The MacGuffin

Nightmare on Elm Street (2010): Mediocre remake has the creepy atmosphere of the original down, but the script continually disappoints. 5/10

New Nightmare: Makes Freddy scary again by bringing him into the real world to haunt the cast and crew that made him famous. 9/10

Freddy’s Dead: The goofiest of the series undermines the backstory set up by the original and is only slightly redeemed by decent gore. 2/10

I’m not much of a documentary watcher. I don’t dislike them, but it just doesn’t occur to me to choose a documentary when I want to watch a movie. This is why I need film festivals: to show me what I’m missing.

Spencer and John discuss the Nightmare on Elm Street series, share some of their favorite books that tell stories from behind the scenes on movies, and give their DVD Picks of the Week.

Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Tries to go back to a more suspenseful tone, but also has Freddy on a skateboard and dressed like Superman. 5/10

Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Bright colors, bland teens, and a wisecracking Freddy make this the most MTV friendly of the series. 5/10

Sword of Doom is an old black and white samurai movie from Japan. A swordsman shows up on a mountainside and kills and old man praying at a shrine to Buddha. The swordsman is supposed to fight another guy in the town the following day and a woman shows up to try to talk him out of it. He asks her if it’s worth her giving up the goods to stop the fight. If the girl’s husband (as it turns out) loses, then he loses the right to teach at the school he’s in charge of – and it sounds like this is very likely.

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Brings back the hero from part 1, adds to Freddy’s mythos, and features a great cast of characters. 9/10

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Ignores the rules set up by part 1 and doesn’t make a lot of sense. The worst of the series. 1/10