A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) – Bluray Review
Puppy | May 15, 2010 | Comments 0
Distributor: New Line Cinema
US Release Date: April 13th 2010
Format: Bluray (US)
Region: ABC (Free)
Certificate: R
Running Time: 91 Minutes
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Special Features:
- Trivia Tracks
- Audio Commentary: Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon
- Audio Commentary: Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blackley, Robert Shaye and Sara Risher
- Alternate Endings
- The House That Freddy Built
- The Legacy of New Line Horror
- Never Sleep Again: Making Of
- Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Cravens Nightmares
The Review:
Well Fred Krueger was my first introduction to horror when I was a wee nipper. Dream Warriors was the first instalment I saw and from the moment Jen ‘hit the Prime Time’ I was in love with the New Line Genre of Horror. I’m not ashamed to say I am a child of New Line although with recent remakes including the remake of this very film, I may now keep that on the down low.
A Nightmare on Elm Street tells the story of Freddy Krueger, the dream demon who is stalking the teenagers of Elm Street as they sleep. Killing them in their dreams means they’ll never wake up. It’s a great premise and works oh so well when you have an awesome heroine like Nancy Thompson (Langenkamp) and a remarkable dastardly villain who’s also likeable and that’s Freddy Krueger (Englund)
Looks Cool Doesn't It? Not in the remake...
For me, Elm Street can do no wrong. Sure it’s not as scary as it once was after the 30th time watching it but there’s one thing technology does and that’s bring new life to the film in the form of Hi Definition.
This Bluray release is a must for any Elm Street fan. You’ll certainly appreciate the direction and cinematography of the piece a lot more, especially if you’ve seen the Murky brown remake. One thing Elm street uses to its advantage is lighting and colour!
Take a gander at Tina’s first dream sequence to see how the picture and colour have evolved since VHS and DVD. The one sticking point that still remains is the MPAA cut, in the UK the film passed uncut and there’s a rather brilliant blood splash during one scene that gets cut. This was only available on UK VHS as all subsequent releases have been released using a US Master so those uncut transfers are no longer readily available on the home market, which is a real shame.
The film also sees the debut of Johnny Depp who we all know and love for his quirky roles in Tim Burton flicks, you never know what he’ll do next.
The Seven Year Itch Can Be A Killer!
In fact I really can’t fault the film, sure it’s dated but this was the film where horror and fantasy clashed in the mainstream for the first time. It changed the way people looked at horror along with Halloween and Friday The 13th. It’s quite funny that New Line now own Elm St, Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre Franchises.
Who knows maybe we’ll see some wacky horror icon Royal Rumble in the future.
It’s just a shame that the rest of the series has not materialised on Bluray yet as I have a feeling they’d all look fantastic on the HD format although some of the effects in Dream Warriors may look a bit meh.
It’s a must watch in my book and although I’m catching up on many horror classics now, A Nightmare On Elm Street will always hold the number 1 spot in my heart. Pick it up today. Its region free and well worth the moola. Just make sure you buy the right one as there’s also a Canadian version without any special features that happens to be region locked. I reviewed that for Chris and Phil Present: HERE.
Picture:
As I’ve said above this 1984 horror classic looks amazing on bluray. When I watched it with some others not so long ago they insisted that the film would look poop on HD. How they ate their words! This is practically reference material and wouldn’t look out of place on any HD Fans shelf.
Sound:
Superb. The scraping of metal against metal will make you quiver. The dulcet tones of Langenkamp as Nancy will make you shiver with delight and the booming 80’s synths will make you sit up and take note as they over power the classic score during the more intense dream sequences. Once again, this is practically reference material and takes advantage of the surround system to it’s fullest.
Special Features:
An informative mix of information with behind the scenes looks, interviews with Wes Craven, Rob Shaye and the cast of the film. Also peddles New Line Cinema a bit, they appear to owe a LOT to the success of the Elm Street franchise.
Iconic Image! For me at least...
Although this is still not the definitive disk when it comes to extras as with a little research you can discover that the Laser Disk and double tape VHS release had a lot more in the way of deleted scenes and what not. Come on New Line, put together a DEFINITIVE RELEASE!
