Houston! Come See NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET With Me Tonight!

A Nightmare on Elm Street is the very first scary movie I can remember seeing. I was about five years old and staying at my cousin's house, and I wandered into the living room as he was watching it. I remember standing behind the couch, watching silently so he wouldn't hear me and make me go back to sleep. I mostly remember feeling scared and realizing that I liked feeling scared, a feeling that has never left me.

I am, as you can imagine, very VERY excited to host the thirtieth anniversary of Nightmare tonight at 7:30 at the Alamo Drafthouse Vintage Park in Houston. Here's what I wrote about the film for Birth.Movies.Death.: 

One, two, Freddy's coming for you...
Three, four, better lock your door...
Five, six, grab your crucifix...
Seven, eight, gonna stay up late...
Nine, ten, never sleep again.

Wait, why are you grabbing a crucifix? Freddy isn't a vampire.

No, he's something far more terrifying - he's the emcee of your nightmares, the maestro of that darkness that lies deep within your subconscious and leaves you vulnerable and alone, tangled in your sheets and trying desperately to claw yourself back to the world of the living. Caffeine doesn't stand a chance against Freddy - and neither do you.

Wes Craven's 1984 horror film took the slasher movie and made it something other. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET inspires dread in the way that it plays with the audience's perceptions of illusion and reality, leaving us ever unsure if what we're witnessing is the dream of a frightened teenager or their very real and gruesome death. And Robert Englund's Fred Krueger is a cinematic killer like no other. He's no hockey mask-wearing jock lumbering down the street. Freddy is clever and stylish and ethereal, and once you close your eyes and drift off to sleep, he's all-powerful.

Join us for the thirtieth anniversary of the first film in that most nightmarish of franchises. Join us for the introduction of the boiler room bad guy - and the big screen debut of one mister Johnny Depp! And join us for the ultimate reminder that we are never safe - not in a sleepy suburb, not on a shady residential street, and not even in our dreams. (Meredith Borders)

I think that about covers it! So to celebrate the original Nightmare's thirtieth anniversary, every Wednesday in April a new Elm Street film is playing at Vintage Park. I'm hosting tonight's, April 16th's (Dream Warriors) and April 30th's (The Dream Child), and some other cool dude will be there to host April 9th's (Freddy's Revenge) and April 23rd's (The Dream Master). 

Get your tickets for tonight's screening here, and for next week's here. The rest will go on sale throughout the month, and I'll post reminders. I hope I'll see you tonight - let's get weird!