A Nightmare on Elm Street Blu-ray Review

     This blog is a review of horror movie Blu-ray releases. The purpose of these posts is to inform those deciding on whether or not to splurg on a Blu-ray release, especially of movies that have already been released. I may cover other types of movies besides horror from time to time, but for the most part I will be sticking to the horror genre and all the sub-genres that follow in that vein. Each post will share some information about the film and then my opinions on the Blu-ray picture, sound, special features, and overall quality of the release. Please note that these are my own opinions, designed to give others an idea of what to expect on certain releases. Your opinions may differ. This post is about Wes Craven's 1984 mainstream breakthrough hit A Nightmare on Elm Street. 

     Any lover of the horror genre has seen the late and very talented Wes Craven's low budget masterpiece of night terrors. In fact, A Nightmare on Elm Street is this horror fan's favorite slasher. Freddy Kruger has been an icon of horror cinema basically since his creation in 1984. It goes unsaid that Wes knew exactly what he was doing with this film. While this was not his first film, this was the first to garner him any following other than a cult status. With gritty, almost pornographic films like The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes it's really not a wonder why some people made a wide circle around him for many years. But, with the original Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven was able to push his work into the mainstream media and create a horror franchise that has withstood the test of time.
     We all know the basic premise; a murdered child killer and molester starts killing teenagers in their sleep. Much of the story was built upon in later installations, in fact the child molestation aspect was all but left out of the final cut of the first film and mentioned in more detail in later sequels and the 2010 remake. It was written into the original script and I think that there were actually some scenes recorded where Nancy's mother discusses this aspect of Kruger's cruelty with her. For whatever reasons, the studio decided to omit this aspect until later in the series. It's mostly inconsequential to the story because a madman slaughtering children is more than enough motivation for a group of parents to band together in a vigilante group and murder him. The reason why the story works so well is perhaps because of our own fears in regards to how vulnerable we are while we sleep and the mystery that dreams, and nightmares alike, are shrouded in. No one knows for certain why we dream, we just do. There are theories of course, but will we ever really understand the complex nature of dreams and how they can both benefit us and terrorize us?
     I have owned this movie in many formats, the original VHS release, the special edition Anchor Bay 2 tape 1990 VHS release, the Platinum Series DVD, the 2 disc Infinifilm special edition DVD, the standalone Blu-ray, and the Nightmare Collection boxed set, and I can say that without a doubt the Blu-ray releases far surpass the other formats and is spectacular for what it is. Keep in mind that this film is not only aged but it was also shot on the cheap. For a 1984 low budget slasher movie, the Blu-ray video quality is very impressive. Grain is present throughout and if anyone is wondering why this is important I will tell you. For a movie to be missing a layer of grain on a Blu-ray release, especially an older title, it means that the studio that released the Blu-ray used heavy noise reduction software to clean up the print. This means that the print will also be devoid of fine detail, which is the aspect of Blu-ray that made it a great selling format. Some people may not mind the lack of details that this type of film scrubbing will create, but others like myself will find it abhorring. Fortunately, New Line (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) has not implemented such harsh noise reduction and the grain is left intact allowing us to see fine details like the fabric of Freddy's iconic red and green sweater, facial details, foliage, and images of Nancy's dreams such as Tina spitting out that nasty looking centipede. Colors are vibrant and surpass the DVD release by miles. On the Platinum Series DVD released in 1999 the red blood looked black, in this release the blood looks red again. A Nightmare on Elm Street is never going to look pretty by any stretch of the imagination, and it really wasn't meant to, but this Blu-ray release (including the disc in the 2012 boxed set) show Wes Craven's masterpiece as faithfully as can be expected for this catalog title. I would give the image quality of this Blu-ray release a 4 out of 5 rating; it's really that good.
     Anyone who watches a Blu-ray expects an immersive sound experience and Nightmare on Elm Street delivers with a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 channel audio track. 7.1 channels for this film
is almost unheard of considering that when the film originally came to home video most people heard it in mono. When watching this film on Blu-ray for the first time I heard small ambiances that I had never heard before and given that this is my favorite horror movie I was very surprised. From the wind whispering in the trees to crickets chirping in the night, the audio track gives you the feeling of being there with Nancy and her friends while they fall victim to this immortal killer. The vocal tracks were very clear, I never felt like I had to strain to hear any dialog and the score really pops to life here. Overall, this was a very satisfying audio track that should make fans very happy. I give the audio track a 4.5 out of 5 rating.
     The special features were good in their own right, but unfortunately unless you bought the boxed set collection of all seven Nightmare films there really isn't anything here that wasn't on the Infinifilm DVD release. I was hoping to see the deleted scenes that were present on the Anchor Bay special edition VHS that was released in 1990, but unfortunately these didn't make it to the Blu-ray release. However, this Blu-ray disc does have a plethora of special features that should keep any fan of the first film entertained for hours. I give the special features a 4 out of 5 rating; it would have ranked a solid 5 if the missing deleted scenes had been present.
     Overall, if you're a fan of the original Nightmare on Elm Street and are interested in an upgrade, there's really no reason not to purchase either the standalone Blu-ray or the 2012 boxed set (both discs are identical). I found the viewing experience much like watching the film for the first time with all the added visual and audio detail that we had been missing all these years. This Blu-ray release gets a 4.2 out of 5 rating from me and is highly recommended.