In Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, a decade has passed since the release of A Nightmare on Elm Street. In the movie series, Freddy Krueger is dead, having been killed off in 1991’s Freddy’s Dead, but New Line Cinema is keen to revive the franchise.
Original writer/director Wes Craven is back on board with a new idea to bring Freddy back, and producer Bob Shaye is keen to make this the best Elm Street film ever. So keen in fact, he wants Heather Langenkamp, the actress who played Nancy Thompson in Parts 1 & 3, to return to the series.
But Heather is not so convinced. She is a wife and mother now, and is not looking to return to the horror genre.
Heather is also on edge. She is receiving strange phone calls from a mysterious stalker, her son Dylan is acting odd, and she is suffering from vivid nightmares about Freddy Krueger.
But the nightmares are nothing but scary dreams, right? Freddy Krueger isn’t real – he’s just a character in a movie.
Well, maybe not. Someone or something is stalking Heather’s dreams and it is looking like Freddy could be responsible.
Written and directed by Wes Craven, and released ten years after the debut of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare stars Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Bob Shaye, Miko Hughes, and Wes Craven. The film is the seventh entry in the Elm Street series, although it is a non-canonical meta-entry, rather than a regular sequel.
Unlike the six previous films, New Nightmare is set in the ‘real world’. All of the other Elm Street films are supposedly works of fiction, and exist as entertainment only, while this one is the ‘real deal’.
As such, in this film Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Bob Shaye, and Wes Craven play fictionalised versions of themselves, while Robert Englund pulls double duties as himself and as Freddy Krueger. The main thrust of this film is that all these Hollywood figures are being drawn into a new nightmare, with Freddy as the villain.
As Elm Street sequels go, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is easily one of the best. In fact, I’d argue it is the best sequel of the entire series, just edging its way above A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
After multiple entries, the Elm Street film series had become tired and was certainly out of juice by Part 6, but this film is a much-needed refuel. It brings something fresh and different to the table, with an inventive, post-modern story and a villain who is threatening for the first time in years.
It gives something for all the cast to sink their teeth into and in particular it rewards Robert Englund for sticking with the franchise through the last couple of pictures. It also brings back the darkness to the series, which was starting to get lost amongst the cartoon tomfoolery.
But pushing beyond the Elm Street flicks, New Nightmare is also a great horror film in general. It twists the genre on its head, serves up a story which is truly creative, and above all else it is entertaining.
In addition, New Nightmare is a great precursor to Scream. Wes Craven would tweak the film-within-a-film idea just two years later for his post-modern slasher, but it all begins here with Freddy.
If New Nightmare has faults it is largely in the film’s length, which is perhaps longer than it needs to be, and in the reliance on young actor, Miko Hughes to carry too many scenes. He’s given a bit too much to do, some of his scenes don’t quite work, and this is a shame.
But other than this, there’s not much to criticise in New Nightmare. The film is very effective in what it does and the fact it turns around the quality of the Elm Street series so soon after Freddy’s Dead sucked most of the life out of it, just goes to show what can be achieved with the right ideas in place.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is a breath of fresh air in what had become a stale franchise. It takes some of the best material from the series, adds new ideas, and delivers a fan-pleasing instalment.
Should you wish to watch Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, the movie is available on digital download. The film is also available on DVD and Blu-ray as part of the Elm Street movie collection.
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