Nightmare Marathon 1
Sep. 6th, 2011 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
von_geisterhandBack in the day when i was still but an impressionable young horror-fan, the "A Nightmare on Elm Street"-series could easily be described as my favourite franchise of that genre, but then it also was the only franchise I actually watched all parts of (at the time). "Friday the 13th" hardly excited me at all and "Halloween" somehow never got me any further than the first installment. (I did not manage to get hold of a decent version of "Hellraiser" until much later.)
At the time, I watched all (then 6) parts in two sessions together with a friend, courtesy of his Dad's film collection.
For years I thought of the films in terms of "Part 1 great and scary, Part 2 absolute shite, Part 3 good, Part 4 okay, Part 5 worst of all, Part 6 funny and actually a fresh start (but not scary)".
Almost 20 years later it now became time to revisit this obsession of my past, a franchise I still feel a strange emotional connection with, despite the fact that I have become markedly more cynical in all things horror recently.
So far I got as far as revisiting all parts up to 1988's "The Dream Master" (Part 4) and...
...well, I am cynical.
The original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" still holds up as an inventive and effective narrative but has aged very badly IMHO. This goes for the effects as much as the general air of melodrama.
"Part 3: The Dream Warriors" still holds up best of all films bridging between a good standalone movie and the franchise that arose from it, in other words between "Scary Freddy" and "Funny Freddy". There are actual characters that interact in some way, the plot makes some sense and there are very few moments which make the older Me groan. Also, I imagine that the film works as much on its own as it does as part of a longer series. All that and inventive deaths, what more do you want? (Boobs? Yes, they are there, too.)
The younger Me remembers quite liking "Part 4: The Dream Master". The older Me was happy when it finally finished and is quite scared at the thought that Young Me says thst Part 5 is even worse. Seriously, this film takes no prisoners when it comes to continuing the plot pretty straight from where Part 3 left off (ignoring some big plot-holes here, though) and then throws itself into a new plot-strand that very obviously only attempts to guide the viewer from one creative death to the next, the bases of which are very obviously signposted early on (That girl likes to work out and hates cockroaches? Hm... I wonder how she will die.). There is some character-development of the main protagonist but it might as well be handled with title cards for all its bluntness and clicheè (The mirror, the mirror! Oprah Winfrey is calling!).
Part 4 also is not content with picking up the mythology established in Part 3 but has to create hokey metaphysics about Guardian of the Gate of Good/Bad Dreams that I even found ridiculous as a teenager. Whereas Parts 1 and 3 tossed the metaphysics in and the either properly worked with them or just used them as background, Part 4 actually seems to take them seriously, in the midst of a film with a plot for which "flimsy" already is a compliment.
It strikes me as a film that was exclusively made to milk a cash-cow (sucessfully! It's the second higest grossing film of the series) but other than that, would be best forgotten, were it not for some good effects and memorable one-liners.
You've been paying attention, haven't you?
Yes, I skipped over "ANOES 2: Freddy's Revenge".
Now, as a teen I just thought the film was bad. As a postgrad who knows about things like "homoereotic subtext", I developed a slight respect/appreciation of the film and as a cynical viewer, I see the film as a rushed sequel (with a homoerotic subtext that really is quite impressive for a major american film of the 80s.) which certainly would have benefited from not being a NOES-film. Which it isn't really: Freddy kills a grand total of zero people in their dreams*. There are big plotholes, neither Mark Patton nor Kim Myers are cut out for their starring roles and I would like to erase every scene set in a school bus or involving a toaster from my mind but on the whole you are left with the thought: "Well, it wasn't all shit. There was a better movie in there wanting to... come out." Indeed.
In effect, it's what "Halloween 3: Season of the Witch" is for that franchise.
Let's see what Parts 5-7 will bring.
(I am not rewatching "Freddy vs. Jason". I enjoyed it at the time, much like I enjoyed "Bride of Chucky", but it's still too fresh in my mind to require another viewing.)
Addendum: This resurgence of interest in ANOES was partly triggered by me listening to a series of audio plays (released in 1990) based on the first three films. This series was cancelled about as quickly as one expects a series aimed at children which is based on 18-rated films to be cancelled but bizarrely enough, it still holds up about as well as the films.
Well.... partly. It is noteworthy that the author of the tapes was very faithful to the films' dialogue and that he managed to get most of the plot across in a suitably scary way while at the same time not mentioning any blood, cuts or stabbings.
The only notable censorship is that the fate of Coach Schneider remains very unclear and ultimately confusing, but other than that, all the gay subtext is present. ;-)
There are also some subtle changes of how the families interact with each other, which one can only interpret as the author attempting to be more right and proper. In contrast to this (or maybe not) there is also some dialogue between two african-american characters in Episodes 5 which one could not get away with these days, neither in film nor in german audio plays. The basis of this is in the german dub of "The Dream Warriors" but the audio play still turns it up a notch.
*And only men in reality (disregarding the birds for the moment), in stark contrast to the ladykiller he is in the other films. You see, that subtext works on all levels.
At the time, I watched all (then 6) parts in two sessions together with a friend, courtesy of his Dad's film collection.
For years I thought of the films in terms of "Part 1 great and scary, Part 2 absolute shite, Part 3 good, Part 4 okay, Part 5 worst of all, Part 6 funny and actually a fresh start (but not scary)".
Almost 20 years later it now became time to revisit this obsession of my past, a franchise I still feel a strange emotional connection with, despite the fact that I have become markedly more cynical in all things horror recently.
So far I got as far as revisiting all parts up to 1988's "The Dream Master" (Part 4) and...
...well, I am cynical.
The original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" still holds up as an inventive and effective narrative but has aged very badly IMHO. This goes for the effects as much as the general air of melodrama.
"Part 3: The Dream Warriors" still holds up best of all films bridging between a good standalone movie and the franchise that arose from it, in other words between "Scary Freddy" and "Funny Freddy". There are actual characters that interact in some way, the plot makes some sense and there are very few moments which make the older Me groan. Also, I imagine that the film works as much on its own as it does as part of a longer series. All that and inventive deaths, what more do you want? (Boobs? Yes, they are there, too.)
The younger Me remembers quite liking "Part 4: The Dream Master". The older Me was happy when it finally finished and is quite scared at the thought that Young Me says thst Part 5 is even worse. Seriously, this film takes no prisoners when it comes to continuing the plot pretty straight from where Part 3 left off (ignoring some big plot-holes here, though) and then throws itself into a new plot-strand that very obviously only attempts to guide the viewer from one creative death to the next, the bases of which are very obviously signposted early on (That girl likes to work out and hates cockroaches? Hm... I wonder how she will die.). There is some character-development of the main protagonist but it might as well be handled with title cards for all its bluntness and clicheè (The mirror, the mirror! Oprah Winfrey is calling!).
Part 4 also is not content with picking up the mythology established in Part 3 but has to create hokey metaphysics about Guardian of the Gate of Good/Bad Dreams that I even found ridiculous as a teenager. Whereas Parts 1 and 3 tossed the metaphysics in and the either properly worked with them or just used them as background, Part 4 actually seems to take them seriously, in the midst of a film with a plot for which "flimsy" already is a compliment.
It strikes me as a film that was exclusively made to milk a cash-cow (sucessfully! It's the second higest grossing film of the series) but other than that, would be best forgotten, were it not for some good effects and memorable one-liners.
You've been paying attention, haven't you?
Yes, I skipped over "ANOES 2: Freddy's Revenge".
Now, as a teen I just thought the film was bad. As a postgrad who knows about things like "homoereotic subtext", I developed a slight respect/appreciation of the film and as a cynical viewer, I see the film as a rushed sequel (with a homoerotic subtext that really is quite impressive for a major american film of the 80s.) which certainly would have benefited from not being a NOES-film. Which it isn't really: Freddy kills a grand total of zero people in their dreams*. There are big plotholes, neither Mark Patton nor Kim Myers are cut out for their starring roles and I would like to erase every scene set in a school bus or involving a toaster from my mind but on the whole you are left with the thought: "Well, it wasn't all shit. There was a better movie in there wanting to... come out." Indeed.
In effect, it's what "Halloween 3: Season of the Witch" is for that franchise.
Let's see what Parts 5-7 will bring.
(I am not rewatching "Freddy vs. Jason". I enjoyed it at the time, much like I enjoyed "Bride of Chucky", but it's still too fresh in my mind to require another viewing.)
Addendum: This resurgence of interest in ANOES was partly triggered by me listening to a series of audio plays (released in 1990) based on the first three films. This series was cancelled about as quickly as one expects a series aimed at children which is based on 18-rated films to be cancelled but bizarrely enough, it still holds up about as well as the films.
Well.... partly. It is noteworthy that the author of the tapes was very faithful to the films' dialogue and that he managed to get most of the plot across in a suitably scary way while at the same time not mentioning any blood, cuts or stabbings.
The only notable censorship is that the fate of Coach Schneider remains very unclear and ultimately confusing, but other than that, all the gay subtext is present. ;-)
There are also some subtle changes of how the families interact with each other, which one can only interpret as the author attempting to be more right and proper. In contrast to this (or maybe not) there is also some dialogue between two african-american characters in Episodes 5 which one could not get away with these days, neither in film nor in german audio plays. The basis of this is in the german dub of "The Dream Warriors" but the audio play still turns it up a notch.
*And only men in reality (disregarding the birds for the moment), in stark contrast to the ladykiller he is in the other films. You see, that subtext works on all levels.
