You always think this is the best 80s horror movie of all time, then you think about the so-so acting, the bad blocking, the violent edits and remember that _The Shining_ came out four years **before** this, so then you shut up.

I liked the acting, it's above average in the horror scope. Heather Langenkamp is a great protagonist, she doesn't make stupid decisions and is not helpless, which helps a lot. This is the first movie we get to see a young Johnny Depp, he does a good job and I found it strange seeing him "normal", with no makeup or some crazy outfit. And of course, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, awesome characterization, it is so good that Robert is one of the few actors that play some slasher monster or assassin that you actually know his name and are irreplaceable, at least that I can recall. He is Freddy, and he played the character in every movie except in 2010's remake. The story is creative and reinvigorating. You can eventually escape (with a lot of luck) from Jason or Michael Myers, but Freddy will kill you in your sleep, and whether you like it or not, some time you'll have to sleep. What makes me like even more this premise is that it allows so much more creativity and possibilities in the horror created with the suspense and the killings. They did an incredible work with the killings, every single one is different from what you have seen and most of them are really gory and horrifying. [spoiler]Tina's death is so good, she goes up in the air spinning and being dragged on the ceiling while being ripped off by Freddy's claws. Johnny Depp gets probably my favorite death scene in the slasher genre. What a blood bath. Oh my god! It's awesome. Props as well for the special effects crew, the makeup and all the other effects in the killings are so so good. [/spoiler] The soundtrack is amazing! Specially in the chasing scenes. The song sang by the little kids is creepy and really good as well. Now we reach the part of the movie that I really don't like, the ending. [spoiler]First of all, it doesn't make sense, it breaks all the rules established along the whole movie. Apparently, Wes Craven wanted the story of the entire movie to be just a dream and when Nancy wakes up everything is back to normal; while producer Robert Shaye wanted the movie to end with a final scare and obviously the possibility of a sequel. So, that's what we got, thanks Robert. A lot of slashers tend to have a final scare that doesn't make sense and in the next movie they forget about it or it was just an hallucination. I like to ignore this ending and just believe that Nancy beat Freddy (which makes sense with the title, it was just some nightmare on Elm Street), or that Nancy actually died at some point and she never wakes up, Freddy just keeps playing with her. Anything is better than what we got.[/spoiler] Nice movie overall, kind of slow paced sometimes but definitively worth the watch, so iconic.

The third classic slasher on my list and easily the best so far. Production value was notably higher. Doing some quick Googling, it looks like estimates put the budget of this film two to three times higher than the budgets of _Halloween (1978)_ and _Friday the 13th (1980)_, and the extra money definitely translated onto the screen, with more locations, higher quality/quantity of special effects, and just generally better production design. In particular, the dream sequences that seamlessly transition between different locations to evoke the twisted domain where Freddy rules were very well done. Moving on to the story, the premise of this film was also a nice step up, forgoing the overly simplistic killer setup. Here we have an explicitly supernatural horror, with both the characters and the audience slowly unraveling how things work together. Again, this is a huge improvement from Michael Myers' and Jason's first movies, as the characters actually participate in the plot rather than just waiting for their turn to die. I think the critical change is the fact that the characters all learn of each death in advance of the next, whereas with _Halloween (1978)_ and _Friday the 13th (1980)_, all of the deaths were pretty much hidden to the characters until the "final girl" stumbles across all of the bodies. That setup gave tension only to the audience, whereas this setup allows the tension to build within the characters too. Nancy Thompson is frightened to go to sleep, not just in the final act, but throughout this entire movie, and I think that makes for a more compelling story. Additionally, the acting was much improved from the aforementioned classic slashers. Now, despite all of these improvements, the movie unfortunately didn't quite stick the landing for me. Both the pseudo-ending and the sequel-bait switch out felt unearned and anticlimactic. To end on a couple of positive notes: (1) the opening sequence showing Freddy craft his signature finger blades was a very strong start; and (2) as with the previous two slashers I watched, I was once again pleasantly surprised to be unspoiled about any of the details of this movie. As such, [spoiler]Tina's death took me very much by surprise, as I had assumed she would be the "final girl"[/spoiler].

I really like this horror film. As a kid, it definitely scared me, but now I'm able to appreciate it. Like other horror films of this era, it does suspense well.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere this movie achieves. It might be unintentionally created by the score, acting and filming techniques but the movie really make you feel like you are having a drug fueled nightmare or stuck in sleep paralysis. 10/10