Cleverly different when it was released,New Nightmare was Wes Cravens first foray into the land of the self aware horror film,where events take place in our real world where Freddy Krueger is just a fictional character.Although Craven refined the formula with the wildly successful Scream franchise 2 years later,you can see the glimmer of a few ideas used in those films in New Nightmare,a scene with a gravelly voiced phone caller particularly standing out.
Unfortunately,what with the films rather unique plot device requiring quite a bit of explaining,not much happens in the first hour as we watch Heather Langenkamp try to figure out what's going on,culminating in Wes Craven himself actually coming onscreen to explain it to her! Following this however,is a fantastic final 40 minutes for Freddy fans,with the man himself looking and sounding nastier than ever despite donning some ill advised leather trousers.
Any horror fans who may not have seen this should give it a try. It's not really an Elm Street movie as many may expect, it takes away that franchises stalk and slash comfort zone and produces something more unexpected and a bit more interesting.