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Ranking the best murders from A Nightmare on Elm Street

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Ranking the best murders from A Nightmare on Elm Street

Dan’s death begins with one of these incredible events. A Nightmare on Elm Street fakes that make us believe that Freddy will kill him in a car accident. However, Dan apparently manages to escape this scenario only to find a nearby motorcycle, which he buys to escape. We soon learn that the motorcycle belongs to Freddy (never trust anything red or green in these movies), who keeps merging with Dan until Dan becomes a machine-human-Freddy hybrid who speeds down the highway to his fiery death. It’s one of those visuals that belongs in a much better movie, but that shouldn’t rob this scene of the respect it deserves.

3. Glen plunges into a blood blender – A Nightmare on Elm Street

Like the most visually clever murder in the original. A Nightmare on Elm StreetGlen’s death helped set the standard for what was to come. You could argue that even the more conceptual deaths that followed couldn’t top this spectacle. In the scene, Glen (a young Johnny Depp) is pulled into bed before a fountain of blood erupts from his film-covered grave. The trippy nightmare was reportedly achieved using an upside-down room and several hundred gallons of fake blood, which quickly started a fire.

However, despite how over the top this murder is, there is a certain level of restraint applied to this scene that really makes it special. The camera barely moves as we watch Glen and his belongings being pulled into the bed. The incredible soundtrack and Glen’s slowly fading screams effectively inform us of the unspeakable act taking place just out of sight, and the result is more than we could have hoped for given that the design is so effective in its own right.

2. Philip is confused – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

In a film filled with death scenes that rank among the franchise’s best kills, Phillip’s murder still feels like the greatest showpiece. It all starts with a Freddy-like puppet coming to life via stop-motion animation (a truly incredible effect) before Freddy himself appears to turn Phillip into a puppet. Not by magic, mind you, but rather by turning Phillip’s skin and ligaments into threads that Freddy uses to guide him through the halls of the hospital. His harrowing journey ends with an exit to the balcony, where Freddie slowly cuts the ropes before Phillip falls to a (for now merciful) death.

Few deaths in Nightmare can challenge all the things that are so great about the scene. The quality of the effects on display is objectively admirable, but it’s the way they contribute to such truly horrific death without diminishing its impact that makes them effective. More importantly, this scene doesn’t compromise the point of the series: the very real fear of being in danger while you sleep. Phillip’s habit of sleepwalking is used effectively in this scene, and the fear in the eyes of the other patients when they realize they are watching him walk to his death would be just as terrifying even if Freddy weren’t pulling the strings.

1. Tina Sets the Standard – A Nightmare on Elm Street

Some would argue that Tina’s death isn’t elaborate enough to top a list like this, and I’d argue against that based on the amazing spinning room set-piece ending that ranks among the most impressive effects in the history of this franchise. Ultimately, however, if we go this route, we will go too far from the point.