The Haunt Of Fear: ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Results Thread

"This is it, Freddy! Your big break in THIS COUNTDOWN! Welcome to SLOT 43, BITCH!"

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7242856552_c17ee9c640_o.jpg

43. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Wes Craven, USA, 1984
(384 points, 16 votes, 1 first-place vote)

I saw nightmare on elm street in the theaters in 1984 and yeah, it was pretty scary. particularly the early moments when you're not sure whether the characters are awake or dreaming. the classroom scene was memorably disorienting and, yes, surreal. years of sequels, copycats, and the cultural ubiquity of freddy have dulled the impact but at the time it was pretty freaky. the thought that you couldn't escape the killer, shoot him, call the cops, whatever, the lack of control or agency contributed to the freakishness of it. trying to stay awake to stay alive? that grounded the horror in an inevitable biological process, similar to how rosemary's baby derived its horror from an impending birth. I'd say ANOES and the evil dead were the only films I saw that year that really scared me. ANOES gets a bit formulaic in the last act but it was a pretty innovative concept, and the idea that it wasn't scary at the time is a laughable one.
I saw it again in the past 5 years or so and was surprised by how brutal the freddy character is, before he became a silly icon. freddy isn't treated like a punchline machine, he's a nasty unpleasant child murderer and he acts like one.
― (e_3) (Edward III), Wednesday, July 14, 2010 8:48 PM (1 year ago)

surprise nightmare on elm street movies

Two more to reveal today, but it's going to have to wait a couple hours.

nice screen cap there

Pulse!

still haven't seen any of the japanese ringu/ju-on films. which ones are worth it?

I didn't vote for any of them, but I generally appreciate the sensibilities on display. If you are curious, I would prob suggest just starting w/ the first of either & going from there. Both series are remarkably consistent (some might say one-trick).

don't want to derail, but can anyone recommend some good books/essays/articles on J-horror? I've read a few things on the animistic influences, and on some of the folk origins of the female ghost, but I'm also kinda interested in the J-horror (and sometimes Japanese horror comic) take on the Internet, digital media, video, people disappearing (often into media or through media), etc. Japanese horror tends to approach these ideas in much more interesting (and hard to read) ways than American horror does

Ringu screencap is all time. As discussed on the nominations thread, Ringu didn't do much for me, but that screencap is chilling.

This is so right on, too: "the thought that you couldn't escape the killer, shoot him, call the cops, whatever, the lack of control or agency contributed to the freakishness of it. trying to stay awake to stay alive?" That's what affected me the most when I first saw it.

Also the one fingerknife scraping against the wall when he's walking down the dark alley, and oh god, the hand in the bathtub...

Sorry, that's some bad writing there. Second bit is about Nightmare on Elm Street.

Also: long-armed Freddy in the alley.

A few years back I watched all 7 movies in the franchise (I don't count Freddy vs. Jason or the remake in this group), and I was surprised by the overall quality of the films, even with the increasing silliness of Freddy. Basically, I think they kept on getting lucky with directors with surrealist bents. Part 4: Dream Master and Freddy's Dead are the weakest, but even those have moments. 2: Freddy's Revenge and 5: Dream Child are both underrated.

i'm one of the few who thinks that pulse is a real disappointment relative to cure. the spooky parts work like gangbusters, the photography and color coding are often great, but the incoherent plotting and aggressive "DO YOU SEE?" foregrounding of subtext really get on my nerves.

as i say this, i realize how similar my complaints are to the missing-the-point criticisms typically lobbed at argento, and how much the film's strengths resemble his (stylization, composition, creepiness).

Yes, the bathtub scene! You could make a list of the best bathtub/shower scenes in horror history. Psycho, ANOES, Slither. Arachnophobia? There must be a ton more. (The less we say of the infamous tub scene in Jack Frost, the better.)

I have the biggest, dumbest soft spot for Freddy vs. Jason (did not vote for it, fear not).

Which movie had the kids faces as toppings on a pizza, with Freddy puncturing their faces with his fingerknife? I found that super disturbing and it's always stuck with me. Fun personal fact: I cannot abide by pineapple on pizza because I have somehow connected that scene with that topping. Ugh.

he one fingerknife scraping against the wall

I was thinking about using that one too, actually..

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5541/noes03.jpg

I watched NMOES years later, after a few sequels came out. It was all too familiar and Freddie striking a pose with the claws was just comical at that point. I think maybe he was in commercials? Some of the deaths in the first nightmare should have scared me but I was at the right point in my life to just roll my eyes and call it crap.

love nightmare on elm street but didn't vote for it. it's become a time capsule and is hard to view as anything but 80s camp, but i love the inventiveness and sense of anarchic fun.

My one big problem with the Nightmare on Elm Street series was always that they represented nightmares about as faithfully as Ghostbusters did ghosts. Which was less of a problem as the series became goofier but it did detract a bit from the initial installment, imo. I still love the first four, though, all of which made my ballot (and if you think that's shameful, you'll be pleased to know that A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 is about 10 spots higher on my ballot than the first).

I, on the other hand, was the perfect age to have the bejeezus scared out of me by the first three or so.

xxp

for some reason my memory is that the second NOES is the superior one but I get them mixed up. various scenes from all of them are well-etched into my memory.

and if you think that's shameful, you'll be pleased to know that A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 is about 10 spots higher on my ballot than the first

Ha. I have one v. shameful sequel ranking considerably higher than its well-acclaimed and sure to place high original. So high five to you, friend.

OK, I added Pulse to my streaming Netflix queue. Hope I don't regret it.

I won't even pretend that my NOES votes aren't total nostalgia votes, even though I really do still enjoy those first four. The first one was very possibly the first R-rated movie I ever saw, and the fourth was definitely the first I ever saw in the theater (thanks, my friend's awesome mom).

Several deaths in the series always creeped me out: the girl who turned into an insect Cronenberg-style, the kid whose veins become puppet strings, the anorexic girl who is force-fed flesh. But the deaths in the original are so iconic: Tina on the ceiling, Depp sucked into the bed, etc.

for some reason my memory is that the second NOES is the superior one but I get them mixed up. various scenes from all of them are well-etched into my memory.

The second is the only one that doesn't really have much to do with the others. And the people involved in its creation have come around to totally owning up to its (fairly obvious, once you see it as an adult) homoerotic undertones.

I made a similar point on another thread--that all the remakes and the turn towards camp undermined how genuinely creepy the original was. (Don't think I saw anything past the first sequel.)

I had Pulse 6th, Ringu 38th.

Only saw the first NoES and was underwhelmed.

There's a great 4-hour(!!) documentary called Never Sleep Again about the whole series, really exhaustive & honest as well as making you appreciate the heck out of the series in general. Apparently the creators are giving the same treatment to F13 soon.

I will mention that Ronee Blakely is unbelievably bad...voted for it anyway.

If you are curious, I would prob suggest just starting w/ the first of either & going from there. Both series are remarkably consistent (some might say one-trick).

thanks! will do

the kid whose veins become puppet strings

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Based on my reaction to this discussion, I should have placed this movie a lot higher than I did.

also have a big, dumb soft spot for jason vs. freddy (and jason goes to hell for that matter)

^ this scene was in #3, no? It didn't quite make my ballot, but Dream Warriors is one of the only horror sequels to give the original a run for its money imo.

xp

Jason vs Freddy is great fun

vein-puppet is in #3 yes

I wouldn't have voted for #3, but probably should have placed #1 higher for having established the brand that resulted in face-pizza and vein puppetry.

It's always been amusing to see how a red-and-green sweater -- possibly the least scary item of clothing ever -- became so associated with horror.

http://0.tqn.com/d/horror/1/0/B/S/0/-/ElmSt_puppet.jpg

Dream Warriors is one of the only horror sequels to give the original a run for its money imo.

the more I think about it, the more this seems totally rong (insofar as sequel-to-og quality ratio, not Dream Warriors being dope)

xp blarg!

The second NOES is the one with the very homoerotic subtext, as well as a more pronounced viciousness. The rest of them are all a little too "let's get the gang together to beat Freddy!" for my tastes, though the first one has a lot going for it. Wes Craven is so smart that while I rarely like his movies, I always like his DVD commentaries. Just very perceptive, even when what's on screen is sort of shoddy or boilerplate.

yeah, for a dude as sharp and talented as Wes Craven, you'd think his overall track record would be a bit better (then again, John Carpenter..)

Really liked Robert England the two times in the series that he played without make-up: as himself in Wes Craven's New Nightmare and as a pre-burned Freddy in (I think) Freddy's Dead.

It's always been amusing to see how a red-and-green sweater -- possibly the least scary item of clothing ever -- became so associated with horror.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcu16lfF1F1qch9gxo1_500.jpg

As a kid, I would've shanked a family member for one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Street-Deluxe-Freddy-Glove/dp/B000A0YPPQ

Where is je55e? I believe he has a story of making his own Freddy glove out of household items.

still haven't seen any of the japanese ringu/ju-on films. which ones are worth it?

related and perhaps of interest, all dealing with ghosts, curses and/or "haunted" technology:

dark water - again, original only
shutter - thailand, inspired another worthless remake
noroi: the curse - recent, damn good
the eye - hong kong, somewhat different in theme & approach, but similar enough to mention here
pulse - not a personal favorite, but enough people like it that i figure it deserves mention
marebito - interesting variation on similar themes
uzumaki - weird & wacky low-budget curse flick, a personal favorite

yay pulse. kinda weird how something so purposefully distanced/detached can be so dread-filled/moving.

ed3 otm about the progressive watering down of freddy.

So The Ring is still going to place, right? (in the proper order)

That screencap of NOES is perfect. As a 4th grader, I made my own Freddy glove out of a glove, sheet metal, and wire. The nice Protestants my parents had over for after-church lunch seemed impressed with it and my re-telling of the movie (my parents were too out-of-touch to get what I was talking about).

haha xps

New Nightmare is flawed, but it's a pretty heroic effort from Craven to wrestle Freddy back to something scary. Admirable film, and pre-dates Scream by a couple years.

"HORROR SHIRT" looks like Phyllis Diller with bruises on her head.

The nice Protestants my parents had over for after-church lunch seemed impressed with it and my re-telling of the movie

<3 x infinity