The ‘90s often get a bad rap with horror fans. After the numerous successful slashers and creature effects films of the ’80s, the ‘90s offered a different variety of horror fare. Though there were plenty of hits, hidden gems, and misunderstood classics, the ‘90s usually don’t get the kind of love that other decades get when it comes to horror. It’s time to change that.
The one film I’m constantly told is the best horror film of the ‘90s is Scream. Wes Craven’s adaptation of Kevin Williamson’s semi-parody script brought horror movie analysis into the popular culture in a way that felt accessible, fun, and self-aware. It was an attempt to comment on the nature of horror movies (particularly the slasher sub-genre) while still keeping its tongue planted firmly in its cheek. And Scream is certainly a good time at the movies.
But, when it comes to Wes Craven reflecting on the horror genre and telling a story that examines *why* horror exists and is necessary to our culture, I have to give the edge to Craven’s revival of Freddy Krueger, New Nightmare.
On the surface, New Nightmare shouldn’t work at all. It appears like a vain inside joke of a film by setting itself in the real world, following A Nightmare on Elm Street star Heather Langenkamp as a beleaguered actress and mother, and positing that Craven’s original film and subsequent sequels were a means of trapping some ancient evil entity. If you pitched that idea to most people, it would sound like pretentious waffle.
And admittedly, New Nightmare is being far more meditative and purposefully sophisticated than any other Freddy Krueger film. That’s bound to turn some folks off and I’d even be willing to admit that it makes New Nightmare an unsuccessful execution of what people want from a standard Freddy Krueger movie. However, it’s this boldness and willingness to think outside the box that makes New Nightmare one of the best horror movies of its ilk.
In this take, Freddy has begun to inhabit our reality and infest the lives and dreams of people involved with the franchise, particularly the original film. It’s a clever piece of commentary about how this one film has somewhat haunted the lives of those involved. Even though this is fictionalized, it’s a shockingly honest portrayal of how creators sometimes feel permanently affixed to something they were involved with. Morbidly, Craven himself once commented on his eventual death and said that it was inevitable that every obituary would label him as, “the man who invented Freddy Krueger.” To see that kind of self-reflection writ large in a film is nothing short of extraordinary.
There are other fears present in New Nightmare and the biggest of these is the fear of parenthood. Heather’s young son Dylan (Miko Hughes) is being targeted by Freddy and Heather worries if this has to do with Dylan’s overactive imagination. There’s a running thread in the movie involving Dylan watching the original A Nightmare on Elm Street and having his issues blamed on his exposure to horror. Naturally, the movie is commenting on our tendency to criticize media consumption as the cause of any psychological or behavioral problems children are having. New Nightmare reasserts that there is always a deeper matter to investigate. In this case, it’s the fact that an actual demon is trying to kill Dylan, but this a metaphor for the burgeoning psychological complications that come with a child growing up.
When it comes to being self-referential, New Nightmare isn’t really interested in using horror genre tropes for gags and winking acknowledgments. Instead, it’s focused on a bigger, tougher question: “What makes horror important?” This is traced as far back as the necessity for dark fairy tales that were used as warning tools for children. New Nightmare posits that the reason this demonic entity is loose in our world is the fault of New Line Cinema for no longer making Freddy Krueger movies. This entity was captured in the original film and took on the form of Freddy and liked it. Now that there are no more movies being made, the entity is allowed to enact its violence in reality. It’s not hard to see what Craven’s script is trying to say: art can be used as a way to process the most horrible elements of existence. Without it, that horribleness isn’t given an outlet to channel itself into and is instead made flesh. New Nightmare is making a very direct point about the significance horror plays in our history, and that is a lofty goal that only someone of Craven’s intellect could make work in a movie.
That said, we do have to step away from all the scholarly reads of New Nightmare and judge it as a piece of entertainment. Again, I don’t think it delivers the kind of wackier elements that became synonymous with the Elm Street franchise – there are more than enough bizarre dream moments in the movie, but they aren’t as deliberately kooky as the other sequels – but I don’t think that alone makes it a bad movie. In fact, New Nightmare is probably the only other film in the Elm Street series besides the original that goes for a feeling of genuine dread and terror. Freddy is turned back into an outright monster and that’s reflected in his redesign. Taking inspiration from German expressionism, Krueger’s look in New Nightmare is less outright costume and more of an ethereal concept made flesh. Instead of being burned, his skin is torn open in places as if something underneath is trying to break out. The trademark claw is no longer a workshop project but is now a skeletal extension of Freddy’s own anatomy. It’s an audacious new look but I think fortune favored this bolder take on the character.
New Nightmare is also a wonderful showcase for Heather Langenkamp. More than any other role I’ve seen her in, the character of Heather shows just how talented and effective of an actress she is. It’s not easy to play yourself in a movie and have it come across as something truly genuine, but Langenkamp brings incredible pathos, charm, and tenacity to the role. By the time she has to take on the mantle of Nancy again, she’s transformed into something that transcends our typical take on the Final Girl. This is the Final Woman and she’s fiercer than ever. You also get to see Robert Englund play himself, a public appearance as the wise-cracking fictional Freddy, and the “real” Freddy and it’s a delightful display of his range. Also, I think the witchier look of Freddy in New Nightmare compliments Englund’s expressionistic style of acting better than any other entry in the series.
Wes Craven said that Scream was a movie for people who watch horror movies and New Nightmare was a movie for people who make horror movies. That definitely tracks, but now that New Nightmare has been around for twenty-five years, it’s proven to be something even more special: New Nightmare is a movie for people who think about horror movies. It’s an introspective and contemplative film that wants to bring a level of maturity to the genre that often isn’t considered marketable.
Maybe it’s not as fun as Scream or as digestibly enjoyable as other Freddy Krueger movies, but for my money, it’s Wes Craven’s greatest statement about the genre he called home.
