My Top Ten Nightmare On Elm Street Deaths

I’ve always loved the Nightmare On Elm Street films although I’ve never been in love with bloody slasher flicks. Give me a creepy psychological or supernatural “horror” instead and I’m happy. I liked a few slashers in the fake-looking gore of my beloved Eighties but I stay the hell away from gory modern day films. Gross. There was something about the Elm Street series, though, that I found fascinating from the first time I saw the first film at a party at the age of 13. Dream Warriors was my second Elm Street movie a year or so later and remains my most-watched as I recorded it off of TV & played it over & over again. I eventually watched the rest but, let’s face it, those two are by FAR the best. 

Admittedly, this top ten list is very heavy on Elm Steet 1 & 3 as those are the most special to me. And as with all my lists, this is my own personal top ten so I’m sure some won’t agree with all my choices. For the record, I’ve not included any Freddy “deaths”, only those of his victims. So here are My Top Ten Nightmare On Elm Street Deaths:

**SPOILERS (obviously)**

10. Ceiling Death: Part II

Victim: Julie Peyton McKenna in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

This one probably deserves to be a bit higher but I’ve not watched New Nightmare since the night I went to it when it came out in 1994. It deserves a mention, though, for re-creating one of the original film’s most iconic scenes. 

9. Waterbed Death

Victim: Joey Crusel in A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

It was only a matter of time before a waterbed was used in an Elm Street death scene! Waterbeds were weird things… Has anyone here ever had one?? Anyway, the water turning red with blood was pretty effective. And there were boobs in this scene, too! 

8. Video Game Death

Victim: Spencer Lewis in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare

I know this might not make most lists. It’s indeed one of the more “cheesy” kills but, hey – at least I’ve not included the roach motel kill! I also admit to having a soft spot for Freddy’s Dead as it’s the first Elm Street film I was able to go & see and I had a fun time seeing it with a couple of friends. And… Breckin Meyer! Someone who actually went on to do some non-horror stuff after being in a horror film! 

7. Impaled On Car’s Tail Fin Death

Victim: Donald Thompson in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

This is the first of two Elm Street deaths that upset me. Well, upset is a strong word… Anyway, I was still young when I first watched this & I think I somehow thought that heroes from the first film would somehow survive (I’d clearly not yet watched enough slashers). This death ties in with the more obvious one that’ll be higher on the list. And… John Saxon! Did this dude love being in movies or WHAT?! (IMDB lists him as being in 201 things. Way to go, John Saxon!)

6. Television Death

Victim: Jennifer Caulfield in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Another cheesy but fun death and one of my favorite Elm Street lines: “Welcome to prime time, bitch!”

5. Comic Book Death

Victim: Marcus “Mark” Gray in A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Do people like this one? I have no idea but I always loved it. It also lacks gore, which is nice for a wuss like me. I suppose it totally rips off A-ha’s Take On Me video but, oh well – that video rules. 

4. Cruel Trick By Freddy Death

Victim: Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

This one made me so mad. How could they kill off Nancy?! And to have Freddy pretend to be her dad was just cruel. 😦 😦 😦 😦 (okay, I’m over it now)

3. Sucked Into Bed Death

Victim: Glen Lantz in A Nightmare On Elm Street

Ah, my beloved Johnny Depp… I miss you, 80s & 90s Johnny Depp! Come back to us! What an awesome scene this was. Sucked into a bed! A geyser of blood! So weird but so original. And cool. 

2. Ceiling Death 

Victim: Christina “Tina” Gray in A Nightmare On Elm Street

I’ll never forget this one. Unlike a lot of Elm Street deaths in later films, which started becoming cheesy and almost played for laughs, this death was genuinely disturbing. I’ve always preferred the mood of the first film and the fact that it feels like an actual scary horror film in a way that the rest don’t. Well, I don’t need to convince anyone that the first film is by far the best – we all know that. But this was the very first slasher movie I ever watched and this death did creep me out (well, I was 13!). That’s what horror movies are meant to do, though. Yet so few manage it. 

1. Marionette Death

Victim: Phillip Anderson in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

This one is pretty messed up. It’s also a bit gross for me but I think it’s Freddy’s most clever kill. This is the first death where I thought “Oh… That was cool”. Which is disturbing as I don’t exactly like watching people get killed! (This is why fans of only horror movies do scare me a bit). 😉 Seriously, though, who thought this scene up? Was it Frank Darabont? I’d like to think so – I’m a big fan of so much of his work. Whoever actually wrote this death is a sick & twisted genius. It still kind of grosses me out. Here you go!:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture & The Wrath Of Khan & Star Trek (2009) Reviews

My Star Trek Knowledge:

I figure you should know how much I know of the entire Star Trek universe before I write anything about these movies. My Star Trek knowledge isn’t very extensive. Well, somewhat extensive for a girl, maybe? Or is that sexist? Here’s what I know of Star Trek:

– I saw a few episodes of the original TV series as a young girl. Thought they were okay but I saw that one with the creepy diseased kids or whatever and it freaked me the hell out. (I’m sure Trekkies would be able to name it – it was called Miri).

– When I was a bit older, The Next Generation came along. And I LOVED it. I turned into a massive TNG geek. I still know the most about this series and (sorry) will always love TNG the most.

– I didn’t watch any of the following Star Trek stuff other than a tiny bit of Deep Space Nine. Instead, I then went back and watched the majority of the original series. Yes, I do like that too but, obviously, it’ll seem dated to anyone who didn’t grow up with it.

– The movies. Here’s my confession: The first movie I watched was Star Trek: Generations. And I watched every one that followed that. But I never went back and watched the ones with the original Star Trek cast. Shocking, I know.

But with Star Trek Into Darkness coming along, I thought I should make a start. So this past week I re-watched Star Trek (2009) and then watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture & The Wrath Of Khan for the first time. And I’m now just back from seeing Into Darkness. I’ll do a review for that later…

Star Trek (2009) – My Opinion:

Yes, this was a good reboot. The characters still didn’t mean quite as much to me, though, as TNG characters. I should have watched the old movies before seeing this one – I’m sure I would have enjoyed it much more and I’m sure it’s a good feeling to understand the “inside jokes”. The film (of course) had to spend quite a while setting up each of the characters for those in the audience who were seeing this without having seen anything of the original Star Trek at all. I do think the overall plot suffered a bit because of this. I re-watched this as when I first saw it I actually fell asleep and didn’t remember it that well. Well, I fell asleep this time too. I did finish it but, overall, I was a little underwhelmed by the story. I’m not saying it was bad – it was a very good reboot of the original series. But I was a tiny bit bored and, after then finally watching the first two movies, I actually liked this the least of the three I’m reviewing here.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture & Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan – My Opinion:

I’ll do these together. As we’ve all heard for years, “The Wrath Of Khan is the best!!”. Well, I can certainly see why die hard Trekkies would feel this way. But bear in mind that I’ve just watched this now after seeing later Star Trek movies and knowing there were plenty of (original cast) sequels after The Wrath Of Khan. So, naturally, the ending of it is NOT going to pack the same punch as I’m sure it did when the movie first came out.

So, to be honest, I probably liked the first and second movie pretty much equally. I enjoyed the first one more than I was expecting to. I think the music was much better in the first movie than in the second. I think the first one, in a way, felt more “cinematic” (at least at the beginning). The pace was very slow (I don’t think the current generation would make it far into this movie!) but I kind of liked the long slow shots of space & the spaceships & all that – kind of reminded me of the end of 2001 (although that’s a much better film). But the ending of the first one was a bit, well, pathetic. I personally LIKED the story, though – it felt very very much like an episode of the TV series. But you want a bit more than that from “the motion picture”. So the movie felt a little bit like a good TV episode stretched into a long movie.

The Wrath Of Khan, to start out, felt even more like a TV episode to me than the first movie did. I don’t think the much more boring musical score helped this feeling either. Also, I like sci-fi. Obviously Star Trek is all sci-fi but the second movie is more of a “revenge story” movie whereas the first one focused more on cool “space stuff”. Sorry if that makes no sense but not sure how else to put that. I just liked the “majesty” of the first one a bit more, even if the special effects weren’t necessarily the best. (I think what I saw of the first one was a Director’s Cut? I have no clue how that might differ from the original version). Basically, the beginning and middle of the first movie are very good and the ending is “meh”. The beginning of The Wrath Of Khan is “meh”, the middle is fairly good, and the ending is excellent.

I think the ending of The Wrath Of Khan makes people forgive (and forget about) any of the weaker bits of the film. If the ending hadn’t been SO good, I’d have to say I’d prefer the first movie. And, quite frankly, Khan just kind of doesn’t do it for me as a villain in this. Ohh – controversy! But I think most people, watching The Wrath Of Khan for the very first time these days, would feel the same way and also probably wouldn’t be too moved by the ending knowing all that’s known by now. (Not that I exactly know – I still have to watch the third movie!). 😉

Summary:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture & Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan are both very good films in the overall Star Trek universe and I did enjoy them. They are, however, very dated and won’t have as much of an emotional impact for someone watching them for the very first time today. Trekkies will probably find no fault in either film but as a bit of a “partial-Trekkie”(?), I can see the faults while still being able to look past most of them and still enjoy the films. I did enjoy them more than Star Trek (2009) but that’s mainly because I know just enough of (and have just enough of an affection for) the original cast and had a hard time adjusting to new actors playing them. All in all, the strengths and weaknesses of all three films mostly even them out for me, although I do prefer the first two but have to recognize that the 2009 film was a good start to a new series.

My Ratings:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture – 7/10

Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan – 7.5/10

Star Trek (2009) – 7/10

Link to Star Trek Into Darkness Review

My Top Disney Princess Movies

1. Sleeping Beauty
2. Beauty And The Beast
3. Cinderella
4. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
5. Tangled
6. The Princess And The Frog
7. Brave
8. Aladdin
9. The Little Mermaid
10. Mulan
11. Pocahontas

In order starting with my favorite. These are ranked according to how much I like the movie overall, not according to the best princess. That list may differ slightly but I’m a grown woman and not sad enough to do another list. (Belle would be first!). 😉 These are all the “official” princesses including Merida, who will soon also be officially added. Thanks to whoever photoshopped her into the picture I found online!