A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Definitely one of the most classic horror movies ever made, when most people think of nightmares, Freddy Krueger comes to mind. He is easily one of the best horror movie villains ever made, and every second he’s on screen, he is creepy and straight up crazy. I absolutely love his design, and both that and his backstory are really good. Even though this is your typical cheesy 80’s horror flick, it’s still actually pretty scary, and Freddy helps make it that way. I love how he only appears in dreams, and it gives both him and the movie a different take than most horror movies. It’s awesome having a horror movie where the killer only appears in dreams, and somehow, that makes him even creepier than most antagonists. The overall story is really great, and even though the first part of the movie is just Freddy terrorizing sleeping teens, it really picks up in the second half. Nancy learns that she can trap and destroy him by fighting him in his own court. It’s nice to get a slasher movie where the protagonists actually do something about the killer. She sets up a few traps and plans out her idea, almost in a Home Alone type style. It’s really entertaining and it leads to an epic finish. The very end of the movie doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it catches you off guard, and makes you wonder what actually happened. You also ask yourself what was real and what wasn’t. This movie does a really great job with makeup and effects, and because of those things, it makes the fear factor pretty high. The deaths of each teen are all (weirdly) awesome, and the blood/gore is cheesy but gross and fun. Easily my favorite part of this movie is Johnny Depp. This being his first feature film, he’s really young, and may I add, very youthful and handsome. The music was good, and although it feels like a regular 80’s horror movie, it’s still really eerie. I would definitely recommend this movie for all horror fans, and even if you don’t like horror, it’s still a fun and grossly cool movie. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go watch it now!