New Nightmare (1994)

Director:

Wes Craven

Writers (WGA):

Wes Craven (characters)
Wes Craven (written by)

Release Date:

14 October 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Dieses mal nützt es nichts wenn du wach bleibst. (This Time, staying awake won't save You)

Plot:

A demonic force has chosen Freddy Krueger as its portal to the real world. Can Heather play the part of Nancy one last time and trap the evil trying to enter our world?

Plot Keywords:

Freddy Krueger | Nightmare | Car | Sleep | Earthquake

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Heather Langenkamp	...	Herself / Nancy Thompson
Robert Englund	...	Freddy Krueger / Himself
Miko Hughes	...	Dylan Porter
Wes Craven	...	Himself
John Saxon	...	Himself / Lt. Donald Thompson
Robert Shaye	...	Himself
Sara Risher	...	Herself
Marianne Maddalena	...	Herself
David Newsom	...	Chase Porter
Gretchen Oehler	...	Script Supervisor
Jeff Davis	...	Freddy's Hand Double (as Jeffrey John Davis)
Tracy Middendorf	...	Julie
Cully Fredricksen	...	Limo Driver
Matt Winston	...	Charles 'Chuck' Wilson
Bodhi Elfman	...	TV Studio P.A.

Also Known As:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: The Real Story (USA) (original script title)
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 7: Freddy's Finale (USA) (working title)
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 7: The Ascension (USA) (original script title)
The New Nightmare (USA) (working title)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated R for explicit horror violence and gore, and for language.

Runtime:

112 min | Australia:107 min (video)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (cut) | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Mexico:C | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | UK:15 (original rating) | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2004) | UK:18 (video rating) (1995) | USA:R (certificate #32809) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Lin Shaye, who appears as a nurse, also played the teacher in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Heather talks to Robert on the telephone, a white card and part of the crew is reflected on her door window as they part.

Quotes:

Robert Englund: [while walking Heather out of an interview] I think they'd like to see us together again.
Heather Langenkamp: In what, a romantic comedy?
Robert Englund: Just because it's a love story doesn't mean it can't have a decapitation or two.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)

Soundtrack:

Score from 'A Nightmare On Elm Street'

This should have been part 2

I love horror movies. I love being scared and I love the fact that a movie (something make believe that I, as an intelligent person,knows is just images projected from a screen ) can manipulate my emotions and make me nervous. This is one of those movies. And in the 90's, there have only been two movies that have actually made me nervous in some scenes. And those two movies are by Craven himself---Scream and this one.

When this film first came out, it was ten years and six films after the original. I have seen all the Freddy movies more out of morbid curiosity than out of interest. And maybe a part of me was hoping to catch a glimpse of what made the first so damn scary. And time and time again I was disappointed. But when I read in Fangoria magazine that this new one was going to be directed by Craven, I got very excited. Could it possibly be that this film would go back to it's roots?

Yes, it did.

There is no two ways about it, Craven cares about Freddy. He cares about how he was supposed to be, not what he has turned into in the last decade. Freddy was not even remotely funny in the first one. He was a brutal, maniacal, sadistic, bent on revenge murderer. He wanted to slice Nancy in two and he did that to Tina ( actually sliceher into many pieces ). But in the mindless sequels to come, he became Eddie Murphy. And there was nothing frightening about the sequels. They made money but they weren't true horror films. But this one, well this one goes back to it's roots and is almost as scary as the first one.

This story is about the film character of Freddy becoming real somehow. He has been a part of Lagenkamp, Saxon, Craven and Englund's life for so long that he has somehow become real. And now what was once a simple film character actually haunts the cast of the original. We even get to see Rod ( Tina's boyfriend from the original ) at one of the funerals. And what makes the story scary is that now Freddy has decided to come after Heather's kid.

This film goes back to all the techniques that made the first a classic. There is excellent direction to make us fear what is under the bed. The lighting is classic horror film lighting and the music is perfect. There is however one complaint that I have and that is when Freddy is chasing the kid across the road. He has become larger than life. He is like the Stay Puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. And that it seems is much more like the other Nightmares, not Craven's version. And that takes away the delight in watching what was otherwise a perfect horror film.

I said in one of my reviews of a horror film that there are no films in the 90's that are truly scary. However this one is as close to an 80's horror flick as you will get now a days. It is very frightening and it is almost a prequel to Scream. This is one film that should not be missed. It is a tribute to what scary films are supposed to be. If I want to laugh I'll see Chris Rock, but if I want to be scared, Craven is the man!