A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

SYNOPSIS

Nancy lives in 1428 Elm Street, Springwood. A town which was formally terrorised by a man named Fred Krueger, who used to torture and then murder the children of Springwood in his boiler-room using a glove made of sharp metal knives. This was before Freddy was burned to death by the Elm Street parents after he could not be tried in court.

Ten years later, Springwood has forgotten about Freddy Krueger and Nancy has grown up without the worries of the former Springwood children. This is until she and her closest friends start to have nightmares about a murderer in a red and green striped top, a fedora hat and a glove made of razor-sharp blades. Nightmares about Freddy Krueger.

Normally, these nightmares wouldn't be a threat, after all, Freddy Krueger has been dead for 10 years, but there is one twist. Just before Fred Krueger was burned to death, he told the townspeople that he would get his revenge by murdering their children in their dreams. One by one, Nancy's friends have nightmares in which they are killed by Freddy and one by one, they are actually found dead in the same way. Whatever Freddy subjects the children of Elm Street to in their nightmares, actually happens to them in real life. Nancy deduces that the only way to survive is to stay awake at all costs. This turns out to be harder than it sounds and, after Nancy's boyfriend is pulled into his bed and then killed resulting in gallons of blood splashing all over the room, she is the only survivor.

Nancy manages to hold onto Freddy in one of her nightmares whilst she wakes and Freddy is dragged through the dream world into the real world along with her. After a short battle between Nancy and Freddy Krueger, Freddy is set alight for the second time and it hurts him so much that he is forced to retreat once more to the dream world, not before burning and smothering Nancy's mother (one of the townspeople who was in the mob which burned and killed him in life).

The film ends and Nancy has defeated the dead Freddy for the first time. But wait! Nancy is seen getting into a car with her friends and her boyfriend who we have seen being killed by Freddy and they are waved off by Nancy's mother! They're not dead and it was all a nightmare! No. The car's hood comes over and it is red and green striped! Freddy colours! The Freddy car drives off and we are left in suspense.

The ending of the film is actually another Freddy-induced nightmares of Nancy who only thinks that all her friends are fine and they are, in real life, still dead. This is Freddy having a last chance to frighten Nancy before retreating to the dream world.

Freddy's passage to the real world: Through Nancy's and her friends dreams. He can also influence the real world from the dream world in certain cases (like when he makes Nancy see her phone turn into his tongue whilst she is awake). He is finally brought to the real world by Nancy who keeps hold of him when she wakes up and then defeated.

TRIVIA

Freddy Krueger is based on a bully of the same name who used to bully Wes Craven, the creator of the NOES films, at school.

Springwood was set in California in the first five films but was changed so that Springwood was in Ohio in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

Wes thought of the nightmare ideas when he read an article about people dying in their sleep for seemingly no reason.

Both the blood-bed and the death-of-Tina scenes were filmed in a room which could be rotated on a pivot. This meant that Tina could be dragged up the wall and across the ceiling and that a fountain of blood could spurt out of Glen's bed. The blood used in this scene was actually red-coloured water and due to a very poor budget, there could only be one take because they couldn't affort to re-wallpaper the room and replace the stained props. The scene actually went wrong and the blood poured into the room went out of control and all of the place. Fortunately, the scene looked really cool!

According to Nancy's mother in the film, Freddy Krueger killed twenty children before he was killed by the townspeople. Due to a legal technicality with the search warrant, Freddy had to be released. This is why the townspeople took the law into their own hands and burned Freddy to death. This is also why Freddy vowed revenge. If he was put to death in the proper manner, he wouldn't have needed to take revenge on so many children afterwards.

After they killed Freddy the parents never mentioned him to their kids. Some of the older kids, who knew who Freddy was, made up a jump-rope chant about him. The younger kids learned the chant but never knew that it was about a real person. The words to the Freddy jump rope chant are:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           One, two, Freddy's coming for you!
Three, four, better lock your door!
Five, six, grab your crucifix!
Seven, eight, better stay up late!
Nine, ten, you'll never sleep again!

BEST QUOTES

Nancy: Don't go to sleep!

Tina: Oh my God!                                                                                                                                                                                                          Freddy (showing his glove): This is God!

Freddy: I'm gonna kill you slow!

Freddy: I'm going to split you in two!