Like the grand majority of film critics out there,Roger Ebert, the famous Chicago Sun-Times referent for all things regarding movies, and probably the most important film critic in history, didn’t exactly love horror movies. It didn’t matter if it was on the TV showSiskel & Ebert, with fellow critic Gene Siskel, or reviewing in print material, Ebert famously looked down on most horror movies. Only a handful of scary films made his Great Movies list (according to his website there are only 16), and a four-star rating was not common. But this doesn’t mean he wasn’t impressed by them occasionally, a good example beingWes Craven’s New Nightmare.
Made in 1994, but from an idea director Wes Craven had in 1987,New Nightmareis a different kind of horror film.There’s nothing quite like itin the universe of scary films, and this is probably what made Roger call it “a horror film within a horror film.” Was it enough to make him change his mind about the genre? Probably not. We’re talking about the critic who calledFriday the 13th: The Final Chapter“an immoral and reprehensible piece of trash.”
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Ebert gaveDream Warriors, one of the best films in the series, one star and a half, and confirmed in his review that he “never cared about the kids.” In the case of the 2010 remake of the original, he lowered the score to one star. However, that review, as scolding as it was, is a great segue for what we’re presenting today. Per Ebert’s words: “The franchise was founded by Wes Craven, the Ray Kroc of horror, who made the excellentWes Craven’s New Nightmare, about Freddy haunting the dreams of the makers of theNightmaremovies.”
“Excellent,” huh? Let’s take a trip back to 1994, and see what could possibly have gone through Roger’s head when it came to Craven’s meta-approach to aNOESfilm.
What Is ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ About?
Wes Craven’s New Nightmaretakes place in the “real” world where Freddy Krueger is a popular culture horror icon, and Heather Langenkamp is an actress living in California who doesn’t let her small boy, Dylan, see her horror movies. Heather is visibly distressed after she begins receiving strange calls from a stranger reciting famous lines from theNOESmovies, and her son exhibits symptoms of sleepwalking. It all takes a darker turn when her husband, a VFX artist, dies under “mysterious circumstances”: he falls asleep while driving, and gets attacked by Freddy.
Grieving the loss of her husband, Heather contacts her partners in theNOESfilms,including Robert Englund, John Saxon, Bob Shaye, and Wes himself, who offers her the opportunity to reprise Nancy one more time. She expresses her discomfort, especially as Dylan sleepwalks and strangely behaves like Krueger. The auteur tells Nancy his theory: The only way to stop the real Freddy from entering our realm is for her to stop him. The movies kept him trapped in the dream world, but now that it’s all over, he’s finding a way back in, and Dylan is the perfect vessel.
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As Dylan is admitted to the hospital, Heather experiences disconnection from reality, constant daydreaming, nightmares, and the feeling that Freddy is getting closer. Even Robert Englund, the man who plays Freddy in the franchise, begins dreaming of this renewed and more evil version of the man with the glove. Through his paintings we see that the “bastard son of a hundred maniacs” has found a way in, and only Heather can stop it if she suits up as Nancy and faces the slasher killer one more time.
What Did Roger Ebert Say About ‘New Nightmare’?
New Nightmareis the second highest-rated film in the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it had the lowest box office gross. Many blamePulp Fiction, as it opened the same day, and got all the attention of moviegoers. However, a 77% in the Tomatometer means that critics didn’t hate it, Roger Ebert being among those. The following is anexcerpt of his review:
“Wes Craven’s New Nightmaredances back and forth across the line separating fantasy from reality. This is the first horror movie that is actually about the question, ‘Don’t you people ever think about the effect your movies have on the people who watch them?’
Craven, a bearded, scholarly man who was once a humanities professor, is effective in the scenes where he discusses this phenomenon with Langenkamp and others: ‘We should never have killed Freddy,’ he admits, because Freddy was not simply a fictional character played by the normal and friendly Robert Englund, but also a manifestation of ancient demonic forces which, enraged by his death, have returned.
Craven’s screenplay explores the possibilities of this situation in a way that loops back on itself, as New Line’s [Robert] Shaye and other professionals play themselves. The answer obviously is to make another movie in order to exorcise the evil for once and all, but meanwhile there are psychiatrists, talk show hosts and others to consider, and questions that stray close to the creepy (‘Would you trust Robert Englund alone with little Dylan?’).
I haven’t been exactly a fan of theNightmareseries, but I found this movie, with its unsettling questions about the effect of horror on those who create it, strangely intriguing.”
The Meta Storytelling Experiment That Led to ‘Scream’
Ebert continues with the following: “The director, who plays himself, explains at one point, ‘The only way to stop Freddy is to make another movie.’ He apparently died…but that was exactly the problem: TheNightmaremovies had generated an evil force which, once liberated by Freddy’s death, was set free to haunt the nightmares of the people involved in making the movies.”
Can a movie, character, or franchise, be so spellbinding as to transcend the screen and materialize in the lives of everyone involved?Craven’s intentionwas to make a film about the power of his creation; a monster with enough agency to model reality.New Nightmareexplains to an exhausted Heather that she’s a gatekeeper, the only one who has beaten Freddy. But it wasn’t Heather. It was Nancy Thompson. The question is: couldn’t Wes just stop writing the script? Wouldn’t that refusal to validate Freddy’s existence have stopped the entity trying to cross over?
Wes doesn’t answer all the questions. But he was never keen on exposure dumps, except in the case of the dialogue between him and Heather in his office inNew Nightmare(it gets really profound). What’s important is that, whileNew Nightmarewas a successful experiment that critics liked, it represented a kickoff for something far greater and impactful; if theNOESfranchise was enough to build the foundations for New Line Cinema, aka the house that Freddy built, thenNew Nightmarewas the meta blueprint for the most important horror franchise of the 1990s,Scream.
Wes Craven’sScreamis the ultimate meta film in which the director remarkably bent the line between reality and fiction - the depiction of two sociopaths whose catharsis is movie-based, who begin a rampage based on their taste for horror movies.Screamdisplays the perfect balance between horror and comedy that’s still alive today as the meta-horror franchise continues.
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WouldScreamhave happenedifNew Nightmarehadn’t happened before? Perhaps the answer lies in what Ebert wrote aboutScream, a film he ranked equally withNew Nightmare:
“Screamis about knowledge of the movies: The characters inScreamare in a horror film, and because they’ve seen so many horror films, they know what to do, and what not to do.”
WhereNew Nightmarerecognizes the impact of Krueger on the real world,Screamrecognizes the impact of horror itself on popular culture. It does so with enough gravitas to be considered a clever and authentic film, albeit with a self-referential and funny spirit. The legacy of one doesn’t equal the other, but maybe with time,New Nightmarewill be given the spot it deserves as a fascinating approach to meta-horror, and the perfect bridge for Craven to jump into the mainstream with his unique vision of horror: a medium so powerful that it can transcend the boundaries of the screen.
