In 1984, Wes Cravens creation "Freddy Kruegar"(Robert Englund) was born in a truly terrifying independant film that would go on to become on of the most successful series in modern day horror. A Nightmare On Elm Street tells the story of a child murdered who was burned to death by angry parents ten years before after the courts allowed him to go free. Now, the children of those parents are suffering from dillusional nightmares about a disfigured phantom with finger knives who is trying to wreak his revenge by tormenting them and effectively butchering them in their sleep. The kick is that if they die in their dreams, they die for real. Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is the wily girl who eventually learns the only way to defeat the killer is to turn her back on him and show no fear. Its an effective film that is let down by a rather sloppy ending, but benefits from a brilliant premise, good characterization and some smashing special effects. Its also Johnny Depp's first feature film.

Wes Craven is back on board somewhat for "Dream Warriors" which also see's the return of Heather Langenkamp as Nancy and John Saxon as her father. The film shifts to a local sanitarium (which doubles as an old Nun habitat for the dream sequences), where local teenagers are locked up after a mass suicide attempt based on hallucinations of a dream stalker who is apparently trying to kill them. Only Nancy Thomson knows the truth about Freddy Kruegar (played brilliantly again by Robert Englund), and his predatory ways in the dream realm. She has to help the teenagers confront their fears and discover the inner strengths and powers that will help them survive and battle against Freddy. There are some amazing special effects, most of the performances are decent, and the one liners were kept to a crisp minimum despite the start of Joke-Freddy surfacing. The script is fresh, thanks to an infusion from Wes, and its also relatively scary. There is also a nice backstory which starts the Freddy mythology off, and covers some ground about his mother.

The Dream Child is the last of the films to get the "Nightmare On Elm Street" mantle. Lisa Wilcox returns as Alice, slightly older and slightly wiser. As Freddy starts to inhabit her dreams again she cant understand why she's having these dreams while she's awake. When she finds out she's pregnant, she discovers that unborn baby's can also dream, and do for most of the time they are in the womb. What follows is almost two different films. There are scary moments when more of the Freddy mythology is introduced, concerning his mother and how he was concieved. What is less scary is the gory (if brilliantly inventive: there is a boy who becomes his motorcycle, a model who is gorged on her own flesh, and a comic book fan who is sliced and diced within a comic book story) deaths of the teenagers. The film plays like a music video, cutting to and fro the action at crucial moments. Its made watchable by Englunds ever enjoyable turn as Freddy, and Lisa Wilcox's sterling performance once again as Alice. But the plot is ludicrous, with the exception of the search for Amanda Kruegar (his mother). This concludes what is now known as the Elm Street trilogy (3, 4 and 5) within the series.

The last disc of the boxset is the incredible "Wes Cravens New Nightmare" which turns everything from the previous films on its head. Heather Langenkamp returns this time as herself, a long retired actress who is being haunted by a fan of her most famous film. The fan apparently emulates the voice of Freddy Kruegar by telephone and sends her one lettered post in the mail. Now Wes Craven is writing a new script which, unbeknown to all involved, is taking on the form of Heather's life and the Nightmares that she and her son are being plagued with. As it turns out Freddy was a long standing evil that was ensnared by the art of the story of Nightmare On Elm Street. But now that the films were finished, the evil had been let loose as there was no fiction for it to exist in. The only way to entrap him again is to make a new film or tell a new story, and the strongest way of doing that is by having Heather play the part of Nancy one last time. Heather is resistant, but as the lines of fantasy film and reality become blurred, she knows the only way to destroy Freddy is to defeat him as Nancy again. Robert Englund is a blast as the new look and terrifying Freddy, and also as himself. One of the most interesting bits of the film is when Robert appears on a talkshow in the old Freddy get up, and Heather suddenly looks terrified. Heather, for her part, is also very good, and looks stunning. The film is stylistically different to any of the Elm Street films, and is all the better for it. Its truly scary, relies very little on special effects, has an interesting and warped but brilliant plot, and also takes a swipe at censors who blame horror films for all that is wrong in the world today. This was Wes Cravens last involvement with the Elm Street franchise, although Robert has returned in another tv series recently and in the Freddy Vs Jason film since.