Why So Blu?

A Nightmare On Elm Street (40th Anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

40 Years is just a trip to even say when I think of A Nightmare On Elm Street.  The film was a source of fear for me as a child and even now fully wears its icon status proudly. One of a select few horror films to be in the Library of Congress and rightly so, we are now receiving a 40^th Anniversary 4K edition of the classic film! Relive the nightmares with me below, and a special link to a legacy review of the 2010 Blu-ray too, and don’t forget to click the cover art for the standard or Steelbook editions of A Nightmare On Elm Street to order your own copy!

 

Film:

Take a look at Gregg Senko’s 2010 review of A Nightmare On Elm Street HERE.

When I get amazing catalog releases like A Nightmare On Elm Street to review, I appreciate that the films have fans that know the stories and the films already.  Sometimes the films are known better than I know them by our incredible readers.  This makes reviewing these films a treat for me.  I can share my thoughts, memories and connections to the films and then give you all the technical goodness you all come to read about.

A Nightmare On Elm Street was a powerful fear machine for me growing up.  I hadn’t even seen the film, but the video box haunted me.  The sound of Freddie’s knife fingers pierced my eardrums. My cousin (who sadly just passed away) could affect an insanely accurate Freddy voice that he’d often use on me as I was trying to go to sleep during sleepovers. Did I mention I still hadn’t seen the film yet? In the early 90’s, as a little guy, I was privy to a scene or two when my brother somehow convinced my mother to rent the movie for him and his pal Artie.  I ran back to my room and hid seeing Freddy stalk Tina in the alleyway. It wasn’t until I was entering high school myself that I was able to watch the film in full.

When the time did come for me to watch the film, I had become hardened by my own lack of imagination.  Horror films entertained me far more than frightened me, and I would watch them and be taken in the way some scenes could manipulate those around me.  The tension was palpable even if I wasn’t scared and I was totally into the idea of fear rather that my own fear being apparent.  Freddy takes over dreams and terrifies his victims.  This for me is completely relatable.  I am 38 now.  I still have vivid and sometimes terrifying dreams.  You wake up dazed and scared and if you’re me you feel ridiculous knowing that you’ve been affected by a dream. I think if Freddy were a real entity, that he would love terrifying me as I slept.

And now, the performances… Heather Langenkamp has embodied Nancy for so long.  This first entry shows her strength, vulnerability and will to survive.  Not helped by a dis-believing father and a drunk mother, Nancy has no one stronger than her to act as protector and her ability to keep going and persevere is universal and palpable. Langenkamp is fabulous in the role and seeing her evolution through the series shows her commitment to the character.  Johnny Depp got his start here, and his heartthrob status is warranted.  Amanda Wyss also got her start here and continued to be in horror films afterwards too. We have the iconic Robert Englund to thank for scaring the crap out of us for 40 years too.  He is as insanely perfect a horror villain as you can get. We can’t mention the cast of the film without of course mentioning Ronee Blakely and John Saxon as Nancy’s parents.  Blakely, at the time better known for her Oscar nominated performance in Robert Altman’s Nashville gives an especially silly, almost comedic performance in the film.  She presents her character in a near cartoonish way that can feel almost as if she knows shes supposed to be ridiculous.  I find myself cackling every time I see her or hear her speak during the movie.  John Saxon gives the film a real grounding as he is a very straightforward character.  He does a great job bringing the film somewhat down to earth.

We can’t mention anything about A Nightmare On Elm Street without talking about Wes Craven.  It’s incredible to think Craven almost didn’t become a filmmaker at all.  Even more surprising to think that his own dreams informed the creation of the film.  I love the evolution that came from Wes Craven’s career after this film and applaud his work here.  The film has a story to tell but does not waste time with exposition or unnecessary pacing gimmicks.  91 minutes and done. Story told.  This is so admirable when you live in 2024 and all movies seem to be over 2 hours.  The violence is gritty, the practical effects are fun and without Craven’s sound direction the film would not have been the phenomenon it continues to be.  A masterpiece of horror cinema, A Nightmare On Elm Street lives on forever and is incredible in 4K!

Video:

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-66

HDR: HDR10

Clarity/Detail: The 40th Anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray edition of A Nightmare On Elm Street is the definitive way to watch the film at home. Both cuts of the film have a crisp new 4K master. The film looks almost like new with a very bright and clean transfer.  Grain is intact but is absolutely restrained.  Clothing and facial textures look sharp and neat and makeup effects are gruesome and realistic.  Nightmare has never looked this dreamy.

Depth: There are some soft moments in the film of course, but depth is handled beautifully, nonetheless. Soft focus comes in moments where fog is apparent, while depth of field is presented as intended with foreground and background shots.

Black Levels: Blacks look nice and deep overall but don’t reach into the ether like more modern films might.

Color Reproduction: Colors look superb throughout.  The blood is very red, Freddy’s sweater looks very brightly striped.  Blues, greens and reds look quite striking. Since the transfer is not a dim one, everything looks eye popping and gorgeously reproduced for viewing at home.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are as intended, looking nice for those in the cast who aren’t supposed to look burned to a crisp. Freckles, blemishes, and some very 80’s makeup remain intact.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio:

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:  English SDH, Spanish, Parisian French

Dynamics: Freddy, Nancy and the gang on Elm Street have been given a new sound design with an excellent new Dolby Atmos mix.  Adding more atmospherics to the scare show of a film makes things a little more edgy.  Dialogue is mixed a little low, but music, sound effects and surround immersion make that a small gripe.

Height: Height channels are used for music and a lot of the sound effects that scared us 40 years ago.  The scrape of Freddy’s fingers or the bloody explosion that is Johnny Depp’s demise sound insane coming down on top of the viewer.

Low-Frequency Extension: Bass is reserved for the synth heavy score and a few of the gory kills too.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surround effects are like the 7.1 mix from 2010, with indoor and outdoor ambience, music and off camera sounds coming around the listener like a creepy hug.

Dialogue Reproduction: Clear but mixed a little bit low.

Extras:

Legacy Extras come with this new edition of A Nightmare On Elm Street.  There needn’t be anything new on the film.  We know about the film, it’s creation and the huge impact the film has had so getting all the excellent previous features here works just fine!

• Ready Freddy Focus Points
• Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakely, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher.
• Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin.
• Alternate endings
• The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror
• Never Sleep Again: A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares

Summary:

A Nightmare On Elm Street can’t ever be thought of as anything but an exceptional piece of horror cinema.  Freddy Kruger is an iconic nightmare making villain and Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy is an incredible final girl. Wes Craven created a world of horror for fans of the genre to get lost in over and over again and after a billion re-releases, we get an exceptional new transfer and audio mix that furthers our love of Nightmare hopefully for another 40 years!