Sunday, August 7, 2011

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

It's hard to believe, but once upon a time (long before the guitar gif, the video game scene, the 900 number, the Satanawful rap video, the cheesy one-liners, the sellout brand marketing or the soulless remake)...Fred Krueger was actually a serious character!

I'm sure you already know the story to this original horror classic (a child molester is cornered by a group of vigilante parents and burned alive..now, years later, the children are teenagers and he's back to haunt their dreams and kill them) and have seen it a dozen times, but what struck me the most while re-watching this film, for this review, is it's actually pretty dark and Freddy is kinda scary! I'm sure back in 1984 this movie was freaking mainstream audiences out!

That said, I'm still disappointed in Freddy's complete lack of sex drive, you would think that...since he was a fucking sex pervert...that maybe he'd still be trying to get his dick wet with some unwilling teenagers, but nope.  I'd love to see A SERBIAN FILM-style "reboot" of the ELM STREET franchise with Freddy being a total perv.

Anyway, even though it's kinda dated and the ending reminds me of HOME ALONE, I still love this movie and that's not just the nostalgic feeling of being raised in the 80's talking. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is a well made film and one of the most influential horror films of the 80's.

Required viewing for horror fans.

Part 2 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
Part 3 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Part 4 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
Part 5 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
Part 6 - Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Part 7 - Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
Freddy vs Jason (2003)
Remake 1 - A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

That cat poster is dope.

Friday, August 5, 2011

SONG OF THE THIN MAN (1947)

I'm just not feeling this one. Nick and Nora attend a party aboard a gambling boat and there's some turmoil between some of the guys in the band over a girl and money. Naturally, somebody gets blasted and Nick is on the case.

I don't know what is was exactly, but (outside of Keenan Wynn's performance) this movie was a complete bore. I disliked it when I first saw it years ago, so I revisited it yesterday and it still stunk. The mystery isn't compelling, there's nothing moving the story forward, all of the characters are boring and the fucking kid has way too much screen time. Honestly, I wish they would have just ended the THIN MAN series at part 5 and instead of letting the series go out with a whimper. Skip it.

Part 1 - The Thin Man (1934)
Part 2 - After the Thin Man (1936)
Part 3- Another Thin Man (1939)
Part 4 - Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Part 5 - The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)