'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Actually Has Good Sequels
https://collider.com/freddy-krueger-nightmare-on-elm-street-best-slasher/
An unfortunate trend amongst old-school slasher royalty (and most horror movies in general) is that for most of them, their best movie is usually their first, if not their only good entry. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series has nine entries, and none of them are considered anywhere near as good and impactful as the first entry (and its most recent entry is by far its worst). Jason Voorhees fares no better. Every single entry that actually has Jason as its lead killer pales in comparison to the original, and the original isn’t even that good. The Halloween series managed one more good entry in 2018 after years of terrible sequels and reboots…before sliding the series right back into mediocrity with Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. Once again, Freddy stands alone in that while his first film is debatably his best (and similar to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, his latest is unquestionably his worst), he has more than one good movie to his name.
A Nightmare on Elm Street was so successful that a sequel was basically all but guaranteed. The eventual sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge was a somewhat shaky return to the series, following a new character living in the house from the first film (years before Bo Burnham would find a home there) and has little worth mentioning besides the bizarrely homoerotic subtext and its modern status as a camp classic. However, the third movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is an impressive and worthy sequel that amps up all the fun features that made the first movie so iconic all the way up to eleven. The film finally utilizes the potential of the premise by having personalized kills for its characters; Freddy killing a hopeful actress by turning into a TV, killing a recovering addict by turning his iconic knives into needles, or the aforementioned murder of a young puppeteer. The sequel isn’t perfect: Freddy’s origin wasn’t necessary, and the movie is at its worst and most stomach-turning (and not the fun kind) when it brings it up. However, the fact that the movie can actually hold a candle to (or even surpass) the original is quite the feat all on its own.
After years of more middling and increasingly cartoony sequels, the series also managed to pull off another genuinely great and creative sequel, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. The movie pulls the struggling series into a wonderfully meta version of itself, with the actors and creators of the original movies now at the mercy of a Freddy who has been brought forth into the "real world." The movie delivers some great kills (most notably a recreation of the first kill of the series with a fun twist), but its most interesting feature is the existential horror and self-awareness that comes with the concept itself. Most notably, New Nightmare represents the first time that Wes Craven went full meta with his movies, an experiment that undoubtedly paved the way for his Scream franchise. No New Nightmare, no Scream. Not only is Freddy one of the best slashers, but thanks to one of his movies, we got an entirely different and iconic slasher film series. Ghostface’s devious performance is no doubt heavily inspired by Krueger himself.
Iconic, terrifying, funny and influential, Freddy Krueger exemplifies every single thing that makes slasher movies great. His kills are imaginative and visually incredible, his performance makes other slashers look dull in comparison, and he has an enduring legacy that even a horrible reboot can’t touch. Despite all of this, he’s remained dormant for years. Almost every other classic slasher has had a return in our modern era (usually not a very triumphant one), but he’s one of the few that’s remained dead and buried. This may change with rumors that famed modern horror director Mike Flanagan is interested in creating a new entry in the series himself. Krueger is so well known and beloved in his genre that it can’t really be divorced from him, no matter how much time has passed. He’s not dead…just sleeping.