Wes Craven's New Nightmare
by Wes Craven
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Newsom, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Miko Hughes, Robert EnglundDirector: Wes Craven
Brand: NLV
Producer: Wes Craven
Writer: Wes Craven
Producer: Marianne Maddalena
Producer: Robert Shaye
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-08-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: N5022
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product features:
- Heather Langenkamp learns the Nightmare movies were protecting the world from a real-life demon. Also starring Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Age: 794043502224 UPC: 794043502224 Manufacturer No: N5022
Movie Reviews of Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Movie Review: A brilliantly innovative return to Elm Street
Summary: 5 Stars
Freddy was always Wes Craven's baby. The Elm Street sequels, without the creator's active involvement, veered increasingly farther away from his original vision, and Freddy Krueger as we knew and loved him did die in the sixth film. Evil never truly dies, though, a fact made clear by this remarkable, visionary film. Only the most ingenious of scripts could bring Freddy back to us in an acceptable way, and Wes Craven was the only man who could do it. Hearkening all the way back to the fairy tales of old, we learn that Freddy was only one incarnation of what could be called the ultimate evil. Stories, so long as they are told, have the power to contain the forces of evil; when Freddy was killed and the Nightmare series ended, that evil was freed from its bonds and thus given the opportunity to cross over to reality. The whole idea behind Wes Craven's New Nightmare is simply brilliant and ingenious, and it works fabulously on more levels than I will have space enough to expound upon here.Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in the first and third films, plays herself in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. She is joined by a myriad of cast members and contributors to the original Elm Street film, including John Saxon (who played Nancy's father), Robert Englund (whom everyone knows played Freddy), Wes Craven himself, and a number of the men and women who worked with Wes and New Line Cinema to bring Freddy to life in 1984. Craven is working on a new script that will revive Freddy and pit him against his old nemesis Nancy. The only problem is that fantasy is becoming fact for Heather and her family, and the script begins to mirror real life in a frightening way. Heather begins having horrible dreams of Freddy, and her son Dylan (Miko Hughes) begins suffering from his own nightmares. As crazy as it sounds, Heather is forced to conclude that Freddy Krueger is somehow becoming real, and she will eventually have to reassume the role of Nancy in an effort to stop him from passing through the final gate from fantasy to reality.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is to me the greatest Freddy film of them all. The idea of having cast and crew members of the original film serve as Freddy's conduit to true existence works amazingly well. Langenkamp gives a truly amazing performance in the highly personal role of herself, trying to save her son and her very sanity from the evil she once defeated as a character in a movie. Non-actors such as Wes Craven and New Line Cinema's Bob Shaye play their parts very effectively, and the images of Robert Englund that we see could not be in greater contrast to those of his character Freddy. There are a number of direct references and haunting similarities between the original film and this fresh and exciting new Freddy classic. Not only should these delight the Freddy aficionado, they serve to make the ultimate ending of this film believable and effective. Heather Langenkamp has to become Nancy once again to stop Freddy, only this time the battle is disturbingly real. Wes Craven's New Nightmare presents itself as real life rather than cinema, making this the most innovative horror sequel I have ever seen.
Some Freddy fans don't care for this film, while others such as myself absolutely love it. For some people, Freddy had become the witty, wise-cracking, over-the-top killer of the later Elm Street sequels, and these fans want this type of film to showcase Freddy doing his thing as many times as possible. To me, that is not the true Freddy. A Nightmare on Elm Street's original power was drawn from an incomprehensible foe that could kill you in your dreams and scare the audience to death in the process. He was evil; he just wanted revenge in the form of blood, guts, and terror, and he didn't need to make a big production out of it. It is that Freddy who now haunts Heather. This dark film may deliver far less of Freddy-ness in terms of body count, dialogue, and on-camera minutes, but that only makes Freddy all the more frightening and effective. Wes Craven's New Nightmare truly morphs the boundary between the real and unreal, delivering a level of suspense and evil that all the earlier Elm Street sequels could never hope to equal.
The DVD features a long-desired extra in the form of commentary by Wes Craven himself. He not only furnishes the reader with all sorts of fascinating trivia about the film, he also captures the true essence of Freddy as a monstrous villain and lends a philosophical appraisal of human nature and the archetype of evil in society. I see this film as a defense of the horror genre itself, one made abundantly clear in Craven's references to a career of anguish with the MPAA and censors in particular. It is the very existence of horror stories that allow evil to be contained in this world, and the eradication of horror films in particular, something a number of people would love to see happen, would truly let the genie out of the bottle and give free rein to evil in the hearts of men. Wes Craven's New Nightmare captures to a significant degree not only the attraction of horror but the absolute necessity of it.
Summary of Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Heather Langenkamp learns the Nightmare movies were protecting the world from a real-life demon. Also starring Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
DVD ROM Features
English-professor-turned-horror-auteur Wes Craven brings both careers to play in this ingenious reinterpretation of the Nightmare on Elm Street series as a modern-day fairy tale--a sort of Hansel and Gretel for big kids. Heather Langenkamp, star of the original film, plays Heather Langenkamp, an actress and mother wracked with nightmares as Los Angeles is rocked with unexplained earthquakes. Meanwhile, her son starts sleepwalking and croaking Freddy Krueger threats. Is it a coincidence that Wes Craven (playing himself) is turning his own troubled dreams into a new screenplay, which he calls "a sort of nightmare in progress"? According to his visions, the imaginary Freddy has become the embodiment of ancient evil and is trying to break out of his movie prison and into the physical world. It's a rather literal and glib explanation, but words have never been Craven's strong suit. His central thesis, the cultural importance of stories, is more resonant in the web of imagery arising from dreams, movies, and the subconscious. Robert Englund and John Saxon play themselves and their movie characters (though this Freddy is decidedly less wisecracking and more demonic). It's a thoughtful, imaginative, and often gripping modern horror film that echoes with suggestions of The Exorcist and Poltergeist. Though less of a fun-house thrill ride than previous Nightmares, it's scarier and smarter than any of the other series sequels. --Sean Axmaker
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