit. We have to get the swerve ending, because otherwise, the fun's all over in one movie, and this franchise has to go on and on and on.
Now, I guess I believe that Nancy's mom story that she and the other parents actually did burn Freddy to death. But why should I? Why couldn't that just be more bullshit Nancy learns in a dream. Assuming they actually did burn Freddy to death, when do this happen? The timeline is hard to piece together, but it feels like it should have happened rather recently. How does such a horrific event never enter the community mythology? How does Nancy never hear of it? If something that horrific happens in your community, you're going to know, right? It would be like your high school had a horrific school shooting 15 years ago, and when you're attending that high school, you had no idea. Not likely.
Less bothersome to me, but still bothersome, is the whole idea that Freddy can somehow be "pulled" into the real world. It seems to happen in this film, but ultimately, I guess it doesn't happen. It's still all part of the extended dream. In real life, Freddy is dead, if we believe the mom's story. You wouldn't be bringing him into the real world, because there is no "him." There's just the idea of him, just as there's no way that Nancy could bring back a physical hat. There is no physical hat. There's just the idea of the hat.
Anyway, Johnny Depp (as Glen) doesn't shine. His acting is about as good (or bad) as any of the other young actors in this film. I don't blame him, though, as he didn't have much of a part to work with. I did like one reviewer's comment that Johnny borrowed Freddy's glove for Edward Scissorhands. So at least something good came from his participation in this film.
Assuming the whole movie wasn't Nancy's dream -- and who's to say it wasn't? -- the way Nancy and Glen act in the day or two after they see their friends die isn't believable. Maybe the most believable scene in the whole movie is the boy reading lines from Hamlet in English class. That was certainly enough to put Nancy to sleep.
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
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