remember https://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,158020.0.html (https://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,158020.0.html) when I asked for bad movie recommendations last year.?
well I won the NFL Pick 'Em league again...
and today he inducted the first of 5 terrible things at his website I made him watch
film 1:
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
https://monster-crap.blogspot.com/2024/05/monster-crap-inductee-nightmare-on-elm.html (https://monster-crap.blogspot.com/2024/05/monster-crap-inductee-nightmare-on-elm.html)
^ the NIGHTMARE films kinda lost steam for me real quick. In fact, not many slasher sequels are any good, with very few exceptions. Freddy went from scary, seldom seen child killer to a wisecracking buffon in the sequels.
Quote from: RCMerchant on May 26, 2024, 07:40:09 AM
^ the NIGHTMARE films kinda lost steam for me real quick. In fact, not many slasher sequels are any good, with very few exceptions. Freddy went from scary, seldom seen child killer to a wisecracking buffon in the sequels.
I love the first one, 3 and 4
I never liked 4 - really loved 1 and 3 as a 9-ish year old child. Having watched them since, I honestly think early adolescence is the sweet spot for Freddy Krueger. Kids can absorb all of the inherent goofy, schtickiness of the character and still feel legitimate fear at his insane homicidal behavior. Part 3 (though it has cool elements) really doesn't stand up as quality cinema, and even the original suffers from the inescapable jank factor that plagues all Wes Craven films. What the first one DOES have (and what most of them lack) is significant time spent with older adults, namely Nancy's parents. Seeing folks in their 40s experience anxiety over Freddy helps elevate his threat beyond the juvenile or trivial. I should revisit Part 7 again sometime too and see if Craven actually manages that trick a second time.
part 6 is the only one I enjoy. it's completely bonkers.
the rest I find a bit eh. was always a F13 guy...
I also really enjoy New Nightmare, and Freddy vs Jason
I thought they were all pretty interchangable. First one was good- rest- blech.
Same for HALLOWEEN- except 3 was good. FRIDAY THE 13th- I found ALL of them s**t.
This is how I would rank the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise:
Good Freddy
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 (A-) 5.0
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987 (Great) 4.0
3. New Nightmare 1994 (Very Good) 3.5
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4. Freddy vs. Jason 2003 (Flawed but Worthy) 2.5
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 1988 (Flawed but Worthy) 2.5
Bad Freddy
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge 1985 (Fair) 2.0
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 (Fair) 2.0
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child 1989 (Barely Sufficient) 1.5
9. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare 1991 (Poor) 1.0
Trivia: Internet Elm Street philes are extreme defensive about part 2, calling it the best of the franchise.
ANOES (1984) - it's a horror classic, and groundbreaking for its time, no matter how you twist and turn it.
Freddy's Revenge (1985) - the most unintentional hilarious of all Elm Street movies.
Dream Warriors (1987) - more dark fantasy than horror in my opinion.
The Dream Master (1988) - best soundtrack.
The Dream Child (1989) - most visually stunning of all Elm Street movies.
Freddy's Dead (1991) - most painful to watch. Feels and looks like a cheap made for cable TV movie.
New Nightmare (1994) - the CGI looks dated but this is still very good.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003) - fun.
ANOES (2010) - don't hate it as much as everyone does, but it's still a bad movie.
SCREAM, QUEEN! (2019) really worked some serious magic on the legacy of Part 2. I enjoyed S,Q! and it convinced me that large bits of Part 2 can be processed and enjoyed as camp, though the jury still seems to be out on whether the filmmakers actually intended it as camp, as anti-gay panic, or even as just quasi-"straight" horror schlock. (I think Jack Sholder is smart enough to know what was up, but S,Q! portrays him as a somewhat unreliable source.) Anyway, whether any of those things make Part 2 a better movie or not is for someone else to say, not I. From the (ideal) perspective of a 9 or 10 year olf Freddy fan, it was a disappointment, and my underwhelming adult experiences w/ 1 and 3 make me slow to want to waste another 85 minutes on Part 2...