Tag: Nightmare on Elm Street

Meet the Face Behind Slasher Studios: Ten Random Horror Facts About Yours Truly

Slasher Studios*Top Ten

I spend a lot of time on Slasher Studios updating the site, promoting upcoming horror movies, and writing reviews for slasher films that hope other horror fans will eventually have the time to enjoy. One thing that I normally do not do is talk about myself. Well, today that is about to change. I figured it would be interesting for those of you out there to get to know the face behind Slasher Studios. The following are ten very random horror facts about me in no particular order. Read them and hopefully enjoy…maybe we are more alike than you may think.

1) My favorite horror movie is the original Black Christmas. Don’t quote me on this however because it tends to change on an almost monthly basis. This, however, is the one that I recommend to everyone whether they like horror or not. It’s a great starter horror film as well as a good first date movie. If your date doesn’t like it, make sure there is no second date.

2) My favorite scream queen is Heather Langenkamp. I adored Heather as Nancy in the three Nightmare on Elm Street films that she appeared in. She brought strength and humanity to the role. She was one of the first Final GIrls to actually put up a fight and destroy evil…at least for the time being. It’s a shame she never broke out because she is one fine actress.

3) I don’t understand the love for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. I know this is many fans favorite of the Friday the 13th series but I always found this installment to be mean spirited (this film seems to hate women—almost every woman in this movie is either a slut or needs the assistance of a man) and I hated Corey Feldman’s performance as young Tommy. Just annoying and the deaths aren’t even all that great.

4) On the flip side, I don’t understand why more horror fans don’t love Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. A smart, cutting edge horror film that was ahead of its time, this movie is seriously scary and asks the burning question that most horror movies are afraid of—What impact does a horror movie have on those watching it? Scream toyed with this idea a few years later but I think New Nightmare is even better.

5) I don’t understand the love of supernatural horror movies. Don’t get me wrong, these can be done and done well (see Poltergeist and House of the Devil) but normally these types of films just leave me cold. You know you are going to get some doors that slam on their own as well as some creepy music but little else. I don’t mend tension but these films have just become an open invitation to make a bad, cheap horror movie.

6) If I’m not a fan of supernatural horror movies then I really hate found footage horror. I love Blair Witch, I think the first Paranormal Activity features some decent shocks, but…that’s about it. These are cheap, insulting movies that pander to a horror audience that want to see “the real thing”. They are also incredibly lazy and an excuse to feature poor acting (These are real people!). Case in point watch “The Devil Inside” or, better yet, don’t.

7) My first horror movie experience was when I was 6. I watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre with my parents. I stayed up all night because I was so scared out of my mind. As soon as I got over my initial shock, I went back for more. Twenty+ years later and I’m still looking to recapture that wonderful experience.

8. I obnoxiously quote horror movies that I’ve seen a million times to friends who haven’t seen them and don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. The biggest offenders: Scream (all four movies), Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Poltergeist III, Slaughter High, and Black Christmas.

9) I have never seen The Exorcist. There is no excuse for this one.

10) If I could meet one horror movie director, it would be Wes Craven. He created at least a dozen of my favorite horror movies and I’d ask him for both advice and tips of the trade. I’d also ask him to see the original cut of Cursed with Mandy Moore.

That is all. Hope that was informative. What are some random horror facts about you?

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Rooney Mara Bashes “Nightmare on Elm Street” Remake

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Nothing and I honestly mean nothing burns me up more than hearing actors and actresses put down the horror genre. The horror genre is a great starting ground that has breed some of Hollywood’s finest. Don’t like the script? Don’t make the movie. Certainly don’t bitch about the movie later has Rooney Mara has done with the “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake. She has come out harshly in the press saying that it is a role that she didn’t even want.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Rooney Mara spoke about her time on the Elm Street remake.

“You kind of learn to self-sabotage with things you don’t want to get,” she tells EW. “Sometimes you don’t want to get something, but you do a really good job and you get in anyway. That’s kind of [what happened] with A Nightmare on Elm Street-I didn’t even really want it. And then I went in [to audition], and I was like, “Fuck. I definitely got that.”

Mara then went on to express her feelings after the film was released.

“”I didn’t want to act anymore,” Mara continues. “I was like, this isn’t what I signed up for. If this is what my opportunities are going to be like, then I’m not that interested in acting. So I was very discouraged and disheartened. And then I got the “The Social Network” script. That kind of inspired me.“

Mara added nothing to the “Elm Street” remake and to know that right from the beginning she had no intention of of even trying is the final nail in the coffin. What an ungrateful bitch. Good luck with karma.

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Meta Movie Magic: “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” Review

Slasher StudiosWes Craven's New Nightmare

After the dismal “Freddy’s Dead”, Freddy seemed to be dead and buried for at least a few years. It, however, was in 1994 that Wes Craven came up with the radical idea of bringing Freddy back for another nightmare…a “New Nightmare”. Gone was funny Freddy and the fresh looking 80’s MTV teenagers and in was a concept so unique and groundbreaking that it just couldn’t work? Or could it…

But..let us start back at the beginning. In 1984, horror director Wes Craven created “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” It was acclaimed as one of the scariest movies ever made and made unknowns like Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, and Heather Langenkamp huge stars. Ten years later, Heather is living happily with her husband, Chase, and her son, Dylan. But her life has now been turned upside down because she is being stalked by a person who sounds like Nightmare villain Freddy Krueger. Chase has just been killed in a car accident after he accidentally fell asleep behind the wheel. Dylan refuses to sleep any more, and New Line Cinema has just offered her a part in “the ultimate Nightmare.” But some other strange things have been happening, including earthquakes and Craven being tight-lipped about the script. The ultimate truth is that Freddy Krueger is actually an ancient demon breaking out into our world, but in order to do that, he must go through Heather. And he knows he can get out by harming those near her.

Sound convoluted? Pretentious? Overly meta? Shockingly, no. “New Nightmare” is that rare horror film in which everything works. The performances are pitch perfect, lead by a tour-de-force performance by the amazing Langenkamp. The script is full of twists and turns and the movie is quite possibly the best looking of the entire series. What starts out as a maze of mirrors becomes something much more than your typical nightmare. The film examines the role film plays on those who watch it. Something that Wes Craven’s “Scream” would play out to great effect two years later. I really can’t say enough about this film and homages to the original are expertly placed. It is my favorite horror film of all time and a modern classic.

Buy It Here: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

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Freddy’s Dead: The Not So Final Nightmare

Slasher StudiosFreddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Best for last? Keep telling yourself that, New Line...

After a disappointing turn with “The Dream Child”, both creatively and financially, New Line Cinema decided it was time to give Freddy a proper burial. In 1991, saw the release of the supposed last Nightmare….”Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare”. The film had a bright upcoming screenwriter, a fresh new director, and cast of up-and-comers featuring the likes of Breckin Meyer. How could they go wrong?

"Consider yourself grateful that you don't have to be in the rest of the movie!"

“Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” has everyone’s favorite dream maniac Freddy Krueger at a crossroads. He has finally killed all the children of his hometown. He needs to escape the city’s confines to hunt fresh prey. To this end, he recruits the aid of his (previously unmentioned) daughter. However, she discovers the demonic origin of her father’s powers and meets Dad head-on in a final showdown.

The Power Glove. Not even a funny joke back in 91.

Sound stupid? You better believe it is. “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” is that rare horror movie in which nothing works. It sure as hell isn’t scary and the cameos by Johnny Depp and Roseanne come across as more desperate than funny. The deaths are awful as well. Killed by a robot hearing aid, killed by Freddy’s “power glove”, fallen from a parachute onto spikes placed by Freddy? Is this a Nightmare movie or a Looney Toons cartoon. Not only this, but Freddy himself doesn’t even get a cool or original death. They take the ending of the original and cheapen it and we are all worse for it. This film is a grim insult to Freddy fans everywhere.

Buy It Here: Freddy’s Dead – The Final Nightmare

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Father Knows Best: “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child” Review

Slasher StudiosNightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

If 1988 was Freddy at his peak, 1989 was the beginning of the end for Freddy. With 1989 saw the release of “The Dream Child”, the fifth installment of the Freddy franchise. Audiences were not impressed. The film grossed a little under half of what its immediate predecessor earned ($22 million vs. $49 million). Audiences seemed to have their fill of Freddy. Was “The Dream Child” just an underrated classic released at the wrong time or did this film deserve to be gutted at the box office?

Well, let’s start at the beginning. The film starts with Alice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finding the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger returning once again. This time, the finger-knifed murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice’s unborn child. His intention is to be “born again” into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son?

The biggest problem with “Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child” is the same problem that exists in “Freddy’s Revenge”: it breaks the rules of the series. Why would Freddy want to live on in the real world when the real world is the only thing that can kill him? Add in some hokey mother moments and an “in the womb” Krueger and you get a pretty dreadful sequel. The cinematography is top notch and the actors do what they can but, by this point in the series, who really cares? This isn’t a terrible entry but just a middle-of-the-road one. By this point the series is starting to show its age. Can Freddy’s Dead turn it all around?

Buy It Here: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 – The Dream Child

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“Dream Master? Sounds Like a Game Show Host to Me.”

Slasher StudiosNightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

By 1988, the Nightmare series had reached its peak of popularity. Freddy was everywhere from the late night news to hosting his own show on MTV. Freddy was no longer scary, he was marketable. So it should come as no surprise that the fourth entry in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series is the series’ least scary movie yet. That is not to say that “Dream Master” isn’t a hell of a lot of fun. Far from it. From the MTV style visuals to the use of pop music, the film is a kaleidoscope of the 1980’s. Scary, however, it isn’t.

“Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master” starts with the surviving team of “Dream Warriors” united once again to battle Freddy Krueger. One by one the surviving group are killed off by Freddy. However, Kristen (who has the ability to draw others into her dreams) wills her special ability to her friend Alice before her demise. Soon after, Alice quickly realizes that Freddy is taking advantage of that unknown power she now wields to pull a new group of teenagers into his “chest of souls”.

Truth be told, “Dream Master” is probably the most fun a viewer can have with the series. The deaths are completely imaginative, the special effects top notch, and the acting is solid on all accounts. It is also probably the most quotable entry of the series. It is entertaining as hell. Nonetheless, part of me wants Freddy scary again. As cool as the deaths are (Debbie’s cockroach death being the highlight death of the entire series for me), something here is missing that made the third installment so special.

Buy It Here: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 – The Dream Master

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Never Sleep Again: “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Review

Slasher StudiosNightmare on Elm Street

Wes Craven’s definitive classic. Bet you can’t guess what it is. A Nightmare on Elm Street is an unbelievably original, terrifingly realistic, and overall terrifying that, despite a weak ending, is one of the best horror flicks of the quarter of a century. The film deals with a deceased child molester who now lives only through the dreams of the children of those who burned him alive. Robert Englund is truly frightening as Freddy Krueger. Wes Craven delivers a surprising amount of tension that still holds up today.

Nancy is having nightmares about a frightening, badly-scarred figure who wears a glove with razor-sharp “finger knives”. She soon discovers that her friends are having similar dreams. When the kids begin to die, Nancy realizes that she must stay awake to survive. Uncovering the secret identity of the dream killer and his connection with the children of Elm Street, the girl plots to draw him out into the real world.

The film goes for suspense, drama, and gore and delivers for the most part. Heather Langenkamp gives a very solid performance as Nancy Thompson, the young woman is the “leader” among her friends and the only one who may get out alive. Forget about Jamie Lee Curtis’ whimpering performance in “Halloween”. Here Langenkamp is the real deal and she kicks ass. A great horror film that still delivers today. Look for a young Johnny Depp who, arguably, has the best death scene in the flick.

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