I finally went and grabbed all of the Nightmares that my local DVD shop had (turns out it was 1-6) and watched them sequentially. The first Nightmare, written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye at New Line (who produced the entire franchise) was released in 1984. It is pretty good. There are some genuinely creepy images (Freddy's stretching arms (laugh if you must)), and all credit to it for introducing a strong concept and a memorable villain.
Each subsequent Nightmare up until 6 could be said to be obviously lacking Wes Craven's input, even the third, Dream Warriors (1987), which Craven co-wrote. Nothing much new is introduced in terms of plot or character, none of the additions to Freddy's mythology are particularly striking, and Freddy seems to actually get more ridiculous and less frightening, with increasingly hackneyed one-liners that end in "bitch".
My interest was peaked again by the sixth, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). The incremental developments that each previous sequel had made in Freddy's mythology were realized when we actually see footage of Freddy in a way we've never seen before... suddenly some complexity and emotional investment is restored to Freddy and to the film. Kudos to writer Michael De Luca and director Rachel Talalay for satisfyingly tying up a canon that was threatening to spiral out of control.
Next up is Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and the Nightmare On Elm Street remake of 2010. I am hoping that it won't just be more bizarre special effects and corny one-liners.
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