A Nightmare on Elm Street
The 1984 repulsion classicA Nightmare On Elm Streetinevitably engender many rip - offs , but how many of the movie accused of stealing Freddy Krueger ’s flair were guilty?A Nightmare On Elm Streetwas a deep necessary shot in the branch for the then - ailing slasher literary genre during the 1980s . Since the winner ofHalloweenandFriday the 13th , countless masked slasher had plagued the multiplex but few had convey with them the invention and originality necessary to become horror image .
However , that alter when director Wes Craven introduce the world toFreddy Krueger . A Nightmare On Elm Street ’s grievous baddie had a killer hook in his power to intrude on the dreams of his victim , a clever conceit that allowed Freddy to get out off more detailed and ambitious murders than killers who were limited by the dull rules of world . Freddy could hound down victims in the one shoes everyone assume they were dependable , and this ingenious premise result in the overnight creation of a dear moving-picture show lusus naturae .
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However , much likeHalloweenfrom 1978 motivate the unblushing knock - offFriday the 13th , which in turn begat countless further rip - offs , there were plenty of producers who wanted in on Freddy ’s lucrative antics . TheNightmare On Elm Streetfranchisewas phenomenally popular throughout the ‘ eighty , resulting in a string ofA Nightmare On Elm Streetrip - offs that motley in terms of originality and quality . Some were surprisingly inventive , others were altogether unblushing or zany , but one thing that everything fromDreamaniactoWishmasterhad in common was the accusal that they would never have survive if it were n’t for Freddy Krueger .
Dreamaniac (1986)
imposingly enough , despite have the tagline “ You do n’t have to live on Elm Street to have nightmares,”Dreamaniacwas not actually aNightmare On Elm Streetrip - off . or else , this Full Moon Features release tell apart the story of a rockstar who struck a Satan ’s bargain when a succuba guarantee him romantic success if he fed his subjection to the ogre . However , just because the movie was not a knock - off of Craven ’s creation and featured a promising self-love , that ’s not to sayDreamaniacis a paying attention , dark revulsion - satire on the greed and avarice of the 80 ’s alaAmerican Psychoand its ending . Although it did not rip - offA Nightmare On Elm Street as much as its tagline suggested , Dreamaniacwas still a trashy , tasteless and utterly non - scary effort that failed to reach even the small Browning automatic rifle of quality usually seen in Full Moon Features ’ ‘ 80s output .
Bad Dreams (1988)
In 1988’sBad Dreams , repulsion fans can find out what may be the most shamelessA Nightmare On Elm Streetrip - off of all time . certainly , the killer is a bushed religious cult leader rather than a groundskeeper , but otherwise , this one has the full rule : a badly burned villain with a connection to the heroine ’s traumatic childhood , stalking and kill in dreams , an asylum place setting and even a star role forDream Warriorsco - star Jenifer Rubin . However , when Rubin was one ofA Nightmare On Elm Street 3 ’s good Dream Warriors , it is only comely that the actor got another gibe at taking down a dream devil after her shockingly ready destruction in the official franchise outing .
Wishmaster (1997)
The most below the belt maligned movie on this lean , theWishmasterseries was often accused of rip off theNightmare On Elm Streetseries thanks to its slasher - style fusion of fantasy and horror . However , the djinn is an inventive lusus naturae with a more seductive and less outright predatory attitude toward his victims than that of Freddy Krueger , and fill in misrepresented interpretations of wishes for dreams made the franchise ’s premise genuinely challenging . TheWishmastermovies lost steam as soon as the insanely magnetic Andrew Divoff croak the title role as much likeNightmare on Elm Streetcouldn’t supervene upon Robert Englund , the series needed its camp baddie to work . Nonetheless , this dealership did n’t pull off Craven ’s iconic slasher as much as many reviewers of the time claimed .
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Sleepstalker (1995)
Released straight to video in 1995,Sleepstalkeris another somewhat shamelessA Nightmare On Elm Streetknock - off . This picnic did sport one original eddy in its scoundrel ’s backstory , but unfortunately forSleepstalker , its lonely divergency fromA Nightmare On Elm Street ’s formula was also the movie ’s big misstep . InSleepstalker , a objurgate murderer uses fetish to transfer his body into sand … so he can become the sandman and assault his victims in their sleep . Corny puns aside , the sight of a sentient Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin somebody attacking eccentric does not strickle fear into the heart the fashion Freddy Krueger or hisNew Nightmarereinvention The Entitydid , andSleepstalker ’s reticence to adopt Krueger ’s sting visage resulted in a surreal , but not at all awful , replacement . A rarified cause when stealing would have been preferred , Sleepstalker ’s total lack of scares and accidentally uproarious villain proves that sometimes , taking theBad Dreamsroute and but photocopy the original movie would have been the preferable option .
Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
While the originalSlumber Party Massacreis more of a square slasher in term of history ( and a amazingly smart subversion of the writing style in price of dialogue),Slumber Party Massacre IIrevives its killer whale via dreaming and became a shamelessNightmare On Elm Streetrip - off as a result . Interestingly , the subsequence does more with ambition within dreams and trippy incubus system of logic than many actualNightmare On Elm Streetfranchise installments attempted . ThebestNightmare On Elm Streetdream sequenceaccurately captures the strange , offbeat touch of nightmare logic , but most of the dealership ’s kill simply use the dream world as a setting for gory bloodletting .
However , Slumber Party Massacre IIuses the dream encroachment frame-up to constantly confuse and wrong - foot viewers who can never be indisputable whether they are watching a real aspect , a dreaming , a hallucination or something in between . Unfortunately , the continuation does not do much with this ambitious tone , mostly reconcile for silly one - lining or comedic glaring - out gore . However , the unusual surreal mode still makesSlumber Party Massacre IIthe undecomposed ofA Nightmare On Elm Street ’s rip - offs , since the slasher really produce use of its phantasy elements .
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