January 28, 2025 • 17 mins
"One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…"
It’s not a dream! Our A Nightmare on Elm Street episode is here! Dive into the 80s slasher classic that made us all afraid to fall asleep. We’re digging into Freddy Krueger’s iconic debut, exploring the film’s behind-the-scenes lore, and debating whether sleep is really overrated.
#SlashBackCinema #NightmareOnElmStreet #FreddyKrueger #80sHorror #DontFallAsleep #HorrorPodcast #NewEpisode #WesCraven #JohnnyDepp
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan Dreimiller (00:00):
What happens when the man of your dreams
(00:01):
becomes your worst nightmare?
Today, we're diving into ANightmare on Elm Street from
1984 the West Craven slasherclassic that introduced us to
Freddy Krueger, the burned upwise cracking dream stalker who
turned sleep into a deathsentence.
Shanny Luft (00:17):
We slice into it today on slash back cinema.
I distinctly remember this moviecoming out. I think we were both
12 years old, and I had friendswho were going to see it, but at
that time, when it was intheaters, it sounded a little
too scary. But then it came outon videotape, me and my sister
watched it together. Do youremember when this movie came
(00:38):
out in 84?
Ryan Dreimiller (00:39):
I do. But again, this was the forbidden
fruit. There was no in hell. Myparents were gonna let me see
this movie, so I didn't see ituntil it came out on VHS and
were able to watch it. Maybe I'dwatch it in Joe's basement, but
yeah, this one I did not see inthe theater, but I was
definitely aware and FreddyKrueger had such a huge cultural
(00:59):
impact. I mean, it was all aboutJason, but then Freddy Krueger
came along, and he took thestage with nightmare,
Shanny Luft (01:05):
right! And he was totally different than what
monsters were like at that time,because in the early 80s, Friday
the 13th and Halloween movieslike The killer was just this
big, lumbering, silent maskwearing character who just
stabbed kids and never saidanything, and his only
motivation seemed to be rage.
Whereas Freddy Krueger alwayshad, like, a weird sense of
humor and was kind of wacky. SoI was really interested in going
(01:29):
back to the original and seeing,does this stand up? Do I even
remember the movie correctly?
Ryan Dreimiller (01:34):
You had made that note
in hell raiser about FreddyKrueger being a shift in how his
villain showed up on screen.
And, yeah, I was curious too,because, like, does it hold up?
I remember him being verymenacing. But there's also some
dark comedy, how Robert England,how he played Freddy, like,
because, yeah, right, he wasdefinitely way more animated and
much more screen time. A lotmore personality came through in
(01:58):
this villain.
Shanny Luft (02:01):
When an actor becomes so closely associated
with the character, once heplayed this character, he was
going to be Freddy Krueger forthe rest of his life, that
there's no escaping it. That'shis like primary contribution to
pop culture.
Ryan Dreimiller (02:13):
One thing we talked about doing is
just prefacing these episodeswith spoiler alerts. Oh yeah,
let people know. Yeah. We'rebasically just talking about it
all. So if you don't want themovie ruined, go watch it. Then
come listen.
Shanny Luft (02:25):
The quick rundown is:a bunch of teenagers in a
suburban neighborhood are beingtortured in their dreams by this
nightmare figure, FreddyKrueger. It's the story of
Nancy, and it's her tanglingwith Freddy Krueger. And then
the movie, more than I remember,gets into the background. I was
kind of surprised to see, and Ihadn't remembered this how much
(02:46):
the plot turns on the history ofthe character and what happened
Elm Street. It's kind of likethis story of families that have
this horrible secret that getsrevealed, and that one thing I
learned about the movie was WesCravens. Original idea was that
Freddy Krueger was going to be achild molester, right? He's
going to be a pedophile. Butthen there were actual stories
(03:06):
while the movie was being madeand making national news of
something, some of those thingshappening, and so he downgraded
it to just guy that killschildren. So if it takes a
little the edge off, I guess youhave you not seen it in 40 years
since it came out on VHS, no,
Ryan Dreimiller (03:22):
I haven't seen in forever. You'd see clips or
something would be onoccasionally. So pieces of it,
yes, I also had forgotten thepiece of it where Freddy Krueger
is almost this cartoony dreamvillain character, like that
scene when Tina's being chaseddown by him. He's got the super
long arms the stretch downacross and he's dragging his
(03:43):
nails down the alley right,yeah, right in the beginning
there, there's a level of darkhumor and comedy to how they
play Freddy Krueger up. And Ihad kind of forgotten that piece
and just remembered more of thehorror, but it was a good mix of
both.
Shanny Luft (03:56):
So I'm glad you mentioned that, because I
remember Freddy Krueger havingfunny one liners than I thought
he did in this movie. In thismovie, I thought he was playing
it a little straighter theFreddy Krueger character from
the third and fourth movie. Ifeel like by then, Freddy
Krueger, with every kill, hassome kind of wacky line, like,
yeah, then the brakes, kids, andthen he breaks a kidnap. Feel
(04:19):
like this movie doesn't havethat. It does get by the third
one, I feel like that's when hereally becomes his franchise
character. And you're right,it's almost like a Warner
Brothers cartoon monster. Andthis movie, he is a little bit
more dark, I thought, in theoriginal, and a little more
intense. I mean, he's having funtorturing people, but it's not
(04:40):
as, like, entertaining or wackyas it gets to be in the later
movies. Yes, good point. Yeah.
Did you know, by the way, thatWes Craven was raised very
conservative evangelical. Infact, even I think, more
conservatively than you wereraised, he wasn't allowed to go
see movies. And I read that hedidn't see his first movie till
he was a senior in college. But.
Because dancing, playing cards,going to movies, was, again, he
(05:02):
was like, fundamentalistChristian. That's how his family
raised him.
Ryan Dreimiller (05:05):
Well, clearly that didn't work for
him, because he went off thedeep end at doing a little
research his first parade, thefilm was a pornographic film.
So, you know, yeah, he reallythrew off the shackles of
whatever Christian faith he hadhad,
Shanny Luft (05:19):
Like a lot of the guys we talked about horror
movies in the 70s and 80s were acheap way to break into the
business, if you just wanted toget into film and for a couple
$100,000 or, I think, nine,right, um Street, because it was
a little higher end. So it wasalmost $2 million you could make
a movie that could beessentially a blockbuster, and
make 20, 3040, times that much.
There's a couple lights in thescript that stood out to me. Is
(05:41):
a little weird. At one point,Nancy, the main character, she
burns her arm in the dream, andthen discovers that her arm is
burned in real life, right? Andshe burns it. She falls asleep
in class, and then Freddiechases her in class. That's how
she burns her arm. And then herboyfriend says,
Movie clip (06:01):
what'd you do to your arm?
I burned it in English class.
Shanny Luft (06:04):
Like, there's no further explanation. The
boyfriend's like, oh, yeah,sure, you burned your arm in
English class. No one's gonnathere's no follow up question
there. We're all good. Allright,
Ryan Dreimiller (06:13):
yeah.
When you're watching thesemovies, there's certain things
that catch your attention. Yeah,I'll give you my my quick blast
list. Okay? My first note was,80s names abound. We had blend
Tina, yeah, Rod and Nancy, like,boy, he doesn't get much more
80s than that, right? Secondnote was, John Saxton is back,
yeah. He was on a BlackChristmas, and he showed up at
all these horror movies, playingthe dad of Nancy in this movie.
(06:36):
Third note Freddy Krueger. He'sdefinitely, he was definitely a
wrestler into grappling. A lotof the scenes involved him
attacking the women. They wererolling around on the ground. He
was like, down. Like therewasn't like this, like, clean
stabby attack thing. It wasn'tdignified. No, look sloppy. Then
my, my final quick note was theoriginal home alone that had the
(06:57):
same exact note. And I went backand I was like, what year did
this movie come out? It came outbefore home alone, and Nancy is
going through the housepreparing for her final
confrontation with Freddie thereby Yeah, rigging up the whole
house.
Shanny Luft (07:12):
Yeah, sledgehammers, explosions. I
can't recall any other horrormovie woman, except for maybe
Sigourney Weaver, an alien whois more ready for being in a
horror movie, not intimidated,not running away screaming.
She's coming up with plans, evenwhen all her friends die. She's
not breaking down and losing it.
She's just sort of like, I'llrig up this sledgehammer to fall
(07:34):
on him when I pull him out ofthe dreams. She's so focused and
prepped and ready and notintimidated that I did not
remember. It really stood out tome, and I really got a kick out
of just how resourceful she was.
Ryan Dreimiller (07:46):
She's ready to throw down, you know,
people were dying in ways thatwere Yes, quite remarkable.
Well, said, Yeah, didn't throwher off her track and her plan.
Shanny Luft (07:57):
So some of my notes include that
bathtub scene, yes, where Nancyfalls asleep, and then that, I
feel like that image is justiconic in horror, that Freddy
Krueger glove comes up betweenher legs. But the reason it
stood out to me is, when you'rewatching this movie and you're
1314, years old, that shot ofFreddy Krueger arm coming up
between her legs while she wasin the tub, I remember everyone
(08:18):
just finding that incrediblysalacious and sexy and
frightening at the same time,and now it doesn't seem quite to
hold quite the punch.
Ryan Dreimiller (08:27):
Definitely iconic. You could just capture
that one still frame, and yousaid it perfectly. That
intersection of sex and horrorvery attention grabbing.
Shanny Luft (08:36):
Also that scene that takes place in English
class, I remember finding thatthe most frightening scene in
the movie where she falls asleepin class, and then Nancy sees
her friend out in the hallway,and once again, Nancy she's not
easily intimidated. She justgets up and walks out of class,
starts chasing her friend downthe hall, even though her friend
has died 30 minutes earlier inthe movie. I was very impressed
(08:58):
with how she takes the fight toFreddy right away.
Movie clip (09:01):
Hey Nancy! No running in the hallway!
Ryan Dreimiller (09:08):
that was interesting with that scene, in
terms of like, a lot of it hadhappened at home or in that
environment where you wouldnormally fall asleep. And it's
sort of like this was Freddyshowing that he can take you
wherever he might be, notconscious school setting added a
layer to the horror and, youknow, the scope of Franny's
domain, because he could now itcan get you out in the real
(09:28):
world, like if you just
Shanny Luft (09:30):
so and that's something I think Wes Craven is
particularly good at. A lot ofhorror movies take place in
really obscure places, right outin the country or in the North
Pole. We've seen so many ofthese movies where the main
characters are cut off from theworld around them. This is like
a suburban horror movie wherethe horror happens in school. It
happens in your house. WesCraven. Just seems particularly
(09:52):
good at making it horrifying,even though it's a world that's
kind of closer to the world inwhich we were raised.
Ryan Dreimiller (09:58):
He leans into kind of that family trying.
Trauma, yeah, this comes out ofthe shared trauma in this
particular neighborhood aroundthis guy, Freddy Krueger, that
would cut, yeah, who's killingall these kids? And the criminal
justice system failed, and sothe neighbors and the families
impacted decided they were totake justice in their hands, and
they killed Freddy Krueger, andnow his evil spirit has come
(10:19):
back to take revenge upon them.
Interesting layers to it thatlike he sets it in these
communities and places that arevery relatable, like, hey, that
could have been Reisterstown.
Shanny Luft (10:34):
Yeah, absolutely shout it out to our old stomping
ground. So we talked about someof the scenes that stood out to
us? Are there scenes or deathsthat are your favorites?
Ryan Dreimiller (10:43):
That Tina dream sequence that eventually leads
into her death? If you justwatched that one sequence, you
got a pretty good flavor for themovie and what it was about
Tina, she's falling asleep, andshe's being chased by Freddy
Krueger down this alley, andthey cut him into a room where
she's actually falling asleep,and then rod her boyfriend who,
oh yeah, they've just, you know,had sex, which in these movies
(11:04):
is always a bad idea, becauseyou're the immoral teenagers.
Yep, punish for that. He'ssleeping. Kruger shows up in the
room on top of her under thesheets, although rod doesn't
know that, and you can just seethat she's screaming for help.
What I did remember was howactually bloody and exorcist
like that scene becomes with,yeah, he's suddenly ripped apart
by the invisible razors. Youjust see her body moving all
(11:29):
around, blood everywhere. Thatwas pretty intense and was quite
the intro to this new type ofvillain that doesn't stand up
for me. What about you?
Johnny
Shanny Luft (11:39):
Depps' death scene is one that always I've
remembered now for 40 years, hisbed becomes a black hole that
sucks in half the stuff in theroom, and then this unbelievable
geyser comes shooting out of thebed onto the ceiling. And the
way they filmed that is, likesuper obvious. They just turned
the room upside down and justpoured red water down, and then
the camera is upside down. Ithink something I find really
(12:00):
charming about all of these 80shorror movies is that so much of
this had to be done in camera.
There's no CGI. And so what youhad available to you is just
what you were able to build onset. And I think that's
something you and I talkedabout, yeah, you introduced, I
don't know, four or fiveepisodes ago, the cheese award.
Ryan Dreimiller (12:17):
Cheese Yes, Cheese award. And my notes here,
yes, yes. My
Shanny Luft (12:22):
I would like to suggest that the cheese award go
to the scene where Nancy's mobis pulled through the door. That
scene is so janky, and I saw ainterview with the guys who had
to rig that up. It's like a realdoor, and the hole is not that
big. So essentially, what youneed is a blow up doll that
(12:43):
you're pulling through, becauseit has to kind of like shrink
enough that you can get into thehole. It just doesn't work. It's
really hard not to laugh. I've
Ryan Dreimiller (12:49):
got a couple nominations also, okay, she's
award for this one. One isNancy's in her room, and she's
been communicating with Glenn,and she's talked about how she's
gonna need his help. Yeah. She'slike, don't fall asleep. And
Clinton, and Clinton, of course,falls asleep, and she's trying
to call him whatever calls thehouse. Glenn's dead, so she gets
frustrated and pulls the phoneout of the wall. Well, the phone
(13:10):
keeps ringing. She I love thisscene. It's just the phone.
Yeah, she picks it up, and it'sFreddy Krueger out on the line.
He says, Nancy, I'm yourboyfriend now Nancy the phone
turns into Freddy Krueger tongueand elixir face, but
it's so cheesy.
Shanny Luft (13:31):
I don't it looks so terrible, and I remember that
being really scary. And when youre watch it, yikes, it doesn't
hold up. That's a good one. Youwant to go to our stabby score?
Yeah. So out of five stabbies,what are you thinking about
nightmare in Elm Street, theoriginal from 1984?
Ryan Dreimiller (13:46):
I gotta lay it down with four stabs. Some
of the stuff we talked about interms of the cheese factor. But
that really doesn't take awayfrom this being really an iconic
film. When you think abouthorror of the 80s, Wes Craven
top of the list, and this wasprobably his ultimate work that
he ever put out. Gave us FreddyKrueger. Great cast, well acted.
The scripts, really tight,really well done, and it did
(14:09):
hold up. And some of this, thescenes were still pretty
shocking, but entertainingtowatch.
Shanny Luft (14:15):
I totally agree.
What about you? Yes, I'm alsofour stabbies with this. It just
out of five. It's stillentertaining. I feel like the
acting and the script is kind oflike a little bit better than
the average genre har moviesfrom this time period. Well cast
and it has an interesting storythat has this like, I found kind
of fascinating idea of, do theparents really deserve to be
punished for burning alive a guywho's like a child molester and
(14:39):
child murderer like, are theyactually supposed to be
villains, or do they deserve thefate that Freddy Krueger is
bestowing upon them, which istorturing their children? I
found it all kind offascinating, and like the lore
of it actually holds up. Thatsaid. So I don't remember all of
the Niagara nestre movies, butmy recollection at the time is
that. The third one is actuallymy favorite. I think it's the
(15:01):
Dream Warriors. Did you see thatone? No, I didn't see it. That
is with Patricia Arquette playsthe the main girl. And that one,
bigger budget, moresupernatural, and it's the one
where Freddie is the Freddy thatI remember. The kills are super
creative and weird, and it'swhat makes the character iconic.
I have to watch that one. Yeah,check it out. Maybe we'll talk
(15:22):
about it for a future episode.
But I feel like the originaltotally holds up. And Wes
Craven. He's punching above hishis weight class or something.
He's a decent writer. He's ableto take things that could be
kind of goofy, like the longwaving arms at the very
beginning, and he films them insuch a way that he genuinely
pulls that stuff off. And itlooks scary.
It works.
Ryan Dreimiller (15:41):
It does work. And this was quite a
comeback from was this moviebefore this? I think it was
Swamp Thing, which was not,
Shanny Luft (15:47):
yeah,
Ryan Dreimiller (15:47):
not a great film.
Shanny Luft (15:49):
We gotta go back and watch that. We gotta talk
about that someday.
Ryan Dreimiller (15:52):
Delivered the goods. Absolutely. When I was
doing a little research, I cameacross this random comment on
Reddit about this movie, and theuser's name is fish tank brain.
This is from a couple yearsback. So I'm bringing up some
old commentary here. What pissesme off about the series is how
it never explores how marijuanaprevents people from dreaming.
(16:12):
That's scientific. Marijuanareduces REM sleep in favor of
deep sleep and then fantasticanalysis. 163 replies, A
Nightmare on Cheech and ChongStreet. Well, so we're talking
about the comedy versions offilms. You know, there we go.
It's been laid out for us so
Shanny Luft (16:31):
well, maybe that's what we'll get 2025 who knows?
That wraps up another trip downmemory lane. Hopefully you
enjoyed our revisiting Nightmareon Elm Street from 1984 as much
as we did.
Ryan Dreimiller (16:41):
Don't forget to follow us on our
socials. We've got tick tockFacebook and Instagram, slash
back cinema. And subscribehowever you listen to podcasts,
so you never miss an episode.
Also, please do rate us!
Shanny Luft (16:52):
and we want to hear from you. If you have a classic
movie you'd like us to dissect,drop us a line over at slash
back cinema.com. Yoursuggestions keep the
conversation alive.
Ryan Dreimiller (17:01):
Thanks for tuning in to slash back cinema.
We'll see you next week.
What happens when the man of your dreams
(00:01):
becomes your worst nightmare?
Today, we're diving into ANightmare on Elm Street from
1984 the West Craven slasherclassic that introduced us to
Freddy Krueger, the burned upwise cracking dream stalker who
turned sleep into a deathsentence.
Shanny Luft (00:17):
We slice into it today on slash back cinema.
I distinctly remember this moviecoming out. I think we were both
12 years old, and I had friendswho were going to see it, but at
that time, when it was intheaters, it sounded a little
too scary. But then it came outon videotape, me and my sister
watched it together. Do youremember when this movie came
(00:38):
out in 84?
Ryan Dreimiller (00:39):
I do. But again, this was the forbidden
fruit. There was no in hell. Myparents were gonna let me see
this movie, so I didn't see ituntil it came out on VHS and
were able to watch it. Maybe I'dwatch it in Joe's basement, but
yeah, this one I did not see inthe theater, but I was
definitely aware and FreddyKrueger had such a huge cultural
(00:59):
impact. I mean, it was all aboutJason, but then Freddy Krueger
came along, and he took thestage with nightmare,
Shanny Luft (01:05):
right! And he was totally different than what
monsters were like at that time,because in the early 80s, Friday
the 13th and Halloween movieslike The killer was just this
big, lumbering, silent maskwearing character who just
stabbed kids and never saidanything, and his only
motivation seemed to be rage.
Whereas Freddy Krueger alwayshad, like, a weird sense of
humor and was kind of wacky. SoI was really interested in going
(01:29):
back to the original and seeing,does this stand up? Do I even
remember the movie correctly?
Ryan Dreimiller (01:34):
You had made that note
in hell raiser about FreddyKrueger being a shift in how his
villain showed up on screen.
And, yeah, I was curious too,because, like, does it hold up?
I remember him being verymenacing. But there's also some
dark comedy, how Robert England,how he played Freddy, like,
because, yeah, right, he wasdefinitely way more animated and
much more screen time. A lotmore personality came through in
(01:58):
this villain.
Shanny Luft (02:01):
When an actor becomes so closely associated
with the character, once heplayed this character, he was
going to be Freddy Krueger forthe rest of his life, that
there's no escaping it. That'shis like primary contribution to
pop culture.
Ryan Dreimiller (02:13):
One thing we talked about doing is
just prefacing these episodeswith spoiler alerts. Oh yeah,
let people know. Yeah. We'rebasically just talking about it
all. So if you don't want themovie ruined, go watch it. Then
come listen.
Shanny Luft (02:25):
The quick rundown is:a bunch of teenagers in a
suburban neighborhood are beingtortured in their dreams by this
nightmare figure, FreddyKrueger. It's the story of
Nancy, and it's her tanglingwith Freddy Krueger. And then
the movie, more than I remember,gets into the background. I was
kind of surprised to see, and Ihadn't remembered this how much
(02:46):
the plot turns on the history ofthe character and what happened
Elm Street. It's kind of likethis story of families that have
this horrible secret that getsrevealed, and that one thing I
learned about the movie was WesCravens. Original idea was that
Freddy Krueger was going to be achild molester, right? He's
going to be a pedophile. Butthen there were actual stories
(03:06):
while the movie was being madeand making national news of
something, some of those thingshappening, and so he downgraded
it to just guy that killschildren. So if it takes a
little the edge off, I guess youhave you not seen it in 40 years
since it came out on VHS, no,
Ryan Dreimiller (03:22):
I haven't seen in forever. You'd see clips or
something would be onoccasionally. So pieces of it,
yes, I also had forgotten thepiece of it where Freddy Krueger
is almost this cartoony dreamvillain character, like that
scene when Tina's being chaseddown by him. He's got the super
long arms the stretch downacross and he's dragging his
(03:43):
nails down the alley right,yeah, right in the beginning
there, there's a level of darkhumor and comedy to how they
play Freddy Krueger up. And Ihad kind of forgotten that piece
and just remembered more of thehorror, but it was a good mix of
both.
Shanny Luft (03:56):
So I'm glad you mentioned that, because I
remember Freddy Krueger havingfunny one liners than I thought
he did in this movie. In thismovie, I thought he was playing
it a little straighter theFreddy Krueger character from
the third and fourth movie. Ifeel like by then, Freddy
Krueger, with every kill, hassome kind of wacky line, like,
yeah, then the brakes, kids, andthen he breaks a kidnap. Feel
(04:19):
like this movie doesn't havethat. It does get by the third
one, I feel like that's when hereally becomes his franchise
character. And you're right,it's almost like a Warner
Brothers cartoon monster. Andthis movie, he is a little bit
more dark, I thought, in theoriginal, and a little more
intense. I mean, he's having funtorturing people, but it's not
(04:40):
as, like, entertaining or wackyas it gets to be in the later
movies. Yes, good point. Yeah.
Did you know, by the way, thatWes Craven was raised very
conservative evangelical. Infact, even I think, more
conservatively than you wereraised, he wasn't allowed to go
see movies. And I read that hedidn't see his first movie till
he was a senior in college. But.
Because dancing, playing cards,going to movies, was, again, he
(05:02):
was like, fundamentalistChristian. That's how his family
raised him.
Ryan Dreimiller (05:05):
Well, clearly that didn't work for
him, because he went off thedeep end at doing a little
research his first parade, thefilm was a pornographic film.
So, you know, yeah, he reallythrew off the shackles of
whatever Christian faith he hadhad,
Shanny Luft (05:19):
Like a lot of the guys we talked about horror
movies in the 70s and 80s were acheap way to break into the
business, if you just wanted toget into film and for a couple
$100,000 or, I think, nine,right, um Street, because it was
a little higher end. So it wasalmost $2 million you could make
a movie that could beessentially a blockbuster, and
make 20, 3040, times that much.
There's a couple lights in thescript that stood out to me. Is
(05:41):
a little weird. At one point,Nancy, the main character, she
burns her arm in the dream, andthen discovers that her arm is
burned in real life, right? Andshe burns it. She falls asleep
in class, and then Freddiechases her in class. That's how
she burns her arm. And then herboyfriend says,
Movie clip (06:01):
what'd you do to your arm?
I burned it in English class.
Shanny Luft (06:04):
Like, there's no further explanation. The
boyfriend's like, oh, yeah,sure, you burned your arm in
English class. No one's gonnathere's no follow up question
there. We're all good. Allright,
Ryan Dreimiller (06:13):
yeah.
When you're watching thesemovies, there's certain things
that catch your attention. Yeah,I'll give you my my quick blast
list. Okay? My first note was,80s names abound. We had blend
Tina, yeah, Rod and Nancy, like,boy, he doesn't get much more
80s than that, right? Secondnote was, John Saxton is back,
yeah. He was on a BlackChristmas, and he showed up at
all these horror movies, playingthe dad of Nancy in this movie.
(06:36):
Third note Freddy Krueger. He'sdefinitely, he was definitely a
wrestler into grappling. A lotof the scenes involved him
attacking the women. They wererolling around on the ground. He
was like, down. Like therewasn't like this, like, clean
stabby attack thing. It wasn'tdignified. No, look sloppy. Then
my, my final quick note was theoriginal home alone that had the
(06:57):
same exact note. And I went backand I was like, what year did
this movie come out? It came outbefore home alone, and Nancy is
going through the housepreparing for her final
confrontation with Freddie thereby Yeah, rigging up the whole
house.
Shanny Luft (07:12):
Yeah, sledgehammers, explosions. I
can't recall any other horrormovie woman, except for maybe
Sigourney Weaver, an alien whois more ready for being in a
horror movie, not intimidated,not running away screaming.
She's coming up with plans, evenwhen all her friends die. She's
not breaking down and losing it.
She's just sort of like, I'llrig up this sledgehammer to fall
(07:34):
on him when I pull him out ofthe dreams. She's so focused and
prepped and ready and notintimidated that I did not
remember. It really stood out tome, and I really got a kick out
of just how resourceful she was.
Ryan Dreimiller (07:46):
She's ready to throw down, you know,
people were dying in ways thatwere Yes, quite remarkable.
Well, said, Yeah, didn't throwher off her track and her plan.
Shanny Luft (07:57):
So some of my notes include that
bathtub scene, yes, where Nancyfalls asleep, and then that, I
feel like that image is justiconic in horror, that Freddy
Krueger glove comes up betweenher legs. But the reason it
stood out to me is, when you'rewatching this movie and you're
1314, years old, that shot ofFreddy Krueger arm coming up
between her legs while she wasin the tub, I remember everyone
(08:18):
just finding that incrediblysalacious and sexy and
frightening at the same time,and now it doesn't seem quite to
hold quite the punch.
Ryan Dreimiller (08:27):
Definitely iconic. You could just capture
that one still frame, and yousaid it perfectly. That
intersection of sex and horrorvery attention grabbing.
Shanny Luft (08:36):
Also that scene that takes place in English
class, I remember finding thatthe most frightening scene in
the movie where she falls asleepin class, and then Nancy sees
her friend out in the hallway,and once again, Nancy she's not
easily intimidated. She justgets up and walks out of class,
starts chasing her friend downthe hall, even though her friend
has died 30 minutes earlier inthe movie. I was very impressed
(08:58):
with how she takes the fight toFreddy right away.
Movie clip (09:01):
Hey Nancy! No running in the hallway!
Ryan Dreimiller (09:08):
that was interesting with that scene, in
terms of like, a lot of it hadhappened at home or in that
environment where you wouldnormally fall asleep. And it's
sort of like this was Freddyshowing that he can take you
wherever he might be, notconscious school setting added a
layer to the horror and, youknow, the scope of Franny's
domain, because he could now itcan get you out in the real
(09:28):
world, like if you just
Shanny Luft (09:30):
so and that's something I think Wes Craven is
particularly good at. A lot ofhorror movies take place in
really obscure places, right outin the country or in the North
Pole. We've seen so many ofthese movies where the main
characters are cut off from theworld around them. This is like
a suburban horror movie wherethe horror happens in school. It
happens in your house. WesCraven. Just seems particularly
(09:52):
good at making it horrifying,even though it's a world that's
kind of closer to the world inwhich we were raised.
Ryan Dreimiller (09:58):
He leans into kind of that family trying.
Trauma, yeah, this comes out ofthe shared trauma in this
particular neighborhood aroundthis guy, Freddy Krueger, that
would cut, yeah, who's killingall these kids? And the criminal
justice system failed, and sothe neighbors and the families
impacted decided they were totake justice in their hands, and
they killed Freddy Krueger, andnow his evil spirit has come
(10:19):
back to take revenge upon them.
Interesting layers to it thatlike he sets it in these
communities and places that arevery relatable, like, hey, that
could have been Reisterstown.
Shanny Luft (10:34):
Yeah, absolutely shout it out to our old stomping
ground. So we talked about someof the scenes that stood out to
us? Are there scenes or deathsthat are your favorites?
Ryan Dreimiller (10:43):
That Tina dream sequence that eventually leads
into her death? If you justwatched that one sequence, you
got a pretty good flavor for themovie and what it was about
Tina, she's falling asleep, andshe's being chased by Freddy
Krueger down this alley, andthey cut him into a room where
she's actually falling asleep,and then rod her boyfriend who,
oh yeah, they've just, you know,had sex, which in these movies
(11:04):
is always a bad idea, becauseyou're the immoral teenagers.
Yep, punish for that. He'ssleeping. Kruger shows up in the
room on top of her under thesheets, although rod doesn't
know that, and you can just seethat she's screaming for help.
What I did remember was howactually bloody and exorcist
like that scene becomes with,yeah, he's suddenly ripped apart
by the invisible razors. Youjust see her body moving all
(11:29):
around, blood everywhere. Thatwas pretty intense and was quite
the intro to this new type ofvillain that doesn't stand up
for me. What about you?
Johnny
Shanny Luft (11:39):
Depps' death scene is one that always I've
remembered now for 40 years, hisbed becomes a black hole that
sucks in half the stuff in theroom, and then this unbelievable
geyser comes shooting out of thebed onto the ceiling. And the
way they filmed that is, likesuper obvious. They just turned
the room upside down and justpoured red water down, and then
the camera is upside down. Ithink something I find really
(12:00):
charming about all of these 80shorror movies is that so much of
this had to be done in camera.
There's no CGI. And so what youhad available to you is just
what you were able to build onset. And I think that's
something you and I talkedabout, yeah, you introduced, I
don't know, four or fiveepisodes ago, the cheese award.
Ryan Dreimiller (12:17):
Cheese Yes, Cheese award. And my notes here,
yes, yes. My
Shanny Luft (12:22):
I would like to suggest that the cheese award go
to the scene where Nancy's mobis pulled through the door. That
scene is so janky, and I saw ainterview with the guys who had
to rig that up. It's like a realdoor, and the hole is not that
big. So essentially, what youneed is a blow up doll that
(12:43):
you're pulling through, becauseit has to kind of like shrink
enough that you can get into thehole. It just doesn't work. It's
really hard not to laugh. I've
Ryan Dreimiller (12:49):
got a couple nominations also, okay, she's
award for this one. One isNancy's in her room, and she's
been communicating with Glenn,and she's talked about how she's
gonna need his help. Yeah. She'slike, don't fall asleep. And
Clinton, and Clinton, of course,falls asleep, and she's trying
to call him whatever calls thehouse. Glenn's dead, so she gets
frustrated and pulls the phoneout of the wall. Well, the phone
(13:10):
keeps ringing. She I love thisscene. It's just the phone.
Yeah, she picks it up, and it'sFreddy Krueger out on the line.
He says, Nancy, I'm yourboyfriend now Nancy the phone
turns into Freddy Krueger tongueand elixir face, but
it's so cheesy.
Shanny Luft (13:31):
I don't it looks so terrible, and I remember that
being really scary. And when youre watch it, yikes, it doesn't
hold up. That's a good one. Youwant to go to our stabby score?
Yeah. So out of five stabbies,what are you thinking about
nightmare in Elm Street, theoriginal from 1984?
Ryan Dreimiller (13:46):
I gotta lay it down with four stabs. Some
of the stuff we talked about interms of the cheese factor. But
that really doesn't take awayfrom this being really an iconic
film. When you think abouthorror of the 80s, Wes Craven
top of the list, and this wasprobably his ultimate work that
he ever put out. Gave us FreddyKrueger. Great cast, well acted.
The scripts, really tight,really well done, and it did
(14:09):
hold up. And some of this, thescenes were still pretty
shocking, but entertainingtowatch.
Shanny Luft (14:15):
I totally agree.
What about you? Yes, I'm alsofour stabbies with this. It just
out of five. It's stillentertaining. I feel like the
acting and the script is kind oflike a little bit better than
the average genre har moviesfrom this time period. Well cast
and it has an interesting storythat has this like, I found kind
of fascinating idea of, do theparents really deserve to be
punished for burning alive a guywho's like a child molester and
(14:39):
child murderer like, are theyactually supposed to be
villains, or do they deserve thefate that Freddy Krueger is
bestowing upon them, which istorturing their children? I
found it all kind offascinating, and like the lore
of it actually holds up. Thatsaid. So I don't remember all of
the Niagara nestre movies, butmy recollection at the time is
that. The third one is actuallymy favorite. I think it's the
(15:01):
Dream Warriors. Did you see thatone? No, I didn't see it. That
is with Patricia Arquette playsthe the main girl. And that one,
bigger budget, moresupernatural, and it's the one
where Freddie is the Freddy thatI remember. The kills are super
creative and weird, and it'swhat makes the character iconic.
I have to watch that one. Yeah,check it out. Maybe we'll talk
(15:22):
about it for a future episode.
But I feel like the originaltotally holds up. And Wes
Craven. He's punching above hishis weight class or something.
He's a decent writer. He's ableto take things that could be
kind of goofy, like the longwaving arms at the very
beginning, and he films them insuch a way that he genuinely
pulls that stuff off. And itlooks scary.
It works.
Ryan Dreimiller (15:41):
It does work. And this was quite a
comeback from was this moviebefore this? I think it was
Swamp Thing, which was not,
Shanny Luft (15:47):
yeah,
Ryan Dreimiller (15:47):
not a great film.
Shanny Luft (15:49):
We gotta go back and watch that. We gotta talk
about that someday.
Ryan Dreimiller (15:52):
Delivered the goods. Absolutely. When I was
doing a little research, I cameacross this random comment on
Reddit about this movie, and theuser's name is fish tank brain.
This is from a couple yearsback. So I'm bringing up some
old commentary here. What pissesme off about the series is how
it never explores how marijuanaprevents people from dreaming.
(16:12):
That's scientific. Marijuanareduces REM sleep in favor of
deep sleep and then fantasticanalysis. 163 replies, A
Nightmare on Cheech and ChongStreet. Well, so we're talking
about the comedy versions offilms. You know, there we go.
It's been laid out for us so
Shanny Luft (16:31):
well, maybe that's what we'll get 2025 who knows?
That wraps up another trip downmemory lane. Hopefully you
enjoyed our revisiting Nightmareon Elm Street from 1984 as much
as we did.
Ryan Dreimiller (16:41):
Don't forget to follow us on our
socials. We've got tick tockFacebook and Instagram, slash
back cinema. And subscribehowever you listen to podcasts,
so you never miss an episode.
Also, please do rate us!
Shanny Luft (16:52):
and we want to hear from you. If you have a classic
movie you'd like us to dissect,drop us a line over at slash
back cinema.com. Yoursuggestions keep the
conversation alive.
Ryan Dreimiller (17:01):
Thanks for tuning in to slash back cinema.
We'll see you next week.
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