"Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (1994)

Wes Craven's New Nightmare could so easily have been an exercise in meta, and to an extent is that. But it also keenly taps into what has always made the Nightmare on Elm Street series so playful and truly frightening: the inability to differentiate between reality and dreams (and also fiction and reality). On the most basic level, bringing back the actors from the original film, particularly Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund, in order to play themselves is part of what makes the film self-aware fun, and really altogether work. But it also cuts out almost all expectations. There are no longer any of the pre-established rules the franchise had crafted over the course of its six film run, and that breathes new life into a very tired and well-worn premise, leading to some surprisingly tense and scary moments amidst the meta-ness. But the self-awareness of the film also posits some interesting questions about how actors deal with the real world success and popularity of films they're associated with, and how storytelling can become an act of myth making. And Langenkamp and Englund never seem to be merely pulling in an easy paycheck. They bring a real sense of weariness over the ways the franchise has come to consume their professional and personal lives.

Grade: ★★★