Ah, the start of the 80's horror franchise helmed by Freddy Kreuger. I remembered this movie as being a lot scarier when first seeing it. It still has that creepy element to it, and is a bit more creative than your average high-schoolers in trouble romp. And as the series went on, there was more of a humorous element added to it, for better or (mostly) worse. Here we have an original, straight-up horror flick with a truly sinister villain.
Several of the local high school kids are all having strangely similar nightmares, and eventually one is killed in a grisly fashion. Though the cops suspect the somewhat punk-like boyfriend, the kids have sneaking suspicions of something else, as unbelievable as it may seem. There's a man hunting them in their dreams, and has a more potent lasting effect than your typical boogeyman.
Usually pretty good performances (including a very young Johnny Depp, straight from 21 Jump Street, I imagine), except the overly-dramatic hokiness put on by Nancy's mother. Overall a decent horror flick by Craven. And if you can't get enough of bad-ass Kreuger, every horror fanboy's dreams will be met when the infamous pairing of him and Jason Vorhees (of Friday the 13th fame) will be dueling it out in the aptly title Freddy vs. Jason due to hit theaters this fall...
