After looking at every official film in the franchise for this 40th anniversary A Nightmare on Elm Street retrospective, I want to look at something different-ish. If there is one thing that I have learned about popular films over the years, that thing is that, if a movie becomes a hit, you can usually find a cheap knockoff or seven. There is this trend that exists whereby popular film = fodder for (usually) bad rip-offs. By ways of a “for instance”, did you know that there is an entire sub-genre dedicated to badly animated pastiches of Disney/Pixar films?

There are a ton of these things. Of course, cheap knockoffs are not limited to Disney films and the idea of a film studio trying to cash in on a popular movie is decades old. Even so, some movie copycats can be good or even better than the films that they are “borrowing” from. Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is a rip-off (sorry, “homage”) of City on Fire and it’s great. Anyway, the point is that the copycat film, the rip-off sub-genre is rife and has been going on for decades. Which sparked off a jaded memory from long ago. I used to love VHS rental places, not the big Blockbuster types, but the smaller independent shops. I spent a great deal of my youth perusing the VHS rental places in the ’80s and ’90s. I built up an impressive collection of VHS tapes as I got older. I remember watching a particular A Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off many moons ago, but I could not recall its name. This got me into doing some light research to see if I could track down this film once more. All I could remember from the film was that it involved a guy dying in a motorbike accident and coming back from the dead in someone’s dreams and killing people. It was a hazy and vague memory to the point that I even began to question if it was a real film, or if I had just made it up. So I researched… and I found it. This led me down a rather deep and somewhat interesting Nightmare movie copycat rabbit hole, as I began to discover more and more flicks that “borrowed” from the winning Nightmare formula. This part of my retrospective is going to take a look at some of the best, and worst (and worse than worst), A Nightmare on Elm Street copycat flicks. The films here have either been influenced by or just outright stolen ideas from A Nightmare on Elm Street. And I’m even going to start off with a bit of a controversial pick.

Shocker
Released in 1989, Shocker tells the story of a convicted serial killer, Horace Pinker who is given the death penalty via the electric chair. Even though he is most definitely dead, Horace comes back and continues his killing spree. Sounds familiar, eh? It’s not just the bad guy coming back from the dead to kill either. The main teenage character in the film, Jonathan has dreams about Horace and his murders. Oh, and Jonathan’s father works for the police, like Nancy and her father. Before his death, Horace is an everyday man with a blue-collar job, like Freddy. Not only that, Heather Langenkamp has a cameo as one of Horace’s victims in the film’s opening. Here’s why this is a controversial pick, Shocker was written and directed by Wes Craven and this brings up a perfectly good question – can you rip yourself off?

This has never been confirmed, but it is believed that Wes made this copycat film for Universal Studios to stick the middle finger up to New Line Cinema for how they treated him and the arguments he had with Bob Shaye during the making of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the declining quality of the sequels. By the time Shocker was in cinemas in 1989, Nightmare 5 had already been out for a couple of months. This was Wes trying to point out that without him, the Nightmare franchise has gone downhill and that it is still possible to make a good Freddy-inspired horror flick. Honestly, Shocker is pretty good too, very 1980s but still enjoyable. So back to that question, can Wes rip himself off? I think it depends on the context of the ripping off and in this case, yes I think it is possible. Of course, Wes, Bob and New Line would eventually kiss and make up to make the awesome Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

Bad Dreams
This 1988 horror film is a rip-off that certainly “borrows” from the Nightmare films, one in particular, but it also does its own thing. The basic plot of this one is about a teenager called Cynthia who is injured while trying to escape from a cult. Franklin, the leader of this cult, commits mass suicide/murder by burning all of his followers – and himself. Cynthia is injured as she escapes and ends up in a coma, she wakes up in a hospital thirteen years later. While in this hospital, Cynthia is plagued by visions and dreams of a now badly burnt (and dead) Franklin – who is trying to kill her because she was meant to die with the rest of the cult. In the hospital, Cynthia attends group therapy with several other patients, which is overseen by a friendly doctor. Cynthia then starts to have dreams of Franklin killing other people in that group therapy, and they then die in real life.

So just to recap, you have a badly burnt dead man killing people by using dreams. But that is not all that this film copies, this was released in 1988 and Nightmare 3 was released in the previous year. You remember the third film in the Nightmare franchise, right? It’s the one that’s set in a hospital with teens attending group therapy overseen by a friendly doctor… just like this film. Oh, the doctor in Nightmare 3 gets fired and has to help from the outside. Guess what happens to the friendly doctor in Bad Dreams? Yep, he gets fired and has to help from the outside. You want more? This is very tenuous but Charles Fleischer has a small role in Bad Dreams where he plays a doctor, he also had a small role in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street where he played a doctor. I think I can come up with a better link for you. In this film, Cynthia is played by Jennifer Rubin. Do you happen to know what Jennifer’s first film acting role was? She played Taryn in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, the year before this film. As I said, Bad Dreams does do its own thing, but it is also very clearly copying Nightmare 3, especially as that film was a massive success. Even with all the blatant ripping off of Nightmare 3, Bad Dreams is still a good horror film in its own right.

Dream Stalker
Remember in the intro when I mentioned how I recalled a cheap A Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off about some guy dying in a motorbike accident and killing people via the use of dreams? Well, this is that film. Released in 1991, Dream Stalker is a low-budget, really low-budget, shot on video film. But I used to love this stuff. It all stemmed from the first time I watched The Evil Dead, that too was a very low-budget flick – but a really great one. Anyway, I went through a phase of trying to find the next The Evil Dead, a really low-budget horror film, shot with passion. To its credit, Dream Stalker is kind of that – but it’s not really up to the quality of The Evil Dead. Anyway, the plot. Ricky is a motocross rider, and he is killed in a fiery crash. Ricky’s girlfriend, Brittney is struggling to come to terms with his death. Three years later, Brittney’s doctor tells her that she needs to forget about Ricky and move on. She does and when she gets a new boyfriend, this just really pisses dead Ricky off, as he comes back in Brittney’s dreams and starts killing people – who then die in real life.

It’s funny because I always thought that this film was from the mid-’80s, it really has that ’80s vibe to it, that’s how it seemed when I first saw it. But to learn it was released in 1991 (the same year as Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare), I was quite surprised. Still, it could’ve been shot in the ’80s but not released until ’91. This does happen a lot with low-budget indie films. But yeah, this massively rips-off A Nightmare on Elm Street. When dead Ricky does show up, his face is badly burnt and disfigured due to the bike accident, he kills people using dreams, etc. Ricky even does bad one-liners when he kills, just like Freddy. But is Dream Stalker a good film? No, it’s fucking awful, and I don’t remember it being this terrible when I first watched it. While I can appreciate low-budget horror films, they still need to be made with some skill and there is very little skill here. The sound mix is horrendous and a lot of the time, loud music drowns out the dialogue to the point that you can’t even hear what the actors are saying. Speaking of which, the acting is terrible – even for a no-budget film like this. There is a saving grace, the make-up effects on dead Ricky are brilliant and there are some pretty decent kills too.

Dreamaniac
This 1986 gem doesn’t even attempt to hide what it is trying to rip-off at all. The tagline for this film is: “You don’t have to live on Elm Street to have a nightmare”, I wonder what that could be in reference to? The thing about Dreamaniac is that, in terms of the plot, it’s nothing like Freddy and his dream-killing ways. This film is about a musician who makes a deal with a succubus to help him become successful with women… and I’m pretty sure Freddy did nothing like that. However, it is clear that the film was made to try to ride on the successful coattails of the Freddy films, the second film had already been released, and the third was on the way. Dreamaniac even starts out a little bit Nightmare-like as it opens with the lead character having a bad dream – but then it goes on to do its own thing and the plot moves away from the whole Nightmare idea. Still, even with the title of the film, the bad dream opening and that non-too-subtle tagline, it is pretty clear that Dreamaniac was made to draw people in off the back of the Nightmare films. If you are wondering, it’s not very good.

Mahakaal
When it comes to Nightmare rip-offs, none are more obvious than this one. First, this is a Bollywood film… and I really don’t have to say much more than that, do I? There is an entire sub-genre of Bollywood films that are official (and a load of unofficial) remakes of successful Hollywood films. Think of any major hit film, and there’s a 99% chance that there is a Bollywood take on it. The plot of Mahakaal is, basically, A Nightmare on Elm Street. The story follows Anita who is being haunted by a killer in her dreams called Shakaal, who uses a knife glove. It turns out that this fella in Antia’s dreams was killed by her police officer father. Why am I even bothering to cover the plot, it’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, just with a bit of Bollywood flare, singing and dancing.

Released in 1994, I have heard from one source that Mahakaal is an official remake and that they got permission from New Line to make it. I also found a source that claimed that it isn’t an unofficial remake. I’m thinking that it’s the latter as I didn’t see New Line credited in the film. There’s even a Nightmare sound-a-like musical score. Feel free to check the film out yourself as it is available on YouTube for free and it is an almost beat-for-beat remake. As a little bonus, this is not even the first Bollywood A Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off either. There was another called Khooni Murda which was released in 1989. And yeah, this one is on YouTube too. they’re both pretty interesting to watch, but I think that Mahakaal is the better of the two. Khooni Murda is very low-budget and poor quality. So yeah, not one but two Bollywood Nightmare rip-offs – if you like a lot of spontaneous Bhangra with your murderous dream demons.

Don’t Panic
This is a Mexican flick from 1987 that, like Dreamaniac, has a non-too-subtle tagline: “Forget Freddie and Jason. Virgil’s the newest nightmare in town.” Freddy spelt wrong, but you get the idea. Virgil is the Freddy of this film, but he’s also quite different. The plot involves teenager Michael, who has just turned 17. After his birthday party, he and a couple of friends try to contact Virgil (the devil) via an Ouija board but fail, or do they? Following the whole Ouija board shinanigans, Michael starts to have visions where he sees his friends being brutally killed from the POV of Virgil. Virgil is horribly scared and has quite the personality, like Freddy. Michael’s parents are divorced and his mother is an alcoholic who dismisses his initial worries, like Nancy in Nightmare 1. This film unusually follows a male lead, like Nightmare 2. The first couple of Nightmare films is where the main influence of Don’t Panic seems to come from. But again like other films in this list, while it is clear that this was trying to copy the Nightmare formula, it still does its own thing too. Honestly, Don’t Panic is a pretty decent, low-budget horror flick. There are some good kills and great effects work – but it does have this problem where, while it is a Mexcian film, it tries to be American to appeal to American audiences. If the director had just let it be its own thing instead of forcing it to be American, I think it would’ve turned out better.

Batas Impian Ranjang Setan
Also known as Satan’s Bed, this is an Indonesian version of A Nightmare on Elm Street. A young girl, Maria and her family move into a new house. Maria starts to have nightmares about a disfigured man who has sharp knives on a glove, and he tries to kill her. When one of Maria’s friends is killed by the man in the nightmares, people, start to take notice. Yeah, this is a blatant Nightmare rip-off and it doesn’t try to hide it. Let’s be honest, Indonesia is not exactly known for its filmmaking and yes, Batas Impian Ranjang Setan is very low-budget and low-quality with plenty of stilted acting… but it’s worth a watch just for curiosity’s sake. It’s a difficult film to find “properly”, but someone uploaded the English dub version to Facebook. I did a little research on this and apparently, this English dub version (Satan’s Bed) has footage that was cut from the original Indonesian release. I also found one source that claimed that this film was released in 1983, which pre-dates A Nightmare on Elm Street… this would mean that Wes Craven stole the idea from this film. However, this seems to be false as there are more sources that state that Batas Impian Ranjang Setan was released in 1986.

The ripping off here is so blatant that I would even say that this is a straight-up (unofficial) remake. There are scenes here that are taken directly from A Nightmare on Elm Street. The skip rope jumping girls in white, yep. Girl in a bathtub with a knife-hand pulling her under, yep. You know that scene in the first film where Glen goes out in the garden to check on a noise and Rod jumps out on him as a “joke”? Yep, that is here too. This is a remake, it does have a few of its own ideas, but this is the Indonesian remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Think of any of the iconic scenes of the original film (Tina in the bodybag), and Batas Impian Ranjang Setan has a version of it. Oh yeah, this rips-off Poltergeist too, especially towards the end. So you get two knockoffs for the price of one. Honestly, this is good, cheesy fun and for a no-budget Indonesian rip-off/remake, it’s not too bad. Okay, it is bad – but it’s a good-bad.

Dream Demon
Even my home country had a go at copying the Nightmare formula. Dream Demon is a 1988 British horror flick that may not rip-off the Nightmare films as much as some of the others on this list, but there’s definitely a strong influence. This one is about a woman called Diana who is getting cold feet about her soon-to-be wedding. Diana starts to have bizarre nightmares about her fiancé attacking her. When she crosses paths with an American tourist called Jenny, the two strike up a friendship. This is when Diana’s dreams get more and more bizarre, to the point where Jenny appears in them and Diana starts to have visions of a man being burnt alive. Oh, and when Diana dreams of people getting killed, they mysteriously disappear in the real world.

Dream Demon is definitely one of those films that does its own thing, but it still feels very Nightmare-like and it even throws in a bit of Hellraiser too. it’s kind of a mishmash of those two horror classics, but it still offers up some original ideas. It’s a pretty great film too, once believed to have been lost – until the director found the negatives and Dream Demon was saved from extinction. There are some wonderful scenes that really play with the concept and surreal nature of dreams, it is well shot and while the story is a bit convoluted, Dream Demon is well worth a watch. If Freddy ever decided to leave America in the ’80s and come to the UK to visit, you could really imagine him being in this film – it does feel very Nightmare-ish… with a dash of Hellraiser.

Night Wars
Released in 1988, Night Wars is an interesting take on the dream-horror idea from A Nightmare on Elm Street. In this one, two Vietnam vets who escaped a POW camp, Trent and Jimmy, start to have nightmares about their time in the war. Being hounded by a fellow soldier they were forced to leave behind, and the man who tortured them in the POW camp (the Freddy of this film), when they have these nightmares, any injuries they sustain are there in the real world when they wake up. Realising that there is a connection between the dream world and the real world, the two arm themselves up and decide to fight back in their nightmares. I guess that this is what would happen if Freddy was ever in the Vietnam War?

Night Wars isn’t a very good film, it’s outright terrible. It’s another very low-budget, badly acted, poorly written, crap-fest. But the concept is pretty interesting, even if it does “borrow” from the Nightmare franchise. With the PTSD-suffering vets using their skills in the dream world, this is like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors: Vietnam Edition. I’m actually quite surprised that the Nightmare films never did do anything Vietnam War connected, Vietnam flicks were quite popular in the ’80s and really, it does make for an intriguing idea to delve into with nightmares. I could really see a PTSD-suffering vet being tormented by Freddy via bad dreams. But seeing as the official franchise never did, this is about as close as you are going to get to the idea. If you really wanna, you can watch it here. Grizzly Adams is in it too.

Non Aprite Quella Porta 3
Yeah, let’s jump into a sequel… and this will require some explaining. If you are a big horror film fan, then you may already be aware of this bit of info… but I’m going to cover it anyway. In Italy, there is a trend of making unofficial sequels to popular American horror films. I think the most famous example would be Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 from 1979, which was an unofficial sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead… which was released in Italy as Zombi… hence Zombi 2. So what does any of that have to do with Non Aprite Quella Porta 3 and what does the title mean? Non Aprite Quella Porta translates to Don’t Open That Door, which is the Italian title for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise. So yeah, Non Aprite Quella Porta 3 is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 3. However, it is not just an Italian dub of the official Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III film. Much like Fulci’s Zombi 2, it’s an unofficial sequel and a completely different film from the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise. Got that? In fact, this has so little to do with Leatherface and his hunrgy family that it is closer to Freddy and the Nightmare franchise… which really isn’t all that close anyway. So yeah, this Italian The Texas Chain Saw Massacre sequel has nothing to do with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. When Non Aprite Quella Porta 3 was released outside of Italy, the title was changed to Night Killer – and I’m going to stick to that title from now on as it is a lot easier to type than Non Aprite Quella Porta 3.

Released in 1990, Night Killer tells the story of Melanie, a woman who survives an attack and rape by a notorious masked killer. Before the attack, the killer even reveals his face to Melanie and she can identify him, but there is a problem. Recovering in the hospital, Melanie suffers from total amnesia and has no memory of the attack or the attacker, or even her own name and family. As she tries to piece her life back together, the killer comes back and Melanie has to fight to save her own life, kind of. Oh, and she is also being stalked by some insane fella who really likes fried chicken and fries. This film makes no sense and it is all over the place. Still, I have to admit to it being really (badly) entertaining. It’s bat-shit crazy and typical Italian horror. So what does this have to do with the Nightmare franchise? In terms of the story and tone, absolutely nothing. There are no dreams, no surrealism, no burnt, dead killer killing teens as they sleep. The link here is the look of the bad guy. When you are first introduced to the killer in the film, there is no context and he just shows up and murders some lass. The guy looks like he is wearing a bad, knock-off Freddy Krueger mask bought from a dodgy shop. I swear, if places like AliExpress or Wish existed in 1990 then I reckon that was where the mask would’ve come from.

It’s really quite strange too as you are not sure if the mask looks shit because you are watching a bad, low-budget Italian horror film and this was the best make-up job they could do – or if the mask looks shit because the character is supposed to be a fella in a bad mask. It is revealed to be the latter, it really is supposed to be a guy in a mask within the story of the film. But it’s not just the terrible-looking Freddy mask, the killer even uses a glove with sharp claws on it to do his dirty deeds. However, in most shots, you can tell that the sharp claws are made of rubber as they keep bending when he kills with the glove. It is pretty clear that the killer in this film is based on Freddy. So the film itself is not a rip-off as the plot and tone are vastly different – but the bad guy is blatantly a cheap Freddy Krueger knock-off in terms of look and weapon of choice. Within the world of horror fandom, the film Troll 2 is known as the best-worst horror film ever. There is even a documentary exploring exactly this. I strongly disagree, Night Killer is the best-worst horror film ever. This thing is brilliantly terrible, the story is utter nonsense, the twist at the end is ridiculous when you think about it, there are scenes that make no contextual sense to the film at all (there’s a bit where Melanie receives a phone call from her ex-husband which really upsets her… she then gets her tits out, starts rubbing her nipples in front of the mirror and talks to herself about having a positive day), the dialogue is laughable, the acting is truly atrocious (just watch the opening with the dance recital/drama teacher) and the death scenes are awful with really, really bad and inconsistent effects work. This truly is the best-worst horror film ever. Troll 2 doesn’t even come close to being this fucking brilliantly bad.

Still, here’s an interesting tit-bit for you, both this and Troll 2 were directed by the same man –  Claudio Fragasso (using a pseudonym). Another observation from me to finish on. The title makes absolutely no sense… and I don’t mean the original Italian Non Aprite Quella Porta 3 title which makes this part of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise in Itlay… when it isn’t. It’s the English title of Night Killer because… every single killing in the film takes place during the day. There is no night killing or even any killing of the night. Why is this called Night Killer? It should be called Shit Actor In A Shit Freddy Mask Playing A Shit Killer In A Shit Film With A Shit Story Filled With Shit Actors, Shit Effects And Shit Dialogue. At least that title is more accurate. If you like really, really bad horror films, please check this out – it is the king of the best-worst horror films… and it badly rips off Freddy too. Night Killer is like watching a train crash, then an 18-wheeler truck crash into the train crash, to then have a plane crash land on the train and the 18-wheeler crash. It’s just one massive cluster-fuck of a crash that you can’t help but watch, no matter how terrible it is. There’s a reason this film has had the biggest write-up in this list from me, it really does deserve it.

Slumber Party Massacre II
Another sequel? Yes, only this one needs far less of a confusing explanation as Non Aprite Quella Porta 3/Night Killer. Believe it or not, but Slumber Party Massacre II is the sequel to Slumber Party Massacre. There’s no alternate titles that make no sense, it’s a sequel and a proper one. Now, you may be asking why the first film is not on this list if the sequel is. The simple answer is that Slumber Party Massacre is really more of a Halloween homage, whereas the sequel definitely took a few ideas from the Nightmare franchise. Released in 1987, the plot of Slumber Party Massacre II follows a teenager called Courtney who is in a band and they all go to a condo for the weekend to play some music and do what teenage girls in horror films tend to do. Still tormented by the events of the previous film, Courtney begins to have nightmares and some of those nightmares spill over into the real world. There’s a crazed killer who uses a massive drill attached to an electric guitar (stay with me) to kill in Courtney’s nightmares, and he also comes into the real world. Maybe it’s just me, but the killer is very reminiscent of Prince.

Yeah, we have yet another film about a killer in dreams and those dreams bleeding into reality. It’s all a bit Freddy Krueger for sure, but there are some other similarities/references. There’s a use of red and green lighting (Freddy’s colours), The Driller Killer (that’s his credited name) often says funny quips before killing, there are two police officers in the film – one is called Officer Voorhies, spelt wrong but named after Jason and the second… yep, Officer Kreuger. Slumber Party Massacre II was produced by the legendary Roger Corman. If you don’t know who Roger was, the short version is that he was the king of schlock, B-movie cinema and he was truly exceptional at getting films made fast. Roger is credited with directing 55 films and producing 385. As I said, he made films very fast. When Slumber Party Massacre II was released in ’87, Nightmare 3 had already been out for about 8 months, and it made a killing (no pun) at the box office. Nightmare 3 had been released in February of ’87, and Slumber Party Massacre II came out later the same year in October. It is very possible that Roger Corman saw how popular Nightmare 3 was and got this flick made and released in those 8 months to try to cash in on the success that the Freddy film was having. There is a clear influence here from Freddy and his franchise of films. Oh, and Slumber Party Massacre II is a pretty good horror film in its own right, as is the first film. They’re ’80’s cheese that don’t take themselves too seriously and are good, stupid fun to watch.

There are a load of A Nightmare on Elm Street copycats out there… loads of them. Films that either borrow elements and do their own thing with them, films that just outright rip-off Wes Craven’s creation or movies that “homage” the style, tone and even the famous Freddy Krueger killer. I have only taken a brief look at a small handful for this article. Others include the likes of Dreamwalkers, Sleepstalker, The Sandman and more. The original Nightmare, its sequels and Freddy himself kickstarted this trend of films in the ’80s and ’90s that tried to emulate the popularity and success of Wes Craven’s original idea, with varying degrees of highs and lows… a bit like the Nightmare franchise itself. Well, I can’t put it off much longer. Next in this retrospective, it’s time to delve into every episode of the TV series, Freddy’s Nightmares – starting with season one.