Nightmare on Elm Street

It's hard for me to believe Nightmare on Elm Street was one of the scariest of its time. However, when I consider the movie's use of our dreams, and using our dreams against us, it seems a little easier to understand how this movie could mess with one's psyche. The power dreams have on us is a really interesting topic in my opinion. Our mind can make us believe we are falling from a building, being chased by an animal, or some other event. And what we're feeling is real. We are experiencing real joy, happiness, fear, etc, but only because of the events our mind has created for us. The mind can trick us into believing we are somewhere we are not. This is what Elm Street touches on - our inability to tell reality from dreams. Even at the end of the movie, I found myself confused as to whether Nancy had every woken up or if Freddy had only allowed her to believe she was out of the dream. I guess that was the point - to leave the audience wondering what had actually happened. Was it a dream, or wasn't it? Was Freddy ever in the real world? This is a similar tactic other movies, such as Inception, have utilized as well. Incorporating dreams or different levels of reality into a movie is a surefire way to leave the audience questioning reality.