Memorial To Wes Craven

Sadly, today we have lost one of the biggest icons and contributors ever to be part of the horror genre.

Wes Craven has always been the main reason why I fell in love with this industry and I will forever be grateful for it.

I have to start with his biggest accomplishment, contribution and the one thing that had keep me scared for my life as a youngster.

Freddy Krueger not only was the first horror icon I knew about but he was the first to scare the living day lights out of me. What could be scarier to a four year old than a man who could attack and kill you in your sleep? In my opinion and from my experience, nothing else could top it.

I recall several nights as a child running downstairs in tears looking for my dad because Freddy had made an appearance in my dreams and sure enough, my father was laying on the floor watching one of the Nightmare films. Needless to say I was continuously terrified thanks to seeing him paused on that screen.

Years later, my mother introduced me back into the horror genre with The People Under the Stairs, another brilliant film made by Craven. With a nice dose of comedy inserted, I was able to begin getting over my fear of the horror genre and started appreciating everything it had to offer.

This opened the door to all the classics and forced me to face my nightmares and watch all the Nightmare on Elm Street films. This forced viewing made me fall in love with the character of Freddy. A love that would never die out!

I soon got caught up in the Scream phenomenon and knew I had to watch the movie. Upon my first viewing of the film with my sister, our mother decided to run into the room with a butcher knife to scare the life out of us.

The thrill of the scare made me laugh but also opened up a door for me to find more thrills in order to feed myself the adrenaline.

And after that I was hooked to horror for life and it all stemmed from films and characters that Wes Craven had created and I must thank him for that. Something most horror fans can relate to and something that none of us will ever be able to properly thank him for.

So for everything you've done for all your fans, all the film makers, screen writers, special effects people, reviewers and beyond, we thank you Mr. Craven.

You will be miss by everyone. Rest in peace.

Twitter: @horrorshoot                                                                                     

Email:horrorshootreviews@gmail.com

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Heather Langenkamp has been plagued with nightmares over the last few weeks. She's been haunted by the character she once defeated years ago in a film roll and can't understand why.

After speaking to the creator of the Nightmare series, Wes Craven, Heather is informed that Freddy has been concealed in the movies and now that they are over, he is moving out into the real world and looking for vengeance.

Written and directed by Wes Craven, starring Heather Langenkamp as herself, John Saxton as himself and Robert Englund as himself and new look Freddy Krueger.

Okay... So let's make a movie about a guy who is making another movie to add to a series that was already ended.

Stupid idea right? Of course it is! Wes Craven thought it would be genius to make another Nightmare movie about making a freaking Nightmare movie and using practically the exact same cast in it that he did in the original film.

They decided to cast the teacher from the first film to be a nurse in this piece of crap for example.

Most of, if not all the scenes were freaking copy's of scenes from the other film.

It's a piss poor excuse for a Nightmare on elm street movie. Had this been a completely separate entity with a whole different cast and antagonist, it could have been excellent but in my eyes it's crap.

I'm very upset about this movie and wish it was never made. It's basically a waste of time and makes a mockery out of the rest of the films.

1 out of 10!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

An unknown teenager is being chased around constantly in his dreams by Freddy, who refuses to ever kill the boy, but only torment him.

Directed by Rachel Talalay, written by Micheal DeLuca and starring Breckin Meyer, Lezlie Deane, Shon Greenblatt, Lisa Zane and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

After a while the unknown boy is picked up by police and brought to a youth center where he encounters a lady named Maggie who happens to have the same dreams as him.

Together the two try to unravel the mysteries behind Freddy's special ability's which could unlock the secret behind being able to get rid of him forever.

This was supposed to be the final installment in the Nightmare series but thanks to popular demand by it's fan base, the decided to continue the series with a piece of garbage they named "Wes Craven's New Nightmare", which we will be reviewing next.

Freddy's wit, originality and style made a huge impact in the franchise which lead throwing it all, in abundance, into this film. The comedy timing was great, the kills were awesome and the effects were really out there. But in a good way of course.

You could tell they were trying to draw in the 90's audience with some of the scene's. One in particular was a full length Nintendo game dream which I have always loved.

The ending would have been perfect to me had they been able to actually finish off the franchise, but seeing as they revived him twice more after his big finale, it really ruined the whole feel to it for me.

Also, there were a lot of celebrity guest appearances, including Johnny Depp who was an actor in the original Nightmare On Elm Street.

There is a lot of nostalgia factor in this one for me thanks to the kills I've always been able to remember so I will have to throw an 8 out of 10 onto this one!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

A Nightmare on Elm Street part 4: The Dream Master (1988)

The dream warriors have been released from Westin Heights and are living a normal teenage life.

Everything is moving up in their lives until Kristen starts feeling signs of an unsettling presence in her dreams and must take immediate action to save herself and her friends.

Directed by Renny Harlin, produced by Robert Shay and Rachel Talalay. Written by Brian Helgeland and Scott Pierce. Starring Tuesday Knight, Andras Jones, Brooke Theiss, Danny Hassell, Lisa Wilcox and Robert Englund as the sometimes not-so-lovable, Freddy Krueger.

I wasn't a huge fan of this movie, but it does displayed all the assets a Nightmare movie requires.

But it couldn't be all that bad! This was the top grossing film in the series prior to the release of Freddy Vs. Jason, which has to tell you something!

The thing that made me dislike the movie to a certain degree was having the dream warriors used like they were in a freaking Highlander film. Each different ability was transferred over to Alice every time one of her friend's died at the hands of Freddy.

And don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Highlander series just fine as it is. But I also enjoy my Freddy without a cross over style of story line.

The acting was pretty good, but nothing was able to really catch my attention like in the previous entries. It seemed almost plain to me although the film had a lot to offer visually. So with that being said I'm giving this piece of the series a 5.5 out of 10.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great night!

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

The remaining group of Elm Street children have been shipped off and locked up in a psych ward at Westin Hills thanks to their recurring nightmares of the Springwood slasher, Freddy Krueger.

When Freddy's nightmares start resulting in the death of the kids, their only hope at survival is Nancy Thompson, a dream specialist and the sole survivor of Freddy's first rampage after his death.

Directed by Chuck Russell, produced by Robert Shaye and written by Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner, Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont. Starring Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette, Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

This is my third favorite entry into the franchise and the one I have seen the most, thanks in part to the 90's and having it play on the specialty stations on a monthly basis.

I loved the story line in this one. Teaching the kids to take control of their dreams was a genius move and made every one of the characters seem bad ass to one degree or another once they were able to follow through with their transformation.

The acting was excellent from practically the entire cast including one Laurence Fishburne, who played a young orderly and you can't go on without the mention of all the great one liners that Freddy has in this one. They are just classic! But my hands down favorite has to be "Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!" 

As always, the special effects were excellent and it was reflected in a lot of the kills. For example, the TV kill and the puppet master kills are a great example of this.

It's a definite 8 out of 10 for me!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorgorereviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!  

Have a great day!

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Freddy's back! And he is none too please with what happened to him at the hands of Nancy.

So this time he has a new plan. With the resentful help of a teenage boy name Jesse, Freddy will make his way back to Elm street to exact his revenge.

Directed by Jack Sholder, produced by Robert Shaye, written by David Chaskin, starring Mark Patton, Kim Meyers, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

This is one of my least favorite parts of the series due to how slow it is to progress to anything fun or cool l.  Also, the way Freddy comes to be this time around just drives me up the wall. It makes no sense and does not match the remainder of the series at all.

So the conclusion i'm jumping to is that Jesse is mentally unstable and has been from the beginning. He just uses the Freddy persona as something or someone to blame for his wrong doings.

It's really the only way I can put this entry into the series without dissecting each individual part of each film to try and make it fit.

Otherwise, the special effects looks very good in this one, all the play with fire really added to the aura, which is not something I can say about the acting unfortunately.

An alright film on it's own but I do have to give this one a 4 out of 10.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A child molester, who was set free on a technicality, was burned at the stake by a group of angry parents.

Years later, an angry Fred Krueger has come back for revenge by killing off the remaining children of Elm street one by one, in their dreams.

Written and directed by Wes Craven. Starring Heather Langenkamp, John Saxton, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund as Fred Krueger.

This was the ultimate boogeyman movie for me! Over the course of several years I would have nightmares of Freddy Krueger. The horrifying look he had, the evil laugh, the way he could just get under your skin was unbelievable.

This movie is the reason why I am obsessed with the horror genre.

The acting is incredible, the dialogue is damn near perfect and the special effects were top notch. Especially the make up used for Fred and the "face coming through the ceiling" effect.

The ending was also excellent in my books, not only do you get a cool finish but they throw in the last minute jump scare for good measure.

This may not come as a shock to you but I give this one a perfect 10 out of 10.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

We being our tale with the help of our dear friend and everybody's favorite dream killer, Freddy Krueger, telling us the story of how he came to be and explains that if the children of Springwood remember him, it will able him to regain his power. In order to do this he enlists the help of the infamous, Crystal Lake killer himself, Jason Voohries to head over to Elm street and start creating havoc.

After the killing spree, rumors start creeping around town that Freddy is back and causing the deaths which gives him enough strength to come back and start haunting the young people of Springwood.

Until Jason starts getting in his way that is!

The movie itself is really fun to watch. I have been told by several people, those of whom are unaware of the back stories in the previous entries for both franchises, that the movie makes no sense them. I typically explain to them that this movie was basically made just to see who would win in a fight between the two. Hell, Vegas was even taking bets for the night the movie was released.

To me, it makes for one of the ultimate fan boy movies you could ever imagine. Especially for a kid who grew up with the title characters as huge genre influences

I give this an 8 out of 10. The story line wasn't bad, the kills could have been great had Freddy had the chance to play a little more in dream world. Over all Fantastic kills, especially the opener coming from Jason.

The final fight was just awesome and I (among many others) could have used a second round before the studio's decided that they needed to re-imagine the franchises. But regardless, I am happy with it and will take what I can get!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, send us an e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!