The Nightmare on Elm Street Collection

Wes Craven (Last House on the Left, Hills have Eyes) struck gold when he came up with the idea of dream stalking slashing killer Freddy Kreuger, the bastard offspring of a hundred maniacs.

Unleashed to the world in "Nightmare on Elm Street" - the story of a group of high school kids who are all dreaming about Freddy, one by one getting violently killed by the man of their dreams. Highly original, very atmospheric and scary, "Nightmare" was a box office smash that surprised everyone leading to a lucrative bonanza of sequels of varying quality.

The first sequel "Freddy's Revenge" was more of the same, except this time the quality and terrifying atmosphere dropped in favour of teen hi-jinks (which seems to be all the rage again with the 'I still know what you screamed last urban legend' brigade). Although there still were some entertaining moments, ie when Freddy runs riot at a teen pool party proclaiming "you're all my children now!".

The third instalment "Dream Warriors" was a return to form with Wes Craven coming back to the fold (along with part one's lead heroine Heather Langenkamp). The story has a more fantasy feel with the last of the Elm Street kids banged up in a psychiatric hospital with similarly troubled kids. The characters are stronger (with an almost comic book hero team feel) and once again are pitched into the fray with Freddy taking them out with some gory style.

Part four "The Dream Master" has a mixed reception from the series fans with again more teen hi-jinks (is it starting to sound like I'm repeating myself?) as telepathic teen Kirsten tries to stop Freddy from knocking off all her pals, some nice touches but ressurection from flaming dog piss has me laughing every time.

Part five "The Dream Child" next (and surely they must have been running out of "Dream Thingummy" titles by now) which sees Freddy up against a pregnant teen for parental control of her unborn baby. Better than it sounds "Dream Child" has a pretty cool finale (in the style of the old Hammer/Universal films) but I'm sure by now the franchising novelty was wearing off for the horror fraternity.

Hence the release of "Freddys Dead : The Final Nightmare", a fun packed horror flick with a twilight zone feel and a 3D finale to boot. Again, more of the same, but there is plenty to enjoy with cool cameos (including Alice Cooper), Freddy doing his tribute to the Wizard of Oz and the corny 3D sequence which harks back to the 3D movies of old.

And just when you thought it was safe, out pops "Wes Craven's New Nightmare", and boy, was this one worth the wait. Done as a supposed 'real' story the plot revolves around the real cast and crew of the original Elm Street movie who now become the victims of Freddy nightmares. A strange hybrid of Nosferatu,the Exorcist and Elm Street "New Nightmare" is a refreshing gem that fans of the genre will thoroughly enjoy.

After all that, what can you say about the "Nightmare on Elm Street Collection" box set as a whole. Well, as value for money it is indeed fantastic. All the films are gorgeously remastered in widescreen with Dolby 5.1 surround, they look great. The inclusion of a bonus disc that is stuffed full of interviews, outtakes, trailers, music videos etc is a great idea too (though I don't know anyone thats made their way all the stuff on this). My main problem with this collection though is that it's the R Rated prints that's been used. Although there are some scenes that have not been seen in the UK before, I still wish maximum effort had been made to put togeher directors cuts of the films for this special collection.

That said though this is a lovely set (and great value for money), and is highly recommended for fans of the Elm Street series. Nice One.