Horror emerged as big business in the 1980s, and arguably the most successful franchise of the bunch launched in 1984, when A Nightmare On Elm Street picture appeared. While these others series clearly did very well, I don't think any of them quite permeated popular culture to the degree of Nightmare, especially as represented by its horrific villain, Freddy Krueger.

Teens start to experience nightmares with a twist. Not only do these traumatic dreams involve the same terrifying character – later identified as Freddy Krueger (Robert England) – but also the kids wake up with physical remnants of the violence they encounter during their slumber.

Slowly a body count emerges. Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) fights to stop Freddy’s nocturnal reign of terror.

I'll always find it amazing that “YMCA” - a song about anonymous homosexual sex - became fare suitable for singalongs at ball games and bar mitzvahs. In addition, I think it's odd that Krueger - arguably the most vile of the villains of the era - has become so... so... well, cuddly.

That really didn't happen until Nightmare had spawned a few sequels, however, and Freddy started spewing more and more wacky catchphrases. Very little of the "fun" Freddy appears in the first film.

Actually, it feels fairly surprising to see what a relatively minor role Freddy plays in the picture. While he essentially exists as the catalyst for all the action, we don't see all that much of him, and when he does appear onscreen, he seems much more roughhewn and less charming than he would later become.

All of which feels much more appropriate to the character as originally designed rather than the jokester he would become. After all, Freddy is a school janitor who murdered children!

We find nothing flamboyant or intelligent about Freddy here, as he's just a psychotic loser, basically. While the later Freddy certainly was more fun - which he probably had to be to make further films watchable - I really like the more realistic depiction of the character found here.

Well, as realistic as it can get for a movie in which the antagonist kills people in their dreams. Far-fetched as it may be, Nightmare does provide the most intriguing plot of its genre and era.

What Jaws did for the ocean, Nightmare did for sleeping. Better be careful, or that catnap could do you in!

It's a clever premise that certainly affects an audience on a deeper psychological level than does a killer doll, for example, or yet another anonymous slasher.

While I find Nightmare to remain a good movie and one that provides some effective thrills and scares, I don't think that the execution quite lives up to the premise. That's partly because of the high quality of the idea, and also because of the limitations of the genre.

Nightmare definitely adheres to all the horror stereotypes that writer/director Wes Craven would later mock so wonderfully in Scream.

I think Nightmare can be somewhat hard to watch these days simply because of the historical perspective. After so many sequels and the intense way that Freddy permeated our culture, it's virtually impossible to watch the film with any sort of fresh viewpoint,

This becomes especially true since the horror genre got so bloated and tired as the 1980s became the 1990s. That kind of film was pretty passé before Scream put some life into it.

Still, despite my semi-blasé outlook, Nightmare manages to hold up pretty well. I admittedly felt a little bored early on, but once the action really got going, it drew me in and kept me interested. I found the film's climax to be surprisingly effective and exciting.

None of this occurs because of the quality of the acting. Across the board, the performances seem weak, as nothing here transcends the film's low budget origins.

I always thought that Langenkamp was a cutie, but her acting leaves something to be desired. Actually, she gets a little better as the film continues - she pulls off the action sequences that dominate the movie's ending pretty nicely - but she usually seems fairly wooden and artificial.

Johnny Depp certainly built a major career for himself, but none of that’s apparent from his debut here. He's an attractive presence who offers nothing. And so it goes, down the line.

As for Freddy himself, Robert Englund provides perfectly good work, but as I mentioned earlier, Krueger isn't quite the presence you might expect him to be based on his fame and popularity. Englund doesn't have to do much more in the role than hack and slash and deliver the occasional menacing line.

While I prefer this more vicious Freddy as a villain, the later Krueger seems more entertaining and probably more enjoyable to play. Still, at least Englund provides better acting than any of his castmates.

Despite the iffy performances, Nightmare remains one of the true classics of the horror genre, and it maintains a surprisingly high number of exciting and scary sequences. This is a seminal film that continues to entertain and scare.

A Nightmare on Elm Street appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I don’t expect attractive visuals from a cheap mid-80s flick, but Nightmare looked borderline great.

Sharpness was mostly fine. At times the image came across as slightly soft, but those instances remained infrequent and minor. Instead, the film usually appeared concise and well-defined.

I detected no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes failed to appear. Source flaws were non-existent, and grain seemed light but discernible.

Though the film featured a fairly muted palette, colors looked accurate and appropriate. The tones were pretty lively and got a boost from HDR.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows offered appealing delineation. HDR brought punch to whites and contrast. Given the limitations inherent in the source material, I felt impressed by this transfer and thought it just barely fell short of “A” level consideration.

Downcoverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos remix of Nightmare came to life well. The front sound stage dominated and did so very convincingly.

The remixers positioned sounds well across the front channels and they even panned pretty well at times. Not much audio emanated from the rears, as we mainly heard ambient sounds, occasional "crash-bang" noises during the action scenes, or the movie's synthesizer score back there.

The music became the most active element, as the track blasted it from all the channels. This was probably a little too heavy, as it threatened to overwhelm the other elements. Nonetheless, the audio brought the creepier segments to life pretty well and added depth to the movie.

The music was the aspect of the soundtrack that sounded best. The score packed a strong sonic punch and showed nice range and definition. The other elements varied but were still satisfying.

Speech went from natural and clear to somewhat brittle but always stayed intelligible. The biggest distraction came from some poor looping, as these caused occasional lip-synch concerns.

Effects seemed a little thin at times but were usually positive. They lacked much harshness or distortion and managed to create reasonably convincing material. Overall, the remix took dated elements and made them into a surprisingly nice soundtrack.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2010? Audio might’ve gotten a minor boost from the Atmos remix, but I thought the end result largely resembled the 7.1 from the BD.

Visuals offered a good upgrade, as the 4K looked better defined and more dynamic. Expect a nice step up in quality.

The 4K release presents both the movie’s theatrical version (1:31:10) as well as an Unrated Cut (1:31:19). What does that added nine seconds buy the viewer?

Not much, as we simply find a smidgen more gore/violence added to four scenes. The filmmakers needed to make these minor trims for MPAA approval. While it seems nice to see the “original vision”, the changes feel far too minor to make the uncut Nightmare a different experience than the theatrical edition.

Alongside the theatrical cut, we find two separate audio commentaries. The first features director Wes Craven, actors Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon, and director of photography Jacques Haitkin, all of whom sit together for this running, screen-specific track.

The piece looks at the origins of the story as well as various influences and inspirations for the movie. We also learn about sets and locations, camerawork and visual choices, effects, cast and performances, effects, censorship problems and cuts, and various shot specifics.

The contributions of Craven and Langenkamp dominate the piece, as Haitkin also frequently chimes in, but Saxon seems to be largely MIA. Overall, this offers a decent but occasionally sluggish chat. We learn basics about the production and get a fair examination of important topics.

However, it never quite catches fire, as it stays a little slow and plodding. We find an acceptable view of Nightmare but not anything terribly memorable.

For the second commentary, we find a large group of participants. It features Craven, Langenkamp, Haitkin, producer Robert Shaye, co-producer Sara Risher, actors Robert Englund, Amanda Wyss, and Ronee Blakley, associate producer John Burrows, composer Charles Bernstein, editor Rick Shaine, co-editor Patrick McMahon, mechanical special effects technician Jim Doyle, special makeup effects artist David B. Miller, and film historian David Del Valle.

All recorded separately for this edited “audio essay”. The track starts with a look at problems raising money for Nightmare and then delves into cast, characters and performances.

We get additional story and editing notes along with details about the film’s visual look, editing and score, effects and technical challenges, and other nuts and bolts. The commentary provides an introspective side as well when it examines the reasons for the film’s enduring success, genre topics and some psychological aspects of its appeal.

This commentary avoids the sluggish pitfalls of the original one and offers a terrific look at the movie’s creation. We get rich notes related to a myriad of different elements and check out matters in depth.

Many fun stories pop up, such as when the IRS almost closed down the primary house locations. This is a consistently informative and enjoyable piece.

29 Focus Points occupy a total of 18 minutes, 13 seconds. These mostly consist of outtakes but we get a handful of comments from from Craven, England, Blakley, Haitkin, and Miller.

Given that the “Focus Points” on the old Blu-ray spanned 94 minutes, we lose a lot of that footage here. Does this mean the 4K truly omits about 76 minutes of material?

Not really, as the BD’s “Points” often repeated content from the disc’s other programs. We no longer get info about the franchise’s sequels but I think most – if not all – of the clips exclusive to the BD’s “Points” repeat here.

Nothing amazing pops up, but we get some interesting components. “Points” offers a decent set of snippets.

Up next is a documentary called The House That Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror. The 21-minute, 52-second show features info from Shaye, Englund, Del Valle, Bernstein, Risher, Craven, Langenkamp, Haitkin, collaborator Sean S. Cunningham, sequel director Chuck Russell, Final Destination co-screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick, New Line executives Kevin Kasha and Mark Ordesky, and makeup effects assistant Mark Bryan Wilson.

As implied by the title, “House” looks at how Nightmare helped establish New Line as a successful studio. We learn about New Line’s origins and low-budget roots. We get into their first projects and how Nightmare improved their prospects before we hear about sequels and subsequent New Line projects.

Half Nightmare retrospective, half New Line overview, “House” is entertaining but less than detailed. It really rips through its subjects and rarely dallies long enough to give us true depth. Nightmare series, and we also fail to find much of a feel for how New Line evolved over the decades. This is an enjoyable show but it’s way too short to deliver the goods.

Next comes the 15-minute, 33-second Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares. It features Craven, Jungian psychologist Dr. Don Kilhefner, authors David J. Skal and Dr. Marjorie Miles, Gnostic Society Director of Studies Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller, and neuroscientist Dr. Jerry Siegel.

“Origins” looks at concepts related to dreams and nightmares. We learn about historical perceptions and the views of different societies as well as attempts to interpret dreams and what they represent. The show also looks at how the elements that affected Craven in the creation of Nightmare and symbolic/interpretive aspects of the film.

No 15-minute show can really dig into such a rich subject with real meaning, but “Origins” does pretty well for itself. The program goes into a mix of interesting topics related to dreams and comes with enough introspection to intrigue us. This is a solid little piece.

Three Alternate Endings last a total of four minutes, 58 seconds. These include “Scary Ending”, “Happy Ending” and “Freddy Ending”.

“Scary” and “Freddy” are only a little different than the existing conclusion. As you can guess based on the title, “Happy” comes with a changed tone. None are radical departures but they’re interesting to see.

A documentary called Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare On Elm Street lasts 49 minutes, 54 seconds. It presets comments from Craven, Langenkamp, Englund, Cunningham, Risher, Shaye, Del Valle, Burrows, Wyss, Doyle, Blakley, Haitken, Miller, Shaine, McMahon, Bernstein and Wilson.

The show starts with a look at Craven’s origins in film and how he became interested in horror flicks. From there we get into the roots of the Nightmare story and other flicks with dream themes.

Next we hear about raising financing for the film, casting, characters and performances, and the tight budget and shooting schedule. Production topics include cinematography, sets and locations, Freddy’s makeup and finger-knives, various effects, stunts, a few shooting specifics, the movie’s ending, editing and censorship, music, and the film’s release.

Inevitably, “Again” repeats a fair amount of information heard elsewhere. With two commentaries, it’d be impossible for the documentary to avoid repetition.

Nonetheless, “Again” offers a fine recap of the production. It digs into the appropriate subjects with gusto and boasts plenty of archival bits that fill out the set. This turns into a fun and informative piece.

Does the 4K UHD lose anything from the Blu-ray? Yup.

As noted, it drops a lot of “Focus Points”, and we also sacrifice a text commentary. Like mentioned, the “Points” mainly appear in other programs, and the text track wasn’t very good, so these omissions don’t create major losses.

A Nightmare On Elm Street doesn't deliver a perfect film, and it also doesn’t become the best horror film ever made. However, it offers possibly the most clever and intriguing theme of any movie in its genre, and despite some flaws, it remains an exciting and provocative little picture. The 4K UHD presents very good picture and audio along with a mix of solid extras. Fans will feel very pleased with the upgrade in terms of the movie’s presentation.

To rate this film, visit the DVD review of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET