Nightmare on Elm Stree the best out of the 3?

Eric Emma · 07-09-2003, 09:13 PM

Yes the 3! I'm talking about Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street... I enjoyed Halloween and Friday the 13th a lot but NoES is my favorite... I own the DVD set but I've only watched 1-5 so far... 1,3-5 I liked but did not like 2... I think Nightmare on Elm Street 1 is my favorite followed by 4... Anyone else an NoES fan?

Matt Stone · 07-09-2003, 09:17 PM

For me, it's Halloween...hands-down. The movie scared me as a child, and holds a special place in my heart

That's not to say that I don't love Nightmare...it's another fav. Just didn't scare me as much as Halloween. Of the Nightmare flicks, I like the first, followed by three, and New Nightmare. The others (aside from 2) have their good points, but on the whole I find them to be lacking in quality.

Brian Kissinger · 07-09-2003, 10:04 PM

An interesting question. I was most impressed with Halloween, and feel it is the superior of all the films and sequels. I would then move on to Nightmare on Elm Street. Funny thing is, when these movies and their respected sequels make it to the airwaves, I almost never watch them. However, I am drawn to all the Friday movies. Every time one is on, I always flip it on and watch at least part of it. As a matter of fact, I've caught part of Friday 2 probably at least five times in the last couple months.

Eric Emma · 07-09-2003, 10:26 PM

As a whole NoeS was a very good series imo... unlike Halloween which kind of fell a part and then the producers decided to start all over again...

Scott Weinberg · 07-09-2003, 10:46 PM

First question:

Of the three kings, I think Halloween is the better film by far. Second place easily goes to A Nightmare on Elm Street. Although the first few Friday the 13ths will always have a special place in my horror-freak heart, they're atrociously made in nearly every conceivable respect. I love 'em but they're cinematic junk.

Second:

I think the original Nightmare is absolutely the best entry. My next favorite would surely be New Nightmare. And aside from Dream Warriors, the sequels are not much more than FX shows and splatterfests. I love splattery FX shows, but it takes more than that to make a memorable movie. Plus I'm of the strong opinion that Freddy is awesome when he's scary and absolutely pathetic when he's funny.

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Ryan Wishton · 07-09-2003, 11:01 PM

Ummm, lets see...

I think Nightmare on Elm Street was the best when it came to an original idea that was never done before... When Nightmare on Elm Street first came out, Freddy Krueger as well as the movie were very original... No one ever did a movie quite like it... I also feel this series has the most potential as far as what could be done with it... The series deals with dreams so that gives many options as to what direction to take it in... I would love to see an Elm Street movie with very good acting, adult characters, and a very huge budget... Can you imagine what you can do in Freddy Kruegers dream world with $100 million budget... It would be amazing... But, thats 99.9% never happening...

Halloween was good, but people refer to it as the first and best slasher... Being first is very important... You might not be the best, but being first has many advantages... The only reason why Halloween is so critically accepted as well as generally accepted IMO is because it was the first teen slasher to be hugely successful in America... If Halloween came out after the slasher boom started, most likely it would not be as accepted and would just be considered another typical slasher... Say it came out in 1984... Critics would dismiss it as a clinch movie... Psycho is a slasher and was done 18 years before... Also, Europe was doing slashers long before America started... Twitch of the Death Nerve is a good example on one from 1974 I believe... In fact, Friday the 13th Part 2 took some of the murders from this movie including the couple speared to the bed while having sex... Black Christmas was released 4 years previous to it and actually had a better script than Halloween IMO... There are also similar things about the 2 movies... For instance, you have 3 main girls... There was also more of a story to Black Christmas and more going on... The movie is also actually pretty clinch free for a movie from the 70's... For instance, the heroine was pregnant and not a virgin... The characters in general also seemed more with it and less annoying than those in Halloween... Linda for example in Halloween... The girl has worse acting talents than many other horror actresses...

Friday the 13th is a series that is both liked and hated... It had strange drawing powers back in the 80's... Even those who didnt care for the series watched them... Cory Feldman was cast in Goonies after Steven Speilburg saw him in a Friday the 13th movie... I actually dont mind the series... I dont hate it... I still watch certain parts once in awhile... I grew up in the 80's and 90's, so the series is a part of my generation... I dont like how they turned the series into a parody sideshow in later sequels though... The first 4 Fridays movies are generally hated by critics, but the audiences and the general people who used to pay to see movies took Jason way more seriously when he was just a mongaloid... It's when you turn the character into a zombie, send him to hell, and ship him off to Space to become Super Shredder that the character looses all credibility... Jason has had it the worst when it came to destroying his character... Although, after the whole Michael Myers and Busta Rhymes experience in H8, Michael is catching up losing his credibility as well...

It really is a shame...

Matt Stone · 07-09-2003, 11:11 PM

I still love watching the Friday the 13th flicks too. As I think I mentioned in another thread...on the 13th of last month (a Friday if you can believe it

), I got my wisdom teeth taken out. When I got home, I noticed TNN was running a Friday the 13th marathon...and that, combined with the immense amount of pain killers that I was taking, made for the greatest day of all time

Halloween scared the hell out of me, but the Friday movies never did. Therefore I watched a hell of a lot more of them as a kid. They rate as crummy burnt potato chips using the food analogy, but hey...sometimes I can really go for a burnt potato chip

Eric Emma · 07-09-2003, 11:13 PM

I believe after Freddy Vs. Jason, the ball-field going change! I hope Freddy Vs. JAson makes good money and then Freddy and Jason start making seperate films... In which we'll see good sequals

Malcolm R · 07-10-2003, 12:07 AM

I've always been partial to "Nightmare" over the other series. The original is the best, of course, but I also liked "New Nightmare" as well as parts 3, 4, and 5. Part 2 and "Freddy's Dead" were awful. I was always amazed the series survived past the mess that was Part 2.

07-10-2003, 12:40 AM

Halloween is the best of the 3 in my opinion.
Nightmare is a close second but both are part of my all time horror favs. As far as rating the entire Nightmare series I'd say:
Part 1 Excellent

Part 2 Poor, one of the worst in the series

Part 3 Good but I don't like what happens to Nancy, a pet peeve of mind is when survivors of one horror movie get axed in the next one.
Part 4 Good but the same complaint again in regards to Kristen.
Part 5 Ok/Fair This one is a little off to me.
Part 6 Very mediocre/Bad Too much comedy, Freddy has become a clown
Part 7 Ok but not really a part of the nightmare series in my opinion
On the Halloween flicks
Part 1 Excellent/ A classic
Part 2 Ok but the guy playing Michael is just not as good
Part 4 Good I like the story and seeing Loomis back(note I don't count 3 because that's not a real Halloween flick)
Part 5 Good, it kinda falls under the same category as 4
Part 6 Offensive/Unbelievable bad, it's ashame this is Donald Pleasance's last one
H2O Good, I liked H20 and liked the return of Jamie Lee.
Resurrection ok It's a bit of a letdown when compared to the others, I didn't like what happened to Laurie and the whole internet thing was a stupid Blair Witch rip off
Friday the 13th
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Jason really starts to take off here.
Part 4

One of the best in the series I think
Part 5 ok the lack of Jason hurts this one
Part 6

The best one in my opinion
Part 7 is ok but the psychic girl thing is kinda stupid
Part 8 is really bad,
Part 9 is a cheap The Hidden rip off
Jason X I kinda like. I like the killer on the spaceship movies.

Matt Pelham · 07-10-2003, 01:38 AM

I think Friday the 13th is the best of the "big 3", followed by Nightmare and finally Halloween which had a great first installment and a bunch of crappy worthless sequels.