Like most franchises, nothing comes near to topping the first one. The film’s final girl is my favorite heroine in horror cinema. Nancy is a child of divorce, used as a pawn by her over-worked father, locked away by her alcoholic mother. Neither parent listens to her, and it would be easy for Nancy to be just another victim. But I love how she decides she’s not, and, as the film continues, prepares herself physically, psychologically and spiritually to take on Krueger. What’s even better (and refreshing) is that her greatest triumph is realizing she’s in control of how she fights. To defeat Krueger, she has to turn her back to him, to take back the energy she’s psychically fueling him with. What a great message of self-empowerment.

It’s because of this, the first film’s antagonist isn’t even a vengeful ghost with his own personality or agenda. Those are just illusions. A nightmare is the absence of control and Krueger is just that: the metaphorical nightmare made real. There’s a scene where Nancy’s lit teacher analyzes Shakespeare. The Bard writes about something operating in human nature that’s inherently rotten. This is what Krueger really is: repression and guilt made “flesh”; a rose by any other name.

The Elm Street parents couldn’t face their own sin so they buried it with booze (Nancy’s mom), work (Nancy’s dad), absenteeism (Rod’s parents), promiscuity (Tina’s mom) or good old-fashioned judgmental hypocrisy (Glen’s parents). Like a genie in a bottle, the sin couldn’t be contained, and despite their best efforts to hide it, it only fell smack dab into their children’s laps.

In the end, by turning her back on the sin, Nancy elects to step away from her parent’s expectations and their cycle of irresponsibilities. By turning away from Krueger, she’s become an adult, finally, in control, the nightmare ended (just as long as you ignore that ridiculous coda ending which feels tacked on for sequel purposes…)

Nancy: “Whatever you do. Don’t. Fall. Asleep.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn_DjzN8410