The thing I like most about A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is...

Freddy is actaully scary and not cheesy at all! There's no stupid one-liners. The dark atmosphere plays well into the film as too which just adds the Freddy's creepiness.

 

I don't think that Sam Raimi and Wes Craven really have said, but I think it could go both ways.

 

I chose the reality/actuallity limbo scheme

 

ooops!! i meant to push "inventive death scenes" but i put "likable teeangers" which is true too. but yeahh lol

 

Went with the inventive dream sequences, but also really like the "dreams affect reality" concept and practical gore effects. The original film is my favorite followed by Dream Warriors.

 

I like that in the original you can't always tell what's a dream and what's "reality." The death sequences in the sequels became so stylized they forgot to be scary. I credit Ronee Blakely's performance with blurring that line between dream and reality even more. She's just so...strange! It's like she's performing in a dream.

I also completely agree that keeping Freddy in the shadows or backlit made him that much scarier. Who hasn't had a nightmare where you try and try but can't make out the boogeyman's face?

And Bernstein's score adds a lot to the film's atmosphere. The synthesizers may be dated but that ominously playful piano theme still brings chills. It's a shame the sequels all but ignored this key ingredient to making Freddy scary.

 

I like everything about the first Elm Street though I voted that what I like best is that Freddy is actually scary. It's just too bad they couldn't keep up that mystique and sense of menace in the sequels.
I also agree that part II is underrated, however the novelty of the first film was gone for me and I did not like the cast nearly as much.

 

kudos should be given to the creative deaths that in the sequels always had to do with one given person's weaknessess, problems and/or aspirations.

 

Freddy's actually scary. I also love the action sequences - Nancy was up to task in those wild chase scenes. Loved it!

 

I have been scared of Freddy since I first saw this, and am still. I would commit suicide before he could get me if I was being chased...in case you wanted to know.

 

The gore! When Johnny Depp gets sucked into the bed and the blood explodes out of the bed like a fire hose, that blew my mind.

 

The score. With any luck, the remake will incorporate it.