Wes Craven was against the idea of sequels to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) from the very beginning. He had created the now iconic character of Freddy Krueger to be terrifying and sinister – never fun, anti-heroic or jokey, which is exactly what he became in the series. Craven’s concept for the original Nightmare was to have the demonic Freddy completely defeated and for the film to end on a happy note. The idea of an ongoing franchise was against everything he envisioned about the character.
However, once the box office receipts for A Nightmare on Elm Street were counted, New Line Cinema, once a tiny distribution company run from Bob Shaye’s apartment, became a major player in Hollywood, hence its nickname “The House that Freddy Built.” Naturally, sequels were going to happen with or without Craven’s involvement.
After turning down the chance to direct 1985’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Craven objected to the idea of Freddy walking around in the waking world to attack teenagers rather than killing people in their dreams. Craven returned to the franchise to write 1987’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which he hoped would finally end the franchise. After script rewrites and a shrinking involvement on Craven’s part, the third film deviated greatly from Craven’s original vision. But its box office success meant further sequels were made – without Craven’s involvement.
The main issue was that somehow Freddy, the child murderer, had become a popular character equally known for his quips and jokes as for his threats and kills, which disturbed and annoyed Craven. New Line finally “killed” the now cartoonish slasher in 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, which gave Craven the chance to revisit the franchise one last time and leave his own spin on the character he created.
The result was Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), a meta-cinematic reinvention of both Freddy Krueger and the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, literally from the inside out. Taking ideas from Craven’s original plans for the third film, New Nightmare is a metafictional tale of Freddy (in spite of his prior objections) attacking people in the waking world, rather than through dreams. Why would he want to do this? Well, because the people “Freddy” is attacking are the cast and crew of a new Nightmare sequel.
By the time Craven’s (previously rejected) idea was greenlit, the story had evolved into a sharp commentary on Hollywood as well as a resurrection of Freddy himself. Heather Langenkamp (who played Nancy Thompson in the first and third films) plays herself as the actress who became famous for playing Nancy. She lives a normal life with her son Dylan Porter (Miko Hughes) and her husband, makeup effects artist Chase Porter (David Newsom). Adding more real-life to the fiction, Langenkamp is indeed married to Academy Award-winning makeup artist David LeRoy Anderson.
The onscreen Langenkamp maintains friendships with producer Bob Shaye, director Wes Craven and actors John Saxon (Nancy’s dad in the first and third films) and Robert Englund (Freddy himself), as well as Nightmare series actors Nick Corri and Tuesday Knight (all of whom play themselves in this film).
Taking another page from reality, Langenkamp is tormented by the creepy messages of an obsessed fan. In the film, the fan seems a little bit too obsessed with Freddy, which is perfect timing because Bob Shaye and Wes Craven approach Langenkamp to play Nancy in one more sequel, much to her surprise. The problem is that everyone involved is having some strange dreams about Freddy that seem to be impacting them in their real lives.
And what a change “Freddy” has undergone. Hewing much closer to Craven’s platonic vision for the Fredster, this more demonic and horrifying Freddy is low on jokes and high on terror factor. In both a genius plot point and a dig at the series without him, Craven illustrates that the villain in this film is actually an existing demon in the real world who can become enthralled by (and thus trapped within) stories until those stories (read: the later Nightmare sequels) become watered down parodies of themselves. Thus “Freddy” wants to make the movie all over again on his terms.
The makeup looks great (even though David LeRoy Anderson didn’t work on the film), and the new, idealized Freddy cuts a terrifying swath with his more monstrous face and scars, especially when coupled with his revised, sleeker wardrobe. Englund does a fantastic job of portraying himself as the nice guy actor as well as the monstrosity that is seeping into the real world, one kill at a time. Likewise, Langenkamp brings the best of Nancy to her character without ever becoming a carbon copy of her most famous role. Rare actors Shaye and Craven also do their jobs well, making for a canny and cunning film.
Unfortunately, once the metafilm finally gets itself setup and comfortable in its skin, it becomes very much what the other Nightmare films were: a standard splatter flick with a surreal supernatural bent to it. Many of the special effects fail to stand up to the test of time, and some of the plot machinations feel like contrivances and “because I said so” logic.
However, the ending is satisfying, and the assets far outweigh the liabilities of this unique and daring film. Not only is this the best possible cap for the Nightmare on Elm Street saga (2003’s Freddy Vs. Jason and 2010’s A Remake on Elm Street notwithstanding), but this is also a legitimately terrifying and engrossing horror film (with a few dated flaws and missteps).
What’s more, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare serves as one hell of a bridge between the Nightmare on Elm Street saga he created and his next franchise, Scream. The Scream series is filled to the rim with the same metafictional commentary and real-world awareness of fictional characters that New Nightmare gave us. And while Scream and its followers do mix in a great deal of the comedy that Craven expunged from the Freddy character, the kills in the Scream saga are realistic, violent and disturbing, not cartoonish and fun. In fact those who find mirth in such things are labeled as sociopathic overgrown little boys with underdeveloped senses of right and wrong. So the stabs at (or should I say, slashes in) the watered down Nightmares continue.
With its dated effects and familiar third act, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is not quite a perfect film, but it is prescient, predicting the self-aware horror films that followed it (and continue through today) as well as well-acted, skillfully created, scary, unique, original and memorable. While the ticket buying public didn’t warm up to the film quite as much as the critics did (though they made up for that when Scream hit the screen), New Nightmare has enjoyed a loyal cult following that knows a good dream when they see it. Not only is this the best film of the series, but one of the bravest and most offbeat horror movies of all time.