The dangers of having a true crime mom. Elm Street gestures at the violent reality of vigilante retribution and the complete failure of the criminal justice system, the memory of Freddy's fiery end continuing to terrorize a town long after they believed him excised. I wish any of this was more fleshed out, particularly Nancy's relationship with her cop dad which is mostly played as naive negligence that must still be relied on in the end (Nancy arguably dies due to believing herself capable of stopping Freddy and telling her dad he can leave, and also because lucid dreaming doesn't work on Freddy I guess). Nancy being gaslit the whole movie is pretty impactful but ends up feeling thin within the larger imperative to disperse plot (somehow there is both not a lot of lore here and also the movie feels 75% lore discovery).
This is inconsequential, but you are going to start seeing WEIRD SHIT if you stay awake for 24 hours let alone 7 goddamn days. Nancy must just be built different, but what a missed opportunity for hallucinations. The boundary between dreams and reality is surprisingly rigid and makes a lot of the "are they sleeping" scares fall flat because yes, the movie faded to black (like when you close your eyes, see).
I can forgive a lot of this for some phenomenal gross out practical effects. Even with the over reliance on Terminator 2 "coming out of the floor" CGI the blood and maggots still look phenomenal. Freddy is such a fun theatrical villain, I wish there were more shots like him being long arms mcgee in the alley or licking Nancy through the phone (I assume this is what Soulja Boy meant). Such a shame how relentless the score is because the actual sound design is super cool in a b-tier Doctor Who episode way. If this had leaned into just being fully a schlocky horror movie it would have been better off, which I assume means I'll end up liking the sequels more.
So powerful to pull a second coffee pot out from under your bed. #grindset
Content warnings: blood, lacerations, gaslighting, drowning, hanging