What to Watch This Weekend: ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’

Before 'Scream,' the horror auteur went meta with Freddy Krueger.

February 2, 2018 5:00 am

Welcome to Watch This Weekend, where every Friday, Darian Lusk, comedian and writer living large in Brooklyn—will gently recommend something to stream, play or listen to. Follow him on Twitter @eatpraylusk to send suggestions for future installments.

 If I’ve learned anything from Friday The 13th, Halloween or Child’s Play, it’s that I am a “screamer,” and that the first film in a horror franchise is often (sorry) the only good one. The concept is fresh, the writing is sharp, it doesn’t just exist because its predecessor made money, etc.

But of course, there are exceptions.

While the original A Nightmare On Elm Street may be most well-known, and the sequel Freddy’s Revenge a surprising turn as an amazing gay cult classic, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (the seventh) is Craven’s meta-masterpiece. A clear prelude to Scream, it is ambitious, thought-provoking — hella scary — and exactly what you should watch this weekend. 

New Nightmare, now available on Amazon Video, takes place in the late director’s version of the “real world,” where the previous films actually exist — as movies — and actors from them play themselves. How fun!

 

Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in the original Elm Street film 10 years earlier, is trying to live a normal Hollywood life with her husband and son Dylan. Well, as normal as possible, considering. She starts having nightmares involving—who else? — the film’s’ titular knife-handed villain. And receiving strange, threatening phone calls from a familiar demonic voice.

Insult to injury are the throngs of fans dressed as Freddy Krueger when she does a talk show appearance. These Fred-heads, including parents and children, go wild when her co-star Robert Englund (the actor who plays the villian) makes an appearance, in costume. This is one of the films’ best scenes, demonstrating that Craven (he returns to the director’s chair for the first time since Freddy 1) felt the character had become watered down and commercialized. (Click the terrible links.) “Every child knows about Freddy, he’s like Santa Claus or King Kong!” Langenkamp says.

The actress soon starts to have trouble separating dreams from reality. It almost seems like real life is becoming…the next movie!? So, of course, she visits Craven, who has been working on a new Freddy script. He has some theories involving an ancient demonic force trying to make its way from page to reality. Can they vanquish this “real” Freddy (listed in the credits “as himself”), before it’s too late?

Unlike the first film, which follows the standard slasher format, New Nightmare is narratively complex, maybe a little slow at times, but incredibly ambitious. It fleshes out the mythology behind the films, which is great fan service. As is Lagencamp’s and, surprisingly, Craven’s acting. Also, Freddy is scary instead of “jokey,” as originally intended. And he wears a cloak, which is sick.

Craven’s follow up Scream sees its characters use the mechanisms of their favorite genre as weapons. But New Nightmare is a meta look at those mechanisms themselves. Are horror movies making us worse people? Are obsessive fandom, our culture of violence and the effect of playing intense roles as actors a legitimate threat? These may seem like Media Studies 101 questions (and you thought this class would be an easy credit, you FOOL!) but Craven eloquently poses them — all while scaring the living crud out of us with great special effects and sets.

Craven saw the tides changing as we entered the “internet age,” and the risk of the marketing of a film becoming more important than the actual film — because it happened to his own franchise. By exploring but not quite parodying these ideas, New Nightmare becomes its own sort of genre: Horror discourse. We’ll work on the name. But still. Wes reclaims his original vision and makes the best Freddy movie yet, ushering in the era of meta-slashers about to claw its way onto the screen.

Other Great Things To Stream This Weekend

Spotify: Migos’ Culture II (Added Jan. 26): The second full-length from beloved rap trio Migos hit stores this week. Their new offering includes bangers like “Stir Fry” and “Motorsport” which will seamlessly make their way onto our summer playlists before (hopefully) no time.

Netflix: Lovesick Season 3 (Added Jan. 1) This 2015 British show, originally under the much more unfortunate name of Scrotal Recall, premiered its third season last month. Lovesick is actually a surprisingly lovely series; a jigsaw puzzle of a rom-com that is much more charming than its original title.

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