Nightmare - Nuovo incubo

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Intense, smart and still underrated seventh film in the series delivers exactly what the title says and that's something new. This time out the people involved with the making of the original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET are starting to experience strange dreams. Wes Craven appears ready to join the series again and has started writing a script but star Heather Langenkamp begins to fear that some type of Freddy is actually after all of them. This isn't the first film to deal with a horror director being haunted by his creation as Lucio Fulci did this type of thing with CAT IN THE BRAIN but there's world of difference between the two films. This one here is an incredibly smart and extremely intense venture into ones fears and how like can sometimes imitate art. It's sad to think that this film will soon be twenty years old and yet it's still never gotten the credit that it deserves. As a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood the film works extremely well but it also works as a straight horror film. I think Craven's screenplay is so well written that we never have trouble believing what's going on. It's a pretty interesting idea to have those making movies become haunting by the fake thing they created. Not only do we get Craven and Langenkamp but we also have New Line head-man Robert Shaye and Freddy himself Robert Englund being haunted by the fake monster. Everyone acts themselves very well with Langenkamp turning in her third venture in the series and without question her best performance. She handles everything extremely well and comes off very good as the concerned mother who must eventually take on Freddy to protect her son. Englund has a lot of fun in the parts of himself but he really goes all out when it's time to play Freddy. A few other cast members from the first film make brief appearances here but John Saxon gets a very good role and does a great job with it. It's always great seeing him in anything. I think the greatest thing the movie does is get Freddy away from the one-liners and jokes and returns him to the scares of the original film. The entire look of Freddy's face, glove and clothes were changed here and I think they were all done for the better. The bulked up creation is a lot creepier here and he's able to be that menace of terror once again. Craven's direction is top-notch from start to finish with some of his best work appearing in some very disturbing scenes. One involves a freeway sequence and another is a re-enactment of one of the death scenes from the original movie. The film depends a lot on "real life" emotions and these work extremely well and add to the drama of what the characters are going through. It's a real shame that this film isn't given more credit as it did come before SCREAM and really was the first of the decade to go for that "smart" horror film.

The actress Heather Langencamp lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chase Porter (David Newsom), who is secretly working in a mechanical hand for the next movie of Freddy Kruger, and their son Dylan (Miko Hughes). During an earthquake, Heather has a dreadful nightmare where Chase's partners die; in the morning she is invited to be the guest of a talk show about the tenth anniversary of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" with the presence of Robert Englund. Later the executive of New Line Cinema Robert Shaye invites her to perform Nancy Thompson again in the latest project of Wes Craven based on his own nightmares, but she turns the invitation down. Heater is being disturbed by a man that calls her in the telephone and sends creepy letters to her. When Dylan has nightmares with a man with claw and tells that he is protected by his T-Rex toy showing symptoms of schizophrenia, and Chase dies in a car accident, Heather becomes paranoid with Freddy Krueger. The reactions of Robert Englund and Wes Craven indicate to her that something is going wrong. Further she discovers that Freddy is an entity that does exist and is an ancient demon trying to use her weakness as the gateway to the real world. Heater needs to face the evil Freddy Kruger to protect her beloved son.

"New Nightmare" is an original approach to bring Freddy Krueger back after his death in "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare". The story blends reality with fiction and transforms Freddy Krueger in a millenary evil entity that tries to reach the real world through the actress Heather Langencamp, giving a survivorship to this character. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Hora do Pesadelo 7 – O Novo Pesadelo – O Retorno de Freddy Krueger" ("The Hour of the Nightmare 7 – The New Nightmare – The Return of Freddy Krueger")

Freddy Krueger began as a very scary character who scared the hell out of everyone. As the movies went on, Freddy lost his edge and looked liked a bad stand up comic with horrible one liners.

Freddy seemed dead with the sixth film of the series, but Wes Craven brought him back from his rut and made him someone to fear again. This of course helps prove my theory that a good Nightmare on Elm Street movie cannot be made without Craven.

Two things make this film so good. One, the story is original. The Nightmare movies just kept repeating themselves, with Freddy coming back and going after the people who stopped him before. This rime around, we see Freddy trying to break into the real world, outside the movies. Very original. Two, the movie is not filled with constant gore. This shows how good the movie because any movie filled with gore obviously has a pathetic story and is not worth watching. This movie is and is one of Freddy's best yet.

The seventh and last part of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" brings the most original plot twist in the franchise. While its prequels have a dream-like atmosphere, this one is much more realistic. On the tenth anniversary of the first film team responsible for its development begins to suffer from intense nightmares and freak accidents happen, and then they realize that Freddy, because he was terminated in the film franchise, has decided to switch to the real world. The credibility of the story is intensified by the fact that the original crew actually appears in the movie, so we have Heather Langenkamp in the role of Heather Langenkamp, Wes Craven in the role of Wes Craven, and so on. An interesting detail is that end credits list Freddy Krueger in the role of Freddy Krueger. I think the effect would be even stronger if the film was made in the form of a fake documentary, but this would prevent many of the things fans expect from a Freddy Krueger film. Although not the best movie in the franchise, it certainly is scariest, because it quite convincingly shifts its horrifying premise into "our" reality. If I saw it as a child I would probably be traumatized.

7,5/10

'A Nightmare on Elm Street' was a scary, gory 80s horror movie. Its sequels were awful. Only two of them were watchable, the third and forth. But still, they never even came close to the original. This is when that changes. 'New Nightmare' introduces a new Freddy. One which is darker, scarier and not the joke that the old one was. This is the only sequel that should have been done in the first place. In my opinion, its even better than the original because it's much darker and special effects are way better.

It's a bit rare to find good acting in a horror movie, but here's not the case. Acting was amazing. Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund gave an awesome performance. The kid was surprisingly believable and the rest of the cast was great too.

Watch this movie straight after watching the first. If you have to watch a sequel, see the third and forth, but this is the one you should immediately go for. I give it a strong 10/10